Yak-130 "Mitten" (Unusual Aircraft Collection)

The Red Stars on this plane indicate that it belongs to the Russian Air Force, which still has some communist trappings.

It's a prototype Yakovlev Yak-130 "Mitten" military jet training plane, which was initially developed in a joint venture with the Italian company Aeromacchi.   As well as acting as a trainer for pilots graduating up to the Su-27 "Flanker", the Yak-130 can be outfitted as a ground attack trainer or a light attack aircraft and, as with many Russian designs, it has low pressure tires and other modifications which allow it to be used from unpaved airfields.

Fairey Firefly (World Fighter Aircraft Collection)

Captain Eddie Kurdziel lifts into the air in his Fairey Firefly at the 2007 "Aviation Nation" airshow held at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.

The Firefly is a little-known British naval fighter of World War Two, powered by the same 2250 horsepower Griffon engine used in later model Spitfires.  The Firefly wasn't very fast, largely because of its high lift devices and the extra load created by having a radio operator/navigator seated in the rear cockpit, however it packed a heavy punch with its four cannons, and it was extremely maneuverable.   The US Navy flew one at Patuxent River testing station against an F6F Hellcat, and although the Hellcat was faster, it had a hard time fixing its guns on the more aerobatic Firefly.

Sadly, a Firefly like this one crashed at the Duxford Airshow in the UK in 2003 and both crewmen died, leaving this other aircraft as the only airworthy example in the world.

Beriev Be-200 and A-42 (Unusual Aircraft Collection)

From the 1920s until the 1950s many airliners, cargo planes and naval patrol aircraft were flying boats.

It was a US Navy Curtiss NC-4 flying boat which made the first transatlantic crossing in 1919, though the trip took 19 days and required many stops for refuelling and repairs.    Other famous flying boats from this period include the Sikorsky S-38, Boeing Clipper, Grumman Goose, Consolidated Catalina, Short Sunderland and Martin Mars.   These aircraft provided an extra safety factor when flying over water, and could also get to islands or coastal towns which didn't have airports.   However, after World War Two the development of reliable land-based aircraft with long range reduced the advantages of the amphibians, and in western countries flying boats are only used as water bombers against forest fires, and as short-range tourist planes.   The only countries still operating them as military patrol aircraft are Japan and Russia.

The Beriev design bureau is a Russian aviation company which continues to produce flying boats.   In this photograph you can see their large A-42 Albatross naval patrol aircraft in formation with the Be-200 Altair water bomber at their test facility near the Russian resort town of Gelendzhik on the Black Sea.   They have also developed a small piston-engined flying boat called the Be-103 Snipe, which flew with its larger stablemates at the 2006 Gidroaviasalon ("hydro-aviation exhibition") at Gelendzhik.   Although all these aircraft have been flying for some years, the company has had little success finding customers to buy them, and their future survival is in doubt.

F-16 Fighting Falcon Aggressors (World Fighter Aircraft Collection)

A pair of "aggressor" F-16C Fighting Falcons at Nellis Air Force Basetaxying out during Operation Red Flag 07-2.

The Red Flag military exercises are carried out four to six times each year and function as the air force equivalent of the navy's "Top Gun" aerial combat training school.   Aggressors have non-standard color schemes which are supposed to approximate those of Soviet aircraft during the lateCold War.   They operate as the "red forces", either attacking or defending targets against the "blue forces" consisting of American aircraft and their allies.   The exercises involve not just fighters, but all types of aircraft, including bombers, strike aircraft, aerial refuelling tankers and airborneearly warning planes.

Although the F-16 isn't the most capable aircraft in the USAF inventory, it operates as an aggressor in order to give the friendly force experience in attacking and evading a variety of aircraft types, each with different operating characteristics.

F-16 Fighting Falcon Aggressors (World Fighter Aircraft Collection)

A pair of "aggressor" F-16C Fighting Falcons at Nellis Air Force Basetaxying out during Operation Red Flag 07-2.

The Red Flag military exercises are carried out four to six times each year and function as the air force equivalent of the navy's "Top Gun" aerial combat training school.   Aggressors have non-standard color schemes which are supposed to approximate those of Soviet aircraft during the lateCold War.   They operate as the "red forces", either attacking or defending targets against the "blue forces" consisting of American aircraft and their allies.   The exercises involve not just fighters, but all types of aircraft, including bombers, strike aircraft, aerial refuelling tankers and airborneearly warning planes.

Although the F-16 isn't the most capable aircraft in the USAF inventory, it operates as an aggressor in order to give the friendly force experience in attacking and evading a variety of aircraft types, each with different operating characteristics.