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803 Naval Air Squadron
803 Naval Air Squadron was a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm squadron. History Interwar 803 NAS was formed on 3 April 1933 by promoting No 409 (Fleet Fighter) Flight to the status of a squadron, with nine Ospreys. In the same month it embarked on for the Far East, where it remained (transferring to in January 1935) until disbandment on 1 October 1937. 803 Squadron was re-formed on 21 November 1938 at RNAS Worthy Down out of 'B' Flight of No 800 Squadron. Equipped with six Ospreys and three Nimrods, then (from December 1938) six Skuas and three Nimrods, the squadron embarked in in April 1938 as an RAF squadron but was transferred to Admiralty control on 24 May 1939. World War II At the outbreak of World War II, the Skuas and Rocs which formed 803 Squadron were embarked on . Operating out of Scapa Flow, the squadron carried out anti-submarine patrols in the Northwestern Approaches (losing two Skuas in an attack on on 14 September 1939 and defending ) and regular patrols off No ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against France. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century; the oldest of the UK's armed services, it is consequently known as the Senior Service. From the middle decades of the 17th century, and through the 18th century, the Royal Navy vied with the Dutch Navy and later with the French Navy for maritime supremacy. From the mid 18th century, it was the world's most powerful navy until the Second World War. The Royal Navy played a key part in establishing and defending the British Empire, and four Imperial fortress colonies and a string of imperial bases and coaling stations secured the Royal Navy's ability to assert naval superiority globally. Owing to this historical prominence, it is common, even among non-Britons, to ref ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Cape Matapan
The Battle of Cape Matapan ( el, Ναυμαχία του Ταινάρου) was a naval battle during the Second World War between the Allies, represented by the navies of the United Kingdom and Australia, and the Royal Italian navy, from 27 to 29 March 1941. Cape Matapan is on the south-western coast of the Peloponnesian Peninsula of Greece. After the interception and decryption of Italian signals by the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park (the decrypted intelligence codenamed Ultra), ships of the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy, under the command of Royal Navy Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham, intercepted and sank or severely damaged several ships of the Italian ''Regia Marina'' under Squadron-Vice-Admiral Angelo Iachino. The opening actions of the battle are also known in Italy as the Battle of Gaudo. Background In late March 1941, as British ships of the Mediterranean Fleet covered troop movements to Greece, Mavis Batey, a cryptanalyst at Ble ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tanga, Tanzania
Tanga is both the name of the most northerly port city of Tanzania on the west of the Indian Ocean, and the capital of Tanga Region. It had a population of 273,332 in 2012. The name ''Tanga'' means "sail" in Swahili. The city of Tanga sits on the Indian Ocean, and is the capital of Tanga Region. The city is also the capital of Tanga District. Economy Major exports from the port of Tanga include sisal, coffee, tea, and cotton. Tanga is also an important railroad terminus, connecting much of the northern Tanzanian interior with the sea via the Tanzania Railways Corporation's Link Line and Central Line. Tanga is linked to the African Great Lakes region and the Tanzanian economic capital of Dar es Salaam. The city is served by Tanga Airport. The harbour and surrounding is the centre of life in Tanga. It has several markets in several neighbourhoods. History Early history The earliest documentation about Tanga comes from the Portuguese. A trading post was established by the Portugu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
806 Squadron FAA
806 Naval Air Squadron (806 NAS) was a fighter squadron in the Fleet Air Arm that existed from February 1940 to December 1960 and saw active service in the Norwegian campaign, the Dunkirk evacuation and the Malta Convoys. History Formation According to one source, 806 Naval Air Squadron was formed at HMS ''Kestrel'' on 1 February 1940 with Lieutenant Commander Charles Evans as the Commanding Officer and Lieutenant Desmond Vincent-Jones as the Senior Observer and using eight Blackburn Skuas and four Blackburn Rocs. However, another source gives the date and location as being 15 February at Eastleigh, possibly referring to HMS ''Raven'' and states that the squadron did not have sufficient crews to operate its aircraft until the next group from the fighter training school had been trained. Norwegian operations 806 NAS then saw its first action when it was moved in the beginning of May to HMS ''Sparrowhawk'' in order to finish working up and to then carry out bombing attacks ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
East Africa
East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical Omani Empire and colonial territories of the British East Africa Protectorate and German East Africa, the term ''East Africa'' is often (especially in the English language) used to specifically refer to the area now comprising the three countries of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. However, this has never been the convention in many other languages, where the term generally had a wider, strictly geographic context and therefore typically included Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia.Somaliland is not included in the United Nations geoscheme, as it is internationally recognized as a part of Somalia. *Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan are members of the East African Community. The firs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Easter Sunday Raid
The Easter Sunday Raid was an air attack on Colombo, Ceylon during the Indian Ocean raid by carrier-based aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Navy on 5 April 1942. The Japanese objective was to destroy the Ceylon-based British Eastern Fleet in harbour. The British preemptively dispersed shipping from the harbours before the attacks due to advance warning from intelligence in March 1942, and air reconnaissance during the raid. The attacking Japanese aircraft were met by fighters of the Royal Air Force's (RAF) 222 Group, commanded by Air Vice-Marshal John D'Albiac, and the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA), and anti-aircraft artillery. Port facilities were damaged, and ships both in harbour and - having dispersed - on the ocean were sunk or damaged. The bulk of the British Eastern Fleet was not found and survived. The raid demonstrated Ceylon's vulnerability; British forces were not prepared to face further Japanese carrier raids. The Eastern Fleet relocated its main base to East ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ceylon
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, and southeast of the Arabian Sea; it is separated from the Indian subcontinent by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait. Sri Lanka shares a maritime border with India and Maldives. Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte is its legislative capital, and Colombo is its largest city and financial centre. Sri Lanka has a population of around 22 million (2020) and is a multinational state, home to diverse cultures, languages, and ethnicities. The Sinhalese are the majority of the nation's population. The Tamils, who are a large minority group, have also played an influential role in the island's history. Other long established groups include the Moors, the Burghers, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Syria–Lebanon Campaign
The Syria–Lebanon campaign, also known as Operation Exporter, was the Allied invasion of Syria and Lebanon (then controlled by Vichy France) in June and July 1941, during the Second World War. The French had ceded autonomy to Syria in September 1936, with the right to maintain armed forces and two airfields in the territory. On 1 April 1941, the Iraqi coup d'état had occurred and Iraq had come under the control of Iraqi nationalists led by Rashid Ali, who appealed for Italian and German support. The Anglo-Iraqi War (2–31 May 1941) led to the overthrow of the Ali regime and the installation of a pro-British government. During this conflict, key Vichy figure Admiral François Darlan had allowed German aircraft to use Vichy airfields in Syria for attacks against the British in Iraq. The British invaded Syria and Lebanon in June, to prevent Nazi Germany from using the Vichy French-controlled Syrian Republic and French Lebanon as bases for attacks on Egypt, during an invasion s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mandatory Palestine
Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 in the region of Palestine under the terms of the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine. During the First World War (1914–1918), an Arab uprising against Ottoman rule and the British Empire's Egyptian Expeditionary Force under General Edmund Allenby drove the Ottoman Turks out of the Levant during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign. The United Kingdom had agreed in the McMahon–Hussein Correspondence that it would honour Arab independence if the Arabs revolted against the Ottoman Turks, but the two sides had different interpretations of this agreement, and in the end, the United Kingdom and France divided the area under the Sykes–Picot Agreementan act of betrayal in the eyes of the Arabs. Further complicating the issue was t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hawker Hurricane
The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by the Supermarine Spitfire during the Battle of Britain in 1940, but the Hurricane inflicted 60 percent of the losses sustained by the Luftwaffe in the campaign, and fought in all the major theatres of the Second World War. The Hurricane originated from discussions between RAF officials and aircraft designer Sir Sydney Camm about a proposed monoplane derivative of the Hawker Fury biplane in the early 1930s. Despite an institutional preference for biplanes and lack of interest by the Air Ministry, Hawker refined their monoplane proposal, incorporating several innovations which became critical to wartime fighter aircraft, including retractable landing gear and the more powerful Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. The Air Ministry ordered Hawker's ''Int ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HMS Grebe
HMS ''Grebe'' was the Royal Navy designation for the prewar Alexandria airport, known as Dekheila, during its use in World War II as a shore base for aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm (FAA). Coordinates are given as also known as LG-34, and renumbered as LG-235. History Originally used as a shore base for aircraft flown ashore from aircraft carriers by the FAA (as HMS ''Nile II'', under the control of ), the airfield was taken over by the Royal Egyptian Air Force on the outbreak of World War II, but remained in use by the FAA. The field was subsequently loaned as a Naval Air Station on 16 September 1940, and commissioned as HMS ''Grebe'', attached to HMS ''Nile'', with a capacity of 72 aircraft. The field became self accounting on 1 April 1941, and acted as a base for all FAA units in Egypt and the Western Desert, as well as a fleet requirements unit. HMS ''Nile'' resumed control on 1 April 1943, retaining the name HMS ''Grebe''. The field was reduced to a care and maintenance ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_Squadron_RAF_Hurricane_pilots_Egypt_WWII_IWM_CM_3362.jpg "Click for more on -> HMS Grebe")