What aircraft now qualify as historic? Given that this year's RIAT line-up of current operational types included a US Air Force B-52H built in 1960, and two Andravida-based Hellenic Air Force F-4E Phantom lis that entered service in 1974, the definition can be somewhat elastic. The RAF's 'desert pink'-painted Tornado GR4 reminded us that this type has flown operationally non-stop for the past 25-plus years, whereas the Austrian Air Force has had its venerable Saab 105OEs since 1970, and they still look the same now as they did then. The Sukhoi Su-27 is definitely redolent of the Cold War, though the 'pixelated' liveries applied to the two Ukrainian Air Force examples present, one giving very welcome flying displays — the first by a 'Flanker' in the UK since the great Anatoly Kvotchur performed at Jersey in 2001 — indicated that they were upgraded single-seat Su-27P1 M and two-seat UB1M variants.
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