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RAF Culmhead
Royal Air Force Culmhead or more simply RAF Culmhead is a former Royal Air Force List of former Royal Air Force stations, station, situated at Churchstanton on the Blackdown Hills National Landscape, Blackdown Hills in Somerset, England. It was originally named RAF Church Stanton. It had three tarmac runways that are now in poor condition and the control towers are currently derelict. There is now an industrial estate – derived from the later Composite Signals Organisation Station (CSOS) – right in the middle of the place where the three runways meet. History Second World War RAF Culmhead was a typical three-runway fighter airfield, with blast pens built around the site along with ten blister hangars. It was used by fighters from RAF Exeter from June but officially opened on 1 August 1941. Ground defence was provided by the Somerset Light Infantry. Who used the airfield first and why is a mystery, the story is told by David Berryman: "''The first aircraft to land at the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Churchstanton
Churchstanton is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, lying within the Blackdown Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, on the River Otter south of Taunton. The parish had a population of 889 at the 2021 census, and includes the hamlets of Churchinford, Burnworthy and Willand. History The village was known as ''Cheristone'', meaning ''stony settlement where cherries grow'', in the 13th century. Burnworthy Lodge dates from the 16th century and is a Grade II listed building. Until 1896, the village was within Hemyock Hundred in the county of Devon. It was then transferred into Somerset. Governance The parish council has responsibility for local issues, including setting an annual precept (local rate) to cover the council's operating costs and producing annual accounts for public scrutiny. The parish council evaluates local planning applications and works with the local police, district council officers, and neighbourhood watch groups on matters of crime, sec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hawker Hurricane
The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by the Supermarine Spitfire during the Battle of Britain in 1940, but the Hurricane inflicted 60% of the losses sustained by the ''Luftwaffe'' in the campaign, and fought in all the major theatres of the Second World War. The Hurricane originated from discussions between RAF officials and aircraft designer Sir Sydney Camm about a proposed monoplane derivative of the Hawker Fury biplane in the early 1930s. Despite an institutional preference for biplanes and lack of interest by the Air Ministry, Hawker refined its monoplane proposal, incorporating several innovations which became critical to wartime fighter aircraft, including retractable landing gear and the more powerful Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. The Air Ministry ordered Hawker's ''Interce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RAF Manston
Royal Air Force Manston or more simply RAF Manston is a former Royal Air Force station located in the north-east of Kent, at on the Isle of Thanet from 1916 until 1996. The site was split between a commercial airport Kent International Airport (KIA), since closed, and a continuing military use by the Defence Fire Training and Development Centre (DFTDC), following on from a long-standing training facility for RAF firefighters at the RAF Manston base. History First World War At the outset of the First World War, the Isle of Thanet was equipped with a small and precarious landing strip for aircraft at St Mildreds Bay, Westgate, on top of the chalk cliffs, at the foot of which was a promenade which had been used for seaplane operations. The landing grounds atop the cliff soon became the scene of several accidents, with at least one plane seen to fail to stop before the end of the cliffs and tumble into the sea which, fortunately for the pilot, had been on its inward tide. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gloster Meteor
The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies' only jet aircraft to engage in combat operations during the Second World War. The Meteor's development was heavily reliant on its ground-breaking turbojet engines, pioneered by Frank Whittle and his company, Power Jets Ltd. Development of the aircraft began in 1940, although work on the engines had been under way since 1936. The Meteor first flew in 1943 and commenced operations on 27 July 1944 with No. 616 Squadron RAF. The Meteor was not a sophisticated aircraft in its aerodynamics, but proved to be a successful combat fighter. Gloster's 1946 civil Meteor F.4 demonstrator ''G-AIDC'' was the first civilian-registered jet aircraft in the world. Several major variants of the Meteor incorporated technological advances during the 1940s and 1950s. Thousands of Meteors were built to fly with the RAF and other air forces and remained in use for several decades. Slower and less heavily armed than its German cou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
D-Day
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D-Day (after the military term), it is the largest seaborne invasion in history. The operation began the liberation of France, and the rest of Western Europe, and laid the foundations of the Allied victory on the Western Front. Planning for the operation began in 1943. In the months leading up to the invasion, the Allies conducted a substantial military deception, codenamed Operation Bodyguard, to mislead the Germans as to the date and location of the main Allied landings. The weather on the day selected for D-Day was not ideal, and the operation had to be delayed 24 hours; a further postponement would have meant a delay of at least two weeks, as the planners had requirements for the phase of the moon, the tides, and time of day, that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aircraft Carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the capital ship of a naval fleet, fleet (known as a carrier battle group), as it allows a naval force to power projection, project seaborne naval aviation, air power far from homeland without depending on local airfields for staging area, staging aerial warfare, aircraft operations. Since their inception in the early 20th century, aircraft carriers have evolved from wooden vessels used to deploy individual tethered reconnaissance balloons, to nuclear marine propulsion, nuclear-powered supercarriers that carry dozens of fighter aircraft, fighters, strike aircraft, military helicopters, airborne early warning and control, AEW&Cs and other types of aircraft such as unmanned combat aerial vehicle, UCAVs. While heavier fixed-wing aircraft such as a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Supermarine Seafire
The Supermarine Seafire is a naval version of the Supermarine Spitfire fighter adapted for operation from aircraft carriers. It was analogous in concept to the Hawker Hurricane variants#Sea Hurricanes, Hawker Sea Hurricane, a navalised aircraft, navalised version of the Spitfire's stablemate, the Hawker Hurricane. The name Seafire was derived from the contraction of the full name of Sea Spitfire.Andrews and Morgan 1987, p. 247. A carrier-capable version of the Supermarine Spitfire had been proposed by the British Admiralty, Admiralty in May 1938. Despite a pressing need to replace various obsolete types in the Fleet Air Arm (FAA), some opposed the idea, including Winston Churchill, although these disputes were often a result of the overriding priority for land-based Spitfires instead. During 1941 and early 1942, the Admiralty again requested naval Spitfires, resulting in an initial batch of Seafire Mk.Ib fighters in late 1941, which were mainly used to gain experience operating ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
887 Naval Air Squadron
887 Naval Air Squadron (887 NAS) was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, which last disbanded during March 1946. It was formed as a Fleet Fighter squadron in May 1942 at HMS ''Daedalus'', RNAS, Lee-on-Solent. The squadron embarked in HMS ''Unicorn'' during 1943 for convoy escort duties and later in the year to cover the allied landings at Salerno, Italy. At the end of 1943 it formed part of the 24th Naval Fighter Wing. 1944 saw it embark in HMS ''Indefatigable'' and the squadron saw action in operations against the german battleship ''Tirpitz'' during early 1944 and then joined the British Pacific Fleet at the end of the year. It was part of the attacks on the oil refineries at Palembang at the start of 1945 and later in the year it was involved in sorties around Tokyo, as part of the 7th Carrier Air Group, before V-J Day. History Fleet fighter squadron (1942 - 1946) 887 Naval Air Squadron formed at RNAS Lee-on-Solent (HMS ''Daedalus''), Hampshire, as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
894 Naval Air Squadron
894 Naval Air Squadron (894 NAS), sometimes referred to as 894 Squadron, was a Fleet Air Arm (FAA) naval air squadron of the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy (RN). It most recently operated de Havilland Sea Venom between January 1957 and December 1960. Formed at RN Air Section Norfolk, Virginia, in August 1942, as a fighter squadron, in December, the squadron joined HMS ''Battler'' for the UK, eventually arriving at HMS ''Sparrowhawk'', RNAS Hatston, in February, where it later joined HMS ''Illustrious'' in July. The squadron provided air cover for the Salerno landings in September 1943. It returned to HMS ''Dipper'', RNAS Henstridge, in late October 1943 and became part of the 24th Naval Fighter Wing. The squadron boarded HMS ''Indefatigable'' in July, covering operations over Norway, including two attacks on the battleship ''Tirpitz''. In November 1943, the squadron joined the aircraft carrier HMS ''Implacable'' for Ceylon. The squadron supported attacks on Sumatra in January 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RAF Church Fenton
Royal Air Force Church Fenton or more simply RAF Church Fenton is a former Royal Air Force List of former Royal Air Force stations, station located south-east of Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, England and north-west of Selby, North Yorkshire, near the village of Church Fenton. The station was opened in 1937 and during the World War II, Second World War was home to air defence fighters, a role retained by the Station until the 1960s when it became a training station. The last Station Commander of a self-determining RAF Church Fenton was Sqn Ldr David Morris, who had trained on de Havilland Chipmunk, Chipmunk aircraft at RAF Church Fenton in 1973. Sqn Ldr Morris returned to RAF Church Fenton in 1991 as the Officer Commanding Station Services Squadron, to prepare the as then autonomous station for yet another closure, and transfer into the control of RAF Linton-on-Ouse as a satellite airfield and Enhanced Relief Landing Ground. The gates of the fully independent RAF Church Fe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Farnborough, Hampshire
Farnborough is a town located in the Rushmoor district of Hampshire, England. It has a population of around 57,486 as of the 2011 census and is an important centre of aviation, engineering and technology. The town is probably best known for its association with aviation, including Samuel Cody, Farnborough Airport, the Farnborough International Airshow, Royal Aircraft Establishment and the Air Accidents Investigation Branch. History Pre-history and early settlements The earliest evidence of human settlement around Farnborough dates back thousands of years. Archaeologists have uncovered flint tools and other artefacts from the Mesolithic period, indicating the presence of hunter-gatherer communities in the area over 8,000 years ago. During the Neolithic period, the region saw increasing agricultural activity and the development of more permanent settlements. Excavations have revealed the remains of several prehistoric enclosures and barrows within the boundaries of modern-day Far ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Aircraft Establishment
The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), before finally losing its identity in mergers with other institutions. The British Army Balloon Factory was established on Farnborough Common in the early 1900s. By 1912 it had come under civilian control and was the Royal Aircraft Factory (RAF) In 1918 it was renamed Royal Aircraft Establishment to prevent confusion with the newly created Royal Air Force. The first site was at Farnborough Airfield ("RAE Farnborough") in Hampshire to which was added a second site RAE Bedford (Bedfordshire) in 1946. On 1 May 1988 it was renamed the Royal Aerospace Establishment (RAE) before merging with other research entities to become part of the new Defence Research Agency in 1991. History In 1904–1906 the Army Balloon Factory, which was part of the A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
