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1943. 5 March – In an effort to decimate the German industrial base, Bomber Command begins bombing the Ruhr region. 25 March – Transport Command is formed by redesignating Ferry Command. 16 May – Aircraft of 617 Squadron set out on Operation Chastise, commonly known as the Dambusters Raid.
The history of the Royal Air Force, the air forceof the United Kingdom, spans a century of British military aviation. The RAF was founded on 1 April 1918, towards the end of the First World Warby merging the Royal Flying Corpsand the Royal Naval Air Service. After the war, the RAF was greatly reduced in size and during the inter-war years was ...
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. [5] It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the second independent air force in the world after the Finnish Air Force (established 6 March 1918), [6] by merging the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS ...
The Women's Auxiliary Air Force ( WAAF ), whose members were referred to as WAAFs ( / ˈwæfs / ), was the female auxiliary of the British Royal Air Force during the Second World War. Established in 1939, WAAF numbers exceeded 181,000 at its peak strength in 1943, (15.7% of the RAF) [ 1] with over 2,000 women enlisting per week.
5/6 March: The first raid of the Battle of the Ruhr [2] flew RAF Bomber Command's 100,000th sortie of World War II, with 160 acres destroyed and 53 Krupps buildings bombed at Essen. 13 April: The Eighth Air Force's largest mission to date (115 B-17s) destroys half of the Focke-Wulf factory buildings in Bremen
Air warfare of World War II. Boeing B-29 Superfortress long-range strategic bombers releasing their payloads during the Burma campaign in 1945. The B-29 was the largest aircraft to have a significant operational role in World War II and remains the only aircraft in history to have ever used a nuclear weapon in combat.
English Electric Lightning. RAF Fighter Command was one of the commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It served throughout the Second World War. It earned near-immortal fame during the Battle of Britain in 1940, when the Few held off the Luftwaffe attack on Britain.
List of aircraft of the Royal Air Force. Many aircraft types have served in the British Royal Air Force since its formation in April 1918 from the merger of the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service. This is a list of RAF aircraft, including all currently active and retired types listed in alphabetic order by their RAF type name.