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Tragedy At Kufra
The Tragedy at Kufra occurred in May 1942 during World War II, when eleven of twelve South African aircrew flying in three Bristol Blenheim Mark IV aircraft of No. 15 Squadron of the South African Air Force died of thirst and exposure, after the flight became lost following a navigational error near the oasis of Kufra in Libya and made a forced landing in the Libyan Desert. The deployment to Kufra The South African Air Forces 15 Squadron, equipped with Bristol Blenheim Mark IV aircraft, departed South Africa in January 1942 for service in Egypt in support of Allies of World War II, Allied forces in the North African campaign of World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin .... Arriving in Egypt in February 1942, it set up operations south of Amreya, near Alexandr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kufra
Kufra () is a basinBertarelli (1929), p. 514. and oasis group in the Kufra District of southeastern Cyrenaica in Libya. At the end of nineteenth century Kufra became the centre and holy place of the Senussi order. It also played a minor role in the Western Desert Campaign of World War II. It is located in a particularly isolated area, not only because it is in the middle of the Sahara Desert but also because it is surrounded on three sides by depressions which make it dominate the passage in east-west land traffic across the desert. For the colonial Italians, it was also important as a station on the north-south air route to Italian East Africa. These factors, along with Kufra's dominance of the southeastern Cyrenaica region of Libya, highlight the strategic importance of the oasis and why it was a point of conflict during World War II. Etymology The folk etymology associaters the word Kufra as coming from the Arabic word kafir, the Arabic term for non-Muslims (often transla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oasis
In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical importance for trade and transportation routes in desert areas; caravans must travel via oases so that supplies of water and food can be replenished. Thus, political or military control of an oasis has in many cases meant control of trade on a particular route. For example, the oases of Awjila, Ghadames and Kufra, situated in modern-day Libya, have at various times been vital to both north–south and east–west Trans-Saharan trade, trade in the Sahara Desert. The location of oases also informed the Darb El Arba'īn trade route from Sudan to Egypt, as well as the caravan route from the Niger River to Tangier, Morocco. The Silk Road “traced its course from water hole to water hole, relying on oasis communities such as Turpan in China and Sam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tazirbu
Tazerbu ( ar, تازربو) is an oasis located in the Libyan Desert in the Kufra District of Libya, about 250 km to the northwest of Kufra.Bertarelli (1929), p. 515. The name means "main seat" in the Toubou language, because this was the seat of the Toubou Sultanate before the Arab invasion. The oasis is 25–30 km long and 10 km wide. In the middle of the oasis and parallel to it runs a shallow valley with salt ponds and salines. In Tazerbu there are about ten villages: the most important is called ''El-Jezeera''. In the oasis grow groups of palms, tamarisks, acacias, esparto and Juncus. Several kilometers to the north of this village lie the ruins of an old castle, named ''Gasr Giránghedi'', which was the seat of the Sultan. The first European to visit the oasis was the German Gerhard Rohlfs Gerhard Rohlfs (July 14, 1892 – September 12, 1986) was a German linguist. He taught Romance languages and literature at the universities of Tübingen and Munich. H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Weather Balloon
A weather balloon, also known as sounding balloon, is a balloon (specifically a type of high-altitude balloon) that carries instruments aloft to send back information on atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity and wind speed by means of a small, expendable measuring device called a radiosonde. To obtain wind data, they can be tracked by radar, radio direction finding, or navigation systems (such as the satellite-based Global Positioning System, GPS). Balloons meant to stay at a constant altitude for long periods of time are known as ''transosondes''. Weather balloons that do not carry an instrument pack are used to determine upper-level winds and the height of cloud layers. For such balloons, a theodolite or total station is used to track the balloon's azimuth and elevation, which are then converted to estimated wind speed and direction and/or cloud height, as applicable. Weather balloons are launched around the world for observations used to diagnose current conditions ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Armourer
Historically, an armourer is a person who makes personal armour, especially plate armour. In modern terms, an armourer is a member of a military or police force who works in an armoury and maintains and repairs small arms and weapons systems, with some duties resembling those of a civilian gunsmith. There is increasing evidence that companies specializing in the manufacture of armoured vehicles or applique armour for application onto vehicles of all types (cars, boats, aircraft) are referring to themselves as armourers; such as the UK company OVIK Crossway - which describes its services as Armourers and Coach Builders. In some ways, this is a reversion back to the original meaning of the term insofar as these companies forge, adapt or integrate physical armour onto platforms in order to protect human life. The title is also used in Olympic sport of fencing (the foil, the épée and the sabre) to refer to those who repair fencers' weaponry, safety equipment, fencing-strips, scor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of North African Airfields During World War II
This is a partial list of British Landing Grounds (LG) In North Africa, used during World War II. There are over 250 known. Some coordinates may be incorrect. Not all of these were active airfields; some were depots, some were repair stations, and some were decoys. Some are still in use, and some were moved and upgraded by Americans to handle heavy bombers. (It should also be noted that LG-176 through LG-186 were also numbered LG 1 through 10). LGs Misc. Evidently assigned by other commands: * Bir Terfawi * 8 Bells * LG 416 Deir ez-Zor Airport * LG 426 Tadmur Airport * LG 500 ? * LG 598 Kufra west * Big Carin Palestine Mandate * Muqeible Airfield * RAF St Jean * RAF Aqir now Tel Nof Israeli Air Force Base * RAF Ein Shemer now Ein Shemer Airfield * RAF Gaza ?? * Herzliya Airport * RAF Haifa now Haifa Airport * RAF Lydda now Ben Gurion International Airport * RAF Petah Tiqva now Kfar Sirkin Airfield * RAF Qastina Now Hatzor Israeli Air Force Base ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rebiana, Libya
Rebiana (or ''Rabiana'', ''Rabyanah'', also called ''Erbehna'', ar, موزي or ), in Tedaga called or Saad Abdulla Buhagar: ''L'Art rupestre du Sud-Est libyen (Région de Kufra)'' , Benghazi, 2014, , p. 7. which is the original name of this place, is an oasis in the Libyan Desert in the Kufra District of Libya, about 120 km west of El Tag. On one side of the oasis, which features many palm and mango trees, is a salt lake and a chain of hills; on the other are sand dunes. On the north edge of the oasis there is a village with a zaouia. The native inhabitants are members of the Toubou people; Al Tawatia and Bazama peoples have also settled there. In 2014, the Libyan historian Saad Buhagar described the population of Rebiana as follows: "After some migration towards the big cities, for reasons of employment and comfort, between 1500 and 2000 individuals remain, most of them Tubu, and a small group of Zouia Arabs, most of them of the Bazama family, descendants of the Elmdjabra ... [...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] |
Direction Finding
Direction finding (DF), or radio direction finding (RDF), isin accordance with International Telecommunication Union (ITU)defined as radio location that uses the reception of radio waves to determine the direction in which a radio station or an object is located. This can refer to radio or other forms of wireless communication, including radar signals detection and monitoring (ELINT/ESM). By combining the direction information from two or more suitably spaced receivers (or a single mobile receiver), the source of a transmission may be located via triangulation. Radio direction finding is used in the navigation of ships and aircraft, to locate emergency transmitters for search and rescue, for tracking wildlife, and to locate illegal or interfering transmitters. RDF was important in combating German threats during both the World War II Battle of Britain and the long running Battle of the Atlantic. In the former, the Air Ministry also used RDF to locate its own fighter gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wadi Halfa
Wādī Ḥalfā ( ar, وادي حلفا) is a city in the Northern state of Sudan on the shores of Lake Nubia near the border with Egypt. It is the terminus of a rail line from Khartoum and the point where goods are transferred from rail to ferries going down the lake. As of 2007, the city had a population of 15,725. The city is located amidst numerous ancient Nubian antiquities and was the focus of much archaeological work by teams seeking to save artifacts from the flooding caused by the completion of the Aswan Dam. History Archaeological evidence indicates that settlement has been in the area since ancient times, and during the Middle Kingdom period, the Egyptian colony of Buhen across the river existed until the Roman period. The modern town of Wadi Halfa was founded in the 19th century, when it became a port on the Nile for steamers from Aswan, such as the ''Nubia''. During the Turko-Egyptian conquest of 1820, Wadi Halfa was used as a stopping point for troops headed so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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