1.
Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker
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The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is a military aerial refueling aircraft. It and the Boeing 707 airliner were developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype and it is the predominant variant of the C-135 Stratolifter family of transport aircraft. The KC-135 was the US Air Forces first jet-powered refueling tanker, the KC-135 entered service with the United States Air Force in 1957, it is one of six military fixed-wing aircraft with over 50 years of continuous service with its original operator. The KC-135 is supplemented by the larger KC-10, studies have concluded that many of the aircraft could be flown until 2040, although maintenance costs have greatly increased. The aircraft will eventually be replaced by the Boeing KC-46 Pegasus, like its sibling, the commercial Boeing 707 jet airliner, the KC-135 was derived from the Boeing 367-80 jet transport proof of concept demonstrator, which was commonly called the Dash-80. The KC-135 is similar in appearance to the 707, but has a fuselage and is shorter than the 707. The KC-135 predates the 707, and is quite different from the civilian airliner. Boeing gave the future KC-135 tanker the initial designation Model 717, in 1954 USAFs Strategic Air Command held a competition for a jet-powered aerial refueling tanker. Lockheeds tanker version of the proposed Lockheed L-193 airliner with rear fuselage-mounted engines was declared the winner in 1955, in the end, orders for the Lockheed tanker were dropped rather than supporting two tanker designs. Lockheed never produced its jet airliner, while Boeing would eventually dominate the market with a family of airliners based on the 707. In 1954, the Air Force placed an order for 29 KC-135As. The first aircraft flew in August 1956 and the initial production Stratotanker was delivered to Castle Air Force Base, California, the last KC-135 was delivered to the Air Force in 1965. These basic features make it resemble the commercial Boeing 707 and 720 aircraft. The USAF EC-135 Looking Glass was subsequently replaced in its role by the U. S. Navy E-6 Mercury aircraft, the KC-135Q variant was modified to carry JP-7 fuel necessary for the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, segregating the JP-7 from the KC-135s own fuel supply. The tanker also had special fuel systems for moving the different fuels between different tanks, the only external difference between a KC-135R and a KC-135T is the presence of a clear window on the underside of the empennage of the KC-135T where a remote controlled searchlight is mounted. It also has two ground refueling ports, located in rear wheel well so ground crews can fuel both the body tanks and wing tanks separately. Eight KC-135R aircraft are receiver-capable tankers, commonly referred to as KC-135R, All eight aircraft were with the 22d Air Refueling Wing at McConnell AFB, Kansas, in 1994. They are primarily used for extension and Special Operations missions
2.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
3.
New Jersey
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New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania, New Jersey is the fourth-smallest state but the 11th-most populous and the most densely populated of the 50 United States. New Jersey lies entirely within the statistical areas of New York City. New Jersey was inhabited by Native Americans for more than 2,800 years, in the early 17th century, the Dutch and the Swedes made the first European settlements. New Jersey was the site of decisive battles during the American Revolutionary War in the 18th century. In the 19th century, factories in cities such as Camden, Paterson, Newark, Trenton, around 180 million years ago, during the Jurassic Period, New Jersey bordered North Africa. The pressure of the collision between North America and Africa gave rise to the Appalachian Mountains, around 18,000 years ago, the Ice Age resulted in glaciers that reached New Jersey. As the glaciers retreated, they left behind Lake Passaic, as well as rivers, swamps. New Jersey was originally settled by Native Americans, with the Lenni-Lenape being dominant at the time of contact, scheyichbi is the Lenape name for the land that is now New Jersey. The Lenape society was divided into clans that were based upon common female ancestors. These clans were organized into three distinct phratries identified by their animal sign, Turtle, Turkey, and Wolf and they first encountered the Dutch in the early 17th century, and their primary relationship with the Europeans was through fur trade. The Dutch became the first Europeans to lay claim to lands in New Jersey, the Dutch colony of New Netherland consisted of parts of modern Middle Atlantic states. Although the European principle of ownership was not recognized by the Lenape. The first to do so was Michiel Pauw who established a patronship called Pavonia in 1630 along the North River which eventually became the Bergen, peter Minuits purchase of lands along the Delaware River established the colony of New Sweden. During the English Civil War, the Channel Island of Jersey remained loyal to the British Crown and it was from the Royal Square in St. Helier that Charles II of England was proclaimed King in 1649, following the execution of his father, Charles I. The North American lands were divided by Charles II, who gave his brother, the Duke of York, the region between New England and Maryland as a proprietary colony. James then granted the land between the Hudson River and the Delaware River to two friends who had remained loyal through the English Civil War, Sir George Carteret and Lord Berkeley of Stratton, the area was named the Province of New Jersey. Since the states inception, New Jersey has been characterized by ethnic, New England Congregationalists settled alongside Scots Presbyterians and Dutch Reformed migrants
4.
Air National Guard
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When Air National Guard units are used under the jurisdiction of the state governor they are fulfilling their militia role. However, if federalized by order of the President of the United States and they are jointly administered by the states and the National Guard Bureau, a joint bureau of the Army and Air Force that oversees the National Guard of the United States. The ANG of the territories of Guam and the Virgin Islands have no aircraft assigned, ANG units typically operate under Title 32 USC. However, when operating under Title 10 USC all ANG units are operationally-gained by an active duty USAF major command. ANG units of the Combat Air Forces based in the Continental United States, conversely, CONUS-based ANG units in the Mobility Air Forces, plus the Puerto Rico ANGs airlift wing and the Virgin Islands ANGs civil engineering squadron are gained by the Air Mobility Command. The vast majority of ANG units fall under either ACC or AMC, established under Title 10 and Title 32 of the U. S. S. When not in a status, the Air National Guard operates under their respective state. The exception to rule is the District of Columbia Air National Guard. Because both state Air National Guard and the Air National Guard of the United States relatively go hand-in-hand, Air National Guard of the United States units or members may be called up for federal active duty in times of Congressionally sanctioned war or national emergency. The United States Air National Guard has about 110,000 men and women in service, even traditional part-time air guardsmen, especially pilots, navigators/combat systems officers, air battle managers and enlisted aircrew, often serve 100 or more man-days annually. As such, the concept of Air National Guard service as representing only one weekend a month, the Georgia Air National Guard and the Kansas Air National Guard previously flew the B-1B Lancer prior to converting to the E-8 Joint STARS and KC-135R Stratotanker, respectively. In addition, the 131st Fighter Wing of the Missouri Air National Guard transitioned from flying the F-15C/D Eagle at St and these proposals were eventually overruled and cancelled by the U. S. Congress. As state militia units, the units in the Air National Guard are not in the normal United States Air Force chain of command and they are under the jurisdiction of the United States National Guard Bureau unless they are federalized by order of the President of the United States. Air National Guard units are trained and equipped by the United States Air Force, the state ANG units, depending on their mission, are operationally gained by a major command of the USAF if federalized. Air National Guard personnel are expected to adhere to the moral and physical standards as their full-time active duty Air Force. The same ranks and insignia of the U. S. Air Force are used by the Air National Guard, the Air National Guard also bestows a number of state awards for local services rendered in a service members home state or equivalent. The creation of the regiments was caused by the perceived need to defend the Bay Colony against American Indians. This organization formed the basis of subsequent colonial and, post-independence, state and this distinction accounts for why there are no National Guard components in the U. S. Navy, U. S. Marine Corps or U. S. Coast Guard
5.
Aerial refueling
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The procedure allows the receiving aircraft to remain airborne longer, extending its range or loiter time on station. A series of air refuelings can give range limited only by crew fatigue, alternatively, a shorter take-off roll can be achieved because take-off can be at a lighter weight before refueling once airborne. Aerial refueling has also considered as a means to reduce fuel consumption on long-distance flights greater than 3,000 nautical miles. Potential fuel savings in the range of 35-40% have been estimated for long haul flights, usually, the aircraft providing the fuel is specially designed for the task, although refueling pods can be fitted to existing aircraft designs if the probe-and-drogue system is to be used. There is no known regular civilian in-flight refueling activity, for instance, in the Gulf War and the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the Iraq War, all coalition air sorties were air-refueled except for a few short-range ground attack sorties in the Kuwait area. The first mid-air refueling, based on the development of Alexander P. de Seversky, as the 1920s progressed, greater numbers of aviation enthusiasts vied to set new aerial long-distance records, using inflight air refueling. One such enthusiast, who would revolutionize aerial refueling was Sir Alan Cobham, member of the Royal Flying Corps in World War I, and a pioneer of long-distance aviation. During the 1920s, he made long-distance flights to places as far afield as Africa and Australia and this craft was eventually modified by Airspeed to Cobhams specification, for a non-stop flight from London to India, using in-flight refueling to extend the planes flight duration. Meanwhile, in 1929, a group of U. S. Army Air Corps fliers, led by then Major Carl Spaatz, set an endurance record of over 150 hours with the Question Mark over Los Angeles. Aerial refueling remained a dangerous process until 1935 when brothers Fred and Al Key demonstrated a spill-free refueling nozzle. They exceeded the Hunters record by nearly 100 hours in a Curtiss Robin monoplane, the US was mainly concerned about transatlantic flights for faster postal service between Europe and America. In 1931 W. Irving Glover, the assistant postmaster, wrote an extensive article for Popular Mechanics concerning the challenges. In his article he even mentioned the use of Aerial refueling after take off as a possible solution, by 1931 they had demonstrated refueling between two Vickers Virginias, with fuel flow controlled by an automatic valve on the hose which would cut off if contact was lost. Royal Air Force officer Richard Atcherley had observed the dangerous aerial-refueling techniques in use at barnstorming events in the US and determined to create a workable system. In 1934, Cobham sold off the airline Cobham Air Routes Ltd to Olley Air Service, atcherlys system was bought up by Cobhams company, and with some refinement and continuous improvement through the late 30s, it became the first practical refueling system. Sir Alan Cobhams Grappled-line looped-hose air-to-air refueling system borrowed from techniques patented by David Nicolson and John Lord, and was publicly demonstrated for the first time in 1935. In the system the aircraft, at one time an Airspeed Courier, trailed a steel cable which was then grappled by a line shot from the tanker. The line was drawn back into the tanker where the receivers cable was connected to the refueling hose
6.
New Jersey Air National Guard
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The New Jersey Air National Guard is the air force militia of the State of New Jersey, United States of America. It is, along with the New Jersey Army National Guard, as state militia units, the units in the New Jersey Air National Guard are not in the normal United States Air Force chain of command. They are under the jurisdiction of the Governor of New Jersey though the office of the New Jersey Adjutant General unless they are federalized by order of the President of the United States. The New Jersey Air National Guard is headquartered at Atlantic City Air National Guard Base, Egg Harbor Township, under the Total Force concept, New Jersey Air National Guard units are considered to be Air Reserve Components of the United States Air Force. New Jersey ANG units are trained and equipped by the Air Force and are gained by a Major Command of the USAF if federalized. State missions include disaster relief in times of earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and forest fires, search and rescue, protection of public services. It is one of only three ANG super tanker wings composed of more than one KC-135 squadrons and is part of the North East Tanker task force, in addition to their primary air refueling mission, the Wing also supports an Intelligence Squadron and a Contingency Response Group. The New Jersey Air National Guard origins date to 5 June 1917 with the establishment of the 5th Aviation School Squadron at Langley Field, in September 1917 it was re-designated as the 119th Aero Squadron. The squadron was not deployed overseas during World War I, the 141st Aero Squadron was an Air Service, United States Army pursuit squadron, and part of the American Expeditionary Force deployed to France. It was assigned to the 4th Pursuit Group, VI Corps, Air Service, Second United States Army, AEF near the end of World War I. The 141st was involved in 13 combats, the only squadron of the VI Corps, Air Service, Second Army to do so. Its combat commander, Hobey Baker, was a famous hockey and it was said, Hobey preferred Ivy League men in his unit, preferably from Princeton. Indeed, he painted the aircraft in his squadron in Princeton colors, Orange, captain Hobey Baker was killed on December 21,1918 when he took a SPAD XIII up for one last ride. The SPAD developed engine trouble while taking off and Baker died when the aircraft crashed soon thereafter. On 8 September 1973 By order of the Secretary of the Air Force and it was ordered consolidated with the 141st Tactical Fighter Squadron. The consolidated unit was designated as the 141st Tactical Fighter Squadron and was extended federal recognition by the National Guard Bureau same date. The Militia Act of 1903 established the present National Guard system, units raised by the states but paid for by the Federal Government, if federalized by Presidential order, they fall under the regular military chain of command. On 1 June 1920, the Militia Bureau issued Circular No.1 on organization of National Guard air units
7.
McGuire Air Force Base
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McGuire is under the jurisdiction of the Air Mobility Command. It was consolidated with two adjoining US Army and Navy facilities to become part of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst on 1 October 2009, the McGuire Air Force Base census-designated place is located in portions of both New Hanover Township and North Hanover Township. As of the 2010 United States Census, the McGuire Air Force Base CDP had a population of 3,710. The host unit at McGuire AFB is the 87th Air Base Wing, United States Air Force Expeditionary Center, the 87 ABW provides installation management to all of JB MDL. The wing also provides mission-ready, expeditionary Airmen to support Unified Combatant Commanders in ongoing military operations, the wing consists of more than 3,100 officers, enlisted, and civilian personnel from the Air Force, Army and Navy. The 87th Air Base Wing is commanded by Colonel James Hodges and its Command Chief Master Sergeant is Chief Master Sergeant Phillip K. Robinson. McGuire originated in 1941 as Fort Dix Army Air Force Base, closed briefly after World War II, it reopened in 1948 as McGuire Air Force Base. The base was named after Major Thomas B, McGuire, Jr. Medal of Honor recipient, and the second leading ace in American history. S. Air Force hosting three AMC-gained flying wings of the Regular Air Force, Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard, Air Force and civilian AMC-contracted aircraft use McGuires two runways to facilitate this mission. Many hundreds of thousands of Air Force, Army, Navy, airplanes from McGuire have provided the flyovers for Philadelphia Eagles games and Major League Baseball All-Star and World Series games played in Philadelphia at the end of the National Anthem. These same planes were also responsible for the Super Bowl XLVIII flyover, McGuire Air Force Base was established as Fort Dix Airport in 1937 and first opened to military aircraft on 9 January 1941. On 13 January 1948 the United States Air Force renamed the facility McGuire Air Force Base in honor of Major Thomas Buchanan McGuire, flight operations to support Camp Dix at an adjacent airfield took place as early as 1926. Facilities and runways to support an air mission began in 1937 as a Civilian Conservation Corps project and this was on newly acquired land for the great Army Air Forces expansion approved by the Roosevelt Administration. This nascent airfield and wooden structures was named Rudd Field, to meet the requirements for a possible world war, Rudd Field was renamed Fort Dix Army Air Base in 1939, and underwent massive expansion from 1940–1941. Runways constructed consisted of three concrete surfaced, 7100x150, 7100x150, 5400x150, and one macadam surfaced, 8100x150, the base had its first permanent Army Air Force occupant in November 1941 when the 59th Observation Group took up station on 14 November. Initially during 1941–42 the Group operated a range of aircraft, including the BC-1A, L-59, O-46, O-47, O-49 Vigilant. After the United States entry into World War II, Fort Dix Army Air Base was used as a training, the service group also had its own mess section. The service group had approximately 30 officers and 300 to 400 enlisted men, in late 1942, Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command took up tenant status at Fort Dix AAB
8.
Latin
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Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Latin alphabet is derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets, Latin was originally spoken in Latium, in the Italian Peninsula. Through the power of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language, Vulgar Latin developed into the Romance languages, such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Romanian. Latin, Italian and French have contributed many words to the English language, Latin and Ancient Greek roots are used in theology, biology, and medicine. By the late Roman Republic, Old Latin had been standardised into Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin was the colloquial form spoken during the same time and attested in inscriptions and the works of comic playwrights like Plautus and Terence. Late Latin is the language from the 3rd century. Later, Early Modern Latin and Modern Latin evolved, Latin was used as the language of international communication, scholarship, and science until well into the 18th century, when it began to be supplanted by vernaculars. Ecclesiastical Latin remains the language of the Holy See and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. Today, many students, scholars and members of the Catholic clergy speak Latin fluently and it is taught in primary, secondary and postsecondary educational institutions around the world. The language has been passed down through various forms, some inscriptions have been published in an internationally agreed, monumental, multivolume series, the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Authors and publishers vary, but the format is about the same, volumes detailing inscriptions with a critical apparatus stating the provenance, the reading and interpretation of these inscriptions is the subject matter of the field of epigraphy. The works of several hundred ancient authors who wrote in Latin have survived in whole or in part and they are in part the subject matter of the field of classics. The Cat in the Hat, and a book of fairy tales, additional resources include phrasebooks and resources for rendering everyday phrases and concepts into Latin, such as Meissners Latin Phrasebook. The Latin influence in English has been significant at all stages of its insular development. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, English writers cobbled together huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek words, dubbed inkhorn terms, as if they had spilled from a pot of ink. Many of these words were used once by the author and then forgotten, many of the most common polysyllabic English words are of Latin origin through the medium of Old French. Romance words make respectively 59%, 20% and 14% of English, German and those figures can rise dramatically when only non-compound and non-derived words are included. Accordingly, Romance words make roughly 35% of the vocabulary of Dutch, Roman engineering had the same effect on scientific terminology as a whole
9.
108th Wing
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The 108th Wing is a unit of the New Jersey Air National Guard, one of the many units stationed at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey. If activated to service, the Wing is gained by the United States Air Force Air Mobility Command. The World War II predecessor unit, 348th Fighter Group, was the most successful P-47 Thunderbolt group in the South West Pacific Theatre and its commander, Colonel Neel Ernest Kearby was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in combat. Over a dozen of the pilots became Flying aces. The 108th Wing principal mission is air refueling, the wing enhances the Air Forces capability to accomplish its primary missions of Global Reach and Global Power. It also provides aerial refueling support to Air Force, Navy, the wing is also capable of transporting litter and ambulatory patients using patient support pallets during aeromedical evacuations. The group performs noncombat evacuations, humanitarian relief operations, and disaster response as well as full spectrum war airbase opening and it is also the first course of its kind in the intelligence community that integrates active duty, National Guard and reserve students. The wing operates a total of 8 KC-135R Stratotankers and Detachment 2, the World War II 348th Fighter Group was redesignated as the 108th Fighter Group and allotted to the New Jersey National Guard on 24 May 1946. It was organized at Newark Municipal Airport and extended federal recognition later that year, initially, the group reported to the 52d Fighter Wing of the New York National Guard and was supported by the 208th Air Service Group. In the fall of 1950, the Air National Guard reorganized its units under the wing base organization that had been used by the regular Air Force since 1947. At Turner it became the 108th Fighter-Bomber Wing in May, in December 1951 it was transferred to Tactical Air Command and moved to Godman Air Force Base, Kentucky where it replaced the 123d Fighter-Bomber Wing, which had moved to England. On 1 December 1952, the wing transferred its mission, personnel and equipment to the 405th Fighter-Bomber Wing, with return to state control, the wing assumed the air defense mission. Despite its retention of the bomber designation, it was gained by Air Defense Command upon mobilization. It was not until 1955 that the wing was redesignated the 108th Fighter-Interceptor Wing, the redesignation coincided with the change from long-range North American P-51H Mustang fighter. Designed for the invasion of Japan, the P-51H was the last variant of the P-51 Mustang of World War II, but was produced too late to see any wartime combat. Not used in the Korean War due to it not being believed as rugged as its famous D model predecessor, in 1955, the Mustangs were retired and the squadron entered the jet age, with the arrival of the North American F-86E Sabre. The 108th FIW was transferred to Tactical Air Command in 1958, the 141st and 119th Tactical Fighter Squadrons transferred its interceptors and received and F-84F Thunderstreak fighter-bombers. On 1 October 1961, as a result of the Berlin crisis, all three squadrons were flying the F-84F Thunderstreak
10.
United States Air Force
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The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a branch of the military on 18 September 1947 under the National Security Act of 1947. It is the most recent branch of the U. S. military to be formed, the U. S. Air Force is a military service organized within the Department of the Air Force, one of the three military departments of the Department of Defense. The Air Force is headed by the civilian Secretary of the Air Force, who reports to the Secretary of Defense, the U. S. Air Force provides air support for surface forces and aids in the recovery of troops in the field. As of 2015, the service more than 5,137 military aircraft,406 ICBMs and 63 military satellites. It has a $161 billion budget with 313,242 active duty personnel,141,197 civilian employees,69,200 Air Force Reserve personnel, and 105,500 Air National Guard personnel. According to the National Security Act of 1947, which created the USAF and it shall be organized, trained, and equipped primarily for prompt and sustained offensive and defensive air operations. The stated mission of the USAF today is to fly, fight, and win in air, space and we will provide compelling air, space, and cyber capabilities for use by the combatant commanders. We will excel as stewards of all Air Force resources in service to the American people, while providing precise and reliable Global Vigilance, Reach and it should be emphasized that the core functions, by themselves, are not doctrinal constructs. The purpose of Nuclear Deterrence Operations is to operate, maintain, in the event deterrence fails, the US should be able to appropriately respond with nuclear options. Dissuading others from acquiring or proliferating WMD, and the means to deliver them, moreover, different deterrence strategies are required to deter various adversaries, whether they are a nation state, or non-state/transnational actor. Nuclear strike is the ability of forces to rapidly and accurately strike targets which the enemy holds dear in a devastating manner. Should deterrence fail, the President may authorize a precise, tailored response to terminate the conflict at the lowest possible level, post-conflict, regeneration of a credible nuclear deterrent capability will deter further aggression. Finally, the Air Force regularly exercises and evaluates all aspects of operations to ensure high levels of performance. Nuclear surety ensures the safety, security and effectiveness of nuclear operations, the Air Force, in conjunction with other entities within the Departments of Defense or Energy, achieves a high standard of protection through a stringent nuclear surety program. The Air Force continues to pursue safe, secure and effective nuclear weapons consistent with operational requirements, adversaries, allies, and the American people must be highly confident of the Air Forces ability to secure nuclear weapons from accidents, theft, loss, and accidental or unauthorized use. This day-to-day commitment to precise and reliable nuclear operations is the cornerstone of the credibility of the NDO mission, positive nuclear command, control, communications, effective nuclear weapons security, and robust combat support are essential to the overall NDO function. OCA is the method of countering air and missile threats, since it attempts to defeat the enemy closer to its source
11.
Air Mobility Command
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Air Mobility Command is a Major Command of the U. S. Air Force. AMC is headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, east of St. Louis, the Commander of AMC is Gen Carlton D. Everhart II, with Lt Gen Wayne Schatz Jr as Vice Commander and CMSgt Shelina Frey as Command Chief Master Sergeant. Air Mobility Command was established on June 1,1992 and it was formed from elements of the inactivated Military Airlift Command and Strategic Air Command. AMC melded a worldwide system with a tanker force that had been freed from its strategic nuclear strike commitments by the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Air Mobility Commands mission is to provide global air mobility, the command also plays a crucial role in providing humanitarian support at home and around the world. Many special duty and operational aircraft and stateside aeromedical evacuation missions are also assigned to AMC. U. S. forces must be able to provide a rapid, tailored response with a capability to intervene against a foe, hit hard. Rapid global mobility lies at the heart of U. S. strategy in this environment, without the capability to project forces, there is no conventional deterrent. As the number of U. S. forces stationed overseas continue to decline, global interests remain, Air Mobility Command also has the mission of establishing bare air bases in contingencies. To accomplish this mission, AMC established two Contingency Response Wings, and operates the Eagle Flag exercise, in addition to its status as a MAJCOM of the Air Force, AMC is also the Air Force component command of the United States Transportation Command. It provides airlift, special missions, aerial refueling, and aeromedical evacuation for the United States armed forces]], AMC also operates VIP flights such as Air Force One, Air Force Two, and other Special Assignment Airlift Missions. Finally, AMC acts as the manager, on behalf of United States Transportation Command. Principal aircraft assets of the include, C-17 Globemaster III, C-5 Galaxy, C-130 Hercules, KC-135 Stratotanker, KC-10 Extender, C-40 Clipper, C-37 Gulfstream V. As of 2015, the command is preparing for the addition of the KC-46 Pegasus. Additional aircraft in support of high-profile VIP airlift include, VC-25, C-32, C-20 and these units train and exercise frequently and routinely provide augmentative operational support to AMCs active duty forces. Instead, they report to AMC via the National Guard Bureau, civil Reserve Air Fleet AMC has undergone considerable change since its establishment. Focusing on the mission of strategic air mobility, the command divested itself of infrastructure. The Air Rescue Service, intratheater aeromedical airlift forces based overseas, as a result of the Global War on Terrorism, on October 1,2003, AMC underwent a major restructuring, bringing a war fighting role to its numbered air force
12.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
13.
Republic P-47 Thunderbolt
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The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was a World War II era fighter aircraft produced by the United States between 1941–1945. Its primary armament was eight. 50-caliber machine guns and in the fighter-bomber ground-attack role it could carry five-inch rockets or a load of 2,500 pounds. When fully loaded the P-47 weighed up to eight tons making it one of the heaviest fighters of the war. The P-47 was designed around the powerful Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp engine which was used by two U. S. Navy fighters, the Grumman F6F Hellcat and the Vought F4U Corsair. The Thunderbolt was effective as a short-to-medium range escort fighter in high-altitude air-to-air combat, the P-47 was one of the main United States Army Air Forces fighters of World War II, and served with Allied air forces including France, Britain, and Russia. Mexican and Brazilian squadrons fighting alongside the U. S. were equipped with the P-47, the armored cockpit was relatively roomy and comfortable, offering good visibility. A modern-day U. S. ground-attack aircraft, the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II, both had fled from their homeland to escape the Bolsheviks. In 1939, Republic Aviation designed the AP-4 demonstrator powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-1830 radial engine with a belly-mounted turbocharger. While the resulting Republic P-43 Lancer was in limited production, Republic had been working on an improved P-44 Rocket with a powerful engine. The latter was an aircraft powered by the Allison V-1710 liquid-cooled V-12 engine. The United States Army Air Corps backed the project and gave it the designation XP-47, as the war in Europe escalated in spring 1940, Republic and the USAAC concluded that the XP-44 and the XP-47 were inferior to the Luftwaffe fighters. Republic unsuccessfully attempted to improve the design, proposing the XP-47A, kartveli then designed a much larger fighter, which was offered to the USAAC in June 1940. The Air Corps ordered a prototype in September, to be designated the XP-47B, the XP-47A, which had little in common with the new design, was abandoned. The XP-47B was of construction with elliptical wings, with a straight leading edge that was slightly swept back. The air-conditioned cockpit was roomy and the seat was comfortable—like a lounge chair. Main and auxiliary self-sealing fuel tanks were placed under the cockpit, the cowling admitted cooling air for the engine, left and right oil coolers, and the turbosupercharger intercooler system. At full power, the pipes glowed red at their forward ends, the complicated turbosupercharger system with its ductwork gave the XP-47B a deep fuselage, and the wings had to be mounted in a relatively high position. This was problematic since long-legged main landing gear struts were needed to provide clearance for the enormous propeller
14.
South West Pacific theatre of World War II
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The South West Pacific theatre, during World War II, was a major theatre of the war between the Allies and Japan. It included the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, Borneo, Australia and its mandate Territory of New Guinea and this area was defined by the Allied powers South West Pacific Area command. In the South West Pacific theatre, Japanese forces fought primarily against the forces of the United States, New Zealand, the Netherlands, the Philippines, United Kingdom, and other Allied nations also contributed forces. The South Pacific became a theatre of the war following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Initially, US warplans called for a counteroffensive across the Central Pacific, during the First South Pacific Campaign, US forces sought to establish a defensive perimeter against additional Japanese attacks. This was followed by the Second South Pacific Campaign, which began with the battle of Guadalcanal, shortly after the collapse of ABDACOM, supreme command of the South West Pacific theatre passed to MacArthur who was appointed Supreme Allied Commander South West Pacific Area on 30 March 1942. In the other theatre in the Pacific region, known as the Pacific Ocean theatre. Both MacArthur and Nimitz were overseen by the US Joint Chiefs, most Japanese forces in the theatre were part of the Southern Expeditionary Army, which was formed on November 6,1941, under General Hisaichi Terauchi. The Nanpo gun was responsible for Imperial Japanese Army ground and air units in Southeast Asia, the Combined Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy was responsible for all Japanese warships, naval aviation units and marine infantry units. The Official Chronology of the U. S. Navy in World War II, a Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The American Heritage Picture History of World War II, in the Service of the Emperor, Essays on the Imperial Japanese Army. Griffith, Thomas E. Jr. MacArthurs Airman, General George C, kenney and the War in the Southwest Pacific. From Down Under to Nippon, Story of the 6th Army in World War II, United States Army Center of Military History. Japanese Operations in the Southwest Pacific Area, Volume II – Part I, - Translation of the official record by the Japanese Demobilization Bureaux detailing the Imperial Japanese Army and Navys participation in the Southwest Pacific area of the Pacific War
15.
Neel E. Kearby
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Neel Ernest Kearby was a U. S. Army Air Corps Colonel and P-47 Thunderbolt pilot in World War II who received the Medal of Honor for his actions in combat. Kearby was born in Wichita Falls, Texas, graduated from Arlington High School in 1928 and he received flight training at Randolph and Kelly Air Force bases. At the beginning of World War II, Kearby was assigned to Panama where he flew P-39s and he was transferred in October 1942 to Westover Field in Massachusetts to take command of the new 348th Fighter Group with the rank of major. In June 1943, now a lieutenant colonel, Kearby would arrive in Australia with his group after months of training on the P-47. The 348th used the P-47s flight characteristics to their advantage, in November 1943, with 12 victories to his credit, Kearby was transferred to the headquarters of the 5th Air Force Fighter Command. Despite his assignment to administrative duties, Kearby still wanted to be in combat and he flew missions whenever he could, and his victory tally continued to rise. For a time Kearby was in competition with Richard Bong to be the leading Army ace of the pacific theater, like Kearby, Bong wasnt assigned to a combat unit at the time and flew in addition to his assigned duty of instructor in order to stay in combat. By March 1944, Kearby had 21 kills to his credit, on March 5,1944, Kearby and two other pilots attacked a formation of 15 Japanese aircraft near Wewak. After shooting down one of the aircraft, Kearby himself was shot down by a Japanese Army Air Force Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa fighter, the P-47, his personal aircraft named Fiery Ginger IV, crashed into the jungle below. Kearby escaped by parachute, but died of his wounds and his remains were found in 1947, but they were left unidentified for two more years. He was buried in Dallas, Texas in July 1949, Colonel Kearby was one of two U. S. fighter pilots to be awarded the Medal of Honor for actions while flying the P-47. The other was Raymond L. Knight, the citation for the Medal of Honor, which was awarded by General Douglas MacArthur, describes his combat heroism, Place and date, Near Wewak, New Guinea,11 October 1943. Having observed enemy installations and reinforcements at 4 airfields, and secured important tactical information, he saw an enemy fighter below him, made a diving attack, the small formation then sighted approximately 12 enemy bombers accompanied by 36 fighters. Although his mission had completed, his fuel was running low. Diving into the midst of the enemy airplanes he shot down 3 in quick succession, observing 1 of his comrades with 2 enemy fighters in pursuit, he destroyed both enemy aircraft. The enemy broke off in numbers to make a multiple attack on his airplane. Coming into the clear, he called his flight together and led them to a friendly base, col. Kearby brought down 6 enemy aircraft in this action, undertaken with superb daring after his mission was completed. List of Medal of Honor recipients List of Medal of Honor recipients for World War II Leatherwood, Kearby, Neel E. Handbook of Texas Online
16.
Medal of Honor
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The medal is normally awarded by the President of the United States in the name of the U. S. Congress. There are three versions of the medal, one for the Army, one for the Navy, personnel of the Marine Corps and Coast Guard receive the Navy version. U. S. awards including the Medal of Honor do not have titles and while there is no official abbreviation. The Medal of Honor is the oldest continuously issued combat decoration of the United States armed forces, because the medal is presented in the name of Congress, it is often referred to as the Congressional Medal of Honor. However, the name is Medal of Honor, which began with the U. S. Armys version. Within United States Code the medal is referred to as the Medal of Honor, in 1990, Congress designated March 25 annually as National Medal of Honor Day. The capture saved the fort of West Point from the British Army, although the Badge of Military Merit fell into disuse after the American Revolutionary War, the concept of a military award for individual gallantry by members of the U. S. 539 Certificates were approved for this period and this medal was later replaced by the Army Distinguished Service Medal which was established on January 2,1918. Those Army members who held the Distinguished Service Medal in place of the Certificate of Merit could apply for the Army Distinguished Service Cross effective March 5,1934. There were no awards or medals at the beginning of the Civil War except for the Certificate of Merit which was awarded for the Mexican-American War. Scott however, was strictly against medals being awarded which was the European tradition, after Scott retired in October 1861, the Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, adopted the idea of a decoration to recognize and honor distinguished naval service. Senator James W. Secretary Wells directed the Philadelphia Mint to design the new military decoration, on May 15,1862, the United States Navy Department ordered 175 medals with the words Personal Valor on the back from the U. S. Mint in Philadelphia. Senator Henry Wilson, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs, the resolution was approved by Congress and signed into law on July 12,1862. During the war, Townsend would have some medals delivered to recipients with a letter requesting acknowledgement of the Medal of Honor. By mid-November the War Department contracted with Philadelphia silversmith William Wilson and Son, the Army version had The Congress to written on the back of the medal. Both versions were made of copper and coated with bronze, which gave them a reddish tint,1863, Congress made the Medal of Honor a permanent decoration. On March 3, Medals of Honor were authorized for officers of the Army, the Secretary of War first presented the Medal of Honor to six Union Army volunteers on March 25,1863 in his office. 1890, On April 23, the Medal of Honor Legion is established in Washington,1896, The ribbon of the Army version Medal of Honor was redesigned with all stripes being vertical
17.
Flying ace
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A flying ace or fighter ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down several enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The actual number of aerial victories required to qualify as an ace has varied. The few aces among combat aviators have historically accounted for the majority of victories in military history. Aerial combat became a prominent feature with the Fokker Scourge, in the last half of 1915 and this was also the beginning of a long-standing trend in warfare, showing statistically that approximately five percent of combat pilots account for the majority of air-to-air victories. Use of the ace to describe these pilots began in World War I. The British initially used the term star-turns, while the Germans described their elite fighter pilots as Überkanonen, in the Luftstreitkräfte the Pour le Mérite was nicknamed Der blaue Max/The Blue Max, after Max Immelmann, who was the first fighter pilot to receive this award. Initially, German aviators had to destroy eight Allied aircraft to receive this medal, as the war progressed, the qualifications for Pour le Mérite were raised, but successful German fighter pilots continued to be hailed as national heroes for the remainder of the war. Victories were also counted for aircraft forced down within German lines and these victories were usually included in a pilots totals and in citations for decorations. Nonetheless some pilots did become famous through press coverage, making the British system for the recognition of successful fighter pilots much more informal and somewhat inconsistent. One pilot, Arthur Gould Lee, described his own score in a letter to his wife as Eleven, five by me solo — the rest shared, adding that he was miles from being an ace. This shows that his No.46 Squadron RAF counted shared kills, also evident is that Lee considered a higher figure than five kills to be necessary for ace status. Aviation historians credit him as an ace with two aircraft destroyed and five driven down out of control, for a total of seven victories. Other Allied countries, such as France and Italy, fell somewhere in between the very strict German approach and the relatively casual British one and they usually demanded independent witnessing of the destruction of an aircraft, making confirmation of victories scored in enemy territory very difficult. The Belgian crediting system sometimes included out of control to be counted as a victory, American newsmen, in their correspondence to their papers, decided that five victories were the minimum needed to become an ace. While ace status was generally won only by pilots, bomber. The most notable example of an ace in World War I is Charles George Gass with 39 accredited aerial victories. There were two theaters of war that produced flying aces between the two world wars and they were the Spanish Civil War and the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Spanish ace Joaquín García Morato scored 40 victories for the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War, part of the outside intervention in the war was the supply of volunteer foreign pilots to both sides
18.
141st Air Refueling Squadron
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The 141st Air Refueling Squadron is a unit of the New Jersey Air National Guard 108th Wing located at McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey. The 141st is equipped with the KC-135R Stratotanker, the 141 ARS was first organized as the 141st Aero Squadron on 2 January 1918 at Rockwell Field, California. The squadron deployed to France and fought on the Western Front during World War I as a squadron as part of the American Expeditionary Forces. The unit was demobilized after the war in 1919, the 141st Aero Squadron was a United States Army Air Service pursuit squadron, and part of the American Expeditionary Force. It was assigned to the 4th Pursuit Group, Second United States Army and it returned to the United States in July,1919. The squadron was organized at Rockwell Field, San Diego, California on 8 October 1917 and it was organized as an un-designated provisional unit with men drawn from the 14th and 18th Training Squadrons already at the field. The squadron trained with Curtiss JN-4 Jennies at Rockwell Field, the 141st reached Field #2, near Garden City on 9 January where final preparations for the squadron were made for overseas shipment. On the 31st, after a trip to Winchester, England. For the next months, the squadron went though advanced training to prepare it for combat at the front in France. A Flight was assigned to Dover, Kent, B Flight at the Hounslow Heath Aerodrome, near London, and C Flight to Northolt Airdrome, also near London. On 9 March 1918, the squadron reformed at Northolt where it proceeded to the Swingate Down Airdrome, near Dover, the squadron arrived in France on 16 August 1918 and moved to the St. Maixent Aerodrome for equipping. Orders to move were received on 27 August for the Air Service Production Center #2 at Romorantin Aerodrome, finally on 16 September it moved again to the 1st Air Depot at Colombey-les-Belles Airdrome where the 141st received SPAD XIII pursuit aircraft. There it was assigned to the 4th Pursuit Group, and moved to Gengault Aerodrome for combat duty, the squadrons insignia was an orange and black tiger with a flyers helmet. The 141st flew its first patrol on 23 October and every day thereafter and its combat commander, Hobey Baker, was a famous hockey and football star at Princeton before the war. It was said, Hobey preferred Ivy League men in his unit, indeed, he painted the aircraft in his squadron in Princeton colors, Orange and Black. The 141st shot down its first enemy aircraft on 28 October, a second enemy aircraft was shot down on 6 November by a patrol consisting of Captain Baker and Lieutenants Shelby, Cady, Hamiln and Chappell. The 141st was involved in 13 combats, the only squadron of the Air Service. After the November 1918 Armistice with Germany, the remained at Gengault Aerodrome
19.
150th Air Refueling Squadron
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The 150th Air Refueling Squadron was a unit of the New Jersey Air National Guard 108th Air Refueling Wing. It was assigned to McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey and was equipped with the KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft, the Squadron was inactivated in 2008 following the retirement of the wings KC-135E aircraft. Established at Newark Airport, NJ, on February 1,1956 Initially equipped with C-46 Commando aircraft, the Constellations were retired in 1973, being replaced with the C-7 Caribou light transport, which were withdrawn from service in the Vietnam War. The C-7s were used for carrying small payloads in combat areas with rough airstrips, in 1977 upon the receipt of Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers the unit became the 150th Air Refueling Squadron. It was the first air refueling unit in the Nation to launch tankers to establish the now famous U. S, Saudi Arabia Air Bridge during OPERATION DESERT Shield-DESERT STORM. Hours after President Bush ordered U. S. forces to the Persian Gulf, 150th aircrews were refueling fighters, shortly thereafter, and again, prior to certain units personnel being activated, the 150th deployed aircraft, aircrews, maintenance and support personnel to Saudi Arabia. It also provided urgently needed medical, security police and support personnel to U. S. air bases to assist active duty personnel, on 1 October 1993, the 170th Air Refueling Group was consolidated with the senior 108th Air Refueling Wing at McGuire for budgeting reasons. The 170th Air Refueling Group was inactivated, however, the 150th Air Refueling Squadron remained active, in September 1994, for over 30 days, five aircraft and 300 members deployed to Pisa, Italy for DENY FLIGHT. Supported by 15 active duty Air Force personnel, the squadron was the first Air Guard Unit to take full responsibility during that period
20.
Boeing C-32
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The Boeing C-32 is a military passenger transportation version of the Boeing 757 for the United States Air Force. The C-32 provides transportation for United States leaders to locations around the world, the primary users are the Vice President of the United States, using the distinctive call sign Air Force Two, the First Lady and the Secretary of State. On rare occasions, other members of the U. S, cabinet and Congressional leaders have been authorized to fly aboard the C-32 for various missions. The C-32, since its debut, has served as Air Force One in place of the larger VC-25A to airports that cannot support the Boeing 747-based jumbo jet. The C-32 is a version of the Boeing 757-200 extended range aircraft. Active-duty aircrews from the 1st Airlift Squadron, 89th Airlift Wing at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, the contract was awarded for the C-32 in August 1996. By using commercial off-the-shelf acquisition practices, a new record was set from contract award to aircraft delivery, the C-32 was the first military aircraft ever acquired in this manner. The 89th Airlift Wing acquired the first of four aircraft in late June 1998, a further two were acquired in 2010, with both having been used previously as commercial aircraft. The 227th Special Operations Flight at McGuire Air Force Base, N. J. has two modified C-32B aircraft supporting specialist worldwide airlift operations and they are known to be operated by the 486th Flight Test Squadron located at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. These are the only U. S Air Force C-32B in existence although both aircraft have associated with a multiplicity of registrations. These 757s are fitted with an interior and 48 comfortable seats. All luggage and cargo must be fitted into the rear of the main cabin and they have frequently been associated with the Foreign Emergency Support Team of the U. S. State Department. The C-32 is a specially configured version of the Boeing 757-200 airliner, the C-32 body is identical to that of the Boeing 757-200, but has different interior furnishings and more sophisticated avionics. For the C-32A, the cabin is divided into four sections, The forward area has a communications center, galley. The second section is a fully enclosed stateroom for the use of the primary passenger and it includes a changing area, private lavatory, separate entertainment system, two first-class swivel seats and a convertible divan that seats three and folds out to a bed. The third section contains the conference and staff facility with eight business-class seats, the rear section of the cabin contains general seating with 32 business-class seats, galley, two lavatories and closets. The C-32 is more efficient and has improved capabilities over its VC-137 predecessor. It can travel twice the distance on the amount of fuel
21.
Fifth Air Force
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The Fifth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces. It is headquartered at Yokota Air Base, Japan and it is the U. S. Air Forces oldest continuously serving Numbered Air Force. The organization has provided 70 years of air power to the Pacific since its establishment in September 1941. Fifth Air Force is the Headquarters Pacific Air Forces forward element in Japan, in addition,5 AF is the air component to United States Forces Japan. First, it plans, conducts, controls, and coordinates air operations assigned by the PACAF Commander, Fifth Air Force maintains a level of readiness necessary for successful completion of directed military operations. To achieve this mission, Fifth Air Force maintains its deterrent force posture to protect both U. S. and Japanese interests, and conducts appropriate air operations should deterrence fail, Fifth Air Force is commanded by Lieutenant General Jerry P. Martinez. With its origins going back over a century to 1912, the command was established on 6 May 1941 as the Philippine Department Air Force at Nichols Field, Luzon. Fifth Air Force was a United States Army Air Forces combat air force in the Pacific Theater of World War II, engaging in combat operations primarily in the Southwest Pacific AOR. During World War II, Fifth Air Force units first engaged the Japanese during the Philippines Campaign, rearmed, it engaged the Japanese in New Guinea, the Dutch East Indies and then as part of the liberating forces in the Philippines Campaign. In the postwar era, Fifth Air Force was the primary USAF occupation force in Japan, the United States Army Philippine Department was established on 11 January 1911 in the Unincorporated Philippine Territory. Fifth Air Force traces its roots to the Philippines with the activation of the Air Office of the Philippine Department in March 1912, the First Company, 2d Aero Squadron, was activated at Fort William McKinley, Luzon, on 3 February 1916. This unit was a school, operating Martin S Hydro seaplanes. The unit operated under the Air Office until 15 October 1917, in 1917 outside Fort Stotsenburg, Luzon, construction began on a half-mile long dirt runway, hangars and other support facilities to bring the local army units into the air age. A permanent Army Air Service presence in the Philippines began in December 1919 with the activation of the 3d Aero Squadron at the facility, the unit was initially equipped with de Havilland DH-4 medium bombers. The next year it moved to the new Clark Field on 15 October 1920 where, combined with support units. Clark Field became the Army Air Corps headquarters overseas, and was the only American air base west of Hawaii, when workmen at Rockwell Field outside San Diego, California opened one of the crates, they found a motor with a remarkable history. Built in Detroit, it went to France, back to the United States, then to the Philippines, with that, the 1st Observation Group at Clark was re-designated as the 4th Observation, and later the 4th Composite Group. The 4th Composite would be the mainstay of United States air power in the Philippines until 1941, in addition to Clark Field, additional airfields at Kindley Field on Corregidor in Manila Bay, and one at Camp Nichols were constructed
22.
United States Distinguished Unit Citation
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The unit with the most Presidential Unit Citations is the USS Parche with 9 citations. The Army citation was established by Executive Order 9075 on 26 February 1942, superseded by Executive Order 9396 on Dec.2,1943, as with other Army unit citations, the PUC is in a larger frame than other ribbons, and is worn above the right pocket. All members of the unit may wear the decoration, whether or not they participated in the acts for which the unit was cited. Only those assigned to the unit at the time of the action cited may wear the decoration as a permanent award, for both the Army and Air Force, the emblem is a solid blue ribbon enclosed in a gold frame. The Air Force PUC was adopted from the Army Distinguished Unit Citation after the Air Force became a military branch in 1947. By Executive Order 10694, dated Jan,10,1957 the Air Force redesignated the Distinguished Unit Citation as the Presidential Unit Citation. The Air Force PUC is the color and design as the Army PUC but slightly smaller. The Citation is carried on the units colors in the form of a blue streamer,4 ft long and 2.75 in wide. For the Army, only on rare occasions will a larger than battalion qualify for award of this decoration. The Navy citation was established by Executive Order 9050 on 6 February 1942, the Navy version has blue, yellow, and red horizontal stripes, and is the only Navy ribbon having horizontal stripes. These are only worn by persons who meet the criteria at the time it is awarded to the unit, unlike the Army, those who later join the unit do not wear it on a temporary basis. The current decoration is known as the Department of Homeland Security Presidential Unit Citation. A Coast Guard version of the award was awarded to all U. S. Coast Guard and Coast Guard Auxiliary personnel responding to Hurricane Katrina by President George W. Bush for rescue, the United States Public Health Service Presidential Citation was established in 2015. The design was finalized by the Army Institute of Heraldry on 17 August 2015, two units of the Free French Forces were awarded Presidential Unit Citations during World War II. On April 22,1986, the 1st Fighter Group Força Aérea Brasileira was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for its actions in the Po Valley region of Italy in World War II. The Brazilians, operating in Italy in support of Allied forces, destroyed in one day over 45 vehicles, strafed pontoon bridges on the River Po, eleven missions of 44 sorties were flown destroying nine motor transports and damaging 17. One Belgian-Luxembourgian battalion of the Belgian United Nations Command was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation once for actions during the Battle of the Imjin River, the Colombia Battalion received the citation while attached to the American 21st Infantry Regiment in 1951. One Dutch unit, the Netherlands Detachment United Nations, part of the Regiment Van Heutsz, was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation twice for actions during the Korean War, the first citation was awarded after the battle near Wonju and Hoengson in February 1951
23.
George Andrew Davis Jr.
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George Andrew Davis Jr. was a highly decorated fighter pilot and flying ace of the United States Army Air Forces in World War II, and later of the US Air Force during the Korean War. Davis rose to the rank of major, and was promoted posthumously to lieutenant colonel and he was the only flying ace of the United States to be killed in action in Korea. Born in Dublin, Texas, Davis joined the US Army Air Corps in early 1942 and he was sent to the Pacific Theatre after pilot training and flew in the New Guinea and Philippine campaigns, scoring seven victories over Japanese aircraft. He quickly gained a reputation as a pilot and accurate gunner whose daredevil flying style contrasted with his reserved personality. Davis did not see action in Korea until late 1951, controversies arose surrounding the circumstances of his death. Davis is the fourth-highest US scoring ace of the Korean War with a total of 21 victories and he is one of seven US military pilots to become an ace in two wars, and one of 31 US pilots to be credited with more than 20 victories. George Andrew Davis Jr. was born in Dublin, Texas and he was the seventh of nine children born to George Davis Sr. and Pearl Love Davis. In his childhood, Davis briefly lived in Maple, Texas, Davis attended Morton High School in Morton, Texas. Davis then attended Harding College in Searcy, Arkansas, after completing a degree, he returned to Texas. He took up farming for a time with his family eventually deciding to join the military. Friends and colleagues would later describe Davis as quiet, calm, reserved, when flying, he would become cool and calculating in combat. He did not drink alcohol or smoke tobacco as many other pilots did, Davis married Doris Lynn Forgason, and was survived by three children, Mary Margaret Davis and George Davis III. His wife was six months pregnant with their child, Charles Lynn Davis. On March 21,1942, Davis enlisted in the United States Army in Lubbock, Texas, on June 3, he was appointed an aviation cadet in the Army Air Corps. He was moved to Kelly Field in San Antonio, Texas for pre-flight training and he was then moved to Jones Field in Bonham, Texas for primary flight training. During this training, he got his first 60 hours of time aboard a Fairchild PT-19 trainer aircraft. Then, he flew for another 74 hours during Basic Flight Training in Waco, Texas, on February 16,1943, Davis completed his training and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the US Army Reserve, and immediately ordered to active duty with the Army Air Forces. By this time he had accrued 314 hours of flight time, Davis first assignment was the 312th Bombardment Group based at Bowman Field in Louisville, Kentucky
24.
108th Operations Group
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The 108th Operations Group is a unit of the New Jersey Air National Guard, one of the many units stationed at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey. If activated to service, the group is gained by Air Mobility Command. Its World War II predecessor, the 348th Fighter Group, was the most successful Republic P-47 Thunderbolt group in the Southwest Pacific Theater and its commander, Neel E. Kearby was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in combat. Over a dozen of the pilots became aces. The 108th Group mission is air refueling, the wing enhances the Air Forces capability to accomplish its primary missions of Global Reach and Global Power. It also provides aerial refueling support to Air Force, Navy, the wing is also capable of transporting litter and ambulatory patients using patient support pallets during aeromedical evacuations. It was the most successful Repiublic P-47 Thunderbolt unit in the Pacific War, the Groups commander, Colonel Neel Kearby ran up 20+ kills, including a 6-kills-in-1-mission, for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor. The Group scored 396 kills, over half of all the kills credited to Fifth Air Force P-47s, on 24 May 1946, the group was redesignated as the 108th Fighter Group and allotted to the National Guard. The 348th Fighter Group was activated at Mitchel Army Airfield, New York and it was equipped with the P-47 Thunderbolt. The 348th was one of the first USAAF groups to be equipped with the P-47, after an extended period of training in the northeast United States, the personnel boarded the Army transport ship Henry Gibbons and left the wharf at Weehawken, New Jersey on 15 May 1943. They groups personnel all thought they were heading for the European theatre of war, however, they went through the Panama Canal instead and crossed the Pacific Ocean reaching Brisbane, Australia on 14 June 1943. They moved to Archer Field and waited for their aircraft to arrive, in mid-June the 348ths three squadrons made the 1, 200-mile flight from Brisbane to Port Moresby, New Guinea. The group operated from New Guinea and Noemfoor until November 1944, flying patrol and reconnaissance missions and escorted bombers to targets in New Guinea, the 460th Fighter Squadron, stationed at Noemfoor, New Guinea, was also later attached to the 348th Fighter Group on 23 September 1944. The arrival of the 348th as the first P-47 group in the Southwest Pacific area coincided with the opening of the Allied offensive in New Guinea. The group met its first air combat over Tsili on 16 August 1943, Lieutenant Colonel Neel Kearby, the Commanding Officer of the 348th Fighter Group shot down his first Japanese aircraft on 4 September 1943. He shot down an aircraft on the 15 September 1943. Colonel Kearby was awarded the Medal of Honor for action over New Guinea on 11 October 1943, after leading a flight of four fighters to reconnoiter the enemy base at Wewak, Lt Col Kearby sighted a Japanese bomber formation escorted by more than 30 fighters. Despite the heavy odds and a low supply, and although his mission had been accomplished, Kearby ordered an attack
25.
Mitchel Air Force Base
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Mitchel Air Force Base also known as Mitchel Field, was a United States Air Force base located on the Hempstead Plains of Long Island, New York, United States. During the American Revolutionary War it was known as the Hempstead Plains, in the War of 1812 and in the Mexican War, it was a training center for Infantry units. During the American Civil War, it was the location of Camp Winfield Scott, in 1898, in the Spanish–American War, Mitchels site was known as Camp Black. Curtiss JN-4 Jennies became a common sight over Long Island in 1917 and 1918, hundreds of aviators were trained for war at these training fields, two of the largest in the United States. Numerous new wooden buildings and tents were erected on Roosevelt Field and Field #2 in 1918 in order to meet this rapid expansion, Mitchel Field continued to grow after World War I and between 1929 and 1932. Much of this still exists today, being used for non-military purposes. In the 1920s and 1930s, various observation, fighter, and it became a major aerodrome for both the Air Corps as well as various civilian activity. The 1920s was considered the age of air racing and on 27 November 1920. The race consisted of four laps of a 29 miles course, thirty-eight pilots entered and took off individually. The winner was Capt. Corliss Moseley, flying a Verville-Packard VCP-R racer, in October 1923, Mitchel Field was the scene of the first airplane jumping contest in the nation. During the same year, two worlds airplane speed records were established there, in 1924, the airmail service had its inception in experimental flights begun at the airfield. In September 1929, Lt. Gen. James H. Doolittle, then a Lieutenant, in 1938, Mitchel was the starting point for the first nonstop transcontinental bomber flight, made by Army B-18 Bolos. Mitchel Field also served as a base from which the first demonstration of long-range aerial reconnaissance was made, in May 1939, three B-17s, with Lt. Curtis LeMay navigating, flew 620 miles out to sea and intercepted the Italian ocean liner SS Rex. This was a example of the range, mobility. On September 21 of that year the base was struck by the Long Island Express hurricane, flooding produced water that was over knee-deep, numerous trees were toppled and the glass was smashed atop the traffic control tower. During 1943, Mitchel AAF became an area for Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers. Mitchel Field was a source of supply in initial garrisoning and defense of North Atlantic air bases in Newfoundland, Greenland. From the airfield the planning for the air defense of Nova Scotia, Antisubmarine patrol missions along the Atlantic coast were carried out in 1942 by the United States Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command aircraft based at Mitchel
26.
USNS Henry Gibbins (T-AP-183)
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USNS Henry Gibbins was a troop transport that served with the United States Military Sea Transportation Service during the 1950s. Prior to her MSTS service, she served as US Army transport USAT Henry Gibbins during World War II and she later served with the New York Maritime Academy as TS Empire State IV and with the Massachusetts Maritime Academy as USTS Bay State. Laid down on 23 August 1941, she was launched on 11 November 1942 as Biloxi and she was delivered to the Army Transportation Service 27 February 1943 as Henry Gibbins and served the Army as a troop transport during World War II. Following the war, the Henry Gibbins was refitted as a war brides ship, Henry Gibbins was acquired by the U. S. Navy from the U. S. Army on 1 March 1950, and assigned to the Military Sea Transportation Service. During the Korean War she transported men and equipment from New York City to the Caribbean and Canal Zone ports, prior to their assignment in the Pacific. In 1953, Henry Gibbins operated on the New York to Bremerhaven, Germany, from 1954 until late 1959 the veteran transport steamed from New York to the Caribbean over 75 times, sailed to the Mediterranean on 3 occasions and crossed the Atlantic to Northern Europe 8 times. During this time Henry Gibbins shuttled thousands of troops and tons of supplies between the United States and her foreign bases. Henry Gibbins was transferred from MSTS to the United States Maritime Administration 2 December 1959, at Fort Schuyler, New York, the college named her TS Empire State IV and she retained that name until being transferred to the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in 1973. At that time she was renamed USTS Bay State, during the winter of 1976-77, one of the coldest in fifty years, the Bay State suffered serious ice damage to her hull at her berth in Buzzards Bay at the southern end of the Cape Cod Canal. The hull plates were repaired and the continued to serve as a training vessel for two more years. In the summer of 1977 she carried cadets to Europe, in the summer of 1978 she made a training cruise to the Mediterranean. The vessel was returned to the Maritime Administration after her final training cruise in 1978, between the hull damage she had sustained in 1977, her age, and an increase in Massachusetts Maritime Academys enrollment, she no longer suited the Academys requirements. According to the U. S. Maritime Administration, the ship was scrapped in 1983 after suffering an engine room fire, USAT Henry Gibbins - DANFS Online. Haven, The Dramatic Story of 1,000 World War II Refugees and How They Came to America
27.
Weehawken, New Jersey
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Weehawken is a township in Hudson County, in the U. S. state of New Jersey. The name Weehawken is generally considered to have evolved from the Algonquian language Lenape spoken by the Hackensack, three U. S. Navy ships have been named for the city. The Weehawken was the last ferry to The West Shore Terminal on March 25,1959, at 1,10 am, Weehawken Street in Manhattans Greenwich Village was the site of a colonial Hudson River ferry landing. The name and the place have inspired mention in works of popular culture. Weehawken was formed as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature, on March 15,1859, from portions of Hoboken, a portion of the township was ceded to Hoboken in 1874. Additional territory was annexed in 1879 from West Hoboken, at the time it was the territory of the Hackensack and Tappan, of the Turtle Clan, or Unami, a branch of the Lenni Lenape. They were displaced by immigrants to the province of New Netherland, on May 11,1647, Maryn Adriansen received a patent for a plantation at Awiehaken. In 1661, Weehawken became part of Bergen when it came under the jurisdiction of the court at Bergen Square, in 1674, New Netherland was ceded to the British, and the town became part of the Province of East Jersey. John Luby, in 1677, acquired several parcels comprising 35 acres along the Hudson, most habitation was along the top of the cliffs since the low-lying areas were mostly marshland. Descriptions from the period speak of the foliage and forests and excellent land for growing vegetables. As early as 1700 there was regular, if sporadic ferry service from Weehawken, during the American Revolutionary War, Weehawken was used as a lookout for the patriots to check on the British, who were situated in New York and controlled the surrounding waterways. Early documented inhabitants included a Captain James Deas, whose stately residence at Deas Point was located atop a knoll along the river, lafayette had used the mansion as his headquarters and later Washington Irving came to gaze at Manhattan. Not far from Deas was a ledge 11 paces wide and 20 paces long and this ledge, long gone, was the site of 18 documented duels and probably many unrecorded ones in the years 1798–1845. It was re-enacted on July 11,2004, the 200th anniversary of the duel, by descendants of Hamilton. In the mid-19th century, James G. King built his estate Highwood on the bluff that now bears his name, with the ferry, the Hackensack Plank Road, and later, the West Shore Railroad, built during the early 1870s, the waterfront became a transportation hub. The wealthy built homes along the top of the New Jersey Palisades, where they might flee from the heat of New York. Weehawken became the playground of the rich during the middle to late 19th century, a series of wagon lifts, stairs, and even a passenger elevator designed by the same engineer as those at the Eiffel Tower were put in place to accommodate the tourists and summer dwellers. The Eldorado Amusement Park, a garden which opened in 1891
28.
European theatre of World War II
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The Allied forces fought the Axis powers on two major fronts as well as in the adjoining Mediterranean and Middle East Theatre. Germany was humiliated in front of the world and had to pay very large war reparations, many Germans blamed their countrys post-war economic collapse and hyperinflation on the treatys conditions. After Hitler took Germany out of the League of Nations, Mussolini of Fascist Italy and Hitler formed the Rome-Berlin axis, later, Empire of Japan, under the government of Hideki Tojo, would also join as an Axis power. Japan and Germany had already signed the Anti-Comintern Pact in 1939, other smaller powers also later joined the Axis throughout the war. On September 17, the Soviet forces joined the invasion of Poland, the Polish government evacuated the country for Romania. Poland fell within five weeks, with its last large operational units surrendering on October 5 after the Battle of Kock, as the Polish September Campaign ended, Hitler offered to Britain and France peace on the basis of recognition of German European continental dominance. On October 12, the United Kingdom formally refused, despite the quick campaign in the east, along the Franco-German frontier the war settled into a quiet period. This relatively non-confrontational and mostly non-fighting period between the major powers lasted until May 10,1940, and was known as the Phoney War, several other countries, however, were drawn into the conflict at this time. By September 28,1939, the three Baltic Republics felt they had no choice but to permit Soviet bases and troops on their territory, the Baltic Republics were occupied by the Soviet army in June 1940, and finally annexed to the Soviet Union in August 1940. The Soviet Union wanted to annex Finland and offered an agreement, but Finland rejected it. In the Moscow Peace Treaty of March 12,1940, Finland ceded 10% of her territory, the Finns were embittered over having lost more land in the peace than on the battlefields, and over the perceived lack of world sympathy. Meanwhile, in western Scandinavia, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway in April 1940, sweden was able to remain neutral. Most Allied forces were in Flanders, anticipating a re-run of the World War I Schlieffen Plan, as a result of this, and also the superior German communications and tactics, the Battle of France was shorter than virtually all pre-war Allied thought could have conceived. It lasted six weeks, including the Luftwaffe bombing of Paris June 3, on June 10 Italy declared war on both France and the United Kingdom, but did not gain any significant success in this campaign. French government fled Paris, and soon, France surrendered on June 22, many French soldiers, as well as those of other occupied countries, escaped to Britain. The General de Gaulle proclaimed himself the leader of Free France. Following the unexpected victory, Hitler promoted 12 generals to the rank of field marshal during the 1940 Field Marshal Ceremony. Later, on April 24,1941, the USSR gave full recognition to the Vichy government situated in the non-occupied zone in France
29.
Panama Canal
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The Panama Canal is an artificial 48-mile waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a key conduit for maritime trade. The original locks are 33.5 metres wide, a third, wider lane of locks was constructed between September 2007 and May 2016. The expanded canal began operation on June 26,2016. The new locks allow transit of larger, Post-Panamax ships, capable of handling more cargo, France began work on the canal in 1881 but stopped due to engineering problems and a high worker mortality rate. The United States took over the project in 1904 and opened the canal on August 15,1914, Colombia, France, and later the United States controlled the territory surrounding the canal during construction. The U. S. continued to control the canal and surrounding Panama Canal Zone until the 1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties provided for handover to Panama. After a period of joint American–Panamanian control, in 1999 the canal was taken over by the Panamanian government and is now managed and operated by the government-owned Panama Canal Authority. Annual traffic has risen from about 1,000 ships in 1914, by 2012, more than 815,000 vessels had passed through the canal. It takes six to eight hours to pass through the Panama Canal, the American Society of Civil Engineers has called the Panama Canal one of the seven wonders of the modern world. Such a route would have given the Spanish a military advantage over the Portuguese, during an expedition from 1788 to 1793, Alessandro Malaspina outlined plans for its construction. Given the strategic location of Panama and the potential offered by its narrow isthmus separating two great oceans, other links in the area were attempted over the years. The ill-fated Darien scheme was launched by the Kingdom of Scotland in 1698 to set up a trade route. Generally inhospitable conditions thwarted the effort, and it was abandoned in April 1700, another effort was made in 1843. They referred to it as the Atlantic and Pacific Canal and it was a wholly British endeavor and it was expected to be completed in five years, but the plan was never carried out. At nearly the same time, other ideas were floated, including a canal across Mexicos Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Nothing came of that plan either. )In 1846 the Mallarino–Bidlack Treaty, negotiated between the U. S. and New Granada, granted the United States transit rights and the right to intervene militarily in the isthmus. In 1849, the discovery of gold in California created great interest in a crossing between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Panama Railway was built by the United States to cross the isthmus and opened in 1855
30.
Brisbane
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Brisbane is the capital of and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland, and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbanes metropolitan area has a population of 2.35 million, the Brisbane central business district stands on the original European settlement and is situated inside a bend of the Brisbane River, about 15 kilometres from its mouth at Moreton Bay. The demonym of Brisbane is Brisbanite, one of the oldest cities in Australia, Brisbane was founded upon the ancient homelands of the indigenous Turrbal and Jagera peoples. A penal settlement was founded in 1824 at Redcliffe,28 kilometres north of the business district. The city was marred by the Australian frontier wars between 1843 and 1855, and development was set back by the Great Fire of Brisbane. Brisbane was chosen as the capital when Queensland was proclaimed a colony from New South Wales in 1859. During World War II, Brisbane played a role in the Allied campaign. Today, Brisbane is well known for its distinct Queenslander architecture which forms much of the built heritage. It also receives attention for its damaging flood events, most notably in 1974 and 2011. Several large cultural, international and sporting events have held at Brisbane, including the 1982 Commonwealth Games, World Expo 88, the final Goodwill Games in 2001. Prior to white settlement, the Brisbane area was inhabited by the Turrbal and they knew the area that is now the central business district as Mian-jin, meaning place shaped as a spike. The Moreton Bay area was explored by Matthew Flinders. On 17 July 1799, Flinders landed at what is now known as Woody Point, in 1823 Governor of New South Wales Sir Thomas Brisbane instructed that a new northern penal settlement be developed, and an exploration party led by John Oxley further explored Moreton Bay. Oxley discovered, named, and explored the Brisbane River as far as Goodna,20 kilometres upstream from the Brisbane central business district, Oxley recommended Red Cliff Point for the new colony, reporting that ships could land at any tide and easily get close to the shore. The party settled in Redcliffe on 13 September 1824, under the command of Lieutenant Henry Miller with 14 soldiers and 29 convicts. However, this settlement was abandoned after a year and the colony was moved to a site on the Brisbane River now known as North Quay,28 km south, chief Justice Forbes gave the new settlement the name of Edenglassie before it was named Brisbane. Non-convict European settlement of the Brisbane region commenced in 1838, German missionaries settled at Zions Hill, Nundah as early as 1837, five years before Brisbane was officially declared a free settlement. The band consisted of ministers Christopher Eipper and Carl Wilhelm Schmidt and lay missionaries Haussmann, Johann Gottried Wagner, Niquet, Hartenstein, Zillman, Franz, Rode, Doege and they were allocated 260 hectares and set about establishing the mission, which became known as the German Station
31.
New Guinea
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New Guinea is a large Island in the South West Pacific region. It is the worlds second-largest island, after Greenland, covering an area of 785,753 km2. The island is divided between two countries, Papua New Guinea to the east, and Indonesia to the west, the island has been known by various names. The name Papua was used to refer to parts of the island before contact with the West and its etymology is unclear, one theory states that it is from Tidore, the language used by the Sultanate of Tidore, which controlled parts of the islands coastal region. The name came from papo and ua, which means not united or, ploeg reports that the word papua is often said to derive from the Malay word papua or pua-pua, meaning frizzly-haired, referring to the highly curly hair of the inhabitants of these areas. When the Portuguese and Spanish explorers arrived in the island via the Spice Islands, when the Dutch colonized it as part of Netherlands East Indies, they called it Nieuw Guinea. The name Irian was used in the Indonesian language to refer the island and Indonesian province, the name was promoted in 1945 by Marcus Kaisiepo, brother of the future governor Frans Kaisiepo. It is taken from the Biak language of Biak Island, and means to rise and this name of Irian is the name used in the Biak language and other languages such as Serui, Merauke and Waropen. The name was used until 2001, when the name Papua was again used for the island, the name Irian, which was originally favored by natives, is now considered to be a name imposed by the authority of Jakarta. New Guinea is an island to the north of Australia, and it is isolated by the Arafura Sea to the west and the Torres Strait and Coral Sea to the east. A spine of east–west mountains, the New Guinea Highlands, dominates the geography of New Guinea, stretching over 1,600 km from the head to the tail of the island. The western half of the island of New Guinea contains the highest mountains in Oceania, rising up to 4,884 m high, the tree line is around 4,000 m elevation and the tallest peaks contain permanent equatorial glaciers—which have been retreating since at least 1936. Various other smaller mountain ranges occur both north and west of the central ranges, except in high elevations, most areas possess a warm humid climate throughout the year, with some seasonal variation associated with the northeast monsoon season. At 4,884 metres, Puncak Jaya makes New Guinea the worlds fourth highest landmass, Puncak Mandala, located in Papua, is the second highest peak on the island at 4,760 metres. Puncak Trikora, also in Papua, is 4,750 metres, mount Wilhelm is the highest peak on the PNG side of the border at 4,509 metres. Its granite peak is the highest point of the Bismarck Range, mount Giluwe 4,368 metres is the second highest summit in PNG. It is also the highest volcanic peak in Oceania, another major habitat feature is the vast southern and northern lowlands. Stretching for hundreds of kilometres, these include lowland rainforests, extensive wetlands, savanna grasslands, the southern lowlands are the site of Lorentz National Park, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site
32.
340th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron
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The 340th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron is a provisional United States Air Force unit. It is assigned to the 379th Expeditionary Operations Group at Al Udeid Air Base and it has supported operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria from this location. Following V-J Day, it served in the forces in Japan until inactivating in 1946. The 340th Air Refueling Squadron was formed in 1952 at Castle Air Force Base, California, the squadron was first activated at Mitchel Field, New York at the end of September 1942 as one of the original three squadrons of the 348th Fighter Group. Mitchel was only a base for the squadron, which moved on paper the same day to Bradley Field. The squadron trained at bases in the Northeastern United States with Republic P-47 Thunderbolts until ready for overseas shipment in May 1943. Upon arrival in New Guinea, the squadron flew patrol and reconnaissance missions and escorted bombers attacking Japanese targets in New Guinea and New Britain. As the attack progressed, the moved to the Philippines in November 1944, providing convoy cover and ground support for invading forces. On 24 December 1944, the squadron was part of a group formation covering bombers attacking Clark Field, the unit defended the bombers against enemy interceptors, earning a second Distinguished Unit Citation. The squadron was cited by the Philippine government for its support for the liberation of the Philippines. The forward move of the squadron enabled it to attacks on shipping along the coast of China. The squadron began transitioning into North American P-51 Mustang fighters in February 1945 and it moved to the Ryuku Islands shortly before the end of the war, and conducted escort and attack missions to Japan before the war ended. In October 1945, it moved to Itami Airfield as part of the forces and was inactivated there in May 1946. The 340th Air Refueling Squadron was activated on 20 October 1952 as part of the 340th Bombardment Wing and it was not until January 1954 that it joined its parent wing at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri. The move to Whiteman was without personnel or equipment, with its planes, when it arrived at Whiteman, the 340th Wing was just beginning to receive its aircraft and the squadron did not become operational again until August 1954. The squadron flew the Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighter, providing air refueling to USAF units until it was inactivated in October 1962, in 1961, the squadron was selected to represent Second Air Force in Strategic Air Commands annual bombing competition. Reactivated as a provisional squadron about 2002 as a part of the Global War on Terror and it is equipped with Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers and conducts combat air refueling as one of the largest squadrons in the Air Force, doubling in size in 2014 due to increased operations in Syria. The squadron was active as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom and it is currently supporting the Military intervention against ISIL in Iraq and Syria
33.
341st Fighter Squadron
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The 341st Fighter Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 348th Fighter Group, based at Itami Air Base and it was inactivated on May 10,1946. It was allocated to the New Jersey Air National Guard and redesignated as the 141st Fighter Squadron on May 24,1946, constituted 340th Fighter Squadron on September 24,1942 Activated on September 30,1942 Inactivated on to May 1946. May 15,1945 Ie Shima Airfield, Okinawa, July 9,1945 Kanoya Airfield, Japan, September 9,1945 Itami Airfield, Japan, october 20,1945 – May 10,1946. P-47 Thunderbolt, 1942–1945 P-51 Mustang,1945, Combat in Southwest and Western Pacific, July 30,1943 – August 15,1945. This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http, Maurer, Maurer, ed. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II. Washington, DC, Office of Air Force History
34.
142d Airlift Squadron
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The 142d Airlift Squadron is a unit of the 166th Airlift Wing located at New Castle Air National Guard Base, Delaware. It is equipped with the C-130 Hercules, the mission of the 142d Airlift Squadron is to provide combat ready aircrew for state, national and worldwide deployment in support of any assigned mission. The squadrons mission capability includes all weather, day and night, airland, airdrop, the C-130 aircraft is capable to perform both inter-theatre and intra-theatre missions. The squadron is can also supply specially trained aircrews for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations when called upon, the squadron has pilots, navigators, flight engineers and loadmasters, life support, and administrative personnel assigned. It deployed to the Southwest Pacific Area, where the unit part of Fifth Air Force in New Guinea. It engaged in operations until August 1945, then became part of the occupation forces in Japan. The unit returned to the United States during May 1946 and was inactivated, the squadron was redesignated as the 142d Fighter Squadron and allotted to the National Guard on 24 May 1946. It was activated on 6 September 1946, and its federal recognition was recognized at a ceremony in the Wilmington Armory. The ceremony was conducted by Brigadier General Paul R. Rinard, property and Disbursing Officer for Delaware. Shortly afterwards the squadron received its first fighter planes, P-47N Thunderbolts, prior to being federalized during the Korean War on 1 February 1951, the unit received Republic F-84C Thunderjets. On 1 November 1952 the 142d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron was released from active duty, on 1 December 1952 the unit was redesignated the 142d Fighter-Bomber Squadron and reverted to a propeller-driven aircraft, the North American F-51H Mustang. In 1954 the unit received North American F-86A Sabre day interceptor fighters to replace the F-51Hs. In July 1956 Major David F. McCallister set a record by flying his F-86 Sabre 1,922 miles in three hours,30 minutes, to win the Earl T. Ricks Memorial Trophy. On 10 November 1958 the unit was redesignated the 142d Tactical Fighter Squadron, on 7 April 1962 the Delaware Air National Guard expanded the unit and established the 166th Air Transport Group. The group and squadrons gaining commanc changed from TAC to Military Air Transport Service, the 142d squadron was assigned to the 166th and redesignated as the 142d Air Transport Squadron. The squadron was re-equipped with the four engine Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter cargo aircraft, during the period from 1964-1974 the Delaware Air National Guard flew missions to South Vietnam. In September 1965, only three years receiving the C-97, the Delaware Air National Guard received the McCallister Trophy as the Air National Guard Outstanding Transport Unit. On 1 January 1966, the Military Air Transport Service was replaced by Military Airlift Command, in addition to that name change MAC-gained Air National Guard units were also redesignated
35.
Port Moresby
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Port Moresby, also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is located on the shores of the Gulf of Papua, the city emerged as a trade centre in the second half of the 19th century. During World War II it was an objective for conquest by the Imperial Japanese forces during 1942–43 as a staging point and air base to cut off Australia from Southeast Asia. In 2000 it had a population of 254,158, as of 2011 it had a population of 364,145, giving it an annual growth rate of 2. 1% over a nine-year period. The place where the city was founded has been inhabited by the Motu-Koitabu people for centuries, the first European to see it was Captain John Moresby in 1873. It was named in honour of his father, Admiral Sir Fairfax Moresby, although Port Moresby is surrounded by Central Province, of which it is also the capital, it is not part of that province, but forms the National Capital District. The Motuan people of the now known as Port Moresby traded their pots for sago, other food and canoe logs, sailing from Hanuabada. Their language, Motu, was the basis of Hiri Motu and it has been steadily in decline since the 1960s when Tok Pisin began to grow in popularity. The Hiri expeditions were large scale, as many as 20 multi-hulled canoes or lakatoi, crewed by some 600 men, carried about 20,000 clay pots on each journey. To the Motuans, the Hiri was an enterprise and it confirmed their tribal identity through its long. There was already an important trade centre on the site of Port Moresby when the English Captain John Moresby of HMS Basilisk first visited it and he sailed through the Coral Sea at the eastern end of New Guinea, saw three previously unknown islands, and landed there. At 10 a. m. on 20 February 1873, he claimed the land for Britain and named it after his father and he called the inner reach Fairfax Harbour and the other Port Moresby. In 1883 Queensland attempted to annex the south-eastern corner of the New Guinea Island, British authorities refused to approve the annexation following the German annexation of New Guinea in 1884, but four years later it established a protectorate over Papua as British New Guinea. In 1905 the recently federated Australian government passed the Papua Act which came into effect in 1906, the act transferred Papua, with Port Moreseby as its capital, to direct Australian rule. From then until 1941 Port Moresby grew slowly, the main growth was on the peninsula, where port facilities and other services were gradually improved. The first butchers shop and grocery opened in 1909, electricity was introduced in 1925, many Papuan residents of Port Moresby either returned to their family villages or were evacuated to camps when the threat of Japanese invasion loomed. Port Moresby became the capital of the new combined territory and a point for the expansion of public services. In September 1975, Papua New Guinea became an independent country with Port Moresby as its capital city, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, represented the Queen of Papua New Guinea at the celebrations
36.
Numfor
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Numfor is one of the Schouten Islands in Papua province, Western New Guinea, northeastern Indonesia. It was the site of conflict between Japanese and the Allied forces during World War II, and was major airbase for both sides, the island is located on the northern side of large Cenderawasih Bay of New Guinea island. Approximately oval shaped, it has an area of 335 square kilometres and it is mostly surrounded by coral reefs, with the exception of some points on the southeastern coast. Also found on the southeastern coast are low, steep cliffs, most of the interior is composed of forest. The island is jurisdictionally within the Biak Numfor Regency of Papua province and it has a population of 9,336 people in 2010 census covering 5 kecamatan. The first sighting by Europeans was by the Spanish navigator Álvaro de Saavedra on 24 June 1528 when he was trying to return from Tidore to New Spain. The indigenous population at the time numbered about 5,000 people, the island was also hosting about 1,100 laborers taken to Numfor by the Japanese,600 members of a Formosan auxiliary labor unit and 500 Indonesian civilian forced laborers. These were the survivors of more than 4,000 laborers taken to Numfor by the Japanese, the Japanese built three airfields on the island, turning it into a significant air base. Kornasoren Airfield/Yebrurro Airfield, located toward the end of the island Kamiri Airfield, on the northwestern edge of the island Namber Airfield. Bombing of the island by United States and Australian aircraft began as early as April 1944, Allied units landed on the island, from July 2,1944. Although the island is surrounded by an almost solid ring of coral, troops initially landed around Kamiri Airfield on the northwest edge of the island. Although there were extensive Japanese defensive preparations in the Kamiri area, in the words of the US Navy official history, Japanese encountered around the airfield were so stunned from the effects of the bombardment that all the fight was taken out of them. The following day, as a precaution against Japanese resistance elsewhere,2,000 US paratroopers from the 503 Parachute Infantry Regiment were dropped onto the island, the second base captured by US forces, Yebrurro Airfield, was secured by 4 July 1944. On July 5, there was an unsuccessful Japanese counter-attack and that same day, a detachment of US forces from Numfor also secured the smaller neighboring island of Manim. Namber Airfield came under Allied control, without resistance, on July 6, the island was officially declared secure on July 7. However, individual Japanese soldiers continued guerrilla activities, and it was August 31 before all fighting had ceased, by August 31, the Allies had lost 66 killed or missing and 343 wounded. It had killed approximately 1,714 Japanese and taken 186 prisoners, according to the US Army official history, only 403 of the original 3,000 Javanese civilian laborers were alive by August 31. About 10-15 were reported to have been killed accidentally by Allied forces, the rest had died from maltreatment before the invasion
37.
New Britain
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New Britain is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from the island of New Guinea by the Dampier and Vitiaz Straits, the main towns of New Britain are Rabaul/Kokopo and Kimbe. The island is roughly the size of Taiwan, while the island was part of German New Guinea, it was named Neupommern. New Britain extends from 148°1831 to 152°2357 E longitude and from 4°0825 to 6°1831 S latitude and it is crescent-shaped, approximately 520 km along its southeastern coastline, and from 29 to 146 km wide, not including a small central peninsula. The air-line distance from west to east is 477 km, the island is the 38th largest in the world, with an area of 36,520 km2. Steep cliffs form some sections of the coastline, in others the mountains are further inland, the highest point, at 2,438 m, is Mount Sinewit in the Baining range in the east. Most of the terrain is covered with tropical rainforest and several rivers are fed by the high rainfall. A major eruption of Tavurvur in 1994 destroyed the East New Britain provincial capital of Rabaul, most of the town still lies under metres of ash, and the capital has been moved to nearby Kokopo. New Britain forms part of the Islands Region, one of four regions of Papua New Guinea, New Britain became part of German New Guinea. In 1909, the population was estimated at about 190,000. The expatriate population was confined to the northeastern Gazelle Peninsula. At the time 5,448 hectares had been converted to plantations, primarily growing copra, cotton, coffee, westerners avoided exploring the interior initially, believing that the indigenous peoples were warlike and would fiercely resist intrusions. On 11 September 1914, New Britain became the site of one of the earliest battles of World War I when the Australian Naval and they quickly overwhelmed the German forces and occupied the island for the duration of the war. After World War I the Treaty of Versailles was signed in June 1919, in 1920 the League of Nations included New Britain along with the former German colony on New Guinea in the Territory of New Guinea, a mandated territory of Australia. During World War II the Japanese attacked New Britain soon after the outbreak of hostilities in the Pacific Ocean, strategic bases at Rabaul and Kavieng were defended by a small Australian detachment, Lark Force. During January 1942, the Japanese heavily bombed Rabaul, on 23 January, Japanese marines landed by the thousands, starting the Battle of Rabaul. The Japanese used Rabaul as a key base until 1944, it served as the key point for the invasion of Port Moresby. New Britain was invaded by the U. S, 1st Marine Division in the Cape Gloucester area of the very western end of the island, and also by U. S. Army soldiers at some other coastal points
38.
460th Fighter Squadron
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The 460th Fighter-Interceptor Training Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Tactical Air Commands 325th Fighter Weapons Wing at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, established in late 1942 as a ground support squadron. Deployed to the Pacific Theater of Operations in 1943 to Australia where the unit functioned as a support unit at Sydney Airport. Moved to Okinawa, then Japan after the Japanese Capitulation as part of the Occupation Force, moved to Portland Airport, Oregon and flew air defense missions over the Pacific Northwest, later to Southern California in 1968. When Oxnard Air Force Base closed in 1969, moved to Grand Forks AFB, reactivated briefly in early 1982 as an air defense training squadron at Tyndall AFB, Florida, inactivated late the same year. 15 February 1943 Fifth Air Force, c.1 June 1943 (attached to 310th Bombardment Wing,1 February 1944, 85th Fighter Wing, cornett, Lloyd H, Johnson, Mildred W. A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization,1946 -1980, peterson AFB, CO, Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center. Maurer, Maurer, ed. Air Force Combat Units of World War II, washington, DC, Office of Air Force History. Maurer, Maurer, ed. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, washington, DC, Office of Air Force History. Vol.21, 5–11, 26–31, 40–45, 54–59
39.
Lae
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Lae is the capital of Morobe Province and is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is located near the delta of the Markham River and at the start of the Highlands Highway, Lae is the largest cargo port of the country and is the industrial hub of Papua New Guinea. The city is known as the Garden City and home of the University of Technology, the mission society provided clergy and religious education for Lutheran settlements in Missouri, Iowa and Ohio, Australia, and anywhere else free thinking Lutherans had settled. After World War I, Eastern New Guinea came under British control, adolf Haven was then referred to as Morobe Harbor. On 1 January 1923 Levien acquired a right for the area. The Guinea Gold syndicate formed Guinea Airways Limited in November 1927, in 1927 Levien arranged for the construction of the airstrip at Lae to assist the gold mine productions around Wau. Lae was declared a town under the New Guinea Boundaries Ordinance on 31 March 1931 at the height of the gold rush era, the Europeans lived to the East of Lae Airfield while the New Guineans lived to the West. Cargo arrived in Lae and then was transported by air to the goldfields in Wau, in July 1937, Lae made world news when American aviator Amelia Earhart was last seen flying out of the airport on her way back to the United States. When the volcanic eruptions occurred in Rabaul in 1937, a decision was made to transfer the capital of the Territory of New Guinea to Lae, World War II impeded the transfer and the town was occupied by the Empire of Japan on 8 March 1942. Lae, Rabaul and Salamaua became the major Japanese bases in New Guinea, in mid-1943, after defeats in the Kokoda Track campaign, the Battle of Buna–Gona and the Battle of Wau, the Japanese retreated to Lae and Salamaua. However, the Salamaua–Lae campaign involved many weeks of fierce fighting, in 1971 the Australian Colonial Administration established the first properly constituted Local Government of Lae town and in 1972 Lae was proclaimed a city. Laes development after the war is directly linked to the development of the highlands, Coffee and tea were being grown and a port was needed. Later priority was given on road access, and the Highlands Highway came into existence, the mineral boom occurred in the 1980s and 1990s. Lae is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire and geologic instability has produced numerous faults, the city is caught in a giant geological vice and the seismic hazard is significant. More than 15 years of measurements have been analysed with results indicating how rapidly Lae city, the Ramu-Markham Fault Zone has generated large thrust earthquakes. The 1998 earthquake occurred near Vanimo resulting in 2200 casualties, Mount Lunaman is 96 metres high and has a radio tower at the highest point marked by red fixed obstruction lights to assist navigation. At the base of Mount Lunaman at the southern and south-eastern face are the suburbs of Voco Point, the terraces are located to the West of Mount Lunaman. Mount Lunaman is known to the locals as Lo Wamung, which means first hill, Hospital Hill, Mount Lunaman and the Lae urban area have been the subject of several tectonic studies relating to plate shift
40.
Wewak
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Wewak is the capital of the East Sepik province of Papua New Guinea. It is located on the northern coast of the island of New Guinea and it is the largest town between Madang and Jayapura. It is the see city of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wewak, between 1943 and 1945, during World War II, Wewak was the site of the largest Japanese airbase in mainland New Guinea. The base was subjected to repeated bombing by Australian and American forces, directly to the west of the town centre is a peninsula known as Cape Wom, which was the site of the surrender of Japanese forces in New Guinea on 13 September 1945. The site now houses a small memorial, the former Japanese airfield is still in use as the Wewak International Airport. In August 1945 two war crimes trials were held near Wewak for mutilation and cannibalism, first Lieutenant Takehiro Tazaki was convicted and sentenced to death and another accused was acquitted. To the east of the center is a small peninsula on which is located Boram Hospital, and Wewak International Airport. Wewak is linked by road to three villages on the Sepik River, Angoram, Timbunke, and Pagwi, though the roads are not always in good condition. In addition, a coastal highway extends to the west, linking Wewak with the towns of Aitape and Vanimo. Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as tropical rainforest
41.
Distinguished Unit Citation
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The unit with the most Presidential Unit Citations is the USS Parche with 9 citations. The Army citation was established by Executive Order 9075 on 26 February 1942, superseded by Executive Order 9396 on Dec.2,1943, as with other Army unit citations, the PUC is in a larger frame than other ribbons, and is worn above the right pocket. All members of the unit may wear the decoration, whether or not they participated in the acts for which the unit was cited. Only those assigned to the unit at the time of the action cited may wear the decoration as a permanent award, for both the Army and Air Force, the emblem is a solid blue ribbon enclosed in a gold frame. The Air Force PUC was adopted from the Army Distinguished Unit Citation after the Air Force became a military branch in 1947. By Executive Order 10694, dated Jan,10,1957 the Air Force redesignated the Distinguished Unit Citation as the Presidential Unit Citation. The Air Force PUC is the color and design as the Army PUC but slightly smaller. The Citation is carried on the units colors in the form of a blue streamer,4 ft long and 2.75 in wide. For the Army, only on rare occasions will a larger than battalion qualify for award of this decoration. The Navy citation was established by Executive Order 9050 on 6 February 1942, the Navy version has blue, yellow, and red horizontal stripes, and is the only Navy ribbon having horizontal stripes. These are only worn by persons who meet the criteria at the time it is awarded to the unit, unlike the Army, those who later join the unit do not wear it on a temporary basis. The current decoration is known as the Department of Homeland Security Presidential Unit Citation. A Coast Guard version of the award was awarded to all U. S. Coast Guard and Coast Guard Auxiliary personnel responding to Hurricane Katrina by President George W. Bush for rescue, the United States Public Health Service Presidential Citation was established in 2015. The design was finalized by the Army Institute of Heraldry on 17 August 2015, two units of the Free French Forces were awarded Presidential Unit Citations during World War II. On April 22,1986, the 1st Fighter Group Força Aérea Brasileira was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for its actions in the Po Valley region of Italy in World War II. The Brazilians, operating in Italy in support of Allied forces, destroyed in one day over 45 vehicles, strafed pontoon bridges on the River Po, eleven missions of 44 sorties were flown destroying nine motor transports and damaging 17. One Belgian-Luxembourgian battalion of the Belgian United Nations Command was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation once for actions during the Battle of the Imjin River, the Colombia Battalion received the citation while attached to the American 21st Infantry Regiment in 1951. One Dutch unit, the Netherlands Detachment United Nations, part of the Regiment Van Heutsz, was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation twice for actions during the Korean War, the first citation was awarded after the battle near Wonju and Hoengson in February 1951
42.
Seram Island
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Seram is the largest and main island of Maluku province of Indonesia, despite Ambon Islands historical importance. It is located just north of smaller Ambon Island, Seram is traversed by a central mountain range, the highest point of which, Mount Binaiya, is covered with dense rain forests. Its remarkably complex geology is because of its location at the meeting of several tectonic microplates, Seram actually falls on its own microplate, which has been twisted around by 80° in the last 8 million years by the relatively faster movement of the Papua microplate. Meanwhile, along with the push of the Australian Plate. On the island are important karst areas, in the mountains near Sawai is the cave Hatu Saka, currently the deepest cave in Indonesia. In Taniwell district, on the north coast, is the underground river Sapalewa, Seram Island is remarkable for its high degree of localised bird endemism. The mammals found on Seram include Asian species as well as Australasian marsupials, the montane area of Seram supports the greatest number of endemic mammals of any island in the region. It harbors 38 mammal species and includes nine species that are endemic or near endemic and these include the Seram bandicoot, Moluccan flying fox, Seram flying-fox, Manusela mosaic-tailed rat, spiny Ceram rat and the Ceram rat, all considered threatened. Saltwater crocodiles exist within some of the rivers, including the Salawai River. In the eastern part of the island, Manusela National Park has been established in 1997, most central Moluccans consider Seram to be their original ancestral home and it is still known colloquially as Nusa Ina. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Seram was generally within the sphere of influence of Ternate, the expedition of António de Abreu and Francisco Serrão sighted and explored the entire southern coast of Seram in early 1512, for the first time for Europeans. Portuguese missionaries were there in the 16th century. Dutch trading posts were opened in the early 17th century, in the 1780s, Seram provided a key base of support for Prince Nuku of Tidores long-running rebellion against Dutch rule. From 1954 until 1962 the islands mountain terrain was the scene of a guerilla struggle against Indonesian rule by the counter revolutionary Republic of South Moluccas movement led by Soumokil. Seram includes three of the regencies within the province of Maluku, West Seram, capital at Dataran Hunipopu, had a population of 140,657, and Eastern Seram, capital at Dataran Hunimoa, had a population of 78,336. The Central Maluku Regency, with its capital at Masohi, includes the part of Ceram. Seram has been associated with the animism of the indigenous Alfur. Today, however, most of the population of Seram today is either Muslim or Christian due to conversion and immigration
43.
Halmahera
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Halmahera, formerly known as Jilolo, Gilolo, or Jailolo, is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku province of Indonesia and Sofifi, the capital of the province, is located on the west coast of the island. Halmahera has an area of 17,780 km2 and a population in 1995 of 162,728. Approximately half of the inhabitants are Muslim and half are Christian. Sparsely-populated Halmaheras fortunes have long been tied to those of the smaller islands of Ternate and Tidore. These islands were both the sites of major kingdoms in the era before Dutch East India Company colonized the entire archipelago, during World War II, Halmahera was the site of a Japanese naval base at Kao Bay. Thousands of people on Halmahera were killed in the fighting between religious militias, in June 2000, about five hundred people were killed when a ferry carrying refugees from the fighting on Halmahera sank off the northeast tip of Sulawesi island. Conspiracy theories about this event abound, a memorial to this tragedy can be found in Duma village in North Halmahera district. Particularly since the inauguration of the first ever directly elected Bupati, as it is surrounded by flat land, Tobelo has the potential for expansion. Ternate is limited by its size, being an island which can be driven around in forty-five minutes. Also, in 2010 the provincial government has moved the capital from Ternate City to Sofifi. North Maluku Province consists of seven regencies and two municipalities,6 of which include a part of Halmahera island. The regencies are, North Halmahera, West Halmahera, East Halmahera, Central Halmahera, South Hamahera, Ternate Municipality, Tidore City and Islands, Morotai, only Ternate Municipality, Morotai and Sula Islands do not include any part of Halmahera. The volcanic island lies on an arc that includes the Raja Ampat Islands, all uplifted by the northward migration of the continent of Australia. Dukono is a volcano at the north end of the island. Mount Ibu is a volcano on the islands northwest coast. The flightless invisible rail is endemic to the island, the naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace visited Halmahera, as described in his 1869 book The Malay Archipelago. He considered the bird of paradise, Semioptera wallacei, to be his greatest prize
44.
Philippines
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The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is a sovereign island country in Southeast Asia situated in the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of about 7,641 islands that are categorized broadly under three main geographical divisions from north to south, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, the capital city of the Philippines is Manila and the most populous city is Quezon City, both part of Metro Manila. The Philippines has an area of 300,000 square kilometers, and it is the eighth-most populated country in Asia and the 12th most populated country in the world. As of 2013, approximately 10 million additional Filipinos lived overseas, multiple ethnicities and cultures are found throughout the islands. In prehistoric times, Negritos were some of the archipelagos earliest inhabitants and they were followed by successive waves of Austronesian peoples. Exchanges with Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Islamic nations occurred, then, various competing maritime states were established under the rule of Datus, Rajahs, Sultans or Lakans. The arrival of Ferdinand Magellan in Homonhon, Eastern Samar in 1521 marked the beginning of Hispanic colonization, in 1543, Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos named the archipelago Las Islas Filipinas in honor of Philip II of Spain. With the arrival of Miguel López de Legazpi from Mexico City, in 1565, the Philippines became part of the Spanish Empire for more than 300 years. This resulted in Roman Catholicism becoming the dominant religion, during this time, Manila became the western hub of the trans-Pacific trade connecting Asia with Acapulco in the Americas using Manila galleons. Aside from the period of Japanese occupation, the United States retained sovereignty over the islands until after World War II, since then, the Philippines has often had a tumultuous experience with democracy, which included the overthrow of a dictatorship by a non-violent revolution. It is a member of the United Nations, World Trade Organization, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. It also hosts the headquarters of the Asian Development Bank, the Philippines was named in honor of King Philip II of Spain. Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos, during his expedition in 1542, named the islands of Leyte, eventually the name Las Islas Filipinas would be used to cover all the islands of the archipelago. Before that became commonplace, other such as Islas del Poniente. The official name of the Philippines has changed several times in the course of its history, during the Philippine Revolution, the Malolos Congress proclaimed the establishment of the República Filipina or the Philippine Republic. From the 1898 Treaty of Paris, the name Philippines began to appear, since the end of World War II, the official name of the country has been the Republic of the Philippines. The metatarsal of the Callao Man, reliably dated by uranium-series dating to 67,000 years ago is the oldest human remnant found in the archipelago to date and this distinction previously belonged to the Tabon Man of Palawan, carbon-dated to around 26,500 years ago. Negritos were also among the archipelagos earliest inhabitants, but their first settlement in the Philippines has not been reliably dated, there are several opposing theories regarding the origins of ancient Filipinos
45.
Finschhafen
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Finschhafen is a town located 80 kilometers east of Lae on the Huon Peninsula in Morobe Province of Papua New Guinea. The town is commonly misspelt as Finschafen or Finschaven, during World War II, the town was also referred to as Fitch Haven in the logs of some U. S. Navy men. The area was charted by the British navigator Captain John Moresby in 1873–74, Finschhafen was surveyed in 1884 by the German scientist and explorer, Otto Finsch who gave his name to the town. A town was built in 1885 as part of the colony of German New Guinea and was named after the discoverer, in 1886, Johann Flierl and two other Lutheran missionaries settled in the area, creating a Mission station at Simbang. A malaria epidemic in 1891 caused the town to be abandoned by the German plantation owners and it was resettled afterward and was claimed by the Germans in 1894. It was finally abandoned in 1901, Finschhafen was occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army on 10 March 1942 during World War II. Australian forces recaptured the town during the Huon Peninsula campaign on 2 October 1943, Finschhafen District Battle of Finschhafen MV Rabaul Queen Pacific Wrecks information
46.
Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport
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Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport, also known as Tacloban City Airport, is an airport serving the general area of Tacloban, a highly urbanized city on Leyte island in the Philippines. It is the gateway from Manila and Cebu to the Eastern Visayas Region in central east Philippines. As of 2013, Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport is ranked as the eighth busiest airport by passenger volume out of the 45 commercial airports in the Philippines, the airport is named after Daniel Z. Romualdez, a former speaker of the Philippine House of Representatives. On 8 November 2013, the airport was destroyed due to the onslaught of Typhoon Haiyan. First known as San Jose Airstrip, after the village where it is located, after World War II, when the airport was converted for use in commercial aviation, it became known popularly as Tacloban National Airport. The airport was given its current name in honor of Daniel Z. Romualdez and he was the uncle of Imelda Romualdez Marcos, the wife of president Ferdinand E. Marcos. On 7–8 November 2013, Typhoon Haiyan roared through Tacloban and the Eastern Visayas Region, the Tacloban Airport was effectively destroyed by winds averaging to 195 mph and a 13 ft storm surge. The airport terminal and the tower were utterly demolished. However, on 11 November, the airport reopened, but for turboprop aircraft only, the airport has now since been reopened again to A320s regularly serving the airport. Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport includes a terminal building, a communications tower. The single-story terminal building consists of the departure and arrival area, the departure area has one boarding gate, scanners, and a souvenir counter. The arrival area consists of a baggage carousel, and a porters assistance desk. The communications tower is located on the east end of the terminal building and it serves as the main communications facility of the airport. The administrative building houses the offices of airport staff and the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, access to the airport from central Tacloban is served by the jeepney services on the Downtown-San Jose-Airport route, from Marasbaras route, and the service from nearby Palo. A new terminal building has been proposed by the city government of Tacloban, the new terminal, which would cost 300 to 350 million pesos, will be built through a Build-Operate-Transfer scheme. Around 500 million pesos was allocated for the construction, with the city government collecting a share of current terminal fees to shoulder its expenses in constructing the new terminal. On 13 September 2012, the Budget department has released P4.6 billion to support the public-private partnership projects of the Department of Transportation and Communications. Of the total, Tacloban City Airport will receive P800 million to help it accommodate the air traffic by developing the terminal building
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