John P hughes - Art

A few of the Images that I have taken with my new SeeStar S50 telescope. 1. M42 the great nebula in Orion where stars are being formed - 2. M45 The pleiades star cluster shining through gas and dust - 3. M101 a galaxy like our own and has around a trillion stars and is 21 million light years away from us - 4. IC454 The Horsehead Nebula in Orion, a dark nebula lit from behind by stars ionising the gas around them - 5. The Moon, not an ideal target for this telescope - 6 a star cluster - 7. NGC 7293 The Helix Nebula, lso known as the "Eye of God" is the result of a star that, near the end of it's life (12,000 yeas ago), blew away it's outer parts which are still expanding.

Douglas D558-1 Skystreak - Nicknamed the “Crimson Test Tube”, the D558-1 made it’s 1st flight on 14 April 1947. This painting depicts Major M. E. Carl, US Marine Corps, setting a new world speed record on 25 August 1947 of 650.797 miles per hour, at just 200 feet altitude, over a course laid out on Muroc Dry Lake, (now Edwards Air Force Base). Because of the lack of knowledge of aerodynamic loading at that time, the aircraft was built incredibly strong and was designed to withstand unusually high loads of up to 18G, way more than the pilot could endure. Another oddity was that the forward fuselage, including the cockpit, could be jettisoned from the aircraft in an emergency. 2 of the 3 built remain and are on display at the Naval Air Museum (Florida) and the Carolinas Aviation Museum (North Carolina).

Bell X-1A – “Another record for Yeager” - Longer and heavier than the original X-1 and with a new canopy, the X-1A was powered by the same rocket engine, but with larger fuel tanks the engine could fire for longer. On 12 December 1953 US Air Force test pilot Chuck Yeager (first man to break the sound barrier) flew it to a new speed record of Mach 2.435 (1,618 mph) at 74,700 feet. Soon afterwards, the aircraft spun out of control and dropped from over 70,000 ft+ to 25,000 feet, exposing Yeager to 8g, during which time he broke the canopy with his helmet before regaining control and landing safely at Muroc dry lake (now Edwards AFB).

Bell X-1E – The rocket powered X1-E was a modification of the X-1-2, with a new “knife edge” canopy and an extremely thin wing (only 3⅜ inches maximum) it’s goal was to explore high speed flight in excess of Mach 2 with the very thin wing. It was dropped from a modified B-29 bomber at between 25 – 29,000 ft and then the rocket engine was ignited. Test pilot Joe Walker attained Mach 2.24 on October 8th 1957 which was the highest speed that the X-1E attained. It’s maximum altitude was 73,458ft. The X-1E is currently on display outside the NASA Dryden Flight Research Centre at Edwards, California.

“ Through the Barrier” – Bell X-1 – On 14 October 1947 this rocket powered experimental aircraft, nicknamed Glamorous Glennis, piloted by Chuck Yeager was the first manned aircraft to officially exceed the speed of sound in level flight (Mach 1.06). It was dropped from a modified B29 bomber at 29,000ft over the Mojave Desert in California at Muroc (now Edwards) Air Force Base. The white area is frost from the liquid oxygen tank which gradually decreased as the tank emptied after just 90 seconds of rocket power.

• “Out of the North” - Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow – This delta-winged prototype would arguably have become the finest interceptor aircraft in the World at the time. The CF-105 was intended to serve as the Royal Canadian Air Force's primary interceptor into the 1960s and beyond. First flight was on 25 March 1958, and the design quickly demonstrated excellent handling and overall performance. 5 prototypes were constructed in all, but on 20 February 1959, the Prime Minister of Canada abruptly cancelled further development of the Arrow and ordered all of the aircraft and engines to be destroyed!! This effectively put Avro out of business and remains a contentious issue to this day.

Blackburn Buccaneer at West Freugh - Delivered on 16th May 1974 to the Royal Aircraft Establishment, this Buccaneer (XW988) was painted in a yellow, black and white scheme to aid photographic interpretation and was modified with extra outboard pylons carrying cameras to record weapons release. Here XW988 is seen releasing a practice WE177 Nuclear weapon using the toss bomb technique. The aircraft was retired in 1994 but was purchased by Thunder City in Cape Town, painted gloss black and regularly appeared at airshows in South Africa.

Gloster Javelin FAW.9 A&AEE – This aircraft was used by the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment for various purposes and was painted in a high visibility red and white scheme. It was used in a wide range of projects from the MRCA development (Tornado) to Concorde. It was the last Javelin to fly, (final flight 24th January 1975) where it flew in to Duxford to become part of the Imperial War Museum and is still on display there. The Javelin was the last aircraft design to bear the Gloster name.

Gloster Meteor Prototype – Flying first in 1943 is was so secret that it was under permanent armed guard while on the ground. The first production Meteor flew in the following year and was identical except for the addition of four cannon in the nose and a better canopy to improve all-round visibility. It was the only allied jet aircraft to see service in WWII. The Meteor was a great success and went on to serve in 18 different air forces worldwide.

Gloster Meteor ‘prone position’ experimental aircraft – 1954 – this Meteor, was modified with a second cockpit in an extended nose. Here the pilot lay on his stomach to fly the aircraft. It was thought that this would help him overcome the increasing “G” forces involved in combat. Trials concluded that the prone position concept was feasible, but the development of inflating “G” suits offered a simpler solution to the problem of counteracting ‘G’ forces, and the prone position concept was abandoned. This aircraft is on display at RAF Cosford museum.

DeHavilland (BAe) Comet C4 AEW trials aircraft 1977. - This heavily modified Comet C4 was used in the Ni**od Airborne Early Warning programme and was fitted with a Ni**od tail and huge radome on the nose. The cutting edge Ni**od AEW3 suffered with delays and technical problems, eventually causing the programme to be cancelled (just as several aircraft were ready to enter service!) and the American Boeing Sentry AEW was purchased instead.

British Aerospace EAP (Experimental Aircraft Programme) – first flight August 8, 1986 it was probably the most advanced aircraft of it’s time – Deliberately designed to be unstable and therefore more agile, it used cutting edge computing power in it’s fly by wire system to fly. It was capable of Mach 2+ and altitudes in excess of 60,000ft. Data from the program was used in the design of the modern Eurofighter Typhoon. It is preserved at the RAF Museum at Cosford.

British Aerospace Jaguar ACT (Active Control Technology) research aircraft – first flight 1981 – The Jaguar’s normal controls were replaced with a digital ‘fly-by-wire’ control system and the aircraft was made more unstable by fitting large leading edge strakes (wing extensions). Test pilots were impressed by the crisp control responses, smooth flight and enhanced manoeuvrability. Data gathered by this aircraft was used in the design of the Experimental Aircraft Program (EAP) aircraft which in turn led to the current Eurofighter Typhoon.

Vickers Supermarine 535 "Swift" development aircraft – first flying on 23rd August 1950, it was a development of the type 528 but fitted with a more powerful afterburning engine, a lengthened nose and a tricycle undercarriage. The 535 was further developed into the Swift fighter for the RAF. This aircraft was also a film star in the 1952 David Lean film “The Sound Barrier” where it was playing the Ridgefield Aircraft Company's “Prometheus” aircraft that (SPOILER ALERT!!) actually succeeded in breaking the sound barrier at the end of the film.

Hawker Siddeley P1127 – This is the third P1127 prototype and was fitted with a modified wing (similar to production Harriers). This particular aircraft first flew on 5 April 1962. It was the World’s first practical, fixed wing, Vertical Take Off and Landing aircraft and was developed, first into the Kestrel, then finally to the hugely successful Harrier multi role aircraft.

English Electric P1B – Lightning prototype - XA847 was the first P.1B and was much closer in shape to the production Lightning design than the P1A. Fitted with more powerful RR Avon afterburning turbojets, it exceeded Mach 1 during it’s first flight on 4th April 1958. It showed an incredible rate of climb and on 25th of November that year became the UK's first aircraft to exceed Mach 2. The design was developed into the Lightning fighter/interceptor for the RAF.

Supermarine 525 fast and low at Farnborough 1954 – this was a development aircraft for a carrier-borne, multi-role, low-level, nuclear strike aircraft for the Royal Navy – data from this aircraft was used to produce the Supermarine Scimitar, which first flew 2 years later.

Prototype de Havilland DH100 - first flown on 20th September 1943, it was the second UK jet fighter, the first to exceed 500mph and the first jet aircraft to operate from an aircraft carrier. Following modifications to the tail, it became known as the Vampire and was in service with the RAF and Royal Navy and over 30 other air forces worldwide.