This week (18th September) marks the third anniversary of the first post going live on Warbird Tails. Almost 260 posts on I still thoroughly enjoy updating this site regularly with Warbird news, history and stories. To mark the occasion I wanted to take a look back at three of the posts I’m most proud of from the past three years.

“de Havilland Dreams” – 2014

This series took a look at three iconic de Havilland piston twins, the first post was an account on my personal history with DH88 Comet G-ACSS, from watching early taxi runs back in 2004 to that incredible first display in 2014. Part 2 is a retelling of my trip to America largely to see Mosquito KA114 in the air, this has proven to be one of the most read posts on the website. The final part of this series looked at the legendary and sadly extinct Hornet. My Grandfather used to fly this incredible machine so its holds a special place in my heart. News recently broke that a Sea Hornet is being restored to fly, which hopefully means in the not too distant future part 3 of this series may be getting a much needed update.

“Sopwith’s First World War”- 2015

This is one of my favourite series in place on this website. This 8 part series was released throughout 2015, starting in January with the final post on the Snipe being published on the 30th December. I loved researching some of the deeper history of these Sopwith types, with each post covering a different key Sopwith Scout. This is another series I hope to revisit in 2018 and hopefully include some pilots accounts. I added an overall photo post as a bonus part 9 in 2016 and I suspect it might get rounded up to 10 parts before 2017 is done. There will also be a post coming before Christmas in the similar vein as de Havilland Dreams for my personal Sopwith memories.

“Aero Engines of History” – 2015/17

This series is still very much a work in progress, but the first three instalments have proven to be very interesting to put together and seem to have been well received. So far I’ve covered pre-war, WW1 and the interwar years, the next post, which is due before the end of 2017 will look at WW2 and will unsurprisingly be an extensive post. When I first came up with this series idea I thought it might prove interesting to read as there aren’t many posts around on a similar subject, hopefully the last couple of parts, which bring us into the jet age, will prove similarly popular.

Year 4?

It’s been good to have a look back at three of my favourite blog series of the last few years but what about the future? Well key aims are the completion of the Aero Engines and Curtiss series along with continuing to release regular airshow reviews and Warbird Stories. One area I’m actively working to expand and make a more regular release is “Warbird People” – I really enjoy delving into historic biographies and speaking to those who look after or fly these aeroplanes today. I hope that this time next year I’ll be looking forward to a whole new archive of these posts.

I just want to take this time to offer a huge thank you to all those who read and subscribe to this blog and those who follow on Facebook and Twitter. If you aren’t already on the Warbird Tails Facebook group I’d advise joining. Its a new idea I’m setting up which I hope will become a great resource for Warbird discussion and news.

Thanks for reading, there’s plenty more to come!