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RAF Witchford
Royal Air Force Witchford or RAF Witchford is a former Royal Air Force station about southwest of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England and north of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire. History * No. 115 Squadron RAF first started using RAF Witchford from 26 November 1943 with the Avro Lancaster II before changing to the Mk I and III Lancasters in March 1944 before moving to RAF Graveley on 10 September 1945. * No. 195 Squadron RAF reformed at the airfield on 1 October 1944 with the Lancaster I and III before moving to RAF Wratting Common on 13 November 1944 where the squadron disbanded on 14 August 1945. * No. 196 Squadron RAF started using the airfield on 19 Jul 1943 with the Vickers Wellington X until these were replaced with the Short Stirling III during their stay. The squadron left on 18 November 1943 moving to RAF Leicester East. * No. 513 Squadron RAF formed at Witchford on 15 September 1943 with the Stirling III before disbanding on 21 November 1943 at the airfield. * No. 29 Air ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ensign Of The Royal Air Force
An ensign is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern (rear) of the ship while in port. The naval ensign (also known as war ensign), used on warships, may be different from the civil ensign (merchant ships) or the yacht ensign (recreational boats). Large versions of naval ensigns called battle ensigns are used when a warship goes into battle. The ensign differs from the jack (flag), jack, which is flown from a jackstaff at the bow of a vessel. In its widest sense, an ensign is just a flag or other standard. The European military rank of Ensign (rank), ensign, once responsible for bearing a unit's standard (whether national or regimental), derives from it (in the cavalry, the equivalent rank was Cornet (rank), cornet, named after a type of flag). Ensigns, such as the ancient Roman ensigns in the Arch of Constantine, are not always flags. National ensigns In nautical use, the ensign is flown on a shi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Short Stirling
The Short Stirling was a British four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It has the distinction of being the first four-engined bomber to be introduced into service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). The Stirling was designed during the late 1930s by Short Brothers to conform with the requirements laid out in Air Ministry Specification B.12/36. Prior to this, the RAF had been primarily interested in developing increasingly capable twin-engined bombers, but had been persuaded to investigate a prospective four-engined bomber as a result of promising foreign developments in the field. Out of the submissions made to the specification, Supermarine proposed the Type 317, which was viewed as the favourite, whereas Short's submission, named the S.29, was selected as an alternative. When the preferred Type 317 had to be abandoned, the S.29, which later received the name Stirling, proceeded to production. In early 1941, the Stirling entered squadron service. During its use as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Military Units And Formations Established In 1943
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct military uniform. It may consist of one or more military branches such as an army, navy, air force, space force, marines, or coast guard. The main task of the military is usually defined as defence of the state and its interests against external armed threats. In broad usage, the terms ''armed forces'' and ''military'' are often treated as synonymous, although in technical usage a distinction is sometimes made in which a country's armed forces may include both its military and other paramilitary forces. There are various forms of irregular military forces, not belonging to a recognized state; though they share many attributes with regular military forces, they are less often referred to as simply ''military''. A nation's military may ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Shrowsbury' or 'Shroosbury', the correct pronunciation being a matter of longstanding debate. The town centre has a largely unspoilt medieval street plan and over 660 listed buildings, including several examples of timber framing from the 15th and 16th centuries. Shrewsbury Castle, a red sandstone fortification, and Shrewsbury Abbey, a former Benedictine monastery, were founded in 1074 and 1083 respectively by the Norman Earl of Shrewsbury, Roger de Montgomery. The town is the birthplace of Charles Darwin and is where he spent 27 years of his life. east of the Welsh border, Shrewsbury serves as the commercial centre for Shropshire and mid-Wales, with a retail output of over £299 million per year and light industry and distribution centre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Former Royal Air Force Stations
This list of former RAF stations includes most of the stations, airfields and administrative headquarters previously used by the Royal Air Force. The stations are listed under any former county or country name which was appropriate for the duration of operation. It has been stated that RAF stations took their name from the civil parish in which the station headquarters was located, rather than the nearest railway station (e.g., Binbrook has never had a railway station), but there are many exceptions. __TOC__ British Isles Chain Home, Chain Home Low, Chain Home Extra Low, ROTOR and tropo-scatter stations Notes: Some of the Chain Home Low sites were co-located with the larger Chain Home radars. Chain Home Extra Low equipment was co-located with "Chain Home" and "Chain Home Low" as well as at separate sites, but were of a less permanent nature, usually with mobile equipment. ROTOR was the post war Radar interception system created from existing radar installations. NARS ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RAF Mepal
RAF Mepal is a former RAF station located south of Mepal, Cambridgeshire, England and west of Ely. Construction commenced in July 1942 and opened in June 1943. History Mepal first hosted No. 75 (NZ) Squadron RAF flying Short Stirlings and later Avro Lancasters. Tiger Force It was used towards the end of the Second World War to prepare Avro Lancaster bombers squadrons such as No. 44 (Rhodesia) squadron for use in Tiger Force which was to bomb Japan. Thor missiles From 1957 PGM-17 Thor missiles were based at the airfield in the north east corner. Current use Very little remains of the original site, most of it razed to the ground after the USAF and their Thor missiles left. The site is now the Elean business park and is home to the world's only straw burning power station and a few manufacturing and warehousing operations. A small memorial plaque is in place at the entrance to the site. See also * List of former Royal Air Force stations This list of former RAF statio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Church Commissioners
The Church Commissioners is a body which administers the property assets of the Church of England. It was established in 1948 and combined the assets of Queen Anne's Bounty, a fund dating from 1704 for the relief of poor clergy, and of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners formed in 1836. The Church Commissioners are a registered charity regulated by the Charity Commission for England and Wales, and are liable for the payment of pensions to retired clergy whose pensions were accrued before 1998 (subsequent pensions are the responsibility of the Church of England Pensions Board). The secretary (and chief executive) of the Church Commissioners is Gareth Mostyn. History The Church Building Act 1818 granted money and established the Church Building Commission to build churches in the cities of the Industrial Revolution. These churches became known variously as Commissioners' churches, Waterloo churches or Million Act churches. The Church Building Commission became the Ecclesiastica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile
An intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) is a ballistic missile with a range of 3,000–5,500 km (1,864–3,418 miles), between a medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) and an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Classifying ballistic missiles by range is done mostly for convenience; in principle there is very little difference between a low-performance ICBM and a high-performance IRBM, because decreasing payload mass can increase range over ICBM threshold. The range definition used here is used within the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. Some other sources include an additional category, the long-range ballistic missile (LRBM), to describe missiles with a range between IRBMs and true ICBMs. The more modern term theatre ballistic missile encompasses MRBMs and SRBMs, including any ballistic missile with a range under . The progenitor for the IRBM was the A4b winged rocket, based on the V-2 (officially called A4) rocket used by Nazi Germany at the end of World War ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
PGM-17 Thor
The PGM-17A Thor was the first operational ballistic missile of the United States Air Force (USAF). Named after the Norse god of thunder, it was deployed in the United Kingdom between 1959 and September 1963 as an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) with thermonuclear warheads. Thor was in height and in diameter. It was later augmented in the U.S. IRBM arsenal by the Jupiter. The Thor and later Delta families of space launch vehicles used boosters derived from the initial Thor missile. History Fearful that the Soviet Union would deploy a long-range ballistic missile before the U.S., in January 1956 the USAF began developing the Thor, a intermediate-range ballistic missile. The program proceeded quickly as a stop-gap measure, and within three years of inception the first of 20 Royal Air Force Thor squadrons became operational in the UK. The UK deployment carried the codename 'Project Emily'. One of the advantages of the design was that, unlike the Jupiter MRBM, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Project Emily
Project Emily was the deployment of American-built Thor intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) in the United Kingdom between 1959 and 1963. Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command operated 60 Thor missiles, dispersed to 20 RAF air stations, as part of the British nuclear deterrent. Due to concerns over the buildup of Soviet missiles, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower met Prime Minister Harold Macmillan in Bermuda in March 1957 to explore the possibility of short-term deployment of IRBMs in the United Kingdom until the long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) were deployed. The October 1957 Sputnik crisis caused this plan to be expedited. The first Thor missile arrived in the UK on a Douglas C-124 Globemaster II transport aircraft in August 1958, and was delivered to the RAF in September. RAF crews periodically visited the United States for training, culminating in 21 operational training launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base. During the Cuban Missile Crisis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Airfields Of Britain Conservation Trust
The Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust (ABCT), founded 2006, is a non-profit organisation that works to preserve and protect airfields in Great Britain, as well as educating people about their history. The Trust is a registered charity. They place inscribed memorial stones on or near disused airfields, which have included a memorial at Fambridge, Essex in February 2009, at Windermere in Cumbria in 2011 and at Montrose Air Station Heritage Centre in May 2012. Other memorial locations include Harrowbeer, Hatfield, Lanark, Leavesden, Matlaske, Okehampton, Podington, Swannington, Westcott and Woburn Park Woburn Abbey (), occupying the east of the village of Woburn, Bedfordshire, England, is a country house, the family seat of the Duke of Bedford. Although it is still a family home to the current duke, it is open on specified days to visitors, .... References External links * Charities based in Glasgow Conservation in the United Kingdom Aviation history of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RAF Leicester East
Royal Air Force Leicester East, more commonly known as RAF Leicester East , is a former Royal Air Force station, near the village of Stoughton, east southeast of Leicester, Leicestershire, England. It was constructed in 1942 and formally opened in October 1943. The airfield is now Leicester Airport. History The following units were posted to the airfield at some point: * No. 190 Squadron RAF (1944), flying Short Stirling IV * No. 196 Squadron RAF (1943–44), flying Short Stirling III & IV * No. 620 Squadron RAF (1943–44), flying Short Stirling III * No. 93 Group Screened Pilots School * No. 107 (Transport) Operational Training Unit RAF * No. 216 Maintenance Unit RAF (MU) * No. 255 MU * No. 1333 (Transport Support) Conversion Unit RAF On 10 August 1944, at the formation of the First Allied Airborne Army, General Eisenhower visited RAF Leicester East to review 12,000 troops of the 82nd Airborne Division who were camped nearby and at other locations around Leicest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
