The Aviation Show

05/01/2026

04/01/2026

Our fab Patreon supporters can watch and listen to our next episode with Michael Napierl about NATO and Soviet Cold War Naval Aviation as we chat about his new book, Over Cold War Seas, out now from Osprey Publishing.

Join today! https://www.patreon.com/posts/over-cold-war-147239240?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

02/01/2026

Lots of fun getting our next full-length episode about NATO and Soviet Naval Air together. Here is a great shot of a great aircraft: a U.S. Marine Corps Grumman A-6E Intruder of VMA(AW)-332, en route to Exercise TEAM SPIRIT '87 in South Korea.

I'm not sure Grumman made an ugly aircraft! What was your favourite? Or let me know if you think they made one that wasn't a looker.



Image: NARA - DM-SC-88-01985

02/01/2026

Putting the finishing touches to my chat with Michael Napier (out for Patreon peps later today!) and the photos for our Over Cold War Seas chat have been a lot of fun. Here is one of Grumman's finest, a KA-6D Intruder, giving another, an F-14 Tomcat, a drink as seen from the back seat.

Image: NARA DN-SN-84-06781

Osprey Publishing U.S. Navy

31/12/2025

Woke up thinking about the Grumman A-6 Intruder this morning, so here is an A6-E getting hooked up to one of USS Saratoga's forward catapults in 1986.

📸: NARA - 6432468

31/12/2025

North American F-100 Super Sabre atop a ZELL (ZEro Length Launch) launcher.

31/12/2025

29/12/2025

in 1939, the prototype Consolidated B-24 Liberator, XB-24 39-690, made its first flight from Lindbergh Field, San Diego (now San Diego International Airport), with Consolidated chief test pilot Bill Wheatley at the controls. Over 1,800 B-24s of various versions would be built and serve in all theatres of . While somewhat in the shadow of the B-17, the Liberator's versatility made it a vital aircraft in the Allies' armoury.

The B-24 would serve in the Air Forces and Navies of almost all allied combatants. Film star Jimmy Stewart flew B-24s with the 453rd Bombardment Group from RAF Old Buckenham in Norfolk, England. The Liberator was vital in closing the mid-Atlantic Gap and winning the Battle of the Atlantic.

What is your favourite B-24 variant and tale?

25/12/2025

A little late due to being dragged up a dune outside of Bordeaux, here is my family's connection to the Fall of Hong Kong on Christmas Day 1941.

Available to all supporters free and above.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/nice-new-suits-146664730?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

24/12/2025

Christmas Eve, 1968, Apollo 8.
The first photograph of Earth from the Moon, taken by one of us.
Rarely seen, Bill Anders took this extraordinary B&W shot (remastered / cropped here) before Lovell found the colour magazine that Anders then used to take one of the most famous photographs in history (both are in the book).

24/12/2025

at 15:40 GMT in 1968, Apollo 8 was in lunar orbit. As they came around the dark side of the moon for the first time, Bill Anders took one of the greatest photographs ever taken. Now known as 'Earthrise', Anders' photo of our home has resonated ever since.

📸 NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration / NASA History