Charles Clarke (RAF Officer)
Air Commodore Charles Henry Clarke, (25 November 1923 – 7 May 2019) was a British Royal Air Force officer. Having served in Bomber Command in the Second World War, he was shot down and interned at Stalag Luft III—this was The Great Escape camp and he acted as a watcher but was not involved in the escape itself. He remained in the RAF after the war, commanded RAF Stafford, served in Palestine, Aden and Malta, before retiring in 1978. He later campaigned for a memorial to Bomber Command: one was finally erected in 2012 in London. Early life and education Clarke was born on 25 November 1923 in the Old Street area of Tottenham, London, England. He was the eldest of three children of Thomas Clarke, who had fought in the Machine Gun Corps in the First World War, and Elizabeth. He was educated at Down Lane Central School in Tottenham. He left school at the age of 17. RAF career Second World War In 1941, Clarke joined the Royal Air Force. Serving in the other ranks, he rose to ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tottenham
Tottenham (, , , ) is a district in north London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton, London, Edmonton to the north, Walthamstow, across the River Lea, to the east, and Stamford Hill to the south, with Wood Green and Harringay to the west. The area rapidly expanded in the late 19th century, becoming a Working class, working-class suburb of London following the advent of the railway and mass development of housing for the Lower middle class, lower-middle and working classes. It has been home to the Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur since 1882. The parish of Municipal Borough of Tottenham, Tottenham was granted Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland), urban district status in 1894 and municipal borough status in 1934. Following the World War II, Second World War, th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
The Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) was established in 1936 to support the preparedness of the U.K. Royal Air Force (RAF) in the event of another war. The Air Ministry intended it to form a supplement to the Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF), the active reserve for the RAF, by providing an additional non-active reserve. However, during the Second World War, the high demand for aircrew absorbed all available RAuxAF personnel and led the RAFVR to quickly become the main pathway of aircrew entry into the RAF. It was initially composed of civilians recruited from neighbourhood reserve flying schools, run by civilian contractors with largely RAF-trained flying instructors as well as other instructors in related air war functions, such as observers and wireless operators. After the war, and with the end of conscription in the early 1960s, the RAFVR considerably reduced in size and most functions were absorbed into the RAuxAF. The RAFVR now forms the working elements of the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Wing Commander (rank)
Wing commander (Wg Cdr or W/C) 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. Wing commander is immediately senior to squadron leader and immediately below group captain. It is usually equivalent to the rank of commander in the navy and the rank of lieutenant colonel in other services. The equivalent rank in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force and the Women's Royal Air Force (until 1968) and in Princess Mary's Royal Air Force Nursing Service (until 1980) was wing officer. The equivalent rank in the Royal Observer Corps (until 1995) was observer commander, which had a similar rank insignia. Canada The rank was used in the Royal Canadian Air Force until the 1968 unification of the Canadian Forces, when army-type rank titles were adopted. Canadian wing commanders then became lieutenant colonels. In official Canadian French usage, the rank tit ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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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]   |
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Flying Officer
Flying officer (Fg Offr or F/O) is a junior 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. Flying officer is immediately senior to pilot officer and immediately below flight lieutenant. It is usually equivalent to the rank of sub-lieutenant in the navy and of the rank of lieutenant in other services. The equivalent rank in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force was "section officer". Canada The rank was used in the Royal Canadian Air Force until the 1968 unification of the Canadian Forces, when army-type rank titles were adopted. Canadian flying officers then became lieutenants. In official Canadian French usage, the rank title was . United Kingdom Origins The term "flying officer" was originally used in the Royal Flying Corps as a flying appointment for junior officers, not a rank. On 1 April 1918, the newly created RAF adopted its officer rank titles ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jan Black-Stangryciuk And Air Commodore Charles Clarke In September 2017 (Charles Clarke Cropped)
Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article Number, a barcode standard compatible with EAN * Japanese Accepted Name, a Japanese nonproprietary drug name * Job Accommodation Network, US, for people with disabilities * ''Joint Army-Navy'', US standards for electronic color codes, etc. * ''Journal of Advanced Nursing'' Personal name * Jan (name), male variant of ''John'', female shortened form of ''Janet'' and ''Janice'' * Jan (Persian name), Persian word meaning 'life', 'soul', 'dear'; also used as a name * Ran (surname), romanized from Mandarin as Jan in Wade–Giles * Ján, Slovak name Other uses * January, as an abbreviation for the first month of the year in the Gregorian calendar * Jan (cards), a term in some card games when a player loses without taking any tricks or scoring a mini ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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War Substantive
Military ranks is a system of hierarchical relationships within armed forces, police, intelligence agencies, paramilitary groups, and other institutions organized along military lines, such as youth groups, chivalric orders, religious orders, and certain civilian organizations. Responsibility for personnel, equipment and missions grows as each member of the organization advances in rank. The system of military ranks defines dominance, authority, and responsibility within a military hierarchy. It incorporates the principles of exercising power and authority into the military chain of command—the succession of commanders superior to subordinates through which command is exercised. The military chain of command is an important component for organized collective action. Uniforms denote the bearer's rank by particular insignia affixed to uniforms in a number of countries. Ranking systems have been known for most of military history to be advantageous for military operations, in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lübeck
Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-largest city in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, after its capital of Kiel. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 36th-largest city in Germany. The city lies in the Holsatian part of Schleswig-Holstein, on the mouth of the Trave, which flows into the Bay of Lübeck in the borough of Travemünde, and on the Trave's tributary Wakenitz. The island with the historic old town and the districts north of the Trave are also located in the historical region of Wagria. Lübeck is the southwesternmost city on the Baltic Sea, and the closest point of access to the Baltic from Hamburg. The city lies in the Northern Low Saxon, Holsatian dialect area of Low German. The name ''Lübeck'' ultimately stems from the Slavic languages, Slavic root (' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The March (1945)
"The March" refers to a series of forced marches during the final stages of the Second World War in Europe. From a total of 257,000 western Allied prisoners of war held in German military prison camps, over 80,000 POWs were forced to march westward across Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Germany in extreme winter conditions, over about four months between January and April 1945. This series of events has been called various names: "The Great March West", "The Long March", "The Long Walk", "The Long Trek", "The Black March", "The Bread March", and "Death March Across Germany", but most survivors just called it "The March". As the Soviet Army was advancing on the Eastern front, German authorities decided to evacuate POW camps, to delay liberation of the prisoners. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of German civilian refugees, most of them women and children, as well as civilians of other nationalities, were also making their way westward on foot. Notorious examples include: *f ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Identity Document
An identity document (abbreviated as ID) is a documentation, document proving a person's Identity (social science), identity. If the identity document is a plastic card it is called an ''identity card'' (abbreviated as ''IC'' or ''ID card''). When the identity document incorporates a photographic portrait, it is called a ''Photo identification, photo ID''. In some countries, identity documents may be List of national identity card policies by country#Countries with compulsory identity cards, compulsory to have. The identity document is used to connect a person to information about the person, often in a database. The connection between the identity document and database is based on personal information present on the document, such as the bearer's full name, birth date, Address (geography), address, an identification number, card number, gender, citizenship and more. A unique national identification number is the most secure way, but some countries lack such numbers or do not s ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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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]   |