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Geoffrey H. Stephenson
Geoffrey Leonard Huson Stephenson (27 June 1911 – 29 January 2002) was a radar engineer who developed Counter-battery radar, weapon-locating radar and was the first person the cross the English Channel unaided in a glider (sailplane), glider. Personal life He was born in Ealing and educated at Ealing Grammar School, the son of William J Stephenson and Hilda M Huson. He was a member of the Quintin Boat Club and competed at the Henley Regatta in the Thames Challenge Cup (1932–1935) and the Grand Challenge Cup in 1936. He was also a keen rock climber, frequently visiting Scotland on his motorcycle. In 1948 he married Beryl Withall (née Simon) (the widow of Latham Carr Withall, a Supermarine Spitfire, Spitfire List of RAF aircrew in the Battle of Britain (V–Z), pilot killed on 12 August 1940) and adopted her two sons (Carr and Peter). Following his retirement, he took up Watercolor painting, water colours joining the Ickenham Art Society. He died of cancer in Ickenham on 29 Janu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Counter-battery Radar
A counter-battery radar (alternatively weapon tracking radar or COBRA) is a radar system that detects artillery projectiles fired by one or more guns, howitzers, mortars or rocket launchers and, from their trajectories, locates the position on the ground of the weapon that fired it. Such radars are a subclass of the wider class of target acquisition radars. Early counter-battery radars were generally used against mortars, whose lofted trajectories were highly symmetrical and allowed easy calculation of the launcher's location. Starting in the 1970s, digital computers with improved calculation capabilities allowed more complex trajectories of long-range artillery to also be determined. Normally, these radars would be attached to friendly artillery units or their support units, allowing them to quickly arrange counter-battery fire. With the aid of modern communications systems, the information from a single radar can be rapidly disseminated over long distances. This allows the ra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Falklands War
The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial dependency, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The conflict began on 2 April, when Argentina invaded and occupied the Falkland Islands, followed by the invasion of South Georgia the next day. On 5 April, the British government dispatched a naval task force to engage the Argentine Navy and Air Force before making an amphibious assault on the islands. The conflict lasted 74 days and ended with an Argentine surrender on 14 June, returning the islands to British control. In total, 649 Argentine military personnel, 255 British military personnel, and three Falkland Islanders were killed during the hostilities. The conflict was a major episode in the protracted dispute over the territories' sovereignt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slingsby Skylark 3
The Slingsby T.43 Skylark 3 was a single seat Open Class sailplane developed from the Skylark 2 with an extended wingspan. It won the 1960 World Gliding Championships. Development The first of Slingsby's Skylark series to go into production was the Skylark 2, a single seat competition sailplane with a span of just under 15 m. Its successor, the Skylark 3 had much in common, but had a span increased to over 18 m and a consequent increase in aspect ratio. It, too went into production and sold in numbers. The Skylark 3 had high, pylon mounted wings with an inner section of parallel chord extending out almost to mid span, followed by an outer section with taper on the trailing edge. Ailerons filled much of the outer sections and airbrakes, operating in pairs above and below the wings, were mounted on the main spar in the inboard section. The structure of the wing, like that of the rest of the aircraft was wooden, built around a main spar and a lighter rear spar and Gaboon p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slingsby Sky
The Slingsby Type 34 Sky is a high performance single seat competition Glider (sailplane), sailplane built in the United Kingdom. It was successful in major events, particularly in the World Gliding Championships of 1952. Design and development The single seat Slingsby Sky resulted from Slingsby's experience at the 1948 International Gliding Contests, where they flew their 15 m span Slingsby T.25 Gull 4, Gull IV. This convinced them that to be competitive against aircraft like the German DFS Weihe, the Gull's successor would need a span of 18 m or more. Consequently, the Sky was aerodynamically identical to the Gull IV apart from span (and hence aspect ratio) and length, though it differed in construction. It dominated the 1952 Contests and was well placed in both 1954 and 1956. The Sky is a wooden aircraft, using the traditional spruce for stressed members and birch ply elsewhere. Its wing has a constant chord inner section over the first 30% of span, then tapers on both ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Hucklow
Great Hucklow (Old English ''Hucca's burial mound'') is a small village and civil parish in the Derbyshire Peak District which nestles under Hucklow Edge between the villages of Tideswell and Bradwell. It has a population of about 100, including Foolow , Grindlow plus Little Hucklow and being measured at 427 in the 2011 Census. In the village, there is a thriving primary school, which is located up a short lane (School Lane), under the edge, and a pub, the Queen Anne. It had a theatre for 40 years, which was run by L. du Garde Peach and the actors and staff were from the local area. The first production (The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare) was in 1927 staged in the Hucklow Holiday Homes. The first set of plays in the New Play House was in 1938, with four one act plays written by Peach. The New Play House was in a converted lead mining building (known locally as cupolas from the lead smelting furnace). The first 200-second hand seats cost 1 shilling and 9 pence each. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
FAI Gliding Commission
The International Gliding Commission (IGC) is the international governing body for the sport of gliding. It is governed by meetings of delegates from national gliding associations. It is one of several Air Sport Commissions (ASC) of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), or "World Air Sports Federation". FAI is the world body for sporting aviation and the certification of world records for aeronautics and astronautics and was founded in 1905. When the IGC was founded in 1932, it was called CIVV (Commission Internationale de Vol à Voile) and has also been called CVSM (Commission de Vol Sans Moteur). It is the FAI commission responsible for the international competitions, records and badges that apply to gliders and motor gliders. The term "sailplanes" is sometimes used. Hang gliders and paragliders have a separate body called the FAI CIVL Commission, which stands for "Commission Internationale de Vol Libre". The World Gliding Championships are organised every tw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ann Welch
Ann Courtenay Welch OBE, née Edmonds, (20 May 1917 – 5 December 2002) was a pilot who received the Gold Air Medal from Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) for her contributions to the development of four air sports - gliding, hang gliding, paragliding and microlight flying. She flew as a ferry pilot in the Air Transport Auxiliary during the Second World War. Early life Welch was born in London; the daughter of a railway engineer. As a child, Ann (Edmonds) kept a diary listing every aeroplane that flew over the house. She first flew with Alan Cobham in 1930. After she had acquired a motorbike to visit the local aerodrome, she learned to fly, earning her pilot's licence in 1934 one month after her seventeenth birthday. From an early age she excelled in drawing and painting, and was a painter of note. Pre-war and World War II Welch started gliding in 1937 and attended an Anglo-German Fellowship Camp at the London Gliding Club meeting Wolf Hirth and Hanna Reitsch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boulogne
Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the Côte d'Opale, a touristic stretch of French coast on the English Channel between Calais and Normandy, and the most visited location in the region after the Lille conurbation. Boulogne is its department's second-largest city after Calais, and the 183rd-largest in France.Téléchargement du fichier d'ensemble des populations légales en 2017 [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Le Wast
Le Wast () is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography Le Wast is situated some east of Boulogne, at the junction of the D252 and D127 roads. Population Places of interest * The eleventh century church of St.Michel. * A chateau, dating from the eighteenth century. See also *Communes of the Pas-de-Calais department The following is a list of the 890 communes of the Pas-de-Calais department of France. The communes cooperate in the following intercommunalities (as of 2020):Wast [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dunstable
Dunstable ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, east of the Chiltern Hills, north of London. There are several steep chalk escarpments, most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the north. Dunstable is the fourth largest town in Bedfordshire and along with Houghton Regis forms the westernmost part of the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area. Etymology In Ancient Rome, Roman times there was a minor settlement called Durocobrivis in the area now occupied by modern-day Dunstable. There was a general assumption that the nominative form of the name had been Durocobrivae, so that is what appears on the map of 1944 illustrated Dunstable#History, below. But current thinking is that the form ''Durocobrivis'', which occurs in the Antonine Itinerary, is a fossilised locative that was used all the time and Ordnance Survey now uses this form. There are several theories concerning its modern name: *Legend tells that the lawlessness of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slingsby T
Slingsby may refer to: * Slingsby (surname) * Slingsby, North Yorkshire * Slingsby Aviation, formerly Slingsby Sailplanes, a manufacturer of gliders and other aircraft * Slingsby Channel Slingsby Channel is a strait on the north side of Bramham Island in the Queen Charlotte Strait region of the British Columbia Coast, Central Coast of British Columbia. It is one of only two entrances to Seymour Inlet and the associated maze of wate ..., a strait in the Queen Charlotte Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada * Slingsby Baronets * HC Slingsby PLC, a historical British company started in 1893 {{disambiguation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gliding
Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word ''soaring'' is also used for the sport. Gliding as a sport began in the 1920s. Initially the objective was to increase the duration of flights but soon pilots attempted cross-country flights away from the place of launch. Improvements in aerodynamics and in the understanding of weather phenomena have allowed greater distances at higher average speeds. Long distances are now flown using any of the main sources of rising air: ridge lift, thermals and lee waves. When conditions are favourable, experienced pilots can now fly hundreds of kilometres before returning to their home airfields; occasionally flights of more than are achieved. Some competitive pilots fly in races around pre-defined courses. These gliding competitions test pilots' abilities to mak ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
