1.
French Air Force
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The French Air Force is the air force of the French Armed Forces. It was formed in 1909 as the Service Aéronautique, an arm of the French Army. The number of aircraft in service with the French Air Force varies depending on source, the French Air Force has 233 combat aircraft in service, with the majority being 125 Dassault Mirage 2000 and 108 Dassault Rafale. As of early 2016, the French Air Force employs a total of 42,607 regular personnel, the reserve element of the air force consisted of 5,187 personnel of the Operational Reserve. The Minister of Defence is responsible for execution of military policy and he is advised by the Chief of Staff of the Armies in regard to the use of forces and the control of military operations. The Chief of Staff of the French Air Force determines the air force doctrines and advises the CEMA how to deploy French air assets and he is responsible for the preparation and logistic support of the air force. The French took active interest in developing the air force from 1909 and had the first World War I fighter pilots, in the post–World War II era, the French made a successful effort to develop a domestic aircraft industry. Dassault Aviation led the way mainly with delta-wing designs, which formed the basis for the Mirage series of jet fighters. The Mirage demonstrated its abilities in the Six-Day War, Yom Kippur War, the Falklands War, the French Air Force participated in several protracted colonial wars in Africa and French Indochina after the Second World War, and continues to employ its air power in Africa. The Military Air Transport Command had previously formed in February 1962 from the Groupement dUnités Aériennes Spécialisées. The Dassault Mirage IV, the principal French strategic bomber, was designed to strike Soviet positions as part of the French nuclear triad, also created in 1964 was the Escadron des Fusiliers Commandos de lAir, seemingly grouping all FCA units. CFAS had two squadrons of S-3 IRBMs at the Plateau dAlbion, six squadrons of Mirage IVAs, coTAM counted 28 squadrons, of which ten were fixed-wing transport squadrons, and the remainder helicopter and liaison squadrons, at least five of which were overseas. CAFDA numbered 14 squadrons mostly flying the Mirage F. 1C, two other commands had flying units, the Air Force Schools Command, and the Air Force Transmissions Command, with four squadrons and three trials units. In 1994 the Commandement des Fusiliers Commandos de lAir was established, the French Air Force is expanding and replacing aircraft inventory. After an absence lasting several decades, the French President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed that France will rejoin the NATO integrated command, from 2008-2010 the Air Force underwent an organisational streamlining process. This project was called Air 2010, which was the year of the deadline for all transitions, the main targets of this project were to simplify the command structure, to regroup all military and civil air force functions and to rationalise and optimise all air force units. Five major commands, were formed, instead of the former 13, CDAOA CFA CSFA DRHAA SAGF The last remaining squadron of Dassault Mirage F1s were retired in July 2014 and replaced by the Rafale. The Chief of Staff of the French Air Force determines air force doctrine and he is responsible for the preparation and logistic support of the air force
2.
Eure
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Eure is a department in the north of France named after the river Eure. Eure is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790 and it was created from part of the former province of Normandy. After the allied victory at Waterloo, Eure was occupied by Prussian troops between June 1815 and November 1818, in the wake of Louis-Napoléons December coup of 1851, Eure was one of the departments placed under a state of emergency in order to avert resistance to the post-republican régime. In the event fewer than 100 government opponents in Eure were arrested, Eure is part of the current region of Normandy and is surrounded by the departments of Seine-Maritime, Oise, Val-dOise, Yvelines, Eure-et-Loir, Orne, and Calvados. The department is a wooded plateau intersected by the valleys of the Seine River. The altitude varies from sea level in the north to 248 metres above it in the south, the President of the General Council is Jean-Louis Destans of the Socialist Party. The main tourist attraction is Giverny where Claude Monets house and garden can be seen, the Abbey of Bec and the Château-Gaillard near Les Andelys are other important tourist attractions. The Château of Buisson de May was built by the royal architect Jacques Denis Antoine from 1781 to 1783
3.
ICAO airport code
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The ICAO airport code or location indicator is a four-character alphanumeric code designating aerodromes around the world. ICAO codes are used to identify other aviation facilities such as weather stations, International Flight Service Stations or Area Control Centers. Flight information regions are identified by a unique ICAO-code. Code selections in North America were based on existing radio station identifiers, for example, radio stations in Canada were already starting with C, so it seemed logical to begin Canadian airport identifiers with Cxxx. The United States had many pre-existing airports with established mnemonic codes and their ICAO codes were formed simply by prepending a K to the existing codes, as half the radio station identifiers in the US began with K. Most ICAO codes outside the US and Canada have a geographical structure. Most of the rest of the world was classified in a more planned top-down manner, thus Uxxx referred to the Soviet Union with the second letter denoting the specific region within it, and so forth. Europe had too many locations for one starting letter, so it was split into Exxx for northern Europe. The second letter was more specific, EGxx was the United Kingdom, EDxx was West Germany, ETxx was East Germany, LExx was Spain, LAxx was Albania, France was designated LFxx, as the counterpart EFxx was the unambiguously northern Finland. ICAO codes are separate and different from IATA codes, which are used for airline timetables, reservations. For example, the IATA code for Londons Heathrow Airport is LHR, in general IATA codes are usually derived from the name of the airport or the city it serves, while ICAO codes are distributed by region and country. Far more aerodromes have ICAO codes than IATA codes, and to add to the confusion IATA codes are assigned to railway stations. Unlike the IATA codes, the ICAO codes generally have a structure and are comprehensive. In general, the first letter is allocated by continent and represents a country or group of countries within that continent, the second letter generally represents a country within that region, and the remaining two are used to identify each airport. The exception to rule is larger countries that have single-letter country codes. In either case, ICAO codes generally provide geographical context unlike IATA codes, for example, if one knows that the ICAO code for Heathrow is EGLL, then one can deduce that the airport EGGP is somewhere in the UK. On the other hand, knowing that the IATA code for Heathrow is LHR does not enable one to deduce the location of the airport LHV with any greater certainty, there are a few exceptions to the regional structure of the ICAO code made for political or administrative reasons. Similarly Saint Pierre and Miquelon is controlled by France, and airports there are assigned LFxx as though they were in Europe, further, in region L, all available 2-letter prefixes have been exhausted and thus no additional countries can be added
4.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
5.
Runway
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According to the International Civil Aviation Organization, a runway is a defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft. Runways may be a surface or a natural surface. Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36, which is generally the magnetic azimuth of the heading in decadegrees. This heading differs from true north by the magnetic declination. A runway numbered 09 points east, runway 18 is south, runway 27 points west, when taking off from or landing on runway 09, a plane would be heading 90°. A runway can normally be used in both directions, and is named for each separately, e. g. runway 33 in one direction is runway 15 when used in the other. The two numbers usually differ by 18, Runway Zero Three Left becomes Runway Two One Right when used in the opposite direction. In some countries, if parallel runways are too close to each other, at large airports with four or more parallel runways some runway identifiers are shifted by 10 degrees to avoid the ambiguity that would result with more than three parallel runways. For example, in Los Angeles, this results in runways 6L, 6R, 7L. At Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, there are five parallel runways, named 17L, 17C, 17R, 18L, for clarity in radio communications, each digit in the runway name is pronounced individually, runway three six, runway one four, etc. A leading zero, for example in runway zero six or runway zero one left, is included for all ICAO, however, most U. S. civil aviation airports drop the leading zero as required by FAA regulation. This also includes some military airfields such as Cairns Army Airfield and this American anomaly may lead to inconsistencies in conversations between American pilots and controllers in other countries. It is very common in a such as Canada for a controller to clear an incoming American aircraft to, for example, runway 04. In flight simulation programs those of American origin might apply U. S. usage to airports around the world, for example, runway 05 at Halifax will appear on the program as the single digit 5 rather than 05. Runway designations change over time because the magnetic poles slowly drift on the Earths surface, depending on the airport location and how much drift takes place, it may be necessary over time to change the runway designation. As runways are designated with headings rounded to the nearest 10 degrees, for example, if the magnetic heading of a runway is 233 degrees, it would be designated Runway 23. If the magnetic heading changed downwards by 5 degrees to 228, if on the other hand the original magnetic heading was 226, and the heading decreased by only 2 degrees to 224, the runway should become Runway 22. Because the drift itself is slow, runway designation changes are uncommon
6.
Concrete
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Concrete is a composite material composed of coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement that hardens over time. Most concretes used are lime-based concretes such as Portland cement concrete or concretes made with other hydraulic cements, when aggregate is mixed together with dry Portland cement and water, the mixture forms a fluid slurry that is easily poured and molded into shape. The cement reacts chemically with the water and other ingredients to form a matrix that binds the materials together into a durable stone-like material that has many uses. Often, additives are included in the mixture to improve the properties of the wet mix or the finished material. Most concrete is poured with reinforcing materials embedded to provide tensile strength, famous concrete structures include the Hoover Dam, the Panama Canal, and the Roman Pantheon. The earliest large-scale users of technology were the ancient Romans. The Colosseum in Rome was built largely of concrete, and the dome of the Pantheon is the worlds largest unreinforced concrete dome. Today, large concrete structures are made with reinforced concrete. After the Roman Empire collapsed, use of concrete became rare until the technology was redeveloped in the mid-18th century, today, concrete is the most widely used man-made material. The word concrete comes from the Latin word concretus, the passive participle of concrescere, from con-. Perhaps the earliest known occurrence of cement was twelve years ago. A deposit of cement was formed after an occurrence of oil shale located adjacent to a bed of limestone burned due to natural causes and these ancient deposits were investigated in the 1960s and 1970s. On a human timescale, small usages of concrete go back for thousands of years and they discovered the advantages of hydraulic lime, with some self-cementing properties, by 700 BC. They built kilns to supply mortar for the construction of houses, concrete floors. The cisterns were kept secret and were one of the reasons the Nabataea were able to thrive in the desert, some of these structures survive to this day. In the Ancient Egyptian and later Roman eras, it was re-discovered that adding volcanic ash to the mix allowed it to set underwater, similarly, the Romans knew that adding horse hair made concrete less liable to crack while it hardened, and adding blood made it more frost-resistant. Crystallization of strätlingite and the introduction of pyroclastic clays creates further fracture resistance, german archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann found concrete floors, which were made of lime and pebbles, in the royal palace of Tiryns, Greece, which dates roughly to 1400–1200 BC. Lime mortars were used in Greece, Crete, and Cyprus in 800 BC, the Assyrian Jerwan Aqueduct made use of waterproof concrete
7.
Departments of France
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In the administrative divisions of France, the department is one of the three levels of government below the national level, between the administrative regions and the commune. There are 96 departments in metropolitan France and 5 overseas departments, each department is administered by an elected body called a departmental council. From 1800 to April 2015, they were called general councils, the departments were created in 1791 as a rational replacement of Ancien Régime provinces with a view to strengthen national unity, the title department is used to mean a part of a larger whole. Almost all of them were named after geographical features rather than after historical or cultural territories which could have their own loyalties. The earliest known suggestion of it is from 1764 in the writings of dArgenson and they have inspired similar divisions in many countries, some of them former French colonies. Most French departments are assigned a number, the Official Geographical Code. Some overseas departments have a three-digit number, the number is used, for example, in the postal code, and was until recently used for all vehicle registration plates. For example, inhabitants of Loiret might refer to their department as the 45 and this reform project has since been abandoned. The first French territorial departments were proposed in 1665 by Marc-René dArgenson to serve as administrative areas purely for the Ponts et Chaussées infrastructure administration, before the French Revolution, France gained territory gradually through the annexation of a mosaic of independent entities. By the close of the Ancien Régime, it was organised into provinces, during the period of the Revolution, these were dissolved, partly in order to weaken old loyalties. Their boundaries served two purposes, Boundaries were chosen to break up Frances historical regions in an attempt to erase cultural differences, Boundaries were set so that every settlement in the country was within a days ride of the capital of the department. This was a security measure, intended to keep the national territory under close control. This measure was directly inspired by the Great Terror, during which the government had lost control of rural areas far from any centre of government. The old nomenclature was carefully avoided in naming the new departments, most were named after an areas principal river or other physical features. Even Paris was in the department of Seine, the number of departments, initially 83, was increased to 130 by 1809 with the territorial gains of the Republic and of the First French Empire. Following Napoleons defeats in 1814-1815, the Congress of Vienna returned France to its pre-war size, in 1860, France acquired the County of Nice and Savoy, which led to the creation of three new departments. Two were added from the new Savoyard territory, while the department of Alpes-Maritimes was created from Nice, the 89 departments were given numbers based on their alphabetical order. The department of Bas-Rhin and parts of Meurthe, Moselle, Vosges and Haut-Rhin were ceded to the German Empire in 1871, following Frances defeat in the Franco-Prussian War
8.
Cold War
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The Cold War was a state of geopolitical tension after World War II between powers in the Eastern Bloc and powers in the Western Bloc. Historians do not fully agree on the dates, but a common timeframe is the period between 1947, the year the Truman Doctrine was announced, and 1991, the year the Soviet Union collapsed. The term cold is used there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two sides, although there were major regional wars, known as proxy wars, supported by the two sides. The Cold War split the temporary alliance against Nazi Germany, leaving the Soviet Union. The USSR was a Marxist–Leninist state ruled by its Communist Party and secret police, the Party controlled the press, the military, the economy and all organizations. In opposition stood the West, dominantly democratic and capitalist with a free press, a small neutral bloc arose with the Non-Aligned Movement, it sought good relations with both sides. The two superpowers never engaged directly in full-scale armed combat, but they were armed in preparation for a possible all-out nuclear world war. The first phase of the Cold War began in the first two years after the end of the Second World War in 1945, the Berlin Blockade was the first major crisis of the Cold War. With the victory of the communist side in the Chinese Civil War and the outbreak of the Korean War, the USSR and USA competed for influence in Latin America, and the decolonizing states of Africa and Asia. Meanwhile, the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was stopped by the Soviets, the expansion and escalation sparked more crises, such as the Suez Crisis, the Berlin Crisis of 1961, and the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. The USSR crushed the 1968 Prague Spring liberalization program in Czechoslovakia, détente collapsed at the end of the decade with the beginning of the Soviet–Afghan War in 1979. The early 1980s were another period of elevated tension, with the Soviet downing of Korean Air Lines Flight 007, the United States increased diplomatic, military, and economic pressures on the Soviet Union, at a time when the communist state was already suffering from economic stagnation. In the mid-1980s, the new Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev introduced the reforms of perestroika and glasnost. Pressures for national independence grew stronger in Eastern Europe, especially Poland, Gorbachev meanwhile refused to use Soviet troops to bolster the faltering Warsaw Pact regimes as had occurred in the past. The result in 1989 was a wave of revolutions that peacefully overthrew all of the communist regimes of Central, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union itself lost control and was banned following an abortive coup attempt in August 1991. This in turn led to the dissolution of the USSR in December 1991. The United States remained as the only superpower. The Cold War and its events have left a significant legacy and it is often referred to in popular culture, especially in media featuring themes of espionage and the threat of nuclear warfare
9.
NATO
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The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party, three NATO members are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and are officially nuclear-weapon states. NATOs headquarters are located in Haren, Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons. NATO is an Alliance that consists of 28 independent member countries across North America and Europe, an additional 22 countries participate in NATOs Partnership for Peace program, with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programmes. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the global total, Members defence spending is supposed to amount to 2% of GDP. The course of the Cold War led to a rivalry with nations of the Warsaw Pact, politically, the organization sought better relations with former Warsaw Pact countries, several of which joined the alliance in 1999 and 2004. N. The Treaty of Brussels, signed on 17 March 1948 by Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, the treaty and the Soviet Berlin Blockade led to the creation of the Western European Unions Defence Organization in September 1948. However, participation of the United States was thought necessary both to counter the power of the USSR and to prevent the revival of nationalist militarism. He got a hearing, especially considering American anxiety over Italy. In 1948 European leaders met with U. S. defense, military and diplomatic officials at the Pentagon, marshalls orders, exploring a framework for a new and unprecedented association. Talks for a new military alliance resulted in the North Atlantic Treaty and it included the five Treaty of Brussels states plus the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. The first NATO Secretary General, Lord Ismay, stated in 1949 that the goal was to keep the Russians out, the Americans in. Popular support for the Treaty was not unanimous, and some Icelanders participated in a pro-neutrality, the creation of NATO can be seen as the primary institutional consequence of a school of thought called Atlanticism which stressed the importance of trans-Atlantic cooperation. The members agreed that an attack against any one of them in Europe or North America would be considered an attack against them all. The treaty does not require members to respond with military action against an aggressor, although obliged to respond, they maintain the freedom to choose the method by which they do so. This differs from Article IV of the Treaty of Brussels, which states that the response will be military in nature. It is nonetheless assumed that NATO members will aid the attacked member militarily, the treaty was later clarified to include both the members territory and their vessels, forces or aircraft above the Tropic of Cancer, including some Overseas departments of France. The creation of NATO brought about some standardization of allied military terminology, procedures, and technology, the roughly 1300 Standardization Agreements codified many of the common practices that NATO has achieved
10.
Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum
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The Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum is a NATO command at Brunssum, the Netherlands. Originally the command was known as Headquarters, Allied Forces Central Europe when it was activated in August 1953 in Fontainebleau, outside Paris, drawing upon his Second World War experience, Eisenhower decided to retain overall control himself and did not appoint a CINC for the Central Region. Instead there would be three separate commanders-in-chief (for Allied Air Forces Central Europe, Allied Land Forces Central Europe and Flag Officer Central Europe, vice Admiral Robert Jaujard of the French Navy was appointed as Flag Officer Central Europe, and served from 2 April 51 until 20 August 1953. On 20 August 1953 General Ridgeway, Eisenhowers successor, established a single Commander-in-Chief for the region with subordinate land, air, one of the commands exercises in the 1950s was Operation Counter Punch. Counter Punch was a September 1957 AFCENT air-ground military exercise that also tested NATOs integrated air-defense system in its central European front, Operation Counter Punch revealed deficiencies in the Integrated NATO Air Defense System as well as air force responsiveness to theoretical Soviet and Warsaw Pact ground advances. After July 1962 and the establishment of Commander Allied Forces Baltic Approaches, AFCENT remained in France under French command until 1967, when France removed itself from the military command structure. The headquarters was moved to Brunssum in 1967 and activated under German command, in 2000, the deactivation of Headquarters, Allied Forces Northern Europe in Kolsås, Norway led to the redesignation of AFCENT as Regional Headquarters, Allied Forces Northern Europe. The headquarters operated as RHQ AFNORTH until 2004, when it was renamed Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum to add flexibility to the command structure by removing regional restrictions. Circa 2010, JFC Brussum appears to be responsible for Contingency Plan Eagle Guardian, NATOs Article 5 plan to defend Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, hendrik van Nassau-Ouwerkerk Camp is the headquarters and main base area of JFC Brunssum. Hendrik van Nassau-Ouwerkerk Camp also boasts an all ranks club called Club 13, a small department store called the B&S Store, a film theatre, a swimming pool, tennis courts. Additional services are provided by the AAFES on US Army Garrison Schinnen, static War Headquarters Castlegate is a NATO command and communications bunker located approximately 2 km north-east of the town of Linnich, Germany. SWHQ Castlegate is operated in caretaker status by a German military contingent, on activation, it would have deployed to Europe from bases in the United States. A forward element, 3rd Brigade, US 2nd Armored Division, was located at Garlstedt, US III Corps also maintained a forward headquarters at Tapijn Kazerne, Maastricht, Netherlands. The commander of JFC-B is known as Commander, Joint Force Command Brunssum, the position was formerly known as Commander-in-Chief North and Commander-in-Chief Central. JFC-B is normally commanded by a German General but now is commanded by an Italian four-star general for the contribution of the Italian armed forces to NATO. The current commander is General Salvatore Farina of the Italian Army, official JFC-B Website Allied Land Forces Central Europe
11.
Nord Noratlas
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The Nord Noratlas was a 1950s French military transport aircraft intended to replace the older types in service at the end of World War II. Several hundred were produced in a run lasting over a decade, accordingly, in 1947 Direction Technique Industrielle organized a design competition for a medium-weight cargo aircraft offering great flexibility in use. Société Nationale de Construction Aéronautique du Nord answered with the Nord 2500, while their competitors, Breguet and SNCASO, offered the BR-891R Mars and SO-30C respectively. The Nord 2500, with its rear-opening clamshell doors allowing ease of loading, was considered the most promising, the second prototype replaced the 14Rs with two SNECMA-built Bristol Hercules 738/92,040 hp engines driving four-bladed propellers, and this model was rechristened the Nord 2501. DTI ordered 3 more preproduction Nord 2501s, which they flight-tested extensively against the similar Fairchild C-82 Packet, the N-2501 was found superior, and the first 34 were ordered on July 10,1951. After an eventual production run of some 425 planes, the last Noratlas was constructed in 1961, the Noratlas gained fame during the Suez Crisis of 1956, when French paratroopers dropped over the south of Port Said and Port Fouad in Egypt. Its history began four years earlier, despite this setback, the program was able to fulfill its initial contract for 34 planes by June 25,1953, and the Armée de lAir went on to order another 174 planes, for a total of 208. Of these modifications, the eight Nord Gabriels were useful the longest, of these aircraft only 173 were delivered. The German Air Force began selling its Noratlases in 1964, and is the source for most of the aircraft for the smaller national operators listed below. The Israelis were upset by the terms of the offer, but France was one of few countries willing to sell them modern arms. However, they realized the utility of the Noratlas following its performance in the Suez Crisis. The IAF phased the Noratlas out in 1978, in 1970, the Hellenic Air Force received 50 surplus Noratlases from Germany as World War II compensations and NATO help. These Noratlases were based at Elefsis AFB near Athens, with the 354th Tactical Airlift Squadron, in spite of the aircraft age and the adverse flying conditions,12 of the 15 aircraft which participated in operation Niki managed to land at Nicosia International Airport. The Greek 1st Rangers Squadron managed to keep the Nicosia airport in UN hands, the Portuguese Air Force extensively operated the Nord Noratlas in the three African theatres of operations of the Portuguese Colonial War, from 1961 to 1975. The Noratlas were mainly used in the intra-theatre tactical transportation missions, in 1960, Portugal purchased six militarized N-2502A from Union Aéromaritime de Transport, followed by other six of the same model directly from Nord Aviation. Later,19 additional N-2501Ds were purchased from the German Air Force, with the independence of Angola and Mozambique in 1975, six ex-Portuguese Noratlas were given to the governments of these two new countries. Remaining Noratlas aircraft in Portuguese service were retired by September 1977, used French and German aircraft were bought by Niger, Nigeria and Chad. There were also variants of limited service that are mentioned below
12.
Transall C-160
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The C-160 proved to be a long-lasting design, remaining in service more than 50 years after the types first flight in 1963. The C-160 will be replaced in French and German service by the Airbus A400M Atlas, in the late 1950s, a requirement arose to replace the piston-engined Nord Noratlas transports operated by both the air forces of France and Germany.222. The new aircraft was required to carry a 16,000 kilograms cargo over a range of 1,720 kilometres or a load of 8,000 kg over a range of 4,540 km and be able to operate out of semi-prepared airstrips. One prototype was built by each of the partners, with the first flying on 25 May 1963, with the VFW. These were followed by six pre-production examples, stretched by 51 centimetres compared with the prototypes, Production orders were delayed by attempts by Lockheed to sell its C-130 Hercules transport to Germany, these attempts were rebuffed, and a contract was signed for 160 C-160s on 24 September 1964. The aircrafts tailfin was to be built by Dornier, Three production lines were set up to assemble these components, one run by Nord, and the other two by VFW and HFB. The first production airframes were delivered to France and Germany from 1967, the first batch included 110 C-160Ds for the German Air Force,50 C-160Fs for the French Air Force, and nine C-160Zs for the South African Air Force. Four C-160Fs were converted to C-160P air mail transport aircraft, and were operated by Air France, in July 1977, France placed an order for 25 aircraft to be built to an updated standard. The production workload for the new aircraft was split 50-50 between Aérospatiale and MBB, with an assembly line in Toulouse. The new version lost the cargo loading door on the side of the fuselage. When fitted these tanks increased fuel capacity from 19,000 litres to 28,000 litres, the aircraft were also fitted with updated avionics. The first second generation C-160 took flight in 1981, aircraft produced in this batch included 29 for France, and 6 for Indonesia. The Transall C-160 is a tactical transport, featuring a large-volume cargo hold, a rear-access ramp underneath an upswept tail. As designed, the C-160 can perform cargo and troop transport duties, aerial delivery of supplies and equipment, operate directly from frontline positions, and evacuate casualties. In the airlift role, a later production C-160 could carry up to 8.5 tons across a distance of 5,000 kilometers, dependent upon aircraft configuration, a single aircraft could airdrop as many as 88 paratroopers or transport up to 93 equipped troops. The C-160 is powered by a pair of two Rolls-Royce Tyne turboprop engines, which drives a pair of four-bladed Dowty Rotol propellers, the advantages of the twin-engine configuration include reduced unit and production cost, lower weight and fuel consumption, simplifying aircraft design and reliability. An updated second generation of the C-160 was produced during the 1980s, amongst changes made, the second generation was equipped with additional fuel tankage, aerial refuelling probes, and avionics improvements. The second generation C-160s were also designed for potential adaption to perform other such as maritime patrol
13.
Phoney War
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The Phoney War was an eight-month period at the start of World War II, during which there were no major military land operations on the Western Front. Even though Poland was overrun in five weeks in the German Invasion of Poland beginning on 1 September 1939 and Soviet invasion beginning on 17 September 1939. The quiet of the Phoney War was punctuated by a few Allied actions, in the Saar Offensive in September, the French attacked Germany with the intention of assisting Poland, but it fizzled out within days and they withdrew. Fighting there continued until June when the Allies evacuated, ceding Norway to Germany in response to the German invasion of France, action in the air began on 16 October 1939 when the Luftwaffe launched air raids on British warships. There were various minor bombing raids and reconnaissance flights on both sides, the term Phoney War customarily appears using the British spelling even in North America, rather than the American phony, although some American sources do not follow the trend. The term appeared in Great Britain by January 1940 as phoney, the Phoney War was also referred to as the Twilight War and as the Sitzkrieg. In French it is referred to as the drôle de guerre, in Polish, it is referred to as the Dziwna Wojna. The term Phoney War was probably coined by US Senator William Borah who commented in September 1939 on the inactivity on the Western Front, There is something phoney about this war. While most of the German army was engaged in Poland, a much smaller German force manned the Siegfried Line, their fortified defensive line along the French border. The Royal Air Force dropped propaganda leaflets on Germany and the first Canadian troops stepped ashore in Britain, civilian attitudes in Britain to their German foes were still not as intense as they were to become after the Blitz. In April 1940 a German Heinkel bomber crashed at Clacton-on-Sea in Essex, killing its crew and they were all laid to rest in the local cemetery which was provided with support from the Royal Air Force. Wreaths with messages of sympathy for the casualties were displayed on the coffins, meanwhile, the opposing nations clashed in the Norwegian Campaign. In their hurry to re-arm, Britain and France had both begun buying large amounts of weapons manufacturers in the US at the outbreak of hostilities. The non-belligerent US contributed to the Western Allies by discounted sales, despite the relative calm on land, on the high seas the war was very real. On 4 September, the Allies announced a blockade of Germany to prevent her importing food and raw materials to sustain her war effort, the Germans immediately declared a counter-blockade. General Siegfried Westphal stated, that if the French had attacked in force in September 1939 the German army could only have held out for one or two weeks. The Saar Offensive was a French attack into the Saarland defended by the German 1st Army in the stages of World War II. Its purpose was to assist Poland, which was then under attack, however, the assault was stopped after a few kilometres and the French forces withdrew
14.
Dewoitine D.500
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The Dewoitine D.500 was an all-metal, open-cockpit, fixed-undercarriage monoplane fighter aircraft, used by the French Air Force in the 1930s. Introduced in 1936, the design was replaced by a new generation of fighter aircraft with enclosed cockpits and retractable undercarriage, including the 510s successor. The D.500, designed by Émile Dewoitine, was based on C1 specifications issued in 1930 by the French Air Ministry, the prototype first flew on 18 June 1932. In November 1933, sixty aircraft were ordered, with the first production D.500 flying on 29 November 1934, aircraft armed with a 20 mm cannon firing through the propeller hub - instead of two nose-mounted machine guns - received the designation D.501. A total of 381 D. 500s and its derivatives were built, the D.500 and D.501 entered service in July 1935, with the more powerful D.510 joining them in October 1936. They were the primary fighters employed by the Armée de lAir until their replacement by the Morane-Saulnier M. S.406 in 1939, as of September 1939, the D. 500/501 had been relegated to regional defense and training squadrons. At the start of World War II, D. 510s were still in operation with three Groupes de Chasse, two Escadrilles Régionale de Chasse, and two Escadrilles de Aéronautique Navale, in Morocco, one escadrille of D. 510s was activated in November 1939. In May 1940, this merged with ERC573 to form GC III/4. This groupe was disbanded by the end of August 1940, at Dakar, one groupe designated GC I/6, remained in service until being replaced by Curtiss H-75s at the end of 1941. Fourteen D. 501s, originally sold to Lithuania, and two D. 510s ostensibly intended for the Emirate of Hedjaz saw service in the Spanish Civil War, arriving in mid-1936. When the French government found out about the delivery of the D. 510s, the aircraft were then refitted with Klimov M-100s from a Tupolev SB bomber. The aircraft served with the Republican forces, the two 510s were posted to the 71st Coastal Defense Group. In 1938, one was damaged while landing and the other was destroyed on a runway during a bombing attack. In 1938,18 Chinese D. 510s saw action against the Japanese, including the defense of Chengdu, source, Green D.500.01 First prototype aircraft. D.503 The sole D.511 prototype fitted with a 12Xcrs engine with a radiator in the nose. Its first flight was on 15 April 1935, it was found to perform worse than the D.500, the aircraft was briefly the personal mount of René Fonck. D.510 Re-engined with Hispano-Suiza 12Ycrs producing 640 kW, armed with a 20 mm Hispano cannon and 2 ×7.5 mm MAC1934 machine guns in the wings and its first flight was on 14 August 1934,120 built. D.511 Prototype with D.500 fuselage and tail, it had wings, a cantilever undercarriage
15.
Potez 630
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The Potez 630 and its derivatives were a family of twin-engined aircraft developed for the French Air Force in the late 1930s. The design was a contemporary of the British Bristol Blenheim and the German Messerschmitt Bf 110, the Potez 630 was in use by several operators during the Second World War. Following the Battle of France, both the Vichy French Air Force and Free French Air Forces used the type, a number of captured aircraft were operated by several air wings of the Axis powers. After the end of the conflict in 1945, a handful of aircraft were used for training purposes for some time, on 31 October 1934, the French Ministry of Air issued a specification for a heavy fighter. Specified performance details included a speed of 450 km/h at 4,000 meters, a 300 km/h cruising speed. Armament requirements included two fixed forward-firing 20 mm cannons and a machine gun to the rear for self defence. Other companies also produced submissions in response, including Breguet Aviation, Hanriot, Chantiers aéronavals Étienne Romano, in addition to the Potez 630, the same specification had ultimately resulted in the successful Breguet 690 series of attack aircraft. On 25 April 1936, the Potez 630-01, equipped with a pair of 580 hp Hispano-Suiza 14, conducted its maiden flight from Méaulte, initially, the prototype was equipped with an experimental feature in the form of a braced horizontal stabilizer that incorporated no dihedreal. On 6 May 1936, the prototype suffered damage due to a hard landing following the mid-air loss of a propeller blade. On 20 November 1936, flight testing of the prototype resumed, the original engines of the Potez 630-01 were progressively replaced with improved models of Hispano-Suiza engine, gradually increasing thrust to reach 700 hp on takeoff. At its maximum weight of 3,850 kg, the prototype was capable of a maximum speed of 460 km/h. In March 1937, the prototype, designated Potez 630-02. The Potez 631-01 was damaged after a landing with its landing gear not being locked into the position, after repairs. In June 1937, a letter of order for a production batch of 10 two-seat and 30 three-seat Potez 631 day fighters was received. The first 48 aircraft to be produced were equipped with Hispano-Suiza 14AB02/03 engines, during the late 1930s, the Potez 630 reportedly received considerable foreign interest, in addition to France, many countries were in the process of reequipping their air forces at the time. In 1938, a further fifty additional Potez 631s were ordered, of which 20 were to be diverted to Finland, in May 1937, series production of the Potez 630 commenced. In February 1938, the first production Potez 630 conducted its maiden flight, on 23 February 1938, on 2 August 1938, the first Potez 631 was officially accepted. On 15 Match 1938, a major re-equipment and expansion program of the French Air Force, on 25 Match 1938, the Potez 633 was increased to 125 bombers, which were also requested to be three-seaters
16.
Curtiss P-36 Hawk
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The Curtiss P-36 Hawk, also known as the Curtiss Hawk Model 75, was an American-designed and built fighter aircraft of the 1930s and 40s. Perhaps best known as the predecessor of the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk and it was nevertheless the fighter used most extensively and successfully by the French Armee de lair during the Battle of France. The P-36 was also ordered by the governments of the Netherlands and Norway, the type was also manufactured under license in China, for the Republic of China Air Force, as well as in British India, for the Royal Air Force and Royal Indian Air Force. Axis and co-belligerent air forces made significant use of captured P-36s. The P-36 was also used by Vichy French air forces in several conflicts, in one of these. From mid-1940, some P-36s en route for France and the Netherlands were diverted to Allied air forces in parts of the world. The Hawks ordered by the Netherlands were diverted to the Dutch East Indies, French orders were taken up by British Commonwealth air forces, and saw combat with both the South African Air Force against Italian forces in East Africa, and with the RAF over Burma. Within the Commonwealth, the type was usually referred to as the Curtiss Mohawk, with around 1,000 aircraft built by Curtiss itself, the P-36 was a major commercial success for the company. It also became the not only of the P-40. The Curtiss Model 75 was a venture by the company, designed by former Northrop Aircraft Company engineer Don R. Berlin.30 in. Also typical of the time was the absence of cockpit armor or self-sealing fuel tanks. The prototype first flew on 6 May 1935, reaching 281 mph at 10,000 ft during early test flights, the new prototype was designated Model 75B with the R-1670 version retroactively designated Model 75D. The fly-off finally took place in April 1936, unfortunately, the new engine failed to deliver its rated power and the aircraft only reached 285 mph. Although the competing Seversky P-35 also underperformed and was expensive, it was still declared the winner. However, on 16 June 1936, Curtiss received an order from USAAC for three prototypes designated Y1P-36, the USAAC was concerned about political turmoil in Europe, and about Severskys ability to deliver P-35s in a timely matter, and therefore wanted a backup fighter. The Y1P-36 was powered by a 900 hp Pratt & Whitney R-1830-13 Twin Wasp engine, the new aircraft performed so well that it won the 1937 USAAC competition with an order for 210 P-36A fighters. The aircrafts extremely low wing loading of just 23.9 lb/ft² gave it outstanding turning performance, the lack of an engine supercharger was a serious handicap at high altitudes. Compared to the later Allison-engined P-40, the P-36 shared the P-40s traits of excellent high-speed handling, roll rate that improved at high speed, and relatively light controls at high speed
17.
Martin Maryland
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The Martin Model 167 was an American-designed medium bomber that first flew in 1939. It saw action in World War II with France and the United Kingdom, in response to a United States Army Air Corps light bomber requirement issued in 1938, the Glenn L. Martin Company produced their Model 167, which was given the official designation XA-22. Martins design was a twin-engine all-metal monoplane, capable of around 310 mph with a crew of three, the prototype Model 167W was powered by twin-row Pratt & Whitney R-1830-37 Twin Wasp engines, which were replaced in French production aircraft by single-row 9-cylinder Wright R-1820 Cyclone engines. All versions of the Model 167 were armed with six guns, four fixed guns in the wings, one dorsal gun. In the prototype these guns were all 0.30 in Browning machine guns, the dorsal gun was mounted in a fully retractable turret. The French aircraft used license built Belgian Fabrique Nationale FN-Brownings, the weight saved helped to increase the top speed to 288 mph. The Model 167 was a fairly typical twin engined bomber of the period, the most unusual feature of the Model 167 was the very narrow fuselage although it was shared with a number of late pre-war contemporaries. Glenn L. Martin doubled the size of the Baltimore factory, and built all 115 aircraft in six months, despite this the French placed an order for an additional 100 aircraft. The embargo was lifted in October 1939, and the 115 aircraft from the first order were delivered by late November 1939, deliveries then slowed down, and only 25 of the second batch reached France before the Armistice of 22 June 1940. Facing a massive German arms buildup and desperate for modern aircraft, Martin received an order for more than 200167 Fs which incorporated French-specific equipment such as metric instruments. French officials expected deliveries to begin in January 1939 but the type, notably, because of the U. S. embargo on arms exports after the beginning of World War II, many aircraft were impounded for two months before being shipped to Europe. When the Germans invaded France there were only four Groupes de bombardement equipped, the Glenns were quickly sent to the front lines where they performed well with their adequate speed and excellent maneuverability for an aircraft in this class. In about 400 sorties, they suffered a 4% loss rate, immediately before the June 1940 Armistice, units flying the Glenn Martin 167 were evacuated to French North Africa to avoid capture by the Germans. One of them landed in Spain and was interned, being tested by the Spanish Air Force, some examples were transferred to the Aéronautique Navale. During Vichy rule of the French empire, French Martins bombed British Commonwealth forces, as French North Africa got back in the Allied camp in 1943, M. 167s were replaced with more modern Allied types, including the Martin B-26 Marauder. Approximately 215 Martin 167s were delivered to France, just before the Franco-German Armistice, the remaining 75 planes on the French order were signed over to the United Kingdom. Thirty-two aircraft had completed to French specifications and were converted to British requirements in the UK. Engines were changed from the Cyclone 9 to the Pratt and Whitney Twin Wasp and various weapons, the last 43 of the order were completed as required by Glenn Martin
18.
Douglas A-20 Havoc
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The Douglas A-20 Havoc was an American attack, light bomber, and intruder aircraft of World War II. It served with several Allied air forces, principally the United States Army Air Forces, the Soviet Air Forces, Soviet Naval Aviation, Soviet units received more than one in three of the DB-7s ultimately built. It was also used by the air forces of Australia, South Africa, France, and the Netherlands during the war, and by Brazil afterwards. In British Commonwealth air forces, bomber/attack variants of the DB-7 were usually known by the service name Boston, an exception to this was the Royal Australian Air Force, which referred to all variants of the DB-7 by the name Boston. The USAAF referred to night fighter variants as P-70 and it was estimated that it could carry a 1,000 lb bomb load at 250 mph. Reports of aircraft performance from the Spanish Civil War indicated that this design would be seriously underpowered, in the autumn of the same year, the United States Army Air Corps issued its own specification for an attack aircraft. The Douglas team, now headed by Heinemann, took the Model 7A design, upgraded with 1,100 hp Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp engines and it faced competition from the North American NA-40, Stearman X-100, and Martin 167F. The Model 7B was maneuverable and fast, but did not attract any US orders, the model did, however, attract the attention of a French Purchasing Commission visiting the United States. The French discreetly participated in the trials, so as not to attract criticism from American isolationists. The secret was revealed when the Model 7B crashed on 23 January while demonstrating single-engine performance, the French were still impressed enough to order 100 production aircraft, with the order increased to 270 when the war began. Sixteen of those had been ordered by Belgium for its Aviation Militaire, in a report to the British Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment at RAF Boscombe Down, test pilots summed it up as, has no vices and is very easy to take off and land. The aeroplane represents a definite advantage in the design of flying controls, extremely pleasant to fly and manoeuvre. Ex-pilots often consider it their favorite aircraft of the war due to the ability to toss it around like a fighter, the Douglas bomber/night fighter was extremely adaptable and found a role in every combat theater of the war, and excelled as a true pilots aeroplane. When DB-7 series production ended on 20 September 1944, a total of 7,098 had been built by Douglas. Douglas redesigned its Santa Monica plant to create a production line to produce A-20 Havocs. The assembly line was over a long, but by looping back and forth. Man-hours were reduced by 50% for some operations, the French order called for substantial modifications, resulting in the DB-7 variant. It had a narrower, deeper fuselage,1,000 hp Pratt & Whitney R-1830-SC3-G radials, French-built guns, midway through the delivery phase, engines were switched to 1,100 hp Pratt & Whitney R-1830-S3C4-G
19.
Luftwaffe
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The Luftwaffe was the aerial warfare branch of the combined German Wehrmacht military forces during World War II. During the interwar period, German pilots were trained secretly in violation of the treaty at Lipetsk Air Base, with the rise of the Nazi Party and the repudiation of the Versailles Treaty, the Luftwaffe was officially established on 26 February 1935. The Condor Legion, a Luftwaffe detachment sent to aid Nationalist forces in the Spanish Civil War, provided the force with a testing ground for new doctrines. By the summer of 1939, the Luftwaffe had twenty-eight Geschwaders, during World War II, German pilots claimed roughly 70,000 aerial victories, while over 75,000 Luftwaffe aircraft were destroyed or significantly damaged. Of these, nearly 40,000 were lost entirely, the Luftwaffe proved instrumental in the German victories across Poland and Western Europe in 1939 and 1940. From 1942, Allied bombing campaigns gradually destroyed the Luftwaffes fighter arm, in addition to its service in the West, the Luftwaffe operated over the Soviet Union, North Africa and Southern Europe. In January 1945, during the stages of the Battle of the Bulge, the Luftwaffe made a last-ditch effort to win air superiority. After the defeat of Germany, the Luftwaffe was disbanded in 1946, the Luftwaffe had only two commanders-in-chief throughout its history, Hermann Göring and later Generalfeldmarschall Robert Ritter von Greim. Throughout the war, the force was responsible for war crimes, one of the forerunners of the Luftwaffe, the Imperial German Army Air Service, was founded in 1910 with the name Die Fliegertruppen des deutschen Kaiserreiches, most often shortened to Fliegertruppe. It was renamed Luftstreitkräfte on 8 October 1916, after the defeat of Germany, the service was dissolved on 8 May 1920 under the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles, which also mandated the destruction of all German military aircraft. Since the Treaty of Versailles forbade Germany to have an air force, to train its pilots on the latest combat aircraft, Germany solicited the help of its future enemy, the Soviet Union, which was also isolated in Europe. This base was known as 4th squadron of the 40th wing of the Red Army. Hundreds of Luftwaffe pilots and technical personnel visited, studied and were trained at Soviet air force schools in locations in Central Russia. The first steps towards the Luftwaffes formation were undertaken just months after Adolf Hitler came to power, in April 1933 the Reichsluftfahrtministerium was established. Görings control over all aspects of aviation became absolute, on 25 March 1933 the Deutschen Luftsportverband absorbed all private and national organizations, while retaining its sports title. On 15 May 1933, all military organizations in the RLM were merged, forming the Luftwaffe. The |Nationalsozialistisches Fliegerkorps was formed in 1937 to give pre-military flying training to male youths, military-age members of the NSFK were drafted to the Luftwaffe. As all such prior NSFK members were also Nazi Party members, the absence of Göring in planning and production matters was fortunate
20.
Messerschmitt Bf 109
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The Messerschmitt Bf 109, was a German World War II fighter aircraft that was the backbone of the Luftwaffes fighter force. The Bf 109 first saw service during the Spanish Civil War and was still in service at the dawn of the jet age at the end of World War II. It was one of the most advanced fighters of the era, including such features as all-metal monocoque construction, a closed canopy and it was powered by a liquid-cooled, inverted-V12 aero engine. From the end of 1941, the Bf 109 was steadily being supplemented by the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 and it was commonly called the Me 109 most often by Allied aircrew and even among the German aces themselves even though this was not the official German designation. The designation Messerschmitt Bf 109 was issued by the Ministry of Aviation and it was designed by Willy Messerschmitt and Robert Lusser, who worked at Bayerische Flugzeugwerke, during the early to mid-1930s. It was supplied to and operated by several states during World War II, the Bf 109 is the most produced fighter aircraft in history, with a total of 33,984 airframes produced from 1936 up to April 1945. The Bf 109 was flown by the three top-scoring German fighter aces of World War II, who claimed 928 victories among them while flying with Jagdgeschwader 52, mainly on the Eastern Front. The highest scoring ace of all time, Erich Hartmann. The aircraft was flown by Hans-Joachim Marseille, the highest scoring German ace in the North African Campaign who achieved 158 aerial victories. Through constant development, the Bf 109 remained competitive with the latest Allied fighter aircraft until the end of the war, during 1933, the Technisches Amt, the technical department of the Reichsluftfahrtministerium, concluded a series of research projects into the future of air combat. In late March 1933 the RLM published the tactical requirements for a fighter in the document L. A. 1432/33. The fighter needed to have a top speed of 400 km/h at 6,000 m, to be maintained for 20 minutes, while having a total flight duration of 90 minutes. The critical altitude of 6,000 metres was to be reached in no more than 17 minutes, power was to be provided by the new Junkers Jumo 210 engine of about 522 kW. The MG C/30 was an adaption of the 2 cm FlaK30 anti-aircraft gun, which fired very powerful Long Solothurn ammunition. It was also specified that the wing loading should be kept below 100 kg/m2, the performance was to be evaluated based on the fighters level speed, rate of climb, and manoeuvrability, in that order. A. 1432/33 requirements at the time in February 1934. A fourth company, Focke-Wulf, received a copy of the development contract only in September 1934, the powerplant was to be the new Junkers Jumo 210, but the proviso was made that it would be interchangeable with the more powerful, but less developed Daimler-Benz DB600 powerplant. Each was asked to deliver three prototypes for testing in late 1934
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.
