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RAF Credenhill
RAF Credenhill, also known as RAF Hereford, was a non-flying station of the Royal Air Force situated in the village of Credenhill near Hereford, England, United Kingdom. It was commissioned in 1940 and served as home for a range of training schools from 1940 until closure in 1994. The site was subsequently obtained by the British Army. History First World War After the outbreak of the First World War, the Ministry of Munitions were required to create a number of Royal Ordnance Factory munitions production facilities quickly and cheaply. In 1912 Herefordshire County Council had bought of the former Rotherwas estate from the Lubienski-Bodenham family, overlooked by Dinedor Hill and bordered by the Wye meadows. A site of was acquired by the Ministry on 15 June 1916, at Lower Bullingham just south of Hereford on the junction of the Welsh Marches Line and the Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Railway. Laid out to a standard design, ROF Rotherwas encompassed: * standard-gauge railway ...
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Credenhill
Credenhill is a village and civil parish in Herefordshire, England. The population of this civil parish taken at the 2011 Census was 2,271. History Credenhill village has had military connections since 80 BC, when Iron Age Celts constructed a hill fort and earthwork defence system commanding the surrounding area. The Romans founded the town of Magnis at what is now Kenchester, which was later abandoned during the withdrawal of Roman armies from Britain. In 428 AD Magnis was destroyed by a fire during raids by the Picts and Scots. The remains of the old fort was occupied by the Saxons in 480 AD. The Saxon chief Creoda occupied the fort in 540 AD, and "Creoda's Hill" gave its name to Credenhill. During the First World War, land in Credenhill was occupied by an army unit to store ammunition. In 1939 the land was requisitioned for defence and became RAF Hereford. Governance An electoral ward of the same name exists. This ward stretches south to Breinton with a total w ...
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Special Air Service
The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. It was founded as a regiment in 1941 by David Stirling, and in 1950 it was reconstituted as a corps. The unit specialises in a number of roles including counter-terrorism, hostage rescue, direct action (military), direct action and special reconnaissance. Much of the information about the SAS is highly classified information, classified, and the unit is not commented on by either the British government or the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence due to the secrecy and sensitivity of its operations. The corps currently consists of the 22 Special Air Service Regiment, which is the regular component, as well as the Artists Rifles, 21 Special Air Service Regiment (Artists) (Reserve) and the 23 Special Air Service Regiment (Reserve), which are reserve units, all under the operational command of United Kingdom Special Forces (UKSF). Its sister unit is the Royal Navy's Special Boat Servi ...
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RAF Hereford - 330 Entry Admin Apprentices Graduation Photograph - August 1973
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). Following the Allies of World War I, Allied victory over the Central Powers in 1918, the RAF emerged as the largest air force in the world at the time. Since its formation, the RAF has played History of the Royal Air Force, a significant role in Military history of the United Kingdom, British military history. In particular, during the Second World War, the RAF established Air supremacy, air superiority over Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain, and led the Allied strategic bombing effort. The RAF's mission is to support the objectives of the British Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence (MOD), which are to "provide the capabilities nee ...
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Mustard Gas
Mustard gas or sulfur mustard are names commonly used for the organosulfur compound, organosulfur chemical compound bis(2-chloroethyl) sulfide, which has the chemical structure S(CH2CH2Cl)2, as well as other Chemical species, species. In the wider sense, compounds with the substituents are known as ''sulfur mustards'' or ''nitrogen mustards'', respectively, where X = Cl or Br. Such compounds are potent alkylating agents, making mustard gas acutely and severely toxic. Mustard gas is a carcinogen. There is no preventative agent against mustard gas, with protection depending entirely on skin and airways protection, and no antidote exists for mustard poisoning. Also known as mustard agents, this family of compounds comprises infamous cytotoxicity, cytotoxins and blister agents with a long history of use as chemical weapons. The name ''mustard gas'' is technically incorrect; the substances, when Dispersion (chemistry), dispersed, are often not gases but a fine mist of liquid droplet ...
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Avonmouth Docks
The Avonmouth Docks are part of the Port of Bristol, in England. They are situated on the northern side of the mouth of the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, opposite the Royal Portbury Dock on the southern side, where the river joins the River Severn, Severn estuary, within Avonmouth. Accessible via a long and wide Lock (water transport), lock, today the docks are one of the UK's major ports for chilled foods, especially fruit and vegetables. Land-side freight access and distribution is via either the M5 motorway or the Henbury Loop Line, whilst rail-passenger access is via Avonmouth railway station on the Severn Beach Line. Background Bristol Harbour had been a major centre of trade within the wider UK economy, due to its strategic location to the west of the country, allowing access to both the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean. Coastal trade was also important, with the area called "Welsh Back" concentrating on trows with cargoes from the Slate industry in Wales, Rock (g ...
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National Smelting Company
The National Smelting Company was a nationalised zinc smelting company in Avonmouth, England. It was established by Minister of Munitions Winston Churchill to produce mustard gas during World War I. After World War I, it was bought by private business interests. From 1929 it became part of Australia's Imperial Smelting Corporation. The site – also known as the Britannia smelting works – was where the Imperial Smelting Process was developed. From 1967, the Avonmouth Works was home to the largest and most efficient zinc blast furnace in the world. The site remained operational until 2003 when the production of zinc, cadmium, lead and sulphuric acid ceased. The site is being redeveloped as a supermarket distribution centre for Asda and a recycling plant for SITA UK. Background During the later part of World War I, it was proposed to make Avonmouth Docks the UK centre of production of dichloroethyl sulphide, also known as mustard gas. However, its production was against the ...
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Dichloroethyl Sulphide
Mustard gas or sulfur mustard are names commonly used for the organosulfur chemical compound bis(2-chloroethyl) sulfide, which has the chemical structure S(CH2CH2Cl)2, as well as other species. In the wider sense, compounds with the substituents are known as ''sulfur mustards'' or ''nitrogen mustards'', respectively, where X = Cl or Br. Such compounds are potent alkylating agents, making mustard gas acutely and severely toxic. Mustard gas is a carcinogen. There is no preventative agent against mustard gas, with protection depending entirely on skin and airways protection, and no antidote exists for mustard poisoning. Also known as mustard agents, this family of compounds comprises infamous cytotoxins and blister agents with a long history of use as chemical weapons. The name ''mustard gas'' is technically incorrect; the substances, when dispersed, are often not gases but a fine mist of liquid droplets that can be readily absorbed through the skin and by inhalation. The skin ca ...
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Amatol
Amatol is a highly explosive material made from a mixture of TNT and ammonium nitrate. The British name originates from the words ammonium and toluene (the precursor of TNT). Similar mixtures (one part dinitronaphthalene and seven parts ammonium nitrate) were known as Schneiderite in France. Amatol was used extensively during World War I and World War II, typically as an explosive in military weapons such as aircraft bombs, shells, depth charges, and naval mines.Brown, G. I. (1998). ''The Big Bang: A History of Explosives''. Sutton Publishing . pp. 158-163. It was eventually replaced with alternative explosives such as Composition B, Torpex, and Tritonal. Invention Following the Shell Crisis of 1915 in which the UK did not have enough ordnance due to a lack of explosives, a team at the Royal Arsenal laboratories produced a mixture of ammonium nitrate and TNT, known as Amatol for short. Special factories were constructed for the manufacture of ammonium nitrate by ...
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Lyddite
Picric acid is an organic compound with the formula (O2N)3C6H2OH. Its IUPAC name is 2,4,6-trinitrophenol (TNP). The name "picric" comes from (''pikros''), meaning "bitter", due to its bitter taste. It is one of the most acidic phenols. Like other strongly nitrated organic compounds, picric acid is an explosive, which is its primary use. It has also been used as medicine (antiseptic, burn treatments) and as a dye. History Picric acid was probably first mentioned in the 17th-century alchemical writings of Johann Rudolf Glauber. Initially, it was made by nitrating substances such as animal horn, silk, indigo, and natural resin, the synthesis from indigo first being performed by Peter Woulfe in 1771. The German chemist Justus von Liebig had named picric acid (rendered in French as ). Picric acid was given that name by the French chemist Jean-Baptiste Dumas in 1841. Its synthesis from phenol, and the correct determination of its formula, were accomplished during 1841. In 1799, ...
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Standard-gauge Railway
A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the most widely used track gauge around the world, with about 55% of the lines in the world using it. All high-speed rail lines use standard gauge except those in Russia, Finland, Uzbekistan, and some line sections in Spain. The distance between the inside edges of the heads of the rails is defined to be 1,435 mm except in the United States, Canada, and on some heritage British lines, where it is defined in U.S. customary/ British Imperial units as exactly "four feet eight and one half inches", which is equivalent to 1,435.1mm. History As railways developed and expanded, one of the key issues was the track gauge (the distance, or width, between the inner sides of the rail heads) to be used, as the wheels of the rolling stock (locomoti ...
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ROF Rotherwas
ROF Rotherwas was a Royal Ordnance Factory filling factory, No 4, located in Rotherwas, Dinedor Parish, Herefordshire, England. Background In the early 20th century, the Lubienski-Bodenham family - descended from Mary Tudor, Queen of France, Mary Tudor, the daughter of Henry VII of England, King Henry VII - owned the Rotherwas estate, which included a mansion house, Rotherwas Court, and of land on the south side of the River Wye. After the death of Count Louis Pomian Lubienski Bodenham in 1912, the family line ended. The Rotherwas estate was dismantled in 1913. Thirteen of the mansion's wood panelled rooms were sent to America (the Rotherwas Room survives at Amherst College) and the land was put up for sale. At the resultant auction, Herefordshire County Council bought that was overlooked by Dinedor Hill and was bordered by the Wye meadows. World War I At the outbreak of World War I, the Ministry of Munitions were looking to create a number of munitions production facilities qu ...
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