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John D'Albiac
Air Marshal Sir John Henry D'Albiac, (28 January 1894 – 20 August 1963) was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. Notably he was the British air commander for the Battle of Greece. Biography D'Albiac was educated at the Seabrook Lodge School in Kent, Framlingham College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He was commissioned into the Royal Marine Artillery in 1914 but seconded to the Royal Naval Air Service during the following year. In 1916, whilst serving in France as an aeroplane observer, D'Albiac was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. After serving as Station Commander at RAF Scopwick he transferred to the RAF on its establishment in 1918 and served on the Staff at Headquarters RAF Trans-Jordania from 1922 and as a Flight Commander in No. 99 Squadron from 1926. During the Second World War D'Albiac served as Air Officer Commanding RAF Palestine and Transjordan from August 1939, Air Officer Commanding British Forces in G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beaconsfield
Beaconsfield ( ) is a market town and civil parish within the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, west-northwest of central London and south-southeast of Aylesbury. Three other towns are within : Gerrards Cross, Amersham and High Wycombe. The town is adjacent to the Chiltern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and has a wide area of Georgian, neo-Georgian and Tudor revival high street architecture, known as the Old Town. It is known for the first model village in the world and the National Film and Television School. Beaconsfield was named 'Britain's richest town' (based on an average house price of £684,474) by ''The Daily Telegraph'' in 2008. In 2011 the post town had the highest proportion in the UK of £1 million-plus homes for sale (at 47%, compared to 3.5% nationally). In 2011, Burkes Road was named as the second most expensive road in the country outside London. History and description The parish comprises Beaconsfield town and land mainly given ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London Heathrow Airport
Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others being Gatwick, City, Luton, Stansted and Southend). The airport facility is owned and operated by Heathrow Airport Holdings. In 2021, it was the seventh-busiest airport in the world by international passenger traffic and eighth-busiest in Europe by total passenger traffic. Heathrow was founded as a small airfield in 1929 but was developed into a much larger airport after World War II. The airport lies west of Central London on a site that covers . It was gradually expanded over seventy-five years and now has two parallel east-west runways, four operational passengers terminals and one cargo terminal. The airport is the primary hub for both British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. Location Heathrow is west of central London. It is loc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hugh Champion De Crespigny
Air Vice Marshal Hugh Vivian Champion de Crespigny, (8 April 1897 – 20 June 1969), often referred to as Vivian Champion de Crespigny, was a Royal Flying Corps pilot who fought in France during the First World War, and senior Royal Air Force officer who commanded British Air Forces in Persia and Iraq during the Second World War. Early years De Crespigny was born in Brighton, Victoria, the fourth son of Philip Champion de Crespigny (4 January 1850 – 11 March 1927), manager of the Bank of Victoria in Melbourne, and Philip's second wife Sophia Montgomery Grattan née Beggs (1870 – 1936). He was educated at Brighton Grammar School. In August 1914, following the outbreak of the First World War, he enlisted with the 7th Battalion of the Australian Army as a private. In 1915 he was recommended for a commission in the Suffolk Regiment, and from there graduated to the Royal Flying Corps' special reserve. RAF career De Crespigny joined the Special Reserve of the Royal Flying Corps ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RAF Iraq Command
Iraq Command was the Royal Air Force (RAF) commanded inter-service command in charge of British forces in Iraq in the 1920s and early 1930s, during the period of the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. It continued as British Forces in Iraq until 1941 when it was replaced by AHQ Iraq. It consisted of Royal Air Force, Royal Navy, British Army, Commonwealth and locally raised units, commanded by an RAF officer normally of Air Vice-Marshal rank. Origins Following the end of World War I and the accompanying British defence cuts, the new RAF took up the task of policing the Empire from the air. In May 1920 an insurgency broke out around the Euphrates and this uprising rapidly extended to a more general area. The Air Officer Commanding the Middle East dispatched an additional squadron from Egypt to Iraq. In London the Government were seeking a solution and the Army's proposal, which involved reinforcing Iraq with large numbers of personnel, was considered to be too expensive by th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry George Smart
Harry George Smart, (28 June 1891 – 28 June 1963) is best known for having been the commander of RAF Habbaniya during the first part of the Anglo-Iraqi War. Smart was an officer in the British Army, the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Air Force. He served during the First World War, during the interwar period, and during the Second World War. Biography In 1891, Harry George " Reggie" SmartLyman, p. 19 was born in Newmarket, Suffolk, in the United Kingdom. Smart attended Framlingham College between 1905 and 1907 and joined the British Army sometime thereafter. He served as a Sapper with the Royal Engineers.Air of Authority, Biographies, Air Vice-Marshal H G Smart On 30 November 1915, Smart received a commission with the Royal Flying Corps. From 29 April 1916, he was a Morane Bullet pilot with No. 60 Squadron on the Western Front. On 23 Jul 1917, Smart was made a squadron Flight Commander and, by 30 Apr 1918, he was Officer Commanding of a squadron. On 14 Jan 1919, S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basil Embry
Air Chief Marshal Sir Basil Edward Embry, (28 February 1902 – 7 December 1977) was a senior Royal Air Force commander. He was Commander-in-Chief of Fighter Command from 1949 to 1953. Early life and career Basil Embry was born in Gloucestershire, England, in 1902 and as a young boy at Bromsgrove School he developed an avid interest in aviation. In 1921 he joined the Royal Air Force with a short service commission as an Acting Pilot Officer. In 1922 he was sent to Mandatory Iraq, serving under future Air Marshals Arthur Harris and Robert Saundby. By 1926 Embry's enthusiasm, professional application, boundless energy and flair for the unconventional had put him on the fast track for promotion within the RAF, and he was rewarded with the Air Force Cross in that year's New Year Honours, and appointment to a permanent commission. Promoted to flight lieutenant, Embry returned to Britain in 1927 and soon became an instructor at the Central Flying School, Uxbridge. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Lees
Air Marshal Sir Alan Lees, (23 May 1895 – 14 August 1973) was a Royal Air Force officer who became Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief RAF Reserve Command. RAF career Educated at Wellington College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Lees was commissioned into the Royal West Kent Regiment in 1914 at the start of the First World War. He became a pilot in 1915 and while serving on the Western Front was wounded and taken prisoner in 1917. After the War he transferred to the new Royal Air Force and in 1928 became Officer Commanding No. 56 Squadron. He was appointed Officer Commanding No. 1 (Indian Wing) Station in 1932, Station Commander at RAF Driffield in 1938 and then joined the staff at Headquarters RAF Bomber Command in 1939. He served in the Second World War as Air Officer Commanding No. 2 Group from 1941, Air Officer Commanding No. 222 (General Reconnaissance) Group from 1942 and Air Officer Administration at Headquarters Air Command South East Asia from 1944. Aft ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Coningham (RAF Officer)
Air Marshal Sir Arthur "Mary" Coningham, (19 January 1895 – presumably 30 January 1948) was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force. During the First World War, he was at Gallipoli with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, was discharged in New Zealand as medically unfit for active service, and journeyed to Britain at his own expense to join the Royal Flying Corps, where he became a flying ace. Coningham was later a senior Royal Air Force commander during the Second World War, as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief 2nd Tactical Air Force and subsequently the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Flying Training Command. Coningham is chiefly remembered as the person most responsible for the development of forward air control parties directing close air support, which he developed as commander of the Western Desert Air Force between 1941 and 1943, and as commander of the tactical air forces in the Normandy campaign in 1944. However he is frequently lauded as the "architect of mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Naval Air Service
The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps to form the Royal Air Force (RAF), the world's first independent air force. It was replaced by the Fleet Air Arm, initially consisting of those RAF units that normally operated from ships, but emerging as a separate unit similar to the original RNAS by the time of World War 2. Background In 1908, the British Government recognised the military potential of aircraft. The Prime Minister, H. H. Asquith, approved the formation of an "Advisory Committee for Aeronautics" and an "Aerial Sub-Committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence". Both committees were composed of politicians, army officers and Royal Navy officers. On 21 July 1908 Captain Reginald Bacon, who was a member of the Aerial Navigation sub-committee, submitted to the First Se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Marine Artillery
The history of the Royal Marines began on 28 October 1664 with the formation of the Duke of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot soon becoming known as the Admiral's Regiment. During the War of the Spanish Succession the most historic achievement of the Marines was the capture of the mole during the assault on Gibraltar (sailors of the Royal Navy captured the Rock itself) in 1704. On 5 April 1755, His Majesty's Marine Forces, fifty Companies in three Divisions, headquartered at Portsmouth, Chatham and Plymouth, were formed by Order of Council under Admiralty control. The Royal Marine Artillery was formed as an establishment within the British Royal Marines in 1804 to man the artillery in bomb vessels. As their coats were the blue of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, this group was nicknamed the "Blue Marines" and the Infantry element, who wore the scarlet coats of the British infantry, became known as the "Red Marines". During the Napoleonic Wars the Royal Marines partic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial officer training centre. It is located in the town of Sandhurst, Berkshire, though its ceremonial entrance is in Camberley, Surrey, southwest of London. The academy's stated aim is to be "the national centre of excellence for leadership". All British Army officers, including late-entry officers who were previously Warrant Officers, as well as other men and women from overseas, are trained at the academy. Sandhurst is the British Army equivalent of the Britannia Royal Naval College and the Royal Air Force College Cranwell. Location Despite its name, the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst's address is located in Camberley; the boundaries of the academy straddle the counties of Berkshire and Surrey. The county border is marked by a small stream known as the Wish Stream, after which the academy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
