1.
Biplane
–
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, while a biplane wing structure has a structural advantage over a monoplane, it produces more drag than a similar unbraced or cantilever monoplane wing. Improved structural techniques, better materials and the quest for greater speed made the biplane configuration obsolete for most purposes by the late 1930s. Biplanes offer several advantages over conventional cantilever monoplane designs, they permit lighter wing structures, low wing loading, however, interference between the airflow over each wing increases drag substantially, and biplanes generally need extensive bracing, which causes additional drag. Biplanes are distinguished from tandem wing arrangements, where the wings are placed forward and aft, instead of above, the term is also occasionally used in biology, to describe the wings of some flying animals. In a biplane aircraft, two wings are placed one above the other, either or both of the main wings can support ailerons, while flaps are more usually positioned on the lower wing. Bracing is nearly always added between the upper and lower wings, in the form of wires and/or slender interplane struts positioned symmetrically on either side of the fuselage. The primary advantage of the biplane over the traditional single plane or monoplane is to combine great stiffness with light weight. A braced monoplane wing must support itself fully, while the two wings of a help to stiffen each other. The biplane is therefore inherently stiffer than the monoplane, also, the structural forces in the spars of a biplane wing tend to be lower, so the wing can use less material to obtain the same overall strength and is therefore much lighter. A disadvantage of the biplane was the need for extra struts to space the wings apart, the low power supplied by the engines available in the first years of aviation meant that aeroplanes could only fly slowly. This required an even lower stalling speed, which in turn required a low wing loading, combining both large wing area with light weight. A biplane wing of a span and chord has twice the area of a monoplane the same size and so can fly more slowly. Alternatively, a wing of the same area as a monoplane has lower span and chord, reducing the structural forces. Biplanes suffer aerodynamic interference between the two planes and this means that a biplane does not in practice obtain twice the lift of the similarly-sized monoplane. The farther apart the wings are spaced the less the interference, given the slow speed and low power of early aircraft, the drag penalty of the wires and struts and the mutual interference of airflows were relatively minor and acceptable factors. The smaller biplane wing also allows greater maneuverability, during World War One, this further enhanced the dominance of the biplane and, despite the need for speed, military aircraft were among the last to abandon the biplane form. Specialist sports Aerobatic biplanes are still occasionally made, biplanes were originally designed with the wings positioned directly one above the other
2.
Fighter aircraft
–
A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat against other aircraft, as opposed to bombers and attack aircraft, whose main mission is to attack ground targets. The hallmarks of a fighter are its speed, maneuverability, many fighters have secondary ground-attack capabilities, and some are designed as dual-purpose fighter-bombers, often aircraft that do not fulfill the standard definition are called fighters. This may be for political or national security reasons, for advertising purposes, a fighters main purpose is to establish air superiority over a battlefield. Since World War I, achieving and maintaining air superiority has been considered essential for victory in conventional warfare, the word fighter did not become the official English-language term for such aircraft until after World War I. In the British Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force these aircraft were referred to as scouts into the early 1920s, the U. S. Army called their fighters pursuit aircraft from 1916 until the late 1940s. In most languages a fighter aircraft is known as a hunter, exceptions include Russian, where a fighter is an истребитель, meaning exterminator, and Hebrew where it is matose krav. As a part of nomenclature, a letter is often assigned to various types of aircraft to indicate their use. In Russia I was used, while the French continue to use C and this has always been the case, for instance the Sopwith Camel and other fighting scouts of World War I performed a great deal of ground-attack work. Several aircraft, such as the F-111 and F-117, have received fighter designations but had no fighter capability due to political or other reasons, the F-111B variant was originally intended for a fighter role with the U. S. Navy, but it was cancelled. This blurring follows the use of fighters from their earliest days for attack or strike operations against ground targets by means of strafing or dropping small bombs, versatile multirole fighter-bombers such as the F/A-18 Hornet are a less expensive option than having a range of specialized aircraft types. An interceptor is generally an aircraft intended to target bombers and so often trades maneuverability for climb rate, fighters were developed in World War I to deny enemy aircraft and dirigibles the ability to gather information by reconnaissance. Early fighters were very small and lightly armed by later standards, and most were built with a wooden frame, covered with fabric. As control of the airspace over armies became increasingly important all of the major powers developed fighters to support their military operations, between the wars, wood was largely replaced by steel tubing, then aluminium tubing, and finally aluminium stressed skin structures began to predominate. By World War II, most fighters were all-metal monoplanes armed with batteries of guns or cannons. By the end of the war, turbojet engines were replacing piston engines as the means of propulsion, further increasing aircraft speed. Since the weight of the engine was so less than on piston engined fighters. This in turn required the development of ejection seats so the pilot could escape, in the 1950s, radar was fitted to day fighters, since pilots could no longer see far enough ahead to prepare for any opposition. Since then, radar capabilities have grown enormously and are now the method of target acquisition
3.
Sopwith Aviation Company
–
Sopwith aircraft were also used in varying numbers by the French, Belgian, and American air services during the War. In April 1919 the company was re-named Sopwith Aviation & Engineering Company Limited, in September 1920 the company entered voluntary liquidation after a move to build motorcycles failed. The patents and assets were bought by a new company H. G, a small factory subsequently opened in Woolston, Hampshire in 1914. During the First World War, the company more than 16,000 aircraft. Many more of the aircraft were made by subcontractors rather than by Sopwiths themselves. These included Fairey, Clayton and Shuttleworth, William Beardmore and Company and Ruston Proctor. Towards the end of the war, Sopwith took out a lease on National Aircraft Factory No.2, the company were able to greatly increase production of Snipe, Dolphin and Salamander fighter planes as a result. At the beginnning of the war the company had 200 employees this had reached 6,000 employees by the Armistice, at a meeting of creditors held in October 1920 it was explained that although the company had previously accumulated a surplus of £900,000 in 1918. Following a slump in the sale of motorcycles the company had liabilities of £705,430, the amount of excess profit duty was being disputed by the company which had already paid £450,000 in duty. The meeting concluded that the best result would be to sell the business as a going concern, the Ham factory which was included in 38 acres of freehold land was sold to Leyland Motors. The newly formed H. G Hawker Engineering Company obtained the Sopwith patent rights, upon the liquidation of the Sopwith company, Tom Sopwith himself, together with Harry Hawker, Fred Sigrist and Bill Eyre, immediately formed H. G. Hawker Engineering, forerunner of the Hawker Aircraft and Hawker Siddeley lineage, Sopwith was Chairman of Hawker Siddeley until his retirement. These later jet types were manufactured in the factory buildings used to produce Sopwith Snipes in 1918 as Hawker Aircraft bought the Ham Factory when Leylands lease expired. Initially, Tom Sopwith himself, assisted by his personal mechanic Fred Sigrist. A float-equipped version of this won the Schneider Trophy in 1914. The landplane version was used by both the RNAS and RFC at the start of the war, with higher power and floats, the type evolved into the Sopwith Baby, which was a workhorse of the RNAS for much of the First World War. In 1916, Herbert Smith became Chief Engineer of the Sopwith company, soon after came the small and agile single-seat Scout, which quickly became better known as the Pup because of its obvious descent from the 1½ Strutter. The Pup and 1½ Strutter were the first successful British tractor fighters equipped with a gear to allow a machine gun to fire through the rotating propeller
4.
Herbert Smith (aircraft designer)
–
Herbert Smith CRAeS was a British aircraft designer. Smith was born in Bradley, North Yorkshire, England, on 1 May 1889, as a youth, he attended Keighley Boys Grammar School, in West Yorkshire. Smith subsequently attended Bradford Technical College, graduating with a degree in engineering in 1907. Smith started his career with the Yorkshire machine-tool manufacturers Dean, Smith & Grace, then became a draughtsman with Northampton lift manufacturers Smith, Major, in March 1914, Smith joined the Sopwith Aviation Company as a draughtsman. Later that year, he became Sopwiths chief engineer, Smith went on to design the Pup, Triplane, Camel, and Snipe. He worked for the Sopwith firm until it dissolved in October 1920, after moving to Japan, they designed the 1MT, B1M, 1MF, and 2MR. Smith returned to England in 1924 and retired from the aviation industry
5.
Royal Flying Corps
–
The Royal Flying Corps was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War, until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC supported the British Army by artillery co-operation, at the start of World War I the RFC, commanded by Brigadier-General Sir David Henderson, consisted of five squadrons – one observation balloon squadron and four aeroplane squadrons. These were first used for spotting on 13 September 1914. Aerial photography was attempted during 1914, but again only became effective the next year, by 1918, photographic images could be taken from 15,000 feet and were interpreted by over 3,000 personnel. By this time parachutes had been used by balloonists for three years, on 17 August 1917, South African General Jan Smuts presented a report to the War Council on the future of air power. On 1 April 1918, the RFC and the RNAS were amalgamated to form a new service, after starting in 1914 with some 2,073 personnel, by the start of 1919 the RAF had 4,000 combat aircraft and 114,000 personnel in some 150 squadrons. The recommendations of the committee were accepted and on 13 April 1912 King George V signed a royal warrant establishing the Royal Flying Corps, the Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers became the Military Wing of the Royal Flying Corps a month later on 13 May. The Flying Corps initial allowed strength was 133 officers, and by the end of year it had 12 manned balloons and 36 aeroplanes. The RFC originally came under the responsibility of Brigadier-General Henderson, the Director of Military Training, and had branches for the Army. Major Sykes commanded the Military Wing and Commander C R Samson commanded the Naval Wing, the RFCs motto was Per ardua ad astra. This remains the motto of the Royal Air Force and other Commonwealth air forces, the RFCs first fatal crash was on 5 July 1912 near Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain. Loraine and his observer, Staff Sergeant R. H. V, an order was issued after the crash stating Flying will continue this evening as usual, thus beginning a tradition. Four months later on 11 December 1912 Parke was killed when the Handley Page monoplane in which he was flying from Hendon to Oxford crashed. The Naval Wing, with pilots and aircraft than the Military Wing. In November 1914 the Royal Flying Corps, even taking the loss of the Naval Wing into account, had expanded sufficiently to warrant the creation of wings consisting of two or more squadrons and these wings were commanded by lieutenant-colonels. In October 1915 the Royal Flying Corps had undergone further expansion which justified the creation of brigades, further expansion led to the creation of divisions, with the Training Division being established in August 1917 and RFC Middle East, being raised to divisional status in December 1917. Finally, the air raids on London and the south-east of England led to the creation of the London Air Defence Area in August 1917 under the command of Ashmore who was promoted to major-general. Two of the first three RFC squadrons were formed from the Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers, No.1 Company becoming No.1 Squadron, RFC, a second heavier-than-air squadron, No.2 Squadron, RFC, was also formed on the same day
6.
Royal Naval Air Service
–
In 1908, the British government had recognised that the use of aircraft for military and naval purposes should be investigated. To this end the Prime Minister, H. H. Asquith, approved the formation of an Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, both committees were composed of politicians, army officers and Royal Navy officers. After much discussion on the Committee of Imperial Defence the suggestion was approved on 7 May 1909, the airship, named Mayfly, never flew and broke in half on 24 September 1911. The then First Sea Lord, Sir Arthur Wilson, recommended that rigid airship construction be abandoned, on June 21st,1910, Lt. George Cyril Colmore became the first qualified pilot in the Royal Navy. After completing training, which Colmore paid for out of his own pocket, in November 1910, the Royal Aero Club, thanks to one of its members, Francis McClean, offered the Royal Navy two aircraft with which to train its first pilots. The Club also offered its members as instructors and the use of its airfield at Eastchurch on the Isle of Sheppey, the airfield became the Naval Flying School, Eastchurch. Two hundred applications were received, and four were accepted, Lieutenant C. R. Samson, Lieutenant A. M. Longmore, Lieutenant A. Gregory and Captain E. L. Gerrard, RMLI. After prolonged discussion on the Committee of Imperial Defence, the Royal Flying Corps was constituted by Royal Warrant on 13 April 1912 and it absorbed the nascent naval air detachment and also the Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers. It consisted of two wings with the Military Wing making up the Army element and Naval Wing, under Commander C. R. Samson, the naval wing, by the terms of its inception was permitted to carry out experimentation at its flying school at Eastchurch. In the summer of 1912, in recognition of the air branchs expansion, sueters remit as outlined in September 1912 stated that he was responsible to the Admiralty for all matters connected with the Naval Air Service. In the same month as the Air Department was set up, in 1913 a seaplane base on the Isle of Grain and an airship base at Kingsnorth were approved for construction. On 16 April ten officers of the Navy Service graduated from the Central Flying School, as of 7 June 44 officers and 105 other ranks had been trained at the Central Flying School and at Eastchurch, and 35 officers and men had been trained in airship work. Three non-rigid airships built for the army, the Willows, Astra-Torres, on 1 July 1914, the Admiralty made the Royal Naval Air Service, forming the Naval Wing of the Royal Flying Corps, part of the Military Branch of the Royal Navy. By the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, the Navy maintained twelve airship stations around the coast of Britain from Longside, Aberdeenshire in the northeast to Anglesey in the west. On 1 August 1915 the Royal Naval Air Service officially came under the control of the Royal Navy, inter-service rivalry even affected aircraft procurement. This situation continued, although most of Sopwiths post-1915 products were not designed specifically as naval aircraft, on 23 June 1917, after the Second Battle of Gaza, RNAS aircraft attacked Tulkarm in the Judean Hills. On 1 April 1918, the RNAS was merged with the RFC to form the Royal Air Force, at the time of the merger, the Navys air service had 55,066 officers and men,2,949 aircraft,103 airships and 126 coastal stations. The RNAS squadrons were absorbed into the new structure, individual squadrons receiving new squadron numbers by effectively adding 200 to the number so No.1 Squadron RNAS became No.201 Squadron RAF
7.
Royal Air Force
–
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
8.
Sopwith Pup
–
The Sopwith Pup was a British single-seater biplane fighter aircraft built by the Sopwith Aviation Company. It entered service with the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service in the autumn of 1916, with pleasant flying characteristics and good manoeuvrability, the aircraft proved very successful. The Pup was eventually outclassed by newer German fighters, but it was not completely replaced on the Western Front until the end of 1917, remaining Pups were relegated to Home Defence and training units. The Pups docile flying characteristics also made it ideal for use in aircraft carrier deck landing, in 1915, Sopwith produced a personal aircraft for the companys test pilot Harry Hawker, a single-seat, tractor biplane powered by a 50 hp Gnome rotary engine. This became known as Hawkers Runabout, another four aircraft have been tentatively identified as Sopwith Sparrows. Sopwith next developed a fighter that was heavily influenced by this design, though more powerful. The resulting aircraft was a single-bay, single-seat biplane with a fabric-covered, wooden framework and staggered, the cross-axle type main landing gear was supported by V-struts attached to the lower fuselage longerons. The prototype and most production Pups were powered by the 80 hp Le Rhône 9C rotary engine, armament was a single 0.303 inch Vickers machine gun synchronized with the Sopwith-Kauper synchronizer. A prototype was completed in February 1916 and sent to Upavon for testing in late March, the Royal Naval Air Service quickly ordered two more prototypes, then placed a production order. Sopwith was heavily engaged in production of the 1½ Strutter, the Royal Flying Corps also placed large orders for Pups. The RFC orders were undertaken by sub-contractors Standard Motor Co. deliveries did not commence until the beginning of 1917. A total of 1,770 Pups were built by Sopwith, Standard Motor Co. Whitehead Aircraft, in May 1916, the RNAS received its first Pups for operational trials with A Naval Squadron. The first RFC Squadron to re-equip with the Pup was No.54 Squadron, the Pup quickly proved its superiority over the early Fokker, Halberstadt and Albatros biplanes. After encountering the Pup in combat, Manfred von Richthofen said, the Pups light weight and generous wing area gave it a good rate of climb. Agility was enhanced by installing ailerons on both wings, the Pup had half the horsepower and armament of the German Albatros D. III, but was much more manoeuvrable, especially over 15,000 ft due to its low wing loading. Ace James McCudden stated that When it came to manoeuvring, the Sopwith would turn twice to an Albatros once and it was a remarkably fine machine for general all-round flying. It was so light and well surfaced that after a little practice one could almost land it on a tennis court. However, the Pup was also longitudinally unstable, at the peak of its operational deployment, the Pup equipped only four RNAS squadrons, and three RFC squadrons
9.
World War I
–
World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
10.
Western Front (World War I)
–
The Western Front or Western Theater was the main theatre of war during World War I. Following the outbreak of war in August 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by invading Luxembourg and Belgium, the tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne. Following the Race to the Sea, both sides dug in along a line of fortified trenches, stretching from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier with France. This line remained unchanged for most of the war. Between 1915 and 1917 there were several major offensives along this front, the attacks employed massive artillery bombardments and massed infantry advances. However, a combination of entrenchments, machine gun emplacements, barbed wire, as a result, no significant advances were made. In an effort to break the deadlock, this front saw the introduction of new technology, including poison gas, aircraft. But it was only after the adoption of improved tactics that some degree of mobility was restored, the German Armys Spring Offensive of 1918 was made possible by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk that marked the end of the conflict on the Eastern Front. In spite of the stagnant nature of this front, this theatre would prove decisive. The terms of peace were agreed upon with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, belgiums neutrality was guaranteed by Britain under the 1839 Treaty of London, this caused Britain to join the war at the expiration of its ultimatum at 11 pm GMT on 4 August. Armies under German generals Alexander von Kluck and Karl von Bülow attacked Belgium on 4 August 1914, Luxembourg had been occupied without opposition on 2 August. The first battle in Belgium was the Siege of Liège, which lasted from 5–16 August, Liège was well fortified and surprised the German Army under von Bülow with its level of resistance. German heavy artillery was able to demolish the main forts within a few days. Following the fall of Liège, most of the Belgian field army retreated to Antwerp, leaving the garrison of Namur isolated, with the Belgian capital, Brussels, although the German army bypassed Antwerp, it remained a threat to their flank. Another siege followed at Namur, lasting from about 20–23 August, for their part, the French had five armies deployed on their borders. The pre-war French offensive plan, Plan XVII, was intended to capture Alsace-Lorraine following the outbreak of hostilities, on 7 August the VII Corps attacked Alsace with its objectives being to capture Mulhouse and Colmar. The main offensive was launched on 14 August with 1st and 2nd Armies attacking toward Sarrebourg-Morhange in Lorraine, in keeping with the Schlieffen Plan, the Germans withdrew slowly while inflicting severe losses upon the French. The French advanced the 3rd and 4th Armies toward the Saar River and attempted to capture Saarburg, attacking Briey and Neufchateau, before being driven back
11.
Rotary engine
–
Its main application was in aviation, although it also saw use before its primary aviation role, in a few early motorcycles and automobiles. This type of engine was used as an alternative to conventional inline engines during World War I. It has been described as an efficient solution to the problems of power output, weight. The rotating mass of the engine also caused significant gyroscopic precession, depending on the type of aircraft, in the most common form, the crankshaft was fixed solidly to the airframe, and the propeller was simply bolted to the front of the crankcase. Improved cooling, when the engine was running the rotating crankcase/cylinder assembly created its own fast-moving cooling airflow, weight advantage, many conventional engines had to have heavy flywheels added to smooth out power impulses and reduce vibration. Rotary engines gained a substantial power-to-weight ratio advantage by having no need for an added flywheel, like radial engines, rotaries were generally built with an odd number of cylinders, so that a consistent every-other-piston firing order could be maintained, to provide smooth running. Rotary engines with an number of cylinders were mostly of the two row type. Rotary and radial engines look strikingly similar when they are not running and can easily be confused, unlike the rotary engine, however, radial engines use a conventional rotating crankshaft in a fixed engine block. The Musee de lAir in Paris has on display a special and it alternates between rotary and radial modes to demonstrate the difference between the internal motions of the two types of engine. It is often asserted that rotary engines had no carburetor and hence power could only be reduced by cutting the ignition using a blip switch. This was almost literally true of the Monosoupape type, which took most of the air into the cylinder through the exhaust valve, thus the richness of the mixture in the cylinder could not be controlled via the crankcase intake. The throttle of a monosoupape provided only a limited degree of speed regulation, as opening it made the mixture too rich. Early models featured a form of variable valve timing in an attempt to give greater control. Most rotaries however, had normal inlet valves, so that the fuel was taken into the already mixed with air - as in a normal four-stroke engine. The pilot needed to set the throttle to the desired setting, after starting the engine with a known setting that allowed it to idle, the air valve was opened until maximum engine speed was obtained. Throttling a running back to reduce revs was possible by closing off the fuel valve to the required position while re-adjusting the fuel/air mixture to suit. This process was also tricky, so that throttling back, especially when landing, was accomplished by intermittently cutting the ignition using the blip switch. Cutting cylinders using ignition switches had the drawback of letting fuel continue to pass through the engine, oiling up the spark plugs, also, the raw oil-fuel mix could collect in the cowling
12.
Synchronization gear
–
The idea presupposes a fixed armament directed by aiming the aircraft in which it is fitted at the target, rather than aiming the gun independently. However, the first practical gear to enter service was that fitted to the Eindecker monoplane fighters. The success of the Eindecker led to numerous gun synchronization devices, from 1918 to the mid-1930s the standard armament for a fighter aircraft remained two synchronized rifle calibre machine guns, firing forward through the propeller. During the late 1930s, however, the role of the fighter was increasingly seen as the destruction of large, all-metal bombers. There were in fact some advantages in dispensing with centrally mounted guns altogether, nevertheless, the conclusive redundancy of synchronization gears did not finally come until the introduction of jet propulsion and the absence of a propeller for guns to be synchronized with. From the beginnings of practical flight possible military uses for aircraft were considered, thus aerial combat was by no means entirely unanticipated, and the machine gun was from the first seen as the most likely weapon to be used. It is likely that an aircraft which is capable of shooting at a machine will have the advantage. The most suitable weapon is a light, air-cooled machine-gun, the idea of coupling the firing mechanism to the propellers rotation is an affectation. The objection is the same as to any gun position which is fixed along the axis of the aircraft. Under certain circumstances this is highly undesirable, a mechanism to enable an automatic weapon to fire between the blades of a whirling propeller is usually called an interrupter or synchronizer gear. Both these terms are more or less misleading, at least in so far as explaining what happens when the gear functions. The term interrupter implies that the gear pauses, or interrupts the fire of the gun at the point where one of the blades of the passes in front of its muzzle. The difficulty is that even the relatively slowly revolving propellers of First World War aircraft typically turned twice or even three times for each shot a contemporary machine gun could fire. A two-bladed propeller would therefore obstruct the gun six times every firing cycle of the gun, a four-bladed one twelve times. Another way of putting this is that a gun would have been blocked more than forty times every second. And yet, synchronization, in the sense of the word. Even if it were feasible to pick a point on an aircraft engines tachometer at which a machine guns cyclic rate would permit it to fire through the propeller – this would be very limiting. In practice it was found that it was necessary for the gun to be fired in semi-automatic mode, at each revolution of the propeller a firing impulse was transmitted to the gun, which effectively pulled the trigger, to fire a single shot
13.
Aircraft carrier
–
An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the ship of a fleet, as it allows a naval force to project air power worldwide without depending on local bases for staging aircraft operations. Aircraft carriers are expensive to build and are critical assets, there is no single definition of an aircraft carrier, and modern navies use several variants of the type. These variants are sometimes categorized as sub-types of aircraft carriers, Aircraft carriers may be classified according to the type of aircraft they carry and their operational assignments. Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope, former head of the Royal Navy, has said, To put it simply, as of April 2017, there are 37 active aircraft carriers in the world within twelve navies. The United States Navy has 10 large nuclear-powered fleet carriers, the largest carriers in the world, the Royal Navy of Great Britain is building two 280-m / 920-ft carriers, the Queen Elizabeth, and the Prince of Wales scheduled to go into service in 2020-2023. These are the largest carriers capable of fast speeds, by comparison, escort carriers were developed to provide defense for convoys of ships. They were smaller and slower with lower numbers of aircraft carried, most were built from mercantile hulls or, in the case of merchant aircraft carriers, were bulk cargo ships with a flight deck added on top. Light aircraft carriers were fast enough to operate with the main fleet, three nations currently operate carriers of this type, ten by the United States, and one each by France and Brazil for a total of twelve in service. Short take-off but arrested-recovery, these carriers are generally limited to carrying lighter fixed-wing aircraft with more limited payloads, currently, Russia, China, and India possess commissioned carriers of this type. Short take-off vertical-landing, limited to carrying STOVL aircraft and this type of aircraft carrier is currently in service with Italy. Some also count the nine US amphibious assault ships in their secondary light carrier role boosting the total to thirteen. Helicopter carrier, Helicopter carriers have an appearance to other aircraft carriers. Some are designed for addition of, or may include, a ski jump ramp allowing for STOVL operations or may have a ski jump installed before retirement of STOVL aircraft. In the past, some conventional carriers were converted and called commando carriers by the Royal Navy, some helicopter carriers with a resistant flight surface can operate STOVL jets. Currently the majority of carriers, but not all, are classified as amphibious assault ships. The US has nine of this type, France and Japan three, Australia two, the UK one, the Republic of Korea one and Spain one, the US and Spains amphibious assault ships operate STOVL jets in normal deployment. Supercarrier Fleet carrier Light aircraft carrier Escort carrier Several systems of identification symbol for aircraft carriers, two months later, on 18 January 1911, Ely landed his Curtiss pusher airplane on a platform on the armored cruiser USS Pennsylvania anchored in San Francisco Bay
14.
Harry Cobby
–
Air Commodore Arthur Henry Cobby, CBE, DSO, DFC & Two Bars, GM was an Australian military aviator. He was the fighter ace of the Australian Flying Corps during World War I, with 29 victories. Born and educated in Melbourne, Cobby was a clerk when war broke out. After completing flight training in England, he served on the Western Front with No.4 Squadron AFC and his achievements as a fighter pilot were recognised with the Distinguished Service Order, the Distinguished Flying Cross and two bars, and a mention in despatches. Acclaimed a national hero, Cobby transferred to the newly formed Royal Australian Air Force in 1921 and he left the Permanent Air Force in 1936 to join the Civil Aviation Board, but remained in the RAAF reserve. Re-joining the PAF at the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Cobby held senior posts including Director of Recruiting, in 1943, he was awarded the George Medal for rescuing fellow survivors of an aircraft crash. He was appointed Air Officer Commanding No.10 Operational Group the following year, retiring from the Air Force in 1946, Cobby served with the Department of Civil Aviation until his death on Armistice Day in 1955. Arthur Henry Cobby was born in the Melbourne suburb of Prahran to Arthur Edward Stanley Cobby, a tram conductor, and his wife Alice. Known as Harry, the young Cobby completed his education at University College, Armadale, before being commissioned into the 46th Infantry. He later transferred to the 47th Infantry and he eventually managed to join the Australian Flying Corps on 23 December 1916, despite a professed lack of interest in flying. He became a member of No.4 Squadron AFC. No.4 Squadron arrived in England in March 1917 to undergo training in preparation for service on the Western Front, equipped with Sopwith Camels, the unit was sent to France in December. Cobby later admitted to being so nervous about the prospect of going into battle that if anything could have been done by me to delay that hour, when he did see combat against the German Luftstreitkräfte for the first time, he had only twelve hours solo flying experience. Cobby claimed a victory, over a DFW reconnaissance plane, in February 1918. Based in the Pas-de-Calais area, No.4 Squadron supported Allied forces during the German Spring Offensive that commenced the following month, Cobbys aerial opponents included members of Baron von Richthofens Flying Circus. On 21 March he shot two of the formations Albatros D. Vs, which were confirmed as his first official victories. Having proved himself a talented and aggressive pilot, Cobbys leadership abilities were recognised with his appointment as a commander on 14 May 1918. Described as an imp of mischief, he personalised his Sopwith Camel by fitting it with aluminium cutouts of comic actor Charlie Chaplin
15.
Albatros D.III
–
The Albatros D. III was a biplane fighter aircraft used by the Imperial German Army Air Service during World War I. A modified licence model was built by Oeffag for the Austro-Hungarian Air Service and it was the preeminent fighter during the period of German aerial dominance known as Bloody April 1917. Development of the prototype D. III started in late July or early August 1916, the date of the maiden flight is unknown, but is believed to have occurred in late August or early September. Following the successful Albatros D. I and D. II series, however, at the request of the Idflieg, the D. III adopted a sesquiplane wing arrangement broadly similar to the French Nieuport 11. The upper wingspan was extended, while the wing was redesigned with reduced chord. V shaped interplane struts replaced the previous parallel struts, for this reason, British aircrews commonly referred to the D. III as the V-strutter. After a Typenprüfung on 26 September 1916, Albatros received an order for 400 D. III aircraft, Idflieg placed additional orders for 50 aircraft in February and March 1917. The D. III entered squadron service in December 1916, and was acclaimed by German aircrews for its maneuverability. Two faults with the new aircraft were soon identified, like the D. II, early D. IIIs featured a Teves und Braun airfoil-shaped radiator in the center of the upper wing, where it tended to scald the pilot if punctured. From the 290th D. III onward, the radiator was offset to the right on production machines while others were moved to the right as a field modification. Aircraft deployed in Palestine used two wing radiators, to cope with the warmer climate, more seriously, the new aircraft immediately began experiencing failures of the lower wing ribs and leading edge, a defect shared with the Nieuport 17. On 23 January 1917, a Jasta 6 pilot suffered a failure of the right wing spar. On the following day, Manfred von Richthofen suffered a crack in the wing of his new D. III. On 27 January, the Kogenluft issued an order grounding all D. IIIs pending resolution of the wing failure problem, on 19 February, after Albatros introduced a reinforced lower wing, the Kogenluft rescinded the grounding order. At the time, the wing failures were attributed to poor workmanship. In fact, the cause of the failures lay in the sesquiplane arrangement taken from the Nieuport. While the lower wing had sufficient strength in static tests, it was determined that the main spar was located too far aft. Pilots were therefore advised not to perform steep or prolonged dives in the D. III and this design flaw persisted despite attempts to rectify the problem in the D. III and succeeding D. V
16.
Nieuport 17
–
The Nieuport 17 C.1 was a World War I French sesquiplane fighter designed by the Nieuport company. The Nieuport 17 was a larger development of the earlier Nieuport 11, trimmed for the heavier powerplant used by the Nieuport 16 and with a larger wings. It was at first fitted with a 110 hp Le Rhône 9J engine, some aircraft, particularly French, were fitted with both guns but a single machine gun was most common. Rear spar packing pieces were also redesigned, in service use, they were operated by both French and British squadrons alongside Nieuport 17s until replaced by Nieuport 24s. Two triplanes based on the Nieuport 17 were built, one for testing by the French, the narrow chord wings were staggered in an unusual manner, with the middle wing furthest forward and the top wing furthest aft. No orders resulted, although Nieuport trialed the same layout on a Nieuport 17bis which was tested by the British as well, both types had good climbing characteristics but were tail heavy. The narrow, single-spar lower wing which made the Nieuport 17 a sesquiplane, several Nieuport fighters did indeed suffer catastrophic lower wings failure, especially during recovery from a prolonged dive. Several Berliner Helicopters were built around Nieuport 23 fuselages including the 1922 and 1923 versions, the new type reached the French front in March 1916 and quickly replaced the earlier Nieuport 11 and 16 fighters in French service that had been instrumental in ending the Fokker Scourge of 1915. The Nieuport 17 entered service with Escadrille N.57 on May 2,1916, the type was also used by American volunteers of the Escadrille Lafayette when they replaced their earlier Nieuport 11s and 16s. During the latter part of 1916 and into 1917 the Nieuport 17 equipped every fighter squadron of the Aéronautique Militaire, charles Nungesser scored most of his victories while flying Nieuports. It was also ordered by the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service, the RFC in particular still had large numbers of obsolete Airco DH. 2s in service nearly a year later when it incurred severe losses during Bloody April. While the majority of aircraft lost were obsolete aircraft such as the Royal Aircraft Factory B. E.2. British squadrons that used the type include Nos 1,29,32,40 and 60 of the Royal Flying Corps, during the Battle of Arras much use was made of British Nieuports in balloon-busting attacks to prevent enemy artillery spotting. By mid-1917, the Nieuport was losing its superiority over German types such as the new Albatros D. III, the British retained their Nieuports until early 1918. Mick Mannock VC flew Nieuports early in his career with No 40 Squadron and his VC award reflected his whole combat career - including his time on Nieuports. The top-scoring Nieuport ace was Captain Phillip Fletcher Fullard of No.1 Squadron RFC, italian aces such as Francesco Baracca, Silvio Scaroni and Pier Piccio all achieved victories while flying Nieuport fighters. In Belgium the 1st and 5th Belgian escadrilles were equipped with the Nieuport 17, Belgian aces flying the type included Andre de Meulemeester, Edmond Thieffry and Jan Olieslagers. Imperial Russian forces operated large numbers of Nieuports of all types including the Nieuport 17,21 and 23, Russian Nieuport aces include Alexander Kazakov
17.
Aircraft fairing
–
An aircraft fairing is a structure whose primary function is to produce a smooth outline and reduce drag. These structures are covers for gaps and spaces between parts of an aircraft to form drag and interference drag, and to improve appearance. On aircraft, fairings are commonly found on, Cockpit fairing Also called a cockpit pod, commonly made from fiberglass, it may also incorporate a windshield. Elevator and horizontal stabilizer tips Elevator and stabilizer tips fairings smooth out airflow at the tips, the inlet and the nozzle in combination lead to an isotropic speed reduction around the cooling fins and due to the speed-squared law to a reduction in cooling drag. Fin and rudder tips fairings reduce drag at low angles of attack, fillets smooth the airflow at the junction between two components like fuselage and wing, or fuselage and fin. Fixed landing gear junctions Landing gear fairings reduce drag at these junctions, flap track fairings Most jet airliners have a cruising speed between Mach 0.8 and 0.85. For aircraft operating in the regime, wave drag can be minimized by having a cross-sectional area which changes smoothly along the length of the aircraft. This is known as the area rule, on subsonic aircraft such as jet airliners, this can be achieved by the addition of smooth pods on the trailing edges of the wings. These pods are known as anti-shock bodies, Küchemann Carrots, or flap track fairings, spinner To cover and streamline the propeller hub. Strut-to-wing and strut-to-fuselage junctions Strut end fairings reduce drag at these junctions, Tail cones Tail cones reduce the form drag of the fuselage, by recovering the pressure behind it. For the design speed they add no friction drag, Wing root Wing roots are often faired to reduce interference drag between the wing and the fuselage. On top and below the wing it consists of small rounded edge to reduce the surface, Wing tips Wing tips are often formed as complex shapes to reduce vortex generation and so also drag, especially at low speed. Wheels on fixed gear aircraft Wheel fairings are often called wheel pants, speed fairings or, in the UK and they also have the important function of preventing mud and stones from being thrown upwards against the wings or fuselage, or into the propeller on a pusher craft. Bicycle fairing Motorcycle fairing Payload fairing
18.
Harry Hawker
–
Harry George Hawker MBE, AFC was an Australian aviation pioneer. He was the chief test pilot for Sopwith and was involved in the design of many of their aircraft. After World War One he co-founded Hawker Aircraft, the firm that would later be responsible for a series of successful military aircraft. He died on 12 July 1921 when the aircraft he was to fly in the Aerial Derby crashed at Hendon Aerodrome, Hawker was born on 22 January 1889 at Moorabbin, Victoria in Australia, the second son of George Hawker, a blacksmith, and Mary Ann Gilliard Anderson. In 1907, he moved again to become the chauffeur and mechanic for Ernest De Little in Caramut, on 14 November 1917 Hawker married Muriel Alice Peaty at St Peters Church, Ealing. In England Hawker obtained a job with the Commer Car Company, moving to the Mercedes company in January 1912 and then to Austro Daimler. During this time he spent much of his time at Brooklands, then the hub of British aviation. He soon persuaded Sopwith to teach him to fly, and succeeded in making his first solo flight after only three lessons. He was awarded his pilots licence, No.297, in September 1912 and shortly afterwards, on 24 October and he also appears to have been the first person to perform an intentional spin and recovery. In 1914 demonstrating one method to return to level flight from this unusual attitude, because spins had killed several pilots, this was a major advance in aviation safety. Having established his name as an aviator, he became chief test pilot for Tom Sopwith, at Sopwiths in 1916, Hawker had the personal use of a small aircraft, the Sopwith Bee. He was also a competitor in motor car and motorcycle races at Brooklands before. Among his competitive achievements were winning the and an altitude record and he also won a £1,000 consolation prize in the Daily Mail Circuit of Britain Waterplane Race on 25 August 1913. In 1914, Harry Hawker returned to Australia to demonstrate the advanced Sopwith Tabloid, a wild crowd nearly wrecked the plane on one occasion, and he further damaged it during stunt flying. On his return to England he continued designing and testing aircraft with Sopwith throughout the First World War. After the war, together with navigator Kenneth Mackenzie Grieve, he attempted to win the Daily Mail £10,000 prize for the first flight across the Atlantic in 72 consecutive hours. On 18 May 1919, they set off from Mount Pearl, Newfoundland, the Mary did not have a functioning radio, so that it was not until six days later, when the steamer reached Butt of Lewis, Scotland, that word was received that they were safe. Hawker and Grieve were awarded a prize of £5,000 by the Daily Mail
19.
Brooklands
–
Brooklands was a 2. 75-mile motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the worlds first purpose-built motor racing circuit as well as one of Britains first airfields, the Brooklands motor circuit was the brainchild of Hugh F. Locke King, and was the first purpose-built banked motor race circuit in the world. Apparently drawing inspiration from the development at Brooklands, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was built soon afterwards, requirements of speed and spectator visibility led to the Brooklands track being built as a 100 ft wide,2.75 miles long, banked oval. The banking was nearly 30 feet high in places, in addition to the oval, a bisecting Finishing Straight was built, increasing the track length to 3.25 miles, of which 1.25 miles was banked. It could host up to 287,000 spectators in its heyday, owing to the complications of laying tarmacadam on banking, and the expense of laying asphalt, the track was built in uncoated concrete. This led in later years to a bumpy ride, as the surface suffered differential settlement over time. Along the centre of the track ran a black line. By driving over the line, a driver could take the banked corners without having to use the steering wheel. The Brooklands Mountain Circuit was a section of the track giving a lap 1¼ miles long, running from the Fork to the rear of Members Hill. It was created in 1930 using movable barriers, on 28–29 June 1907, eleven days after the circuit opened, it played host to the worlds first 24-hour motor event, with Selwyn Edge leading three specially converted Napier cars around the circuit. A statement of intent had been made in 1906, and Selwyn Edge entered into a training program to prepare for the event. His car,804 was extensively modified, having a fuel tank, bodywork removed. Over 300 red railway lamps were used to light the track during the night, flares were used to mark the upper boundary of the track. Edge drove his car for the duration, with the drivers of the other two cars taking the more familiar shift approach. During the event Edge covered a distance of 1,581.74 mi at an speed of 65.91 mph. Women were not allowed to compete for several years, edges leading driver, was refused entry despite having been the first English-woman to compete in a motor race in 1903, and holding the Ladies World Land Speed Record. Edge completed 2,545 km at an average 106.06 km/h, the first standard race meeting would be held the next week, on 6 July. George E. Stanley broke the record at Brooklands race track on a Singer motorcycle in 1912
20.
Weybridge
–
Weybridge /ˈweɪbrɪdʒ/ is a town by the River Wey in the Elmbridge district of Surrey. It is bounded to the north by the River Thames at the mouth of the Wey and it is an outlying suburban town within the Greater London Urban Area, situated 7 miles northeast of Woking and 16 miles southwest of central London. Real estate prices are well above the average, as of 2008. Within the post town, rather than Weybridges other boundaries is Oatlands or Oatlands Village, Weybridge lay within the Elmbridge hundred. Its domesday assets were,6 hides, 1½ ploughs,32 acres of meadow and it rendered £4 per year to it feudal system overlords. It was much smaller than todays post town, and about one quarter of the size of neighbouring Walton. The earliest monuments on the wall of St Jamess C of E Church are 15th century plaques. When it was demolished in 1650, bricks from its walls helped to line the then new Wey Navigation canal, in 1571 commissioners were appointed to report on the condition of the bridge across the Wey. It was accordingly ordered that a new bridge – a horse-bridge like the last – should be built, wood being used for its construction, the expense was to be borne by the queen, as the land on either side belonged to her. St. Georges Hill was the site of the Diggers Commune in the 1640s, the Duchess is buried in St. Jamess Churchyard. In the 19th century Oatlands broke away from the parish of Walton on Thames to become a village in its own right, influenced by the secondary manor of Weybridge, the forerunner of Oatlands Palace, the post town adopted Oatlands as its only village in the 19th century. The entomologist, Horace Donisthorpe, visited Weybridge Heath to investigate the ant colony, Weybridge grew into a commuter town with the advent of the fast train link into London Waterloo and a lot of new houses have been built around the Oatlands Park and Broadwater Lake area. Weybridge railway station was opened by the London and Southampton Railway in 1838, after the station was opened, development of what was until then only a village began and gradually Weybridge became a town. Large houses were built on St Georges Hill from 1911 by local builder and developer Walter George Tarrant of Byfleet, in Weybridge Heath, many rare species of insects, rare birds and insectivorous plant have been recorded. The heath was allowed to become overgrown in recent years. Weybridge is the British headquarters of Alliance Boots, CHEP UK, Sony Corporation, Procter & Gamble, JTI, Abbey Business Centres also have a presence in the town. Eurotax Glass, owners and publishers of Glasss Guide, pricing bible to the motor industry, in addition, retailing also forms part of the local economy, and a range of retailers are represented in the town centre. In H. G. Wells classic novel The War of the Worlds, the title of chapter 12 of the book is, What I saw of the destruction of Weybridge and Shepperton
21.
Surrey
–
Surrey is a county in the south east of England. It shares borders with Kent to the east, East Sussex to the south-east, West Sussex to the south, Hampshire to the west and south-west, Surrey County Council sits extraterritorially at Kingston upon Thames, administered as part of Greater London since 1965. With a resident population of 1.1 million, Surrey is the most densely populated and third most populated county in the South East region, after Kent, the London boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark, Wandsworth, and parts of Lewisham and Bromley were in Surrey until 1889. The boroughs of Croydon, Kingston upon Thames, Merton, Sutton and Richmond upon Thames south of the River Thames were part of Surrey until 1965, when they too were absorbed into Greater London. In the same year, the county was extended north of the Thames by the addition of Spelthorne, due to this expansion, modern Surrey also borders on the London boroughs of Hounslow and Hillingdon. It has the highest GDP per capita of any English county, Surrey is divided in two by the chalk ridge of the North Downs, running east-west. To the north of the Downs the land is mostly flat, the geology of this area is dominated by London Clay in the east, Bagshot Sands in the west and alluvial deposits along the rivers. Much of Surrey is in the Metropolitan Green Belt and it contains a good deal of mature woodland. Among its many notable beauty spots are Box Hill, Leith Hill, Frensham Ponds, Newlands Corner and Puttenham & Crooksbury Commons. Surrey is the most wooded county in England, with 22. 4% coverage compared to an average of 11. 8%. Box Hill has the oldest untouched area of woodland in the UK. Surrey also contains Englands principal concentration of lowland heath, on soils in the west of the county. Agriculture not being intensive, there are many commons and access lands, together with a network of footpaths and bridleways including the North Downs Way. Accordingly, Surrey provides much in the way of leisure activities. The highest elevation in Surrey is Leith Hill near Dorking and it is either 293,294 or 295 metres above sea level and is the second highest point in southeastern England after Walbury Hill 297 metres in West Berkshire. Surrey has a population of approximately 1.1 million people and its largest town is Guildford, with a population of 66,773, Woking comes a close second with 62,796. They are followed by Ewell with 39,994 people and Camberley with 30,155, towns of between 25,000 and 30,000 inhabitants are Ashford, Epsom, Farnham, Staines and Redhill. Guildford is the county town, although the county administration was moved to Newington in 1791
22.
War Office
–
The name War Office is also given to the former home of the department, the War Office building located at the junction of Horse Guards Avenue and Whitehall in central London. During August 2013 it was announced that the former War Office building would be sold on the open market. The War Office developed from the Council of War, an ad hoc grouping of the King and his military commanders which managed the Kingdom of Englands frequent wars. It was equivalent to the Admiralty, responsible for the Royal Navy, and the Air Ministry, the department had several London homes until it settled at Horse Guards in Whitehall during 1722, where it was to remain until 1858. The first War Office Secretary at War is usually said to have been William Blathwayt and it was, however, a fairly minor government job which dealt with the minutiae of administration rather than grand strategy. Issues of strategic policy during wartime were managed by the Northern and Southern Departments, from 1704 to 1855, the job of Secretary was possessed by a minister of the second rank, although he was occasionally part of the Cabinet. Many of his responsibilities were transferred to the Secretary of State for War after the creation of more senior post during 1794. The job of Secretary at War was merged with that of the Secretary of State for War during 1855, during 1855 the Board of Ordnance was abolished as a result of its perceived poor performance during the Crimean War. This powerful independent body, dating from the 15th century, had directed by the Master-General of the Ordnance. The disastrous campaigns of the Crimean War resulted in the consolidation of all duties during 1855 as subordinate to the Secretary of State for War. He was not, however, solely responsible for the Army and this was reduced in theory by the reforms introduced by Edward Cardwell during 1870, which subordinated the Commander-in-Chief to the Secretary for War. His resistance to reform caused military efficiency to lag well behind that of Britains rivals, the management of the War Office was hampered by persistent disputes between the civilian and military parts of the organisation. The government of H. H. Asquith attempted to resolve this during the First World War by appointing Lord Kitchener as Secretary for War, making him the first, however, this was thought unsatisfactory, during his tenure, the Imperial General Staff was virtually dismantled. Its role was replaced effectively by the Committee of Imperial Defence, the War Office decreased greatly in importance after the First World War, a fact illustrated by the drastic reductions of its staff numbers during the inter-war period. On 1 April 1920, it employed 7,434 civilian staff and its responsibilities and funding were also reduced. During 1936, the government of Stanley Baldwin appointed a Minister for Co-ordination of Defence, when Winston Churchill became Prime Minister during 1940, he bypassed the War Office altogether and appointed himself Minister of Defence. Clement Attlee continued this arrangement when he came to power during 1945, during 1964, the present form of the Ministry of Defence was established, unifying the War Office, Admiralty, and Air Ministry. The records of the War Office are kept by The National Archives with the code WO and it contains about 1,000 rooms across seven floors, linked by 2½ miles of corridors
23.
0.303 British
–
The.303 British or 7. 7×56mmR, is a. 303-inch calibre rimmed rifle cartridge first developed in Britain as a black-powder round put into service in December 1888 for the Lee–Metford rifle. In 1891 the cartridge was adapted to use smokeless powder and it was the standard British and Commonwealth military cartridge from 1889 until the 1950s when it was replaced by the 7. 62×51mm NATO. The.303 British has 3.64 ml cartridge case capacity, americans would define the shoulder angle at alpha/2 ≈17 degrees. The common rifling twist rate for this cartridge is 254 mm,5 grooves, Ø lands =7.70 millimetres, Ø grooves =7.92 millimetres, land width =2.12 millimetres and the primer type is Berdan or Boxer. Rulings the.303 British can handle up to 365.00 MPa Pmax piezo pressure, regulated countries every rifle cartridge combo has to be proofed at 125% of this maximum C. I. P. pressure to certify for sale to consumers. This means that.303 British chambered arms in C. I. P, regulated countries are currently proof tested at 456.00 MPa PE piezo pressure. The SAAMI Maximum Average Pressure for this cartridge is 49,000 psi piezo pressure, the measurement. 303-inch is the nominal size of the bore measured between the lands which follows the older black powder nomenclature. Measured between the grooves, the size of the bore is. 311-inch. Bores for many.303 military surplus rifles are found ranging from around. 309-inch up to. 318-inch. Recommended bullet diameter for standard.303 British cartridges is. 312-inch, the bolt thrust of the.303 British is relatively low compared to many other service rounds used in the early 20th century. The original.303 British service cartridge employed black powder as a propellant, and was adopted for the Lee–Metford rifle, ballistite was a stick-type smokeless powder composed of soluble nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine. Unlike Cordite, Riflelite was a powder, and contained no nitroglycerine. After extensive testing, the Committee on Explosives selected Cordite for use in the Mark II.303 British service cartridge, the initial.303 Mark I and Mk II service cartridges employed a 215-grain, round-nosed, copper-nickel full-metal-jacketed bullet with a lead core. After tests determined that the bullet had too thin a jacket when used with cordite. This led to the introduction of the Cartridge S. A. Ball.303 inch Cordite Mark III, similar hollow-point bullets were used in the Mk IV and Mk V loadings, which were put into mass production. The design of the Mk IV hollow-point bullet shifted bullet weight rearwards, improving stability, the remaining stocks were used for target practice. The concern about expanding bullets was brought up at the 1899 Hague Convention by Swiss, the British and American defense was that they should not focus on specific bullet designs, like hollow-points, but instead on rounds that caused superfluous injury. The parties in the end agreed to abstain from using expanding bullets, as a result, the Mark III and other expanding versions of the.303 were not issued during the Second Boer War
24.
Vickers machine gun
–
The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a name primarily used to refer to the water-cooled.303 British machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The machine gun typically required a six to eight-man team to operate, one fired, one fed the ammunition and it was in service from before the First World War until the 1960s, with air-cooled versions of it on many Allied World War I fighter aircraft. The weapon had a reputation for solidity and reliability. Using 100 barrels, they fired a million rounds without a failure and it was this absolute foolproof reliability which endeared the Vickers to every British soldier who ever fired one. The Vickers machine gun was based on the successful Maxim gun of the late 19th century, a muzzle booster was also added. The British Army formally adopted the Vickers gun as its machine gun on 26 November 1912. There were still great shortages when the First World War began, Vickers was, in fact, threatened with prosecution for war profiteering, due to the exorbitant price it was demanding for each gun. As a result, the price was slashed, as the war progressed, and numbers increased, it became the British Armys primary machine gun, and served on all fronts during the conflict. After the First World War, the Machine Gun Corps was disbanded, however, the Vickers remained in service with the British Army until 30 March 1968. Its last operational use was in the Radfan during the Aden Emergency and its successor in UK service is the L7 GPMG. In 1913, a Vickers machine gun was mounted on the experimental Vickers E. F. B.1 biplane, which was probably the worlds first purpose-built combat aeroplane. However, by the time the version, the Vickers F. B.5, had entered service the following year. During World War I, the Vickers gun became a weapon on British and French military aircraft. Although heavier than the Lewis, its closed bolt firing cycle made it easier to synchronize to allow it to fire through aircraft propellers. The belt feed was enclosed right up to the guns feed-way to inhibit effects from wind, steel disintegrating-link ammunition belts were perfected in the UK by William de Courcy Prideaux in mid-war and became standard for aircraft guns thereafter. The famous Sopwith Camel and the SPAD XIII types used twin synchronized Vickers, as did most British and French fighters between 1918 and the mid-1930s. Several sets of louvred slots were cut into the jacket to aid air cooling. The Gloster Gladiator was the last RAF fighter to be armed with the Vickers, the Fairey Swordfish continued to be fitted with the weapon until production ended in August 1944
25.
Machine gun
–
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm designed to fire bullets in quick succession from an ammunition belt or magazine, typically at a rate of 300 to 1800 rounds per minute. Note that not all fully automatic firearms are machine guns, submachine guns, rifles, assault rifles, shotguns, pistols or cannons may be capable of fully automatic fire, but are not designed for sustained fire. Many machine guns also use belt feeding and open bolt operation, unlike semi-automatic firearms, which require one trigger pull per round fired, a machine gun is designed to fire for as long as the trigger is held down. Nowadays the term is restricted to heavy weapons, able to provide continuous or frequent bursts of automatic fire for as long as ammunition lasts. Machine guns are used against personnel, aircraft and light vehicles, or to provide suppressive fire. Some machine guns have in practice sustained fire almost continuously for hours, because they become very hot, practically all machine guns fire from an open bolt, to permit air cooling from the breech between bursts. They also usually have either a barrel cooling system, slow-heating heavyweight barrel, although subdivided into light, medium, heavy or general-purpose, even the lightest machine guns tend to be substantially larger and heavier than standard infantry arms. Medium and heavy guns are either mounted on a tripod or on a vehicle, when carried on foot. Medium machine guns use full-sized rifle rounds and are designed to be used from fixed positions mounted on a tripod. 50in, the M249 automatic rifle is operated by an automatic rifleman, but its ammunition may be carried by other Soldiers within the squad or unit. The M249 machine gun is a crew-served weapon, Machine guns usually have simple iron sights, though the use of optics is becoming more common. Many heavy machine guns, such as the Browning M2.50 caliber machine gun, are enough to engage targets at great distances. During the Vietnam War, Carlos Hathcock set the record for a shot at 7382 ft with a.50 caliber heavy machine gun he had equipped with a telescopic sight. This led to the introduction of.50 caliber anti-materiel sniper rifles, selective fire rifles firing a full-power rifle cartridge from a closed bolt are called automatic rifles or battle rifles, while rifles that fire an intermediate cartridge are called assault rifles. Unlocking and removing the spent case from the chamber and ejecting it out of the weapon as bolt is moving rearward Loading the next round into the firing chamber. Usually the recoil spring tension pushes bolt back into battery and a cam strips the new round from a feeding device, cycle is repeated as long as the trigger is activated by operator. Releasing the trigger resets the trigger mechanism by engaging a sear so the weapon stops firing with bolt carrier fully at the rear, the operation is basically the same for all autoloading firearms, regardless of the means of activating these mechanisms. Most modern machine guns use gas-operated reloading, a recoil actuated machine gun uses the recoil to first unlock and then operate the action. Machine guns such as the M2 Browning and MG42, are of this type, a cam, lever or actuator demultiplicates the energy of the recoil to operate the bolt
26.
Aerial bomb
–
An aerial bomb is a type of explosive weapon intended to travel through the air with predictable trajectories, usually designed to be dropped from an aircraft. The act is termed aerial bombing, the first bombs delivered to their targets by air were launched on unmanned balloons, carrying a single bomb, by the Austrians against Venice in 1849. The first bombs dropped from an aircraft were grenades or grenade-like devices. Historically, the first use was by Giulio Gavotti on 1 November 1911, in 1912, during the First Balkan War, Bulgarian Air Force pilot Christo Toprakchiev suggested the use of aircraft to drop bombs on Turkish positions. Captain Simeon Petrov developed the idea and created several prototypes by adapting different types of grenades, after a number of tests, Petrov created the final design, with improved aerodynamics, an X-shaped tail, and an impact detonator. This version was used by the Bulgarian Air Force during the siege of Edirne. A copy of the plans was later sold to Germany and the bomb, codenamed Chataldzha, the weight of one of these bombs was 6 kilograms. On impact it created a crater 4-5 meters wide and about 1 meter deep, aerial bombs typically use a contact fuze to detonate the bomb upon impact. Aerial bombing of cities Area bombardment Bomber Explosive weapons Strategic bombing Tactical bombing Types of aerial bomb
27.
Dihedral (aeronautics)
–
Dihedral angle is the upward angle from horizontal of the wings or tailplane of a fixed-wing aircraft. Anhedral angle is the given to negative dihedral angle, that is. Dihedral angle has an influence on dihedral effect, which is named after it. Dihedral effect is the amount of roll moment produced per degree of sideslip, dihedral effect is a critical factor in the stability of an aircraft about the roll axis. It is also pertinent to the nature of an aircrafts Dutch roll oscillation, longitudinal dihedral is a comparatively obscure term related to the pitch axis of an airplane. It is the angle between the zero axis of the wing and horizontal tail. Longitudinal dihedral can influence the nature of controllability about the pitch axis, when the term dihedral is used by itself it is usually intended to mean dihedral angle. However, context may otherwise indicate that dihedral effect is the intended meaning, dihedral Angle is the upward angle from horizontal of the wings of a fixed-wing aircraft, or of any paired nominally-horizontal surfaces on any aircraft. The term can apply to the wings of a bird. Dihedral Angle is also used in some types of such as box kites. Wings with more than one Angle change along the span are said to be polyhedral. Dihedral Angle has important stabilizing effects on flying bodies because it has an influence on the dihedral effect. Dihedral effect of an aircraft is a rolling moment resulting from the vehicle having an angle of sideslip. Increasing the dihedral angle of an aircraft increases the effect on it. However, many other parameters also have a strong influence on dihedral effect. Some of these important factors are, wing sweep, vertical center of gravity, dihedral angle on an aircraft almost always implies the angle between two paired surfaces, one on each side of the aircraft. Even then, it is almost always between the left and right wings, however, mathematically dihedral means the angle between any two planes. Longitudinal dihedral can also mean the angle between the zero axis of the wing and tail instead of between the root chords of the two surfaces
28.
Reid and Sigrist
–
Reid and Sigrist was an English engineering company based at New Malden in Surrey. It later acquired sites at Desford and Braunstone in Leicestershire, initially it developed and manufactured aircraft instrumentation and pilot selection aids but later diversified into flying training and aircraft design. During World War II the company was part of the Civilian Repair Organisation repairing, rebuilding and converting warplanes at the Desford site, post-war it continued to manufacture aviation instruments and guidance systems but also diversified further to produce cameras and optical instruments. In 1954 the company was purchased and taken-over by the Decca Record Company, Reid and Sigrist Ltd was formed in February 1928 as a private company with £4000 capital. The company was set up by Squadron-Leader George Hancock Reid DFC and Frederick Sigrist, Hawker Engineering Ltd, that would later become Hawker Siddeley Aircraft Ltd. As the company expanded and diversified further sites were acquired at Desford Aerodrome, the company ceased to exist as a separate entity when it was bought by the Decca Record Company at the end of 1954. Initially the main focus for the company was the development. An important product was a type of turn and slip indicator invented and developed by George Reid. A later version of this device was incorporated into the standard blind-flying panel adopted by the Royal Air Force in 1937, a further development was the Gyorizon which combined the functions of a turn indicator and artificial horizon in one instrument. As well as flying instrumentation the company developed a pilot selection tool. The Reid Reaction Apparatus was a device which recorded the times of trainee pilots when centralizing the a set of controls in a mock-up cockpit. Depending upon the trainees were then graded as good, average or inferior. This device was in use during the 1930s at some RAF flying schools, in 1935, Reid and Sigrist successfully applied to run one of the new Civilian Flying Training Schools, being created as part of the RAF Expansion Scheme to train new service pilots. At time the company did not possess an airfield and so a rapid countrywide search for a site was undertaken. Rapid negotiations enabled the company to purchase the airfield and also some surrounding farmland, development of the aerodrome was carried out by En-Tout-Cas Ltd, of Syston, whilst new building work was undertaken by Fairby Construction Company Ltd. A mere three months later, on 13 December 1935, the new Flying Training School was officially opened by the Minister of State for Air, Viscount Swinton of Masham. The aircraft chosen for use at the school was the De Havilland D. H. 82A Tiger Moth of which there were initially 17, later increased to 21. In 1937 the school was expanded to training of RAF Volunteer Reserve pilots and was renamed No.7 Elementary
29.
Clerget 9B
–
The Clerget 9B was a nine-cylinder rotary aircraft engine of the World War I era designed by Pierre Clerget. Manufactured in both France and Great Britain, it was used on aircraft as the Sopwith Camel. The Clerget 9Bf was an increased stroke version, Clerget 9B130 hp.1,300 produced by Ruston Proctor & Co Ltd of Lincoln Clerget 9Bf 140 hp. Extended stroke version, increasing capacity to 17.5 L.1,750 produced by Gwynnes Limited and 600 produced by Ruston Proctor, armstrong Whitworth F. K.10 Avro 504 Avro 531 Bristol M.1 Cierva C.6 Cierva C. A Clerget 9Bf engine is on display at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney
30.
Bentley BR1
–
The Bentley BR.1 was a British rotary aircraft engine of the First World War. Designed by the car engine designer W. O. Bentley. Bentley came up with his idea of an engine - fitted with aluminium cylinders with cast iron liners, dual ignition was introduced to improve reliability, and the stroke increased to 6.7 inches which allowed power to be increased to 150 horsepower. The cost of the engine was reduced, falling to £605 per engine. The resulting engine, initially known as the A. R.1 for Admiralty Rotary, but later called the BR.1 was manufactured in quantity, although initially against Admiralty orders. The BR.1 was developed as the BR.2, a heavier, more powerful engine, which powered, among other types or aircraft, the Camels eventual replacement, the Sopwith Snipe
31.
Bottleneck (production)
–
In production and project management, a bottleneck is one process in a chain of processes, such that its limited capacity reduces the capacity of the whole chain. The result of having a bottleneck are stalls in production, supply overstock, pressure from customers, there are both short and long-term bottlenecks. Short-term bottlenecks are temporary and are not normally a significant problem, an example of a short-term bottleneck would be a skilled employee taking a few days off. Long-term bottlenecks occur all the time and can significantly slow down production. An example of a bottleneck is when a machine is not efficient enough. An example is the lack of smelter and refinery supply which cause bottlenecks upstream, another example is in a surface-mount technology board assembly line with several pieces of equipment aligned. Almost every system has a bottleneck, even if it is a one, if every system was running at full capacity. Identifying bottlenecks are critical for improving efficiency in the line because it allows you to determine the area where accumulation occurs. The machine or process that accumulates the longest queue is usually a bottleneck, when input comes in faster than the speed of the process, accumulation starts to occur. This means that the machine either does not have capacity, is not being fully utilized or has an under-qualified operator. This method is not effective at identifying bottlenecks where the queues are at several process steps, since the production line is directly linked to the output of the machines, it allows for the identifying of the main bottleneck in the manufacturing process. In changing each machines throughput, it will be possible to assess which machine affects the output the most. By using the utilization percentage of production unit, it is possible to determine the machine which uses the highest percentage of its capacity. This machine is bottlenecking the other machines by forcing them to operate at a lower capacity, in the case where several production units are already running at full capacity, tracking the down time of machines will allow you to identify which machine is being bottlenecked. Usually the machine prior the machine with the highest wait or down time in the chain of processes is a bottleneck, the result of this is a machine being under utilized. A fishbone diagram is a means for finding possible problems in a chain of processes. By collecting the different data related to the problem, and inputting them into the diagram, it becomes easier to analyze the data in the order it used and hence determine the root of the problem. This is commonly used to find the bottleneck in a chain of processes due to being able to pinpoint the machine precisely responsible for the delay in production
32.
Sopwith Triplane
–
The Sopwith Triplane was a British single seat fighter aircraft designed and manufactured by the Sopwith Aviation Company during the First World War. It was the first military triplane to see operational service, the Triplane joined Royal Naval Air Service squadrons in early 1917 and was immediately successful. It was nevertheless built in small numbers and was withdrawn from active service as Sopwith Camels arrived in the latter half of 1917. Surviving Triplanes continued to serve as trainers until the end of the war. The Triplane began as a venture by the Sopwith Aviation Company. Ailerons were fitted to all three wings, by using the variable incidence tailplane, the aircraft could be trimmed to fly hands-off. The introduction of a smaller 8 ft span tailplane in February 1917 improved elevator response, the Triplane was initially powered by the 110 hp Clerget 9Z nine-cylinder rotary engine, but most production examples were fitted with the 130 hp Clerget 9B rotary. At least one Triplane was tested with a 110 hp Le Rhône rotary engine, the initial prototype of what was to be referred to simply as the Triplane first flew on 28 May 1916, with Sopwith test pilot Harry Hawker at the controls. Within three minutes of takeoff, Hawker startled onlookers by looping the aircraft, serial N500, three times in succession, the Triplane was very agile, with effective, well-harmonised controls. When maneuvering, however, the Triplane presented an unusual appearance, one observer noted that the aircraft looked like a drunken flight of steps when rolling. In July 1916, N500 was sent to Dunkirk for evaluation with A Naval Squadron,1 Naval Wing, the second prototype, serial N504, was fitted with a 130 hp Clerget 9B. N504 first flew in August 1916 and was sent to France in December. This aircraft served as a trainer for several squadrons. Seeking modern aircraft for the Royal Flying Corps, the War Office also issued a contract to Clayton & Shuttleworth for 106 Triplanes, in February 1917, the War Office agreed to exchange its Triplane orders for the Admiraltys SPAD S. VII contracts. For unknown reasons, the RFC Triplane contract issued to Clayton & Shuttleworth was simply cancelled rather than being transferred to the RNAS, total production amounted to 147 aircraft. No.1 Naval Squadron became fully operational with the Triplane by December 1916, but the squadron did not see any significant action until February 1917, No.8 Naval Squadron received its Triplanes in February 1917. Nos.9 and 10 Naval Squadrons equipped with the type between April and May 1917, the only other major operator of the Triplane was a French naval squadron based at Dunkirk, which received 17 aircraft. The Triplanes combat debut was highly successful, the new fighters exceptional rate of climb and high service ceiling gave it a marked advantage over the Albatros D. III, though the Triplane was slower in a dive
33.
Gyroscope
–
A gyroscope is a spinning wheel or disc in which the axis of rotation is free to assume any orientation by itself. When rotating, the orientation of this axis is unaffected by tilting or rotation of the mounting, according to the conservation of angular momentum, because of this, gyroscopes are useful for measuring or maintaining orientation. Due to their precision, gyroscopes are used in gyrotheodolites to maintain direction in tunnel mining. Gyroscopes can be used to construct gyrocompasses, which complement or replace magnetic compasses, a gyroscope is a wheel mounted in two or three gimbals, which are a pivoted supports that allow the rotation of the wheel about a single axis. In the case of a gyroscope with two gimbals, the gimbal, which is the gyroscope frame, is mounted so as to pivot about an axis in its own plane determined by the support. This outer gimbal possesses one degree of freedom and its axis possesses none. The inner gimbal is mounted in the frame so as to pivot about an axis in its own plane that is always perpendicular to the pivotal axis of the gyroscope frame. This inner gimbal has two degrees of rotational freedom, the axle of the spinning wheel defines the spin axis. The rotor is constrained to spin about an axis, which is perpendicular to the axis of the inner gimbal. So the rotor possesses three degrees of freedom and its axis possesses two. The wheel responds to a force applied to the axis by a reaction force to the output axis. The behaviour of a gyroscope can be most easily appreciated by consideration of the front wheel of a bicycle. If the wheel is leaned away from the vertical so that the top of the moves to the left. In other words, rotation on one axis of the turning wheel produces rotation of the third axis, a gyroscope flywheel will roll or resist about the output axis depending upon whether the output gimbals are of a free or fixed configuration. Examples of some free-output-gimbal devices would be the attitude reference gyroscopes used to sense or measure the pitch, roll, the centre of gravity of the rotor can be in a fixed position. Some gyroscopes have mechanical equivalents substituted for one or more of the elements, for example, the spinning rotor may be suspended in a fluid, instead of being pivotally mounted in gimbals. In some special cases, the outer gimbal may be omitted so that the rotor has two degrees of freedom. Essentially, a gyroscope is a top combined with a pair of gimbals, Tops were invented in many different civilizations, including classical Greece, Rome, and China
34.
Center of mass
–
The distribution of mass is balanced around the center of mass and the average of the weighted position coordinates of the distributed mass defines its coordinates. Calculations in mechanics are simplified when formulated with respect to the center of mass. It is a point where entire mass of an object may be assumed to be concentrated to visualise its motion. In other words, the center of mass is the equivalent of a given object for application of Newtons laws of motion. In the case of a rigid body, the center of mass is fixed in relation to the body. The center of mass may be located outside the body, as is sometimes the case for hollow or open-shaped objects. In the case of a distribution of separate bodies, such as the planets of the Solar System, in orbital mechanics, the equations of motion of planets are formulated as point masses located at the centers of mass. The center of mass frame is a frame in which the center of mass of a system is at rest with respect to the origin of the coordinate system. The concept of center of mass in the form of the center of gravity was first introduced by the ancient Greek physicist, mathematician, and engineer Archimedes of Syracuse. He worked with simplified assumptions about gravity that amount to a uniform field, in work on floating bodies he demonstrated that the orientation of a floating object is the one that makes its center of mass as low as possible. He developed mathematical techniques for finding the centers of mass of objects of uniform density of various well-defined shapes, Newtons second law is reformulated with respect to the center of mass in Eulers first law. The center of mass is the point at the center of a distribution of mass in space that has the property that the weighted position vectors relative to this point sum to zero. In analogy to statistics, the center of mass is the location of a distribution of mass in space. Solving this equation for R yields the formula R =1 M ∑ i =1 n m i r i, solve this equation for the coordinates R to obtain R =1 M ∭ Q ρ r d V, where M is the total mass in the volume. If a continuous mass distribution has density, which means ρ is constant. The center of mass is not generally the point at which a plane separates the distribution of mass into two equal halves, in analogy with statistics, the median is not the same as the mean. The coordinates R of the center of mass of a system, P1 and P2, with masses m1. The percentages of mass at each point can be viewed as projective coordinates of the point R on this line, another way of interpreting the process here is the mechanical balancing of moments about an arbitrary point
35.
Spin (aerodynamics)
–
A spin is a special category of stall resulting in autorotation about the vertical axis and a shallow, rotating, downward path. Spins can be entered intentionally or unintentionally, from any flight attitude if the aircraft has sufficient yaw while at the stall point, either situation causes the aircraft to autorotate toward the stalled wing due to its higher drag and loss of lift. Spins are characterized by high angle of attack, an airspeed below the stall on at least one wing, recovery may require a specific and counterintuitive set of actions in order to avoid a crash. A spin differs from a dive in which neither wing is stalled. A spiral dive is not a type of spin because neither wing is stalled, in the early years of flight, a spin was frequently referred to as a tailspin. A method used to control a spin before it develops is a maneuver called the falling leaf. Many types of airplane will only spin if the pilot simultaneously yaws, under these circumstances, one wing will stall, or stall more deeply than the other. The wing that stalls first will drop, increasing its angle of attack, at least one wing must be stalled for a spin to occur. The other wing will rise, decreasing its angle of attack, the difference in lift between the two wings causes the aircraft to roll, and the difference in drag causes the aircraft to continue yawing. One common scenario that can lead to a spin is a skidding uncoordinated turn toward the runway during the landing sequence. A pilot who is overshooting the turn to final approach may be tempted to apply more rudder to increase the rate of turn, the result is twofold, the nose of the airplane drops below the horizon and the bank angle increases due to rudder roll. Reacting to these changes, the pilot then begins to pull the elevator control aft while applying opposite aileron to decrease bank angle. Taken to its extreme, this can result in a turn with sufficient angle of attack to cause the aircraft to stall. This is called a stall, and is very dangerous if it happens at low altitude where the pilot has little time to recover. In order to avoid this scenario, pilots are taught the importance of always making coordinated turns and they may simply choose to make the final turn earlier and shallower to prevent an overshoot of the runway center line and provide a larger margin of safety. Certificated, light, single-engine airplanes must meet criteria regarding stall. Spins are often entered intentionally for training, flight testing, or aerobatics, in aircraft that are capable of recovering from a spin, the spin has four phases. Some aircraft are difficult or impossible to recover from a spin, at low altitude spin recovery may also be impossible before impacting terrain, making low and slow aircraft especially vulnerable to spin related accidents
36.
Dunkirk
–
Dunkirk is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It lies 10 kilometres from the Belgian border, the population of the city at the 2012 census was 90,995 inhabitants. The name of Dunkirk derives from West Flemish dun and kerke, nowadays, Dunkirk is the worlds northernmost Francophone city. About 960AD Count Baldwin III had a wall erected, in order to protect the settlement against Viking raids. The surrounding wetlands were drained and cultivated by the monks of nearby Bergues Abbey, the name Dunkirk was first mentioned in a tithe privilege of 27 May 1067, issued by Count Baldwin V of Flanders. Count Philip I brought further large tracts of marshland under cultivation, laid out first plans to build a Canal from Dunkirk to Bergues and vested the Dunkirkers with market rights. However, in the course of the Western Schism from 1378, English supporters of Pope Urban VI disembarked at Dunkirk, captured the city and they were ejected by King Charles VI of France, but left great devastations in and around the town. Upon the extinction of the Counts of Flanders with the death of Louis II in 1384, Flanders was acquired by the Burgundian, the fortifications were again enlarged, including the construction of a belfry daymark. As Maximilian was the son of Emperor Frederick III, all Flanders was immediately seized by King Louis XI of France. However, the defeated the French troops at the 1479 Battle of Guinegate. The area remained disputed between Spain, the United Netherlands, England and France. At the beginning of the Eighty Years War, Dunkirk was briefly in the hands of the Dutch rebels, Spanish forces under Duke Alexander Farnese of Parma re-established Spanish rule in 1583 and it became a base for the notorious Dunkirkers. The Dunkirkers briefly lost their home port when the city was conquered by the French in 1646, in 1658, as a result of the long war between France and Spain, it was captured after a siege by Franco-English forces following the battle of the Dunes. The city along with Fort-Mardyck was awarded to England in the peace the following year as agreed in the Franco-English alliance against Spain and it came under French rule when Charles II of England sold it to France for £320,000 on 17 October 1662. The French government developed the town as a fortified port, the towns existing defences were adapted to create ten bastions. The port was expanded in the 1670s by the construction of a basin that could hold up to thirty warships with a lock system to maintain water levels at low tide. The basin was linked to the sea by a channel dug through coastal sandbanks secured by two jetties and this work was completed by 1678. The jetties were defended a few years later by the construction of five forts, Château dEspérance, Château Vert, Grand Risban, Château Gaillard, an additional fort was built in 1701 called Fort Blanc
37.
Albatros D.V
–
The Albatros D. V was a fighter aircraft used by the Luftstreitkräfte during World War I. The D. V was the development of the Albatros D. I family. Despite its well-known shortcomings and general obsolescence, approximately 900 D. V and 1,612 D. Va aircraft were built before production halted in early 1918, the D. Va continued in operational service until the end of the war. In April 1917, Albatros received an order from the Idflieg for a version of the D. III. The resulting D. V prototype flew later that month, the D. V closely resembled the D. III and used the same 127 kW Mercedes D. IIIa engine. The most notable difference was a new, fully elliptical cross-section fuselage which was 32 kg lighter than the partially flat-sided fuselage of the earlier D. I through D. III designs, the new elliptical cross-section required an additional longeron on each side of the fuselage. The vertical fin and tailplane initially remained unchanged from the D. III, the prototype D. V retained the standard rudder of the Johannisthal-built D. III, but production examples used the enlarged rudder featured on D. IIIs built by Ostdeutsche Albatros Werke. The D. V also featured a larger spinner and ventral fin, compared to the D. III, the upper wing of the D. V was repositioned 4.75 inches closer to the fuselage, while the lower wings attached to the fuselage without a fairing. The D. Vs wings themselves were almost identical to those of the standard D. III, which had adopted a sesquiplane wing arrangement broadly similar to the French Nieuport 11. The only significant difference between wings of the D. III and D. V was a linkage of the aileron cables. Idflieg therefore conducted structural tests on the fuselage, but not the wings, early examples of the D. V featured a large headrest, which was usually removed in service because it interfered with the pilots field of view. The headrest was eventually deleted from production, aircraft deployed in Palestine used two wing radiators, to cope with the warmer climate. Idflieg issued production contracts for 200 D. V aircraft in April 1917, initial production of the D. V was exclusively undertaken by the Johannisthal factory, while the Schneidemühl factory produced the D. III through the remainder of 1917. The D. V entered service in May 1917 and, like the D. III before it, indeed, anecdotal evidence suggests that the D. V was even more prone to wing failures than the D. III. The outboard sections of the wing also suffered failures, requiring additional wire bracing. Furthermore, the D. V offered very little improvement in performance and this caused considerable dismay among frontline pilots, many of whom preferred the older D. III. Manfred von Richthofen was particularly critical of the new aircraft, in a July 1917 letter, he described the D. V as so obsolete and so ridiculously inferior to the English that one cant do anything with this aircraft. British tests of a captured D. V revealed that the aircraft was slow to maneuver, heavy on the controls, Albatros responded with the D. Va, which featured stronger wing spars, heavier wing ribs, and a reinforced fuselage
38.
Allies of World War I
–
The Allies of World War I were the countries that opposed the Central Powers in the First World War. The members of the original Triple Entente of 1907 were the French Republic, the British Empire, Belgium, Serbia, Greece, Montenegro, and Romania were affiliated members of the Entente. The 1920 Treaty of Sèvres defines the Principal Allied Powers as the British Empire, French Republic, Italy, the Allied Powers comprised, together with the Principal Allied Powers, Armenia, Belgium, Greece, Hejaz, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serb-Croat-Slovene state and Czechoslovakia. The U. S. declaration of war on Germany, on 6th April 1917 was on the grounds that Germany had violated its neutrality by attacking international shipping and it declared war on Austria-Hungary in December 1917. The U. S. entered the war as a power, rather than as a formal ally of France. Although the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria severed relations with the United States, the Dominion governments did control recruiting, and removed personnel from front-line duties as they saw fit. From early 1917, the War Cabinet was superseded by the Imperial War Cabinet, in April 1918, operational control of all Entente forces on the Western Front passed to the new supreme commander, Ferdinand Foch of France. The Austrian Empire followed with an attack on the Serbian ally Montenegro on 8 August, on the Western Front, the two neutral States of Belgium and Luxembourg were immediately occupied by German troops as part of the German Schlieffen Plan. On 23 August Japan joined the Entente, which then counted seven members, the entrance of the British Empire brought Nepal into the war. In 1916, Montenegro capitulated and left the Entente, and two nations joined, Portugal and Romania, on 6 April 1917, the United States entered the war. Liberia, Siam and Greece also became allies and this was followed by Romanian cessation of hostilities, however the Balkan State declared war on Central Powers again on 10 November 1918. In response to the Germans invasion of neutral Belgium, the United Kingdom declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914, gibraltar, Cyprus and Malta were British dependencies in Europe. The UK held several colonies, protectorates, and semi-autonomous dependencies at the time of World War I, in Eastern Africa the East Africa Protectorate, Nyasaland, both Northern and Southern Rhodesia, the Uganda Protectorate, were involved in conflict with German forces in German East Africa. In Western Africa, the colonies of Gold Coast and Nigeria were involved in actions against German forces from Togoland. In Southwestern Africa, the dominion of South Africa was involved in military actions against German forces in German South-West Africa. Canada and Newfoundland were two autonomous dominions during the war that made major contributions to the British war effort. Other British dependent territories in the Americas included, British Honduras, the Falkland Islands, British Guiana, and Jamaica. The UK held large possessions in Asia, including the Indian Empire which was an assortment of British imperial authorities in the territory now defined as India, Bangladesh, Burma, australia and New Zealand were two autonomous dominions of the UK in Oceania during the war
39.
Headstone
–
A headstone, tombstone, or gravestone is a stele or marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. They are traditional for burials in the Christian, Jewish and Muslim religions, in many parts of Europe insetting a photograph of the deceased in a frame is very common. The stele, as it is called in a context, is one of the oldest forms of funerary art. Originally, a tombstone was the lid of a stone coffin, or the coffin itself. Now all three terms are used for markers placed at the head of the grave. Some graves in the 18th century also contained footstones to demarcate the end of the grave. This sometimes developed into full kerb sets that marked the perimeter of the grave. Footstones were rarely annotated with more than the initials and year of death. Many cemeteries and churchyards have removed those extra stones to ease grass cutting by machine mower, note that in some UK cemeteries the principal, and indeed only, marker is placed at the foot of the grave. Owing to soil movement and Downhill creep on gentle slopes, older headstones and footstones can often be tilted at an angle. Over time, this movement can result in the stones being sited several metres away from their original location, graves, and any related memorials are a focus for mourning and remembrance. The names of relatives are often added to a gravestone over the years, since gravestones and a plot in a cemetery or churchyard cost money, they are also a symbol of wealth or prominence in a community. Some gravestones were even commissioned and erected to their own memory by people who were living, as a testament to their wealth. In a Christian context, the wealthy often erected elaborate memorials within churches rather than having simply external gravestones. Crematoria frequently offer similar alternatives to families who do not have a grave to mark, carved or cast commemorative plaques inside the crematorium for example may serve this purpose. A cemetery may follow national codes of practice or independently prescribe the size and use of certain materials, some may limit the placing of a wooden memorial to six months after burial, after which a more permanent memorial must be placed. Others may require stones of a shape or position to facilitate grass-cutting. Headstones of granite, marble and other kinds of stone are usually created, installed, restoration is a specialized job for a monumental mason
40.
Victoria Cross
–
The Victoria Cross is the highest award of the United Kingdom honours system. It is awarded for gallantry in the face of the enemy to members of the British armed forces and it was previously awarded to Commonwealth countries, most of which have established their own honours systems and no longer recommend British honours. It may be awarded to a person of any rank in any service. Since the first awards were presented by Queen Victoria in 1857 and these investitures are usually held at Buckingham Palace. The VC was introduced on 29 January 1856 by Queen Victoria to honour acts of valour during the Crimean War, since then, the medal has been awarded 1,358 times to 1,355 individual recipients. Only 15 medals,11 to members of the British Army, the traditional explanation of the source of the metal from which the medals are struck is that it derives from Russian cannon captured at the Siege of Sevastopol. Some research has suggested a variety of origins for the material, research has established that the metal for most of the medals made since December 1914 came from two Chinese cannons that were captured from the Russians in 1855. Owing to its rarity, the VC is highly prized and the medal has fetched over £400,000 at auction, a number of public and private collections are devoted to the Victoria Cross. The private collection of Lord Ashcroft, amassed since 1986, contains over one-tenth of all VCs awarded, following a 2008 donation to the Imperial War Museum, the Ashcroft collection went on public display alongside the museums Victoria and George Cross collection in November 2010. These are unique awards of honours system, recommended, assessed, gazetted and presented by each country. In 1854, after 39 years of peace, Britain found itself fighting a war against Russia. The Crimean War was one of the first wars with modern reporting, before the Crimean War, there was no official standardised system for recognition of gallantry within the British armed forces. This structure was limited, in practice awards of the Order of the Bath were confined to officers of field rank. Brevet promotions or Mentions in Despatches were largely confined to those who were under the notice of the commanders in the field. Other European countries had awards that did not discriminate against class or rank, France awarded the Légion dhonneur and The Netherlands gave the Order of William. There was a feeling among the public and in the Royal Court that a new award was needed to recognise incidents of gallantry that were unconnected with a mans lengthy or meritorious service. Queen Victoria issued a Warrant under the Royal sign-manual on 29 January 1856 that officially constituted the VC, the order was backdated to 1854 to recognise acts of valour during the Crimean War. Queen Victoria had instructed the War Office to strike a new medal that would not recognise birth or class, the medal was meant to be a simple decoration that would be highly prized and eagerly sought after by those in the military services
41.
Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5
–
The Royal Aircraft Factory S. E.5 was a British biplane fighter aircraft of the First World War. It was developed by the Royal Aircraft Factory by a team consisting of Henry Folland, John Kenworthy and it was one of the fastest aircraft of the war, while being both stable and relatively manoeuvrable. According to aviation author Robert Jackson, the S. E.5 was, the S. E. E. 5s until well into 1918. Thus, while the first examples had reached the Western Front before Camel, together with the Camel, the S. E. The S. E. 5s remained in RAF service for some following the Armistice that ended the conflict. Quantities of ex-RAF aircraft were transferred to overseas military operators. The S. E.5 was designed by Henry Folland, John Kenworthy and it was built around the new 150 hp Hispano-Suiza 8 a V8 engine that, while providing excellent performance, was initially underdeveloped and unreliable. The first of three prototypes flew on 22 November 1916, the first two prototypes were lost in crashes due to a weakness in their wing design. Like the other significant Royal Aircraft Factory aircraft of the war the S. E.5 was inherently stable, making it an excellent gunnery platform, but it was also quite manoeverable. It was one of the fastest aircraft of the war at 138 mph, equal at least in speed to the SPAD S. XIII and faster than any standard German type of the period. While the S. E.5 was not as agile, according to Dodge Bailey, Chief Test Pilot of the Shuttleworth Collection, it had somewhat similar handling characteristics to a de Havilland Tiger Moth, but with better excess power. Only 77 original S. E.5 aircraft had completed prior to production settling upon an improved model. In addition to an order of 38 of Austin-built S. E. E. 5s, reportedly around 1,000 aircraft. A number of aircraft were converted to a two-seat configuration in order to serve as trainer aircraft. The S. E. 5b was a variant of the S. E.5 with a nose and upper and lower wings of different span. The single example, a converted S. E. 5a and it had a spinner on the propeller and a retractable underslung radiator. The S. E. 5b was not a true sesquiplane – as the wing had two spars. Its performance was better than the S. E. 5a – the increased drag from the large upper wing seems to have cancelled out any benefit from the better streamlined nose
42.
SPAD S.XIII
–
The SPAD S. XIII was a French biplane fighter aircraft of World War I, developed by Société Pour LAviation et ses Dérivés from the earlier highly successful SPAD S. VII. It was one of the most capable fighters of the war, the SPAD S. VII was a single-seat fighter aircraft powered by a 150 horsepower Hispano-Suiza 8A water cooled V-8 engine and armed with a single synchronised Vickers machine gun. It demonstrated excellent performance for the time, and entered service with the French Aéronautique Militaire in August 1916, First to fly was the S. XII, armed with a 37 mm cannon firing through the propeller shaft. This saw limited use, but was followed into production by the conventionally armed S. XIII. The S. XIII was of similar layout to the S. VII, i. e. a single engined biplane of wooden construction with fabric covering. It was armed with two Vickers machine guns with 400 rounds per gun, replacing the gun of the earlier aircraft. The powerplant was a geared Hispano-Suiza engine, at first a 8Ba providing 200 hp, the sum of these improvements was a notable improvement in flight and combat performance. While giving the Spad XIII outstanding performance, the engines proved to be unreliable. This significantly and severely affected serviceability, with it being stated in November 1917, even in April 1918, an official report stated that two-thirds of the 200 hp SPADs were out of use at any one time due to engine problems. By the end of the war about one half of the aircraft in US service had been converted, the SPAD S. XIII first flew on 4 April 1917, with deliveries to the French Air Service starting in the next month. The new fighter played an important part in the French plans for its force, being expected to replace the SPAD S. VII. Deliveries were much slower than expected, however, with 764 delivered by the end of March 1918 compared with a planned 2,230, the S. XIII eventually equipped virtually every French fighter squadron,74 Escadrilles using the SPAD during the First World War. Other Allied forces were quick to adopt the new fighter as well, nearly half of the 893 purchased for the United States Army Air Service were still in service in 1920. After the war, it was exported to Japan, Poland. In the United States, some SPAD XIIIs were re-engined with 180 hp Wright-Hispano engines to improve reliability, the S. XIII was flown by famous French fighter pilots such as Georges Guynemer and Rene Fonck, and also by Italian ace Francesco Baracca. Aces of the United States Army Air Service who flew the Spad XIII include Eddie Rickenbacker, argentina Argentine Air Force - Two aircraft. Belgium Groupe de Chasse 10me Escadrille de Chasse Brazil Brazilian Air Force Czechoslovakia Czech Air Force - Postwar, finland Finnish Air Force - One aircraft. Siam Royal Siamese Air Force Kingdom of Spain Spanish Air Force Turkey Turkish Air Force United Kingdom Royal Flying CorpsNo,19 Squadron RFC - One aircraft No.23 Squadron RFC - December 1917—May 1918
43.
William George Barker
–
William George Billy Barker, VC, DSO & Bar, MC & Two Bars was a Canadian First World War fighter ace and Victoria Cross recipient. He is the most decorated serviceman in the history of Canada, born on a family farm in Dauphin, Manitoba, Will Barker grew up on the frontier of the Great Plains, riding horses, shooting, and working as a youngster on his fathers farm and sawmill. He was a shot, using a lever-action Winchester that he had modified with his own peep sight. He was particularly adept at shooting on the move, even while on horseback, one biographer has suggested that he could have been a trick shooter in a circus. He was physically poised, emotionally intense, with wide-ranging interests, Barker fell in love with aviation after watching pioneer aviators flying Curtiss and Wright Flyer aircraft at farm exhibitions between 1910 and 1914. He was a Boy Scout at Russell, Manitoba, and a member of the 32nd Light Horse and he was in Grade 11 at Dauphin Collegiate Institute in the fall of 1914, just before his enlistment. The regiment went to England in June 1915 and then to France on September 22 of that year. E.2 aircraft and he was commissioned as a second-lieutenant in April and was given five days leave in London to acquire an officers uniform and equipment. On his return, he was assigned to 4 Squadron and on 7 July transferred to 15 Squadron, on 21 July Barker claimed a Roland scout driven down with his observers gun, and in August claimed a second Roland, this time in flames. He was Mentioned in Despatches around this time and he officially qualified as an Observer on 27 August and on 15 September he worked for the first time with Canadian troops, including his old regiment. On 15 November, Barker and his pilot, flying low over the Ancre River. The crew sent an emergency Zone Call which brought to all available artillery fire in the area onto the specified target. The force of some 4,000 German infantry was broken up. He was awarded the Military Cross for this action in the stages of the Battle of the Somme. In January 1917, after spending Christmas on leave in London, he commenced training at Netheravon. On 24 February 1917 he returned to serve a tour on Corps Co-operation machines as a pilot flying B. E. 2s. On 25 March, Barker claimed another scout driven down, on 25 April 1917 during the Arras Offensive, Barker, flying an R. E.8 with observer Lt. Goodfellow, spotted over 1,000 German troops sheltering in support trenches. The duo directed artillery fire into the positions, thereby avoiding a counter-attack, after being awarded a bar to his MC in July, Barker was wounded in the head by anti-aircraft fire in August 1917. He chose command of C Flight in the newly formed 28 Squadron, the unit moved to France on 8 October 1917 and Barker downed an Albatros D. V on his first patrol, though he did not claim it as the patrol was unofficial
44.
United Kingdom military aircraft serials
–
United Kingdom military aircraft serials refers to the serial numbers used to identify individual military aircraft in the United Kingdom. All UK military aircraft are allocated and display a serial number. A unified serial number system, maintained by the Air Ministry, Military aircraft operated by government agencies and civilian contractors are also assigned serials from this system. When the Royal Flying Corps was formed in 1912 aircraft were identified by a system related to the manufacturer. The prefix A was allocated to balloons of No.1 Company, Air Battalion, Royal Engineers, the prefix B to aeroplanes of No.2 Company, and the prefix F to aeroplanes of the Central Flying School. The Naval Wing used the prefix H for seaplanes, M for monoplanes, before the end of the first year a unified serial number system was introduced for both Army and Naval aircraft. The serials are allocated when the contract is placed with the manufacturer or supplier and this first series ran from 1 to 10000 with blocks allocated to each service. The first serial was allocated to a Short S.34 for the Royal Naval Air Service, by 1916 the first sequence had reached 10000 and it was decided to start an alpha-numeric system from A1 to A9999 then starting again at B1. The letters A, B, C, D, E, F, H, when the sequence reached the prefix K it was decided to start at K1000 for all subsequent letters instead of K1. Although the N and S series had earlier used by RNAS aircraft. The Naval S sequence had reached only S1865, a Fairey IIIF, but when R9999 was reached in 1939, the next serial allocations did not run on from that point, but instead commenced at T1000. From 1937 not all aircraft serials were allocated, in order to hide the number of aircraft in production. Gaps in the number sequence were sometimes referred to as blackout blocks. By 1940 the serial Z9978 had been allocated to a Bristol Blenheim and it was decided to restart the sequence with a two-letter prefix and this sequence is still in use today. Until the 1990s this 2-letter, 3-numeral serial number sequence, had numbers in the range 100 to 999, an exception to this rule was Douglas Skyraider AEW1 which received the UK serial WT097, which incorporated the last 3 digits of its US Navy Bureau Number 124097. Recently, past unassigned serials, including those having numerals 001-099, have been assigned, as of 2009, serial allocations have reached the ZKnnn range. However, in recent years, serials have increasingly been allocated out-of-sequence, for example, the first RAF C-17 Globemaster was given the serial ZZ171 in 2001, and a batch of Britten-Norman Defenders for the AAC were given serials in the ZGnnn range in 2003. Also, some recent serials allocations have had a part in the previously-unused 001 to 099 range
45.
RAF Eastchurch
–
RAF Eastchurch was a Royal Air Force station near Eastchurch village, on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, England. The history of aviation at Eastchurch stretches back to the first decade of the 20th century when it was used as an airfield by members of the Royal Aero Club, the area saw the first flight by a British pilot in Britain. In 1910 it was offered to the Royal Navy as an aerodrome and it was known as the Naval Flying School. It was also in the 1910s the airfield was designated Royal Naval Air Station Eastchurch, the members of the Aero Club of Great Britain established their first flying ground near Leysdown on the Isle of Sheppey in 1909. One of the Clubs members, Francis McClean, acquired Stonepits Farm, on the marshes across from Leysdown, a club house was established nearby at the Mussell Manor. At the same time the Short Brothers established a factory at Shellbeach on Isle of Sheppey. This was the first aircraft factory in the British Isles and the first factory in the world for the production of aircraft. It was here that John Moore-Brabazon made a flight of 500 yards in his Voisin biplane The Bird of Passage, later in 1909, Moore-Brabazon piloted the first live cargo flight by fixed-wing aircraft. In order to disprove the adage that pigs cant fly he attached a waste-paper basket to a wing strut of his aircraft, later Moore-Brabazon, Professor Huntington, Charles Rolls and Cecil Grace all used the flying clubs services. In May 1909 the Wright Brothers visited Sheppey and inspected the airfield before moving on to visit the Short Brothers factory and they then took lunch at Mussell Manor with members of the Aero Club and there was considerable discussion regarding the possibility of establishing a flying school in Sheppey. In 1911 Shorts built one of the first successful twin-engine aircraft, at this time seaplanes had to be taken by barge to Queenborough on the Isle of Sheppey to be launched and tested. Two hundred applications were received, and four were accepted, Lieutenants C. R. Samson, longmore and A. Gregory, and Captain E L Gerrard, RMLI. It was originally planned that Cecil Grace would be their instructor but, following his death, George Cockburn took his place. Technical instruction was provided by Horace Short, the airfield later became the Naval Flying School, Eastchurch. Towards the end of World War I, on 1 April 1918, the Royal Naval Air Service, the station at Eastchurch was transferred to the newly formed Royal Air Force and was re-designated Royal Air Force Station Eastchurch, or RAF Eastchurch for short. During the last few months of the War, No.204 Training Depot Station, the 64th Wing, RAF Eastchurch remained active during the inter-war years and it was home to No.266 Squadron during the Battle of Britain. During World War II, Eastchurch was part of Coastal Command, a siding was laid to connect RAF Eastchurch with Eastchurch railway station on the Sheppey Light Railway. The site is used as HM Prison Standford Hill
46.
RAF Manston
–
RAF Manston was an RAF station in the north-east of Kent, at grid reference TR334663 on the Isle of Thanet from 1916 until 1996. In the winter of 1915-1916 these early aircraft first began to use the open farmlands at Manston as a site for emergency landings, thus was soon established the Admiralty Aerodrome at Manston. By 1917 the Royal Flying Corps was well established and taking a part in the defence of England. The German air raids had lasted for thirteen weeks, the last being on 22 August 1917, shortly after such formation raids and in consequence the Cabinet recommended the creation of a separate Air Ministry. The RAF was officially formed on 1 April 1918, at the start of the Second World War, Manston hosted a School of Air Navigation but this was quickly moved out. On 10 September 1939, No.3 Squadron flew in equipped with Hawker Hurricanes, during an eventful Battle of Britain, Manston was heavily bombed, at its height, diary entries recorded a steady stream of damage to aircraft and buildings. The station was also littered with unexploded bombs and this caused many staff to move to nearby woods for at least a week. Others were dispersed to surrounding housing, for example, WAAFs stationed at Manston were billeted at the nearby Ursuline Convent in Westgate on Sea. Barnes Wallis used the base to test his bouncing bomb on the coast at nearby Reculver prior to the Dambusters raid, a prototype is on public display at the Spitfire & Hurricane Museum. Hawker Typhoon attack aircraft were based there later in the war and it was used as a departure point for airborne forces in Operation Market Garden. It was one of the few airfields installed with the Fog Investigation Dispersal Organisation system designed to remove fog from airfields by burning it off with petrol, along with RAF Carnaby and RAF Woodbridge, Manston was developed as a South coast emergency landing ground for bomber crews. These airfields were intended for use by returning bombers suffering from low-fuel and/or suspected damage to their pneumatic and/or hydraulic systems, all three airfields were equipped with a single runway,9,000 ft long and 750 ft wide. There was a clear area of 1,500 ft at each end of the runway. At each of the three airfields, the runway was divided into three 250 ft lanes, the northern and central lanes were allocated by flying control, while the southern lane was the emergency lane on which any aircraft could land without first making contact with the airfield. The hilltop site was chosen as it was usually fog-free and had no approach obstructions, the museums on site display some startling aerial views dating from this era and the post-war years. After the war, the runway was reconfigured, becoming 200 feet wide with a parallel taxiway. During the Cold War of the 1950s the United States Air Force used RAF Manston as a Strategic Air Command base for its bomber, fighter and fighter-bomber units, in the early 1950s, SACs backbone bombers were the Convair B-36 and Boeing B-47 Stratojet. To support this strategy, the SAC 7th Air Division was established in May 1951, at the time, Manston had only partially recovered from the ravages of the Second World War
47.
German strategic bombing during World War I
–
The best-known German strategic bombing campaign during World War I was the campaign against England, although strategic bombing raids were carried out or attempted on other fronts. The main campaign against England started in January 1915 using airships, from then until the end of World War I the German Navy and Army Luftstreitkräfte mounted over 50 bombing raids on the United Kingdom. Weather conditions and night flying conditions made airship navigation and maintaining bombing accuracy difficult, bombs were often dropped miles off target and accurate targeting of military installations was impossible. The civilian casualties made the Zeppelins an object of hatred, with the development of effective defensive measures the airship raids became increasingly hazardous, and in 1917 the airships were largely replaced by aeroplanes. The defence organisation developed by the British was an important precursor of the direction system that would prove vital in winning the Battle of Britain. The raids were also influential because they led to an overestimation of both the material and psychological effects of the bombing of cities, airships made about 51 bombing raids on England during the war. These killed 557 and injured another 1,358 people, more than 5,000 bombs were dropped on towns across Britain, causing £1.5 million in damage. 84 airships took part, of which 30 were either shot down or lost in accidents. Aeroplanes carried out 27 raids, dropping 246,774 lb of bombs for the loss of 62 aircraft, resulting in casualties of 835 dead,1,972 injured. On 6 August 1914 the German Army Zeppelin Z VI bombed the Belgian city of Liège and this was followed by night raids on Antwerp on 25 August and 2 September. In the first month of the war Germany formed the Ostend Carrier Pigeon Detachment, during the opening months of the war a German pilot flying a Taube regularly dropped bombs on Paris. The first raid consisted of five bombs and a note demanding the immediate surrender of Paris. Before the stabilisation of the Western Front, German aircraft made a number of raids on Paris, the first German bombing raids on England were nuisance raids carried out against Channel ports. German press reports mention a raid carried out on 27 October, the first confirmed raid occurred on 21 December, when a Friedrichshafen FF.29 dropped two bombs into the sea near the Admiralty Pier in Dover. These raids, usually carried out by one or two aircraft during daytime, continued throughout the war, with little effect, proposals to bomb Britain were first made by Paul Behncke, deputy chief of the German Naval Staff, in August 1914. The campaign was approved by the Kaiser on 7 January 1915, following an attempt on 13 January 1915 which was abandoned because of the weather, the first successful raid took place on the night of 19–20 January 1915. Two Zeppelins targeted Humberside but were diverted by strong winds, and dropped their bombs on Great Yarmouth, Sheringham, Kings Lynn, four people were killed and 16 injured. Monetary damage was estimated at £7,740, an Imperial Order dated 12 February authorised the bombing of Londons docks, which was interpreted by the German General Staff as permitting bombing targets east of Charing Cross
48.
Gotha G.IV
–
The Gotha G. IV was a heavy bomber used by the Luftstreitkräfte during World War I. Experience with the earlier G. III showed that the gunner could not efficiently operate both the dorsal and ventral positions. The Gotha tunnel allowed the gun to fire through the fuselage at targets below. The fuselage was skinned in plywood, eliminating the partial fabric covering of the G. III. Although it was not the reason for this modification, it was noted at the time that the plywood skinning enabled the fuselage to float for some time in the event of a water landing. Furthermore, complaints of poor control, particularly on landing. In November 1916, the Gothaer Waggonfabrik received an order for 35 aircraft. A further 80 aircraft were ordered from the Siemens-Schuckert Werke and 100 from Luft-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft, compared to the Gothaer aircraft, these license-built aircraft were slightly heavier and slower because Idflieg specified the use of a strengthened airframe. None of these modifications had been evaluated by the end of the war. Late-production SSW G. IVs also usually incorporated the Stossfahrgestell auxiliary nosewheels, responding to a different performance issue, LVG overcame the tail heaviness of its machines by increasing the sweepback of the wings. Late production by SSW and LVG became obsolete, hence many aircraft were finished as trainers with lower performance engines, the SSW-built trainers relocated the fuel tanks from the engine nacelles to within the fuselage, as on the G. V. This was delayed when practice missions revealed faulty engine bearings that had to be replaced, additionally, it was discovered that the design of the fuel system prevented the main tanks from being completely utilised, and this problem had to be addressed as well. Around 30 LVG-built G. IVs were fitted with Hiero engines and 8 mm Schwarzlose machine guns for Austro-Hungarian service, another one was experimentally fitted with a 20 mm Becker cannon for ground attack. Gothas were used in German strategic bombing during World War I, all surviving Gotha aircraft were destroyed in accordance with the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. The sole known exception was one Gotha G. IV in Polish possession, the aircraft was repaired only to crash on the first test flight two months later in Soesterberg. Written off from register 1919, Dutch number LA-50 and G-700, Poland Polish Air Force The single operational G. IV was captured by Polish forces during the Greater Poland Uprising in 1919. Once repaired, the joined the 21. Eskadra Niszczycielska on April 30,1920, after brief operational use in the Polish–Soviet War between 20 May and 2 August 1920, the aircraft was damaged on 31 August 1920 and withdrawn from service
_(12243203404).jpg)
.jpg)
Media related to Sopwith Camel museum aircraft at Wikimedia Commons
