Panavia Tornado, RAF

The Panavia Tornado is a jet engine fighter-bomber jointly developed as the Multi-role combat aircraft – or MRCA – by Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom. It first flew on August 14th, 1974. International co-operation continued after its entry into service within a tri-nation training and evaluation unit operating from RAF Cottesmore in Rutland in the English Midlands.

The Panavia Tornado has three variants namely the fighter-bomber strike/reconnaissance Interdictor/Strike (IDS), the suppression of enemy air defenses IDS-based Electronic Combat/Reconnaissance (ECR), and the interceptor Air Defense Variant (ADV). Tornado IDS was operated by Germany, Saudi Arabia, Italy, and United Kingdom. It is said to be the world’s most sophisticated, capable interdiction and attack aircraft. It has a large payload, long range, and high survivability. Tornado ADV was operated by Saudi Arabia and United Kingdom. The difference between the IDS and ADV was the fuselage. The ECR was operated by Germany and Italy. On the 21st of May 1990, the ECR was delivered for the first time. It has an emitter locator system designed to locate enemy radar sites.

The Tornado worked with different countries and associations. On the 14th of August 1974 with Luftwaffe, it flew for the first time from Manching to West Germany. On the 27th of July 1979, the first service delivery was made. The Tornado with Italian Air Force took part in the first Gulf War in 1991. They lost one plane to AAA. In 1999, during the Kosovo war, Aeronautica Militare used IDS for bombing and ECR for the suppression of enemy. Royal Air Force used Tornado GR1s on Gulf war. GR4 was used in 2003 invasion of Iraq and in help with UK and coalition forces in Iraq. On the 26th of March 1986 was the first flight of the Royal Saudi Arabia Tornado IDS. On the 9th of February 1989 the first Saudi ADV was delivered.

Cessna 172 Skyhawk

The four-seat single-engine high-wing Cessna 172 Skyhawk is the most successful mass produced light aircraft in history. It is also possibly the most popular flight trainer in the world. Over 40,000 172s have been built, more than any other Western aircraft. First delivered in 1956, it is still in production as of 2007. The Skyhawk’s main competitors include the Beechcraft Musketeer, the Grumman AA-5 series, the Piper Cherokee, and the Diamond DA40. The prototype first flew in November 1955.

The 172 was an overnight sales success, with over 1,400 built during its first full year of production in 1965. The 172 began as a relatively simple tricycle landing gear upgrade from the taildragger Cessna 170, with a fairly basic level of standard equipment. Early models looked almost identical to the 170, with the same straight aft fuselage and tall gear legs, although the 172 sported a straight vertical tail while the 170 had a rounded fin and rudder. Later versions incorporated revised landing gear and a lowered rear deck that allowed an aft window, marketed as “Omni-Vision”. The final aesthetic development in the mid-1960s was the sweptback tail which is still in use today.

A variant of the 172, the T-41 is used as a trainer with the United States Air Force and Army. Because of its high-wing design, stability at low airspeeds, and relatively low stall speed, the aircraft is an excellent platform for search and rescue operations and is the primary platform for the Civil Air Patrol’s operations. The US Border Patrol also uses a fleet of Cessna 172 Skyhawks for aerial surveillance along the Mexican-American border.

In 1969, the Military Aircraft Command and the Military Airlift Wing received the first C-5 aircraft.

Lockheed produced an American military transport aircraft designed to provide strategic heavy airlift over intercontinental distances and to carry outsize and oversize cargo. The C-5 also known as the Galaxy has been operated by the United States Air Force and known to be one of the largest military aircraft in the world and one of the most reliable in carrying combat equipments to any destination around the globe.

During the first years in service, a number of Galaxy were stationed at Altus AFB, Oklahoma, Dover AFB, Delaware, and Travis AFB, California serving as cargo planes at high altitude traveling at long hauls. Eventually, these aircrafts were transferred to the Air Force Reserve, Stewart Air National Guard Base and Westover Air Reserve Base.

KANSAS, USA – Cessna announced the new SkyCatcher is to be made in China under Shenyang Aircraft Corporation.

Cessna had tied partnership with the China Aviation Industry Corp and Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC) while the American company, Cessna, had emphasized that the SkyCatcher will be designed, tested, constructed, and serviced to the same Cessna quality standards.

“The benefit is it enables us to provide the SkyCatcher at a lower price,” Cessna spokeswoman Pia Bergqvist. “We looked at several different facilities in several different countries. This was the one that seemed to make the most sense.”

Cessna officials believes that producing the SkyCatcher in China will save on costs which will keep competitors in the growing light sport aircraft market and aims at pilot training and light recreation flyers.

The company unveiled the single-engine two-seat plane in July saying it expects to begin testing in the first half of 2008 and begin delivering these aircrafts in the second half of 2009. Cessna said that it already has 900 SkyCatchers ordered.