The Armstrong Whitworth Argosy was designed in the 1950s as a heavy transport for the Royal Air Force. It adopted the same general layout as the American Fairchild C-119, having twin tail booms to give an unobstructed loading and unloading area, ideal for paratrooping and for loading armoured vehicles. The flight deck was raised to increase freight capacity, which nonetheless was small (14.5 tons compared with the C-130's 37 tons). The increased drag made it quite slow (280mph compared with 350mph for long range cruise), and the range limited (1,760 miles compared with 2,370 for the C-130). It was powered by four Rolls-Royce Dart turboprops. Not surprisingly it was replaced by the C-130 in RAF service, but not before this one was photographed at Middle Wallop in July 1984.

More than 11,000 Avro Ansons were built, mainly during the second world war. Originally designed in 1935 as a light transport, they served in this role in the Air Force but were also adapted for light bombing, gunnery training and a host of other specialised applications. Ansons appeared with a variety of configurations of side windows, and some had gun turrets, but all were powered by two Armstrong Siddeeley Cheetah radial engines of around 300hp each. Cruising speed was about 165mph, range 790 miles, and typical capacity was for 8 passengers plus two crew.

This one is preserved in the museum at Old Warden, where it was pictured in April 2005. Photograph by Ivy

The Beagle 206 Bassett was a powerful and elegant twin engined light transport which could take up to seven passengers. It was used by the RAF as a communications aircraft. Performance for a piston twin was very respectable; it cruised at 250mph and had a range of 1,800 miles. They were, however, expensive to maintain so had a relatively short service life.

This one had been used as the personal aircraft for the Prince of Wales, and was at Finningley in September 1980.

The Blackburn Beverley was a huge double deck four engined transport which first flew in June 1949. Emphasis was on simplicity, hence the fixed undercarriage, which also limited its speed to 240mph despite its whopping 2,850hp Bristol Centaurus engines. Range was a respectable 1,300 miles. Maximum weight was 139,000lb; it could carry 80 troops on the upper deck and some 40,000lb of cargo in the main hold (depending on the amount of fuel carried). It is 100 feet long with a wing span of over 160 feet, but most imposingly is 40 feet tall. 49 were built.

One was at an airfield in the Middle East, when a US transport landed. The American pilot came over and asked if this was the `largest aircraft the British had out here'. `Yes', came the reply, `but you ought to have seen the one we flew it out here in!'

This one was preserved at Hendon, and was pictured in August 1975, but sadly suffered from severe corrosion and no longer exists.

The Handley Page Hastings first flew in May 1946, the design having been prepared but not built during the second world war. It is a large four engined transport, powered by four Bristol Hercules radial engines of 1,650hp each. Surprisingly for its size it only carried 50 people. It cruised at 350mph and had a range of over 3,200 miles. About 150 were built, exclusively for the RAF. They were still in use (as bomber trainers) into the late 1970s, being a regular sight flying up the East coast from their base in Lincolnshire.

This one is preserved at Duxford and was seen there in May 2005.

The Hawker Siddeley Andover was a military version of the HS748 airliner, built specially for the RAF. It differed from the civil version in having an upswept rear fuselage with loading ramp for vehicles, a taller tail for stability when flying with the ramp open, and a `kneeling' undercarriage to facilitate loading - an innovation since copied by some other cargo aircraft. Its main drawback was its relatively limited capacity. It fell victim to a desire to reduce the number of types in RAF service, and was effectively replaced by more Hercules.

This one was flying past at Abingdon in September 1983.

The Percival Sea Prince was designed by prolific designer Edgar Percival shortly after the end of the second world war. It was a development of the smaller Percival Merganser civil transport, specifically customised for the Royal Navy. It was, however, not operated from ships, but used as a transport to ferry people and stores between ports.

This one was at Greenham Common in July 1983.

The Percival Pembroke was a further development of the Prince / Sea Prince range, used by the Royal Air Force. It was built from 1953 and served in considerable numbers until the early 1980s. Its Alvis Leonides radial engines developed 550 horsepower each, and hauled the Pembroke for over 1,000 miles at between 160 and 200 mph. Normal seating was for between 10 and 12 plus crew.

This one, operated by 60 Squadron at Wildenrath, Germany, was seen landing Fairoaks in August 1980

These very poor photographs are the only ones I have of the Short Belfast. The top one shows two RAF Belfasts in the background behind a Transamerica Lockheed Hercules. The lower shows a former RAF aircraft, operated by Transmeridian Air Cargo before it changed its name to HeavyLift.

The Belfast was one of the heaviest transports of its day. It first flew in 1964. It could carry 14 tons of cargo for 4,000 miles at 340mph. It was powered by four Rolls-Royce Tyne engines - a development of the engine powering the Vickers Vanguard. Only ten were built; the RAF retired them in 1976, and they flew commercially until the mid 1990s.

Flying the Belfast demanded some quite specific skills, because there was a substantial time-lag between operating the controls and anything actually happening! The cause was the response time of the power operated control surfaces. Despite this idiosyncracy, no Belfast was ever involved in an accident in service.

The Vickers Valetta, which first flew in June 1947, was essentially a military version of the civil Viking and a direct descendant of the wartime Wellington bomber (but with a simpler, all metal fuselage). Powered by two 1,975hp Bristol Hercules engines, it could fly at 260mph for a range of 1,450 miles. It was about 63 feet long, with a wing span of just under 90 feet.

This one was at Sunderland in September 1974. For a long time it did not fly, then was taken on by the Sunderland aircraft museum. They had to move it, and wondered if they could taxi it under its own power. So they tried starting the engines. After several years of idleness, they were amazed to find the first engine started straight away. But not half so amazed as several starlings, which flew out of the engine compartment in extreme surprise and annoyance!