Jonathan Gitlin

Jonathan Gitlin

Jonathan Gitlin

Jonathan Gitlin

Jonathan Gitlin

Jonathan Gitlin

Jonathan Gitlin

Jonathan Gitlin

Jonathan Gitlin

Jonathan Gitlin

Jonathan Gitlin

Jonathan Gitlin

Jonathan Gitlin

Jonathan Gitlin

Jonathan Gitlin

A recent trip to the UK meant we happened to be near the Imperial War Museum Duxford, the Cambridgeshire outpost where the Imperial War Museum keeps over 200 of its airplanes. It's not just the UK's largest aviation museum—it's a thoroughly good day out for anyone who like things with wings. The site itself has its own share of history, too. It was an RAF base until 1961 and was crucial to the Battle of Britain (as well as starring in the movie of that name).

The gallery above includes some (but not all) of the wonderful (and in some cases not-so-wonderful) flying machines. The hangar of American planes was being refurbished on the day we visited, so you won't see photos of Duxford's B-52 or SR-71. However, you will see plenty of Cold War hardware from both the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm.

And we'll wager that some of these planes will not be familiar to our readers, like the ill-fated BAC TSR-2. But the museum has more than a few icons of British aviation history, including Concorde, the spectacularly fast English Electric Lightning, and a pair of "V Force bombers," the Avro Vulcan and Handley Page Victor. Enjoy the photos!

Listing image by Jonathan Gitlin