No. 297 Squadron RAF
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No. 297 Squadron RAF
No 297 Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It was notable for being the first airborne forces squadron formed. With sister No 296 Squadron it formed No 38 Wing RAF in January 1942, joined in August by No 295 Squadron; the Wing expanded in 1943 to become No 38 Group RAF. The squadron saw action in Sicily and took part in the D-Day invasion and Operation Market Garden. It was disbanded in 1950. History Formation and World War II The squadron originally formed as the Parachute Exercise Squadron at RAF Ringway on 15 December 1941 and moved to RAF Netheravon on 22 January 1942, then officially becoming No 297 Squadron RAF. In February 1942 they were equipped with Whitley Mark V aircraft. The squadron moved to RAF Hurn on 5 June 1942 and to RAF Thruxton on 24 October 1942. In July 1943 the squadron was equipped with the first of the Albemarle Mk. I aircraft, which they kept until December 1944 while being supplemented with the Albemarle Mk. II in February 1944, the ...
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United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and many smaller islands within the British Isles. Northern Ireland shares a land border with the Republic of Ireland; otherwise, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea and the Irish Sea. The total area of the United Kingdom is , with an estimated 2020 population of more than 67 million people. The United Kingdom has evolved from a series of annexations, unions and separations of constituent countries over several hundred years. The Treaty of Union between the Kingdom of England (which included Wales, annexed in 1542) and the Kingdom of Scotland in 170 ...
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ARMSTRONG WHITWORTH AW
Armstrong may refer to: Places * Armstrong Creek (other), various places Antarctica * Armstrong Reef, Biscoe Islands Argentina * Armstrong, Santa Fe Australia * Armstrong, Victoria Canada * Armstrong, British Columbia * Armstrong, Ontario * Armstrong, Thunder Bay District, Ontario * Armstrong, Ontario (Indian settlement) United States * Armstrong, California * Armstrong, Delaware * Armstrong, Florida * Armstrong, Georgia * Armstrong, Illinois * Armstrong, Indiana * Armstrong, Iowa * Armstrong, Minnesota * Armstrong, Missouri * Armstrong, Oklahoma * Armstrong, Texas * Armstrong, Wisconsin * Armstrong County, Pennsylvania * Armstrong County, Texas * Armstrong Lake (Blue Earth County, Minnesota), a lake in Minnesota * Armstrong Township, Vanderburgh County, Indiana * Armstrong Township, Pennsylvania (other), more than one, including ** Armstrong Township, Indiana County, Pennsylvania ** Armstrong Township, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania * Louis Armstrong ...
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Operation Market Garden
Operation Market Garden was an Allies of World War II, Allied military operation during the World War II, Second World War fought in the Netherlands from 17 to 27 September 1944. Its objective was to create a Salient (military), salient into German territory with a bridgehead over the River Rhine, creating an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion route into northern Germany. This was to be achieved by two sub-operations: seizing nine bridges with combined U.S. and British airborne forces (Market) followed by land forces swiftly following over the bridges (Garden). The airborne operation was planned and undertaken by the First Allied Airborne Army with the land operation by XXX Corps (United Kingdom), XXX Corps of the Second Army (United Kingdom), British Second Army.The Battle for the Rhine 1944 by Robin Neillands, Chapter 4 The Road to Arnhem Although the largest airborne operation of the war up to that point, Market Garden's ultimate outcome remains debated: The operation s ...
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9th Parachute Battalion
The 9th (Eastern and Home Counties) Parachute Battalion was an airborne infantry battalion of the Parachute Regiment, raised by the British Army during the Second World War. The battalion was created in late 1942 by the conversion of the 10th Battalion, Essex Regiment to parachute duties. The battalion was assigned to the 3rd Parachute Brigade, alongside the 7th (later the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion) and 8th Parachute battalions, then part of the 1st Airborne Division but was later transferred to the 6th Airborne Division. The 9th Parachute Battalion took part in two major parachute landings in the Normandy invasion, and the River Rhine crossing in Germany. In Normandy they were responsible for the attack on the Merville Gun Battery, which, if not eliminated, could pose a danger to the Normandy landings. After the war the battalion was sent to Palestine on internal security operations with the rest of the 6th Airborne Division in Palestine. Post-war army reductions i ...
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5th Parachute Brigade (United Kingdom)
The 5th Parachute Brigade was an airborne forces formation of brigade strength, raised by the British Army during the Second World War. Created during 1943, the brigade was assigned to the 6th Airborne Division, serving alongside the 3rd Parachute Brigade and the 6th Airlanding Brigade. The brigade first saw action in the British airborne landings on D-Day Operation Tonga, where it was responsible for capturing the Caen canal and Orne river bridges. The brigade remained in Normandy until September 1944, by which time it had advanced to the mouth of the River Seine. Its next engagement was in reaction to the surprise German offensive in the Ardennes, the Battle of the Bulge. This was followed by Operation Varsity, the last Allied airborne mission of the war. After this, the brigade advanced across Germany, reaching the Baltic Sea by the end of fighting in the European theatre. The brigade was then sent to India as the division's advance party, but the war ended before it coul ...
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Sword Beach
Sword, commonly known as Sword Beach, was the code name given to one of the five main landing areas along the Normandy coast during the initial assault phase, Operation Neptune, of Operation Overlord. The Allied invasion of German-occupied France commenced on 6 June 1944. Stretching from Ouistreham to Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, the beach proved to be the easternmost landing site of the invasion after the abortion of an attack on a sixth beach, code-named Band. Taking Sword was to be the responsibility of the British Army with sea transport, mine sweeping and a naval bombardment force provided by the British Royal Navy as well as elements from the Polish, Norwegian and other Allied navies. Among the five beaches of the operation, Sword is the nearest to Caen, about from the goal of the 3rd Infantry Division. The landings were achieved with low Allied casualties but the advance from the beach was slowed by traffic congestion and resistance in defended areas behind the beach. Furthe ...
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Normandy
Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises mainland Normandy (a part of France) and the Channel Islands (mostly the British Crown Dependencies). It covers . Its population is 3,499,280. The inhabitants of Normandy are known as Normans, and the region is the historic homeland of the Norman language. Large settlements include Rouen, Caen, Le Havre and Cherbourg. The cultural region of Normandy is roughly similar to the historical Duchy of Normandy, which includes small areas now part of the departments of Mayenne and Sarthe. The Channel Islands (French: ''Îles Anglo-Normandes'') are also historically part of Normandy; they cover and comprise two bailiwicks: Guernsey and Jersey, which are B ...
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Merville Battery
Merville may refer to: Communes in France * Merville, Haute-Garonne, in the Haute-Garonne ''département'' * Merville, Nord, in the Nord ''département'' * Merville-Franceville-Plage, in the Calvados ''département'' Other places * Merville Garden Village, Newtownabbey, County Antrim, Northern Ireland * Merville, British Columbia * Merville Dairy, a former Irish milk distribution company based in Finglas, Dublin that merged with other companies to form Premier Dairies *Merville, Parañaque Merville, officially Barangay Merville, is a barangay in Parañaque, is part of Parañaque's 16 barangays, and is part of District 2. It is a gated residential community in the northeast of the city, which was created on April 3, 1978 out of Baran ..., a barangay in Parañaque, Metro Manila People * Merville (playwright), French 19th-century playwright {{disambig, geo ...
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Pegasus Bridge
Pegasus Bridge, originally called the Bénouville Bridge after the neighbouring village, is a road crossing over the Caen Canal, between Caen and Ouistreham in Normandy. The original bridge, built in 1934, is now a war memorial and is the centrepiece of the Memorial Pegasus museum at nearby Ranville. It was replaced in 1994 by a modern design which, like the old one, is a bascule bridge. On 6 June 1944, during the Second World War, the bridge was, along with the nearby Ranville Bridge over the Orne River (another road crossing, later renamed Horsa Bridge), the objective of members of D Company, 2nd (Airborne) Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, a glider-borne force who were part of the 6th Airlanding Brigade of the 6th Airborne Division during Operation Tonga in the opening minutes of the Allied invasion of Normandy. Under the command of Major John Howard, D Company was to land close by the bridges in six Airspeed Horsa gliders and, in a ''coup-de-main ...
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Capture Of The Caen Canal And Orne River Bridges
The capture of the Caen canal and Orne river bridges (wrongly known as Operation Deadstick (which in fact was a specialized glider exercise), and in official documents as Operation Coup de Main) was an operation by airborne forces of the British Army that took place in the early hours of 6 June 1944 as part of the Normandy landings of the Second World War. The objective was to capture intact two road bridges in Normandy across the River Orne and the Caen canal, providing the only exit eastwards for British forces from their landing on Sword Beach. Intelligence reports said both bridges were heavily defended by the Germans and wired for demolition. Once captured, the bridges had to be held against any counter-attack, until the assault force was relieved by commandos and other infantry advancing from the landing beach. The mission was vital to the success of Operation Tonga, the overall British airborne landings in Normandy. Failure to capture the bridges intact, or to preven ...
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Airspeed Horsa
The Airspeed AS.51 Horsa was a British troop-carrying glider used during the Second World War. It was developed and manufactured by Airspeed Limited, alongside various subcontractors; the type was named after Horsa, the legendary 5th-century conqueror of southern Britain. Having been greatly impressed by the effective use of airborne operations by Germany during the early stages of the Second World War, such as during the Battle of France, the Allied powers sought to establish capable counterpart forces of their own. The British War Office, determining that the role of gliders would be an essential component of such airborne forces, proceeded to examine available options. An evaluation of the General Aircraft Hotspur found it to lack the necessary size, thus Specification ''X.26/40'' was issued. It was from this specification that Airspeed Limited designed the Horsa, a large glider capable of accommodating up to 30 fully equipped troops, which was designated as the ''AS 51''. ...
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