Code talkers were Native Americans who used their languages to help the United States military communicate in secret. This black-and-white photograph shows two Navajo code talkers operating a radio during World War II (1939-1945). The Navajo language was unknown to the Germans and Japanese and proved impossible for them to decipher.
Credit: NARA

On November 11, the anniversary of the end of World War I (1914-1918), the United States observes Veterans Day honoring men and women who have served in the United States armed services. In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed November 11 as Armistice Day to remember the tragedies of war and appreciate peace achieved by the armistice (truce). In 1938, Armistice Day was made a federal holiday. Congress renamed the day Veterans Day to honor all United States Veterans in 1954. Around the world, the anniversary of the end of World War I is a day to remember those who have died in war. Australia, Canada, and New Zealand observe Remembrance Day on November 11. The United Kingdom observes Remembrance Day on the Sunday closest to November 11.

November is also Native American Heritage Month, a time to observe the cultures, histories, and traditions of Native Americans. Many Native Americans have served in the United States armed forces, contributing to the United States’ success in World War I (1914-1918) and World War II (1939-1945). Most notably, Native Americans called the Code Talkers developed and used codes that enabled the United States and its allies to communicate globally without enemy interference.

The Code Talkers were small groups of Native Americans who served in the United States armed forces in World War I and World War II. Code Talkers developed and used codes in Native American languages to send secret messages, helping the United States and its allies win both wars.

The engineer Philip Johnston suggested the United States Marine Corps use Navajo language as a code during World War II. He grew up on a Navajo reservation and knew that the Navajo language is unwritten, difficult to decipher (decode), and unknown to most people who are not Navajo. In 1942, the United States Marine Corps recruited 29 Navajo men to develop the code. The code talkers used familiar wards to represent U.S. military terms. For example, bombs were called eggs in Navajo. They also created a new phonetic alphabet with Navajo words.

Similarly, in World War I, 19 Choctaw men had served in the U.S. Army, sending and receiving messages based on the Choctaw language. During World War II, 17 Comanche men used their language for code in the U.S. Army Signal Corps.

.Credit: Bank of England

June is LGBTQ+ Pride Month. All month long, Behind the Headlines will feature lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning pioneers in a variety of areas.

On what would have been his 109th birthday, the English mathematician, computer pioneer, and codebreaker Alan Turing is getting a very special gift: a 50-pound (£50) note. It’s not just an old £50 bank note, however. This bank note—and millions of others—will have his face on it.

Following a public nomination process in 2019, Turing was selected to be the new face of the £50 note. His image will replace images of the engineer and scientist James Watt and the industrialist and entrepreneur Matthew Boulton. An image of Elizabeth II will remain on the obverse side of the note, or the side that bears the principal design.

Turing was recognized not only for his important contributions to the development of electronic digital computers, but also for the discrimination he faced as a gay man. After World War II (1939-1945), Turing was prosecuted for his relationship with a man. He was given the choice of either imprisonment or probation with the condition of undergoing female hormone treatment. On June 7, 1954, at the age of 41, Turing took his own life.

In 2009, the British government issued an apology. Four years later, Turing was given a royal pardon, releasing him for the legal penalties for his crime. In 2017, the Turing Law was passed, which pardoned thousands of gay and bisexual men who had been convicted of sexual offenses that have since been eliminated.

Alan Turing (far right) was an English mathematician and computer pioneer. He made important contributions to the development of electronic digital computers.
Credit: Heritage-Images/Science Museum, London

Turing was born on June 23, 1912, in London. He studied mathematics at Cambridge University and Princeton University. In 1936, he developed a hypothetical computing machine—now called the Turing machine—that could, in principle, perform any calculation. The device had a long tape divided into squares on which symbols could be written or read. The tape head of the machine could move to the left or to the right. The machine also had a table to tell it the order in which to carry out operations. The Turing machine became an important model for determining what tasks a computer could perform. During World War II, Turing helped crack German codes.

After the war, he worked on a project to build the first British electronic digital computer. In 1950, he proposed a test for determining if machines might be said to “think.” This test, now called the Turing test, is often mentioned in discussions of artificial intelligence (AI).

Bruno Dey, a former guard at the Stutthof concentration camp, hides his face as he is wheeled into a courtroom in 2020. The 93-year-old Dey was convicted of complicity in the murder of 5,230 people at the German-run camp during World War II (1939-1945).
Credit: © Christian Charisius, AFP/Getty Images

In July 2020, a 93-year-old man was found guilty of helping Nazis murder thousands of people while serving as a guard at a concentration camp in Poland during World War II (1939-1945). The former Nazi guard, Bruno Dey, was convicted (declared guilty) of 5,230 counts of accessory to murder, meaning that he aided in over 5,000 deaths. The number of charges represents the number of people believed to have been killed in the Stutthof concentration camp.

The Nazis, led by the dictator Adolf Hitler, controlled Germany from 1933 to 1945. The Nazi government operated concentration camps at which people—many of them Jews—were imprisoned and forced to work. In some cases, these people were killed without legal proceedings. The imprisoned people also included socialists, Communists, priests, homosexuals, and political prisoners, among others.

Although Dey is 93, he was tried in a juvenile court, because he was 17 when he committed the crimes. Juvenile court is a special court that handles cases involving children accused of crimes. During the trial, Holocaust survivors spoke of their horrific experiences in the Stutthof camp. The Holocaust was the systematic, state-sponsored murder of Jews and others by the Nazis during World War II.

Such survival stories are not restricted to courtrooms. Rather, stories, possessions, and photographs from the Holocaust have been collected in museums throughout the world. The Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., features films, photographs, eyewitness accounts, and various objects from the Holocaust. The museum is devoted to teaching the history of the Holocaust.

Given his advanced age, Dey is perhaps one of the last participants in the Holocaust to be convicted. In recent years, German courts have tried many people who participated by either rounding up Jews or operating concentration camps. These efforts have become urgent, because many of these participants are now in their 90’s.

Trials to convict Nazis began soon after the end of World War II. Chief among these were the Nuremberg Trials (1945-1949). These trials were the first successful war crimes trials conducted against senior Nazi officials. Another prominent trial was that of Adolf Eichmann, a lieutenant colonel in the Nazi secret police. In 1961, he was convicted and executed for his part in the killing of about 6 million Jews during World War II.

May 8 marks the 75th anniversary of V-E Day. V-E stands for Victory in Europe. It was officially proclaimed by United States President Harry S. Truman on Tuesday, May 8, 1945. It marked the surrender of the German armed forces and the end of the fighting against Germany in World War II (1939-1945).

Upon Germany’s defeat, celebrations erupted in towns and cities across the world. Crowds took to the streets to sing, dance, and rejoice. British prime minister Winston Churchill marked the occasion by declaring May 8 a public holiday. It was the end to nearly six years of conflict in Europe that had cost the lives of millions and caused huge suffering worldwide.

A cheering crowd in London, England, welcomes the end of fighting in Europe during World War II on May 8, 1945—a day remembered as Victory in Europe (V-E) Day.
Photo credit: © Popperfoto/Getty Images

Leading up to V-E Day. The Allies began their final assault on Germany in early 1945. Soviet soldiers reached the Oder River, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) east of Berlin, in January. Allied forces in the west occupied positions along the Rhine by early March.

British and Canadian forces cleared the Germans out of the Netherlands and swept into northern Germany. American and French forces raced toward the Elbe River in central Germany. The German dictator Adolph Hitler ordered his soldiers to fight to the death. But large numbers of German soldiers surrendered each day.

As they advanced, the Allies discovered horrifying evidence of brutality by Germany’s Nazi regime. Hitler had ordered the imprisonment and murder of millions of Jews and members of other minority groups in concentration camps. The starving survivors of the death camps gave proof of the terrible suffering of those who had already died. The full nature and reality of the Nazi’s state-sponsored, systematic murder of Jews and others, known as the Holocaust, came to light in later months and years.

The Allies left the capture of Berlin to Soviet forces. By April 25, 1945, Soviet troops had surrounded the city. From a bunker (shelter) deep underground, Hitler ordered German soldiers to fight on. On April 30, however, Hitler killed himself rather than face defeat. With him died the Third Reich (Third Empire), the Nazi term for the empire in which they hoped to unite all Germanic peoples.

The fighting in Berlin claimed the lives of over 70,000 Soviet soldiers. The Germans propped up their remaining units with children and elderly reservists. Thousands of them died in that last week of fighting.

German Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz briefly succeeded Hitler and arranged for Germany’s surrender. On May 7, 1945, General Alfred Jodl, chief of staff of the German armed forces, signed a statement of unconditional surrender at the headquarters of Allied leader Dwight D. Eisenhower in Reims, France. World War II had ended in Europe. The Allies declared May 8 as V-E Day.

February 19, 2020

In honor of Black History Month, today World Book remembers the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African Americans who served in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II (1939-1945). The name Tuskegee Airmen is used most often to refer to combat pilots, but the group also included bombardiers, navigators, maintenance crews, and support staff. Members of the Tuskegee Airmen were the first African Americans to qualify as military aviators in any branch of the armed forces. Many became decorated war heroes. In 2007, the United States awarded the Tuskegee Airmen the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award given by Congress.

The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of African American pilots, crew, and support staff that served in the Army Air Corps during World War II (1939-1945). This photograph, taken in Ramitelli, Italy, in 1945, shows airmen at a tactical meeting. Credit: Library of Congress

Last February, the National Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., hosted an event called “African American Pioneers in Aviation and Space.” Among the special guests at the event was the Tuskegee Airman Charles McGee, who turned 100 years old in December 2019. McGee flew 409 aerial combat missions during World War II, the Korean War (1950-1953), and the Vietnam War (1957-1975). His military honors include the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, and two Presidential Unit Citations. McGee was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2011.

Daniel “Chappie” James, one of the famous Tuskegee Airmen, poses with his P-51 Mustang fighter plane during the Korean War. Credit: U.S. Air Force

At the time of World War II, the U.S. War Department had a policy of racial segregation. Black soldiers were trained separately from white soldiers and served in separate units. They were not allowed into elite military units. In 1941, under pressure from African American organizations and Congress, the Army Air Corps began accepting black men and admitting them into flight training. The men were trained at Tuskegee Army Air Base, near Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University), a college for black students in rural Alabama.

Credit: © African American History Month

The training program began in 1941. One of the first men to earn the wings of an Army Air Corps pilot was Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., who later became the first black general in the U.S. Air Force. Davis commanded the 99th Pursuit Squadron, the nation’s first all-black squadron, which trained at Tuskegee. The 99th operated in northern Africa. Davis later commanded the 332nd Fighter Group, which also trained at Tuskegee. The 332nd became known for its success escorting bombers on missions over Europe.

August 30, 2019

This Sunday, September 1, marks 80 years since Nazi Germany invaded Poland in 1939. Fighting in Asia had begun years earlier, but Germany’s invasion of Poland is considered the beginning of World War II, the most destructive war in history. World War II eventually drew in more than 50 nations, and more than 50 million people died before the war ended in September 1945.

German troops attack from a trench early in World War II. Germany started the war in Europe by attacking Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, 80 years ago this Sunday. Credit: AP Photo

Germany’s invasion of Poland came after years of problems and shifting attitudes in Germany. The nation’s defeat in World War I (1914-1918) resulted in dire economic and social problems in the 1920′s. Many people longed for the more prosperous pre-war days of the German Empire. In the early 1930′s, political unrest led to the rise of the Nazis, a fascist (extreme authoritarian) political group. The Nazis opposed democracy, Communism, socialism, feminism, and other political systems and movements that claimed to favor equality. The Nazis promised to make Germany great again by building a harmonious, orderly, and strong society. Instead, they brought terrorism, war, and genocide to Germany and other countries.

Adolf Hitler, far right, reviews German tanks as they parade through the streets of Warsaw, Poland, in 1939. Credit: AP/Wide World

In 1933, Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazis, was appointed chancellor of Germany. Hitler rapidly increased his own power, and preached that Germans were a “superior race.” He called Jews, Slavs, and other minority groups inferior. He began a campaign of hatred against Jews and Communists and promised to rid the country of them. In this time of distress and economic depression, Hitler’s version of nationalism (an extreme form of patriotism) appealed to many Germans.

Hitler built up Germany’s armed forces. In March 1938, German soldiers marched into neighboring Austria and united it with Germany. At the end of September, Germany seized part of Czechoslovakia. The Czechs came under complete Nazi control in March 1939. Germany’s September invasion of Poland took place after Hitler agreed to divide the country with the Soviet Union. After quick German advances in western Poland, the Soviets invaded Poland from the east on September 17. Attacked from both sides, Poland fell on October 6. The Germans went on to invade other countries (including the Soviet Union) and took control of much of Europe.

The Nazis instituted the Holocaust, the systematic, state-sponsored murder of Jews and other people the Nazis judged politically dangerous or racially or mentally inferior. Historians estimate that the Nazis killed as many as 11 million people, including some 6 million Jews.

The war eventually turned against Nazi Germany, and the Nazis lost control of all areas—including Germany, which was badly damaged in the fighting. Around 5 million Germans died during World War II. Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945. Germany surrendered on May 8, ending the war in Europe. Despite the death and destruction brought by Hitler and the Nazis, far-right Neo-Nazi (new Nazi) groups formed after the war in Germany and elsewhere. Neo-Nazis continue to threaten and attack Jews and members of other minority groups.

Nazism and fascism (which also thrived in Italy and Spain) were not unique to Europe. In the United States in the 1930′s, the German American Bund and other groups actively supported the Nazis. The Bund gained a large membership, and in February 1939, it held a rally at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. Some 20,000 people attended the radical Bund rally as around 1,500 police officers held back crowds of anti-fascist protesters outside. The Bund collapsed with the U.S. entry into World War II in December 1941—against Nazi Germany (and Japan).

Last Friday, November 30, George Herbert Walker Bush, the 41st president of the United States, died in Houston at the age of 94. He served one term as president, from 1989 to 1993. He and his son George W. Bush, who became president in 2001, were the second father and son to serve as president. The only other father and son who both became president were John Adams and John Quincy Adams, who held office from 1797 to 1801 and from 1825 to 1829, respectively.

George H. W. Bush, 41st president of the United States, served from 1989 to 1993.
Credit: White House

As president, George H. W. Bush led the nation during the Persian Gulf War of 1991, in which the United States and its allies defeated Iraq, whose forces had invaded Kuwait. He also signed important arms-control agreements with the Soviet Union and, after it broke apart in 1991, with Russia and other former Soviet republics. Prior to his election as president, Bush had been a successful oil company executive and had served a long career in government service.

Bush was born on June 12, 1924, in Milton, Massachusetts. Bush served as a U.S. Navy pilot during World War II (1939-1945). On Sept. 2, 1944, Bush’s plane was shot down during an attack on a Japanese-held island. Before parachuting from his plane, Bush scored damaging hits on his target, a radio station. Bush was rescued from the ocean, but his two crew members did not survive. Bush received the Distinguished Flying Cross for his heroism in the incident. He returned to flying after being shot down.

George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush.
Credit: Joyce N. Boghosian, White House Photo Office

On Jan. 6, 1945, Bush and Barbara Pierce were married. They were to become the longest-wedded couple in the history of the U.S. presidency, celebrating their 73rd wedding anniversary in January 2018. The couple had six children—George; Robin, who died of leukemia; John, called Jeb; Neil; Marvin; and Dorothy. Their son George was governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000 before serving as U.S. president from 2001 to 2009. Jeb Bush was governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007.

In 1945, Bush graduated from Yale University with a bachelor’s degree in economics. He then worked in the oil industry, becoming president of the Zapata Off-Shore Oil Company in 1954. Bush’s career as an independent oilman made him wealthy.

Bush became interested in politics in the late 1950’s. A Republican, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1966 and was reelected in 1968. In 1970, President Richard M. Nixon  appointed Bush U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (UN). He served until 1973. He was the U.S. envoy to Communist China in 1974 and 1975 and head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)  in 1976 and 1977.

In 1980, Ronald Reagan, the Republican Party candidate for president of the United States, chose Bush as his running mate. Reagan and Bush defeated their Democratic opponents, President Jimmy Carter and Vice President Walter Mondale. In the 1984 presidential election, Reagan and Bush won a landslide victory over their Democratic opponents, former Vice President Walter Mondale and Representative Geraldine Ferraro.

Bush won the Republican presidential nomination in 1988. He chose as his running mate Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana. In his acceptance speech at the Republican convention in August, Bush called on the United States to become a “kinder, gentler nation.” In November, Bush and Quayle defeated their Democratic opponents, Governor Mike Dukakis and Senator Lloyd Bentsen.

Bush and Quayle ran for reelection in 1992 but lost to their Democratic opponents, Governor Bill Clinton and Senator Al Gore.

After leaving the White House, Bush became active with charitable organizations and helped raise several million dollars for various causes. In 2005, President George W. Bush appointed his father and former President Bill Clinton to lead relief efforts for victims of natural disasters in the United States and other parts of the world.

In his later years, George H. W. Bush often used a wheelchair. Even so, in 2014 he celebrated his 90th birthday by skydiving!

July 2, 2018

With around 150,000 speakers, Navajo is the most widely spoken Native American language in the United States. Navajo, known to its speakers as Diné Bizaad, belongs to the Apachean language complex, a group that includes Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Mescalero, and other languages of the American southwest. Apachean languages are part of the Athabascan family, a language group that includes languages spoken by the indigenous (native) people of Alaska, British Columbia, and other parts of North America.

A Navajo woman teaches her daughter how to spin thread for weaving. Many parts of Navajo culture—including the language known as Diné Bizaad—have been passed along from one generation to the next. Credit: © Thinkstock

Navajo is a verb-centered language. The verb conjugation is very complex. This allows a Navajo verb to give lots of information without the help of additional words. For example, to say it is very far in English requires one verb (is) and three additional words. Translated into Navajo, the sentence has just two words: Ayóó (very) ánizáád (it is far). The verb ánizáád provides most of the information, and it requires just one additional word to convey the full message. A single Navajo verb can sometimes serve as a rough equivalent of an entire English sentence. For example, the Navajo word Yidlą́ means he is drinking it.

During the 1800′s and early 1900′s, Navajo children were required by law to leave their families and live in government-run boarding schools. The purpose of “Indian schools” was to erase the traditional Navajo way of life, including the language, and to educate the children and instill in them the values of mainstream American culture. While living at these schools, children were only allowed to speak English. Speaking Navajo would often result in harsh punishment. In this way, a great many Navajo lost the knowledge of their native tongue. Luckily, many Navajo were still able to pass the language down to their children, and Diné Bizaad survives.

This photograph shows young Navajo code talkers operating a radio during World War II (1939-1945). The Navajo language was unknown to the Japanese and proved impossible for them to decipher. Credit: NARA

During World War II (1939-1945), the U.S. Marine Corps recruited more than 400 Navajo to serve as “code talkers” against Japanese forces. The code talkers sent vital messages to each other between front lines and command posts. The Navajo language was chosen as the basis for the code because of the complex structure, difficult pronunciation, and singsong qualities that made it nearly impossible to decipher.

Code talkers used familiar words to represent military terms. When referring to a fighter plane, they used the Navajo word for hummingbird. A destroyer warship became a shark, and bombs were eggs. Code talkers also developed an alphabet based on English words to spell names. One or more Navajo words could stand for each letter. For example, the Navajo word for ant indicated the letter a, bear signaled b, cat was c, and so on. The Japanese never broke the Navajo code.

May 9, 2018

May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (APAHM) in the United States. To celebrate, World Book examines the life of Florence Ebersole Smith Finch (1915-2016), a Filipino-American heroine of World War II (1939-1945). During most of the war, Finch struggled against the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. At that time, the Philippines was a U.S. commonwealth. The Philippines—particularly the main island of Luzon—was the scene of heavy fighting during the war. Finch later served in the U.S. Coast Guard.

Florence Finch helped many American and Filipino prisoners of war survive World War II. Credit: United States Coast Guard

Finch was born Loring May Ebersole on Oct. 11, 1915, in the Luzon city of Santiago. She was the daughter of an American veteran of the Spanish-American War (1898) and a Filipino mother. After high school, Finch worked as a stenographer at the U.S. Army Intelligence headquarters in Manila, the capital of the Philippines. (A stenographer is a person who writes down words as they are spoken in a form called shorthand. Later the shorthand is written—usually typewritten—in a more easily read long form.) She married U.S. Navy Chief Electrician’s Mate Charles E. Smith in August 1941. The Japanese invaded Luzon in December, and took control of Manila in January 1942. Charles Smith was killed in action in February. Filipino and U.S. forces in the Philippines surrendered to the Japanese in May. To avoid internment in a prison camp, Finch disguised her American heritage and took a job with the occupying Japanese forces.

Finch secretly corresponded with U.S. and Filipino servicemen captured by the Japanese, and she helped get food and supplies to the starving prisoners. She also guided fuel and other supplies to Filipino resistance groups and assisted in acts of sabotage against the Japanese. In October 1944, the Japanese discovered her activities and she was arrested, tortured, starved, and imprisoned at a women’s camp in Mandaluyong near Manila. Finch survived the ordeal, and American forces freed her in February 1945. The Japanese officially surrendered on September 2, ending World War II.

In May 1945, Finch moved to live with family in Buffalo, New York. She served in the U.S. Coast Guard Women’s Reserve from July 1945 until May 1946. She then attended secretarial school and married Army veteran Robert Finch. In November 1947, the U.S. government awarded Florence Finch the Medal of Freedom (now called the Presidential Medal of Freedom), the nation’s highest civilian award. Finch and her husband lived in Ithaca, New York, where she worked as a secretary at Cornell University. Finch died in Ithaca on Dec. 8, 2016.

APAHM celebrates the culture, traditions, and history of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States. It began as a two-week celebration in 1978 and expanded to the full month of May in 1990. May was chosen to commemorate the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants in the United States—noted as May 7, 1843—and for the May 10, 1869, completion of the American transcontinental railroad. The railroad companies laying the tracks relied heavily on Chinese immigrant workers.

March 30, 2018

On April 1, 1918, 100 years ago this Sunday, the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force (RAF) became the world’s first national air force independent of an army or navy. The RAF is responsible for most of the United Kingdom’s military air operations. The RAF has long been one of the world’s most advanced and powerful air forces. The RAF centenary—celebrated as RAF100—is being marked by special activities and events throughout the United Kingdom from April through November 2018.

The Sopwith Camel, seen here at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, was an early famous fighter plane of the Royal Air Force. Credit: U.S. Air Force

A gala concert will launch RAF100 at London’s Royal Albert Hall on March 31. On April 1, a Centenary Baton Relay begins at London’s Royal Courts of Justice and will run through historic RAF sites for 100 days, returning to London on July 10 for the Horse Guards Parade. That same day, a centenary service will be held at Westminster Abbey followed by a parade and flypast of old and new RAF planes over Buckingham Palace. The RAF100 Aircraft Tour will be bring historic warplanes to such U.K. cities as Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow, London, and Manchester. Air shows featuring RAF aircraft will take place throughout the summer and special exhibitions will feature at the RAF Museum in London and its satellites in other cities.

The United Kingdom formed its first air force, the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), in 1912. It was part of the British Army. A separate Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was formed in 1914. Early in World War I (1914-1918), RFC aircraft were used mainly for reconnaissance (information gathering) and for directing artillery (heavy gun) attacks. RNAS aircraft mainly hunted German submarines and airships. Both services soon developed swift new fighter planes, called scouts at the time, for air-to-air combat. Famous British fighters included the Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5 and the Sopwith Camel. British bombers, such as the Airco DH4 and DH9, attacked enemy ground targets later in the war. On April 1, 1918, the RFC and RNAS merged to form the Royal Air Force.

In the 1920’s, RAF warplanes flew missions in the Middle East, India, and North Africa. In the late 1930’s, the RAF expanded to keep pace with Germany’s air force. In 1939, the Royal Navy took control of the RAF’s Fleet Air Arm.

Royal Air Force Supermarine Spitfires patrol the skies above the United Kingdom during World War II. Credit: AFHRA

Early in World War II (1939-1945), the RAF lost hundreds of aircraft and crew to German flyers over Belgium and France. The RAF recovered, however. The force repelled repeated German air attacks in the 1940 Battle of Britain. The battle made legends of two British planes—the Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire—as well as the pilots who flew them. RAF bombers—most famously the four-engine Avro Lancaster—flew thousands of missions against Germany and occupied Europe. RAF air squadrons also played important roles in North Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific. A number of non-Britons served in the RAF. Flyers came from several countries, including Australia, Canada, Czechoslovakia, New Zealand, Poland, South Africa, and the United States.

In the 1950’s, RAF aircraft supported military operations in Cyprus, Egypt, Kenya, Malaysia, and elsewhere. During part of the Cold War, RAF warplanes armed with nuclear weapons helped deter (discourage) a Soviet attack on the United Kingdom or its allies. The Cold War was an intense rivalry between Communist and non-Communist nations between 1945 and 1991.

RAF warplanes—including the Harrier ground attack aircraft—played important roles during the Falklands War of 1982. RAF aircraft also were active during the Persian Gulf War of 1991, the Afghanistan War (2001-2014), and the Iraq War (2003-2011). The RAF has taken part in numerous North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) combat and relief missions.