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RAF Home Command
RAF Home Command was the Royal Air Force command that was responsible for the maintenance and training of reserve organisationsJohn D. Rawlings, 'The History of the Royal Air Force,' Temple Press Aerospace, Feltham, Middlesex, 1984, p.180 from formation on 1 February 1939 as RAF Reserve Command with interruptions until it ceased to exist on 1 April 1959. History The Command was formed as RAF Reserve Command on 1 February 1939.Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organisation - RAF Home Commands formed between 1939 - 1957 It was absorbed into on 27 May 1940 but reformed again on 1 May 1946. [...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] |
William Welsh (RAF Officer)
Air Marshal Sir William Lawrie Welsh, (10 February 1891 – 2 January 1962) was a Royal Air Force officer who commanded British air operations during Operation Torch. Early career Welsh started his career in the Merchant Navy and from 1910 he was midshipman in the Royal Navy Reserve prior to the outbreak of the First World War, Welsh joined the Royal Naval Air Service in November 1914 as a pilot at ''RNAS Calshot''. During the early years of the war, Welsh acted as a test pilot and became one of the first pilots to fly a plane off an early carrier, flying a Sopwith Schneider floatplane off , while sailing at approximately 18 knots, on 6 August 1915. He again repeated this on 3 November with the ship sailing at full speed. Welsh was shot down while flying a Sopwith Baby seaplane, landing only six miles northeast of Dunkirk on 23 April 1917, although he was unhurt in the crash. In 1918, Welsh received his first command as head of No. 17 Squadron RNAS, which became No. 217 Squadr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Douglas Macfadyen
Air Marshal Sir Douglas Macfadyen, (8 August 1902 – 26 July 1968) was a Royal Air Force officer who became Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at RAF Home Command from 1956 until his retirement in 1959. RAF career After education at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle, Macfadyen joined the Royal Air Force as a cadet in 1920.Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation – Air Marshal Sir Douglas Macfadyen After a tour as Adjutant of the London , he became |
Harold Lydford
Air Marshal Sir Harold Thomas Lydford, (7 May 1898 – 20 September 1979) was a First World War pilot in the Royal Flying Corps and senior commander in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War and the post-war decade. RAF career Lydford was commissioned into the Special Reserve of the Royal Flying Corps in 1917. He transferred to the Royal Air Force after the war and served as a pilot with No. 208 Squadron in Constantinople. He served in the Second World War as Deputy Director of Organisation and Director of Organisation at the Air Ministry before being appointed Air Officer Commanding No. 28 Group in 1944 and Air Officer Commanding British Forces Aden in March 1945. After the War he served as Commandant-General of the RAF Regiment, Air Officer Commanding No. 18 Group and Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at Home Command before retiring in 1956. In retirement he became a Director of ''Electro Mechanisms Limited'' and Chairman of the Royal Air Forces Association T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ronald Ivelaw-Chapman
Air Chief Marshal Sir Ronald Ivelaw-Chapman, (17 January 1899 – 28 April 1978) was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force in the middle of the 20th century and the penultimate RAF commander-in-chief of the Indian Air Force. Early life and the First World War Ronald Ivelaw-Chapman was born on 17 January 1899 in British Guiana. He came to England with his parents in 1903 and attended Cheltenham College. He joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1917 and served as a Bristol Fighter pilot on the western front with 10 Squadron in the last eleven months of the war. Between the wars In January 1929, then a flight lieutenant in the RAF, Ivelaw-Chapman participated in the Kabul Airlift, a successful evacuation of the British Legation in Kabul amidst a civil war and a bitter winter. On 27 January a Kabul-bound Vickers Victoria, piloted by Ivelaw-Chapman, was forced to make an emergency landing in the mountainous Surobi District. Rescued by an Afghan royalist officer, Ivelaw-Chapman was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Foster (RAF Officer)
Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert Mordaunt Foster, (3 September 1898 – 23 October 1973) was a Royal Flying Corps pilot in the First World War, and a senior commander in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War and the immediate post-war years. Early life and First World War Foster was educated at Winchester College and the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, graduating as a Gentlemen Cadet. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Fusiliers on 19 July 1916, but was seconded to the Royal Flying Corps, and on 7 October 1916 was appointed a flying officer. He was sent to France to join No. 54 Squadron flying the Sopwith Camel. While with 54 Squadron, Foster shot down at least one enemy machine. Later in the war Foster returned to Great Britain, carrying out home defence duties whilst serving with No. 44 Squadron. On 19 January 1918 he was promoted to lieutenant. In April 1918, Foster returned to France, serving as a flight commander with the rank of temporar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Lees
Air Marshal Sir Alan Lees, (23 May 1895 – 14 August 1973) was a Royal Air Force officer who became Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief RAF Reserve Command. RAF career Educated at Wellington College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Lees was commissioned into the Royal West Kent Regiment in 1914 at the start of the First World War. He became a pilot in 1915 and while serving on the Western Front was wounded and taken prisoner in 1917. After the War he transferred to the new Royal Air Force and in 1928 became Officer Commanding No. 56 Squadron. He was appointed Officer Commanding No. 1 (Indian Wing) Station in 1932, Station Commander at RAF Driffield in 1938 and then joined the staff at Headquarters RAF Bomber Command in 1939. He served in the Second World War as Air Officer Commanding No. 2 Group from 1941, Air Officer Commanding No. 222 (General Reconnaissance) Group from 1942 and Air Officer Administration at Headquarters Air Command South East Asia from 1944. Af ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Davies (RAF Officer)
Air Commodore Edward Dayrell Handley (Peter) Davies Order of the British Empire, CBE (29 September 1899 – 21 March 1974) was a senior Royal Air Force officer who became Acting Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief RAF Reserve Command. RAF career Davies became a Probationary Flight Officer with the Royal Naval Air Service before being commissioned in the seaplane branch of the Royal Air Force in October 1918. He became Officer Commanding No. 36 Squadron RAF, No.36 Squadron in 1935 and then joined the Air Staff at Headquarters RAF Training Command. He transferred to RAF Technical Training Command shortly after the start of World War II and was made Director of Operations (Torpedoes) at the Air Ministry in 1943. He was briefly Acting Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at RAF Reserve Command in May 1946 and then became Air Officer Commanding No. 65 Group RAF, No. 65 Group in 1948 and Air Officer Commanding RAF East Africa in 1949 before retiring on grounds of ill health in 1950. He was appoin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Miles Steel
Air Chief Marshal Sir John Miles Steel, (11 September 1877 – 2 December 1965) was a senior Royal Air Force commander. Military career Steel attended the training ship ''Britannia'' from 1892 to 1894. and subsequently served in the Royal Navy. He was promoted to sub-lieutenant in 1897 and served in the Second Boer War as a member of the Naval Brigade. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1900, and was posted temporary in July 1902 to , serving in the Channel Squadron. A permanent posting followed in September that year, when he was posted to , coast guard ship at Portsmouth. Promotion to commander followed in 1912, and to captain in 1916. In 1917 Steel was transferred from fleet duties to the Royal Naval Air Service and was appointed Officer Commanding RNAS Eastchurch. In early 1918 Steel was appointed Officer Commanding No. 58 Wing which was based at Eastchurch and in March, at the age of 40, Steel learned to fly. Meanwhile, he became General Officer Commanding No. 8 Group. On 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
Christopher Courtney
Air Chief Marshal Sir Christopher Lloyd Courtney, (27 June 1890 – 22 October 1976) was a senior Royal Air Force officer. RAF career Courtney joined the Royal Navy in May 1905 as a midshipman at Britannia Naval College. By late 1909 he was an acting sub-lieutenant on board . He fought in the First World War initially as Officer Commanding Killingholme Royal Naval Air Station. He continued his war service as Officer Commanding Royal Naval Air Station Dover, Officer Commanding No. 4 Wing RNAS and then Officer Commanding No. 7 Squadron RNAS. In April 1918, with the creation of the Royal Air Force, Courtney transferred from the Navy to the RAF and at that time he was appointed deputy director of Aircraft Equipment at the newly established Air Ministry. Just before the end of World War I, Courtney was promoted to acting brigadier-general and sent France to command the 11th Brigade which was being established as a subordinate formation of the RAF's Independent Air Force. However, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RAF White Waltham
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 RAF ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
