The Aircraft Manufacturing Company Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer operating from 1912 to 1920. Airco produced thousands of aircraft for the British military during the First World War, most of which were designed by their chief designer, Geoffrey de Havilland. Advertised in 1918 as the largest aircraft company in the world, Airco established the first airline in the United Kingdom, Aircraft Transport and Travel Limited, as a subsidiary. A glut of war surplus aircraft and a lack of government interest in aviation caused the company to become unprofitable, in 1920 it was sold to Birmingham Small Arms Company, who had its operations liquidated that year. Airco was established in 1912 by George Holt Thomas at The Hyde in north London, England. Two years learning that Geoffrey de Havilland, at the Royal Aircraft Factory in Farnborough, might be available, Holt Thomas invited de Havilland to join Airco as chief designer. De Havilland's Airco designs were to provide around 30% of all trainers and bombers used by Britain and the United States during the First World War.

De Havilland's designs for Airco were marked with his initials "DH". Their pusher configuration fighter DH.2 of 1916 helped to end the "Fokker scourge" of 1915. Notable aircraft designed and built by Airco during the war included the DH.6 trainer, of which more than 2,280 examples were built, the DH.4 and DH.9 light bombers. These types, the DH.9A, a developed version that served for many years with the postwar Royal Air Force, formed the basis of early de Havilland designed airliners, including the company's DH.16 and DH.18 types which were operated by Aircraft Transport and Travel Limited, the first airline established in the United Kingdom owned by George Holt Thomas. Flight Magazine reported in 1920 that during the period from August 1914 to November 1918 the D. H. Airco machines built in Great Britain and the United States of America comprised 30 per cent of the total output of aeroplanes of these two allies. William Taylor Birchenough worked as test pilot for the company from August 1914.

By December 1918, Holt Thomas claimed in an advertisement that Airco was the largest aircraft company in the world and was building aeroplanes and propellors in large numbers, as well as airships and flying boats. The engines being built included licensed production of Le Rhone rotary engines; the company's works at Hendon employed between 7,000 and 8,000 people and had the latest metal-working machinery, a materials testing laboratory, a wind tunnel. Airco was completing on average a new aircraft every 45 minutes. Aircraft Transport and Travel, a subsidiary of Airco, started the world's first regular daily international service on 25 August 1919, between Hounslow Heath Aerodrome and Le Bourget. DH.16s were used for this service. Following the cessation of hostilities, the large number of war-surplus machines, sharp fluctuations in business confidence, the government's failure, unlike those of USA and France, to provide any form of support, Airco became unprofitable. Thomas endeavoured to sell Airco to a car manufacturer.

Airco and BSA, parent company of Daimler, announced on 1 March 1920 that Airco had amalgamated with Birmingham Small Arms Company. Within days BSA discovered. Thomas was removed from his new seat on the BSA board and all BSA's new acquisitions were placed in liquidation. BSA failed to pay a dividend for the following four years. With help from Thomas, de Havilland bought the group's assets he needed to form the de Havilland Aircraft Company in 1920. Aircraft Transport and Travel had been allowed to continue to operate until December 1920. BSA bought Aircraft Transport and Travel's aircraft from the liquidator and, in early 1921, established Daimler Airway and Daimler Air Hire under Daimler Hire Limited's Frank Searle. Airco DH.1: – Two-seat biplane fighter with single pusher propeller Airco DH.1A - Around 70 built with Beardmore engines. Airco DH.2 – Single-seat biplane fighter with single pusher propeller Airco DH.3 – Two-engine biplane bomber. Two prototypes only built. Airco DH.4 – Two-seat biplane day bomber with single tractor propeller Airco DH.4A Civil version.

Built in the United Kingdom. Two passengers in glazed cabin behind pilot. Airco DH.4R Single seat racer - 450 hp Napier Lion engine. Airco DH.5 – Single-seat biplane fighter with single tractor propeller Airco DH.6 – Two-seat biplane training aircraft with single tractor propeller Airco DH.9 – Two-seat biplane day bomber with single tractor propeller. Airco DH.9A - development of DH.9 with Liberty engine Airco DH.9C - conversion of DH.9 as passenger aircraft Airco DH.10 Amiens – Two-engine biplane bomber. First prototype used pusher propeller. Manufactured by Daimler. DH.11 Oxford Variant of DH.10 with radial engines. One prototype built. Airco DH.16 - redesign of DH.9A with cabin for four passengers. Used as airliner Airco DH.18 – Single-engine biplane airliner. Cabin for eight passengers

The Azores the Autonomous Region of the Azores, is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal. It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atlantic Ocean, about 1,360 km west of continental Portugal, about 1,500 km west of Lisbon, in continental Portugal, about 1,500 km northwest of Morocco, about 2,500 km southeast of Newfoundland, Canada, its main industries are agriculture, dairy farming, livestock and tourism, becoming the major service activity in the region. In addition, the government of the Azores employs a large percentage of the population directly or indirectly in the service and tertiary sectors; the main city of the Azores is Ponta Delgada. There are an islet cluster, in three main groups; these are Corvo, to the west. They lie in a northwest-southeast direction. All the islands have volcanic origins, although some, such as Santa Maria, have had no recorded activity since the islands were settled. Mount Pico, on the island of Pico, is the highest point in Portugal, at 2,351 m.

If measured from their base at the bottom of the ocean to their peaks, which thrust high above the surface of the Atlantic, the Azores are some of the tallest mountains on the planet. The climate of the Azores is mild for such a northerly location, being influenced by its distance from the continents and by the passing Gulf Stream. Due to the marine influence, temperatures remain mild year-round. Daytime temperatures fluctuate between 16 °C and 25 °C depending on season. Temperatures above 30 °C or below 3 °C are unknown in the major population centres, it is generally wet and cloudy. The culture, dialect and traditions of the Azorean islands vary because these remote islands were settled sporadically over a span of two centuries. A small number of alleged hypogea, earthen structures carved into rocks that were used for burials, have been identified on the islands of Corvo, Santa Maria and Terceira by Portuguese archaeologist Nuno Ribeiro, who speculated that they might date back 2000 years, implying a human presence on the island before the Portuguese.

These kinds of structures have been used in the Azores to store cereals and suggestions by Ribeiro that they might be burial sites are unconfirmed. Detailed examination and dating to authenticate the validity of these speculations is lacking, thus it is unclear whether these structures are natural or man-made and whether they predate the 15th-century Portuguese colonization of the Azores; the islands were known in the fourteenth century, parts of them appear in the Catalan Atlas. In 1427, a captain sailing for Prince Henry the Navigator Gonçalo Velho, may have rediscovered the Azores, but this is not certain. In Thomas Ashe's 1813 work, A History of the Azores, the author identified a Fleming, Joshua Vander Berg of Bruges, who made landfall in the archipelago during a storm on his way to Lisbon, he stated that the Portuguese claimed it for Portugal. Other stories note the discovery of the first islands by sailors in the service of Henry the Navigator, although there are few documents to support the claims.

Although it is said that the archipelago received its name from açor, a common bird at the time of discovery, it is unlikely that the bird nested or hunted on the islands. There were no large animals on Santa Maria, so after its discovery and before settlement began, sheep were let loose on the island to supply future settlers with food. Settlement did not take place however. Portuguese people weren't interested in living on an isolated archipelago so far from civilization. Gonçalo Velho Cabral patiently gathered resources and settlers for the next three years and sailed to establish colonies, first on Santa Maria and on São Miguel. Settlers cleared bush and rocks to plant crops: grain, grape vines, sugar cane, other plants suitable for local use and of commercial value, they brought domesticated animals, such as chickens, cattle, sheep and pigs, built houses and established villages. The archipelago was settled from mainland Portugal. Portuguese settlers came from the provinces of Algarve, Minho and Ribatejo as well as Madeira.

São Miguel was first settled in 1449, the settlers – from the Estremadura, Alto Alentejo and Algarve areas of mainland Portugal, under the command of Gonçalo Velho Cabral – landed at the site of modern-day Povoação. Many of the early settlers were Portuguese Sephardic Jews who were banished/exiled there by the inquisition on mainland Portugal - many had well known Sephardic surnames such as: Pereira, Cardoso, Pinto, Mendes, or Nunes. In 1522, Vila Franca do Campo the capital of the island, was devastated by an earthquake and landslide that killed about 5,000 people, the capital was moved to Ponta Delgada; the town of Vila Franca do Campo was rebuilt on the original site and today is a thriving fishing and yachting port. Ponta Delgada received its city status in 1546. From the first settlement, the pioneers applied themselves to agriculture and by the 15th century Graciosa exported wheat, barley and brandy; the goods were sent to Terceira because of the proximity of the island. The first reference to the island of

The Royal Queensland Art Society is an organisation for practicing artists and those who appreciate art in Queensland, Australia. It is the oldest art society in Queensland. A meeting was held in the Brisbane School of Arts on Thursday 4 August 1887 to propose the establishment of an art society in Queensland to be called the Queensland Art Society, it had nine initial members. The Queensland Premier Samuel Griffith was the inaugural president and Edgar Walker was the vice-president. Other members included Oscar Fristrom and Louis Wilhelm Carl Wirth; the society held its first annual art exhibition in August 1888 at the Masonic Hall in Alice Street in conjunction with the Brisbane Exhibition. The exhibition consisted of about 200 works by local professional and amateur artists and supplemented by works of other artists loaned by the public, it was opened by the wife of Queensland Governor Anthony Musgrave. The newspaper review was somewhat mixed, making positive remarks about some works, but criticising the local artists of making too copies of famous works and painting British landscapes rather than creating original works of local subject matter.

Some letters to the newspapers were critical. The society received the Royal Warrant in 1926

Jessica Brando is an Italian singer. Born in Grosseto, Jessica started singing at the age of five, studying for her own fun on great singers from the past like Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington and many others, she started her first band with some teenage friends. Jessica won various local singing contests and jazz, including a scholarship for the Cinecittà Studios. In 2005, she won a scholarship for the Washington School Of Ballet in the United States. At nine years old she was admitted to the Modern Dance Academy of Kledi in Rome. At thirteen she sang for the Pope, John Paul II and appeared on the TV show Il Senso della Vita singing with a band full of Italian jazz superstars, she attended Liceo classico in Grosseto and studied piano at Conservatorio. In 2008, she signed a deal with EMI Music Italy. Jessica completed the recording for her debut EP in 2009, which includes four cover versions revisited in a personal way. On 12 January 2010 was admitted to the Sanremo Music Festival in the category New Generation with the song Dove non-ci sono ore, written by the singer Valeria Rossi.

Brando did not win the final. On 8 May 2010 on the stage of TRL live from Porto Antico in Genoa on MTV Italy, she launched her single Il colore del cuore, accompanied by his band: Daniela Mornati, Francesco Tringali, Giacomo Tagliavia, Andrea Chircoff. On 12 May, it was shot the official video of the song; the single was included in the album Dimmi cosa sogni, released on 13 July 2010. Jessica Brando, 2009, EMI Music. Dimmi cosa sogni, 2010, EMI Music. Time Is Running 2009, EMI Music. Stop and Stare, 2009, EMI Music. Dove non ci sono ore, 2010, EMI Music. Il colore 2010, EMI Music. Dimmi cosa sogni, 2010, EMI Music. Nel blu dipinto di blu, 2012, EMI Music. Sei feat. Davide Dileo, 2012, EMI Music

Sedgefield is a town and civil parish in County Durham, England. It had a population of 5,211 as at the 2011 census. A Roman'ladder settlement' was discovered by Channel Four's Time Team programme in 2003, in fields just to the west of Sedgefield, it consisted of rows of crofts and workshops on either side of a north-south trackway, which could be securely dated by the many finds of Roman coins. St Edmund's church in Sedgefield is noted for its ornate 17th-century Cosin woodwork, unique to County Durham after the furnishings in Brancepeth were destroyed in a fire; the 18th century saw the architect James Paine commissioned by John Burdon in 1754 to design and construct a Palladian estate at nearby Hardwick Hall. The building work was never completed as Burdon went bankrupt, but sufficient landscaping was done to form the basis of the now renovated Hardwick Hall Country Park; the 19th-century South African politician and industrialist Henry Barrington was born in Sedgefield, actions by his offspring indirectly led to the South African town of Sedgefield, Western Cape being named in honour of his birthplace.

In the 19th century, Sedgefield was a great hunting centre, dubbed'the Melton of the North'. Hunter Ralph Lambton had his headquarters at Sedgefield: the humorous writer, Robert Smith Surtees, who lived at Hamsterley Hall, was a friend of his. On 23 February 1815, Lord Darlington wrote:'Mr Ralph Lambton was out with some gentlemen from Sedgefield, a most immense field.' Sedgefield was known in the area because of Winterton Hospital. This was an asylum; the site was like a village itself with its own fire station and cricket team. Today, little trace is left of the hospital, apart from the church, now surrounded by the Winterton housing estate and the NETPark Science park. Sedgefield is twinned with Germany; the parish of St Edmund was founded by Bishop Cutheard, around AD 900. The Normans replaced the original wooden church with the present stone building with rounded arches and the present church was built between 1246 and 1256, in Norman times, to replace the original wooden church, with additions.

The tower was added in the 15th century by Robert Rodes. The church contains 17th century woodwork. Ceddesfeld Hall was the rectory to the church, built after the first rectory burnt down. A Latin inscription above the door states, "By the generosity of Samuel and Shute Barrington, one an Admiral of the Fleet, the other Bishop of Durham, whose achievements are praised by everyone." The hall was rebuilt by the Barringtons, for their nephew, the rector. The grounds, now a public area, were laid out in the mid-18th century to a design by Joseph Spence; the Manor House occupies a prominent position at the head of the green. With three storeys it is a fine example of Queen Anne style architecture. Built in 1707, as the sundial on the house proclaims, the house was part of the Hardwick Estate, until 1923; the house has been restored and is used as a venue for weddings and events as well as being a business hub. The Parish Hall was founded in 1849 as the Institute of Literature and Science, but rebuilt as a Mechanics Institute.

The hall was extensively refurbished in 2008, continues to host a wide range of social events and entertainment. The 700th anniversary of the granting of Sedgefield's market charter took place in 2012; the market was held on Cross Hill from 1312 until 1918. The original market cross was removed during the 19th century, but was replaced in 2012 with a modern version, produced by a local designer. A farmers' market is held on the village green on the second Sunday of every month. Sedgefield has attracted particular attention as the Member of Parliament for the wider Sedgefield constituency was the former Prime Minister Tony Blair. During November 2003, Sedgefield was visited by the American president George W. Bush during a state visit, he visited a local pub, as well as the local secondary school. This event was preceded by high-intensity security, which included fastening down manhole covers and drains, closing the centre of the village to all traffic. An anti-war protest coincided with his visit.

There are two primary schools in Sedgefield, Sedgefield Hardwick and Sedgefield County Primaries, the secondary school, Sedgefield Community College. A Shrove Tuesday Ball Game still is an example of Mob Football. A recent statue was erected to commemorate the yearly event. Another popular annual event is the Mediaeval Fair, which takes place in mid-May, brings the local community and surrounding areas into the closed central streets of Sedgefield, to participate in fun fair rides, medieval-themed activities. Sedgefield is home to a Grade II Listed historic coaching inn, presently the Hardwick Arms Hotel. There are a number of sporting venues and organisations in Sedgefield, the most famous of, Sedgefield Racecourse, a regional thoroughbred horse-racing venue. There have been horse races since as early as 1732, in 1846 recognised meetings began. Sedgefield Cricket Club is situated on the outskirts of the town on Station Road; the ground was donated to the people of Sedgefield around the turn of the nineteenth century and is home to a number of senior and junior teams.

Reformed in 2007, Sedgefield District RUFC are a small club, based at the cricket club, with their own pitch on grounds overlooking Hardwick East, the first XV play in Durham/North

Rachael Alexis Adams is an American indoor volleyball player, a member of the United States women's national volleyball team and Italian club Monza, a participant of the 2016 Summer Olympics, bronze medalist of the 2016 Olympic Games, a gold medalist of the 2014 World Championship. She played college volleyball at University of Texas at Austin. Adams was part of the USA national team that won the 2014 World Championship gold medal when the team defeated China 3-1 in the final match. Adams was awarded among the Best Middle Blockers along with the Brazilian Thaísa Menezes during the 2016 World Grand Prix. With her team Eczacıbaşı VitrA, she won the gold medal at the 2016 FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship. Adams won the 2016–17 CEV Champions League bronze medal with Eczacıbaşı VitrA when her team defeated the Russian Dinamo Moscow 3-0 and she was awarded Best Middle Blocker. At the end of season 2017-2018 she will play in Italian A1 league. 2016 World Grand Prix "Best Middle Blocker" 2016-17 CEV Champions League "Best Middle Blocker" 2016–17 CEV Champions League - Bronze Medal, with Eczacıbaşı VitrA Adams' official bio at USA Volleyball Texas Longhorns bio