Plymouth Sound, or locally just The Sound, is a deep inlet or sound in the English Channel near Plymouth in England.
The Rhinsof Galloway is a double-headed peninsula in southwestern Scotland. It takes the form of a hammerhead projecting into the Irish Sea, terminating in the north at Corsewall and Milleur Points and in the south at the Mull of Galloway. It is connected to the rest of Wigtownshire by an isthmus, washed on the north by Loch Ryan and on the south by Luce Bay. From end to end, the peninsula measures 28 miles. It takes its name from the Gaelic word rinn, meaning "point".
The Saunders Roe A.27 London was a British military biplane flying boat built by the Saunders Roe company. Only 31 were built, entering service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1936. Although due for replacement by the outbreak of World War II, they saw some active service pending the introduction of the ultimately unsuccessful Lerwick.
SS Torrey Canyon was an LR2 Suezmax class oil tanker with a cargo capacity of 118,285 long tons (120,183 t) of crude oil. She ran aground off the western coast of Cornwall, United Kingdom, on 18 March 1967, causing an environmental disaster. At that time she was the largest vessel ever to be wrecked.
The city of Plymouth, Devon, England is bounded by Dartmoor to the north, the Hamoaze to the west, the open expanse of water called Plymouth Sound to the south and the river Plym to the east.
The Blackburn Iris was a British three-engined biplane flying boat of the 1920s. Although only five Irises were built, it was used as a long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft by the Royal Air Force, where it equipped a squadron for four years, being used to carry out a number of notable long-distance flights. The final version of the Iris, the Iris Mark V was developed into the aircraft that replaced it in Squadron service, the Blackburn Perth.
Cattewater Wreck is a wooden three-masted, skeleton-built vessel, one of many ships that have wrecked in Cattewater, Plymouth Sound, England. This wreck is close to the entrance of Sutton Harbour, its name is still unknown but it is believed to be from the 16th Century. It is a Protected Wreck managed by Historic England.
The Blackburn Perth was a British flying boat which was in service during the interwar period. It was essentially an upgraded Iris, and hence the largest flying-boat to serve with the Royal Air Force at the time.
Group Captain Gerald Edward Livock was an English officer of the Royal Naval Air Service and Royal Air Force, who served from the beginning the First World War until the end of Second, and was also an archaeologist and cricketer. A right-handed batsman and wicket-keeper, he played first-class cricket for various teams between 1923 and 1934.
No. 204 Squadron was a Royal Air Force unit first formed in March 1915 as No.4 Squadron Royal Naval Air Service.
The British Firework Championships or National Firework Championships is an annual competition held in Plymouth, Devon, England, every August where judges review fireworks displays from professional fireworks companies and select the best examples.
The History of Plymouth in Devon, England, extends back to the Bronze Age, when the first settlement began at Mount Batten a peninsula in Plymouth Sound facing onto the English Channel. It continued as both a fishing and continental tin trading port through the late Iron Age into the Early Medieval period, until the more prosperous Saxon settlement of Sutton, later renamed Plymouth, surpassed it. With its natural harbour and open access to the Atlantic, the town found wealth and a national strategic importance during the establishment of British naval dominance in the colonisation of the New World. In 1620 the Pilgrim Fathers departed from Plymouth to establish the second English colony in America. During the English Civil War the town was besieged between 1642 and 1646 by the Royalists, but after the Restoration a Dockyard was established in the nearby town of Devonport. Throughout the Industrial Revolution Plymouth grew as a major mercantile shipping industry, including imports and passengers from the US, whilst Devonport grew as a naval base and ship construction town, building battleships for the Royal Navy – which later led to its partial destruction during World War II in a series of air-raids known as the Plymouth Blitz. After the war was over, the city centre was completely rebuilt to a new plan.
Royal Air Force Mount Batten, or more simply RAF Mount Batten, is a former Royal Air Force station and flying boat base at Mount Batten, a peninsula in Plymouth Sound, Devon, England, UK. Originally a seaplane station opened in 1917 as a Royal Navy Air Service Station Cattewater it became RAF Cattewater in 1918 and in 1928 was renamed RAF Mount Batten. The base is named after Captain Batten, a Civil War commander who defended this area at the time, with the Mountbatten family motto In Honour Bound taken as the station's motto.
RNAS Tresco was a Royal Naval Air Service base on Tresco, the second largest island in the Isles of Scilly. From February 1917 to May 1919 aircraft patrolled the Western Approaches and provided an escort for convoys. A total of thirteen U-boats were sighted and nine attacked.
Ictis, or Iktin, is or was an island described as a tin trading centre in the Bibliotheca historica of the Sicilian-Greek historian Diodorus Siculus, writing in the first century BC.
The Marine Branch (1918–1986) was a branch of the Royal Air Force (RAF) which operated watercraft in support of RAF operations. Just days after the creation of the RAF itself, the Marine Craft Section (MCS) was created with the transfer of Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) vessels and personnel to the new service. Originally tasked with the support of RNAS, and later RAF, seaplanes, Marine Craft Section was to achieve its greatest size during the Second World War, and achieved fame for its role in air-sea rescue operations. After the war MCS was granted full branch status on 11 December 1947; however, post-war the role of the new branch became greatly reduced with the end of the British Empire, the withdrawal of flying boats from service, and the increasing use of helicopters in air-sea rescue. The branch was disestablished on 8 January 1986.
The fortifications of Plymouth in Devon are extensive due to its natural harbour, its commanding position on the Western Approaches and its role as the United Kingdom's largest naval base. The first medieval defences were built to defend Sutton Harbour on the eastern side of Plymouth Sound at the mouth of the River Plym, but by the 18th century, naval activity had begun to shift westward to Devonport at the mouth of the River Tamar. During the Victorian era, advances in military technology led to a huge programme of fortification encompassing the whole of Plymouth Sound together with the overland approaches. Many of these works remained in military use well into the 20th century.
No. 19 Group was a group of the Royal Air Force, active during 1918, and then from 1941-1969.
Mount Batten is an outcrop of rock on a peninsula in Plymouth Sound, Devon, England, named after Sir William Batten.
