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Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader, was a Royal Air Force flying ace during the Second World War. He was credited with 22 aerial victories, four shared victories, six probables, one shared probable and 11 enemy aircraft damaged.
George Frederick "Buzz" Beurling, was the most successful Canadian fighter pilot and flying ace of the Second World War.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Rodney Park, was a New Zealander who served as a senior RAF officer. An ANZAC Gallipoli Veteran and Second World War Royal Air Force commander, he was placed in command of No. 11 Group of the RAF - the Group responsible for the defence of South East England and London. Due to the strategic significance and geographic location concerning the Luftwaffe, Park’s Group bore the brunt of the German aerial assault during the Battle of Britain.
A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace is varied, but is usually considered to be five or more.
Group captain is a senior commissioned rank in many air forces. Group captain has a NATO rank code of OF-5, meaning that it ranks above wing commander, immediately below air commodore and is the equivalent of the naval rank of captain and the rank of colonel in other services.
Reach for the Sky is a 1956 British biographical film about aviator Douglas Bader, based on the 1954 biography of the same name by Paul Brickhill. The film stars Kenneth More and was directed by Lewis Gilbert. It won the BAFTA Award for Best British Film of 1956. The film's composer John Addison was Bader's brother-in-law.
A fighter pilot is a military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, air-to-ground combat and sometimes electronic warfare while in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft. Fighter pilots undergo specialized training in aerial warfare and dogfighting. A fighter pilot with at least five air-to-air kills becomes known as an ace.
Dogfights is a military aviation themed TV series depicting historical re-enactments of air-to-air combat that took place in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, as well as smaller conflicts such as the Gulf War and the Six-Day War. The program consists of former fighter pilots sharing their stories of actual dogfights in which they took part, combined with computer-generated imagery (CGI) to give the viewer a better perspective of what it is like to engage in aerial combat. Dogfights originally aired on the History Channel from November 2006 to May 2008. Repeats of the series are currently airing on the digital broadcast network Quest.
Norman Leslie Robert Franks is an English militaria writer who specialises in aviation topics. He focuses on the pilots and squadrons of World Wars I and II.
Donald James Matthew Blakeslee was an officer in the United States Air Force, whose aviation career began as a pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force flying Spitfire fighter aircraft during World War II. He then became a member of the Royal Air Force Eagle Squadrons, before transferring to the United States Army Air Forces in 1942. He flew more combat missions against the Luftwaffe than any other American fighter pilot, and by the end of the war was a flying ace credited with 15.5 aerial victories.
The finger-four formation is a flight formation used by fighter aircraft. It consists of four aircraft, and four of these formations can be combined into a squadron formation.
No. 242 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force (RAF) squadron. It flew in many roles during the First World War, Second World War and Cold War.
No. 412 Transport Squadron is one of three Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) transport squadrons attached to Ottawa, Ontario. The squadron operates with a strength of about 29 out of the Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee, Jr. Annex.The Annex officially opened on January 11, 1995.
Furio Niclot Doglio, MOVM was an Italian test pilot and World War II fighter pilot in the Regia Aeronautica. Doglio set nine world aviation records in the 1930s during his time as a test pilot. During the war, he claimed seven kills, flying FIAT G. 50s and Macchi C. 202s, establishing himself as one of Italy's aces. Doglio was killed in combat on 27 July 1942 during the Siege of Malta by George Beurling, who became Canada's top ace of the war. He was awarded a Medaglia d'oro al Valor Militare alla memoria.
Richard John Cork, was a fighter ace in the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy during the Second World War. Cork served in the Battle of Britain as the wingman for Douglas Bader of No. 242 Squadron RAF. When he returned to the Fleet Air Arm in 1941, Cork served with 880 Naval Air Squadron in the Arctic, Mediterranean and Indian Ocean. It was during Operation Pedestal in 1942 that he became the only Royal Navy pilot to shoot down five aircraft in one day, and was the leading naval ace using the Hawker Hurricane. He was given command of the 15th Naval Fighter Wing aboard HMS Victorious before being killed in a flying accident over Ceylon in 1944.
Percival Stanley Turner, served with the Royal Air Force and the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War. He holds the record of the most combat hours flown of any Canadian pilot.
Wing leader, or wing commander (flying), denotes the tactical commander of a Commonwealth military wing on flying operations. The terms refer to a position, not a rank, although the role was usually taken by an officer ranked wing commander. The position was also distinct from the commanding officer of the wing, generally a higher-ranked officer. The first wing leaders were appointed in 1941, and the position remained in use until the 1960s.
References
- 1 2 Channel 5 http://www.channel5.com/shows/heroes-of-the-skies
- ↑ Anderson, Kelly.Cineflix takes flight with Air Aces. Playback, 2012.