X-Nico

27 unusual facts about Royal Air Force


Anthony Quiney

As a young man, Quiney performed his national service as a radar technician in the Royal Air Force, and later in life he realized a dream of piloting a restored Supermarine Spitfire.

At Mrs. Lippincote's

Julia and the others have joined Roddy, who is an officer in the Royal Air Force.

Augusto Severo International Airport

Particularly between 1943 and 1945, this facility was used jointly by the Brazilian Air Force, United States Army, United States Navy, the Royal Air Force, and commercial airlines.

Cecil Lambert

In 1919 Lambert was seconded to the recently established Royal Air Force where he served as Director of Personnel.

De Havilland Ghost

During development, the Royal Air Force also asked for an improved version of the de Havilland Vampire with greater load carrying capacity and thus a larger engine.

De Havilland Spectre

It was one element of the intended mixed powerplant for combination rocket-jet interceptor aircraft for the Royal Air Force, such as the Saunders-Roe SR.53.

Defence College of Communications and Information Systems

The College consists of a headquarters based at Blandford Camp in Dorset, the Royal Navy CIS Training Unit at HMS Collingwood, Fareham, Hampshire, The Royal School of Signals at Blandford Camp and the Royal Air Force Number 1 Radio School, collocated with the headquarters of the Defence College of Aeronautical Engineering at Cosford, of which the Aerial Erector School at RAF Digby is a part.

Edgardo Vaghi

As a Second Lieutenant (Sottotenete in Italian), Vaghi fought against the Royal Air Force in Greece in 1941 which damaged his fighter plane.

Edward Michael S.

After serving in the Royal Air Force during World War II, he began musical studies at the Guildhall School of Music where he learned composition.

Imperial Gift

Following the First World War, the Royal Air Force (RAF) had large stocks of surplus aircraft, estimated at over 20,000 aircraft, many still in production at the end of the war.

Jeffrey Skitch

After National Service with the Royal Air Force during World War II and for two years thereafter, he trained as an actor and singer at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and The Old Vic Theatre School.

John Bussey

Group Captain John Bussey, OBE (1895-1979) was in charge of Reconnassance for the British Royal Air Force during WWII.

Leonard Osborn

He joined the Royal Air Force in July 1940, where he sang in many military concerts.

Machrihanish

Although still available to the Royal Air Force, the former airbase has been taken over by the especially-formed Machrihanish Airbase Community Company.

Marcols-les-Eaux

On November 4, 1943, an airplane of the British Royal Air Force, dropping guns and munitions to the local Resistance during the night, crashes against the Bourboulas pike, in Marcols-les-Eaux.

Norman Tunna

Ignoring the bombing Tunna continued his work, marshalling a goods train where the main freight being carried was high explosive bombs for use by the Royal Air Force.

Operation Battleaxe

The Allied response was restricted primarily to harassment by the Royal Air Force.

Operation Hametz

Royal Navy destroyers cruised up and down the Palestinian coast, and Royal Air Force warplanes overflew southern Tel Aviv and Jaffa.

R. J. Hollingdale

He was called up to the Royal Air Force at a young age in the late 1940s, as part of his National Service, for two years before returning to journalism.

RAF Boddington

RAF Boddington was a non-flying Royal Air Force station in Boddington, Gloucestershire, and was the former home of 9 Signals Unit.

Ray Ellington

Ellington was called up in May 1940 when he joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a physical training instructor where he served throughout the war.

Sorpe Dam

In these attacks, the Royal Air Force attempted to destroy the dams using bouncing bombs, achieving at least one direct hit on the Sorpe Dam.

The Great Escape II: The Untold Story

The second half of the film is a highly fictionalized account of the post-war investigation into the murders of fifty of the escapees by the Gestapo, conducted by three Americans (whereas in fact it was conducted by the Royal Air Force Special Investigation Branch).

Torness Nuclear Power Station

In November 1999 a RAF Panavia Tornado crashed into the North Sea less than 1 km from the power station following an engine failure.

Turbo-Union RB199

The RB199 has amassed over 5 million flight hours since entering service with the Royal Air Force, Luftwaffe, German Navy, Italian Air Force and Royal Saudi Air Force.

Whaleback

The term "whaleback" has also been applied to a type of high speed launch first designed for the Royal Air Force during World War II, and to certain smaller rescue and research vessels especially in Europe that, like the Great Lakes vessels, have hulls that curve over to meet the deck.

Windsor knot

The Windsor knot is the only tie knot that is to be used by all personnel in the Royal Air Force and the Royal Air Force Cadets (ATC and CCF(RAF)) in the UK when wearing their black tie while in uniform.


Africa Star

The sand of the desert is represented by pale buff, the Royal Navy (and Merchant Navy), British Army, and Royal Air Force are represented by stripes of dark blue, red, and light blue respectively.

Alastair Ogilvy

Squadron Leader Charles Alexander "Alistair" Ogilvy (30 November 1915 – 23 February 1995) was a British Royal Air Force officer who flew with Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain but due to records being lost during World War II was not recognised as one of The Few until after his death.

Albert Hugh Smith

During World War II, he enlisted in the RAF as an intelligence officer and in 1941 joined the Scientific Intelligence Unit of the Air Ministry under R V Jones, ending with the rank of Wing Commander.

Anne Baker

Anne Salmond was born just before the outbreak of World War I, the daughter of Geoffrey Salmond who later became the professional head of the Royal Air Force.

Arcadia, Florida

Carlstrom Field, one of several satellite fields in the Fort Myers Area, also trained pilots for the Royal Air Force until its closing in 1945.

Barry Cole

Apart from two years (1970–1972) as Northern Arts Fellow in Literature at the universities of Durham and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and two years (1955–1957) in the RAF as a National Serviceman, he worked until 1995 as an editor at the Central Office of Information, and is now a freelance editor and writer.

Bell P-59 Airacomet

Royal Air Force received one aircraft, becoming RG362/G, in exchange for a Gloster Meteor I EE210/G.

Bodø Airport

On May 26, 1940 three Royal Air Force Gloster Gladiators, led by Rhodesian-born Flight Lieutenant Caesar Hull, landed and made the first airborne defence for the city.

Conolly Abel Smith

On 16 June 1924 Abel Smith was attached to the Royal Air Force, who were in control of all naval aviation at that time, with the rank of flying officer, to attend No. 1 Flying Training School at Netheravon, Wiltshire.

Coole Pilate

The parish had a platoon in the Home Guard during the Second World War, which guarded the canal bridges and reinforced the RAF at the nearby Hack Green Radar Station.

Crécy-en-Ponthieu

During the Battle of France, the plan seems to have been to deploy RAF squadrons of Bristol Blenheim light bombers there, but it is not clear how intensively the airfield was used.

David J. Farrar

It being the eve of World War II, he expected to go into the Royal Air Force, having been an active member of the University Air Squadron, but was assigned to the aircraft industry in the Bristol Aeroplane Company, where he specialised initially in structural design.

Dawee Chullasapya

The young officer was soon enrolled in bombing and training courses with the RAF and USAAF, and returned two years later to become Commanding Officer of the 3rd Fighter Squadron, whose base was at Don Muang.

De Havilland Moth Minor

Civil aircraft operated in the United Kingdom were impressed into wartime service with the Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm, one example was used by the United States Army Air Corps.

De Winton, Alberta

During the Second World War, a Royal Air Force pilot training school was located at the Royal Canadian Air Force air station at De Winton (today's De Winton/South Calgary Airport).

Dommartin-Lettrée

The church is to be found in a central position in the village and the Commonwealth war graves of five airmen of the Royal Air Force and two of the Royal Canadian Air Force lie in the churchyard immediately behind the church.

Eirjet

29 March 2006 - Eirjet issued an apology after a flight it operated from Liverpool John Lennon Airport to City of Derry Airport on behalf of Ryanair landed at the wrong airfield, touching down at Ballykelly Airfield, a former RAF base and more recently an Army base some 4 miles away from its intended destination.

Finningley

The 2,741 metre long runway, currently the second longest in the north of England, was sufficiently large to take even Concorde, and in the period after the closure of the RAF airfield there were several campaigns to turn Finningley into a commercial airport for the unserved South Yorkshire region (as well as Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire).

First Yale Unit

Lt. David Ingalls, a member of the First Yale Unit, flying a Sopwith Camel with the RAF, was the first US naval aviator to become an ace.

Frank Lilley

On 9 November 1959, Lilley was one of four Scottish MPs on a British European Airways Viscount which was involved in a near miss with a Royal Air Force Pembroke transport.

German aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin

Nine Royal Air Force Avro Lancaster heavy bombers from 106 Squadron were dispatched against her, each one carrying a single "Capital Ship" bomb, a 5,500 lb device with a shaped charge warhead intended for armored targets.

Herbert Lütje

Among them was a Royal Air Force (RAF) Avro Lancaster from No. 57 Squadron piloted by Pilot Officer Jan Bernand Marinus Haye on a mission to bomb the Škoda Works at Plzeň.

Hinstock

From 1941 to 1947 there was a co-located Royal Air Force and Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm training station called HMS Godwit, which specialised in instrument and blind landing technologies.

Identification friend or foe

When mounted in an RAF Mosquito, the "Perfectos" device revealed the position of any German nightfighters fitted with an FuG 25a.

Imagery intelligence

In 1939 Sidney Cotton and Flying Officer Maurice Longbottom of the RAF suggested that airborne reconnaissance may be a task better suited to fast, small aircraft which would use their speed and high service ceiling to avoid detection and interception.

Killadeas

Near Killadeas, on Lower Lough Erne, is Gublusk Bay, a Royal Air Force base for Short Sunderland and PBY Catalina flying boats during World War II.

Leuchars

The town is now best known for the adjoining Royal Air Force base, RAF Leuchars, which was established in 1920, and is home to the Eurofighter Typhoon.

Martin Woodhouse

In 1959 Woodhouse was called up for National Service and worked with the Royal Air Force at the RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine, and then at the Farnborough radar research establishment.

Newfoundland Ranger Force

Those members who had departed joined a variety of military forces, including the Newfoundland Heavy Artillery, the Royal Air Force, the Royal Canadian Air Force, the Royal Canadian Navy and the Royal Navy.

No. 260 Squadron RAF

260 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force Squadron formed as a reconnaissance and anti–submarine unit in World War I and a fighter unit in World War II.

Operational instruments of the Royal Observer Corps

Composed mainly of civilian spare-time volunteers, ROC personnel wore a Royal Air Force (RAF) style uniform and latterly came under the administrative control of RAF Strike Command and the operational control of the Home Office.

PULHHEEMS

PULHHEEMS is tri-service, which is to say that it is used by the British Army, the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force.

RAF Dunholme Lodge

Royal Air Force Station Dunholme Lodge or more simply RAF Dunholme Lodge was a Royal Air Force station located between the parishes of Welton and Dunholme in Lincolnshire, England.

RAF Rufforth

Royal Air Force Station Rufforth or RAF Rufforth is a former Royal Air Force station located near Rufforth in North Yorkshire, England.

Richard Hough

After leaving school, he joined the RAF (Royal Air Force) at the beginning of World War II and received his initial flight training at an airfield not far from Hollywood.

Service Prosecuting Authority

It was formed on 1 January 2009 by the merger of the separate prosecuting authorities of the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force and is headed by Andrew Cayley QC, a civil servant, as Director Service Prosecutions.

Shortstown

The village was originally built by Short Brothers for its workers, but evolved into a settlement for people working at the RAF Cardington base.

Siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem

On May 10, the thirteen men left the church, and were greeted by Sherard Cowper-Coles, the British Ambassador to Israel, thirty members of the Royal Military Police, and a Royal Air Force doctor.

Ternhill

Ternhill is a village in Shropshire, England, notable for its Royal Air Force training airfield ("Clive Barracks"/RAF Ternhill) which was the site of a bombing by the Provisional IRA on 20 February 1989 in which one person was injured.

Theodore McEvoy

Air Chief Marshal Sir Theodore Neuman McEvoy KCB CBE RAF (21 November 1904 – 19 September 1991) was a senior Royal Air Force officer during World War II who held high command in the 1950s and early 1960s.

Union Airways

Union Airways were founded by Major Allister Miller, a World War I flying ace, who had recruited some 2000 South Africans for service in the Royal Air Force.

Upavon

The site was originally constructed around 1912 as a Royal Flying Corps (RFC) base, and became the home of the RFC Central Flying School on 19 June 1912, later to be the RAF Central Flying School upon formation of the Royal Air Force.

Warrenpoint

On 15 July 1944, two Royal Air Force aircraft (an Airspeed Oxford (LX 598) and a Miles Martinet (MS626) from No. 290 Squadron RAF) were taking part in a civil defence demonstration at Warrenpoint.

William Carlton Woods

During World War I, he served in the Canadian Signal Corps and as a pilot in the Royal Air Force.