Summary
World Aircraft Information Files (WAIF) is a weekly partwork magazine published by Bright Star Publications (part of Midsummer Books) in the United Kingdom. Each issue was priced at £1.70 for issues 1–163, and £1.80 for issues 164–218. Altogether, there were 218 issues in the complete set, which completed in 2002. Originally advertised as having 200 issues, the run was extended to 218 issues when approximately 576 pages were missing from the collection.[2][3] An index to the complete series was given in the final issue.
| Managing Editor | David Donald[1] |
|---|---|
| Categories | Aviation |
| Frequency | Weekly |
| Publisher | Stan Morse[1] |
| First issue | 1997 |
| Final issue Number | 2002 218 |
| Company | Bright Star Publishing |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Website | Official Website |
| ISSN | 1369-6483 |
Overview edit
Published in 218 weekly parts, each issue comprised 32 pages, the same large page size as World Airpower Journal and Wings of Fame. The pages were organised as a series of pull-out reference files to be slotted into ring binders. There were 1,041 file subjects – although there were only 1008 numbered files. During the production of the partwork, the publishers realised that some aeroplanes and airlines were missed from the index, necessitating additions. Hence, 'missing' files were numbered by adding the prefix "a" (and "b", "c" or "d" where necessary) after the previous file number – for example, between Files 591 (Air Niugini) and 592 (Air Transat) is 591a (Air Seychelles).
Subject coverage edit
The subjects covered are grouped into 14 categories as follows:
| File | Title |
|---|---|
| 291 | Airbourne Early Warning [sic?] |
| 292 | Basic Fighter Manoeuvres |
| 293 | Air Defence |
| 294 | Air-to-air Gunnery |
| 295 | Air-to-air Missiles |
| 296 | Air-to-ground bombing |
| 297 | Air-to-ground missiles |
| 298 | Air-to-ground Rockets |
| 299 | Anti-armour Weapons |
| 300 | Anti-ship Missiles |
| 301 | Assault Helicopters |
| 302 | ASW Aircraft |
| 303 | ASW Helicopters |
| 304 | Attack Helicopters |
| 305 | Battlefield Reconnaissance |
| 306 | Close Support |
| 307 | Cluster Bombs and Dispensers |
| 308 | Combat Search and Rescue |
| 309 | Dumb Bombs |
| 310 | Electronic Warfare |
| 311 | Forward Air Control |
| 312 | Inflight Refuelling |
| 313 | Interdiction |
| 314 | SAM Killers |
| 315 | Long-range Interception |
| 316 | Countermeasures |
| 317 | Maritime Recce |
| 318 | Nuclear Bombs |
| 319 | Laser-Guided Bombs |
| 320 | Special Forces |
| 321 | Stand-off Missiles |
| 322 | Strategic Airlift |
| 323 | Strategic Reconnaissance |
| 324 | Tactical Airlift |
| 325 | Tactical Reconnaissance |
| File | Title |
|---|---|
| --- | Unlisted
(Armenia: Հայաստանի Ռազմաօդային Ուժեր (Armenian Air Force); Brunei: Tentera Udara Diraja Brunei (Royal Brunei Air Force); Iceland: Íslenska Loftvarnarkerfið (Iceland Air Defence System), Landhelgisgæsla Íslands – Flugdeild (Icelandic Coast Guard Aeronautical Division); Malta: Armed Forces of Malta No.2 Regiment – Air Squadron; Republika Srpska: Ratno Vazduhoplovstva i Protivvazdušna Odbrana Vojska Republike Srpske (Republika Srpska Air Force); Zambia: Zambian Air Force and Air Defence Command) |
| File | Title |
|---|---|
| 810 | Competitive aerobatics (Competitions, Basic aerobics, Advanced aerobatics, Contemporary Acts: AeroSuperbatics) |
| 811 | Civilian Autogyros |
| 812 | Ballooning |
| 813 | Business Aviation (Introduction, Global reach) |
| 814 | Club trainers (Learning to fly) |
| 815 | Gliders |
| 816 | Hang-gliders |
| 817 | Helicopters |
| 818 | Homebuilts |
| 819 | Joyriding |
| 820 | Microlights |
| 821 | Parachuting |
| 822 | Racing aircraft |
| 823 | Sightseeing |
| 824 | Touring aircraft (Cessna, Piper, Beech, SOCATA) |
| 825 | Vintage Aircraft |
| 826 | Veteran Aircraft |
| 827 | Warbirds |
| 828 | Aeromedical research |
| 829 | Agricultural aircraft |
| File | Title |
|---|---|
| 859 | Aerodynamics |
| 860 | Airships |
| 861 | Altitude |
| 862 | Avionics |
| 863 | Balloons |
| 864 | Bomber Development |
| 865 | Carrier aircraft (including VTOL, STOVL and STOBAR) |
| 866 | Compound helicopters |
| 867 | Convertiplanes |
| 868 | Engine testbeds |
| 869 | Fighter development |
| 870 | Flying-boats |
| 871 | Gliders |
| 872 | Helicopters |
| 873 | Maneuverability |
| 874 | Propulsion systems |
| 875 | Radar |
| 876 | Range |
| 877 | Reconnaissance aircraft |
| 878 | Floatplanes |
| 879 | Search for Speed (includes Schneider Trophy, Bell X-1, DH.108, XB-70 Valkyrie, X-15) |
| 880 | Short take-off (includes RATO: Rocket-Assisted Take-Off) |
| 881 | Russian bombers (including TB Class (TB-3, TB-7), DB class (DB-1, Yer-2), SB class (SB/SB-2, PB-100/Pe-2)) |
| 882 | Soviet fighters |
| 883 | Undercarriage Experiments |
| 884 | Unmanned Aircraft |
| 885 | US Bombers (USAAF, USAF) |
| 886 | US Fighters (USAAF, USAF) |
| 887 | Vertical take-off |
| 888 | Weapons |
| File | Title |
|---|---|
| 915 | Pre-1903 part 1 (c.1250 – 1896) (Pre-18th century, 18th century, 1800–1880) |
| 916 | Pre-1903 part 2 (1880–1902) (1880s, 1890s, 1900, 1901) |
| 917 | 1903, 1904, 1905 |
| 918 | 1906, 1907, 1908 |
| 919 | 1909, 1910, 1911 |
| 920 | 1912–1913 |
| 921 | 1914 |
| 922 | 1915 |
| 923 | 1916 |
| 924 | 1917 |
| 925 | 1918 |
| 926 | 1919 |
| 927 | 1920 |
| 928 | 1921 |
| 929 | 1922 |
| 930 | 1923 |
| 931 | 1924 |
| 932 | 1925 |
| 933 | 1926 |
| 934 | 1927 |
| 935 | 1928 |
| 936 | 1929 |
| 937 | 1930 |
| 938 | 1931 |
| 939 | 1932 |
| 940 | 1933 |
| 941 | 1934 |
| 942 | 1935 |
| 943 | 1936 |
| 944 | 1937 |
| 945 | 1938 |
| 946 | 1939 |
| 947 | 1940 |
| 948 | 1941 |
| 949 | 1942 |
| 950 | 1943 |
| 951 | 1944 |
| 952 | 1945 |
| 953 | 1946 |
| 954 | 1947 |
| 955 | 1948 |
| 956 | 1949 |
| 957 | 1950 |
| 958 | 1951 |
| 959 | 1952 |
| 960 | 1953 |
| 961 | 1954 |
| 962 | 1955 |
| 963 | 1956 |
| 964 | 1957 |
| 965 | 1958 |
| 966 | 1959 |
| 967 | 1960 |
| 968 | 1961 |
| 969 | 1962 |
| 970 | 1963 |
| 971 | 1964 |
| 972 | 1965 |
| 973 | 1966 |
| 974 | 1967 |
| 975 | 1968 |
| 976 | 1969 |
| 977 | 1970 |
| 978 | 1971 |
| 979 | 1972 |
| 980 | 1973 |
| 981 | 1974 |
| 982 | 1975 |
| 983 | 1976 |
| 984 | 1977 |
| 985 | 1978 |
| 986 | 1979 |
| 987 | 1980 |
| 988 | 1981 |
| 989 | 1982 |
| 990 | 1983 |
| 991 | 1984 |
| 992 | 1985 |
| 993 | 1986 (includes Rutan Voyager) |
| 994 | 1987 |
| 995 | 1988 |
| 996 | 1989 |
| 997 | 1990 |
| 998 | 1991 |
| 999 | 1992 |
| 1000 | 1993 |
| 1001 | 1994 |
| 1002 | 1995 |
| 1003 | 1996 |
| 1004 | 1997 |
| 1005 | 1998 |
| 1006 | 1999 |
| 1007 | 2000 |
| 1008 | 2001 |
Depth of coverage edit
Since each subject was covered in only 2 or 4 sides (in a "file"), the depth of coverage could be limited, although for many subjects, this was overcome by including many sheets on different aspects of the same subject (for example, different variants, different uses, etc.).
The A-Z of aircraft was based on previous Aerospace Publishing publications with some updating. The bias towards aircraft types early in the alphabet was accentuated in the partwork, with letters A through F making up fully 64% of the total while letters P through Z made up 9%.[5]
References edit
- ^ a b "Aeritalia G.91". World Aircraft Information Files (1). Bright Star Publishing plc: Contents. 1997. ISSN 1369-6483.
- ^ "Messerschmitt Bf 110". World Aircraft Information Files (200). Bright Star Publishing plc: Contents. 2001. ISSN 1369-6483.
- ^ "Mitsubishi A6M Reisen 'Zeke'". World Aircraft Information Files (218). Bright Star Publishing plc: Contents. 2002. ISSN 1369-6483.
- ^ World Aircraft Information Files (121). Bright Star Publishing Ltd: [File 330/Sheet 8]. 2000. ISSN 1369-6483.
{{cite journal}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ "Aeroflight UK Aircraft Magazines". 11 January 2004. Retrieved 6 July 2009.
External links edit
- Aeroflight website information about WAIF