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The Rhodesian Air Force (RhAF) was an air force based in Salisbury (now Harare) which represented several entities under various names between 1935 and 1980: originally serving the British self-governing colony of Southern Rhodesia, it was the air arm of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland between 1953 and 31 December 1963; of Southern Rhodesia once again from 1 January 1964; and of the unrecognised nation of Rhodesia following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from Britain on 11 November 1965. Named the Royal Rhodesian Air Force (RRAF) from 1954, the "Royal" prefix was dropped in 1970 when Rhodesia declared itself a republic – the official abbreviation changed appropriately. When the internationally recognised country of Zimbabwe came into being in 1980, the RhAF became the Air Force of Zimbabwe. History Formed in 1935 under the name Southern Rhodesia Staff Corps Air Unit as a territorial unit, the first regular servicemen with the unit went to Britain for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Badge Of The Royal Air Force
The badge of the Royal Air Force is the Heraldic badge, heraldic emblem used to represent the Royal Air Force (RAF). It features an eagle superimposed on a circlet, which is surmounted by a crown. Description The badge was based on a design by a tailor at Gieves & Hawkes, Gieves Ltd of Savile Row in London. It was first used in August 1918, and the original circlet showed a garter (stockings), garter and buckle. The present plain circlet dates from 26 January 1923 when the badge was registered at the College of Arms and, it being noted that the garter and buckle were heraldically incorrect, a substitution was made. In Heraldry, heraldic terms, the badge is blazoned as: "In front of a circle inscribed with the motto and ensigned by the Imperial Crown an eagle volant and affronté head lowered and to the sinister." Although there have been debates among airmen over the years about whether the bird was originally meant to be an albatross or an eagle, the consensus is that it was a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenya Colony
The Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, commonly known as British Kenya or British East Africa, was part of the British Empire in Africa from 1920 until 1963. It was established when the former East Africa Protectorate was transformed into a British Crown colony in 1920. Technically, the "Colony of Kenya" referred to the interior lands, while a 16 km (10 mi) coastal strip, nominally on lease from the List of sultans of Zanzibar, Sultan of Zanzibar, was the "Protectorate of Kenya", but the two were controlled as a single administrative unit. The colony came to an end in 1963 when a native Kenyan majority government was elected for the first time and eventually Kenya (1963–1964), declared independence. However, Kenya is sometimes referred to as the "Scotland, Scottish Colony" due to the fact that Sir William Mackinnon, 1st Baronet, William Mackinnon, the founder of the Imperial British East Africa Company that was governing Kenya, was a Scots people, native of Scotland. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Military Career Of Ian Smith
The future Rhodesian Prime Minister of Rhodesia, Prime Minister Ian Smith served in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War, interrupting his studies at Rhodes University in South Africa to join up in 1941. Following a year's pilot instruction in Southern Rhodesia under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, Empire Air Training Scheme, he was posted to No. 237 Squadron RAF, No. 237 (Rhodesia) Squadron, then stationed in the Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of World War II, Middle East, in late 1942. Smith received six weeks' operational training in the Levant, then entered active service as a pilot officer in Persia and Iraq Command, Iran and Iraq. No. 237 Squadron, which had operated in the Western Desert campaign, Western Desert from 1941 to early 1942, returned to that front in March 1943. Smith flew in the Western Desert until October that year, when a crash during a night takeoff resulted in serious injuries, including facial disfigurements and a bro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fascist Italy
Fascist Italy () is a term which is used in historiography to describe the Kingdom of Italy between 1922 and 1943, when Benito Mussolini and the National Fascist Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictatorship. The Italian Fascists imposed totalitarian rule and crushed political opposition, while simultaneously promoting Modernization theory, economic modernization, traditional social values and a rapprochement with the Roman Catholic Church. According to historian Stanley G. Payne, "[the] Fascist government passed through several relatively distinct phases". The first phase (1922–1925) was nominally a continuation of the parliamentary system, albeit with a "legally-organized executive dictatorship". In foreign policy, Mussolini ordered the pacification of Libya against rebels in the Italian colonies of Italian Tripolitania, Tripolitania and Italian Cyrenaica, Cyrenaica (eventually unified in Italian Libya), inflicted the Corfu incident, bombing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
East African Campaign (World War II)
The East African campaign (also known as the Abyssinian campaign) was fought in East Africa during the Second World War by Allies of World War II, mainly from the British Empire, against Kingdom of Italy, Italy and its colony of Italian East Africa, between June 1940 and November 1941. The British Middle East Command with troops from the United Kingdom, Union of South Africa, South Africa, British Raj, British India, Uganda Protectorate, British Kenya, Kenya, British Somaliland, Somaliland, British West Africa, West Africa, Northern Rhodesia, Northern and Southern Rhodesia, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Sudan and Nyasaland participated in the campaign. These were joined by the Allied of Belgian Congo, Ethiopian Empire, Imperial Ethiopian Arbegnoch (resistance forces) and a small unit of Free French Forces. Italian East Africa was defended by the (Italian East African Armed Forces Command), with units from the (Royal Army), (Royal Air Force) and (Royal Navy). The Italian forces inclu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hawker Hart
The Hawker Hart is a British two-seater biplane light bomber aircraft that saw service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was designed during the 1920s by Sydney Camm and manufactured by Hawker Aircraft. The Hart was a prominent British aircraft in the inter-war period, but was obsolete and already side-lined for newer monoplane aircraft designs by the start of the Second World War, playing only minor roles in the conflict before being retired. Several major variants of the Hart were developed, including a navalised version for the Royal Navy's aircraft carriers. Beyond Britain, the Hart would be operated by a number of foreign nations, including Sweden, Yugoslavia, Estonia, South Africa, and Canada. Design and development In 1926, the Air Ministry stated a List of Air Ministry Specifications#1920-1929, requirement for a two-seat high-performance light day-bomber, to be of all-metal construction and with a maximum speed of 160 mph (258 km/h). Designs were tendered by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Godfrey Huggins, 1st Viscount Malvern
Godfrey Martin Huggins, 1st Viscount Malvern (6 July 1883 – 8 May 1971), was a Rhodesian politician and physician. He served as the fourth Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia from 1933 to 1953 and remained in office as the first prime minister of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland until October 1956, becoming the longest serving prime minister in British Commonwealth history, until 1961. Early life and education Huggins was born at 'Dane Cottage', Knoll Road, Bexley in northern Kent, England (now a borough of London), the second child, but eldest son of a stockbroker. The family later moved to a property his father built, 'Shore House' in Sevenoaks, a town 27 miles from London. He was educated at Brunswick House, a preparatory school in Hove and then moved to Sutherland House, a similar school in Folkestone. He suffered a severe infection of the left middle ear at the age of 11, which left him deaf on that side and delayed his move to Malvern College in 1898, a sch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dominion Of New Zealand
The Dominion of New Zealand was the historical successor to the Colony of New Zealand. It was a constitutional monarchy with a high level of self-government within the British Empire. New Zealand became a separate British Crown colony in 1841 and received responsible government with the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852, Constitution Act in 1852. New Zealand chose not to take part in the Federation of Australia and became the Dominion of New Zealand on 26 September 1907, Dominion Day, by proclamation of King Edward VII. Dominion status was a public mark of the political independence that had evolved over half a century through responsible government. Just under one million people lived in New Zealand in 1907 and cities such as Auckland and Wellington were growing rapidly. The Dominion of New Zealand allowed the British Government to shape its foreign policy, and it followed Britain into the First World War. The 1923 and 1926 Imperial Conferences decided that New Zealand should ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Commonwealth Air Training Plan
The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), often referred to as simply "The Plan", was a large-scale multinational military aircrew training program created by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand during the Second World War.Hayter, Steven"History of the Creation of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan." ''British Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum,'' Retrieved: 18 October 2010. The BCATP remains one of the single largest aviation training programs in history and was responsible for training nearly half the pilots, navigators, bomb aimers, air gunners, wireless operators and flight engineers who served with the Royal Air Force (RAF), Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) during the war. Trainees from many other countries attended schools under the Plan, including Rhodesia, Argentina, Belgium, Ceylon, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Finland, Fiji, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Harris
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Arthur Travers Harris, 1st Baronet, (13 April 1892 – 5 April 1984), commonly known as "Bomber" Harris by the press and often within the RAF as "Butcher" or "Butch" Harris, was Air Officer Commanding, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C) RAF Bomber Command during the height of the Anglo-American strategic bombing campaign against Nazi Germany in the Second World War. Born in Gloucestershire, Harris emigrated to Rhodesia (region), Rhodesia in 1910, aged 17. He joined the Rhodesia Regiment, 1st Rhodesia Regiment at the outbreak of the First World War and saw action in South Africa and South West Africa campaign, South West Africa. In 1915, Harris returned to England to fight in the Western Front (World War I), European theatre of the war. He joined the Royal Flying Corps, with which he remained until the formation of the Royal Air Force in 1918. Harris remained in the Air Force through the 1920s and 1930s, serving in British India, India ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). Following the Allies of World War I, 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 played History of the Royal Air Force, a significant role in Military history of the United Kingdom, British military history. In particular, during the Second World War, the RAF established Air supremacy, air superiority over Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain, and led the Allied strategic bombing effort. The RAF's mission is to support the objectives of the British Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence (MOD), which are to "provide the capabilities nee ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalitarianism, totalitarian dictatorship. The Third Reich, meaning "Third Realm" or "Third Empire", referred to the Nazi claim that Nazi Germany was the successor to the earlier Holy Roman Empire (800–1806) and German Empire (1871–1918). The Third Reich, which the Nazis referred to as the Thousand-Year Reich, ended in May 1945, after 12 years, when the Allies of World War II, Allies defeated Germany and entered the capital, Berlin, End of World War II in Europe, ending World War II in Europe. After Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933, the Nazi Party began to eliminate political opposition and consolidate power. A 1934 German referendum confirmed Hitler as sole ''Führer'' (leader). Power was centralised in Hitler's person, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
