A new complete sample of radio galaxies.

Radio sources from the B2 catalogue, in an area of 0.443 sr have been identified with galaxies brighter than the 17th magnitude. Radio observations have been made at 1415 MHz with the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope. From these observations we obtained the radio structures of 45 sources with a resolution of 24" x 24"/sin 8. We have also observed these radio galaxies spectroscopically at McDonald Observatory and at Kitt Peak National Observatory, and measured 45 new redshifts; as a result, the redshifts of all galaxies brighter than 16.5, except one, are known. The results of the radio and optical observations are given in the present paper; the interpretation of the data will be presented elsewhere. Key words: radio galaxies - radio fluxes - redshifts - radio structures