List of aircraft of the Royal Air Force

Many aircraft types have served in the British Royal Air Force since its formation in April 1918 from the merger of the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service. This is a list of RAF aircraft, including all currently active and retired types listed in alphabetic order by their RAF type name. For just those aircraft currently in service, see List of active United Kingdom military aircraft. Aircraft operated with the Fleet Air Arm from 1924 until 1939 were operated by the Royal Air Force on behalf of the Navy and are included; those operated by the Royal Navy after it re-acquired control of the aircraft used to support its operations in 1939 are not, but all aircraft operated in conjunction with the Navy are listed at List of aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm. Army Air Corps aircraft are not included but can be found at List of aircraft of the Army Air Corps.

For aircraft operated before the merger of the RFC and RNAS in 1918:
 * Refer to List of aircraft of the Royal Flying Corps
 * Refer to List of aircraft of the Royal Naval Air Service

Captured or interned
Captured or interned examples of the following aircraft were at one time flown by either the RAF or more normally by the Royal Aircraft Establishment for evaluation.

Argentine aircraft

 * FMA IA 58 Pucará, 11 aircraft were captured during the Falklands War. Six were taken back to the United Kingdom. Two are on display - one at the RAF Museum Cosford and one at the North East Aircraft Museum.

German aircraft

 * Arado Ar 96, Ar 196, Ar 232, Ar 234
 * Blohm & Voss BV 138, BV 155, BV 222
 * Brunswick LF-1 Zaunkonig
 * Bücker Bü 131, Bü 180, Bü 181
 * Dornier Do 17, Do 24, Do 217, Do 335
 * DFS 228
 * Fieseler Fi 103, Fi 156, Fl 282
 * Focke-Achgelis Fa 223, Fa 330
 * Focke-Wulf Fw 58, Fw 189, Fw 190, Ta 152, Fw 200
 * Fokker D.VII
 * Gotha Go 145, Go 150
 * Halberstadt D.III
 * Heinkel He 59, He 111, He 115, He 162, He 177, He 219
 * Henschel Hs 129, Hs 130
 * Horten Ho IV, Ho 229
 * Junkers Ju 52/3m, Ju 87, Ju 88, Ju 188, Ju 290, Ju 352, Ju 388, W 34
 * Klemm Kl 35
 * Messerschmitt Bf 108, Bf 109, Bf 110, Me 163, Me 262, Me 323, Me 410
 * Siebel Fh 104, Si 204

Italian aircraft

 * Caproni Ca.100, Ca.101, Ca.148, Ca 309, Ca.311
 * Caproni-Campini CC.2
 * Cant Z.501, Z.506
 * Fiat CR.42, G.12, G.50, G.55
 * Macchi MC.200, MC.202
 * Saiman 200, 202
 * Savoia-Marchetti SM.73, SM.79, SM.81, SM.82, SM.95

Japanese aircraft

 * Kawasaki Ki-48, Ki-61, Ki-100
 * Kawanishi H6K
 * Kyushu K9W
 * Mitsubishi A6M, G4M, J2M, Ki-21, Ki-46, Ki-67
 * Nakajima A6M2-N, L2D, Ki-43, Ki-44
 * Yokosuka MXY8
 * Tachikawa Ki-36, Ki-54, Ki-55

Schneider Trophy seaplanes
Aircraft used by the Royal Air Force in support of its efforts in the Schneider Trophy races, and includes aircraft used solely as trainers.
 * Fairey Flycatcher biplane floatplane
 * Fairey Firefly IIM biplane floatplane
 * Fairey Fleetwing biplane floatplane
 * Gloster I 1925 & 1927 biplane floatplane
 * Gloster III 1925 biplane floatplane
 * Gloster IV 1926-1927 biplane floatplane
 * Gloster VI Golden Arrow 1929 monoplane floatplane
 * Short Crusader 1927 monoplane floatplane
 * Supermarine S.5 1927 monoplane floatplane
 * Supermarine S.6 1929 monoplane floatplane
 * Supermarine S.6B 1931 monoplane floatplane

Training gliders
The following Gliders are or were flown by RAF training squadrons:
 * Slingsby Cadet TX.1 - Single-seat training glider
 * Slingsby Cadet TX.2 - Single-seat training glider
 * Slingsby Sedbergh TX.1 - Two-seat training glider
 * Slingsby Prefect TX.1 - Single-seat training glider
 * Slingsby Cadet TX.3 - Two-seat training glider
 * Slingsby Grasshopper TX.1 - Primary Glider
 * Slingsby T.45 Swallow - Single-seat Glider
 * Slingsby T.53B
 * Slingsby Venture T.2 - Two-seat self launching motor glider
 * Elliotts Eton TX.1 - Primary glider
 * Grob Viking TX.1 - German built training glider
 * Grob Vigilant T.1 - German built self Launching motor glider (1991)
 * Schempp-Hirth Janus C - German built training sailplane
 * Schleicher Valiant TX.1 - German built sailplane
 * Schleicher Vanguard TX.1 - German built training glider

Airships and balloons

 * List of British airships
 * Barrage balloons

UAVs and drones

 * Airspeed Queen Wasp - target drone
 * de Havilland Queen Bee - target drone
 * Fairey Queen - target drone
 * GAF Jindivik - Target drone
 * General Atomics Reaper - ISTAR
 * Meggitt Banshee
 * Miles Queen Martinet
 * Target Technology Ltd Imp