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Winged Victory (novel)
''Winged Victory'' is a 1934 novel by English World War I fighter pilot Victor Maslin Yeates that is widely regarded as a classic description of aerial combat and the futility of war. Basic structure The novel concerns World War I, the existence pilots lead and the fear involved in flying early biplanes. Its protagonist, Tom Cundall, plans to leave the Royal Air Force when his service is up and live on a West Country farm with his friends. However, by the time he is due to leave the Air Force, all his friends have "gone west". This leaves him a broken man. The narrative combination of action, pathos, humour and humility set against the huge casualties of the RAF in 1918 makes ''Winged Victory'' one of the classics of Great War literature. The book is semi-autobiographical, V. M. Yeates having served with 46 Squadron flying Sopwith Camels in 1918 and also having lost all his friends in the war. T. E. Lawrence praised it on its release with the words "Admirable, admirable, admi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Winged Victory (novel)
''Winged Victory'' is a 1934 novel by English World War I fighter pilot Victor Maslin Yeates that is widely regarded as a classic description of aerial combat and the futility of war. Basic structure The novel concerns World War I, the existence pilots lead and the fear involved in flying early biplanes. Its protagonist, Tom Cundall, plans to leave the Royal Air Force when his service is up and live on a West Country farm with his friends. However, by the time he is due to leave the Air Force, all his friends have "gone west". This leaves him a broken man. The narrative combination of action, pathos, humour and humility set against the huge casualties of the RAF in 1918 makes ''Winged Victory'' one of the classics of Great War literature. The book is semi-autobiographical, V. M. Yeates having served with 46 Squadron flying Sopwith Camels in 1918 and also having lost all his friends in the war. T. E. Lawrence praised it on its release with the words "Admirable, admirable, admi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SE5a
The Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5 is a British biplane fighter aircraft of the First World War. It was developed at the Royal Aircraft Factory by a team consisting of Henry Folland, John Kenworthy and Major Frank Goodden. It was one of the fastest aircraft of the war, while being both stable and relatively manoeuvrable. According to aviation author Robert Jackson, the S.E.5 was: "the nimble fighter that has since been described as the 'Spitfire of World War One'".Jackson 2007, p. 18. In most respects the S.E.5 had superior performance to the rival Sopwith Camel, although it was less immediately responsive to the controls. Problems with its Hispano-Suiza engine, particularly the geared-output H-S 8B-powered early versions, meant that there was a chronic shortage of the type until well into 1918. Thus, while the first examples had reached the Western Front before the Camel, there were fewer squadrons equipped with the S.E.5 than with the Sopwith fighter. Together with the Ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1934 British Novels
Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 Nepal–Bihar earthquake strikes Nepal and Bihar with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''), killing an estimated 6,000–10,700 people. * January 26 – A 10-year German–Polish declaration of non-aggression is signed by Nazi Germany and the Second Polish Republic. * January 30 ** In Nazi Germany, the political power of federal states such as Prussia is substantially abolished, by the "Law on the Reconstruction of the Reich" (''Gesetz über den Neuaufbau des Reiches''). ** Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States, signs the Gold Reserve Act: all gold held in the Federal Reserve is to be surrendered to the United States Department of the Treasury; immediately following, the President raises the statutory gold price from US$20.67 per ounce to $35. * February 6 – French po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Goshawk Squadron
''Goshawk Squadron'' is a 1971 black comedy novel by Derek Robinson which tells of the adventures of a squadron of SE5a pilots from January 1918 to the time of the German spring offensive of March 1918. Goshawk Squadron was Robinson's first novel. The story introduces the character Stanley Woolley, the commander of the squadron — a man who Robinson himself says is not the sort of man you'd want your daughter to marry. Synopsis ''Goshawk Squadron'' follows a front-line squadron of British pilots late in the war. The commanding officer is Major Stanley Woolley, a cold, cruel and sour taskmaster, training the squadron with brutality. Despite being only 23 years old, the years of war and slaughter have hardened Woolley into a humourless cynic. Woolley especially hates the delusions that replacements have about air combat being gallant and chivalrous. Woolley keeps no emotional attachments, even to his girlfriend Margery, a nurse in the Hospital Corps. The Germans begin Operation Mich ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Booker Prize
The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a Literary award, literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. The winner of the Booker Prize receives international publicity which usually leads to a sales boost. When the prize was created, only novels written by Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, Irish, and South African (and later Zimbabwean) citizens were eligible to receive the prize; in 2014 it was widened to any English-language novel—a change that proved controversial. A five-person panel constituted by authors, librarians, literary agents, publishers, and booksellers is appointed by the Booker Prize Foundation each year to choose the winning book. A high-profile literary award in British culture, the Booker Prize is greeted with anticipation and fanfare. Literary critics have noted that it is a mark of distinction fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Derek Robinson (novelist)
Derek Robinson (born 12 April 1932) is a British author best known for his military aviation novels full of black humour. He has also written several books on some of the more sordid events in the history of Bristol, his home town, as well as guides to rugby. He was nominated for the Booker Prize in 1971 for his first novel, ''Goshawk Squadron''. After attending Cotham Grammar School, Robinson served in the Royal Air Force as a fighter plotter, during his National Service. He has a history degree from Cambridge University, where he attended Downing College, has and worked in advertising in the UK and the US and as a broadcaster on radio and television. He was a qualified rugby referee for more than thirty years and is a life member of Bristol Society of Rugby Referees. He was married in 1964. Following his research of historical records for his novel ''Piece of Cake'' (1983), Robinson became convinced that it was the supremacy of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom's coastal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Aircraft Factory S
Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a city * Royal, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Royal, Nebraska, a village * Royal, Franklin County, North Carolina, an unincorporated area * Royal, Utah, a ghost town * Royal, West Virginia, an unincorporated community * Royal Gorge, on the Arkansas River in Colorado * Royal Township (other) Elsewhere * Mount Royal, a hill in Montreal, Canada * Royal Canal, Dublin, Ireland * Royal National Park, New South Wales, Australia Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Royal'' (Jesse Royal album), a 2021 reggae album * ''The Royal'', a British medical drama television series * ''The Royal Magazine'', a monthly British literary magazine published between 1898 and 1939 * ''Royal'' (Indian magazine), a men's lifestyle bimonthly * Royal T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Donald MacLaren
Donald Roderick MacLaren DSO, MC & Bar, DFC (28 May 1893 – 4 July 1988) was a Canadian World War I flying ace. He was credited with 54 victories and, after the war, helped found the Royal Canadian Air Force. Donald MacLaren was born in Ottawa but his family moved first to Calgary in 1899, then to Vancouver in 1911. In 1912 MacLaren went to Montreal to study at McGill University. In 1914 an illness forced him to abandon his studies and he returned to Vancouver. After recovering MacLaren, his father and his brother opened a fur trading post at a remote point on the Peace River. While there MacLaren learned to speak Cree. In 1916 the family gave up the trading post to help in the war effort. MacLaren's father was not allowed to join the army so he got a job with the Imperial Munitions Board. His sons did enlist - Donald joining the Royal Flying Corps. He did his initial training at 90 Central Training School at Armour Heights and then at Camp Borden in Ontario, then fina ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Robinson (aviator)
Flight Lieutenant Harry Noel Cornforth Robinson (25 December 1898 – 2 June 1926) was a British World War I flying ace credited with 10 aerial victories. After winning the Military Cross and ''Croix de guerre'', he remained in service post-war, winning the Distinguished Flying Cross in Iraq. World War I Robinson was commissioned as a temporary second lieutenant (on probation) on the General List of the Royal Flying Corps on 10 May 1917, and was confirmed in his rank and appointed a flying officer on 12 July 1917. He was posted to No. 46 Squadron, initially flying the Sopwith Pup, until the squadron was re-equipped with the Sopwith Camel in November 1917. It would be 28 December 1917 before he scored his first aerial victory, being responsible for capturing a German reconnaissance aircraft. His second victory came on 11 March 1918, when he drove down out of control an Albatros D.V. Then, between 21 and 24 March, he scored six more victories. On 28 March 1918 Robinson was appoin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Edwin Thomson
Captain George Edwin Thomson DSO MC (19 September 1897 – 23 May 1918) was a Scottish World War I flying ace credited with 21 aerial victories. He was the second ranking ace of his squadron, and one of the leading Sopwith Camel aces. Early life and service George Edwin Thomson was the son of James and Ellen Thomson, who were native to Glenfuccan, Helensburgh, Dumbartonshire, Scotland. He was born in Rangoon (now Yangon), Burma (now Myanmar) on 19 September 1897. Thomson went to the United Kingdom in order to join the King's Own Scottish Borderers. He transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in September 1916. His appointment as a Flying Officer with the rank of temporary second lieutenant was dated 30 December 1916. Flying service Thomson was seriously injured during flight training; the accident left him with lasting scars to his face. Nevertheless, he joined 46 Squadron during the summer of 1917, to fly a Sopwith Pup. On 25 September 1917, he scored his first victory flying ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dogfight
A dogfight, or dog fight, is an aerial battle between fighter aircraft conducted at close range. Dogfighting first occurred in Mexico in 1913, shortly after the invention of the airplane. Until at least 1992, it was a component in every major war, though with steadily declining frequency. Since then, longer-range weapons have made dogfighting largely obsolete. Modern terminology for air-to-air combat is air combat maneuvering (ACM), which refers to tactical situations requiring the use of individual basic fighter maneuvers (BFM) to attack or evade one or more opponents. This differs from aerial warfare, which deals with the strategy involved in planning and executing various missions. Etymology The term ''dogfight'' has been used for centuries to describe a melee: a fierce, fast-paced close quarters battle between two or more opponents. The term gained popularity during World War II, although its origin in air combat can be traced to the latter years of World War I. One of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
