1.
NASA
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President Dwight D. Eisenhower established NASA in 1958 with a distinctly civilian orientation encouraging peaceful applications in space science. The National Aeronautics and Space Act was passed on July 29,1958, disestablishing NASAs predecessor, the new agency became operational on October 1,1958. Since that time, most US space exploration efforts have led by NASA, including the Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station. Currently, NASA is supporting the International Space Station and is overseeing the development of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, the agency is also responsible for the Launch Services Program which provides oversight of launch operations and countdown management for unmanned NASA launches. NASA shares data with various national and international such as from the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite. Since 2011, NASA has been criticized for low cost efficiency, from 1946, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics had been experimenting with rocket planes such as the supersonic Bell X-1. In the early 1950s, there was challenge to launch a satellite for the International Geophysical Year. An effort for this was the American Project Vanguard, after the Soviet launch of the worlds first artificial satellite on October 4,1957, the attention of the United States turned toward its own fledgling space efforts. This led to an agreement that a new federal agency based on NACA was needed to conduct all non-military activity in space. The Advanced Research Projects Agency was created in February 1958 to develop technology for military application. On July 29,1958, Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, a NASA seal was approved by President Eisenhower in 1959. Elements of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency and the United States Naval Research Laboratory were incorporated into NASA, earlier research efforts within the US Air Force and many of ARPAs early space programs were also transferred to NASA. In December 1958, NASA gained control of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA has conducted many manned and unmanned spaceflight programs throughout its history. Some missions include both manned and unmanned aspects, such as the Galileo probe, which was deployed by astronauts in Earth orbit before being sent unmanned to Jupiter, the experimental rocket-powered aircraft programs started by NACA were extended by NASA as support for manned spaceflight. This was followed by a space capsule program, and in turn by a two-man capsule program. This goal was met in 1969 by the Apollo program, however, reduction of the perceived threat and changing political priorities almost immediately caused the termination of most of these plans. NASA turned its attention to an Apollo-derived temporary space laboratory, to date, NASA has launched a total of 166 manned space missions on rockets, and thirteen X-15 rocket flights above the USAF definition of spaceflight altitude,260,000 feet. The X-15 was an NACA experimental rocket-powered hypersonic research aircraft, developed in conjunction with the US Air Force, the design featured a slender fuselage with fairings along the side containing fuel and early computerized control systems
2.
Astronaut
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An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft. Although generally reserved for professional space travelers, the terms are applied to anyone who travels into space, including scientists, politicians, journalists. Starting in the 1950s up to 2002, astronauts were sponsored and trained exclusively by governments, with the suborbital flight of the privately funded SpaceShipOne in 2004, a new category of astronaut was created, the commercial astronaut. The criteria for what constitutes human spaceflight vary, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale Sporting Code for astronautics recognizes only flights that exceed an altitude of 100 kilometers. In the United States, professional, military, and commercial astronauts who travel above an altitude of 50 miles are awarded astronaut wings. As of 17 November 2016, a total of 552 people from 36 countries have reached 100 km or more in altitude, of which 549 reached low Earth orbit or beyond. Of these,24 people have traveled beyond Low Earth orbit, to either lunar or trans-lunar orbit or to the surface of the moon, the three astronauts who have not reached low Earth orbit are spaceplane pilots Joe Walker, Mike Melvill, and Brian Binnie. As of 17 November 2016, under the U. S. definition 558 people qualify as having reached space, of eight X-15 pilots who exceeded 50 miles in altitude, only one exceeded 100 kilometers. Space travelers have spent over 41,790 man-days in space, as of 2016, the man with the longest cumulative time in space is Gennady Padalka, who has spent 879 days in space. Peggy A. Whitson holds the record for the most time in space by a woman,377 days, dryden preferred cosmonaut, on the grounds that flights would occur in the cosmos, while the astro prefix suggested flight to the stars. Most NASA Space Task Group members preferred astronaut, which survived by common usage as the preferred American term, when the Soviet Union launched the first man into space, Yuri Gagarin in 1961, they chose a term which anglicizes to cosmonaut. In English-speaking nations, a space traveler is called an astronaut. The term derives from the Greek words ástron, meaning star, the first known use of the term astronaut in the modern sense was by Neil R. Jones in his short story The Deaths Head Meteor in 1930. The word itself had been known earlier, for example, in Percy Gregs 1880 book Across the Zodiac, astronaut referred to a spacecraft. In Les Navigateurs de lInfini of J. -H, rosny aîné, the word astronautique was used. The word may have inspired by aeronaut, an older term for an air traveler first applied to balloonists. An early use in a publication is Eric Frank Russells poem The Astronaut in the November 1934 Bulletin of the British Interplanetary Society. NASA applies the term astronaut to any crew member aboard NASA spacecraft bound for Earth orbit or beyond, NASA also uses the term as a title for those selected to join its Astronaut Corps
3.
Weatherford, Oklahoma
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Weatherford is a city in Custer County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 10,833 at the 2010 census, Weatherford is located at 35°32′18″N 98°41′14″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 5.8 square miles. By 1900, the population was 1,017. The towns original post office was located two miles north of town, on William John and Lorinda Powell Weatherfords homestead. Lorinda Weatherford served as its postmaster and namesake, in its early years, farming and ranching provided the major economic base, with corn, cotton, and maize the major crops. Additionally, a plant, a cement plant, and a broom factory provided jobs as well as supplies for early residents. As of the census of 2015, there were 12,126 people,3,991 households, the population density was 1,699.3 people per square mile. There were 4,468 housing units at a density of 770.1 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 73. 7% White,4. 9% African American,2. 3% Native American,1. 4% Asian,0. 03% Pacific Islander,1. 76% from other races, and 6. 6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 10. 8% of the population,31. 6% of all households were made up of individuals and 8. 3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.27 and the family size was 2.96. In the city, the population was out with 19. 8% under the age of 18,32. 1% from 18 to 24,22. 4% from 25 to 44,16. 2% from 45 to 64. The median age was 24 years, for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.2 males. The median income for a household in the city was $26,908, males had a median income of $29,683 versus $20,833 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,046, about 11. 8% of families and 21. 7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19. 1% of those under age 18 and 11. 8% of those age 65 or over. Weatherford is the home of a Kodak manufacturing plant as well as a hub for multiple oil, Weatherford is the hometown of astronaut Thomas P. Stafford, veteran of four space flights and commander of the Gemini 9, Apollo 10 missions and the Apollo-Soyuz project. The museum is located at the Thomas P. Stafford Airport, Weatherford also has another museum called The Heartland Museum
4.
Alma mater
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Alma mater is an allegorical Latin phrase for a university or college. In modern usage, it is a school or university which an individual has attended, the phrase is variously translated as nourishing mother, nursing mother, or fostering mother, suggesting that a school provides intellectual nourishment to its students. Before its modern usage, Alma mater was a title in Latin for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele. The source of its current use is the motto, Alma Mater Studiorum, of the oldest university in continuous operation in the Western world and it is related to the term alumnus, denoting a university graduate, which literally means a nursling or one who is nourished. The phrase can also denote a song or hymn associated with a school, although alma was a common epithet for Ceres, Cybele, Venus, and other mother goddesses, it was not frequently used in conjunction with mater in classical Latin. Alma Redemptoris Mater is a well-known 11th century antiphon devoted to Mary, the earliest documented English use of the term to refer to a university is in 1600, when University of Cambridge printer John Legate began using an emblem for the universitys press. In English etymological reference works, the first university-related usage is often cited in 1710, many historic European universities have adopted Alma Mater as part of the Latin translation of their official name. The University of Bologna Latin name, Alma Mater Studiorum, refers to its status as the oldest continuously operating university in the world. At least one, the Alma Mater Europaea in Salzburg, Austria, the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, has been called the Alma Mater of the Nation because of its ties to the founding of the United States. At Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, the ancient Roman world had many statues of the Alma Mater, some still extant. Modern sculptures are found in prominent locations on several American university campuses, outside the United States, there is an Alma Mater sculpture on the steps of the monumental entrance to the Universidad de La Habana, in Havana, Cuba. Media related to Alma mater at Wikimedia Commons The dictionary definition of alma mater at Wiktionary Alma Mater Europaea website
5.
United States Naval Academy
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The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland, United States. The entire campus is a National Historic Landmark and home to historic sites, buildings. It replaced Philadelphia Naval Asylum, in Philadelphia, that served as the first United States Naval Academy from 1838 to 1845 when the Naval Academy formed in Annapolis. Candidates for admission generally must both apply directly to the academy and receive a nomination, usually from a Member of Congress, students are officers-in-training and are referred to as midshipmen. Tuition for midshipmen is fully funded by the Navy in exchange for an active duty service obligation upon graduation, approximately 1,200 plebes enter the Academy each summer for the rigorous Plebe Summer, but only about 1,000 midshipmen graduate. The United States Naval Academy has some of the highest paid graduates in the according to starting salary. Midshipmen are required to adhere to the academys Honor Concept, the United States Naval Academys campus is located in Annapolis, Maryland, at the confluence of the Severn River and the Chesapeake Bay. In its 2016 edition, U. S. News & World Report ranked the U. S. Naval Academy as the No.1 public liberal arts college and tied for the 9th best overall liberal arts college in the U. S. In the category of High School Counselor Rankings of National Liberal Arts Colleges, Military Academy and the U. S. Air Force Academy, and is tied for the No.5 spot for Best Undergraduate Engineering program at schools where doctorates not offered. In 2016, Forbes ranked the U. S. Naval Academy as No.24 overall in its report Americas Top Colleges, nominations may be made by members of and delegates to Congress, the President or Vice-President, the Secretary of the Navy or certain other sources. Candidates must also pass a fitness test and a thorough medical exam as part of the application process. In the 21st century, there have been about 1,200 students in each new class of plebes, the U. S. government pays for tuition, room, and board. Midshipmen receive monthly pay of $1,017.00, as of 2015, from this amount, pay is automatically deducted for the cost of uniforms, books, supplies, services, and other miscellaneous expenses. Midshipmen only receive a portion of their pay in cash while the rest is released during firstie year. Midshipmen fourth-class to midshipmen second-class receive monthly stipends of $100, $200, $300, Midshipmen first-class receive the difference between pay and outstanding expenses. Students at the academy are addressed as Midshipman, an official military rank. The same term comprises both males and females, upon graduation, most naval academy midshipmen are commissioned as ensigns in the Navy or second lieutenants in the Marine Corps and serve a minimum of five years after their commissioning. If they are selected to serve as a pilot, they will serve 8–11 years minimum from their date of winging, Foreign midshipmen are commissioned into the armed forces of their native countries
6.
Lieutenant general (United States)
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In the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, and the United States Air Force, lieutenant general is a three-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-9. Lieutenant general ranks above major general and below general, Lieutenant general is equivalent to the rank of vice admiral in the other uniformed services. The United States Code explicitly limits the number of generals that may be concurrently active to 230 for the Army,60 for the Marine Corps. For the Army and Air Force, no more than about 25% of the active duty general officers may have more than two stars. Some of these slots can be reserved by statute, officers serving in certain intelligence positions are not counted against either limit, including the Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. The President may also add three-star slots to one if they are offset by removing an equivalent number from other services. Finally, all statutory limits may be waived at the presidents discretion during time of war or national emergency, the Superintendent of the United States Military Academy is almost always a U. S. Army lieutenant general, either upon appointment or shortly thereafter. The three-star grade goes hand-in-hand with the position of office to which it is linked, officers may only achieve three-star grade if they are appointed to positions that require the officer to hold such a rank. Their rank expires with the expiration of their term of office, the nominee must be confirmed via majority vote by the Senate before the appointee can take office and thus assume the rank. The standard tour length for most lieutenant general positions is three years but some are set four or more years by statute, some statutory limits under the U. S. Code can be waived in times of national emergency or war. Three-star ranks may also be given by act of Congress but this is extremely rare, other than voluntary retirement, statute sets a number of mandates for retirement. Lieutenant generals must retire after 38 years of service unless appointed for promotion or reappointed to grade to serve longer, otherwise all general officers must retire the month after their 64th birthday. However, the Secretary of Defense can defer a three-star officers retirement until the officers 66th birthday, General officers typically retire well in advance of the statutory age and service limits, so as not to impede the upward career mobility of their juniors. Since there is a number of three-star slots available to each service. Additionally, lieutenant generals of all services serve as staff officers at various major command headquarters and The Pentagon. Currently, five women serve as lieutenant generals in the US Army, in theory, a general vacates their three or four-star rank at termination of their assignment unless placed in an equal ranking billet. Douglas MacArthur, who served as general and Army Chief of Staff. Even with the status, such officers are also almost always granted permanent retirement in the last grade they held with the satisfactory completion of at least two or three years in grade
7.
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
8.
Gemini 6A
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Gemini 6A was a 1965 manned United States spaceflight in NASAs Gemini program. The mission achieved the first manned rendezvous with another spacecraft, its sister Gemini 7, Gemini 6A was the fifth manned Gemini flight, the 13th manned American flight, and the 21st manned spaceflight of all time. It was to land in the western Atlantic Ocean south of Bermuda, the mission was to include four dockings with the Agena Target Vehicle. The first docking was scheduled for five hours and forty minutes into the mission, the second was scheduled for seven hours and forty-five minutes, the third at nine hours and forty minutes, and the fourth and final docking at ten hours and five minutes into the mission. The final undocking would take place at 18 hours and 20 minutes into the mission, at 23 hours and 55 minutes into the mission, while the spacecraft passed over White Sands, New Mexico, the crew was to attempt to observe a laser beam originating from the ground. The retrorockets were scheduled to be fired at 46 hours and 10 minutes into the mission over the Pacific Ocean on the 29th orbit. Original mission plans also included the first live coverage of the recovery of a US spacecraft at sea from the recovery ship. The Wasp was fitted with ground station equipment by ITT to relay live television, on October 25,1965, Schirra and Stafford boarded their Gemini 6 craft to prepare for launch. Fifteen minutes later, the unmanned Atlas-Agena target vehicle was launched, after a successful burn of the Atlas booster, the Agenas secondary engines fired to separate it from the Atlas. But immediately after the Agenas primary engine fired at the six minute mark in its flight, a catastrophic failure apparently caused the vehicle to explode, as Range Safety was tracking multiple pieces of debris falling into the Atlantic Ocean. After 50 minutes, the Gemini launch was canceled, after reviewing the situation, NASA decided to launch an alternate Gemini 6A mission, eight days after the launch of Gemini 7, which was scheduled as a 14-day ultra long duration mission in December. Gemini 6A would perform the first rendezvous of two spacecraft in orbit, using 7 as the target, though they would not dock, the first attempt to launch the 6A mission was on December 12,1965 at 9,54 a. m. All went well right up to ignition, the engines ignited, however, Schirra did not feel any movement and knew that the booster had not lifted, so he decided to not abort. In addition, the interior had been soaking in pure oxygen for hours. You remember the tragic fire we had at the Cape, jesus, with that fire going off and that, it would have burned the suits. That was another thing, NASA never tested it under the conditions that they would have had if they would have had to eject. They did have some tests at China Lake where they had a simulated mock-up of Gemini capsule and they didnt have it filled full of oxygen in the sled test they had. John Young also recalled witnessing a test of the seats where the test dummy was launched right through the capsule hatch
9.
Gemini 9A
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Gemini 9A was a 1966 manned spaceflight in NASAs Gemini program. It was the 7th manned Gemini flight, the 13th manned American flight, the mission was flown June 3–6,1966 by backup command pilot Thomas P. Stafford and pilot Eugene Cernan. Cernan performed an extravehicular activity, during which he was planned to demonstrate free flight in a self-contained rocket pack. He was unable to accomplish due to stress, fatigue. On February 28,1966, See and Bassett were flying from Texas to inspect the Gemini 9 spacecraft at the McDonnell Aircraft plant in St. Louis, Missouri. As a consequence, the crew was promoted to prime crew. This would later become the crew on Gemini 12 The promotion of Stafford. Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin were originally the backup crew for Gemini 10 and this is significant as the standard crew rotation meant that a spot on the backup crew of Gemini 10 would have placed Buzz Aldrin on the prime crew of the non-existent mission after Gemini 12. Mass,3,750 kilograms Perigee,158.8 kilometers at launch Apogee,266.9 kilometers at launch Inclination,28. 91° Period,88, accomplishment was not possible because of a launch preparation error on the target vehicle. A second objective was a planned extravehicular activity, or space walk, use of the AMU was not achieved due to Cernan experiencing high cardiac stress, overheating, and fatigue during EVA. Gemini 9s Agena Target Vehicle was launched on May 17,1966 on an Atlas launch vehicle, the Atlas malfunctioned in flight, and the ATV failed to reach orbit. This forced the cancellation of the Gemini 9 launch scheduled for later that morning, the Augmented Target Docking Adapter had been designed for use as a contingency for the ATV, which had failed during the original Gemini 6 launch. Built by Gemini spacecraft manufacturer McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, the ATDA replaced the Agena rocket with the control section of a Gemini. It was built using already tested equipment, and successfully launched on June 1,1966 into a 298-kilometer orbit using the Atlas SLV-3 rocket, after launch, telemetry indicated that the launch shroud had failed to open properly. The first launch attempt was scheduled to occur shortly after the ATDA launch, but at T-3 minutes, the ground computers lost contact with the Gemini computers for an unknown reason, and the 40 second launch window opened and closed without launch. This earned Tom Stafford the title of Mayor of Pad 19, the second launch attempt on June 3 went perfectly, with the spacecraft entering into orbit. With this launch, Stafford could say that he had been strapped into a six times for only 2 launches. Stafford made the first thruster burn 49 minutes after launch, to add 22.7 meters per second to their speed, an hour and 35 minutes later, Stafford corrected phase, height, and out-of-plane errors by pointing the spacecraft 40° down, and 3° to the left
10.
Apollo 10
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Apollo 10 was the fourth manned mission in the United States Apollo space program, and the second to orbit the Moon. Launched on May 18,1969, it was the F mission, the Lunar Module followed a descent orbit to within 8.4 nautical miles of the lunar surface, at the point where powered descent for landing would normally begin. Its success enabled the first landing to be attempted on the Apollo 11 mission two months later. According to the 2002 Guinness World Records, Apollo 10 set the record for the highest speed attained by a vehicle,39,897 km/h on May 26,1969. The missions call signs included the names of the Peanuts characters Charlie Brown and Snoopy, Peanuts creator Charles Schulz also drew some mission-related artwork for NASA. Charles M. Duke, Jr. Joseph H. Engle James B. Irwin Jack R. Thomas P. Stafford had flown on Gemini 6 and Gemini 9, John W. Young had flown on Gemini 3 and Gemini 10, and Eugene A. Cernan had flown with Stafford on Gemini 9. In addition, Apollo 10 was the only Saturn V flight from Launch Complex 39B, vehicle on the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project. It was on this flight that John Young became the first human to fly solo around the Moon, the Apollo 10 crew are also the humans who have traveled the farthest away from home, some 408,950 kilometers from their homes and families in Houston. The Apollo 10 crew reached the farthest point in their orbit around the far side of the Moon at about the same time Earths rotation put Houston nearly a full Earth diameter away. By the normal rotation in place during Apollo, the crew would have been scheduled to fly on Apollo 13. However, Alan Shepard was given the Apollo 13 command slot instead, L. Gordon Cooper, Jr. Commander of the Apollo 10 backup crew, was enraged and resigned from NASA. Later, Shepards crew was forced to switch places with Jim Lovells tentative Apollo 14 crew, eisele, despite his issues with management, was always intended for future assignment to the Apollo Applications Program and not a lunar mission. This dress rehearsal for a Moon landing brought the Apollo Lunar Module to 8.4 nautical miles from the lunar surface, at the point where powered descent would begin on the actual landing. Practicing this approach orbit would refine knowledge of the gravitational field needed to calibrate the powered descent guidance system to within 1 nautical mile needed for a landing. Earth-based observations, unmanned spacecraft, and Apollo 8 had respectively allowed calibration to within 200 nautical miles,20 nautical miles, the lowest measured point in the trajectory was 47,400 feet above the lunar surface at 21,29,43 UTC. Apollo 10 was the first mission to carry a television camera inside the spacecraft. After reaching lunar orbit three days later, Young remained in the Command Module Charlie Brown while Stafford and Cernan entered the LM Snoopy and they surveyed the landing site in the Sea of Tranquility, then separated the descent stage and fired the ascent engine to return to Charlie Brown
11.
Distinguished Flying Cross (United States)
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Two of the airmen died in a mid-air collision trying to land at Buenos Aires on February 26,1927, and received their awards posthumously. Since the award had only authorized by Congress the previous year, no medals had yet been struck. Among the ten airmen were Major Herbert A. Dargue, Captains Ira C, eaker and Muir S. Fairchild, and 1st Lt. Ennis C. The medal had hurriedly been struck and readied just for that occasion, numerous military recipients of the medal would later earn greater fame in other occupations—a number of astronauts, actors, and politicians have been Distinguished Flying Cross recipients. DFC awards could be retroactive to cover notable achievements back until the beginning of World War I, on February 23,1929, Congress passed special legislation to allow the award of the DFC to the Wright brothers for their December 17,1903 flight. Other civilians who have received the award include Wiley Post, Jacqueline Cochran, Roscoe Turner, Amelia Earhart, Glenn H. Curtiss, eventually, it was limited to military personnel by an Executive Order. Amelia Earhart became the first woman to receive the DFC on July 29,1932 when it was presented to her by Vice President Charles Curtis in Los Angeles, Earhart received the decoration for her solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean earlier that year. During World War II the medals award criteria varied widely depending on the theater of operations, aerial combat, in the Pacific oftentimes commissioned officers were awarded the DFC, while enlisted men were given the Air Medal. In Europe some crews, often received it for performances throughout a tour of duty, during wartime, members of the Armed Forces of friendly foreign nations serving with the United States are eligible for the Distinguished Flying Cross. It is also given to those who display heroism while working as instructors or students at flying schools, Colonel Francis S. Gabby Gabreski, USAF, received 13 Distinguished Flying Crosses—the most earned by any individual. He is followed by Admiral Stan Arthur, USN, with 11 DFCs, during the Vietnam War high ranking Army officers often received the DFC for directing combat operations from aircraft. The Distinguished Flying Cross was authorized by Section 12 of the Air Corps Act enacted by the United States Congress on July 2,1926, as amended by Executive Order 7786 on January 8,1938. ”The Distinguished Flying Cross was designed by Elizabeth Will and Arthur E. DuBois. The medal is a cross pattee, on whose obverse is superimposed a four-bladed propeller,1 11/16 inches in width. Five rays extend from the reentrant angles, forming a one-inch square, the reverse is blank, it is suitable for engraving the recipients name and rank. The cross is suspended from a rectangular bar, the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps may authorize the V device for wear on the DFC to denote valor in combat, Navy and Marine Corps, Combat V. The Army does not authorize the V Device to be worn on the DFC, in July 2014, the United States Senate passed the Distinguished Flying Cross National Memorial Act. The act was signed into law by President Barack Obama on July 25,2014, in the movie Night at the Museum, Battle of the Smithsonian the character of Amelia Earhart mentions that she received the Flying Cross. The real life Amelia Earhart did, in fact, receive the Distinguished Flying Cross and was the first woman and civilian to do so
12.
Presidential Medal of Freedom
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The Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the President of the United States and is—along with the comparable Congressional Gold Medal—the highest civilian award of the United States. The award is not limited to U. S. citizens and, while it is an award, it can also be awarded to military personnel. It was established in 1963 by President John F. Kennedy, President John F. Kennedy established the current decoration in 1963 through Executive Order 11085, with unique and distinctive insignia, vastly expanded purpose, and far higher prestige. It was the first U. S. civilian neck decoration and, in the grade of Awarded With Distinction, is the only U. S. sash and star decoration. The Executive Order calls for the medal to be awarded annually on or around July 4, and at other convenient times as chosen by the president, Recipients are selected by the president, either on his own initiative or based on recommendations. The order establishing the medal also expanded the size and the responsibilities of the Distinguished Civilian Service Awards Board so it could serve as a source of such recommendations. The medal may be awarded to a more than once. It may also be awarded posthumously, examples include John F, golden American bald eagles with spread wings stand between the points of the star. It is worn around the neck on a ribbon with white edge stripes. When the medal With Distinction is awarded, the star may be presented descending from a neck ribbon, the sash and medal of the Presidential Medal of Freedom with distinction has never been worn in public since its inception. Andrew Presidential Medal of Freedom, an article from jfklibrary. org, Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipients, a list of recipients from May 5,1993, through August 19,2009, from senate. gov, the U. S. Senates official website. Hosted on georgewbush-whitehouse. archives. gov, a section of the U. S. National Archives, Medal of Freedom Ceremony, a news release, August 12,2009, from the White House Press Secretary at whitehouse. gov, the White Houses official website. War Figures Honored With Medal of Freedom, The New York Times, December 15,2004
13.
Congressional Space Medal of Honor
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The highest award given by NASA, it is awarded by the President of the United States in Congresss name on recommendations from the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The award is a decoration from the Medal of Honor. In such cases, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor is worn as a following all United States Armed Forces decorations. To be awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, an astronaut must perform feats of extraordinary accomplishment while participating in space flight under the authority of NASA, typically, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor is awarded for scientific discoveries or actions of tremendous benefit to mankind. The decoration may also be awarded for bravery during a space emergency or in preventing a major space disaster. As of 2014,28 astronauts have been honored with the award, seventeen were honored posthumously,14 died in either the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster or the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, and the other three died in the Apollo 1 fire. An asterisk indicates a posthumous award, awards and decorations of the United States government Category, Recipients of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor
14.
NASA Distinguished Service Medal
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The NASA Distinguished Service Medal is the highest award which may be bestowed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States. The medal may be presented to any member of the federal government, the contribution must be so extraordinary that other forms of recognition would be inadequate. Due to the prestige of the award, the decoration is authorized for wear on uniforms of the United States military. Another such authorized decoration is the NASA Space Flight Medal, upon the recommendation of NASA, the president may award an even higher honor to astronauts, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. The medal was awarded by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and was inherited by NASA. The first NASA version, featuring the NASA seal, was issued from 1959 until 1964, NASA Director of Aeronautical and Space Research Alan Shepard Virgil I
15.
Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration"
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The Medal For Merit in Space Exploration is a state decoration of the Russian Federation aimed at recognising achievements in the space program. It was established by presidential decree №1099 of September 7,2010 which revamped the entire Russian awards system, the Medal For Merit in Space Exploration may be awarded to foreign citizens for outstanding achievements in the development of space technology in the Russian Federation. The Medal For Merit in Space Exploration is a 32mm diameter circular medal with a raised rim on both the obverse and reverse. The reverse of the bears the inscription FOR MERIT IN SPACE EXPLORATION. Below the inscription, a relief letter N with a line reserved for the award serial number. The medal is secured to a standard Russian pentagonal mount by a ring through the suspension loop
16.
North American F-86 Sabre
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The North American F-86 Sabre, sometimes called the Sabrejet, is a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Considered one of the best and most important fighter aircraft in that war and its success led to an extended production run of more than 7,800 aircraft between 1949 and 1956, in the United States, Japan and Italy. Variants were built in Canada and Australia, the Canadair Sabre added another 1,815 airframes, and the significantly redesigned CAC Sabre, had a production run of 112. The Sabre was by far the most-produced Western jet fighter, with production of all variants at 9,860 units. North American Aviation had produced the propeller-powered P-51 Mustang in World War II, by late 1944, North American proposed its first jet fighter to the U. S. Navy, which became the FJ-1 Fury. It was an unexceptional transitional jet fighter that had a wing derived from the P-51. Initial proposals to meet a United States Army Air Forces requirement for a medium-range, single-seat, in early 1945, North American Aviation submitted four designs. The USAAF selected one design over the others, and granted North American a contract to build three examples of the XP-86, despite the gain in speed, early studies revealed the XP-86 would have the same performance as its rivals, the XP-80 and XP-84. It was also feared that, because these designs were advanced in their development stages. Crucially, the XP-86 would not be able to meet the top speed of 600 mph. The North American F-86 Sabre was the first American aircraft to take advantage of research data seized from the German aerodynamicists at the end of World War II. By 1944, German engineers and designers had established the benefits of swept wings based on designs dating back to 1940. Study of the data showed that a wing would solve their speed problem. Because development of the XP-86 had reached a stage, the idea of changing the sweep of the wing was met with resistance from some senior North American staff. Despite stiff opposition, after results were obtained in wind tunnel tests. Many Sabres had the 6–3 wing retrofitted after combat experience was gained in Korea and this modification changed the wing airfoils to the NACA 0009-64 mod at the root and the NACA0008. 1–64 mod at the tip. Delays caused by the major redesign meant that manufacturing did not begin until after World War II, the XP-86 prototype, which would lead to the F-86 Sabre, was rolled out on 8 August 1947. The maiden flight occurred on 1 October 1947 with George Welch at the controls, flying from Muroc Dry Lake, the United States Air Forces Strategic Air Command had F-86 Sabres in service from 1949 through 1950
17.
Moon
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The Moon is an astronomical body that orbits planet Earth, being Earths only permanent natural satellite. It is the fifth-largest natural satellite in the Solar System, following Jupiters satellite Io, the Moon is second-densest satellite among those whose densities are known. The average distance of the Moon from the Earth is 384,400 km, the Moon is thought to have formed about 4.51 billion years ago, not long after Earth. It is the second-brightest regularly visible celestial object in Earths sky, after the Sun and its surface is actually dark, although compared to the night sky it appears very bright, with a reflectance just slightly higher than that of worn asphalt. Its prominence in the sky and its cycle of phases have made the Moon an important cultural influence since ancient times on language, calendars, art. The Moons gravitational influence produces the ocean tides, body tides, and this matching of apparent visual size will not continue in the far future. The Moons linear distance from Earth is currently increasing at a rate of 3.82 ±0.07 centimetres per year, since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, the Moon has been visited only by uncrewed spacecraft. The usual English proper name for Earths natural satellite is the Moon, the noun moon is derived from moone, which developed from mone, which is derived from Old English mōna, which ultimately stems from Proto-Germanic *mǣnōn, like all Germanic language cognates. Occasionally, the name Luna is used, in literature, especially science fiction, Luna is used to distinguish it from other moons, while in poetry, the name has been used to denote personification of our moon. The principal modern English adjective pertaining to the Moon is lunar, a less common adjective is selenic, derived from the Ancient Greek Selene, from which is derived the prefix seleno-. Both the Greek Selene and the Roman goddess Diana were alternatively called Cynthia, the names Luna, Cynthia, and Selene are reflected in terminology for lunar orbits in words such as apolune, pericynthion, and selenocentric. The name Diana is connected to dies meaning day, several mechanisms have been proposed for the Moons formation 4.51 billion years ago, and some 60 million years after the origin of the Solar System. These hypotheses also cannot account for the angular momentum of the Earth–Moon system. This hypothesis, although not perfect, perhaps best explains the evidence, eighteen months prior to an October 1984 conference on lunar origins, Bill Hartmann, Roger Phillips, and Jeff Taylor challenged fellow lunar scientists, You have eighteen months. Go back to your Apollo data, go back to computer, do whatever you have to. Dont come to our conference unless you have something to say about the Moons birth, at the 1984 conference at Kona, Hawaii, the giant impact hypothesis emerged as the most popular. Afterward there were only two groups, the giant impact camp and the agnostics. Giant impacts are thought to have been common in the early Solar System, computer simulations of a giant impact have produced results that are consistent with the mass of the lunar core and the present angular momentum of the Earth–Moon system
18.
Apollo Lunar Module
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After completing its mission, the LM was discarded. It was capable of only in outer space, structurally and aerodynamically it was incapable of flight through the Earths atmosphere. The Lunar Module was the first manned spacecraft to operate exclusively in the vacuum of space. It was the first, and to date only, crewed vehicle to land on an object in the solar system other than the Earth. Six such craft successfully landed on the Moon between 1969 and 1972, a seventh provided propulsion and life support for the crew of Apollo 13 when their CSM was disabled by an oxygen tank explosion en route to the Moon. The LMs development was plagued with problems which delayed its first unmanned flight by about ten months, despite this, the LM eventually became the most reliable component of the Apollo/Saturn space vehicle, the only component never to suffer a failure that significantly affected a mission. The total cost of the LM for development and the produced was $21. 3B in 2016 dollars. At launch, the Lunar Module sat directly beneath the Command/Service Module with legs folded, there it remained through earth parking orbit and the Trans Lunar Injection rocket burn to send the craft toward the Moon. Soon after TLI, the SLA opened and the CSM separated, turned around, came back to dock with the Lunar Module, during the flight to the Moon, the docking hatches were opened and the LM Pilot entered the LM to temporarily power up and test its systems. Throughout the flight, he performed the role of an engineering officer, at this point, the engine was started again for Powered Descent Initiation. During this time the crew flew on their backs, depending on the computer to slow the crafts forward, Control was exercised with a combination of engine throttling and attitude thrusters, guided by the computer with the aid of landing radar. During the braking phase altitude decreased to approximately 10,000 feet, during final approach, the vehicle pitched over to a near-vertical position, allowing the crew to look forward and down to see the lunar surface for the first time. Finally the landing began, approximately 2,000 feet uprange of the targeted landing site. Beginning with Apollo 14, increased LM fuel was available for the powered descent and landing, by using the CSM engine to achieve the 50. After the spacecraft undocked, the CSM raised and circularized its orbit for the remainder of the mission. When ready to leave the Moon, the LM would separate the descent stage and fire the ascent engine to back into orbit. After a few course correction burns, the LM would rendezvous with the CSM and dock for transfer of the crew, having completed its job, the LM was separated and sent into solar orbit or to crash into the Moon. The Lunar Module was designed after NASA chose to reach the Moon via Lunar Orbit Rendezvous instead of the ascent or Earth Orbit Rendezvous methods
19.
Soviet Union
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The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
20.
Brigadier general (United States)
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In the United States Armed Forces, brigadier general is a one-star general officer with the pay grade of O-7 in the U. S. Army, U. S. Marine Corps, and U. S. Air Force. Brigadier general ranks above a colonel and below major general, the rank of brigadier general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral in the other uniformed services. The rank of brigadier general has existed in the U. S. military since the inception of the Continental Army in June 1775, later, on June 18,1780, it was prescribed that brigadier generals would instead wear a single silver star on each epaulette. At first, brigadier generals were infantry officers who commanded a brigade, however, over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries, the responsibilities of the rank expanded significantly. During the period from March 16,1802, to January 11,1812, foreseeing the need for an expanded general staff in case of war, which seemed imminent, Congress restored the rank of major general in January 1812. The first brigadier general in the U. S. Marine Corps was Commandant Archibald Henderson, the insignia for a brigadier general is one silver star worn on the shoulder or collar, and has not changed since the creation of the rank two centuries ago. Since the Mexican-American War, however, the rank of colonel has been the normal rank appointed to command a brigade that is organic to a division. In an infantry brigade not organic to a division, a brigadier general serves as the units commander, an Air Force brigadier general typically commands a large wing. Additionally, one-star officers of all services may serve as staff officers in large military organizations. U. S. Code of law explicitly limits the number of general officers who may be on active duty. The total of active duty general officers is capped at 230 for the Army,60 for the Marine Corps, the President or Secretary of Defense may increase the number of general slots in one branch, so long as they subtract an equal number from another. Some of these slots are reserved by statute, for promotion to the permanent grade of brigadier general, eligible officers are screened by a promotion board consisting of general officers from their branch of service. This promotion board then generates a list of officers it recommends for promotion to general rank and this list is then sent to the service secretary and the joint chiefs for review before it can be sent to the President, through the defense secretary, for consideration. The President nominates officers to be promoted from this list with the advice of the Secretary of Defense, the secretary, and if applicable. The President may nominate any eligible officer who is not on the recommended list if it serves in the interest of the nation, the Senate must then confirm the nominee by a majority vote before the officer can be promoted. Once the nominee is confirmed, they are promoted to that once they assume or hold an office that requires or allows an officer of that rank. For positions of office reserved by statute, the President nominates an officer for appointment to fill that position, for all three uniformed services, because the grade of brigadier general is a permanent rank, the nominee may still be screened by an in-service promotion board. The rank does not expire when the officer vacates a one-star position, tour length varies depending on the position, by statute, or when the officer receives a new assignment
21.
Rotorcraft
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A rotorcraft or rotary-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air flying machine that uses lift generated by wings, called rotary wings or rotor blades, that revolve around a mast. Several rotor blades mounted on a single mast are referred to as a rotor, the International Civil Aviation Organization defines a rotorcraft as supported in flight by the reactions of the air on one or more rotors. Rotorcraft generally include those aircraft where one or more rotors are required to provide lift throughout the flight, such as helicopters, cyclocopters, autogyros. Compound rotorcraft may also include additional thrust engines or propellers and static lifting surfaces, helicopters have several different configurations of one or more main rotors. A cyclocopter is a rotorcraft whose rotors are driven by the engine throughout the flight. At the present time flying model prototypes have been built in China, US, S. Korea, while similar to a helicopter rotor in appearance, the autogyros rotor must have air flowing up and through the rotor disk in order to generate rotation. Early autogyros resembled the fixed-wing aircraft of the day, with wings, late-model autogyros feature a rear-mounted engine and propeller in a pusher configuration. The autogyro was invented in 1920 by Juan de la Cierva, the autogyro with pusher propeller was first tested by Etienne Dormoy with his Buhl A-1 Autogyro. As power is increased to the propeller, less power is required by the rotor to provide forward thrust resulting in reduced pitch angles and rotor blade flapping. At cruise speeds with most or all of the thrust being provided by the propellers, a rotor kite or gyroglider is an unpowered rotary-wing aircraft. Like an autogyro or helicopter, it relies on lift created by one or more sets of rotors in order to fly, a rotary wing is characterised by the number of blades. Typically this is two and six per driveshaft. A rotorcraft may have one or more rotors, various rotor configurations have been used, One rotor. Powered rotors require compensation for the reaction causing yaw, except in the case of tipjet drive. These typically rotate in opposite directions cancelling the torque reaction so that no tail rotor or other yaw stabiliser is needed and these rotors can be laid out as Tandem – One in front of the other. Coaxial – One rotor disc above the other, with drive shafts. An uncommon configuration, the 1948 Cierva Air Horse had three rotors as it was not believed a single rotor of sufficient strength could be built for its size. All three rotors turned in the direction and yaw compensation was provided by inclining each rotor axis to generate rotor thrust components that opposed torque
22.
Spacecraft
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A spacecraft is a vehicle, or machine designed to fly in outer space. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, planetary exploration, on a sub-orbital spaceflight, a spacecraft enters space and then returns to the surface, without having gone into an orbit. For orbital spaceflights, spacecraft enter closed orbits around the Earth or around other celestial bodies, robotic spacecraft used to support scientific research are space probes. Robotic spacecraft that remain in orbit around a body are artificial satellites. Only a handful of interstellar probes, such as Pioneer 10 and 11, Voyager 1 and 2, orbital spacecraft may be recoverable or not. By method of reentry to Earth they may be divided in non-winged space capsules, Sputnik 1 was the first artificial satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957, the launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments, while the Sputnik launch was a single event, it marked the start of the Space Age. Apart from its value as a technological first, Sputnik 1 also helped to identify the upper atmospheric layers density and it also provided data on radio-signal distribution in the ionosphere. Pressurized nitrogen in the satellites false body provided the first opportunity for meteoroid detection, Sputnik 1 was launched during the International Geophysical Year from Site No. 1/5, at the 5th Tyuratam range, in Kazakh SSR. The satellite travelled at 29,000 kilometers per hour, taking 96.2 minutes to complete an orbit and this altitude is called the Kármán line. In particular, in the 1940s there were several test launches of the V-2 rocket, as of 2016, only three nations have flown manned spacecraft, USSR/Russia, USA, and China. The first manned spacecraft was Vostok 1, which carried Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into space in 1961, there were five other manned missions which used a Vostok spacecraft. The second manned spacecraft was named Freedom 7, and it performed a sub-orbital spaceflight in 1961 carrying American astronaut Alan Shepard to an altitude of just over 187 kilometers, there were five other manned missions using Mercury spacecraft. Other Soviet manned spacecraft include the Voskhod, Soyuz, flown unmanned as Zond/L1, L3, TKS, China developed, but did not fly Shuguang, and is currently using Shenzhou. Except for the shuttle, all of the recoverable manned orbital spacecraft were space capsules. Manned space capsules The International Space Station, manned since November 2000, is a joint venture between Russia, the United States, Canada and several other countries, some reusable vehicles have been designed only for manned spaceflight, and these are often called spaceplanes. The first example of such was the North American X-15 spaceplane, the first reusable spacecraft, the X-15, was air-launched on a suborbital trajectory on July 19,1963. The first partially reusable spacecraft, a winged non-capsule, the Space Shuttle, was launched by the USA on the 20th anniversary of Yuri Gagarins flight
23.
Given name
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A given name is a part of a persons personal name. It identifies a person, and differentiates that person from other members of a group, such as a family or clan. The term given name refers to the fact that the name usually is bestowed upon a person and this contrasts with a surname, which is normally inherited, and shared with other members of the childs immediate family. Given names are used in a familiar and friendly manner in informal situations. In more formal situations the surname is commonly used, unless it is necessary to distinguish between people with the same surname. The idioms on a basis and being on first-name terms allude to the familiarity of addressing another by a given name. The order given name – family name, commonly known as the Western order, is used throughout most European countries and in countries that have cultures predominantly influenced by Western Europe. The order family name – given name, commonly known as the Eastern order, is used in East Asia, as well as in Southern and North-Eastern parts of India. The order given name - fathers family name - mothers family name is used in Spanish-speaking countries to acknowledge the families of both parents. Today the order can also be changed legally in Spain using given name - mothers family name - fathers family name, under the common Western naming convention, people may have one or more forenames. If more than one, there is usually a main forename for everyday use, sometimes however two or more forenames may carry equal weight. There is no particular ordering rule for forenames – often the main forename is at the beginning, a childs given name or names are usually chosen by the parents soon after birth. If a name is not assigned at birth, one may be given at a ceremony, with family. In most jurisdictions, a name at birth is a matter of public record, inscribed on a birth certificate. In western cultures, people normally retain the same name throughout their lives. However, in some cases names may be changed by petitioning a court of law. People may also change their names when immigrating from one country to another with different naming conventions, in France, the agency can refer the case to a local judge. Some jurisdictions, like in Sweden, restrict the spelling of names, parents may choose a name because of its meaning
24.
El Reno, Oklahoma
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El Reno is a city in and county seat of Canadian County, Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 16,729, the city was begun shortly after the 1889 land rush and named for the nearby Fort Reno. It is located in the part of the state, approximately 25 miles west of downtown Oklahoma City. After the second time the town flooded, it was moved to its present location and this word is Spanish for the reindeer. Historic Fort Reno was built in 1874, and first commanded by General Philip Sheridan and he named it in honor of his friend, Gen. Jesse L. Reno, who was killed in the Civil War. The grounds of the old fort became home to a laboratory for the U. S. Department of Agriculture in 1948. The laboratory studies environmentally sustainable forage and livestock production, contributing to preservation of the plains of North America. El Reno is located on the 98th Meridian, which allowed the side to be opened to non-Indian settlement in the Land Run of 1889. The western side was opened in the 1892 opening of the Cheyenne and it was subsequently selected as the land district office for the 1901 land lottery drawings. During WWII, Fort Reno, about 5 mi north west of El Reno, was the site of a prisoner of war camp, cemetery, with stones bearing the names of German and Italian prisoners who died there. Southwestern Federal Reformatory, restricted to male prisoners under the age of 35, was constructed about 2 miles west of El Reno in 1935, renamed the Federal Correctional Institution of El Reno in the mid-1970s, the population expanded to include men of all ages. It became the fifth largest prison in the U. S and it is still one of the largest employers in El Reno. It is the city in Oklahoma to have a streetcar in operation in the downtown area. At one time it possessed a terminal and repair facility for the CRI&P railroad, the CRI&P went bankrupt in 1975. The railroad yards have remained vacant property, the old depot and some other buildings were acquired by the Canadian County Historical Society for use as part of a museum complex. The 1954 film noir Human Desire includes locomotive and yard scenes filmed in the El Reno rail yards, El Reno is a Main Street community. The Oklahoma Main Street Program is a downtown revitalization program and the El Reno Program won the Great American Main Street Award in 2006, the town is noted for its annual Fried Onion Burger Day Festival, which is always the 1st Saturday in May. Burger Day is where you can witness the cooking of the world’s largest fried onion hamburger, the giant burger contains all the important parts of the famous El Reno fried onion burgers which includes meat, fried onions, sliced pickles, and mustard all between two giant buns
25.
Piper J-3 Cub
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The Piper J-3 Cub is an American light aircraft that was built between 1937 and 1947 by Piper Aircraft. The aircraft has a simple, lightweight design which gives it good low speed handling properties, the Cub is one of the best known light aircraft of all time. The Cubs simplicity, affordability and popularity — as well as its production numbers. The Cub was originally intended as a trainer, and saw popularity in this role. Large numbers of Cubs are still flying today, notably Cubs are highly prized as bush aircraft. The Cub is a high-wing strut-braced monoplane with a large area rectangular wing and it is powered by an air-cooled piston engine driving a fixed pitch propeller. Its fuselage is a steel frame covered in fabric, seating two people in tandem. The aircrafts standard chrome yellow paint has come to be known as Cub Yellow or Lock Haven Yellow, the Taylor E-2 Cub first appeared in 1930, built by Taylor Aircraft in Bradford, Pennsylvania. Sponsored by William T. Piper, a Bradford industrialist and investor, later in 1930, the company went bankrupt, with Piper buying the assets but keeping founder C. Gilbert Taylor on as president. In 1936, an earlier Cub was altered by employee Walter Jamouneau to become the J-2 while Taylor was on sick leave, when he saw the redesign, Taylor was so incensed that he fired Jamouneau. Piper, however, had encouraged Jamouneaus changes, and hired him back, Piper then bought Taylors share in the company, paying him US$250 per month for three years. Although sales were slow, about 1,200 J-2s were produced before a fire in the Piper factory ended its production in 1938. After Piper moved his company from Bradford to Lock Haven, the J-3, powered by a 40 hp engine, in 1938, it sold for just over $1,000. A very few examples, designated J3P, were equipped with Lenape Papoose 3-cylinder radial engines, the Piper J-3 Cub became the primary trainer aircraft of the CPTP and played an integral role in its success, achieving legendary status. 75 percent of all new pilots in the CPTP were trained in Cubs, by wars end,80 percent of all United States military pilots had received their initial flight training in Piper Cubs. The need for new pilots created an appetite for the Cub. In 1940, the year before the United States entry into the war,3,016 Cubs had been built, prior to the United States entering World War II, J-3s were part of a fund-raising program to support the United Kingdom. Billed as a Flitfire, a Piper Cub J3 bearing Royal Air Force insignia was donated by W. T. Piper, Piper distributors nationwide were encouraged to do the same
26.
University of Oklahoma
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The University of Oklahoma is a coeducational public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two became the state of Oklahoma, in Fall 2016 the university had 31,250 students enrolled, most located at its main campus in Norman. Employing nearly 3,000 faculty members, the school offers 152 baccalaureate programs,160 masters programs,75 doctorate programs, David Lyle Boren, a former U. S. Senator and Oklahoma Governor, has served as the president since 1994. The school is ranked first among universities in enrollment of National Merit Scholars. Located on its Norman campus are two prominent museums, the Fred Jones Jr, Museum of Art, specializing in French Impressionism and Native American artwork, and the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, specializing in the natural history of Oklahoma. The school, well known for its programs, has won 7 NCAA Division I National Football Championships. Its baseball team has won 2 NCAA national championships and the softball team won the national championship in 2000,2013. Oklahomas admission into the union in 1907 led to the renaming of the Norman Territorial University as the University of Oklahoma, Norman residents donated 407 acres of land for the university 0.5 miles south of the Norman railroad depot. The universitys first president ordered the planting of trees before the construction of the first campus building because he could not visualize a treeless university seat. Landscaping remains important to the university, the universitys first president, David Ross Boyd, arrived in Norman in August 1892, and the first students enrolled that year. The university established a School of Pharmacy in 1893 because of demand for pharmacists in the territory. Three years later, the university awarded its first degree to a pharmaceutical chemist, the Rock Building in downtown Norman held the initial classes until the universitys first building opened on September 6,1893. On January 6,1903, the only building burned down. Construction began immediately on a new building, as other towns hoped to capitalize by convincing the university to move. President Boyd and the faculty were not dismayed by the loss, mathematics professor Frederick Elder said, What do you need to keep classes going. Two yards of blackboard and a box of chalk, as a response to the fire, English professor Vernon Louis Parrington created a plan for the future development of the campus. Most of the plan was never implemented, but Parringtons suggestion for the core formed the basis for the North Oval
27.
Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps
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The Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps program is a college-based, commissioned officer training program of the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. A pilot Naval Reserve unit was established in September 1924 at St. Johns College in Annapolis and it let the Navy test the concept before establishing its regular units. In 1926, the U. S. Department of the Navy established the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps and its purpose was to produce a reserve of qualified officers who would be needed for a possible rapid expansion of the military in the case of an unforeseen emergency. A secondary objective was to acquaint college faculty and students with the Navy, captain Chester W. Nimitz commanded the University of California NROTC unit. The first NROTC students received one uniform and a subsistence allowance totaling $210, the St. Johns College pilot unit disbanded by 1929, but the original six regular units are still active in 2014. The Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps commissions individuals into either the United States Navy as an Ensign or the United States Marine Corps as a Second Lieutenant, while attending college, these prospective officer candidates are known as Midshipmen. Whereas Naval Academy Midshipmen are on duty, NROTC Midshipmen are in the Navy Reserve but are on active duty for periods of training during the summer. Starting in 2009, the program was changed to narrowly favor STEM degrees at the expense of the humanities. The majority of NROTC Midshipmen join the program immediately after completing high school and those Midshipmen are either Scholarship or College Program Midshipmen. Scholarship Midshipmen are those who applied to the Navy for an ROTC scholarship, some NROTC students have served as enlisted men or women in the Navy or Marine Corps. The highly selective application process involves a written application and an interview with a Navy representative. Applicants must also pass a medical examination process. The Navy pays tuition for Scholarship Midshipmen, educational fees, as well as a stipend for books, all Midshipmen fall under one of three types, Navy Option, Navy Nurse Option, or Marine Option. The Navy does not pay for room and board, however, some schools offer scholarships to cover at least a portion of room. In addition to tuition, the Navy pays a monthly stipend during the school year, as of 2011, the stipend was $250 per month for first-year Midshipmen, with a $50 increase each year after that. College Program Midshipmen are those who join Naval ROTC without a scholarship and they complete all activities and requirements of scholarship midshipmen and if they continue in the program for four years will also be commissioned as Ensigns or Second Lieutenants. They will often be offered a scholarship by the Navy if they perform well academically and those enlisted in the Navy who are pursuing a commission through the Seaman to Admiral 21 participate in the ROTC program and are referred to as Officer Candidates. Enlisted Marines participate in ROTC through the Marine Enlisted Commissioning Education Program and are referred to by their rank or by the name of the program, MECEP
28.
Navy Midshipmen football
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The Navy Midshipmen football team represents the United States Naval Academy in NCAA Division I FBS college football. The Naval Academy completed its season as an FBS independent school in 2014. The team has coached by Ken Niumatalolo since December 2007. Navy has 19 players and three coaches in the College Football Hall of Fame and won the football national championship in 1926 according to the Boand. The 1910 team also was undefeated and unscored upon, the mascot is Bill the Goat. The Naval Academys football program is one of the nations oldest, there were two separate efforts to establish a Naval Academy football team in 1879. The first was guided by first-classman J. H. Robinson, the team played the sport under rules that made it much closer to soccer, where the players were permitted only to kick the ball in order to advance it. The second effort, headed by first-classman William John Maxwell was more successful in its efforts, Maxwell met with two of his friends, Tunstall Smith and Henry Woods, who played for the Baltimore Athletic Club and officially challenged their team to a game with the Naval Academy. A team was formed from academy first-classmen, which Maxwell led as a manager, trainer, the team would wake up and practice before reveille and following drill and meals. The squad received encouragement from some of the faculty, who allowed them to eat a late dinner and this was against the direct orders of the school superintendent, who had banned football and similar activities. The years sole contest was played on December 11 against the Baltimore Athletic Club, the oppositions team was reportedly composed of players from Princeton, Yale, Pennsylvania, and Johns Hopkins. The Naval Academy hosted the Baltimore team on a temporary field drawn on part of the cow pasture. Rules decided upon between the teams established that the game was to be played under rugby rules. The Baltimore American and Chronicle, which covered the contest, described it as such, The game, played rugby rules, was a battle from beginning to end—a regular knock down. Both sides became immediately excited and the audience was aroused to the highest pitch of enthusiasm by the spirited contest, the ball oscillated backward and forward over the ground without any material result. The scrimmages were something awful to witness—living, kicking, scrambling masses of humanity surging to and fro, each individual after the leather oval. If a Baltimorean got the ball and started for a run, he was caught by one of the brawny Cadets. The game was fought and was finally declared a scoreless tie by the referee about an hour after it began
29.
USS Missouri (BB-63)
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USS Missouri is a United States Navy Iowa-class battleship and was the third ship of the U. S. Navy to be named after of the U. S. state of Missouri. Missouri was the last battleship commissioned by the United States and was best remembered as the site of the surrender of the Empire of Japan which ended World War II, Missouri was ordered in 1940 and commissioned in June 1944. In the Pacific Theater of World War II she fought in the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa and shelled the Japanese home islands, in 1998, she was donated to the USS Missouri Memorial Association and became a museum ship at Pearl Harbor. Missouri was one of the Iowa-class fast battleship designs planned in 1938 by the Preliminary Design Branch at the Bureau of Construction and Repair. She was laid down at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on 6 January 1941, launched on 29 January 1944, the ship was the third of the Iowa class, but the fourth and final Iowa-class ship commissioned by the U. S. Navy. The ship was christened at her launching by Mary Margaret Truman, daughter of Harry S. Truman, Missouris main battery consisted of nine 16 in /50 cal Mark 7 guns, which could fire 2,700 lb armor-piercing shells some 20 mi. Her secondary battery consisted of twenty 5 in /38 cal guns in twin turrets, Missouri was the last U. S. battleship to be completed. Wisconsin, the highest-numbered U. S. battleship built, was completed before Missouri and she stood out of San Francisco Bay on 14 December and arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 24 December 1944. She departed Hawaii on 2 January 1945 and arrived in Ulithi, there she was temporary headquarters ship for Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher. Missouri then steamed with the carriers to Iwo Jima where her main guns provided direct, after TF58 returned to Ulithi on 5 March, Missouri was assigned to the Yorktown carrier task group. On 14 March, Missouri departed Ulithi in the screen of the fast carriers, during strikes against targets along the coast of the Inland Sea of Japan beginning on 18 March, Missouri shot down four Japanese aircraft. Raids against airfields and naval bases near the Inland Sea and southwestern Honshū continued, Missouri rejoined the screen of the carriers as Marine and Army units stormed the shores of Okinawa on the morning of 1 April. An attack by Japanese forces was repulsed successfully, on 11 April, a low-flying kamikaze Zero, although fired upon, crashed on Missouris starboard side, just below her main deck level. The starboard wing of the plane was thrown far forward, starting a fire at 5 in Gun Mount No.3. The battleship suffered only superficial damage, and the fire was quickly under control. The remains of the pilot were recovered on board the ship just aft of one of the 40 mm gun tubs, the following day he was buried at sea with military honors. About 23,05 on 17 April, Missouri detected an enemy submarine 12 mi from her formation and her report set off a hunter-killer operation by the light carrier Bataan and four destroyers, which sank the Japanese submarine I-56. Missouri was detached from the task force off Okinawa on 5 May
30.
John Young (astronaut)
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In 1965, Young flew on the first manned Gemini mission, and commanded another Gemini mission the next year. In 1969, he became the first person to orbit the Moon alone during Apollo 10 and he drove the Lunar Roving Vehicle on the Moons surface during Apollo 16, and is one of only three people to have flown to the Moon twice. He also commanded two Space Shuttle flights, including its first launch in 1981, and served as Chief of the Astronaut Office from 1974–1987, Young retired from NASA in 2004. Young was born in San Francisco, California, on September 24,1930, to parents William Hugh Young and Wanda Howland Young. At 18 months old, due to the Great Depression, he moved with his family to Georgia, then to Orlando, Florida, Young was a Boy Scout and earned the rank of Second Class. After graduating from Georgia Tech in 1952, Young entered the United States Navy through the Navy ROTC and was commissioned on June 6,1952, as an ensign. He served as fire control officer on the destroyer USS Laws until June 1953, following this assignment, he was sent to flight training. After training at the U. S. Naval Test Pilot School in 1959, Young was assigned to the Naval Air Test Center at Naval Air Station Patuxent River and his test projects included evaluations of the XF8U-3 Crusader III and F-4 Phantom II fighter weapons systems. In 1962, he set two world records while flying his Phantom II, attaining 3,000 meters from a standing start in 34.523 seconds and 25,000 meters from a standing start in 227.6 seconds. He also served as officer of Fighter Squadron 143 from April to September 1962. Fellow astronaut Charles Bolden described Young and Robert Hoot Gibson as the two best pilots he had met during his career, Never met two people like them. Everyone else gets into an airplane, John and Hoot wear their airplane, Young retired from the Navy as a Captain in September 1976, after completing 25 years of active military service. He has logged more than 15,275 hours flying time in props, jets, helicopters, and rocket jets, more than 9,200 hours in T-38s, and 835 hours in spacecraft during six space flights. Young then trained as pilot for Gemini 6A, but after the sandwich episode. Other Group 2 astronauts with flight experience were quickly moved to the Apollo program, while astronauts such as Scott Carpenter, the assignment of Gemini 7 backup command pilot Ed White to Apollo, created an opening for Young as commander of Gemini 10 in 1966. The mission was the first to perform a rendezvous with two Agena target vehicles, and his pilot, Michael Collins, performed two spacewalks, in 1966, Young was assigned to an Apollo crew as Command Module pilot, with Commander Thomas Stafford and Lunar Module pilot Eugene Cernan. This crew was assigned as backup to the second manned Apollo mission, after that fire, both crews were assigned to the first actual manned mission, Apollo 7, which flew in October 1968. In May 1969, this crew flew to the Moon on Apollo 10, while Stafford and Cernan flew the Lunar Module in lunar orbit for the first time, Young flew the Command Module solo
31.
Naval Air Station Pensacola
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Naval Air Station Pensacola or NAS Pensacola, The Cradle of Naval Aviation, is a United States Navy base located next to Warrington, Florida, a community southwest of the Pensacola city limits. Because of contamination by metals and other hazardous materials during this history. Navy, U. S. Marine Corps and U. S. Coast Guard, the NATTC facility at NAS Pensacola is also home to the USAF Detachment 1, a GSU whose home unit is the 359th TRS located at Eglin AFB. Detachment 1 trains over 800 Airmen annually in three structural maintenance disciplines, Low Observable, Non-Destructive Inspection, and Aircraft Structural Maintenance. TRAWING SIX consists of the Training Squadron 4 Warbucks, Training Squadron 10 Wildcats and Training Squadron 86 Sabrehawks, flying the T-45C Goshawk, the 479 FTG is a tenant activity at NAS Pensacola and a geographically separated unit of the 12th Flying Training Wing at Randolph AFB, Texas. The 479 FTG operates USAF T-6A Texan II and T-1A Jayhawk aircraft, a total of 131 aircraft operate out of Sherman Field, generating 110,000 flight operations each year. The site now occupied by NAS Pensacola has been controlled by varying nations, in 1559, Spanish explorer Don Tristan de Luna founded a colony on Santa Rosa Island, considered the first European settlement of the Pensacola area. The Spanish built the wooden Fort San Carlos de Austria on this bluff in 1697-1698, although besieged by Indians in 1707, the fort was not taken. Spain was competing in North America with the French, who settled lower Louisiana, the French destroyed this fort when they captured Pensacola in 1719. After Great Britain defeated the French in the Seven Years War and exchanging some territory with Spain, British colonists took over this site, in 1781, as an ally of the American rebels during the American Revolutionary War, the Spanish captured Pensacola. Britain ceded West Florida to Spain following the war, the Spanish completed the fort San Carlos de Barrancas in 1797. Barranca is a Spanish word for bluff, the natural feature that makes this location ideal for the fortress. Pensacola was taken by General Andrew Jackson in November 1814 during the War of 1812 between Great Britain and the United States, British forces destroyed Fort San Carlos as they swept through the area. The Spanish remained in control of the region until 1821, when the Adams-Onís Treaty confirmed the purchase of Spanish Florida by the United States, in 1825, the US designated this area for the Pensacola Navy Yard was designated and Congress appropriated $6,000 for a lighthouse. Operational that year, it is said to be haunted by a light keeper murdered by his wife, Fort Barrancas was rebuilt, 1839-1844, the U. S. Army deactivating it on 15 April 1947. Designated a National Historic Site in 1960, control of the site was transferred to the National Park Service in 1971, after extensive restoration during 1971-1980, Fort Barrancas was opened to the public. Navy captains William Bainbridge, Lewis Warrington, and James Biddle selected the site on Pensacola Bay, Construction began in April 1826, and the Pensacola Navy Yard, also known as the Warrington Navy Yard, became one of the best equipped naval stations in the country. Pensacola Navy Yard was built with enslaved labor, Captain Lewis Warrington The first Commandant of the Pensacola Navy Yard complained to the Board of Navy Commissioners “neither laborers nor mechanics are to be obtained here
32.
North American T-6 Texan
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Designed by North American Aviation, the T-6 is known by a variety of designations depending on the model and operating air force. Starting in 1948, the new United States Air Force designated it the T-6 and it remains a popular warbird aircraft used for airshow demonstrations and static displays. It has also used many times to simulate various Japanese aircraft. The Texan originated from the North American NA-16 prototype which, modified as the NA-26, was submitted as an entry for a USAAC Basic Combat aircraft competition in March,1937. The first model went into production and 180 were supplied to the USAAC as the BC-1 and 400 to the RAF as the Harvard I, the US Navy received 16 modified aircraft, designated the SNJ-1, and a further 61 as the SNJ-2 with a different engine. Three BC-2 aircraft were built before the shift to the advanced trainer designation, AT-6, the differences between the AT-6 and the BC-1 were new outer wing panels with a swept-forward trailing edge, squared-off wingtips, and a triangular rudder, producing the canonical Texan silhouette. Next came the AT-6A which was based on the NA-77 design and was powered by the Pratt & Whitney R-1340-49 Wasp radial engine, the USAAF received 1,549 and the US Navy 270. The AT-6B was built for training and could mount a.30 in machine gun on the forward fuselage. It used the R-1340-AN-1 engine, which was to become the standard for the remaining T-6 production, in late 1937, Mitsubushi purchased two NA-16s as technology demonstrators and possibly a licence to build more. However, the aircraft developed by Watanabe/Kyushu as the K10W1 bore no more than a superficial resemblance to the North American design and it was used in very small numbers by the Imperial Japanese Navy from 1942 onwards. After the war, the Japanese Air Self Defense Force operated Texans, the NA-88 design resulted in 2,970 AT-6C Texans and 2,400 as the SNJ-4. The RAF received 726 of the AT-6C as the Harvard IIA, modifications to the electrical system produced the AT-6D and SNJ-5. The AT-6D, redesignated the Harvard III, was supplied to the RAF, the AT-6G involved major advancements including a full-time hydraulic system and a steerable tailwheel and persisted into the 1950s as the USAF advanced trainer. Subsequently, the NA-121 design with a completely clear rearmost section on the canopy, gave rise to 25 AT-6F Texans for the USAAF and 931, as the SNJ-6 for the US Navy. The ultimate version, the Harvard 4, was produced by Canada Car and Foundry during the 1950s, a total of 15,495 T-6s of all variants were built. They also engaged in combat on a number of occasions. The Israeli Air Force bought 17 Harvards, and operated nine of them in the stages of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, against the Egyptian ground forces. In the Sinai Campaign, IAF Harvards attacked Egyptian ground forces in Sinai Peninsula with two losses, communist guerillas called these aircraft O Galatas, because they saw them flying very early in the morning
33.
USS Burdo (APD-133)
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USS Burdo was a Crosley-class high speed transport of the United States Navy, named after Private Ronald A. Burdo, a Marine who was killed in action at Gavutu, during the Battle of Guadalcanal. She was launched on 25 November 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Ida J. Botts, builders trials before her pre-commissioning cruise were done in Lake Huron. After completion, Burdo sailed from the yard at Bay City to Chicago. Burdo joined the Pacific Fleet in August 1945, and was assigned to serve with the Pacific Underwater Demolition Flotilla, with Underwater Demolition Team 13 embarked, she sailed for Pearl Harbor on 16 August, where she was assigned to an amphibious group. On 1 September, she departed for Sasebo, Japan, at Sasebo, UDT-13 assisted in clearing channels prior to landing the occupation forces on 21 September 1945. Shortly afterwards, Burdo departed for San Diego via Okinawa, Guam, at San Diego, UDT-13 was disembarked, and after one shuttle trip to Pearl Harbor, Burdo sailed to Norfolk, Virginia, transiting the Panama Canal on Thanksgiving Day 1945. Burdo operated along the Atlantic coast carrying out training exercises and mock landings during December 1945 through October 1948, on 1 November 1948, in company with other units of the Atlantic Fleet, Burdo departed Norfolk en route to NS Argentia, Newfoundland, for cold weather operations. On 20 November, she returned to Norfolk and continued with her Atlantic, in May 1951, she became a unit of the Midshipmen Practice Squadron, and participated in the midshipmen summer cruise to northern Europe and the Caribbean, returning to Norfolk at the end of July. After overhaul, she resumed training exercises in cooperation with the Marines, early in January 1953, Burdo was assigned to the 6th Fleet, and operated as a unit of the Amphibious Group until May 1953. During this assignment, she participated in one of the first NATO exercises, over the next several years, Burdo engaged in amphibious operational training along the eastern seaboard, conducted six Caribbean training cruises, and had another tour with the 6th Fleet. Burdo was decommissioned on 28 February 1958, at Charleston, South Carolina and she was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 April 1966, and sold for scrapping on 30 March 1967, to Southern Scrap Material Company, New Orleans, Louisiana. This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, the entry can be found here. Photo gallery of USS Burdo at NavSource Naval History
34.
Bachelor of Science
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A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years. Whether a student of a subject is awarded a Bachelor of Science degree or a Bachelor of Arts degree can vary between universities. For one example, a degree may be given as a Bachelor of Arts by one university but as a B. Sc. by another. Some liberal arts colleges in the United States offer only the BA, even in the natural sciences, in both instances, there are historical and traditional reasons. Northwestern Universitys School of Communication grants B. Sc. degrees in all of its programs of study, including theater, dance, the first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of London in 1860. Prior to this, science subjects were included in the B. A. bracket, notably in the cases of mathematics, physics, physiology, in Argentina and Chile, most university degrees are given as a license in a field or discipline. For instance, besides the courses, biochemistry and biology require 1–2 years hands-on training either in a clinical laboratory plus a final exam or in a research laboratory plus a thesis defense. The degrees are term licenses in the field of study or profession i. e. biology, nutrition, physical therapy or kinesiology, etc. However, a masters degree requires 2-3 more years of specific training, engineering and medical degrees are also different and are six-year programs of specific classes and training starting immediately after high school. No intermediate degrees count towards the admission examination or even exist, medical degrees are complemented with a 3–4 years of hospital residence plus 1–2 years of specialization training. In Australia, the B. Sc. is generally a three-four year degree, an honours year or a Master of Science is required to progress on to the Doctor of Philosophy. In New Zealand, in cases, the honours degree comprises an additional postgraduate qualification. In South Africa, the B. Sc. is taken three years, while the postgraduate B. Sc. Entails an additional year of study, admission to the honours degree is on the basis of a sufficiently high average in the B. Sc. major, an honours degree is required for M. Sc. Level study, and admission to a doctorate is via the M. Sc, commonly in British Commonwealth countries and Ireland graduands are admitted to the degree of Bachelor of Science after having completed a programme in one or more of the sciences. These programmes may take different lengths of time to complete, note that in British English, no full stops are used in the title, hence BSc, not B. Sc. A Bachelor of Science receives the designation BSc or BS for a major/pass degree, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland an honours degree is typically completed over a three-year period, though there are a few intensified two-year courses. Bachelors degrees were typically completed in two years for most of the twentieth century, in Scotland, where access to university is possible after one less year of secondary education, degree courses have a foundation year making the total course length four years
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45th Infantry Division (United States)
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The 45th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the United States Army, part of the Oklahoma Army National Guard, from 1920 to 1968. Headquartered mostly in Oklahoma City, the fought in both World War II and the Korean War. They trace their lineage from frontier militias that operated in the Southwestern United States throughout the late 1800s, the 45th Infantry Division guardsmen saw no major action until they became one of the first National Guard units activated in World War II in 1941. They took part in fighting during the invasion of Sicily. Slowly advancing through Italy, they fought in Anzio and in Monte Cassino, after landing in France during Operation Dragoon, they joined the 1945 drive into Germany that ended the War in Europe. After brief inactivation and subsequent reorganization as a unit restricted to Oklahomans, the division remained on the front lines in such engagements as Old Baldy Hill and Hill Eerie until the end of the war, returning to the U. S. in 1954. The division remained a National Guard formation until its inactivation in 1968 as part of a downsizing of the Guard, several units were activated to replace the division and carry on its lineage. These units were attached to the 40th Infantry Division and deployed to France where they were used as depot forces to provide replacements for front-line units and they returned home at the end of the war. The division was formed and federally recognized as a National Guard unit on 3 August 1923 in Oklahoma City and it was assigned the 89th Infantry Brigade of the Colorado and Arizona National Guards, and the 90th Infantry Brigade of the Oklahoma National Guard. The divisions first commander was Major General Baird H. Markham, the 45th Infantry Division engaged in regular drills but no major events in its first few years, though the divisions Colorado elements were called in to help quell a large coal mining strike. The onset of the Great Depression in the 1930s severely curtailed its funding for training, Major General Roy Hoffman took command in 1931, followed by Alexander M. Tuthill, Alexander E. McPherren in 1935, and William S. In 1937, the troops were once again called up. However, with the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany, with its infamous swastika symbol, in August 1941, the 45th Infantry Division took part in the Louisiana Maneuvers, the largest peacetime exercises in U. S. military history. It was assigned to VIII Corps with the 2nd Infantry Division, still operating with outmoded equipment from World War I, the division did not perform well during these exercises. With poor weather and bad equipment, the undertrained 45th Infantry Division was criticized by officers who considered it feeble. In spite of these deficiencies, less one month later. On 16 September 1941, the 45th Infantry Division, under Major General William S. Keys, was federalized from state control into the army force. It was one of four National Guard divisions to be federalized, alongside the 30th and its men immediately began basic combat training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma
36.
Oklahoma National Guard
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The Oklahoma National Guard, a division of the Oklahoma Military Department, is the component of the United States National Guard in the U. S. state of Oklahoma. It comprises both Army and Air National Guard components, the Governor of Oklahoma is Commander-in-Chief of the Oklahoma National Guard when not on federal active duty. The states highest-ranking military commander, the Adjutant General of Oklahoma, the TAG is served by three Assistant Adjutants General, all brigadier generals, two from the Army Guard in the state, and the other the Air Guard chief. These positions are held by Army BG Michael C, thompson, Army BG Hopper T. Smith, and Air Force BG Gregory L. Ferguson. The TAG is also served by his Director of the Joint Staff or Chief of Staff and this position is held by COL Jon Harrison. The Governor may call individuals or units of the Guard into state service during emergencies or to assist in situations which require the Guard. In its state role, the Guard serves to execute laws, protect the public health, suppress insurrection. The National Guard may be called into service in response to a call by the President of the United States or U. S. Congress. When National Guard troops are called to service, the President serves as Commander-in-Chief. The National Guard has two missions, a Title 10 federal mission and the other a Title 32 state controlled mission, federal mission statement, During peacetime each state National Guard answers to the leadership in the 50 states, three territories and the District of Columbia. During national emergencies, however, the President reserves the right to mobilize the National Guard, while federalized, the units answer to the combatant commander of the theatre in which they are operating and, ultimately, to the President. The Army National Guard is a partner with the Active Army, state mission statement, The Army National Guard exists in all 50 states, three territories and the District of Columbia. The state, territory or district leadership are the commanders in chief for each Guard and their adjutants general are answerable to them for the training and readiness of the units. At the state level, the reserve the ability, under the Constitution of the United States. This first National Guard in what would become Oklahoma consisted of infantry companies, cavalry troops and artillery batteries. These militias would eventually organize into most of the National Guard units which would make up the 45th Infantry Division, in 1890 the Militia of the Territory of Oklahoma was formed. The four militias were mobilized in 1898 during the Spanish–American War but only forces in Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico were deployed, in the early 1900s the National Guard was employed putting down various labor disputes. They also stood ready to serve the nation if wars were to come, after the sinking of the Battleship Maine on February 15,1898, war was declared between the United States and Spain
37.
158th Field Artillery Regiment
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The 158th Field Artillery Regiment is a Field Artillery regiment of the Army National Guard. Reorganized and federally recognized 27 September 1946 with headquarters at Chickasha, Oklahoma, description A Gold color metal and enamel device 1 1⁄4 inches in height consisting of the shield, crest and motto of the coat of arms. Symbolism The dominant colors, red and yellow, are for Artillery, the broad arrow-a large missile thrown by machine-was an early version of artillery. The three broad arrowheads represent the recognition awarded the organization for service in Sicily, Naples and Southern France, the green wedge symbolizes mountainous Italy, and the fleur-de-lis is for French and Central European service. Background The distinctive unit insignia was approved for the 158th Field Artillery Battalion on 14 January 1952. It was redesignated for the 158th Artillery Regiment on 2 November 1960, the insignia was redesignated for the 158th Field Artillery Regiment on 19 July 1972. Blazon Shield, Per chevron debased Gules and Vert, three broad arrows one and two, points meeting at apex of partition line Or, in base a fleur-de-lis of the like. Crest, That for the regiments and separate battalions of the Oklahoma Army National Guard, On a wreath of the colors Or, symbolism Shield, The dominant colors, red and yellow, are for Artillery. The broad arrow-a large missile thrown by machine-was an early version of artillery, the three broad arrowheads represent the recognition awarded the organization for service in Sicily, Naples and Southern France. The green wedge symbolizes mountainous Italy, and the fleur-de-lis is for French, crest, The crest is that of the Oklahoma Army National Guard. Background, The coat of arms was approved for the 158th Field Artillery Battalion on 14 January 1952. It was redesignated for the 158th Artillery Regiment on 2 November 1960, the insignia was redesignated for the 158th Field Artillery Regiment on 19 July 1972. S. Artillery Regiments This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Army Institute of Heraldry document 158th Field Artillery
38.
Greenville Air Force Base (Mississippi)
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Greenville Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force base in Greenville, Mississippi. It was closed as an installation in December 1966 and redeveloped into Mid-Delta Regional Airport. In February 1940, a United States Army Air Corps site selection board picked Greenville, Mississippi, by mid-June construction at the 2, 000-acre,140 building site was in full progress. The Air Corps activated Greenville Army Airfield in August 1940, only two months after construction commenced, the first planes arrived on 5 November, and the training of pilots began. The airfield was reactivated on 5 June 1945 and was transferred to Air Technical Service Command, becoming a sub-base of Brookley Army Airfield, ATSC used Greenville as a storage depot for returning Eighth and Fifteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators. During the summer, C-47s returning from Europe were also sent to Greenville for storage, aircraft operations at the base consisted mostly of test flights, and flying stored aircraft to reclamation facilities. Storage of other types of aircraft began after the end of the war in September, Greenville Army Airfield was inactivated on 22 July 1946 and turned over to the War Assets Administration for disposal. However, contract flying squadrons were not established until 1951 when the 3300th Flying Training Squadron was activated, ATC activated Graham Air Base, Florida in January 1953 to replace Greenville Air Base as a contract primary pilot training school. Instruction was begun in April 1953 flying T-28 Trojans, the wing was upgraded to jet trainers in 1955 when T-33 Shooting Stars arrived. On 1 December 1960, pilot training at Greenville was discontinued, the T-33s were sent to the new Consolidated Pilot Training school at Craig Air Force Base, Alabama. In 1962, several courses were also reassigned to Greenville from Lackland. In December 1963, Secretary of Defense Robert MacNamara announced that Greenville would be closed in 1965 as part of budgetary reductions, on 1 April 1964, the 3505th TTG was inactivated. Greenville Air Force Base was placed in caretaker status, being assigned as a sub-base to Keesler Air Force Base, de-militarization activities at Greenville AFB were commenced and the military part of the airport was returned to full civilian control on 27 December 1966. Mississippi World War II Army Airfields 27th Flying Training Wing This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http, //www. afhra. af. mil/. Shaw, Frederick J. Locating Air Force Base Sites History’s Legacy, Air Force History and Museums Program, United States Air Force, History of Air Education and Training Command, 1942–2002. Office of History and Research, Headquarters, AETC, Randolph Air Force Base, Texas ASIN, B000NYX3PC
39.
Camp Gary
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Camp Gary was the United States military installation that was redeveloped into the San Marcos Municipal Airport and the Gary Job Corps Center, the largest in the nation. San Marcos Army Air Field was a Texas World War II Army Airfield, a contract for the construction work was signed for approximately Five Million dollars. The planned base consisted of buildings, classrooms, barracks, hangars, mess halls. The embryonic Army Airfield received its first commander in September 1942, by the end of November 1942, enough of the basic construction had taken place that the United States Flag was raised for the first time at San Marcos Army Air Field. Lieutenant Colonel J. M. Hutchinson was designated as the new Commanding Officer at that time, San Marcos Field was officially activated on December 15,1942. Construction work continued and a staff was assigned by February 1943. The first class of students was formed at the field in late February, construction of the new base took about a year to complete and the first class of students for navigator training began in June 1943 and the 80th Flying Training Wing was activated on 25 August 1943. The navigation school consisted of eighteen weeks and each student was instructed in four methods of navigation, radio, pilotage, dead reckoning, during the course of World War II, the navigation school trained about 10,000 students. The school was closed in September 1945, and the closed in the end of November. San Marcos Field was reactivated May 1946 in Army Air Forces Flying Training Command when the USAAF helicopter, USAF flying training ended on 14 December 56. Camp Gary was the name after transferring to the Department of the Army on 15 December 1956. A civilian contractor trained pilots for fixed wing aircraft until the summer of 1959, on 20 November 1964, President Johnson announced the abandoned Camp Gary would be used as a Job Corps facility. Shaw, Frederick J. Locating Air Force Base Sites History’s Legacy, Air Force History and Museums Program, United States Air Force, thole, Lou, Forgotten Fields of America, World War II Bases and Training, Then and Now - Vol.2. Publisher, Pictorial Histories Pub, ISBN 1-57510-051-7
40.
TSTC Waco Airport
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TSTC Waco Airport is a public use airport located eight nautical miles northeast of the central business district of Waco, a city in McLennan County, Texas, United States. Before 1968, it was known as James Connally Air Force Base, the airport is owned by Texas State Technical College. It is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, the airport opened May 5,1942 as Waco Army Air Field and was the headquarters Army Air Force Central Instructors School during World War II. It was deactivated after the war in 1945 but was reactivated in 1948 as a training base under the Air Training Command. It was named for Colonel James T. Connally who had killed in Japan in 1945. The airport was initially called Connally Air Force Base but the name evolved to include his first name. All navigator training consolidated at Mather Air Force Base, California and 12th Air Force relocated to Bergstrom Air Force Base in Austin, at this point, the facility was conveyed to the State of Texas by the General Services Administration. The airport and the facilities were used as a technical school while General Dynamics remained as a tenant performing modification work on various military aircraft. The General Dynamics facility was later closed, electrospace Systems opened a hangar at the facility, its operations were later sold to Chrysler and renamed Chrysler Technologies Airborne Systems. Chrysler subsequently sold the operation to Raytheon which renamed the facility Raytheon Aircraft Integration Systems, in 2002, Raytheon sold the facility to L-3 Communications and it is currently known as L-3 Communications Platform Integration Division. George W. Bush during his Presidency flew in and out of the airport on Air Force One during visits to his home at the Prairie Chapel Ranch, in 1991, TSTI was renamed Texas State Technical College. TSTC Waco Airport covers an area of 2,200 acres at an elevation of 470 feet above sea level. It has two runways, 17L/35R is 8,600 by 150 feet with a surface, 17R/35L is 6,291 by 80 feet with a concrete surface. For the 12-month period ending August 21,2010, the airport had 71,800 aircraft operations, at that time there were 11 aircraft based at this airport, 91% single-engine and 9% multi-engine. List of American Balloon Squadrons Airport page at TSTC website Servion of Waco, the fixed-base operator Waco, TSTC / Texas State Tech College
41.
Lockheed T-33
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The Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star is an American jet trainer aircraft. It was produced by Lockheed and made its first flight in 1948 piloted by Tony LeVier, the T-33 was developed from the Lockheed P-80/F-80 starting as TP-80C/TF-80C in development, then designated T-33A. It was used by the U. S. Navy initially as TO-2 then TV-2, as of 2015, Canadian-built examples remain in service with the Bolivian Air Force. The T-33 was developed from the Lockheed P-80/F-80 by lengthening the fuselage by slightly over three feet and adding a seat, instrumentation and flight controls. It was initially designated as a variant of the P-80/F-80, the TP-80C/TF-80C, design work for the Lockheed P-80 began in 1943 with the first flight on 8 January 1944. Following on the Bell P-59, the P-80 became the first jet fighter to enter squadron service in the United States Army Air Forces. As more advanced jets entered service, the F-80 took on another role—training jet pilots, the two-place T-33 jet was designed for training pilots already qualified to fly propeller-driven aircraft. Originally designated the TF-80C, the T-33 made its first flight on 22 March 1948 with U. S. production taking place from 1948 to 1959, the US Navy used the T-33 as a land-based trainer starting in 1949. It was designated the TV-2, but was redesignated the T-33B in 1962, the Navy operated some ex-USAF P-80Cs as the TO-1, changed to the TV-1 about a year later. A carrier-capable version of the P-80/T-33 family was developed by Lockheed. The two TF-80C prototypes were modified as prototypes for an all-weather two-seater fighter variant which became the F-94 Starfire, a total of 6,557 Shooting Stars were produced,5,691 by Lockheed,210 by Kawasaki and 656 by Canadair. The two-place T-33 proved suitable as a trainer, and it has been used for such tasks as drone director. The T-33 was used to train cadets from the Air Force Academy at Peterson Field, the T-37 replaced the T-33 for Academy training in 1975. The final T-33 used in advanced training was replaced 8 February 1967 at Craig AFB, similar replacement also occurred in the U. S. Navy with the TV-1 as more advanced aircraft such as the North American T-2 Buckeye and Douglas TA-4 Skyhawk II came on line. The RT-33A version, reconnaissance aircraft produced primarily for use by countries, had a camera installed in the nose. The T-33 has served with over 30 nations, and continues to operate as a trainer in smaller air forces, Canadair built 656 T-33s on licence for service in the RCAF—Canadian Forces as the CT-133 Silver Star while Kawasaki manufactured 210 in Japan. Other operators included Brazil, Turkey and Thailand which used the T-33 extensively, in the 1980s, an attempt was made to modify and modernize the T-33 as the Boeing Skyfox, but a lack of orders led to the projects cancellation. About 70% of the T-33s airframe was retained in the Skyfox, in the late 1990s,18 T-33 Mk-III and T-33 SF-SC from the Bolivian Air Force went to Canada to be modernized at Kelowna Flightcraft
42.
Tyndall Air Force Base
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Tyndall Air Force Base is a United States Air Force Base located 12 miles east of Panama City, Florida. The base was named in honor of World War I pilot 1st Lt Frank Benjamin Tyndall, the base operating unit and host wing is the 325th Fighter Wing of the Air Combat Command. The base is delineated as a place and had a resident population of 2,994 at the 2010 census. Tyndalls combat mission is performed by the 95th Fighter Squadron, Training for F-22 pilots is performed in the 43d Fighter Squadron and the 2d Fighter Training Squadron. The 325th Air Control Squadron trains air battle managers for assignment to combat Air Force units. From 1983 until 2010, training for F-15 Eagle pilots was performed at Tyndall AFB by the 1st, 2d, the 1 FS inactivated in 2006, while the 2 FS and 95 FS inactivated in May and September 2010, respectively. During this time, Tyndall also hosted training for F-15C/D maintenance personnel, the 95 FS was reactivated in September 2013 as part of the F-22 Raptor consolidation plan that moved the 7th Fighter Squadrons aircraft to Tyndall. The 2nd Fighter Training Squadron was activated in 2014 to perform T-38 adversary operations in support of the F-22 training mission, the 325th Fighter Wing is host to more than 30 tenant organizations located at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida. The wing consists of the 325th Operations Group, 325th Maintenance Group, 325th Mission Support Group and it is also augmented by two Air Reserve Component units from the Air Force Reserve Command and the Air National Guard, respectively. The 44th Fighter Group of the Air Force Reserve Command is a unit of the 325 FW and. Otherwise, it operates at Tyndall as a unit of AFRCs 301st Fighter Wing at NAS JRB Fort Worth/Carswell Field. The 44 FG flies and maintains the F-22A Raptor in partnership with the 325 FW, headquarters, First Air Force at Tyndall is part of the Air Combat Command, ensuring the air sovereignty and air defense of the continental United States. Operationally-gained by ACC,1 AF is the only Numbered Air Force in the Air National Guard and is responsible for all Air National Guard F-15 and F-16 fighter units. The 53d Weapons Evaluation Group, is an Air Combat Command tenant organization that reports to the 53d Wing at nearby Eglin Air Force Base, the 53 WEG previously managed QF-4 Phantom II FSATSs, most of which were converted F-4E and F-4G aircraft. The 337th Air Control Squadron conducts Undergraduate Air Battle Manager Training at Tyndall AFB, Tyndall Field was opened on 13 January 1941 as a gunnery range. The airfield was named in honor of 1st Lt Frank Benjamin Tyndall, with the establishment of the United States Air Force in 1947, the facility was renamed Tyndall Air Force Base on 13 January 1948. In December 1940, a site determined that Flexible Gunnery School No.9 would be located 12 miles southeast of Panama City. On 6 May 1941, Army and local dignitaries held a ground breaking for the school
43.
54th Fighter Squadron
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The 54th Fighter Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was to the 3d Operations Group, being stationed at Elmendorf Air Force Base and it was inactivated on 28 April 2000. Activated on 15 Jan 1941 at Hamilton Field, California as a Curtiss P-40 Warhawk pursuit unit as part of the buildup of the United States prior to World War II. Deployed to Alaska in mid-1942 and engaged the Japanese during the Aleutian Campaign during World War II, engaged in combat in the Aleutians, 1942-1943 with long-range Lockheed P-38 Lightnings. Remained in Alaska after the removal of Japanese forces, flying long range escorts for B-24 Liberator bombing attacks of northern Japanese Kurile Islands, mission was to provide air defense for North Central United States. Assumed ANG North American F-51D Mustangs, upgraded to Republic F-84D Thunderjet jet aircraft being returned from combat in Korea in July 1953, upgraded to F-84Gs in December 1953, upgraded to North American F-86D Sabre in April 1954, upgraded to Northrop F-89J Scorpion interceptors in 1957. Reactivated as an McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle air superiority squadron in Alaska in 1987,24 August 1942 Detachments at Fort Randall Army Air Field, Alaska, c.6 Jun-c. 31 Jul 1942 and Fort Glenn Army Air Base, Alaska, 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
44.
Ellsworth Air Force Base
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Ellsworth Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located approximately 10 miles northeast of Rapid City, South Dakota just north of Box Elder, South Dakota. The host unit at Ellsworth is the 28th Bomb Wing assigned to the Global Strike Commands Eighth Air Force. The 28 BW is one of only two B-1B Lancer strategic bomber wings in the United States Air Force, the other being the 7th Bomb Wing at Dyess AFB, Texas. Since 2015 the 28th Bomb Wing is commanded by Colonel Gentry Boswell, a controversial expansion of a bomber training area encompassing the Northern Plains known as the Powder River Training Complex began in 2008. Ellsworth AFB is 10 miles east of Rapid City, S. D, the mission of the 28th Bomb Wing is to deliver combat power for global military response. It is divided into the 28th Operations Group, the 28th Maintenance Group, the 28th Mission Support Group, Ellsworths population of approximately 8,000 includes military members, family members and civilian employees. The bases sister city, Rapid City, has a population of just more than 62,500, there are about 3,800 military retirees in Western South Dakota. 28th Operations Group Provides combat-ready B-1 aircraft and crews to support Joint Chiefs of Staff taskings, including conventional theater operations and power projection. The 28th Operations Group has three squadrons under its command to assist in accomplishing its mission—the 28th Operations Support Squadron, the 34th Bomb Squadron, additionally, the group directs the implementation of plans supporting pre-planned and contingency mobility taskings in support of national objectives. 28th Mission Support Group Provides mission essential “city” services at home, additionally, the group supports the base community through fire protection, disaster preparedness, family support. Recreational opportunities are provided in the form of clubs, fitness facilities. 28th Medical Group Tenant Units Air Force Financial Services Center Area Defense Counsel Detachment 226 AFOSI Detachment 8,372 TRS Ellsworth AFB was established in 1941 as Rapid City Army Air Base. It is named in honor of Brigadier General Richard E. Ellsworth, during World War II Ellsworth flew 400 missions in the China Burma India Theater. At the time of his death he commanded the 28th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, on 2 January 1942, the U. S. War Department established Rapid City Army Air Base as a location for B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber units. The airfield had three runways, 7050x300, 7000x300, 7872x300. Rapid City AAF was assigned to the 17th Bombardment Training Wing, the 88th Bombardment Group was reassigned to the new base in October 1942 to be the bases Operational Training Unit. The fields instructors taught thousands of pilots, navigators, radio operators and gunners from nine heavy bombardment groups, all training focused on the Allied drive to overthrow the Axis powers in Europe
45.
Arctic
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The Arctic is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Alaska, Canada, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, land within the Arctic region has seasonally varying snow and ice cover, with predominantly treeless permafrost-containing tundra. Arctic seas contain seasonal sea ice in many places, the Arctic region is a unique area among Earths ecosystems. For example, the cultures in the region and the Arctic indigenous peoples have adapted to its cold, in recent years, Arctic sea ice decline has been caused by global warming. Life in the Arctic includes organisms living in the ice, zooplankton and phytoplankton, fish and marine mammals, birds, land animals, plants, Arctic land is bordered by the subarctic. The word Arctic comes from the Greek word ἀρκτικός, near the Bear, northern, there are a number of definitions of what area is contained within the Arctic. The area can be defined as north of the Arctic Circle, the southern limit of the midnight sun. The Arctics climate is characterized by cold winters and cool summers and its precipitation mostly comes in the form of snow and is low, with most of the area receiving less than 50 cm. High winds often stir up snow, creating the illusion of continuous snowfall, average winter temperatures can be as low as −40 °C, and the coldest recorded temperature is approximately −68 °C. Coastal Arctic climates are moderated by oceanic influences, having generally warmer temperatures, the Arctic is affected by current global warming, leading to Arctic sea ice shrinkage, diminished ice in the Greenland ice sheet, and Arctic methane release as the permafrost thaws. Due to the migration of the planets isotherms, the Arctic region is currently shrinking. Perhaps the most spectacular result of Arctic shrinkage is sea ice loss, there is a large variance in predictions of Arctic sea ice loss, with models showing near-complete to complete loss in September from 2040 to some time well beyond 2100. About half of the models show near-complete to complete sea ice loss in September by the year 2100. Arctic life is characterized by adaptation to short growing seasons with long periods of sunlight, Arctic vegetation is composed of plants such as dwarf shrubs, graminoids, herbs, lichens and mosses, which all grow relatively close to the ground, forming tundra. As one moves northward, the amount of available for plant growth decreases considerably. Colder summer temperatures cause the size, abundance, productivity and variety of plants to decrease, trees cannot grow in the Arctic, but in its warmest parts, shrubs are common and can reach 2 m in height, sedges, mosses and lichens can form thick layers. In the coldest parts of the Arctic, much of the ground is bare, non-vascular plants such as lichens and mosses predominate, along with a few scattered grasses, herbivores on the tundra include the Arctic hare, lemming, muskox, and caribou. They are preyed on by the owl, Arctic fox, Grizzly bear
46.
496th Tactical Fighter Squadron
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The squadron was inactivated on 15 May 1991. The unit was first activated in 1942, and served until April 1944 as a replacement and operational training unit for light bombardment and fighter-bomber units and its longest period of active duty started in 1953, when it was activated as an interceptor squadron. After training in the Western United States, it moved to Germany, serving in the air defense of Western Europe until 1968 and it received its initial cadre and equipment from the 3d Bombardment Group. It operated briefly with Vultee V-72 aircraft, but its operations showed this aircraft was unsuitable for dive bombing, the squadron served as an Operational Training Unit, acting as the parent for elements of several light bombardment groups. In 1943, the squadron was redesignated as the 496th Fighter-Bomber Squadron as were other AAF single engine bombardment units and it continued to serve as an OTU until October 1943. The OTU program involved the use of a parent unit to provide cadres to satellite groups. During the fall of 1943, operations dwindled and by the end of September 1943 only five aircraft were assigned to the entire 84th Group, the squadron then became a Replacement Training Unit and also participated occasionally in demonstrations and maneuvers. RTUs were also oversized units, but with the mission of training individual pilots or aircrews, however, the AAF found that standard military units, based on relatively inflexible tables of organization were proving less well adapted to the training mission in the US. Accordingly, a functional system was adopted in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit. The squadron was, therefore, disbanded in April 1944 and replaced by the 261st AAF Base Unit, the May 1949 Air Force Reserve program called for a new type of unit, the corollary unit, which was a reserve unit integrated with an active duty unit. The plan called for units at 107 locations. It was viewed as the best method to train reservists by mixing them with a regular unit to perform duties alongside the regular unit. The squadron was undermanned and thus performed very little training. During its only 2-week summer encampment, the entire 84th Group had only four pilots capable of flying the 52ds North American F-82 Twin Mustangs provided for their training. The 84th Group was ordered to service on 1 June 1951, inactivated the next day. Activated briefly at Hamilton Air Force Base, California in early 1953, equipped with North American F-86F Sabres, reassigned to the United States Air Forces in Europe, assigned to the 86th Fighter-Interceptor Wing at Landstuhl Air Base, West Germany in 1954. Mission in USAFE was air defense of West Germany, flying North American F-86D Sabre interceptors, moved to Hahn Air Base in November 1956, remaining assigned to the 86th. Operated from Hahn for the decade, being re-equipped with the F-102A Delta Dagger in 1959
Lieutenant General, United States Air Force
