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Pablo Mason
Squadron Leader Paul Mason (born 1951), known as Pablo Mason, is a retired Royal Air Force pilot, who was part of the XV Squadron detachment to Bahrain as part of the RAF Tornado squadron during the Gulf War, and subsequently wrote about his experiences. Mason is known for his handlebar moustache, and his Biggles-like attitude and persona. RAF career Mason joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1973 after joining the Air Training Corps, 165 Castle Bromwich Squadron in 1969. He initially trained and qualified on helicopters, before transferring to fast jets and 16 Squadron with the Panavia Tornado GR1. His service included Northern Ireland and Hong Kong. Mason was among the 24 RAF Tornado crews detached to Muharraq Airfield, Bahrain during the build-up to Operation Granby, the British military's contribution to Desert Storm, with the specific brief of knocking out Iraqi Air Force bases by bombing the runways. On Mason's first mission, an ultra-low-level daylight mission on Ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Squadron Leader
Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr or S/L) is a senior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. Squadron leader is immediately senior to flight lieutenant and immediately below wing commander. It is usually equivalent to the rank of lieutenant commander in the navy and of the rank of major in other services. The equivalent rank in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, Women's Royal Air Force (until 1968) and Princess Mary's Royal Air Force Nursing Service (until 1980) was "squadron officer". Squadron leader has also been used as a cavalry command appointment (UK) and rank (France) since at least the nineteenth century. In Argentina it is used as a command appointment by both the army's cavalry and by the air force's flying units. The cavalry rank of squadron leader in France is equivalent to a major, and the cavalry appointment of squadron leader in the UK gene ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Runway
In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, grass, soil, dirt, gravel, ice, sand or road salt, salt). Runways, taxiways and Airport apron, ramps, are sometimes referred to as "tarmac", though very few runways are built using Tarmacadam, tarmac. Takeoff and landing areas defined on the surface of water for seaplanes are generally referred to as waterways. Runway lengths are now International Civil Aviation Organization#Use of the International System of Units, commonly given in meters worldwide, except in North America where feet are commonly used. History In 1916, in a World War I war effort context, the first concrete-paved runway was built in Clermont-Ferrand in France, allowing local company Michelin to manufacture Bréguet Aviation military aircraft. In January 1919, aviation p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire to the south, and Worcestershire and the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county to the west. The largest settlement is Nuneaton and the county town is Warwick. The county is largely rural; it has an area of and a population of 571,010. After Nuneaton (88,813), the largest settlements are Rugby, Warwickshire, Rugby (78,125), Leamington Spa (50,923), Warwick (36,665), Bedworth (31,090) and Stratford-upon-Avon (30,495). For Local government in England, local government purposes, Warwickshire is a non-metropolitan county with five districts. The county Historic counties of England, historically included the city of Coventry and the area to its west, including Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield, Sutton Coldfield ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leamington Spa
Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply LeamingtonEven more colloquially, also referred to as Lem or Leam (). (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Priors, it grew into a spa town in the 18th century following the popularisation of its water which was reputed to have medicinal qualities. In the 19th century, the town experienced one of the most rapid expansions in England. It is named after the River Leam, which flows through the town. The town contains especially fine examples of Regency architecture, particularly in parts of the The Parade, Leamington Spa, Parade, Clarendon Square and Lansdowne Circus. The town also contains several large public parks, such as Jephson Gardens, the Royal Pump Room Gardens and Victoria Park, Leamington Spa, Victoria Park. Although originally founded around its spa industry, Leamington today has developed into a centre for retail, and digital industries, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birmingham Post
The ''Birmingham Post'' is a weekly printed newspaper based in Birmingham, England, with distribution throughout the West Midlands. First published under the name the ''Birmingham Daily Post'' in 1857, it has had a succession of distinguished editors and has played an influential role in the life and politics of the city. It is currently owned by Reach plc. In June 2013, it launched a daily tablet edition called ''Birmingham Post Business Daily.'' In 2019, the website was scrapped to instead host the nation-wide business news brand ''Business Live''. History The '' Birmingham Journal'' was a weekly newspaper published between 1825 and 1869. A nationally influential voice in the Chartist movement in the 1830s, it was sold to John Frederick Feeney in 1844 and was a direct ancestor of today's ''Birmingham Post''. The 1855 Stamp Act removed the tax on newspapers and transformed the news trade. The price of the ''Journal'' was reduced from seven pence to four pence and circulatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Sunday People
The ''Sunday People'' is a British tabloid Sunday newspaper. It was founded as ''The People'' on 16 October 1881. At one point owned by Odhams Press, The ''People'' was acquired along with Odhams by the Mirror Group in 1961, along with the '' Daily Herald'', which eventually became ''The Sun''. It switched from broadsheet to tabloid on September 22, 1974. The ''Sunday People'' is now published by Reach plc, and shares a website with the Mirror papers. In July 2011, when it benefited from the closure of the '' News of the World'', it had an average Sunday circulation of 806,544. By December 2016 the circulation had shrunk to 239,364 and by August 2020 to 125,216. Notable events In March 1951 the ''Sunday People'' (then known as ''The People'') published an article claiming that the British military had allowed Iban mercenaries to collect scalps from human corpses in the ongoing Malayan Emergency war. British colonial officials saw this article as a potential propaganda ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total population of over 84 million in an area of , making it the most populous member state of the European Union. It borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, and France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands to the west. The Capital of Germany, nation's capital and List of cities in Germany by population, most populous city is Berlin and its main financial centre is Frankfurt; the largest urban area is the Ruhr. Settlement in the territory of modern Germany began in the Lower Paleolithic, with various tribes inhabiting it from the Neolithic onward, chiefly the Celts. Various Germanic peoples, Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laser-guided Bomb
A laser-guided bomb (LGB) is a guided bomb that uses semi-active laser guidance to strike a designated target with greater accuracy than an unguided bomb. First developed by the United States during the Vietnam War, laser-guided bombs quickly proved their value in precision strikes of difficult point targets. These weapons use on-board electronics to track targets that are designated by laser, typically in the infrared spectrum, and adjust their glide path to accurately strike the target. Since the weapon is tracking a light signature, not the object itself, the target must be illuminated from a separate source, either by ground forces, by a pod on the attacking aircraft, or by a separate support aircraft. Data from the 28,000 laser guided bombs dropped in Vietnam showed that laser-guided bombs achieved direct hits nearly 50% of the time, despite the laser having to be aimed out the side window of the back seat of another aircraft in flight. Unguided bombs had an accuracy rate of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blackburn Buccaneer
The Blackburn Buccaneer is a British aircraft carrier, carrier-capable attack aircraft designed in the 1950s for the Royal Navy (RN). Designed and initially produced by Blackburn Aircraft at Brough Aerodrome, Brough, it was later officially known as the Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer when Blackburn became a part of the Hawker Siddeley, Hawker Siddeley Group, but this name is rarely used. The Buccaneer was originally designed in response to the Soviet Union introducing the Sverdlov-class cruiser, ''Sverdlov'' class of light cruisers. Instead of building a new class of its own cruisers, the Royal Navy decided that it could address the threat posed via low-level attack runs performed by Buccaneers, low enough to exploit the ship's radar horizon to minimise the opportunity for being fired upon. The Buccaneer could attack using nuclear weapons or conventional munitions. During its service life, it would be modified to carry anti-ship missiles, allowing it to attack vessels from a stand- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prisoner Of War
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a range of legitimate and illegitimate reasons. These may include isolating them from enemy combatants still in the field (releasing and Repatriation, repatriating them in an orderly manner after hostilities), demonstrating military victory, punishment, prosecution of war crimes, labour exploitation, recruiting or even conscripting them as combatants, extracting collecting military and political intelligence, and political or religious indoctrination. Ancient times For much of history, prisoners of war would often be slaughtered or enslaved. Early Roman gladiators could be prisoners of war, categorised according to their ethnic roots as Samnites, Thracians, and Gauls (''Galli''). Homer's ''Iliad'' describes Trojan and Greek soldiers offeri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
