Royal Air Force News Friday, August 21, 2026 P2
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The icy water blistered my skin and bits of my tongue were raw”
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The sort of people you’d invite round for a G&T and then you’d discover dark secrets”
Sqn Ldr Nic Mackay after her gruelling solo Channel swim
Get Between the Covers with Nigel Havers
See page 5
RAF News Room 68 Lancaster Building HQ Air Command High Wycombe Buckinghamshire HP14 4UE Editor: Simon Williams Email: editor@rafnews.co.uk Executive Features Editor: Tracey Allen Email: tracey.allen@rafnews. co.uk News Editor: Simon Mander Email: Simon.Mander116@ mod.gov.uk
See R’n’R pp4-5
A CHINOOK from Benson operated by 28 Sqn took off for a training tasking during the Solar Eclipse. Evening light gave way to twilight over the Oxfordshire airbase as the moon drifted across the sun during the once-in-a-generation phenomena. It was the first total solar eclipse
Women’s fencing captain Sqn Ldr Elsa Phillipson See page 27
visible in parts of mainland Europe since 1999. Most of Europe, including the UK, northern North America and West Africa experienced a dramatic partial solar eclipse. The British Isles will not experience another major solar eclipse until September 2090. PHOTO: SGT TIM LAURENCE
This Week In History 1987
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Death of Hess
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THE BODY of Nazi war criminal Rudolf Hess was flown out of Berlin in a Hercules following his death in Spandau Prison.
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Being selected to represent the RAF is always a point of pride”
1934
Gyro debut THE ROYAL Air Force’s first rotary wing aircraft, a Cierva autogyro, is delivered to the RAF School of Army Cooperation at Old Sarum.
1991
Diana’s final flight 32 (THE ROYAL) SQN return the body of HRH Diana The Princess of Wales to Northolt on board a BAE 146 following her death in a car crash in Paris.
Extracts from The Royal Air Force Day By Day by Air Cdre Graham Pitchfork (The History Press)