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Red Arrows
The Red Arrows, officially known as the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, is the aerobatics display team of the Royal Air Force (RAF) based at RAF Waddington. The team was formed in late 1964 as an all-Royal Air Force team, replacing several unofficial teams that had been sponsored by RAF commands. The Red Arrows have a prominent place in British popular culture, with their aerobatic displays a fixture of British summer events. The badge of the Red Arrows shows the aircraft in their trademark diamond nine formation, with the motto ''Éclat'', a French word meaning "brilliance" or "excellence". The four published roles of the Red Arrows are: * Representing and showcasing the skills and values of the Royal Air Force * Supporting British industry * Assisting in defence diplomacy * Aiding recruitment for the UK Armed Forces Initially, they were equipped with seven Folland Gnat trainers inherited from the RAF Yellowjacks display team. This aircraft was chosen because it was les ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heraldic Badges Of The Royal Air Force
Heraldic badges of the Royal Air Force are the insignia of certain commands, squadrons, units, wings, groups, branches and stations within the Royal Air Force. They are also commonly known as crests, especially by serving members of the Royal Air Force, but officially they are Heraldic badge, badges. Each badge must be approved by the reigning monarch of the time, and as such will either have a Tudor Crown (heraldry), King's or St Edward's Crown, Queen's Crown upon the top of the badge, dependent upon which monarch granted approval and the disbandment date of the unit.Most units/squadrons and bases had their badges updated to the Queen's Crown sometime after her accession, (although in some cases many years elapsed before the badge was updated). Most of the flying units were disbanded after the Second World War, so their badges retained the King's Crown. Queen Elizabeth II promulgated an order in October 1954 detailing that all current badges in use, and from that date on, were to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Empire Exhibition
The British Empire Exhibition was a colonial exhibition held at Wembley Park, London England from 23 April to 1 November 1924 and from 9 May to 31 October 1925. Background In 1920 the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government decided to site the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley Park on the site of the pleasure gardens created by Edward Watkin in the 1890s. A British Empire Exhibition had first been proposed in 1902, by the British Empire League, and again in 1913. The Russo-Japanese War had prevented the first plan from being developed and World War I put an end to the second, though there had been a Festival of Empire in 1911, held in part at Crystal Palace, London, Crystal Palace.Ian Grosvenor - "Teaching the Empire: The Weekly Bulletin of Empire Study and the British Empire Exhibition", in Martin Lawn (ed.) - ''Modelling the Future: Exhibitions and the Materiality of Education'' (Symposium Books, 2009) p. 107-8 One of the reasons for the suggestion was a sense ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Farnborough Airshow
The Farnborough International Airshow is a trade exhibition for the aerospace and defence industries, where civilian and military aircraft are demonstrated to potential customers and investors in Farnborough, Hampshire. Since its first show in 1948, Farnborough has seen the debut of many famous aeroplanes, including the Vickers VC10, Concorde, the Eurofighter, the Airbus A380, and the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. At the 1958 show, Hawker Hunters of the RAF's Black Arrows executed a 22-aircraft formation loop, setting a new world record. The international trade show runs for five days. Until 2020, the show ran for a full week with the first five days reserved for trade visitors and the general public attending on the weekend. Status The Farnborough International Airshow is the second-largest show of its kind after the Paris Air Show. The event is held in mid-July in even-numbered years at Farnborough International Exhibition & Conference Centre in Hampshire, United ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BAC Jet Provost
The BAC Jet Provost is a British jet trainer aircraft that was in use with the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1955 to 1993. It was originally developed by Hunting Percival from the earlier piston engine-powered Percival Provost basic trainer, and later produced by the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). In addition to the multiple RAF orders, the Jet Provost, sometimes with light armament, was exported to many air forces worldwide. The design was also further developed into a more heavily armed Attack aircraft, ground attack variant under the name BAC Strikemaster. Development Origins In early 1951, Hunting Percival began work on the design studies that would ultimately lead to the Jet Provost. At the time, the company was in the process of establishing mass production for the earlier Piston engine, piston-engined Percival Provost basic trainer, but had anticipated that demand for a jet-powered trainer aircraft would be on the horizon. The design team aimed to produce an aircraft ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red Pelicans
The Red Pelicans were one of a number of aerobatics display teams of the Royal Air Force before the Red Arrows were selected to represent the service in 1965. The Red Pelicans flew the BAC Jet Provost aircraft. History In 1958, the Central Flying School based at RAF Little Rissington formed a four-ship aerobatics display team of Hunting Percival Jet Provost T.1s, known simply as ''The Sparrows''. The team had previously flown with the Percival Provost. The following year this team was renamed ''The Redskins''. In 1960, the aircraft were replaced with the Jet Provost T.3 and the team renamed ''The Pelicans'' after the mascot of the Central Flying School. The team's aircraft had no special markings applied, but wore the standard silver and orange day-glow training colours of the day. Halfway through the 1962 season, the team re-equipped with four Jet Provost T.4s and a smoke system was also fitted to each of the display aircraft and thus the ''Red Pelicans'' team was born, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Electric Lightning
The English Electric Lightning is a British fighter aircraft that served as an interceptor during the 1960s, the 1970s and into the late 1980s. It is capable of a top speed above Mach 2. The Lightning was designed, developed, and manufactured by English Electric. After EE merged with other aircraft manufacturers to form the British Aircraft Corporation it was marketed as the BAC Lightning. It was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF), the Kuwait Air Force (KAF), and the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF). A unique feature of the Lightning's design is the vertical, staggered configuration of its two Rolls-Royce Avon turbojet engines within the fuselage. The Lightning was designed and developed as an interceptor to defend the airfields of the British "V bomber" strategic nuclear forceNote: at the time, the V bombers carried Britain's nuclear deterrent and thus were the likely first-strike targets of a Soviet air attack on the UK. In addition to the Lightning, the last line of defence ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barrel Roll
A barrel roll is an aerial maneuver in which an airplane makes a complete rotation on both its longitudinal and lateral axes, causing it to follow a helix, helical path, approximately maintaining its original direction. It is sometimes described as a "combination of a loop and a Aircraft principal axes#Longitudinal axis (roll), roll". The g-force is kept positive (but not constant) on the object throughout the maneuver, commonly between 2 and 3''g'', and no less than 0.5''g''. The barrel roll is commonly confused with an aileron roll. Etymology The barrel roll is so named because an aircraft executing this maneuver looks as though it were flying with its wheels running around the inside wall of a cylinder, or an imaginary barrel lying on its side. A more common modern visualization is to imagine an airplane trying to fly in a horizontal corkscrew around the line of the direction of travel. Although the maneuver predates the name, the term was first used in 1917, gaining populari ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Arrows
The Black Arrows, one of the predecessors to the current Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team the Red Arrows, were an aerobatic demonstration team formed in 1956 by Squadron Leader Roger L.Topp, then Commanding Officer 111 Squadron ("treble-one"). One of the many memorable feats accomplished by the Black Arrows was the execution of a world record loop of 22 Hawker Hunters in formation at the Society of British Aircraft Constructors' show at Farnborough in 1958. This was a world record for the greatest number of aircraft looped in formation, and remains unbroken to this day. After the loop the Black Arrows performed the world's first 16 aircraft barrel roll. Roger Topp handed over the lead of the Black Arrows to Squadron Leader Peter Latham in late 1958. Latham expanded the size of the team to nine aircraft from the original five and led the Squadron for two years. No. 111 Squadron was formed at RAF North Weald where they received the Hunter before moving to RAF Wattisham in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hawker Hunter
The Hawker Hunter is a transonic British jet propulsion, jet-powered fighter aircraft that was developed by Hawker Aircraft for the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It was designed to take advantage of the newly developed Rolls-Royce Avon turbojet engine and the swept wing, and was the first jet-powered aircraft produced by Hawker to be procured by the RAF. On 7 September 1953, the modified first prototype broke the Flight airspeed record, world air speed record for aircraft, achieving a speed of . The single-seat Hunter was introduced to service in 1954 as a manoeuvrable day interceptor aircraft, quickly succeeding first-generation jet fighters in RAF service such as the Gloster Meteor and the de Havilland Venom. The all-weather/night fighter role was filled by the Gloster Javelin. Successively improved variants of the type were produced, adopting increasingly more capable engine models and expanding its fuel capacity amongst other modifications bei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gloster Meteor
The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies' only jet aircraft to engage in combat operations during the Second World War. The Meteor's development was heavily reliant on its ground-breaking turbojet engines, pioneered by Frank Whittle and his company, Power Jets Ltd. Development of the aircraft began in 1940, although work on the engines had been under way since 1936. The Meteor first flew in 1943 and commenced operations on 27 July 1944 with No. 616 Squadron RAF. The Meteor was not a sophisticated aircraft in its aerodynamics, but proved to be a successful combat fighter. Gloster's 1946 civil Meteor F.4 demonstrator ''G-AIDC'' was the first civilian-registered jet aircraft in the world. Several major variants of the Meteor incorporated technological advances during the 1940s and 1950s. Thousands of Meteors were built to fly with the RAF and other air forces and remained in use for several decades. Slower and less heavily armed than its German cou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RAF Odiham
Royal Air Force Odiham or more simply RAF Odiham is a Royal Air Force List of Royal Air Force stations, station situated a little to the south of the village of Odiham in Hampshire, England. It is the home of the Royal Air Force's heavy lift helicopter, the Boeing Chinook (UK variants), Boeing Chinook, and of The King's Helicopter Flight (TKHF). Its current station commander is Group captain, Group Captain Sarah Moorehead. History Aircraft operations began from the site in 1925 but it was not until October 1937 that it was opened as a permanent airfield. Second World War During the World War II, Second World War North American P-51 Mustang, North American Mustangs and Hawker Typhoons were flown out of the base. After the Allied invasion of Europe the site became a prisoner of war camp. * No. 2 Squadron RAF operated the Mustang I between 7 August 1943 and 22 September 1943 and again between 6 October 1943 and 14 November 1943. ** The squadron returned on 27 June 1944 with the M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
De Havilland Vampire
The de Havilland DH100 Vampire is a British jet fighter which was developed and manufactured by the de Havilland, de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was the second jet fighter to be operated by the Royal Air Force, RAF, after the Gloster Meteor, and the first to be powered by a single jet propulsion, jet engine. Development of the Vampire as an experimental aircraft began in 1941 during the Second World War, to exploit the revolutionary innovation of jet propulsion. From the company's design studies, it was decided to use a single-engine, twin-boom aircraft, powered by the de Havilland Goblin, Halford H.1 turbojet (later produced as the Goblin). Aside from its propulsion system and twin-boom configuration, it was a relatively conventional aircraft. In May 1944, it was decided to produce the aircraft as an interceptor aircraft, interceptor for the Royal Air Force (RAF). In 1946, the Vampire entered operational service with the RAF, only months after the war had ended. The Vampi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
