Tracing its lineage back to the formation of the Royal Flying Corps at Farnborough in May 1912, No.II(AC) Squadron is the most senior squadron in the current Royal Air Force. It also has the honour of being the first fixed-wing aircraft unit anywhere in the world. The first British unit to cross the Channel to operate in France at the start of the Great War, ‘Shiny Two’ became specialist in the role of aerial Army cooperation flying, and aerial reconnaissance, something its pilots perfected throughout its long history. 

The Unit served throughout the Cold War period, operating a variety of classic aircraft types, including the Hawker Hunter, McDonnell Douglas Phantom and SEPECAT Jaguar. It began an impressive 27-year association with the Panavia Tornado from the end of 1988, only broken when they exchanged their aircraft for Eurofighter Typhoons. During that period, the most strikingly presented Tornados were those benefitting from a temporary winter camouflage scheme in support of their deployment to Norway on Arctic operations.

 These combined defence and readiness exercises saw various aircraft types from different nations regularly coming together to test their capabilities in meeting the threat posed by Eastern Bloc forces in the high north of Europe, a show of strength to deter any thoughts of aggression. 

The GR.1A variant of the Tornado was a dedicated reconnaissance platform, made up of 16 converted GR.1 airframes and 14 newly constructed aircraft.

The Luftwaffe’s long range night intruder campaign towards the end of the Second World War was intended to disrupt Allied air operations, spreading confusion and panic by infiltrating bomber streams, or striking at aircraft whose crews had ‘switched off’ as they approached their base at the end of another long mission. The Messerschmitt Me 410 was ideally suited to this task - fast and heavily armed, these Fernnachtjagd aircraft operated in conjunction with the regular Blitz bomber force, with more specific targets and often operating alone in the dark night skies. 

Despite being an extremely capable aircraft in this role, night-intruder Me 410s were hunted mercilessly the second they crossed the English Channel, and no mission ever passed without incident. Britain’s air defence network had been fine-tuned to make any incursion over the country a torrid experience for Luftwaffe pilots and the cover of darkness offered little protection. RAF de Havilland Mosquito nightfighters were the perfect nocturnal hunters, taking a heavy toll of Luftwaffe aircraft of all types, including the Messerschmitt Me 410. 

The aircraft modelled here wears a camouflage scheme which was perfect for night intruder operations and was flown by one of the Luftwaffe’s very best, Rudolf Abrahamczik, a highly decorated bomber pilot with at least 233 combat missions to his name, many of which were in this role.

When Britain’s population were desperate for heroic figures to galvanise the nation towards victory in their greatest hour of need, they were fortunate enough to be able to count on men like RAF airman John Randall Daniel ‘Bob’ Braham. An accomplished twin engined fighter pilot, Braham would go on to believe that flying ‘freelance’ hunting sorties at the same time as the main RAF bomber formations over enemy occupied Europe might draw enemy nightfighters to them and away from RAF bombers, where the Luftwaffe’s nocturnal hunters could be targeted by this proven nightfighter specialist and his powerful aircraft. 

In this role, he is thought to have shot down at least four of the Luftwaffe’s leading nightfighter aces, becoming the scourge of German defensive operations against Allied night raids. Britain’s most decorated Fighter Command airman, ‘Bob’ Braham ended the war as the most successful British pilot operating twin-engined aircraft, and was also a leading nightfighter ace, scoring 19 of his 30 aerial victories under the cover of night. He had 9 intruder victories whilst flying the de Havilland Mosquito to his name, and must have proved significant in saving the lives of many hundreds of Bomber Command airmen as a result of his actions. 

The aircraft presented here is the de Havilland Mosquito he borrowed from RAF No.613 Squadron on 5th March 1944, the aircraft in which he scored his first Mosquito victory.

When the English Electric Canberra entered Royal Air Force service during the spring of 1951, it was unquestionably the most advanced and most capable jet powered bomber aircraft the world had ever seen. Whilst it wasn’t integrated enough to see service during the Korean War, the conflict did see production of the Canberra accelerate significantly, with the jet designated a ‘Super priority’ type. 

The Suez Crisis of 1956 saw RAF Canberra units finally able to show what they could do in an offensive capacity, with five Canberra units allocated to operations against Egyptian forces. The jets of RAF No.139 Squadron from Binbrook were deployed to RAF Nicosia, and were assigned to fly target marking missions for other Canberra bombers flying from Malta following behind them, using a combination of Target Indicator incendiaries and 1000lb bombs.

On 3rd November 1956, Wing Commander Paul Mallorie led No.139 Squadron against the Egyptian airfield at Luxor and the Soviet made Il-28 ‘Beagle’ bombers based there, and once the targets had been illuminated, the Canberras were to return to make their own bombing strike against the airfield. With smoke covering the site and with light fading fast, Mallorie led his squadron in an audacious dive bombing attack against the parked Egyptian bombers, to devastating effect. 

The Operation Musketeer Canberras of RAF No.139 Squadron were arguably the most colourfully presented aircraft to take part in this controversial period in British history.

A man destined to achieve great things as a member of the Royal Air Force, Yorkshireman John ‘Dusty’ Miller trained as a military pilot in America under the UK-US ‘Arnold’ Scheme, showing himself to be so proficient that he was retained as a flight instructor. He eventually joined an operational RAF squadron flying Beaufighters in an anti-shipping strike role, but advanced his career significantly during the early years of jet aviation. 

Given command of No.41 Squadron at Biggin Hill, flying the Meteor jet from Summer 1951, his personal aircraft was one of the most colourful of that era, defending Britain’s airspace in style. Miller was one of the first RAF pilots forced to eject from his Meteor, when a turbine blade failure caused an in-flight fire above Essex in April 1952. But, once back flying, he continued his rise through the ranks. 

With his potential for senior rank, Miller was forced to turn his back on ten years of flying jet fighters to take command of a Vickers Valiant nuclear bomber squadron, as his seniors wanted to take him away from what he was expert in, to broaden his service experience. 

During his time with the V-Bomber force, he was the officer responsible for introducing the Blue Steel air-launched nuclear stand-off missile into RAF service. When he left the RAF in 1969, he had achieved the rank of Air Commodore.

Arguably, the most significant operator of the SEPECAT Jaguar in British service was RAF Germany, who maintained a force of four squadrons as part of the 2nd Allied Tactical Air Force under SACEUR (Supreme Allied Commander Europe). 

When Jaguars arrived at RAF Brüggen, they took up residence in newly constructed, dispersed, hardened aircraft shelters, with each squadron having their own area complete with nine shelters, each one capable of housing two Jaguars. 

RAFG Jaguar pilots trained tirelessly in the delivery of nuclear and conventional weapons, as they were on the front line of preventing war in Europe, and the first line of attack in the event of conflict. Jaguar XX963 is a fine example of a Cold War RAF Germany aircraft, but it also had another, unusual claim to fame – she was shot down by an RAF Phantom! 

On 25th May 1982, at the height of the Falklands War, she was conducting her latest training sortie when she was ‘intercepted’ by a Phantom carrying LIVE munitions. In a series of unfortunate circumstances, what should have been a simulated radar ‘kill’ turned into an actual one, because when the Phantom pilot pressed to register the interception, a Sidewinder missile left its rail. 

The missile struck home and the Jaguar disintegrated, thankfully not before the quick-thinking pilot had managed to eject safely. Jaguar XX963 lay strewn across a German field, 50 miles from its home base at Brüggen.

We've rebuilt the SEPECAT Jaguar GR.1 in highly detailed die-cast model form, so you can add it to your Aviation Archive collection.

One of the most distinctive aircraft of the air battles of the Second World War, the Dornier Do 17 is usually referred to by its nickname, and for good reason, as the Luftwaffe’s Fliegender Bleistift translates to ‘Flying Pencil’. 

The Z variant was the most heavily produced of all the Do 17s, addressing many of the shortcomings of previous versions, but still struggling to maintain its place as a front-line Luftwaffe strike bomber. 

The Z-5 was the last major bomber variant of the aircraft produced, and featured the addition of specialist survival/flotation equipment, as these aircraft were intended for operation over large expanses of water. Operated almost exclusively by 1./KüFlGr 606, this particular aircraft was one of six sent to attack aircraft factories around Liverpool during the twilight hours of 11th October 1940. 

Unfortunately for them, the raid was picked up by British radar and the Spitfires of No.611 Squadron were sent to intercept them. This particular aircraft, wearing its attractive nocturnal camouflage presentation, did not evade the attention of the Spitfires, and was seen trailing smoke from both engines, presumed crashed in a remote area of Wales. 

Despite being damaged and two crew members having bailed out, the pilot managed to nurse the stricken aircraft back to France, making a crash landing at Brest. After this mauling, 1./KüFlGr 606 only engaged in night-bombing sorties.

This die-cast model is our Aviation Archive tribute to the Dornier D017Z-5 and that fateful day.