During WWII the Italian Regia Aeronautica was split into two, the North fought with the Axis forces and was called the Aeronautica Nazionale Republicana (ANR) and the souths Aviation Cobelligerante Italiana (ACI) supported Allied operations. Total loses on both sides exceded 9000 personel and 5000 aircraft. It was only in 1946 when Italy became a republic that the combined Italian Air Force was renamed ...
From starting life in 1917 as the Imperial Russian Air Unit, by 1918 the few resources were taken over by the Workers and Peasants Red Air Fleet, several name changes later and the Red Army Air Forces or VVS was established in 1925. Following expansion the VVS soon had the worlds largest bomber fleet, by the outbreak of World War II 95% of these bombers were the Topolev SB. The Soviet expansion ...
During the height of the cold war the Russian Air Force was expanded and re-armed until at one time it numbered in excess of 10,000 aircraft. NATO forces gave the Russian MiG fighter jets what have become infamous codenames like ‘Flogger’,’Foxbat’ and ‘Fulcrum’. Russian Pilots using cutting edge aircraft technology, where highly trained and given the best equipment available to keep them ...
In 1920, French WWI hero Paul Teste, was the first pilot to demonstrate actually landing an aircraft on the deck of a ship, The Béarn, and in effect invented the concept of the modern Aircraft carrier. In the 1960s French Pilots were issued with watches manufactured to the "Type 20” pattern, including approximately 500 Breguet watches for those operating from Aircraft carriers in the Navy. ...
The increased operational speeds of aircraft during World War II meant that even slight variations in timing could cause large navigational errors. in 1940 the British Air Ministry received an order of Omega wristwatches, specifically designed for use by pilots and navigators, the watches features a 'Weems' rotating/locking bezel. This type of bezel was designed by Phillip Weems, an American ...
Recent Comments