1.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
2.
Royal Air Force
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The Royal Air Force is the United Kingdoms aerial warfare force. Formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, following victory over the Central Powers in 1918 the RAF emerged as, at the time, the largest air force in the world. The RAF describe its mission statement as, an agile, adaptable and capable Air Force that, person for person, is second to none, and that makes a decisive air power contribution in support of the UK Defence Mission. The mission statement is supported by the RAFs definition of air power, Air power is defined as the ability to project power from the air and space to influence the behaviour of people or the course of events. Today the Royal Air Force maintains a fleet of various types of aircraft. The majority of the RAFs rotary-wing aircraft form part of the tri-service Joint Helicopter Command in support of ground forces, most of the RAFs aircraft and personnel are based in the UK, with many others serving on operations or at long-established overseas bases. It was founded on 1 April 1918, with headquarters located in the former Hotel Cecil, during the First World War, by the amalgamation of the Royal Flying Corps, at that time it was the largest air force in the world. The RAFs naval aviation branch, the Fleet Air Arm, was founded in 1924, the RAF developed the doctrine of strategic bombing which led to the construction of long-range bombers and became its main bombing strategy in the Second World War. The RAF underwent rapid expansion prior to and during the Second World War, under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan of December 1939, the air forces of British Commonwealth countries trained and formed Article XV squadrons for service with RAF formations. Many individual personnel from countries, and exiles from occupied Europe. By the end of the war the Royal Canadian Air Force had contributed more than 30 squadrons to serve in RAF formations, additionally, the Royal Australian Air Force represented around nine percent of all RAF personnel who served in the European and Mediterranean theatres. In the Battle of Britain in 1940, the RAF defended the skies over Britain against the numerically superior German Luftwaffe, the largest RAF effort during the war was the strategic bombing campaign against Germany by Bomber Command. Following victory in the Second World War, the RAF underwent significant re-organisation, during the early stages of the Cold War, one of the first major operations undertaken by the Royal Air Force was in 1948 and the Berlin Airlift, codenamed Operation Plainfire. Before Britain developed its own nuclear weapons the RAF was provided with American nuclear weapons under Project E and these were initially armed with nuclear gravity bombs, later being equipped with the Blue Steel missile. Following the development of the Royal Navys Polaris submarines, the nuclear deterrent passed to the navys submarines on 30 June 1969. With the introduction of Polaris, the RAFs strategic nuclear role was reduced to a tactical one and this tactical role was continued by the V bombers into the 1980s and until 1998 by Tornado GR1s. For much of the Cold War the primary role of the RAF was the defence of Western Europe against potential attack by the Soviet Union, with many squadrons based in West Germany. With the decline of the British Empire, global operations were scaled back, despite this, the RAF fought in many battles in the Cold War period
3.
RAF Bomber Command
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RAF Bomber Command controlled the RAFs bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the role in the strategic bombing of Germany in World War II. From 1942 onward, the British bombing campaign against Germany became less restrictive and increasingly targeted industrial sites, in total 364,514 operational sorties were flown,1,030,500 tons of bombs were dropped and 8,325 aircraft lost in action. Bomber Command crews also suffered a casualty rate,55,573 were killed out of a total of 125,000 aircrew, a further 8,403 were wounded in action. Bomber Command stood at the peak of its military power in the 1960s, the V bombers holding the United Kingdoms nuclear deterrent. In August 2006, a memorial was unveiled at Lincoln Cathedral, a memorial in Green Park in London was unveiled by the Queen on 28 June 2012 to highlight the price paid by the aircrews. At the time of the formation of Bomber Command in 1936, Giulio Douhets slogan the bomber will always get through was popular, until advances in radar technology in the late 1930s, this statement was effectively true. Attacking bombers could not be detected early enough to assemble fighters fast enough to prevent them reaching their targets. Some damage might be done to the bombers by AA guns, and by fighters as the returned to base. Consequently, the conception of Bomber Command was as an entity that threatened the enemy with utter destruction. In 1936, Germanys increasing air power was feared by British government planners who commonly overestimated its size, reach, planners used estimates of up to 72 British deaths per tonne of bombs dropped, though this figure was grossly exaggerated. As well, the planners did not know that German bombing aircraft of the day did not have the range to reach the UK with a load of bombs, British air officers did nothing to correct these perceptions because they could see the usefulness of having a strong bombing arm. At the start of the Second World War in 1939, Bomber Command faced four problems, the first was lack of size, Bomber Command was not large enough effectively to operate as an independent strategic force. The second was rules of engagement, at the start of the war, the third problem was the Commands lack of technology, specifically radio or radar derived navigational aids to allow accurate target location at night or through cloud. The fourth problem was the accuracy of bombing, especially from high level. When the war began on 1 September 1939, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the neutral United States, the French and British agreed to abide by the request, provided that these same rules of warfare will be scrupulously observed by all of their opponents. British policy was to restrict bombing to military targets and infrastructure, such as ports, while acknowledging that bombing Germany would cause civilian casualties, the British government renounced deliberate bombing of civilian property as a military tactic. The British abandoned this policy at the end of the Phoney War, or Sitzkrieg, on 15 May 1940, one day after the Rotterdam Blitz
4.
Royal Air Force Ensign
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The Royal Air Force Ensign is the official flag which is used to represent the British Royal Air Force. The ensign has a field of air force blue with the United Kingdoms flag in the canton, the RAF Ensign was introduced in 1921 after some opposition from senior members of the Royal Navy. Various countries air force ensigns have been based upon the RAFs ensign, currently it is flown from the flagstaff of every Royal Air Force station during daylight hours and has been permanently displayed on the Cenotaph in London since 1943. Ever since the formation of the RAF in 1918, the Air Council had wanted to introduce a flag which would be flown at RAF stations. However, the Admiralty had the right to veto the introduction of any new flag that was to be flown within the British Empire or on a British vessel. The Air Council did not welcome the Admiraltys condition, as they wished to use the White Ensign with the St Georges Cross removed. The Air Council then submitted a design featuring a jack with a white border, the Air Council then re-submitted the original design which, unsurprisingly, was rejected once again. When the situation came to the attention of King George V, although papers were drafted, the question was never debated in Cabinet. The dispute soon became widely known and various designs were suggested by members of the public. Although none of these suggestions were accepted, the idea that the Roundel might be adopted was viewed favourably by senior RAF commanders, Air Vice Marshal Sir John Salmond suggested that the Union Flag be placed in the canton in order that the design carry the mark of British authority. The Air Council subsequently agreed upon the design in use today as their preferred option, the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sir Hugh Trenchard, then brought the design before King George V who approved the design. The design was sent to the Admiralty and it was accepted as an Ensign in December 1920. On 24 March 1921, the King signed an Order in Council ratifying its use, the official design code for the RAF Ensign is UNKG0018 and the azure blue used is NATO stock no. 8305-99-130-4578, Polyester Bunting in Pantone 549C. Following the institution of the RAF Ensign in 1921, there were suggestions that it should be flown on the Cenotaph. These suggestions were rejected, as the RAF Ensign had not been created until after the Great War, and the RAF itself had only been established for the last seven months of the War. At this time a Union Flag, a White Ensign and a Red Ensign were flown on one side of the Cenotaph and a Union Flag, a White Ensign and a Blue Ensign were flown on the other side. However, when this request was passed to the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, he rejected the proposal, the Cabinet also favoured the new proposal, and although the Prime Minister remained opposed to any change, he acceded to the will of the Cabinet. The Admiralty requested that the substitution be done with no ceremony, later the same day at 1130 am, an RAF Regiment guard paraded at the Cenotaph and a wreath was placed underneath the RAF Ensign
5.
Edward Addison
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Air Vice Marshal Edward Barker Addison CB, CBE, FIEE was a senior Royal Air Force officer who served as Air Officer Commanding No.100 Group from 1943 to 1945 during the Second World War. The group was tasked with the jamming of radar and communications systems from the air. Addison was born on 4 October 1898 and served with the Royal Flying Corps, after the war he studied at Sidney Sussex College in Cambridge and then re-entered the RAF in 1921. His studies continued, gaining his masters degree from Cambridge in 1926, Addison retired from the RAF in 1955 to a civilian career, maintaining a close involvement with the electronics field until his retirement as Director of Intercontinental Technical Services in 1975. In 1977 he appeared in the BBC television programme The Secret War episode The Battle of the Beams and he died at Weybridge, Surrey, on 4 July 1987, aged eighty-eight. Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation – Air Vice Marshal E B Addison Royal Air Force – Bomber Command Commanders of World War II
6.
Electronic warfare
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Electronic warfare is any action involving the use of the electromagnetic spectrum or directed energy to control the spectrum, attack of an enemy, or impede enemy assaults via the spectrum. The purpose of warfare is to deny the opponent the advantage of, and ensure friendly unimpeded access to. EW can be applied from air, sea, land, and space by manned and unmanned systems, Military operations are executed in an information environment increasingly complicated by the electromagnetic spectrum. The electromagnetic spectrum portion of the environment is referred to as the electromagnetic environment. Within the information operations construct, EW is an element of warfare, more specifically. NATO has a different and arguably more encompassing and comprehensive approach to EW, a Military Committee conceptual document from 2007 recognised the EME as an operational manoeuvre space and warfighting environment/domain. In NATO, EW is considered to be warfare in the EME, NATO has adopted simplified language which parallel those used in the other warfighting environments like maritime, land and air/space. For example, Electronic Attack is offensive use of EM energy, ED is electronic defence and ES electronic surveillance. The use of the traditional NATO EW measures has been retained as they contribute to and support EA, ED, besides EW, other EM operations include ISTAR and SIGINT. Subsequently NATO has issued EW Policy and Doctrine and is addressing the other NATO defence lines of development, Electronic warfare is any military action involving the use of the EM spectrum to include directed energy to control the EM spectrum or to attack an enemy. This is not limited to radio or radar frequencies but includes IR, visible, ultraviolet and this includes self-protection, standoff, and escort jamming, and antiradiation attacks. EW is a tool that enhances many air and space functions at multiple levels of conflict. The purpose of EW is to deny the opponent an advantage in the EM spectrum, EW can be applied from air, sea, land, and space by manned and unmanned systems. EW is employed to support operations involving various levels of detection, denial, deception, disruption, degradation, protection. Expanding reliance on the EM spectrum increases both the potential and the challenges of EW in information operations, all of the core, supporting, and related information operations capabilities either directly use EW or indirectly benefit from EW. The principal EW activities have developed over time to exploit the opportunities and vulnerabilities that are inherent in the physics of EM energy. Electronic warfare includes three major subdivisions, electronic attack, electronic protection, and electronic warfare support, in the case of EM energy, this action is referred to as jamming and can be performed on communications systems or radar systems. Jamming is not part of EP, it is an EA measure, the use of flare rejection logic on an Infrared homing missile to counter an adversary’s use of flares is EP
7.
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
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The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engine heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps. Competing against Douglas and Martin for a contract to build 200 bombers, although Boeing lost the contract because the prototype crashed, the air corps ordered 13 more B-17s for further evaluation. From its introduction in 1938, the B-17 Flying Fortress evolved through numerous design advances, the B-17 was primarily employed by the United States Army Air Forces in the daylight strategic bombing campaign of World War II against German industrial and military targets. The B-17 also participated to an extent in the War in the Pacific, early in World War II. From its prewar inception, the USAAC promoted the aircraft as a weapon, it was a relatively fast, high-flying. It developed a reputation for toughness based upon stories and photos of badly damaged B-17s safely returning to base, the B-17 developed a reputation as an effective bomber, dropping more bombs than any other U. S. aircraft in World War II. Of the 1.5 million tonnes of bombs dropped on Germany, in addition to its role as a bomber, the B-17 was also employed as a transport, antisubmarine aircraft, drone controller, and search-and-rescue aircraft. As of May 2015, ten aircraft remain airworthy, none of them are combat veterans. Dozens more are in storage or on static display, the oldest of these is a D-series veteran of combat in the Pacific and the Caribbean. On 8 August 1934, the U. S. Army Air Corps tendered a proposal for a bomber to replace the Martin B-10. The air corps was looking for a capable of reinforcing the air forces in Hawaii, Panama. Requirements were that it would carry a useful bombload at an altitude of 10,000 ft for ten hours with a top speed of at least 200 mph. They also desired, but did not require, a range of 2,000 mi, the competition for the air corps contract would be decided by a fly-off between Boeings design, the Douglas DB-1, and the Martin Model 146 at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio. The prototype B-17, with the Boeing factory designation of Model 299, was designed by a team of engineers led by E. Gifford Emery and Edward Curtis Wells and it combined features of the experimental Boeing XB-15 bomber with the Boeing 247 transport aircraft. The B-17s armament consisted of up to 4,800 lb of bombs on two racks in the bay behind the cockpit, and initially possessed five.30 caliber machine guns. It was powered by four Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet radial engines each producing 750 hp at 7,000 ft, the first flight of the Model 299 was on 28 July 1935 with Boeing chief test-pilot Leslie Tower at the controls. Richard Williams, a reporter for the Seattle Times, coined the name Flying Fortress with his comment, Why, when the Model 299 was rolled out bristling with multiple machine gun installations. The most unusual gun emplacement was the installation which allowed the single machine gun to be fired toward almost any frontal angle
8.
Consolidated B-24 Liberator
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The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some models were laid down as export models designated as various LB-30s. At its inception, the B-24 was a design featuring a highly efficient shoulder-mounted. The wing gave the Liberator a high speed, long range. Early RAF Liberators were the first aircraft to cross the Atlantic Ocean as a matter of routine, however, the type was difficult to fly and had poor low speed performance. It also had a ceiling and was less robust than the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. While aircrews tended to prefer the B-17, General Staff favored the B-24, the B-24 was used extensively in World War II. It served in every branch of the American armed forces, as well as several Allied air forces and navies, along with the B-17, the B-24 was the mainstay of the US strategic bombing campaign in the Western European theater. Due to its range, it proved useful in bombing operations in the Pacific, long range anti-submarine Liberators played an instrumental role in closing the Mid-Atlantic Gap in the Battle of the Atlantic. The C-87 transport derivative served as a range, higher capacity counterpart to the Douglas C-47 Skytrain. The B-24 was produced in large numbers. At the end of World War II, the Liberator had been surpassed by more modern types such as the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, the type was rapidly phased out of US service, although the PB4Y-2 Privateer derivative carried on in service with the US Navy in the Korean War. Two B-24s, one LB-30B and one Liberator V representing a B-24H, are airworthy as of 2016, the Liberator originated from a United States Army Air Corps request in 1938 for Consolidated to produce the B-17 under license. After company executives including President Reuben Fleet visited the Boeing factory in Seattle, Washington and this new fuselage was intentionally designed around twin bomb bays, each one being the same size and capacity of the B-17 bomb bays. In January 1939, the USAAC, under Specification C-212, formally invited Consolidated to submit a design study for a bomber with longer range, higher speed, the specification was written such that the Model 32 would automatically be the winning design. The program was run under the group, Project A. Although the B-24 did not meet Project A goals, it was a step in that direction, Project A led to the development of the Boeing B-29 and Consolidateds own B-32 and B-36. The B-24 had a shoulder mounted high aspect ratio Davis wing and this wing was highly efficient allowing a relatively high airspeed and long range
9.
Handley Page Halifax
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The Handley Page Halifax was British four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. On 25 October 1939, the Halifax performed its maiden flight and it quickly became a major component of Bomber Command, performing routine strategic bombing missions against the Axis Powers, many of which were performed at night. The Halifax was also operated in large numbers by other Allied and Commonwealth nations, such as the Royal Canadian Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force, Free French Air Force and Polish forces. Various improved versions of the Halifax were introduced, which incorporated more powerful engines and it remained in service until the end of the war, performing a variety of duties in addition to bombing. Additionally, specialised versions of the Halifax were developed for troop-transport, during the post-war years, the Halifax was operated by the Royal Egyptian Air Force, the French Armée de lAir and the Royal Pakistan Air Force. The type also entered service for a number of years. A dedicated civil variant, the Handley Page Halton, was also developed and entered airline service. During 1961, the last remaining Halifax bombers were retired from operational use, in the 1930s, the Royal Air Force was primarily interested in twin-engine bombers. These designs put limited demands on engine production and maintenance, both of which were stretched with the introduction of so many new types into service. Power limitations were so serious that the British invested heavily in the development of engines in the 2,000 horsepower class in order to improve performance. During the late 1930s, none of these were ready for production, accordingly, in 1936, the RAF also decided to investigate the feasibility of the four-engined bomber. During the mid 1930s, the British Air Ministry formulated and released Specification P. 13/36, in response, Handley Page produced the twin-engine HP56 design to meet Specification P. 13/36. Handley Page aircraft designer George Volkert had responsibility for the design.24 or Bristol Hercules engines, the majority of these engines were under development at this point, while four-engined bomber designs were considered for specification B. In February 1937, following consideration of the designs by the Air Ministry, accordingly, during April 1937, a pair of prototypes of both designs were ordered. The introduction of the successful P. 13/36 candidates was delayed by the necessity of ordering additional Armstrong-Whitworth Whitley, in mid-1937, it was decided to order both the Avro 679 and HP56 designs off the drawing board in order to speed up delivery timetables. The redesign increased the wingspan from 88 ft to 99 ft, towards the end of the year, a full mock-up of the design was assessed, in March 1938, the construction of the pair of HP57 prototypes commenced. Further design modifications resulted in the aircraft, which had been considerably enlarged and was powered by an arrangement of four 1,280 hp Rolls-Royce Merlin X engines. On 17 August 1940, the first flight of the prototype, L7245
10.
Short Stirling
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The Short Stirling was a British four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It has the distinction of being the first four-engined bomber to be introduced into service with the Royal Air Force, the Stirling was designed during the late 1930s by Short Brothers to conform with the requirements laid out in Air Ministry Specification B. 12/36. When the preferred Type 317 had to be abandoned, the S.29, during early 1941, the Stirling entered active squadron service. The Sterling had a brief operational career as a bomber before being relegated to second line duties from late 1943. A handful of ex-military Stirlings were rebuilt and saw continued use on the civil market, in the 1930s, the Royal Air Force was interested primarily in twin-engine bombers. These designs put limited demands on engine production and maintenance, both of which were stretched with the introduction of so many new types into service. Power limitations were so serious that the British invested heavily in the development of engines in the 2,000 horsepower class in order to improve performance. During the late 1930s, none of these were ready for production, accordingly, in 1936, the RAF also decided to investigate the feasibility of the four-engined bomber. Amongst the several requirements specified, the load was to be a maximum of 14,000 lb carried to a range of 2,000 miles or a lesser payload of 8,000 lb to 3,000 miles. It was to have a crew of six and was to have a normal weight of 48, 000lb, while a maximum overload weight of 65. The aircraft would have to be capable of cruising at speeds of 230 mph or greater while flying at 15,000 ft, while possessing three individual gun turrets for self-defence. Additionally, the aircraft should also be able to be used as a troop transport for 24 soldiers. The concept was that the aircraft would fly troops to far corners of the British Empire, to help with this task as well as ease production, it needed to be able to be broken down into parts, for transport by train. Various companies responded to B. 12/36, including Supermarine and Armstrong Whitworth, Shorts were producing several four-engined flying boat designs of the required size and created their S.29 proposal by removing the lower deck and boat hull of the S.25 Sunderland. As originally designed, the S.29 was considered to be capable of favourable high-altitude performance, in October 1936, the S.29 was low down on the short list of designs considered and the Supermarine Type 317 was ordered in prototype form in January 1937. However it was decided that a design to Supermarine was needed for insurance. Shorts accepted this large amount of redesign work, the project had added importance due to the death of Supermarines designer, Reginald Mitchell, which had generated doubt within the Air Ministry. The S.29 used the Sunderlands 114 ft wing and it had to be reduced to less than 100 ft, in order to get the needed lift from a shorter span and excess weight, the redesigned wing was thickened and reshaped
11.
Vickers Wellington
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The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. Other aircraft developed to the specification include the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley. During the development process, performance requirements such as for the tare weight changed substantially, the Wellington was widely used as a night bomber in the early years of the Second World War, performing as one of the principal bombers used by Bomber Command. During 1943, it started to be superseded as a bomber by the larger four-engined heavies such as the Avro Lancaster, the Wellington continued to serve throughout the war in other duties, particularly as an anti-submarine aircraft. It holds the distinction of being the only British bomber to be produced for the duration of the war, the Wellington remained as first-line equipment when the war ended, although it had been increasing relegated to secondary roles. The Wellington was one of two named after Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, the other being the Vickers Wellesley. A larger heavy bomber designed to Specification B. 1/35, the Vickers Warwick, was developed in parallel with the Wellington. Many elements of the Wellington were also reused in a civil derivative, in October 1932, the British Air Ministry invited Vickers to tender for the recently issued Specification B. 9/32, which sought a twin-engine medium daylight bomber. This strength allowed for the design to be further developed to reduce the size of individual members. The Pegasus was selected as the engine for air-cooled versions of the bomber, on 28 February 1933, two versions of the aircraft, one with each of the selected powerplants, were submitted to the tender. In September 1933, the Air Ministry issued a contract for the Goshawk-powered version. Other refinements of the design had also implemented and approved, such as the adoption of variable-pitch propellers. By December 1936, the specification had been revised to include front, rear, other specification changes included modified bomb undershields and the inclusion of spring-loaded bomb bay doors. Design studies were conducted on behalf of the Air Ministry into the adoption of the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. F. Andrews stated to be a high figure for a medium bomber of those days. During the development phase of the aircraft, the political and military situations in Europe drastically transformed, with the rise of fascist dictatorships in Germany and Italy, the British government had become keen to reevaluate the capabilities of the nations armed forces, including the Royal Air Force. In early 1936, a prototype, K4049, which was originally designated as a Type 271, was assembled. It had provisions for a crew of four, along with a position for performing special duties
12.
Fighter aircraft
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A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat against other aircraft, as opposed to bombers and attack aircraft, whose main mission is to attack ground targets. The hallmarks of a fighter are its speed, maneuverability, many fighters have secondary ground-attack capabilities, and some are designed as dual-purpose fighter-bombers, often aircraft that do not fulfill the standard definition are called fighters. This may be for political or national security reasons, for advertising purposes, a fighters main purpose is to establish air superiority over a battlefield. Since World War I, achieving and maintaining air superiority has been considered essential for victory in conventional warfare, the word fighter did not become the official English-language term for such aircraft until after World War I. In the British Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force these aircraft were referred to as scouts into the early 1920s, the U. S. Army called their fighters pursuit aircraft from 1916 until the late 1940s. In most languages a fighter aircraft is known as a hunter, exceptions include Russian, where a fighter is an истребитель, meaning exterminator, and Hebrew where it is matose krav. As a part of nomenclature, a letter is often assigned to various types of aircraft to indicate their use. In Russia I was used, while the French continue to use C and this has always been the case, for instance the Sopwith Camel and other fighting scouts of World War I performed a great deal of ground-attack work. Several aircraft, such as the F-111 and F-117, have received fighter designations but had no fighter capability due to political or other reasons, the F-111B variant was originally intended for a fighter role with the U. S. Navy, but it was cancelled. This blurring follows the use of fighters from their earliest days for attack or strike operations against ground targets by means of strafing or dropping small bombs, versatile multirole fighter-bombers such as the F/A-18 Hornet are a less expensive option than having a range of specialized aircraft types. An interceptor is generally an aircraft intended to target bombers and so often trades maneuverability for climb rate, fighters were developed in World War I to deny enemy aircraft and dirigibles the ability to gather information by reconnaissance. Early fighters were very small and lightly armed by later standards, and most were built with a wooden frame, covered with fabric. As control of the airspace over armies became increasingly important all of the major powers developed fighters to support their military operations, between the wars, wood was largely replaced by steel tubing, then aluminium tubing, and finally aluminium stressed skin structures began to predominate. By World War II, most fighters were all-metal monoplanes armed with batteries of guns or cannons. By the end of the war, turbojet engines were replacing piston engines as the means of propulsion, further increasing aircraft speed. Since the weight of the engine was so less than on piston engined fighters. This in turn required the development of ejection seats so the pilot could escape, in the 1950s, radar was fitted to day fighters, since pilots could no longer see far enough ahead to prepare for any opposition. Since then, radar capabilities have grown enormously and are now the method of target acquisition
13.
Bristol Beaufighter
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The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter is a multi-role aircraft developed during the Second World War by the Bristol Aeroplane Company in the United Kingdom. It was originally conceived as a fighter variant of the Bristol Beaufort bomber. In later operations, it served mainly as a maritime strike/ground attack aircraft, the Royal Australian Air Force also heavily used the type in the maritime anti-shipping role, such as during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea. In addition, variants of the Beaufighter were also manufactured in Australia by the Department of Aircraft Production, the concept of the Beaufighter has its origins in 1938. Accordingly, Bristols design team, led by L. G, frise, commenced the development of a cannon-armed fighter derivative as a private venture. A key goal for the aircraft was to share the same jigs as the in-production Beaufort so that manufacturing could be switched from one aircraft to the other at short notice. As a torpedo bomber and aerial reconnaissance aircraft, the Beaufort had moderate performance, the Hercules was a considerably larger and more powerful engine, which required larger propellers. To obtain the necessary ground clearance, the engines were mounted centrally on the wing, in October 1938, the project, which received the internal designation Type 156, was outlined. In March 1939, the Type 156 was given the name Beaufighter, Bristol proceeded to suggest their concept for a fighter development of the Beaufort to the Air Ministry. The timing of the suggestion happened to coincide with delays in the development, while there was some scepticism that the aircraft was unnecessarily large for the fighter role, the proposal was given an overall warm reception by the Air Staff. Accordingly, the Air Ministry produced draft Specification F. 11/37 written around Bristols suggestion for an interim aircraft, on 16 November 1938, Bristol received formal authorisation to commence the detailed design phase of the project and to proceed with the construction of four prototypes. Bristol began building a prototype by taking a partly built Beaufort out of the production line. This conversion served to speed progress, Bristol had promised series production in early 1940 on the basis of an order being placed in February 1939. Designers expected that maximum re-use of Beaufort components would speed the process, perhaps in anticipation of this, the Air Ministry had requested that Bristol investigate the prospects of a slim fuselage configuration. Since the Beaufort cannon fighter was a conversion of a design, development. Within six months of the first F. 11/37 prototype, designated R2052, had been completed, on 17 July 1939, R2052, the first prototype, conducted its maiden flight, a little more than eight months after development had formally started. In its initial configuration, R2052 was unarmed, the rapid pace of development achieved is partially attributable due to the re-use of many elements of the Beauforts design along with frequently identical components. R2052 proceeded to be operated by Bristol for testing purposes while it was based at Filton Aerodrome
14.
De Havilland Mosquito
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The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito is a British multi-role combat aircraft with a two-man crew which served during and after the Second World War. It was one of few operational front-line aircraft of the era constructed almost entirely of wood and was nicknamed The Wooden Wonder, the Mosquito was also known affectionately as the Mossie to its crews. It was also used by the British Overseas Airways Corporation as a fast transport to carry small high-value cargoes to, a single passenger could be carried in the aircrafts bomb bay, which would be adapted for the purpose. When production of the Mosquito began in 1941, it was one of the fastest operational aircraft in the world, entering widespread service in 1942, the Mosquito was a high-speed, high-altitude photo-reconnaissance aircraft, continuing in this role throughout the war. From mid-1942 to mid-1943, Mosquito bombers flew high-speed, medium or low-altitude missions against factories, railways and other pinpoint targets in Germany, from late 1943, Mosquito bombers were formed into the Light Night Strike Force and used as pathfinders for RAF Bomber Commands heavy-bomber raids. They were also used as bombers, often dropping Blockbuster bombs –4,000 lb cookies – in high-altitude. As a night fighter from mid-1942, the Mosquito intercepted Luftwaffe raids on the United Kingdom, starting in July 1942, Mosquito night-fighter units raided Luftwaffe airfields. As part of 100 Group, it was a fighter and intruder supporting RAF Bomber Commands heavy bombers that reduced bomber losses during 1944 and 1945. Second Tactical Air Force Mosquitos supported the British Army during the 1944 Normandy Campaign, from 1943, Mosquitos with RAF Coastal Command strike squadrons attacked Kriegsmarine U-boats and intercepted transport ship concentrations. The Mosquito flew with the Royal Air Force and other air forces in the European, Mediterranean and Italian theatres. The Mosquito was also operated by the RAF in the South East Asian theatre, during the 1950s, the RAF replaced the Mosquito with the jet-powered English Electric Canberra. By the early-mid-1930s, de Havilland had a reputation for innovative high-speed aircraft with the DH.88 Comet racer, the later DH.91 Albatross airliner pioneered the composite wood construction that the Mosquito used. The 22-passenger Albatross could cruise at 210 miles per hour at 11,000 feet,100 miles per hour better than the Handley Page H. P.42, on 8 September 1936, the British Air Ministry issued Specification P. Aviation firms entered heavy designs with new high-powered engines and multiple turrets, leading to the production of the Avro Manchester. In May 1937, as a comparison to P. 13/36, George Volkert, in 20 pages, Volkert planned an aerodynamically clean medium bomber to carry 3,000 pounds of bombs at a cruising speed of 300 miles per hour. There was support in the RAF and Air Ministry, Captain R N Liptrot, Research Director Aircraft 3, appraised Volkerts design, there were, however, counter-arguments that, although such a design had merit, it would not necessarily be faster than enemy fighters for long. The idea of a small, fast bomber gained support at an earlier stage than sometimes acknowledged though it was likely that the Air Ministry envisaged it using light alloy components. Geoffrey de Havilland also believed a bomber with an aerodynamic design and he thought that adapting the Albatross to meet the RAFs requirements could save time
15.
Electronic countermeasures
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An electronic countermeasure is an electrical or electronic device designed to trick or deceive radar, sonar or other detection systems, like infrared or lasers. It may be used offensively and defensively to deny targeting information to an enemy. The system may make many separate targets appear to the enemy and it is used effectively to protect aircraft from guided missiles. Most air forces use ECM to protect their aircraft from attack and it has also been deployed by military ships and recently on some advanced tanks to fool laser/IR guided missiles. It is frequently coupled with stealth advances so that the ECM systems have an easier job, offensive ECM often takes the form of jamming. Defensive ECM includes using blip enhancement and jamming of missile terminal homers, first example of electronic countermeasures being applied in a combat situation took place during the Russo-Japanese war. The spark-gap transmitters in the Russian stations generated senseless noise while the Japanese were making attempts to coordinate their efforts in the bombing of a Russian naval base. Germany and United Kingdom interfered with enemy communications along the front during World War I while the Royal Navy tried to intercept German naval radio transmissions. There were also efforts at sending false radio signals, having shore stations send transmissions using ships call signs, World War II ECM expanded to include dropping chaff, jamming and spoofing radar and navigation signals. German bomber aircraft navigated using radio signals transmitted from ground stations, cold War developments included anti-radiation missiles designed to home in on enemy radar transmitters. In the 2007 Operation Orchard Israeli attack on a suspected Syrian nuclear weapons site, Israeli electronic warfare systems took over Syria’s air defense systems, feeding them a false sky-picture while Israel Air Force jets crossed much of Syria, bombed their targets and returned. Basic radar ECM strategies are radar interference, target modifications, interference techniques include jamming and deception. Jamming is accomplished by a friendly platform transmitting signals on the frequency to produce a noise level sufficient to hide echos. The jammers continuous transmissions will provide a clear direction to the enemy radar, deception may use a transponder to mimic the radar echo with a delay to indicate incorrect range. Transponders may alternatively increase return echo strength to make a small decoy appear to be a larger target, target modifications include radar absorbing coatings and modifications of the surface shape to either stealth a high-value target or enhance reflections from a decoy. Dispersal of small aluminium strips called chaff is a method of changing the electromagnetic properties of air to provide confusing radar echos. ECM is practiced by all modern military units—land, sea or air. Aircraft, however, are the weapons in the ECM battle because they can see a larger patch of earth than a sea or land-based unit
16.
East Anglia
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East Anglia is a geographical area in the East of England. The area included has varied but the legally defined NUTS2 statistical unit, comprises the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, the name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a tribe that originated in Angeln, northern Germany. Definitions of what constitutes East Anglia vary, the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of East Anglia, established in the 6th century, originally consisted of the modern counties of Norfolk and Suffolk and expanded west into at least part of Cambridgeshire. The modern NUTS2 statistical unit of East Anglia comprises Norfolk, Suffolk and those three counties have formed the Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia since 1976, and were the subject of a possible government devolution package in 2016. Essex has sometimes included in definitions of East Anglia, including by the London Society of East Anglians. However, the Kingdom of Essex to the south, was an element of the Heptarchy of Anglo-Saxon England and did not identify as Angles. The county of Essex by itself forms a NUTS2 statistical unit in the East of England region, other definitions of the area have been used or proposed over the years. For example, the Redcliffe-Maud Report in 1969, which followed the Royal Commission on the Reform of Local Government, the proposed East Anglia province would have included northern Essex, southern Lincolnshire and a small part of Northamptonshire as well as Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. The kingdom of East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of the East Anglian princess Etheldreda, the kingdom was formed about the year 520 by the merging of the North and the South Folk and was one of the seven Anglo-Saxon heptarchy kingdoms. However, this did not last and over the forty years East Anglia was defeated by the Mercians twice. Finally, in 794, Offa of Mercia had king Æthelberht killed, although independence was temporarily restored by rebellion in 825, on the 20 November 869 the Danes killed King Edmund and captured the kingdom. By 917, after a succession of Danish defeats, East Anglia was incorporated into the Kingdom of England by Edward the Elder, afterwards becoming an earldom. Despite some engineering work in the form of sea barriers constructed by the Roman Empire, much of East Anglia remained marshland and bogs until the 17th century. In the 1630s thousands of Puritan families from East Anglia settled in the American region of New England, East Anglia was ideally suited to airfield construction as it comprises large areas of open, level terrain and is close to mainland Europe. The reduced flight time to mainland Europe therefore reduced the load required and enabled a larger bomb load to be carried. Building the airfields was a civil engineering project and by the end of the war there was one approximately every 8 miles. Many of these airfields can still be today, particularly from aerial photographs, and a few remain is use today. Pillboxes, which were erected in 1940 to help defend the nation against invasion, can also be found throughout the area at strategic points
17.
Norfolk
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Norfolk /ˈnɔːrfək/ is a county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the west and north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea and, to the north-west, The Wash. With an area of 2,074 square miles and a population of 859,400, of the countys population, 40% live in four major built up areas, Norwich, Great Yarmouth, Kings Lynn and Thetford. The Broads is a network of rivers and lakes in the east of the county, the area is not a National Park although it is marketed as such. It has similar status to a park, and is protected by the Broads Authority. Norfolk was settled in times, with camps along the higher land in the west. A Brythonic tribe, the Iceni, inhabited the county from the 1st century BC to the end of the 1st century AD, the Iceni revolted against the Roman invasion in AD47, and again in 60 led by Boudica. The crushing of the second opened the county to the Romans. During the Roman era roads and ports were constructed throughout the county, situated on the east coast, Norfolk was vulnerable to invasions from Scandinavia and Northern Europe, and forts were built to defend against the Angles and Saxons. Norfolk, Suffolk and several adjacent areas became the kingdom of East Anglia, the influence of the Early English settlers can be seen in the many place names ending in -ton and -ham. Endings such as -by and -thorpe are also common, indicating Danish place names, in the 9th century the region came under attack. In the centuries before the Norman Conquest the wetlands of the east of the county began to be converted to farmland, and settlements grew in these areas. Migration into East Anglia must have high, by the time of the Domesday Book survey it was one of the most densely populated parts of the British Isles. During the high and late Middle Ages the county developed arable agriculture, the economy was in decline by the time of the Black Death, which dramatically reduced the population in 1349. During the English Civil War Norfolk was largely Parliamentarian, the economy and agriculture of the region declined somewhat. During the Industrial Revolution Norfolk developed little industry except in Norwich which was an addition to the railway network. In the 20th century the county developed a role in aviation, during the Second World War agriculture rapidly intensified, and it has remained very intensive since, with the establishment of large fields for growing cereals and oilseed rape. Norfolks low-lying land and easily eroded cliffs, many of which are chalk and clay, make it vulnerable to the sea, the low-lying section of coast between Kelling and Lowestoft Ness in Suffolk is currently managed by the Environment Agency to protect the Broads from sea flooding
18.
Radar
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Radar is an object-detection system that uses radio waves to determine the range, angle, or velocity of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, Radio waves from the transmitter reflect off the object and return to the receiver, giving information about the objects location and speed. Radar was developed secretly for military use by several nations in the period before, the term RADAR was coined in 1940 by the United States Navy as an acronym for RAdio Detection And Ranging or RAdio Direction And Ranging. The term radar has since entered English and other languages as a common noun, high tech radar systems are associated with digital signal processing, machine learning and are capable of extracting useful information from very high noise levels. Other systems similar to make use of other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. One example is lidar, which uses ultraviolet, visible, or near infrared light from lasers rather than radio waves, as early as 1886, German physicist Heinrich Hertz showed that radio waves could be reflected from solid objects. In 1895, Alexander Popov, an instructor at the Imperial Russian Navy school in Kronstadt. The next year, he added a spark-gap transmitter, in 1897, while testing this equipment for communicating between two ships in the Baltic Sea, he took note of an interference beat caused by the passage of a third vessel. In his report, Popov wrote that this phenomenon might be used for detecting objects, the German inventor Christian Hülsmeyer was the first to use radio waves to detect the presence of distant metallic objects. In 1904, he demonstrated the feasibility of detecting a ship in dense fog and he obtained a patent for his detection device in April 1904 and later a patent for a related amendment for estimating the distance to the ship. He also got a British patent on September 23,1904 for a radar system. It operated on a 50 cm wavelength and the radar signal was created via a spark-gap. In 1915, Robert Watson-Watt used radio technology to advance warning to airmen. Watson-Watt became an expert on the use of direction finding as part of his lightning experiments. As part of ongoing experiments, he asked the new boy, Arnold Frederic Wilkins, Wilkins made an extensive study of available units before selecting a receiver model from the General Post Office. Its instruction manual noted that there was fading when aircraft flew by, in 1922, A. Hoyt Taylor and Leo C. Taylor submitted a report, suggesting that this might be used to detect the presence of ships in low visibility, eight years later, Lawrence A. Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa followed prewar Great Britain, and Hungary had similar developments during the war. Hugon, began developing a radio apparatus, a part of which was installed on the liner Normandie in 1935
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.
Night fighter
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A night fighter is a fighter aircraft adapted for use at night or in other times of bad visibility. Night fighters began to be used in World War I and included types that were modified to operate at night. Many WW II night fighters also included instrument landing systems for landing at night as turning on the runway lights made runways into a target for opposing intruders. The use of the night fighter gradually faded away as a result of these improvements making the vast majority of fighters capable of night operation. At the start of World War I, most combatants had little capability of flying at night, the only targets that could be attacked with any possibility of being hit in limited visibility would be cities, an unthinkable target at the time. The general assumption of a war meant there was no need for strategic attacks. Things changed on 22 September and 8 October 1914, when the Royal Naval Air Service bombed the production line and hangars of the Zeppelin facilities in Cologne, although defences had been set up, all of them proved woefully inadequate. As early as 1915, a number of B. E. 2c aircraft were modified into the first night fighters and this technique would prove to be very effective. After over a year of night Zeppelin raids, on the night of 2–3 September 1916, a B. E. 2c flown by Captain William Leefe Robinson downed the SL11, the first German airship to be shot down over Britain. This action won the pilot a Victoria Cross and cash prizes totaling £3,500 put up by a number of individuals, because of airships limitations, the Luftstreitkräfte began to introduce long-range heavy bombers, starting with the Gotha G. IV aircraft that gradually took over the offensive. To counter night attacks, Sopwith Camel day fighters were deployed in the fighter role. Further modification led to the cockpit being moved rearwards, the modified aircraft were nicknamed the Sopwith Comic. With little money to spend on development, especially during the great depression and they flew fast enough that the time between detecting them and the bombers reaching their targets left little time to launch interceptors to shoot them down. At night, or with limited visibility, these problems were compounded, the Spanish Republican Air Force used some Polikarpov I-15 as night fighters. Pilot José Falcó had equipped his fighter with a receiver for land-based guidance for interception. One of the I-15s configured for night operations, fitted with tracer and explosive.30 rounds, nevertheless, there were some new technologies that appeared to offer potential ways to improve night fighting capability. During the 1930s there was development of infrared detectors among all of the major forces. The only such system to see any sort of operational use was the Spanner Anlage system used on the Dornier Do 17Z night fighters of the Luftwaffe
21.
Electromagnetic spectrum
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The electromagnetic spectrum is the collective term for all known frequencies and their linked wavelengths of the known photons. The electromagnetic spectrum of an object has a different meaning, and is instead the characteristic distribution of radiation emitted or absorbed by that particular object. Visible light lies toward the end, with wavelengths from 400 to 700 nanometres. The limit for long wavelengths is the size of the universe itself, until the middle of the 20th century it was believed by most physicists that this spectrum was infinite and continuous. Nearly all types of radiation can be used for spectroscopy, to study. Other technological uses are described under electromagnetic radiation, for most of history, visible light was the only known part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The ancient Greeks recognized that light traveled in straight lines and studied some of its properties, the study of light continued, and during the 16th and 17th centuries conflicting theories regarded light as either a wave or a particle. The first discovery of electromagnetic radiation other than visible light came in 1800 and he was studying the temperature of different colors by moving a thermometer through light split by a prism. He noticed that the highest temperature was beyond red and he theorized that this temperature change was due to calorific rays that were a type of light ray that could not be seen. The next year, Johann Ritter, working at the end of the spectrum. These behaved similarly to visible light rays, but were beyond them in the spectrum. They were later renamed ultraviolet radiation, during the 1860s James Maxwell developed four partial differential equations for the electromagnetic field. Two of these equations predicted the possibility of, and behavior of, analyzing the speed of these theoretical waves, Maxwell realized that they must travel at a speed that was about the known speed of light. This startling coincidence in value led Maxwell to make the inference that light itself is a type of electromagnetic wave, maxwells equations predicted an infinite number of frequencies of electromagnetic waves, all traveling at the speed of light. This was the first indication of the existence of the electromagnetic spectrum. Maxwells predicted waves included waves at very low compared to infrared. Hertz found the waves and was able to infer that they traveled at the speed of light, Hertz also demonstrated that the new radiation could be both reflected and refracted by various dielectric media, in the same manner as light. For example, Hertz was able to focus the waves using a lens made of tree resin, in a later experiment, Hertz similarly produced and measured the properties of microwaves
22.
Axis powers
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The Axis powers, also known as the Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, were the nations that fought in World War II against the Allied Powers. The Axis agreed on their opposition to the Allies, but did not completely coordinate their activity, the Axis grew out of the diplomatic efforts of Germany, Italy, and Japan to secure their own specific expansionist interests in the mid-1930s. The first step was the treaty signed by Germany and Italy in October 1936, Mussolini declared on 1 November that all other European countries would from then on rotate on the Rome–Berlin axis, thus creating the term Axis. The almost simultaneous second step was the signing in November 1936 of the Anti-Comintern Pact, Italy joined the Pact in 1937. At its zenith during World War II, the Axis presided over territories that occupied parts of Europe, North Africa. There were no three-way summit meetings and cooperation and coordination was minimal, the war ended in 1945 with the defeat of the Axis powers and the dissolution of their alliance. As in the case of the Allies, membership of the Axis was fluid, at the time he was seeking an alliance with the Weimar Republic against Yugoslavia and France in the dispute over the Free State of Fiume. The term was used by Hungarys prime minister Gyula Gömbös when advocating an alliance of Hungary with Germany, when Mussolini publicly announced the signing on 1 November, he proclaimed the creation of a Rome–Berlin axis. Italy under Duce Benito Mussolini had pursued an alliance of Italy with Germany against France since the early 1920s. He believed that Italy could expand its influence in Europe by allying with Germany against France, in early 1923, as a goodwill gesture to Germany, Italy secretly delivered weapons for the German Army, which had faced major disarmament under the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles. General Hans von Seeckt supported an alliance between Germany and the Soviet Union to invade and partition Poland between them and restore the German-Russian border of 1914. The discussions concluded that Germans still wanted a war of revenge against France but were short on weapons, however at this time Mussolini stressed one important condition that Italy must pursue in an alliance with Germany, that Italy must. Tow them, not be towed by them, the French government warned Italy that it had to choose whether to be on the side of the pro-Versailles powers or that of the anti-Versailles revanchists. Grandi responded that Italy would be willing to offer France support against Germany if France gave Italy its mandate over Cameroon, France refused Italys proposed exchange for support, as it believed Italys demands were unacceptable and the threat from Germany was not yet immediate. In 1932, Gyula Gömbös and the Party of National Unity rose to power in Hungary, Gömbös sought to alter Hungarys post–Treaty of Trianon borders by forming an alliance with Austria and Italy, knowing that Hungary alone was not capable of challenging the Little Entente powers. At the meeting between Gömbös and Mussolini in Rome on 10 November 1932, the question came up of the sovereignty of Austria in relation to the rise to power in Germany of the Nazi Party. Mussolini was worried about Nazi ambitions towards Austria, and indicated that at least in the term he was committed to maintaining Austria as a sovereign state. Italy had concerns over a Germany which included Austria laying land claims to German-populated territories of the South Tyrol within Italy, Mussolini said he hoped the Anschluss could be postponed as long as possible until the breakout of a European war that he estimated would begin in 1938
23.
Bomber stream
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The bomber stream was a tactic developed by the Royal Air Force Bomber Command to overwhelm the night time German aerial defences of the Kammhuber Line during World War II. The Kammhuber Line consisted of three layers of zones of about 32 km long and 20 km wide, in each zone there were two German night fighter aircraft receiving ground-directed guidance from their own Himmelbett controller within each zone. At the urging of British scientific military strategist R. V. Jones, a typical bomber stream of 600 to 700 aircraft was on average 8 or 10 miles broad, and 4,000 to 6,000 feet deep. The bomber stream allowed a bombing raid to be completed in a time frame. The first use of the stream was the first 1,000 bomber raid against Cologne on the night of 30–31 May 1942. The tactic proved successful and was used until the last days of the war, list of World War II electronic warfare equipment No
24.
Antenna (radio)
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In radio and electronics, an antenna, or aerial, is an electrical device which converts electric power into radio waves, and vice versa. It is usually used with a transmitter or radio receiver. In reception, an antenna intercepts some of the power of a wave in order to produce a tiny voltage at its terminals. Antennas are essential components of all equipment that uses radio, typically an antenna consists of an arrangement of metallic conductors, electrically connected to the receiver or transmitter. These time-varying fields radiate away from the antenna into space as a transverse electromagnetic field wave. Antennas can be designed to transmit and receive radio waves in all directions equally. The first antennas were built in 1888 by German physicist Heinrich Hertz in his experiments to prove the existence of electromagnetic waves predicted by the theory of James Clerk Maxwell. Hertz placed dipole antennas at the point of parabolic reflectors for both transmitting and receiving. He published his work in Annalen der Physik und Chemie, the words antenna and aerial are used interchangeably. Occasionally the term aerial is used to mean a wire antenna, however, note the important international technical journal, the IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation. In the United Kingdom and other areas where British English is used, the origin of the word antenna relative to wireless apparatus is attributed to Italian radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi. In the summer of 1895, Marconi began testing his wireless system outdoors on his fathers estate near Bologna, Marconi discovered that by raising the aerial wire above the ground and connecting the other side of his transmitter to ground, the transmission range was increased. Soon he was able to transmit signals over a hill, a distance of approximately 2.4 kilometres, in Italian a tent pole is known as lantenna centrale, and the pole with the wire was simply called lantenna. Until then wireless radiating transmitting and receiving elements were simply as aerials or terminals. Because of his prominence, Marconis use of the word spread among wireless researchers. In common usage, the antenna may refer broadly to an entire assembly including support structure, enclosure. Especially at microwave frequencies, an antenna may include not only the actual electrical antenna. An antenna, in converting radio waves to electrical signals or vice versa, is a form of transducer, Antennas are required by any radio receiver or transmitter to couple its electrical connection to the electromagnetic field
25.
Wing commander (rank)
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It is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank in countries which have a non-English air force-specific rank structure. It ranks immediately above squadron leader and immediately below group captain. It has a NATO ranking code of OF-4, and is equivalent to Commander in the Royal Navy and to Lieutenant Colonel in the British Army, the Royal Marines, and the US Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps. The equivalent rank in the Womens Auxiliary Air Force, Womens Royal Air Force, the equivalent rank in the Royal Observer Corps was observer commander which had a similar rank insignia. In response to the proposal that the RAF should use its own titles, it was suggested that the RAF might use the Royal Navys officer ranks. For example, the rank that later became wing commander would have been air commander and it was also suggested that RAF lieutenant colonels might be entitled reeves or wing-leaders. However, the rank wing commander was chosen as wings were typically commanded by RAF lieutenant colonels. The rank of wing commander has been used continuously since 1 August 1919, in the early years of the RAF, a wing commander commanded a flying wing, typically a group of three or four aircraft squadrons. In current usage a wing commander is more likely to command a wing which is an administrative sub-division of an RAF station, a flying squadron is normally commanded by a wing commander but is occasionally commanded by a squadron leader for small units. In the Air Training Corps, a commander is usually the officer commanding of a wing. The rank insignia is based on the three bands of commanders in the Royal Navy and consists of three narrow light blue bands over slightly wider black bands. This is worn on both the sleeves of the tunic or on the shoulder of the flying suit or the casual uniform. The command pennant is two triangular command pennants used in the RAF, two thin red lines differentiate this one from the other. It is also used in the Egyptian Air Force, Hellenic Air Force, Royal Air Force of Oman, the Royal Canadian Air Force used the rank until the unification of the Canadian Forces in 1968, when army-type rank titles were adopted. A Canadian wing commander became a lieutenant colonel. In official French Canadian usage, a wing commanders rank title was lieutenant-colonel daviation, the rank of wing commander continues to be used as a cadet rank at the Royal Military College of Canada. In the 1990s, the Canadian Forces Air Command altered the structure of those bases under its control, the commander of such an establishment was re-designated as the wing commander. Like the United States Air Force usage, the wing commander is an appointment
26.
Branse Burbridge
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Burbridge was born in February 1921 into a family with strong Christian and pacifist beliefs. Upon the outbreak of the Second World War in Europe on 3 September 1939 Burbridge registered himself as a conscientious objector but changed his mind in 1940 and enlisted in the RAF. Burbridge completed his training within a year and was posted to No.85 Squadron RAF, Burbridge was then posted to an Operational Training Unit as an instructor before spending a year as a staff officer. In July 1943 he had reached the rank of flight lieutenant, Burbridge returned to operations in late 1943 with 85 Squadron, now equipped with the de Havilland Mosquito. The unit performed night defence operations over the British Isles, Burbridge was assigned radar operator Bill Skelton who flew with him. Burbridge achieved success in a short time period. By the end of the German air offensive Steinbock in May 1944 he had shot down five enemy aircraft making him a fighter ace. Both men were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in May 1944, in June 1944 Operation Overlord and the Allied invasion of German-occupied Europe began reopening the Western Front. Burbridge flew a number of sorties as a pilot with No.100 Group RAF over the front. He achieved a further two victories with one probable and another damaged in combat in these operations. Burbridge also destroyed three V-1 flying bombs over southern England, in September 194485 Squadron returned to intruding over Germany and supporting RAF Bomber Command. Burbridge was awarded a bar to his DFC in October 1944, from September 1944 to January 1945, Burbridge claimed 13 enemy night fighter aircraft destroyed—including four in one night. In February 1945 both men were awarded a bar to their DSO, after the end of hostilities in May 1945, Burbridge stayed in the RAF for a further seven months before resigning his commission. After the war he studied at Oxford University and then Cambridge University before entering the Christian ministry and he remained in its service until his retirement. Burbridge resided in Chorleywood up until his death in November 2016, Bransome Arthur Burbridge was born in Brixton, in the London Borough of Lambeth, to Arthur Jarvis and Charlotte Davis on 4 February 1921. Bransome was the second eldest of five and his brother Jarvis was born in 1919 and three sisters followed over the next 12 years, Charlotte, Zöe and Phebe. Arthur was a follower of Charles Spurgeon and John Wesley thus became a Wesleyan preacher, Bransome was dedicated in the Wesleyan tradition as a child. The family moved to a house in Thicket Road, Penge
27.
No. 85 Squadron RAF
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No.85 Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It last served in 2011, as No.85 Squadron posted to RAF Church Fenton, No.85 Squadron was formed at Upavon on 1 August 1917, the station was home to the Royal Flying Corps Central Flying School. Shortly afterwards, the moved to Mousehold Heath near Norwich under the command of Major R A Archer. On 1 April 1918 No.85 Squadron was transferred into the newly formed Royal Air Force, following this period of training the squadron deployed to France during May 1918. Equipped with the Sopwith Dolphin and later the Royal Aircraft Factory S. E. 5A, it flew fighter patrols, on 21 June 1918, there was a change of command and training methods following the arrival of the new CO, Major Edward Mick Mannock DSO, MC. Rather than fight as individuals, the squadron was taught to act as a unit during combat, during a patrol on 26 July 1918, accompanying Lt DC Inglis over the front line, Major Mannock failed to return, depriving 85 Squadron of its leader. On 18 July 1919, Major Mannock was awarded a posthumous VC, No.85 Squadron amassed 99 victories during its short involvement in the conflict. Besides Bishop and Mannock, the squadron had other notable aces, mcGregor, Arthur Randall, John Warner, Alec Reid, Spencer B. Horn, Walter H. Longton and Lawrence Callahan,85 Squadron returned to the UK in February 1919. The squadron disbanded on 3 July 1919, on 1 June 1938, the squadron was reformed from the renumbered elements of A Flight of No.87 Squadron RAF and placed under the command of Flight Lieutenant D. E. Turner. The squadron was posted to RAF Debden in Essex and commenced training on the Gloster Gladiator, on 4 September the first Hawker Hurricanes began arriving in numbers. With war looking likely in Europe, No, on the outbreak of the Second World War, the squadron moved its 16 Hurricanes to Boos as part of the Air Component of the British Expeditionary Force 60 Fighter Wing. Their primary role was to support to the Fairey Battle and Bristol Blenheim units deployed around Rheims. Initial sorties involved patrols over the English Channel and a move to Merville was instigated in late September, by 1 November 1939, another move saw the squadron posted to Lille Seclin and to maintain its patrols over the Channel, sections were detached to Le Touquet and Saint-Inglevert. December 1939 saw a Royal visit from his Majesty the King accompanied by the Duke of Gloucester, in an eleven-day period the squadron accounted for a confirmed total of 90 enemy aircraft, there were many more claims that could not be substantiated. The final sorties saw the squadron giving fighter cover to the Allied armies until its airfields were overrun, the squadron re-equipped and resumed full operations early in June 1940. For the remainder of the Second World War No.85 Squadron continued its pursuit of intercepting enemy raiders. It had a brief period providing Bomber Support as part of No.100 Group RAF, the squadron continued to play a significant part in Air Defence operations as part of 11 Group RAF Strike Command until the 1990s
28.
Radio
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When radio waves strike an electrical conductor, the oscillating fields induce an alternating current in the conductor. The information in the waves can be extracted and transformed back into its original form, Radio systems need a transmitter to modulate some property of the energy produced to impress a signal on it, for example using amplitude modulation or angle modulation. Radio systems also need an antenna to convert electric currents into radio waves, an antenna can be used for both transmitting and receiving. The electrical resonance of tuned circuits in radios allow individual stations to be selected, the electromagnetic wave is intercepted by a tuned receiving antenna. Radio frequencies occupy the range from a 3 kHz to 300 GHz, a radio communication system sends signals by radio. The term radio is derived from the Latin word radius, meaning spoke of a wheel, beam of light, however, this invention would not be widely adopted. The switch to radio in place of wireless took place slowly and unevenly in the English-speaking world, the United States Navy would also play a role. Although its translation of the 1906 Berlin Convention used the terms wireless telegraph and wireless telegram, the term started to become preferred by the general public in the 1920s with the introduction of broadcasting. Radio systems used for communication have the following elements, with more than 100 years of development, each process is implemented by a wide range of methods, specialised for different communications purposes. Each system contains a transmitter, This consists of a source of electrical energy, the transmitter contains a system to modulate some property of the energy produced to impress a signal on it. This modulation might be as simple as turning the energy on and off, or altering more subtle such as amplitude, frequency, phase. Amplitude modulation of a carrier wave works by varying the strength of the signal in proportion to the information being sent. For example, changes in the strength can be used to reflect the sounds to be reproduced by a speaker. It was the used for the first audio radio transmissions. Frequency modulation varies the frequency of the carrier, the instantaneous frequency of the carrier is directly proportional to the instantaneous value of the input signal. FM has the capture effect whereby a receiver only receives the strongest signal, Digital data can be sent by shifting the carriers frequency among a set of discrete values, a technique known as frequency-shift keying. FM is commonly used at Very high frequency radio frequencies for high-fidelity broadcasts of music, analog TV sound is also broadcast using FM. Angle modulation alters the phase of the carrier wave to transmit a signal
29.
Telecommunications Research Establishment
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The name was changed to Radar Research Establishment in 1953. This article covers the organizations and the Telecommunications Research Establishment up to the time of the name change. The later work at the site is described in the article about RRE. Particularly because of its change of name to Royal Radar Establishment. TRE also made contributions to radio-navigation and to jamming enemy radio-navigation. The development of radar in the United Kingdom was started by Sir Henry Tizards Committee for the Scientific Survey of Air Defence in 1935, Experimental work was begun at Orfordness near Ipswich. The research group moved to the nearby Bawdsey Research Station in 1936 and it moved from there to the University College at Dundee in 1939 as the Air Ministry Research Establishment. Then, in May 1940, it moved to Worth Matravers as the Ministry of Aircraft Production Research Establishment and it was established as the central research group for RAF applications of radar. The name was changed to the Telecommunications Research Establishment in November 1940, the site was four miles west of Swanage, south-west of Poole. A site was purchased in Malvern for the Ministry itself, although it was not developed, the location had become well known to defence officials. The Air Ministry acquired jurisdiction, and used the site for a Signals Training Establishment, in May,1942, the Radar Research and Development Establishment was set up on the site, to develop truck mounted early warning radars. In May 1942, the Telecommunications Research Establishment also moved to Malvern, taking up residence in the buildings of Malvern College, the move which was carried out in great urgency, is described in detail by Reginald Jones in his book Most Secret War, British Scientific Intelligence 1939-1945. The British command had not realized this was happening, in the aftermath, Lord Mountbatten and Winston Churchill approved plans for a raid on the German radar station at Bruneval, near Le Havre. The landing party included D. H. Priest, of TRE, the Bruneval raid captured a German Wurzburg radar system and a radar operator. During the weeks that followed, the British authorities became concerned that the Germans would retaliate in kind, when intelligence reported the arrival of a German paratroop battalion across the Channel, the staff of TRE pulled out of the Swanage site in a period of hours. At the end of the war TRE moved from Malvern College, to HMS Duke, Radio navigation systems are based on the transmission of pulsed radio beams that are detected by aircraft. R. J. Dippy devised the GEE radio navigation system at TRE, the counter measure to radio navigation was jamming. R. V. Robert Cockburn of the TRE was responsible for the development of the Jostle IV radio jammer - the most powerful jammer device used over Europe, at 2 kW output it could block all VHF transmissions over 32-48 MHz
30.
Lichtenstein radar
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The Lichtenstein radar was among the earliest airborne radars available to the Luftwaffe in World War II and the first one utilised exclusively in the air interception role. Early FuG202 Lichtenstein B/C units were not deployed until 1942 and they operated at a maximum RF output power of 1. By this point in the war, the British had become experts on jamming German radars, the subsequent refinement of Window rendered Lichtenstein B/C almost useless for several crucial weeks. This aerial setup also produced tremendous drag and slowed the aircraft by up to 50 km/h. Improvements in early 1944 led to newer SN-2 versions with lower minimum range, after the Allied jammings the FuG220 antenna setup was optimized for the still-operational bands, the 90-degree vertical dipole setup was changed to a 45-degree diagonal setup. This was just compact enough to fit into the nose of a Ju 88G, further development led to the FuG228 Lichtenstein SN-3 radar set but this saw little to no service. A9 cm wavelength system known as FuG240 Berlin was developed, based on captured examples of the Allies cavity magnetron technology but saw little to no operational use. Following the aforementioned capture in May 1943 of the a Ju 88 R-1, Werk Nr.360043 that was equipped with it, during several months in this period they rendered these sets almost useless by blinding them with Window, termed Düppel by the Germans. Some allied aircraft were equipped with Piperack which countered the Lichtenstein SN-2 aerial intercept radar. Much more dangerous were Mosquito intruders equipped with a device called Serrate to allow them to track German night fighters by emissions from their Lichtenstein B/C, C-1 or SN-2 sets. An aerial maneuver known as the corkscrew was developed to remove an attacked heavy bomber from within the 60-degree cone of coverage of an attacking night fighters Lichtenstein radar, the technique was developed using the aforementioned WkNr. 360043, early model UHF-band Lichtenstein C-1-equipped, Ju 88R-1 night fighter that had landed at RAF Dyce in April 1943 by its defecting crew. It was also flown in tests by the RAFs enemy aircraft evaluation unit, No.1426 Flight
31.
Freya radar
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Freya was an early warning radar deployed by Germany during World War II, it was named after the Norse Goddess Freyja. During the war, over a thousand stations were built, a naval version operating on a slightly different wavelength was also developed as the Seetakt. First tests of what would become the Freya were conducted in early 1937, Freya supported an early version of Identification friend or foe. Aircraft equipped with the FuG 25a Erstling IFF system could be successfully queried across ranges of over 100 km, the AN version gained a switchable phasing line for the antenna. Switching in the line led to a phase displacement of the antennas radiation pattern and with that. This enabled the system in effect to switch from the rather broad scanning for maxima to narrow lobe switching, in that mode, a skilled operator could achieve an angular resolution of 0. 1°. The Freya radar was more advanced than its British counterpart, Chain Home, Freya operated on a 1.2 m wavelength while Chain Home used 12 m. This allowed Freya to use a smaller antenna system, one that was easier to rotate, move. It also offered higher resolution, allowing it to detect smaller targets, because of its complex design, only eight Freya stations were operational when the war started, resulting in large gaps between the covered areas. The British Chain Home radar, although less advanced and more prone to errors, was simpler, which meant that the complete Chain Home network was in place in time for the Battle of Britain. Later in the war, Freya operated in the band from 2.5 to 2.3 m and it had a maximum range of only 160 kilometers, making it inferior to Chain Home. Furthermore, it could not accurately determine altitude, but it was a fully steerable and semi-mobile system, only half of the Wellingtons returned to Britain undamaged, but the German fighters only reached the bomber after they had made their bombing run on ships in harbor. Three German fighters had shot down and a further 12 had received damage in the battle. The performance of Freya left the Luftwaffe so impressed that by the Spring of 1940, after the invasion of France in 1940, additional Freya stations were built along the Atlantic coast. When Britain started its bombing raids, Hermann Göring ordered colonel Josef Kammhuber to install an efficient air defense and this led to the so-called Kammhuber Line into which more Freya stations were incorporated. British bombing raids could also be organized such that the Kammhuber Line could be overwhelmed in massed raids and he brought the negatives to Britain in a dramatic flight which is fictionalized in Ken Folletts novel Hornet Flight. Sneums deed is also mentioned in R. V and this enabled Freya to detect the targets altitude without the aid of other devices. FuMG41, In an attempt to increase the range without changing the transmitter and these installations, called Wassermann, not only had greater range but were also more accurate
32.
Chaff (countermeasure)
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Modern armed forces use chaff to distract radar-guided missiles from their targets. Most military aircraft and warships have chaff dispensing systems for self-defense, an intercontinental ballistic missile may release in its midcourse phase several independent warheads as well as penetration aids such as decoy balloons and chaff. The idea of using chaff developed independently in the United Kingdom, Germany, an early idea was to use sheets the size of a notebook page, these would be printed so they would also serve as propaganda leaflets. However, it was found the most effective version used strips of black paper backed with foil, exactly 27 by 2 centimetres. The Head of the TRE, A. P. Rowe, meanwhile, in Germany, similar research had led to the development of Düppel. The German code name was that of the estate on which the first German tests with chaff had been made, circa 1942. Once the idea had been passed to the US via the Tizard Mission, Fred Whipple developed a system for dispensing strips for the USAAF, the systems were all essentially identical in concept, small aluminium strips cut to one-half of the target radars wavelength. When hit by the radar, such lengths of metal resonate and re-radiate the signal, opposing defences would find it almost impossible to distinguish the aircraft from the echoes caused by the chaff. Other radar-confusing techniques included Mandrel, Piperack, and Jostle and this caused concern in RAF Fighter Command and Anti-Aircraft Command, who managed to suppress the use of Window until July 1943. At this time, it was felt the new generation of centimetric radars available to Fighter Command would deal with any Luftwaffe response to RAF Bomber Command use. Bomber Harris, Commander-in-Chief of RAF Bomber Command, finally got approval to use Window as part of Operation Gomorrah, the first aircrew trained to use Window were 76 squadron. Twenty-four crews were briefed on how to drop the bundles of aluminised-paper strips, one every minute through the flare chute, the radar guided master searchlights wandered aimlessly across the sky. The anti-aircraft guns fired randomly or not at all and the fighters, their radar displays swamped with false echoes. Over a week of attacks a vast area of Hamburg was devastated, resulting in more than 40,000 civilian deaths, squadrons quickly had special chutes fitted to their bombers to make the deployment even easier. Seeing this as a development that made it safer to go on operations, a lesser known fact is that the Luftwaffe used this technology just six weeks after the above-mentioned Hamburg raid. The German strips were cut into 80 centimetre by 1.9 centimetre lengths, in a series of raids in 1943, and the mini-blitz of Operation Steinbock between February and May 1944, Düppel allowed German bombers to once again attempt to operate over London. Although theoretically effective, the number of bombers, notably in relation to the RAFs now-large night fighter force. The British fighters were able to go aloft in large numbers, the Germans obtained better results during the air raid on Bari, on 2 December 1943, when Allied radars were effectively deceived by the use of Düppel strips
33.
Adolf Galland
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Adolf Joseph Ferdinand Galland was a German Luftwaffe general and flying ace who served throughout the Second World War in Europe. He flew 705 combat missions, and fought on the Western Front, on four occasions, he survived being shot down, and he was credited with 104 aerial victories, all of them against the Western Allies. Galland, who was born in Westerholt, Westphalia, became a pilot in 1929 before he joined Lufthansa. In 1932, he graduated as a pilot at the Deutsche Verkehrsfliegerschule in Braunschweig before applying to join the Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic later in the year, Gallands application was accepted, but he never took up the offer. In February 1934, he was transferred to the Luftwaffe, in 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, he volunteered for the Condor Legion and flew ground attack missions in support of the Nationalists under Francisco Franco. After finishing his tour in 1938 Galland was employed in the Air Ministry writing doctrinal and technical manuals about his experiences as a ground-attack pilot, during this period Galland served as an instructor for ground-attack units. During the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, he flew ground attack missions. In early 1940 Galland managed to persuade his superiors to him to become a fighter pilot. Galland flew Messerschmitt Bf 109s during the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain, by the end of 1940, his tally of victories had reached 57. In 1941, Galland stayed in France and fought the Royal Air Force over the English Channel, by November 1941, his tally had increased to 96, by which time he had earned the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. As General der Jagdflieger, Galland was forbidden to fly combat missions, in late January and early February 1942, Galland first planned then commanded the Luftwaffes air cover for the Kriegsmarine Operation Cerberus which was a major success. It earned him the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, over the ensuing years, Galland’s disagreements with Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring about how best to combat the Allied Air Forces bombing Germany caused their relationship to deteriorate. The Luftwaffe fighter force was under pressure by 1944. The relationship collapsed altogether in early January 1945, when Galland was relieved of his command because of his constant criticism of the Luftwaffe leadership. Galland was then put under house arrest following the so-called Fighter Pilots Revolt, in March 1945, Galland returned to operational flying and was permitted to form a jet fighter unit which he called Jagdverband 44. He flew missions over Germany until the end of the war in May, after the war, Galland was employed by Argentinas Government and acted as a consultant to the Argentine Air Force. Later, he returned to Germany and managed his own business, Galland also became friends with many former enemies, such as RAF aces Robert Stanford Tuck and Douglas Bader. Adolf Galland died in February 1996, Galland was born in Westerholt, Westphalia on 19 March 1912 to a family with French Huguenot ancestry
34.
No. 214 Squadron RAF
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No.214 Squadron is a former unit of the Royal Air Force. No 214 Squadron was formed from No.14 Squadron Royal Naval Air Service, 7A Squadron RNAS only taking on the new number on 9 December 1917. With the creation of the RAF from the Royal Flying Corps and it was later given the fuller title No 214 Squadron. No.214 Squadron started with the Handley Page Type O/100 bomber, from 29 June to 23 October 1918,214 Squadron was based at RAF Saint Inglevert. Post war the squadron was moved to Egypt but it was disbanded on 1 February 1920 with its crew, on 16 September 1935 B Flight of No.9 Squadron RAF was used to create a new 214 Squadron. Again a bomber squadron it had the Vickers Virginia Mk, X night-bombers at RAF Boscombe Down. By the outbreak of the Second World War it had re-equipped the Vickers Wellington which were replaced in 1942 with the larger Short Stirling, having moved to RAF Stradishall. At a time when Stirling losses led to the aircraft being withdrawn from bombing Germany the squadron transferred to RAF Downham Market in December 1943. In January 1944, the squadron was converted to special operations, the squadron used the Boeing Fortress Mk II and Mk III and Stirlings. They used the jamming system codenamed Airborne Cigar to block German night fighter communications, at least some of 214 Squadrons B-17s were equipped with Piperack which countered the Germans Lichtenstein SN-2 aerial intercept radar. It operated the Vickers Valiant from RAF Marham, from 21 January 1956 until 28 February 1965, leonard Trent, a Victoria Cross winner, was the first CO of the Valiant squadron. The Valiant was at first active as a V bomber but was converted to tankers. Disbanded in 1965 it reformed the following year with the Handley Page Victor tanker, on 19 August 1968 Victor K1 XH646 collided in mid-air near Holt, Norfolk in bad weather with a 213 Squadron English Electric Canberra WT325, all four crew members of the Victor died. On 10/11 August 1943, Flight Sergeant Harry Ernest Hall was pilot of an aircraft which was returning from operations. When approaching Bexhill on the South Coast of England the aircraft ran out of fuel, the crew were temporarily knocked out by the impact and the aircraft filled rapidly with water. F/S Hall was the first to recover and his first thoughts were for the safety of his crew and he then returned to the aircraft to search for the navigator and flight engineer who were missing. Five members of the crew were picked up by an air/sea rescue launch. In a desperate situation, aggravated by darkness, F/S Hall displayed extreme courage, unfortunately F/S Hall was killed on operations six weeks later
35.
H2S (radar)
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H2S was the first airborne, ground scanning radar system. It was also used as a general navigation system, allowing landmarks to be identified at long range. The first systems worked at 9.1 cm like the AI Mk, VIII radar they were developed from, and went into service in 1942 as the TR3159 and TR3191. After it was found the resolution of these sets was too low to be useful over large cities like Berlin, in 1943 work started on an operating in the X band at 3 cm. A wide variety of these H2S Mk, III versions were produced before the Mk. IIIG was selected as the late-war standard, the US Radiation Laboratory also produced an X band system, the H2X. On its second mission on 2/3 February 1943, an H2S was captured almost intact by German forces. Combined with intelligence gathered from the crew, they learned it was a mapping system and were able to determine its method of operation. When they managed to piece one together from parts and saw the display of Berlin and this led to the introduction of the FuG350 Naxos radar detector, which enabled Luftwaffe night fighters to home on the transmissions of H2S. The British learned of Naxos and a debate ensued over the use of H2S. However, calculations showed that losses during this period were less than before. Development continued through the late-war Mk, IX that equipped the V bomber fleet. IX was tied into both the bombsight and navigation system to provide a complete long-range Navigation and Bombing System, in this form, H2S was last used in anger during the Falklands War in 1982 on the Avro Vulcan. IX units remained in service on the Handley Page Victor aircraft until 1993, the targeting radar was originally designated BN, but it quickly became H2S. The genesis of this remains somewhat contentious, with different sources claiming it meant Height to Slope. The rotten connection, with a twist, is propounded by R. V, later, when Cherwell asked how the project was progressing, he was most upset to hear that it had been put on hold, and repeatedly declared about the delay that it stinks. After the Battle of Britain, RAF Bomber Command began night attacks against German cities, the British developed a radio navigation system called Gee and then a second medium-range navigation scheme known as Oboe. Both were based on stations in the UK which sent out synchronized signals
36.
Radome
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A radome is a structural, weatherproof enclosure that protects a microwave antenna. The radome is constructed of material that minimally attenuates the signal transmitted or received by the antenna. In other words, the radome is transparent to radar or radio waves, radomes protect the antenna surfaces from weather and conceal antenna electronic equipment from public view. They also protect nearby personnel from being struck by quickly rotating antennas. Radomes can be constructed in several shapes depending upon the application using various construction materials. When found on fixed-wing aircraft with forward-looking radar, the nose cones often additionally serve as radomes, in case of advanced aircraft systems like AEW&C, a rotating radome often called rotodome is mounted on the top of the fuselage for 360 degree coverage. There are newer AEW&C configurations which instead of rotodome uses three antenna modules in triangular configuration inside radome for 360 degree coverage such as Chinese and Indian AEW&Cs, on rotary-wing and fixed-wing aircraft using microwave satellite for beyond-line-of-sight communication, radomes often appear as blisters on the fuselage. In addition to protection, radomes also streamline the antenna system, a radome is often used to prevent ice and freezing rain from accumulating directly onto the metal surface of antennas. In the case of a radar dish antenna, the radome also protects the antenna from debris. Its shape is easily identified by its hardshell, which has strong properties against being damaged and this reflected power goes back to the transmitter, where it can cause overheating. A foldback circuit can act to prevent this, however, one drawback of its use is that it causes the output power to drop dramatically. One of the driving forces behind the development of fibreglass as a structural material was the need during World War II for radomes. When considering structural load, the use of a radome greatly reduces wind load in normal and iced conditions. Many tower sites require or prefer the use of radomes for wind loading benefits, sometimes radomes may be unsightly if near the ground, and heaters could be used instead. Usually running on direct current, the heaters do not interfere physically or electrically with the current of the radio transmission. For radar dishes, a single, large, ball-shaped dome also protects the mechanism and the sensitive electronics. The Menwith Hill electronic surveillance base, which includes over 30 radomes, is believed to regularly intercept satellite communications. At Menwith Hill, the radome enclosures have a use in preventing observers from deducing the direction of the antennas
37.
Bylaugh Hall
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Bylaugh Hall, also known as Bylaugh Park, is a country house situated in the village of Bylaugh in Norfolk, England. The estate was acquired by Sir John Lombe in 1796, there is some uncertainty regarding the exact nature of the transaction. The unsubstantiated traditional story is that he won it from the owner, Richard Lloyd, in a card game, after Lloyds butler drugged his wine. Sir John died childless in 1817 and the passed to his brother Edward. William Andrews Nesfield advised on the position of the house, and was responsible for laying out the grounds, the clock tower and surrounding buildings are vaguely reminiscent of the new Houses of Parliament which were designed by Sir Charles Barry, Sr. The house was completed in about 1851, along with the Houses of Parliament, it was amongst the first buildings ever to employ steel girders in the supporting structure. The exterior stonework, including the balustrades and the terrace walling, are of magnesian limestone, at this time the estate was the third largest in Norfolk, containing over 19,000 acres. In 1889 the estate was purchased by William Knox DArcy, during the Second World War, Bylaugh Hall was requisitioned by the RAF as the headquarters of 100 Group. By 1950, the house was in disrepair and it was stripped of its lead and interior fittings, and abandoned. The Hall and outbuildings were the subject of ongoing financial problems resulted in the complete repossession of the buildings. Feb 2013, The house was put up for sale. March 2014, The Hall and outbuildings are now again in private hands
38.
Air vice-marshal
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Air vice-marshal is a two-star air officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. Air vice-marshals may be addressed generically as air marshal, Air vice-marshal is a two-star rank and has a NATO ranking code of OF-7. It is equivalent to a rear-admiral in the Royal Navy or a major-general in the British Army or the Royal Marines, in other NATO forces, such as the United States Armed Forces and the Canadian Armed Forces, the equivalent two-star rank is major general. The rank of air vice-marshal is immediately senior to the air commodore. Since before the Second World War it has been common for air officers commanding RAF groups to hold the rank of air vice-marshal. In small air forces such as the Royal New Zealand Air Force and the Ghana Air Force, the equivalent rank in the Womens Auxiliary Air Force, Womens Auxiliary Australian Air Force, Womens Royal Air Force and Princess Marys Royal Air Force Nursing Service was air chief commandant. On 1 April 1918, the newly created RAF adopted its officer rank titles from the British Army, with officers at what is now air vice-marshal level holding the rank of major-general. In response to the proposal that the RAF should use its own titles, it was suggested that the RAF might use the Royal Navys officer ranks. For example, the rank that later became air vice-marshal would have been air rear-admiral, however, air vice-marshal was preferred and was adopted on 1 August 1919. This is worn on both the sleeves of the dress uniform or on the shoulders of the flying suit or working uniform. The command flag of an air vice-marshal has two red bands running through the centre. The vehicle star plate for an air vice-marshal depicts two white stars on an air force blue background, the Australian Air Corps adopted the RAF rank system on 9 November 1920 and this usage was continued by its successor, the Royal Australian Air Force. However, the rank of air vice-marshal was not used by the Australian Armed Forces until 1935 when Richard Williams, margaret Staib of the Royal Australian Air Force served in the rank of air vice-marshal from 2009 to 2012 when she retired from the Australian Defence Force. In India, Subroto Mukerjee was the first Royal Indian Air Force officer to gain the rank of air vice-marshal and he gained an acting promotion to air vice-marshal on 27 September 1948 and a substantive promotion several months later on 1 February 1949. It is also used in the Egyptian Air Force, Hellenic Air Force, Royal Air Force of Oman, in the Indonesian Air Force the equivalent rank is marsekal muda which is usually translated as air vice-marshal in English. Compare this with the rank up which is marsekal madya which is usually translated as air marshal in English. The Royal Canadian Air Force used the rank until the 1968 unification of the Canadian Forces, Canadian air vice-marshals then became major-generals. In official French Canadian usage, the title was vice-maréchal de lair
39.
No. 192 Squadron RAF
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No.192 Squadron was a Royal Air Force squadron operational during the First World War as a night training squadron and during the Second World War as a radar countermeasure unit. After the war the squadron served again in the Electronic Intelligence role, No.192 Squadron was formed at Gainsborough, Lincolnshire on 5 September 1917 as a night training squadron operating the Royal Aircraft Factory FE. 2b and FE. 2d. The squadron moved to Newmarket, Suffolk in 1918 and was disbanded in December 1918, the squadron was re-formed on 4 January 1943 when No.1474 Flight at RAF Gransden Lodge was re-numbered 192 Sqn. The squadron operated specially modified Vickers Wellingtons and de Havilland Mosquitos with the task to identify German radar patterns and it also carried out similar missions over the Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean. In April 1943 the squadron moved to RAF Feltwell, at the end of 1943, the squadron moved again to RAF Foulsham to operate with 100 Group. During bomber raids the aircraft would provide countermeasures to German radars, the squadron disbanded at the end of the Second World War on 22 August 1945 to form the bases of the Central Signals Establishment, the Radio Warfare Establishment. On 15 July 1951, the squadron reformed at RAF Watton as part of that same Central Signals Establishment for Operational Signals Research, despite the name Research in the role, the squadron continued with its traditional ELectronic Signals INTelligence role. The squadron also used the Boeing Washington and English Electric Canberra in the ELINT role, the squadron disbanded on 21 August 1958 at Watton when it was renumbered to 51 Squadron. List of Royal Air Force aircraft squadrons Squadron history on MOD site History on Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation
40.
RAF Foulsham
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RAF Foulsham at Foulsham in Norfolk was built between 1941 and 1942 for No.2 Group RAF Bomber Command and opened in May 1942 and declared operational on 26 June 1942. Foulsham was one of the few airfields to be fitted with FIDO in 1944, the airfield was equipped with three tarmac and woodchip runways and 37 hardstandings. It also had 9 hangars, five of which were built for storing Airspeed Horsaglider aircraft ready for D Day, the first residents were No.98 Squadron RAF and No.180 Squadron RAF, flying North American Mitchell bombers. The station was used by No.3 Group RAF who used Short Stirling. No.514 Squadron RAF was formed at Foulsham, flying Lancasters, the station then became the home of No.192 Squadron RAF, which was part of No.100 Group RAF, an electronic warfare unit which had its headquarters at Bylaugh Hall. 192 Squadron was later joined by another 100 Group squadron, No.462 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, during World War II,45 aircraft based at RAF Foulsham were lost. Morgan was awarded the highest U. S. medal, the Medal of Honor, the airfield remained the property of the Ministry of Defence until the 1980s. Royal Air Force station List of former Royal Air Force stations List of Royal Air Force aircraft squadrons RAF site relating to RAF Foulsham Details of the former airfield Post-closure photographs
41.
RAF West Raynham
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Royal Air Force West Raynham or more simply RAF West Raynham is a former Royal Air Force station located 2 miles west of West Raynham, Norfolk and 5.5 miles southwest of Fakenham, Norfolk, England. The airfield opened during May 1939 and was used by RAF Bomber Command during the Second World War with the loss of 86 aircraft, the station closed in 1994, though the Ministry of Defence retained it as a strategic reserve. Having laid derelict since closure, the MoD elected in 2004 that it was surplus to requirements, the site is now managed by FW Properties of Norwich, acting for administrators Moore Stephens. The site has now been given planning permission for installation of a 49. 9MW solar farm with plant housing and perimeter fence, work is due to start early in 2014. Built between 1938 and 1939, RAF West Raynham was an expansion scheme airfield, the grass landing area was aligned roughly north-east to south-west. The main camp, with housing and headquarters, was located immediately west of the landing area, to the south-east were bomb stores. The airfield was equipped with a Watch Office with Tower, of pattern 207/36, although the tower was later removed. Later in the war the station was provided with a Control Tower for Very Heavy Bomber Stations to pattern 294/45,101 Squadron – a detachment of Bristol Blenheim which was part of 2 Group – were moved to West Raynham in May 1939. The only squadron based at RAF West Raynham,101 Squadron were held in reserve by 2 Group until they were used as target tugs in February 1940. In 1940, RAF West Raynham also acted as a base for 18 and 139 squadrons after they suffered losses in the Blitzkrieg. RAF Great Massingham was founded in 1940, just 2 miles from RAF West Raynham to act as a satellite base and it was originally intended to support West Raynham and provide it with extra space for its Blenheims, but eventually expanded to accommodate a squadron of its own. A second support airfield, RAF Sculthorpe, was built to the north, on 4 July 1940,101 Squadron saw action for the first time. Individual aircraft attacked oil tanks in German ports and this went on for over a year, and during this time the squadron lost 15 Blenheims across 610 missions. No.101 Squadron was transferred to 3 Group and consequently left West Raynham and they were replaced at West Raynham by 114 Squadron, another detachment of Blenheims. They were stationed at West Rayham for over a year before they were despatched to North Africa as part of Operation Torch, the squadron converted to Blenheim Mk Vs in August 1942, in preparation for combat in Africa. No.18 Squadron also went to RAF West Raynham to be refitted with Mk Vs, at this time, squadrons 180 and 342 were formed at West Raynham. The 180 Squadron was equipped with North American B-25 Mitchells and based at RAF Great Massingham which was associated with RAF West Raynham, Squadron 342 was provided with Douglas Bostons crewed by Frenchmen in early 1943, and was later relocated to RAF Sculthorpe. Between May and November 1943, the landing area was replaced with two concrete runways, one 04-22 and 2,000 yards long and the other 10–281,400 yards
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No. 239 Squadron RAF
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No.239 Squadron RAF was an anti-submarine squadron of the Royal Air Force during World War I. During World War II the squadron performed as an army co-operation squadron, after the war the squadron was disbanded. No.239 Squadron RAF was formed from No 418 Flight at Torquay, on 20 August 1918, and was equipped with the Short 184, flying anti-submarine patrols with them until the Armistice. The squadron either disbanded on 15 May 1919 or on 31 May 1919 On 18 September 1940, the squadron began with Westland Lysanders, and then later re-equipped with Curtiss Tomahawks and Hawker Hurricanes. In September 1943 the squadron moved to RAF Ayr to train as a fighter unit. It then moved to RAF West Raynham to join No.100 Group, on 27 October 1944 during fighter affiliation training with No.49 Squadron RAF, a Mosquito piloted by F/Lt J. H. Roberts and accompanied by Flight Engineer Sgt. A. M. Ashcroft, stalled and crashed in Stapleford Woods, Lincolnshire, the squadron disbanded on 1 July 1945. History of No. s 236–240 Squadrons at RAF Web 239 Squadron history on MOD site
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No. 515 Squadron RAF
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No.515 Squadron RAF was a squadron of the Royal Air Force formed during the Second World War. It ushered in Electronic countermeasures warfare, jamming enemy radar installations from October 1942 as the only squadron in the RAF initially. Later in the war 515 Sqn was joined by squadrons as part of No.100 Group RAF. The squadron disbanded after VE day, when the need for such a specialised squadron had reduced, as part of 11 Group,515 Sqn performed radar jamming duties, using Moonshine and Mandrel equipment. From May 1943,515 Sqn re-equipped with the Bristol Beaufighter Mk. IIF, the squadron transferred to No.100 Group RAF in December 1943 as part of Bomber Command, and moved to RAF Little Snoring in Norfolk. There they re-equipped with de Havilland Mosquito Mk. VIs in March 1944, Mandrel was the code-name for a jammer deployed against Freya and Würzburg radars used by aircraft of 515 sqn and 100 Group. Developed at the TRE, Mandrel was also built in the United States as AN/APT-3,515 Squadron RAF movement and equipment history squadron histories for nos. 500–520 sqn on RafWebs Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation unofficial website for no.515 Sqn
