Air Power and Empire: How the RAF Policed Britain’s Frontiers
A long read on how the RAF used air control to police Britain’s imperial frontiers, and why economy, coercion and limits all mattered.
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Captain Albert Ball Posted Missing Over the Western Front
On this day in 1917, Captain Albert Ball was posted missing after combat over the Western Front, marking the loss of one of Britain’s best-known airmen.
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Red Arrows Perform Their First Official Display
On 6 May 1965, the Red Arrows gave their first official display at RAF Little Rissington, launching the RAF’s now famous aerobatic team.
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Pink’s War and RAF Air Control on the North-West Frontier
Pink’s War, 9 March to 1 May 1925: the RAF’s first independent air campaign, flown by 5, 27 and 60 Squadrons against the Mahsud in South Waziristan, and what it showed about air control.
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2TAF Canberra Units Gain a Tactical Nuclear Role in NATO
On this day, RAF Canberra units in Germany gained an atomic strike role, placing 2TAF on the nuclear front line of the Cold War.
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RAF Evacuation Operations Conducted in Iraq
RAF transport aircraft flew evacuation missions in Iraq in 1924, showing the growing value of air mobility in threatened frontier posts.
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Leonard Trent and the Amsterdam Power Station Raid
Squadron Leader Leonard Trent won the Victoria Cross after pressing home the 1943 Amsterdam power station attack under heavy fighter opposition.
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Lynx Sea Skua Strikes Hit Argentine Ships in the Falklands
Sea Skua attacks in the South Atlantic on 2 May 1982 sank Comodoro Somellera and damaged Alferez Sobral during the Falklands war.
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End of Pink’s War as Mahsud Tribes Seek Peace in Waziristan
The 1925 peace approach by Mahsud tribesmen ended Pink’s War and underscored the RAF’s inter-war reliance on frontier air control.
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RAF Aircraft Engines, Cooling and Propulsion in Service
How RAF aircraft engines developed from the Merlin and Hercules to Whittle’s jet, the Avon, Pegasus, RB199 and EJ200, and why power, cooling and reliability decided what aircraft could do.
