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RAFO Oneşti
The Royal Air Force of Oman ( or RAFO) is the air arm of the Armed Forces of Oman. History Sultan of Oman's Air Force era The Sultan of Oman's Air Force (SOAF) was formed with British personnel and aircraft in March 1959. The first aircraft were two Scottish Aviation Pioneers transferred from the Royal Air Force. The first armed aircraft was the Percival Provost T52. In 1968 the SOAF received the first of 24 BAC Strikemaster jet trainer and light strike aircraft for operation against insurgents in the Dhofar region. In 1974 the SOAF was expanded with orders for the Britten Norman Defender, BAC One-Eleven, BAC VC10 and 32 Hawker Hunter ground attack aircraft. In 1977 Jaguar International joined the SOAF, followed in the 1980s by the BAE Hawk. Royal Air Force of Oman era In 1990 the SOAF was renamed the Royal Air Force of Oman (RAFO). In 1993 and 1994 the RAFO replaced its Hawker Hunters with four BAE Hawk Mk 103 fighter-trainers and 12 single-seat Hawk Mk 203s, equipped ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Air Force
An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviation or naval aviation units. Typically, air forces are responsible for air supremacy, gaining control of the air, carrying out Strategic bombing, strategic and tactical bombing missions, and providing support to land forces, land and naval forces often in the form of aerial reconnaissance and close air support. The term air force may also refer to a tactical air force or numbered air force, which is an operational formation either within a national air force or comprising several air components from allied nations. Air forces typically consist of a combination of fighter aircraft, fighters, bombers, Military helicopter, helicopters, Military transport aircraft, transport planes and other aircraft. Many air forces may command and control ot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Airbus A320
The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, Maiden flight, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first member of the family was followed by the stretched Airbus A321, A321 (first delivered in January 1994), the shorter Airbus A319, A319 (April 1996), and the shortest variant, the Airbus A318, A318 (July 2003). Final assembly takes place in Toulouse in France; Hamburg in Germany; Tianjin in China since 2009; and Mobile, Alabama, in the United States since April 2016. The twinjet has a six-abreast economy cross-section and came with either CFM International CFM56, CFM56-5A or -5B, or IAE V2500 turbofan engines, except the A318. The A318 has either two CFM56-5B engines or a pair of Pratt & Whitney PW6000, PW6000 engines in place of the IAE V2500. The family pioneered the use of digital fly-by-wire and side-stick flight controls in airliners. Varia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SEPECAT Jaguar
The SEPECAT Jaguar is a British-French supersonic jet attack aircraft originally used by the British Royal Air Force and the French Air Force in the close air support and nuclear strike role. As of 2025, the Jaguar remains in service with the Indian Air Force. Originally conceived in the 1960s as a jet trainer with a light ground attack capability, the requirement for the aircraft soon changed to include supersonic performance, reconnaissance and tactical nuclear weapon, tactical nuclear strike roles. A carrier-based variant was also planned for French Navy service, but this was cancelled in favour of the cheaper, fully French-built Dassault-Breguet Super Étendard. The aircraft were manufactured by SEPECAT (''Société Européenne de Production de l'avion Ecole de Combat et d'Appui Tactique''), a joint venture between Bréguet Aviation, Breguet and the British Aircraft Corporation, one of the first major joint British-French military aircraft programmes. The Jaguar was expor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hawker Hunter
The Hawker Hunter is a transonic British jet propulsion, jet-powered fighter aircraft that was developed by Hawker Aircraft for the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It was designed to take advantage of the newly developed Rolls-Royce Avon turbojet engine and the swept wing, and was the first jet-powered aircraft produced by Hawker to be procured by the RAF. On 7 September 1953, the modified first prototype broke the Flight airspeed record, world air speed record for aircraft, achieving a speed of . The single-seat Hunter was introduced to service in 1954 as a manoeuvrable day interceptor aircraft, quickly succeeding first-generation jet fighters in RAF service such as the Gloster Meteor and the de Havilland Venom. The all-weather/night fighter role was filled by the Gloster Javelin. Successively improved variants of the type were produced, adopting increasingly more capable engine models and expanding its fuel capacity amongst other modifications bei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vickers VC10
The Vickers VC10 is a retired mid-sized, narrow-body long-range British jet airliner designed and built by Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd and first flown at Brooklands, Surrey, in 1962. The VC10 is often compared to the larger Soviet Ilyushin Il-62, the two types being the only airliners to use a rear-engined quad layout, while the smaller Lockheed JetStar business jet also has this engine arrangement. The VC10 was designed to operate on long-distance routes from the shorter runways of the era and commanded excellent hot and high performance for operations from African airports. The performance of the VC10 was such that it achieved the fastest crossing of the Atlantic by a subsonic jet airliner of 5 hours and 1 minute, a record that was held for 41 years, until February 2020 when a British Airways Boeing 747 broke the record at 4 hours 56 minutes due to Storm Ciara. Only the supersonic Concorde was faster at 2 hours, 52 minutes, 59 seconds. Although only a relatively sm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BAC One-Eleven
The BAC One-Eleven (BAC-111, BAC 1-11) is a retired early jet airliner produced by the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Conceived by Hunting Aircraft as a 30-seat jet, before its merger into BAC in 1960, it was launched as an 80-seat airliner with a British United Airways (BUA) order on 9 May 1961. The prototype conducted its maiden flight on 20 August 1963, and it was first delivered to BUA on 22 January 1965. The 119-seat, stretched 500 series was introduced in 1967. Total production amounted to 244 until 1982 in the United Kingdom including 1982 to 1989 in Romania where nine Rombac One-Elevens were licence-built by Romaero. The short haul, narrowbody aircraft was powered by aft-mounted Rolls-Royce Spey low-bypass turbofans, a configuration similar to the earlier Sud Aviation Caravelle and later McDonnell Douglas DC-9, Douglas DC-9. It competed with early Boeing 737 models and was used by British, US, and European airlines, including Romanian operators. It was replaced ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Britten Norman Islander
The Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander is a British light utility aircraft and regional airliner designed and originally manufactured by Britten-Norman of the United Kingdom. Still in production, the Islander is one of the best-selling commercial aircraft types produced in Europe. Although designed in the 1960s, over 750 are still in service with commercial operators around the world. The aircraft is a light transport with over 30 military aviation operators around the world. Initial aircraft were manufactured at Britten-Norman's factory in Bembridge, Isle of Wight, UK. After Fairey Aviation acquired the Britten-Norman company, its Islanders and Trislander aircraft were built in Romania, then shipped to Avions Fairey in Belgium for finishing before being flown to the UK for flight certification. The Islander has been in production for more than 50 years. In September 2023, it was announced that production of the Islander has returned to the UK, after fifty-five years of manufacturing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dhofar
The Dhofar Governorate () is the largest of the 11 governorates in the Sultanate of Oman in terms of area. It lies in southern Oman, on the eastern border with Yemen's Al Mahrah Governorate and the southern border with Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province. It is a rather mountainous area that covers and had a population of 416,458 in the 2020 census. Salalah is the largest city and capital of the governorate. Historically, the region was a source of frankincense. The local dialect of Arabic is Dhofari Arabic, which is distinct from that used in the rest of Oman and in Yemen. History Archaeology At ''Aybut Al-Auwal'' ("First Aybut") in Wadi Aybut (west-central Nejd), a site was discovered in 2011 containing more than 100 surface scatters of stone tools belonging to a regionally specific lithic industry, the late Nubian Complex, known previously only from Northeast Africa. Two optically stimulated luminescence age estimates place the Arabian Nubian Complex at 106,000 years ol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BAC Strikemaster
The BAC 167 Strikemaster is a jet-powered training and light attack aircraft designed and produced by the British Aircraft Corporation. It was a development of the Hunting Jet Provost trainer, itself a jet engined version of the Percival Provost, which originally flew in 1950 with a radial engine. The Strikemaster is essentially an armed version of the Jet Provost T Mk 5. Various improvements and alterations were made to the aircraft, including an uprated Armstrong Siddeley Viper turbojet engine, wing hardpoints capable of carrying a wide variety of munitions, a pair of machine guns under the intakes, uprated flap system with two jacks, enlarged airbrake jacks, new communication and navigation gear, different electrical system, canopy breakers on the ejection seats, and a revised fuel system including tip tanks on the wing tips. First flown in 1967, the aircraft was typically marketed as a light attack or counter-insurgency aircraft, however, the majority of customers were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Percival Provost
The Percival P.56 Provost is a basic trainer aircraft that was designed and manufactured by British aviation company Hunting Aircraft, Percival. During the 1950s, the Provost was developed for the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a replacement for the Percival Prentice. Designed by Henry Millicer, it was a single-engined low-wing monoplane, furnished with a fixed, tailwheel undercarriage and, like the preceding Prentice, had a side-by-side seating arrangement. First flying on 24 February 1950, the prototypes participated in an official evaluation, after which the type was selected to meet Air Ministry List of Air Ministry specifications, specification T.16/48. The Provost entered service with the RAF during 1953 and quickly proved to be more capable than the preceding Prentice. It was a relatively successful aircraft, being exported for multiple overseas operators. Various models were developed, both armed and unarmed, to meet with customer demands. The Provost later adapted to make use ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). Following the Allies of World War I, Allied victory over the Central Powers in 1918, the RAF emerged as the largest air force in the world at the time. Since its formation, the RAF has played History of the Royal Air Force, a significant role in Military history of the United Kingdom, British military history. In particular, during the Second World War, the RAF established Air supremacy, air superiority over Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain, and led the Allied strategic bombing effort. The RAF's mission is to support the objectives of the British Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence (MOD), which are to "provide the capabilities nee ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
