Royal Air Force Cottesmore or more simply RAF Cottesmore is a former Royal Air Force station in Rutland, England, situated between Cottesmore and Market Overton. On 15 December 2009, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth announced that the station would close in 2013 as part of defence spending cuts, along with the retirement of the Harrier GR9 and the disbandment of Joint Force Harrier. The formal closing ceremony took place on 31 March 2011, and the airfield became a satellite of RAF Wittering until March 2012.
Tyndall is the name of an English family taken from the land they held as tenants in chief of the Kings of England and Scotland in the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries: Tynedale, or the valley of the Tyne, in Northumberland. With origins in the ancient Anglo Saxon nobility of Northumbria, the Royal Scottish House of Dunkeld and the Anglo-Norman nobility, they have contributed courtiers, judges, writers, historians, sailors, airmen, scientists and philosophers to the history of England, Ireland and the new world. Two members of the family were offered, and declined, the throne of Bohemia in the 15th century and one of their number, William Tyndale, was the first modern translator of the Bible into English and one of the most important figures in the evolution of the modern language. The family is spread today throughout the British Isles and the English speaking world.
The Darwin–Wedgwood family are members of two connected families, each noted for particular prominent 18th-century figures: Erasmus Darwin, a physician and natural philosopher, and Josiah Wedgwood FRS, a noted potter and founder of the eponymous Josiah Wedgwood & Sons pottery company. The Darwin and Wedgwood families were on friendly terms for much of their history and members intermarried, notably Charles Darwin, who married Emma Wedgwood.
Number 31 Squadron, known as the Goldstars, is a squadron of the Royal Air Force. The Squadron lays claim to being the first military unit to fly in India, where it was based from 1915 to 1947. Throughout the Cold War, No. 31 Squadron was based in West Germany, flying from RAF Laarbruch and RAF Brüggen. Between September 1984 and March 2019, the Goldstars operated the Panavia Tornado GR1/4, initially from RAF Brüggen and after August 2001 from RAF Marham, Norfolk. No. 31 Squadron was disbanded on 14 March 2019 at RAF Marham and reformed on 11 October 2023 at RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire, equipped with the General Atomics Protector RG1.
Sir Nicolas Conyngham Tindal, PC was a celebrated English lawyer who successfully defended the then Queen of the United Kingdom, Caroline of Brunswick, at her trial for adultery in 1820. As Chief Justice of Common Pleas, an office he held with distinction from 1829 to 1846, he was responsible for the inception of the special verdict "Not Guilty by reason of insanity" at the trial of Daniel M'Naghten.
Sir Francis Sacheverel Darwin was a physician and traveller who was knighted by King George IV. Francis Galton and Charles Darwin were his nephews.
No. 1 School of Technical Training is the Royal Air Force's aircraft engineering school. It was based at RAF Halton from 1919 to 1993, as the Home of the Aircraft Apprentice scheme. The Aircraft Apprentice scheme trained young men in the mechanical trades for aircraft maintenance, the graduates of which were the best trained technicians in the RAF and would usually progress to Senior NCO ranks. However, ninety one ex-apprentices went on to achieve Air Rank. Many more became commissioned officers, including Sir Frank Whittle "father of the jet engine", who completed his apprenticeship at RAF Cranwell, before the move to RAF Halton. Graduates of the Aircraft Apprentice scheme at RAF Halton are known as Old Haltonians.
Air Commodore Edward Alexander Dimsdale Masterman, was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force in the first half of the 20th century. After retiring from the RAF, he served as the first ever Commandant of the Observer Corps.
Henry Maitland Clark was a Northern Irish colonial administrator and politician.
Major-General Sir David Dawnay was a British Army officer who became Commandant of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He was also a British polo player who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics.
Air Commodore Reginald Newham Waite, was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force during the middle of the 20th century.
Stubbington House School was founded in 1841 as a boys' preparatory school, originally located in the Hampshire village of Stubbington, around 1 mile (1.6 km) from the Solent. Stubbington House School was known by the sobriquet "the cradle of the Navy". The school was relocated to Ascot in 1962, merging with Earleywood School, and it closed in 1997.
Charles Worsley was an English soldier and politician. He was an ardent supporter of Oliver Cromwell and was an officer in the Parliamentary army during the English Civil War and the Commonwealth of England. He sat in the House of Commons in 1654 and governed a district during the Rule of the Major-Generals.
Air Commodore Edward "Teddy" Mortlock Donaldson, was a Royal Air Force (RAF) flying ace of the Second World War, and a former holder of the airspeed world record.
The Royal Air Force Chaplains Branch provides military chaplains for the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom.
Group Captain Nicolas Tindal-Carill-Worsley RAF, was a bomber pilot during the Second World War who helped plan and execute the Great Escape from Stalag Luft III, where he was imprisoned between 1940 and 1945.
Air Commodore Robert Alfred Copsey Carter, was a senior Royal Air Force officer who served with RAF Bomber Command during the Second World War. He received a Distinguished Service Order for his leadership of No. 150 Squadron RAF in bombing raids against German battleships.
James Bevan Bowen was a Welsh Royal Air Force officer who served during both World Wars, reaching the rank of Air Commodore.
Philip Ernest Tindal-Carill-Worsley was an English lawyer and landowner.
Air Cdre James Michael Birkin CB DSO OBE DFC AFC DL RAF was a Royal Air Force officer.
