Search results for Royal Air Force.
20 August 1897 : Cpl / Flt. Cdt John Arthur Wilson MM
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As a boy, after Sunday lunch, I recall sitting on my grandfather's knee and he would start off with the line ‘have I told you about the time ...' and he'd then add, ‘.... we were gassed' or '.... we took a German prisoner' or '..... I was transferred to the Royal Flying Corps'. Perhaps this started my interest in history. In his 96th year Jack r…
Above the Trenches - Supplement
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Book review by Gary Sheffield. Above the Trenches - A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the British Empire Air Forces 1915-20 first appeared in 1990 and was a mine of useful information. This Supplement consists of more of the same: brief biographies of pilots omitted from the original book, plus other information that the indefati…
The RAF Centenary Anthology 1918-2018
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This massive commemorative RAF Centenary Anthology 1918-2018 has been an enormous undertaking.
It comprises 650 pages of documents, orders, diaries, letters and ephemera to mark 100 years of of service by the Royal Air Force. It weighs 7kg.
You can see its size from the photograph it is a whopping 39cm x 27cm (15.35 inches x 10.63 inches).
T…
Remember RAF 100
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Join the Remember RAF100 project and commemorate air service personnel who lost their lives in WW1 2018 marks the centenary of the Royal Air Force. The Remember RAF100 project commemorates those who have died in RAF service with a special focus on the First World War and on British war graves and memorials. The programme is an opportunity fo…
Over and Above
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By Captain John E Gurdon DFC
Grub Street, £16.00, hb. 224pp, 12 ills.
ISBN: 978–1–911621–08–9
John Everard Gurdon, commissioned into the Suffolk Regiment, transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in May 1917. After pilot training and a period of instructing, he was posted to 22 Squadron in France in February 1918. He flew two–seat Bristol F.2B figh…
8 June 1919: Lt William ‘Billy’ Nichol Wilson
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His father was Twentyman Wilson and mother Sarah were both from Dalston outside Carlisle, Cumberland and had agrarian backgrounds: the Wilsons were blacksmiths and wheelwrights, the Nixons and Nichols on Sarah's side worked a small holding. Twentyman got work in the then booming industrial town of Consett. Starint out as the head groom he went …
24 May 1918 : Lieut. Charles Edward Reynolds, Royal Air Force
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2nd son of the late James (solicitor) and Annie (née Lowe) Age 5 at the 1901 Census, Charles was living at home with his parents, older brother James and younger sister Florence, a cook and nurse. Educated at Dulwich College. Articled to his father. Volunteered soon after the outbreak of war, joined the First Surrey Rifles as a 2nd Lieut bei…
Royal Flying Corps - Ken Delve
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Ken Delve : 'Royal Flying Corps/Royal Air Force in the First World War' “Had some hot fire on way back, one of those occasions when one wishes the Wright Brothers had never invented aeroplanes.” Maj Roderic Dallas, DSO MC*. From the early days of military aviation, the Army was ‘less than keen’ on machines that, to many, “frightened the horses” bu…
Five RAF Indian Pilots of the Great War - Stephen Barker
This talk discusses five Indian pilots who served with the RFC / RAF during the Great War.Stephen will particularly focus on Hardit Singh Malik the subject of his book 'The Flying Sikh'. Hardit Singh Malik started his life in Britain as a 14 year old at Eastbourne College, who then progressed to Balliol College, Oxford. At the start of the war h…
'From Flying Dreadnought to Dogfighter - The Troubled Birth of the British Fighter' - Greg Baughan
On Wednesday 11th of October we welcome Greg Baughan to our Hornchurch venue, to present his first talk to the Essex Branch. This talk destroys many myths about WW1 fighter development. Part talk, part detective story, it explains how the importance of air superiority was understood long before the Great War began, explores how naval influence dela…
Ep.295 – The birth of the RAF – Prof. Richard Overy
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Professor Richard Overy, Honorary Professor at the University of Exeter, talks about his recent book on the formation of the RAF in April 1918.
He describes how the Royal Flying Corp transf…
'First Things First", The Early Days: RFC Suttons Farm' - Richard Smith
This talk, at the Hornchurch venue, is a truly local story. This talk will cover the origins and history of RFC Suttons Farm in Hornchurch. It was from here that William Leefe Robinson shot down a Zeppelin in September 1916, the first downed by air combat over the UK. Suttons farm was a key part of home defence in the First World War and continu…
No.16 Squadron RFC - The Great War History of an Army Cooperation Squadron. A talk by Colin Buxton.
Colin Buxton is a former Royal Air Force navigator on Buccaneer strike aircraft. On leaving the RAF, Colin worked for Cobham Plc for 20 years providing Electronic Warfare training. Colin's presentation covers the history of the Army Cooperation role seen through the experiences of one unit: No.16 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps. From early in the war…