Airtrooper

The rank of airtrooper (abbreviated AirTpr) is a private rank, the first rank awarded to a soldier of the British Army Air Corps.
Army Air Corps.
The Army Air Corps (AAC) soldier needs a good standard of education although no formal qualifications are required. Airtroopers are educated and trained to have the ability and motivation to work on their own initiative. AAC soldiers will be trained in a wide range of skills providing a number of military and civilian vocational qualifications.
The Army Air Corps provides battlefield helicopters and some fixed-wing aircraft for the army, the main roles being attack of enemy armour, surveillance and target acquisition. AAC groundcrew need to be able to work as part of a team, and on occasion as an individual, and may be expected to defend forward operating bases and forward arming refuelling points, they also refuel and re-arm the helicopters and provide the essential communications to the aircraft and other army units.
AAC groundcrew work with a number of different types of helicopters including the, Lynx, Bell 212, Gazelle and Apache. They are also required to perform a number of other responsibilities within this employment, from helicopter troop drills, fire, crash rescue and helicopter rigger marshalling. There are a number of light goods vehicles utilised by the AAC, of which all groundcrew will be trained to drive and service, including Landrovers, Osh Kosh 22,000 litre refueller vehicles and the "detachable rack operating platform systems" (15 tonne flatbeds).
Training.
Basic training.
All Army Air Corps groundcrew are trained to be soldiers first during their basic, or phase 1 training. Initially recruits attend basic training which is called phase 1 training either as junior entry soldiers at the Army Foundation College in Harrogate, or Army Training Regiment at Winchester, or as standard entry soldiers at the Army Training Centre Pirbright.
Trade training.
Having successfully completed phase 1 training, recruits move to the School of Army Aviation, Middle Wallop, Hampshire to begin aviation employment training, or phase 2 training. This begins with a three-week induction course, including car theory, practise and tests and an in-depth insight to the AAC. On successful completion of this module, and airtrooper will then complete the additional three trade specific modules:
Groundhandling skills.
The groundcrewman's course lasts three weeks.
Communication skills.
The class-three signaller's course is four weeks long.
Aircraft refuelling/hazardous materials training.
This three-week course qualifies an aircraft refueller operator.
On successful completion of these trade modules, an airtrooper will be loaded onto a light goods vehicle course at the Defence School of Transport, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. This course takes between 10-12 weeks where the airtrooper will be taught to drive and maintain light goods vehicles used in the AAC. At the end of these courses the airtrooper will be qualified as an AAC soldier class 3, ready to be posted to his/her first regiment.
Joining a regiment.
On completion of Phase 2 training, airtroopers are posted to a regiment in either UK or Germany. Later there may be opportunities to serve in an independent squadron or flight in a variety of locations both home and abroad. Once in a regiment an airtrooper will be allocated to a squadron and carry out the ground duties for which he/she have been trained.


RAF Air Support Command

Air Support Command of the Royal Air Force was formed on 1 August 1967 by the redesignation of Transport Command. Its change of name reflected the change of emphasis of the Command from solely transporting materials and manpower around the world to providing general support to RAF operations around the world.
The result of this broader role meant that Air Support Command, unlike its predecessor Transport Command, possessed strike aircraft such as Hawker Hunters. With the contraction of the RAF, it only lasted a short time as a command, and it was absorbed into Strike Command on 1 September 1972 forming No. 38 Group and No. 46 Group within Strike Command. The former was designated as a tactical support and the latter as a strategic support group.
Commanders in Chief.
Commanders-in-Chief included:
References.


HMS Nabthorpe

HMS "Nabthorpe" was a Royal Navy Mobile Naval Operating Air Base (MONAB) at the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) base RAAF Station Schofields at Schofields, New South Wales. HMS "Nabthorpe" was also known as MONAB III and Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS) Schofields.
History.
Assembled at RNAS Ludham on 18 October 1944, MONAB III was commissioned as an independent command bearing the ship's name HMS "Nabthorpe" on 4 December 1944. Stores, equipment & vehicles sailed aboard the SS Essex on 4 December 1944, and personnel sailed from Liverpool upon SS Athlone Castle on 22 December 1944 bound for Sydney, Australia.
The main party arrived in Sydney on 25 January 1945 and were accommodated at HMS "Golden Hind", Camp Warwick, a part of the Royal Navy barracks in Sydney, whilst awaiting the allocation of an operating base and the arrival of SS Essex, which arrived at Sydney on 4 February 1945.
An advance party was sent to RAAF Schofields on 5 February 1945 to prepare the airfield for the arrival of squadron personnel and aircraft which were to arrive with the British Pacific Fleet. Upon arrival of the main party of personnel they were accommodated under canvas tents as the station had no permanent buildings at the time.
RAAF Schofields was officially transferred to the Royal Navy and commissioned as HMS "Nabthorpe", RNAS Schofields, on 18 February 1945.
When No. 899 Squadron disembarked from on 23 April 1945 the unit became a Seafire Pool Squadron, but in July it became a Seafire Operational Training Unit, training RAAF pilots in naval flying techniques, including deck landings. Deck landing training was carried out upon the carrier for the first course, and for the second course. The successful pilots were to form the nucleus of the Royal Australian Navy Fleet Air Arm.
No. 7 Carrier Air Group formed at RNAS Schofields on 30 June 1945, from ’s air squadrons, No.s 887 & 894 (Seafire), 820 (Avenger) and 1770 (Firefly) squadrons.
The Commander in Chief of the British Pacific Fleet, Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser, visited Schofields on 28 July 1945 as part of his tour of the support facilities in Australia.
HMS "Nabthorpe", MONAB III, was paid off on 15 November 1945 and RNAS Schofields re-commissioned as HMS "Nabstock" (MONAB VI) on the same day.


Air Taxi Association

The Air Taxi Association (ATXA) was founded in June 2007 with the goal of encouraging the adoption of the next-generation air taxi model, commonly referred to as very light jet.


USS John Penn (APA-23)

USS "John Penn" (APA-23) was an attack transport that served with the US Navy during World War II. Named after John Penn, a signatory to the American Declaration of Independence, she was the only ship in her class.
The ship was initially launched as "Excambion" in 1931 by the New York Shipbuilding Company of Camden, New Jersey as one of American Export Lines's original "Four Aces." She was acquired by the Navy 8 January 1942; and commissioned 6 April 1942, Captain Harry W. Need in command.
World War II.
Invasion of North Africa.
After fitting out and training, "John Penn" began preparations for what was to be one of the largest overseas expeditions ever undertaken, Operation Torch, the North African Invasion. From 4 to 16 October 1942, "John Penn" loaded Army equipment, cargo, and troops, then topped off with fuel. She sortied from Hampton Roads 23 October with Admiral Hewitt's Western Naval Task Force.
As a unit of Rear Admiral Monroe Kelly's Northern Attack Group she arrived 8 November in the transport area off Mehdia, Western Morocco, where she began landing troops and putting cargo ashore. Although hampered by heavy surf and fire from enemy shore batteries, she unloaded with efficiency and dispatch. At 1053 an enemy aircraft attacked "John Penn", but her after batteries quickly splashed the intruder. On 15 November she departed for Casablanca, arrived that same day, and unloaded the remainder of her cargo. She sailed for Norfolk, Virginia 17 November arriving 30 November.
Two of her fellow Aces, (formerly "Excalibur") and (formerly "Exeter") were sunk by U-boats during Operation Torch.
Guadalcanal campaign.
"John Penn" departed Norfolk 17 December for deployment to the Pacific, arriving New Caledonia via the Canal Zone 18 January 1943. She departed New Caledonia 24 January; and touching at Espiritu Santo 3 days later, got under way to pick up survivors from USS Chicago (CA-29), sunk off Guadalcanal 29 January. In all, she received 1,003 men and 63 officers, including Captain R. C. Davis, the lost cruiser's commanding officer. After debarking her grateful passengers at Noumea, New Caledonia, she spent the next 6 months delivering supplies, equipment, and troops to Guadalcanal from the New Hebrides, the Fiji Islands and New Zealand. Reclassified APA-23 on 1 February 1943, she continued to bring supplies and troops into this bitterly contested island.
Torpedoed and sunk.
On 13 August "John Penn" had just finished unloading a cargo of 155-mm ammunition off Lunga Point, Guadalcanal. At 2120 she came under attack by enemy torpedo planes. Three minutes later, when the transport took one of the planes under fire, the plane burst into flames and crashed into her mainmast. About that same instant a torpedo from another plane hit the ship. Despite vigorous efforts to save her, "John Penn" went down stern first at 2150. Approximately 35 survivors were rescued by a United States Navy coastal transport vessel, the USS APc-25, whose commanding officer was Navy Lieutenant John D. Cartano. At the time of the torpedoing, Captain Harry William Need (later Rear Admiral) commanded USS John Penn.
In her naval service, the transport had played a key role in the assault and occupation of French Morocco and contributed greatly to the struggle for Guadalcanal. "John Penn"'s crew, reassigned to other ships, took part in later decisive naval victories.
Awards.
"John Penn" received one battle star for World War II service.
Diving the Wreck.
"John Penn" is a popular dive site in Honiara. The wreck lies on its starboard side with the port hull in about 36 metres of water. The sand under the starboard side is about 56 metres. Strong currents often make the diving difficult.


RAF Hornchurch

Royal Air Force Station Hornchurch or RAF Hornchurch was an airfield in the parish of Hornchurch, Essex (now the London Borough of Havering in Greater London), located to the southeast of Romford. The airfield was known as Sutton's Farm during the First World War, when it occupied of the farm of the same name. It was used for the protection of London, being east north-east of Charing Cross.
Although the airfield closed shortly after the end of the war, the land was requisitioned in 1923 because of the expansion of the Royal Air Force and it re-opened as a much larger fighter station in 1928. The airfield was ideally located in "bomb alley" to cover both London and the Thames corridor from German air attacks. It was a key air force installation between both wars and into the jet age, closing in 1962.
History.
In 1915 the London Air Defence Area (LADA) was established and a number of airfields were constructed around London with the specific aim of defending the capital from the growing threat from enemy airships. Sutton's Farm, along with its neighbour Hainault Farm (just east of what became the Second World War airfield of Fairlop), to the north-east, were selected due to their location covering the eastern approaches to London. They were designated Landing Grounds Nos. II and III respectively and joined the existing airfields of North Weald, Rochford and Joyce Green. Suttons Farm airfield became operational on 3 October 1915, initially with two BE2c aircraft. As the number of aircraft increased at the airfields around London, it was decided to organise them into 39 Home Defence Squadron, which was formed in April 1916, under the command of Major (later Brigadier-General) Thomas Higgins. As the enemy threat moved from airships to aircraft, so better aircraft were introduced to counter them. The BE12, Sopwith 1½ Strutter, Sopwith Pup, FE2, Bristol Fighter, SE5a and Sopwith Camel all operated from Sutton's Farm at some stage, some with more success than others. 39 Squadron moved to North Weald in September 1917 and was replaced by 78 Squadron, under the command of Major Cuthbert Rowden, a 20-year-old veteran of the air war in France and subsequent winner of the Military Cross. 78 Squadron was later joined by 189 Night Fighter Training Squadron with Sopwith Pups and Camels.
The first recorded interception of an enemy airship over Britain was made by Lt. (later Marshal of the Royal Air Force) John Slessor on the very day he arrived at Sutton's Farm, 13 October 1915. The attack had to be aborted, however, as the airship disappeared into cloud and he had to break off the engagement. The first victory in Britain was not recorded until nearly a year later, on 2 September 1916, and was attributed to a pilot from Sutton's Farm, Lt. William Leefe Robinson. Robinson shot down a Schütte-Lanz SL11, one of a 16-strong raiding force over London, using the recently developed Brock and Pomeroy mixed incendiary ammunition, which had been adapted specifically for this task. For this action Leefe Robinson was awarded the Victoria Cross and became a National hero. Two other Sutton's Farm pilots from the First World War, Lt. Frederick Sowrey and Lt. Wulstan Tempest, were awarded the DSO for their roles in the destruction of Zeppelins. Tempest's actions were particularly notable; even though his fuel pump was broken and he was having to pump fuel manually whilst flying the aircraft with his other hand, he still managed to engage and destroy an enemy airship and then find his way home in thick fog. These pilots, together with many others, are commemorated by street names in South Hornchurch.
Inter-war years.
Soon after the war ended it was decided that Suttons Farm was surplus to requirements and the airfield was decommissioned, although it was retained on "List C" (stations temporarily retained for Service purposes) until 27 February 1920. The land was returned, most of the buildings demolished and farming resumed once more.
Following the decision in the early 1920s to expand the Royal Air Force, former World War I airfields were inspected to ascertain their suitability for use. Although small, Suttons Farm was ideally located to be able to defend the north-eastern approaches to London. After protracted negotiations, the original land was re-purchased, together with some further land to the south of the original airfield.
The new airfield took four years to build and opened, as RAF Sutton's Farm, in April 1928. Two months later the name was changed to RAF Hornchurch and the first unit to take up residency was No. 111 Squadron, led by Squadron Leader Keith Park, who also became the first station commander.
World War II.
During World War II the station was a Sector Airfield of RAF Fighter Command's 11 Group, covering London and the south east of England during the Battle of Britain in 1940. By this time, its command centre was in Romford, and a satellite station (an advanced attack outpost; RAF Rochford) was unpopular with the Hornchurch crews sent there from time to time because of the canvas accommodation. Richard Hillary, author of "The Last Enemy," was shot down after taking off from here on 3 September 1940. Following the war, Hornchurch was home to Flying Training Command's Aircrew Selection Centre for 10 years before it moved to RAF Biggin Hill and the RAF station at Hornchurch closed in July 1962.
Today.
Following a period of gravel extraction and infilling with rubbish in the 1970s, the airfield was extensively landscaped to create Hornchurch Country Park, with work commencing in 1980. Most of the former administrative and technical areas, including the two Type A and one Type C hangars, were levelled in the 1960s and the area is now a housing estate. The names of the streets of the estate commemorate the airfield and its pilots (such as Bouchier Walk, Kirton Close, Tempest Way, Robinson Close, Tuck Road, Bader Way and Malan Square). The former Officers' Mess is now a medical centre in Astra Close. The Officers' Mess (Astra House), Officers' Quarters (Astra Court East, West & North) and WO Quarters (89–99 (odd numbers) Wood Lane) are included in the RAF Hornchurch Conservation Area.
A local school, The R. J. Mitchell School, was named after the man who designed the Spitfire, and a large monument to this effect, with wreaths placed on Remembrance Day, is within the school railings. Another local school (Suttons School) was renamed Sanders Draper School in 1973, after an American pilot, Flying Officer Raimund ("Smudge") Sanders Draper, flying with the Royal Air Force at the time, had an engine failure on take-off and stayed at his controls to ensure his aircraft didn't crash on the building, which was full of children at the time.
A number of pillboxes, command bunkers and gun positions, together with the largest number of surviving Tett Turrets in England, still exist within the boundaries of the former airfield and can be seen on the Eastern edge of the country park. RAF Hornchurch artefacts and memorabilia are housed in the Purfleet Heritage & Military Centre.
RAF Hornchurch was the subject of one of the programmes in the BBC TV series "Two Men in a Trench". In the programme, several of the defences were examined. One of the Tett Turrets was excavated, the backfill of which contained a pair of 1940 RAF pilot's goggles along with material from the hospital. The fire trench, a partially buried pillbox and an E pen were excavated, while the gun emplacement on the northern end of the site was cleared of vegetation.
The Good Intent pub, formerly with a large concrete, planetarium-like dome next door (used for training airgunners), still exists on the Southend Road, was popular with the aircrews, and has an interesting collection of photos of the Station.
A DVD about RAF Hornchurch was produced by Mike Jones for Streets Ahead Productions.
The airfield is said to be haunted and was the subject of a paranormal investigation in 2004.
Finally after a great many years of hard work by the dedicated members of "Hornchurch Aerodrome Historical Trust" there is to be an "RAF Hornchurch Heritage Centre" opening in "Suttons House" on Suttons Lane. This was on the grounds of the former "Suttons Institution", later St Georges Hospital, which was commandeered by the Air Ministry for use by RAF personnel during the Second World War. Further information can be found at https://rafhornchurch.com/
Controversy.
William Leefe Robinson.
Although Robinson was awarded the Victoria Cross for shooting down Schütte-Lanz SL11 in 1916, it wasn't celebrated in all quarters, particularly by serving pilots in France. Home Defence was viewed as a relatively easy role and Robinson had trouble earning the respect of his fellow pilots when he was subsequently posted to France. These views were compounded when Robinson was shot down by aircraft led by Manfred von Richthofen shortly after arriving in France. The awarding of the VC was, undoubtedly, partly politically motivated, although it must be remembered that any form of flying was inherently dangerous in 1916, particularly at night and at these tremendous heights without oxygen. Robinson also managed to single-handedly lift the spirit of a nation that had suffered the new terror of aerial bombardment from the apparently invincible airships.
Use of incendiary ammunition.
Although effective in destroying enemy airships, the use of incendiary ammunition was banned under the terms of the Hague Convention of 1899 and pilots using it had to have signed orders from their commanding officer. This type of ammunition was issued only to squadrons in Home Defence roles and never to squadrons serving overseas. On his return to Sutton's Farm, William Leefe Robinson's CO ordered him to keep quiet about it as it was thought the propaganda value for the enemy would be invaluable should it leak out, even though the Germans had already broken the terms of the convention by using gas in 1915. Later in the war the use of incendiary ammunition became officially recognised.
The Battle of Barking Creek.
The first aircraft to be shot down by the British in the Second World War, the circumstances surrounding which later came to be known as 'friendly fire' incidents, were two Hurricanes of 56 Squadron. On 6 September 1939, three days after the declaration of war, a searchlight battery on Mersea Island incorrectly identified a friendly aircraft crossing the Essex coast. A message was relayed to HQ 11 Group, which ordered Hurricanes from North Weald to investigate. They were subsequently misidentified as hostile aircraft themselves by the Chain Home Radar at Canewdon. Further aircraft from North Weald were scrambled to intercept their comrades, but they too were misidentified through a combination of miscommunication, inexperience and over-enthusiasm. A tragic, but inevitable mistake was now just minutes away; Spitfires from 74 Squadron, led by "Sailor" Malan, took off from Hornchurch and quickly engaged two Hurricanes, shooting them both down.
Pilot Officer Montague Hulton-Harrop was killed whilst the other pilot, Pilot Officer Tommy Rose, bailed out and landed safely. The two pilots responsible for the attack, Pilot Officer John Freeborn and Flying Officer Paddy Byrne were placed under arrest upon their return to Hornchurch. Freeborn had been the squadron adjutant and had distributed orders that single engined aircraft should not be engaged as it was assumed that enemy fighters would not have the fuel to be able to fly a return sortie from Germany and, therefore, any single engined aircraft would be friendly.
A court-martial was held on 7 October 1939, at which, Freeborn later claimed, that Malan said he never gave the order to attack. All three were acquitted, with the judge claiming that the case should never have been brought to trial. The proceedings have never been made public.
Squadrons.
During its relatively short life, RAF Hornchurch became home to many RAF squadrons:


Chaumont-sur-Aire Airdrome

Chaumont-Hill 402, was a temporary World War I airfield in France, named after the height (402 m) of its highest point. It was located East South East of the city of Chaumont, in the Haute-Marne department in the Champagne-Ardenne region of north-eastern France, between the main road and the "Ferme d'Heurtebise", west of the village of Laville aux Bois (in April 1919, French escadrille VB 101 stayed a few days on the airfield called "Laville aux Bois" in French Army archives).
Overview.
The airfield was first leased by the Air Service on 11 October 1917, consisting of 89 acres. Air Service engineers constructed 12 wooden barracks and a mess hall on the site, plus five buildings to be used as warehouses and maintenance shops. A station administration building and a hospital clinic were constructed, plus an electrical grid and a telephone grid. The airfield had four French Bessonneau hangars erected.
In mid-November 1917, the facility was turned over to the First Army Air Service, which had it constructed with the help of the 91st Aero Squadron from 15 November to 14 December 1917 while training (its pilots did not arrived until February 1918, after the squadron had moved to Amanty aerodrome).
A few weeks later, the 12th Aero Squadron arrived at Chaumont, also in its ground training phase, staying from 16 January to 2 February 1918.
Chaumont Hill 402 Airdrome was selected as the Headquarters airfield for the nearby Headquarters, Air Service, AEF, which was stationed in the city of Chaumont; after February 1918, it was only occupied by a small detail of men, whose duty was to guard the Headquarters' aircraft.
The airfield was placed back into combat status in September 1918, station for the 85th Aero Squadron 30 September – 4 November 1918 (De Havilland DH-4), initially on training then being part of the Second Army Observation Group (with some French escadrilles stationed on other airfields), when the later's HQ arrived on 25 October 1918 and stayed until been demobilized on 4 November 1918.
The 1st Pursuit Wing had its HQ in Chaumont, 24 September to 17 December 1918, but most probably barracked downtown, which did not excluded liaison flying from the airfield.
After the Armistice was signed, the 99th Aero Squadron, part of the V Corps Observation Group flew from 13 December 1918 to 19 February 1919, with detachments on Prauthoy, Bourbonne-les-Bains, and Montigny-le-Roi airfields, before starting its demobilization at 1st Air Deport at Colombey-les-Belles.
The airfield was maintained for use by Headquarters until June 1919, when the Air Service in France was ordered demobilized and was turned over to the 1st Air Depot for de-construction. All hangars and other structures were dismantled, and all useful supplies and equipment were removed and sent back to the Depot for storage. Upon completion, the land was turned over to the French government.
Eventually, the land was returned to agricultural use by local farmers. Today, it is a series of cultivated fields located on the south side of the Départmental 417 (D417), about four miles east-southeast of Chaumont, with no indications of its wartime use.


List of airlines of Croatia

This is a list of airlines which have an Air Operator Certificate issued by the Civil Aviation Authority of Croatia.


James G. Roudebush

Lieutenant General James Gordon Roudebush, USAF, (born February 24, 1948) was the 19th Surgeon General of the United States Air Force, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C. General Roudebush served as functional manager of the U.S. Air Force Medical Service. In this capacity, he advised the Secretary of the Air Force and Air Force Chief of Staff, as well as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs on matters pertaining to the medical aspects of the air expeditionary force and the health of Air Force people. General Roudebush had authority to commit resources worldwide for the Air Force Medical Service, to make decisions affecting the delivery of medical services, and to develop plans, programs and procedures to support worldwide medical service missions. He exercised direction, guidance and technical management of more than 42,400 people assigned to 74 medical facilities worldwide.
A native of Gering, Nebraska, Roudebush entered the Air Force in 1975 after receiving a Bachelor of Medicine degree from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, and a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Nebraska College of Medicine. He completed residency training in family practice at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Medical Center, Ohio, in 1978, and aerospace medicine at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas, in 1984. He commanded a wing clinic and wing hospital before becoming Deputy Commander of the Air Force Materiel Command Human Systems Center. He has served as Command Surgeon for U.S. Central Command, Pacific Air Forces, U.S. Transportation Command and Headquarters Air Mobility Command. Prior to his selection as the 19th Surgeon General, he served as the Deputy Surgeon General of the U.S. Air Force. He retired from the U.S. Air Force on October 1, 2009.
References.
Biography of Lt. Gen. Roudebush current as of May 2008


List of airlines of the Czech Republic

This is a list of airlines in the Czech Republic (2020).


Khalid Abdullah Almolhem

Khalid Abdullah Almolhem (; born 1957) is a Saudi Arabian businessman.
Biography.
Khalid Abdullah Almolhem completed two degrees from the University of Evansville in Indiana in 1980; one in electrical engineering and the other in engineering management. Almolhem began his career in 1981 as an engineer with the Royal Saudi Air Force; after that he was a team leader in Saudi Industrial Fund from 1983 till 1988.
Business career.
Following five years as president of Saudi Telecom Company, Almolhem was appointed as Director General of Saudia, one of the biggest carriers in the Middle East and the flag carrier in Saudi Arabia. Since then, he has carried the airline through the privatisation process and has overseen a significant leap in performance and service quality. He was behind the historic moment when Saudia joined the SkyTeam alliance of airlines, Saudia is the alliance’s first member from the Middle East and will offer access to destinations that were not previously available to SkyTeam customers.
During his tenure at STC, he successfully completed the privatization process of the company, which is the largest IPO in Saudi Arabian history. STC now considered to be as the largest Telecom company in the Middle East and one of the tenth largest Telecom companies in the world.
He joined Saudi British Bank from 1989 to 1997, he held various positions at the bank such as Senior Manager Retail Banking, Area General Manager, Central Province Manager and Executive Director Investment Banking. From 1997 to 1998 he held the Chief Executive Officer position at Al Marai Company, which is one of the largest integrated Dairy and Food Company in the GCC. He Joined Saudi Telecom Company since it was established in 1998, he was the Chief Financial officer till 2001 then became the President till 2006.
He attended numerous training courses, including a full year training course in banking and credit at Chase Manhattan Bank in 1984; Advanced Management Course for Executives at Harvard University; and various training courses in management and marketing from international universities.
Arrest.
On 4 November 2017, Khalid Abdullah Almolhem was arrested in Saudi Arabia in a "corruption crackdown" conducted by a new royal anti-corruption committee. This was done on authority of Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman.


Boeing YQM-94 B-Gull

The Boeing YQM-94 B-Gull (also called Compass Cope B) was a developmental aerial reconnaissance drone developed by Boeing. It could take off and land from a runway like a manned aircraft, and operate at high altitudes for up to 24 hours to perform aerial surveillance, communications relay, or atmospheric sampling.
Design and development.
Compass Cope was a program initiated by the United States Air Force (USAF) in 1971 to develop an upgraded reconnaissance drone that could take off and land from a runway like a manned aircraft, and operate at high altitudes for up to 24 hours to perform surveillance, communications relay, or atmospheric sampling. Two aircraft, the Boeing YQM-94 Compass Cope B, and the Ryan Aeronautical YQM-98A Compass Cope R participated in the program.
Boeing was originally selected as a sole source for the Compass Cope program, with the USAF awarding the company a contract for two YQM-94A (later YGQM-94A) demonstrator vehicles in 1971. However, Ryan then pitched an alternative, and the next year the USAF awarded Ryan a contract for two YQM-98A (later YGQM-98A) demonstrators as well.
The Boeing YQM-94A is a cantilever shoulder-wing monoplane, basically a jet-powered sailplane, with long straight wings, a twin fin tail, retractable tricycle landing gear, and a turbojet housed in a pod on its back. The engine was a General Electric YJ97-GE-100 providing 5,270 lb (2,390 kg) thrust. The YQM-94A was constructed using aluminium and fiberglass. The lower half of the circular-section fuselage was glass-fibre honeycomb, the same material used for radomes. The wings of the YQM-94A were constructed of aluminium-skinned honeycomb with a fiberglass core which insulated the fuel tanks from the cold encountered at the altitudes it was flown.
Since the YQM-94A was a demonstrator, it used some off-the-shelf components to reduce costs. The datalink was based on the AN/TPW-2A X-band radar. The flight control system was derived from a system developed by the Sperry Corporation for the Beechcraft QU-22B Pave Eagle. The Compass Cope B was controlled remotely from the ground with no autonomous guidance capability. A television camera in the nose allowed it to be remotely flown by a ground-based pilot. The undercarriage for the YQN-94B came from a Rockwell Commander. The YQM-94's fuselage sits lower than the Rockwell Commander, so Boeing used this as a lift-dumping system. As the aircraft settled down on its specially strengthened nose wheel, the wing was placed in a negative angle of attack.
The remote control system was tested using a Cessna 172 aircraft over a ten-month period. Boeing choose the Cessna 172 because its approach speed and wing loading were close to that of the YQM-94. At the end of 1971, the YQM-94 remote control system had been tested during 150 flights using eight different remote pilots to control the Cessna 172. Ninety of those flights occurred at night with a low light level television system. A safety check pilot was on board the Cessna 172 as it was flown remotely from the ground. On three occasions, this pilot took over manual control of the Cessna to avoid collisions with other aircraft and during a failure of the remote control system.
Initial flight of the first YQM-94A demonstrator was on 28 July 1973, at Edwards Air Force Base. This aircraft crashed on its second flight on 4 August 1973. The prototype was lost because a damaged piece of mylar insulation caused an electrical short-circuit in a rudder accelerometer. The erroneous signals generated by this accelerometer caused random rudder movements. This problem was compounded by an erroneous airspeed indication for the ground pilot and a control problem because the left wing was heavier than it should have been. These problems resulted in a hard landing which caused irreparable damage to the first prototype.
The second demonstrator performed its first flight on 2 November 1974, and completed the evaluation program. Later tests of this aircraft included a successful endurance flight of 17 hours 24 minutes at altitudes of more than . This aircraft was retired to the National Museum of the United States Air Force in September 1979.
Ryan's entry into the competition was an updated variant of the Model 154 / AQM-91 Firefly, which it called the Model 235. Initial flight of the first Compass Cope R demonstrator was in August 1974. However, the Boeing Compass Cope B won the competition in August 1976 on the basis of lower cost, with the company awarded a contract to build preproduction prototypes of the YQM-94B operational UAV.
Since the evaluation of the Compass Cope prototypes had shown the Ryan YQM-98 to be superior to the Boeing YQM-94A in some respects, Ryan challenged the award. It did no good, since the entire Compass Cope program was cancelled in July 1977, apparently because of difficulties in developing sensor payloads for the aircraft.


Major Major Major Major

Major Major Major Major is a fictional character in Joseph Heller's 1961 novel "Catch-22". He was named "Major Major Major" by his father, as a joke – passing up such lesser possibilities as "Drum Major, Minor Major, Sergeant Major, or C Sharp Major". Once he joined the army during World War II, he was quickly promoted to the rank of Major due to "an IBM machine with a sense of humor almost as keen as his father's". His full name and rank are the title of chapter 9. He has an uncanny resemblance to real-life actor Henry Fonda, which scholar Philip D. Beidler calls "one of the novel's great absurd jokes".
In the novel.
Heller echoes the eponymous character in Edwin Arlington Robinson's poem "Miniver Cheevy" in his initial description of Maj. Major as "born too late and too mediocre". The character is further described as having "three strikes against him from the beginning – his mother, his father, and Henry Fonda, to whom he bore a sickly resemblance almost from the moment of his birth. Long before he even suspected who Henry Fonda was, he found himself the subject of unflattering comparisons everywhere he went. Total strangers saw fit to deprecate him, with the result that he was stricken early with a guilty fear of people and an obsequious impulse to apologize to society for the fact that he was not Henry Fonda." After his promotion to squadron commander by Colonel Cathcart, "People who had hardly noticed his resemblance to Henry Fonda before now never ceased discussing it, and there were even those who hinted sinisterly that Major Major had been elevated to squadron commander because he resembled Henry Fonda. Captain Black, who had aspired to the position himself, maintained that Major Major really was Henry Fonda but was too chickenshit to admit it."
Inspiration.
Working from the basis of a resemblance to Henry Fonda, and from the thesis that people in the novel were, contrary to Heller's claims, heavily inspired by people and events from his own wartime experiences, Daniel Setzer deduces that the real-world inspiration for the character of Maj. Major was Randall C. Casada, who was Heller's squadron commander when he was stationed on Corsica.
Whether intentionally or not, Maj. Major's wartime career resembles Henry Fonda's own, in that Fonda, after transferring to service HQ in New York City, was abruptly promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade in a style similar to that of Maj. Major's promotion.
In other media.
Maj. Major was portrayed by Bob Newhart in Mike Nichols' 1970 film adaptation of the novel. Beidler asks, rhetorically, what to make of this, given that Newhart's lack of any resemblance to Fonda eliminates the entire joke. He provides one answer, namely that the joke was simply discarded because Henry Fonda himself no longer physically resembled the Henry Fonda of the 1955 film "Mister Roberts", let alone the Fonda of World War II.
Maj. Major was portrayed by Lewis Pullman in the 2019 miniseries based on the novel. His promotion was to enable his attendance at the Group Leaders' Allocation and Requisition Procedural Advisory Board (GLARPAB) meetings.
Literary analysis.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Professor of Literature Alan Nadel observes that Maj. Major is "perhaps the exemplary null set in the novel". Everything about the character, he states, signifies nothing: The character's name is an empty repetition of "the name of authority". The character's promotion to squadron commander is meaningless. ("'You're the new squadron commander,' Colonel Cathcart had shouted rudely across the railroad ditch to him. 'But don't think it means anything, because it doesn't. All it means is that you're the new squadron commander.'") Even the character's physical identity is not his own, but rather that of Henry Fonda. Beidler describes him as "the ultimate product "of" and operational cog "in" the "Catch-22" machine" and "the definitive good Joe in a bad situation".
Relating "Catch-22" characters to William J. Goode's sociological definition of ineptitude, Jerry M. Lewis and Stanford W. Gregory describe Maj. Major as the "clearest portrayal of an inept rôle" in the novel. They give three reasons for this: Maj. Major "always followed the rules, yet no-one liked him or trusted him"; his swift promotion to the rank of Major where he then remains is "a clear foreshadowing of the Peter Principle"; and the anathema to Maj. Major of being identified with Fonda, a symbol of competence, causes Maj. Major to retreat from everyone around him, making efforts to hide and to become, in the novel's words, a recluse in "the midst of a few foreign acres teeming with more than two hundred people". Lewis and Gregory state that "Catch-22" supports a thesis that goes beyond Goode's, namely that the inept can identify their own ineptitude, and become active participants in its own institutionalization; whereas Goode asserts that the inept only ever have a passive role and can do little but accept their lot in life.
Stephen W. Potts, a lecturer in literature, describes chapter 9 of the novel as making "broad use of the rhetorical motifs of contradiction, negation, and deflation", from the echolalia of the chapter title ("Major Major Major Major") onwards. Potts also discusses Maj. Major's father.
References.
Notes
Bibliography
Further reading


Jota Aviation

Jota Aviation is a British specialist charter airline based at London Southend Airport, United Kingdom, and with the related Jota Sport, Jota Design and Jota Historic divisions, forms the Jota Group. The group’s chairman is Simon Dolan, the leader of the British movement, ‘Keep Britain Free’.
Jota Aviation Limited holds a United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority Type A Operating Licence No. 2376; it is permitted to carry passengers, cargo and mail on aircraft with 20 or more seats.
History.
Jota Aviation was founded in 2009, to meet the travel and cargo demands of the motorsport industry. It was expanded into a specialist air charter and aircraft management company, offering 24-hour-a-day response from its London Southend Airport base. The airline once was the largest operator of King Air aircraft in Europe.
The company offers ad hoc or ACMI Aircraft lease charter flights on its British Aerospace 146, added to the AOC in 2014.
On 11 January 2016, JOTA announced the addition to their fleet of an Avro RJ85 aircraft. It was delivered to Southend on 5 April 2016.
On 20 February 2017, JOTA received an Avro RJ100, registration G-JOTS, ex Brussels Airlines as OO-DWJ.
On 10 April 2018, JOTA announced an expansion of their cargo fleet with the addition of 4 BAe 146-300QTs, the first of which, registration G-JOTE was expected to enter service on 1 June 2018.
Response to COVID-19.
Jota Aviation has been delivering personal protective equipment (PPE) to the NHS. While it is a requirement for passengers to wear face masks on board Jota Aviation aircraft, Jota Aviation owner and Chairman Simon Dolan his the founder of the Keep Britain Free movement which campaigns against the UK government response to COVID-19, including the mandating of face masks; Dolan has claimed that requiring people to wear masks is a step toward authoritarianism, tweeting, "Unless you make a stand, you will be wearing a mask for the rest of your life."
Fleet.
Jota Aviation own and operate the following aircraft (as of October 2020):


Ratmalana Airport

Ratmalana International Airport (; ) , is a primarily domestic airport serving the city of Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka. It was the country's first international airport and was the only international airport in Sri Lanka until the inauguration of Bandaranaike International Airport, Katunayake in 1967. The airport currently serves several domestic services and is home to several aviation training organisations. A relaxation of rules has recently seen the airport open for international corporate jet operations and charter flights. The airport is located 15 km south of the Colombo City.
The strategic significance of Colombo airport, Ratmalana has been identified along with the emerging Colombo Financial City, High End Tourism and business travel needs of High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs). The long-term strategic goal of RMA is to bring the airport to the optimum operational capacity by maximum utilization of existing resources. Therefore, to achieve this goal, five strategic areas with specific strategies have been identified as Corporate Jet Operations, Domestic Aviation Hub, Aviation Training hub in the Region, FBO & MRO investments and Regional Airports Operations.
History.
Launch.
In 1934 the State Council of Ceylon made a decision to construct an aerodrome within reach of the capital city of Colombo and decided on Ratmalana as the best site. On 27 November 1935 a De Havilland Puss Moth flown by Captain Tyndale-Biscoe, chief flying instructor of the Madras Flying Club, was the first aircraft to land at the new airport.
Second World War.
During the Second World War it was used as a Royal Air Force airfield, with No 30 Squadron flying Hawker Hurricanes from there against Japanese Navy aircraft. QEA flew civilianised Consolidated B-24 Liberator and Avro Lancastrian aeroplanes there from Perth, Western Australia, on what was at the time the world's longest non-stop air route. The flight continued after the war with an intermediate re-fuelling stop at the Cocos Islands.
Peak of civilian service.
Ratmalana airport at one time had the country's main air terminal, with the Douglas DC-3 Dakota and Lockheed Constellation aeroplanes of Air Ceylon flying out of it. In 1947, KLM flew Douglas DC-4 Skymasters through the airport on the route from the Netherlands to the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia)
In the 1950s, BOAC flew Canadair Argonauts (DC4 with Rolls Royce Merlin engines) from Ratmalana to London.
On 11 August 1952, 3 months after the inaugural service of a passenger jet aircraft, BOAC began its Comet service between Colombo and London. Later (March 1962 - March 1971) Air Ceylon operated a Comet service on this route to London. The airport was also a Trans World Airlines (TWA) destination for a short time in the 1950s.
Domestic-only era.
In 1964, the government decided to build the new Bandaranaike International Airport north of the city, to replace Ratmalana. The new airport was completed in 1967 and Ratmalana handed over all international services to the new airport. Ratmalana was left with the relatively small market for domestic air travel in the country.
Return to international service.
In 2012, plans were drawn to relaunch Ratmalana as an international airport, to act as a secondary airport for the city.
Ratmalana airport was declared open for small international commercial flights. The airport is available for commercial jet operations from August 2012.
Expansion and upgrade.
The airport is only 15 km south of the Colombo city centre compared to the larger Bandaranaike International Airport which is 32 km north of the city. The airport aims to attract private international flights and Low-cost airlines. Helitours, an airline operated by the Sri Lankan Airforce is based at the airport. There are a few industrial facilities such as the Bata shoe factory within a close proximity of the airport. The Government is developing the Ratmalana airport into an international city airport, which would provide services to private jets and small aircraft. In addition facilities at the Ampara, Batticaloa, Jaffna, and Koggala airports will be also upgraded. Repair to the runway and reconfiguration to the aerodrome for the use of corporate jet traffic would be done as a short-term development project of the Ratmalana airport. Improvements to the existing terminal building, repair to the runway, taxiway and apron, reconfiguration to the aerodrome for the use of corporate jet traffic would be done as a short-term development project of the Ratmalana airport.
Under the medium-term of the Ratmalana airport development project:
Terminals.
There are currently 2 terminals at the airport.
Airlines and destinations.
All the following flights are currently suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic:


Windsor Propeller

Windsor Propeller is an American manufacturer of propellers and accessories for hobby model aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Founded in 1978 in Windsor, Northern California by Fred Jamieson, the company is developing and manufacturing its products under the brand name Master Airscrew. The company is now headquartered in Rancho Cordova, California, selling its products worldwide.
History.
Fred Jamieson started the Windsor Propeller Company in 1978. He got interested in modelling by his family. His great grand parents opened the first toy store in San Francisco. Before starting Windsor Propeller Company, Fred worked in aviation as a Navy test pilot, commercial airline pilot, helicopter test pilot, crop-duster and a private aviation pilot. He was also a drag racer and sports cars enthusiast.
Fred Jamieson began building and flying hobby aircraft in the 1960s and turned to propeller design in the 1970s by carving by hand propellers from maple wood blocks.
The first products under the Master Airscrew brand were produced in 1976. Fred started making 1/2A propellers and sending them to hobby shops, and in 1980 the company started selling fiberglass-filled propellers. The growth of the company began and 2 years later the company had 15 propellers. The designs were made by Fred himself, first by hand and later by specialized computer software. Today the company has more than 250 different styles and sizes of propellers and sells Master Airscrew products on six continents.
Products.
The different propellers manufactured by Windsor Propeller are divided into the following series of products:


Mikhail Odintsov

Mikhail Petrovich Odintsov (; 18 November 1921 in Polozovo, Perm Governorate — 12 December 2011 in Moscow, Russia) was a Russian journalist and writer, twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel-General of Aviation, honored military pilot of the USSR, and World War II veteran.
Biography.
Mikhail Odintsov was born on 18 November 1921 in a Russian family with peasantry roots in the village of Polozovo in Sarapulsky Uyezd in Perm Governorate. His father worked as an investigating officer of the OGPU and the NKVD, and his mother was a laboratory worker. In the town of Sverdlovsk, today Yekaterinburg, he graduated from School No. 36 and studied at the local construction institute. Due to the financial difficulties of his family, he soon gave up studying and found work at the Uralobuv shoe factory in Sverdlovsk between 1937 and 1938. Simultaneously, he became a member of the local flying club and passed the pilot examination with distinction in 1938.
Early Military career.
At the age of 17, in November 1938, he volunteered for the Red Army and became a soldier. After basic training and swearing-in, he applied for the military pilot school in Perm. After the one-year training course he graduated with distinction, became an interim flight instructor and was finally assigned as Kursant to the Engels Air Force Officer School. In May 1940 he passed the examination and was promoted to junior lieutenant (Russian: младший лейтенант; translit.: mlatshij lejtenant). In 1943, he became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
First assignments and war duty.
Odintsov's first military pilot assignment was to the 62nd Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment as member of a Tupolev SB crew. Due to Odintsov's excellent performance, he soon became pilot of an Su-2 bomber aircraft of the 226th High-Speed Bomber Aviation Regiment.
From 23 June 1941, Odintsov fought in combat against the Nazi German Wehrmacht. During an air attack his aircraft was shot down. Odintsov and Chervinsky, his flight navigator, survived and were seriously wounded. After a seven-month convalescence, Odintsov was diagnosed by a medical commission as unfit for active service and flying. Nevertheless, Oditsov went to his bomber regiment and started headstrong to fly with handicap. At his own responsibility and with physical limitation he was ranted the particular flight license to the bomber aircraft Il-2. On this type of aircraft he flew until the end of the war.
Due to his individual combat experience and his wounds, Odintsov strongly demanded the additional armor plating in order to protect the air-gunner's stand of combat aircraft. The success his air-gunner staff-sergeant Dmitry Nikonov, confirmed his confidence. During numerous air combats, Nikonov shot down eight enemy aircraft without sustaining injuries.
During the war, Odintsov was appointed as pilot-in-command of several different types of tactical aircraft, squadron commander in the 820th Guards Ground Attack Aviation Regiment, and second in command of the 155th Guards Ground Attack Aviation Regiment.
Throughout the war Odintsov showed personally bravery during ground-attack operations, and performed as commanding officer of large flight formations, including serving as the tactical commander of the 292nd Ground Attack Aviation Division and as second in command of the 9th Guards Ground Attack Aviation Division.
Odintsov finished the war with the rank of Major (OF-3) and completed a total of 215 sorties. During those missions, he gained 14 shared shootdowns of enemy aircraft, which was unusual for a bomber pilot in the Soviet Air Force. For this, he was honored with the USSR's highest title Hero of the Soviet Union twice.
Postwar activities.
As the result of Nephritis, not completely cured in the years of war, Odintsov was banned from flying, including suspension of field service, from 1948 to 1950. However, he was assigned as student to the Air Force Military Academy. Afterwards he attended the Lenin Academy for Military Pilots, and graduated in 1952 with distinction. Subsequent to study, he continued to perform as military pilot. Therefore, he personally evaluated a large number of Soviet military airplanes. Types concerned were as follows: Pe-2, Tu-2, Tu-4, IL-28, Su-7, MiG-15, Mig-17, MiG-21, MiG-23, Tu-16, Tu-22, Su-24, Mi-2, Mi-4, Mi-8 and Mi-24. His evaluation reports influenced directly constructive changes, operational improvements, under maintenance of flying characteristics, proved successful.
From 1958 to 1959, he was assigned to the command and general staff officers course to the General Staff Academy (Russia), and graduated again with «distinction». Among top assignments, e.g. division commander, and Air Force commanding general of the Moscow military district, he became in 1963 one of the first commanding officers of the Soviet Cosmonaut Training Centre. It was followed by other essential appointment as follows:
Retirement.
During his active service, but also after retirement, Odintsov published frequently articles and books; e.g. «Then in the year 1942 … (Тогда, в 1942-м), «Examination in fire (Испытание огнём)», «Notes of a pilot (Записки лётчика)» and «Conquest (Преодоление)».
After retirement in 1987, he remained in Moscow, where he died December 12, 2011. His tomb is located on the Troyekurovskoye Cemetery
Mikhail Odintsov, colonel general of the aviation retired, was married with his spouse Galina Anisimovna. The Odintsov family had three children, the daughter Marianna and the sons Dmitry and Sergey.


Hineri-komi

The Hineri-komi (捻り込み—literal meaning: twist inside) was an air combat maneuver widely used by fighter pilots of Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS) through the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War. It allows an aircraft, which is being pursued by an enemy, to come at the pursuer's tail or to gain an opportunity to take a shot at it.
History.
Hineri-komi maneuver was invented and developed by Isamu Mochizuki in the early 1930s during his four-year stay with Yokosuka Air Group. Minoru Genda, who was also part of Yokosuka Air Group at the same time, observed this technique during the training sessions with Mochizuki and helped to formalize it in order to be widely adopted by other IJNAS pilots in dogfights.
Execution.
The maneuver starts by a steep climb into a half loop, where the pilot applies (e.g., right) rudder to yaw his aircraft and perform a side slip. At the top of the loop the aircraft ends up inverted and pointing outside of the loop's vertical plane. At that point, the pilot applies hard reverse rudder (e.g., left) while at the same time applies (e.g., right) aileron to roll the aircraft in the opposite direction of the applied reverse rudder. After the resulting twisting motion, the pilot uses elevator to pull the aircraft up, which brings it into a horizontal flight in the same direction as the loop begun.


List of airlines of Ecuador

This is a list of operators which have an Air Operator Certificate issued by the Civil Aviation Authority of Ecuador.
Active airlines.
This is a list of active airlines (May 2021).


Air Charter Services Pvt. Ltd.

Air Charter Services Pvt. Ltd. also known as ACSPL is an Indian company which provides air-charter service across the country. India has around 120 air charter companies, on year 2014 DGCA tried to force the companies to cancel their NSOP (Non-Schedule Operators Permit) due to the reason that most of the companies have less than three aircraft and would be treated as, 'private'. ACSPL has not been affected due to their fleet range of more than three aircraft and continue to run under current NSOP. The company is based in New Delhi, the capital city of the Republic of India. The company has been awarded the maiden BizAvIndia Awards on the sidelines of Aero India 2015 by the 'Business Aircraft Operators Association'(BAOA). The company has been listed as non-schedule operator with Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the body which functions under Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India. ACSPL suffered a loss of one of its aircraft crashed due to bad weather on year 2011, It was flying back to New-Delhi from Patna. ACSPL is also appointed as 'Pilatus' Authorized Sales and Service Centre for India.


Lake Hood Seaplane Base

Lake Hood Seaplane Base is a state-owned seaplane base located three nautical miles (6 km) southwest of the central business district of Anchorage in the U.S. state of Alaska. The Lake Hood Strip is a gravel runway located adjacent to the seaplane base. The gravel strip airport's previous code of has been decommissioned and combined with as another landing surface.
Operating continuously and open to the public, Lake Hood is the world's busiest seaplane base, handling an average of 190 flights per day. It is located on Lakes Hood and Spenard ("Niłkidal'iy" in the indigenous Dena'ina language), next to Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport three miles from downtown Anchorage. The base has an operating control tower, and during the winter months the frozen lake surface is maintained for ski-equipped airplanes.
Most U.S. airports use the same three-letter location identifier for the FAA and IATA, Lake Hood is assigned LHD by the FAA but has no designation from the IATA. The airport's ICAO identifier is PALH.
Facilities and aircraft.
Lake Hood Seaplane Base has three seaplane landing areas: E/W is 4,540 by 188 feet (1,384 x 57 m); N/S is 1,930 by 200 feet (588 x 61 m); NW/SE is 1,370 by 150 feet (418 x 46 m).
Lake Hood Strip has one runway designated 14/32 with a gravel surface measuring 2,200 by 75 feet (671 x 23 m).
For 12-month period ending August 1, 2005, the seaplane base had 69,400 aircraft operations, an average of 190 per day: 88% general aviation, 12% air taxi and <1% military. There are 781 aircraft based at this seaplane base: 97% single engine and 3% multi-engine.


Pyongyang Heliport Facility

Pyongyang Heliport Facility (ICAO:ZKKK) is a large heliport located next to the Taedong River in Pyongyang, North Korea.
Early years.
Before the construction of the current heliport a smaller heliport sat roughly 100 m from the heliport's current site, as recently as early 2014.<ref name="Google Earth Satellite Imagery of Pyongyang 04/14/2014"></ref> This site was much smaller the current site and although it is not known exactly when the original heliport was constructed, it had been on the site since at least the year 2000.<ref name="Google Earth Satellite Imagery of Pyongyang from 6/13/2000"></ref>
Current heliport.
Construction.
Construction began on the current heliport, roughly 100m from the previous one, in late 2014, with the site being usable from mid-2015 and completely finished by late 2015.<ref name="Google Earth Satellite Imagery of Pyongyang from10/27/2014 to 8/7/2015"></ref>
Design.
The current heliport has a much larger runway, than the previous one, measuring approximately 800 meters in length, which is long enough to accommodate many light aircraft, which have been seen to visit the site and also the heliport has the notable feature of a large walled compound, 360 meters in length, featuring a football pitch and a basketball court, added in October 2015.<ref name="Google Earth Satellite Imagery of Pyongyang from 10/27/2015"></ref>


List of defunct airlines of Portugal

This is a list of defunct airlines of Portugal.


Penn Field (Airfield)

Penn Field is a former World War I military airfield, located in Austin, Texas. It operated as a radio training field for the Air Service, United States Army between 1917 until 1919. The airfield was one of thirty-two Air Service training camps established in 1918 after the United States entry into World War I.
History.
The field was named Penn Landing Field in memory of aviation cadet Eugene Doak Penn, an Austin flyer, who died in a training accident near Foggia, Italy, on May 20, 1918.
World War I.
Penn Field was established in 1918 for use of the School of Military Aeronautics conducted by the University of Texas for the United States government. A perspicacious chamber of commerce, anticipating the need in Austin for an aircraft-landing field, secured an option on land just south of Austin. It included a part of the campus of St. Edwards University and some adjacent land owned by Landa, Gruene and Marbach of New Braunfels. General George O. Squire, chief signal officer of the United States Army Signal Corps, deemed 150 acres suitable for a landing field; he approved the site in September 1917.
Lt. John A. McCurdy, commander of advanced cross-country and formation flying at Kelly Field, San Antonio, made a flight into the field and approved it except for the rocks and cornstalks. The chamber of commerce appointed a cleanup committee, and on four Sundays in September volunteer labor, including Boy Scouts and boys from the Deaf and Dumb Institute, picked up and hauled away 317 truckloads of rocks from the surface. The quantity of cornstalks removed is not recorded.
Lt. McCurdy subsequently began bringing in flights of twelve to twenty Curtiss JN-4 Jenny trainers into Penn Field several times a week. Penn Field was intended for pilot training during World War I. However, the war ended before the airfield was completed. In March 1918 the University of Texas was authorized to establish a radio school. Brackenridge Hall was the first location of the school, but it was soon moved to Penn Field. The university took up the option on the land and purchased 318 acres for $40,000. A railway track was laid to the site, and by November 1918 five brick buildings totaling 168,000 square feet were constructed.
Post World War I.
After the war ended in 1918 the site was auctioned off to the highest bidder for $107,000. The Woodward Truck Body Company installed machinery there and manufactured wooden truck bodies until the plant was destroyed by a tornado on May 4, 1922. The buildings were reconstructed, and the Woodward Furniture Factory went into operation in them and manufactured furniture during most of the Great Depression.
There was no airfield on the site during World War II. Over the years the state of the buildings began to deteriorate. In the fall of 2000 the buildings were renovated into modern office space. However, the developers chose not to tear down the old brick buildings, but instead they built within them. The buildings are completely modern inside with an aged exterior that hints at its history.
The site of Penn Field is located in Austin, east of the intersection of South Congress Avenue & Alpine Road West


Spidertracks

Spidertracks is a privately held New Zealand based company specialising in the development of hardware and software for the general aviation industry. The company specialises in flight tracking, aviation communication, and flight data acquisition.
History.
Spidertracks was founded by James McCarthy in 2007 in the small rural town of Pohangina, just outside Palmerston North, New Zealand. Following the death of high-profile businessman Michael Erceg in a helicopter crash in 2005, Erceg's downed aircraft was not located for two-weeks due to the failure of an Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT).
McCarthy and some associates saw the opportunity to develop a lightweight, portable, 'real-time' GPS tracking device for the aviation industry.
The team developed a device known as a 'Spider' – a small device that plugs into an aircraft's auxiliary power outlet and is mounted in the cockpit.
Information such the aircraft's location, altitude, speed, and direction were transmitted via the Iridium satellite network every two minutes to the Spidertracks software platform. The founders claimed this offered a much more reliable way to locate an aircraft in an emergency situation.
Spider Tracks Limited was registered with the New Zealand Companies Office on 20 February 2007.
In 2020, Spidertracks launched their latest hardware device – 'Spider X'. According the Spidertracks, in addition to the real-time tracking and communication functions of previous models, the device is able to record and wirelessly transmit AHRS data to the Spidertracks cloud-based platform. The flight data is then processed post-flight to enable a 3D virtual flight replay and reporting on specific events or safety violations. Spidertracks claim this provides a low-cost, simple solution for Flight Data Monitoring and Flight Operations Quality Assurance for the General Aviation industry.
Locations.
Spidertracks' head office is in Auckland, New Zealand, with a secondary office in Parker, Colorado. The company also claims to employ staff across the world.


Edward Robert Armstrong

Edward Robert Armstrong (1876–1955) was a Canadian-American engineer and inventor who in 1927 proposed a series of "seadrome" floating airport platforms for airplanes to land on and refuel for transatlantic flights. While his original concept was made obsolete by long-range aircraft that did not need such refueling points, the idea of an anchored deep-sea platform was later applied to use for floating oil rigs.
Seadrome.
A seadrome was to be a floating steel landing strip, the size of an aircraft carrier, anchored to the ocean floor by steel cables. It would rise or more above the surface of the ocean by tubular columns that would allow waves to pass underneath. The columns would terminate in ballast tanks below the surface. The runway platform would provide a runway by wide with extended midsides to allow for a hotel, restaurant, and other facilities. The plan was to position a series of seadromes across the Atlantic Ocean about apart to allow for refueling of airplanes. He had been thinking of the idea as early as 1913. In 1915 he completed the first design, and in 1922 he built a 1/300 scale model. In 1926 he performed a test that he filmed, with scale models of his seadrome and the ocean liner "Majestic" in a tank of water. He used a fan to create the equivalent of waves, and the seadrome was stable. In 1927 when the Lindbergh and other transatlantic flights were made, newspapers started running stories of his concept. He had financial backing until The Depression of the 1930s. The last time he made the proposal was in 1943, during World War II. By that time long range aircraft had already been designed for the war effort, and aircraft carriers were already in use.
During the years following the depression, Armstrong made a number of rebids for the program and eventually the project was downsized from eight to five seadromes as planes had become more advanced. By WWII, the advent of long range passenger flight made the concept obsolete.
Armstrong's efforts with DuPont and Sun Ship Building, owned by Sun Oil, led to his ideas and basic designs being used by the oil industry to create the Semi-submersible off shore oil rig.


Hoima International Airport

Hoima International Airport , also Kabaale International Airport, is an airport under construction in Uganda. It is part of the infrastructure under construction as Uganda prepares to develop its nascent petroleum industry. When completed, it would be Uganda's second international airport, besides Entebbe International Airport. The new airport is expected to facilitate mobilization of equipment for construction of the Uganda Oil Refinery and assist in the development of agriculture and tourism in Uganda's Western Region.
Location.
Hoima Airport is located in Kabaale Parish, Buseruka sub-county, Hoima District in the Western Region of Uganda, near the Kaiso-Tonya oil fields and the Uganda Oil Refinery. The air distance between the general area where the airport is being built and Entebbe International Airport, Uganda's largest civilian and military airport, is about . Kabaale International Airport sits on . The location of Hoima International Airport is approximately , by road, to the west-northwest of the city of Hoima. The elevation of Kabaale Village is , above mean sea level.
Overview.
This airport would be a large international airport capable of handling large passenger and cargo aircraft, sufficient to carry the equipment and staff to develop the Uganda Oil Refinery and the oilfields. The airport's main runway was expected to measure in length. Later, the length of the runway was lengthened to .
As of February 2016, feasibility studies and the impact assessment evaluation were ongoing. Construction was expected to begin in 2017, led by a consortium made up of Colas Limited of the United Kingdom and SBI, a Ugandan construction company.
In January 2018, the UK lenders were identified as Standard Chartered Bank with guarantees from the United Kingdom Export Finance, with the two expected to lend €307 million.
Construction.
In February 2018, the government of Uganda selected "Shikun & Binui", a construction firm based in Israel to construct this airport, at a cost of US$309 million. The construction which will be undertaken by "Solel Boneh International Holdings" (SBI), the international arm of Shikun & Binui, is expected to last three years. The scope of work includes (a) paving of runways (b) carrying out of earthwork and installing drainage infrastructure (c) pouring of cement and asphalt (d) building of electro-mechanical, communications and navigation systems and (e) erection of an air traffic control tower, a cargo terminal, additional residencies and service structures.
SBC Uganda Limited, a joint venture company between Colas Limited of the United Kingdom and SBI International Holdings of Uganda, started construction of the airport in January 2018. The first phase of construction, including the runway and cargo-handling facilities, is expected to be ready in 2020. This phase is primarily to support construction of the oil refinery. The second phase of construction, focused on the facilitation of passengers and boosting tourism and business, is expected to conclude in 2022. The project is expected to create about 1,000 jobs, 30 percent of which are reserved for the local community and the remaining 70 percent reserved for other Ugandans, with a small number taken up by expatriates. Later, the completion of the first phase was pushed back to 2021 As of April 2019, work completed was estimated at 21 percent. In October 2019, completed work had progressed to 31 percent.
In December 2019, it was estimated that 34 percent of the work had been completed. At that time, a total of over 925 workers were employed on the project. Completion was estimated to be in February 2023. In August 2020, completion was estimated at 45 percent. At that time, a total of 830 workers were on the job, with 30 percent recruited from Hoima District. Twenty percent of the workers are female and 98 percent are Ugandan.


Dahl Creek Airport

Dahl Creek Airport is a state owned, public use airport located 10 nautical miles (19 km) southeast of Dahl Creek, in the Northwest Arctic Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska.
The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 categorized it as a "general aviation" facility. As per the Federal Aviation Administration records, this airport had 92 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2008, 10 enplanements in 2009, and 51 in 2010.
Facilities.
Dahl Creek Airport covers an area of 13 acres (5 ha) at an elevation of 260 feet (79 m) above mean sea level. It has one runway designated 8/26 with a gravel surface measuring 4,780 by 75 feet (1,457 x 23 m).


List of airlines of Italy

This is a list of active/operating airlines that have an Air Operator Certificate issued by the "Ente Nazionale per l'Aviazione Civile", the Civil Aviation Authority of Italy.


Colin de Mowbray

Lieutenant-Commander Colin John de Mowbray, MBE (12 April 1945 – 11 July 2010) was a helicopter pilot and veteran of the Falklands war; in retirement he sailed in, and organised, round-the-world yacht races.
Early life and education.
De Mowbray was son of a Royal Navy captain. He attended Stowe School and from September 1963 the Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, Devon before going to the Royal Naval Air Station in Arbroath.
Military career.
In the 1960s he served as a "jungly" in Borneo, flying the Royal Marines of 45 Commando to and from jungle locations that he was advised to "memorise then forget".
In 1976 he attended the staff course at Greenwich.
In the late 1970s served on the British naval staff in Washington, DC.
In 1982 during the Falklands War he was Executive Officer and First-Lieutenant (second in command) of HMS Alacrity.
From 1984 until 85 he commanded 845 Naval Air Squadron
He was appointed MBE in 1992 and retired from the Navy in 1994.
Retirement.
In 1996 De Mowbray was the skipper of "Crysolite" in the first Clipper Round the World Yacht Race. He went on to become race director from 1998 until 2003, and then operations director, responsible for liaison with sponsor cities and host ports. He continued to work for Clipper Ventures until shortly before his death.
Clipper Race Yacht Club.
de Mowbray was the founder and first Commodore of the Clipper Race Yacht Club. He described it as "a logical way to bring some gentle order to this special group of adventurers". On 24 April 2009 the club was officially launched at a ceremony at St Katharine's Dock. The purpose of the club is to create an association of Clipper alumni to the mutual advantage of all parties and for the purpose of having fun. Membership is open to individuals who have completed at least one leg of the Clipper Round the World yacht race, or competed with Clipper in another approved race, or have been associated with Clipper Ventures as a staff member.


928th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron

The 928th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron is a provisional unit of the United States Air Force. It is assigned to Air Mobility Command to activate or inactivate as needed for contingency operations.
The squadron was first active during World War II as the 28th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron. After training in the United States the unit moved to the Pacific. Although squadron headquarters remained in Hawaii until the invasion of Okinawa, it deployed detachments to support combat operations in the Pacific. Its last wartime assignment was with the 316th Bombardment Wing at Yontan Airfield, Okinawa where it was inactivated on 29 May 1946.
The 928th Air Refueling Squadron was active from 1959 to 1960 at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota as the 28th Bombardment Wing converted to Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombers. The squadrons were consolidated on 19 September 1985 and converted to provisional status as the 928th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron in 2003.
History.
World War II.
The squadron was first activated at Peterson Field, Colorado in the spring of 1943 as one of the original four squadrons of the 7th Photographic Group. It was transferred to the Third Air Force Photographic Unit Training Center a month later in preparation for the 7th group's transfer on paper to the European Theater of Operations. Although the 28th was assigned other aircraft at times, its primary equipment was the Lockheed F-5 Lightning.
The squadron was attached to the 2d Photographic Reconnaissance and Mapping Group and moved with the group to Will Rogers Field in October 1943. The 2d group acted as an Operational Training Unit and as a Replacement Training Unit while the squadron was attached to it. It was an oversized unit that provided cadres to "satellite groups" and at the same time trained individual pilots and aircrews. The squadron continued to train with the F-5 until shipping overseas.
In January 1944 the unit arrived in the Central Pacific Area. Although squadron headquarters remained in Hawaii until Operation Iceberg, the invasion of Okinawa in May 1945, it deployed elements that saw combat in the Central and Western Pacific from late June 1944. After arriving in Okinawa the 28th continued in combat until the Japanese surrender in August 1945. It remained on Okinawa as part of the occupation forces until it was inactivated in 1946.
Post war operations.
The 928th Air Refueling Squadron was activated at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota in 1959 as the refueling element of the 28th Bombardment Wing in 1959 as the wing converted from Convair B-36 Peacemakers to Boeing B-52 Stratofortresses. The conversion of the 28th wing to "Buffs" and move of two of its bombardment squadrons to other bases was part of SAC's program to disperse its Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombers over a larger number of bases, thus making it more difficult for the Soviet Union to knock out the entire fleet with a surprise first strike. SAC bases with large concentrations of bombers made attractive targets. SAC's response was to break up its wings and scatter their aircraft over a larger number of bases.
In July 1960 the squadron deployed eight of its tankers to Grand Forks Air Force Base, South Dakota to test the ability of the 4133d Strategic Wing at Grand Forks to maintain an air refueling alert force. Two months after the return of these planes to Ellsworth, the squadron was inactivated and its mission, personnel, and equipment were transferred to the 28th Air Refueling Squadron.
In 1985 the 28th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron and the 928th Air Refueling Squadron were consolidated into a single unit. In 2003 the consolidated squadron was converted to provisional status as the 928th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron.


Southern Service Flight Company

Southern Vietnam Helicopter Company (VNH South), also known as Southern Service Flight Company (SSFC), is a state-owned chartered airline in Vietnam, which provides helicopter flights to various purposes, namely oil platform service, search and rescue operations and cargo freight service. The company is based in Vũng Tàu Airport, Vũng Tàu, Vietnam.


Airspeed Aviation (British Columbia)


List of accidents and incidents involving the Avro Lincoln

List of accidents and incidents involving the Avro Lincoln four-engined heavy-bomber and later used for signals intelligence, radar research and as an-engine test bed.


List of airlines of Belize

This is a list of airlines currently operating in Belize.


Henry Wigley

Sir Henry Rodolph Wigley (2 February 1913 – 15 September 1980) was a pilot, entrepreneur and pioneer of the New Zealand tourism industry.
Wigley was born at Fairlie in 1913. In the 1930s Wigley entered the family firm, the Mount Cook Tourist Company of New Zealand which his father Rodolph Wigley had founded, but he had begun pilot training while in his teens, and at the outbreak of World War II joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force, first as a flying instructor, then as a fighter pilot in the Pacific - leaving with the rank of wing commander
Wigley had been captain of the New Zealand ski team in 1936–37, and after the war led his company in establishing new ski-fields and facilities at Coronet Peak and Lake Ohau.
In the early 1950s Wigley also encouraged the company to involve itself in the aerial topdressing businesses, and on 22 September 1955 he successfully landed on the snowfield of the Tasman Glacier with an Auster Aiglet aircraft fitted with retractable wooden skis of his own design. After that flight, which was reputed to be the first of its kind in the southern hemisphere, ski-plane trips to Tasman Glacier became a key part of the Mt Cook tourism.
On 11 January 1946, Wigley was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (Miliatary Division), in recognition of conspicuous service in operations against the Japanese. In the 1969 Queen's Birthday Honours, Wigley was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (Civil Division), for services to the tourist industry. His appointment was elevated to Knight Commander in the 1976 New Year Honours, for services to the tourist, travel and aviation industries.
Wigley died of a heart attack on a golf course in Christchurch on 15 September 1980.


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Supergreen


Andrew Turner (RAF officer)

Air Marshal Andrew Mark Turner, (born 1967) is a senior Royal Air Force officer and helicopter pilot.
Early life.
Born in 1967, Turner was educated at Kingswood School.
RAF career.
Turner joined the Royal Air Force in 1985 and was commissioned as an acting pilot officer in 1986, initially training at RAF Gütersloh. He was regraded as pilot officer in 1987, and promoted to flying officer in 1987, flight lieutenant in 1991, squadron leader in 1995, and wing commander in 2000. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2003 in recognition of service in the Iraq War.
Turner has commanded No. 28 Squadron RAF and RAF Odiham. In July 2014 he went on to be Air Officer Commanding No. 22 Group RAF and Chief of Staff Training at RAF Air Command, in which capacity he also oversaw safety for the Red Arrows. He became Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff (Operations) in October 2017. Turner was promoted to air marshal and appointed as Deputy Commander (Capability) at RAF Air Command on 23 May 2019.
Turner was advanced to Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2010 New Year Honours, and appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 2019 New Year Honours.


Ronald Nixon


George D. Grundy Jr.

George Debaun Grundy Jr. (June 21, 1898 – May 19, 1998) was a pioneer aviator and the last living member of the Early Birds of Aviation.
Biography.
Grundy was born June 21, 1898 in Southampton, New York to Florence Reeves and he was raised in Richmond Hill, Queens. He had his first solo flight on September 17, 1916 on Long Island.
He died on May 19, 1998 in Leesburg, Florida.


Naval Air Station Olathe

Naval Air Station Olathe is a former United States Navy base located in Gardner, Kansas. On its grounds at one point was Olathe Air Force Station. After it was closed, it was redeveloped into New Century AirCenter.
History.
Navy use.
The base opened as Naval Air Station Olathe on 1 October 1942 and was referred locally as the Gardner, Kansas, Navy Base because it was to be used for the Naval Air Transport Service (NATS) and Naval Air Primary Training Command (NAPTC) which had been operating out of Fairfax Airport.
Future astronaut John Glenn was in the first class to be trained at the base and he was to make his first solo flight in a military plane from the base.
Glenn described the airport in its early days:
After World War II, NAS Olathe was used for flight operations by units of the Naval Air Reserve and Marine Air Reserve, as well as a Naval Air Technical Training Center Olathe (NATTC Olathe), a training center for active duty USN and USMC enlisted personnel. During the Korean War, NAS Olathe-based Naval Reserve Fighter Squadron 774 (VF 774) was recalled to active duty for two years, including six months of action aboard the aircraft carrier .
NAS Olathe's runways were lengthened in 1951 to accept the first tactical jets, North American FJ-1 Furys, to be based at NAS Olathe. By 1954, a Jet Transition Training Unit (JTTU) was established at NAS Olathe for propeller pilots transitioning to jet aircraft. F4D Skyray fighters were later operated at NAS Olathe by Naval Air Reserve and Marine Air Reserve squadrons until 1966.Marine Reserve Training and Naval Reserve Training continued from 1966 until at least 1971.
World War II hero, then-Captain, later Vice Admiral, James H. Flatley, Jr., commanded NAS Olathe for about a year. The base was renamed NAS Olathe (Flatley Field) for him in 1962.
For over 20 years, Naval Air Reservists and Marine Air Reservists from across the Midwest honed their skills and maintained their readiness with squadrons and support units at NAS Olathe. However, budgetary pressures of the Vietnam War forced NAS Olathe to close. The base was decommissioned on 29 October 1969 and the air station was officially closed in July 1970 with the understanding that the Navy could retain thirteen buildings for non-flying Naval Reserve aviation programs as Naval Air Reserve Center Olathe.
The airport was acquired by Johnson County in 1973 and renamed Johnson County Industrial Airport to reflect a new mission of being an industrial park (including the Fred Allenbrand Criminal Justice Complex for Johnson County). On 28 September 1994 the name was changed to New Century AirCenter so as not to minimize its aviation component.
In 1995, the Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) voted to close NAVAIRESCEN Olathe and consolidate its units and functions at other Naval Air Reserve activities, with all Navy activities ceasing in 1996.
The base was featured in a segment on the A&E Network entitled "Haunted America" in which it is claimed the base is the site of paranormal activity after a pilot crashed into an aircraft hangar next to the airport control tower in the 1950s.
Air Force use.
From 1950 to 1955, the Air Force Reserve's 442d Troop Carrier Wing was temporarily based at NAS Olathe prior to its relocation to Grandview Airport, Missouri, later renamed Richards-Gebaur AFB.
In 1951, the United States Air Force's Air Defense Command selected NAS Olathe as a site for one of twenty-eight radar stations built as part of the second segment of the permanent ADC general radar surveillance network for the United States. Prompted by the start of the Korean War, on 11 July 1950, the Secretary of the Air Force asked the Secretary of Defense for approval to expedite construction of the second segment of the permanent network. The NAS Olathe site was to provide air defense radar coverage of the Kansas City area. The site was to become Olathe Air Force Station.
Receiving the Defense Secretary's approval on 21 July, the Air Force directed the Army Corps of Engineers to proceed with construction of a radar station on the western part of the ground station, about a mile from the runway and ramp/hangars being used by the Navy. Additional housing units were also constructed at NAS Olathe to accommodate the Air Force personnel.


List of airlines of Austria

This is a list of airlines which have an Air Operator Certificate issued by the Civil Aviation Authority of Austria.


RAF Akeman Street

Royal Air Force Akeman Street or more simply RAF Akeman Street is a former Royal Air Force Relief Landing Ground located north east of Minster Lovell, Oxfordshire, England. It was named after the Roman road which crosses the airfield.
The airfield was a Relief Landing Ground (RLG) for RAF Brize Norton, with building starting in 1939 and opening on 10 July 1940. Active flying stopped on 15 August 1945, and the site was closed on 1 February 1947.
Based units.
Units that used the airfield were No. 2 Service Flying Training School RAF (2 SFTS) from Brize Norton with Airspeed Oxford aircraft and then No. 6 (Pilots) Advanced Flying Unit RAF based at RAF Little Rissington (later became 6 SFTS) between 1942 and 1945.
Other unit posted to the site included a sub site of No. 3 Maintenance Unit RAF between 9 April 1938 and January 1947 and a sub site of No. 21 Heavy Glider Conversion Unit RAF.
A German bombing raid on Brize Norton on 16 August 1940 forced the Advanced Training Squadron to move to Akeman Street.
Current use.
Little of the 10 Blister hangars and single large Bellman hangar remain today.


Polaris Skin

The Polaris Skin is an Italian ultralight trike, designed and produced by Polaris Motor of Gubbio. The aircraft is supplied as a complete ready-to-fly-aircraft.
Design and development.
Designed and first flown in the early 1980s, the Skin complies with the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale microlight category, including the category's maximum gross weight of . The Skin has a maximum gross weight of . It features a cable-braced hang glider-style high-wing, weight-shift controls, a two-seats-in-tandem open cockpit with an optional cockpit fairing, tricycle landing gear with wheel pants and a single engine in pusher configuration.
The aircraft is made from steel and bolted-together aluminum tubing, with its double surface wing covered in Dacron sailcloth. Its span wing is supported by a single tube-type kingpost and uses an "A" frame weight-shift control bar. The powerplant is a twin cylinder, air-cooled, two-stroke, dual-ignition Rotax 503 or the liquid-cooled Rotax 582 engine. With the Rotax 503 powerplant the aircraft has an empty weight of and a gross weight of , giving a useful load of . With full fuel of the payload is .
A number of different wings can be fitted to the basic carriage, including the Gryps 14, Gyps 16, Gyps 19 and the Ares 21.


Robert M. Webster

Robert Morris Webster (October 19, 1892 – March 1, 1972) was a United States Air Force major general who was an early advocate of daylight precision bombing as a war-winning strategy. A rated command pilot, he commanded a number of large air units during and after World War II and served as a senior military representative of the United States in foreign relations.
Early career.
Webster was born in Boston on October 19, 1892. He enlisted as a flying cadet on February 21, 1918. He attended the School of Military Aeronautics at Princeton University from March to June 1918 and was then assigned to Chanute Field, Illinois. He attended the Aerial Gunnery School at Carlstrom Field, Florida from October 1918 to February 1919. Webster was trained at the Instructors School at Kelly Field, Texas and was then assigned to the District Ordnance Office in Bridgeport, Connecticut, as an Army Reserve officer.
Webster was commissioned lieutenant in the United States Army Air Service in July 1920. In January 1921, Webster went to the Long Island Air Reserve Depot in New York. In March, he returned to Carlstrom Field, then moved to Brooks Field, Texas, in July 1922. After the formation of the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) in July, Webster was assigned to the Philippines in October 1926—he served with the Second Observation Squadron at Nichols Field, and a month later was assigned to the Fourth Composite Group there. In December 1928, Webster became an instructor with the Connecticut National Guard at Hartford.
Air Corps Tactical School.
Webster entered the Air Corps Tactical School (ACTS) at Maxwell Field, Alabama, in August 1933. He graduated the following June and remained to serve as an instructor at the rank of captain. Webster taught within the Air Force Section of the school. For the next three years, Webster worked with other ACTS instructors—Harold L. George, Donald Wilson, Muir S. Fairchild, Haywood S. Hansell and Laurence S. Kuter—to determine how best to use precision bombing techniques that were under development to destroy small, vital enemy targets during the opening phase of a war, so as to hinder the enemy's potential to wage a lengthy war. Fairchild and Webster studied the interconnections between various industrial sectors of the United States to determine the most vulnerable nodes relative to attacking an enemy's industrial base. The two men compiled a list of critical targets that could incapacitate an enemy; targets that were organized with regard to available weapons. Webster wrote to a number of New York city and state agencies such as the National Board of Fire Underwriters, the Consolidated Gas Company and the New York City Board of Water Supply to determine the vulnerabilities of a large metropolitan area such as New York City. The resulting concept of points of vulnerability was called the industrial web theory.
Along with other young Air Corps officers Donald Wilson, Robert Olds, Kenneth Walker, Claire Chennault, and Harold L. George, Webster risked his career by advocating an independent Air Force in a speech he presented to the Howell Commission in 1934. Webster said:
Webster further asserted to the commission that "Ground officers were not aware of the fact that a properly organized attack, once launched in the air, cannot be stopped." The Howell Commission was impressed by the testimony of Webster and the young officers, and they drew up plans for the activation of GHQ Air Force, an interim solution one step closer to an independent air force.
On March 7, 1936, Webster was raised to the rank of major and was assigned chief of the Bombardment Section, ACTS, replacing Major Odas Moon who had been relieved of the position five weeks earlier. For the school year 1936–1937 Webster was named chief of the Air Force Section.
Webster entered the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in August 1937, was graduated the next June, and assigned in Washington, D.C., as chief of the Training Section in the Office of the Chief of Air Corps.
World War II.
United States became directly involved in World War II in December 1941 while Webster was stationed in Washington. Webster continued to work there to organize the massive training programs undertaken by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). Remaining in the nation's capital, in March 1942 Webster joined the Operations Division of the War Department General Staff. Webster was named commanding general of the First Air Support Command at Mitchel Field, New York, in August 1942. On October 2, 1942, Webster took command of the unit.
In April 1943, Webster assumed command of the 42nd Bomb Wing, a unit without men or aircraft. In the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, Webster supervised the incorporation of air groups in August. He took official command on August 24, 1943. Webster commanded the unit during its participation in the Allied invasion of Italy. In July 1944, he was appointed commander of the Allied Forces in Sardinia, Italy, and deputy commander of the 12th Air Force. Going to France in March 1945, Webster assumed command of the First Tactical Air Force, a provisional unit made up of both Free French and American units.
In July 1945, Webster joined the Air Transport Command, and in August assumed command of its European Division in Paris, France. The day after Victory in Europe Day, Webster joined with General Ned Sohramm and men of the 6th Army Group and the First Tactical Air Force (provisional) at a Roman Catholic cathedral in Heidelberg, Germany, to celebrate victory.
Post-war career.
In July 1946, Webster was named deputy commander of Air Transport Command, based at Gravelly Point, Virginia. On September 20, 1946 he assumed command. On February 10, 1947, Webster addressed the National War College with a lecture about the planning of air transportation for war. On July 16, 1947, Webster was transferred to Fort Slocum, New York, where he became commanding general of the First Air Force. During this time, the United States Air Force (USAF) was chartered from the former USAAF. Webster assumed command of the Eastern Air Defense Force, a part of the Continental Air Command, at Mitchel Air Force Base in New York, in September 1949. In this role, Webster presented the Amelia Earhart Scholarship to Virginia L. Sweet, a WASP aviator, in late 1949.
In June 1950, Webster was appointed chief of the Air Section, Joint Brazil-U.S. Military Commission, at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Moving to USAF Headquarters, Washington, D.C., on January 22, 1953, Webster was designated Air Force and Steering and Coordinating Member for Military Representation, U.S. Sections, of the Permanent Joint Board on Defense, Canada-U.S. (relieved April 30, 1954) and the Joint Mexico-U.S. Defense Commission. The following month he received additional duty as director of the U.S. Defense Planning Group; Senior USAF Delegate to the U.S. Delegation of the Inter-American Defense Board; and Senior USAF Delegate on the Joint Brazil-U.S. Defense Commission. Webster retired from the USAF on October 31, 1954. Webster died on March 1, 1972 and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. His wife, Flora Bitzer Webster, was buried in the same plot in 1978.
Recognition.
His decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, Legion of Merit, Silver Star, and Air Medal with oak leaf cluster.


RAF Marston Moor

RAF Marston Moor was a Royal Air Force airfield at Tockwith, North Yorkshire, during the Second World War. It was originally called RAF Tockwith, but confusion with RAF Topcliffe led to the name change.
RAF Marston Moor was opened on 11 November 1941, the airfield and RAF Church Fenton were the closest airfields to West Yorkshire and would act as a defence should Leeds be attacked. As it happens Leeds was seldom bombed.
In 1943, group captain Leonard Cheshire was made the Station Commander. He requested to be transferred to the command of 617 Squadron in November 1943, a vacancy created by the loss of George Holden in July of that year. The move required him to voluntarily step down in rank from group captain to wing commander, which he did.
Marston Moor was also in control of RAF Rufforth and RAF Riccall.
During the war, American actor Clark Gable was stationed at the airfield before being relocated to RAF Polebrook.
Based units.
During the Second World War the airfield was used by the 165 Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU) to convert pilots from the Whitley and Wellington medium bombers to piloting the four-engined Handley Page Halifax bomber. In January 1942 the unit was split into the 1652 Heavy Conversion Unit and the 1665 Heavy Conversion Unit. 1652 HCU continued in operation at Marston Moor till June 1945, while 1665 HCU moved to RAF Saltby, where it trained crews in the Halifaxes and the Short Stirling. It later moved to RAF Linton-on-Ouse.
Following the war the field was used as the home base for No. 268 Maintenance Unit RAF from 1945 to 1949.
Current use.
The airfield is now known as Tockwith Airfield. The runways are used for driver's education courses. Some of the buildings about the old airfield were incorporated into a business park. The village of Tockwith has expanded onto the airfield with the eastern side and main section of one runway now dissolved by housing.
Some sources indicate civilian aviation use in the late 20th century, and probably beyond.