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Trafford Leigh-Mallory
Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory, (11 July 1892 – 14 November 1944) was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force. Leigh-Mallory served as a Royal Flying Corps pilot and squadron commander during the First World War. Remaining in the newly formed RAF after the war, Leigh-Mallory served in a variety of staff and training appointments throughout the 1920s and 1930s. At the start of the Second World War, Leigh-Mallory was Air Officer Commanding (AOC) No. 12 (Fighter) Group and during the Battle of Britain. However he has been rightfully criticised for his political machinations within the Air Ministry, particularly with Sholto Douglas, that led to the replacement of Hugh Dowding and Keith Park on 25 November 1940, less than a month after the end of the Battle of Britain. Leigh-Mallory replaced Park at No. 11 (Fighter) Group and Sholto Douglas replaced Dowding as head of RAF Fighter Command. In 1942, Leigh-Mallory became Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of Fighter Comman ...
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Air Chief Marshal
Air chief marshal (Air Chf Mshl or ACM) is a high-ranking air officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many Commonwealth of Nations, countries that have historical British influence. This rank is also equivalent to an Admiral in a List of navies, navy or a full general in an List of armies by country, army or other nations' air forces. The rank of air chief marshal is immediately senior to the rank of air marshal but subordinate to marshal of the air force. Air chief marshals are sometimes generically considered to be air marshals. Australia In the Royal Australian Air Force, this rank is only used when the Chief of the Defence Force (Australia), Chief of the Defence Force is an Air Force officer. When this is not the case, the senior ranking Air Force officer is the Chief of Air Force (Australia), Chief of Air Force, holding the rank of air marshal (Australia), air marshal. With the establishment of t ...
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Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, awarded for operational gallantry for highly successful command and leadership during active operations, typically in actual combat. Equal in Awards and decorations of the British Armed Forces, British precedence of military decorations to the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross and Royal Red Cross, since 1993 the DSO is eligible to all Military rank, ranks awarded specifically for "highly successful command and leadership during active operations". History Instituted on 6 September 1886 by Queen Victoria by Warrant (law), Royal Warrant published in ''The London Gazette'' on 9 November, the first DSOs awarded were dated 25 November 1886. The Order (distinction), order was established to recognise individual instances of meritorious or distinguished service in war. It is a military order, and wa ...
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Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, Indian peninsula by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait. It shares a maritime border with the Maldives in the southwest and India in the northwest. Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte is the legislative capital of Sri Lanka, while the largest city, Colombo, is the administrative and judicial capital which is the nation's political, financial and cultural centre. Kandy is the second-largest urban area and also the capital of the last native kingdom of Sri Lanka. The most spoken language Sinhala language, Sinhala, is spoken by the majority of the population (approximately 17 million). Tamil language, Tamil is also spoken by approximately five million people, making it the second most-spoken language in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has a population of appr ...
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Invasion Of Normandy
Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 ( D-Day) with the Normandy landings (Operation Neptune). A 1,200-plane airborne assault preceded an amphibious assault involving more than 5,000 vessels. Nearly 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel on 6 June, and more than two million Allied troops were in France by the end of August. The decision to undertake cross-channel landings in 1944 was made at the Trident Conference in Washington in May 1943. American General Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed commander of Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, and British General Bernard Montgomery was named commander of the 21st Army Group, which comprised all the land forces involved in the operation. The Normandy coast in northwestern France was chosen as the site of the landings, with the ...
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Keith Park
Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Rodney Park, (15 June 1892 – 6 February 1975) was a New Zealand-born officer of the Royal Air Force (RAF). During the Second World War, his leadership of the RAF's No. 11 Group RAF, No. 11 Group was pivotal to the defeat of the ''Luftwaffe'' in the Battle of Britain. Born in Thames, New Zealand, Thames, Park was a mariner when he enlisted in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force for service in the First World War. Posted to the artillery, he fought in the Gallipoli campaign, during which he transferred to the British Army. On the Western Front (WWI), Western Front, he was present for the Battle of the Somme (1916), Battle of the Somme and was wounded. He obtained another transfer, this time to the Royal Flying Corps. Once his flight training was completed, he served as an instructor before being posted to No. 48 Squadron RAF, No. 48 Squadron on the Western Front. He became a flying ace, achieving several aerial victories and eventually commanding t ...
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Hugh Dowding
Air Chief Marshal Hugh Caswall Tremenheere Dowding, 1st Baron Dowding, (24 April 1882 – 15 February 1970) was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force. He was Air Officer Commanding RAF Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain and is generally credited with playing a crucial role in Britain's defence, and hence, the defeat of Operation Sea Lion, Adolf Hitler's plan to invade Britain. Born in Moffat, Scotland, Dowding was an officer in the British Army in the 1900s and early 1910s. He joined the Royal Flying Corps at the start of the First World War and went on to serve as a fighter pilot and then as commanding officer of No. 16 Squadron. During the inter-war years he became Air Officer Commanding Fighting Area, Air Defence of Great Britain and then joined the Air Council as Air Member for Supply and Research. In July 1936, Dowding was appointed chief of the newly created RAF Fighter Command. During the Battle of Britain in the Second World War, Dowding's Fighter Command ...
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Sholto Douglas, 1st Baron Douglas Of Kirtleside
Marshal of the Royal Air Force William Sholto Douglas, 1st Baron Douglas of Kirtleside, (23 December 1893 – 29 October 1969) was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force. After serving as a pilot, then a flight commander and finally as a squadron commander during the First World War, he served as a flying instructor during the inter-war years before becoming Director of Staff Duties and then Assistant Chief of the Air Staff at the Air Ministry. During the Second World War Douglas clashed with other senior commanders over strategy in the Battle of Britain. Douglas supported Air Chief Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory who argued for a ' Big Wing' strategy i.e. using massed fighters to defend the United Kingdom against enemy bombers. After the Battle of Britain, Douglas became Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Fighter Command in which role he was responsible for rebuilding the command's strength after the attrition of the Battle of Britain, but also for bringing it on the offen ...
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Air Ministry
The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force and civil aviation that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State for Air. Organisations before the Air Ministry The Air Committee On 13 April 1912, less than two weeks after the creation of the Royal Flying Corps (which initially consisted of both a naval and a military wing), an Air Committee was established to act as an intermediary between the Admiralty and the War Office in matters relating to aviation. The new Air Committee was composed of representatives of the two war ministries, and although it could make recommendations, it lacked executive authority. The recommendations of the Air Committee had to be ratified by the Admiralty Board and the Imperial General Staff and, in consequence, the Committee was not particularly effective. The increasing separation of army and n ...
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Royal Flying Corps
The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC supported the British Army by artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance. This work gradually led RFC pilots into aerial battles with German pilots and later in the war included the strafing of enemy infantry and emplacements, the bombing of German military airfields and later the strategic bombing of German industrial and transport facilities. At the start of World War I the RFC, commanded by Brigadier-General Sir David Henderson, consisted of five squadrons – one observation balloon squadron (RFC No 1 Squadron) and four aeroplane squadrons. These were first used for aerial spotting on 13 September 1914 but only became efficient when they perfected the use of wireless communication at Aubers Ridge on 9 May 1915. Ae ...
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Legion Of Merit
The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a Awards and decorations of the United States military, military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. The decoration is issued to members of the eight uniformed services of the United States
Note: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps Amendments Act of 2012 amended the Legion of Merit to be awarded to any uniformed service.
as well as to military and political figures of foreign governments. The Legion of Merit (Commander degree) is one of only two United States military decorations to be issued as a neck order (the other being the Medal of Honor), and the only United States military decoration that may be issued in degrees (much like an Order (honour), ...
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Order Of Kutuzov
The Order of Kutuzov ( ''orden Kutuzova'') is a military decoration of the Russian Federation named after famous Russian Field Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov, Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov (1745–1813). The Order was established during World War II to reward senior Red Army officers. The Order of Kutuzov has three classes and was retained by the Russian Federation after the Dissolution of the Soviet Union. History The order was established during the German-Soviet War by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of July 29, 1942, it was created to reward senior officers of the Red Army for skillful avoidance of enemy attacks and successful counter attack, counter-attacks. The Order of Kutuzov was established in three classes: 1st class, 2nd class, and 3rd class. General Ivan Galanin who distinguished himself during the Battle of Stalingrad became the first recipient of the Order 1st class. During World War II, 669 Orders of Kutuzov 1s ...
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