query: military_branch peter ottewill
supports: Peter Guy Ottewill , GM ( 5 November 1915 -- 31 January 2003 ) was an English RAF officer who during the Second World War in 1943 rescued two airmen from a Bristol Beaufighter which had crashed into an ammunition store at Kirknewton Scotland during take - off , and was awarded the George Medal . Educated at John Roan School , he joined the RAF in 1931 . Initially an armourer , he trained as a Hurricane pilot , serving with 43 Squadron at the evacuation of Dunkirk ; and was one of the first servicemen ever to have plastic surgery . The George Medal citation said : One day in June , 1943 , a Beaufighter aircraft crashed into an ammunition store when taking off and immediately caught fire . Both occupants of the aircraft were stunned and unable to get out unaided . Despite the bursting of the aircraft 's war load of ammunition ( which included cannon shells ) , the 30,000 rounds of ammunition which were exploding in the store and the grave danger of the petrol tanks exploding , Sqn Ldr Ottewill , accompanied by 2 others , went to the scene of the accident in an endeavour to rescue the crew . Sqn Ldr Ottewill , ignoring a burning petrol tank , jumped on to the wing and after opening the front hatch , he succeeded in releasing the pilot and dragged him clear . Sqn Ldr Ottewill then returned and rescued the observer who was in happened . Shortly afterwards a petrol tank exploded . Sqn Ldr Ottewill , who had been severely burned on a previous occasion when his own aircraft was shot down by the enemy , accepted the risk of further severe burns , and injury in going to the assistance of his comrades and effecting their rescue . Fortunately he sustained only slight burns during this rescue . After the war he was seconded to the Royal Australian Air Force and served in Korea . He was then a Staff Officer with 2nd Tactical Air Force and worked at NATO headquarters before his final post as a Station commander . The Bristol Aeroplane Company, originally the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, was both one of the first and one of the most important British aviation companies, designing and manufacturing both airframes and aero engines. Notable aircraft produced by the company include the 'Boxkite', the Bristol Fighter, the Bulldog, the Blenheim, the Beaufighter, and the Britannia, and much of the preliminary work which led to the Concorde was carried out by the company. In 1956 its major operations were split into Bristol Aircraft and Bristol Aero Engines. In 1959, Bristol Aircraft merged with several major British aircraft companies to form the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) and Bristol Aero Engines merged with Armstrong Siddeley to form Bristol Siddeley. A bomber is a combat aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry, firing torpedoes or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter (often referred to simply as the "Beau") is a multi-role aircraft developed during the Second World War by the Bristol Aeroplane Company in the United Kingdom (UK). It was originally conceived as a heavy fighter variant of the Bristol Beaufort bomber. Upon its entry to service, the Beaufighter proved to be well suited to the night fighter role, for which the Royal Air Force (RAF) initially deployed the type as during the height of the Battle of Britain, in part due to its large size allowing it to accommodate both heavy armaments and early airborne interception radar without major performance penalties. The Royal Air Force (RAF) is 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. 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. A night fighter (also known as all-weather fighter or all-weather interceptor for a period of time post-World War II) is a fighter aircraft adapted for use at night or in other times of bad visibility. Night fighters began to be used in World War I and included types that were specifically modified to operate at night. Radar is an object-detection system that uses radio waves to determine the range, angle, or velocity of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. A radar system consists of a transmitter producing electromagnetic waves in the radio or microwaves domain, a transmitting antenna, a receiving antenna (often the same antenna is used for transmitting and receiving) and a receiver and processor to determine properties of the object(s). Radio waves (pulsed or continuous) from the transmitter reflect off the object and return to the receiver, giving information about the object's location and speed.
  Radar was developed secretly for military use by several nations in the period before and during World War II. The term "RADAR" was coined in 1940 by the United States Navy as an acronym for RAdio Detection And Ranging or RAdio Direction And Ranging. The term "radar" has since entered English and other languages as a common noun, losing all capitalization. A heavy fighter is a fighter aircraft designed to carry heavier weapons or operate at longer ranges. To achieve acceptable performance, most heavy fighters were twin-engined, and many had multi-place crews. The Battle of Britain (German: "die Luftschlacht um England", literally "Air battle for England") was a combat of the Second World War, when the Royal Air Force (RAF) defended the United Kingdom (UK) 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. The British officially recognise its duration as from 10 July until 31 October 1940 that overlaps with the period of large-scale night attacks known as the Blitz, while German historians do not accept this subdivision and regard it as a campaign lasting from July 1940 to June 1941.
candidates: air force aircraft aviation luftwaffe royal air force united states navy
answer: royal air force