Royal Air Force

(noun)

The United Kingdom's aerial warfare force; formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world.

Related Terms

Examples of Royal Air Force in the following topics:

  • The Cold War Begins

    • The Eastern European territories liberated from the Nazis and occupied by the Soviet armed forces were added to the Eastern Bloc by converting them into satellite states.
    • Following the Allies' May 1945 victory, the Soviets effectively occupied Eastern Europe, while strong US and Western allied forces remained in Western Europe.
    • Aircrews from the United States Air Force, the British Royal Air Force, the Royal Canadian Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force, the Royal New Zealand Air Force, and the South African Air Force:338 flew over 200,000 flights in one year, providing to the West Berliners up to 8,893 tons of necessities each day, such as fuel and food.

  • The Battle of Britain

    • The Battle of Britain, when the British Royal Air Force defended the UK against the German Air Force attacks, was the first major Nazi defeat and a turning point of World War II.
    • The Battle of Britain was a combat of the Second World War, when the Royal Air Force (RAF) defended the United Kingdom against the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) attacks from the end of June 1940.
    • It is described as the first major campaign fought entirely by air forces.
    • England can then be blockaded from Western France at close quarters by the Air Force, while the Navy with its submarines extend the range of the blockade."
    • Adolf Hitler's and Hermann Goering's plans to destroy the Royal Air Force to allow an invasion of Britain were failing, and in response to an RAF raid on Berlin, which itself was prompted by an accidental German bombing of London, they changed their tactics to the sustained bombing of civilian targets.

  • The Berlin Blockade

    • Aircrews from the United States Air Force, the British Royal Air Force, the Royal Canadian Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force, the Royal New Zealand Air Force, and the South African Air Force flew over 200,000 flights in one year, providing to the West Berliners up to 8,893 tons of necessities each day, such as fuel and food.
    • Stalin looked to force the Western nations to abandon Berlin.
    • Soviet military forces in the Soviet sector that surrounded Berlin totaled 1.5 million.
    • Although the ground routes had never been negotiated, the same was not true of the air.
    • The U.S. had a stronger navy and air force, and had nuclear weapons.

  • The Invasion of Normandy

    • Allied land forces came from the United States, Britain, Canada, and Free French forces.
    • In the weeks following the invasion, Polish forces and contingents from Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece and the Netherlands participated in the ground campaign; most also provided air and naval support alongside elements of the Royal Australian Air Force, the Royal New Zealand Air Force, and the Royal Norwegian Navy.
    • The Normandy invasion began with overnight parachute and glider landings, massive air attacks and naval bombardments.
    • German forces retreated across the Seine on 30 August 1944, marking the close of Operation Overlord.
    • Although the impact upon armoured vehicles was less than expected, air activity intimidated these units and cut their supplies.

  • American Arrival in Europe

    • From September 1941, convoys, coming mainly from North America and predominantly going to the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, were protected for the most part by the British and Canadian navies and air forces aided by ships and aircraft of the United States.
    • The United States entered the war in the west with Operation Torch in North Africa on 8 November 1942 although in mid-1942, the US Army Air Forces (USAAF) arrived in the UK and carried out a few raids across the English Channel.
    • Despite this the remaining US forces in Italy with other Allied forces pushed up to the last major defensive line in Northern Italy.
    • In January 1943, at the Casablanca Conference, it was agreed Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command operations against Germany would be reinforced by the USAAF in a Combined Operations Offensive plan called Operation Pointblank. 
    • Eisenhower was appointed commander of Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF), and British General Bernard Montgomery was named as commander of the 21st Army Group, which comprised all the land forces involved in the invasion.

  • Britain's Strategy

    • Emphasis for re-armament was given to air forces with the view that these would be most useful in any future war with Germany.
    • As a consequence of the loss of Norway and Denmark, the Royal Navy commenced a pre-emptive occupation of the Faroe Islands and the Royal Navy occupied Iceland to install naval and air bases on this Atlantic island.
    • The operations of the Luftwaffe against the Royal Air Force became known as the Battle of Britain.
    • Air power for the operation was a more even divide.
    • British and Commonwealth forces contributed directly to the fighting on the Eastern Front through their service in the Arctic convoys and training Red Air Force pilots, as well as in the provision of early material and intelligence support.

  • The Strategic Bombing of Europe

    • It is a military strategy distinct from both close air support of ground forces and tactical air power.
    • The Royal Air Force (RAF) carried out its first strategic bombing raid on Germany at Mönchengladbach on May 11, 1940.
    • In mid 1942, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) arrived in the UK and carried out a few raids across the English Channel.
    • Both the U.S. government and its Army Air Forces commanders were reluctant to bomb enemy cities and towns indiscriminately.
    • Conventionally, the air forces designated as "the target area" a circle having a radius of 1,000 feet around the aiming point of attack.

  • The Battle of the Atlantic

    • The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest military campaign of World War II, pitting the German Navy and Airforce against the Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Navy, the United States Navy, and Allied merchant shipping.
    • The Battle of the Atlantic pitted U-boats and other warships of the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) and aircraft of the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) against the Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Navy, the United States Navy, and Allied merchant shipping.
    • The convoys, coming mainly from North America and predominantly going to the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, were protected for the most part by the British and Canadian navies and air forces.
    • These forces were aided by ships and aircraft of the United States from September 13, 1941.
    • The Battle of the Atlantic pitted U-boats and other warships of the German Navy, along with aircrafts of the German Air Force, against Allied merchant convoys.

  • Conflict in the Atlantic

    • The Battle of the Atlantic pitted U-boats and other warships of the Kriegsmarine (German navy) and aircraft of the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) against the Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Navy, the United States Navy, and Allied merchant shipping.
    • The convoys, coming mainly from North America and predominantly going to the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, were protected for the most part by the British and Canadian navies and air forces.
    • These forces were aided by ships and aircraft of the United States from September 13, 1941.
    • In 1939, the Kriegsmarine lacked the strength to challenge the combined British Royal Navy and French Navy  for command of the sea.
    • Convoys allowed the Royal Navy to concentrate its escorts near the one place the U-boats were guaranteed to be found, the convoys.

  • Other Geophysical Applications

    • We have studied tidal and Coriolis forces previously.
    • To review, the tidal force is responsible for the tides -- it is a "differential force," due to a secondary effect of the force of gravity.
    • The Coriolis force is a fictitious force, representing a deflection of moving objects when they are viewed in a rotating reference frame of the Earth.
    • The certificate of examination for lieutenants in the Royal Navy once declared that the prospective officer was able to "shift his tides. "
    • The Coriolis force is quite small, and its effects generally become noticeable only when we are dealing with motions occurring over large distances and long periods of time, such as large-scale movements of air in the atmosphere or water in the ocean.