David John (Dave) Shannon, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar (27 May 1922 – 8 April 1993) was an Australian bomber pilot of World War II, best known for his part in the "Dambusters" raid on the night of 16/17 May 1943.
 Born in South Australia, he joined the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in 1941 and learned to fly under the Empire Air Training Scheme.
 After further training in the United Kingdom he was posted to No. 106 Squadron RAF, operating Avro Lancaster heavy bombers, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) in January 1943.
 In March he was selected by No. 106 Squadron's commanding officer, Wing Commander Guy Gibson, to join the newly formed No. 617 Squadron for Operation Chastise, the attack on the dams of the Ruhr valley.
 Awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) following the raid, Shannon continued to fly with No. 617 Squadron until October 1944, during which time he earned bars to his DSO and DFC.
 He was then assigned to transport duties, first with No. 511 Squadron and then, in March 1945, with No. 246 Squadron.
 Ranked squadron leader, Shannon was demobilised after the war and remained in England, becoming an executive with Shell.
 He died in South London in 1993, aged seventy.
Squadron Leader Hugh Joseph "Huseph" Riddle RAF (1912–2009) was a World War II Royal Air Force fighter pilot during the Battle of Britain.
Squadron Leader William Harrop {'1': ", '2': ", '3': ", '4': "} was a British World War I flying ace credited with five aerial victories while flying as an enlisted observer.
 He returned to RAF service in World War II, attaining the rank of squadron leader.
Sir Hugh Spencer Lisle Dundas, (22 July 1920 – 10 July 1995), nicknamed "Cocky", was a Second World War fighter pilot in the Royal Air Force (RAF) and later a senior broadcasting executive.
 He was promoted to squadron leader at the age of 21, wing commander at 22, was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1944 and, at 24, became one of the youngest group captains in the RAF.
 Dundas retired from the RAF in 1949, and was knighted in 1987 for his services to business and media.
William Earl Johns (professionally known as W. E. Johns; 1893–1968) was an English writer and journalist.
 He wrote over 150 books and was, after Enid Blyton, "the most prolific and popular children's writer of his time".
 Most of Johns's work—102 books—consists of the stories of Biggles, a First World War pilot and, later, adventurer, detective and Second World War squadron leader.
 He also wrote science fiction stories, and two further series of war stories, featuring the characters Worrals of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) and Gimlet, a British Commando.
Jack Rife Beirnes (November 24, 1915 - June 1, 1945) was a Canadian squadron leader who flew Typhoons during the Second World War in Europe.
 He was awarded the DFC and Bar for his successes with the Wildcat Squadron (No. 438) (later renamed the 438 Tactical Helicopter Squadron).
 Beirnes was born in Birtle, Manitoba but grew up in Tofield, Alberta where his father ran a drugstore.
 He was always fascinated by flying and drove a cab in Edmonton to pay for his flying lessons.
Western Air Command was the part of the Royal Canadian Air Force's Home War Establishment responsible for air operations on the Pacific coast of Canada during the Second World War.
 When Canada declared war against Germany in September 1939 the command consisted of only five squadrons.
 Four of them equipped with obsolete aircraft including a bomber squadron with aircraft from the Great War and there were no fighter aircraft at all for its only fighter squadron (113 Fighter Squadron was thus disbanded).
 With the Japanese threat after Pearl Harbor it grew rapidly and played a critical role in fighter and anti-submarine operations in Canadian and American waters during the Aleutian Islands Campaign.
 It was there that Squadron Leader K.A. Boomer of No. 111 Squadron shot down a Rufe fighter, the RCAF's only kill in the Pacific Theatre.
 On 7 July 1942 a Bristol Bolingbroke pressed home an attack on the Japanese Submarine Ro 32 the pilot F/Sgt.
 P.M.G. Thomas of No. 115 Squadron RCAF then led American Destroyers to sink the damaged submarine.
 By January 1943 Western Air Command had expanded to include many bomber, fighter and operational units under its control.
 By the end of the war the command would involve some twenty squadrons when the last units to join were added in 1943.
 These were the 163 Army Cooperation Squadron in March flying Bristol Bolingbrokes and Hawker Hurricanes, in May the 160 Bomber-Reconnaissance Squadron was added flying Cansos from Sea Island BC (before moving to Yarmouth NS in July) and the 166 Communication Squadron formed in September flying various types.
 In addition to the new squadrons, new aircraft types came on line replacing the command's remaining Supermarine Stranraers and Blackburn Sharks with Canso's and the Bolingbrokes and Beauforts with the Lockheed Ventura.
 Countless training missions and operational patrols bolstered the air activity over the coastal areas but there was not much action until RCAF Western Command was on the look out for General Kusaba's Fire Balloons that the Japanese called the Fūsen Bakudan Campaign.
 In February and March 1945, P-40 fighter pilots from 133 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force operating out of RCAF Patricia Bay (Victoria, British Columbia), intercepted and destroyed two fire balloons, On 21 February, Pilot Officer E. E. Maxwell While shot down a balloon, which landed on Sumas Mountain, in Washington State.
 On 10 March, Pilot Officer J. O. Patten destroyed a balloon near Saltspring Island, British Columbia.
 During another interception a Canso forced down a fire balloon which was examined at the army headquarters.
 Patrol activity was joined by the Operational Training Schools (OTS) operated by Number 4 Training Command of the BCATP.
 They were the No. 3 OTS flying the Canso and Catalina and No. 32 OTS with Ansons, Beauforts and Swordfish at Patricia Bay.
 In April, 1944 the No. 5 OTS Heavy Conversion unit stood up at Boundary Bay when 16 B-24 Liberators arrived fresh from American factories.
 By the end of September 1944 RCAF 5 O.T.U. had grown to sizeable force of some 87 aircraft including 38 B-24 Liberators, 35 B-25 Mitchells, 5 Bolingbrokes, 8 P-40 Kittyhawks and a single Norseman.
 With the end of the war in Europe these aircraft were joined by a number of Victory Aircraft Lancaster X bombers which were to be used to train the British Commonwealth's Very Long Range Bomber Tiger Force that would soon be sent to bomb the Japanese mainland from Okinawa.
 With the unconditional surrender of Japan the RCAF's Tiger Force bomber squadrons were disbanded before they flew overseas and the total draw down of the Western Air Command was suddenly undertaken.
 Within several months almost all the flying squadrons would be completely stood down.
The Battle of Britain (German: "Luftschlacht um England" , literally "the air battle for England") was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) defended the United Kingdom (UK) against large-scale attacks by the German Air Force (Luftwaffe).
 It has been described as the first major military campaign fought entirely by air forces.
The Battle of Britain (German: "Luftschlacht um England") was an effort by the German Air Force ("Luftwaffe") during the summer and autumn of 1940 to gain air superiority over the Royal Air Force (RAF) of the United Kingdom in preparation for the planned amphibious and airborne forces invasion of Britain by Operation Sea Lion.
 Neither the German leader Adolf Hitler nor his High Command of the Armed Forces ("Oberkommando der Wehrmacht", or OKW) believed it was possible to carry out a successful amphibious assault on Britain until the RAF had been neutralised.
 Secondary objectives were to destroy aircraft production and ground infrastructure, to attack areas of political significance, and to terrorise the British people into seeking an armistice or surrender.
A number of aircraft have been claimed to be the fastest propeller-driven aircraft.
 This article presents the current record holders for several sub-classes of propeller-driven aircraft that hold recognized, documented speed records in level flight.
 Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) records are the basis for this article.
 Other contenders and their claims are discussed, but only those made under controlled conditions and measured by outside observers.
 Pilots during World War II sometimes claimed to have reached supersonic speeds in propeller-driven fighters during emergency dives, but these speeds are not included as accepted records.
 Neither are speeds recorded in a dive during high-speed tests with the Supermarine Spitfire, including Squadron Leader J.R. Tobin's 606mph (Mach 0.89) in a 45° dive in a Mark XI Spitfire (date unknown) and Squadron Leader Anthony F. Martindale's breaking 620mph (Mach 0.92) in the same aircraft in April 1944.
 Flight Lieutenant Edward Powles' 690 mph (Mach 0.96) in Spitfire PR.XIX PS852 during an emergency dive while carrying out spying flights over China on 5 February, 1952 is also discounted.
 This would otherwise be the highest speed ever recorded for a piston-engined aircraft.

Question: Luftschlacht um England is the German name for which Second World War conflict featuring Squadron Leader Hugh Riddle?
Answer: Battle of Britain