The Historic Army Aircraft Flight (HAAF) is a

charitable The practice of charity is the voluntary giving of help to those in need, as a humanitarian act, unmotivated by self-interest. There are a number of philosophies about charity, often associated with religion. Etymology The word ''charity'' ori ...

trust which brings the history of

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

flying to life by preserving and flying a unique collection of

historic History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

British Army

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...

formerly operated by the

Army Air Corps Army Air Corps may refer to the following army aviation corps: * Army Air Corps (United Kingdom), the army aviation element of the British Army * Philippine Army Air Corps (1935–1941) * United States Army Air Corps (1926–1942), or its p ...

(AAC). It serves as a 'living museum' for ex-service personnel commemorative and

memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of a ...

purposes, as an aid to recruiting, and for supporting wider British Army

heritage Heritage may refer to: History and society * A heritage asset is a preexisting thing of value today ** Cultural heritage is created by humans ** Natural heritage is not * Heritage language Biology * Heredity, biological inheritance of physical c ...

in public. It features an aerial display group; comprising a

de Havilland Beaver The de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver is a single-engined high-wing propeller-driven short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft developed and manufactured by de Havilland Canada. It has been primarily operated as a bush plane and has been used ...

, a

Westland Scout The Westland Scout is a light helicopter developed by Westland Helicopters. Developed from the Saro P.531, it served as a land-based general purpose military helicopter, sharing a common ancestor and numerous components with the naval-orientat ...

, an Agusta-Bell Sioux, and an

Auster AOP.9 The Auster AOP.9 was a British military air observation aircraft ("Air Observation Post") produced by Auster Aircraft Limited to replace the Auster AOP.6. Design and development The Auster AOP.9 was designed as a successor to the Auster AOP.6. ...

History

Initially formed in , as the Historic Aircraft Flight (HAF) of the

(AAC), then since , as the Army Historic Aircraft Flight (AHAF), it was an official

flight Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight or aviation) or through the vacuum of outer space (i.e. spaceflight). This can be a ...

of the

. It was created in order to save and maintain one example of each

operated since the Army Air Corps inception in

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

. Its purpose was to preserve the AAC's

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...

for future generations. The aircraft of the AHAF were originally supported in part by the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

(MoD), along with additional donations and any income from

air display Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in conventional passenger-carrying flights. The term is a portmanteau of "aerial" and "acrobatics". Aerobatics are performed in aeroplanes and glid ...

s it undertook. Although the AHAF was self-administered by its own charitable company, in 2013, the MoD withdrew all official public funding. This forced the AHAF into a state of dormancy or 'suspended animation'. In order to ensure that its aircraft remain

airworthy In aviation, airworthiness is the measure of an aircraft's suitability for safe flight. Initial airworthiness is demonstrated by a certificate of airworthiness issued by the civil aviation authority in the state in which the aircraft is register ...

and available, four of the AHAF aircraft (Auster, Beaver, Scout, and Sioux) were transferred to the

Civil Register Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...

of the

UK Civil Aviation Authority The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is the statutory corporation which oversees and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the United Kingdom. Its areas of responsibility include: * Supervising the issuing of pilots' licences, testing of ...

(UK CAA); this helps to reduce both maintenance servicing times and costs. Now known as the Historic Army Aircraft Flight (HAAF), it operates as a

Registered Charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a ch ...

(charity number: 1024043, as the Historic Aircraft Flight Trust), governed by the Historic Army Aircraft Flight Trustee Limited. The Historic Army Aircraft Flight Trustee Ltd was incorporated on , as a

private company A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in the respective listed markets, but rather the company's stock is ...

limited by guarantee In British, Australian, Bermudian, Hong Kong and Irish company law (and previously New Zealand), a company limited by guarantee (CLG) is a type of corporation used primarily (but not exclusively) for non-profit organisations that require legal pe ...

without

share capital A corporation's share capital, commonly referred to as capital stock in the United States, is the portion of a corporation's equity that has been derived by the issue of shares in the corporation to a shareholder, usually for cash. "Share capita ...

. Registered in England and Wales under company number 09572211, it is listed under the standard industrial classification of economic activities (SIC) as 'Museums activities' (91020).

Aircraft

The Historic Army Aircraft Flight includes the following retired AAC

: More details of the aircraft in the Flight can be seen on the website.

References

External links

HAAF.uk
— official website {{Authority control Military units and formations established in 1980 Organisations based in Hampshire Museums in Hampshire Aircraft preservation Army aviation

History

Aircraft

See also

References

External links