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Branse Burbridge
Wing Commander Bransome Arthur "Branse" Burbridge, (4 February 1921 – 1 November 2016) was a Royal Air Force (RAF) night fighter pilot and flying ace—a pilot credited with at least five enemy aircraft destroyed—who holds the Allied record of 21 aerial victories achieved at night during the Second World War. Burbridge was born in February 1921 into a family with strong Christian and pacifist beliefs. Upon the outbreak of the Second World War in Europe on 3 September 1939 Burbridge registered himself as a conscientious objector but changed his mind in 1940 and enlisted in the RAF. Burbridge completed his training within a year, was posted to No. 85 Squadron RAF and claimed one probable kill against enemy aircraft with another aircraft damaged by the end of 1942. Burbridge was then posted to an Operational Training Unit (OTU) as an instructor before spending a year as a staff officer. In July 1943 he reached the rank of flight lieutenant. Burbridge returned to operation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Skelton
Frank Seymour "Bill" Skelton DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar (26 August 1920 – 24 May 2003) became, with Branse Burbridge, a highly successful British night-fighter team during the Second World War and was later ordained an Anglican priest. Early life Frank Seymour Skelton, always known as Bill, was born in Pirbright, Surrey, to Ronald Seymour Skelton and Dorothy Lucy, daughter of Thomas Wyard Druitt, and educated at Blundell's School. His father, a descendant of the 8th Duke of Somerset, was a garden designer who died when Skelton was 15 and the remainder of his time at Blundell's was financed by relations (including his cousin, the 17th Duke of Somerset, who employed Skelton as a page to carry his coronet at the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1937). His uncle was (Henry) Aylmer Skelton, Bishop of Lincoln 1942–53. Second World War Skelton enlisted in the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1940, and was commissioned the following year to rise to the rank of acting squ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operational Training Unit
Royal Air Force Operational Training Units (OTUs) were training units that prepared aircrew for operations on a particular type or types of aircraft or roles. OTUs ;No. 1 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit RAF (1 (C)OTU): The Unit was formed in 1940 as part of RAF Coastal Command at RAF Silloth for training aircrew on coastal command patrol aircraft types until it was disbanded on 19 October 1943.Sturtivant 2007, pp. 198-206 ; No. 2 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit RAF (2 (C)OTU): 2 OTU was formed in 1940 as part of Coastal Command at RAF Catfoss for training aircrew on coastal command twin-engined fighter and strike aircraft types until it was disbanded 15 February 1944. ; No. 3 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit RAF (3 (C)OTU): 3 OTU was formed in 1940 as part of Coastal Command at RAF Catfoss for training aircrew on coastal command aircraft types including the Avro Anson and Bristol Beaufighter, until it was disbanded 4 January 1944. ; No. 4 (Coastal) Operational Tra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south and Buckinghamshire to the west. The largest settlement is Watford, and the county town is Hertford. The county has an area of and had a population of 1,198,800 at the 2021 census. After Watford (131,325), the largest settlements are Hemel Hempstead (95,985), Stevenage (94,470) and the city of St Albans (75,540). For local government purposes Hertfordshire is a non-metropolitan county with ten districts beneath Hertfordshire County Council. Elevations are higher in the north and west, reaching more than in the Chilterns near Tring. The county centres on the headwaters and upper valleys of the rivers Lea and the Colne; both flow south and each is accompanied by a canal. Hertfordshire's undeveloped land is mainly agricultural ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christian Ministry
Christian ministry is the vocational work of living and teaching about faith, in the hopes of increasing the population of God's people done by the church, church officials, congregational members, and Jesus followers. The '' Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature'' defines Christian ministry as "to denote a devotion to the interests of God's cause, and, in a technical sense, the work of advancing the Redeemer's kingdom". All ministry may fall under the call of, the Great Commission, that Jesus presented to his disciples to continue the spread of the Gospel. While the spread of the Gospel is every believer's purpose, the primary and only vocation of the bible is to live a life aligned with God, as his children, towards the purpose of displaying the love of Jesus through one's actions and decisions. Some see vocation as one's true calling professionally, yet others see it as a furthering of God's kingdom not the occupation, like Maitland states "th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cambridge University
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, world's third-oldest university in continuous operation. The university's founding followed the arrival of scholars who left the University of Oxford for Cambridge after a dispute with local townspeople. The two ancient university, ancient English universities, although sometimes described as rivals, share many common features and are often jointly referred to as Oxbridge. In 1231, 22 years after its founding, the university was recognised with a royal charter, granted by Henry III of England, King Henry III. The University of Cambridge includes colleges of the University of Cambridge, 31 semi-autonomous constituent colleges and List of institutions of the University of Cambridge#Schools, Faculties, and Departments, over 150 academic departm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oxford University
The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating university globally. It expanded rapidly from 1167, when Henry II prohibited English students from attending the University of Paris. When disputes erupted between students and the Oxford townspeople, some Oxford academics fled northeast to Cambridge, where they established the University of Cambridge in 1209. The two English ancient universities share many common features and are jointly referred to as ''Oxbridge''. The University of Oxford comprises 43 constituent colleges, consisting of 36 semi-autonomous colleges, four permanent private halls and three societies (colleges that are departments of the university, without their own royal charter). and a range of academic departments that are organised into four divisions. Each college ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the Strategic bombing during World War II#Europe, strategic bombing of Germany in World War II. From 1942 onward, the British bombing campaign against Germany became Area bombing directive, less restrictive and increasingly targeted industrial sites and the civilian manpower base essential for German war production. In total 501,536 operational sorties were flown, of bombs were dropped and 8,325 aircraft lost in action. Bomber Command crews also suffered a high casualty rate: 55,573 were killed out of a total of 125,000 aircrew, a 44.4% death rate. A further 8,403 men were wounded in action, and 9,838 became prisoners of war. Bomber Command stood at the peak of its post-war Armed forces, military power in the 1960s, the V bombers holding the United Kingdom's nuclear deterrent and a supplemental force of English Electric ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
V-1 Flying Bomb
The V-1 flying bomb ( "Vengeance Weapon 1") was an early cruise missile. Its official Reich Aviation Ministry () name was Fieseler Fi 103 and its suggestive name was (hellhound). It was also known to the Allies as the buzz bomb or doodlebug and (maybug). The V-1 was the first of the (V-weapons) deployed for the terror bombing of London. It was developed at Peenemünde Army Research Center in 1939 by the at the beginning of the Second World War, and during initial development was known by the codename "Cherry Stone". Due to its limited range, the thousands of V-1 missiles launched into England were fired from V-1 flying bomb facilities, launch sites along the French (Pas-de-Calais) and Dutch coasts or by modified Heinkel He 111 aircraft. The Wehrmacht first launched the V-1s against London on 13 June 1944, one week after (and prompted by) Operation Overlord, the Allied landings in France. At times more than one hundred V-1s a day were fired at south-east England, 9,521 in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Front (World War II)
The Western Front was a European theatre of World War II, military theatre of World War II encompassing Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, French Third Republic, France, and Nazi Germany, Germany. The Italian campaign (World War II), Italian front is considered a separate but related theatre. The Western Front's 1944–1945 phase was officially deemed the European Theater of Operations, United States Army, European Theater by the United States, whereas Italy fell under the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, United States Army, Mediterranean Theater along with the North African campaign. The Western Front was marked by two phases of large-scale combat operations. The first phase saw the capitulation of Luxembourg, Netherlands, Belgium, and France during May and June 1940 after their defeat in the Low Countries and the northern half of France, and continued into an air war between Germany and Britain that climaxed with the Battle of Brita ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
German-occupied Europe
German-occupied Europe, or Nazi-occupied Europe, refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly military occupation, militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet states, by the (armed forces) and the government of Nazi Germany, government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 and 1945, during World War II, administered by the Nazi regime under the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler.Encyclopædia Britannica German occupied Europe.World War II. Retrieved 1 September 2015 from the Internet Archive. The occupied European territory: * as far east as Franz Joseph Land in Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (1943–1944) * as far north as Franz Joseph Land in Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (1943–1944) * as far south as the island of Gavdos in the Kingdom of Greece * as far west as the island of Ushant in the French Third Republic, French Republic In 1941, around 280 million people in Europe, more than half the popul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day (military term), D-Day) with the Normandy landings (Operation Neptune). A 1,200-plane Airborne forces, airborne assault preceded an amphibious warfare, amphibious assault involving more than 5,000 vessels. Nearly 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel on 6 June, and more than two million Allied troops were in France by the end of August. The decision to undertake cross-channel landings in 1944 was made at the Washington Conference (1943), Trident Conference in Washington, D.C., Washington in May 1943. American General Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed commander of Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, and British General Bernard Montgomery was named commander of the 21st Army Group, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Steinbock
Operation Steinbock or Operation Capricorn (), sometimes called the Baby Blitz or Little Blitz, was a strategic bombing campaign by the German Air Force (the Luftwaffe) during the Second World War. It targeted southern England and lasted from January to May 1944. Steinbock was the last strategic air offensive by the German bomber arm during the conflict. In late 1943, the Allied Combined Bomber Offensive was gathering momentum against Germany. The Allied air forces were conducting a strategic bombing campaign day and night against German industrial cities. In retaliation, Adolf Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to prepare a bombing operation against the United Kingdom. The bombing offensive also served as propaganda value for the German public and domestic consumption. The operation ran parallel to Bomber Command's campaign against Berlin (November 1943 – March 1944). The Luftwaffe assembled 474 bomber aircraft for the offensive. The attacks were mainly aimed at and around the Gre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
