28th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron

The 28th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron is a provisional United States Air Force unit. It was last known to be assigned to the 40th Air Expeditionary Group. Diego Garcia Air Base, British Indian Ocean Territory. Its current status is at Al Udeid Air Base under the 379th Expeditionary Operations Group.
History.
World War II.
The first predecessor of the squadron, the 28th Ferrying Squadron was activated at Hamilton Field, California in 1942. It soon moved to Long Beach Army Air Field, California, near the production facilities of Douglas Aircraft. It ferried aircraft within the United States until a major reorganization of the Army Air Forces (AAF) in 1944 replaced the squadron and other Air Transport Command units at Long Beach with an AAF Base Unit.
Shortly after this, the second predecessor of the squadron, the 328th Ferrying Squadron was activated in Italy to ferry aircraft in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations. It continued operations until shortly after the end of World War II, when it was inactivated. It was disbanded in October 1948.
Cold War.
During the Cold War, the 28th Air Refueling Squadron was assigned to the 28th Bombardment Wing at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota. It was inactivated on 15 March 1994. The squadron was formed from the personnel and equipment of the 928th Air Refueling Squadron, which was simultaneously inactivated, on 1 October 1960. The 28th supported the 28th Bombardment Wing providing refueling to its Boeing B-52 Stratofortress aircraft with Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers between 1960 and the retirement of the wing's "Buffs" in 1990.
In 1962, SAC organized four Post-Attack Command and Control System (PACCS) squadrons and equipped them with Boeing EB-47 Stratojets. The establishment of Boeing EC-135 airborne command post aircraft at SAC headquarters and at each of its Numbered Air Forces resulted in the inactivation of the less capable B-47 units by 1965. The communications relay mission of the B-47 units was assumed by the 28th and 906th Air Refueling Squadrons, which received a variety of EC-135s for this mission. By the mid-1960s, improved accuracy of Soviet ballistic missiles made underground Minuteman missile launch control centers more vulnerable, so the Airborne Launch Control System (ALCS) was created to provide a survivable launch capability. The ALCS was eventually installed aboard all PACCS aircraft assigned to the 28th. Launch crews came from the 68th Strategic Missile Squadron. In April 1970, the squadron's ALCS aircraft were transferred to the new 4th Airborne Command and Control Squadron at Ellsworth.
In 1985 the 28th Air Refueling Squadron was consolidated with the 28th Ferrying Squadron and the 328th Ferrying Squadron.
The 28th continued its air refueling mission as part of the 28th Operations Group at Ellsworth until Strategic Air Command was inactivated in June 1992. The squadron was reassigned to the 43d Operations Group of Air Mobility Command at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana until 1994.
Global War on Terrorism.
The squadron was reactivated as a provisional KC-135 organization as part of the Global War on Terrorism approximately 2002. The squadron has taken part in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. It may have inactivated in 2006.
The squadron was reactivated under the command of LtCol. Menola Guthrie and joined the 379th Expeditionary Operations Group at Al Udeid Air Base.
Lineage.
28th Ferrying Squadron
328th Ferrying Squadron
28th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron
References.
Notes.
Explanatory notes
Footnotes


Dominion Pegasus Helicopters


Fritz Fliegel

Fritz Fliegel (30 November 1907 – 18 July 1941) was a German track cyclist, Luftwaffe bomber pilot and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, the highest award in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II. On 18 July 1941, Fiegel was killed in action flying a Focke-Wulf Fw 200 during the Atlantic War in an attack on convoy OB 346. He targeted the 7,046-ton freighter "Pilar de Larrinaga". However, the gunners shot his starboard wing off and he crashed into the sea, killing all on board.
Early life and career.
Fliegel was born on 30 November 1907 in Wilmersdorf, a borough of Berlin, in the Kingdom of Prussia. He was the son of the son of geographer Gotthard Fliegel and his wife Anna Marie, née Meyer. Fliegel, who had three sisters, won his first bicycle race in 1926. In 1929, he won the German amateur sprint championship at the velodrome in Stettin-Westend. That year, he also participated in the UCI Track Cycling World Championships held in Zürich, Switzerland where he lost in the knockout stage to the Austrian August Schaffer.
Fliegel joined the military service in 1934 and transferred from the infantry of the "Reichsheer" (Army) to the newly emerging Luftwaffe (Air Force) of Nazi Germany a year later. Following his flight training, he served as flight instructor at the pilot schools A/B 42 in Salzwedel and A/B 113 in Brünn. There he was promoted to "Hauptmann" (captain) on 1 March 1939.
World War II.
World War II in Europe began on Friday, 1 September 1939, when German forces invaded Poland. Fliegel flew combat missions over Poland and received the Iron Cross 2nd Class () on 15 September 1939. In early May 1940 when I. "Gruppe" (1st group) of "Kampfgeschwader" 40 (KG 40—40th Bomber Wing), a unit equipped with the long-range Focke-Wulf Fw 200 "Condor" reconnaissance and anti-shipping/maritime patrol bomber aircraft, Fliegel was transferred to the 2. "Staffel" (2nd squadron) of KG 40. The unit initially operated against enemy shipping from airbases in Denmark. There he was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class () on 13 May 1940.
In mid-1940, I. "Gruppe" relocated to the airbase Bordeaux-Mérignac at the Atlantic coast near Bordeaux in France. In October 1940, he was appointed "Staffelkapitän" (squadron leader) of 2. "Staffel" of KG 40. Flying the Fw 200 to its maximum range, I. "Gruppe" was credited with the destruction of 39 enemy merchant ships totaling , further damaging 20 ships of .
On 6 February 1941, under the command of "Kapitänleutnant" (Captain Lieutenant) Nicolai Clausen, spotted convoy HG 53, 19 merchant ships escorted by and , heading for Liverpool. Clausen reported the sighting, which was relayed to KG 40 by "Fliegerführer Atlantik". On 9 February, KG 40 sent five Fw 200s to attack the convoy which was spotted at 4 pm roughly southwest of Lisbon. In the attack at , the Fw 200's managed to sink five ships (, , , and ), and "Deptford" damaged the Fw 200 piloted by "Oberleutnant" (First Lieutenant) Erich Adam, who managed to fly his aircraft to Spain. "U-37" sank three further ships from HG 53. This achievement earned him his first mention in the "Wehrmachtbericht", an information bulletin and element of Nazi propaganda issued by the headquarters of the Wehrmacht.
Fliegel was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross () on 25 March 1941. In mid-April 1941 he was appointed "Gruppenkommandeur" (group commander) of I. "Gruppe" of KG 40, replacing "Major" Edgar Petersen. He was mentioned a second time in the "Wehrmachtbericht" on 20 June 1941 after the number of enemy shipping destroyed by his "Gruppe" increased by a further 24 ships, reaching 109 enemy ships sunk. By early 1941 I. "Gruppe" of KG 40 had five holders of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross reflecting the success of the "Condors" in Atlantic Ocean operations.
Killed in action.
On 18 July 1941, Fliegel and his crew—copilot "Leutnant" (Second Lieutenant) Wolf-Dietrich Kadelke, first radio operator "Oberfeldwebel" (Staff Sergeant) Johannes Rottke, second radio operator "Gefreiter" (Airman) Karl Becker, flight engineer "Unteroffizier" (Sergeant) Johann Kothe and air gunner "Unteroffizier" Karl Meurer—were reported missing in action over the Atlantic in the vicinity northwest of Ireland. Their Fw 200 C-3 "F8+AB" ("Werknummer" 0043—factory number) was shot down in an attack on convoy OB 346. During the attack on the freighter "Pilar de Larrinaga", the gunners on board the freighter scored a hit on the Fw 200's starboard wing which tore it off. At the time of his death, Fliegel was credited with seven ships sunk plus further six damaged. He was promoted to "Major" (major) posthumously.


RAF Chipping Norton

Royal Air Force Chipping Norton or more simply RAF Chipping Norton is a former Royal Air Force satellite station located near Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England. It was operational from 10 July 1940 to 1945 and returned to agricultural use when disposed of in 1953.
History.
The following units were posted to this airfield at some point:
Airspeed Oxfords and North American Harvard I's flew from this airfield.
The station was bombed on two occasions in October and November 1940. Little damage was done and on the second attempt the Luftwaffe missed the airfield by about a mile to the East.
Current use.
The site is currently farmland. Part of the site is used for airsoft.


List of defunct airlines of American Samoa


Geoffrey Colin Guy

Geoffrey Colin Guy CMG, CVO, OBE (4 November 1921 – 1 December 2006) was the last Commissioner and the first Administrator of the Turks and Caicos from 1958 to 1959 and 1959 to 1965 respectively. Mr. Guy was succeeded by John Anthony Golding in 1965. He was administrator during Hurricane Donna, which in 1960 devastated agriculture on the island. He was managing director of the salt industry on the islands and used profits from the commodity to build airstrips and lay the foundation for today's main industry – tourism.
Guy was an RAF photo-reconnaissance pilot during World War II in the Burmese campaign against the invading Japanese. His memoir, "Geoffrey Guy's War", (Amberley Books. 2012), records his experiences in the RAF.
Post-war he was a District Commissioner in Sierra Leone where he helped to control the riots which occurred as British rule came to an end.
Following his service in Turks and Caicos, he was Administrator and then Governor of Dominica from 1965 until 1967. In 1973, he became the Administrator of Ascension, where he served until 1976. He subsequently served as the last colonial Governor of Saint Helena from 1976 to 1980. In 1980, he stood for election to Saint Helena's first sovereign parliament and served as its speaker until his retirement at the 1985 election.
Guy stayed on in Saint Helena until 1992 when he and his wife Joan moved to a Yorkshire village, Kirk Hammerton, where he lived until his death. They are survived by their son Ben.


Runway end identifier lights

Runway end identifier lights (REIL) (ICAO identifies these as Runway Threshold Identification Lights) are installed at many airports to provide rapid and positive identification of the approach end of a particular runway. The system consists of a pair of synchronized flashing lights located laterally on each side of the runway threshold. REILs may be either omnidirectional or unidirectional facing the approach area. They are effective for:
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) recommends that:


Bud Tingwell

Charles William Tingwell AM (3 January 1923 – 15 May 2009), known professionally as Bud Tingwell or Charles 'Bud' Tingwell, was an Australian film, television, theatre and radio actor. One of the veterans of Australian film, he acted in his first motion picture in 1946 and went on to appear in more than 100 films and numerous TV programs in both the United Kingdom and Australia.
Early life and military service.
Tingwell was born in the Sydney suburb of Coogee, the son of William Harvey Tingwell and Enid (née Green). William volunteered as a surf lifesaver at Coogee Surf Life Saving Club where, in 1922, a colleague noticed Enid's pregnancy and asked, 'What's budding there?', and 'Bud' became the nickname for their baby. As an adolescent, he was encouraged by his father to be an accountant, but Tingwell failed the entrance exam.
While still at school, he became a cadet at Sydney radio station 2CH, soon becoming the youngest radio announcer in Australia.
World War II.
In 1941, aged 18, Tingwell volunteered for war service overseas with the Royal Australian Air Force. Under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, personnel from Commonwealth air forces formed part of a joint training and assignment system. Consequently, Tingwell trained as a pilot in Canada during 1942. Despite damaging a Harvard training aircraft in August, he later qualified as a pilot and was commissioned as a pilot officer that December. He was posted to the Mediterranean Theatre and underwent operational training with No. 74 Operational Training Unit RAF, in British Palestine, and qualified to fly the Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire.
Later, he was posted to a photo reconnaissance unit, No. 680 Squadron RAF, and flew 75 sorties in Mosquitos and Spitfires during the North African Campaign and the Allied invasion of Sicily. Other aircraft that Tingwell was qualified to fly included the Bristol Blenheim, Martin Baltimore, Bristol Beaufighter and Airspeed Oxford. He was promoted to flying officer in June 1943 and flight lieutenant in December 1944.
Towards the end of the war, Tingwell was transferred back to Australia. He was posted to No. 5 Operational Training Unit RAAF as a flying instructor and then to No. 87 Squadron RAAF, flying photo reconnaissance Mosquitoes over the Dutch East Indies. On demobilisation in 1946, he was awarded the 1939–45 Star, Italy Star and Defence Medal. Tingwell remained a reservist into the 1950s.
Post-war life and acting career.
Australia.
After returning to Australia, Tingwell married his childhood sweetheart, Audrey May Wilson, who died in 1996. They had two children.
He joined Doris Fitton's Independent Theatre group and appeared on stage from the mid-1940s in such classics as "The Little Foxes" by Lillian Hellman and Jean Giraudoux's "The Madwoman of Chaillot"
In 1946, Tingwell was given his first film role, in "Smithy", cast as a RAAF control tower officer – winning the role as he could supply his own RAAF uniform..
Tingwell had an excellent support part in "Bitter Springs" (1950), made by Ealing Studios with Chips Rafferty; Tingwell played Rafferty's bigoted son. He had a similar role in "Kangaroo" (1952), a Hollywood-financed film shot in Australia for 20th Century Fox. He then appeared in "I Found Joe Barton" (1952), the first TV show shot in Australia.
Fox liked Tingwell's work in "Kangaroo" and invited him to Los Angeles to play the part of Lt Harry Carstairs in "The Desert Rats", in which he appeared opposite Chips Rafferty, James Mason and Richard Burton. They offered him a long-term contract but Tingwell turned it down as he wanted to return to Australia.
Tingwell played the lead in "King of the Coral Sea" (1954) alongside Rafferty. In 1954, he co-starred with Gordon Chater in "Top of the Bill", the first of the famous satirical revues staged at Sydney's Phillip Street Theatre.
England.
The Australian film and radio industry slumped with the advent of television and Tingwell decided to move to the UK. He used the opportunity of a role in Ealing's "The Shiralee" (1957), which was filmed in Australia and London. Tingwell travelled to England to complete his scenes and decided to stay.
The following year, he took on his first recurring television role, as Australian surgeon Alan Dawson in the live TV serial "Emergency – Ward 10" and its film spin-off "Life in Emergency Ward 10" (1959).
He had small roles in Ealing's "Dunkirk" (1958), then "Bobbikins" (1959), "Cone of Silence" (1960), and "Tarzan the Magnificent" (1960).
Tingwell played the role of Inspector Craddock in all four films of the "Miss Marple" series, starring Margaret Rutherford, from 1961 to 1964: "Murder, She Said" (1961), "Murder at the Gallop" (1963), "Murder Most Foul" (1964) and "Murder Ahoy!" (1964). For Hammer Films he appeared in "The Secret of Blood Island" (1964) and "" (1966).
He had the lead in a TV series "An Enemy of the State" (1965).
In the late 1960s, he performed various minor voice roles for the Gerry Anderson "Supermarionation" TV series "Thunderbirds" and "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons", besides appearing in the first series of "Catweazle".
In 1969 until the end of the play's run, he appeared as "Robert Danvers" in the long running farce "There's a Girl in My Soup" at the Comedy Theatre, London.
He was the recurring character of motel manager Kevin McArthur in "Crossroads" in the late 1960s and early 1970s. (Vincent Ball played McArthur in 1970–1973). He had a small role in "Nobody Runs Forever" (1968) with Rod Taylor.
Return to Australia.
Tingwell appeared in many other films during his time in Britain, spending a total of 16 years as a "London Aussie". In 1973, he returned to Australia with his wife and children, and shortly after won the role of Inspector Reg Lawson in the long-running TV series "Homicide". This was followed by small roles in a number of major Australian films, such as "Breaker Morant" (1980), "Puberty Blues" (1981) and "All the Rivers Run" (1983). He also played the recurring role of farmer Ted Campbell in the soap "A Country Practice" in the late 1980s and early 1990s and as the Narrator from "The Flying Scotsman In Australia"
Revival in popularity.
Tingwell's career went through a quiet period during the late 1980s and early 1990s, until he took on the role of "Gramps" in "Charlie the Wonderdog", a recurring segment on "The Late Show", in 1993. His role in "The Late Show" was later to win him a major role as lawyer Lawrence Hammill in the film "The Castle" (1997). He later stated that this role helped him to recover from the death of his wife the previous year.
After the success of "The Castle", Tingwell's career underwent a revival during the late 1990s and early 2000s. This saw him take on small roles in the commercial films "The Craic" (1999) and "The Dish" (2000), and in the TV mini-series "Changi", as well as the lead role in the romantic drama film "Innocence" (2000). Tingwell also had a recurring guest role in the soap opera "Neighbours" from 2000 to 2003, playing Henry O'Rourke. He had previously appeared in the soap in 1993 as Bert Willis. He appeared as John Conroy in the musical theatre production "", which toured Australian capital cities twice during 2002.
In 2004, Tingwell published a memoir, "Bud: A Life". In 2006, he launched his own website, which attracted 500 registered users in just over a week. On 5 October that year, he created his first blog. He continued to act regularly until his death, in a number of films and TV programmes including eight episodes of "Bed of Roses" that aired in 2010. Among his last appearances, he hosted both "Celebrity Circus" and "20 to 1" and appeared on a celebrity special of "Temptation" with his daughter, Virginia.
Honours.
Tingwell was appointed a member of the Order of Australia in the Queen's Birthday Honours of June 1999.
Awards.
Tingwell was inducted into the Logie Hall of Fame in 1994. In 2008, he was inducted into Australian Film Walk of Fame in honour of his career and achievements in film and television.
Death.
Tingwell died in Melbourne from prostate cancer, aged 86, on 15 May 2009. He was given a state funeral, which was held at St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne, on 20 May.


Bud Mahurin

Colonel Walker Melville "Bud" Mahurin (December 5, 1918 – May 11, 2010) was a United States Air Force officer and aviator. During World War II, while serving in the United States Army Air Forces, he was a flying ace.
Mahurin was the first American pilot to become a double ace in the European Theater. He was the only United States Air Force pilot to shoot down enemy planes in both the European and Pacific Theaters and the Korean War. During World War II he was credited with 20.75 aerial victories, making him the sixth-highest American P-47 ace. He was credited with shooting down 3.5 MiG-15s in Korea, giving him a total of 24.25 aircraft destroyed in aerial combat.
Early life.
Born in Benton Harbor, Michigan, Mahurin joined the United States Army Air Forces as an aviation cadet on September 29, 1941 after several years as an engineering student at Purdue University. He graduated from pilot training on April 29, 1942.
World War II.
Mahurin was assigned to the 63d Fighter Squadron, 56th Fighter Group, and deployed to England with them in January 1943. Based at Halesworth, England, then-Captain Mahurin became a flight leader in the 63rd FS and began flying missions in May 1943. His first plane was P-47C-5-RE serial number 41-6334, that bore the squadron code UN:M.
The first aircraft he downed was unfortunately his own P-47 fighter. On a mission on August 12, 1943, he decided to inch closer and closer to within feet of a B-24 bomber that was nearby. He was caught in the B-24's prop wash and sucked under its wing, and when he tried to pull away, the tail and fuselage of his airplane was shredded by one of the B-24's propellers, forcing him to bail out. The B-24 had to crash-land.
On August 17, 1943, he scored his first aerial victories while flying a temporary replacement plane, P-47C-2-RE 41-6259, coded UN:V (normally assigned to Capt. Glen Schiltz) by shooting down a pair of German Focke-Wulf Fw 190s while escorting B-17 bombers as part of the Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission. One of these fighters was flown by "Major" Wilhelm "Wutz" Galland, "Gruppenkommandeur" of II/JG 26, and an ace with some 55 claims to his credit. The next plane that Mahurin received was the third P-47 of his career, and one that would become his primary aircraft; P-47D-5-RE 42-8487. It again bore the squadron codes UN:M and was nicknamed "The Spirit of Atlantic City, N.J." (The aircraft had been "bought" courtesy of war bonds purchased (to a value approximately equivalent to the cost of a fighter) by the citizens of Atlantic City, New Jersey. Consequently, the name painted on the aircraft was chosen by Atlantic City.) Mahurin became an ace on October 4 after shooting down three Messerschmitt Bf 110s. Mahurin had his best mission on November 26, 1943, shooting down three Bf 110s, presumably shooting down another, and damaging a fourth to become the first American pilot in the European Theater of Operations to score 10 aerial victories. Mahurin scored two more victories in another aircraft, (P-47D-11-RE 42-75278, coded UN:B) on November 29, 1943. On March 8, 1944, he destroyed 3 Fw 190s. He eventually went on to score 19.75 confirmed victories in combat in Europe, with 3 more enemy planes probably destroyed, and one damaged, before being shot down himself.
Mahurin was promoted to major on March 21, 1944. On March 27, his P-47 was heavily damaged by a German Dornier Do 217 bomber he helped shoot down, forcing him to bail out. He was picked up by French Resistance forces. On the night of 3–4 May 1944, an RAF Westland Lysander attempted to retrieve Mahurin from France and fly him back to Britain. Before he could be picked up, the aircraft was shot down, and its pilot killed. The event was watched by Mahurin. The next attempt, again by a Lysander, on the night of May 6–7, was successful. Because of his knowledge of the French Resistance, he was grounded and sent home.
In October, he again shipped overseas as commander of the 3rd Fighter Squadron, the combat element of the composite 3rd Air Commando Group in the Philippines. While based at Mangaldan, Luzon, in January 1945 he was credited with destroying a Japanese bomber while flying a P-51 Mustang. Mahurin was promoted to lieutenant colonel on May 28, 1945, and became commander of the 3rd Air Commando Group in September 1945. He was downed by defensive fire, this time from the ground, but was rescued from his life-raft in the ocean. He ended the war with 20.75 confirmed aerial victories and he had the unique distinction of being forced to bail out in both theaters.
Korean War.
At the start of the Korean War in 1950, Mahurin was serving in the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force. In July 1951, he became commander of the 1st Fighter Group, training in the North American F-86 Sabre. In December, he began a 90-day tour of temporary duty with the 51st Fighter-Interceptor Wing at Suwon Air Base, serving as special assistant to the wing commander, Colonel Francis S. Gabreski.
Col. Mahurin helped Gabreski develop tactics and solve logistics problems. He was credited with destroying 3.5 MiG-15s while TDY with 51st FIW, bringing his total to 24.25 in both World War II and Korea. Mahurin transferred to the 4th Fighter-Interceptor Wing on March 18, 1952, to command its 4th Fighter-Interceptor Group at Kimpo AB.
He flew a F-86E named "Honest John" while serving with both fighter wings in Korea.
Prisoner of war.
On May 13, 1952, while strafing a truck, his F-86 was shot down by North Korean ground fire and after crash-landing and breaking his arm, he was captured by enemy forces. Mahurin spent 16 months in a North Korean prisoner of war (POW) camp.
During his time as a prisoner of war, he was confined to a small cell, fed only enough water and food to keep him alive, and subjected to brainwashing. He was forced to endure sub-freezing conditions with minimal clothing, interrogations sometimes lasting all night, and being deprived of sleep and threatened with execution if he did not answer questions.
The North Koreans were adamant that he sign a confession that he and the US had waged germ warfare. After weeks of psychological and physical torture, Col. Mahurin, believing he was losing control, attempted suicide. He was discovered before he was able to complete the act and barely survived a tremendous loss of blood.
The interrogators finally gave up, to be replaced by a well-educated Chinese officer who spoke fluent English, brought Mahurin books, arranged for better food, and generally improved his conditions. Eventually, the Chinese officer's real purpose emerged – to get a confession of germ warfare by persuasion rather than threats.
He reminded Mahurin that the allies did not know he was a prisoner of war, so he could be held until his death, never to see his wife and children again. Bud Mahurin, at last, agreed to write a "confession." Unknown to him, the war had already ended.
His experience in enduring brainwashing techniques provided the U.S. with invaluable material to develop survival training courses. Nevertheless, he and other returning prisoners of war were condemned by Senator Richard Russell, Jr. and others because of their confessions. He was subsequently promoted to full colonel.
Civilian life.
After his release, Colonel Mahurin was assigned as vice commander of the 27th Air Division. Because of his position on the promotion list, it seemed unlikely that he would be promoted to full colonel and be considered for a star and a higher command in his remaining years of service. He therefore resigned his commission in 1956 to accept a senior position with the aircraft industry. Later he joined the Air Force Reserve, subsequently retiring as a Colonel. While the Air Force attributed this to his own choice, stating he was low on the promotion list to colonel and unlikely to make general, a pilot under his command in Korea, Robert Smith, asserts that the Air Force dishonored itself by pressuring Mahurin to resign from the service as a result of political infighting over the confessions, four years short of becoming eligible for retirement benefits.
Mahurin died of "complications from a stroke" at his home in Newport Beach, California, on May 11, 2010, and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
He married twice. His first marriage, to Patricia (née Sweet), ended in a divorce. His second wife was Joan (née Gill). He had two sons and a daughter from his first marriage.
Awards and decorations.
  Command pilot
  Philippine Liberation Medal
  Philippine Independence Medal
  Armed Forces Reserve Medal with silver hourglass device
  Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)
  "Croix de Guerre" with Palm (France)
  "Croix de Guerre", with Palm (Belgium)
  Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation
  United Nations Service Medal
  Korean War Service Medal
Distinguished Service Cross citation.
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished SERVICE Cross to Captain (Air Corps) Walker M. Mahurin, United States Army Air Forces, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving as Pilot of a P-47 Fighter Airplane in the 63d Fighter Squadron, 56th Fighter Group, EIGHTH Air Force, over enemy occupied continental Europe on 4 October 1943, while serving as flight leader on a mission escorting withdrawing bombers. Though confronted with superior numbers of enemy aircraft and at a disadvantage because of altitude, he vigorously and aggressively attacked the enemy, destroying two planes and assisted in the dispersal of the enemy formation. Immediately thereafter Captain Mahurin chased an enemy fighter far into Germany, where he destroyed it. The heroism displayed by Captain Mahurin on this occasion reflects the highest credit upon himself and the armed forces of the United States.


Hirokazu Kobayashi (aikidoka)

 (February 14, 1929 – August 28, 1998) was a Japanese aikido teacher and student of the founder of aikido Morihei Ueshiba. In 1970, at the age of 41, he was awarded 8th dan rank. He is the initiator of Kobayashi aikido (国際合気道研修会小林裕和派).
Early life and the Pacific War.
Already by the age of 7 years, Kobayashi was studying karate, kendo and judo. At 15, he was stationed as a kamikaze pilot on an aircraft carrier. When it came to his deployment, a technical defect prevented his airplane from joining his flight. The remaining members of his flight died. Before he could come to the next "last deployment", the aircraft carrier was torpedoed by a submarine and sank. Kobayashi was one of the few survivors. After staying in the water for as long as four days with bad injuries, he was rescued. He had held fast during the entire time to wood planks and barrels.
Aikido.
In 1946 his karate teacher gave him a recommendation letter for Morihei Ueshiba. With this letter he went to Tokyo, in order to learn the Japanese martial art aikido.
Kobayashi was friendly with Morihiro Saito, with whom he shared the role of uke to Ueshiba. During the aikido training if Saito was mostly requested as uke, then Kobayashi followed with the sword. For this reason Kobayashi felt always extremely connected to aikiken. Kobayashi described the long time at Ueshiba's side not only as uke, but also outside of the dojo as companion to the impulsive aikido founder, as extremely hard.
In Tokyo, Kobayashi stayed altogether for about nine years. In 1954 he moved to Osaka. Morihei Ueshiba was nearly each month in Osaka, in order to hold ten-day-long training courses. Kobayashi Sensei was the chief instructor at Kansai in 1970, and he usually acted Ueshiba Sensei’s uke whenever he visited Kansai.
In 1957, Kobayashi started training full-time in aikido. If he did not accompany Ueshiba, he taught at universities in Osaka and Kobe. In 1964 he was awarded 7th dan. In this year he was asked by Ueshiba for the first time to teach aikido in Europe. Until 1996 Kobayashi visited Europe each year for several weeks. He gave regular training courses in France, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, Germany and in the Netherlands.
His techniques were described as very short, powerful and precise with as little movement offline as possible. His grabbing techniques consisted of "Meguri" - literally meaning flexibility and rotating of the wrist producing subtle connection points producing the maximum result with minimal levels of effort. A memorable phrase of Kobayashi's was: "Teach everything you know/have, then you feel thirsty for a higher level." Some other words people often heard him repeat while on the mat were "Itsumo manaka" (always towards the centre) and "Ima" (right now).
Kobayashi had a cordial relationship with Kenji Tomiki, founder of Shodokan Aikido. On 10 October 1969, Kobayashi invited Tomiki to Osaka, where the latter gave a short course to introduce competitive aikido to students from six local universities. In aikido circles, there was friction regarding competitive aikido because nobody knew Tomiki's theories or the essence of his aikido. Kobayashi met with Tomiki to try to understand his techniques and his intentions. He suggested that Tomiki show his aikido to the students as the best way for everyone to understand.
One of Tomiki's instructors, Tetsuro Nariyama, came to Osaka from Kokushikan University and spent six years as uchideshi with Kobayashi. Nariyama taught at the Shodokan Honbu but at the same time he was learning from Kobayashi who was teaching in the universities in that area. He accompanied Kobayashi to lessons and had the chance to introduce the students to randori.
Legacy.
Aikido in the style of Kobayashi Hirokazu is taught today in Europe, South America, India, Indonesia, New Zealand, USA and Japan. Due to the activities of Kobayashi Sensei who spent usually up to 5 months every year in Europe several highly ranked Aikidoka, still teach his unique style in Europe. To be mentioned are:
Kobayashi was a member of the Aikikai Foundation. He never wanted to found an organisation of his own, and asked his pupils not to do so either. His idea was to teach Aikido to everybody who wanted to learn and not to gain personal profit by doing so. A few months before he died in 1998, he gave the permission to his students to found the independent organisation, Académie autonome d'aikido, which attempted to synthesise the uniqueness of his teaching, without asserting superiority over other styles. This led to the formation of Kobayashi aikido.
Kobayashi died in August 1998 after an illness.


Giulio Cesare Graziani

Giulio Cesare Graziani (24 January 1915 Affile – 23 December 1998 Rome) was an Italian aviator, and one of the most famous Italian pilots of the Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 "Sparviero" torpedo bomber, the "Damned Hunchback", in World War II.
Career.
Born on 24 January 1915 the son of Ermenegildo and Giovanna Lonfernini, Graziani developed an early interest in aviation, gaining his pilots license before the age of 20 at Rimini Airport with a Caproni Ca.100 thanks to the influence of Rodolfo Graziani. He joined the Regia Aeronautica and served initially flying Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 bomber aircraft at the start of World War II.
During 1940, he transferred to the Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 and developed particular skill attacking shipping with torpedoes, initially in the Red Sea theatre and later over the Mediterranean Sea. He was injured in action attacking Port Sudan in December 1940 but successfully piloted his aircraft home, for which he was awarded the Gold Medal of Military Valor. On 13 October 1941, Graziani was involved in the attack on the battleships and , along with a fleet of four cruisers and twelve destroyers. He was also responsible for a night raid on shipping in the harbour at Philippeville which destroyed one ship and damaged another on 20 November 1942.
Following the Armistice of Cassibile, Graziani flew Martin Baltimores for the Italian Co-belligerent Air Force, flying a total of 78 bombing missions. After the war, Graziani was heavily involved in the deployment of the PGM-19 Jupiter nuclear missiles in Italy. He was promoted to Generale di squadra aerea in 1969 and retired in 1975.
Legacy.
The "70º Stormo" of the current "Aeronautica Militare Italiana", based at Latina Air Base, was named after him.


Nerlerit Inaat Airport

Nerlerit Inaat Airport (, ) is an airport in the Sermersooq municipality in eastern Greenland. It is located on Jameson Land and serves the town of Ittoqqortoormiit, approximately to the south-east. The airport can serve STOL aircraft. An AS 350 helicopter of Air Greenland is permanently housed at the airport, linking it with Ittoqqortoormiit Heliport. The helicopter also provides search and rescue capabilities within the surrounding area, and can be chartered for transport.
History.
The airport was built in 1985 by the US oil company ARCO in connection with oil exploration in Jameson Land. It was sold to Greenland in 1990.
In summer 2004 the airport was the destination of an arctic trip by two German microlight pilots flying a Flight Design CT2K light aircraft.
The airport may be relocated to a new site on Liverpool Land closer to Ittoqqortoormiit, between the settlement and Uunarteq cape () to the south, thus eliminating the need for helicopter transfers.
Operations.
The airport has around 15 employees, who have their home within the airport area. No other settlement is reachable by road, making the airport possibly the one with smallest population reachable by road in the world. There is a road to a seaport around 2 km south of the terminal building, and some other roads in the area. Transportation to the main settlement in the area (Ittoqqortoormiit) is by helicopter or (in the summer) by boat.
The airport acts as stopping off point for a number of expeditions into Jameson Land and Northeast Greenland National Park. Areas such as Renland have only just been visited, or have had no known visitors.


Norwich Blitz

The Norwich Blitz refers to the heavy bombing of Norwich and surrounding area by the German "Luftwaffe" during World War II. The bombings launched on numerous British cities were known as the Blitz.
Initially bombed in the summer of 1940, Norwich was subsequently not attacked until April and May 1942 as part of the so-called Baedeker raids, in which targets were chosen for their cultural and historical value and not as a strategic or military target. The most devastating of these attacks occurred on the evening of 27 April 1942 and continued again on 29 April. There were further attacks in May and a heavy bombardment on 26 and 27 June in which Norwich Cathedral was damaged. Norwich Castle, the City Hall and the Guildhall escaped while many residential streets were destroyed.
Background.
Norwich suffered extensive bomb damage during the Second World War, affecting large parts of the old city centre and Victorian terrace housing around the centre. Industry and rail infrastructure also suffered. The heaviest raids occurred on the nights of 27/28 and 29/30 April 1942; as part of the Baedeker raids; attacks on Bath, Canterbury, Norwich, Exeter, and York using Baedeker's series of tourist guides to the British Isles. Norwich became one of the targets of the so-called "Baedeker Blitz", which took place in retaliation for the bombing of Lübeck by the RAF earlier that year.
Lord Haw-Haw made reference to the imminent destruction of Norwich's new City Hall (completed in 1938), although in the event it survived unscathed. Significant targets hit included the Morgan's Brewery building, Coleman's Wincarnis works, City Station, the Mackintosh chocolate factory, and shopping areas including St Stephen's St and St Benedict's St, the site of Bond's department store (now John Lewis) and Curl's department store. The large Harmer's clothing factory on St Andrews Street received a direct hit. In 1945 the city was also the intended target of a brief V2 rocket campaign, though all these missed the city.
Air raids.
Early raids.
The first raid of bombs occurred on 9 July 1940. Around 5pm, eleven whistling bombs were dropped on the Riverside Works part of the city. On 30 July, many other buildings were hit, including the large Georgian buildings on Surrey Street. Although quite a number of raids were carried out on the city of Norwich in this year, damage to property was mostly confined to residential areas. Many of the raids were at night or in the early morning, but the most damaging visitations, and those that caused many of the casualties, took place in the afternoon or early evening. The city's death-toll for the year amounted to sixty-one, of whom twenty-six were killed on 9 July during the first raid which Norwich sustained. Throughout 1941, twenty more people were killed and twenty eight injured, during monthly attacks on the suburbs and residential areas.
27 April 1942.
Raids were being carried out on Exeter, Bath, Canterbury and York, and incendiary bombs were responsible for a large proportion of the damage done. These cities were deliberately selected from the famous Baedeker Guidebooks in which they were marked as cultural locations containing many places of historic and archaeological importance, and were bombed as a direct response to Britain's bombing of the historic German city of Luebeck on 28 March.
In Norwich, the raid that began on the evening of 27 April 1942 was the most severe to hit the city during the war, being carried out by bombers of KG2, KG106, who were led by the pathfinders of I/KG100. Two nights later on 29 April, another raid took place, destroying many buildings in the city centre. Two churches were lost on the 27th, St Bartholomew in Heigham and St Benedicts. Both surviving towers still stand today (2019).
June 1942.
Known as "The Hell Fire Raid", three enemy aircraft which were later destroyed, dropped incendiaries and high explosives, causing several large fires. Notable examples included the thatched department store, Bonds, on All Saint's Green as well as the historic Old Boar's Head inn, which were gutted by fire. St Julian's Church in King Street was hit, as well as the Trinity Presbyterian Church in Theatre Street. 20 Timberhill, known as The Star and Crown public house, was destroyed, as was 72 St Giles Street and Heigham Grove. Many 17th century buildings were completely obliterated.
Effects.
229 citizens were killed in the two Baedeker raids with 1000 others injured, and 340 by bombing throughout the war—giving Norwich the highest air raid casualties in Eastern England. Out of the 35,000 domestic dwellings in Norwich, 2,000 were destroyed, and another 27,000 suffered some damage. Fewer than 5,000 houses escaped without any damage at all.
Norwich City Station was lost in the bombings, along with large parts of St Stephen's Street. The thatched buildings on All Saint's Green, notably Bond's department store were completely destroyed by fire. In addition, the junction between Barn Road and St Benedict's Street was completely destroyed, with only the city wall surviving. St Paul's Church near Peacock Street and Willis Street was destroyed, with the surviving tower being demolished in the late 1960s to make way for the inner-ring road. Curls' Department store in Orford Place which was rebuilt in 1955, and is now Debenhams. St Augustine's School was wrecked, as well as the Norwich Institution for the Blind on Magdalen Street. Ralph Mottram, author of Assault Upon Norwich, stated that "those of us who drove through the blazing streets had an unpleasant reminder of old days of Ypres and Armentieres (First World War)".
Aftermath.
Repair work begun from 1950 onwards, and the total cost of the work occasioned by all raids during April 1942 and since was approximately £1,060,000 of which £280,000 was for materials and haulage.


Angkasa Pura

Angkasa Pura (Sanskrit for "Sky City") is the name used by two separate state enterprises of the Indonesian Ministry of State Owned Enterprises responsible for the management of airports in Indonesia. The two companies are PT Angkasa Pura I (trading as Angkasa Pura Airports, stylised as AngkasaPura | ) and PT Angkasa Pura II. Angkasa Pura I has its head office in Kemayoran, Jakarta, while Angkasa Pura II has its head office at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten.
In 2010, PT Angkasa Pura I had airport capacities of 30,700,440 people, while the movement was exceed up to 49,237,437 passengers. Over capacities also occurred for PT Angkasa Pura II with capacities of 30,815,000 people, with movement of 62,215,834 passengers.
Name and legal status.
In 1962, Perusahaan Negara (PN) Angkasa Pura Kemayoran was established after a formal request by president Sukarno. It first started to control operations for the Kemayoran Airport (JKT) in Jakarta. In 1965, PN Angkasa Pura Kemayoran was renamed PN Angkasa Pura. In 1974 it became Perum Angkasa Pura.
Another name change came in 1987, when Perum Angkasa Pura became Perum Angkasa Pura I following the establishment of Perum Pelabuhan Udara Jakarta Cengkareng, which later became Perum Angkasa Pura II. Perum Angkasa Pura II was established to control the operation of Soekarno–Hatta International Airport (CGK) and Halim Perdanakusuma Airport (HLP) in Jakarta.
In 1992, both Perum Angkasa Pura I and Perum Angkasa Pura II were converted into perseroan terbatas under the names PT Angkasa Pura I (Persero) and PT Angkasa Pura II (Persero).
Operations.
Angkasa Pura operates the following airports:
In 2010, Angkasa Pura II made a profit of Rp.1,264 trillion. Seven airports suffered losses, but five made profits. Soekarno Hatta International Airport made a profit of Rp.1,573 trillion (US$160 million). The other airports which turned a profit were Polonia Medan airport, Sultan Syarif Kasim Pekanbaru airport, Supadio Pontianak airport and Husein Sastra Negara Bandung airport.
Overburdened airports.
In 2010, PT Angkasa Pura I combined capacity was 30 million passengers, but it handled 49 million passengers, while PT Angkasa Pura II combined capacity was only 28 million passengers, but it handled 62 million passengers. The most heavily burdened airports were Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Kualanamu International Airport, Ngurah Rai International Airport and Juanda International Airport.
Hotels.
PT Angkasa Pura I will build hotels at Juanda International Airport and Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport in 2011. The investment is Rp.50 billion ($5.8 million) and both hotels will be operated by Accor under the Formule 1 brand.
FLIPMAC.
PT Angkasa Pura I will build a Flight Plan and Flow Management Centre (FLIPMAC) in Surabaya to cover also Bali, Makassar and Balikpapan and become the centre of Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM) nationwide due to Surabaya's point of intersection between domestic and international routes and Jakarta–Surabaya flight path is the world's fifth-most populous and fourth most populous in the Asia Pacific region with 760 flights traffic per week. The system will monitor all the movements of planes from refuelling, baggage, and start catering to aircraft engines and given a time limit and for approaching aircraft, altitude and airspeed settings are also monitored long before the plane arrived at the airport so that aircraft avoid holding or delay. The initial phase will be installed in late 2012 and is expected to be operational in mid-2013 with investment about Rp40 billion.


Grazzanise Air Base

Grazzanise Air Base (also known as "Carlo Romagnoli Airport") (ICAO: LIRM) is an Italian Air Force airbase south of Grazzanise, in the Province of Caserta in the region of Campania, located about west of Caserta (the airport for this city), and northwest of Naples, Italy.
It has two, parallel runways (06/24) with the main, asphalt runway being 06R/24L, x , at elevation . The parallel concrete runway is for limited helicopter operations, as it has no taxiway connection to the rest of the base. There is a dispersal and hangar area on the eastern end for nine aircraft, with larger maintenance hangars and parking areas at each end.
Navigation aids sited at the field are TACAN and NDB.
Units.
The main base complex is about north-west of the airfield. It is the base for:
Previous use.
The airbase was formerly the site of operations for squadrons equipped with the North American F-86 Sabre, Fiat G.91 and Lockheed F-104 Starfighter. An F-86 is mounted on a pole within the compound near the airbase.


402nd Maintenance Wing

The 402nd Maintenance Wing, sometimes written as 402d Maintenance Wing, (402 MXW) is an inactive wing of the United States Air Force last based at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. As a maintenance wing it provided depot maintenance, engineering support, and software development to major weapon systems (F-15 Eagle, C-5 Galaxy, C-130 Hercules, C-17 Globemaster III and Special Operations Forces aircraft).
From 1943 to 1945, RAF Station Warton, 6.9 miles west of Preston, Lancashire, where the 402d Air Depot, later the 402d Base Air Depot, was located, operated as a United States Army Air Forces depot and staging point. Thousands of aircraft were processed at Warton on their way to active service in Great Britain, North Africa, the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, and mainland Europe.


List of Avianca Brasil destinations

Avianca Brasil operated the following flights at the time of its suspension of operations in May 2019.
Destinations.
The list includes destinations operated under the former name Oceanair.


Bobrovichi

Bobrovichi is an air base in Belarus located 16 km northeast of Kalinovichi. It is a large airfield with two large tarmacs on either side, and two alert revetments holding about 10 fighters each. It was home to 953 BAP (953rd Bomber Aviation Regiment) flying Su-24 aircraft from 1978 subordinated to 1st Guards Bomber Aviation Division (1 GvBAD) in Lida (1960-1980) and then 32nd Bomber Aviation Division (1980-1992). It also hosted 368 OShAP (Independent Shturmovik Aviation Regiment) during the mid-1980s.


RRH Staxton Wold

Remote Radar Head Staxton Wold or RRH Staxton Wold is an air defence radar station operated by the Royal Air Force, located near Scarborough in North Yorkshire, England.
The present-day site of RRH Staxton Wold has had an early warning function since the 3rd century AD, when it was the site of a warning beacon. It was first selected to be used as a radar station in 1937, when it was set up as part of the Chain Home system. Building work did not begin until December 1938 as delays in procuring the site occurred when the landowners resisted selling (this being before the Second World War, so the government found it harder to demand the land by force for the war effort). The site became fully operational in April 1939 and is the only one of the original stations still in use, and may thus claim to be the oldest continuously serving radar station.
Today it is a Remote Radar Head (RRH) within the United Kingdom Air Surveillance and Control System (UKASACS). The radar at Staxton Wold is a Lockheed Martin AN/TPS-77 radar which was due to be working by September 2013, but only became fully operational in early 2015. In September 2017, it was reported that the TPS-77 at Staxton Wold would be transferred to RRH Saxa Vord.


RAF Abu Sueir


Air Partner

Founded in 1961, Air Partner is a global aviation services group providing aircraft charter services and aviation safety & security solutions to industry, commerce, governments and private individuals across the world.
Air Partner Charter offers tailored charter solutions to meet often complex requirements across a suite of services, including Group Charter, Private Jets, Freight and other Specialist Services such as Tour Operations, Air Evacuation, Aircraft Sales & Leasing and Flight Operations.
Air Partner Safety & Security services span consulting, research, training and managed services, supporting the aviation and transport sectors, critical national infrastructure, armed forces, governments and regulators globally to address risks and vulnerabilities throughout their organisations.
With its headquarters located alongside Gatwick airport in the United Kingdom, the Group employs 400+ aviation professionals uniquely positioned in 17 locations globally. With a full in-house 24/7 global flight operations centre, clients are provided with instant access to services all year round.
The company is publicly listed on the London Stock Exchange as and is the only publicly listed air charter broker and aviation safety & security consultancy. It is ISO 9001:2015 compliant for commercial airline and private jet solutions worldwide.
History.
Air Partner was founded in 1961 by Tony Mack Senior trading as Airways Training. It began as a school for military pilots converting to civilian flying using flight simulators and a fleet of Beagles.
Following the years as a flying school, Air Partner formed an air taxi operation with a fleet of Chieftain, Piper Aztec, 125 and C550 aircraft. At this time the company name was changed to Air London to reflect the change in business focus.
In 1983 the company surrendered its Air Operator’s Licence to concentrate on aircraft broking. Through the years that followed and continued company growth, in 1999 Air London became Air Partner as they began to open offices globally.
Throughout its 60-year history, Air Partner has evolved and developed into the global aviation and services group it is today. Keeping the world moving, one journey at a time.
Chronology.
1961: Tony Mack Senior founded Airways Training, converting military pilots to civilian flying using flight simulators and a fleet of Beagles.
1960’s/80’s: The years that followed saw expansion into air taxi operations, and Airways Training was renamed Air London.
1983: Air London launches a new concept in aircraft broking.
1989: Air Partner floated on the Unlisted Securities Market, the forerunner to the Alternative Investment Market (AIM).
1994: Overseas expansion begins with the opening of Air Partner France in Paris.
1995: The company achieves full listing on the London Stock Exchange LSE: AIP.
1997: Air Partner opens its first US-based office based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Air Partner opens its second mainland European office in Cologne, Germany.
1998: Specialist freight division launches.
1999: The company name is changed from Air London to Air Partner to reflect the Group’s growing global influence.
Air Partner Travel Consultants is launched. The IATA and ATOL bonded agency organises scheduled flights, limousine hire and accommodation.
2000: Air Partner continues to expand with new offices opening in Austria, and a second US office opens in New York.
2001: 24/7 office-based operations department opens at London Gatwick HQ.
2005: Air Partner opens an office in Italy.
2006: The JetCard membership scheme is unveiled. JetCard offers a wealth of benefits for more regular flyers that delivers value for businesses and individuals.
2007: Air Partner re-brands and launches a new corporate identity, creating two new internal trading boards - Private Jets and Commercial Jets.
2008: Carbon neutral offset options are launched across all flights.
2010: Mark Briffa is appointed CEO.
Air Partner opens an office in Istanbul, Turkey.
2011: Air Partner celebrates 50 years of business!
UK headquarter moves to a larger premises alongside London Gatwick Airport, opposite The Beehive - Gatwick’s original terminal building with its grass runways, which opened in 1936. The company first began trading here in 1961 and has remained within 1 km ever since.
2015: Air Partner acquires Cabot Aviation and Baines Simmons.
2016: Air Partner acquires Clockwork Research.
2017: Air Partner was cited as having the "Most Flexible" jet card in an analysis by Conklin & DeDecker in 2017.
Air Partner acquires SafeSkys.
2018: Air Partner opens a new office in LA.
2019: Air Partner opens new offices in Houston, Singapore and Dubai.
Air Partner acquires Redline.
2020: Air Partner provides vital support throughout the global COVID-19 pandemic, including transporting medical supplies and PPE as well as evacuating over 300 British and EU nationals from Wuhan in the wake of the pandemic.
Air Partner launches Air Partner "Protect" to safeguard customers against coronavirus.


Hal Moore

Harold Gregory Moore Jr. (February 13, 1922 – February 10, 2017) was a United States Army lieutenant general and author. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the U.S. military's second-highest decoration for valor, and was the first of his West Point class (1945) to be promoted to brigadier general, major general, and lieutenant general.
Moore is remembered as the lieutenant colonel in command of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, at the Battle of Ia Drang in 1965, during the Vietnam War. The battle was detailed in the 1992 bestseller "We Were Soldiers Once… and Young", co-authored by Moore and made into the film "We Were Soldiers" in 2002, which starred Mel Gibson as Moore; Moore was the "honorary colonel" of the regiment.
Moore was awarded the Order of Saint Maurice by the National Infantry Association as well as the Distinguished Graduate Award by the West Point Association of Graduates.
Early life and education.
Moore was born on February 13, 1922, in Bardstown, Kentucky, the eldest of four children born to Irish Catholics Harold Sr. and Mary (Crume) Moore. His father was an insurance agent of whose territory covered western Kentucky and his mother was a homemaker. Because he was interested in obtaining an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York and felt his chances were better if he was located in a larger city, he left Kentucky at the age of seventeen before finishing high school and got a job in Washington, D.C. working in the U.S. Senate book warehouse. Moore finished high school at night while working days and graduated from St. Joseph Preparatory School in Bardstown with the class of 1940. Moore attended George Washington University at night for two years, working at his warehouse job while waiting on an appointment to West Point. During his time at George Washington University he was initiated into the Kappa Sigma fraternity. After President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed legislation authorizing each senator and representative additional appointments to the military and naval academies, Moore was offered an appointment to the United States Naval Academy by Representative Ed Creal (4th District, Kentucky) but Moore had no desire to go to the Naval Academy. Moore asked Creal if he could find another congressman that would trade his Military Academy appointment for Creal's Naval Academy appointment would he be agreeable to that arrangement. Creal agreed, and Moore soon found Representative Eugene Cox of Georgia's 2nd Congressional District, with an open appointment to West Point. Cox was impressed with Moore's tenacity and he left Cox's office with the West Point appointment.<ref name="Moore/Galloway(2008)159-160">Moore and Galloway (2008), pp. 159–160</ref>
Military service.
West Point.
Moore received his appointment to the U.S. Military Academy shortly after the United States entered into World War II. He reported to West Point for "Reception Day" on July 15, 1942, and the summer training referred to as "Beast Barracks" held before the formal academic school term took up in the fall.<ref name="Moore/Galloway(2008)73">Moore and Galloway (2008), p. 73</ref> During his plebe summer at Pine Camp, he qualified expert on the M-1 Garand rifle and was the top scorer in his company. Although Moore did well in most of his classes, he was academically deficient in the required math subjects and he had to redouble his efforts to absorb the engineering, physics and chemistry, often studying two or three hours past lights out to memorize the material.<ref name="Moore/Galloway(2008)162">Moore and Galloway (2008), p. 162</ref> During the fall of 1942 his class received the news that because of the war his class would graduate in three years rather than the usual four years. Moore made it through the plebe year, but just barely, or as he put it, "an academic trip from hell." This observation caused Moore to lead a student life at West Point devoted to studying and very few extracurricular activities. After a ten-day furlough, he reported to Camp Popolopen for summer military training where his company trained with various vehicles and fired many types of weapons. The summer ended with maneuvers held again at Pine Camp. During the second year at the Academy, he studied more complicated subjects like calculus, electrical engineering, thermodynamics and historic military campaigns. Wednesdays were spent watching the latest "Staff Combat Film Report" which reported the most recent fighting from the Pacific and European war fronts. Summer military training after his second year consisted of touring U.S. Army basic training centers to study tactics and techniques. The final academic year was spent studying military history and tactics as the war was winding down in Europe. Just before graduation each cadet selected his branch of assignment dependent on their academic standing in the class and the quota of openings in each branch. Moore stood in the bottom fifteen percent and he wanted an infantry assignment. When his name was finally called to declare, there were still infantry openings available. Moore graduated from West Point on June 5, 1945 and he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the infantry branch.
Post-World War II.
Moore's first assignment after graduation was the Infantry Officer Basic Course at Fort Benning, Georgia which was a six-week course. During the basic course he applied for the airborne jump school at Fort Benning, however, he was not selected and was instead assigned to the three-week jump school held at the 11th Airborne Division in Tokyo, Japan. His first assignment out of jump school was with the 187th Glider Infantry Regiment at Camp Crawford near Sapporo, Japan from 1945 until 1948. After a seven-month stint as company commander, he was assigned as Camp Crawford's construction officer and responsible for all of the construction improvements being made at the camp. In June 1948, he was reassigned to the 82nd Airborne Division, at Fort Bragg. He volunteered to join the Airborne Test Section, a special unit testing experimental parachutes, and he made the first of some 150 jumps with the section over the next two years on November 17, 1948. Over the course of his career, he became a jumpmaster with over 300 jumps.
Korean War.
During the Korean War (1950–1953) in 1951, he was ordered to Fort Benning to attend the Infantry Officer's Advanced Course, which would prepare him to command a company or to serve on a battalion staff. In June 1952 Moore was assigned to the 17th Infantry Regiment of the 7th Infantry Division. As a captain, he commanded a heavy mortar company in combat. He next served as regimental Assistant Chief-of-Staff, Operations and Plans. Moore's promotion to major was put on hold by a policy of the 7th Division commanding general that stated that no promotion to major would be possible without command of an infantry company in combat. The division commander personally assigned Moore to an infantry company so that Moore could be promoted to major and thus later become divisional assistant chief-of staff for operations.
Return to the US.
In 1954, Moore returned to West Point and served for three years as an instructor in infantry tactics. While serving as an instructor, Moore taught then-Cadet Norman Schwarzkopf, who called Moore one of his "heroes," and cites Moore as the reason he chose the infantry branch upon graduation. Schwarzkopf later became a general in the U.S. Army and led the U.N. coalition forces in the Persian Gulf War against Iraq. During this assignment, Moore took a personal interest in the battles between the French Army forces and the Việt Minh at Điện Biên Phủ in Vietnam.
Moore was assigned to attend the year-long student course at the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in 1956. The course prepared majors for the duties of staff officers at the division and corps level. After school at Fort Leavenworth, Moore reported to the Pentagon and the Office, Chief of Research and Development where his initiative and insights were key to the development of new airborne equipment and airborne/air assault tactics. Following graduation from the Armed Forces Staff College at Norfolk, Virginia in 1960 Moore served a three-year tour as NATO Plans Officer with Headquarters, Allied Forces Northern Europe in Oslo, Norway.
In 1964, now a lieutenant colonel, Moore completed the course of study at the Naval War College, while earning a master's degree in International Relations from George Washington University in Washington, DC. Moore was transferred to Fort Benning and commanded 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry later to become a part of 11th Air Assault Division, undergoing air assault and air mobility training and tests. On July 28, 1965 President Lyndon Johnson announced that he was sending "the Airmobile Division to Vietnam". That same month the 11th Air Assault Division was re-designated the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) and alerted for deployment to Vietnam. Moore's battalion was re-designated as 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, the same regiment that was under the command of Lieutenant Colonel George Custer when the Irish song "Garry Owen" was adopted as a marching tune. The "Garry Owen" Brigade left Fort Benning August 14, 1965 and went to South Vietnam by way of the Panama Canal aboard USNS "General Maurice Rose" arriving at the Division's An Khê Base Camp a month later.
Vietnam War.
Battle of la Drang.
Beginning on November 14, 1965, Lt. Col. Moore led the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) in the week-long Battle of Ia Drang. Encircled by enemy soldiers with no clear landing zone that would allow them to leave, Moore managed to persevere despite being significantly outnumbered by North Vietnamese Army (NVA) forces that went on to defeat the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry only two-and-a-half miles away the next day. Moore's dictum that "there is always one more thing you can do to increase your odds of success" and the courage of his entire command are credited with this outcome. Blond haired Moore was known as "Yellow Hair" to his troops at the battle at Ia Drang, and as a tongue-in-cheek homage making reference to the legendary General George Armstrong Custer, who commanded as a lieutenant colonel the same 7th Cavalry Regiment at the Battle of the Little Bighorn just under a century before. Moore was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism at Ia Drang. After the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley, Moore was promoted to colonel and took over the command of the Garry Owen (3rd) Brigade.
Post-Vietnam War service.
After his service in the Vietnam War, Moore served at the Pentagon as the military liaison to the Assistant Secretary for International Affairs in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense. In his next assignment the Army sent him to Harvard University, where he completed his M.A in International Relations in 1968. Having completed his work at Harvard, Moore reported back to the Pentagon to work with the Deputy Chief-of-Staff for Operations. He then helped draft the Army plan for the withdrawal of two brigades of the 9th Infantry Division to the United States as a part of the Vietnamization of the war effort. On August 31, 1968, Moore was promoted to the rank of brigadier general. In July 1969, he was assigned as Assistant Chief-of-Staff, Operations and Plans of the Eighth Army in South Korea where tensions were high from demilitarized zone incursions and drug use and racism among Eighth Army troops were at an all-time high. Shortly after becoming Commanding General of the 7th Infantry Division Moore was promoted to major general in 1970 and he and his family moved to Camp Casey, South Korea. He was charged by General John H. Michaelis, Commander, United States Forces Korea with cleaning up the drug abuse problem and racial strife that were prevalent at the time in the 7th Division. His plan established Officer's Leadership Schools for company-grade officers and an NCO Leadership School for staff sergeants and below as well as issuing an "Equal Opportunity Policy". He backed up the policy with the promise to punish those leaders who discriminated based on race, ethnicity or creed. As a part of the reformation of division morale, he established several different athletic programs, including football, basketball, and boxing. As Commanding General of the Army Training Center at Fort Ord, California in 1971–1973, he oversaw extensive experimentation in adapting basic and advanced individual training under Project VOLAR in preparation for the end of conscription and the institution of the Modern Volunteer Army. In August 1973, Moore was assigned as Commanding General, US Army Military Personnel Center (MILPERCEN), and in 1974 he was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, Department of the Army, his last assignment before leaving the Army. He dealt with Army recruiting issues after the termination of the draft as well as the orderly reduction of forces after the close of the Vietnam War. Moore's next assignment would have been to become the Commanding General, U.S. Army Japan, but he elected to retire instead. Moore retired from the Army August 1, 1977 after completing thirty two years of active service.
Personal life.
While assigned to Fort Bragg, Moore met Julia B. Compton, the daughter of Colonel and Mrs. Louis J. Compton. Julia was a student enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina and was visiting her parents at Fort Bragg.<ref name="Moore/Galloway(2008)217">Moore and Galloway (2008), p. 217</ref> They were married at the Fort Bragg main post chapel on November 22, 1949.
After his retirement in 1977, Moore served as the Executive President of the Crested Butte Ski Area, Colorado. In June 2009, the 87-year-old Moore attended the formal opening of the National Infantry Museum in Columbus, Georgia. One of the featured exhibits of the museum is a life-size diorama of L.Z. X-Ray from the Battle of Ia Drang. The Moores had five children, Greg Moore, Steve Moore, Julie Moore Orlowski, Cecile Moore Rainey, and David Moore, as well as twelve grandchildren. Two of their sons are career U.S. Army officers: one a retired colonel and another a retired lieutenant colonel.<ref name="Moore/Galloway(2008)220-221">Moore and Galloway (2008), pp. 220–221</ref>
Moore died from a stroke on February 10, 2017, his wife's birthday, and three days before his 95th birthday. He was buried in Fort Benning Post Cemetery on February 17, 2017 with full military honors and laid to rest beside his wife of 55 years who died in 2004.


Naval Air Station New Iberia

Naval Air Station New Iberia, located near New Iberia, Louisiana, was a short-lived training facility of the United States Navy which operated for a mere five years in the 1960s.
The naval base at New Iberia was actually designated NAAS, indicating that it was a Naval Auxiliary Air Station. The U.S. Navy airfield identifier for New Iberia was KNIL.
History.
The site of NAAS New Iberia had served as a civil airport between 1946 and 1954. In 1954 the Department of Defense selected the airport for development as a naval air station.
Due to the runway length requirements of naval jet aircraft, 4,000 acres were purchased by the Federal Government and an 8,002-foot concrete runway, Runway 16/34, was constructed. Commissioned in 1960, Naval Auxiliary Air Station New Iberia was located near U.S. Highway 90 just outside New Iberia and covered an area of 4,347 acres of land and had an elevation of 24 feet.
With the opening of NAAS New Iberia, its primary flying unit, Advanced Training Unit-B moved from Naval Air Station Kingsville/South Field, Texas and was redesignated as Training Squadron TWENTY SEVEN (VT-27). Operating Grumman TS-2A Trackers, the squadron conducted advanced multiengine training for Student Naval Aviators destined for carrier-based A-1 Skyraider, S-2 Tracker and E-1 Tracer aircraft, and land-based naval aircraft and seaplanes, primarily those engaged in airborne early warning mission flying the EC-121 Warning Star, and those in the patrol and anti-submarine warfare mission, such as the P-2 Neptune, P5M Marlin, and the new P-3 Orion that began coming on line in the early 1960s.
Approximately 1,000 military personnel and 100 civilian workers were stationed at NAAS New Iberia in 1964, including those assigned to VT-27. Naval Auxiliary Air Station New Iberia continued to function until 1964 when the Navy began closing the facility. On 29 September 1964, VT-27 transferred to Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas, with the squadron instructor pilots flying out the TS-2 Trackers. NAS New Iberia was finally closed in January 1965.
Upon the closure of the naval field, the Iberia Parish governing body petitioned the U.S. government for release of 2,100 acres of air station property for civil aviation use. The petition was granted in 1970 and the airport was given its present name, Acadiana Regional Airport. The Acadiana Regional Airport is classified as a General Aviation Transport airport by the Federal Aviation Authority. By definition, the airport is capable of serving all classes of aircraft.
A variety of aviation-related businesses are located at the airport. Many helicopters and seaplanes utilize the airport in support of the offshore petroleum industry in the Gulf of Mexico. Commercial passenger service is provided by a number of charter operators at the airport.


Wilderness Air

Wilderness Air, formerly known as Sefofane Air Charter, is an air charter company headquartered in Botswana, Africa.
History.
The company was founded in 1991 as Sefofane Air Charter by Neil Lumsden and Suzy Lumsden operating one Cessna 206.
The company operates in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. The airline's main base of operations is in Maun, Botswana.
Fleet.
Wilderness operates the following aircraft:
Safety Record.
The company had a fatal Cessna 210 accident in April 2010. The aircraft apparently broke up in mid air during a flight from Damaraland to Swakopmund, Namibia. The pilot, the sole occupant of the aircraft, was killed.


Abdraim Reshidov

Abdraim Izmailovich Reshidov (, ; 8 March 1912 – 24 October 1984) was the deputy commander of the 162nd Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment of the Soviet Air Forces during World War II, known as the Great Patriotic War in the USSR. In 1945 while he held the rank of Major he was declared a Hero of the Soviet Union for his first 166 missions in a Pe-2 during the war. After the war he was heavily involved in the Crimean Tatar civil rights movement, and swore to the government that he would publicly commit self-immolation if they continued to refuse him the right of return.
Early life.
Reshidov was born on 8 March 1912 to a Crimean Tatar family in the village of Mamashay, Crimea. After completing only five grades of school he began working at the workshops of Kachin Military Aviation School. In 1932 he graduated from the Simferopol Osoaviahim flight school, and in 1933 he entered the Red Army, after which he continued his studies at the Lugansk Military Aviation School before goring on to graduate from the Odessa Military Aviation School in December 1934. After completing flight school he was assigned as a pilot to the 10th Reconnaissance Squadron of the Kharkov Military District. From May 1938 to April 1940 he served as a pilot in Sevastopol before transferring to the 5th High Speed Bomber Regiment in Odessa, in which he was stationed when Nazi Germany launched Operation Barbarossa.
World War II.
Shortly after the launch of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Reshidov began flying defensive sorties on the Southern Front. In March 1942 his regiment was honored with the Guards designation and renamed the 8th Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment. He fought on the Southern, North Caucasian, and Transcaucasian fronts.
From March 1942 to June 1943 Reshidov studied at the Red Army Air Force Academy for commanders and chiefs of staff of aviation regiments, and went on to briefly serve in the 15th Separate Reconnaissance Aviation Reserve Regiment. He returned to the warfront in October as a squadron commander in the 854th Bomber Aviation Regiment. The regiment flew missions as part of the 2nd Ukrainian Front and fought in the Battle of the Dnieper, and in February 1944 the regiment received the Guards designation, becoming the 162nd Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment. In October 1944 Reshidov was appointed as the deputy commander of the regiment and as a flight instructor. By February 1945 he had completed 166 sorties, and received his third nomination to become a Hero of the Soviet Union. On 27 June 1945 while he held the rank of Major he was declared a Hero of the Soviet Union. By the end of the war he had completed 191 sorties and collected eight shared kills of enemy fighters.
Later life.
Reshidov was stationed in Czechoslovakia when the war ended, and held various military positions until he retired with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1958. Despite his prolonged service in the military he was not permitted to return to his homeland of Crimea and spent many years in exile. In 1967 Reshidov applied to move to Simferopol, but he was told that his application would not be considered until 1968. Taking matters into his own hands, Reshidov relocated from Nalchik to Crimea with his wife and daughter in October 1967, without permission from authorities. However, it became impossible for him to find a place to live due to the residence permit system, leading to his further depression. On 4 November 1967 he sent a telegram to Chief Air Marshal Konstantin Vershinin, swearing that he would end his life by self immolation in Lenin square if he could not live in Crimea. He was granted permission to live in an apartment in Simferopol, but lived under constant surveillance of the KGB. The KGB described Reshidov "provocative" and "partisan", but that did not stop him from supporting the right of return for Crimean Tatars. In 1972 the KGB slandered him as "inflammatory" and "agitating" for holding meetings in his apartment with other Crimean Tatars and supporting the right of return for all his fellow Crimean Tatars. Despite harassment from the KGB, Reshidov continued to live in Simferopol until his death on 24 October 1984. He never lived to see his nation granted the full right of return in 1989.


Arctic Red River Water Aerodrome

Arctic Red River Water Aerodrome, formerly , was a seasonal airstrip adjacent to Arctic Red River, Northwest Territories, Canada on the MacKenzie River and was open from the middle of June until the middle of October.


Holden C. Richardson

Holden Chester Richardson (December 7, 1878 – September 2, 1960) was a decorated officer in the United States Navy with the rank of captain. He is most noted as a pioneer in United States naval aviation.
Biography.
He was born on December 7, 1878, in Shamokin, Pennsylvania. Richardson attended the United States Naval Academy, graduating in 1901. Among his classmates were fellow naval engineers Julius A. Furer and George C. Westervelt and future Chief of Naval Operations Ernest J. King.
Richardson learned to fly from Glenn Curtiss in 1913, and he was designated Naval Aviator number 13. He was the Navy's first engineering test pilot and helped develop the first Navy-built seaplane, pontoons and hulls that overcame water suction, and a catapult to launch aircraft.
As a member of the Navy Construction Corps, Richardson helped to design the hull of the Curtiss NC flying boats. On October 4, 1918, he performed the crucial test flight of NC-1, the first of these seaplanes, from Jamaica Bay. He then took the plane, with a full crew, for a shakedown flight to the Washington Navy Yard for inspection by Navy leadership. Four days later, the Armistice ended World War I, and the military's need for flying boats abruptly ended.
After the war, the Navy decided to pursue a transatlantic flight by a division of four Curtiss NC flying boats. Because of his involvement in their design and development, Richardson was chosen to be one of the two pilots of NC-3, the division flagship. Only three planes were operational when they left Naval Air Station Rockaway on May 8, 1919. The overnight transatlantic crossing from Trepassey, Newfoundland to the Azores was attempted on May 16–17. NC-3 was forced to set down 200 nautical miles short of the Azores and Richardson had to taxi the remaining way until taken in tow by a Navy ship. NC-1 also had to set down short of the Azores, so only NC-4 was able to reach the European mainland at Lisbon, Portugal by air on May 27. Because of his contribution to this project, Richardson was awarded the Navy Cross. He was also made an officer of the Order of the Tower and Sword by the Portuguese government on June 3, 1919.
While Chief Engineer of the Naval Aircraft Factory, Richardson developed a rotatable catapult enabling aircraft to operate from capital ships. In 1925 he led efforts to develop carrier aircraft and patrol planes. He was the first secretary of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.
He died on September 2, 1960, in Bethesda, Maryland, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Legacy.
Richardson was enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1978 and in the Naval Aviation Hall of Honor in 1981. Richardson Field near Shamokin, Pennsylvania, was named in his honor.


Operation Balsam

Operation Balsam was a British naval operation in World War II, from 10–20 June 1945, under the command of Commodore Geoffrey Oliver. The third in a string of similar missions, the objectives were the naval bombardment and aerial strikes on Japanese airfields in Sumatra, Japanese vessels in the Strait of Malacca, and aerial reconnaissance.
Operational detail.
Naval forces involved sailed from Trincomalee on 14 June 1945. Ships involved included the escort carriers , , ; cruisers and ; and five destroyers, , , , , and . The carriers transported Grumman F6F Hellcats of 804 Squadron and 808 Squadron, and Supermarine Seafires of 809 Squadron.
Flights were restricted to photo-reconnaissance over southern Malaya for the first few days of the active operation, on 18 and 19 June. One account describes how the fighter pilots "were growing restless on a diet of undiluted , but Commodore Oliver reassured them they would have an opportunity to 'leave their cards'". On 20 June, the fighters engaged in their first offensive sorties against the airfields at Lhokseumawe, Medan and Bindjai. The results were reported as follows:


French destroyer Mogador

Mogador was the lead ship of the French Navy's of destroyers (). Named for the Moroccan town, she was built before the outbreak of World War II. The ship was heavily damaged during the British attack on Mers-el-Kébir on 3 July 1940, but was later repaired and sailed to Toulon. She was scuttled in Toulon Harbor when the Germans tried to seize her, along with the rest of the fleet, on 27 November 1942.
The "Mogador" and her sister "Volta" were the last "contre-torpilleurs" built by the French Navy, a not entirely successful attempt to build a ship capable of out-fighting every other ship below her tonnage. "In technological terms "Mogador" and "Volta" were ships with the armament of a light cruiser in the hull of destroyer; the "contre-torpilleur" as a type had been pushed past the limits of its capabilities."
Design and description.
"Mogador" had an overall length of , a beam of , and a maximum draft of . She displaced at standard load and at deep load. The Rateau-Bretagne geared steam turbines were designed to produce , which would propel the ship at . However, during sea trials in March 1938, "Mogador"s turbines provided and she reached for a single hour. The ship carried of fuel oil at normal load and an additional at deep load.
"Mogador" carried eight Canon de 138 mm Modèle 1929 in four twin turrets, two each superimposed, fore and aft. Her anti-aircraft armament consisted of two "Mle 1933" guns in a single mount positioned on the rear deck house forward of the rear turrets. She also mounted four "Mle 1929" heavy machine guns in two twin mounts located between the forward superstructure and the forward guns. "Mogador" carried 10 above-water torpedo tubes: a pair of triple mounts between the funnels and a pair of double mounts aft of the rear funnel. A pair of depth charge chutes were built into "Mogador"s stern; these housed a total of 16 Guirard depth charges. Mine rails were fitted on the rear deck that had a maximum capacity of 40 mines.
Service history.
"Mogador", with her sister , comprised the "6th Large Destroyer Division (6e Division de contre-torpilleurs)" and was assigned to the "Force de Raid" based at Brest when the war began. This group's purpose was to hunt German blockade runners and raiders and to escort convoys that might be in danger from the same. From 21–30 October 1939 the "Force de Raid" escorted the "KJ.4" convoy to protect it against the which had sortied into the North Atlantic before the war began. A sortie by and into the North Atlantic on 21 November prompted "Force de Raid" to sail from Brest to rendezvous with the British battlecruiser and patrol the area south of Iceland, but the German ships were able to return safely under the cover of heavy weather without being engaged.
"Mogador" was refitted at Lorient between January and March 1940 and a number of minor changes were made. The necessary improvements identified for the main armament during her sea trials a year prior were finally implemented, the canvas cover for the back of the turrets was replaced by a rolling door, new radios were installed, and shields were fitted to the anti-aircraft machine guns and the searchlights. A "SS-6" sonar was fitted in June 1940, but proved to be ineffectual.
"Mogador" was present during the British attack on Mers-el-Kébir on 3 July 1940 and was severely damaged by a hit from an armour-piercing shell in the rear hull that detonated her ready depth charges although it failed to detonate itself. The explosion destroyed her upper rear hull, but, miraculously, the rear magazines failed to explode. The port propeller shaft was damaged and a blade from the starboard propeller was shattered. She was towed to Oran for repairs. She was dry docked on 17 July, the remains of her No. 4 turret were removed and the after bulkheads repaired and reinforced to make her seaworthy. She sailed for Toulon on 1 December where she was docked pending reconstruction.
The French Navy decided to reinforce her anti-aircraft armament in light of its wartime experience. Her no. 3 gun turret was to be moved to the No. 4 position, its magazine converted for extra fuel storage, and a new twin 37 mm "Mle 1933" mount would replace it on top of the rear deck house. Two more "Mle 1933" mounts were to fitted on each side of the rear deckhouse and a fourth mount was to replace the 13.2 Hotchkiss machine guns forward of the bridge. One 13.2 mm Browning machine gun was to planned to be mounted on each side of the forward twin 37 mm guns. This plan was later amended to add a degaussing cable, replacement of the "SS-6" sonar by a French copy of the British ASDIC and six of the new "mitrailleuse de 25 mm contre-aéroplanes Modèle 1940" anti-aircraft guns, plus two more 13.2 mm Brownings mounted on the forward corners of the center deck house.
The rebuilding was slowed by material shortages and she wasn't taken into hand by the shipyard "Forges et Chantiers de la Mediterranée" at La Seyne-sur-Mer until late February 1942. In October it was estimated that she wouldn't be completed until Jul 1943. She was scuttled in La Seyne-sur-Mer on 27 November 1942 to prevent her capture by the Germans. She was refloated by the Italians on 5 April 1943, but not repaired. "Mogador" was sunk by Allied bombers in late 1944, but was raised in 1949 and scrapped.


Ganja International Airport

Ganja International Airport () is an airport serving Ganja (also known as Gyandzha), the second-largest city in Azerbaijan.
It was previously used by the Soviet Air Force. In 1996 the airport received the status of an international airport and since then is used for civil aviation purposes.
2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
On 4 October 2020, Arayik Harutyunyan, president of the self-proclaimed Artsakh Republic, said that the Artsakh Defense Army had hit Ganja's military airport, however, Azerbaijan said no military sites were hit. Reporters of Russian TV channel Dozhd reported that the airport had not been hit and that the airport had been closed since March due to coronavirus. Missiles hit residential buildings in the city, killing 1 person and wounding 32. On October 7th, satellite imagery confirmed the presence of two Turkish Air Force F-16 Vipers at the airport. Following the publishment of the satellite imagery, Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev confirmed their presense and that they had arrived to the country during military exercises prior to the war, but claimed they were not participating in combat.
Facilities.
The airport resides at an elevation of above mean sea level. It has one runway designated 12/30 with an asphalt/concrete surface measuring .


97th Air Refueling Squadron

The 97th Air Refueling Squadron is a currently active United States Air Force unit. It was assigned to the 92d Operations Group at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington, where it was inactivated on 30 September 2004. It was reactivated on 1 October 2019 following reception of 12 additional Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers at Fairchild AFB.
The squadron was first activated in January 1941 as the 20th Reconnaissance Squadron. Seven months after activation, it was renamed the 97th Bombardment Squadron and assigned to the 47th Bombardment Group. It performed antisubmarine patrols off the Pacific coast following the entry of the United States into World War II. Three months later, it began training for light bomber operations, and in November 1942 it deployed to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations. The squadron engaged in combat in northern Africa, Italy and France until V-E Day, earning two Distinguished Unit Citations for its actions there. The 97th returned to the United States in the summer of 1945 and was inactivated at Lake Charles Army Air Field, Louisiana in March 1946.
The 97th Air Refueling Squadron was one of the Air Force's first air refueling units, activated in 1949. It was active continuously until 2004, except for brief interruptions in 1964 and 1992. The squadron served with Boeing KB-29s until 1954 at Biggs Air Force Base, Texas, when it upgraded to Boeing KC-97 Stratotankers. In 1957 it moved north to Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, where it served until 1964 when the KC-97 was being phased out of the active force inventory.
The squadron was soon activated with Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers at Blytheville Air Force Base, Arkansas. In 1985, the two squadrons were consolidated there into a single unit. The consolidated squadron provided crews and aircraft to Strategic Air Command (SAC) units in the Pacific during the Vietnam War and deployed elements that served in Desert Storm. In 1992, it was inactivated as SAC was closing what had been renamed Eaker Air Force Base.
The squadron was again activated a few months later, returning to Malmstrom as part of Air Mobility Command's tanker fleet. It moved to Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington two years later and continued to support Air Force contingency operations until it was inactivated in 1994.
History.
World War II.
The squadron was first activated as the 20th Reconnaissance Squadron at McChord Field, Washington in January 1941, attached to the 17th Bombardment Group, and equipped with Douglas B-18 Bolos. In May, it was attached to the 47th Bombardment Group and was assigned to the 47th group and redesignated the 97th Bombardment Squadron in August.
After the Pearl Harbor Attack it was equipped with Douglas DB-7 Bostons and early-model Consolidated B-24 Liberators, to perform antisubmarine patrols along the Pacific coast. In February 1942, with a Japanese submarine attack unlikely, the squadron moved to Will Rogers Field, Oklahoma, re-equipped with Douglas A-20 Havoc light bombers and trained for overseas deployment.
In November 1942, the 97th deployed to French Morocco as part of Operation Torch, the invasion of French North Africa. The squadron engaged in close air support and air interdiction missions during the North African Campaign. It began operations by flying low-level missions in December, continuing these tactics through May 1943.
In February 1943, the Afrika Corps broke through American lines at the Kasserine Pass. Although the unit was undermanned and short of supplies it flew missions on 22 February against advancing enemy armor, helping to blunt the enemy attack. For this action, the 97th was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation.
The squadron remained active in combat, but also trained for medium altitude bombing missions in April and May. In June 1943 it participated in the reduction of the islands of Pantelleria and Lampedusa. In July, the unit participated in Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, attacking German forces evacuating the island from beaches near Messina the following month.
September 1943 saw the launch of Operation Avalanche, the invasion of Italy. During Avalanche, the squadron provided support for the British Eighth Army. It participated in the Italian Campaign and advance toward Rome until the spring of 1944.
In August and September 1944, the unit provided support for Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France.
The squadron then returned to Italy, where it attacked German communications and other targets, including tanks, bivouac areas, supply dumps, troop concentrations, roads, bridges, airfields and railways.
The 97th upgraded to Douglas A-26 Invaders in early 1945. In April 1945, the squadron and the rest of the 47th group maintained attacks on enemy transportation in the Po River Valley for sixty consecutive hours despite bad weather and adverse terrain. The attacks prevented the orderly withdrawal of German forces from northern Italy. For this action, the squadron earned a second Distinguished Unit Citation.
The squadron returned to the United States in July 1945, and was initially stationed at Seymour Johnson Field, North Carolina. It moved to Lake Charles Army Air Field in September, where it trained as a pathfinder unit.
The unit remained active until March 1946, when the 47th group reduced from four to three squadrons.
Air Refueling.
Propeller-driven tankers.
The 97th Air Refueling Squadron was activated in March 1949 and assigned to the 97th Bombardment Group at Biggs Air Force Base, Texas. The squadron was initially equipped with the Boeing KB-29M Superfortress. The KB-29M was equipped with a hose system developed by the British in which the tanker trailed a hose to the receiver and fuel was gravity-fed. The tanker trailed a "hauling line" which was trapped by the receiver, reeled in and attached to the receiver fuel system. The system was perilous and the KB-29Ms were retired in a few years.
On 1 September 1950, the squadron was the first to receive the improved KB-29P, which was equipped with a boom and used pumps to deliver the fuel more rapidly. However, the squadron remained below strength until 1952.
The squadron upgraded to Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighters in 1954. The unit frequently deployed from Biggs to England, Newfoundland and Labrador, completing its last unit deployment as it was moving to Montana. In the mid-1950s, Strategic Air Command (SAC) began to move its KC-97 refueling strength to the northern United States. The move to Montana-based the squadron ahead of the faster Boeing B-47 Stratojets it would refuel, and on their programmed route.
In 1957, the squadron moved to Malmstrom Air Force Base to fill out the 4061st Air Refueling Wing, which had been formed the previous month with the 407th Air Refueling Squadron. During the 1958 Lebanon Crisis, the squadron provided support for the 92d Bombardment Wing. In July 1961, the 4061st wing was inactivated and the 97th was assigned to the 9th Bombardment Wing at Mountain Home Air Force Base, although it remained at Malmstrom and was attached to the host 341st Combat Support Group there. It was discontinued in March 1964 as part of the phaseout of KC-97 aircraft from the active duty force.
Jet tankers.
The squadron was redesignated as a heavy unit and organized on 8 October 1964 at Blytheville Air Force Base, Arkansas, where it assumed the mission, personnel and Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers of the 914th Air Refueling Squadron, which was simultaneously inactivated. The squadron provided air refueling primarily to the Boeing B-52 Stratofortresses of the 97th wing. One half of the squadron's aircraft were maintained on fifteen-minute alert, fully fueled and ready for combat to reduce vulnerability to a Soviet missile strike.
In addition to its alert commitment, the squadron deployed aircraft and aircrews to support Tanker Task Forces in Europe, the Pacific and Alaska. During the Vietnam War, from the mid 1960s, the squadron deployed forces to the Pacific to other units to support Operation Arc Light and Operation Rolling Thunder. By mid-1972 all of the squadron's tankers were operating with other Strategic Air Command units in the Pacific. In September 1985, the 97th was consolidated with the 97th Bombardment Squadron into a single unit. In 1990, the consolidated squadron flew 93 sorties in direct support of Desert Shield and Desert Storm. It deployed to the Persian Gulf area, where it supported the 801st Bombardment Wing (Provisional) and the 802d Air Refueling Wing (Provisional). The squadron remained active until April 1992, when it was inactivated as Eaker Air Force Base was closing.
The squadron returned to Malmstrom Air Force Base when it was reactivated in October 1992. At Malmstrom, it was equipped with the re-engined KC-135R tankers. The squadron continued to support deployed Tanker Task Forces throughout the world, including periodic support for the 1700th Strategic Wing (Provisional) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It also participated in Operation Restore Hope in Somalia. The squadron moved to Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington in July 1994 as Air Mobility Command reorganized its refueling units. It remained active there until September 2004.
The squadron activated at Fairchild AFB on 18 October 2019 with the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker.
Lineage.
97th Bombardment Squadron
97th Air Refueling Squadron