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Ksawery Wyrozemski
Ksawery "Big Bill" Wyrozemski ("Tso-very Veera-zhem-ski") was an exile Polish fighter pilot who flew Hawker Hurricanes and Supermarine Spitfires as a Flight Officer with the Polish Air Forces's 315 "City of Deblin" Fighter Squadron from April 1942 until the end of World War II. The unit converted to North American P-51 Mustang Mk. IIIs in March 1944. He scored no kills but was awarded the Cross of Valour plus bar.
A Polish Army officer when the Germans invaded, Wyrozemski recognized that defeat was imminent and, determined not to be placed in a prisoner-of-war camp, he made his way to Istanbul where he signed onto a freighter bound for England and reported to the Polish Embassy in London. Richard L. Holm, former CIA Directorate of Operations member, stated in an article about his African experiences that Wyrozemski was "fiercely loyal to Poland, [and] he wanted to fight against the Germans. Bill claimed he had been a pilot in the Polish Air Force. (He apparently had flown a small plane in younger days.) He joined other Poles and flew a Spitfire in the Battle of Britain."
On 25 April 1945, Wyrozemski participated in the longest (five hours, fifty minutes) and last mission flown in World War II by the Polish Air Force. He flew in an eleven aircraft flight, part of some 240 Mustangs from RAF 11 Group and the USAAF VIII Air Force which escorted 225 Avro Lancaster bombers on a Ramrod mission to hit Nazi headquarters in the Bavarian Alps. Some pilots landed in liberated territory on the European continent to refuel on the return leg of the mission while others calculated their loads sufficient to reach their bases in England. Wyrozemski fell one kilometer short of his airfield and dead-sticked his Mustang into a pasture where several horses slowed his fighter sufficiently such that he was not injured. The livestock was not so fortunate. Fellow squadron mate, Flight Officer Tadeusz Pinkowski, recounted "Seeing him approaching the airfield and then going down, we climbed [into] a jeep and sped toward him. We found him O.K. Those two horses were O.K. not! Leaving the scene we even joked a little; somebody pointed to the horse liver lying around and asked: "Say, Ksawery. Didn't you forget something?" We all had a good laugh and that helped to release the tension."
Wyrozemski and his wife, Emilia A., known as "Lila", (a Warsaw, Poland native who had survived a German concentration camp after arrest for partisan involvement), emigrated to the United States with their young son in 1959 and settled in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, home of Eglin Air Force Base and the Air Proving Grounds. Wyrozemski was employed by the Central Intelligence Agency where he was involved with the Lockheed U-2 program.
"After 18 years as a contract officer in Agency air operations, Bill's eyesight weakened and he could no longer fly. There was a need for air ops officers on the ground in the Congo, however, and soon he was in Africa," said Holm. In 1964 he served as an airfield commander and trained Cuban exile pilots hired by the CIA. He also gathered intelligence material. Holm continues that "'Big Bill' was transferred to Albertville on the Congo's eastern border [in 1965]. Shortly after his arrival, he was concerned about a possible rebel force moving toward Albertville from the west, and Bill got approval from Leopoldville to make a short reconnaissance of the area. He had been instructed not to go alone, but no one else was readily available." Returning to Albertville, he was killed when the Land Rover he was in was hit head-on by a Congolese Army truck speeding on the wrong side of a narrow road. He is buried in Fort Walton Beach. His artistic wife Lila died at home of natural causes on 7 March 1999 and is also interred in Fort Walton Beach.
Reference - Holm, Richard L., "A Plane Crash, Rescue, and Recovery -
A Close Call in Africa", Center for the Study of Intelligence, Historical Perspectives, Washington, D.C., Winter 1999-2000, footnote 2. http:www.cia.gov/csi/studies/winter99-00/Fart2.html
Ratuszynski, Wilhelm, interview with Tadeusz Pinkowski, at [http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/9431 315 Polish Fighter Squadron website].
Wyrozemski, Ksawery
Wyrozemski, Ksawery
Poland
The Republic of Poland (Polish: Rzeczpospolita Polska) is a country located in Central Europe, between Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, and the Baltic Sea, Lithuania, and Russia (in the form of the Kaliningrad Oblast exclave) to the north.
The Polish state was formed over 1,000 years ago under the Piast dynasty, and reached its golden age near the end of the 16th century under the Jagiellonian dynasty, when Poland was one of the largest, wealthiest, and most powerful countries in Europe. In 1791 the Sejm of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth voted for the Constitution of May 3, Europe's first modern codified constitution, and the second in the world after the Constitution of the United States. Soon afterwards, the country ceased to exist after being partitioned by its neighbours Russia, Austria, and Prussia. It regained independence in 1918 in the aftermath of the First World War as the Second Polish Republic. Following the Second World War it became a communist satellite state of the Soviet Union known as the People's Republic of Poland. In 1989 the first partially-free elections in Poland's post-World War II history concluded the Solidarity (Solidarność) movement's struggle for freedom and resulted in the defeat of Poland's communist rulers. The current Third Polish Republic was established, followed a few years later by the drafting of a new constitution in 1997. In 1999 Poland acceded to NATO, and in 2004 it joined the European Union.
Name
:See the name 'Poland' in other languages, in Wiktionary.
Poland's official name in Polish is Rzeczpospolita Polska. The names of the country, Polska, and of the nationality, the Poles, are of Slavic origin. Their name derives from the tribal name Polanie - people living around Lake Gopło - the cradle of Poland mentioned as Glopeani having 400 strongholds circa 845 (Bavarian Geographer). Common opinion holds that the name Polska comes from the Slavic Polanie tribe who established the Polish state in the 10th century (Greater Poland). The conventional etymology of the ethnic name of the Poles relates it to these Polish Polanie, "dwellers of the field"; pole, "field", analogous to Russian polyî, "open land", from Indo-European pelè-, "flat" + -anie, "inhabitants", analogous to Latin -anus, "originating from" (please compare Yuriev-Polsky). In old Latin chronicles the terms terra Poloniae (land of Poland) or Regnum Poloniae (kingdom of Poland) appear.
Parallel to this terminology, another one, Lechia, came into use, thought to derive from the tribe name Lędzianie. It gave rise to an alternative name for "Pole": Lęch, Lęchowie in Old Church Slavonic, Lechia, Lechites in Latin, Lach in Ruthenian, Lyakh in Russian, as well as to old German Lechien, Hungarian Lengyelorszag, Lengyel, Lithuanian Lenkija, lenkas and Turkish Lechistan (from Persian Lehestan).
History
Poland began to form into a recognizable unitary and territorial entity around the middle of the 10th century under the Piast dynasty. Poland's first historically documented ruler, Mieszko I, was baptized in 966, adopting Catholic Christianity as the country's new official religion, to which the bulk of the population converted in the course of the next century. In the 12th century Poland fragmented into several smaller states, which were later ravaged by the Mongol armies of the Golden Horde in 1241. In 1320 Władysław I became the King of reunified Poland. His son Kazimierz Wielki repaired the Polish economy, built new castles and won the war against the Russian dukedom (Lwow become a Polish City). Under the Jagiellon dynasty, Poland forged an alliance with its neighbour Lithuania. A golden age occurred in the 16th century during its union (Lublin Union) with Lithuania in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The citizens of Poland took pride in their ancient freedoms and parliamentary system, although the Szlachta monopolised most of the benefits. Since that time Poles have regarded freedom as their most important value. Poles often call themselves the nation of the free people.
freedom
In the mid-17th century a Swedish invasion rolled through the country in the turbulent time known as "The Deluge" (potop). Numerous wars against the Ottoman Empire, Russia, Cossacks, Transylvania and Brandenburg-Prussia ultimately came to an end in 1699. During the following 80 years, the waning of the central government and deadlock of the institutions weakened the nation, leading to anarchistic tendencies and a growing dependency on Russia. In Polish Democracy every member of parliament was able to break any work or project by shouting 'Liberum Veto' during the session. Russian tsars took advantage of this unique political vulnerability by offering money to Parliamentary traitors, who in turn would consistently and subversively block necessary reforms and new solutions.
The Enlightenment in Poland fostered a growing national movement to repair the state, resulting in the first written constitution in Europe, the Constitution of May 3 in 1791. The process of reforms ceased with the partitions of Poland between Russia, Prussia, and Austria in 1772, 1793 and 1795 which ultimately dissolved the country. Poles resented their shrinking freedoms and several times rebelled against their oppressors (see List of Polish Uprisings).
Napoleon recreated a Polish state, the Duchy of Warsaw, but after the Napoleonic wars, Poland was split again by the Allies at the Congress of Vienna. The eastern part was ruled by the Russian tsar as a Congress Kingdom, and possessed a liberal constitution. However, the tsars soon reduced Polish freedoms and Russia eventually de facto annexed the country. Later in the 19th century, Austrian-ruled Galicia became the oasis of Polish freedom.
During World War I all the Allies agreed on the restitution of Poland that United States President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed in point 13 of his Fourteen Points. Shortly after the surrender of Germany in November 1918, Poland regained its independence as the Second Polish Republic (II Rzeczpospolita Polska). A new threat, Soviet aggression, arose in the 1919 (Polish-Soviet War), but Poland succeeded in defending its independence.
Polish-Soviet War
The Second Polish Republic lasted until the start of World War II when Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland. Poland surrendered on September 28 1939 and suffered greatly in the period that followed as a General Government. Of all the countries involved in the war, Poland lost the highest percentage of its citizens: over 6 million perished, half of them Polish Jews. In its conclusion, Poland's borders shifted westwards, pushing the eastern border to the Curzon line and the western border to the Oder-Neisse line. After the shift, Poland emerged 20% smaller by 77,500 km² (29,900 mi²); although the important cities of Gdańsk, Szczecin and Wrocław were all incorporated into its post-war borders. The shift also involved the migration of millions of people – Poles, Germans, Ukrainians, Jews. As a result of these events, Poland became, for the first time in history, an ethnically unified country. A Polish minority is still present in neighbouring countries of Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania, as well as in other countries (see Poles article for the population numbers). The largest number of ethnic Poles outside of the country can be found in the United States.
The Soviet Union instituted a new communist government in Poland, analogous to much of the rest of the Eastern Bloc. Military alignment within the Warsaw Pact throughout the Cold War was also part of this change. In 1948 a turn towards Stalinism brought in the beginning of the next period of totalitarian rule. The People's Republic of Poland (Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa) was officially proclaimed in 1952. In 1956 the régime became more liberal, freeing many people from prison and expanding some personal freedoms. In 1970 the government was changed. It was a time when the economy was more modern, and the government had large credits. Labour turmoil in 1980 led to the formation of the independent trade union, "Solidarity", which over time became a political force. It eroded the dominance of the Communist Party; by 1989 it had triumphed in parliamentary elections, and Lech Wałęsa, a Solidarity candidate, eventually won the presidency in 1990. The Solidarity movement greatly contributed to the soon-following collapse of Communism all over Eastern Europe.
A shock therapy program during the early 1990s enabled the country to transform its economy into one of the most robust in Central Europe. Despite a regression in social and economic standards, there were numerous improvements in other human rights (free speech, functioning democracy and the like). Poland was the first post-communist country to regain pre-1989 GDP levels. Poland joined the NATO alliance in 1999 along with the Czech Republic and Hungary. Polish voters then said yes to the EU in a referendum in June 2003. Poland joined the European Union on 1 May 2004.
Politics
Poland is a democratic republic. Its current constitution dates from 1997. The government structure centres on the Council of Ministers, led by a prime minister. The president appoints the cabinet according to the proposals of the prime minister, typically from the majority coalition in the bicameral legislature's lower house (the Sejm). The president, elected by popular vote every five years, serves as the head of state. The current president is Aleksander Kwaśniewski.
Polish voters elect a two house parliament, consisting of a 460 member lower house Sejm and a 100 member Senate (Senat). The Sejm is elected under a proportional representation electoral system similar to that used in other parliamentary political systems while the Senate is elected under a comparatively rare first past the post bloc voting. With the exception of ethnic minority parties, only political parties receiving at least 5% of the total national vote can enter Sejm. When sitting in joint session, members of Sejm and Senate form the National Assembly, (Polish Zgromadzenie Narodowe). The National Assembly is formed on three occasions: taking oath by the new president, bringing an indictment against the President of the Republic to the Tribunal of State, declaration of the President's permanent incapacity to exercise his duties due to the state of his health.
The judicial branch plays an important role in decision-making. Its major institutions include the Supreme Court (Sąd Najwyższy), the Supreme Administrative Court (Naczelny Sąd Administracyjny) (judges appointed by the president of the republic on the recommendation of the National Council of the Judiciary for an indefinite period), the Constitutional Tribunal (Trybunał Konstytucyjny) (judges chosen by the Sejm for nine-year terms) and the Tribunal of State (Trybunał Stanu) (judges chosen by the Sejm for for the current term of office of the Sejm, except for the position of chairperson which is held by the First President of the Supreme Court). The Sejm (on approval of the Polish Senate) appoints the Ombudsman or the Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection (Rzecznik Praw Obywatelskich) for a five-year term. The Ombudsman has the duty of guarding the observance and implementation of the rights and liberties of the human being and of the citizen, the law and principles of community life and social justice.
Geography
judicial branch
The Polish landscape consists almost entirely of the lowlands of the North European Plain, at an average height of 173 metres (568 ft), though the Sudetes (including the Karkonosze) and the Carpathian Mountains (including the Tatra mountains, where one also finds Poland's highest point, Rysy, at 2,499 m [8,199 ft]) form the southern border. Several large rivers cross the plains; for instance, the Vistula (Wisła), Oder (Odra), Warta the (Western) Bug. Poland also contains over 9,300 lakes, predominantly in the north of the country. Masuria (Mazury) forms the largest and most-visited lake district in Poland. Remains of the ancient forests survive: see list of forests in Poland. Poland enjoys a temperate climate, with cold, cloudy, moderately severe winters and mild summers with frequent showers and thunder showers.
Big Cities
climate
climate
climate
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climate
Administrative division
climate
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Poland is subdivided into sixteen administrative regions known as voivodships (województwa, singular - województwo):
Lower levels of administrative division are:
- powiats (counties)
- gminas (commune)
Economy
gmina
gmina
gmina]
Since its return to democracy, Poland has steadfastly pursued a policy of liberalising the economy and today stands out as one of the most successful and open examples of the transition from a partially state-capitalist market economy to a primarily privately owned market economy.
The privatisation of small and medium state-owned companies and a liberal law on establishing new firms have allowed for the rapid development of an aggressive private sector, followed by a development of consumer rights organisations later on. Restructuring and privatisation of "sensitive sectors" (e.g., coal, steel, railways, and energy) has begun. The biggest privatisations so far were a sale of Telekomunikacja Polska, a national telecom to France Telecom (2000) and an issue of 30% shares of the biggest Polish bank, PKO BP, on the Polish stockmarket (2004).
Poland has a large agricultural sector of private farms, that could be a leading producer of food in the European Union now that Poland is a member. Challenges remain, especially under-investment. Structural reforms in health care, education, the pension system, and state administration have resulted in larger-than-expected fiscal pressures. Warsaw leads Central Europe in foreign investment and allegedly needs a continued large inflow. GDP growth had been strong and steady from 1993 to 2000 with only a short slowdown from 2001 to 2002. The prospect of closer integration with the European Union has put the economy back on track, with growth of 3.7% annually in 2003, a rise from 1.4% annually in 2002. In 2004 GDP growth equalled 5.4%.
Annual growth rates broken down by quarters:
- 2003: Q1 - 2.2% | Q2 - 3.8% | Q3 - 4.7% | Q4 - 4.7%
- 2004: Q1 - 6.9% | Q2 - 6.1% | Q3 - 5.8% | Q4 - 5.9%
- 2005: Q1 - 2.1% | Q2 - 2.8% | Q3 - 3.7% |
Although the Polish economy is currently undergoing an economic boom there are many challenges ahead. The most notable task on the horizon is the preparation of the economy (through continuing deep structural reforms) to allow Poland to meet the strict economic criteria for entry into the European Single Currency. There is much speculation as to just when Poland might be ready to join the Eurozone, although the best guess estimates put the entry date somewhere between 2009 and 2013. For now, Poland is preparing to make the Euro its official currency (as other countries of the European Union), and the Złoty will eventually be abolished from the modern Polish economy. Since joining the European Union, many young Polish people have left their country to work in other EU countries becouse of high unemployment rate (about 17%).
Poland produces: clothes, electronics, cars, buses (Autosan, Jelcz SA, Solaris, ) helicopters (PZL Świdnik), planes (PZL Mielec), ships, military engineering (including tanks), medicines (Polpharma, Polfa, etc), food, chemical products etc.
Science, technology and education
The education of Polish society was a goal of rulers as early as the 12th century. The library catalog of the Cathedral Chapter of Kraków dating back to 1110 shows that already in the early 12th century Polish intellectuals had access to the European literature. In 1364, in Kraków, the Jagiellonian University, founded by King Kazimierz Wielki, became one of Europe's great early universities. In 1773 King Stanisław August Poniatowski established his Commission on National Education (Komisja Edukacji Narodowej), the world's first state ministry of education. Today, Poland has more than a hundred institutions of post-secondary education: technical, medical, economics, as well as the traditional universities to be found in its major cities; e.g., Gdańsk, Bydgoszcz, Katowice, Kraków, Lublin, Łódź, Poznań, Rzeszów, Warsaw, Wrocław yielding over 61 thousand scientists. Furthermore, there are about 300 research and development institutes, with about 10 thousand more researchers. In addition, there is a number of smaller laboratories. In sum, there are 91 thousand scientists in Poland today.
Telecommunication and IT
The share of the telecom sector in the GDP is 4.4% (end of 2000 figure), compared to 2.5% in 1996. Nevertheless, despite high expenditures for telecom infrastructure (the coverage increased from 78 users per 1000 inhabitants in 1989 to 282 in 2000)
the coverage mobile cellular is 660 users per 1000 people (2005)
- Telephones - mobile cellular: 25.3 million (Raport Telecom Team 2005)
- Telephones - main lines in use: 12.5 million (Raport Telecom Team 2005)
Transportation
- Rail: The Polish State Railways (PKP) is one of the larger railway systems of central and western Europe, with 23,420 kilometres (14,552 mi) in its network (1998). Refurbishment of the network has commenced to bring standards into line with western European railway networks. [http://www.plk-sa.pl/]
- Road: By Western European standards, Poland has a relatively poor infrastructure of expressways/highways. The Government has undertaken a programme to improve the standard of a number of significant national highways by 2013. The total length of expressways/highways is 364,657 kilometres (226,587 mi). There are a total of 9,283,000 registered passenger automobiles, as well as 1,762,000 registered trucks and buses (2000).
PKP
- Air: Poland has eight major airports (in decreasing order of traffic: Warsaw, Kraków, Katowice, Gdańsk, Poznań, Wrocław, Szczecin and Rzeszów), a total of 123 airports and airfields, as well as three heliports. The number of passenger at Polish airports has consistently increased since 1991.
- Marine: The total length of navigable rivers and canals is 3,812 kilometres (2,369 mi). The merchant marine consists of 114 ships, with an additional 100 ships registered outside the country. The principal ports and harbours are: Port of Gdańsk, Port of Gdynia, Port of Szczecin, Port of Swinoujscie, Port of Ustka, Port of Kolobrzeg, Gliwice, Warsaw, Wroclaw.
Tourism and holidays
Wroclaw
- Tourism in Poland
- Holidays in Poland
- [http://wikitravel.org/en/Poland Poland on Wikitravel]
Demographics
Poland formerly played host to many languages, cultures and religions. However, the outcome of World War II and the following shift westwards to the area between the Curzon line and the Oder-Neisse line gave Poland an appearance of homogeneity. Today 36,983,700 people, or 96.74% of the population considers itself Polish (Census 2002), 471,500 (1.23%) declared another nationality. 774,900 people (2.03%) didn't declare any nationality. The officially recognised ethnic minorities include: Germans, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Jews and Belarusians. The Polish language, a member of the West Slavic branch of the Slavic languages, functions as the official language of Poland. Most Poles adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, and 75% count as practising Catholics. The rest of the population consists mainly of Eastern Orthodox (about 509 500), Jehovah's Witnesses (about 123 034) and various Protestant (about 86 880 in the largest Evangelical-Augsburg Church and about as many in smaller churches) religious minorities.
[http://www.stat.gov.pl/opracowania_zbiorcze/maly_rocznik_stat/2003/rocznik4/relig.htm]
Culture
Evangelical-Augsburg Church]]
Polish culture has more then 1000 years of history. Poland situated between Western and Eastern cultural spaces and got influences from both. For example the traditional costumes include also Islamic influences. Polish culture developed actively and always been as part of western (Western Europe) culture. We can see that today - architecture, folklore, art etc. Also Poland influenced to near situated countries.
UNESCO World Heritage in Poland
- Warszawa (Old Town)
- Kraków (Old Town)
- Wieliczka (Salt mine)
- Malbork (Biggest Brick Stone Castle)
- Zamość (Renaissance Town)
- Toruń (Gothic Town)
- Oświęcim (Auschwitz concentration camp)
- Jawor (Baroque Peace Church)
- Świdnica (Baroque Peace Chruch)
- Kalwaria Zebrzydowska (Pilgrim´s Place)
- Białowieża Forest (National Park - largest remaining primeval forest in Europe)
- Dębno (Gothic Wooden Chruch)
- Słowiński Park Narodowy (highest sand hills)
International rankings
- Human Development Index 2005: Rank 36th out of 177 countries.
- Reporters Without Borders world-wide press freedom index 2004: Rank 32nd out of 167 countries.
- Index of Economic Freedom 2005: Rank 41st out of 155 countries.
See also
- Extreme points of Poland
- List of castles of Poland
- List of cities in Poland
- List of Poland-related topics
- List of Poles
- Polish Armed Forces
- Polonization
- Związek Harcerstwa Polskiego
- Związek Harcerstwa Rzeczypospolitej
- Anti-Polonism
External links
Governmental websites
- [http://www.sejm.gov.pl/english.html Sejm] - Sejm - lower chamber of the Parliament
- [http://www.senat.gov.pl/indexe.htm Senat] - Senate - upper chamber of the Parliament
- [http://www.president.pl/x.node?id=479 Prezydent] - President of the Republic of Poland
- [http://www.kprm.gov.pl/english/index.html KPRM] - Prime Minister's Office
- [http://www.sn.pl/english/index.html Sąd Najwyższy] - Supreme Court
- [http://www.trybunal.gov.pl/eng/index.htm Trybunał Konstytucyjny] - Constitutional Tribunal
- [http://www.nbp.pl/Home.aspx?f=srodeken.htm National Bank of Poland]
- [http://www.poland.pl/ The Poland.pl portal]
- [http://www.wse.com.pl/ Warsaw Stock Exchange]
- [http://www.stat.gov.pl/english/index.htm GUS] - Central Statistical Office
- [http://www.sejm.gov.pl/prawo/konst/angielski/kon1.htm Constitution of Poland]
Poland Tourism
- [http://www.poland-tourism.pl/start.asp?tf=US Polish National Tourist Office (from pot.gov.pl)]
English-language websites on Poland
- [http://www.poland.gov.pl Polska /page about Poland]
- [http://polblog.pl/ PolBlog - Polish News Site]
- [http://www.polishforums.com Poland and Polish Community Online]
- [http://www.centreurope.org/pl/poland.htm Centreurope.org: Poland section]
- [http://www.warsawvoice.pl Warsawvoice]
- [http://www.wbj.pl Warsaw Business Journal]
- [http://www.parks.it/world/PL/Eindex.html Parks in Poland] National parks, wetlands, biosphere reserves and other protected areas
Category:European Union member states
Category:Republics
People of Poland
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fiu-vro:Poola
Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire was a single-seat fighter used by the RAF and many Allied countries in World War II.
The Spitfire's elliptical wings gave it a very distinctive look; their thin cross-section gave it speed; the brilliant design of Chief Designer R.J. Mitchell and his successors (he died in 1937) meant the Spitfire was loved by its pilots. It saw service during the whole of World War II, in all theatres of war, and in many different variants.
More than 20,300 examples of all variants were built, including two-seat trainers, with some Spitfires remaining in service well into the 1950s.
The aircraft was dubbed Spitfire by Sir Robert MacLean, director of Vickers at the time, and on hearing this, Mitchell is reported to have said, "...sort of bloody silly name they would give it." The word dates from Elizabethan times and refers to a particularly fiery, ferocious type of person, usually a woman. The name had previously been used unofficially for Mitchell's earlier F.7/30 Type 224 design.
Design
Supermarine Chief Designer R.J. Mitchell had won three Schneider Trophy seaplane races with his aircraft, by combining powerful Napier or Rolls Royce engines with minute attention to streamlining. These same qualities are equally useful for a fighter design, and in 1930 Mitchell produced such a plane in response to an Air Ministry request for a new and modern monoplane fighter.
This first attempt at a fighter resulted in an open-cockpit monoplane with gull-wings and a large fixed spatted undercarriage. The Supermarine Type 224 did not live up to expectations; nor did any of the competing designs which were also deemed failures.
Mitchell immediately turned his attention to an improved design as a private venture, with the backing of Supermarine owners Vickers. The new design added gear retraction, an enclosed cockpit, oxygen gear, and the much more powerful Rolls Royce PV-12 engine, later named the Merlin.
By 1935 the Air Ministry had seen enough advancement in the industry to try the monoplane design again. They eventually rejected the new Supermarine design on the grounds that it did
not carry the required eight-gun load, and did not appear to have room to do so.
PV-12
Once again Mitchell was able to solve the problem. It has been suggested that by looking at various Heinkel planes he settled on the use of an elliptical planform, which had much more chord to allow for the required eight guns, while still having the low drag of the earlier, simpler wing design. Mitchell's aerodynamicist, Beverley Shenstone, however, has pointed out that Mitchell's wing was not directly copied from the Heinkel He 70, as some have claimed; the Spitfire wing was much thinner and had a completely different section. In any event, the elliptical wing was enough to sell the Air Ministry on this new Type 300, which they funded as F.10/35.
The prototype first flew on March 5, 1936. Performance was such that the Air Ministry immediately placed an order for 310. At the time it was still being "shaken out" by Vickers test pilots, even before the aircraft had been handed to them for their own flight testing.
A feature of the final Spitfire design that has often been singled out by pilots is its washout feature, which was unusual at the time. The incidence of the wing is +2° at its root and −½° at its tip. This twist means that the wing roots will stall before the tips [http://www.fly-imaa.org/imaa/hfarticles/const/v1-4-10.html], reducing the potentially dangerous rolling moment in the stall known as a spin. Many pilots have benefited from this feature in combat when doing tight turns close to the aircraft's limits because when the wing root stalled it made the control column shudder giving the pilot a warning that he was about to reach the limit of the aircraft`s performance.
Variants
There were 24 marks of Spitfire and many sub-variants. For a brief history of the Spitfire's development over time see Supermarine Spitfire variants.
Naval version
Supermarine Spitfire variants
There also was a naval version of the Spitfire called the Seafire. It was especially adapted for operation from aircraft carriers: with an arrester hook, folding wings and other specialized equipment. However, like the Spitfire, the Seafire had a narrow undercarriage track, which meant that it was not well suited to deck operations. Due to the addition of heavy carrier equipment, it suffered from an aft centre-of-gravity position that made low-speed control difficult, and its gradual stall characteristics meant that it was difficult to land accurately on the carrier. These characteristics resulted in a very high accident rate for the Seafire.
Compared with other naval fighters, the Seafire II was able to outperform the A6M5 (Zero) at low altitudes when the two types were tested against each other in WW2. Contemporary western carrier aircraft like the F6F Hellcat and the F4U Corsair, however, were considerably more powerful. Late-war Seafire marks equipped with the Griffon engines enjoyed a considerable increase of performance compared to their Merlin-engined predecessors.
The name Seafire was arrived at by collapsing the longer name Sea Spitfire.
Battle of Britain
The Spitfire is often credited with winning the Battle of Britain. The design was mass produced in Castle Bromwich, Birmingham where there now stands a large metal memorial on Chester Road at Spitfire Roundabout. The aircraft and Mitchell were lauded in the movie The First of the Few, although the film was a dramatization and not factually accurate.
The Spitfire was certainly one of the finest aircraft of the war; aviation historians and laymen alike often claim it to be the most beautiful. It is, however, frequently compared to the Hawker Hurricane, which was used in greater numbers during the critical stage of 1940. The Hurricane's guns were better suited to attacking bombers, but a close pattern of fire and slower speed made the Hurricane vulnerable when attacking the German fighter escorts. It should be noted, however, that in total numbers the Hurricane actually shot down more Luftwaffe aircraft, both fighters and bombers, than the Spitfire. Losses were high among the more numerous Hurricanes, whereas the Spitfire had a greater chance of survival.
Another contemporary, the German Luftwaffe's Messerschmitt Bf 109, was similar in attributes and performance to the Spitfire. Some advantages helped the Spitfires win many dogfights, with manouverability the attribute most often quoted. Good cockpit visibility was probably a greater factor, as the early Bf 109s had narrow, paneled cockpit windows. Spitfires were assigned the task of taking on the Bf 109Es, while the Hurricanes intercepted bombers whenever possible. Nonetheless, seven of every ten German planes destroyed during the Battle of Britain were shot down by Hurricane pilots.
Speed and altitude records
dogfight during which it achieved a true airspeed of 606 mph (975 km/h).]] Due to the high altitudes necessary for these dives, a fully feathering Rotol propeller was fitted to prevent overspeeding.
During the spring of 1944, high-speed diving trials were being performed at Farnborough to investigate the handling of aircraft near the sound barrier. Because it had the highest limiting Mach number of any aircraft at that time, a Spitfire XI was chosen to take part in these trials. It was during these trials that EN 409, flown by Squadron Leader Martindale, reached 606 mph (975 km/h) in a 45-degree dive. Unfortunately the aircraft could not cope with this speed and the propeller and reduction gear broke off. Martindale successfully glided the 20 miles (30 km) back to the airfield and landed safely.
From: Spitfire - A Test Pilot’s Story - Arrow Books
"That any operational aircraft off the production line, cannons sprouting from its wings and warts and all, could readily be controlled at this speed when the early jet aircraft such as Meteors, Vampires, P-80s, etc could not, was certainly extraordinary" —Jeffrey Quill
On 5 February 1952 a Spitfire Mk. 19 of No. 81 Squadron RAF based in Hong Kong achieved probably the highest altitude ever achieved by a Spitfire. The pilot, Flight Lieutenant Ted Powles, was on a routine flight to survey outside air temperature and report on other meteorological conditions at various altitudes in preparation for a proposed new air service through the area. He climbed to 50,000 feet (15 240 m) indicated altitude, with a true altitude of 51,550 feet (15 712 m), which was the highest height ever recorded for a Spitfire. However, the cabin pressure fell below a safe level, and in trying to reduce altitude, he entered an uncontrollable dive which shook the aircraft violently. He eventually regained control somewhere below 3,000 feet (900 m). He landed safely and there was no discernible damage to his aircraft. Evaluation of the recorded flight data suggested that in the dive, he achieved a speed of 690 mph (1110 km/h) or Mach 0.94, which would have been the highest speed ever reached by a propeller-driven aircraft. Today it is generally believed that this speed figure is the result of inherent instrument errors and has to be considered unrealistic.
Other operators
meteorological
Apart from the RAF, Spitfires served with most of the Allied air forces in World War II, especially the Polish Air Force, Czechoslovak Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force, South African Air Force and Royal New Zealand Air Force. It was one of only a few foreign aircraft to see service with the United States Army Air Corps. Several European countries also operated Spitfires based in the UK, under the auspices of the RAF, including the Armée de l'Air as part of the Free French air force, the Forces Aériennes Françaises Libres (FAFL). (See Armée de l'Air (Part II).) In the Swedish Air Force the Spitfire was given the name S31 and it was in use up to 1955 when it was replaced by SAAB Tunnan. [http://www.canit.se/~griffon/aviation/text/31spitfi.htm]
Following World War II, the Spitfire remained in use with many air forces around the world, including the South African Air Force, Swedish Air Force, Egyptian Air Force, Hellenic Air Force, Irish Air Corps, Israeli Air Force, Syrian Air Force, Danish Air Force, Royal Norwegian Air Force and Turkish Air Force.
Spitfires played a major role in the Greek Civil War, flown by the RAF and SAAF during 1944 and 1945, and by the Royal Hellenic Air Force from 1946 through the end of the war in 1948.
Spitfires last saw major action during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, when — in a strange twist — Israeli Spitfires were engaged by both British and Egyptian Spitfires.
Some air forces retained Spitfires in service until well into the 1960s, while some pilots who flew Spitfires in World War II were able to remain in service for decades; for example, Flight Lieutenant "Joe" Kmiecki, a Polish pilot who flew Spitfires during the war, did not retire from the RAF until 1981.
Planes remaining in use
1960s
About 50 Spitfires and a few Seafires remain airworthy and many aircraft museums treasure static examples of this graceful yet lethal fighter. The RAF maintains some for flying display and ceremonial purposes in the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire.
The [http://www.aviationmuseum.com.au/ Temora Aviation Museum] in regional New South Wales, Australia, has an airworthy Supermarine Spitfire Mk VIII, which is flown regularly during the Museum's flying weekends.
A black-painted Spitfire, which belonged to Israeli pilot and former president Ezer Weizmann, is still in active flight condition. The Black Spitfire is on exhibit in the Israeli Air Force Museum in Hatzerim and used for ceremonial flying display.
Memorials and artwork
Spitfires have appeared in a number of war memorials and other artworks. For example:
- Sentinel, by Tim Tolkien.
Specifications
See the page on Supermarine Spitfire variants for description of subtypes.
References
- E.B.Morgan and E.Shacklady : Spitfire : The history, Key Publishing
- Alfred Price: The Spitfire Story, Silverdale Books, ISBN 1-85605-702-X
- Palfrey, Brett R. & Whitehead, Christopher. [http://www.raf.mod.uk/history/spit1.html Supermarine Spitfire - History of a Legend]. Royal Air Force.
- Jeffrey Quill OBE, AFC, FRAeS Spitfire - A Test Pilot’s Story - Arrow Books 1983-89 - ISBN 0-09-937020-4
- John Dibbs and Tony Holmes Spitfire - Flying Legend - The Fighter and 'The Few - Osprey Aviation 1996-99 - ISBN 1-84176-005-6
-
Related content
Category:British fighter aircraft 1930-1939
Category:Carrier-based aircraft
Category:French Air Force
Category:Royal Air Force
ms:Supermarine Spitfire
ja:スピットファイア (航空機)
1942This article is about the year. For the 1984 Capcom arcade game, see 1942 (video game).
1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar).
Events
January
- January 1 - World War II: The term "United Nations" is first officially used to describe the Allied pact.
- January 2 - World War II: Manila is captured by Japanese forces. The Japanese Admiral stays in Solvec (owned by Charles Henry de Silva), Philippines.
- January 5 - Amy Johnson disappears in flight over River Thames estuary - assumed drowned
- January 6 - Pan American Airlines becomes the first commercial airline to have a flight go around the world.
- January 7 - World War II: Siege of the Bataan Peninsula begins
- January 11 - World War II: Japan declares war on the Netherlands and invades the Netherlands East Indies.
- January 11 - World War II: The Japanese capture Kuala Lumpur.
- January 12 - President Franklin Roosevelt creates the National War Labor Board.
- January 13 - Henry Ford patents a plastic automobile, which is 30% lighter than a regular car
- January 16 - Airplane crashes near Las Vegas. Dead include Carole Lombard and her mother
- January 19 - World War II: Japanese forces invade Burma.
- January 20 - World War II: Nazis at the Wannsee conference in Berlin decide that the "final solution to the Jewish problem" is relocation, and later extermination.
- January 25 - World War II: Thailand declares war on the United States and United Kingdom
- January 26 - World War II: The first American forces arrive in Europe landing in Northern Ireland.
February
- February 9
- World War II: Top United States military leaders hold their first formal meeting to discuss American military strategy in the war.
- Daylight-saving time goes into effect in the United States.
- February 11 - Operation Cerberus - Flotilla of Kriegsmarine ships dash from Brest through the English Channel to northern ports; British fail to sink any one of them
- February 15 - World War II: Singapore surrenders to Japanese forces.
- February 19
- World War II: 242 Japanese warplanes attack Darwin, Australia.
- World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs executive order 9066 allowing the United States military to define areas as exclusionary zones. These zones affect the Japanese on the West Coast, and Germans and Italians primarily on the East Coast.
- February 20 - Lieutenant Edward O'Hare becomes America's first World War II flying ace
- February 22 - World War II: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as American defense of the nation collapses.
- February 23 - Japanese submarine I-17 fires sixteen high-explosive shells toward an oil refinery near Santa Barbara, California, causing little damage.
- February 24 - Propaganda: The Voice of America begins broadcasting.
- February 25 - Princess Elizabeth registers for war service
- February 26 - Coal dust explosion in Honkeika mine in China - 1549 dead
- February 27 - World War II: the USS Langley, the first United States aircraft carrier, is sunk by Japanese warplanes off Java.
March
- March 9 - The Secretary of War reorganized the United States Army into three major commands - Army Ground Forces, Army Air Forces, and Services of Supply, later redesignated Army Service Forces
April-June
Army Service Forces.]]
- April 3 - World War II: Japanese forces begin an all-out assault on the United States and Filipino troops on the Bataan Peninsula. Bataan fell on April 9 and the Bataan Death March began.
- April 5 - Second World War: Japanese Navy attacks Colombo in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Royal Navy Cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire are sunk southwest of the island.
- April 9 - Second World War: Japanese Navy launches air raid on Trincomalee in Ceylon (Sri Lanka); Royal Navy Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes and Royal Australian Navy Destroyer HMAS Vampire are sunk off the country's East Coast.
- April 27 - World War II: A national plebiscite is held in Canada on the issue of conscription.
- May - first test of an undersea oil pipeline in Operation Pluto
- May 6 - World War II: On Corregidor, the last American forces in the Philippines surrender to the Japanese.
- May 8 - World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea comes to an end. This is the first time in the naval history where two enemy fleets fought without seeing each other's fleets.
- May 8/May 9 - Second World War: On the night of 8/9 May 1942, gunners of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands rebelled. Their mutiny was crushed and three of them were executed, the only British Commonwealth soldiers to be executed for mutiny during the Second World War.
- 1942 - World War II: Second Battle of Kharkov - In the eastern Ukraine, the Soviet Army initiates a major offensive. During the battle the Soviets will capture the city of Kharkov from the German Army, only to be encircled and destroyed.
- May 15 - World War II: In the United States, a bill creating the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) is signed into law.
- May 20 - First colored seamen taken into US Navy
- May 27 - World War II: Operation Anthropoid - assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in Prague
- June 4 - World War II: Reinhard Heydrich dies in Prague due to the assassination by Czechoslovak paratroopers (Operation Anthropoid)
- June 4-June 7 - World War II: The Battle of Midway.
- June 7 - World War II- Japanese forces invade the Aleutian Islands. This is the first invasion of American soil in 128 years.
- June 9 - World War II: Nazis burn the Czech village of Lidice as reprisal for the killing of Reinhard Heydrich.
- June 10 - World War II: the Gestapo massacred 173 male residents of Lidice, Czechoslovakia in retaliztion for the killing of a Nazi official.
- June 12 - Holocaust: Future essayist Anne Frank receives a diary for her thirteenth birthday.
- June 13 - The United States opens its Office of War Information, a center for production of propaganda.
July
- July 1 - July 27 - World War II: the First Battle of El Alamein
- July 9 - Holocaust: Anne Frank's family goes into hiding in an attic above her father's office in an Amsterdam warehouse.
- July 13 - World War II: German U-Boats sink three more merchant ships in Gulf of St. Lawrence.
- July 16 - Holocaust: On order from the Vichy France government headed by Pierre Laval, French police officers round-up 13,000-20,000 Jews and imprison them in the Winter Velodrome.
- July 16 - Georges Bégué and others escape from Mauzac prison camp
- July 18 - World War II: The Germans test fly the Messerschmitt Me-262 using only its jets for the first time.
- July 19 - World War II: Battle of the Atlantic - German Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz orders the last U-boats to withdraw from their United States Atlantic coast positions in response to an effective American convoy system.
- July 22 - Holocaust: The systematic deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto begins.
- July 31 - The Oxford Committee of Famine Relief (OXFAM) founded
August-September
- August 7 - World War II: Battle of Guadalcanal begins - US Marines initiate the first American offensive of the war with a landing on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.
- August 8 - World War II: In Washington, DC, six German would-be saboteurs are executed (two others were cooperative and received life imprisonment instead).
- August 8 - Quit India resolution was passed by the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), which led to the start of a historical civil disobidience movement across India
- August 9 - Indian leader, Mohandas Gandhi is arrested in Bombay by British forces.
- August 13-14 night - In London instruments detect a massive burst of cosmic rays
- August 16 - Polish-Jewish teacher Janusz Korczak follows a group of Jewish children into Treblinka death camp
- August 19 - World War II: The Dieppe Raid - Allied forces raid Dieppe, France.
- August 22 - World War II: Brazil declared war on Germany and Italy.
- September 3 -
- Francisco Franco fires foreign minister Serrano Súñer
- An attempt by the Germans to liquidate the Jewish ghetto in Lakhva leads to an uprising.
- September 24 - Andrée Borrel and Lise de Baissac became the first female SOE agents to be parachuted into occupied France.
October
- October 2 - British cruiser Curacao collides with the liner Queen Mary off the coast of Donegal and sinks - 338 drowned
- October 3 - First successful launch of A4-rocket from Test Stand VII at Peenemünde, Germany. The rocket flew 147 kilometres wide and reached a height of 84.5 kilometres and was therefore the first man-made object reaching space.
- October 9 - Statute of Westminster Adoption Act formalizes Australian autonomy.
- October 11 - World War II: Battle of Cape Esperance - On the northwest coast of Guadalcanal, United States Navy ships intercept and defeat a Japanese fleet on their way to reinforce troops on the island.
- October 14 - A German U-boat sinks the ferry SS Caribou, killing 137.
- October 16 - Hurricane and flooding in Bombay - 40,000 dead
- October 23 - November 4 - World War II: the Second Battle of El Alamein
- October 28 - The Alaska Highway is completed.
- October 29 - Holocaust: In the United Kingdom, leading clergymen and political figures hold a public meeting to register outrage over Nazi Germany's persecution of Jews.
November
Jew
- November 3 - World War II: Second Battle of El Alamein ends - German forces under Erwin Rommel are forced to retreat during the night.
- November 8 - World War II: Operation Torch - United States and United Kingdom forces land in French North Africa.
- November 8 - World War II: French resistance Coup in Algiers, by which 400 French civil resistants neutralized the vichyist XIXth Army Corps and the vichyist generals (Juin, Darlan, etc.), so allowing the immediate success of Operation Torch in Algiers, and from there in the whole French North Africa.
- November 9 - World War II: U.S serviceman Edward Leonswki hanged at Melbourne's Pentridge Prison for the "Brown-Out" Murders of three women in May
- November 10 - World War II: In violation of a 1940 armistice, Germany invades Vichy France following French Admiral François Darlan agreement to an armistice with the Allies in North Africa.
- November 12 - World War II: Battle of Guadalcanal begins - A naval battle near Guadalcanal starts between Japanese and American forces.
- November 13 - World War II: Battle of Guadalcanal - Aviators from the USS Enterprise sink the Japanese heavy cruiser BB- Hiei.
- November 15 - World War II: Battle of Guadalcanal ends - Although the United States Navy suffered heavy losses, it was able to retain control of Guadalcanal.
- November 19 - World War II: Battle of Stalingrad - Soviet Union forces under General Georgy Zhukov launch the Operation Uranus counterattacks at Stalingrad, turning the tide of the battle in the USSR's favor.
- November 21 - The completion of the Alaska Highway (also known as the Alcan Highway) is celebrated (the "highway" was not usable by general vehicles until 1943, however).
- November 22 - World War II: Battle of Stalingrad - The situation for the German attackers of Stalingrad seems desperate during the Soviet counter-attack Operation Uranus and General Friedrich Paulus sends Adolf Hitler a telegram saying that the German 6th army is surrounded.
- November 23 - German U-boat sinks SS Ben Lomond off the coast of Brazil. One crewman, Chinese second steward Poon Lim, is separated from the others and spends 130 days adrift until he is rescued April 3 1943
- November 27 - World War II: At Toulon, the French navy scuttles its ships and submarines to keep them out of Nazi hands.
- November 28 - In Boston, Massachusetts, a fire in the Cocoanut Grove night club kills 491 people.
- November 28 - The large-scale German "pacification" of Zamojszczyzna begins.
December
- December 2 - Manhattan Project: Below the bleachers of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago, a team led by Enrico Fermi initiate the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction (a coded message, "The Italian navigator has landed in the new world" was then sent to US President Franklin D. Roosevelt).
- December 4 - Holocaust: In Warsaw, two Christian women, Zofia Kossak and Wanda Filipowicz risk their lives by setting up the Council for the Assistance of the Jews.
Undated
- Catavi massacre - Bolivian soldiers shoot miners
- Serial killer Singing Strangler in Melbourne
- Grand Coulee Dam finished in Columbia River
- DDT first used as a pesticide
Ongoing events
- World War II (1939-1945)
- Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)
- 1942 in art
- 1942 in film
- Mrs. Miniver
- Bambi
- Casablanca starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman
- Quattro passi fra le nuvole by Alessandro Blasetti.
- 1942 in literature
- Mythology
- 1942 in music
- "White Christmas" - Bing Crosby
- 1942 in rail transport
- 1942 in sports
- 1942 in television
- April 13 - The FCC minimum programming time required of TV stations is cut from 15 hours to four hours a week during the war.
Births
Unknown date
- Roger Angleton, American murderer (d. 1998)
- Priscilla Davis, American socialite (d. 2001)
January
- January 1 - Martin Frost, American politician
- January 1 - Gennadi Sarafanov, cosmonaut
- January 2 - Hugh Shelton, American Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
- January 3 - John Thaw, English actor (d. 2002)
- January 5 - Maurizio Pollini, Italian pianist
- January 5 - Charlie Rose, American talk show host
- January 7 - Vasily Alexeev, Soviet weightlifter
- January 8 - Stephen Hawking, British physicist
- January 8 - Junichiro Koizumi, Prime Minister of Japan
- January 8 - Yvette Mimieux, American actress
- January 8 - George Passmore, English artist (Gilbert and George)
- January 15 - Charo, American singer and actress
- January 17 - Muhammad Ali, American boxer
- January 17 - Cus D'Amato, boxing manager (d. 1985)
- January 17 - Ulf Hoelscher, German violinist
- January 17 - Nancy Parsons, American actress (d. 2001)
- January 19 - Michael Crawford, singer and actor
- January 25 - Carl Eller, American football player
- January 25 - Eusébio, Portuguese footballer
- January 31 - Derek Jarman, English director and writer (d. 1994)
February
- February 1 - Terry Jones, Welsh actor and writer
- February 2 - Graham Nash, English musician
- February 5 - Roger Staubach, American football player
- February 9 - Carole King, American singer and composer
- February 12 - Ehud Barak, Prime Minister of Israel
- February 13 - Peter Tork, American musician and actor
- February 19 - Paul Krause, American football player
- February 20 - Phil Esposito, Canadian hockey player
- February 21 - Margarethe von Trotta, German actress, film director, and writer
- February 24 - Joseph Lieberman, American politician
- February 27 - Robert H. Grubbs, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- February 28 - Brian Jones, English musician (The Rolling Stones) (d. 1969)
March
- March 2 - John Irving, American author
- March 2 - Lou Reed, American singer and guitarist
- March 4 - Charles C. Krulak, U.S. Marine Corps commander
- March 5 - Felipe González Márquez, Spanish politician
- March 7 - Tammy Faye Bakker, American evangelist
- March 7 - Michael Eisner, American film studio executive
- March 9 - John Cale, Welsh composer and musician
- March 13 - Dave Cutler, American software engineer
- March 16 - James Soong, Taiwan politician
- March 17 - John Wayne Gacy, American serial killer (d. 1994)
- March 23 - Walter Rodney, Guyanese historian and political figure
- March 25 - Aretha Franklin, American singer
- March 25 - Richard O'Brien, English-born actor and writer
- March 26 - Erica Jong, American author
- March 27 - John E. Sulston, British chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- March 27 - Michael York, English actor
April
- April 2 - Hiroyuki Sakai, Japanese chef
- April 3 - Marsha Mason, American actress
- April 3 - Wayne Newton, American singer
- April 5 - Peter Greenaway, Welsh filmmaker
- April 5 - Pascal Couchepin, Swiss Federal Councilor
- April 6 - Barry Levinson, American film producer and director
- April 14 - Valeriy Brumel, Russian athlete (d. 2003)
- April 14 - Valentin Lebedev, cosmonaut
- April 26 - Bobby Rydell, American singer
- April 26 - Michael Kergin, Canadian diplomat
May
- May 2 - Jacques Rogge, Belgian International Olympic Committee president
- May 5 - Tammy Wynette, American musician (d. 1998)
- May 9 - John Ashcroft, United States Attorney General
- May 12 - Ian Dury, British musician (d. 2000)
- May 17 - Taj Mahal, American singer and guitarist
- May 18 - Albert Hammond, English-born musician and composer
- May 18 - Nobby Stiles, English footballer
- May 19 - Gary Kildall, American computer scientist (d. 1994)
- May 22 - Theodore Kaczynski, American bomber
- May 22 - Calvin Simon, American musician (P Funk)
- May 26 - Levon Helm, American musician (The Band)
- May 28 - Stanley B. Prusiner, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
June
- June 3 - Curtis Mayfield, American musician (d. 1999)
- June 10 - Preston Manning, Canadian politician
- June 12 - Bert Sakmann, German physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate
- June 17 - Mohamed ElBaradei, Egyptian International Atomic Energy Agency director, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- June 18 - Roger Ebert, American film critic
- June 18 - Paul McCartney, English musician and composer (The Beatles)
- June 18 - Hans Vonk, Dutch conductor
July
- July 4 - Floyd Little, American football player
- July 4 - Prince Michael of Kent
- July 7 - Carmen Duncan, Welsh-born actress
- July 10 - Pyotr Klimuk, cosmonaut
- July 10 - Ronnie James Dio, American singer
- July 13 - Harrison Ford, American actor and producer
- July 13 - Roger McGuinn, American musician
- July 15 - Mil Mascaras, Mexican professional wrestler
- July 17 - Tim Brooke-Taylor, English radio and television personality
- July 23 - Myra Hindley, English murderer
- July 24 - Chris Sarandon, American actor
- July 27 - Dennis Ralston, American tennis player
- July 29 - Tony Sirico, American actor
August
- August 1 - Jerry Garcia, American musician (d. 1995)
- August 2 - Isabel Allende, Chilean writer
- August 4 - David Lange, Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 2005)
- August 7 - Garrison Keillor, American writer and radio host
- August 19 - Fred Thompson, U.S. Senator and actor
- August 20 - Isaac Hayes, American singer and actor
- August 26 - Dennis Turner, British politician
- August 28 - Sterling Morrison, American musician (d. 1995)
September
- September 1 - John Lange, American scientist
- September 19 - Freda Payne, American singer and actress
- September 22 - David Stern, American commissioner of the National Basketball Association
- September 28 - Marshall Bell, American actor
- September 29 - Madeline Kahn, American actress (d. 1999)
- September 29 - Jean-Luc Ponty, French jazz violinist
- September 30 - Frankie Lymon, American singer (d. 1968)
October
- October 11 - Amitabh Bachchan, Indian actor
- October 12 - Melvin Franklin, American musician (d. 1995)
- October 13 - Jerry Jones, American football team owner
- October 19 - Andrew Vachss, American author and attorney
- October 20 - Earl Hindman, American actor (d. 2003)
- October 20 - Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, German biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- October 21 - Elvin Bishop, American musician
- October 22 - Annette Funicello, American actress
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