• Sourced while I edited the first issues of Titan’s (now defunct) RAF Magazine. I’ve kept them up as I thought they might be of interest to writers.
Official Sites
• Royal Air Force Armourers
• Foreign and Commonwealth Office
• The RAF Benevolent Fund
• The War Graves Commission
Squadrons
• The Empire Test Pilots School
The Empire Test Pilots’ School (ETPS) is established to provide The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) with Service pilots for employment as test pilots for acceptance testing duties and for aerodynamics and systems research. The School also trains Flight Test Engineers (FTE) from the MOD and both pilots and FTEs from Commonwealth and other friendly nations. Graduate test pilots and FTEs may go on to contribute to Service equipment programmes as combined test team members, procurement managers, operational requirements staff or in the increasingly crucial ‘intelligent customer’ role in liaison Aerospace contractors.
News Sources
• ETS
• Professional Pilots Rumour Net
• MOD Projects
Details the status of upcoming new kit including FOAS, all-terrain vehicles etc.
• Air Force Technology
• Ed Raptor’s Royal Air Force page
Events
• AirNet
Link: http://fly.to/airnet/
A brilliant resource for air enthusisasts with links to all major air sites across the globe. A real labour of love, and regularly updated by the look of it
• The Red Arrows
• Yahoo UK Air Shows Search
• The Dayton Air Show
• Canadian International Air Show
History
WORLD WAR TWO
• The Second World War Site
These pages are intended to be a general World War Two resource, providing background information and useful and interesting facts.
• Great Airplanes of World War 2
• World War II – Prisoners of War – Stalag Luft I
• Dambusters.org
Archive site on the 1943 raids
• Bob Baxter’s Bomber Command
This site is dedicated to the thousands of men from all nations who flew with bravery and dedication on operations with RAF Bomber Command during WWII, but especially to the 55,573 who made the ultimate sacrifice
• Captain Donald Macintosh
Link: www.worldwarbombers.com
Donald Macintosh was a Royal Air Force bomber pilot of a Lancaster bomber in 1944, part of the squadron that sank the Tirpitz. The site includes both the audio and a transcript of an interview with him and his wartime experiences.
• Plane Writing: Pilots Biographies
• RAF Comrades
Publishers
• Pen and Sword Publishing
Suppliers
Miscellaneous
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
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