As this year’s advent series comes to an end. I wanted to use this post to first and foremost thank all of those who stayed with me through what has been a very quiet 2021. The usual challenges of the pandemic, combined with a more traditionally busy airshow season, all wrapped up with becoming a Dad in September has made for a quieter year than I would ordinarily like. Hopefully I’ll manage to realise some bigger plans to get the site back up to speed in 2022.

It has always been my aim to evolve this site away from purely being about airshow reviews and move more into those extended features that I have at times been able to put together. I’m hoping to rekindle that side of the site in 2022. This will hopefully take the form of both individual “airshow favourites” aircraft histories as well as a return of Warbird People and some more historically focused series. I thought I’d use this post to highlight a few of my plans, if nothing else I have something to hold myself to account over!

Jets!

It’s no secret that this site as a general rule tends to lean towards the early days of flight through the end of the piston age, but I do also have a soft spot for those wonderful early generation jets. As a result in 2022 I’m hoping to spend more time profiling and featuring those types. Specifically I want to take a look at the Century Fighters designed and flown in the United States during the 1950s and 60s. From the Super Sabre to the Starfighter, each of these jets offered something unique and to this day still look modern and most importantly fast! Across the year I plan to release features trying to cover something different about each of these machines, which will be a great learning journey for me, as well as hopefully readers

Shorts Brothers

Though it may be considered an unusual topic, Shorts aircraft have a special place in my heart, with my Grandfather having been involved in the test flying and demonstration flights of the Belfast and Skyvan. Both have long been planned subjects for a series of articles on this site but so far I haven’t quite been able to do them justice. Again, with 2022 I hope to change that. So watch this space for a look at these unique Northern Ireland machines!

More jets!

Not only will I be featuring some of the unique American designs to come out of the 50s and 60s, I’ll also be focusing on this side of the Atlantic too. You can expect some different features focusing on the Lightning, Canberra, Hunter and Buccaneer.

Airshow Icons

Closer to what you might ordinarily expect from Warbird Tails will be a series profiling iconic aircraft from the UK airshow scene. This will feature machines that have been “part of the furniture” for decades and can perhaps sometimes go unnoticed. Where possible, I’ll be trying to get in touch with operators to get a view from the other side of the fence as well.