Keith Wilson

Britain changed more in the 1980s than in almost any recent decade, as readers will recall with differing emotions. A decade dominated by the rise of the City and the fall of the Unions, the wider retreat of the left and the return of military confidence, it also featured an energy of entrepreneurialism, but with entrenched unemployment – more than twice as high in the mid-1980s boom as when Margaret Thatcher took office in 1979. Innovation and technology reigned in the decade that spawned mobile telephones and the World Wide Web: where would the younger generation be without these items in their lives toda? o many, it was more simply seen as the decade of Margaret Thatcher, yuppies, chunky mobile telephones, and BMX bikes – although in reality it featured so much more, including the little matter of not one, but two royal weddings, and the Argentinian invasion of the Falkland Islands in 1982. With little apparent diplomatic alternative, Britain set about creating a task force to recover the islands – effectively declaring war on Argentina.During the 1980s, only a few aircraft types were completely withdrawn from the RAF, most of them hardly creating a whimper. These included the Whirlwind HAR.10 helicopter, the Devon C.1, the Pembroke C.1, and some of the earlier Jet Provost T.3, T.4 and T.5 aircraft. However, during the decade, the RAF said farewell to a pair of military icons – the Avro Vulcan in 1984, and the English Electric Lightning in 1988.Aircraft arriving into RAF service included the Tornado GR.1 in the strike/attack role, an aircraft that had been developed as the Multi-role Combat Aircraft (MRCA) by a multi-national organisation from Italy, Germany, and the UK. It was soon followed into service by the Tornado F.2 and F.3 interceptor variants in the Air Defence role. Other new aircraft and helicopters to enter service during the decade included the Chinook HC.1, the Harrier GR.5, the British Aerospace BAe 146 CC.1, and the Tucano T.1.The 1980s was something of a decade of ‘mend and make do: the RAF purchased a batch of former US Navy F-4J Phantom aircraft as an air defence stop-gap, converted six Vulcan B.2 aircraft into AAR tanker platforms, and later, converted six Hercules C.1 aircraft into single-point C.1K tankers, initially for use on the Falklands Air Bridge. Further second-hand purchases included a number of former airline Lockheed Tristar and Vickers VC10 aircraft; once converted, these aircraft would later provide the backbone of the RAF’s strategic and tactical tanking force for the foreseeable future.Keith Wilson takes up from where he left off with RAF in Camera 1970s, continuing the journey through another significant decade. All of the landmark events are covered in this thorough, well-researched and image-packed publication.Each chapter focuses on a specific year, detailing all of the highlights and events that characterised it. As with previous volumes in this series, this new addition to the In Camera series is sure to be regarded as a collector’s edition and a real enthusiast’s favourite.

RAF in Camera: 1980s – The Later Years by Keith Wilson provides a visually rich account of the Royal Air Force during the transformative latter half of the 1980s. This continuation of Wilson’s earlier work examines the RAF’s operational and technological evolution during a pivotal decade for British military aviation.The period witnessed the retirement of iconic aircraft like the English Electric Lightning in 1988, symbolizing the end of a Cold War era. Simultaneously, the RAF introduced advanced platforms that redefined its capabilities, including the Tornado F.3 Interceptor, Harrier GR.5, British Aerospace BAe 146 CC.1, and Tucano T.1 trainer. Additionally, the innovative conversion of Lockheed Tristar and Vickers VC10 airliners into aerial refuelling tankers replaced the aging Victor K.2, enhancing the RAF’s strategic reach.Year-by-year coverage explores milestones such as the post-Falklands War recovery of military confidence and the integration of cutting-edge technology into RAF operations. Illustrated with numerous photographs, the book captures the RAF’s modernization and the cultural shifts within the service.Meticulously researched, RAF in Camera: 1980s – The Later Years offers aviation enthusiasts and historians alike a detailed exploration of the RAF’s evolution, blending iconic imagery with insightful analysis of this critical period in its history.

Bob Davy and Keith Wilson have been combining their respective talents for more than twenty years, flying and photographing a variety of aircraft for flight test features, and having their work published around the world. This lavishly illustrated book represents the first opportunity to prepare a wide selection of their combined work in hardback form.Warbirds featured include the venerable North American P-51 Mustang (on which Bob gained a Type Rating), the UK’s last remaining airworthy and historically significant de Havilland Vampire T.11, and Bob’s own Yak-3 UTI. Also featured is the Stinson AT-19 Reliant I, often referred to as the ‘Gull Wing’.At the Workhorse end of the scale is the Helio Courier, an aircraft possessing amazing STOL performance, that later became infamous during its clandestine operations in Laos with Air America, often referred to as the CIA’s ‘Most Secret Airline’. Also featured is the Cessna Citation Mustang business jet, and the eight-seat Piper PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftain.For the floatplane enthusiasts, there is an article on flying a Maule M-7-235B Rocket Amphibian on and off a lake in Essex. Aerobatics fans can enjoy the articles on the Pitts S-2A Special and Slingsby T.67M-260. For the airline enthusiasts, Bob takes you on a commercial flight in a BAe 146 from Paris to Dublin (he was a captain on CityJet). And much, much more. Then there are features on the ‘Flying Egg’ – the Questair Venture, the Aviat Husky Pup, and the capable and occasionally aerobatic Vans RV-4. Finally, and for something completely different, join Bob inside Spitfires.com’s Spitfire simulator at Goodwood.Each of Bob Davy’s carefully crafted and occasionally, hard-hitting features is superbly illustrated with a range of dynamic air-to-air photographs, almost exclusively from the lens of Keith Wilson, a practitioner of air-to-air photography, with almost forty-five years’ experience. Whatever your specific taste in aviation, there is something for everyone to enjoy within the lavishly illustrated pages of this book.