1940 May 27th..-June 4th. Dunkirk Evacuation.

Reporting for the 1941 Britannica Book of the Year, retired U.S. Army officer George Fielding Eliot wrote,

No purely military study of the major aspects of the war could do justice to the skill and the heroism of the evacuation from Dunkirk. Suffice it to say only that, when it began, members of the British imperial general staff doubted that 25% of the B.E.F. could be saved. When it was completed, some 330,000 French and British troops, together with some Belgian and Dutch forces who refused to surrender, had reached haven in England.

…One of the most motley fleets of history—ships, transports, merchantmen, fishing boats, pleasure craft—took men off from the very few ports left, from the open beaches themselves, for German air attacks had virtually destroyed most port facilities.

The royal air force, including planes from the metropolitan force in England, met and asserted at least temporary air superiority over the tremendous German air forces, and the royal navy, with daring and precision, assisted by courageous French naval craft, stood close in shore and not only covered the evacuation, but took off thousands of men in overloaded destroyers and other small craft.

Ongoing evacuation effort at Dunkirk.

On 27 May, the first full day of the evacuation, active were one cruiser, eight destroyers, and twenty-six other craft.  Admiralty officers combed nearby boatyards for small craft that could ferry personnel from the beaches out to larger craft in the harbour, as well as larger vessels that could load from the docks. An emergency call was put out for additional help, and by 31 May nearly four hundred small craft were voluntarily and enthusiastically taking part in the effort. Also on 27 May, the Luftwaffe heavily bombed Dunkirk, both the town and the dock installations. As the water supply was knocked out, the resulting fires could not be extinguished. An estimated thousand civilians were killed, one-third of the remaining population of the town.  The Luftwaffe was met by sixteen squadrons of the Royal Air Force, who claimed 38 kills on the 27th while experiencing the loss of 14 aircraft.^[Altogether over 3,500 sorties were flown in support of Operation Dynamo. The RAF continued to take a heavy toll on the German bombers throughout the week. Soldiers being bombed and strafed while awaiting transport were for the most part unaware of the efforts of the RAF to protect them, as most of the dogfights took place far from the beaches. As a result, many British soldiers bitterly accused the airmen of doing nothing to help. Knowing the truth of it, Churchill made a point of stating in his address in the House on 4 June that the evacuation had been made possible through the efforts of the Air Force. 

1940 May 27th.-June 4th.

The Dunkirk evacuation, code-named Operation Dynamo, also known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, was the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, France, between 27 May and 4 June 1940. The operation became necessary when large numbers of British, French, and Belgian troops were cut off and surrounded by the German army during the Battle of France in the Second World War. In a speech to the House of Commons, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill called the events in France "a colossal military disaster", saying that "the whole root and core and brain of the British Army" had been stranded at Dunkirk and seemed about to perish or be captured.

In his We shall fight on the beaches speech on 4 June, he hailed their rescue as a "miracle of deliverance".

After the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, marking the beginning of the Second World War, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was sent to aid in the defence of France. Germany invaded Belgium and the Netherlands on 10 May 1940, and three of their Panzer corps attacked France through the Ardennes and rapidly drove to the English Channel. By 21 May, the German forces had trapped the BEF, the remains of the Belgian forces, and three Frencharmies in an area along the northern coast of France. Commander of the BEF General John Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort immediately saw that evacuation across the Channel was the best course of action, and began planning a withdrawal to Dunkirk, the closest location with good port facilities. 

A controversial Halt Order was issued with Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler's approval 22 May. This gave the trapped Allied forces time to construct defensive works and pull back large numbers of troops toward Dunkirk. From 28–31 May 1940, in the Siege of Lille, the remaining 40,000 men of the once-formidable French First Army fought a delaying action against seven German divisions, including three armoured divisions.

On the first day of the evacuation, only 7,669 men were evacuated, but by the ninth day a total of 338,226 soldiers had been rescued by a hastily-assembled fleet of over 800 boats. Many of the troops were able to embark from the harbour's protective mole onto 39 British destroyersand other large ships, while others had to wade out from the beaches, waiting for hours in the shoulder-deep water. Some were ferried from the beaches to the larger ships by the famous little ships of Dunkirk, a flotilla of hundreds of merchant marine boats, fishing boats,pleasure craft, and lifeboats called into service for the emergency. The BEF lost 68,000 soldiers during the French campaign and had to abandon nearly all of their tanks, vehicles, and other equipment. In his speech to the House of Commons on 4 JuneChurchill reminded the country that "we must be very careful not to assign to this deliverance the attributes of a victory. Wars are not won by evacuations." The events at Dunkirk remain a prominent folk memory in the United Kingdom.

1940 May 24th. German advance stopped.

German advance halted

By 24 May the Germans captured the port of Boulogne and surrounded Calais. Captain (later Generaloberst) Heinz Guderian's engineers of the 2nd Panzer Division constructed five bridgeheads over the Canal Line, and only a single Britishbattalion blocked the Germans from seizing the port facilities at Dunkirk.  At this point, at the urging of Rundstedt and Commander in Chief of the Luftwaffe Hermann Göring, Hitler issued the Halt Order: the Panzers were ordered to stop their advance. After the war, several commanders, including Rundstedt and OKH Chief of Staff General Franz Halder, tried to put the blame for this decision exclusively on Hitler. However, according to Rundstedt's official war diary, Rundstedt ordered the halt, concerned about the vulnerability of his flanks and the question of supply to his forward troops. He was also concerned that the marshy ground around Dunkirk would prove unsuitable for the use of tanks, and he wished to save some of the armour for the upcoming advance on Paris. Both these concerns were shared by Hitler, who merely validated the order several hours after the fact. Hitler was urged by Göring to let the Luftwaffe (aided by Army Group B  finish the British off, to the consternation of Halder, who noted in his diary that the ability to effectively use the air force was dependent upon the weather. In addition, the pilots were worn out after two weeks of battle. The order was sent uncoded, and was picked up by the British: "By order of the Fuhrer ... attack northwest of Arras is to be limited to the general line Lens-Bethune-Aire-St Omer-Gravelines. The Canal will not be crossed."

Army Group B and the Luftwaffe were unable to complete their mission due to heavy activity in the area by the Royal Air Force, a lack of motorised transport that slowed the advance of the infantry, and bad weather. On 26 May, Hitler ordered the Panzer groups to continue their advance, but the delay allowed the construction of defences vital to the evacuation. 

The Halt Order has been the subject of much discussion by historians. Guderian considered the failure to order a timely assault on Dunkirk to be one of the major mistakes the Germans made on the Western Front.  Rundstedt called it "one of the great turning points of the war", and Manstein described it as "one of Hitler's most critical mistakes".

1940 May 25th. Seige of Calais.

The Siege of Calais (1940) was a battle for the port and town of Calaisduring the German blitzkrieg which overran northern France in 1940. It immediately preceded Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force through Dunkirk. It has long been a subject of debate whether the sacrifice of the largely British garrison at Calais contributed to the successful evacuation from Dunkirk.
The German Drive to the Channel

On 10 May 1940, the Germans launched their offensive against France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Within a few days, the concentrated German Panzer Group achieved a breakthrough against the centre of the French front near Sedan, and drove westwards. On 21 May, they captured Abbeville at the mouth of the Somme River, cutting off the Allied troops in Northern France and Belgium from those to the south.The Panzer Group, spearheaded by the XIX Panzer Korps under General Heinz Guderian, turned to its right and drove against the rear of the cut-off Allied armies. Guderian's corps consisted of three Panzer Divisions and an SS motorised infantry regiment. They advanced north along the coast almost unopposed, although they were harassed by air attacks.

Actions on May 23 

The 3rd Royal Tank Regiment (RTR), the 229th Anti-tank battery of the Royal Artillery and the Queen Victoria's Rifles (QVR) arrived in Calais on 22 May. The haste with which the units were moved meant they were not properly ready for action. Four of the anti-tank battery's twelve guns had to be left behind. 3RTR (commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Reginald Keller) was equipped with twenty-one Light Tank Mk VI and twenty-seven Cruiser Mk I tanks. They had no chance to test fire or "zero" their tanks' armament, nor were most of their radios fitted. The QVR were a motorcycle reconnaissance unit of the Territorial Army. Because of a staff officer's error, the motorcycle combinations were left behind, and the personnel arrived in France without transport and equipped only with small arms.The Royal Tank Regiment had orders to advance from Calais to Boulogne, which was under attack. They also were ordered by Lieutenant General Douglas Brownrigg, the Adjutant General of the British Expeditionary Force, to detach some tanks to escort a convoy of trucks carrying rations for the British Expeditionary Force to the east. In the afternoon of 23 May, the main body of the tank regiment advanced south. At Guînes, they encountered half the German 1st Panzer Division (Kampfgruppe Kruger) which was skirting Calais. About half the British tanks were knocked out and the remainder retired to Calais. The German battlegroup continued to drive past Calais, fighting actions against the 1st and 2nd Searchlight Regiments of the Royal Artillery, fighting as infantry, east of the town during the evening.The armoured detachment escorting the ration trucks also became tangled with the German battlegroup during the night. The trucks turned back but some of the tanks pushed on to Gravelines, where they knocked out several German tanks before being overrun the next morning.

1941 May 24th.Bismark sinks HMS Hood.

• 1941 – World War II: In the Battle of the Atlantic, the German Battleship Bismarck sinks then-pride of the Royal Navy,HMS Hood, killing all but three crewmen.
• Bismarck was the first of two Bismarck-class battleships built for the German Kriegsmarine. Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the primary force behind the unification of Germany in 1871, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched two and a half years later in February 1939. Work was completed in August 1940, when she was commissioned into the German fleet. Bismarck and her sister ship Tirpitz were the largest battleships ever built by Germany, and two of the largest built by any European power.
  In the course of the warship's eight-month career under its sole commanding officer, Capt. Ernst Lindemann, Bismarck conducted only one offensive operation, in May 1941, codenamed Rheinübung. The ship, along with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, was to break into the Atlantic Ocean and raid Allied shipping from North America to Great Britain. The two ships were detected several times off Scandinavia, and British naval units were deployed to block their route. At the Battle of the Denmark Strait, Bismarck engaged and destroyed the battlecruiser HMS Hood, the pride of the Royal Navy, and forced the battleship HMS Prince of Wales to retreat; Bismarck was hit three times and suffered an oil leak from a ruptured tank.
  The destruction of Hood spurred a relentless pursuit by the Royal Navy involving dozens of warships. Two days later, while heading for the relative safety of occupied France, Bismarck was attacked by obsolescentFairey Swordfish biplane torpedo bombers from the aircraft carrierHMS Ark Royal; one scored a hit that rendered the battleship's steering gear inoperable. In her final battle the following morning, Bismarck was neutralised by a sustained bombardment from a British fleet, was scuttledby her crew, and sank with heavy loss of life. Most experts agree that the battle damage would have caused her to sink eventually. The wreck was located in June 1989 by Robert Ballard, and has since been further surveyed by several other expeditions.
  HMS Hood (pennant number 51) was the last battlecruiser built for theRoyal Navy. Commissioned in 1920, she was named after the 18th-century Admiral Samuel Hood. One of four Admiral-class battlecruisers ordered in mid-1916, Hood had serious design limitations, though her design was drastically revised after the Battle of Jutland and improved while she was under construction. For this reason she was the only ship of her class to be completed. Hood was involved in several showing the flag exercises between her commissioning in 1920 and the outbreak of war in 1939, including training exercises in the Mediterranean Sea and a circumnavigation of the globe with the Special Service Squadron in 1923 and 1924. She was attached to the Mediterranean Fleet following the outbreak of the Second Italo-Abyssinian War. When the Spanish Civil Warbroke out, Hood was officially assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet until she had to return to Britain in 1939 for an overhaul. By this time, advances in naval gunnery had reduced Hood's usefulness. She was scheduled to undergo a major rebuild in 1941 to correct these issues, but the outbreak of World War II in September 1939 forced the ship into service without the upgrades.
  When war with Germany was declared Hood was operating in the area around Iceland, and she spent the next several months hunting between Iceland and the Norwegian Sea for German commerce raiders andblockade runners. After a brief overhaul of her propulsion system, she sailed as the flagship of Force H, and participated in the destruction of the French Fleet at Mers-el-Kebir. Relieved as flagship of Force H, Hood was dispatched to Scapa Flow, and operated in the area as a convoy escort and later as a defence against a potential German invasion fleet. In May 1941, she and the battleship Prince of Wales were ordered to intercept the German battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, which were en route to the Atlantic where they were to attack convoys. On 24 May 1941, early in the Battle of the Denmark Strait, Hood was struck by several German shells and exploded; the loss had a profound effect on the British people.
  The Royal Navy conducted two inquiries into the reasons for the ship's quick demise. The first, held very quickly after the ship's loss, concluded that Hood's aft magazine had exploded after one of Bismarck's shells penetrated the ship's armour. A second inquiry was held after complaints that the first board had failed to consider alternative explanations, such as an explosion of the ship's torpedoes. It was more thorough than the first board, and concurred with the first board's conclusion. Despite the official explanation, some historians continued to believe that the torpedoes caused the ship's loss while others proposed an accidental explosion inside one of the ship's gun turrets that reached down into the magazine. Other historians have focused on the cause of the magazine explosion. The discovery of the ship's wreck in 2001 confirmed the conclusion of both boards, although the exact reason why the magazines detonated will always be a mystery, as that area of the ship was entirely destroyed in the explosion.

1934 May 23rd Bonnie & Clyde are ambushed.

• 1934 – The American bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde are ambushed by police and killed in Black Lake, Louisiana.
• Bonnie Elizabeth Parker (October 1, 1910 – May 23, 1934) and Clyde Chestnut Barrow (March 24, 1909 – May 23, 1934) were American outlaws and robbers from the Dallas area who traveled the central United States with their gang during the Great Depression. At times, the gang included Buck Barrow,Blanche Barrow, Raymond Hamilton, W. D. Jones, Joe Palmer, Ralph Fults, andHenry Methvin. Their exploits captured the attention of the American public during the "public enemy era" between 1931 and 1934. Though known today for his dozen-or-so bank robberies, Barrow preferred to rob small stores or rural gas stations. The gang is believed to have killed at least nine police officers and several civilians. The couple were eventually ambushed and killed in Bienville Parish, Louisiana, by law officers. Their reputation was revived and cemented in American pop folklore by Arthur Penn's 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde, which starred Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty as the pair.
  Even during their lifetimes, the couple's depiction in the press was at considerable odds with the hardscrabble reality of their life on the road—particularly in the case of Parker. Though she was present at a hundred or more felonies during her two years as Barrow's companion,  she was not the machine gun-wielding killer portrayed in the newspapers, newsreels, and pulp detective magazines of the day. Gang member W.D. Jones later testified that he was unsure whether he had ever seen her fire at officers. Parker's reputation as a cigar-smoking gun moll grew out of a playful snapshot found by police at an abandoned hideout, released to the press, and published nationwide. While she did chain smoke Camel cigarettes, she was not a cigar smoker. 
  Historian Jeff Guinn has said that the hideout photos led to the glamorization and creation of legend about the outlaws:

  "John Dillinger had matinee-idol good looks and Pretty Boy Floyd had the best possible nickname, but the Joplin photos introduced new criminal superstars with the most titillating trademark of all—illicit sex. Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker were wild and young, and undoubtedly slept together." 

1455 May 22nd 1st. Battle of St Albans

• 1455 – Start of the Wars of the Roses: at the First Battle of St Albans, Richard, Duke of York, defeats and captures King Henry VI of England.
• The Wars of the Roses was a series of dynastic wars for the throne of England. They were fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet, the houses of Lancaster and York. They were fought in several sporadic episodes between 1455 and 1487, although there was related fighting before and after this period. The conflict resulted from social and financial troubles that followed theHundred Years' War, combined with the mental infirmity and weak rule of Henry VI, which revived interest in the alternative claim to the throne of Richard, Duke of York.
  The final victory went to a Lancastrian claimant, Henry Tudor, who defeated the last Yorkist king, Richard III, at the Battle of Bosworth Field. After assuming the throne as Henry VII, Henry Tudor married Elizabeth of York, the daughter of Edward IV, thereby uniting the two houses. In an era leading to what is sometimes referred to as the "Golden Age" of Elizabeth, the House of Tudor ruled England and Wales until 1603.

20th.May 325 The First Council of Nicea.

• 325 – The First Council of Nicea – the first Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church is held.
• Overview
  The First Council of Nicaea was the first ecumenical council of the Church. Most significantly, it resulted in the first, uniform Christian doctrine, called the Nicene Creed. With the creation of the creed, a precedent was established for subsequent local and regional councils of Bishops (Synods) to create statements of belief and canons of doctrinal orthodoxy—the intent being to define unity of beliefs for the whole of Christendom.

  One purpose of the council was to resolve disagreements arising from within the Church of Alexandria over the nature of the Son in his relationship to the Father: in particular, whether the Son had been 'begotten' by the Father from his own being, or rather, created out of nothing, a characteristic shared with other creatures. St. Alexander of Alexandria and Athanasius took the first position; the popular presbyterArius, from whom the term Arianism comes, took the second. The council decided against the Arians overwhelmingly (of the estimated 250–318 attendees, all but two agreed to sign the creed and these two, along with Arius, were banished to Illyria).

  Another result of the council was an agreement on when to celebrateEaster, the most important feast of the ecclesiastical calendar, decreed in an epistle to the Church of Alexandria in which is simply stated:

  We also send you the good news of the settlement concerning the holy pasch, namely that in answer to your prayers this question also has been resolved. All the brethren in the East who have hitherto followed the Jewish practice will henceforth observe the custom of the Romans and of yourselves and of all of us who from ancient times have kept Easter together with you. 

   Historically significant as the first effort to attain consensus in the church through an assembly representing all of Christendom, the Council was the first occasion where the technical aspects of Christology were discussed. Through it a precedent was set for subsequent general councils to adopt creeds and canons. This council is generally considered the beginning of the period of the First seven Ecumenical Councils in the History of Christianity.

  Character and purpose

  

  

  Constantine the Great summoned the bishops of the Christian Church to Nicaea to address divisions in the Church (mosaic inHagia Sophia, Constantinople (Istanbul), ca. 1000).

  The First Council of Nicaea was convened by Emperor Constantine the Great on the recommendations of a synod led by Hosius of Córdoba in the Eastertide of 325. This synod had been charged with investigation of the trouble brought about by the Arian controversy in the Greek-speaking east. To most bishops, the teachings of Arius were heretical and dangerous to the salvation of souls. n the summer of 325, the bishops of all provinces were summoned to Nicaea, a place reasonably accessible to many delegates, particularly those of Asia Minor,Georgia, Armenia, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Greece, and Thrace.

  This was the first general council in the history of the Church since the ApostolicCouncil of Jerusalem, the Apostolic council having established the conditions upon which Gentiles could join the Church.  In the Council of Nicaea, "The Church had taken her first great step to define revealed doctrine more precisely in response to a challenge from a heretical theology."

1649 May 19th. The Commonwealth of England.

The Commonwealth, or Commonwealth of England, was the period from 1649 onwards when England, along later with Ireland and Scotland, was ruled as a republic following the end of the Second English Civil Warand the trial and execution of Charles I. The republic's existence was initially declared through "An Act declaring England to be a Commonwealth", adopted by the Rump Parliament on 19 May 1649. Power in the early Commonwealth was vested primarily in the Parliament and a Council of State. During the period, fighting continued, particularly inIreland and Scotland, between the parliamentary forces and those opposed to them, as part of what is now referred to as the Third English Civil War.

In 1653, after the forcible dissolution of the Rump Parliament, Oliver Cromwell was declared Lord Protector of a united "Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland" under the terms of the Instrument of Government, inaugurating the period now usually known as the Protectorate. After Cromwell's death, and following a brief period of rule under his son, Richard Cromwell, the Protectorate Parliament was dissolved in 1659 and the Rump Parliament recalled, the start of a process that led ultimately to the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. The term Commonwealth is sometimes used for the whole of 1649 to 1660 – a period referred to by monarchists as the Interregnum – although for other historians, the use of the term is limited to the years prior to Cromwell’s formal assumption of power in 1653.

1652 May 18th.Rhode Island makes slavery illegal.

• 1652 May 18 – Rhode Island passes the first law in North America making slavery illegal.

Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work.  Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation. Historically, slavery was institutionally recognized by most societies; in more recent times, slavery has been outlawed in all countries, but it continues through the practices of debt bondage, indentured servitude, serfdom,domestic servants kept in captivity, certain adoptions in which children are forced to work as slaves, child soldiers, and forced marriage. Slavery is officially illegal in all countries, but there are still an estimated 20 million to 30 million slaves worldwide. Mauritania was the last jurisdiction to officially outlaw slavery (in 1981/2007), but about 10% to 20% of its population is estimated to live in slavery.

Slavery predates written records and has existed in many cultures. Most slaves today are debt slaves, largely in South Asia, who are under debt bondage incurred bylenders, sometimes even for generations. Human trafficking is primarily used for forcing women and children into sex industries.

1536 May 17th. George Boleyn & four others executed.

1536 – George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford and four other men are executed for treason
The four others implicated in the plot, Sir Henry Norris, Sir Francis Weston, Sir William Brereton and Mark Smeaton were tried on Friday 12 May. Only Smeaton confessed, probably after torture, but certainly emotional pressure. Despite lack of evidence all four men were found guilty. Thomas Boleyn sat on the jury and effectively condemned his own daughter by finding the men guilty.

Anne and George were arrested on 2 May 1536 the day after the May Day joust at which George was one of the principal jousters.

Anne was pre-judged for the earlier convictions of the men found guilty of adultery with her, therefore she stood trial before her brother. George stood trial a few hours after Anne on Monday 15 May. As Anne had been found guilty before George had stood trial he too was pre-judged because he could hardly be acquitted when his sister had already been found guilty of incest. The order of the trials had been very cleverly arranged to ensure the difficult case against George could not realistically fail. Everyone who witnessed George's trial, including the Imperial Ambassador Eustace Chapuys, confirmed that he put up a magnificent defence and many thought he would be acquitted. Chapuys confirmed that those watching were betting 10 to 1 that he would be acquitted and the court chronicler Charles Wriothesley said that his evidence was a marvel to hear. 

There was no evidence of incest save that on one occasion he had spent a long time alone with Anne. Chapuys says he was convicted merely on a presumption. George's wife has throughout history been accused of providing evidence to support the incest charge, but this is unlikely to be correct. None of the evidence relating to the trials makes any mention of George's wife as providing evidence save for the fact that she told in a letter that Anne had told her Henry was impotent. This in itself was damning because it provided a potential motive for Anne's behaviour. Yet whatever Jane Rochford may or may not have said, it seems that the majority of the courtiers believed in his innocence, as can be seen from the wagers they were making in favour of acquittal.

Irrespective of what those at court thought, he was unanimously found guilty and the sentence of the court was that he behanged, drawn and quartered (the sentence was later commuted to beheading). He asked for his debts be paid out of his confiscated assets so that no one would suffer from his death, and he continued to be distressed about his debts whilst awaiting death. In fact his distress was so acute that the Constable of the Tower, William Kingston wrote to Cromwell twice begging him to help ease George's conscience. 

George Boleyn and the other four men were beheaded on Tower Hill on the morning of 17 May 1536. George's scaffold speech was extremely long and exemplified the orator's linguistic skills. For it to have been recorded in as much detail as it was, the vast crowd who witnessed the executions must have been virtually silent, and there could have been little booing or jeering as with normal state executions. His scaffold speech was primarily concerned with defending his religious beliefs and his passion for reform. It was not the honourable thing to deny guilt once a guilty verdict had been given in a court of law, and therefore he followed the conventions of the day by admitting he was a sinner deserving of death. He begged forgiveness of anyone he may have offended and begged for God's forgiveness. He came close to denying his guilt by declaring, beware, trust not in the vanity of the world or the flatterys of the court, or the favour and treacheries of fortune. He said he would be alive if he had not done so. By blaming fortune for his fall he came as close as he dared to denying his guilt (i.e., he was dying because luck had been against him, not because he was guilty). He then went on to speak of his religious convictions before calmly submitting his neck to the axe. Anne was beheaded two days later.

15th. May 1942 British Jet Engine plane

The Gloster E.28/39, (also referred to as the "Gloster Whittle", "Gloster Pioneer", or "Gloster G.40") was the first British jet-engined aircraft to fly. It was designed to test the Whittle jet engine in flight, leading to the development of the Gloster Meteor.

Design and development

In September 1939, the Air Ministry issued a specification to Gloster for an aircraft to test one of Frank Whittle's turbojet designs in flight. The E.28/39 name comes from the aircraft having been built to the 28th "Experimental" specification issued by the Air Ministry in 1939. The E.28/39 specification required the aircraft to carry two .303 Browning machine guns in each wing, but these were never fitted.

Gloster's chief designer George Carter worked closely with Whittle, and laid out a small low-wing aircraft of conventional configuration. The jet intake was in the nose, and the single tail-fin and elevators were mounted above the jet-pipe, although due to uncertainty about the spinning characteristics of a jet aircraft, at in an earlier design stage twin fins and rudders were considered. Two jet pipe/rear fuselage arrangements were also originally considered due to the potential loss of thrust through the jet pipe itself, a 'short jet' with a cutaway rear fuselage and short exhaust, and a 'long jet' with a fully enclosed jet pipe, however the 'long jet' was subsequently selected. A contract for two prototypes was signed by the Air Ministry on 3 February 1940, and the first of these was completed by April 1941. Manufacturing started at Brockworth near Gloucester, but was later moved to Regent Motors in Cheltenham High St (now the Regent Arcade) which was considered a location safer from bombing.

Testing the initial flight tests were relatively early in the Second World War, the German Heinkel He 178 had been first test-flown on 27 August 1939, at Rostock-Marienehe on the Baltic Coast, days before the outbreak of the war.

Statue in Coventry, England of Sir Frank Whittle observing the first British jet-powered flight

Plaque on base of the statue of Frank Whittle in Coventry, England

The E.28/39 was delivered to Brockworth for ground tests beginning on 7 April 1941, using a non-flightworthy version of the Power Jets W.1 engine. These included some short "hops" of about 6 ft in height from the grass airfield. With these initial tests satisfactorily completed, the aircraft was fitted with a flightworthy engine rated for 10 hours use, and then transferred to Cranwell which had a long runway. On 15 May 1941, Gloster's Chief Test Pilot, Flight Lieutenant Gerry Sayer flew the aircraft under jet power for the first time from RAF Cranwell, near Sleaford in Lincolnshire, in a flight lasting 17 minutes. In this first series of test flights a maximum true speed of 350 m.p.h. was attained, in level flight at 25,000 ft. and 17,000 r.p.m. turbine revolutions.^[1]

Over the following months, tests continued with increasingly refined versions of the engine. Later in the test program small, auxiliary fins were added near the tips of the tailplanes to provide additional stability in high-speed flight.^[2] John Grierson, in 1971, called these "end-plates", and wrote that their purpose was to increase the fin area due to the problem of rudder blanking in a side-slip.^[3]