SJF Photography

SJF Photography Aviation, Railway and Motorsport Photography around the UK

Auster AOP.V TJ569 at the Army Flying Museum.TJ569 was built in 1945 and saw service with 652, 659 and 660 Squadrons, th...
30/05/2026

Auster AOP.V TJ569 at the Army Flying Museum.

TJ569 was built in 1945 and saw service with 652, 659 and 660 Squadrons, then part of the Royal Air Force as air observation post units working with the Army. The aircraft is completed with D-Day invasion stripes. Following military service, the aircraft flew in civilian hands registered in the UK as G-AKOW and the Netherlands as PH-NAD and PH-NEG.

Britten-Norman Islander AL.1 ZG993 at the Army Flying Museum.This Islander was built in 1988 and registered G-BOMD for t...
28/05/2026

Britten-Norman Islander AL.1 ZG993 at the Army Flying Museum.

This Islander was built in 1988 and registered G-BOMD for testing before delivery to the Army in 1990, as ZG993. The Islander AL.1 was used for aerial reconnaissance and photography, with this example being a veteran of the Gulf War, Balkans and Northern Ireland, flying in service until 2010, when it went into storage at Shawbury, before being transported to the Army Flying Museum in 2015.

This ZSU-23-4 Shilka was captured from the Iraqi Army during the first Gulf War, now on display at the Army Flying Museu...
27/05/2026

This ZSU-23-4 Shilka was captured from the Iraqi Army during the first Gulf War, now on display at the Army Flying Museum. The type saw service with the Iraqi Ground Forces during the Iran-Iraq War, the Gulf War and the Iraq War.

de Havilland Canada Beaver AL.1 XP822 at the Army Flying MuseumXP822 was built by de Havilland at Hatfield in 1961 and s...
25/05/2026

de Havilland Canada Beaver AL.1 XP822 at the Army Flying Museum

XP822 was built by de Havilland at Hatfield in 1961 and served with the Army Air Corps, as part of the British Army of the Rhine, among other duties. The aircraft, as presented here, has the identification plate from XP822 but is a composite restoration.

The bulk is supposedly XP806, a Beaver that saw service during the Aden Emergency. XP806 was damaged in a crash at Sohar, Oman, in 1970. Parts from XP815 were also used in the restoration. XP815 was damaged in a crash at Volos airstrip, Greece, in 1962, though it was later restored and flew in civilian hands as N478TT and N76CP.

I'm not sure if any major parts of the aircraft are actually from XP822, but that just seems to be the way of aircraft restoration sometimes!

Stopping off at the Army Flying Museum on the way to Dorset 😄
18/05/2026

Stopping off at the Army Flying Museum on the way to Dorset 😄

Hawker Hunter T.7 WV383 at the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust Museum.WV383 was built as a Hawker Hunter F.4 in 1955, tho...
16/05/2026

Hawker Hunter T.7 WV383 at the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust Museum.

WV383 was built as a Hawker Hunter F.4 in 1955, though it was damaged in a wheels-up landing in 1956. It was rebuilt as a Hunter T.7 and returned to service in 1959, first in West Germany with 79 and 4 Squadron, before heading to the Far East, where it served with 28 and 20 Sqn.

In 1971, WV383 transferred to the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough in 1971, for trials work, which lasted until retirement in 1998. It was donated by QinetiQ to the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust and placed on display in 2002.

English Electric Canberra B(I).6 WT309 at the Farnborough Sciences Trust Museum.WT309 was built by English Electric at P...
15/05/2026

English Electric Canberra B(I).6 WT309 at the Farnborough Sciences Trust Museum.

WT309 was built by English Electric at Preston in 1955. It flew with the RAF’s Handling Squadron at RAF Manby for trials before moving to the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough in 1957 with the Armament Flight, latterly named the Weapons Flight.

WT309 was eventually retired in the mid-1980s and transferred to the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment at Boscombe Down for ground trials, before being used for training by the Boscombe Down Apprentice Department.

It was stored in the open and was later formally withdrawn and scrapped in 1998. The cockpit section, however, was acquired by a group of Farnborough Air Sciences Trust members and went on public display in 2002.

Folland Gnat T.1 XP516 at the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust Museum.XP516 first flew in 1963 and served with 4 Flying Tr...
14/05/2026

Folland Gnat T.1 XP516 at the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust Museum.

XP516 first flew in 1963 and served with 4 Flying Training School and the Central Flying School at RAF Valley, including serving as a reserve aircraft for the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, the Red Arrows. In 1978, it was relegated to instructional duties as 8580M.

It then passed to the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency, later QinetiQ, for vibration testing duties until final retirement, when it transferred to the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust. The rear fuselage of the airframe comes from XP532, though that rear fuselage was originally fitted to XS101.

SEPECAT Jaguar B XW566 at the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust Museum in 2024.XW566 was the last of eight Jaguar prototype...
13/05/2026

SEPECAT Jaguar B XW566 at the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust Museum in 2024.

XW566 was the last of eight Jaguar prototypes, and was the first to be assembled in Britain, as well as being the first two-seater trainer model. It first flew from Warton in April 1971 and remained with the British Aircraft Corporation for evaluation and trials until 1982. During this time, it flew with both the Aeroplane & Armament Experimental Establishment and the Royal Aircraft Establishment, transferring to the latter in 1982, though it only flew until 1985.

From then, it served in ground trials for Electro-Magnetic Compatibility and lightning strike investigation until it was retired by QinetiQ in 2004, and was then loaned to the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust.

Hawker Hunter T.7 XL563 at the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust Museum 2024.The first production Hawker Hunter T.7, XL563,...
12/05/2026

Hawker Hunter T.7 XL563 at the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust Museum 2024.

The first production Hawker Hunter T.7, XL563, first flew from Dunsfold Aerodrome in 1957 and was allocated to the Aeroplane & Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) at Boscombe Down for gun trials. By 1960, XL563 flew as a support aircraft for the Hawker P.1127 project, and then as a chase aircraft for the Bristol 188 programme until 1963.

It then transferred to the Institute of Aviation Medicine at Farnborough, where it flew until retirement in 1993. During this time, XL563 supported numerous projects, most notably in relation to crew clothing and G protection.

Following retirement, the aircraft was placed on display outside the Officers' Mess at Farnborough in 1995, until it was demolished in 1999, and XL563 was dismantled and sold. It was acquired by the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust in 2013, after years in open storage, and arrived at the museum the following year and has undergone restoration.

At the time of the photos, the aircraft had been repainted into its IAM livery, which lacks the finishing touches of the markings that have since been applied.

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