Resources

Support and background material

Explore historical information, biographies and videos (other resources coming soon).

Showing 50 resources
The United Nations

The United Nations was created in 1945 with a membership of 51 countries. Its basis was the United Nations Charter, which was based on a series of concepts created by the UK, the USA, the Soviet Union and China, as the leading Allies fighting the Axis powers.   The purposes...

Codebreakers

Introduction For centuries some people, organisations and governments have wanted to send information secretly. Different ways of sending a secret message have been developed over time but the most common practice has been to hide information by using a code or a cipher (see box below). Just as people want...

Long Range Missions

The 1982 Falklands War is often taught and discussed from the position of its political rights and wrongs and the wider ramifications it had for the British and Argentinian leaderships at the time. In this material, the main focus is on the basic narrative of the military war and, in particular, the...

Airdrops

This short video explores relief operations that the RAF have been involved in.

The Jet Age & Helicopters

This short video outlines some key technical information about modern military aircraft and their development.

Reconnaissance: The Cold War

This short video looks at how the UK used aerial reconnaissance and other forms of surveillance to help prevent the Cold War developing into full-scale armed conflict.

Operation Black Buck

This short video provides an overview of Operation Black Buck.

Medical Evacuation

This short video outlines the part the RAF have played - and continue to play - in bringing injured soldiers to medical help.

Diversity in the RAF of the First World War - the Jewish contribution

The size of the Jewish community in 1914 was approximately 300,000 in a total British population of over 41 million. Antisemitism in 1914 was a common occurrence across Europe, including in the UK. Newspapers and officials would frequently generalise and be disparaging about Jewish groups and individuals. The Jewish community...

Balanced flight: RAF100 glider

The RAF100 glider is designed to illustrate one of the challenges facing early aircraft designers: how to keep an aircraft steady in flight. The video shows how to build and balance a glider.  Teachers can download the full STEM activity and extension material in the activities section: Origins and Aircraft...