Avolon

Avolon is an aircraft leasing company based in Dublin, Ireland. It was founded in May 2010 by Dómhnal Slattery, and a team from RBS Aviation Capital including John Higgins, Tom Ashe, Andy Cronin, Simon Hanson and Ed Riley with initial capital of US$1.4 billion. The equity commitment of US$1.4 billion was from four leading international investors: Cinven, CVC Capital Partners, Oak Hill Capital Partners and the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation. Between 2010 and 2014, Avolon also raised US$6.1 billion in debt from the capital markets and a range of commercial and specialist aviation banks including Wells Fargo Securities, Citi, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, UBS, DVB, Nord LB and KfW IPEX-Bank. In 2017, Avolon entered the public debt markets and raised a total over US$9 billion in debt finance. In November 2018, Avolon announced that Japanese financial institution, ORIX Corporation had acquired a 30% stake in the business from its shareholder Bohai Capital, part of China's HNA Group. In April 2019, Avolon announced it had raised US$2.5 billion of additional unsecured debt which resulted in an investment grade credit rating from Fitch, Moody's and S&P Global.
As of 31 March, 2021, Avolon had an owned, managed and committed fleet of 842 aircraft.
Avolon has received many industry awards since formation in 2010, most recently the Airfinance Journal 2019 Europe Deal of the Year Award. Avolon was awarded Company of the Year and Aviation Leasing Achievement of the Year Award at the 2016 Aviation Industry Awards. Avolon's CEO, Domhnal Slattery, also received an award for Outstanding Contribution to the Aviation Industry in 2016. Avolon's CEO, Domhnal Slattery, received an award for Outstanding Contribution to the Aviation Industry in 2016 and the NYU Ireland House 2020 Lewis L. Glucksman Award for Leadership.
Avolon Milestones.
In 2011, Avolon was awarded ‘Equity Deal of the Year’ by Airfinance Journal. In January 2013, a joint-venture aircraft leasing business between Avolon and Wells Fargo was announced.
Ireland & Aircraft Leasing.
Ireland is one of the world's leading jurisdictions for aircraft finance and leasing. The Irish industry traces its roots back to the foundation of Guinness Peat
Aviation in Shannon, County Clare in 1975 and in the intervening period the aircraft leasing, trading and brokerage industry has proved to be one of Ireland's greatest success stories. As one of the world's major centres for aircraft lessors, a survey conducted by the Federation of Aerospace Enterprises in Ireland estimated that aviation leasing companies in Ireland manage assets worth in the region of €82.9 billion.
It is estimated that in excess of US$100 billion of capital will be required every year to finance all the aircraft delivered by manufacturers and aircraft leasing is approaching 40% of the global aircraft financing market. The market has grown as more airlines have concluded that it is better to lease (rent) aircraft which provides for greater flexibility in the aircraft fleet. Some lessors expect the leased component share of the global aircraft fleet to rise to as much as 50% in the next several years.
Project i, Positioning Ireland at the Forefront of Global Startup Innovation.
In April 2019, Avolon issued a White Paper entitled "Project i" which assessed Ireland's start-up ecosystem when compared to best-in-class around the world. The report provides recommendations on how Ireland could close the gap with international best-practices; improve its global standing and provide the necessary support for entrepreneurs.
India, a 21st-century Powerhouse.
In July 2018, Avolon published a white paper titled ‘India, a 21st Century Powerhouse’, which provides an in-depth analysis of India's air travel market. The paper is divided in two parts; the first section details the factors impacting India's commercial airline sector, while the second part contains an analysis of the Indian aviation market, including a detailed breakdown of the major passenger markets, airline fleets and future growth projections.
The paper forecasted that the India's current passenger fleet will double to almost 1,100 aircraft by 2027 – with the total value of aircraft to be delivered over the coming ten years, at current list prices, projected to be $60 billion. The paper also highlighted that there is a shortfall of 300 aircraft in India's commercial aviation orderbook, which are required to meet the growth in demand over the next ten years. The demand is fuelled in large part by a forecasted annual growth of domestic and international passenger demand of 9.6% and 8.3% respectively.
China, The Land of Silk and Money.
During first half of 2017, Avolon published a White Paper series titled ‘The Land of Silk and Money’, which analysed the Chinese aviation market. The first part of this series, issued in March 2017, looked at the development, growth and gradual maturing of China's domestic airline industry and the key drivers of growth over the next decade. The second part, which was published in May 2017, analysed China's international inbound and outbound travel markets. The paper forecasted that Chinese airlines required an additional 3,200 additional aircraft by 2026, to meet future fleet requirements of China's airline industry. At the time of publication, over 50% of these had still to be ordered, including 1,150 narrowbody aircraft, 400 widebody aircraft and 150 regional jets.
The Economic Life of Aircraft.
In September 2012, Avolon published an analysis of commercial aircraft economic lives and retirement patterns. The purpose was to test whether the current assumptions made by airlines, aviation investors and aircraft financiers, on the economic life of commercial jets - that aircraft should be depreciated over a useful life of approximately 25 years - remains valid. The reason this analysis is so relevant today is that approximately 8,000 aircraft are due to be retired over the next 10 years. This is more than the total number of aircraft retired since commercial aviation began in the 1960s.
The Avolon analysis considers how trends in aircraft retirement have changed over time and identifies key differences between the behaviour of specific aircraft types. The paper also considers the likely impact on retirement trends and aircraft economic values of the retirement of newer fleets, including current Airbus A320 and Boeing 737NG aircraft.
The Transition to Neo and MAX Aircraft.
In February 2013 Avolon published an analysis of, and investor guide to, the expected market impact of the transition to new generation Airbus (320Neo) and Boeing (737MAX) single aisle aircraft families. This was Avolon's second white paper on industry issues and considered how the transition from A320ceo/737NG aircraft to A320Neo/737MAX aircraft will influence the single aisle aircraft market over the rest of the decade and beyond. The Avolon paper found that the effect of the Neo and Max models on the value of their predecessors will be limited by the sheer number of current-generation craft in use today and the high portion of the global aircraft fleet approaching retirement. The authors predict that sharper rises in passenger numbers in developing countries will fuel demand for both Neo and Max models, but also, importantly, current-generation aircraft as airlines seek to add capacity but find themselves at the end of long lines for the new models. Both Airbus and Boeing currently have record-high order backlogs, making the second-hand market an appealing option for fast-growing carriers.
Aircraft Retirement and Storage Trends.
In March 2015, Avolon published an updated analysis of the key factors that influence the economic life of commercial jet aircraft building on the analysis issued in September 2012. The 2015 analysis also addresses aircraft retirement and storage trends. The paper concluded that the patterns of retirement behaviour had not materially changed since the 2012 analysis, with the average aircraft retirement age stable at or around 25 years and more than 50% of fleets remaining in service beyond 25 years.
Documentary on Irish Aviation: 'Pioneers and Aviators'.
In November 2013, Avolon announced it had commissioned a documentary on the history of Irish Aviation titled: ""Pioneers and Aviators, A Century of Irish Aviation". The documentary tells the story of the remarkable, pioneering individuals whose vision, passion, successes and failures helped forge Ireland's unique aviation landscape. The documentary traces this story from its humble beginnings when Alcock and Brown made the first transatlantic flight, landing in a field in the West of Ireland, through the evolution of Aer Lingus and the development of airports at Foynes, Shannon and Dublin, the pivotalemergence of Tony Ryan, the meteoric rise and fall of GPA, the enduring dominance of Ryanair, culminating in a focus on the contemporary story of Ireland's leading role in aviation today.
The documentary Writer and Director, Alan Gilsenan, is an award-winning film-maker, writer and theatre director. His film work has appeared on the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, RTÉ, the History Channel and CNBC among others. The score for the documentary was written by renowned Irish composer Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin working with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.
The premiere of the documentary took place in the Irish National Concert Hall, Dublin on Wednesday 22 January 2014. The documentary was screened in two 52 minute episodes
on RTÉ Television on 20 and 27 February 2014
In June 2015, Avolon launched a commemorative photographic book of the same name - Pioneers and Aviators, A Century of Irish Aviation. The book was formally launched by the Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD, together with Domhnal Slattery, Avolon CEO; Eamonn Brennan, Chief Executive of the Irish Aviation Authority; and Brigadier General Paul Fry, GOC of the Air Corps at an event at Casement Aerodrome, Baldonnel, Co. Dublin.
Europe's First MSc in Aviation Finance.
In April 2016, Europe's first MSc in Aviation Finance was launched at the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School. Avolon, together with a number of other leading aircraft leasing firms, is an industry partner of the new master's degree.
The course is intended to sustain Ireland's position as the world's largest centre for aviation finance and leasing.
Initiatives with the Royal Hibernian Academy.
In October 2015, as part of its corporate and social responsibility programme, Avolon announced two initiatives with the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA): The Avolon Global Studio and Avolon Youthreach Programme. The programme was launched by Domhnal Slattery, Avolon CEO; Mick O’Dea RHA President; and Patrick T. Murphy, RHA Director.
Avolon Global Studio: With Avolon's support the RHA made a global call-out for an artist who will be awarded a 6-month studio placement, at the RHA during 2016, 2017 and 2018 with the first residency commencing in July 2016. This studio residency offers a once in a lifetime opportunity for an international, emerging artist to raise their profile on a global platform and to develop their practice within the environs of one of Ireland's leading contemporary art organisations. In April 2016 Avolon and the RHA announced the first participant of the Avolon Global Studio Programme would be Colombian artist, Adriana Salazar. The second artist to join the Avolon Global Studio Programme in 2017 was Iranian artist, Jinoos Taghizadeh. The third artist to receive the Avolon Global Studio Award will be selected from India.
Avolon Youthreach Programme: Collaborating with the national Youthreach scheme, the RHA will invite 6 young students, selected from submissions from the 160 Youthreach Centres nationwide, to participate in four workshops to increase their art skills, introduce them to visiting art galleries and art colleges and offer basic tools of criticism. As well as developing
practical skills, by working alongside a practicing artist, this opportunity will offer students the ability to explore the opportunities and challenges of being a professional
artist in Ireland today.


Operation Excess

Operation Excess was a series of British supply convoys to Malta, Alexandria and Greece in January 1941. The operation encountered the first presence of "Luftwaffe" anti-shipping aircraft in the Mediterranean Sea. All the convoyed freighters reached their destinations. The destroyer "Gallant" was disabled by Italian mines and Axis bombers severely damaged the cruiser "Southampton" and the aircraft carrier "Illustrious".
Background.
Italy's declaration of War on 10 June 1940 brought the Second World War to the Mediterranean Sea and placed the "Regia Aeronautica" astride the traditional British sea route to Indian Ocean ports, while the "Regia Marina" roughly tripled the numbers of battleships, cruisers and submarines available to challenge British sea power. The Royal Navy had held the eastern Mediterranean and France the western Mediterranean but the Second Armistice at Compiègne removed the French navy from the alliance on 25 June 1940. From bases at Gibraltar and Alexandria, the Royal Navy attempted to convoy supplies to Malta to maintain it as a base in the central Mediterranean. As Italy attacked Egypt from Libya in September 1940 and Greece from Albania in October 1940, the Royal Navy maintained most of their Mediterranean Fleet at Alexandria while Force H at Gibraltar was used for raids. British successes in early November 1940 including halting the Italian offensive in Greece and disabling Italian battleships "Littorio", "Conte di Cavour" and "Caio Duilio" at the Battle of Taranto provided incentive and opportunity to supply Malta and Greece.
Preparations.
Allied.
Convoy MC 4 consisted of four freighters at Gibraltar; "Clan Cumming", "Clan MacDonald" and "Empire Song" carried materiel destined for Piraeus; "Essex" carried of seed potatoes, of ammunition and twelve crated Hawker Hurricanes for Malta.
Convoy MW 5 consisted of the Freighters "Breconshire" and "Clan Macaulay" at Alexandria with cargo bound for Malta.
Convoy ME 6 was made up of nine freighters waited at Malta for passage to Alexandria.
Force A comprised , , , , , , , , and to sail from Alexandria, covering convoys MC 4, MW 5 and ME 6 east of the Skerki Banks.
Force B of , , and would carry five hundred soldiers and airmen from the Aegean to Malta and join convoy MC 4 after dropping their passengers in Malta.
Force C was to screen Convoy MW 5 with , and .
Force D, and , was to sail from Alexandria with s "Gloxinia", , , and the replenishment oiler "Brambleleaf" to be joined by and from Souda Bay.
Force F was to cover Convoy MC 4 with , , , and carrying four hundred soldiers and airmen to Malta.
Force H was to protect Convoy MC 4 from Gibraltar to the Skerki Banks with , , , , , , , and ferrying six Fairey Swordfish for Malta.
Axis.
Five hundred anti-shipping aircraft of "Fliegerkorps" X were being transferred from Norway to Sicily to protect Axis convoys to North Africa and prevent passage of British convoys to Malta.
Battle.
6 January 1941.
Convoy MC 4 left Gibraltar, feinting toward the Atlantic, before turning toward Malta after dark, to mislead Axis agents near Gibraltar.
7 January.
Force H sailed from Gibraltar to cover convoy MC 4. Force A, Force D and convoy MW 5 with Force C sailed from Alexandria and Force B sailed from the Aegean toward Malta. Force A was located by Italian air reconnaissance that afternoon.
8 January.
Force B landed its passengers in Malta and proceeded west to meet convoy MC 4. Vickers Wellington bombers raided Naples damaging "Giulio Cesare" with three near misses and causing the only operational Italian battleship "Vittorio Veneto" to retreat from the approaching convoys.
9 January.
Force A was joined by Force D and south-east of Malta, Force B joined convoy MC 4; Convoy MC 4 and Force H were discovered by Italian aircraft and attacked by ten SM.79s from Sardinia. Two SM.79s were shot down by Fairey Fulmars from "Ark Royal" and a later attack by 15 Fiat CR.42 Falcos carrying bombs also failed. Force H left convoy MC 4 that afternoon after "Ark Royal" launched six Swordfish for the defence of Malta; Force A joined convoy MC 4 at dusk.
10 January.
Italian ships from La Spezia failed to find Force H. The Italian submarine "Settimo" and torpedo boats "Circe" and "Vega" launched torpedoes against convoy MC 4 but missed. "Bonaventure" and "Hereward" sank "Vega" south of Pantellaria at 0830 and "Circe" escaped undamaged. "Bonaventure" was slightly damaged and two men killed; 75 per cent of her ammunition was expended in the engagement. Two of "Vega" crew survived. Right after the engagement, which pushed the British convoy too far south of their route, "Gallant" struck a naval mine at 0835. The bow was destroyed and 65 men were killed. "Mohawk" took "Gallant" in tow toward Malta while the Force B cruisers provided protection from air attacks. Convoys MC 4 and MW 5 arrived at Malta and convoy ME 6 departed for Alexandria.
Fulmars from "Illustrious" shot down an Italian aircraft shadowing Force A at 0930. "Valiant" avoided torpedoes launched by two SM.79s approaching under the radar horizon at 1230. As the combat air patrol Fulmars dropped altitude to engage the SM.79s, Force A was attacked at 1235 by 18 He 111s of "KG" 26 and 43 Ju 87s of "StG" 1 and "StG" 2 escorted by 10 Bf 110s of "ZG" 26. "Illustrious" completed launching Fulmar and Swordfish patrol aircraft as the attack developed. "Illustrious" was the main target and was enveloped in waterspouts and mist of exploding bombs. Some bombers diving from an altitude of 12,000 feet delayed bomb release until they pulled-out lower than the height of "Illustrious" funnel. The five air patrol Fulmars had not returned from chasing the SM.79s which attacked "Valiant" and the four recently launched Fulmars were unable to gain altitude rapidly enough to break up the attack. The Fulmars claimed eight enemy aircraft during the bombing of Force A as they shuttled to Malta airfields to refuel and re-arm. "Warspite" was lightly damaged by a bomb. "Illustrious" was hit by five bombs, including one which failed to explode and a near miss disabled her rudder mechanism. A bomb striking a lowered elevator caused extensive hangar damage, with many casualties among aircraft maintenance personnel, nine Swordfish and five Fulmars destroyed. At 1530 "Illustrious" headed for Malta steering with engines. The bombing attacks continued. Seven SM.79s were discouraged by heavy anti-aircraft fire but an attack by six Italian Ju 87s at 1600 scored another bomb hit and two near misses. Fourteen German Ju 87s missed "Valiant" and "Janus" and a later attack by 14 He 111s was similarly ineffective. "Illustrious" reached Malta at 2130 and would suffer 126 dead and 91 wounded by the time she departed from Malta.
11 January.
"Gallant" was beached in Malta's Grand Harbor at dawn and never repaired. As "Mohawk" and the Force B cruisers steamed from Malta to rejoin Force A, they were surprised by 12 Ju 87R dive bombers of "II/"St.G".2" attacking out of the sun at 1520. "Gloucester" was hit by a bomb which failed to explode and "Southampton" was hit by two bombs, which killed eighty men and started fires, requiring the ship to be scuttled east of Malta. Force H returned to Gibraltar.
12 January.
Force A was reinforced west of Crete by Force B, the cruisers of Force D, and from Alexandria.
13 January.
Convoy ME 6 arrived at Alexandria.
The Illustrious blitz.
What Maltese called the Illustrious "Blitz" began when bomb stocks depleted during the attacks of 10 and 11 January were replenished and the Axis made a maximum effort to destroy "Illustrious" before she could be repaired. "Illustrious" and "Essex" were hit during an air raid on 16 January. Ten Macchi C.202s, ten CR.42s and twenty Bf 110s escorted 44 Ju 87s. Bombs exploding in Grand Harbour killed numerous fish, that were collected after the raid and eaten. "Illustrious" was not seriously damaged but a bomb exploded in "Essex" engine room killing 15 men and wounding 23 more. There was another heavy air raid on 17 January and "Illustrious" was again hit in an air raid on 18 January. "Illustrious" was not damaged by the last big attack on 19 January. "Illustrious" departed Malta on 23 January but her Fulmars remained for the defence of the island. "Illustrious" was able to complete additional repairs after reaching Alexandria on 25 January but restoration of full combat effectiveness required a trip to United States shipyards.
Losses.
Fairey Fulmar fighters and AA gunners of the Royal Navy shot down at least seven aircraft on 10 January 1941, in defence of "Illustrious", while one Fulmar was lost. No merchantmen were lost during "Excess" but the Royal Navy lost one cruiser sunk and a destroyer damaged beyond repair.


Japanese repair ship Akashi

Akashi was a Japanese repair ship, serving during World War II. She was the only specifically designed repair ship operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy. The navy based her design on the US Navy's USS "Medusa".
Construction.
In 1937 the Imperial Japanese Navy had converted the old battleship "Asahi" to serve as a repair ship. After the conversion of Asahi, a decision was made to build a dedicated repair ship with better capabilities for that task. The Imperial Japanese Navy planned for her to carry out 40% of the repairs needed by the Combined Fleet (needing approximately 140,000-man-hours). Therefore, she was equipped with the latest machine tools imported from Germany.
War service.
During the war "Akashi" operated out of the Japanese base in the Truk atoll where she repaired various types of battle-damaged Japanese warships, including the "Shōkaku" in October 1942 and the "Yamato" in December 1943. In February 1944 the Americans made a raid on Truk (Operation Hailstone), sinking and damaging many ships. "Akashi" was damaged in these attacks and escaped to the Japanese atoll of Palau.
Fate.
On 30 March 1944, while anchored off Urukthapel in the Palau Islands, "Akashi" was hit numerous times by bombs and rockets from American aircraft from Task Group 58, during Operation Desecrate One. She was sunk in shallow water with her bridge still remaining above the water.


Gail Halvorsen

Gail Seymour "Hal" Halvorsen (born October 10, 1920) is a retired senior officer and command pilot in the United States Air Force. He is best known as the "Berlin Candy Bomber" or "Uncle Wiggly Wings" and gained fame for dropping candy to German children during the Berlin Airlift from 1948 to 1949.
Halvorsen grew up in rural Utah and always had a desire to fly. He earned his private pilot's license in 1941 and then joined the Civil Air Patrol. He joined the United States Army Air Forces in 1942 and was assigned to Germany on July 10, 1948, to be a pilot for the Berlin Airlift. Halvorsen piloted C-47s and C-54s during the Berlin airlift ("Operation Vittles"). During that time he founded "Operation Little Vittles", an effort to raise morale in Berlin by dropping candy via miniature parachute to the city's residents. Halvorsen began "Little Vittles" with no authorization from his superiors but over the next year became a national hero with support from all over the United States. Halvorsen's operation dropped over 23 tons of candy to the residents of Berlin. He became known as the "Berlin Candy Bomber", "Uncle Wiggly Wings", and "The Chocolate Flier".
Halvorsen has received numerous awards for his role in "Operation Little Vittles", including the Congressional Gold Medal. However, "Little Vittles" was not the end of Halvorsen's military and humanitarian career. Over the next 25 years, Halvorsen advocated for and performed candy drops in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania, Japan, Guam, and Iraq. Halvorsen's professional career included various notable positions. He helped to develop reusable manned spacecraft at the Directorate of Space and Technology and served as commander of Berlin Tempelhof Airport. He retired in August 1974 after logging over 8,000 flying hours. From 1976 until 1986 Halvorsen served as the Assistant Dean of Student Life at Brigham Young University.
Early life.
Gail Seymour Halvorsen was born in Salt Lake City on October 10, 1920, to Basil K. and Luella Spencer Halvorsen. He grew up on small farms first in Rigby, Idaho, and then in Garland, Utah. He graduated from Bear River High School in 1939 and then briefly attended Utah State University. He earned his private pilot license under the non-college Civilian Pilot Training Program in September 1941, and at about the same time joined the Civil Air Patrol as a pilot.
Halvorsen joined the United States Army Air Forces in May 1942 and was 22 when he arrived in Miami, Oklahoma, to train with 25 other USAAF Aviation cadets, and 77 Royal Air Force cadets, in Course 19, at the No. 3 British Flying Training School, operated by the Spartan School of Aeronautics. After completing pilot training, he returned to the Army Air Forces and was assigned flight duties in foreign transport operations in the South Atlantic Theater. He was ordered to Germany on July 10, 1948, to be a pilot for "Operation Vittles", now known as the Berlin Airlift.
Operation "Little Vittles".
Lieutenant Halvorsen's role in the Berlin Airlift was to fly one of many C-54 cargo planes used to ferry supplies into the starving city. During his flights he would first fly to Berlin, then deeper into Soviet-controlled areas. Halvorsen had an interest in photography and on his days off often went sightseeing in Berlin and shot film on his personal handheld movie camera. One day in July, he was filming plane takeoffs and landings at Tempelhof, the main landing site for the airlift. While there, he saw about thirty children lined up behind one of the barbed-wire fences. He went to meet them and noticed that the children had nothing. Halvorsen remembers: "I met about thirty children at the barbed wire fence that protected Tempelhof's huge area. They were excited and told me that 'when the weather gets so bad that you can't land, don't worry about us. We can get by on a little food, but if we lose our freedom, we may never get it back.'" Touched, Halvorsen reached into his pocket and took out two sticks of gum to give to the children. The kids broke them into little pieces and shared them; the ones who did not get any sniffed the wrappers. Watching the children, so many of whom had absolutely nothing, Halvorsen regretted not having more to give them. Halvorsen recorded that he wanted to do more for the children, and so told them that the following day he would have enough gum for all of them, and he would drop it out of his plane. According to Halvorsen, one child asked "How will we know it is your plane?" to which Halvorsen responded that he would wiggle his wings, something he had done for his parents when he first got his pilot's license in 1941.
That night, Halvorsen, his copilot, and his engineer pooled their candy rations for the next day's drop. The accumulated candy was heavy, so in order to ensure the children were not hurt by the falling candy, Halvorsen made three parachutes out of handkerchiefs and tied them to the rations. In the morning when Halvorsen and his crew made regular supply drops, they also dropped three boxes of candy attached to handkerchiefs. They made these drops once a week for three weeks. Each week, the group of children waiting at the Tempelhof airport fence grew significantly.
When word reached the airlift commander, Lieutenant General William H. Tunner, he ordered it expanded into Operation "Little Vittles", named as a play on the airlift's name of Operation Vittles. Operation Little Vittles began officially on September 22, 1948. Support for this effort to provide the children of Berlin with chocolate and gum grew quickly, first among Halvorsen's friends, then to the whole squadron. As news of Operation Little Vittles reached the United States, children and candymakers from all over the US began contributing candy. By November 1948, Halvorsen could no longer keep up with the amount of candy and handkerchiefs being sent from across America. College student Mary C. Connors of Chicopee, Massachusetts offered to take charge of the now national project and worked with the National Confectioner's Association to prepare the candy and tie the handkerchiefs. With the groundswell of support, Little Vittles pilots, of which Halvorsen was now one of many, were dropping candy every other day. Children all over Berlin had sweets, and more and more artwork was getting sent back with kind letters attached to them. The American candy bombers became known as the Rosinenbomber (Raisin Bombers), while Halvorsen himself became known by many nicknames to the children of Berlin, including his original moniker of "Uncle Wiggly Wings", as well as "The Chocolate Uncle", "The Gum Drop Kid" and "The Chocolate Flier".
Operation "Little Vittles" was in effect from September 22, 1948, to May 13, 1949. Although Lieutenant Halvorsen returned home in January 1949, he passed on leadership of the operation to one of his friends, Captain Lawrence Caskey. Upon his return home, Halvorsen met with several individuals who were key in making Operation "Little Vittles" a success. Halvorsen personally thanked his biggest supporter Dorothy Groeger, a homebound woman who nonetheless enlisted the help of all of her friends and acquaintances to sew handkerchiefs and donate funds. He also met the schoolchildren and "Little Vittles" committee of Chicopee, Massachusetts who were responsible for preparing over 18 tons of candy and gum from across the country and shipping it to Germany. In total, it is estimated that Operation "Little Vittles" was responsible for dropping over 23 tons of candy from over 250,000 parachutes.
Personal life.
Colonel Halvorsen's work with Operation "Little Vittles" not only won him international acclaim, but "drew him two proposals" according to one U.S. newspaper. He turned both of them down, hoping that the girl he left home in Garland, Utah would still have feelings for him. Halvorsen had met Alta Jolley in 1942 at Utah State Agricultural College. After Halvorsen left for Germany, the couple carried on their courtship via mail. Gail Halvorsen and Alta Jolley were married in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 16, 1949. The Halvorsens had five children, all of whom were raised in various parts of the United States and Germany as Halvorsen fulfilled his military assignments. After Colonel Halvorsen's retirement in 1974, the couple moved to Provo, Utah. From 1976 until 1986 Halvorsen served as the Assistant Dean of Student Life at Brigham Young University. Alta and Halvorsen were both active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). They served as missionaries for the LDS Church from 1986 to 1987 in London, England, and again from 1995 to 1997 in St. Petersburg, Russia. Alta died on January 25, 1999, at which time the couple had 24 grandchildren. Five years later, Halvorsen married again, this time to his high school sweetheart, Lorraine Pace. The couple currently resides in Spanish Fork, Utah on their farm, and spend winters in Arizona. In January 2021, it was reported that he had recovered from COVID-19, which he had contracted about 1 month before.
Professional career.
After returning home in January 1949, Halvorsen considered the idea of leaving the Air Force. He changed his mind, however, when he was offered a permanent commission with full pay and the promise that the air force would send him to school. In 1951 and 1952 he earned bachelor's and master's degrees in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Florida as an assignment from the Air Force Institute of Technology. He went on to be the project engineer for cargo aircraft research and development with the Wright Air Development Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and Hill Air Force Base from 1952 to 1957. Halvorsen was reassigned in 1957 to the Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell AFB, Alabama. He was there until 1958, when he was assigned at the Air Force Space Systems Division of Air Force Systems Command in Inglewood, California. While on this assignment, Halvorsen researched and developed various space projects. The most notable of these was the Titan III launch vehicle program, which he chaired source selection. Halvorsen would serve as part of Air Force Systems Command for the next four years.<ref name="airlift/tanker association"></ref>
From 1962 to 1965, Halvorsen served in Wiesbaden, West Germany, with the Foreign Technology division of AF Systems Command. He was next assigned to the Deputy Chief of Staff for Research and Development, HQ USAF, the Pentagon, and in the Directorate of Space and Technology. He developed plans for the advanced manned reusable spacecraft, space policy and procedures, and on the Manned Orbital Laboratory Project. He then was given the command of the 6596th Instrumentation Squadron of the AF Systems Command Satellite Control Facility, Vandenberg AFB, California, which was involved in both satellite launch and orbit operations.
Halvorsen then became the Commander of the 7350th Air Base Group at Tempelhof Central Airport, Berlin, Germany, in February 1970. It was the very same airfield he flew to daily during the Berlin Airlift. During this period, he also served as the US Air Force Europe Representative in Berlin, as well as completing a master's degree in Guidance and Counseling from Wayne State University through an on-base educational program. His final assignment was as the Inspector General, Ogden Air Materiel Center, Hill AFB, Utah. Halvorsen retired on August 31, 1974, having accumulated over 8,000 flying hours and 31 years of military service.
Legacy.
Halvorsen's work with Operation "Little Vittles" had a profound impact on lives both in the United States and throughout the world. After his official retirement in 1974, Halvorsen continued to serve the local, national, and international community in a variety of ways.
Awards.
Halvorsen has the following awards and badges:
In 1949 Halvorsen received the Cheney Award, given by the Air Force to recognize humanitarian action, from General Hoyt S. Vandenberg for the inception of Operation "Little Vittles". Other prominent awards include the Legion of Merit, Ira Baker "Fellow" Award by the USAF Chief of Staff General John Dale Ryan; Air Force Sergeants Association "Americanism" Award (some previous recipients were Bob Hope and President George Bush); Freedom Award from City of Provo, Utah; The Distinguished Humanitarian Award from the Institute of German Relations; the Eric Warburg Preis, 1998; and the Patriot Award from Brigham Young University ROTC. In 2014, Halvorsen became a recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award that Congress can give to a civilian. He was inducted into the Airlift/Tanker Hall of Fame and the Utah Aviation Hall of Fame in May 2001. The United States Air Force has helped cement Colonel Halvorsen's airlift legacy by naming its next generation, 25,000-pound capacity aircraft loading vehicle in his honor. The Air Force has also created the Col. Gail Halvorsen Award for outstanding air transportation support in the logistics readiness career field. In 2008, Halvorsen was honored as Grand Marshal of the German-American Steuben Parade in New York City, where he was celebrated by tens of thousands of spectators on Fifth Avenue.
Halvorsen's actions during the Berlin Airlift had a substantial impact on German-American relations in the years to come. For his efforts, he has also been extensively honored by the German people. In 1974 he was decorated with the "Großes Bundesverdienstkreuz" (Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany), Germany's highest award. In 2015 he was awarded the General Lucius D. Clay medal by the Federation of German-American Clubs. The medal is the highest honor granted to an individual who has contributed significantly to the development of German-American relations. In addition, he has had numerous German schools named in his honor, including a secondary school in Berlin and the Gail S. Halvorsen Elementary school at Rhein-Main Air Base, Frankfurt, Germany. He has appeared many times on German television over the years, often paired with some of the children (now adults) who received his candy parachutes. On February 8, 2002 for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, he carried the German national placard into the Rice-Eccles Stadium. He has also appeared extensively on American television and movies. In 1992, then Brigham Young University Student Michael Van Wagenen produced a 7-minute work entitled "The Candy Bomber", which was later made into a full-length film. In 2012 Halvorsen's story became the theme of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert, entitled "Christmas from Heaven" and narrated by Tom Brokaw.
Humanitarian work.
During Halvorsen's career and for several years following his retirement, he voluntarily represented the U.S. Air Force and the United States of America. He helped to re-enact one of his famous candy drops in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift. The event was held at the Tempelhof Central Airport with over 40,000 people in attendance. Another re-enactment occurred in September 1989 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the airlift. Halvorsen again participated, this time with a television team from Good Morning America, and dropped candy to Berlin children, including some of the grandchildren of those he had originally given chocolate to. Additional re-enactments were performed in 1993 and 1994. In 1998, he was part of the regular flight crew of the Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation's C-54 "Spirit of Freedom" and took part in a 71-day European tour. The tour included two Atlantic Ocean crossings in the then 53-year-old airplane. During the tour, he and several other Airlift veterans (also members of the crew) took part in ceremonies in Germany, France, and the UK commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Airlift. Halvorsen also performed multiple candy drops throughout the United States.
Halvorsen did not want to merely re-enact the candy drop to countries no longer plagued by war. In later years he advocated using candy drops to lift spirits and promote goodwill in other nations. In 1994 he persuaded the air force to let him drop hundreds of candy bars over Bosnia-Herzegovina as part of Operation Provide Promise. Another larger drop was planned and executed by Halvorsen over Kosovo in 1999. Additional candy drops have been enacted in Japan, Guam, Albania, and across the United States. In 2003 and 2004, he advocated a similar series of candy drops over Baghdad as a humanitarian mission to be a "ray of hope, a symbol that somebody in America cares". Since that time, the United States military has emulated some of his actions in Iraq by dropping toys, teddy bears, and soccer balls to Iraqi children.


Airport terminal

An airport terminal is a building at an airport where passengers transfer between ground transportation and the facilities that allow them to board and disembark from an aircraft.
Within the terminal, passengers purchase tickets, transfer their luggage, and go through security. The buildings that provide access to the airplanes (via gates) are typically called concourses. However, the terms "terminal" and "concourse" are sometimes used interchangeably, depending on the configuration of the airport.
Smaller airports have one terminal while larger airports have several terminals and/or concourses. At small airports, the single terminal building typically serves all of the functions of a terminal and a concourse.
Some larger airports have one terminal that is connected to multiple concourses via walkways, sky-bridges, or tunnels (such as Denver International Airport, modeled after Atlanta's, the world's busiest). Some larger airports have more than one terminal, each with one or more concourses (such as New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and Chicago's O'Hare International Airport). Still other larger airports have multiple terminals each of which incorporate the functions of a concourse (such as Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport).
According to "Frommers", most airport terminals are built in a plain style, with the concrete boxes of the 1960s and 1970s generally gave way to glass boxes in the 1990s and 2000s, with the best terminals making a vague stab at incorporating ideas of "light" and "air"'. However, some, such as Baghdad International Airport, are monumental in stature, while others are considered architectural masterpieces, such as Terminal 1 at Charles de Gaulle Airport near Paris or the TWA Flight Center at New York's JFK Airport. A few are designed to reflect the culture of a particular area, some examples being the terminal at Albuquerque International Sunport in New Mexico, which is designed in the Pueblo Revival style popularized by architect John Gaw Meem, as well as the terminal at Bahías de Huatulco International Airport in Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico, which features some palapas that are interconnected to form the airport terminal.
When London Stansted Airport's new terminal opened in 1991, it marked a shift in airport terminal design since Norman Foster placed the baggage handling system in the basement in order to create a vast open interior space. Airport architects have followed this model since unobstructed sightlines aid with passenger orientation. In some cases, architects design the terminal’s ceiling and flooring with cues that suggest the required directional flow. For instance, at Toronto Pearson’s Terminal 1 Moshe Safdie included skylights for wayfinding purposes.
Designs.
Due to the rapid rise in popularity of passenger flight, many early terminals were built in the 1930s–1940s and reflected the popular art deco style architecture of the time. One such surviving example from 1940 is the Houston Municipal Airport Terminal. Early airport terminals opened directly onto the tarmac: passengers would walk or take a bus to their aircraft. This design is still common among smaller airports, and even many larger airports have "bus gates" to accommodate aircraft beyond the main terminal.
Pier.
A pier design uses a small, narrow building with aircraft parked on both sides. One end connects to a ticketing and baggage claim area. Piers offer high aircraft capacity and simplicity of design, but often result in a long distance from the check-in counter to the gate (up to half a mile in the cases of Kansai International Airport or Lisbon Portela Airport's Terminal 1). Most large international airports have piers.
Satellite terminals.
A satellite terminal is a building detached from other airport buildings, so that aircraft can park around its entire circumference. The first airport to use a satellite terminal was London Gatwick Airport. It used an underground pedestrian tunnel to connect the satellite to the main terminal. This was also the first setup at Los Angeles International Airport, but it has since been converted to a pier layout. The first airport to use an automatic people mover to connect the main terminal with a satellite was Tampa International Airport, which is the standard today. The world's largest satellite terminal is Terminal S1 and S2 at Shanghai Pudong International Airport. The 622,000 square meter 90 gate terminal is connected to the main terminal by a high capacity people mover using conventional subway trains. Other examples include the following:
Semicircular terminals.
Some airports use a semicircular terminal, with aircraft parked on one side and cars on the other. This design results in long walks for connecting passengers, but greatly reduces travel times between check-in and the aircraft. Airports designed around this model include Charles de Gaulle Airport (terminal 2), Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai (old terminal 2), Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Seoul's Incheon International Airport, Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (terminal 1 & 2), Toronto Pearson Airport, Kansas City Airport, Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Rio de Janeiro–Galeão International Airport and Sapporo's New Chitose Airport.
Other.
A particularly unusual design is employed at Berlin Tegel Airport's Terminal A. Consisting of an hexagonal-shaped ring around a courtyard, five of the outer walls are airside and fitted with jet bridges, whilst the sixth (forming the entrance), along with the inner courtyard, is landside. Although superficially resembling a satellite design insofar as aircraft can park around most of the structure, it is in fact a self-contained terminal which unlike a satellite does not depend on remote buildings for facilities such as check-in, security controls, arrivals etc.
Especially unique are its exceptionally short walking distances and lack of any central area for security, passport control, arrivals or transfer. Instead, individual check-in counters are located immediately in front of the gate of the flight they serve. Checked-in passengers then enter airside via a short passage situated immediately to the side of the check-in desk, pass (for non-Schengen flights) a single passport control booth (with officers sat in the same area as check-in staff), followed by a single security lane which terminates at the gate's waiting area behind. Pairs of gates share the same seating area, with small kiosks for duty-free and refreshments making up the only airside commercial offerings. Thus, other than the adjacent gate, passengers cannot move around the terminal airside and there is no central waiting lounge and retail area for departures. Individual rooms for arrivals, likewise serving a pair of gates, each contain a single baggage carousel and are alternately situated in between each pair of departure gates on the same level, such that the entrance/exit of each jet bridge lies at the boundary of the two areas. Two or three passport control booths are located close to the end of the jet bridge for arriving passengers (causing passengers to queue into the bridge and plane itself) and passengers leave the arrivals area unsegregated from departing passengers into the same landside ring-concourse, emerging next to the check-in desks. This allows both arriving and departing passengers immediate access to the courtyard on the same level, where short-stay parking and taxi-pickup are located. Vehicles can enter and exit via a road underpass underneath the terminal building entrance.
For flights using jet-bridges and passengers arriving or leaving by private transport, this results in extremely short walking distances of just a few tens of metres between vehicles and the plane, with only a slightly longer walk for public transport connections. A downside of this design is a lack of any provision for transfer flights, with passengers only able to transit landside.
Another rarer terminal design is the mobile lounge, where passengers are transported from the gate to their aircraft in a large vehicle which docks directly to the terminal and the aircraft. Washington Dulles International Airport, Mexico City International Airport, and Mirabel International Airport have used this design.
Hybrid layouts also exist. San Francisco International Airport and Melbourne Airport use a hybrid pier-semicircular layout and a pier layout for the rest.
Common-use facility.
A common-use facility or terminal design disallows airlines to have its own proprietary check-in counters, gates and IT systems. Rather, check-in counters and gates can be flexibly reassigned as needed.
Records.
This table below lists the top airport terminals throughout the world with the largest amount of floor area, with usable floor space across multiple stories of at least .
Ground transportation.
Many small and mid-size airports have a single, two, or three-lane one-way loop road which is used by local private vehicles and buses to drop off and pick up passengers.
An international airport may have two grade-separated one-way loop roads, one for departures and one for arrivals. It may have a direct rail connection by regional rail, light rail, or subway to the downtown or central business district of the closest major city. The largest airports may have direct connections to the closest freeway. The Hong Kong International Airport has ferry piers on the airside for ferry connections to and from mainland China and Macau without passing through Hong Kong immigration controls.
Zones.
"Pre-Security"
"Post Security"


Langley Field


Chalkyitsik Airport

Chalkyitsik Airport is a state-owned public-use airport serving Chalkyitsik, in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area of the U.S. state of Alaska.
Facilities and aircraft.
Chalkyitsik Airport has one runway designated 3/21 with a gravel surface measuring is 4,000 by 90 feet (1,219 x 27 m). For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2005, the airport had 650 aircraft operations, an average of 54 per month: 77% air taxi and 23% general aviation.


Robert Mason (writer)

Robert C. Mason (born March 20, 1942) is a Vietnam War veteran and author of several books, including his first, best-selling memoir: "Chickenhawk" (1983). Mason piloted Huey "Slicks" in the United States Army as a Warrant Officer 1. He sailed to Vietnam with the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) and served a one-year tour, nine months with the "First Cav", the last three months with the 48th Aviation Company.
Mason spent his first month in Vietnam clearing land for his unit's airbase, after which he and his fellow pilots flew many missions to resupply the infantry and pick up wounded. At that time 1st Cavalry Medevac helicopters were not allowed to fly if the landing zone was hot. While serving with the 1st Cavalry, Mason was involved in several battles and other missions, including the Battle of Ia Drang, the Battle of Bong Son
Mason transferred to the 48th Aviation Company (referred to as the 49th in his memoir) in May 1966. He continued to fly helicopters, including assault missions for the 101st Airborne in Dak To as part of Operation Hawthorne in June 1966.
After his one-year tour of duty, Mason became an instructor pilot at Fort Wolters, Texas. Eventually he was grounded for dizzy spells and diagnosed with combat fatigue resulting from his service in Vietnam. Later, he and his wife realized he was suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder.
In 1979, Mason began to write a book about his tour in Vietnam. He named it "Chickenhawk" after a conversation he and his friend and fellow helicopter pilot Jerry Towler had had in 1965 while waiting to pick up some GIs in Vietnam, describing their alternating feelings of terror and courage as they flew missions.
In 1981, Mason was arrested for smuggling marijuana on a boat from Colombia. A month later his agent sold "Chickenhawk" to Viking Penguin based on the one third of the book Mason had delivered. Mason did not tell anyone of his arrest, including his agent and his editor, until they finished the rest of the book and read the last page.
"Chickenhawk" was published in 1983, and Christopher Lehmann-Haupt gave it a positive review in "The New York Times". Mason was invited to appear on "The Today Show" on a Wednesday and had to show up at Eglin Federal Prison Camp on the following Friday. "Chickenhawk" became a hardcover and paperback best-seller. It received many positive reviews, inspiring "People" magazine to do a story on his troubles under the heading "Trouble."
Mason was released from prison on May 17, 1985. He has subsequently published two novels, "Weapon" and "Solo", as well as a second memoir, "Chickenhawk: Back in the World". In 1996, Columbia/Tristar released a film ("Solo") based on Mason's first novel, but which used the title of the second.


List of defunct airlines of Bosnia and Herzegovina

This is a list of defunct airlines of Bosnia and Herzegovina.


List of airlines of North Macedonia

Current airlines in North Macedonia.
North Macedonia has no active airlines.


List of Shenzhen Airlines destinations

Shenzhen Airlines operates the following services (as of August 2017):


No. 543 Squadron RAF

No. 543 Squadron RAF was a photographic reconnaissance squadron of the Royal Air Force, active in two periods between 1942 and 1974.
History.
The squadron was formed on 19 October 1942 at RAF Benson as a photo-reconnaissance unit with the Supermarine Spitfire. A detachment was stationed at RAF St Eval, Cornwall to carry out reconnaissance flights over France. The rest of the squadron carried out operational training. On 18 October 1943 the squadron was disbanded.
On 24 September 1955 the squadron was reformed at RAF Gaydon to operate the Vickers Valiant for reconnaissance duties. It moved to RAF Wyton in November 1955. The squadron's official war role was to carry out pre- and post-strike reconnaissance in support of the RAF's nuclear-armed V-bombers, although the post-strike bomb damage assessment mission was soon abandoned as impracticable in a nuclear war. The squadron carried out frequent long-range survey flights, including mapping Thailand in 1959 and 1961 in Operation "Segment", and surveying Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia and Bechuanaland (now Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana respectively) in 1964 in Operation "Pontifex". Other photo survey duties were carried out to aid relief efforts following natural disasters, with Valiants despatched to survey the damage following the 1960 Agadir earthquake and mapped British Honduras in December 1961 following the devastating Hurricane Hattie. The squadron also carried out Maritime Reconnaissance over the North Atlantic, Norwegian and Barents Seas. In 1964, the Valiant developed metal fatigue problems, with one of the squadron's Valiants was found to have a cracked wing spar in July 1964 during Operation "Pontifex". Inspection of the squadron's aircraft in October 1964 found that only two of eight were fit for further service. The RAF's Valiant fleet, including No. 543's aircraft, were grounded on 26 January 1965.
The squadron re-equipped with the Handley Page Victor in 1965, receiving its first Victor B(SR)2 on 19 May 1965 and reaching its full strength of eight aircraft by April 1966. The squadron's Victors increasingly concentrated on the Maritime Radar Reconnaissance role, as photographic duties could be carried out for less money by the RAF's English Electric Canberras, but the Victors' cameras were retained until 1974. The squadron had a secondary role of air sampling This involved flying through plumes of airborne contamination and using onboard equipment to collect fallout released from French and Chinese nuclear tests for later analysis at the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston. The squadron also found time to enter two Victors in the May 1969 Daily Mail Trans-Atlantic Air Race. It was disbanded on 24 May 1974 at RAF Wyton.


Lerryn Mutton

Lerryn William Mutton, (12 October 1924 – 26 July 2015) was an Australian politician. He was the Liberal member for Yaralla in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1968 to 1978.
Mutton was born in Concord, the son of Brice Mutton (member for Concord in 1949) and Lilian Taylor. He was educated at North Strathfield Public School and Fort Street Boys High School before working in his father's building business. He served in the RAAF from 1942 to 1946, seeing action as a pilot in Labuan and Borneo. He married Mavis Tucker on 29 October 1949, with whom he had four children. In 1953 he was elected to Concord Council, serving until 1968 (as Mayor from 1961 to 1962). He was also active in the local Liberal Party.
In 1968, Mutton was selected as the Liberal candidate for the new seat of Yaralla; he defeated the sitting Labor member for the abolished seat of Concord, Thomas Murphy. He held the seat until 1978, when he was defeated by Labor candidate Garry McIlwaine.
He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia on 14 June 2010.


Sukhoi T-60S

The Sukhoi T-60S was a planned Soviet 1980s replacement for the Tu-22M3. The supersonic intermediate range bomber never got past the drawing board. Very little information is available about technical characteristics of this aircraft, which remains classified by the Sukhoi Design Bureau. It was believed that T-60S would have featured a variable geometry wing, flat lifting fuselage and two engines, equipped with two-dimensional thrust vectoring nozzles. The armament was to include up to six Kh-101 cruise missiles, as well as AS-15 and AS-16 missiles, free-fall nuclear weapons and precision guided conventional munitions. The project was first initiated by Sukhoi in 1984 but was cancelled in the early 1990s. The bomber was to have replaced the Tu-22M in the Soviet Air Force.
Instead, Sukhoi decided took a more conventional approach and developed the Su-34 as a replacement for the Tu-22M.
Technical performance characteristics (calculated).
" Source "


Beverley Randolph (aviator)

Beverley Randolph (January 20, 1923 – April 4, 1958), United States Navy, was a decorated Naval Aviator who is most noted for sacrificing his life to steer his disabled Grumman F-11 away from a neighborhood to save the people below.
Randolph flew over 23 combat missions during the Korean War with VF-154.
Career.
U.S. Naval Academy Midshipman.
Randolph was on the Battalion Track and Bowling team and was also on the Reception Committee. He graduated on the year of the Academy's centennial, in 1945.
Naval Aviator.
Randolph received his "wings of gold" as a Naval Aviator in 1947. He attended the United States Naval Test Pilot School at the Naval Air Test Center, NAS Patuxent River, Maryland with the TPS Class 16, the same class as Vice Admiral William Porter Lawrence.
Test pilot and accident.
A letter from Captain F.B. Gilkerson to Randolph's parents unofficially addresses the events of the accident. The letter states the findings are based on circumstantial evidence based on the wreckage, witness interviews, and transcribed tape from radio transmissions. The findings are as follows:
About five minutes before the crash, Bev reported to the control tower and requested landing instructions. About two minutes later he reported in a very calm voice that he had an "indication" of fire in the afterburner section of the airplane. The tower cleared him to land on runway 6 and asked his position. Bev reported that he was 4 miles East and the tower offered runway 31 if desired. Bev said he would try to get in on runway 6. The first indication that anyone had of real trouble came about a minute later when Bev reported that he was going to be short.
From the investigation we have found that there was no actual fire and that the engine had been secured. We are convinced that Bev felt that he could make the field in a "flameout" (no power) landing. By the time he realized he could not make the runway he was over a housing area. He was high enough to eject at this point but he elected to ride the plane into the trees rather than endanger the people below
Family history.
Randolph's parents and grandparents were from Virginia. His father was Percy Charrington Randolph and his mother was Jean McNeil Carson.


AQN (airline)


Lethbridge Air Services


RC Stunt Copter

RC Stunt Copter is a video game developed by Shiny Entertainment with Big Grub and published by Titus for the PlayStation.
Gameplay.
"RC Stunt Copter" is a simulation game involving a radio controlled model helicopter.
Development.
"RC Stunt Copter" was originally announced under the title "Fly by Wire". David Perry decided to create the game because flying a radio-controlled helicopter is something most males would like to do but could not afford to.
Mathematician Robert Suh modeled the RC helicopter and its flight mechanics. The game was designed specifically for the PlayStation's Dual Analog Controller.
Reception.
Chris Charla reviewed the PlayStation version of the game for "Next Generation", rating it four stars out of five, and stated that "A unique game with unique control, this game is a winner."


Cambrian Airways

Cambrian Airways was an airline based in the United Kingdom which ran operations from Cardiff Airport and Liverpool Airport between 1935 and 1974. It was incorporated into British Airways when BOAC, BEA, Cambrian and Northeast merged on 1 April 1974.
Early history.
Cambrian was set up on 25 April 1935 as Cambrian Air Services. The airline's base was at Pengam Moors airfield located to the east of Cardiff. The first aircraft to be operated was a single de Havilland DH.60 Moth, with the main activity of training pilots, and flights for tourists. With the outbreak of World War II, Cambrian stopped its activities.
Commencing on 1 January 1946 it was the first British airline to restart operations after the war, with a charter flight with an Auster Autocrat with a cargo of wire rope and an aircraft seat between Cardiff airport and Bristol. In 1948 Cambrian was flying in cooperation with BEA and used the de Havilland Dragon Rapide, the Autocrat and the Percival Proctor. During 1949 flights between Birmingham and Jersey were begun. During 1953, Cambrian took over Olley Air Service and Murray Chown Aviation and began services between Southampton to Dinard and Paris. This route was served with the de Havilland Dove and later with the Douglas DC-3. In 1956 the name was changed to Cambrian Airways.
Later history.
By 1961, Cambrian was operating eight ex BEA Douglas Dakota (DC-3) airliners. The first service operated by the Vickers Viscount turboprop commenced on 20 February 1963 on the route from Cardiff via Bristol to Dublin. From 1964 the type was used on charter flights to Rimini, Palma, Nice, Valencia and Barcelona. In 1967 BEA took over Cambrian, although it continued to operate as a separate airline. The following year the last flight with the DC-3 was flown . Cambrian also operated jet aircraft in the form of the BAC One-Eleven, which were used for charter flights in addition to operation on the scheduled network.
In 1972 Cambrian was incorporated into the new British Air Services group and gradually lost more and more of its independence. On 1 April 1974, Cambrian was one of the four component companies merged to form British Airways and the Cambrian colour scheme was gradually replaced by an interim scheme with British Airways as the name and Cambrian in much smaller text then the full BA colour scheme,
Destinations in 1971.
According to its 1 November 1971 system timetable, Cambrian was serving the following destinations with scheduled passenger flights:
United Kingdom
Ireland
France
The above referenced timetable also states the Cambrian fleet consisted of four (4) BAC One-Eleven jet aircraft and eight (8) Vickers Viscount turboprop aircraft at this time.


Damyns Hall Aerodrome

Damyns Hall Aerodrome is an operational general aviation training and experience aerodrome south of Upminster in the London Borough of Havering, England and slightly closer to Aveley to its south. It has around 100 acres of grassland and is owned and operated by Damyns Hall Aerodrome Limited.
Status, services and amenities.
Damyns Hall is an unlicensed airfield, which means commercial public transport passenger flights are prohibited, and flying training must take place in aircraft below a certain weight. London Airsports is the main business occupying the site, operating a fleet of microlight aircraft for training and experience flights.
Its hangars house many vintage and modern sport aircraft. It has a café with a garden viewing area open to the general public.
The aerodrome has an air/ground radio service as "Hornchurch Radio" on 119.550 MHz.
Events past and present.
Since 2013, Damyns Hall has the main fields for We Are FSTVL, an award-winning electronic music festival. Typically set during the May bank holiday each year, the event welcomes thousands of festival goers.
The aerodrome grounds hosted annually in early August the Essex HMVA Military and Flying Machines Show until 2017, when it moved to the east of the county in Maldon.


SLAF Colombo

SLAF "Colombo" is the Sri Lanka Air Force headquarters in Colombo. In this capacity it has the offices of the Commander of the Air Force, Chief of Staff, the Board of Management (BOM) and Board of Directors (BOD) of the Sri Lanka Air Force. All air and ground operations are directed from SLAF "Colombo".
Apart from functioning as a headquarters, it is a limited air base for helicopter operations. Established soon after the formation of Royal Ceylon Air Forces was formed in 1951 at the former officers mess of the former Ceylon Rifle Regiment at Rifle green. The officer's mess was moved in the 1970s when the Trans Asia Hotel was made in its location. The mess is currently housed in the Cinnamon gardens area of Colombo. It is the only Officers' Mess to be located outside a SLAF Station premises.


Rembercourt Aerodrome

Rembercourt Aerodrome was a temporary World War I airfield in France. It was located East-Northeast of Rembercourt aux Pots, now part of Rembercourt-Sommaisne, in the Meuse department in northeastern France.
Overview.
An airfield was built and used by the French Air Service at "Rembercourt" in early 1916, then again in August 1918, before it was transferred to American Air Service early September 1918.
From 1 September 1918, it became the home of the 1st Pursuit Group until the end of war, especially during both the St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne Offensives, with five squadrons: 27th, 94th, 95th, 147th and 185th Aero Squadrons. In addition, it was a repair depot for both aircraft and vehicles, being the home of the 4th Air Park and Flight "C", 648th Aero Squadron, along with various aircraft hangars, support buildings and quarters for personnel.
By the end of 1918, the Americans left and the airfield was abandoned and returned to agricultural use. Today it is a series of cultivated fields located on the south side of the Départmental 902 (D902), northwest of Erize-la-Petite, with no indications of its wartime use. A large electrical windmill is now erected on the site.


Curtiss-Reid Flying Service


United Aircraft and Transport Corporation

The United Aircraft and Transport Corporation was formed in 1929, when William Boeing of Boeing Airplane & Transport Corporation teamed up with Frederick Rentschler of Pratt & Whitney to form a large, vertically-integrated, amalgamated firm, uniting business interests in all aspects of aviation—a combination of aircraft engine and airframe manufacturing and airline business, to serve all aviation markets, both civil aviation (cargo, passenger, private, air mail) and military aviation.
With headquarters at Hartford, Connecticut, the holding company controlled the stock of the Boeing Airplane Company of Seattle, the Chance Vought Corporation, the Hamilton Aero Manufacturing Company (a propeller manufacturer), and the Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company, an aeroengine manufacturer. Sikorsky Aviation Corporation, the Stearman Aircraft Company of Wichita, Kansas, and the Standard Steel Propeller Company were added to United's portfolio shortly thereafter, followed by several more airlines brought into the fold. The airline interests were soon grouped under a new management company known as United Air Lines, Inc. However, the individual airlines (as well as the individual companies held by United) continued to operate under their own names.
After the Air Mail scandal of 1934, the U.S. government concluded that such large holding companies as United Aircraft and Transport were anti-competitive, and new antitrust laws were passed forbidding airframe or engine manufacturers from having interests in airlines. This law forced United Aircraft and Transport to split into three separate companies. Its manufacturing interests east of the Mississippi River (Pratt & Whitney, Sikorsky, Vought, and Hamilton Standard Propeller Company) were merged as United Aircraft Corporation (later United Technologies Corporation), headquartered in Hartford with Rentschler as president. The western manufacturing interests (including Northrop Aviation Corporation, formerly Avion Corporation), became Boeing Airplane Company, headquartered in Seattle. The airline interests were merged into a single airline, United Air Lines.


Gerald Hyland

Gerald W. "Gerry" Hyland was a member of the Fairfax County, Virginia Board of Supervisors. A Democrat, he has represented the Mount Vernon District (which includes Mount Vernon, Lorton, and Belle Haven) from 1988 to 2015. He served in the United States Air Force for 30 years, six of which on active duty, and four overseas.
Hyland was first elected to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in 1987, defeating incumbent Republican supervisor T. Farrell Egge by 27 votes.
In February 2015, the 78-year-old Hyland announced he would not seek reelection to the Board of Supervisors, and would retire at the end of the year.


Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory

The Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology (GALCIT), was a research institute created in 1926, at first specializing in aeronautics research. In 1930, Hungarian scientist Theodore von Kármán accepted the directorship of the lab and emigrated to the United States. Under his leadership, work on rockets began there in 1936. GALCIT was the first—and from 1936 to 1940 the only—university-based rocket research center. Based on GALCIT's JATO project at the time, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory was established under a contract with the United States Army in November 1943.
In 1961 the GALCIT acronym was retained while the name changed to Graduate Aeronautical Laboratories at the California Institute of Technology. In 2006, during the Directorship of Ares Rosakis, GALCIT was once again renamed, taking on the new name Graduate Aerospace Laboratories of the California Institute of Technology (while continuing to maintain the acronym GALCIT) in order to reflect its vigorous re-engagement with space engineering and with JPL.
Founding.
Daniel Guggenheim and his son, Harry Guggenheim (an aviator) established the "Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics" on June 16, 1926. Between 1926 and 1930 the fund disbursed $3 million, making grants that established schools or research centers at New York University, Stanford University, the University of Michigan, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Washington, the Georgia Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Syracuse University, Northwestern University, the University of Akron, and the California Institute of Technology. It was the Guggenheims who, along with Caltech president Robert Andrews Millikan, convinced von Kármán to emigrate to the United States and become director of GALCIT. Eventually, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) became so concerned about GALCIT's growing influence over West coast aviation, it erected the Ames Laboratory in Sunnyvale, California in part to deter an ever-widening aeronautical gap that had formed between NACA and GALCIT.
Rocket Research Project.
Frank J. Malina began part-time work at the GALCIT ten-foot wind tunnel, the Southern California Cooperative Wind Tunnel. In 1935 he became a Graduate Assistant in the lab. In early 1936, with the aid of a graduate assistant to von Kármán, William Bollay, Malina and two rocket enthusiasts -- Jack Parsons and Edward S. Forman—began the GALCIT Rocket Research Project. They were soon joined by two GALCIT graduate students, Tsien Hsue-shen and A.M.O. Smith. In October they tested for the first time their gaseous oxygen - methyl alcohol rocket motor. They used an area of the Arroyo Seco on the western edge of Pasadena, "a stone’s throw from the present-day Jet Propulsion Laboratory." After a series of tests, they tested the motor in that location for the last time in January 1937; it ran for 44 seconds at a chamber pressure of 75 psi. In March, Weld Arnold, then an assistant in the Astrophysical Laboratory at Caltech, joined the group as a photographer. Tests of a motor that used nitrogen dioxide as the oxidizer were conducted in the GALCIT lab. A misfire of that motor gained the project the nickname, "The Suicide Squad." During 1938 Smith went to work for Douglas Aircraft. Arnold left Caltech for New York. Tsien devoted more of his time to completing his doctorate. Malina, Parsons and Forman continued with the project.
In early 1939, the National Academy of Sciences provided $1,000 to von Kármán and the Rocket Research Group to research rocket-assisted take-off of aircraft. This JATO research was the first rocket research to receive financial support from the U.S. government. In 1942, Rolf Sabersky was hired to work in mechanical design on the Southern California Cooperative Wind Tunnel under Mark Serrurier and Hap Richards.
U.S. Army missiles.
In 1943 the Army Air Forces asked GALCIT to study the possible use of rockets to propel long-range missiles. In response, Malina and Tsien wrote a report dated 20 November 1943, which was the first document to use the Jet Propulsion Laboratory name. Von Kármán added a cover memorandum, signing it as "Director, Jet Propulsion Laboratory," but as far as Caltech was concerned JPL did not yet formally exist. In early 1944 the United States Army asked GALCIT to develop missiles for field use, which led to the development of the Private, Corporal, and Sergeant missiles. The Army Ordnance Corps established the ORDCIT Project, and JPL/GALCIT was formally organized to carry out this work.


Lancaster Airport (California)

Lancaster Airport was an airport about northwest of Lancaster, California. It was closed in the late 1940s and is now a housing development.
History.
The airport was established about 1929 as a municipal airport, operated by W. B. Carter. The airport was said to have 2 dirt runways in an “L” shape: 2,250' east/west & 1,350' north/south. A hangar on the southeast corner was said to be marked with “Lancaster”.
On 28 July 1942 the airport was taken over by the United States Army Air Forces and used as a contract primary pilot training airfield under the AAF West Coast Training Center (later Western Flying Training Command). The 3043d Army Air Force Base Unit administered the contract to a civilian operated primary flying school. Training was performed with Fairchild PT-19s; several PT-17 Stearmans and a few P-40 Warhawks were assigned. Royal Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force personnel also trained at the airfield.
The contract training was replaced by Oxnard Army Airfield's primary school which moved to Lancaster on 27 June 1944. Conducted contract flying training until inactivated on 1 November 1945.
After the war the airport returned to general aviation operations until it closed about 1949. The land was redeveloped into suburban housing, although traces of the airport could be seen in aerial photography until about 1970.


8th Space Warning Squadron

The United States Air Force's 8th Space Warning Squadron is an Air Force Reserve missile warning unit located at Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado. The 8th works alongside its active duty counterpart, the 2d Space Warning Squadron, on the Defense Support Program and Space-Based Infrared System programs.
History.
The 8th Missile Warning Squadron was activated on 1 April 1986 at Eldorado Air Force Station, Texas, under Air Force Space Command. It was reassigned to the 1st Space Wing on 8 May 1987. While at Eldorado, the unit operated the AN/FPS-115 Pave Paws radar, provided warning of sea-launched or intercontinental ballistic missile attack against the continental United States or southern Canada.
The unit was redesignated as the 8th Space Warning Squadron on 15 May 1992 and reassigned to the 21st Operations Group. It was reassigned to the 21st Space Wing on 8 June 1995 before inactivating on 30 September 1995.
It was redesignated as the 8th Space Operations Squadron on 22 August 1997 and briefly activated in the reserve under the 310th Space Group on 1 September 1997 at Falcon Air Force Base, Colorado. It inactivated there on 1 October 1998.
Redesignated as the 8th Space Warning Squadron on 30 July 1999, it was activated in the reserve on 1 October 1999 at Buckley Air National Guard Base, Colorado, under the 310 Space Group, 1 Oct 1999.


Richard Hayes (pilot)

Sir Richard John Hayes is a New Zealand helicopter pilot. With over 30,000 flying hours, he is among New Zealand's most experienced pilots. He is the CEO of Southern Lakes Helicopters, a helicopter transport provider based in Fiordland.
Hayes grew up in the South Otago town of Milton, but has spent much of his adult life in Te Anau, at the edge of Fiordland National Park. His brother, Juno Hayes, has been prominent in local politics, and was mayor of Clutha District Council for 12 years, receiving an ONZM in the 2014 Queen's Birthday Honours — the same list in which Richard was knighted. Richard's nickname, "Hannibal", comes from the name of a character in 1970s television series "Alias Smith and Jones".
Although primarily a helicopter tour guide, Hayes is known for his search-and-rescue feats. He has participated in numerous emergency flights, including searching for survivors during the sinking of "Kotuku" in the Foveaux Strait and assisting with the 2013 search of a crashed plane on the slopes of Mount Elizabeth in Antarctica.
In 2007 he received the Federation Aeronautique Internationale Diploma for Outstanding Airmanship.
In 2008, he famously saved his company's flagship helicopter, averting a disastrous crash by landing it "like a fixed-wing aircraft" at 80 knots of ground speed.
In the 2001 New Year Honours, Hayes was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to search and rescue operations. In the 2014 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was promoted to Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to Search and Rescue and the community.
In 2019 Hayes led a rescue effort to find the survivors of a helicopter that crashed into the ocean near the Auckland Islands. The three passengers all survived the crash, and were found one day later with only minor injuries.


List of airlines of Vanuatu

This is a list of airlines currently operating in Vanuatu.


Aero Trades Western


AAC Middle Wallop

Army Aviation Centre (AAC) Middle Wallop is a British Army airfield located near the Hampshire village of Middle Wallop, used for Army Air Corps training. The base hosts 2 (Training) Regiment AAC and 7 (Training) Regiment AAC under the umbrella of the Army Aviation Centre. 2 (Training) Regiment performs ground training; 7 (Training) Regiment trains aircrew on AAC aircraft after they complete basic training at RAF Shawbury.
The base is notable for having previously served as both a Royal Navy (as HMS "Flycatcher") and a Royal Air Force (as RAF Middle Wallop) controlled airfield, as well as an Army one.
History.
Early use.
The base was opened as RAF Middle Wallop, a training school for new pilots in 1940. It was originally intended for bomber use; however, with the Battle of Britain being fought, No. 609 Squadron RAF, flying the Supermarine Spitfire Ia, and No. 238 Squadron RAF flying the Hawker Hurricane I were moved to Middle Wallop.
In September 1940 604 Squadron RAF a specialist night fighter unit received the Bristol Beaufighter, equipped with four 20-mm cannon under the nose and improved Mark IV AI radio-location equipment. As one of the few Squadrons thus equipped, 604 squadron helped provide night time defence over the UK during the Blitz from late 1940 until mid-May 1941. In this time 50 air victories had been claimed by No. 604 Squadron, 14 by F/L John Cunningham.
RAF Chilbolton was designated the relief landing airfield for Middle Wallop, until it became a fully fledged Fighter Station in its own right, as the Battle of Britain progressed.
USAAF use.
Middle Wallop was also used by the United States Army Air Forces Ninth Air Force as IX Fighter Command Headquarters beginning in November 1943. Along with its headquarters mission, the airfield also hosted the 67th Reconnaissance Group being moved from RAF Membury in December 1943 to be in close proximity to IX FC Headquarters. The 67th Group flew the photographic versions of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning (F-5) and North American P-51 Mustang (F-6) to fly artillery-adjustment, weather-reconnaissance, bomb-damage assessment, photographic-reconnaissance, and visual-reconnaissance missions to obtain photographs that aided the invasion of the Continent.
After D-Day, both the 67th RG moved to its Advanced Landing Ground at Le Molay-Littry (ALG A-9) and IX FC Headquarters moved to Les Obeaux, France in late June 1944 ending the USAAF presence at Middle Wallop. During the American use, the airfield was designated as USAAF Station 449, ID Code: MW.
RAF/RNAS use.
Middle Wallop returned to Royal Air Force use from July 1944 for No. 418 Squadron RCAF and its de Havilland Mosquito nightfighters.
In January 1945, in an exchange with the RAF, Middle Wallop was transferred to Royal Navy use and became 'RNAS Middle Wallop'. HMS "Flycatcher" the HQ for the Mobile Naval Air Base organization then moved in from RNAS Ludham, which reverted to RAF use.
In 1946 the Royal Air Force occupied Middle Wallop again. No. 164 Squadron RAF with its Spitfires came and were renumbered to No. 63 Squadron RAF.
The following year No. 227 OCU, an Army Air Observation Post training unit, was moved to the airfield. This was renamed as the "Air Observation Post School" in 1950 and the "Light Aircraft School" in 1952.
Army Air Corps use.
In 1954 a Development Flight (CFS) with helicopters was formed there, this led to the Joint Experimental Helicopter Unit in 1955. On 1 September 1957, when British Army aviation became independent of the RAF, Middle Wallop transferred to the new Army Air Corps, and the School of Army Aviation was established. It changed its name to the Army Aviation Centre on 1 August 2009.
Operational units.
Flying and notable non-flying units based at Middle Wallop Airfield.
British Army.
The base is also the home of the Historic Army Aircraft Flight a charitable trust that flies historic Army aircraft for public display and the Army Flying Museum.


Ostafyevo International Business Airport

Ostafyevo International Business Airport () is a "B" class international airport, located to the south of Moscow Ring Road in Novomoskovsky administrative okrug of Moscow. The airport is owned by Gazpromavia company, a division of Gazprom. It was renovated and opened for civilian flights in 2000 on the grounds of a former military airbase. Ostafyevo features a new modern glass terminal, and caters primarily to business aviation.
It can handle aircraft like the Boeing 737-700, Global 5000/6000/Express, Falcon-900/2000/7X, An-12/74, Il-18, Yak-42, SJ-100, Tu-134 (noise restrictions) and smaller, as well as helicopters of all types.
Description.
The airport belongs to Russian Ministry of defence and operated jointly with Gazpromavia. It is a home to Gazpromavia and the cargo airline Shar Ink. The only authorized handler is Aviapartner LLC.
The airport was opened for international flights in 2007. It fully meets the modern standards of safety and service organization of international and domestic flights, all types of collateral obtained certificates of conformity.
Currently Ostafyevo is positioned as an international business airport, ready to provide services regarding to ground handling, parking (both on apron and in hangars), refuelling, catering, transfer and accommodation for crew, customs assistance, aeronautical information and organizational support, including navigational support for foreign aircraft flying in the Russian Federation.
On the grounds of Ostafyevo are located certificated maintenance centres for business jets (certified by Dassault Aviation for Falcons) and helicopter EC-120B Colibri. The airport complex has 26 open aircraft parkings, 12 of them are within walking distance from the terminal. There are two heated hangars for four aircraft. Places in the hangars are equipped with all the necessary equipment, tow bars are available. Aircraft cleaning services are available. The passenger terminal of the airport can handle up to 70 passengers per hour on domestic routes and 40 passengers per hour on international flights.
For ease of transport communication with Moscow, the reconstruction of the access road is in progress.


No. 2 Flying Training School RAAF

No. 2 Flying Training School (No. 2 FTS) is the main flying training school of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Formed under its present name in 1969, it is located at RAAF Base Pearce, Western Australia. The unit operates a fleet of Pilatus PC-21 turboprop trainers. No. 2 FTS traces its origins to the post-war re-establishment of the Air Force's original cadet training unit, No. 1 Flying Training School (No. 1 FTS), at RAAF Point Cook, Victoria, in 1947. Following reorganisation of aircrew training in 1951–52, No. 1 FTS was renamed No. 1 Applied Flying Training School (No. 1 AFTS), and began specialising in advanced flight instruction on CAC Wirraways. It relocated to RAAF Base Pearce in 1958, where it converted to De Havilland Vampire jet trainers. In January 1969, the school was reformed as No. 2 FTS, having the previous year begun replacing the Vampires with Macchi MB-326Hs. The Macchis were themselves replaced by the PC-9 beginning in 1989.
History.
Origins and early years as No. 1 AFTS.
In August 1947, No. 1 Flying Training School, which had been known as No. 1 Service Flying Training School under the wartime Empire Air Training Scheme and disbanded in 1944, was re-established at RAAF Station Point Cook, Victoria. Responsible at that stage for all flight instruction of air cadets, its aircraft initially included one Avro Anson, two De Havilland Tiger Moths, and 55 CAC Wirraways. In response to demands for more aircrew to fulfil Australia's commitments to the Korean War and Malayan Emergency, RAAF flying training underwent significant change in 1951–52. No. 1 Initial Flying Training School was raised at Archerfield, Queensland, to impart students with general aeronautical and military knowledge, after which they received flight grading on Tiger Moths. Graduates went on to the newly formed No. 1 Basic Flying Training School (No. 1 BFTS) at Uranquinty, New South Wales, where they underwent further instruction, first on Tiger Moths and then on Wirraways. Finally they transferred to No. 1 FTS, which was renamed No. 1 Applied Flying Training School (No. 1 AFTS) in March 1952, for advanced instruction and combat training on Wirraways.
In May 1958, No. 1 AFTS relocated to RAAF Base Pearce, Western Australia, to re-equip with De Havilland Vampire jet trainers. Pearce's long runway made it more suitable for jet operations than the airfield at Point Cook. No. 1 AFTS's place at Point Cook was taken by No. 1 BFTS, which transferred from Uranquinty. Fourteen Vampires were delivered to Pearce by July, and all fourteen students on the first course at No. 1 AFTS graduated at the end of the year, making them the first RAAF cadets to do so on jet aircraft. In addition to flying training, the school was responsible for search and rescue operations off the West Australian coast, utilising C-47 Dakotas that were later augmented by a UH-1 Iroquois helicopter. By the mid-1960s, the aging Vampires were increasingly prone to system failures and the RAAF began evaluating replacements. A team led by Air Commodore Brian Eaton selected the Italian Macchi MB-326H as the RAAF's new jet trainer, as it met all requirements, could be licence-built by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation in Australia, and was relatively inexpensive. It began replacing the Vampires of No. 1 AFTS in May 1968.
Reformation and recent years as No. 2 FTS.
On 31 December 1968, No. 1 AFTS was disbanded at Pearce, reforming as No. 2 Flying Training School (No. 2 FTS) on 1 January 1969. At the same time, No. 1 BFTS was disbanded at Point Cook and reformed there as No. 1 FTS. The first Macchi course at No. 2 FTS graduated in September the same year. By this time the Vampires had all been retired and ground staff were fully dedicated to work on the Italian jets, which nevertheless proved a more challenging proposition to maintain than its predecessor. The introduction of the Macchi led to a brief flirtation with "all-through jet training" in the Air Force between 1969 and 1971, as it was expected to reduce the time necessary to turn out high-quality aviators. The practice was dropped after ten courses, being labelled "an expensive way of finding out that some pupils lacked the aptitude to become military pilots".
The school began replacing its Macchis with Pilatus PC-9 turboprop trainers in July 1989, the process being completed in September 1991. The jets continued to be operated by Pearce's No. 25 Squadron; some of No. 2 FTS's PC-9s also served temporarily with the squadron as fatigue issues took their toll on the Macchis. As the CT-4A Airtrainers of Point Cook were phased out and No. 1 FTS disbanded in 1992–93, all-through flight training on the PC-9 began. Since 2006, No. 2 FTS has been under the command of Air Training Wing, a component of Air Force Training Group, headquartered at RAAF Williams Laverton Base. RAAF and RAN pilots undertake a 34-week training course at the school, following their "ab initio" instruction on CT-4B Airtrainers at the Australian Defence Force Basic Flying Training School in Tamworth, New South Wales.


Georgian Express


Venice missile launch complex

The Venice missile launch complex was a Cold War Regulus missile firing installation "adjacent to the Venice Municipal Airport" on the Venice, Florida, beach. Beginning in 1959, KD2U-1 drone versions of the Regulus were JATO-launched from the strip of beach in front of the airport, flew across the Gulf of Mexico for simulating a penetrating enemy bomber for test interception, and then were "recovered on the runway at Eglin" AFB. The launch complex was one of several Eglin missile range facilities (e.g., the Anclote Missile Tracking Annex near Tampa) and conducted the "Regulus 2, KD2U intercept missile test [on] September 3, 1959" in which the "first launch of the Air Force's new Bomarc IM-99A missile [successfully intercepted] the Regulus 2 missile at 35,000 feet altitude and at supersonic speed" (the Bomarc launch complex was at tbd after "BOMARC missiles arrived Jul 1958" at Hurlburt Field.)


Ralph McInerney

Ralph George McInerney (December 14, 1897 – July 26, 1953) was a lawyer, insurance broker and political figure in New Brunswick, Canada. He represented the city of Saint John in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick from 1939 to 1948 as a Conservative member.
He was born in Richibucto, the son of George Valentine McInerney and Christina O'Leary, both of Irish descent. He was educated in Chatham and at Saint Dunstan's University. During World War I, he served as a lieutenant in the Canadian Expeditionary Force and then as a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps. McInerney was called to the Bar of New Brunswick in 1924. In 1930, he married Kathleen C. Coster. He died in 1953 at the age of 55.


7th Air Refueling Squadron

The 7th Air Refueling Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 19th Operations Group, stationed at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, where it was inactivated on 1 January 1993.
History.
World War II
Established in 1943 by Air Transport Command in India, the squadron flew Curtiss C-46 Commando transports from the Assam Valley in India over the 'Hump' to bases in China, flying supplies, personnel and equipment to support Fourteenth Air Force combat units in the China Burma India Theater (CBI).
MATS airlift.
Reactivated as part of Military Air Transport Service (MATS) in 1952, it flew Douglas C-54 Skymasters from McChord Air Force Base, Washington to Elmendorf and Ladd Air Force Bases, Alaska. It moved to Travis Air Force Base, California in 1953, where it was re-equipped with Douglas C-124 Globemaster II intercontinental strategic transport aircraft. The unit flew very long range strategic airlift missions within the MATS Western Transport Air Force area from California to Japan, the Philippines, Indochina and Karachi Airport in West Pakistan during the 1950s. It was inactivated in July 1955 due to budget reductions.
Air refueling.
It was re-activated at Carswell Air Force Base, Texas on 1 April 1958 when its parent unit, the 7th Bombardment Wing received Boeing B-52 Stratofortresses. The unit provided air refueling on a worldwide basis for over 30 years with Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers. The squadron was not operational 6 May – 1 December 1965 and 10 December 1969 – 31 March 1970 due to operations in Southeast Asia. All aircrews and aircraft were deployed or on loan to provisional units at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Andersen Air Force Base, Guam or U-Tapao Royal Thai Naval Airfield, Thailand. On 19 September 1985 the 7th Air Refueling Squadron was consolidated with the 77th Air Transport Squadron.
It remained assigned to the 7th Wing at Carswell until 1 June 1992. Reassigned to the 19th Operations Group at Robins AFB, the squadron was inactivated in 1993 as part of the post Cold War drawdown of the USAF.


Betty Cameron

Corporal Betty Cameron (20 November 1918 - 1 April 2011 ) was an Australian World War II servicewoman and WAAAF activist.
Born as Elizabeth Katherine Twynam-Perkins, she was educated at Fort Street Girls' High School, Sydney and obtained her Leaving Certificate. From 1938 to 1940 she was a lady cubmaster.
Parents.
Betty's father, who was English, was a doctor in the Indian Army. Both his parents were with the British Government in India.
Betty's mother, also English, trained at Trinity College Dublin because at the time it was the only University that accepted women students. Capable of speaking seven languages she travelled to the U.S. and later to Argentina.
Betty's parents married in 1908 and had five children. Her husband served in World War I in France in the Australian Army Medical Corps. He was gassed in Ypres and was totally and permanently incapacitated as a result.
World War II.
Betty Cameron joined the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in April 1941. Her other community work included being a member of the Mothers' Union of Australia and a voluntary driver at Concord Hospital.
In the WAAAF, Cameron was trained as a wireless telegraph operator. She then served in the Shipping Movement Branch of the RAAF before being transferred to Melbourne. Early in 1942 she was stationed at Parkes to complete a navigation course (theory only) and was then posted to Fighter Section in Sydney. Here she worked underground in the tunnels made for the Eastern Suburbs Railway.
Promoted to corporal in May 1942, Cameron went to Melbourne on an officers course and then on the operations course. After completion she was posted to Eastern Area, Point Piper in the Operations Room and Intelligence.
Marriage.
Betty Twynam-Perkins and Leith Cameron married in July 1940. They both joined the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in April 1941. In July 1944 Leith Cameron returned to Australia. He was in Sydney for a brief period before being posted to Darwin and the South East Asia area. That same year Betty became pregnant with her first child and was discharged from the WAAAF on 20 November 1944. She and her husband would go on to have three children.
WAAAF.
After the war Betty Cameron joined the WAAAF Wing which later became the WAAAF Branch of the RAAF Association. She has held various positions with the Branch including president, secretary and treasurer, and was the convenor of two national WAAAF reunions. For several years Cameron served on the RAAF Association State Committee and was Matron of Honour four times to the debutantes at the annual RAAF Ball as well as helping to train the debutantes and their partners. In 1978 she was made a life member of the RAAF Association.


Japanese gunboat Saga

 was a river gunboat of the Imperial Japanese Navy, that operated on the Yangtze River and in coastal waters of China during the 1930s, and during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II.
Background.
"Saga" was constructed due to dissatisfaction by the Imperial Japanese Navy with the gunboat , which was underarmed, and lacked the suitable accommodations to serve as a gunboat flagship. The Japanese Navy also wanted a vessel which could serve for both coastal patrol duties as well as on inland waterways.
"Saga" was laid down at Sasebo Naval Arsenal on 7 January 1912, launched on 27 September 1912 and entered service on 18 November 1912.
Design.
The basic design of "Saga" was modeled after her British built predecessors, but with much larger dimensions and much more powerful engines. "Saga" had a hull with an overall length of and width of , with a normal displacement of 780 tons and draft of . She was propelled by two reciprocating engines with two Kampon boilers driving three shafts, producing 1600 hp and a top speed of 15 knots.
The ship was initially armed with one 12 cm/45 10th Year Type naval gun guns, three / 40 cal. guns and six 6.6mm machine guns.
Service record.
During the World War I, "Saga" accompanied the main Japanese fleet to Shandong Province, China at the Siege of Tsingtao (25 September-16 November 1914) against the forces of Imperial Germany as part of Japanese’ contribution to the Allied cause under the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. Subsequently, she was transferred to the Japanese Second Fleet and assigned to patrols in the South China Sea.
In September 1924, "Saga" was reassigned to the Japanese First Fleet. Commander Chūichi Nagumo served as captain from 20 March 1926 to 15 October 1926. She was reassigned to the Japanese Third Fleet from June 1931, joining the 11th Sentai in October 1937 after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident and the start of hostilities in the Second Sino-Japanese War. From 15 December 1938 to 20 October 1939, she was captained by Commander Tamotsu Oishi. From November 1939, she was assigned to the Second China Expeditionary Fleet in southern China.
At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, "Saga" was based at Guangdong and was assigned to the Japanese invasion force for the Battle of Hong Kong, where she was based afterwards. She was sunk by a sea mine on 26 September 1944 off Hong Kong, and later refloated and towed back to Hong Kong for repairs. On 22 January 1945, while still in dock for repairs, she was destroyed during an air raid, probably by USAAF 14th Air Force Consolidated B-24 Liberators. She was struck from the navy list on 20 March 1945.


Naval Air Station Norfolk