The AV-8B Harrier wasn't loved by everyone when it arrived. Critics questioned whether a jump jet was worth the cost and complexity. Then the Marines demonstrated something conventional fighters couldn't do, operate from tiny forward bases just a few miles behind the front line.

Some of the bravest Mi,8 missions were never combat sorties. After the Chernobyl disaster, crews hovered above the exposed reactor while dropping thousands of tonnes of sand, lead and boron into the blazing core. Radiation levels were terrifying!

When British Airways ordered the Airbus A320, it wasn't simply buying another airliner. It was replacing the backbone of its short haul fleet. The trusty Boeing 737s and BAC One-Elevens gradually made way for a completely different philosophy, fly-by-wire controls, sidesticks and digital cockpits!

The A320 nearly became a victim of British political hesitation before it became an aviation giant! In 1984, Parliament argued over whether to support British Aerospace’s share of the programme. Government launch aid finally helped unlock the project.

Aircraft designers hate wasting a good aeroplane! The Invader was heading for retirement until engineers gave it stronger wings, uprated engines and a completely new lease of life. Reborn as the B,26K Counter Invader, it returned to combat over Southeast Asia!

When American B-29s made emergency landings in Soviet territory, Stalin declined to return three of them and ordered Tupolev to copy the bomber. One aircraft was dismantled, another tested and a third preserved for comparison!

The Sea Hawk's finest combat achievements didn't come with the Royal Navy at all. Flying from INS Vikrant in 1971, Indian Navy Sea Hawks attacked ports, shipping and military targets around East Pakistan.

The Handley Page Hastings looked set for decades of RAF service, then the Bristol Britannia and Lockheed Hercules arrived and changed everything. In aviation, progress waits for nobody!

Some Harvards seemed determined never to retire! South Africa kept them in military service for more than half a century, finally standing them down in the mid-1990s after training generations of pilots!

The Spitfire became a carrier aircraft and pilots quickly discovered it wasn't entirely at home at sea! Narrow landing gear and limited forward visibility made carrier landings a proper handful. Still, the Seafire gave the Fleet Air Arm outstanding fighter performance.

The Gripen was built for the day Sweden’s proper airfields disappeared! Instead of waiting neatly on one enormous target, fighters could scatter onto prepared roads, refuel and rearm in under ten minutes with one technician and five conscripts!

The first P-38 nearly completed a record-breaking transcontinental dash before ending the day in a golf course! In February 1939, Lieutenant Ben Kelsey flew the XP-38 across America in seven hours and 48 minutes, only to crash while approaching New York!

The Privateer helped launch precision-guided warfare before most people had television! In April 1945, PB4Y-2s of VPB-109 released Bat glide bombs against Japanese shipping at Balikpapan. Once dropped, the weapon’s own radar guided it towards the target without further direction from the aircraft.

Major Charles Carpenter looked at his unarmed Grasshopper and apparently decided six bazookas would improve matters. His L-4H, Rosie the Rocketer, attacked German armour during the fighting in France and became one of the war’s most improbable combat aircraft!

The ATR 72 exists because somebody asked a brilliantly simple question, "What if we just made the ATR 42 longer?" Which aircraft stretch do you think improved the original design the most? #ATR72 #RegionalAviation #Turboprop #AviationHistory #Aircraft

Britain’s early Cold War fighter gap was filled by an aircraft built in Canada and designed in America! The RAF received hundreds of Canadair Sabre F.4s while waiting for home-grown swept-wing fighters, basing most of them in Germany with NATO.

The Blenheim started the war as a fast bomber. It ended up chasing bombers instead! Once German fighters exposed its weaknesses, engineers squeezed early radar into its nose and turned it into one of Britain's first night fighters.

When the unfamiliar Dolphin prototype reached France, Allied gunners fired at it after apparently mistaking its strange silhouette for a German aircraft. Innovation is all very well, but ideally your colleagues should recognise your aeroplane before opening fire!

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At first glance the Challenger 605 looks remarkably similar to the 604 it replaced. The real transformation happened in the cockpit. Collins Pro Line 21 avionics gave crews larger displays, electronic flight bag capability and a far more modern operating environment.

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A Sea Harrier once came home on somebody else’s ship. In 1983, Sub-Lieutenant Ian “Soapy” Watson became lost over the Atlantic with failing instruments and little fuel. He spotted the container ship Alraigo and landed vertically on its cargo!

Think you know your military aircraft? 👀 We've zoomed right in on the main landing gear of one very famous aircraft. No reverse image searches, no hints, just your aviation knowledge! Let's see who spots it first! #MilitaryAviation #AircraftIdentification #AviationEnthusiast #Warbirds

The Helldiver nearly became one of aviation's biggest failures! Early aircraft suffered stability problems, poor handling and structural weaknesses that frustrated pilots and engineers alike.

The Me 262’s engines were astonishing and alarmingly delicate! Shortages of heat-resistant metals forced Junkers to redesign the Jumo 004 around cheaper materials, helping make mass production possible but sharply limiting service life.

The jet age did not immediately pension off the Mustang! Re-designated F-51, it returned to war in Korea as a ground-attack aircraft because its range and endurance remained useful. The trouble was that its liquid-cooled engine disliked ground fire intensely!

Many of the “Messerschmitts” in the 1969 film Battle of Britain were not German at all. They were Spanish HA-1112 Buchóns, descendants of the Bf 109 fitted with British Rolls-Royce Merlin engines. Did you notice the Buchóns in Battle of Britain?

Canada once used Fireflies to sink a captured U-boat, and they did the job rather too efficiently. During Operation Scuppered in 1947, Fireflies from 826 Squadron attacked U-190 with rockets off Nova Scotia. The submarine sank so quickly that planned Seafire bombing runs were cancelled!

Brazil’s P-47 pilots had one particularly busy day in Italy. On 22 April 1945, the 1st Fighter Group launched repeated missions against German transport, bridges and barges, flying 44 individual sorties. How much did you know about Brazil’s wartime fighter operations before reading this?