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Douglas Wilson (aviator)
Group Captain Douglas Ernest Lancelot "Del" Wilson (1 December 1898 – 2 August 1950) was a senior officer of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) during World War II. During early 1942, as an acting Air Commodore, Wilson was part of the short-lived Allied supreme command for South East Asia and the South West Pacific, the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDACOM). Afterwards, he was attached to the Royal Air Force (RAF) in North West Europe, and spent more than a year as a prisoner of war (POW) in Nazi Germany. Early life and career Wilson was the son of Ellen and Henry E. Wilson.FamilySearch, 2014, ""Australia, Sydney Branch Genealogical Library, Cemetery Inscriptions, 1800–1960" (18 May 2017). Wilson was born on 1 De ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lithgow, New South Wales
Lithgow is a town in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia and is the administrative center of the City of Lithgow local government area. It is located in a mountain valley named Lithgow's Valley by John Oxley in honour of William Lithgow, the first Auditor-General of New South Wales. Lithgow is on the Great Western Highway, about west of Sydney, or via the old mountain route, Bells Line of Road, from Windsor. At June 2021 Lithgow had an estimated urban population of 21,556. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. Lithgow is surrounded by a varied landscape characterised by seven valleys which include national parks, one of which, the Blue Mountains National Park, is a World Heritage Area. The Wollemi National Park is home to the Jurassic-age tree the Wollemi Pine, which was found growing in a remote canyon in the park. Location The city sits on the western edge of the sandstone country of the Blue Mountains and is usually considered the first true ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South West Pacific
Oceania (, , ) is a geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern and Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of and a population of around 44.5 million as of 2021. When compared with (and sometimes described as being one of) the continents, the region of Oceania is the smallest in land area and the second least populated after Antarctica. Its major population centres are Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Auckland, Adelaide, Honolulu, and Christchurch. Oceania has a diverse mix of economies from the highly developed and globally competitive financial markets of Australia, French Polynesia, Hawaii, New Caledonia, and New Zealand, which rank high in quality of life and Human Development Index, to the much less developed economies of Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Western New Guinea, while also including medium-sized economies of Pacific islands such as Fiji, Palau, and Ton ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RAF Staff College, Andover
The RAF Staff College at RAF Andover was the first Royal Air Force staff college to be established. Its role was the training of officers in the administrative, staff and policy aspects of air force matters. History Foundation Following the foundation of the RAF in April 1918 and the end of the First World War in November 1918, there was a determination to maintain the Air Force as an independent service rather than let the Army and Royal Navy control air operations again. Therefore, the creation of an RAF Staff College to parallel the Army Staff College and the Royal Naval Staff College was an important element in fully establishing the RAF. On 14 November 1921, Air Commodore Robert Brooke-Popham was tasked with setting up the RAF Staff College. On 1 April the following year, the new RAF Staff College came into being with Brooke-Popham as its first commandant. The Staff College was based at RAF Andover and was subordinate to Inland Area. The dog seen in the photograph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Service Number
A service number is an identification code used to identify a person within a large group. Service numbers are most often associated with the military; however, they may be used in civilian organizations as well. National identification numbers may be seen as types of service numbers. The term "serial number" is often seen as a synonym of service number; however, a serial number more accurately describes manufacture and product codes, rather than personnel identification. In the Canadian military, a "serial number" referred to a unique number assigned each unit that mobilized for the Second World War. Australia In the First Australian Imperial Force soldiers were allotted numbers known as regimental numbers. These were allotted to NCOs and other ranks but not to officers or nurses, who had no numbers. Regimental numbers were rarely unique. Each battalion or corps had its own sequence, usually starting at 1, although some units were formed in the field and this did not occur. The re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lester Brain
Lester Joseph Brain, AO, AFC (27 February 1903 – 30 June 1980) was a pioneer Australian aviator and airline executive. Born in New South Wales, he trained with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) before joining Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services (Qantas) as a pilot in 1924. He was awarded the Air Force Cross in 1929, after locating the lost aircraft ''Kookaburra'' in northern Australia. Having risen to Chief Pilot at Qantas by 1930, he was appointed Flying Operations Manager in 1938. As a member of the RAAF reserve, Brain coordinated his airline's support for the Australian military during World War II. He earned a King's Commendation for his rescue efforts during an air raid on Broome, Western Australia, in 1942, and was promoted to wing commander in 1944. Seeing little prospect for advancement at Qantas once the war had ended, Brain left to join the fledgling government-owned domestic carrier Trans Australia Airlines (TAA) in June 1946. Appo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Bladin
Air Vice Marshal Francis Masson (Frank) Bladin, (26 August 1898 – 2 February 1978) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Born in rural Victoria, he graduated from the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in 1920. Bladin transferred from the Army to the Air Force in 1923, and learned to fly at RAAF Point Cook, Victoria. He held training appointments before taking command of No. 1 Squadron in 1934. Quiet but authoritative, he was nicknamed "Dad" in tribute to the concern he displayed for the welfare of his personnel.Stephens, ''The Royal Australian Air Force'', pp. 145–146 Ranked wing commander at the outbreak of World War II, by September 1941 Bladin had been raised to temporary air commodore. He became Air Officer Commanding North-Western Area in March 1942, following the first Japanese air raids on Darwin, Northern Territory. Personally leading sorties against enemy territory, he earned the United States Silver Sta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Hewitt (RAAF Officer)
Air Vice-Marshal Joseph Eric Hewitt, CBE (13 April 1901 – 1 November 1985) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). A Royal Australian Navy officer who transferred permanently to the Air Force in 1928, he commanded No. 101 (Fleet Cooperation) Flight in the early 1930s, and No. 104 (Bomber) Squadron RAF on exchange in Britain shortly before World War II. Hewitt was appointed the RAAF's Assistant Chief of the Air Staff in 1941. The following year he was posted to Allied Air Forces Headquarters, South West Pacific Area, as Director of Intelligence. In 1943, he took command of No. 9 Operational Group, the RAAF's main mobile strike force, but was controversially sacked by the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal George Jones, less than a year later over alleged morale and disciplinary issues. Described as a "small, dapper man",Stephens & Isaacs, ''High Fliers'', pp. 97–99 who was "outspoken, even 'cocky'",Dennis et al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Garrison Artillery
The Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) was formed in 1899 as a distinct arm of the British Army's Royal Regiment of Artillery serving alongside the other two arms of the Regiment, the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA). The RGA were the 'technical' branch of the Royal Artillery who were responsible for much of the professionalisation of technical gunnery that was to occur during the First World War. It was originally established to man the guns of the British Empire's forts and fortresses, including coastal artillery batteries, the heavy gun batteries attached to each infantry division and the guns of the siege artillery. The RGA was amalgamated with the RFA in 1924, from which time the only two arms within the Royal Regiment of Artillery have been the Royal Artillery and the Royal Horse Artillery. Organisation The Royal Garrison Artillery came into existence as a separate entity when existing coastal defence, mountain, siege and heavy batteries of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Military College, Duntroon
lit: Learning promotes strength , established = , type = Military college , chancellor = , head_label = Commandant , head = Brigadier Ana Duncan , principal = , city = Campbell , state = Canberra, Australian Capital Territory , country = Australia , staff = , students = 425 (85 cadets in 5 companies) , campus = suburban , colours = Regimental Colours consist of the badge of the Corps of Staff Cadets on a blue ensign. Additionally, the Sovereign's Company carries the Queen's Colours, which originally comprised the Union Flag with a Crown and Royal Cipher as central motif, however, since 1970 the Australian National Flag has replaced the Union Flag on the Queen's Colours , affiliations = Duntroon Society , website = , mascot = 'Enobesra' , nickname = Cordie , coor = , footnotes = The Royal Military College, Duntroon, also known simply as Duntroon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sydney Boys High School
, motto_translation = With Truth and Courage , established = , location = Cleveland Street, Moore Park, Sydney, New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = Australia Sydney#New South Wales#Australia , pushpin_image = , pushpin_mapsize = 240 , pushpin_map_alt = , pushpin_map_caption = Location in greater metropolitan Sydney , pushpin_label = , pushpin_label_position = , module = , type = Government-funded single-sex academically selective secondary day school , educational_authority = New South Wales Department of Education , district = Port Jackson education area of the Sydney Region , gender = Boys , affiliations = , founder = , principal = Kim Jaggar , enrolment ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lithgow Mercury
The ''Lithgow Mercury'', is a tri-weekly English language newspaper first published in 1878 in Lithgow, New South Wales, Australia. History The ''Lithgow Mercury'' was established in 1878. Initially a weekly publication, the paper was published daily from 1949 to 1986, then tri-weekly. In 1879, the paper was purchased by Walter Scott Targett, who had started work as a compositor on the paper, and who was later elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as the Member for Hartley. J.P.T. Caulfield acquired the paper in 1886. He worked as editor for eighteen months, until late 1887 when he sold the paper to the proprietors of the ''Lithgow Enterprise and Australian Land Nationaliser''. In January 1889, the Lithgow Mercury Newspaper Co., headed by James Ryan, purchased the business and property of the ''Lithgow Enterprise''. Ryan became managing editor of the paper, a position he held for over 37 years. In July 1926, Western Newspapers Ltd, led by L.T. Watson, Hubert Br ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a dictatorship. Under Hitler's rule, Germany quickly became a totalitarian state where nearly all aspects of life were controlled by the government. The Third Reich, meaning "Third Realm" or "Third Empire", alluded 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 Hitler and the Nazis referred to as the Thousand-Year Reich, ended in May 1945 after just 12 years when the Allies defeated Germany, ending World War II in Europe. On 30 January 1933, Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany, the head of gove ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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