|
Thomas Pike
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Thomas Geoffrey Pike, (29 June 1906 – 1 June 1983) was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force. He served in the Second World War as a night fighter squadron commander and then as a station commander. He was Chief of the Air Staff (United Kingdom), Chief of the Air Staff in the early 1960s and, in that role, deployed British air power as part of the British response to the Brunei Revolt. Also, in the face of escalating costs, he implemented the cancellation of the British Blue Streak (missile), Blue Streak ballistic missile system but then found the RAF was without any such capability when the Americans cancelled their own GAM-87 Skybolt, Skybolt ballistic missile system. He went on to be Deputy Supreme Commander Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe in the mid-1960s. RAF career Born the son of Captain (British Army and Royal Marines), Captain Sydney Royston Pike and Sarah Elizabeth Pike (née Huddleston), Pike was educated at Bedford Scho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lewisham
Lewisham () is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London, with a large shopping centre and street market. Lewisham was a small village until the development of passenger railways in the 19th century. Lewisham had a population of 60,573 in 2011. History The earliest written reference to Lewisham — or Saxon ''‘liofshema’ '' - is from a charter from 862 which established the boundaries with neighbouring Bromley Lewisham is sometimes said to have been founded, according to Bede, by a Paganism, pagan Jutes, Jute, Leof, who settled (by burning his boat) near St Mary's Church (Ladywell) where the ground was drier, in the 6th century, but there seems to be no solid source for this speculation, and there is no such passage in Bede' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Pike (British Army Officer)
Lieutenant General Sir William Gregory Huddleston Pike (24 June 1905 − 10 March 1993) was a senior British Army officer who served as Vice Chief of the Imperial General Staff from 1960 to 1963. Military career Pike entered Bedford School in 1914, and was further educated at Marlborough College. After graduating from the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, Pike was commissioned into the Royal Artillery on 28 January 1925. He served with the British Indian Army until 1936 and fought in the Second World War taking part in the Dunkirk evacuation and commanding the 77th (Highland) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery during the landings in Morocco and Algeria in March 1943. On 11 March 1944, Pike was promoted to brigadier and appointed to command 59th Army Group Royal Artillery, a headquarters that was about to embark for the Far East. On arrival at the Ranchi training area, 59 AGRA and the artillery regiments placed under Pike's command prepared for an amphibious assault on t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Armstrong Whitworth Siskin
The Armstrong Whitworth Siskin was a biplane single-seat fighter aircraft developed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. It was also the first all-metal fighter to be operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF), as well as being one of the first new fighters to enter service following the end of the First World War. Development of the Siskin was heavily influenced by RAF Specification Type I, including its initial use of the ABC Dragonfly radial engine. Making its first flight in May 1919, the Siskin possessed good qualities in spite of the Dragonfly's poor performance. In the following year, the much better Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar was installed and flight with this powerplant was made on 20 March 1921. In response to Air Ministry Specification 14/22, the aircraft was redesigned with an all-metal structure, and orders were placed in 1922. In May 1924, the first of the RAF's Siskin IIIs were delivered to No. 41 Squadron at RAF Northolt. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gloster Grebe
The Gloster Grebe was developed by the Gloster Aircraft Company from the Gloster Grouse (an experimental aircraft later developed as a trainer), and was the Royal Air Force's first post-First World War fighter aircraft, entering service in 1923. Design In 1923, Gloster modified a Gloster Sparrowhawk fighter trainer with new wings to test a layout proposed by chief designer Henry Folland, combining a thick, high-lift section upper wing and a thinner, medium-lift lower wing, with the intention of combining high lift for takeoff with low drag.James 1971, p. 89. After the Grouse demonstrated that the new layout was a success, the British Air Ministry placed an order for three prototype fighters based on the Grouse (and therefore derived ultimately from Folland's Nieuport Nighthawk fighter of 1919), but powered by a Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar III radial engine, as the "Nighthawk (thick-winged)".James 1971, p. 97.Green and Swanborough 1983, p. 2. The first of the prototypes (Gloster ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London Biggin Hill Airport
London Biggin Hill Airport is an operational general aviation airport at Biggin Hill in the London Borough of Bromley, located south-southeast of Central London. The airport was formerly a Royal Air Force station RAF Biggin Hill, and a small enclave on the airport still retains that designation. Biggin Hill is best known for its role during the Battle of Britain in the Second World War, when it served as one of the principal fighter bases protecting London and South East England from attack by German Luftwaffe bombers. Over the course of the war, fighters based at Biggin Hill claimed 1,400 enemy aircraft, at the cost of the lives of 453 Biggin Hill based aircrew. The airport has a CAA Ordinary Licence (Number P804) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction as authorised by the licensee (Regional Airports Limited). It specialises in general aviation, handling a spectrum of traffic from private aviation to large business jets. It ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pilot Officer
Pilot officer (Plt Off officially in the RAF; in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly P/O in all services, and still often used in the RAF) is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countries. It ranks immediately below flying officer. It has a NATO ranking code of OF-1 and is equivalent to a second lieutenant in the British Army or the Royal Marines. The Royal Navy has no exact equivalent rank, and a pilot officer is senior to a Royal Navy midshipman and junior to a Royal Navy sub-lieutenant. In the Australian Armed Forces, the rank of pilot officer is equivalent to acting sub lieutenant in the Royal Australian Navy. The equivalent rank in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) was "assistant section officer". Origins In the Royal Flying Corps, officers were designated pilot officers at the end of pilot training. As they retained their commissions in their customary ranks (usually second lieutenant or lieutenant), and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Air Force College Cranwell
The Royal Air Force College (RAFC) is the Royal Air Force military academy which provides initial training to all RAF personnel who are preparing to become commissioned officers. The College also provides initial training to aircrew cadets and is responsible for all RAF recruiting along with officer and aircrew selection. Originally established as a naval aviation training centre during World War I, the College was established as the world's first air academy in 1919. During World War II, the College was closed and its facilities were used as a flying training school. Reopening after the War, the College absorbed the Royal Air Force Technical College in 1966. The Royal Air Force College is based at RAF Cranwell near Sleaford in Lincolnshire, and is sometimes titled as the Royal Air Force College Cranwell. History Early years In December 1915, after the Royal Naval Air Service had broken away from the Royal Flying Corps, Commodore Godfrey Paine was sent to Cranwell to start a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bedford School
:''Bedford School is not to be confused with Bedford Girls' School, Bedford High School, Bedford Modern School, Old Bedford School in Bedford, Texas or Bedford Academy in Bedford, Nova Scotia.'' Bedford School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for boys) in the county town of Bedford in England. Founded in 1552, it is the oldest of four independent schools in Bedford run by the Harpur Trust. Bedford School is composed of the Preparatory School (ages 7 to 13) and the Upper School (ages 13 to 18). There are around 1,100 pupils, of whom approximately one half are boarders. In 2014, James Hodgson succeeded John Moule as headmaster after he moved on as headmaster of Radley College, another independent school for boys. The school has produced six Nobel Prize winner, five recipients of the Victoria Cross, twenty-four rugby internationals, the winners of eight Olympic gold medals, and a former England cricket captain, Alastair Cook. Bedford School was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Captain (British Army And Royal Marines)
Captain (Capt) is a junior officer rank of the British Army and Royal Marines and in both services it ranks above lieutenant and below major with a NATO ranking code of OF-2. The rank is equivalent to a lieutenant in the Royal Navy and to a flight lieutenant in the Royal Air Force. The rank of captain in the Royal Navy is considerably more senior (equivalent to the Army/RM rank of colonel) and the two ranks should not be confused. In the 21st-century British Army, captains are often appointed to be second-in-command (2IC) of a company or equivalent sized unit of up to 120 soldiers. History A rank of second captain existed in the Ordnance at the time of the Battle of Waterloo. From 1 April 1918 to 31 July 1919, the Royal Air Force maintained the junior officer rank of captain. RAF captains had a rank insignia based on the two bands of a naval lieutenant with the addition of an eagle and crown above the bands. It was superseded by the rank of flight lieutenant on the fol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe
Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) is the military headquarters of the NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) Allied Command Operations (ACO) that commands all NATO operations worldwide. ACO's and SHAPE's commander is titled Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), a U.S. four-star rank, four-star general officer or flag officer who also serves as Commander, U.S. European Command. SHAPE is situated in Mons, Belgium. Under the 2002 Berlin Plus agreement, SHAPE may also take part in the European Union's (EU) Command and control structure of the European Union, command and control structure as an operational headquarters (OHQ) for EU List of military and civilian missions of the European Union, missions. In such an instance, the Supreme Allied Commander Europe#Deputy, Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe (DSACEUR), who is always a European, would serve as Operation Commander (OpCdr). This use of SHAPE by the EU is however subject to a "right of first ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
GAM-87 Skybolt
The Douglas GAM-87 Skybolt (AGM-48 under the 1962 Tri-service system) was an air-launched ballistic missile (ALBM) developed by the United States during the late 1950s. The basic concept was to allow US strategic bombers to launch their weapons from well outside the range of Soviet defenses, as much as from their targets. To do this in an air-launched form, a lightweight thermonuclear warhead was needed. Initially, the W47 from the Polaris missile was selected, but it was later replaced by the W59 from the Minuteman missile. The UK joined the Skybolt program in 1960, intending to use it on their V bomber force. When the design added a star tracker in addition to its inertial navigation system (INS) this meant that it could only be carried externally where the tracker could see the sky. This requirement along with the required ground clearance on takeoff limited it to the Avro Vulcan bomber. A number of design decisions in the W47 led the RAF to question its safety, so they int ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ballistic Missile
A ballistic missile is a type of missile that uses projectile motion to deliver warheads on a target. These weapons are guided only during relatively brief periods—most of the flight is unpowered. Short-range ballistic missiles stay within the Earth's atmosphere, while intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) are launched on a sub-orbital flight. These weapons are in a distinct category from cruise missiles, which are aerodynamically guided in powered flight. Unlike cruise missiles, which are restricted to the atmosphere, it is advantageous for ballistic missiles to avoid the denser parts of the atmosphere and they may travel above the atmosphere into outer space. History The earliest form of ballistic missile dates from the 13th century with its use derived from the history of rockets. In the 14th century, the Ming Chinese navy used an early form of a ballistic missile weapon called the Huolongchushui in naval battles against enemy ships.Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_-_Lewisham.jpg "Click for more on -> Lewisham")
