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Harold Milford
Harold John Milford (16 August 1914 – 6 April 1944), was a British Douglas Boston medium bomber observer who was taken prisoner during the Second World War. He took part in the 'Great Escape' from Stalag Luft III in March 1944, but was one of the men re-captured and subsequently shot by the ''Gestapo''. Pre-war Harold Milford was born in Streatham in south-west London, the son of William John Milford a railway worker and his wife Ada Frances and grew up in Medora Road in the Tulse Hill area with his parents and two sisters. In the spring of 1940 he married Marion Heather in Lambeth, London. War service At the height of the Battle of Britain he enlisted in the Royal Air Force in the summer of 1940 as an aircraftman aircrew candidate with the service number 1375447. On completion of flight training, as a leading aircraftman he was commissioned as pilot officer on 9 August 1941. From final stage training at Operational Training Unit Milford joined No. 226 Squadron RAF flying t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous member state of the European Union. Warsaw is the nation's capital and largest metropolis. Other major cities include Kraków, Wrocław, Łódź, Poznań, Gdańsk, and Szczecin. Poland has a temperate transitional climate and its territory traverses the Central European Plain, extending from Baltic Sea in the north to Sudeten and Carpathian Mountains in the south. The longest Polish river is the Vistula, and Poland's highest point is Mount Rysy, situated in the Tatra mountain range of the Carpathians. The country is bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukraine to the east, Slovakia and the Czech Republic to the south, and Germany to the west. It also shares maritime boundaries with Denmark and Sweden. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aircraftman
Aircraftman (AC) or aircraftwoman (ACW) is the lowest rank in the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and the air forces of several other Commonwealth countries. In RAF slang, aircraftmen are sometimes called "erks". Aircraftman ranks below leading aircraftman and has a NATO rank code of OR-1. It is now a training rank only and no airmen in productive service hold this rank. Aircraftmen do not wear any rank insignia. The rank was renamed air recruit (AR) in the Royal Air Force in July 2022. History The rank was introduced to the RAF in January 1919, replacing the ranks of "air mechanic", "private" and "clerk" that had been introduced under Air Memorandum No. 1 in March 1918. There were three grades: leading aircraftman (LAC), aircraftman 1st class (AC1) and aircraftman 2nd class. A similar grading existed for junior ratings in the Royal Navy. The rank of senior aircraftman (SAC) was introduced on 1 January 1951. The lowest grade was an AC2; also colloquially known as an "AC plonk". ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Klaus Mietusch
Klaus Mietusch (5 August 1918 – 17 September 1944) was a German Luftwaffe military aviator and fighter ace during World War II. He is credited with 72 aerial victories achieved in 452 combat missions. This figure includes 15 aerial victories on the Eastern Front, and further 57 victories over the Western Allies, including 13 four-engined bombers. Born in Bochum, Mietusch grew up in the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany. He joined the military service in the Luftwaffe in 1937. Following flight training, he was posted to ''Jagdgeschwader'' 26 "Schlageter" (JG 26—26th Fighter Wing) in 1939. Flying with this wing, Mietusch claimed his first aerial victory on 31 May 1940 on the Western Front during the Battle of France. In early 1941, he fought in the Mediterranean theater. He was made ''Staffelkapitän'' (squadron leader) of 7. '' Staffel'' (7th squadron) of JG 26 in September 1941 and in January 1943, was posted to the Eastern Front. In July 1943 he was appointe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
JG 26
''Jagdgeschwader'' 26 (JG 26) ''Schlageter'' was a German fighter-wing of World War II. It was named after Albert Leo Schlageter, a World War I veteran, Freikorps member, and posthumous Nazi martyr, arrested and executed by the French for sabotage in 1923. The wing fought predominantly against the Western Allies. Formed in May 1939, JG 26 spent the Phoney War period guarding Germany's western borders following the German invasion of Poland and the outbreak of World War II. In May and June 1940 it served in the Battle of Belgium and Battle of France. From July 1940 it operated over England in the Battle of Britain under the command of Adolf Galland, future ''General der Jagdflieger''. JG 26 remained in France and Belgium fighting against the RAF Fighter Command Circus offensive in 1941 and 1942, with considerable tactical success. In 1943 it faced the USAAF Eighth Air Force, and along with the rest of the Luftwaffe fighter force, was worn down over Western Europe c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chocques
Chocques () is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography Chocques is a farming village by the banks of the river Clarence, some west of Béthune and southwest of Lille, at the junction of the D70 and the N43 roads. The A26 autoroute passes by a half-mile away. Population Places of interest * The church of Notre-Dame, dating from the thirteenth century. * The war memorial. * The remains of an 11th-century castle. 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):Communes of Pas-de-Calais {{PasdeCalais-geo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sergeant
Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other units that draw their heritage from the British light infantry. Its origin is the Latin , 'one who serves', through the French term . The term ''sergeant'' refers to a non-commissioned officer placed above the rank of a corporal, and a police officer immediately below a lieutenant in the US, and below an inspector in the UK. In most armies, the rank of sergeant corresponds to command of a squad (or section). In Commonwealth armies, it is a more senior rank, corresponding roughly to a platoon second-in-command. In the United States Army, sergeant is a more junior rank corresponding to a squad- (12 person) or platoon- (36 person) leader. More senior non-commissioned ranks are often variations on sergeant, for example staff sergeant, gunn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jagdgeschwader 26
''Jagdgeschwader'' 26 (JG 26) ''Schlageter'' was a German fighter-wing of World War II. It was named after Albert Leo Schlageter, a World War I veteran, Freikorps member, and posthumous Nazi martyr, arrested and executed by the French for sabotage in 1923. The wing fought predominantly against the Western Allies. Formed in May 1939, JG 26 spent the Phoney War period guarding Germany's western borders following the German invasion of Poland and the outbreak of World War II. In May and June 1940 it served in the Battle of Belgium and Battle of France. From July 1940 it operated over England in the Battle of Britain under the command of Adolf Galland, future ''General der Jagdflieger''. JG 26 remained in France and Belgium fighting against the RAF Fighter Command Circus offensive in 1941 and 1942, with considerable tactical success. In 1943 it faced the USAAF Eighth Air Force, and along with the rest of the Luftwaffe fighter force, was worn down over Western Europe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabteilung'' of the Imperial Navy, had been disbanded in May 1920 in accordance with the terms of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles which banned Germany from having any air force. During the interwar period, German pilots were trained secretly in violation of the treaty at Lipetsk Air Base in the Soviet Union. With the rise of the Nazi Party and the repudiation of the Versailles Treaty, the ''Luftwaffe''s existence was publicly acknowledged on 26 February 1935, just over two weeks before open defiance of the Versailles Treaty through German rearmament and conscription would be announced on 16 March. The Condor Legion, a ''Luftwaffe'' detachment sent to aid Nationalist forces in the Spanish Civil War, provided the force with a valuable testing grou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RAF Swanton Morley
The former Royal Air Force Swanton Morley, more commonly known as RAF Swanton Morley, was a Royal Air Force station in Norfolk, England, located near to the village of Swanton Morley. The site, now known as Robertson Barracks, is occupied by the Queen's Dragoon Guards. History Swanton Morley was a new station planned under the RAF expansion scheme but not completed before the start of the Second World War. It was part of 2 Group, RAF Bomber Command until December 1944 when it was given over to 100 Group - the RAF unit responsible for countering German defences against the British strategic bombing - as they needed another airfield close to their HQ at Bylaugh Hall. On 4 July 1942, American and British airmen took off from this station as part of the first combined bombing raid of World War II. 226 Squadron RAF had been tutoring the US 15th Bombardment Squadron. Both Winston Churchill and General Eisenhower were at RAF Swanton Morley for this mission, which saw six crews fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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