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Archibald Reith Low
Archibald "Archie" Reith Low, MA (Cantab) FRAeS (31 December 1878, in Aberdeen – 21 January 1969) was a British pilot and aeronautics pioneer. He designed the Vickers F.B.5. and Vickers E.F.B.1. According to Mervyn O'Gorman, Low coined the term "drag" to refer to aerodynamic drag. Life Low was one of eight children of his father, a Church of Scotland minister and Jane Stuart Reith, aunt to Lord Reith. He was educated at George Watson's College and Edinburgh University, and at Clare College, Cambridge. Low held the rank of Second Lieutenant in the City of London Imperial Volunteers. He held the rank of Acting Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve attached to the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). When on 1 April 1918, the RNAS was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps to form the Royal Air Force (the world's first independent air force), he held the rank of Major (in the Royal Air Force). He had therefore held a commission in all three services. He wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and has a population estimate of for the city of Aberdeen, and for the local council area making it the United Kingdom's 39th most populous built-up area. The city is northeast of Edinburgh and north of London, and is the northernmost major city in the United Kingdom. Aberdeen has a long, sandy coastline and features an oceanic climate, with cool summers and mild, rainy winters. During the mid-18th to mid-20th centuries, Aberdeen's buildings incorporated locally quarried grey granite, which may sparkle like silver because of its high mica content. Since the discovery of North Sea oil in 1969, Aberdeen has been known as the offshore oil capital of Europe. Based upon the discovery of prehistoric villages around the mouths of the rivers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Major
Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators, major is one rank above captain, and one rank below lieutenant colonel. It is considered the most junior of the field officer ranks. Background Majors are typically assigned as specialised executive or operations officers for battalion-sized units of 300 to 1,200 soldiers while in some nations, like Germany, majors are often in command of a company. When used in hyphenated or combined fashion, the term can also imply seniority at other levels of rank, including ''general-major'' or ''major general'', denoting a low-level general officer, and ''sergeant major'', denoting the most senior non-commissioned officer (NCO) of a military unit. The term ''major'' can also be used with a hyphen to denote the leader of a military band such as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. A radar system consists of a transmitter producing electromagnetic waves in the radio or microwaves domain, a transmitting antenna, a receiving antenna (often the same antenna is used for transmitting and receiving) and a receiver and processor to determine properties of the objects. Radio waves (pulsed or continuous) from the transmitter reflect off the objects and return to the receiver, giving information about the objects' locations and speeds. Radar was developed secretly for military use by several countries in the period before and during World War II. A key development was the cavity magnetron in the United Kingdom, which allowed the creation of relatively small systems with sub-meter resolution. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orfordness Beacon
The Orfordness Rotating Wireless Beacon, known simply as the Orfordness Beacon or sometimes the Black Beacon, was an early radio navigation system introduced by the United Kingdom in July 1929. It allowed the angle to the station to be measured from any aircraft or ship with a conventional radio receiver, and was accurate to about a degree. A second station operating on the same principle was set up to provide wider area coverage and allow two-bearing fixes between Orford Ness and Farnborough Airport. The system was similar to the earlier German Telefunken Kompass Sender and the later Sonne system. Description Background In navigation, the determination of a " fix" requires two measurements to be taken. Using classical triangulation techniques, this was normally the measurement of two angles, or '' bearings'', along the line-of-sight to prominent landmarks, like a lighthouse. After taking the two measurements, lines of position are drawn radiating from the landmark along the re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Air Ministry
The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State for Air. Organisations before the Air Ministry The Air Committee On 13 April 1912, less than two weeks after the creation of the Royal Flying Corps (which initially consisted of both a naval and a military wing), an Air Committee was established to act as an intermediary between the Admiralty and the War Office in matters relating to aviation. The new Air Committee was composed of representatives of the two war ministries, and although it could make recommendations, it lacked executive authority. The recommendations of the Air Committee had to be ratified by the Admiralty Board and the Imperial General Staff and, in consequence, the Committee was not particularly effective. The increasing separation of army and naval aviation from 191 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duncan Pitcher
Air Commodore Duncan le Geyt Pitcher, (31 August 1877 – 1 September 1944) was an infantry and cavalry officer in the British Indian Army. During the First World War he served in the Royal Flying Corps and in his later years became a senior commander in the Royal Air Force. Early years Pitcher was born in Naini Tal in Uttarakhand (then called the East Indies), the son of Major Duncan Pitcher and his wife Rose. 1881 Census of Hendon, RG11/1367, Folio 91, Page 58, Duncan L G Pitcher, Age: 3, Where born: Naini Tal, East Indies, Address: 8 Edgware Road, Rockhall Terrace, Hendon, Middlesex. His father was on active service with the Bengal Staff Corps of the British Indian Army. At the time of the 1881 Census the family are living in Hendon, North London. In the 1891 Census Pitcher is a 13-year-old scholar at the Sedbergh School in Yorkshire. 1881 Census of Sedbergh, RG12/3489, Folio 25, Page 5, Duncan Leuguy Pitcher, Age: 13, Where born: Lucknow, India, Address: School House Towers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Longmore
Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Murray Longmore, (8 October 1885 – 10 December 1970) was an early naval aviator, before reaching high rank in the Royal Air Force. He was Commander-in-Chief of the RAF's Middle East Command from 1940 to 1941. Early life Born in Manly, New South Wales, the son of Charles Croker Longmore and Janet Murray, he was educated at Benges School, Hertford, and Foster's Academy, Stubbington, before entering Dartmouth Naval College. He was commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1904. Having developed an interest in flying, he volunteered for pilot training when the Navy accepted an offer of training facilities by the Royal Aero Club, and was one of the four officers to be selected. He obtained flying certificate No.72 in April 1911 at an RAeC meeting that also awarded licences to the pioneer naval aviators C. R. Samson and Wilfred Parke. That year, assisted by Oswald Short of Short Brothers, he devised a way of mounting streamlined air bags on the undercarriag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Port Victoria Marine Experimental Aircraft Depot
The British Royal Naval Air Service established an R.N. Aeroplane Repair Depot on the Isle of Grain on the River Medway Estuary in Kent in early 1915. As there was already a RNAS seaplane base on the Isle of Grain, the Depot was named Port Victoria, after the nearby railway station. It became the Marine Aircraft Experimental Depot,Bruce in ''Flight'', 29 November 1957, p.846. comprising 3 sections: *Experimental Construction Depot *Seaplane Test Depot *Experimental Armament Section It was renamed ''Marine and Armament Experimental Establishment'' on 16 March 1920 in recognition of the fact that weapons and other equipment were evaluated as well as complete aircraft. It was renamed again on 1 March 1924 to the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment and eventually moved to Felixstowe. While at Port Victoria it designed a range of experimental aircraft, not all of which were constructed and flown. Port Victoria aircraft types * P.V.1 * P.V.2 * P.V.3 - Design only, not produced ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
East Indies And Egypt Seaplane Squadron
The East Indies and Egypt Seaplane Squadron was a formation of seaplane carriers of the British Royal Navy. It was the Royal Navy's first carrier squadron from 1916 to 1918. History The East Indies and Egypt Seaplane Squadron was formed in January 1916 consisting of the seaplane carriers , HMS ''Empress'', and HMS ''Anne'', it was placed the command of Cecil L'Estrange Malone. The squadron, based at Port Said, was under the overall control of the Commander-in-Chief, East Indies and its primary responsibilities were to air-patrol Turkish troop positions including all movements in southern Palestine and the Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai (now usually ) (, , cop, Ⲥⲓⲛⲁ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a l .... The squadron was disbanded in 1918. Officer commanding Included: References Footnotes Sources * Archi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HMS Ben-my-Chree
HMS ''Ben-my-Chree'' (Manx language, Manx: "Woman of My Heart"Dotan, p. 133) was a Packet (sea transport), packet steamer and a Royal Navy (RN) seaplane carrier of the First World War. She was originally built in 1907 by Vickers for the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company and was intended for use on the England–Isle of Man route. She was the third vessel to bear her name. To this day ''Ben-my-Chree'' holds the crossing speed record from Liverpool to Douglas, Isle of Man, Douglas for a steamship at under three hours.Caruana, ''et al''., p. 297 She was chartered by the RN at the beginning of 1915 and participated in several abortive attacks on Germany in May. The ship was transferred to the Dardanelles in June to support the Gallipoli Campaign. One of her aircraft made the first ship-launched aerial torpedo attack on a ship in August.Caruana, ''et al''., p. 298 After Gallipoli was evacuated at the end of the year, ''Ben-my-Chree'' became flagship of the East Indies and Egypt Seap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HMS Engadine (1911)
HMS ''Engadine'' was a seaplane tender which served in the Royal Navy (RN) during the First World War. Converted from the cross-Channel packet ship SS ''Engadine'', she was initially fitted with temporary hangars for three seaplanes for aerial reconnaissance and bombing missions in the North Sea. She participated in the Cuxhaven Raid in late 1914 before she began a more thorough conversion in 1915 that increased her capacity to four aircraft. ''Engadine'' was transferred to the Battle Cruiser Fleet in late 1915 and participated in the Battle of Jutland in 1916 when one of her aircraft flew the first heavier-than-air reconnaissance mission during a naval battle. She was transferred to the Mediterranean in 1918. She was sold back to her original owners in 1919 and resumed her prewar role. ''Engadine'' was sold in 1933 to a Philippine company and renamed SS ''Corregidor''. She was sunk with heavy loss of life by a mine in December 1941 during the invasion of the Philippines at th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vickers F
Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in 1867, acquired more businesses, and began branching out into military hardware and shipbuilding. In 1911, the company expanded into aircraft manufacture and opened a flying school. They expanded even further into electrical and railway manufacturing, and in 1928 acquired an interest in the Supermarine. Beginning in the 1960s, various parts of the company were nationalised, and in 1999 the rest of the company was acquired by Rolls-Royce plc, who sold the defence arm to Alvis plc. The Vickers name lived on in Alvis Vickers, until the latter was acquired by BAE Systems in 2004 to form BAE Systems Land Systems. History Early history Vickers was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law George Naylor in 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
