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No. 2 Squadron RFC
Number 2 Squadron, also known as No. II (Army Co-operation) Squadron, is the most senior squadron of the Royal Air Force. It is currently equipped with the Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4 at RAF Lossiemouth, Moray, since reforming there on 12 January 2015. No. 2 Squadron's traditional army co-operation role is reflected in the "AC" of its title, its motto ''Hereward'' (Guardian of the Army), and the symbol of a Wake knot on its crest. Its unofficial nickname is ''Shiny Two''. History Foundation until WWI Armistice No. 2 Squadron was formed at Farnborough, Hampshire on 13 May 1912, on the founding of the Royal Flying Corps as one of the first three squadrons of the new force. It was formed from a detachment of No. 2 (Aeroplane) Company of the Royal Engineers Air Battalion. Both No. 2 Squadron and No. 3 Squadron were equipped with fixed wing aeroplanes, while No. 1 Squadron was equipped with airships. The Squadron's first commander was Major C J Burke. The Squadron was equipped w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heraldic Badges Of The Royal Air Force
Heraldic badges of the Royal Air Force are the insignia of certain commands, squadrons, units, wings, groups, branches and stations within the Royal Air Force. They are also commonly known as crests, especially by serving members of the Royal Air Force, but officially they are badges. Each badge must be approved by the reigning monarch of the time, and as such will either have a Tudor Crown (heraldry), King's or St Edward's Crown, Queen's Crown upon the top of the badge, dependent upon which monarch granted approval and the disbandment date of the unit.Most units/squadrons and bases had their badges updated to the Queen's Crown sometime after her accession, (although in some cases many years elapsed before the badge was updated). Most of the flying units were disbanded after the Second World War, so their badges retained the King's Crown. Queen Elizabeth II promulgated an order in October 1954 detailing that all current badges in use, and from that date on, were to use the Queen's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Dunkirk
The Battle of Dunkirk (french: Bataille de Dunkerque, link=no) was fought around the French port of Dunkirk (Dunkerque) during the Second World War, between the Allies and Nazi Germany. As the Allies were losing the Battle of France on the Western Front, the Battle of Dunkirk was the defence and evacuation of British and other Allied forces to Britain from 26 May to 4 June 1940. After the Phoney War, the Battle of France began in earnest on 10 May 1940. To the east, the German Army Group B invaded the Netherlands and advanced westward. In response, the Supreme Allied Commander, French General Maurice Gamelin, initiated "Plan D" and British and French troops entered Belgium to engage the Germans in the Netherlands. French planning for war relied on the Maginot Line fortifications along the German–French border protecting the region of Lorraine but the line did not cover the Belgian border. German forces had already crossed most of the Netherlands before the French f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Garwood
Air Marshal Sir Richard Frank Garwood, (born 10 January 1959) is a retired senior Royal Air Force officer. He was appointed Deputy Commander-in-Chief (Operations) at RAF Air Command in April 2010, initially on an acting basis – having served for less than a year as Chief of Staff (Operations) – following the reassignment of Air Marshal Tim Anderson as Director General of the new Military Aviation Authority, and pending the appointment of Air Marshal Andrew Pulford. However, following the sudden death of the then Commander-in-Chief Air Chief Marshal Sir Christopher Moran, Pulford was in turn reassigned and Garwood promoted to air marshal and confirmed in post. Garwood was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions in the Gulf War, and appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 2010 Birthday Honours. He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2017 New Year Honours. Service career Garwood graduated from King's Colleg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chris Nickols
Air Marshal Christopher Mark Nickols, (born 23 July 1956) is a retired senior officer in the Royal Air Force, whose final appointment was Chief of Defence Intelligence. Prior to that he served as Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff (Operations). RAF career Educated at St Edmund's School in Canterbury and having read engineering at Downing College, Cambridge, Nickols joined the Royal Air Force in 1974. He served as a pilot, flying Jaguars in Germany for 9 years before becoming Officer Commanding No. 2 Squadron in 1993. He was appointed Director of the UK Combined Air Operations Centre in 1997, Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff at Permanent Joint Headquarters at Northwood during the Kosovo War and then Station Commander at RAF Lossiemouth in 2000. He was also Air Commodore Offensive Operations at Headquarters No. 1 Group, and was Director of the Combined Air Operations Centre for four months in 2003 during the Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Ira ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philip Sturley
Air Marshal Philip Oliver Sturley, (born 9 July 1950) is a former senior commander in the Royal Air Force. Flying career Educated at St Ignatius' College in London and Southampton University, Sturley was commissioned in the Royal Air Force in 1972.'' Who's Who 2010'', A & C Black, 2010, He became Director of Air Staff Briefing and Co-ordination at the Ministry of Defence in 1990, Station Commander at RAF Cottesmore in 1992 and Secretary to the Military Committee at NATO Headquarters in 1994. He went on to be Air Officer Commanding No. 38 Group in 1998, Assistant Chief of the Air Staff in 2000 and Chief of Staff to the Air North Commander in 2003, before retiring in 2005. Sturley served as president of the Royal Air Forces Association The Royal Air Forces Association (also called the RAF Association or RAFA) is the largest single service membership organization and the longest standing registered service charity that provides welfare support to the family of RAF memb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jock Stirrup
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Graham Eric Stirrup, Baron Stirrup, (born 4 December 1949), informally known as Jock Stirrup, is a former senior Royal Air Force commander who was the Chief of the Defence Staff from 2006 until his retirement in late 2010. He is now a Crossbench member of the House of Lords. In April 2013, he was appointed a Knight of the Order of the Garter by Queen Elizabeth II. As a junior RAF officer, Stirrup was a jet pilot, and saw action in the Dhofar War. Later in his career, he commanded No. 2 Squadron and RAF Marham. After several senior air force appointments, Stirrup was made the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Strike Command and during this time he served as the first commander of British forces engaged in fighting the Taliban. In 2002, Stirrup was appointed the Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff responsible for equipment and capability and was heavily involved in procuring equipment for the invasion of Iraq. Spending a little over a year in that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Ellamy
Operation Ellamy was the codename for the United Kingdom participation in the 2011 military intervention in Libya. The operation was part of an international coalition aimed at enforcing a Libyan no-fly zone in accordance with the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 which stipulated that "all necessary measures" shall be taken to protect civilians. The coalition operation was designated by NATO as Operation Unified Protector, by the US as Operation Odyssey Dawn. The Canadian participation as Operation Mobile and the French participation as Opération Harmattan. It was confirmed in December 2011 that the cost of the operations was £212m – less than was estimated, including £67m for replacing spent munitions, is all expected to be met from the Treasury reserve. The no-fly zone was proposed during the Libyan Civil War to prevent government forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from carrying out air attacks on anti-Gaddafi forces. Several countries prepared to take imme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Telic
Operation Telic (Op TELIC) was the codename under which all of the United Kingdom's military operations in Iraq were conducted between the start of the invasion of Iraq on 19 March 2003 and the withdrawal of the last remaining British forces on 22 May 2011. The bulk of the mission ended on 30 April 2009 but around 150 troops, mainly from the Royal Navy, remained in Iraq until 22 May 2011 as part of the Iraqi Training and Advisory Mission. 46,000 troops were deployed at the onset of the invasion and the total cost of war stood at £9.24 billion in 2010. Background Operation Telic was one of the largest deployments of British forces since World War II. It was only approached in size by the 1991 Operation Granby deployment for the Gulf War and the 1956 Operation Musketeer Suez Crisis deployment. It was considerably larger than the 1982 Operation Corporate in the Falklands War, which saw around 30,000 personnel deployed and the Korean War, which saw fewer than 20,000 personnel deplo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Herrick
Operation Herrick was the codename under which all British operations in the War in Afghanistan were conducted from 2002 to the end of combat operations in 2014. It consisted of the British contribution to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), and support to the American-led Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), within the central Asian country. Operation Herrick superseded two previous efforts in Afghanistan. The first of these was Operation Veritas, which consisted of support during the United States invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001. The last major action of this was a sweep in east Afghanistan by 1,700 Royal Marines during Operation Jacana, which ended in mid-2002. The second was Operation Fingal, which involved leadership and a 2,000 strong contribution for a newly formed ISAF in Kabul after December 2001. Command was subsequently transferred to NATO ally Turkey several months later and the British contingent was scaled back to 300. Since then, all com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Granby
Operation Granby, commonly abbreviated Op Granby, was the code name given to the British military operations during the 1991 Gulf War. 53,462 members of the British Armed Forces were deployed during the conflict. The total cost of operations was £2.434 billion (1992), of which at least £2.049 billion was paid for by other nations such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia; £200 million of equipment was lost or written off. The Joint Commander Gulf Forces, based in the United Kingdom at RAF High Wycombe, was Air Chief Marshal (ACM) Sir Patrick Hine 1 October 1990 – 31 March 1991, and Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Graydon from 31 March 1991. His political adviser was Andrew Palmer. The Commander British Forces Middle East, the in-theatre commander, based in Riyadh, was initially Air Marshal (AM) Andrew Wilson (September–October 1990), then Lieutenant-General Sir Peter de la Billière 6 October 1990 – March 1991, and Air Vice-Marshal Ian Macfadyen from March 1991. The Air Comma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allied Advance From Paris To The Rhine
The Allied advance from Paris to the Rhine, also known as the Siegfried Line campaign, was a phase in the Western European campaign of World War II. This phase spans from the end of the Battle of Normandy, or Operation Overlord, (25 August 1944) incorporating the German winter counter-offensive through the Ardennes (commonly known as the Battle of the Bulge) and Operation Nordwind (in Alsace and Lorraine) up to the Allies preparing to cross the Rhine in the early months of 1945. This roughly corresponds with the official United States military European Theater of Operations Rhineland and Ardennes-Alsace campaigns. Background German forces had been routed during the Allied break-out from Normandy. The Allies advanced rapidly against an enemy that put up little resistance. But after the liberation of Paris in late August 1944, the Allies paused to re-group and organise before continuing their advance from Paris to the River Rhine. The pause allowed the Germans to solidify ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Walcheren Causeway
The Battle of Walcheren Causeway (Operation ''Vitality'') was an engagement of the Battle of the Scheldt between the 5th Canadian Infantry Brigade, elements of the British 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division and troops of the German 15th Army in 1944. It was the first of many conflicts on and around Walcheren Island during the Scheldt battles. It was also the second major battle fought over a terrain feature known as the Sloedam during the Second World War. Background After the breakout from Normandy by the Allied armies, beginning August 13, 1944, the German forces held on stubbornly to the French and Belgian English Channel ports. This forced the Allies to bring all supplies for their rapidly advancing armies from the artificial harbor they had constructed off the beaches of Normandy, and from Cherbourg. Because of its port capacity Antwerp became the immediate objective of the British 21st Army Group commanded by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery. While Antwerp fell to Mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
