RAF Museum, Cosford 2019

It's ten years since I last visited this excellent museum, (for my three previous visits, click here) and there have been quite a few changes. The Cold War hangar is just as overcrowded as it was before, though. My visit was on September 17th.

Aircraft Reg'n Thumbs Notes
Armstrong Whitworth Argosy C1 XP411  
Auster C4 Antarctic WE600 One of two T7s converted for the 1956 Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition.
Avro Anson XIX TX214  
Avro Lincoln II RF398 Sole surviving Lincoln.
Avro Vulcan B2 XM598  
Avro York C1 TS798 Ex G-AGNV of BOAC, Skyways, and the Skyfame Museum.
BAC TSR-2 XR220 Was due to make its first flight on the day the project was cancelled - never flew.
BAe EAP ZF534 Experimental Aircraft Programme - demonstrator for the Eurofighter Typhoon. Sole example.
Beagle (Scottish Aviation) Bulldog T1 XX654 3  
Blohm und Voss Bv246 Hagelkorn   Hagelkorn = Hailstone. Luftwaffe WW2 radar-guided glide bomb - very inaccurate - role replaced by the V-1.
Boulton Paul Defiant N1671 EW-D Restored by the Medway Aircraft Preservation Society (MAPS).
Boulton Paul Sea Balliol T21 WL732 Royal Navy advanced trainer - 30 built.
Bristol (BAC) Bloodhound II 1001 Surface-to-air defence missile. Served 1958-91.
Bristol 188 XF926 Very advanced supersonic research aircraft for Mach 3 flight, but range was not enough for full testing. Sole survivor - the other flying airframe was scrapped.
Bristol Britannia 175-312F 'XM497' 'Schedar'. Built for BOAC as G-AOVF, and was 9Q-CAZ for a while. Never an RAF plane.
Bristol M1C replica 'C4994' Flying replica, ex G-BLWM, flown in 1987.
Bristol Sycamore HR14 XJ918 Wearing RAF maintenance serial 8190M
Canadair Sabre 4 XB812 4th photo is rotated 180°. Ex Canadian AF 19666 ntu, Italian AF MM19666, restored for the RAF Museum by The Fighter Collection, Duxford.
CASA 352L (Junkers Ju-52) 'G-AFAP' Ex Spanish AF T2B-232 - never a British Airways plane.
Comper CLA-7 Swift G-ACGL  
Consolidated PBY-6A Catalina L-866 Danish AF. Ex USN 63993.
de Havilland Canada DHC1 Chipmunk T10 WP912  
de Havilland Comet 1A G-APAS Ex Air France F-BGNZ, G-5-23, XM823
de Havilland Devon C1 VP952  
De Havilland Mosquito TT35 TA639 'AZ-E' Marked as the plane in which Guy Gibson was killed in 1944.
de Havilland Tiger Moth II T6296  
Douglas C-47B (DC-3) KN645 Ex 44-77003
Douglas XGAM-87A Skybolt   Air-launched ballistic nuclear missile planned to be carried by RAF Vulcans. Cancelled by the USA and replaced by the Polaris.
English Electric Canberra PR9 XH171  
English Electric P1A WG760  
English Electric Lightning P1B XG337 3rd and 4th photos are rotated 90°.
English Electric Thunderbird   British Army's equivalent of the Bloodhound SAM defence missile.
Fairchild UC-61A Forwarder 'FS628' Ex USAF 43-14601, N9996F, G-AIZE. Never an RAF aircraft.
Fairey FD2 WG777 Very successful supersonic experimental aircraft. Plans to develop a fighter from it were crushed by international politics.
Fieseler Fi103 (V-1)   'Doodlebug' flying bomb.
Fiesler (Mraz) Fi156C-7 Storch GM+AK Luftwaffe, ex VP546
Focke-Achgelis Fa330 Bachstelze 100503 Bachstelze = Wagtail. U-boat-based recce rotor-kite. 200 built.
Focke-Wulf Fw190A-8 733682 Part of a Mistel S3B pair with a Ju-88, captured after WW2 as RAF AM75 but only this survives.
General Dynamics F-111F 74-0177 LN USAF
Gloster (Armstrong Whitworth) Meteor NF14 WS843  
Gloster Gladiator 1 K8042  
Gloster Javelin FAW1 XA564  
Gloster Meteor F8 Prone Pilot WK935 100 test flights showed various problems, including emergency escape and rear vision. G-suits proved a better solution.
Hai Yang HY-2G Seersucker 311026 Land-based variant of the Silkworm anti-ship missile, taken from Iraq after the Gulf War.
Handley Page (Scottish Aviation) Jetstream T1 XX496 D  
Handley Page Hastings T5 TG511 A Berlin Airlift veteran.
Handley Page Victor K2 XH672 Falklands War and Desert Storm veteran.
Hawker (Armstrong-Whitworth) Hart IIA K4972  
Hawker Cygnet G-EBMB  
Hawker Hunter F6 XG225 Gate guard
Hawker Hunter FR10 853 Oman AF - unmarked except for Arabic serial. Ex RAF XF426 and Jordanian AF 853.
Hawker Hunter T7A XL568  
Hawker Hurricane IIC LF738 Was gate guard at the Battle of Britain Memorial Chapel, RAF Biggin Hill, 1961-95.
Hawker Siddeley (Avro) Blue Steel   Nuclear armed Mach 3 standoff missile, used by the V-bombers 1963-70.
Hawker Siddeley Andover E3A XS639  
Hawker Siddeley Dominie T1 XS709 M  
Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR3 XZ997 Falklands veteran.
Hawker Siddeley Ikara T365 UK variant of the Australia-designed anti-submarine missile (Ikara = throwing-stick in Aboriginal).
Hawker Siddeley Kestrel FGA1 XS695 5 RAF, but used by the Navy for several years. In Tri-partite Evaluation Squadron markings.
Hawker Siddeley Nimrod MR1 XV249  
Henschel Hs293   WW2 German anti-ship radio controlled glide bomb (boost rocket is below the main warhead body). 2,300 built, destroyed many ships.
Henschel Hs298 V2   WW2 German rocket-powered radio controlled air-to-air missile. Didn't enter service.
Holtzbraukissing Enzian   Enzian = Gentian. German WWII surface-to-air missile inspired by the Me163. Never operational.
Hunting H-126 XN714 Sole example of this jet flap (blown flap) experimental aircraft. Loaned to NASA in California in 1969-70. Stall speed 32mph.
Hunting Jet Provost T3 XM351 Y  
Junkers Ju88R-1 D5+EV Luftwaffe night fighter. Flown from Norway to Scotland by defecting crew members in 1943. RAF serial PJ876.
Kawasaki Ki-100-1b (1-Otsu) BAPC.083 16336 Japanese AF - sole survivor of around 400. Probably their best WW2 fighter.
Lockheed C-130K Hercules C1 XV202 Ex USAF 66-8552 ntu.
Lockheed SP-2H Neptune 204 V-04 Netherlands Navy
Matra AS37 AR Martel   Missile, Anti-Radiation, Television missile. Used on the Buccanneer, Jaguar and Nimrod.
Messerschmitt Bf109G-2 Trop Black 6 Luftwaffe. Captured in 1942 over North Africa. Ex G-USTV, RN228.
Messerschmitt Me163B-1a Komet 191614 Luftwaffe. May be 191461 (AM207).
Messerschmitt Me262A-2A Sturmvogel 112372 Yellow 4 Luftwaffe. Ex AM51, VK893.
MiG-15 (PZL-Mielec LIM-2) 1120 Polish AF
MiG-21PF Fishbed-D 503 red Hungarian AF. Ex G-BRAM.
Mignet HM-14 Pou-du-Ciel G-AEEH  
Mitsubishi Ki-46-III Dinah 5439 Japanese AF - sole survivor - fast, successful photo recce aircraft.
Percival (Hunting) Jet Provost T1 XD674  
Percival Pembroke C1 WV746  
Percival Provost T1 WV562 7606M  
Raytheon Ford AIM-9L Sidewinder   Successful air-to-air infra-red homing missile. In service 1956 - present.
Saunders-Roe (Saro) SR53 XD145 First prototype of this mixed jet/rocket powered interceptor. Sole survivor of two built before cancellation in 1960.
Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer CC1 XL993  
SEPECAT Jaguar ACT XX765 Active Control Technology. World's first all-digital fly-by-wire aircraft with no manual backup.
SEPECAT Jaguar GR3A XX724 C On the airfield with the Defence School of Aeronautical Engineering (DSAE).
SEPECAT Jaguar pair XZ104 Z, XX821 P On the airfield with the DSAE.
Short Belfast C1 XR371 Enceladus - not easy to photograph the whole thing.
Short SB5 WG768 Very different from the P1A, this is single-engined with interchangable wooden swept wings and a fixed undercarriage to check the P1 (Lightning) design. 2nd photo shows the first, T-tailed rear fuselage.
Short Seacat   World's first shipborne point defence surface-to-air missile system, replacing Bofors guns. Served 1962 - present.
Sikorsky MH-53M Pave Low IV 68-8284 USAF special forces transport and support helicopter. Fleet retired 2008.
Sopwith 1½ (1 1/2) Strutter replica 'A8226' Ex G-BIDW
Sopwith Pup replica 'N5182' Ex G-APUP
Supermarine Spitfire 1 K9942 SD-D The world's oldest surviving Spit. Restored by MAPS 1998-2000.
Supermarine Spitfire 1 replica 'RG904 BT-K' James May's full-size model based on the original Airfix Spit kit.
Supermarine Spitfire PRXIX PM651 Restored here at Cosford 2010-11.
V-2   World's first long range ballistic missile, and the basis of later missile and space programs of The US, Britain and Russia.
Vickers (BAC) VC-10 C1K XR808 In 101 Sqn 95th Anniversary markings. Retired to Bruntingthorpe in 2013, then moved to Cosford in 2015.
Vickers Valiant B1 XD818 Was gate guard at RAF Marham for many years.
Vickers Varsity T1 WL679 Royal Aircraft Establishment
Vickers-Armstrong Red Dean   Pulse-Doppler radar-guided air-to-air missile. Proved too difficult at the time, and cancelled along with its proposed platform, the thin-wing Gloster Javelin.
Westland Wessex HC2 XR525 Arrived at the museum in 2004 after 40 years service.
Yokosuka (Kugishu) MXY7-11 Ohka BAPC.099 I-10 10461  

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