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Supermarine Aviation Works Ltd.
Supermarine was a British aircraft manufacturer. It is most famous for producing the Spitfire fighter plane during World War II. The company built a range of seaplanes and flying boats, winning the Schneider Trophy for seaplanes with three consecutive victories (in 1927, 1929 and 1931). After the war, the company produced a series of jet fighters. Overview Supermarine was founded in 1913 as Pemberton-Billing Ltd. The company was located on the River Itchen close to Woolston, Southampton, on ground purchased by the British aviator and inventor Noel Pemberton Billing to construct motor launches. Pemberton-Billing produced two prototype quadruplanes designed to shoot down Zeppelins—the Supermarine P.B.29 and the Supermarine Nighthawk. Both aircraft were fitted with the recoilless Davis gun. The Nighthawk had a separate powerplant to power a searchlight.The World's Worst Aircraft James Gilbert Pemberton-Billing sold the company to his factory manager and longtime associate Hub ...
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Vickers-Armstrongs
Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927. The majority of the company was nationalised in the 1960s and 1970s, with the remainder being divested as Vickers plc in 1977. It featured among Britain's most prominent armaments firms. History Vickers merged with the Tyneside-based engineering company Armstrong Whitworth, founded by William Armstrong, to become Vickers-Armstrongs. Armstrong Whitworth and Vickers had developed along similar lines, expanding into various military sectors and produced a whole suite of military products. Armstrong Whitworth were notable for their artillery manufacture at Elswick and shipbuilding at a yard at High Walker on the River Tyne. 1929 saw the merger of the acquired railway business with those of Cammell Laird to form Metropolitan Cammell Carriage and Wagon (MCCW); Metro Cammell. In 1935, before rearmament ...
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Recoilless
A Recoilless rifle (rifled), recoilless launcher (smoothbore), or simply recoilless gun, sometimes abbreviated to "rr" or "RCL" (for ReCoilLess) is a type of lightweight artillery system or man-portable launcher that is designed to eject some form of countermass such as propellant gas from the rear of the weapon at the moment of firing, creating forward thrust that counteracts most of the weapon's recoil. This allows for the elimination of much of the heavy and bulky recoil-counteracting equipment of a conventional cannon as well as a thinner-walled barrel, and thus the launch of a relatively large projectile from a platform that would not be capable of handling the weight or recoil of a conventional gun of the same size. Technically, only devices that use spin-stabilized projectiles fired from a rifling, rifled barrel are recoilless rifles, while smoothbore variants (which can be fin-stabilized or unstabilized) are recoilless guns. This distinction is often lost, and both are oft ...
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Supermarine B
Supermarine was a British aircraft manufacturer. It is most famous for producing the Spitfire fighter plane during World War II. The company built a range of seaplanes and flying boats, winning the Schneider Trophy for seaplanes with three consecutive victories (in 1927, 1929 and 1931). After the war, the company produced a series of jet fighters. Overview Supermarine was founded in 1913 as Pemberton-Billing Ltd. The company was located on the River Itchen close to Woolston, Southampton, on ground purchased by the British aviator and inventor Noel Pemberton Billing to construct motor launches. Pemberton-Billing produced two prototype quadruplanes designed to shoot down Zeppelins—the Supermarine P.B.29 and the Supermarine Nighthawk. Both aircraft were fitted with the recoilless Davis gun. The Nighthawk had a separate powerplant to power a searchlight.The World's Worst Aircraft James Gilbert Pemberton-Billing sold the company to his factory manager and longtime associate ...
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Supermarine Walrus
The Supermarine Walrus is a British single-engine Amphibious aircraft, amphibious biplane designed by Supermarine's R. J. Mitchell. Primarily used as a maritime patrol aircraft, it was the first British Squadron (aviation), squadron-service aircraft to incorporate an Landing gear, undercarriage that was fully retractable, crew accommodation that was enclosed, and a fuselage completely made of metal. Supermarine originally named the type the Supermarine Seagull V, before changing it to the ''Walrus''. The type first flew in 1933, its design process had begun four years earlier as a private venture. It shared its general arrangement with that of the earlier Supermarine Seagull (1921), Supermarine Seagull. Having been designed to serve as a Surveillance aircraft, fleet spotter launched by aircraft catapult, catapult from cruisers or battleships, the aircraft was employed as a maritime patrol aircraft. Early aircraft had a metal hull for greater longevity in Tropics, tropical condi ...
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Supermarine Seafang
The Supermarine Seafang was a British Rolls-Royce Griffon–engined fighter aircraft designed by Supermarine to Air Ministry specification N.5/45 for naval use. It was based on the Spiteful, which was a development of Supermarine's Griffon-engined Spitfire aircraft. By that time the Spitfire was a 10-year-old design in a period of rapid technical development in aviation. The Seafang was outmoded by jet aircraft, and only 18 were built.Price, 2001 Design and development The Seafang was essentially a Spiteful redesigned for Royal Navy carrier use, with the addition of an arrester hook, a contra-rotating propeller to eliminate engine torque effects, and power folding outer wing panels. Two prototype Type 396 Seafang Mark 32s were ordered on 12 March 1945 followed by an order for 150 Type 382 Seafang Mark 31s on 7 May 1945. To expedite entry into service the interim Mark 31 was ordered which was a navalised Spiteful, basically a Spiteful with an arrestor hook added. This would a ...
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Supermarine Spiteful
The Supermarine Spiteful was a British fighter aircraft designed by Supermarine during the Second World War as a successor to the Spitfire. Powered by a Rolls-Royce Griffon engine, it had a radical new wing design to allow safe operations at higher speeds and incorporating inwards-retracting undercarriage. Other changes included a larger fin to improve the marginal stability of Griffon Spitfires. Development of the wing was formalised by Air Ministry specification F.1/43; as well as a new aircraft, there was an expectation the wing could be used as a replacement for the elliptical wing on Spitfire production. The Spiteful was ready for production as the war was ending but in testing had shown only marginal improvements over existing types and was now being overtaken by jet-powered designs. Of the original order for 150 Spitefuls, only 19 were built. The Royal Navy opted for a navalised variation of the Spiteful type, the Supermarine Seafang, but few of those were built ...
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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 ...
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Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilising all resources in pursuit of total war. Tanks in World War II, Tanks and Air warfare of World War II, aircraft played major roles, enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, first and only nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II is the List of wars by death toll, deadliest conflict in history, causing World War II casualties, the death of 70 to 85 million people, more than half of whom were civilians. Millions died in genocides, including the Holocaust, and by massacres, starvation, and disease. After the Allied victory, Allied-occupied Germany, Germany, Allied-occupied Austria, Austria, Occupation of Japan, Japan, a ...
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Battle Of Britain
The Battle of Britain () was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom (UK) against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force, the Luftwaffe. It was the first major military campaign fought entirely by air forces."92 Squadron – Geoffrey Wellum."
''Battle of Britain Memorial Flight'' via ''raf.mod.uk.''. Retrieved: 17 November 2010, archived 2 March 2009.
It takes its name from This was their finest hour, the speech given by Prime Minister Winston Churchill to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons on 18 June: "What Maxime Weygand, General Weygand called the 'Battle of France' is over. I expect that the Battle ...
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Luftwaffe
The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial German Navy, Imperial Navy, had been disbanded in May 1920 in accordance with the terms of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, which banned Germany from having any air force. During the interwar period, German pilots were trained secretly in violation of the treaty at Lipetsk (air base), Lipetsk Air Base in the Soviet Union. With the rise of the Nazi Party and the repudiation of the Versailles Treaty, the Luftwaffe's existence was publicly acknowledged and officially established on 26 February 1935, just over two weeks before open defiance of the Versailles Treaty through German rearmament and conscription would be announced on 16 March. The Condor Legion, a Luftwaffe detachment sent to aid Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist for ...
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RAF Fighter Command
RAF Fighter Command was one of the commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It operated throughout the Second World War, winning fame during the Battle of Britain in 1940. The command continued until November 1943, when it was disbanded and the RAF fighter force was split into two categories, defence and attack. The defensive force became Air Defence of Great Britain (ADGB) and the offensive force became the RAF Second Tactical Air Force. ADGB was renamed Fighter Command in October 1944 and continued to provide defensive patrols around Britain. It was disbanded for the second time in 1968, when it was subsumed by the new Strike Command. Origins On 20 May 1926, the forerunner of Fighter Command was established as a group within Inland Area. On 1 June, Fighting Area was transferred to the Air Defence of Great Britain. Fighting Area was raised to command status in 1932 and renamed Fighter Command on 1 May ...
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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 ...
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