Originally shared by +Royal Australian Air Force
Check out our timeline http://www.facebook.com/RoyalAustralianAirForce hundreds of historical posts going back to 31 March 1921
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On this day in Air Force history: January 1 – Royal Australian Air Force | Facebook
Originally shared by +Gazing Skyward TV
January 1st, 1946
The RAF hands over London Heathrow Airport to the Air Ministry and the first civil aviation flight departs.
In 1930, British aero engineer and aircraft builder Richard Fairey paid the Vicar of Harmondsworth £15,000 for a 150-acre plot to build a private airport to assemble and test aircraft. Complete with a single grass runway and a handful of hastily erected buildings, Fairey’s Great West Aerodrome was the humble precursor to the world’s busiest international airport, Heathrow.
During World War II the government requisitioned land in and around the ancient agricultural village of Heath Row, including Fairey’s Great West Aerodrome, to build RAF Heston, a base for long-range troop-carrying aircraft bound for the Far East. An RAF-type control tower was constructed and a ‘Star of David’ pattern of runways laid, the longest of which was 3,000 yards long and 100 yards wide.
Work demolishing Heath Row and clearing land for the runways started in 1944. However, by the time the war had ended the RAF no longer needed another aerodrome and it was officially handed over to the Air Ministry as London’s new civil airport on 1 January 1946. The first aircraft to take off from Heathrow was a converted Lancaster bomber called Starlight that flew to Buenos Aires…..
Source:
Heathrow.com, Our history:http://gstv.us/1MDFdGWCivil
By +Heathrow Airport
YouTube, Civil Flying Starts Again (1946):http://gstv.us/1MDFf1I
By +British Pathé
If you enjoy the "This Day in Aviation History" collection, you may enjoy some of these other collections from Gazing Skyward TV: http://gstv.us/GSTVcollections
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Originally shared by +Benjamin Encarnacion
Note: Click photo for more pictures. Polish T-72 of 6th (PL) Tank Battalion of 12th (PL) Armored Division together with some soldiers of British 2nd Bn Royal Regiment of Fusiliers
Originally shared by +Olav de With
The wartime story of Wally Layne
50 Sqn. (07/41)
Posting to 50 Squadron, RAF Lindholme (3rd July 1941) This is a brief record of the operational flights made by Walter Henry Layne (known as Wally) with 50 Squadron. Information contained here is c…
Originally shared by +Fly By Photography
Wildcat Dawn
http://goo.gl/OY3FTi
The Military Aviation Museum"s FM-2 Wildcat on the Culpeper Airport ramp on the morning of May 7th, the day before the Arsenal of Democracy Fly Over.
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#arsenalofdemocracy#warbirds#fm2wildcat#fm2#wildcat#militaryaviationmuseum#wwii#navy#aviation#photography#canon#flybyphotography
Originally shared by +Benjamin Encarnacion
The KV-122 used the same turret as the KV-85, which was a development of the KV-1S. The work on this tank and the KV-13 led to the IS-85 (IS-1), which was then upgunned and redesignated as the IS-122, then IS-2.
The Type 051 destroyer (NATO code name Luda class) Guided missile destroyer was the first surface warfare oriented vessel ever designed and built in China, and the first Chinese ship to be fitted with an integrated combat direction system. It was usually considered to be based on the Soviet Kotlin class destroyer design[1] though some other sources say the Neustrashimy class destroyer,[2] with some features from the Kotlin class.
The German cruiser Prinz Eugen (foreground) and battleship Bismarck.
s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/26/8e/63/268e63beca14056541bbf0d634346fce.jpg
This vessel is "Tenacity" a private venture boat built by Vosper Thornycroft, Portsmouth in 1969. The photo is as completed when she had a dubious mock up gun on the fore-deck and dummy "Sea Killer" missile launchers aft. She was looked at by a number of foreign navies but the Royal Navy showed little interest until 1970 when she completed two short charters to them for Nato exercises.
She was purchased by the RN in January 1972 and underwent conversion by Vosper Thornycroft, Portchester into a vessel suitable for Fisheries Protection duties. This was completed by March 1973 and she entered service as HMS "Tenacity" P276, without the armament and with a lattice mast.
She was 165 tons displacement standard and 220 tons full load. Dimensions were 144=ft x 26=ft x 7>ft. Engines were 3 x Proteus Gas Turbines, triple screw, 12750bhp, 40knots.
Also 2 x Paxman Ventura diesels on wing shafts 16 knots cruising.
"Tenacity" was sold out of service in 1985. In the early 1990"s she was at American Wharf, Southampton without her superstructure. She then moved to Portishead where she was reported,between 1/94 and 8/97, having a yacht superstructure constructed on her. She disappeared by 7/99 and was reported broken up. In Feb 2001, in a compound at Portishead, there could be seen her stem post, keel and bottom plates.
(Courtesy of Mr Phil Simons)
http://bmpt.org.uk/boat%20histories/Tenacity/index.htm
USS Wilmington (PG-8) was the lead ship in a class of two United States Navy gunboats. She was laid down on 8 October 1894 at Newport News, Virginia, by the Newport News Shipbuilding Company; launched on 19 October 1895; sponsored by Mrs. Anne B. Gray; and commissioned on 13 May 1897 with Commander Chapman C. Todd in command.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Warspite_(03)
HMS Warspite was a Queen Elizabeth-class battleship built for the Royal Navy during the early 1910s. Her thirty-year career covered both world wars and took …
Queen Elizabeth-class battleship – BL 15 inch Mk I naval gun – Battles of Narvik
