Mesopotamian Half Flight
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Mesopotamian Half Flight
The Mesopotamian Half-Flight (MHF), or Australian Half-Flight, was the first Australian Flying Corps (AFC) unit to see active service during World War I. Formed in April 1915 at the request of the Indian Government, the half-flight's personnel were sent to Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) where they were equipped with a small number of outdated and barely serviceable aircraft. They later operated in the Tigris Valley in support of British and Indian forces under the command of Major General Charles Townshend. The unit's operations came to an end in December 1915 and the following month the flight was subsumed into other units of the AFC which were being formed in Egypt. It was officially disbanded in October 1916. History At the start of World War I, the air forces of the Allied forces were small and primitive. Most of the available aircraft and pilots were assigned to the Western Front. This meant that the Indian Army, which was attacking the Ottoman Empire in Mesopotamia, had no ...
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Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by area in Oceania and the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, sixth-largest country. Australia is the oldest, flattest, and driest inhabited continent, with the least fertile soils. It is a Megadiverse countries, megadiverse country, and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and climates, with Deserts of Australia, deserts in the centre, tropical Forests of Australia, rainforests in the north-east, and List of mountains in Australia, mountain ranges in the south-east. The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians began arriving from south east Asia approximately Early human migrations#Nearby Oceania, 65,000 years ago, during the Last Glacial Period, last i ...
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Basra
Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is handled at the port of Umm Qasr. However, there is ongoing constuction of Grand Faw Port on the coast of Basra, which is considered a national project for Iraq and will become one of the largest ports in the world and the largest in the Middle East, in addition, the port will strengthen Iraq’s geopolitical position in the region and the world. Furthermore, Iraq is planning to establish large naval base in the Al-Faw peninsula, Faw peninsula. Historically, the city is one of the ports from which the fictional Sinbad the Sailor journeyed. The city was built in 636 and has played an important role in Islamic Golden Age. Basra is consistently one of the hottest cities in Iraq, with summer temperatures regularly exceeding . In April 2017, the ...
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Royal Naval Air Service
The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps to form the Royal Air Force (RAF), the world's first independent air force. It was replaced by the Fleet Air Arm, initially consisting of those RAF units that normally operated from ships, but emerging as a separate unit similar to the original RNAS by the time of World War 2. Background In 1908, the British Government recognised the military potential of aircraft. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister, H. H. Asquith, approved the formation of an "Advisory Committee for Aeronautics" and an "Aerial Sub-Committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence". Both committees were composed of politicians, British Army, army officers and Royal Navy officers. On 21 July 1908 Captain Reginald Bacon, who was a member of the Aerial Na ...
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Royal Flying Corps
"Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations = , battle_honours = , battles_label = Wars , battles = First World War , disbanded = merged with RNAS to become Royal Air Force (RAF), 1918 , current_commander = , current_commander_label = , ceremonial_chief = , ceremonial_chief_label = , colonel_of_the_regiment = , colonel_of_the_regiment_label = , notable_commanders = Sir David HendersonHugh Trenchard , identification_symbol = , identification_symbol_label = Roundel , identification_symbol_2 = , identification_symbol_2_label = Flag , aircraft_attack = , aircraft_bomber = , aircraft_el ...
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Martinsyde S
Martinsyde was a British aircraft and motorcycle manufacturer between 1908 and 1922, when it was forced into liquidation by a factory fire. History The company was first formed in 1908 as a partnership between H.P. Martin and George Handasyde and known as Martin & Handasyde. Their No.1 monoplane was built in 1908–1909 and succeeded in lifting off the ground before being wrecked in a gale. They went on to build a succession of largely monoplane designs although it was a biplane, the S.1 of 1914, that turned Martin-Handasyde into a successful aircraft manufacturer. In 1915 they renamed the company Martinsyde Ltd, and it became Britain's third largest aircraft manufacturer during World War One, with flight sheds at Brooklands and a large factory in nearby Woking. Martinsyde Motorcycles Martinsyde began manufacturing motorcycles from 1919 after buying the rights to engine designs by Howard Newman, which included a 350 cc single and a 677 cc V-twin with an unusual ex ...
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William Wallace Allison Burn
William Wallace Allison Burn (17 July 1891 – 30 July 1915) was a New Zealand aviator, who served with the New Zealand Military Forces during the First World War. Born in Melbourne, Australia, Burn was educated in Christchurch, New Zealand, and joined the New Zealand Military Forces in 1912, volunteering for the New Zealand Staff Corps. In 1913 he was selected to be sent to England to receive flight training. Qualifying as a pilot the following year, he was seconded to the Royal Flying Corps soon after the outbreak of the First World War and sent to Mesopotamia to serve with the Indian Expeditionary Force (IEF) there. He flew as an observer with the Mesopotamian Half Flight, which conducted reconnaissance flights in support of the operations of the IEF on the Tigris and Euphrates. His aircraft was forced down with mechanical problems while on a flight to Basra and he and his pilot were killed by hostile Arab tribesmen. He was the first New Zealand aviator to be killed in action. ...
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Melbourne University Regiment
The Melbourne University Regiment (MUR) is an officer training unit in the Australian Army Reserve (ARes). It has a depot at Grattan Street, Carlton, Melbourne, Australia. History MUR traces its origins to 1884 as D Company, 4th Battalion of the Victorian Rifles, also known as Mount Alexander Rifles, founded in Bendigo on 30 June 1858, at which time it was known as the University Company. General Sir John Monash was a Colour Sergeant of this unit before taking a commission in the colonial and later Commonwealth militia. The unit became the Melbourne University Rifles in 1910,. providing military training for members of Melbourne University and the public schools of Melbourne and Geelong. As a University Regiment the unit did not deploy with the AIF in either of the world wars and as such, it carries no Battle Honours on its Colours. However, many officers and soldiers of AIF units had received their initial military training or commissions with the University Rifles. In 1927 ...
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Caudron G
The Caudron Type G was a single-engined French biplane built by Caudron, prior to World War I. Developments of the Caudron G saw widespread service in France, Russia and Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is .... Specifications See also References Further reading * * {{Caudron aircraft 1910s French military reconnaissance aircraft Type G Sesquiplanes Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1913 Rotary-engined aircraft ...
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Battle Of Nasiriyah (1915)
The Battle of Nasiriyah was a battle in World War I that took place in the Mesopotamian city of Nasiriyah between British and Ottoman forces in July 1915. It was a pivotal battle in the Mesopotamian campaign of World War I and saw 5,000 British and Indian troops face off against a Turkish garrison of a similar number. British and Indian forces under the command of Lieutenant General G. F. Gorringe, Sir George Frederick Gorringe attacked Nasiriyah with the intention of protecting the British stronghold of Basra and destroying a major Turkish supply center in the region. British forces defeated the Turkish forces in Nasiriyah and it became the latest addition to a long string of successes against Ottoman forces in the campaign, coming right after the Battle of Amara, capture of Amara and the Battle of Qurna. Background With the beginning of the First World War in Europe, British commanders worried about losing access to precious oil reserves in the Persian Gulf region. The oil was v ...
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Amarah
Amarah ( ar, ٱلْعَمَارَة, al-ʿAmārah), also spelled Amara, is a city in south-eastern Iraq, located on a low ridge next to the Tigris River waterway south of Baghdad about 50 km (31 mi) from the border with Iran. It lies at the northern tip of the marshlands between the Tigris and Euphrates. It had a population of about 340,000 in 2002 and about 420,000 in 2005 and in 2020 they are about 1,100,000 . Amarah is the seat of the Maysan Province. A major trading center for the surrounding agricultural area, the city is known for woven goods and silverware. The staple economic goods produced in northern Amarah are winter cereals such as wheat and barley, as well as animals such as sheep and horses. History The city was founded in the 1860s as an Ottoman military outpost from which the empire tried to control the warring Banu Lam and Al Bu Muhammad tribes. In 1915 Amarah was captured by the British. Before the revolution in 1958 Amarah was known for its feudal ...
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Shamal (wind)
A shamal ( ar, شمال, 'north') is a northwesterly wind blowing over Iraq and the Persian Gulf states (including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait), often strong during the day, but decreasing at night. This weather effect occurs from once to several times a year, mostly in summer, but sometimes in winter. The resulting wind typically creates large sandstorms that impact Iraq, most sand having been picked up from Jordan and Syria. Synoptic conditions Summer shamal When a passing storm with a strong cold front passes over the mountains of Iran, the leading edge of a mass of relatively cooler air kicks up dust and sand, sending it aloft. Temperatures at lower elevations still hover above 42° C (105° F) during these events. Winter shamal In Iraq, where winter storms can bring heavy snow to the terrain, a layer of dust can settle onto the snowpack. A winter shamal is associated with the strengthening of a high-pressure area over the peninsula after the passage of a cold front while a ...
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Pusher Configuration
In an aircraft with a pusher configuration (as opposed to a tractor configuration), the propeller(s) are mounted behind their respective engine(s). Since a pusher propeller is mounted behind the engine, the drive shaft is in compression in normal operation. Pusher configuration describes this specific (propeller or ducted fan) thrust device attached to a craft, either aerostat (airship) or aerodyne (aircraft, WIG, paramotor, rotorcraft) or others types such as hovercraft, airboat and propeller-driven snowmobiles. "Pusher configuration" also describes the layout of a fixed-wing aircraft in which the thrust device has a pusher configuration. This kind of aircraft is commonly called a pusher. Pushers have been designed and built in many different layouts, some of them quite radical. History The rubber-powered "Planophore", designed by Alphonse Pénaud in 1871, was an early successful model aircraft with a pusher propeller. Many early aircraft (especially biplanes) were ...
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