Thomas Luke
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Thomas Luke
Squadron Leader Thomas Carlyon Luke (21 July 1891 – 1 July 1935) was a British World War I flying ace credited with six aerial victories. Biography World War I Luke was born in Plymouth, Devon, the son of Epænetus Ernest Luke and Ida Mary (née Mabley). On the outbreak of war he enlisted into the Royal Engineers, rising to the rank of corporal, eventually being commissioned as a second lieutenant on 1 April 1916. He soon transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, and was granted Royal Aero Club Aviators' Certificate No. 7740, and appointed a flying officer on 4 January 1917. After completing his training, he was assigned to No. 66 Squadron RFC, flying a Sopwith Pup.Shores ''et.al.'' (1990), p.246. He gained his first victory on 23 May 1917 by driving down out of control a Type C reconnaissance aircraft, repeating the feat on 28 May. On 15 June he destroyed an Albatros D.III west of Houthem, and sent down another in flames on 28 July, east of Roeselare, but was then himse ...
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Plymouth
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth's early history extends to the Bronze Age when a first settlement emerged at Mount Batten. This settlement continued as a trading post for the Roman Empire, until it was surpassed by the more prosperous village of Sutton founded in the ninth century, now called Plymouth. In 1588, an English fleet based in Plymouth intercepted and defeated the Spanish Armada. In 1620, the Pilgrim Fathers departed Plymouth for the New World and established Plymouth Colony, the second English settlement in what is now the United States of America. During the English Civil War, the town was held by the Roundhead, Parliamentarians and was besieged between 1642 and 1646. Throughout the Industrial Revolution, Plymouth grew as a commercial shipping port, handling ...
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Halberstädter Flugzeugwerke
Halberstädter Flugzeugwerke or Halberstadt was a German aircraft manufacturer. It was formed on 9 April 1912 under the name ''Deutsche Bristol Werke Flugzeug-Gesellschaft mbH'' in Halberstadt, Province of Saxony. History The British-German joint venture initially produced planes according to the system by the Bristol Aeroplane Company, British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Ltd such as Bristol Boxkites and Bristol Prier monoplanes, but soon expanded into their own developments. In September 1913 the company was renamed ''Halberstädter Flugzeugwerke GmbH''. The chief designers were Hans Burkhardt, who later transferred to Gothaer Waggonfabrik, and the technical director and chief engineer was Karl Theiss. The company built more than 1,700 reconnaissance aircraft (C type) and 85 Fighter aircraft, fighter planes (D type), which served in the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' (German Air Force) during World War I. When German aircraft production was prohibited according to the 1919 Treaty o ...
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Squadron Leader
Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr in the RAF ; SQNLDR in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly sometimes S/L in all services) is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is also sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank in countries which have a non-English air force-specific rank structure. An air force squadron leader ranks above flight lieutenant and immediately below wing commander and it is the most junior of the senior officer ranks. The air force rank of squadron leader has a NATO ranking code of OF-3, equivalent to a lieutenant-commander in the Royal Navy or a major in the British Army or the Royal Marines. The equivalent rank in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, Women's Royal Air Force (until 1968) and Princess Mary's Royal Air Force Nursing Service (until 1980) was "squadron officer". Squadron leader has also been used as a cavalry command appointment (UK) and rank (France) since ...
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RAF West Drayton
RAF West Drayton was a non-flying Royal Air Force station in West Drayton, within the London Borough of Hillingdon, which served as the main centre for military air traffic control in the United Kingdom. It was co-located with the civilian London Terminal Control Centre, London Air Traffic Control Centre to provide a vital link between civil and military flying and airspace requirements. Following the departure of the remaining civil and military air traffic control systems by 2008, the site was closed and demolished for a new residential development. History West Drayton RAF station was operating in 1918 as an RAF Air Construction Corps (A.C.C.) depot and was located in the Stockley Park, Stockley area of the Yiewsley and West Drayton Urban District, Yiewsley Urban District. Before the creation of the RAF on 1 April 1918, buildings at Stockley were occupied by the Royal Naval Air Service (R.N.A.S.). By October 1920 the depot accommodation buildings used by the R.N.A.S. had been ...
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RAF Iraq Command
Iraq Command was the Royal Air Force (RAF) commanded British Armed Forces, inter-service Command (military formation), command in charge of United Kingdom, British forces in Iraq in the 1920s and early 1930s, during the period of the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. It continued as British Forces in Iraq until 1941 when it was replaced by AHQ Iraq. It consisted of Royal Air Force, Royal Navy, British Army, Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth and locally raised units, commanded by an RAF officer normally of Air Vice-Marshal rank. Origins Following the end of World War I and the accompanying British defence cuts, the new RAF took up the task of policing the British Empire, Empire from the air. In May 1920 Iraqi revolt against the British, an insurgency broke out around the Euphrates and this uprising rapidly extended to a more general area. The Air Officer Commanding the Middle East dispatched an additional squadron from Egypt to Iraq. In London the Government were seeking a so ...
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Alan Jerrard
Alan Jerrard, VC (3 December 1897 – 14 May 1968) was an English aviator and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. An officer of the South Staffordshire Regiment he was 20 years old when, attached as a lieutenant in No. 66 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War, he performed an act of bravery for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross. Early life Jerrard was born in Lewisham in 1897 and moved in 1902 with his family to Sutton Coldfield where his father was headmaster of Bishop Vesey's Grammar School for 24 years . Later Jerrard attended Oundle School in Northamptonshire and Birmingham University. First World War Jerrard volunteered for the British Army and served with the 5th South Staffordshire Regiment before transferring to the Royal Flying Corps in 1916, where he trained as a fighter pilot. From mid-1917, he served in No. 19 Squadron RFC ...
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Sopwith Snipe
The Sopwith 7F.1 Snipe was a British single-seat biplane fighter of the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was designed and built by the Sopwith Aviation Company during the First World War, and came into squadron service a few weeks before the end of the conflict, in late 1918. The Snipe was not a fast aircraft by the standards of its time, but its excellent climb and manoeuvrability made it a good match for contemporary German fighters. It was selected as the standard postwar single-seat RAF fighter and the last examples were not retired until 1926. Design and development In April 1917, Herbert Smith, the chief designer of the Sopwith Company, began to design a fighter intended to be the replacement for Sopwith's most famous aeroplane, the Sopwith Camel.Lumsden ''Aeroplane Monthly'' October 1990, p. 588. The design, called Snipe by Sopwith, was in its initial form a single- bay biplane, slightly smaller than the Camel and intended to be powered by similar engines. The pilot sat higher ...
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Hendon Aerodrome
Hendon Aerodrome was an aerodrome in London, England, that was an important centre for aviation from 1908 to 1968. It was situated in Colindale, north west of Charing Cross. It nearly became a central hub of civil aviation ("the Charing Cross of he UK'sinternational air routes"), but for the actions of the RAF after the First World War in reserving it for military aviation. It was known as a place of pioneering experiments including the first airmail, the first parachute descent from a powered aircraft, the first night flights, and the first aerial defence of a city. Beginnings Henry Coxwell and James Glaisher were the first to fly from Hendon in a balloon called the Mammoth in 1862. Ballooning at the Brent Reservoir was a popular spectacle for crowds on bank holidays late in the 19th century. The first powered flight from Hendon was in an long non-rigid airship built by Spencer Brothers of Highbury. It took off from the Welsh Harp Reservoir in 1909, piloted by Henry Spen ...
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Flight International
''Flight International'' is a monthly magazine focused on aerospace. Published in the United Kingdom and founded in 1909 as "A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport", it is the world's oldest continuously published aviation news magazine. ''Flight International'' is published by DVV Media Group. Competitors include Jane's Information Group and ''Aviation Week''. Former editors of, and contributors include H. F. King, Bill Gunston, John W. R. Taylor and David Learmount. History The founder and first editor of ''Flight'' was Stanley Spooner. He was also the creator and editor of ''The Automotor Journal'', originally titled ''The Automotor Journal and Horseless Vehicle''.Guide To British Industrial History: Biographies: ''Stan ...
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Adjutant
Adjutant is a military appointment given to an officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of human resources in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed forces as a non-commissioned officer rank similar to a staff sergeant or warrant officer but is not equivalent to the role or appointment of an adjutant. An adjutant general is commander of an army's administrative services. Etymology Adjutant comes from the Latin ''adiutāns'', present participle of the verb ''adiūtāre'', frequentative form of ''adiuvāre'' 'to help'; the Romans actually used ''adiūtor'' for the noun. Military and paramilitary appointment In various uniformed hierarchies, the term is used for number of functions, but generally as a principal aide to a commanding officer. A regimental adjutant, garrison adjutant etc. is a staff officer who assists the commanding officer of a regiment, battalion or garrison in the details of regimental, g ...
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Fokker D
Fokker was a Dutch aircraft manufacturer named after its founder, Anthony Fokker. The company operated under several different names. It was founded in 1912 in Berlin, Germany, and became famous for its fighter aircraft in World War I. In 1919 the company moved its operations to the Netherlands. During its most successful period in the 1920s and 1930s, it dominated the civil aviation market. Fokker went into bankruptcy in 1996, and its operations were sold to competitors. History Fokker in Germany At age 20, while studying in Germany, Anthony Fokker built his initial aircraft, the ''Spin'' (Spider)—the first Dutch-built plane to fly in his home country. Taking advantage of better opportunities in Germany, he moved to Berlin, where in 1912, he founded his first company, Fokker Aeroplanbau, later moving to the Görries suburb just southwest of Schwerin (at ), where the current company was founded, as Fokker Aviatik GmbH, on 12 February 1912. World War I Fokker capitalized o ...
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