No. 34 Squadron is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) squadron, 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