Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's aerial warfare force. Formed toward the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world. Following victory over the Central Powers in 1918 the RAF emerged as, at the time, the largest air force in the world. Since its formation, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history, in particular, playing a large part in the Second World War where it fought its most famous campaign, the Battle of Britain.
The RAF's mission is to support the objectives of the British Ministry of Defence (MoD), which are to "provide the capabilities needed: to ensure the security and defence of the United Kingdom and overseas territories, including against terrorism; to support the Government’s foreign policy objectives particularly in promoting international peace and security." The RAF describe its mission statement as "... [to provide] An agile, adaptable and capable Air Force that, person for person, is second to none, and that makes a decisive air power contribution in support of the UK Defence Mission." The mission statement is supported by the RAF's definition of air power, which guides its strategy. Air power is defined as: "The ability to project power from the air and space to influence the behaviour of people or the course of events."
RAF (disambiguation)
RAF is the Royal Air Force, the air force of the United Kingdom.
RAF or Raf may also refer to:
Organizations
Military and paramilitary
People
Other
RAF 1
The RAF 1 was a British air-cooled, V-8 engine developed for aircraft use during World War I. Based on a French design it was designed by the Royal Aircraft Factory but built by six different British companies including Daimler, Rolls-Royce and Wolseley Motors Limited.
Design and development
Estate
Estate or The Estate may refer to:
Law
- The Estates, representative bodies of the estates of the realm
- Estates General, a supra-regional gathering of representatives of the estates of the realm
- Estates General, a supra-regional gathering of representatives of the estates of the realm
- Housing estate, a group of houses built as a single development.
- Industrial estate (office park) and trading estate; property planned and sub-let for industrial and commercial use.
- Real estate or real property
Estate (album)
Estate is a jazz album by Michel Petrucciani.
The album was recorded in the Forum Recording Studio, Rome during the spring of 1982. The title is the Italian word for "summer", pronounced [eˈstaːtɛ].
Personnel
Track listing
Estates of the realm
The estates of the realm were the broad social orders of the hierarchically conceived society, recognised in the Middle Ages and Early Modern period in Christian Europe. There was no single system of dividing society into estates, and systems developed over time.
The best known system is the French three-estate system that was used until the French Revolution: the clergy (first estate), the nobility (second estate), and commoners (third estate). Some countries considered burghers and rural commoners separate estates, notably Scandinavian nations and Russia. The two-estate system which eventually evolved in England was to combine nobility and bishops into one lordly estate, with "commons" as the other estate; this system produced the two houses of parliament. In southern Germany, a three-estate system of princes, burghers, and knights was used, with high clergy included as princes.
Today the term "Fourth Estate" is often used in reference to forces outside the established power structure (imagined as three estates), and is now most commonly used in reference to the independent press or media. Historically, in Northern and Eastern Europe, the fourth estate meant rural commoners.
