responsible for the transport of VIPs, including members of the
Australian government, the Governor-General, and visiting dignitaries.
The squadron has a secondary role providing emergency transport during
humanitarian operations. It operates Boeing 737 Business Jets and
Bombardier Challenger 604s (example pictured) from Defence
Establishment Fairbairn in Canberra. The squadron was formed in February
1942 for standard transport duties during World War II, initially
flying de Havilland DH.84 Dragons. In 1943 it operated Douglas
C-47 Dakotas in New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies prior to
disbanding in 1946. The unit was re-established in 1948 as No. 34
(Communications) Squadron at RAAF Station Mallala, South Australia,
where it supported activities at the Woomera Rocket Range before
disbanding in 1955. It was re-raised the following year, and since the
1960s it has at various times operated Dakotas, Convair Metropolitans,
Vickers Viscounts, Dassault Falcon-Mysteres, Hawker Siddeley HS 748s,
BAC 1-11s, and Dassault Falcon 900s. The squadron took its present name
in 1963, and began using the 737 and Challenger in 2002.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._34_Squadron_RAAF>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1456:
Twenty-five years after her death, Joan of Arc was declared
innocent of heresy in a posthumous retrial.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrial_of_Joan_of_Arc>
1846:
Mexican–American War: American forces led by Commodore John
D. Sloat occupied Monterey, beginning the annexation of California.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Monterey>
1963:
The police of Ngô Đình Nhu, brother and chief political
adviser of President of South Vietnam Ngô Đình Diệm, attacked a
group of American journalists who were covering a protest during the
Buddhist crisis.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Seven_Day_scuffle>
1997:
Iraqi Kurdish Civil War: The Turkish Armed Forces concluded
Operation Hammer, having successfully destroyed Kurdistan Workers' Party
units in Northern Iraq.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Hammer_(1997)>
2012:
The equivalent of five months of rain fell overnight in
Krasnodar Krai, Russia, causing flash floods, killing 171 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Krasnodar_Krai_floods>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sanguinary:
1. Attended with bloodshed.
2. Eager to shed blood; bloodthirsty.
3. Consisting of, covered with or similar in appearance to blood.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sanguinary>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 A properly balanced sword is the most versatile weapon for
close quarters ever devised. Pistols and guns are all offense, no
defense; close on him fast and a man with a gun can't shoot, he has to
stop you before you reach him. Close on a man carrying a blade and
you'll be spitted like a roast pigeon — unless you have a blade and
can use it better than he can. A sword never jams, never has to be
reloaded, is always ready. Its worst shortcoming is that it takes great
skill and patient, loving practice to gain that skill; it can't be
taught to raw recruits in weeks, nor even months.
--Robert A. Heinlein
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_A._Heinlein>
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