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Royal Air Force Boy Entrants
Under the RAF boy entrant scheme which ran from the mid-1930s to late 1965, boys joined the Royal Air Force between the ages of 15 and 17 and were trained in various occupations (or trades) which fitted them for employment in the RAF. Training was suspended during World War II but recommenced in May 1947. The final entry was the 51st who commenced training in January 1964 and graduated in July 1965. Training was undertaken at several RAF stations including RAF Cosford, RAF Yatesbury, RAF Compton Bassett, RAF St Athan, RAF Hereford and RAF Locking. Training took 18 months and included not just the trade and basic training but also more general academic education. After their 18 months of training, they moved to RAF duty stations and commenced employment in the trade they had trained on. The boy entrant scheme provided training, and a focus in life, for boys that often had a poor education. In the early post World War II years, this education had probably been severely disrupted ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RAF Station Cosford 51 Entry Plaque
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] |
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] |
RAF Cosford
Royal Air Force Cosford or RAF Cosford (formerly DCAE Cosford) is a Royal Air Force station in Cosford, Shropshire, Cosford, Shropshire, just to the northwest of Wolverhampton and next to Albrighton, Bridgnorth, Albrighton. History Origins RAF Cosford opened in 1938 as a joint aircraft maintenance, storage and technical training unit. It was originally intended to be opened as RAF Donington (the parish in which it is located) but to avoid confusion with the nearby army camp at Donnington it was named after Cosford Grange House which was located at the south western edge of the airfield. It has remained mainly a training unit to this day. The ''Fulton'' barrack block was built just before the Second World War as the largest single building barrack block in the UK. The block was named after Captain Fulton (an early Air Force pioneer) and paid for by his widow, Lady Fulton. It is a listed building and is now used for technical training. No 2 School of Technical Training was forme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RAF Yatesbury
RAF Yatesbury is a former Royal Air Force airfield near the village of Yatesbury, Wiltshire, England, about east of the town of Calne. It was an important training establishment in the First and Second World Wars, and until its closure in 1965. For a time in the 1950s, part of the site became RAF Cherhill. First World War The Royal Flying Corps began pilot training at Yatesbury in 1916. Formations included No. 99 Squadron RAF, No. 99 Squadron, and No. 7 Squadron RAAF, No. 7 and No. 8 Squadron RAAF, No. 8 squadrons of the Australian Flying Corps. The aerodrome's site was farmland on the north side of the A4 road (England), A4 road, south of Yatesbury village. There were two airfields, East Camp and West Camp, each with buildings and hangars. Two target areas were marked out. Training continued until 1919, then squadrons were sent to Yatesbury to be disbanded. The station closed in 1920 and returned to farmland. The following units were here at some date before th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RAF Compton Bassett
RAF Compton Basset was an RAF station Wiltshire, England, about east of the town of Calne. First opened as an RAF station in 1940 and used for radar training, it had no airfield. The site is often confused with RAF Yatesbury that was constructed partly within the parish of Compton Bassett in 1916. During the Second World War, RAF Yatesbury and RAF Compton Bassett were major Radio and Radar Training Schools, RAF Townsend a satellite landing ground and RAF Cherhill was No 27 Group Headquarters Technical Training Command. After the war it became a trade training camp for certain ground Signals trades. Many thousands of newly recruited RAF personnel, most having just completed their 8 weeks basic training, were taught their RAF trade skills at RAF Compton Bassett, so as to become competent Radar Operators PPI, Wireless Operators, Teleprinter Operators, Telegraphists or Telephonists before being posted to work at RAF operational stations and airfields elsewhere in the United Kingd ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RAF St Athan
Ministry of Defence St Athan or MOD St Athan (Welsh: Maes awyr Sain Tathan), formerly known as RAF St Athan, is a large Ministry of Defence unit near the village of St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan, southern Wales. It was the designated site for the United Kingdom's new defence training academy, but the programme was cancelled on 19 October 2010. The base has been home to the RAF No. 4 School of Technical Training throughout its life, as well as a major aircraft maintenance unit. St Athan has also been used to house British Army units, including the 1st Battalion, Welsh Guards. At one time it was home to a large collection of historical aircraft. The only squadron to operate out of St Athan on a regular basis is the Universities of Wales Air Squadron (one of fourteen RAF University Air Squadrons), flying Grob Tutors. 2300 Squadron of the Air Training Corps is also located on the Station. Between May 1947 and August 1973, St Athan was also home for the Administrative Apprentice ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RAF Hereford
RAF Credenhill, also known as RAF Hereford, was a non-flying station of the Royal Air Force situated in the village of Credenhill near Hereford, United Kingdom. It was commissioned in 1940 and served as home for a range of training schools from 1940 until closure in 1994. The site was subsequently obtained by the British Army. History First World War After the outbreak of the First World War, the Ministry of Munitions were required to create a number of Royal Ordnance Factory munitions production facilities quickly and cheaply. In 1912 Herefordshire County Council had bought of the former Rotherwas estate from the Lubienski-Bodenham family, overlooked by Dinedor Hill and bordered by the Wye meadows. A site of was acquired by the Ministry on 15 June 1916, at Lower Bullingham just south of Hereford on the junction of the Welsh Marches Line and the Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Railway. Laid out to a standard design, ROF Rotherwas encompassed: * standard-gauge railway * of r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RAF Locking
RAF Locking was a Royal Air Force station near the village of Locking and about 3 miles from Weston-super-Mare in North Somerset, England. No 5 School of Technical Training RAF Locking was opened as a training unit in 1939 as No.5 School of Technical Training. Its role was to train new entrants in the trades of aircraft mechanics, airframes, carpentry, fabric working and parachute packing. Training was also provided for marine craft personnel. Within three years 30,682 personnel had been trained. By the end of WW2 the station had developed into a huge settlement comprising hutted accommodation, classrooms and offices, workshops and hangars. Aircraft used for training included Avro Ansons, Gloster Meteors, Hawker Hunters and a Handley Page Victor. Thousands of personnel were trained in support of the war effort. Training was gradually reduced in line with the numbers in the forces and No.5 School of Technical Training closed in 1950. Boy Entrant Training In May 1947 the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bren Light Machine Gun
The Bren gun was a series of light machine guns (LMG) made by Britain in the 1930s and used in various roles until 1992. While best known for its role as the British and Commonwealth forces' primary infantry LMG in World War II, it was also used in the Korean War and saw service throughout the latter half of the 20th century, including the 1982 Falklands War. Although fitted with a bipod, it could also be mounted on a tripod or be vehicle-mounted. The Bren gun was a licensed version of the Czechoslovak ZGB 33 light machine gun which, in turn, was a modified version of the ZB vz. 26, which British Army officials had tested during a firearms service competition in the 1930s. The later Bren gun featured a distinctive top-mounted curved box magazine, conical flash hider, and quick change barrel. The name ''Bren'' was derived from Brno, the Czechoslovak city in Moravia, where the Zb vz. 26 was designed (in the Zbrojovka Brno Factory) and Enfield, site of the British Royal Small A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sten
The STEN (or Sten gun) is a family of British submachine guns chambered in 9×19mm which were used extensively by British and Commonwealth forces throughout World War II and the Korean War. They had a simple design and very low production cost, making them effective insurgency weapons for resistance groups, and they continue to see usage to this day by irregular military forces. The Sten served as the basis for the Sterling submachine gun, which replaced the Sten in British service until the 1990s, when it, and all other submachine guns, were replaced by the SA80. The Sten is a select fire, blowback-operated weapon which mounts its magazine on the left. Sten is an acronym, from the names of the weapon's chief designers, Major Reginald V. Shepherd and Harold J. Turpin, and "En" for the Enfield factory. Over four million Stens in various versions were made in the 1940s, making it the second most produced submachine gun of the Second World War, after the Soviet PPSh-41. Histo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Servicemen
In the United Kingdom, military conscription has existed for two periods in modern times. The first was from 1916 to 1920, and the second from 1939 to 1960. The last conscripted soldiers left the service in 1963. It was legally designated as "Military Service" from 1916 to 1920, and as "National Service" from 1939 to 1960. However, between 1939 and 1948, it was often referred to as "War Service" in documents relating to National Insurance and pension provision. First World War Conscription during the First World War began when the British government passed the Military Service Act in January 1916. The act specified that single men aged 18 to 40 years old were liable to be called up for military service unless they were widowed with children, or were ministers of a religion. There was a system of tribunals to adjudicate upon claims for exemption upon the grounds of performing civilian work of national importance, domestic hardship, health, and conscientious objection. The law ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
