RAF Grantham
Royal Air Force Spitalgate or more simply RAF Spitalgate formerly known as RFC Grantham and RAF Grantham was a Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force station, located south east of the centre of Grantham, Lincolnshire, England fronting onto the main A52 road. History The station opened in 1915 as Royal Flying Corps Station Grantham, becoming RAF Grantham on 1 April 1918 - a name it bore until 1942 when it was renamed as RAF Spitalgate. Throughout the First World War the station focused on flying training, hosting a succession of reserve (Nos 49, 86 (Canadian), 11, and 50) and then training squadrons (the renamed No. 49 (Training) Squadron and 15, 20, and 37, plus No. 39 in 1919) plus several United States Army Air Service squadrons (9th, 50th, 174th, and a detachment of 43rd).Rafweb.orStations - Spitalgate accessed June 2020. Flying training continued at RAF Grantham during the inter-war years; Nos 100 and 39 Squadrons were present for much of the 1920s. No. 3 Group RAF wa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Grantham
Grantham () is a market town and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road. It lies south of Lincoln, England, Lincoln and east of Nottingham. The population in 2016 was put at 44,580. The town is the largest settlement and the administrative centre of the South Kesteven District. Grantham was the birthplace of the UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Isaac Newton was educated at The King's School, Grantham, the King's School. The town was the workplace of the UK's first warranted female police officer, Edith Smith (police officer), Edith Smith in 1914. The UK's first running diesel engine was made there in 1892 and the first tractor in 1896. Thomas Paine worked there as an excise officer in the 1760s. The villages of Manthorpe, Grantham, Manthorpe, Great Gonerby, Barrowby, Londonthorpe and Harlaxton form outlying suburbs of the town. Etymology ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II (1941–1947). It was created on 20 June 1941 as successor to the previous United States Army Air Corps and is the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force, today one of the six United States Armed Forces, armed forces of the United States. The AAF was a component of the United States Army, which on 2 March 1942 was divided functionally by executive order into three autonomous forces: the Army Ground Forces, the United States Army Services of Supply (which in 1943 became the Army Service Forces), and the Army Air Forces. Each of these forces had a commanding general who reported directly to the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, Army Chief of Staff. The AAF administered all parts of military aviation formerly distributed am ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Joy Tamblin
Air Commodore Pamela Joy Tamblin (11 January 1926 – 8 March 2015) was a senior officer of the Royal Air Force. She served as Director of the Women's Royal Air Force from 1976 to 1980. Military career During World War II, Tamblin served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. She worked at Bletchley Park between 1943 and 1945. She joined the Women's Royal Air Force in 1951. She served in the Education Branch from 1951 to 1955, and the Administrative Branch from 1955 to 1976. She was station commander of RAF Spitalgate from 1971 to 1974. She served as Director of the Women's Royal Air Force from 1976 to 1980, succeeding Molly Allott. Tamblin decided to study at Durham University, resulting in a Secondary Honours Degree in “Geography and Economics”. This decision was taken after Tamblin was “discharged at the rank of Corporal”. Shortly afterwards, Tamblin managed an education centre and then went on to the administrative branch in 1955, resulting in “personnel and g ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Felicity Hill
Air Commodore Dame Felicity Barbara Hill, (12 December 1915 – 30 January 2019) was a British Royal Air Force officer. From 1966 to 1969, she served as Director of the Women's Royal Air Force. She died in January 2019 at the age of 103. Military career In 1939, with the outbreak of World War II, Hill joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF). She had intended to join the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRENS) but her application had taken too long to process, so she joined the WAAF alongside some friends. She was in fact too short to qualify for military service but the man measuring her added half an inch to her height to meet the minimum required. Describing the situation, she stated "I probably should never have got in". Her first posting as an aircraftwoman was as an equipment assistant at stores of RAF Farnborough where she issued "anything from pants to revolvers". She failed her first officer selection board because she was too young. Having attended the WAAF's firs ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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George Reid (RAF Officer)
Sir George Houston Reid (25 February 1845 – 12 September 1918) was a Scottish-born Australian and British politician, diplomat, and barrister who served as the fourth prime minister of Australia from 1904 to 1905. He held office as the leader of the Free Trade Party, previously serving as the 12th premier of New South Wales from 1894 to 1899, and later as the high commissioner of Australia to the United Kingdom from 1910 to 1916. Reid was born in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, Scotland. He and his family immigrated to Australia when he was young. They initially settled in Melbourne, but moved to Sydney when Reid was 13, at which point he left school and began working as a clerk. He later joined the New South Wales civil service, and rose through the ranks to become secretary of the Attorney-General's Department. Reid was also something of a public intellectual, publishing several works in defence of liberalism and free trade. He began studying law in 1876 and was admitted ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Prince William Of Gloucester Barracks
Prince William of Gloucester Barracks is a British Army installation near Grantham in Lincolnshire. It is set to close in 2028. History The barracks were established on the site of the former RAF Spitalgate airbase in October 1976, as the new Central Volunteer Headquarters for the Royal Corps of Transport. The barracks were formally named after Prince William of Gloucester at a ceremony held in March 1977, led by Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester. The Central Volunteer Headquarters were renamed the Royal Corps of Transport Territorial Army Depot and Training Centre in 1979. The facility provided centralised training for all volunteer members of the Royal Corps of Transport. In 1982, the first holder of the new post of Commander Royal Corps of Transport Territorial Army ('Commander RCT TA') moved into the barracks. In the 1980s, the barracks also served as home to 54th Infantry Brigade. The barracks remain home to the Army Training Regiment (Grantham), which provides phase on ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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British Army
The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve personnel and 4,697 "other personnel", for a total of 108,413. The British Army traces back to 1707 and the Acts of Union 1707, formation of the united Kingdom of Great Britain which joined the Kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland into a Political union, single state and, with that, united the English Army and the Scots Army as the British Army. The Parliament of England, English Bill of Rights 1689 and Convention of the Estates, Scottish Claim of Right Act 1689 require parliamentary consent for the Crown to maintain a peacetime standing army. Members of the British Army swear allegiance to the Charles III, monarch as their commander-in-chief. The army is administered by the Ministry of Defence (United Kingd ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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RAF Syerston
Royal Air Force Syerston, commonly known simply as RAF Syerston , is a Royal Air Force station in the parish of Flintham, near Newark, Nottinghamshire, England. Opened in 1940, it was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a bomber base during the Second World War, operating Vickers Wellingtons, Avro Manchesters, and the Avro Lancaster heavy bombers. Post-war, it became home to Jet Provosts of the 2 Flying Training School. It is now home to the Royal Air Force Central Gliding School. History Bomber Command RAF Syerston was built as part of the bomber expansion in the late 1930s, but did not open until 1 December 1940. The first aircraft were Vickers Wellingtons crewed by Polish flyers who had joined the RAF. In July 1941, they were replaced by members of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), flying Handley-Page Hampdens. From December 1941 until 5 May 1942, the base was closed whilst a concrete runway was built with two T2 hangars. When it re-opened, it became part o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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RAF Swinderby
Royal Air Force Swinderby or more simply RAF Swinderby is a former Royal Air Force List of former Royal Air Force stations, station airfield opened in 1940, one of the last of the stations completed under the RAF's expansion plans started in the 1930s. It was built near the village of Swinderby, Lincolnshire just off the south east side of the A46 road, A46 (the Fosse Way) between Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire and Lincoln, England, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England. The station closed on 17 December 1993. History Under the command of No. 1 Group RAF, Swinderby came under the auspices of RAF Bomber Command and housed several bomber squadrons, among others No. 300 Polish Bomber Squadron and No. 301 Polish Bomber Squadron, initially flying the Fairey Battle, then Vickers Wellington. Other squadrons operated aircraft, such as the Handley Page Hampden. On 16 July 1941 the newly created Polish Air Force Colour was presented to General Sikorski, the Polish Commander-in-Chief, in the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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RAF Hereford
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 World War I, 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-gau ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Commissioned Officer
An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent contextual qualification, the term typically refers only to a force's ''commissioned officers'', the more senior members who derive their authority from a commission from the head of state. Numbers The proportion of officers varies greatly. Commissioned officers typically make up between an eighth and a fifth of modern armed forces personnel. In 2013, officers were the senior 17% of the British armed forces, and the senior 13.7% of the French armed forces. In 2012, officers made up about 18% of the German armed forces, and about 17.2% of the United States armed forces. Historically armed forces have generally had much lower proportions of officers. During the First World War, fewer than 5% of British soldiers were officers (partly beca ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Women's Royal Air Force
The Women's Royal Air Force (WRAF) was the women's branch of the Royal Air Force. It existed in two separate incarnations: the Women's Royal Air Force from 1918 to 1920 and the Women's Royal Air Force from 1949 to 1994. On 1 February 1949, the name of the First World War organisation was revived when the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, which had been founded in 1939, was re-established on a regular footing as the Women's Royal Air Force. The WRAF and the RAF grew closer over the following decades, with increasing numbers of trades opened to women, and the two services formally merged in 1994, marking the full assimilation of women into the British forces and the end of the Women's Royal Air Force. The Central Band of the WRAF, one of only two all-female bands in the British Armed Forces, was disbanded in 1972. Some of its musicians transferred to the Band of the Women's Royal Army Corps. Women were only permitted to become aircrew as air loadmasters and air stewards until 1989, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |