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The Wolf's File Cabinet - Online Resources for Things With Wings - UPDATED August 13th, 2004

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  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Pominville, NY
Posted by BlackWolf3945 on Wednesday, May 5, 2004 1:15 AM
MISC REFERENCE SITES
These sites don't fall under any of the above categories.



Federal Standard 595B Colors is a good site for general color reference concerning the FS color system.

Cybermodeler's Color Reference Library is a groovy page on the Cybermodeler site which has a few color tables for Japanese, German, Italian and USN aircraft from WWII as well as three PDF files which you can download. (They're pretty large files, so if you're dial-up this is an overnighter!)

Anyhoo, these PDF's cover modern US Army, USAF & USN/USMC aircraft colors and markings and are digital versions of the 'official' service documents; TM 55-1500-345-23, TO 1-1-4 and MIL-STD-2161A, respectively. Thanks to JamesDFarrow for bringing this one to my attention!

Don Color is a neat site if you're a camouflage nut. I'm not one to put full faith in artists' renditions, but most of the color artwork on this site is very well done, if somewhat simple. There are schemes for WWII as well as modern aircraft, and if you're into armor or ships there's a bit of that here too. There are also color matching charts for various standards. (FS 595, RLM etc.)

FAS.org is the website of the Federation of American Scientists. Sounds like a weird website to go to for aircraft reference but if you click on 'Conventional Weapons' you'll see a list of links to several different categories such as 'US Military Aircraft', 'US Aircraft Equipment', 'US Smart Weapons', 'ROW/OPFOR (Rest of the World/Opposing Forces) Military Aircraft' and more. You'll find a wealth of info here on just about any modern US military aircraft and those of any potential enemies.

This site has provided a starting point to many of my research projects; the information here is quite complete and, in some cases, extensive. The site also covers other aspects of warfare; you'll just have to check it out.

This site is in transition to a new format and not all sections have been updated, but you can still access the old site...

Global Security.org is quite similar to FAS.org. As a matter of fact, the listings for aircraft, and some of the information and images are exactly the same as what you'll find on FAS.org. But this site provides, in many cases, a whole lot more information. I use these two sites interchangeably and quite often.
  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Pominville, NY
Posted by BlackWolf3945 on Wednesday, May 5, 2004 1:07 AM
AVIATION MUSEUMS
Flightless birds, birds on sticks, etc...

These sites don't necessarily have much good information or alotta images. I merely list them here as a general reference.



USA

The USAF Museum is located at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio. This is a mecca for aircraft nuts, and one of the most impressive museums in the world. On display you'll find just about every type of aircraft that flew in USAAS/USAAC/USAAF/USAF colors.

The museum's website doesn't provide much in the way of good detail reference photos for the modeler. But if you need to find out what was flown by the USAAS, USAAC, USAAF or USAF and when it was flown, it's here.

Don't know what the mammoth B-19 looked like? Just look in the Archives and find out! Hence, this is an excellent general reference site for the US aircraft builder. There are also pages covering several Warsaw-Pact birds as well as good coverage of Space Vehicles, Weapons and Ground Equipment. If I could, I'd move to Ohio...


NEW Air Force Armament Museum
  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Pominville, NY
Posted by BlackWolf3945 on Wednesday, May 5, 2004 1:04 AM
GENERAL AIRCRAFT SITES
All eras, all types.



Aircraft Walkaround Center is a self explanatory title. Many on-site walkarounds as well as over 2700 links.

The Detail Site could be considered a part of The 109 Lair, but in reality it really is a separate site. You'll find several walkarounds here of many different aircraft types, the most recent, as of this writing, being that of the wreck of a Hurricane which was found in a Russian peat bog in 1999 with it's mummified pilot still at the controls. Quite a thought-provoking find...

Instrument Panels is a great source for images of...well... instrument panels! There are links to cockpit shots (mostly focused on IP's, as per the title) of many US military aircraft, both present and past. There's alotta obscure subjects here, so if you're looking for an interior photo of, say, the XF5F Skyrocket, then you'll most likely find it here!

www.paulnann.com Military Aviation Photo Gallery is a big collection of pretty nice photos by some guy named Paul Nann. There's alotta images here, especially if you're a Phantom phanatic. The quality varies, but on the whole this is good stuff. Mostly modern aircraft with a buncha warbirds.

Aeroflight - A good general reference site dealing primarily with modern air arms.

Air-Scene UK - The weekly journal by f4 Aviation is an online aviation magazine of sorts and, despite it's name, is not limited to subjects in the UK. There are mostly modern aircraft here, but there's some propjobs too. There's two 'roll call' pages on this site listing all the Phantoms and Tornado ADV's which have been flown by the RAF, with accompanying photos for most of the aircraft listed. This is a well-worthwhile site with archives going back to 1998.

Aviation Enthusiast Corner is a huge repository of images which have been uploaded by users of the site. As with any site of this nature, there's some real crappy images here. But there are also a TON of decent and excellent images as well. They're all automatically resized when submitted which kinda sux, but most of what I've found here is very useful or interesting.

The Page ain't fancy but I GUARANTEE that you won't find 99% of this stuff anywhere else! This one is another Luftwaffe site, but with a twist. In addition to the WWII aircraft here, there are three photo albums of WWI German aircraft! And, again, this isn't the same run of the mill collection of photos that you'll see in every other book, almost every photo on this entire site is from a number of personal photo albums. (FYI: This site has very limited bandwith allocation!)

Kiwi Aircraft Images is an incredible collection of one man's work. There are over 200 aircraft types covered on this site, modern and vintage, military and civilian. Most galleries have at least ten to fifteen images, with some having many, many more. This is a favorite amongst modelers and enthusiasts alike.

Usenet Replayers Open Free Directory of alt.binaries.pictures.aviation - alt.binaries.pictures.aviation is a newsgroup that one would normally have to subscribe to, but this site features free access to the postings and an only slightly useful search function. I've found a ton of really nice images here, and some which are not so nice. The best way to look through it all is to... look through it all.

When you click on the link above and get to the start page, there will only be a few images there.

Scroll down and click on More From Archive. You should now be on the 'News Resources Archive' page.

Scroll down and you should see that 'alt.binaries.pictures.aviation' is already entered in the search box. There are a few options you can choose, such as the number of images which will come up on each search. I forget what the default is, but there's no real need to change any settings. Just click Start Searching and the images will come up with the most recent being at the top.

You can also do a search for whatever you're looking for. However, this, often times, will yield nada. And sometimes you will get stuff that is totally unrelated to what you're looking for. No different than any search engine on the net, really, but be warned that some of what you'll find with your own defined search terms may be VERY objectionable depending on your personal disposition...

FYI: Each image opens in another window. Also, if you're in the habit of using keyboard shortcuts instead of the browser navigation buttons, or those supplied on the page itself, the shortcuts will sometimes not work and will pop you back to the start page.
  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Pominville, NY
Posted by BlackWolf3945 on Wednesday, May 5, 2004 12:50 AM
MODERN AIRCRAFT
Pretty much anything after WWII/Korea.


Russia / Soviet Union


MiG-19 Farmer

Here's a link to a walkaround of a Shenyang F-6 (MiG-19S) on the Gustav's Aerobase - Platinum Wings site. As with all the other page url's on this site, this url will not work as part of a simple or compound hyperlink. So just copy and paste this url into your browser bar...

Mig-19S (Shenyang F-6) Part 1
http://gustav.x-y.net/walkaround/htm/mig-19s(1).html


MiG-29 Fulcrum

Fabulous Fulcrums will satisfy the most hardcore of MiG-29 fans. This is an official site for 1 Staffel of JG 73 "Steinhoff" of today's Luftwaffe and has some of the most beautiful photography that you could hope to find on an aviation website. Also, comprehensive coverage of the aircraft of 1./JG 73 is given on the "Spotter" page. A virtual walkaround, an out-of-cockpit illustrated runthrough of the unit's demo routine and a few videos round out this superb website. Don't forget to check out the German version of this site (selected at the intro page) for an extra bit about the "Stealth Features" of the Fulcrum!!

MiG-29A Walkaround - From the MOSKIT site, this is a good walkaround of the early production MiG-29A at Monino. As of this posting, the walkaround was still 'under construction'.


Sweden


SAAB 37 Viggen

SAAB 37 Viggen Walkaround - This is a walkaround on the Aircraft Walkaround Center and is a composite of shots of a few different aircraft.


USA


F-5 Freedom Fighter / Tiger II and F-5G / F-20 Tigershark

The Tigers of VFC-13 In The Air and In Detail by CAPT Dana "Smudge" Potts is a page in the reference section on Hyperscale and is an excellent look at the Tigers of VFC-13, The Saints. There's good overall shots showing several of the unique aggressor schemes which the Saints Tigers wear, as well as some good detail shots, especially of the cockpit of an F-5E. However, if you use these shots as reference for a build, make sure of which Tiger you are building. The Navy has been using ex-USAF aircraft for awhile now and the aircraft depicted in the cockpit shots is one of these jets. The USAF aircraft had radar, the USN aircraft did not. There are other differences, as well. Nowadays, if you see a USN F-5 with the original radome, it's most likely an ex-USAF jet. And with the pending acquisition of F-5's from foreign users, you'll have to do your homework if you're modeling a current or future USN F-5...

Northrop NF-5B KLu "Freedom Fighter" is a page from the Aircraft Walkaround Center and is a pretty good walkaround of the NF-5B at the Militaire Luchtvaart Museum. There are also links to some other F-5 sites as well as two searches for F-5 material on Google.

Northrop F-5A/B F-5C/D F-5E/F F-20A Series is the F-5 section on Cybermodeler Online. There's alotta photos here, although kinda smallish and with some not being of the greatest quality. Nevertheless, even the poorest of photos can be useful.

Anyhoo, there's three walkarounds; an F-5A, F-5B and an F-5E. There are photo rosters of all variants, including the Skoshi Tigers and the F-20, which are by no means complete. There is a list of 33 users, including Northrop, 18 of which have an accompanying photo page. Also, there are images of weapons loadout charts for various variants, a list of serial numbers for the F-5 and T-38, a camo scheme page with rudimentary color profiles and, lastly, a modeling page which simply lists kits and decals which are or have been available.


Here's a selection of links to walkarounds of various ROKAF F-5's on the Gustav's Aerobase - Platinum Wings site. This Gustav fella is pretty clever and these url's will not work as part of a simple or compound hyperlink, presumably to avoid access to these pages via any means other than through his homepage. So just copy and paste these url's into your browser bar...

F-5A Freedom Fighter ROKAF Part 1
http://gustav.x-y.net/walkaround/htm/f-5a(1)1.html

F-5A Freedom Fighter ROKAF Part 2
http://gustav.x-y.net/walkaround/htm/f-5a(1)2.html

RF-5A Recon Fighter ROKAF Part 1
http://gustav.x-y.net/walkaround/htm/rf-5a(1)1.html

RF-5A Recon Fighter ROKAF Part 2
http://gustav.x-y.net/walkaround/htm/rf-5a(1)2.html

KF-5E TigerII ROKAF '2001 Seoul Air Show'
http://gustav.x-y.net/walkaround/htm/kf-5e(1).html

KF-5E TigerII ROKAF 10th FW in Suwon '1999'
http://gustav.x-y.net/walkaround/htm/kf-5e(2).html


F-8 Crusader

F-8P Crusader Walkaround , this page is part of the French Fleet Air Arm website and is also most likely listed on the Aircraft Walkaround Center site which is linked below. But this particular walkaround merits it's own mention here. There are 153 photos of the F-8P belonging to 12.F squadron which is displayed at the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace du Bourget. GREAT stuff, MiG-Masters RULE!!


F-14 Tomcat

The Most Comprehensive F-14 Tomcat Reference Work is just that. If it's a Tom, you should be able to find it here!


F-89 Scorpion

F-89 Walkaround - This is a sixteen-image walkaround of the F-89 which is on display at the Minnesota National Guard Museum. I'm not totally sure, but I think this is an F-89H.


F-100 Super Sabre

F-100.org is an astounding site. All I can say is whether you're a Hun fan or not, you gotta check this site out. There's also a buncha walkarounds of other aircraft...


F-101 Voodoo

NEW McDonnell F-101B Voodoo is a 200+ image walkaround of the One-Oh-Wonder which is on display at the Air Force Armament Museum at Eglin AFB. Some good shots here, including many of the AIM-4 Falcon.


F-104 Starfighter

Harry's Starfighter Site has alotta photos of F-104's. Not always the best quality, but every one is of use. Most, if not all, of the operators of the F-104 are represented here.

916-Starfighter.de is another site dedicated to the F-104 Starfighter, although this one deals almost exclusively with German 104's. This fella has made it a mission to document every German F-104 there ever was. So far he's doing a damn good job.

The photos are a mixed lot, some are kinda grungy, but the majority seem to be excellent and mostly of decent size. (If there's one thing I hate it's tiny-freakin' images on a website...) My favorite section on this site is 'German Starfighters at Luke AFB'.


F-106 Delta Dart

Pat's World: F-106 Delta Dart - The Ultimate Interceptor is a site which deals with, you guessed it, the F-106. This one has alotta info and alotta photos and is the nicest 106 site I've come across. Check it out!


F-111 Aardvark

F-111.net is one of the better F-111 resources on the net with lotsa info and photos.

FB-111A.net deals exclusively with the 'Switchblade' and has lotsa photos, although not always the largest or of the best quality. Still, there's alotta photos from personal photo albums here which you just won't find elsewhere...


Misc Modern Aircraft


Aviation Images - Aircraft in Detail is another site which may be listed on the Aircraft Walkaround Center site, but is also deserving of it's own mention. There are over 30 Galleries of modern aircraft here, with excellent quality photos.

Philippe's Aviation Pages is a pretty astounding page. This one is dedicated to The USAF ANG (Air National Guard), specifically the Vermont ANG & the New York ANG. There are several other units covered here as well, AND if you liked Fabulous Fulcrums, there's a couple features on the MiG-29's of JG 73 here. Absolutely BEAUTIFUL photography. Even if you aren't a fan of modern military aircraft, check this one out!
  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Pominville, NY
Posted by BlackWolf3945 on Wednesday, May 5, 2004 12:43 AM
SECOND WORLD WAR
Anything dealing exclusively with the Air War of WWII. General conflict, air arm-specific and type-specific sites will be found here. Also, subjects from the immediate pre and post-war years will be included.

I've noticed that all of the British walkaround links from the Photobucket site are dead. The links themselves are good, I just have to present them as simple links instead of hyperlinks. I'm in the middle of separating this thread into different specialized threads and this will be corrected real-soon-like, so please bear with me for a bit...


Britain / UK


Anson

Anson Walkaround Shots - This is a Photobucket album by a fella named Mark Mills (aka lasermonkey) which contains some nice detail & general shots of a few different Avro Ansons.


Blenheim

Blenheim Walkaround Shots - This is a Photobucket album by a fella named Mark Mills (aka lasermonkey) which contains some nice detail & general shots of R3821 both before and after its accident.


Fury

Fury Walkaround Shots - This is a Photobucket album by a fella named Mark Mills (aka lasermonkey) which contains some nice detail & general shots of Hawker Fury K1930 (Replica) while it was still with the Shuttleworth Collection.


Gladiator

Gladiator Walkaround Shots - This is a Photobucket album by a fella named Mark Mills (aka lasermonkey) which contains some nice detail and general shots of the Gloster Gladiator which is part of the Shuttleworth Collection.


Hind

Hind Walkaround Shots - This is a Photobucket album by a fella named Mark Mills (aka lasermonkey) which contains some nice detail and general shots of the Hawker Hind which is part of the Shuttleworth Collection.


Lysander

Lysander Walkaround Shots - This is a Photobucket album by a fella named Mark Mills (aka lasermonkey) which contains some nice detail and general shots of a couple different Westland Lysanders.


Nimrod

Nimrod Walkaround Shots - This is a Photobucket album by a fella named Mark Mills (aka lasermonkey) which contains some nice detail and general shots of the Hawker Nimrod which is part of the Shuttleworth Collection.


Spitfire

Spit IX Walkaround Shots - This is a Photobucket album by a fella named Mark Mills (aka lasermonkey) which contains some nice detail and general shots of a few different Mk.IX Spits.

Spit Vb Walkaround Shots - This is a Photobucket album by a fella named Mark Mills (aka lasermonkey) which contains some nice detail and general shots of a few different Mk.V Spits.

Spit Vc Walkaround Shots - This is a Photobucket album by a fella named Mark Mills (aka lasermonkey) which contains some nice detail and general shots of Spit Vc AR501.


Germany


Bf 109

The 109 Lair, part of the hobbyvista/hyperscale group, is one of the premiere Bf 109 reference sites on the net and has been a fave of mine since I discovered it. It's run by Lynn Ritger, THE 109 authority, in my book.

You'll find profiles & technical information, theme articles, walkarounds, modeling info, videos and much more on this site. Also, there is a sub-site full of pages of walkaround material dealing with other aircraft types, both WWII and post-war aircraft. It's called The Detail Site and contains some really excellent photo reference. Anyhoo, if you love 109's, you'll have to venture into the lair...

Messerschmitt Bf 109B-1 - From the MOSKIT site, this is an outstanding collection of period photos in what amounts to a walkaround of a Bf 109B-1. The subject aircraft was in Russian hands when these photos were taken, possibly having been 'acquired' during the Spanish Civil War.


General Luftwaffe

Triplane.net - German Warbirds in South Africa is a relatively new site, if I'm not mistaken. There are a several walkaround galleries listed, although only three or four, an Me 262B-1a, Bf 109E-3 and Fw 190A-6, are actually there; the rest being 'under construction'. There's some nice images here which will be useful to the modeler.

Luftwaffe Archives & Records Reference Group is basically a collection of links. There are a few duds here, but also many excellent sites for the Luftwaffe modeler and enthusiast.


Italy


SM.79 Sparviero

Savoia Marchetti Sm. 79 "Sparviero" is a page from an Italian modeling site, I believe. There are some pretty nice 3-view type drawings, for those who like that kind of stuff. There are also 22 different Sparvieros illustrated both with a photo and a color profile. Also included for each subject is a short description in Italian and English. The profiles are fairly well done, with the photos being medium sized and of varying quality, although the majority of them are fairly clear.


General Regia Aeronautica Italiana

Regia Aeronautica Italiana is an excellent site with dozens of great images portraying the Italian Air Force in WWII. The images are large, mostly of good quality and several are in color. This is a must see...


Japan


A5M Claude

Mitsubishi A5M2 Claude" - From the MOSKIT site, this is an outstanding collection of period photos in what amounts to a walkaround of an A5M2. The subject aircraft was in Russian hands when these photos were taken, most likely having been 'acquired' during the Russian-Japanese conflict over Manchukuo during 1938.


General IJNAF & IJAAF

J-Aircraft.com is one of the better online resources for Japanese aircraft of WWII.


Russia / Soviet Union


LaGG-3

NEW LaGG-3 Lakirovanny Garantirovanny Grob (Varnished Guaranteed Coffin) - This is another excellent work by Massimo Tessitori and is hosted on Soviet Warplanes.com.


La-7

Lost in Time... The Misadventures of Ivan Kozhedub's Famous "White 27" is an invaluable bit of reference for those who have an interest in Ivan Kozhedub or in the VVS in general. Once you get past the author's pompous remarks and tearing apart of others' research, there is actually some useful and enlightening information here regarding the La-7 flown by Ivan Kozhedub, the Soviet Union's leading ace of WWII.


MiG-3

MiG-3 Family is a reference work by Massimo Tessitori and is THE online MiG-3 resource as of this writing. You just have to grunge through it and see what's there. Groovy stuff...

Here's an alternate URL for Massimo's MiG-3 site from his VVS research page...


General Red Air Force

Soviet Warplanes.com is a new site as of February 2004. Although I like to list sites which contain alotta info and/or photos, this one, having relatively little at the moment, shows great promise. So I'll keep it here for the time being. This is the home of Massimo's MiG-3 pages...

Lend-lease on airforce.ru is a site co-run by a pal of mine and which deals with Russian lend-lease in WWII, mostly aircraft. This is yet another site with original material, most of which which can be found nowhere else!


USA



P-38 Lightning

P-38 Walkaround is a page on the Project XP-38N website and consists of almost 200 photos of four different P-38's, including the EAA's 'Marge', 'Glacier Girl' and POF's 'Porky II'.


P-40 Warhawk

Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk is a page on the Kiwi Aircraft Images site and includes almost 80 shots of Hawks which could, at one time or another, be found in New Zealand. The images are generally medium-sized and range from decent to excellent quality. These are all pictures of Warbirds; no period shots here.

Curtiss P-40C Walkaround Shots - This is a page with 32 detail shots of the Tomahawk which is on display at the National Museum of Naval Aviation. This P-40 is actually a composite of a couple different airframes and there are doubts as to the accuracy in certain areas of this 'restoration'. Despite this, and the fact that not all restorations should be taken at face value for use as modeling reference, this is the only decent early P-40 walkaround which I've come across. Until I find something better, this'll have to do...

Here's an alternate link for the same walkaround.


P-47 Thunderbolt

Republic P-47N is a walkaround page with photos of the P-47N that's on display at the USAF Armament Museum at Eglin AFB.


P-51 Mustang

Swiss Mustangs is a site dedicated to the P-51 in general, but more specifically to those which flew under the Swiss flag. There's alotta photos on this site, including a good number of color shots, although they're all kinda smallish. Regardless, many of the images on this site can be found nowhere else. If you're into Stangs, this is a cool site to grunge around on.

Modeller's Guide to Early P-51 Mustang Variants - This is a page on the IPMS Stockholm site which deals with the Allison-engined variants of the P-51. Despite what one may infer from the title of the article, there's little in the way of photos on this page. Matter, of fact, there's a grand total of just four images. There is, however, a wealth of information which may be useful to some modelers, and certainly to the researcher/historian, including a list of serials. This is a good web article for those who'd like to learn a bit about the history of the Mustang.

Modeller's Guide to Late P-51 Mustang Variants - This is a continuation of the article on the page above and deals with the Merlin-powered variants of the P-51. As above, this page's strong suit is information. There are eleven images this time around, though, and they are, on the whole, a bit more useful to the modeler. Included are a list of serials and a list of the USAAF and RAF units which operated the P-51.


8th Air Force

Little Friends is another one of my absolute favorite websites. It deals with the Fighter Groups of the 'Mighty Eighth' in WWII. With hundreds of photos (if not over a thousand) and very detailed info on the aircraft assigned to each Group, this is one of the most complete reference sites you'll see on the web concerning this subject. And it keeps getting better.

Bud Anderson's P-51 Mustang 'OLD CROW' Web Page may have started off as just a web page but it's grown into quite a large site. Being that Bud was a 'Yoxford Boy', this site is dedicated almost exclusively to the 357th FG in WWII. The webmeister is Bud's son, Jim Anderson and the content is drawn heavily from Merle Olmstead, 357th FG historian, author and all around swell guy. Merle was also a crew chief with the 357th.

There's over twenty pages of historical photos and many others with a variety of information. Some of the photos are kinda small, and not all the best quality, but you won't find much of it anywhere else. But the really neat thing about this site is the fact that there's a special section just for the model builder where there's an ongoing project to build as many 357th Stangs as possible, with participants from all over the world.

If you're into P-51's, the 357th, the Mighty Eighth, the European Air War or WWII in general, this page is a must-see.


12th Air Force

NEW The 489th Bombardment Squadron in Corsica - At first this looks like any other tribute page which some fella has put together for a relative; in this case the webmaster's father who crewed B-25's of the 489th BS, 340th BG.

However, upon grunging around a bit, this site leaves most other 'tributes' behind. WAY behind. The site has tons of links to additional pages, the most fruitful being the third link from the top, 'The 489th Base and Planes' where you'll find more links to 21 pages of aircraft photos. There's a few bad images here and there, but mostly this stuff is excellent and a good number of the shots on these 21 pages are in color. If you like cheesecake nose art, then you have to check this site out!

Also, if you're familiar with the B-25 'Briefing Time', this is the squadron with which the original 'Briefing Time' served.


General US Airpower in WWII

Web Birds.com is a site covering mostly WWII USAAF units in all theatres; ETO, MTO, PTO & CBI. LOTSA pictures, the vast majority of which you will NOT see anywhere else. This is one of my faves...
(Jim has just begun to add USN units, although there's not much to see... yet.)
  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Pominville, NY
Posted by BlackWolf3945 on Wednesday, May 5, 2004 12:33 AM
ARCHIVES
These are sites which are literally or virtually archives of photos and/or information related, in whole or in part, to aircraft.


Official and Government Archives


Australia

The Australian War Memorial is, indeed, one of the world's great museums. Their website ain't too shabby either! There's alotta information here. If you're looking for images, either click 'Collection Databases' on the menu off to the left on the homepage or 'Search Our Collections' on the right, under 'Quick Links'. The photos are rather small, but I've found that most are quite useful despite their size. And if you so desire, you can order prints.


USA

The Naval Historical Center run by the Dept. of the Navy. This site has alotta interesting photos of USN aircraft from 1922 to 1962. Go to the "Photographic Section" link in the middle of the homepage. Then find the link to the "Online Library of Selected Images".

The Air Force Historical Research Agency is an archival office within the USAF. This agency is ideal for the the serious and active researcher and, as such, contains relatively little in the way of photographic content on the site itself. In order to gain access to the much larger archives of both photos and information (such as unit histories) you must contact the agency directly. Nevertheless, there are many photos on this site that would be useful to the modeler and enthusiast.


Non-Official Archives


Aerofiles isn't really much help to the modeler as regards detail shots and the like. You won't find anything like that here. What you will find is perhaps the most comprehensive online archive of every possible aircraft type manufactured. For a 'cleaner' look at what special pages there are besides the A to Z listings, take a look at the Index of Pages. Just remember, this site's strong suit is information, not photos.

1000 Aircraft Photos.com actually contains over 3000 images. This site is similar to Aerofiles but it's not as comprehensive in general coverage of types or in the amount of information provided. The photos, however, are larger and of better quality, overall.

Airliners.net. Don't let the name of this site fool you. Although airliners are the main focus, almost 40,000 of the over 550,000 images you'll find on this site are of military aircraft. (As of May 7th, 2004)

The content is updated daily, as all the photos come from regular Joes like you and me. (as well as from professionals) As a 'fer-instance, on June 23rd, 2003 I found a photo that was taken on June 21st, 2003 at an airshow in the Netherlands. So if you wanted to make it to that big show in Whereverville this past weekend, but couldn't, chances are there may be photos of the show here.

And the quality of most of these images is first rate. There's mostly modern aircraft to be found here, but now and again you'll find some golden oldies. This is one of my personal faves!


The following sites are all somewhat similar to Airliners.net. I've found a ton of interesting and useful images on all of these sites.

AirPics.com

JetPhotos.net

AircraftPhotos.net - This is a membership site. If you are not a full member, then you are not allowed to view the full-size images and there is a HUGE 'watermark' across the photo. Still worthwhile, though, if you're a dedicated nut for things with wings and have a few extra greenbacks...
  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Pominville, NY
Posted by BlackWolf3945 on Wednesday, May 5, 2004 12:25 AM
AIR ARMS
These sites are, in many cases, official sites of the relevant air arm(s). More often than not, both modern and historical subjects are covered. You can also find period-specific air arm sites in some of the other categories, such as those found under the Second World War.


Australia


Royal Australian Air Force is the official site of the RAAF. As with most of the other official air arm and government websites out there, there are many excellent quality images to be found here. Information on the history and organization of the RAAF is also provided.


Britain / UK


Welcome to the Official Royal Air Force Website - Such a cordial greeting! This is a really fine site with lotsa info and photos. If you grunge about a bit, you'll find links to other 'satellite' sites as well. An example would be the Battle of Britain History Site.

Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organisation is not an official site but a rather comprehensive resource for info on the RAF, both past and present. There's not much here which is truly useful to Joe Modeler; there are many simple color profiles which show the basic colors and markings of most of the units listed, and they should be used only as a general reference. I don't think I've come across any photos on this site as of yet so it is, at best, only a decent starting point for the modeler who's researching a particular aircraft or unit. But it's a valuable research tool nonetheless; certainly for the general enthusiast, researcher or historian.

Canada


Canada's Air Force - I dunno if that's really the name of this site or not, but this is the official site of the CAF...

Wings for Freedom is a non-official site dealing with the Royal Canadian Air Force, both past and present. I haven't fully explored this site yet, but it appears as if there's alotta info here. There also seems to be a good number of photos, and although they tend to be on the small side, they're all useful to the modeler or enthusiast.


France


French Fleet Air Arm is an unofficial website which covers all eras of the FFAA. I haven't explored this site yet, and cannot give a more detailed description at this time.


Germany


Luftwaffe.de is the official site of today's Luftwaffe. It's not as heavy on images as other official sites, and what's there is kinda smallish, but there are some really interesting shots to be found here, especially in the 'History' (Geschichte) section.


India


Indian Air Force - Bharatiya Vayu Sena - This is an unofficial site dealing with the Indian Air Force. There's alotta photos on this site, some of which you'll have to dig for. Size and quality of the images is inconsistent, but it's mostly original material which you won't find elswhere. There's some really groovy stuff here; and not just photos, but info of all sorts including unit histories and the like. So if you're an Indian Air Force nut you'd best take a look!


Iran


IIAF - Imperial Iranian Air Force isn't an official site, at least it doesn't look to be. And alotta the photos here ain't of the best quality, but most of it is stuff you'll find nowhere else. This site covers the entire history of the IIAF and IRIAF up to recent years.


Israel


Israeli Air Force is the official website of the IAF. 10 years ago such a website would have been unthinkable; the shroud of secrecy surrounding the IAF was a thick one until relatively recently. There are some good photos in the various galleries, and there is an almost day by day account of the IAF's operations during the various conflicts in which it has participated since it's inception.


Portugal


Walkarounds - História da Aviação Militar Portuguesa is a site dedicated to the Portuguese Air Force. It's not an official site, but it has a helluvalotta groovy stuff on it! Lotsa detail shots and lotsa info. Just one problem with all that info; it's in Portuguese! Not a problem if you're F-14 Fan! ;) Anyhoo, as usual, the pictures are in English and there are online translators available, so dive in!


Taiwan


NEW Taiwan Airpower.org is a non-official website which covers all aspects of military aviation in the Republic of China, including the ROCAF, ROC Army and ROC Navy. There is also a special section devoted to ROCAF U-2 operations, although there appear to be no photos of the actual aircraft. There are, however, many photos of the various types currently in service with the three air arms of the ROC, including the F-CK-1A/B, also known as the IDF.


USA


Air Force Link is the official USAF website with up to date news as well as thousands of absolutely excellent photos. This is a must see for USAF nuts...

The United States Navy: Welcome Aboard! is the official USN website. Just like the USAF site, there's news and misc information. Although ships are naturally covered here, there are over two-thousand NAVAIR images to be found on this site.

The Official Website for the United States Marine Corp is, well, just that! News and lotsa photos, including USMCAIR...

MOVED NASA Dryden Flight Research Center - NASA isn't an air arm, but who cares? Tongue [:P] They have their own little air force made up of mostly military aircraft and are deserving of mention in this section. There's many excellent photos on this site along with alotta information on NASA operations all the way back to the days of NACA.
  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Pominville, NY
The Wolf's File Cabinet - Online Resources for Things With Wings - UPDATED August 13th, 2004
Posted by BlackWolf3945 on Wednesday, May 5, 2004 12:20 AM
101 Sites & pages listed


This is an effort to supply a decent list of links to some of the thousands of aircraft related websites and web pages which are of use to the modeler, enthusiast or historian.

I ask that no one else post to this thread so I can keep a cohesive and flexible system going.

If you notice a bad link, please email me using the email button at the bottom of any of the posts.

I hope someone finds this of use...


Fade to Black...
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