The Royal Air Force turns 100 today and will celebrate the centenary with a church service in London.
Senior figures and veterans from the RAF will attend the Founders' Day Service at the Church of St Clement Danes on The Strand in London.
The Queen has sent a message of congratulations and a 100-day baton relay will be started on the steps of the Royal Courts of Justice.
The relay will visit every Royal Air Force station and every region of the UK, from Land's End to John o' Groats and beyond. Today's events mark the start of a six-month celebration.
The Royal Air Force turns 100: A century of guarding Britain's skies
From the closing days of World War One to technology the pilots of 1918 would never have believed, the RAF celebrates its history.
Sunday 01 April 2018
Sky News
By Alistair Bunkall, Defence Correspondent
The Spitfire fighter was the star of the Battle of Britain
The Royal Air Force turns 100 today and will celebrate the centenary with a church service in London.
Senior figures and veterans from the RAF will attend the Founders' Day Service at the Church of St Clement Danes on The Strand in London.
The Queen has sent a message of congratulations and a 100-day baton relay will be started on the steps of the Royal Courts of Justice.
The cockpit of a A400M Atlas from 70 Squadron, based at RAF Brize Norton
The relay will visit every Royal Air Force station and every region of the UK, from Land's End to John o' Groats and beyond. Today's events mark the start of a six-month celebration.
A Handley Page pictured in November 1918 landing at Andover
The RAF was formed on 1 April 1918, towards the end of World War One.
Air power had changed the nature of warfare, so King George V authorised the creation of a new branch of the British military, merging the aviation branches of the Royal Navy and British Army into a single service - the RAF.
Royal Air Force ✔
@RoyalAirForce
In our 100th year, we will commemorate those who have gone before, thank our service men and women and inspire the next generation so that together, we can continue to help shape our world for the next 100 years and beyond #RAF100
8:00 AM - Apr 1, 2018
3,496 Likes 2,281 people are talking about this
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The RAF's finest moment came 22 years later: 1940, in the Battle of Britain.
The iconic Spitfire flew alongside the deadly Hurricane outnumbered by the German Luftwaffe over the skies of southern England.
The Avro Lancaster was the workhorse of Bomber Command in the Second World War
Defeat would almost certainly have meant a German invasion, but the RAF won and the battle went down in history.
Craig Murray, curator of the Imperial War Museum Duxford, said: "What it does, it really saves the country, and you could extend that further - it saves the West.
"I mean the Russians haven't yet been attacked, the Americans aren't yet in this.
"And it leaves Britain open to German attack if they don't win so what was done in the Battle of Britain would really be the RAF's defining moment.
Wing Commander George Unwin during the Battle of Britain in 1940 with his dog
"You do get that image of the RAF, you get it on propaganda posters, you see it with Churchill and his 'so much owed for so many to so few', which really gives this image of the heroic output, what these men are doing.
"The tension every day, the stress and just having to win every day.
The Red Arrows fly above Horse Guards Parade in London
"They shoot down more Germans every day apart from maybe five days of the Battle of Britain.
"I think that is when you really get that image of these guys."
The RAF's 100 years also spanned the Cold War and the development of nuclear weapons.
The RAF Avro Vulcan nuclear bomber seen in 1958. This one was based at Robin Hood Airport
For years the Vulcan bomber carried the UK's nuclear deterrent, on 24-hour standby to respond to a nuclear attack.
A Tornado F3 from RAF Leuchars firing defensive flares in 2003
The famous Tornado fast jet was designed during the Cold War to fly low and fast behind the Iron Curtain - it is still operating today, bombing Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
The first all-female Tornado jet crew to fight in Afghanistan in December 2009
The Tornado will retire next year to be replaced by the F35, the world's first fifth generation fighter.
A CH47 Chinook creating a dust storm during the re-supply of troops in Afghanistan
Recent years have seen huge advances in unmanned aircraft - drones.
They now play an increasingly important role in warfare, both for surveillance and strike missions.
Ministry of Defence ✔
@DefenceHQ
A padre uses the observer's cockpit as his pulpit during a service held in France, on the 1st September 1918. View our large collection of #RAF100 images which offer an amazing insight into the past, present and future of the @RoyalAirForce.
: http://ow.ly/sa0a30jdCz4
9:00 AM - Apr 1, 2018
291 Likes 140 people are talking about this
The current Chief of the Air Staff, Sir Stephen Hillier, believes the future of the RAF will almost certainly evolve around unmanned aircraft to some degree.
"Over the next two to three decades, what we will really see in increasing focus is not just those platforms but how you join them together.
"How you integrate it, exchange data and information to really exploit things like artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and unmanned will be a key part of that."
One of the RAF's jobs is to transport troops, such as these ones heading to Afghanistan in 2011
The RAF also transports aid, such as here in 2013, when ground crew load diggers to send to the Philippines after a typhoon
RAF Typhoon squadrons still sit on emergency standby ready to scramble and intercept suspicious planes nearing British airspace.
In 100 years, the RAF has evolved but its core mission has remained the same - protecting the skies of Britain.
https://news.sky.com/story/the-roya...a-century-of-guarding-britains-skies-11312331
Senior figures and veterans from the RAF will attend the Founders' Day Service at the Church of St Clement Danes on The Strand in London.
The Queen has sent a message of congratulations and a 100-day baton relay will be started on the steps of the Royal Courts of Justice.
The relay will visit every Royal Air Force station and every region of the UK, from Land's End to John o' Groats and beyond. Today's events mark the start of a six-month celebration.
The Royal Air Force turns 100: A century of guarding Britain's skies
From the closing days of World War One to technology the pilots of 1918 would never have believed, the RAF celebrates its history.
Sunday 01 April 2018
Sky News
By Alistair Bunkall, Defence Correspondent
The Spitfire fighter was the star of the Battle of Britain
The Royal Air Force turns 100 today and will celebrate the centenary with a church service in London.
Senior figures and veterans from the RAF will attend the Founders' Day Service at the Church of St Clement Danes on The Strand in London.
The Queen has sent a message of congratulations and a 100-day baton relay will be started on the steps of the Royal Courts of Justice.
The cockpit of a A400M Atlas from 70 Squadron, based at RAF Brize Norton
The relay will visit every Royal Air Force station and every region of the UK, from Land's End to John o' Groats and beyond. Today's events mark the start of a six-month celebration.
A Handley Page pictured in November 1918 landing at Andover
The RAF was formed on 1 April 1918, towards the end of World War One.
Air power had changed the nature of warfare, so King George V authorised the creation of a new branch of the British military, merging the aviation branches of the Royal Navy and British Army into a single service - the RAF.
@RoyalAirForce
In our 100th year, we will commemorate those who have gone before, thank our service men and women and inspire the next generation so that together, we can continue to help shape our world for the next 100 years and beyond #RAF100
8:00 AM - Apr 1, 2018
3,496 Likes 2,281 people are talking about this
Twitter Ads info and privacy
The RAF's finest moment came 22 years later: 1940, in the Battle of Britain.
The iconic Spitfire flew alongside the deadly Hurricane outnumbered by the German Luftwaffe over the skies of southern England.
The Avro Lancaster was the workhorse of Bomber Command in the Second World War
Defeat would almost certainly have meant a German invasion, but the RAF won and the battle went down in history.
Craig Murray, curator of the Imperial War Museum Duxford, said: "What it does, it really saves the country, and you could extend that further - it saves the West.
"I mean the Russians haven't yet been attacked, the Americans aren't yet in this.
"And it leaves Britain open to German attack if they don't win so what was done in the Battle of Britain would really be the RAF's defining moment.
Wing Commander George Unwin during the Battle of Britain in 1940 with his dog
"You do get that image of the RAF, you get it on propaganda posters, you see it with Churchill and his 'so much owed for so many to so few', which really gives this image of the heroic output, what these men are doing.
"The tension every day, the stress and just having to win every day.
The Red Arrows fly above Horse Guards Parade in London
"They shoot down more Germans every day apart from maybe five days of the Battle of Britain.
"I think that is when you really get that image of these guys."
The RAF's 100 years also spanned the Cold War and the development of nuclear weapons.
The RAF Avro Vulcan nuclear bomber seen in 1958. This one was based at Robin Hood Airport
For years the Vulcan bomber carried the UK's nuclear deterrent, on 24-hour standby to respond to a nuclear attack.
A Tornado F3 from RAF Leuchars firing defensive flares in 2003
The famous Tornado fast jet was designed during the Cold War to fly low and fast behind the Iron Curtain - it is still operating today, bombing Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
The first all-female Tornado jet crew to fight in Afghanistan in December 2009
The Tornado will retire next year to be replaced by the F35, the world's first fifth generation fighter.
A CH47 Chinook creating a dust storm during the re-supply of troops in Afghanistan
Recent years have seen huge advances in unmanned aircraft - drones.
They now play an increasingly important role in warfare, both for surveillance and strike missions.
@DefenceHQ
A padre uses the observer's cockpit as his pulpit during a service held in France, on the 1st September 1918. View our large collection of #RAF100 images which offer an amazing insight into the past, present and future of the @RoyalAirForce.
: http://ow.ly/sa0a30jdCz4 9:00 AM - Apr 1, 2018
291 Likes 140 people are talking about this
The current Chief of the Air Staff, Sir Stephen Hillier, believes the future of the RAF will almost certainly evolve around unmanned aircraft to some degree.
"Over the next two to three decades, what we will really see in increasing focus is not just those platforms but how you join them together.
"How you integrate it, exchange data and information to really exploit things like artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and unmanned will be a key part of that."
One of the RAF's jobs is to transport troops, such as these ones heading to Afghanistan in 2011
The RAF also transports aid, such as here in 2013, when ground crew load diggers to send to the Philippines after a typhoon
RAF Typhoon squadrons still sit on emergency standby ready to scramble and intercept suspicious planes nearing British airspace.
In 100 years, the RAF has evolved but its core mission has remained the same - protecting the skies of Britain.
https://news.sky.com/story/the-roya...a-century-of-guarding-britains-skies-11312331
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