Bristol Beaufighter in World War II

Bristol Beaufighter in World War II General Specifications: Length:  41  ft., 4  in.Wingspan:  57  ft., 10  in.Height:  15  ft., 10  in.Wing Area:  503  sq. ft.Empty Weight:  15,592  lbs.Max Takeoff Weight:  25,400  lbs.Crew:  2 Performance: Maximum Speed:  320  mphRange:  1,750  milesService Ceiling:  19,000  ft.Power Plant:  Ã‚  2 Ãâ€"  Bristol Hercules  14-cylinder  radial engines, 1,600 hp each Armament: 4 Ãâ€" 20 mm  Hispano Mk III cannon4 Ãâ€" .303 in.  Browning machine guns  (outer starboard wing)2 Ãâ€" .303 in.  machine gun (outer port wing)8 Ãâ€"  RP-3 rockets  or  2Ãâ€" 1,000 lb.  bombs Design and Development In 1938, Bristol Aeroplane Company approached the Air Ministry with a proposal for a twin-engine, cannon-armed heavy fighter based on its Beaufort torpedo bomber which was then entering production.  Intrigued by this offer due to development problems with the Westland Whirlwind, the Air Ministry asked Bristol to pursue design of a new aircraft armed with four cannons.  To make this request official, Specification F.11/37 was issued calling for a twin-engine, two-seat, day/night fighter/ground support aircraft.  It was expected that the design and development process would be expedited as the fighter would utilize many of the Beauforts features. While the Beauforts performance was adequate for a torpedo bomber, Bristol recognized the need for improvement if the aircraft was to serve as a fighter.  As a result, the Beauforts Taurus engines were removed and replaced with the more powerful Hercules model.  Though the Beauforts aft fuselage section, control surfaces, wings, and landing gear were retained, the forward parts of the fuselage were heavily redesigned.  This was due to the need to mount the Hercules engines on longer, more flexible struts which shifted the aircrafts center of gravity.  To rectify this issue, the forward fuselage was shortened.  This proved a simple fix as the Beauforts bomb bay was eliminated as was the bombardiers seat.   Dubbed the Beaufighter, the new aircraft mounted four 20  mm Hispano Mk III cannons in the lower fuselage and six  .303 in. Browning machine guns in the wings.  Due to the location of the landing light, the machines guns were situated with four in the starboard wing and two in the port.  Using a two-man crew, the Beaufighter placed the pilot forward while a navigator/radar operator sat further aft.  Construction of a prototype commenced by using parts from an unfinished Beaufort.  Though it was expected that the prototype could be built quickly, the necessary redesign of the forward fuselage led to delays.  As a result, the first Beaufighter flew on July 17, 1939. Production Pleased with the initial design, the Air Ministry ordered 300 Beaufighters two weeks before the prototypes maiden flight.  Though a bit heavy and slower than hoped, the design was available for production when Britain entered World War II that September.  With the beginning of hostilities, orders for the Beaufighter increased, which led to a shortage of Hercules engines.  As a result, experiments began in February 1940 to equip the aircraft with the Rolls-Royce Merlin.  This proved successful and the techniques employed were used when the Merlin was installed on the Avro Lancaster.  During the course of the war, 5,928 Beaufighters were constructed at plants in Britain and Australia. During its production run, the Beaufighter moved through numerous marks and variants.  These generally saw alterations to the types power plant, armament, and equipment.  Of these, the TF Mark X proved the most numerous at 2,231 built.  Equipped to carry torpedoes in addition to its regular armament, the TF Mk X earned the nickname Torbeau and was also capable of carrying RP-3 rockets.  Other marks were specially-equipped for night fighting or ground attack. Operational History  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Entering service September 1940, the Beaufighter quickly became the Royal Air Forces most effective night fighter.  Though not intended for this role, its arrival coincided with the development of airborne interception radar sets.  Mounted in the Beaufighters large fuselage, this equipment allowed the aircraft to provide a solid defense against German night bombing raids in 1941.  Like the German Messerschmitt Bf 110, the Beaufighter unintentionally remained in the night fighter role for much of the war and was used by both the RAF and US Army Air Forces.  In the RAF, it was later replaced by radar-equipped De Havilland Mosquitoes while the USAAF later supplanted Beaufighter night fighters with the Northrop P-61 Black Widow. Used in all theaters by Allied forces, the Beaufighter quickly proved adept at conducting low-level strike and anti-shipping missions.  As a result, it was widely employed by Coastal Command to attack German and Italian shipping.  Working in concert, Beaufighters would strafe enemy ships with their cannons and guns to suppress anti-aircraft fire while torpedo-equipped aircraft would strike from low altitude.  The aircraft fulfilled a similar role in the Pacific and, while operating in conjunction with American A-20 Bostons and B-25 Mitchells, played a key role in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea in March 1943.  Renowned for its ruggedness and reliability, the Beaufighter remained in use by Allied forces through the end of the war. Retained after the conflict, some RAF Beaufighters saw brief service in the Greek Civil War in 1946 while many were converted for use as target tugs.  The last aircraft left RAF service in 1960.  During the course of its career, the Beaufighter flew in the air forces of numerous countries including Australia, Canada, Israel, Dominican Republic, Norway, Portugal, and South Africa.

Is Sports Cmpetition Relevant to Academic Learning

Is Sports Cmpetition Relevant to Academic Learning Read whether sports competition is relevant to academic learning. Learning Theories and Relevance of Competitive Sport Learning theories have significant implications in the way academic  institutions facilitate learning. For instance, learning through reward and punishment  is Behaviorist learning practices while learning through input and memorization of educational materials is a Cognitive-learning concept. Similarly, the term â€Å"student-centered† learning is a Constructivist idea that people learn better when they â€Å"construct† own knowledge and meaning. However, since the aim of applying these learning theories in a school setting is to enhance knowledge of curriculum, they do not support the kind of knowledge acquired through sports competition similar to the volleyball match where athletes with #PusoAteneo won. Social Learning Theory is for learning social skills and therefore not academically relevant. Some literature argues that it is relevant to physical education, as such academic subject contributes to socially and morally educated citizens. The problem, however, is the fact that physical education is never for students’ social or moral development, but for learning health-related activities. Moreover, social skills and moral values allegedly developed from physical education are results rather than a facilitator of academic learning. You may be interested in: Practice What You Preach Is High IQ a Guarantee of Academic Success? Contrary to common belief, sport is not synonymous with physical education. Sports are physical activities in which adults and young people compete while physical education is a learning process prescribed by the curriculum. Although the subject often includes sports, there is no inherent necessity for physical education to foster and promote competitive behavior. Sport, therefore, is never an academic subject while competitive behavior is exclusive to sport. Overall, competition is not an objective in physical education and irrelevant to academic learning. The question is why schools are so eager about competition and spending significant time and money on their respective sports teams. The True Benefit of Sport Competition The study shows that participation in sport is mostly an individual decision while school-sponsored sports competition is an after-school activity. The common objective is to facilitate the skills and knowledge necessary to support a healthy and productive lifestyle. Interscholastic sport or â€Å"varsity sport† is the system of competition between schools, but remains an extracurricular activity in terms of funding. Collegiate sports or sports competition between colleges and universities, on the other hand, are governed by private national organizations. The academic institutions, however, provide the funding and give a full scholarship to their athletes. Successful athletes in return generate a large amount of revenue for their school. The learning benefit of sports competition appears limited to elementary and school. Sport in higher education seems more of a business strategy than a learning experience. In fact, collegiate sports in North America according to author Maylon Hanold are â€Å"solidly a business† within academic institutions. Most successful teams and athletes received money from corporate sponsors and therefore always determined to win regardless of injury or being involved in cheating. The #PusoAteneo or â€Å"Heart of Ateneo† University is, therefore, referring to college athletes’ competitive spirit or the â€Å"heart of champion† that has nothing to do with physical education and academic learning.

Monitoring appropriate systems to improve organizational performance Coursework

Monitoring appropriate systems to improve organizational performance. (Answer 4 questions) - Coursework Example A Balanced Scorecard can be used for this purpose as it involves not only financial aspects of the business but also encompasses customer and internal business processes.2 The Balanced Scorecard which the company shall use is depicted below. A culture of quality can be developed in an organization if there is smooth internal communication between the employees.3 There need to be other features such as internal feedback as depicted by the Deming’s view of a system given below4. As shown in the figure above feedback to suppliers and employees is vitally important. It is equally important to seek out customer feedback and opinion through Market research and surveys.5 Russian Fitness Centre will employ this framework and perform all its functions with complete transparency. As far as internal structure is concerned the following figure depicts the flow of information and feedback in the Russian Fitness Centre. It has been shown above that the Russian Fitness Center would use Balanced Scorecard to monitor its standards of service. But one of the disadvantages of a Balanced Scorecard is that it focuses on specific parts of the business. This gap can be filled by employing TQM (Total Quality Management).6 TQM is a quality control technique pioneered by Japanese Automobile companies such as Toyota. It focuses on improving every part of the business and hence making a complete change in the overall structure of an organization.7 As far as Russian Fitness Center is concerned there will have to be a few changes in the various processes. There has to be a proper integration of the ‘front line’ staff such as the customer service assistants and the managers. This linking will help the management in being aware of the issues that are raised by customers. For example a customer may complain about lack of certain equipment in the fitness center. Usually these kinds of complaints go unnoticed unless the customer