William Melville Alexander
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William Melville Alexander
Captain William Melville Alexander (8 November 1897 – 4 October 1988) was a Canadian First World War flying ace, officially credited with 22 aerial victories. World War I service Having turned 18 in late 1915 Alexander was keen to learn to fly, but both the Curtis and Wright Brothers flying schools were at full capacity, so he travelled to San Antonio, Texas, to enter the Stinson Flying School on 6 February 1916. He received just 3½ hours instruction in a Wright Model B before passing his flying test and was awarded Aero Club of America Certificate No. 447. He then returned to Ottawa where on 23 March 1916 he was appointed a flight sub-lieutenant (on probation) in the Royal Naval Air Service. He received further training, travelled to England, and his period of probation came to an end on 9 November 1916. On 3 December 1916 Alexander was posted to No. 3 (Naval) Wing in France, to fly the Sopwith 1½ Strutter two-seater. However, after only four months No. 3 Wing was disban ...
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WikiProject Aircraft
A WikiProject, or Wikiproject, is a Wikimedia movement affinity group for contributors with shared goals. WikiProjects are prevalent within the largest wiki, Wikipedia, and exist to varying degrees within sister projects such as Wiktionary, Wikiquote, Wikidata, and Wikisource. They also exist in different languages, and translation of articles is a form of their collaboration. During the COVID-19 pandemic, CBS News noted the role of Wikipedia's WikiProject Medicine in maintaining the accuracy of articles related to the disease. Another WikiProject that has drawn attention is WikiProject Women Scientists, which was profiled by '' Smithsonian'' for its efforts to improve coverage of women scientists which the profile noted had "helped increase the number of female scientists on Wikipedia from around 1,600 to over 5,000". On Wikipedia Some Wikipedia WikiProjects are substantial enough to engage in cooperative activities with outside organizations relevant to the field at issue. For e ...
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Aero Club Of America
The Aero Club of America was a social club formed in 1905 by Charles Jasper Glidden and Augustus Post, among others, to promote aviation in America. It was the parent organization of numerous state chapters, the first being the Aero Club of New England. It thrived until 1923, when it transformed into the National Aeronautic Association, which still exists today. It issued the first Pilot licensing and certification, pilot's licenses in the United States, and successful completion of its licensing process was required by the United States Army for its pilots until 1914. It sponsored numerous air shows and contests. Cortlandt Field Bishop was president in 1910. Starting in 1911, new president Robert J. Collier began presenting the Collier Trophy. History Although conventional wisdom states that the Aero Club began in 1905, there are photos of high society and adventurers printed in 1902 with the stamp, "Aero Club". In the summer of 1905 several members of the Automobile Club of Am ...
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Albatros D
An albatross is one of a family of large winged seabirds. Albatross or Albatros may also refer to: Animals * Albatross (butterfly) or ''Appias'', a genus of butterfly * Albatross (horse) (1968–1998), a Standardbred horse Literature * Albatross Books, a German publishing house that produced the first modern mass market paperback books * Albatros Literaturpreis, a literary award * "L'albatros" (poem) ("The Albatross"), 1859 poem by Charles Baudelaire * ''The Albatross'', a 1971 novella by Susan Hill * ''The Albatross'', the fictional propeller-sustained airship in Jules Verne's novel ''Robur the Conqueror'' * ''Albatross'' (novel), a 2019 novel by Terry Fallis Film and television * Films Albatros Films Albatros was a French film production company established in 1922. It was formed by a group of White Russian exiles who had been forced to flee following the 1917 Russian Revolution and subsequent Russian Civil War. Initially the firm's pe ..., a French film productio ...
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Substantive Rank
Military ranks are a system of hierarchical relationships, within armed forces, police, intelligence agencies or other institutions organized along military lines. The military rank system defines dominance, authority, and responsibility in a military hierarchy. It incorporates the principles of exercising power and authority into the military chain of command—the succession of commanders superior to subordinates through which command is exercised. The military chain of command constructs an important component for organized collective action. Uniforms denote the bearer's rank by particular insignia affixed to the uniforms on a number of countries. Ranking systems have been known for most of military history to be advantageous for military operations, in particular with regards to logistics, command, and coordination. As time went on and military operations became larger and more complex, military ranks increased and the ranking systems themselves became more complex. Rank ...
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Gazetted
A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers bear the name ''The Gazette''. Etymology ''Gazette'' is a loanword from the French language, which is, in turn, a 16th-century permutation of the Italian ''gazzetta'', which is the name of a particular Venetian coin. ''Gazzetta'' became an epithet for ''newspaper'' during the early and middle 16th century, when the first Venetian newspapers cost one gazzetta. (Compare with other vernacularisms from publishing lingo, such as the British ''penny dreadful'' and the American ''dime novel''.) This loanword, with its various corruptions, persists in numerous modern languages (Slavic languages, Turkic languages). Government gazettes In England, with the 1700 founding of ''The Oxford Gazette'' (which became the ''London Gazette''), the word ...
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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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Acting (rank)
An acting rank is a designation that allows a soldier to assume a military rank—usually higher and usually temporary. They may assume that rank either with or without the pay and allowances appropriate to that grade, depending on the nature of the acting promotion. An acting officer may be ordered back to the previous grade. This situation may arise when a lower-ranking officer is called upon to replace a senior officer, or fill a position higher than the current rank held. Address When addressing an individual with an acting rank, the person should be addressed as if the full rank were held. For example, a member who is an acting master seaman would be addressed as "Master Seaman Smith", and not "Acting Master Seaman Smith" ("acting" is a designation, not a rank). In writing, the acting nature of the rank may or may not be spelled out, so that forms such as "acting captain", "captain (acting)" or "captain" are used. Documents dealing with rank, seniority and promotion will te ...
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Sopwith Camel
The Sopwith Camel is a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter aircraft that was introduced on the Western Front in 1917. It was developed by the Sopwith Aviation Company as a successor to the Sopwith Pup and became one of the best known fighter aircraft of the Great War. The Camel was powered by a single rotary engine and was armed with twin synchronized Vickers machine guns. Though difficult to handle, it was highly manoeuvrable in the hands of an experienced pilot, a vital attribute in the relatively low-speed, low-altitude dogfights of the era. In total, Camel pilots have been credited with downing 1,294 enemy aircraft, more than any other Allied fighter of the conflict. Towards the end of the First World War, the type also saw use as a ground-attack aircraft, partly because the capabilities of fighter aircraft on both sides had advanced rapidly and left the Camel somewhat outclassed. The main variant of the Camel was designated as the F.1. Other variants ...
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Gerald Ewart Nash
Group Captain Gerald Ewart Nash (12 May 1896 - 10 April 1976) was a World War I flying ace who went on to high command during World War II. World War I Nash joined the Royal Naval Air Service in April 1916. His original flying assignment was to 3 Wing to fly Sopwith 1½ Strutters. During Bloody April 1917, he was assigned to Raymond Collishaw's Black Flight of Sopwith Triplanes. On 21 May 1917, he opened his scorebook by destroying an Albatros D.III over Ypres Staden. On 2 June, he cooperated with Collishaw, Ellis Vair Reid, and William Melville Alexander in forcing down a German observation plane. On the 5th, Nash again joined Collishaw and Reid, as well Desmond Fitzgibbon and another pilot, in another victory; this time, they set an Albatros reconnaissance plane aflame. The next day, Nash destroyed another Albatros recon plane, and sent down two Albatros D.III's out of control. On 25 June 1917, Nash was shot down behind enemy lines in Belgium by Karl Allmenröder and became a p ...
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Ellis Vair Reid
Ellis Vair Reid DSC (31 October 1889 – 28 July 1917) was a Canadian First World War flying ace, officially credited with 19 victories. Reid spent his early years in Belleville, Ontario and moved to Toronto with his family at the turn of the century. After completing high school, Reid attended the University of Toronto School of Architecture, graduating in 1915. It was at this time that Reid's love of flying began to emerge. On 2 January 1916, Reid attested to Britain's Royal Naval Air Service and began training at the Curtiss Flying School in Toronto. He sailed to England from New York City and received his Royal Aero Club Aviator's certificate in July 1916. He was posted to No. 3 Wing after completing his training and in early 1917, was assigned to No. 10 (Naval) Squadron, where he flew alongside other Canadian aces in Black Flight, led by Raymond Collishaw, one of the greatest aces of the war. Reid's plane disappeared over Ypres on 28 July 1917 and his remains were never f ...
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Raymond Collishaw
Raymond Collishaw, (22 November 1893 – 28 September 1976) was a distinguished Canadian fighter pilot, squadron leader, and commanding officer who served in the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) and later the Royal Air Force. He was the highest scoring RNAS flying ace and the second highest scoring Canadian pilot of the First World War. He was noted as a great leader in the air, leading many of his own formations into battle. After the Great War, he became a permanent commissioned officer in the Royal Air Force (RAF), seeing action against the Bolsheviks in 1919-20, and subsequently commanding various Air Service detachments. During the Second World War, he commanded No. 204 Group (which later became the Desert Air Force) in North Africa, achieving great success against the numerically and technologically superior Italian Air Force. He was retired in 1943. Early life Raymond Collishaw was born in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada, on 22 November 1893. His father was John Edward ...
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