Michael Harwood (RAF Officer)
Air Vice Marshal Michael John Harwood, (born 29 October 1958) is a retired senior Royal Air Force officer who served as Defence Attaché and Head of the British Defence Staff – US in Washington, D.C. from 2008 to 2011. RAF career Educated at Merchant Taylors' School and at King's College London (MA Defence Studies), Harwood joined the RAF as a fast-jet pilot in 1978, initially serving as a flying instructor on Hawk and Harrier GR3/T4 aircraft. He received the Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air in December 1990. Promoted to wing commander, he became Commanding Officer of No. 20 Squadron (Harrier Operational Conversion Unit) at RAF Wittering in 1998 and, following promotion to group captain, he became Commander British Forces (Gulf) in Saudi Arabia in 2000. He went on to be Station Commander, RAF Cottesmore in 2001 before being deployed as Operating Base Commander, Kuwait for Operation Telic in 2003. He joined the Public Relations Directorate at the Ministry ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). Following the Allied victory over the Central Powers in 1918, the RAF emerged as the largest air force in the world at the time. Since its formation, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history. In particular, it played a large part in the Second World War where it fought its most famous campaign, the Battle of Britain. The RAF's mission is to support the objectives of the British Ministry of Defence (MOD), which are to "provide the capabilities needed to ensure the security and defence of the United Kingdom and overseas territories, including against terrorism; to support the Government's foreign policy objectives particularly in promoting international peace and security". The R ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Group Captain
Group captain is a senior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force, where it originated, as well as the air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. It is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank in countries which have a non-British air force-specific rank structure. Group captain has a NATO rank code of OF-5, meaning that it ranks above wing commander and immediately below air commodore, and is the equivalent of the rank of captain in the navy and of the rank of colonel in other services. It is usually abbreviated Gp Capt. In some air forces (such as the RAF, IAF and PAF), the abbreviation GPCAPT is used; in others (such as the RAAF and RNZAF), and in many historical contexts, the abbreviation G/C is used. The full phrase “group captain” is always used; the rank is never abbreviated to "captain". RAF usage ;History On 1 April 1918, the newly created RAF adopted its officer rank titles from the British Army, with Royal ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Peter Gilchrist (British Army Officer)
Major General Peter Gilchrist (born 28 February 1952) is a retired senior British Army officer who served as Master-General of the Ordnance from 2000 to 2004. Military career Educated at Marlborough College, Gilchrist was commissioned into the Royal Tank Regiment in 1973. He became Commanding Officer of the 1st Royal Tank Regiment in 1993, Deputy Director of Ordnance in 1996 and Programme Director for Armoured Systems in 1998.''Who's Who 2010'', A & C Black, 2010, He went on to be an executive director at the Defence Procurement Agency and Master-General of the Ordnance in 2000. He was deployed Afghanistan as Deputy Commander at Combined Forces Command in 2004, and then became Head of the British Defence Staff and Defence Attaché in Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White Ho ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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A S Barmby
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient Greek letter alpha, from which it derives. The uppercase version consists of the two slanting sides of a triangle, crossed in the middle by a horizontal bar. The lowercase version can be written in two forms: the double-storey a and single-storey ɑ. The latter is commonly used in handwriting and fonts based on it, especially fonts intended to be read by children, and is also found in italic type. In English grammar, " a", and its variant " an", are indefinite articles. History The earliest certain ancestor of "A" is aleph (also written 'aleph), the first letter of the Phoenician alphabet, which consisted entirely of consonants (for that reason, it is also called an abjad to distinguis ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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David Walker (RAF Aircrew Officer)
Air Marshal David Walker, is a retired senior Royal Air Force officer. He was the Deputy Commander, Allied Joint Force Command at Brunssum in the Netherlands from 2011 to 2013, having previously served for over three years as Deputy Commander, Allied Air Component Command at Ramstein in Germany. Prior to that appointment he was Air Officer Commanding No. 1 Group in the United Kingdom. Education and personal Educated at Bristol University (Bachelor of Science in Geography) and King's College London (Master of Arts in Defence Studies), Walker undertook a Portal Fellowship for a Doctor of Philosophy with King's College London at the Royal Air Force College Cranwell. RAF career Walker was commissioned as a University Cadet in 1975, being regraded as a pilot officer on graduation in 1978, and then promoted to flying officer and flight lieutenant the following year. He completed flying tours in Germany, the United States, and the United Kingdom, flying the Harrier and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2012 New Year Honours
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. In conventions of sign where zero is considered neither positive nor negative, 1 is the first and smallest positive integer. It is also sometimes considered the first of the infinite sequence of natural numbers, followed by 2, although by other definitions 1 is the second natural number, following 0. The fundamental mathematical property of 1 is to be a multiplicative identity, meaning that any number multiplied by 1 equals the same number. Most if not all properties of 1 can be deduced from this. In advanced mathematics, a multiplicative identity is often denoted 1, even if it is not a number. 1 is by convention not considered a prime number; this was not universally accepted until the mid-20th century. Additionally, 1 is the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Attaché
In diplomacy, an attaché is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified according to gender. An attaché is normally an official, who serves either as a diplomat or as a member of the support staff, under the authority of an ambassador or other head of a diplomatic mission, mostly in intergovernmental organizations or international non-governmental organisations or agencies. Attachés monitor various issues related to their area of specialty (see examples below) that may require some action. To this end, attachés may undertake the planning for events to be attended, decisions which will be taken, managing arrangements and agendas, conducting research, and acting as a representative of the interests of their state when necessary, to the types of organizations mentioned above, and also to national academies and to ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Air Vice Marshal
Air vice-marshal (AVM) is a two-star air officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank in countries which have a non-English air force-specific rank structure. Air vice-marshal is a two-star rank and has a NATO ranking code of OF-7. It is equivalent to a rear-admiral in the Royal Navy or a major-general in the British Army or the Royal Marines. In other NATO forces, such as the United States Armed Forces and the Canadian Armed Forces, the equivalent two-star rank is major general. The rank of air vice-marshal is immediately senior to the rank air commodore and immediately subordinate to the rank of air marshal. Since before the Second World War it has been common for air officers commanding RAF groups to hold the rank of air vice-marshal. In small air forces such as ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Al Udeid Air Base
Al Udeid Air Base ( ar, قاعدة العديد الجوية) is one of two military bases southwest of Doha, Qatar, also known as Abu Nakhlah Airport (). It houses the Qatar Emiri Air Force, United States Air Force, Royal Air Force, and other foreign forces. It is host to a forward headquarters of United States Central Command, headquarters of the United States Air Forces Central Command, No. 83 Expeditionary Air Group RAF, and the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing of the USAF. In 1999, the then Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad, told U.S. officials that he would like to see as many as 10,000 U.S. servicemen permanently stationed at Al Udeid. According to media reports in June 2017, the base hosted over 11,000 U.S. and U.S.-led anti-ISIL coalition forces and over 100 operational aircraft. It is the largest U.S. military base in the Middle East. History United States Air Force Following joint military operations during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, Qatar and the United States ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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CENTAF
The Ninth Air Force (Air Forces Central) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. It is the Air Force Service Component of United States Central Command (USCENTCOM), a joint Department of Defense combatant command responsible for U.S. security interests in 27 nations that stretch from the Horn of Africa through the Persian Gulf region, into Central Asia. Activated as 9th Air Force on 8 April 1942, the command fought in World War II both in the Western Desert Campaign in Egypt and Libya and as the tactical fighter component of the United States Strategic Air Forces in Europe, engaging enemy forces in France, the Low Countries and in Nazi Germany. During the Cold War, it was one of two Numbered Air Forces of Tactical Air Command. Co-designated as United States Central Command Air Forces (CENTAF) on 1 January 1983, on 2009 as part of a complicated transfer of lineage, the lineage and history of the Ninth Air Forc ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |