1.
Colindale
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Colindale is an area which lies mainly within the London Borough of Barnet, although the western side of Colindales main shopping street is within the London Borough of Brent. Colindale is an area of suburban character and it is situated about eight miles north west of Charing Cross. Formerly in the borough and ancient parish of Hendon, the area was essentially the dale between Mill Hill and The Burroughs, by the middle of the 20th century, it had come to include that part of the Edgware Road between The Hyde and Burnt Oak. The area is named after a 16th-century family of the same name, until the 20th century, Colindale was without any buildings save for a large house called Colindale Lodge, Colindale Farm and a few cottages. All of these properties were on Colindeep Lane which had in the period been an alternative route out of London to the Edgware Road. By the end of the 16th century it was not often used as a main road, by the end of the 19th century, cheap land prices made Colindale attractive to developers. Colindale Hospital was opened in 1898 as an asylum for the sick of central London. By 1996 the majority of the hospital was closed, and in 2009 lies mostly derelict, in 1902, the British Library built a new depository and kept the newspaper library there in 1934. Garston’s Ltd established a factory in 1901, as well as a row of cottages called Leatherville. As such it is the first manufacturer in the Colindale, by 1914 there was already housing between Colindale Avenue and Annesley Avenue, mostly to house the workers of such endeavours. Immediately after the First World War a number of manufacturing companies came to Colindale. Franco Illuminated Signs opened on Aerodrome Road in 1922, having made the lights for the Franco British Exhibition of 1908 and it was best known for the neon signs found in Piccadilly from the 1920s to the 1970s. Frigidaire started in a shack in Aerodrome Road, employing 11 people in 1923. The reason why many of these and other companies chose Colindale was that there was available for expansion. However, by 1923, when the railway reached Colindale, land prices had increased and factory expansion was not so easy. In 1931, Frigidaire, for example, decided to build a new manufacturing plant to the west, on the A5 Edgware Road, after the tube station opened, development as a London suburb was rapid, and by 1939 much of the western side was semi-detached housing. Typical was the Colin Park Estate, built by F. H. Stucke & Co. around Colindeep Lane in 1927, some of the houses on this estate are by the architect E. G. Trobridge. St Matthias started as a church in 1905
2.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
3.
NW postcode area
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The NW postcode area, also known as the London NW postcode area, is a group of postcode districts covering part of northwest London, England. It is the successor of the NW sector, originally created as part of the London postal district in 1856, the district names are no longer included in the postal address because the first part of the postcode contains equivalent sorting information. The boundaries of the area and its districts have changed over time and are the result of the working requirements of Royal Mail. They are not tied to those of the local authority areas served, the NW7 district extends to the Greater London boundary with Hertfordshire and follows that boundary for a short distance near Scratch Wood. The remainder of northwest Greater London is covered by the HA, UB, part of the EN, list of postcode areas in the United Kingdom London postal district Postcode Address File Royal Mails Postcode Address File A quick introduction to Royal Mails Postcode Address File
4.
Aviation museum
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An aviation museum, air museum, or aerospace museum is a museum exhibiting the history and artifacts of aviation. In addition to actual or replica aircraft, exhibits can include photographs, maps, models, dioramas, clothing, aviation museums vary in size from housing just one or two aircraft to hundreds. They may be owned by national, regional or local governments or be privately owned, some museums address the history and artifacts of space exploration as well, illustrating the close association between aeronautics and astronautics. Aviation museums may display their aircraft only on the ground or fly some of them, museums that do not fly their aircraft may have decided not to do so either because the aircraft are not in condition to fly or because they are considered too rare or valuable. Museums may fly their aircraft in air shows or other related events. Some museums have sets of periodicals, technical manuals, photographs and these are often made available to aviation researchers for use in writing articles or books or to aircraft restoration specialists working on restoring an aircraft
5.
London Underground
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The London Underground is a public rapid transit system serving London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. The network has expanded to 11 lines, and in 2015–16 carried 1.34 billion passengers, the 11 lines collectively handle approximately 4.8 million passengers a day. The system has 270 stations and 250 miles of track, despite its name, only 45% of the system is actually underground in tunnels, with much of the network in the outer environs of London being on the surface. In addition, the Underground does not cover most southern parts of Greater London, the current operator, London Underground Limited, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Transport for London, the statutory corporation responsible for the transport network in Greater London. As of 2015, 92% of operational expenditure is covered by passenger fares, the Travelcard ticket was introduced in 1983 and Oyster, a contactless ticketing system, in 2003. Contactless card payments were introduced in 2014, the LPTB was a prominent patron of art and design, commissioning many new station buildings, posters and public artworks in a modernist style. Other famous London Underground branding includes the roundel and Johnston typeface, to prepare construction, a short test tunnel was built in 1855 in Kibblesworth, a small town with geological properties similar to London. This test tunnel was used for two years in the development of the first underground train, and was later, in 1861, the worlds first underground railway, it opened in January 1863 between Paddington and Farringdon using gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives. It was hailed as a success, carrying 38,000 passengers on the opening day, the Metropolitan District Railway opened in December 1868 from South Kensington to Westminster as part of a plan for an underground inner circle connecting Londons main-line termini. The Metropolitan and District railways completed the Circle line in 1884, built using the cut and this opened in 1890 with electric locomotives that hauled carriages with small opaque windows, nicknamed padded cells. The Waterloo and City Railway opened in 1898, followed by the Central London Railway in 1900, the Metropolitan Railway protested about the change of plan, but after arbitration by the Board of Trade, the DC system was adopted. When the Bakerloo was so named in July 1906, The Railway Magazine called it an undignified gutter title, by 1907 the District and Metropolitan Railways had electrified the underground sections of their lines. In January 1913, the UERL acquired the Central London Railway, the Bakerloo line was extended north to Queens Park to join a new electric line from Euston to Watford, but World War I delayed construction and trains reached Watford Junction in 1917. During air raids in 1915 people used the stations as shelters. An extension of the Central line west to Ealing was also delayed by the war, the Metropolitan promoted housing estates near the railway with the Metro-land brand and nine housing estates were built near stations on the line. Electrification was extended north from Harrow to Rickmansworth, and branches opened from Rickmansworth to Watford in 1925, the Piccadilly line was extended north to Cockfosters and took over District line branches to Harrow and Hounslow. In 1933, most of Londons underground railways, tramway and bus services were merged to form the London Passenger Transport Board, the Waterloo & City Railway, which was by then in the ownership of the main line Southern Railway, remained with its existing owners. In the same year that the London Passenger Transport Board was formed, in the following years, the outlying lines of the former Metropolitan Railway closed, the Brill Tramway in 1935, and the line from Quainton Road to Verney Junction in 1936
6.
Colindale tube station
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Colindale is a London Underground station in Colindale, a suburb of north London. The station is on the north-south Edgware branch of the Northern line, the station opened on 18 August 1924 on the north side of Colindale Avenue, on what was then the Hampstead and Highgate Line, the first station of the second section of the extension to Edgware. The platforms were located underneath the east-west road, not just on one side, the opening of the station spurred the development of Colindale. T. E. Colindale tube station was damaged during The Blitz. At 8,45 pm on 25 September 1940 the station was hit by a large bomb, two trains with a total of 400 people on board were at the station at the time of the explosion, and 13 people were killed. Nine rescue parties worked through the night to rescue the survivors, the Royal Air Force Museum London is a popular destination for travellers going to Colindale. The museum is located ten minutes by foot from the station. The British Library Newspaper Library was situated at Colindale until 2013, Colindale tube station was also a popular destination for travellers intending to reach the shopping centre Oriental City up until its closure. The station is used as a terminus for trains travelling north. Some regular off-peak service patterns in recent years have seen all trains joining the Edgware branch from the Bank branch terminating at Colindale, reversal of trains at this station makes use of a turn-back siding, situated between the running lines north of the station. London Buses routes 204 and 303 and night route N5 serve the station
7.
Hendon Aerodrome
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Hendon Aerodrome was an aerodrome in London, England, that was an important centre for aviation from 1908 to 1968. It was situated in Colindale, seven miles north west of Charing Cross and it nearly became the Charing Cross of the UKs international air routes, but for the actions of the RAF after the First World War. It was known as a place of pioneering experiments including the first airmail, the first parachute descent from a aircraft, the first night flights. The first powered flight from Hendon was in an 88-foot long non-rigid airship built by Spencer Brothers of Highbury and it took off from the Welsh Harp Reservoir in 1909, piloted by Henry Spencer, and the only passenger was Muriel Matters, the Australian suffragette. The first attempt at flight was by H. P. Handasyde, again at the Welsh Harp and they constructed a monoplane with four engines in the ballroom of the hotel, but were never able to get airborne. From 1908 to 1910, their Grasshopper, as the plane was called, taxied about and left the ground briefly, but failed to get truly airborne, although these attempts attracting quite a crowd. In 1906, before any powered flight had taken place in Britain, the journey had to be completed within twenty-four hours, with no more than two landings. Grahame-White made two attempts, but it was Paulhan who succeeded and he chose a field on the future aerodrome site as his point of departure. On 27 April he flew 117 miles from Hendon to Lichfield, before dawn on 28 April he took off and reached Burnage on the outskirts of Manchester after three hours 55 minutes in the air, during a period of just over twelve hours. This was the first true flight from the Hendon site, the first occupants were Horatio Barbers Aeronautical Syndicate Ltd and the Bleriot flying school. From 9 to 16 September 1911, the first official UK airmail was flown between Hendon and Windsor as part of the celebrations of the coronation of King George V, in 1912, the first Aerial Derby started and ended at Hendon. An estimated three million people turned out across London, forming a ring around the race circuit to see the aviators fly round the metropolis. An estimated two million of these Londoners had never seen an aircraft in flight before, at Hendon Aerodrome at least 45,000 people paid for admission to the enclosures. These annual events became as important as the Ascot and Epsom races during the London Season, by 1925,100,000 people were coming to see the display, and it was so popular that there was talk of having to spread it over a few days. The first fatality at Hendon, reported in The Times in May 1911, was Bernard Benson, on 25 May 1911 he fell 100 feet from an ASL Valkyrie. A number of flying schools were located at Hendon, including Grahame-Whites, in November 1916, the War Office commandeered the flying schools, after which the aerodrome trained 490 pilots. Claude Grahame-White and other members of the Royal Naval Air Service mounted a defence of London in 1915
8.
Aviation
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Aviation is the practical aspect or art of aeronautics, being the design, development, production, operation and use of aircraft, especially heavier than air aircraft. The word aviation was coined by French writer and former naval officer Gabriel La Landelle in 1863, from the verb avier, itself derived from the Latin word avis and the suffix -ation. The modern age of aviation began with the first untethered human lighter-than-air flight on November 21,1783, the practicality of balloons was limited because they could only travel downwind. It was immediately recognized that a steerable, or dirigible, balloon was required, jean-Pierre Blanchard flew the first human-powered dirigible in 1784 and crossed the English Channel in one in 1785. Rigid airships became the first aircraft to transport passengers and cargo over great distances, the best known aircraft of this type were manufactured by the German Zeppelin company. The most successful Zeppelin was the Graf Zeppelin and it flew over one million miles, including an around-the-world flight in August 1929. However, the dominance of the Zeppelins over the airplanes of that period, the Golden Age of the airships ended on May 6,1937 when the Hindenburg caught fire, killing 36 people. The cause of the Hindenburg accident was blamed on the use of hydrogen instead of helium as the lift gas. An internal investigation by the manufacturer revealed the coating used to protect the material over the frame was highly flammable. Changes to the coating formulation reduced the risk of further Hindenburg type accidents, although there have been periodic initiatives to revive their use, airships have seen only niche application since that time. In 1799 Sir George Cayley set forth the concept of the airplane as a fixed-wing flying machine with separate systems for lift, propulsion. Seven years later, on 14 October 1897, Aders Avion III was tested without success in front of two officials from the French War ministry, the report on the trials was not publicized until 1910, as they had been a military secret. In November 1906 Ader claimed to have made a flight on 14 October 1897. Although widely believed at the time, these claims were later discredited, however, the most widely accepted date is December 17,1903 by the Wright brothers. The Wright brothers were the first to fly in a powered and controlled aircraft, previous flights were gliders or free flight, but the Wright brothers combined both, setting the new standard in aviation records. Aircraft began to transport people and cargo as designs grew larger, the Wright brothers took aloft the first passenger, Charles Furnas, one of their mechanics, on May 14,1908. By the beginning of World War II, many towns and cities had built airports, the war brought many innovations to aviation, including the first jet aircraft and the first liquid-fueled rockets. Manufacturers such as Cessna, Piper, and Beechcraft expanded production to provide aircraft for the new middle-class market
9.
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
10.
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
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The Ministry of Defence is the British government department responsible for implementing the defence policy set by Her Majestys Government and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces. The MoD states that its objectives are to defend the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and its interests and to strengthen international peace. The MoD also manages day-to-day running of the forces, contingency planning. As rearmament became a concern during the 1930s, Stanley Baldwin created the position of Minister for Coordination of Defence. Winston Churchill, on forming his government in 1940, created the office of Minister of Defence to exercise control over the Chiefs of Staff Committee. The post was held by the Prime Minister of the day until Clement Attlees government introduced the Ministry of Defence Act of 1946, the new ministry was headed by a Minister of Defence who possessed a seat in the Cabinet. These departments merged in 1964, the functions of the Ministry of Aviation Supply merged into the Ministry of Defence in 1971. The Ministers in the Ministry of Defence are as follows, The Ministers and Chiefs of the Defence Staff are supported by a number of civilian, scientific, the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Defence is the senior civil servant at the MoD. His or her role is to ensure the MoD operates effectively as a department of the government, Permanent Under-Secretary of State, Stephen Lovegrove—commencing April 2016 Defence Equipment & Support CEO - Tony Douglas — commencing 2016 Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Vernon C. He is supported by the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff, vice-Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir Gordon Messenger, Royal Marines. First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Sir Philip Jones, Royal Navy Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Nick Carter, the Surgeon General, represents the Defence Medical Services on the Defence Staff, and is the clinical head of that service. These forces must be capable of representing Britain as lead nation in any coalition operations, the ability, at longer notice, to deploy forces in a large-scale operation while running a concurrent small-scale operation. The MoD has since been regarded as a leader in elaborating the post-Cold War organising concept of defence diplomacy, the UK is establishing air and naval bases in the Persian Gulf, located in the UAE and Bahrain. A presence in Oman is also being considered, the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 included £178 billion investment in new equipment and capabilities. The review set a policy with four primary missions for the Armed Forces, Defend and contribute to the security and resilience of the UK. Contribute to improved understanding of the world through strategic intelligence and the defence network. Reinforce international security and the capacity of our allies, partners. Conduct operations to restore peace and stability, conduct major combat operations if required, including under NATO Article 5
11.
Charitable organization
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A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization. It differs from types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals as well as social well-being. The legal definition of charitable organization varies according to the country, the regulation, tax treatment, and the way in which charity law affects charitable organizations also varies. Financial figures are important indicators to assess the sustainability of a charity. This information can impact a charitys reputation with donors and societies, and thus, Charitable organizations often depend partly on donations from for-profit-organizations. Such donations to charitable organizations represent a form of corporate philanthropy. Until the mid-18th century, charity was mainly distributed through parish relief, churches, almshouses, Charities were also responsible for education, health, housing and even prisons. It was in the Enlightenment era that charitable and philanthropic activity among voluntary associations, societies, gentlemans clubs, and mutual associations began to flourish in England and the upper-classes increasingly adopted a philanthropic attitude toward the disadvantaged. This new social activism was channeled into the establishment of charitable organizations and this emerging upper-class fashion for benevolence resulted in the incorporation of the first charitable organizations. This was the first such charity in the world and served as the precedent for incorporated associational charities everywhere. Jonas Hanway, another notable philanthropist of the era established The Marine Society in 1756 as the first seafarers charity, by 1763, the Society had recruited over 10,000 men and it was incorporated by an Act of Parliament in 1772. Hanway was also instrumental in establishing the Magdalen Hospital to rehabilitate prostitutes and these organizations were funded by subscription and run as voluntary associations. Charities also began to adopt campaigning roles, where they would champion a cause, the process was however a lengthy one being finally concluded when Saudi Arabia abolished slavery in 1962. This period also saw growing philosophical debate between those who championed state intervention and those who believed that private charities should provide welfare, thomas Malthus, the political economist, criticized poor relief for paupers on economic and moral grounds and proposed leaving charity entirely to the private sector. His views were influential and informed the Victorian laissez-faire attitude toward state intervention for the poor. During the 19th century, a profusion of charitable organizations were set up to alleviate the conditions of the working class in the slums. The Labourers Friend Society, chaired by Lord Shaftesbury in the United Kingdom in 1830, was set up to working class conditions. This included the promotion of allotment of land to labourers for cottage husbandry that later became the allotment movement and this was one of the first housing associations, a philanthropic endeavour that flourished in the second half of the nineteenth century brought about by the growth of the middle class
12.
Royal Air Force Museum Cosford
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The Royal Air Force Museum Cosford, located in Cosford in Shropshire, is a museum dedicated to the history of aviation and the Royal Air Force in particular. The museum is part of the Royal Air Force Museum, a public body sponsored by the Ministry of Defence. The museum is spread over two sites in England, the site is at the Royal Air Force Museum London at Colindale in north London. The London museum was opened at the Colindale London site on 15 November 1972 by Her Majesty The Queen. The hangars housed just 36 aircraft at opening, over the years, the collection increased and aircraft were stored at RAF stations around the country when they were not on display. While they were being so stored, these aircraft were not publicly displayed, on 1 May 1979, the Cosford site was opened at RAF Cosford, one of the RAF stations which had been used to store the museums collection of aircraft. On opening, the museum initially exhibited airframes which had used for technical training at RAF Cosford. In the following years additional aircraft were added to the collection, on 21 June 1998 four additional galleries were opened, housing art, temporary exhibitions and other aviation subjects. 13 May 2002 saw the relocation of the RAF Museum Conservation Centre from Cardington, the Centre, costing £2.4 million, was opened by Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Michael Beetham and is named after him. The Cosford site includes several developmental aircraft such as those led to the English Electric Lightning. The first Director of the Museum was Dr John Tanner who retired in 1987, in 1988 Dr Michael A Fopp was appointed and was Director General of all three sites covered by the Museum until his retirement in 2010. The site can be reached by public transport via the neighbouring Cosford railway station on the Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury Line, in 1980, the Cosford site agreed to house the British Airways Museum collection. In 2006 British Airways withdrew funding from the collection, after which the RAF Museum did not take on the costs of maintaining the aircraft. Several of the jet airliners have subsequently been broken up, including the only Boeing 707 that was preserved in the UK, a Vickers VC10, the National Cold War Exhibition opened at Cosford in February 2007. The exhibition houses the museums V bombers and other Cold War aircraft in a newly constructed 8, the exhibition concept and design was developed by Neal Potter and includes silo theatres which depict, in a variety of media, the key tensions of the Cold War period. The Cosford museum houses a collection of aero engines, the majority are located in Hangar 1. The museum holds a collection of missiles and rocket-powered weapons. The majority are located in the National Cold War Exhibition, with the German collection on display in Hangar 1, also on the museum site is the Michael Beetham Conservation Centre
13.
RAF Cosford
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Royal Air Force Cosford or RAF Cosford is a Royal Air Force station in Cosford, Shropshire, just to the northwest of Wolverhampton and next to Albrighton. RAF Cosford opened in 1938 as a joint aircraft maintenance, storage and it has remained mainly a training unit to this day. The Fulton Mess barrack block was constructed just before the Second World War as the largest single building barrack block in the UK and it is now used for technical training. No 2 School of Technical Training was formed in 1938 and during the Second World War it trained 70,000 airmen in engine, airframe and armament trades. No 2 School of Technical Training was subsumed into the No 1 School of Technical Training when it moved to Cosford from RAF Halton in Buckinghamshire and these ferrying flights were often crewed by women pilots and Amy Johnson came to Cosford on more than one occasion. The airfield was originally a grassed strip, a substantial Princess Marys Royal Air Force Nursing Service hospital was established at RAF Cosford, the most westerly such RAF hospital in the UK. Constructed of wooden spurred hutting the hospital was the centre for repatriated Prisoners of War with over 13,000 processed by 1948. Many of those from the Far East had to remain for long term treatment, the hospital was also open to the general public as well as servicemen and women, but it was closed on 31 December 1977 and demolished in 1980. Schools currently stationed there include, No.1 School of Technical Training, No.1 Radio School RAF, the Defence School of Photography, Flying units include the University of Birmingham Air Squadron, No 8 Air Experience Flight and No 633 Volunteer Gliding Squadron. The Wales and West regional headquarters and West Mercian Wing headquarters of the Air Training Corps are situated there, Cosford became part of the Defence College of Aeronautical Engineering, which was formed on 1 April 2004. Other units located at Cosford include elements of the Defence College of Communications and Information Systems, the Defence School of Photography and the RAF School of Physical Training. In early 2009 there was a chance that the DCAE would relocate to RAF St Athan. The Defence College at RAF Cosford came under the Defence Technical Training Change Programme and as such, Defence College of Aeronautical Engineering Cosford HQ DCAE Aerosystems Training Wing Military Training Wing Lodger Units RAF Museum Cosford. No 1 Radio School (Part of the Defence College of Communication and Information Systems, Defence School of Photography RAF School of Physical Training. No 605 County of Warwick Squadron University of Birmingham Air Squadron No 8 Air Experience Flight HQ Wales, headquarters West Mercia West Wing Air Training Corps. There are also collections of missiles and airliners, the Cold War Exhibition opened on 7 February 2007 by former prime minister Baroness Thatcher and HRH Princess Anne. Exhibits include the collection of three V bombers in the same place in the world. As a consequence, it was anticipated that all training would move from Cosford to Metrixs main campus to be built on the RAF St Athan site over a 5-year period from 2008
14.
Shropshire
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Shropshire Council was created in 2009, a unitary authority taking over from the previous county council and five district councils. The borough of Telford and Wrekin has been a unitary authority since 1998. The county has many towns, including Whitchurch in the north, Newport north-east of Telford. The Ironbridge Gorge area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, covering Ironbridge, Coalbrookdale, there are other historic industrial sites in the county, such as at Shrewsbury, Broseley, Snailbeach and Highley, as well as the Shropshire Union Canal. The Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty covers about a quarter of the county, Shropshire is one of Englands most rural and sparsely populated counties, with a population density of 136/km2. The Wrekin is one of the most famous landmarks in the county, though the highest hills are the Clee Hills, Stiperstones. Wenlock Edge is another significant geographical and geological landmark, the River Severn, Great Britains longest river, runs through the county, exiting into Worcestershire via the Severn Valley. Shropshire is landlocked and with an area of 3,487 square kilometres is Englands largest inland county, the county flower is the round-leaved sundew. The area was part of the lands of the Cornovii. This was a tribal Celtic iron age kingdom and their capital in pre-Roman times was probably a hill fort on the Wrekin. Ptolemys 2nd century Geography names one of their towns as being Viroconium Cornoviorum, after the Roman occupation of Britain ended in the 5th century, the Shropshire area was in the eastern part of the Welsh Kingdom of Powys, known in Welsh poetry as the Paradise of Powys. It was annexed to the Angle kingdom of Mercia by King Offa in the 8th century, in subsequent centuries, the area suffered repeated Danish invasion, and fortresses were built at Bridgnorth and Chirbury. Many defensive castles were built at this time across the county to defend against the Welsh and enable effective control of the region, including Ludlow Castle, the western frontier with Wales was not finally determined until the 14th century. Also in this period, a number of foundations were formed, the county largely falling at this time under the Diocese of Hereford. The county contains a number of historically significant towns, including Shrewsbury, Bridgnorth, additionally, the area around Coalbrookdale in the county is seen as highly significant, as it is regarded as one of the birthplaces of the Industrial Revolution. The village of Edgmond, near Newport, is the location of the lowest recorded temperature in England, the origin of the name Shropshire is the Old English Scrobbesbyrigscīr, which means Shrewsburyshire. The name may, therefore, be derived indirectly from a name such as Scrope. Salop is an old name for Shropshire, historically used as a form for post or telegrams
15.
Wolverhampton
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Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 249,470, the demonym for people from the city is Wulfrunian. Historically part of Staffordshire, the city is named after Wulfrun, prior to the Norman Conquest, the areas name appears only as variants of Heantune or Hamtun, the prefix Wulfrun or similar appearing in 1070 and thereafter. Alternatively, the city may have earned its name from Wulfereēantūn after the Mercian King. The variation Wolveren Hampton is seen in records, e. g. in 1381. The city grew initially as a market town specialising in the woollen trade, in the Industrial Revolution, it became a major centre for coal mining, steel production, lock making and the manufacture of cars and motorcycles. The economy of the city is based on engineering, including a large aerospace industry. A local tradition states that King Wulfhere of Mercia founded an abbey of St Mary at Wolverhampton in 659, the Mercians and West Saxons claimed a decisive victory and the field of Woden is recognised by numerous place names in Wednesfield. In 985, King Ethelred the Unready granted lands at a place referred to as Heantun to Lady Wulfrun by royal charter and this became the site for the current St. Peters Church. A statue of Lady Wulfrun, sculpted by Sir Charles Wheeler, Wolverhampton is recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086 as being in the Hundred of Seisdon and the county of Staffordshire. The lords of the manor are listed as the canons of St Mary, with the tenant-in-chief being Samson, Wolverhampton at this date is a large settlement of fifty households. In 1179, there is mention of a market held in the town and this charter for a weekly market held on a Wednesday was eventually granted on 4 February 1258 by Henry III. From the 16th century onwards, Wolverhampton became home to a number of industries including lock and key making and iron. Wolverhampton suffered two Great Fires, the first in April 1590, and the second in September 1696, both fires started in todays Salop Street. The first fire lasted for five days and left nearly 700 people homeless and this second fire led to the purchase of the first fire engine within the city in September 1703. There is also evidence that Wolverhampton may have been the location of the first working Newcomen Steam Engine in 1712. In Victorian times, Wolverhampton grew to be a town mainly due to the huge amount of industry that occurred as a result of the abundance of coal. The remains of this wealth can be seen in houses such as Wightwick Manor and The Mount
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Hendon
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Hendon is a London suburb in the Borough of Barnet,7 miles northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex and has part of Greater London since 1965. Hendon had a population of 52,972 in 2011 and includes the Hendon, Hendon West, Hendon was historically a civil parish in the county of Middlesex. The manor is described in Domesday, but the name Hendun – meaning at the highest hill – is of earlier origin. Evidence of Roman settlement was discovered by members of the Hendon and District Archaeological Society and others, the Midland Railway and the Great Northern Railways were built through Hendon in the 1860s. The underground arrived at Golders Green to the south in 1907, much of the area developed into a suburb of London and now the area is mostly built-up with some countryside in the Mill Hill area, such as the Copthall Playing fields. Hendons industry was centred on manufacturing, and included motor and aviation works. In 1931 the civil parish of Edgware was abolished and its area was added to the civil parish of Hendon. Hendon became an district in 1894. In 1932 the urban district became the Municipal Borough of Hendon, the municipal borough was abolished in 1965 and the area became part of the London Borough of Barnet. Hendon’s main claim to fame is in the days of flying. The area is associated with pioneer aviator Claude Grahame-White. Another part of the Aerodrome site is the Hendon Police College, the Metropolitan Police Book of Remembrance is displayed in the entrance of Simpson Hall at the centre. There is also a memorial garden and it is a former borough and ancient parish. The name means the place or down, and Hendons motto is Endeavour. The Burroughs is a centre for the London Borough of Barnet. The River Brent runs through Hendon, on 30 Nov 2009 the Environment Agency warned residents of flooding along River Brent from Hendon to Brentford, after a day of notably heavy rain. Several premises were flooded in Brentford and Perivale
17.
Elizabeth II
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Elizabeth II has been Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand since 6 February 1952. Elizabeth was born in London as the eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and her father acceded to the throne on the abdication of his brother Edward VIII in 1936, from which time she was the heir presumptive. She began to undertake duties during the Second World War. Elizabeths many historic visits and meetings include a visit to the Republic of Ireland. She has seen major changes, such as devolution in the United Kingdom, Canadian patriation. She has reigned through various wars and conflicts involving many of her realms and she is the worlds oldest reigning monarch as well as Britains longest-lived. In October 2016, she became the longest currently reigning monarch, in 2017 she became the first British monarch to commemorate a Sapphire Jubilee. Elizabeth has occasionally faced republican sentiments and press criticism of the family, however, support for the monarchy remains high. Elizabeth was born at 02,40 on 21 April 1926, during the reign of her paternal grandfather and her father, Prince Albert, Duke of York, was the second son of the King. Her mother, Elizabeth, Duchess of York, was the youngest daughter of Scottish aristocrat Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and she was delivered by Caesarean section at her maternal grandfathers London house,17 Bruton Street, Mayfair. Elizabeths only sibling, Princess Margaret, was born in 1930, the two princesses were educated at home under the supervision of their mother and their governess, Marion Crawford, who was casually known as Crawfie. Lessons concentrated on history, language, literature and music, Crawford published a biography of Elizabeth and Margarets childhood years entitled The Little Princesses in 1950, much to the dismay of the royal family. The book describes Elizabeths love of horses and dogs, her orderliness, others echoed such observations, Winston Churchill described Elizabeth when she was two as a character. She has an air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant and her cousin Margaret Rhodes described her as a jolly little girl, but fundamentally sensible and well-behaved. During her grandfathers reign, Elizabeth was third in the line of succession to the throne, behind her uncle Edward, Prince of Wales, and her father, the Duke of York. Although her birth generated public interest, she was not expected to become queen, many people believed that he would marry and have children of his own. When her grandfather died in 1936 and her uncle succeeded as Edward VIII, she became second-in-line to the throne, later that year, Edward abdicated, after his proposed marriage to divorced socialite Wallis Simpson provoked a constitutional crisis. Consequently, Elizabeths father became king, and she became heir presumptive, if her parents had had a later son, she would have lost her position as first-in-line, as her brother would have been heir apparent and above her in the line of succession
18.
Aircraft
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An aircraft is a machine that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the lift of an airfoil. The human activity that surrounds aircraft is called aviation, crewed aircraft are flown by an onboard pilot, but unmanned aerial vehicles may be remotely controlled or self-controlled by onboard computers. Aircraft may be classified by different criteria, such as type, aircraft propulsion, usage. Each of the two World Wars led to technical advances. Consequently, the history of aircraft can be divided into five eras, Pioneers of flight, first World War,1914 to 1918. Aviation between the World Wars,1918 to 1939, Second World War,1939 to 1945. Postwar era, also called the jet age,1945 to the present day, aerostats use buoyancy to float in the air in much the same way that ships float on the water. They are characterized by one or more large gasbags or canopies, filled with a relatively low-density gas such as helium, hydrogen, or hot air, which is less dense than the surrounding air. When the weight of this is added to the weight of the aircraft structure, a balloon was originally any aerostat, while the term airship was used for large, powered aircraft designs – usually fixed-wing. In 1919 Frederick Handley Page was reported as referring to ships of the air, in the 1930s, large intercontinental flying boats were also sometimes referred to as ships of the air or flying-ships. – though none had yet been built, the advent of powered balloons, called dirigible balloons, and later of rigid hulls allowing a great increase in size, began to change the way these words were used. Huge powered aerostats, characterized by an outer framework and separate aerodynamic skin surrounding the gas bags, were produced. There were still no fixed-wing aircraft or non-rigid balloons large enough to be called airships, then several accidents, such as the Hindenburg disaster in 1937, led to the demise of these airships. Nowadays a balloon is an aerostat and an airship is a powered one. A powered, steerable aerostat is called a dirigible, sometimes this term is applied only to non-rigid balloons, and sometimes dirigible balloon is regarded as the definition of an airship. Non-rigid dirigibles are characterized by a moderately aerodynamic gasbag with stabilizing fins at the back and these soon became known as blimps. During the Second World War, this shape was adopted for tethered balloons, in windy weather
19.
London Transport Museum
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The London Transport Museum, or LT Museum based in Covent Garden, London, seeks to conserve and explain the transport heritage of Britains capital city. The museum operates from two sites within London, the other site, located in Acton, is known as the London Transport Museum Depot and is principally a storage site that is open on regular visitor days throughout the year. London Transport Museum is a charity under English law. The museums main facility is located in a Victorian iron and glass building that had formed part of the Covent Garden vegetable, fruit and flower market. It was designed as a flower market by William Rogers in 1871 and is located between Russell Street, Tavistock Street, Wellington Street and the east side of the former market square. The market moved out in 1971, and the building was occupied by the London Transport Museum in 1980, the collection had been located at Syon Park since 1973 and before that had formed part of the British Transport Museum at Clapham. Enhanced educational facilities were also required, the museum reopened on 22 November 2007. The entrance to the museum is from the Covent Garden Piazza, the museum is within walking distance from both Covent Garden tube station and Charing Cross railway station. The Museum Depot is located in Acton, west London, and was opened in October 1999, the depot holds the majority of the Museums collections which are not on display in the main museum in Covent Garden. It is the base for the curators and conservators, and is used for the display of items too large to be accommodated in the main facility. The depot is not regularly open to the public, but is equipped to receive visitors, with ticket office, shop, a miniature railway. It opens to the public for pre-booked guided tours on several dates each month and it is within easy walking distance of Acton Town tube station. The first parts of the collection were brought together at the beginning of the 20th century by the London General Omnibus Company when it began to preserve buses being retired from service. After the LGOC was taken over by the London Electric Railway, the collection has had a number of homes. Most of the exhibits moved to York on formation of the National Railway Museum in 1975. The first underground train, from 1890, can be seen here. Larger exhibits held at Acton depot include a complete 1938 stock tube train as well as locomotives from the first sub-surface. The museum shop sells a range of reproduction posters, models, gifts and souvenirs
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Heritage Lottery Fund
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The Heritage Lottery Fund was established in the United Kingdom under the National Lottery etc. The Fund opened for applications in 1994, although HLF is branded as though a body in its own right, it is administered by a pre-existing non-departmental public body – the Board of Trustees of the National Heritage Memorial Fund. The turnover of HLF is considerably larger than the work of the NHMF. Decisions about policies and large applications are made by the Trustees of the NHMF, there are also decision-making committees in the English regions, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Head office is in London, with offices in nine English regions and in Scotland, Wales. The Heritage Lottery Fund offers a range of different grant programmes from £3,000 to over £5 million
21.
Battle of Britain
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The Battle of Britain was a military campaign of the Second World War, when the Royal Air Force defended the United Kingdom against the German Air Force attacks from the end of June 1940. It is described as the first major campaign fought entirely by air forces, the primary objective of the Nazi German forces was to compel Britain to agree to a negotiated peace settlement. In July 1940, the air and sea blockade began with the Luftwaffe mainly targeting coastal shipping convoys, ports and shipping centres, such as Portsmouth. On 16 July Hitler ordered the preparation of Operation Sea Lion as an amphibious and airborne assault on Britain. Nazi Germany was unable to sustain daylight raids, but their continued night bombing operations on Britain became known as the Blitz. Its first Chief of the Air Staff Hugh Trenchard was among the military strategists in the 1920s like Giulio Douhet who saw air warfare as a new way to overcome the stalemate of trench warfare, interception was near impossible with fighter planes no faster than bombers. Their view was that the bomber will always get through, Germany was forbidden military air forces by the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, but developed aircrew training in civilian and sport flying. In 1926 the secret Lipetsk fighter-pilot school began operating, a winter 1933–34 war game indicated a need for fighters and anti-aircraft protection as well as bombers. On 1 March 1935 the Luftwaffe was formally announced, with Walther Wever as Chief of Staff, the list excluded bombing civilians to destroy homes or undermine morale, as that was considered a waste of strategic effort, but the doctrine allowed revenge attacks if German civilians were bombed. A revised edition was issued in 1940, and the central principle of Luftwaffe doctrine was that destruction of enemy armed forces was of primary importance. In the Spanish Civil War, the Luftwaffe in the Condor Legion tried out air fighting tactics, wolfram von Richthofen become an exponent of air power providing ground support to other services. The difficulty of hitting targets prompted Ernst Udet to require that all new bombers had to be dive bombers. Priority was given to producing large numbers of aeroplanes. The speed with which German forces defeated most of the armies in Norway in early 1940 created a significant political crisis in Britain. In early May 1940, the Norway Debate questioned the fitness for office of the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, on 10 May, the same day Winston Churchill became British Prime Minister, the Germans initiated the Battle of France with an aggressive invasion of French territory. The Germans were so convinced of an imminent armistice that they began constructing street decorations for the parades of victorious troops. Instead, Churchill used his skilful rhetoric to harden public opinion against capitulation, the Battle of Britain has the unusual distinction that it gained its name before being fought. In secret conference on 23 May 1939 Hitler set out his rather contradictory strategy that an attack on Poland was essential, if this is impossible, then it will be better to attack in the West and to settle Poland at the same time with a surprise attack
22.
Claude Grahame-White
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Claude Grahame-White was an English pioneer of aviation, and the first to make a night flight, during the Daily Mail sponsored 1910 London to Manchester air race. Claude Grahame-White was born in Bursledon, Hampshire in England on 21 August 1879 and he learned to drive in 1895, was apprenticed as an engineer and later started his own motor engineering company. Grahame-Whites interest in aviation was sparked by Louis Blériots crossing of the English Channel in 1909 and this prompted him to go to France, where he attended the Reims aviation meeting, at which he met Blériot and subsequently enrolled at his flying school. Grahame-White was one of the first people to qualify as pilot in England, although Paulhan won the prize, Grahame Whites achievement was widely praised. On 2 July 1910, Claude Grahame-White, in his Farman III biplane, in the same year he won the Gordon Bennett Aviation Cup race in Belmont Park, Long Island, New York, for which he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Aero Club. On 14 October 1910 while in Washington, D. C, Grahame-White flew his Farman biplane over the city and landed on West Executive Avenue near the White House. Rather than being arrested Grahame-White was applauded for the feat by the newspapers, during the war itself he flew the first night patrol mission against an expected German raid on 5 September 1914. In 1911 he established a school at Hendon Aerodrome. In 1912 Grahame-White gave H. G. Wells his first flight, the Aerodrome was lent to the Admiralty, and eventually taken over by the RAF in 1919. Grahame-Whites aerodrome was purchased by the RAF in 1925, after a legal struggle. After this he lost his interest in aviation, eventually moving to Nice in his old age, Hendon Aerodrome later became RAF Hendon but after flying ceased there in the 1960s it was then largely redeveloped as a housing estate which was named Grahame Park in tribute to Grahame-White. Grahame-White was a co-founder of Aerofilms Limited in 1919, in 1911 The Grahame-White Aviation Company was formed to cover his aviation interests, including aerodromes and aircraft design, development, and construction
23.
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
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Avro Lancaster
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The Avro Lancaster is a British four-engined Second World War heavy bomber designed and built by Avro for the Royal Air Force. The Lanc, as it was known, thus became one of the more famous and most successful of the Second World War night bombers. The Lancaster, an evolution of the troublesome Avro Manchester, was designed by Roy Chadwick and was powered by four Rolls-Royce Merlins, or, in one version and this was the largest payload of any bomber in the war. In 1943, a Lancaster was converted to become an engine test bed for the Metropolitan-Vickers F.2 turbojet, Lancasters were later used to test other engines, including the Armstrong Siddeley Mamba and Rolls-Royce Dart turboprops, and the Avro Canada Orenda and STAL Dovern turbojets. Postwar, the Lancaster was supplanted as the RAFs main strategic bomber by the Avro Lincoln, the Lancaster took on the role of long range anti-submarine patrol aircraft and air-sea rescue. In March 1946, a Lancastrian of BSAA flew the first scheduled flight from the new London Heathrow Airport, the resulting aircraft was the Manchester, which, although a capable aircraft, was underpowered and troubled by the unreliability of the Vulture engine. Only 200 Manchesters were built, with the type withdrawn from service in 1942, at first the aircraft was called Avro Type 683 Manchester III and later renamed the Lancaster. The prototype aircraft BT308 was assembled by the Avro experimental flight department at Ringway Airport, test pilot H. A. Bill Thorn took the controls for its first flight at Ringway, on Thursday,9 January 1941. The aircraft proved to be an improvement on its predecessor. Some of the orders for Manchesters were changed in favour of Lancasters. The Lancaster discarded the stubby central third tail fin of the early Manchesters and used the wider span tailplane, the majority of Lancasters built during the war years were manufactured by Avro at their factory at Chadderton near Oldham, Greater Manchester and test flown from Woodford Aerodrome in Cheshire. Other Lancasters were built by Metropolitan-Vickers and Armstrong Whitworth, the Lancaster B III had Packard Merlin engines but was otherwise identical to contemporary B Is, with 3,030 B IIIs built, almost all at Avros Newton Heath factory. The B I and B III were built concurrently and minor modifications were made to both marks as new batches were ordered, of later variants, only the Canadian-built Lancaster B X, manufactured by Victory Aircraft in Malton, Ontario, was produced in significant numbers. The first Lancaster produced in Canada was named the Ruhr Express, the first batch of Canadian Lancasters delivered to England suffered from faulty ailerons. This was traced to the use of unskilled labourers, the Lancaster is a mid-wing cantilever monoplane with an oval all-metal fuselage. The wing was constructed in five sections, the fuselage in five sections. All wing and fuselage sections were built separately and fitted all the required equipment before final assembly. The tail unit had twin fins and rudders
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Hawker Typhoon
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The Hawker Typhoon, was a British single-seat fighter-bomber, produced by Hawker Aircraft. It was intended to be a medium–high altitude interceptor, as a replacement for the Hawker Hurricane but several problems were encountered. The Typhoon was originally designed to mount twelve.303 inch Browning machine guns and its service introduction in mid-1941 was plagued with problems and for several months the aircraft faced a doubtful future. Through the support of such as Roland Beamont it became established in roles such as night-time intruder. From late 1942 the Typhoon was equipped with bombs and from late 1943 RP-3 ground attack rockets were added to its armoury, with those weapons and its four 20mm Hispano cannon, the Typhoon became one of the Second World Wars most successful ground-attack aircraft. Even before Hurricane production began in March 1937, Sydney Camm had embarked on designing its successor, two preliminary designs were similar and were larger than the Hurricane. These later became known as the N and R, because they were designed for the newly developed Napier Sabre, Hawker submitted these preliminary designs in July 1937 but were advised to wait until a formal specification for a new fighter was issued. The armament fitted was to be twelve.303 inch Browning machine guns with 500 rounds per gun, Camm and his design team started formal development of the designs and construction of prototypes. The wing had a span of 41-foot-7-inch, with an area of 279 sq ft. The airfoil was a NACA22 wing section, with a thickness to chord ratio of 19. 5% at the root tapering to 12% at the tip. The wing possessed great strength, provided plenty of room for fuel tanks. Also incorporated into the wings were inward-retracting landing gear with a wide track of 13 ft 6¾ in. By contemporary standards, the new wing was very thick. The climb rate and performance above that level was considered disappointing. When the Typhoon was dived at speeds of over 500 mph and these compressibility problems led to Camm designing the Typhoon II, later known as the Tempest, which used much thinner wings with a laminar flow airfoil. P5212 also had a small tail-fin, triple exhaust stubs and no wheel doors fitted to the centre-section, on 9 May 1940 the prototype had a mid-air structural failure, at the join between the forward fuselage and rear fuselage, just behind the pilots seat. Philip Lucas could see daylight through the split but instead of bailing out, on 15 May the Minister of Aircraft Production, Lord Beaverbrook, ordered that resources should be concentrated on the production of five main aircraft types. As a result, development of the Typhoon was slowed, production plans were postponed, in the interim between construction of the first and second prototypes, the Air Ministry had given Hawker an instruction to proceed with the construction of 1,000 of the new fighters
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Boulton Paul Defiant
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The Boulton Paul Defiant was a British interceptor aircraft that served with the Royal Air Force during World War II. The Defiant was designed and built by Boulton Paul Aircraft as a turret fighter and it was a contemporary of the Royal Navys Blackburn Roc. The concept of a turret fighter related directly to the successful First World War-era Bristol F.2 Fighter, the lack of forward-firing armament proved to be a great weakness in daylight combat and its potential was realised only when it was converted to night fighting. It was supplanted in the fighter role by the Bristol Beaufighter. The Defiant found use in training, target towing, electronic countermeasures. Among RAF pilots it had the nickname Daffy, during the 1930s, the increasing speed of military aircraft posed a particular challenge to anti-aircraft defences. In theory, turret-armed fighters would approach an enemy bomber from below or from the side, the separation of the tasks of flying the aircraft and firing the guns would allow the pilot to concentrate on putting the fighter into the best position for the gunner to engage the enemy. In April 1935, the Air Ministry released Specification F. 9/35, the proposed fighter was broadly similar in both size and appearance to the more conventional Hawker Hurricane, differing in weight primarily due to the use of turret-based armaments. The central feature of the P, the Type A turret was an electro-hydraulically powered drop-in unit, outfitted with a crank-operated mechanical backup. In addition, small bombs could be housed in recesses within the outer wing, some of the development work from the companys earlier B. 1/35 tender was carried over into the P.82. Of the seven designs tendered, the Air Ministry ranked the P.82 as being the second-best submission, after Hawkers Hotspur but ahead of others such as Armstrong Whitworths twin-engined design. The Treasury agreed to finance the completion of seven prototypes, however, in 1937, the first P.82 prototype, K8310, was rolled out. On 11 August 1937, K8310, which had received the name Defiant. This initial flight, piloted by Boulton Pauls chief test pilot Cecil Feather, occurred nearly a year ahead of the rival Hotspur, official acceptance trials did not commence until nine months later. On 30 July 1939, the prototype, K8620, equipped with a Merlin II engine. Production orders had been prepared for the Hotspur, the initial front-running submission, however, the order for the rival Hotspur was cancelled in 1938. Completing its acceptance tests with the turret installed, the Defiant attained a top speed of 302 miles per hour, Flight trials had revealed the aircraft to possess positive flight characteristics and considerable stability, which was of particular value when using the turret. On 30 July 1939, the first production Defiant, L6950, conducted its maiden flight, it commenced official trials with the Aeroplane, apart from some detail changes, the production Defiant Mk I looked similar to the two Defiant prototypes
27.
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
28.
Indian Air Force
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The Indian Air Force is the air arm of the Indian armed forces. It is the fourth largest air force in terms of both personnel and aircraft. Its primary responsibility is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during a conflict and it was officially established on 8 October 1932 as an auxiliary air force of the British Empire and the prefix Royal was added in 1945 in recognition of its services during World War II. After India became independent from the United Kingdom in 1947, the Royal Indian Air Force served the Dominion of India, since independence, the IAF has been involved in four wars with neighbouring Pakistan and one with the Peoples Republic of China. Other major operations undertaken by the IAF include Operation Vijay, Operation Meghdoot, Operation Cactus, apart from conflicts, the IAF has been an active participant in United Nations peacekeeping missions. The President of India serves as Supreme Commander of the IAF, the Chief of Air Staff, an air chief marshal, is a four-star officer and commands the Air Force. There is never more than one serving ACM at any time in the IAF. The IAF provides close air support to the Indian Army troops in the battlefield and also provides strategic, IAF also provides infantry and artillery transportations or secondary Airlift for the Indian Army. The IAF provided extensive assistance to relief operations during natural calamities such as the Gujarat cyclone in 1998, the IAF also provides assistance to other countries during relief activities such as Operation Rainbow in Sri Lanka. On 1 April 1933, the IAF commissioned its first squadron, No.1 Squadron, with four Westland Wapiti biplanes, the Indian pilots were led by RAF Commanding officer Flight Lieutenant Cecil Bouchier. During World War II, the IAF played a role in blocking the advance of the Japanese army in Burma. It also carried out missions against the Japanese airbases at Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai. The IAF was mainly involved in Strike, Close Air Support, Aerial reconnaissance, Bomber Escort, RAF Pilots were embedded in IAF units and vice versa to gain combat experience. IAF pilots participated in air operations in Europe as part of the RAF, during the war, the IAF went through a phase of steady expansion. New aircraft, including the US built Vultee Vengeance, Douglas DC-3, in recognition of the services rendered by the IAF, King George VI conferred the prefix Royal in 1945. Thereafter the IAF was referred to as the Royal Indian Air Force, in 1950, when India became a republic, the prefix was dropped and it reverted to being the Indian Air Force. After it became independent from the British Empire in 1947, British India was partitioned into the new states of the Dominion of India, along the lines of the geographical partition, the assets of the air force were divided between the new countries. The RIAF Roundel was changed to an interim Chakra roundel derived from the Ashoka Chakra, around the same time, conflict broke out between them over the control of the princely state of Jammu & Kashmir
29.
Vickers Valiant
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The Vickers-Armstrongs Valiant was a British four-jet high-altitude bomber, once part of the Royal Air Forces V bomber nuclear force in the 1950s and 1960s. It was developed by Vickers in response to Specification B. 35/46 issued by the Air Ministry for a nuclear-armed jet-powered bomber. The Valiant was the first of the V bombers to become operational, and was followed by the Handley Page Victor, the Valiant has the distinction of being the only V bomber to drop live nuclear weapons. As developed, the Valiant was intended for operations as a strategic bomber. During the late 1950s, in response to advances in surface-to-air missile technology. Valiants were used for bombing missions over Egypt for Operation Musketeer during the Suez Crisis of 1956. Rather than proceeding with a rebuilding program, the Valiant was formally retired in 1965. Its duties were continued by the other V-bombers which remained in service until the 1980s, in conjunction with this ambition, Britain set about developing its own atomic weapons. In January 1947, the British Air Ministry issued Specification B. 35/46 for a jet bomber intended to carry nuclear weapons. Roe, Handley-Page and Vickers-Armstrongs submitted advanced designs intended to meet the stringent requirements, two prototypes were completed, the first conducting its maiden flight in 1951, but the Sperrin was ultimately relegated to research and development purposes only. Vickers had emerged from the Second World War as one of the worlds pre-eminent companies in the field of aeronautical manufacturing, the proposed design submitted by Vickers was relatively straightforward, being less aerodynamically advanced and unfunny in comparison to competing bids made by rival firms. Both Handley-Page and Avro had produced very advanced designs for the bomber competition and these would be produced as the Victor and the Vulcan respectively, the Air Staff decided to award contracts to each company as a form of insurance in case one of these designs had failed. The submissions became known as the V bombers, the aircraft all being given names that started with the letter V, in February 1949, two prototypes of the aircraft were ordered. The first of these was to be fitted with four Rolls-Royce RA.3 Avon turbojet engines, the pilot was Captain Joseph Mutt Summers, who had also been the original test pilot on the Supermarine Spitfire, and wanted to add another first to his record before he retired. His co-pilot on the first flight was Gabe Jock Bryce, who succeeded Summers as Vickers chief test pilot upon his retirement shortly afterwards. The next month, the Vickers Type 660 was given the name of Valiant. The name Valiant had been selected by a survey of Vickers employees and it was fitted with more powerful RA. The short delay until the prototype became available for testing
30.
Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2
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Between 1911 and 1914, the Royal Aircraft Factory used the F. E.2 designation for three quite different aircraft that shared only a common Farman pusher biplane layout. The third F. E.2 type was operated as a day and this re-use of the F. E.2 designation has caused much confusion. The first F. E.2 was designed by Geoffrey de Havilland at the Royal Aircraft Factory in 1911. The new aircraft resembled the form of the F. E.1, with no front elevator. It made its flight on 18 August 1911, flown by de Havilland. Later in the year the F. E.2, refitted with an undercarriage, was modified to carry a Maxim machine gun on a flexible mount in the nose. The second F. E.2 was officially a rebuild of the first F. E.2, and may, indeed have included some components from the earlier aircraft. It was, however, a new and much more modern design, larger and heavier than the 1911 aircraft, with the wingspan increased from 33 ft to 42 ft. Loaded weight rose from 1,200 lb to 1,865 lb. The new F. E.2 used the wings of the B. E. 2a, with wing warping instead of ailerons for lateral control. It was destroyed when it spun into the ground from 500 ft on 23 February 1914, the pilot, R. Kemp, survived the crash, but his passenger was killed. Work started on another new design in mid-1914, the F. E. 2a, specifically intended as a fighter. Apart from the Farman layout it bore no relationship with either of the two earlier designs. It was a two-seater with the observer in the nose of the nacelle, the observer was armed with a.303 in Lewis machine gun firing forward on a specially designed, swivelling mount that gave it a wide field of fire. The first production order for 12 aircraft was placed off the board shortly after the outbreak of the First World War. The undercarriage of the third F. E, in order to gain a few extra miles an hour some of the production aircraft were fitted with a normal V type undercarriage. The V undercarriage remained standard for F. E.2 night bombers, the first production batch consisted of 12 of the initial F. E. 2a variant, with a large air brake under the top centre section, and a Green E.6 engine. The first F. E. 2a made its flight on 26 January 1915, but was found to be underpowered
31.
Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother
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Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the wife of King George VI and the mother of Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon. She was the last Empress consort of India, born into a family of British nobility, she came to prominence in 1923 when she married Albert, Duke of York, the second son of King George V and Queen Mary. The couple and their daughters embodied traditional ideas of family and public service and she undertook a variety of public engagements and became known as the Smiling Duchess because of her consistent public expression. In 1936, her husband became king when his brother, Edward VIII. She accompanied her husband on diplomatic tours to France and North America before the start of World War II, during the war, her seemingly indomitable spirit provided moral support to the British public. In recognition of her role as an asset to British interests, after the war, her husbands health deteriorated and she was widowed at the age of 51. Her elder daughter, aged 25, became the new queen, on the death of Queen Mary in 1953, Elizabeth became the most senior member of the British royal family after the sovereign, and was viewed as the family matriarch. In her later years, she was a popular member of the family. She continued a public life until just a few months before her death at the age of 101, seven weeks after the death of her younger daughter. Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the youngest daughter and the ninth of ten children of Claude Bowes-Lyon, Lord Glamis, other possible locations include Forbes House in Ham, London, the home of her maternal grandmother, Louisa Scott. Her birth was registered at Hitchin, Hertfordshire, near the Strathmores English country house, St Pauls Walden Bury, which was also given as her birthplace in the census the following year. She was christened there on 23 September 1900, in the parish church, All Saints. She spent much of her childhood at St Pauls Walden and at Glamis Castle and she was educated at home by a governess until the age of eight, and was fond of field sports, ponies and dogs. When she started school in London, she astonished her teachers by precociously beginning an essay with two Greek words from Xenophons Anabasis and her best subjects were literature and scripture. After returning to education under a German Jewish governess, Käthe Kübler. On her fourteenth birthday, Britain declared war on Germany, four of her brothers served in the army. Her elder brother, Fergus, an officer in the Black Watch Regiment, was killed in action at the Battle of Loos in 1915, another brother, Michael, was reported missing in action on 28 April 1917. Three weeks later, the family discovered he had captured after being wounded
32.
Winston Churchill
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Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill KG OM CH TD PC DL FRS RA was a British statesman who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. Churchill was also an officer in the British Army, a historian. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953 for his overall, in 1963, he was the first of only eight people to be made an honorary citizen of the United States. Churchill was born into the family of the Dukes of Marlborough and his father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was a charismatic politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer, his mother, Jennie Jerome, was an American socialite. As a young officer, he saw action in British India, the Anglo–Sudan War. He gained fame as a war correspondent and wrote books about his campaigns, at the forefront of politics for fifty years, he held many political and cabinet positions. Before the First World War, he served as President of the Board of Trade, Home Secretary, during the war, he continued as First Lord of the Admiralty until the disastrous Gallipoli Campaign caused his departure from government. He then briefly resumed active service on the Western Front as commander of the 6th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers. He returned to government under Lloyd George as Minister of Munitions, Secretary of State for War, Secretary of State for Air, at the outbreak of the Second World War, he was again appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. Following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain on 10 May 1940, Churchill became Prime Minister and he led Britain as Prime Minister until victory over Nazi Germany had been secured. After the Conservative Party suffered a defeat in the 1945 general election. He publicly warned of an Iron Curtain of Soviet influence in Europe, after winning the 1951 election, Churchill again became Prime Minister. His second term was preoccupied by foreign affairs, including the Malayan Emergency, Mau Mau Uprising, Korean War, domestically his government laid great emphasis on house-building. Churchill suffered a stroke in 1953 and retired as Prime Minister in 1955. Upon his death aged ninety in 1965, Elizabeth II granted him the honour of a state funeral and his highly complex legacy continues to stimulate intense debate amongst writers and historians. Born into the family of the Dukes of Marlborough, a branch of the noble Spencer family, Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, like his father. His ancestor George Spencer had changed his surname to Spencer-Churchill in 1817 when he became Duke of Marlborough, to highlight his descent from John Churchill, Churchill was born on 30 November 1874, two months prematurely, in a bedroom in Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire. From age two to six, he lived in Dublin, where his grandfather had been appointed Viceroy, Churchills brother, John Strange Spencer-Churchill, was born during this time in Ireland
33.
Short Sunderland
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The Short S.25 Sunderland was a British flying boat patrol bomber developed for the Royal Air Force by Short Brothers. It took its name from the town and port of Sunderland in North East England. Based in part upon the S.23 Empire flying boat, the flagship of Imperial Airways, the S.25 was extensively re-engineered for military service. It was one of the most powerful and widely used flying boats throughout the Second World War, RAF Sunderlands also saw service in the Korean War and continued in service until 1959. It also took part in the Berlin airlift, Sunderlands remained in service with the Royal New Zealand Air Force until 1967. Sunderlands converted for use, known as Short Sandringhams, continued in airline operation until 1974. A single airworthy example remains on display in Florida at Fantasy of Flight. S, in response, Imperial Airways announced a competition to design and produce 28 flying boats, each weighing 18 long tons and having a range of 700 mi with a capacity for 24 passengers. The 1933 Air Ministry Specification R. 2/33 called for a flying boat for ocean reconnaissance. The new aircraft had to have four engines but could be either a monoplane or biplane design. Specification R. 2/33 was released roughly in parallel with the Imperial Airways requirement, Chief Designer Arthur Gouge originally intended that a 37 mm COW gun be mounted in the bow with a single Lewis gun in the tail. As with the S.23, he tried to make the drag as low as possible, while the nose was longer than that of the S.23. The military flying boat variant was designated S.25 and the design was submitted to the Air Ministry in 1934. Saunders-Roe also designed a flying boat, the Saro A.33, in response to the R. 2/33 competition, the initial S.25 prototype first took flight in October 1937. The S.25 shared much in common with the S.23, as construction proceeded the armament was changed to a single 0.303 Vickers K machine gun in the nose turret and four 0.303 Browning machine guns in the tail. Then there was a change in the turret to a powered version. The unarmed prototype first flew, on 16 October 1937, following some flight trials it was modified with a wing sweepback of 4°15 by adding a spacer into the front spar attachments. This moved the centre of lift enough to compensate for the centre of gravity. The modified K4774 flew on 7 March 1938 with Bristol Pegasus XXII engines of 1,010 hp, the crew was originally intended to be seven but increased in later versions to 11 crew members or more
34.
Flying boat
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A flying boat is a fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water, that usually has no type of landing gear to allow operation on land. It differs from a floatplane as it uses a purpose-designed fuselage which can float, Flying boats may be stabilized by under-wing floats or by wing-like projections from the fuselage. Flying boats were some of the largest aircraft of the first half of the 20th century and their advantage lay in using water instead of expensive land-based runways, making them the basis for international airlines in the interwar period. They were also used for maritime patrol and air-sea rescue. Their use gradually trailed off after World War II, partially because of the investments in airports during the war. In the 21st century, flying boats maintain a few uses, such as dropping water on forest fires, air transport around archipelagos. Many modern seaplane variants, whether float or flying boat types, are convertible amphibious aircraft where either landing gear or flotation modes may be used to land, on 6 June 1905 Gabriel Voisin took off and landed on the River Seine with a towed kite glider on floats. The first of his flights was 150 yards. He later built a powered floatplane in partnership with Louis Blériot, other pioneers also attempted to attach floats to aircraft in Britain, Australia, France and the USA. On 28 March 1910 Frenchman Henri Fabre successfully flew the first successful powered seaplane, the Gnome Omega-powered hydravion, fabres first successful take off and landing by a powered seaplane inspired other aviators and he designed floats for several other flyers. The first hydro-aeroplane competition was held in Monaco in March 1912, featuring aircraft using floats from Fabre, Curtiss, Tellier and this led to the first scheduled seaplane passenger services at Aix-les-Bains, using a five-seat Sanchez-Besa from 1 August 1912. The French Navy ordered its first floatplane in 1912, in 1911-12 François Denhaut constructed the first seaplane with a fuselage forming a hull, using various designs to give hydrodynamic lift at take-off. Its first successful flight was on 13 April 1912, throughout 1910 and 1911 American pioneering aviator Glenn Curtiss developed his floatplane into the successful Curtiss Model D land-plane, which used a larger central float and sponsons. Combining floats with wheels, he made the first amphibian flights in February 1911 and was awarded the first Collier Trophy for US flight achievement, from 1912 his experiments with a hulled seaplane resulted in the 1913 Model E and Model F, which he called flying-boats. In February 1911 the United States Navy took delivery of the Curtiss Model E, in Britain, Captain Edward Wakefield and Oscar Gnosspelius began to explore the feasibility of flight from water in 1908. They decided to use of Lake Windermere in the Lake District. Meanwhile, Wakefield ordered a similar to the design of the 1910 Fabre Hydravion. By November 1911, both Gnosspelier and Wakefield had aircraft capable of flight from water and awaited suitable weather conditions, gnosspeliers flight was short-lived as the aircraft crashed into the lake
35.
Sopwith Camel
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The Sopwith Camel was a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter aircraft introduced on the Western Front in 1917. It had been developed by the Sopwith Aviation Company as a successor to the earlier Sopwith Pup, the Camel was powered by a single rotary engine and was armed with twin synchronized machine guns. Though proving difficult to handle, it provided for a level of manoeuvrability to an experienced pilot. In total, Camel pilots have been credited with the shooting down of 1,294 enemy aircraft, the Camel also saw use as a two-seat trainer aircraft. In January 1920, the last aircraft of the type were withdrawn from RAF service and it was recognised that the new fighter would need to be faster and have a heavier armament. The design effort to produce this successor, initially designated as the Sopwith F.1, was headed by Sopwiths chief designer, early in its development, the new aircraft was simply referred to as the Big Pup. A metal fairing over the gun breeches, intended to protect the guns from freezing at altitude, however, the Camel name never had any official status in regards to the aircraft. On 22 December 1916, the prototype Camel was first flown by Harry Hawker at Brooklands, Weybridge, Surrey, in May 1917, the first production contract for an initial batch of 250 Camels was issued by the British War Office. Throughout 1917, a total of 1,325 Camels were manufactured, by the time that production of the type came to an end, approximately 5,490 Camels of all types had been built. In early 1918, production of the navalised Ships Camel 2F.1 began, while possessing some clear similarities with the Pup, it was furnished with a noticeably bulkier fuselage. In addition to the guns, a total of four Cooper bombs could be carried for ground attack purposes. The upper wing featured a central section for the purpose of providing improved upwards visibility for the pilot. Production Camels were powered by various engines, most commonly either the Clerget 9B or the Bentley BR1. In order to evade a potential manufacturing bottleneck being imposed upon the aircraft in the event of an engine shortage. Unlike the preceding Pup and Triplane, the Camel was considered to be difficult to fly, the Camel soon gained an unfortunate reputation with pilots. Many inexperienced pilots would crash on take-off when the fuel load usually carried pushed the aircrafts centre of gravity beyond the rearmost safe limits. When in level flight, the Camel was markedly tail-heavy, the aircraft could be rigged so that at higher altitudes it could be flown hands off. A stall immediately resulted in a dangerous spin, at length, with the assistance of Lieut Morgan, who managed our workshops, I took the main tank out of several Camels and replaced with a smaller one, which enabled us to fit in dual control
36.
Hawker Siddeley Harrier
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The Hawker Siddeley Harrier, developed in the 1960s, was the first of the Harrier Jump Jet series of aircraft. The Harrier was developed directly from the Hawker Siddeley Kestrel prototype aircraft, following the cancellation of an advanced supersonic aircraft. The British Royal Air Force ordered the Harrier GR.1 and it was exported to the United States as the AV-8A, for use by the US Marine Corps, in the 1970s. The USMC used their Harriers primarily for air support, operating from amphibious assault ships. Harrier squadrons saw several deployments overseas, the Harriers ability to operate with minimal ground facilities and very short runways allowed it to be used at locations unavailable to other fixed-wing aircraft. The Harrier received criticism for having an accident rate and for a time-consuming maintenance process. In the 1970s the British Aerospace Sea Harrier was developed from the Harrier for use by the Royal Navy on Invincible-class aircraft carriers, the Sea Harrier and the Harrier fought in the 1982 Falklands War, in which the aircraft proved to be crucial and versatile. The RN Sea Harriers provided fixed-wing air defence while the RAF Harriers focused on ground-attack missions in support of the advancing British land force, the Harrier was also extensively redesigned as the AV-8B Harrier II and British Aerospace Harrier II by the team of McDonnell Douglas and British Aerospace. The innovative Harrier family and its Rolls-Royce Pegasus engines with thrust vectoring nozzles have generated long-term interest in V/STOL aircraft, similar V/STOL operational aircraft include the contemporary Soviet Yakovlev Yak-38. The F-35B V/STOL variant of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is under development, the Harriers design was derived from the Hawker P.1127. Prior to developing the P.1127 Hawker Aircraft had been working on a replacement for the Hawker Hunter, the P.1121 was cancelled after the release of the British Governments 1957 Defence White Paper, which advocated a policy shift away from manned aircraft and towards missiles. This policy resulted in the termination of the majority of development projects then underway for the British military. Hawker sought to move on to a new project and became interested in Vertical Take Off/Landing aircraft. Design work on the P.1127 was formally started in 1957 by Sir Sydney Camm, Ralph Hooper of Hawker Aircraft, rather than using rotors or a direct jet thrust, the P.1127 had an innovative vectored thrust turbofan engine, the Pegasus. The Pegasus I was rated at 9,000 pounds of thrust and first ran in September 1959, a contract for two development prototypes was signed in June 1960 and the first flight followed in October 1960. Of the six prototypes built three crashed—including one during an air display at the 1963 Paris Air Show. In 1961 the United Kingdom, United States and West Germany jointly agreed to nine aircraft developed from the P.1127, for the evaluation of the performance. These aircraft were built by Hawker Siddeley and were designated Kestrel FGA.1 by the UK
37.
De Havilland DH.60 Moth
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The de Havilland DH.60 Moth is a 1920s British two-seat touring and training aircraft that was developed into a series of aircraft by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. The DH.60 was developed from the larger DH.51 biplane, the first flight of the Cirrus powered prototype DH.60 Moth was carried out by Geoffrey de Havilland at the works airfield at Stag Lane on 22 February 1925. The Moth was a biplane of wooden construction, it had a plywood covered fuselage and fabric covered surfaces. A useful feature of the design was its folding wings which allowed owners to hangar the aircraft in much smaller spaces, the then Secretary of State for Air Sir Samuel Hoare became interested in the aircraft and the Air Ministry subsidised five flying clubs and equipped them with Moths. The prototype was modified with a rudder, as used on the production aircraft. Deliveries commenced to flying schools in England, one of the early aircraft was fitted with an all-metal twin-float landing gear to become the first Moth seaplane. The original production Moths were later known as Cirrus I Moths, three aircraft were modified for the 1927 Kings Cup Race with internal modifications and a Cirrus II engine on a lowered engine mounting. The original designation of DH. 60X was soon changed to Cirrus II Moth, the production run for the DH. 60X Moth was short as it was replaced by later variants, but it was still available to special order. Although the Cirrus engine was reliable, its manufacture was not and it depended on components salvaged from World War I–era 8-cylinder Renault engines and therefore its numbers were limited by the stockpiles of surplus Renaults. Therefore, de Havilland decided to replace the Cirrus with a new engine built by his own factory, in 1928 when the new de Havilland Gipsy I engine was available a company DH.60 Moth G-EBQH was re-engined as the prototype of the DH. 60G Gipsy Moth. Next to the increase in power, the advantage of this update was that the Gipsy was a completely new engine available in as great a number as the manufacture of Moths necessitated. The new Gipsy engines could simply be built in-house on a side by side with the production-line for Moth airframes. This also enabled de Havilland to control the process of building a Moth airframe, engine and all, streamline productivity. While the original DH.60 was offered for a relatively modest £650, by 1930 the price of a new Gipsy-powered Moth was still £650, a metal-fuselage version of the Gipsy Moth was designated the DH. 60M Moth and was originally developed for overseas customers, particularly Canada. The DH. 60M was also licence-built in Australia, Canada, also in 1931 a variant of the DH. 60M was marketed for military training as the DH. 60T Moth Trainer. In 1931 with the upgrade of the Gipsy engine as the Gipsy II, de Havilland inverted the engine, the engine was fitted into a Moth aircraft, which was re-designated the DH. 60G-III Moth Major. The sub-type was intended for the trainer market and some of the first aircraft were supplied to the Swedish Air Force. The DH. 60T was re-engined with the Gipsy III and was re-designated the DH. 60T Tiger Moth, the DH. 60T Tiger Moth was modified with swept back mainplanes, the cabane struts were also moved forward to improve egress from the front cockpit in case of emergency
38.
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
39.
Eurofighter Typhoon
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The Eurofighter Typhoon is a twin-engine, canard-delta wing, multirole fighter. NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency manages the project and is the prime customer, the aircrafts development effectively began in 1983 with the Future European Fighter Aircraft programme, a multinational collaboration among the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. Disagreements over design authority and operational requirements led France to leave the consortium to develop the Dassault Rafale independently. A technology demonstration aircraft, the British Aerospace EAP, first took flight on 6 August 1986, the aircrafts name, Typhoon, was adopted in September 1998, the first production contracts were also signed that year. The Royal Air Force of Oman and the Kuwait Air Force are export customers, the Eurofighter Typhoon is a highly agile aircraft, designed to be a supremely effective dogfighter in combat. The Typhoon had its debut during the 2011 military intervention in Libya with the Royal Air Force. The type has also taken responsibility for air-defence duties for the majority of customer nations. The UK had identified a requirement for a new fighter as early as 1971, the AST403 specification, issued by the Air staff in 1972, led to the P.96 conventional tailed design presented in the late 1970s. The P.96 design had potential for growth. However, the simultaneous West German requirement for a new fighter had led by 1979 to the development of the TKF-90 concept and this was a cranked delta wing design with forward close-coupled-canard controls and artificial stability. In 1979, Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm and British Aerospace presented a proposal to their respective governments for the ECF. In October 1979 Dassault joined the ECF team for a tri-national study and it was at this stage of development the Eurofighter name was first attached to the aircraft. The development of different national prototypes continued, the UK produced two designs, the P.106 was a single-engined lightweight fighter, superficially resembling the JAS39 Gripen, the P.110 was a twin-engined fighter. The RAF rejected the P.106 concept on the grounds it had half the effectiveness of the aircraft at two-thirds of the cost. West Germany continued to refine the TKF-90 concept, consequently, the Panavia partners launched the Agile Combat Aircraft programme in April 1982. The ACA was very similar to the BAe P.110, having a delta wing, canards. One major external difference was the replacement of the engine intakes with a chin intake. The ACA was to be powered by a version of the RB199
40.
Fokker D.VII
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The Fokker D. VII was a German World War I fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz of the Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. Germany produced around 3,300 D. VII aircraft in the half of 1918. In service with the Luftstreitkräfte, the D. VII quickly proved itself to be a formidable aircraft, the Armistice ending the war specifically required Germany to surrender all D. VIIs to the Allies. Surviving aircraft saw continued service with many other countries in the years after World War I. Fokkers chief designer, Reinhold Platz, had working on a series of experimental planes. These aircraft were characterized by the use of cantilever wings, Junkers had originated the idea in 1915 with the first all-metal aircraft, the Junkers J1, nicknamed Blechesel. The resulting wings were thick, with a leading edge. This gave greater lift and more docile stalling behavior than the thin wings commonly used at the time, late in 1917, Fokker built the experimental V11 biplane, fitted with the standard Mercedes D. IIIa engine. In January 1918, Idflieg held a competition at Adlershof. For the first time, frontline pilots would participate in the evaluation and selection of new fighters. Fokker submitted the V11 along with other prototypes. Manfred von Richthofen flew the V11 and found it tricky, unpleasant, in response to these complaints, Reinhold Platz lengthened the rear fuselage by one structural bay, and added a triangular vertical fin in front of the rudder. Upon flying the modified V11, Richthofen praised it as the best aircraft of the competition and it offered excellent performance from the outdated Mercedes engine, yet was safe and easy to fly. Richthofens recommendation virtually decided the competition, but he was not alone in recommending it, Fokker immediately received a provisional order for 400 production aircraft, which were designated D. VII by Idflieg. Fokkers factory was not up to the task of meeting all D. VII production orders, Idflieg therefore directed Albatros and AEG to build the D. VII under license, though AEG did not ultimately produce any aircraft. Because the Fokker factory did not use detailed plans as part of its production process, Albatros paid Fokker a five percent royalty for every D. VII built under license. Albatros Flugzeugwerke and its subsidiary, Ostdeutsche Albatros Werke, built the D. VII at factories in Johannisthal and Schneidemühl, aircraft markings included the type designation and factory suffix, immediately before the individual serial number. Some parts were not interchangeable between aircraft produced at different factories, even between Albatros and OAW, additionally each manufacturer tended to differ in nose paint styles
41.
Gloster Meteor
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The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies only operational jet aircraft during the Second World War. The Meteors development was heavily reliant on its ground-breaking turbojet engines, pioneered by Sir Frank Whittle and his company, development of the aircraft began in 1940, although work on the engines had been under way since 1936. The Meteor first flew in 1943 and commenced operations on 27 July 1944 with No.616 Squadron RAF, nicknamed the Meatbox, the Meteor was not a sophisticated aircraft in its aerodynamics, but proved to be a successful combat fighter. Glosters 1946 civil Meteor F.4 demonstrator G-AIDC was the first civilian-registered jet aircraft in the world, several major variants of the Meteor incorporated technological advances during the 1940s and 1950s. Thousands of Meteors were built to fly with the RAF and other air forces, the Meteor saw limited action in the Second World War. Meteors of the Royal Australian Air Force fought in the Korean War, several other operators such as Argentina, Egypt and Israel flew Meteors in later regional conflicts. Specialised variants of the Meteor were developed for use in aerial reconnaissance. The Meteor was also used for research and development purposes and to several aviation records. On 7 November 1945, the first official air speed record by a jet aircraft was set by a Meteor F.3 of 606 miles per hour, in 1946, this record was broken when a Meteor F.4 reached a speed of 616 mph. Other performance-related records were broken in categories including flight time endurance, rate of climb, on 20 September 1945, a heavily modified Meteor I, powered by two Rolls-Royce Trent turbine engines driving propellers, became the first turboprop aircraft to fly. On 10 February 1954, a specially adapted Meteor F.8, the Meteor Prone Pilot, as of 2013, two Meteors, WL419 and WA638, remain in active service with the Martin-Baker company as ejection seat testbeds. Two further aircraft in the UK remain airworthy, as another in Australia. Securing funding was a persistently worrying issue throughout the development of the engine. On 28 April 1939, Whittle made a visit to the premises of the Gloster Aircraft Company, Power Jets and Gloster quickly formed a mutual understanding around mid-1939. The success of the smaller E. 28/39 proved the viability of jet propulsion, due to the limited thrust available from early jet engines, it was decided that subsequent production aircraft would be powered by a pair of turbojet engines.2 and axial engine designs. In August 1940, Carter presented Glosters initial proposals for a jet fighter with a nosewheel undercarriage. On 7 February 1941, Gloster received an order for twelve prototypes under Specification F9/40, test locations and other key project information was similarly obscured. Gloster continued development work on the Meteor and the order was overturned in favour of the construction of six F9/40 prototypes alongside three E. 1/44 prototypes
42.
Hawker Hart
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The Hawker Hart was a British two-seater biplane light bomber aircraft of the Royal Air Force. It was designed during the 1920s by Sydney Camm and manufactured by Hawker Aircraft, Several major variants of the Hart were developed, including a navalised version for the Royal Navys aircraft carriers. Beyond Britain, the Hart would be operated by a number of nations, including Sweden, Yugoslavia, Estonia, South Africa. In 1926, the Air Ministry stated a requirement for a two-seat high-performance light day-bomber, to be of all-metal construction, designs were tendered by Hawker, Avro and de Havilland. Hawkers design was a biplane powered by a Rolls-Royce F. XI water-cooled V12 engine. The crew of two sat in tandem cockpits, with the pilot sitting under the wing trailing edge. The observer sat behind the pilot, and was armed with a single Lewis gun on a mount, while for bomb-aiming. Up to 520 pounds of bombs could be carried under the aircrafts wings, j9052, the prototype Hart, first flew in June 1928, being delivered to the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment at RAF Martlesham Heath on 8 September. It demonstrated good performance and handling, reaching 176 mph in flight and 282 miles per hour in a vertical dive. The competition culminated in the choice of the Hawker Hart in April 1929, the de Havilland Hound was rejected due to handling problems during landing and because of its part-wooden primary structure. The Fairey Fox IIM, delayed by Faireys late start on the design compared to the competitors, only flew for the first time on 25 October 1929. A total of 992 aircraft were built as Harts and it became the most widely used light bomber of its time and the design would prove to be a successful one with a number of derivatives, including the Hawker Hind and Hector, being made. There were a number of Hart variants made, though only slight alterations were made, Vickers built 114 of the latter model at Weybridge between 1931 and June 1936. The production Hart day bomber had a single 525 hp Rolls-Royce Kestrel IB 12-cylinder V-type engine, a speed of 184 mph, in particular, it was faster than the Bristol Bulldog, which had recently entered service as the RAFs front line fighter. This disparity in performance led the RAF to gradually replace the Bulldog with the Hawker Fury, demand was such that production was spread out among a wide selection of aircraft companies. The Hart entered service with No.33 Squadron RAF in February 1930, No.12 Squadron replaced its Foxes with Harts in January 1931, with a further two British-based Hart light bomber squadrons forming during 1931. Harts were deployed to the Middle East during the Abyssinia Crisis of 1935–1936, the Hart saw extensive and successful service on the North-West Frontier, British India during the inter-war period. Four Hawker Harts from the Swedish Air Force saw action as dive bombers during the 1939–1940 Winter War as part of a Swedish volunteer squadron, designated F19, the Rhodesian Hardys saw service on the Allied side during the opening moves of the East African theatre of World War II
43.
Hawker Tempest
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The Hawker Tempest was a British fighter aircraft primarily used by the Royal Air Force in the Second World War. Having diverged considerably from the Typhoon, it was chosen to rename the aircraft Tempest, the Tempest emerged as one of the most powerful fighters of the World War II and was the fastest propeller-driven aircraft of the war at low altitude. Later, it targeted the rail infrastructure in Germany and Luftwaffe aircraft on the ground. The Tempest was effective in the interception role, including against newly developed jet-propelled aircraft such as the Messerschmitt Me 262. 1012, otherwise known as the Typhoon II, in addition, there had been other issues experienced with the Typhoon, such as engine unreliability, insufficient structural integrity, and the inability to perform high altitude interception duties. In March 1940, engineers were assigned to investigate the new low drag laminar flow wing developed by NACA in the United States, which had been used in the new North American P-51 Mustang. A laminar flow wing adopted for the Tempest series had a thickness to chord ratio of 14.5 per cent at the root. The wingspan was greater than that of the Typhoon at 43 ft, but the wingtips were later clipped. The wing planform was changed to a shape to accommodate the 800 rounds of ammunition for the four 20 mm Hispano cannons. Another important feature of the new wing was Camms proposal that the radiators for cooling the engine be fitted into the edge of the wing inboard of the undercarriage. This eliminated the distinctive chin radiator of the Typhoon and improved aerodynamics, a further improvement of the Tempest wing over that of the Typhoon was the exceptional, flush-riveted surface finish, essential on a high performance laminar flow airfoil. The new wing and airfoil, and the use of a four-bladed propeller, the design team also chose to adopt the new Napier Sabre IV engine for the Tempest, drawings of which had become available to Hawker in early 1941. In February 1941, Camm commenced a series of discussions with officials within the Ministry of Aircraft Production on the topic of the P.1012. In March 1941 of that year, clearance to proceed with development of the design, in March 1941, the Air Ministry issued specification F. 10/41 that had been written to fit the aircraft. By October 1941, development of the proposal had advanced to the point where the new design was finalised. On 18 November 1941, a contract was issued by the Air Ministry for a pair of prototypes of the Typhoon Mark II and this measure turned out to be fortuitous, as engine development was not trouble-free on some of the variants of the Tempest. The Tempest Mk. I featured other new features, such as a clean single-piece sliding canopy in place of the car-door framed canopy and used wing radiators instead of the chin radiator. On 2 September 1942, the Tempest Mk. V prototype, HM595, conducted its maiden flight, flown by Philip Lucas from Langley, Berkshire, England
44.
Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II
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The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole fighters. The fifth-generation combat aircraft is designed to perform ground attack and air defense missions, on 31 July 2015, the United States Marines declared ready for deployment the first squadron of F-35B fighters after intensive testing. On 2 August 2016, the U. S. Air Force declared its first squadron of F-35A fighters combat-ready, the F-35 descends from the X-35, the winning design of the Joint Strike Fighter program. An aerospace industry led by Lockheed Martin designed and manufactures it. Other major F-35 industry partners include Northrop Grumman, Pratt & Whitney, the F-35 first flew on 15 December 2006. The United States plans to buy 2,457 aircraft and its variants are to provide the bulk of the crewed tactical airpower of the U. S. Air Force, Navy and the Marine Corps over the coming decades. Deliveries of the F-35 for the U. S. military are scheduled until 2037 with a service life up to 2070. The United States principally funds the F-35 JSF development, with funding from partners. The partner nations are either NATO members or close U. S. allies, the program is the most expensive military weapons system in history, and has been much criticized inside and outside government, in the U. S. and in allied countries. By 2014, the program was $163 billion over seven years behind schedule. Critics also contend that the programs high sunk costs and political momentum make it too big to kill, the JSF program was designed to replace the United States military F-16, A-10, F/A-18 and AV-8B tactical fighter and attack aircraft. To keep development, production, and operating costs down, a design was planned in three variants that share 80 percent of their parts, F-35A, conventional take off and landing variant. F-35B, short-take off and vertical-landing variant, the design goals call for the F-35 to be the premier strike aircraft through 2040 and to be second only to the F-22 Raptor in air supremacy. Although both aircraft met or exceeded requirements, the X-35 design was considered to have less risk, the designation of the new fighter as F-35 is out-of-sequence with standard DoD aircraft numbering, by which it should have been F-24. It came as an even to the company, which had been referring to the aircraft in-house by this expected designation. Instead F-16s have been used as trainers between the T-38 and the F-35. The T-X was intended to be used to train future F-35 pilots, based on wind tunnel testing, Lockheed Martin slightly enlarged its X-35 design into the F-35. The forward fuselage is 5 inches longer to make room for avionics, correspondingly, the horizontal stabilators were moved 2 inches rearward to retain balance and control
45.
North American P-51D Mustang
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The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II, the Korean War and other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in 1940 by North American Aviation in response to a requirement of the British Purchasing Commission, the Purchasing Commission approached North American Aviation to build Curtiss P-40 fighters under license for the Royal Air Force. Rather than build an old design from another company, North American Aviation proposed the design, the prototype NA-73X airframe was rolled out on 9 September 1940,102 days after the contract was signed, and first flew on 26 October. The Mustang was originally designed to use the Allison V-1710 engine and it was first flown operationally by the RAF as a tactical-reconnaissance aircraft and fighter-bomber. The addition of the Rolls-Royce Merlin to the P-51B/C model transformed the Mustangs performance at altitudes above 15,000 ft, the P-51 was also used by Allied air forces in the North African, Mediterranean, Italian and Pacific theaters. During World War II, Mustang pilots claimed to have destroyed 4,950 enemy aircraft, despite the advent of jet fighters, the Mustang remained in service with some air forces until the early 1980s. After the Korean War, Mustangs became popular civilian warbird and air racing aircraft, in April 1940 the British government established a purchasing commission in the United States, headed by Sir Henry Self. Self was given responsibility for Royal Air Force production and research and development, and also served with Sir Wilfrid Freeman. Self also sat on the British Air Council Sub-committee on Supply and one of his tasks was to organize the manufacturing and supply of American fighter aircraft for the RAF. At the time, the choice was limited, as no U. S. aircraft then in production or flying met European standards. The Curtiss-Wright plant was running at capacity, so P-40s were in short supply, North American Aviation was already supplying its Harvard trainer to the RAF, but was otherwise underutilized. NAA President Dutch Kindelberger approached Self to sell a new medium bomber, instead, Self asked if NAA could manufacture the Tomahawk under license from Curtiss. Kindelberger said NAA could have an aircraft with the same engine in the air sooner than establishing a production line for the P-40. In March 1940,320 aircraft were ordered by Sir Wilfred Freeman who had become the head of the Ministry of Aircraft Production. The NA-73X, which was designed by a led by lead engineer Edgar Schmued, followed the best conventional practice of the era. One was a wing designed using laminar flow airfoils which were developed co-operatively by North American Aviation and these airfoils generated very low drag at high speeds. The results of this test showed the superiority of the wing designed with the NAA/NACA 45–100 airfoils, the other feature was a new cooling arrangement that reduced the cooling drag. It was later discovered that, after lot of development, the assembly could take advantage of the Meredith Effect
46.
Percival Mew Gull
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The Percival Mew Gull was a British racing aircraft of the 1930s. It was a small, single-engine, single-seat, low-wing monoplane of wooden construction, normally powered by a six-cylinder de Havilland Gipsy Six piston engine. During its racing career it set records and was considered a significant, efficient design. A modern-day observer has characterised the Mew Gull as the Holy Grail of British air racing. During the second half of the 1930s, Mew Gulls were dominant in air-racing in the UK and this was developed into the E2, E2H and the E3H variants between 1934 and 1938. The sometimes-used designation P6 is incorrect, this tag was created after Percival left the company and long after the Mew Gulls were built. With the exception of the sole E3H, G-AFAA – which was built after the company moved to Luton, all of the Mew gulls were built in the small factory at Gravesend. It should be noted that the E3H, whilst very strongly visually resembling the E2H, was in truth a totally new and different machine and it was most certainly not a clipped-wing version of the E2H as it has sometimes been described. Structurally, there was very little commonality of parts between the Gulls IV/ VI/ Vega Gull and the Mew Gull, other than a few minor components, all of the Gulls, however, did use a similar generic structure. Proprietary equipment such as engines, airscrews, spinners, instruments, undercarriage legs, wheels, the Mew Gulls used a fixed, conventional oleomatic main undercarriage and a fully castoring tailskid. Small manually operated, split trailing-edge wing flaps were incorporated into the mainplanes, the aircraft was designed for handicapped air racing which gained huge popularity in the UK during the 1920s and especially 1930s – the so-called Golden Age of aviation. The Kings Cup Race, an annual handicapped air racing event developed to aid in the development of British light aircraft, was considered to be the Blue-Riband event, ultimately, Mew Gulls went on to win this event four times. The Kings Cup was a handicap race dating back to 1922, the greater the margin by which an entry beat its prescribed time, the better its chance of winning. Initially King George V was to present a cup to the winner, and like the Schneider Trophy, after the first years race it was decided that a new cup would be presented each year. Percival entered the Kings Cup Race in July 1934, but failed to place, the original E1 was redesigned following an accident into the much-refined E2 configuration, with much of the design work completed by Arthur Bage. In July 1935, with a 180 hp French Regnier installed, G-ACND competed in the Coupe Armand Esders, the Mew Gull was flown by Count de Chateaubrun, the Percival representative in France, and averaged 188 mph in the race. Immediately after, the original British de Havilland Gipsy Six was reinstalled, guy de Chateaubrun subsequently became the only pilot to bail out of a Mew Gull, abandoning G-ACND because of fog. In September 1935 Percival placed 1st in a 120-mile race, and in July 1936 he finished 4th in the Kings Cup Race flying G-AEKL, later in August, Percival finished 7th in the 174-mile race for the Folkestone Trophy
Colindale
