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No. 502 Squadron RAuxAF
No. 502 (Ulster) Squadron is a squadron of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force that was reformed in September 2013, and is the oldest active reserve squadron, having been formed in 1925. The squadron took park in anti-submarine patrols and bombing sorties in the Second World War. History Formation and early years No. 502 squadron was originally formed on 15 May 1925 as No. 502 (Bomber) Squadron, a Special Reserve squadron at RAF Aldergrove, and it was composed of a mixture of regular and reserve personnel. On 1 December 1925 the name No. 502 (Ulster) Squadron was adopted. The squadron operated in the heavy night bomber role and as such it was initially equipped with Vickers Vimys from June 1925, re-equipping with Handley Page Hyderabads in July 1928. Vickers Virginias arrived in December 1931, but in October 1935 the squadron was transferred to the day bomber role for which it received Westland Wallaces, Hawker Hinds arriving in April 1937. Shortly after this, on 1 July 1937, it was t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The UK includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and most of List of islands of the United Kingdom, the smaller islands within the British Isles, covering . Northern Ireland shares Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border, a land border with the Republic of Ireland; otherwise, the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea and the Irish Sea. It maintains sovereignty over the British Overseas Territories, which are located across various oceans and seas globally. The UK had an estimated population of over 68.2 million people in 2023. The capital and largest city of both England and the UK is London. The cities o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Auxiliary Air Force
The Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF), formerly the Auxiliary Air Force (AAF), together with the Air Force Reserve, is a component of His Majesty's Reserve Air Forces (Reserve Forces Act 1996, Part 1, Para 1,(2),(c)). It provides a primary reinforcement capability for the regular service, and consists of paid volunteers who give up some of their weekends, evenings and holidays to train at one of a number of squadrons around the United Kingdom. Its current mission is to provide trained personnel in support of the regular RAF. Formation The Royal Auxiliary Air Force owes its origin to Lord Trenchard's vision of an elite corps of civilians who would serve their country in flying squadrons in their spare time. Instituted by Order in Council on 9 October 1924, the first Auxiliary Air Force squadrons were formed the following year. The pilots of AAF squadrons were generally formed from the wealthier classes, as applicants were expected to already have, or be prepared to obtain, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RAF Docking
Royal Air Force Docking or more simply RAF Docking is a former Royal Air Force List of former Royal Air Force stations, satellite station a few miles from Bircham Newton in Norfolk, England. History It was a satellite airfield for the RAF Coastal Command station at RAF Bircham Newton and was mostly used for overflow from there. A grass airfield, with eight blister hangars and one A1 hangar, was laid out soon after the outbreak of war and the first squadron to operate from there was No. 235 Squadron RAF using Bristol Blenheims for convoy escort and anti-shipping operations in the North Sea. These were then replaced by the Lockheed Hudson. A meteorological observation unit No. 405 Flight of Bomber Command was set up as part of the effort to gain important weather information. When Coastal Command took over all the meteorological units this became No. 1401 (Met) Flight and received a greater variety of aircraft. As well as Blenheims it operated Spitfires, Gloster Gladiator bi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norfolk
Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and east, Cambridgeshire to the west, and Suffolk to the south. The largest settlement is the city of Norwich. The county has an area of and a population of 859,400. It is largely rural with few large towns: after Norwich (147,895), the largest settlements are King's Lynn (42,800) in the north-west, Great Yarmouth (38,693) in the east, and Thetford (24,340) in the south. For local government purposes Norfolk is a non-metropolitan county with seven districts. The centre of Norfolk is gently undulating lowland. To the east are the Broads, a network of rivers and lakes which extend into Suffolk and which are protected by the Broads Authority, which give them a similar status to a National parks of England and Wales, national park. To the west the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
German Submarine U-71 (1940)
German submarine ''U-71'' was a type VII C submarine of Nazi Germany's ''Kriegsmarine'' during the Second World War. Ordered on 25 January 1939, her keel was laid down as yard number 618 on 21 December that year. She was launched on 31 October 1940 and commissioned on 14 December. She entered the 7th U-boat Flotilla as a training submarine (commissioning until 31 May 1941), then served as a front (operational) boat between 1 June 1941 and 31 May 1943. During that time she carried out ten war patrols, but had to return to port following damage after colliding with in the North Atlantic on 17 April 1943. After that, she moved to the 24th U-boat Flotilla as a training submarine (1 June 1943 – 30 June 1944), then to the 22nd flotilla also as a training boat from 1 July 1944 until 27 February 1945. She was a member of 17 wolfpacks. She sank five ships and was scuttled on 2 May 1945 at Wilhelmshaven, six days before the German surrender. Design German Type VIIC submarines w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bay Of Biscay
The Bay of Biscay ( ) is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Point Penmarc'h to the Spanish border, and along the northern coast of Spain, extending westward to Cape Ortegal. The average depth is and the greatest depth is . Etymology The Bay of Biscay is known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay (; ). In France, it is called the Gulf of Gascony ( ; ; ; ). In Latin, the bay was known as ( Cantabrian Gulf); the name Cantabrian Sea is still used locally for the southern area of the Bay of Biscay that washes over the northern coast of Spain ( Cantabria). The English name comes from Biscay on the northern Spanish coast, probably standing for the western Basque districts (''Biscay'' up to the early 19th century). Geography Parts of the continental shelf extend far into the bay, resulting in fairly shallow waters in many areas and thus the rough seas for which the region is known. Heavy storms ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
U-206
German submarine ''U-206'' was a Type VIIC U-boat of the ''Kriegsmarine'' during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 17 June 1940 by the Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft yard at Kiel as yard number 635, launched on 4 April 1941 and commissioned on 17 May under the command of ''Oberleutnant zur See'' Herbert Opitz. She was possibly sunk in November 1941 by a British-laid minefield. Design German Type VIIC submarines were preceded by the shorter Type VIIB submarines. ''U-206'' had a displacement of when at the surface and while submerged. She had a total length of , a pressure hull length of , a beam of , a height of , and a draught of . The submarine was powered by two Germaniawerft F46 four-stroke, six-cylinder supercharged diesel engines producing a total of for use while surfaced, two AEG GU 460/8–27 double-acting electric motors producing a total of for use while submerged. She had two shafts and two propellers. The boat was capable of operating at depths of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Air-to-surface-vessel Radar
Radar, Air to Surface Vessel, or ASV radar for short, is a classification used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) to refer to a series of aircraft-mounted radar systems used to scan the surface of the ocean to locate ships and surfaced submarines. The first examples were developed just before the opening of World War II and they have remained a major instrument on patrol aircraft since that time. It is part of the wider surface-search radar classification, which includes similar radars in ground and ship mountings. The first ASV was developed after the accidental detection of wharves and cranes while testing an air-to-air radar in 1937. For a variety of reasons, ASV was easier to develop than the air-to-air variety of the same systems, and the first operational use of the Mark I followed in early 1940. A cleaned-up and repackaged version, ASV Mark II, replaced it at the end of the year, but the system was not widespread until late in 1941. ASV was useful for detecting U-boats at night, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
U-boat
U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the German term refers to any submarine. Austro-Hungarian Navy submarines were also known as U-boats. U-boats are most known for their unrestricted submarine warfare in both world wars, trying to Commerce raiding, disrupt merchant traffic towards the UK and force the UK out of the war. In World War I, Germany intermittently waged unrestricted submarine warfare against the United Kingdom, UK: a first campaign in 1915 was abandoned after strong protests from the US but in 1917 the Germans, facing deadlock on the continent, saw no other option than to resume the campaign in February 1917. The renewed campaign failed to achieve its goal mainly because of the introduction of Convoys in World War I, convoys. Instead the campaign ensured final defeat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bomber
A bomber is a military combat aircraft that utilizes air-to-ground weaponry to drop bombs, launch aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploy air-launched cruise missiles. There are two major classifications of bomber: strategic and tactical. Strategic bombing is done by heavy bombers primarily designed for long-range bombing missions against strategic targets to diminish the enemy's ability to wage war by limiting access to resources through crippling infrastructure, reducing industrial output, or inflicting massive civilian casualties to an extent deemed to force surrender. Tactical bombing is aimed at countering enemy military activity and in supporting offensive operations, and is typically assigned to smaller aircraft operating at shorter ranges, typically near the troops on the ground or against enemy shipping. Bombs were first dropped from an aircraft during the Italo-Turkish War, with the first major deployments coming in the World War I, First World War and World War II, Seco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Armstrong Whitworth Whitley
The Armstrong Whitworth A.W.38 Whitley was a British medium/heavy bomber aircraft of the 1930s. It was one of three twin-engined, front line medium bomber types that were in service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) at the outbreak of the World War II, Second World War. Alongside the Vickers Wellington and the Handley Page Hampden, the Whitley was developed during the mid-1930s according to Air Ministry List Of Air Ministry Specifications, Specification B.3/34, which it was subsequently selected to meet. In 1937, the Whitley formally entered into RAF squadron service; it was the first of the three medium bombers to be introduced. Following the outbreak of war in September 1939, the Whitley participated in the first RAF bombing raid upon German territory and remained an integral part of the early British bomber offensive. In 1942 it was superseded as a bomber by the larger four-engined "Heavy bomber#World War II 2, heavies" such as the Avro Lancaster. Its front-line service include ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for separating the New World of the Americas (North America and South America) from the Old World of Afro-Eurasia (Africa, Asia, and Europe). Through its separation of Afro-Eurasia from the Americas, the Atlantic Ocean has played a central role in the development of human society, globalization, and the histories of many nations. While the Norse colonization of North America, Norse were the first known humans to cross the Atlantic, it was the expedition of Christopher Columbus in 1492 that proved to be the most consequential. Columbus's expedition ushered in an Age of Discovery, age of exploration and colonization of the Americas by European powers, most notably Portuguese Empire, Portugal, Spanish Empire, Sp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
