No. 77 Squadron is a Royal Australian Air Force squadron headquartered at RAAF Base Williamtown, New South Wales. It operates F/A-18 Hornet multi-role fighters (pictured) and is controlled by No. 81 Wing. Formed at Pearce, Western Australia, in 1942, the squadron flew P-40 Kittyhawks in the South West Pacific during World War II. After the war, it re- equipped with P-51 Mustangs and deployed to Japan with the British Commonwealth Occupation Force. The squadron was about to return to Australia when the Korean War broke out in 1950; it converted to Gloster Meteor jets in 1951 and claimed five MiG-15s and over 5,000 buildings and vehicles destroyed during the war for the loss of almost 60 aircraft. Re-equipped with CAC Sabres, the squadron briefly saw action during the Malayan Emergency in 1959–60. It operated Mirage III supersonic jets from 1969 to 1987, when it converted to Hornets. The squadron supplied aircraft to Diego Garcia in 2001–02 to support the war in Afghanistan, and deployed to the Middle East as part of the military intervention against ISIL in 2015–16. No. 77 Squadron is due to re-equip with F-35 Lightnings in 2021.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._77_Squadron_RAAF
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1770:
Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo, a historic Catholic mission church in present-day Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, and the site of the first Christian confirmation in Alta California, was established. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_San_Carlos_Borromeo_de_Carmelo
1839:
Qing Chinese government official Lin Zexu ordered the destruction of nearly 1.2 million kg (2.6 million lbs) of opium in Humen, precipitating the First Opium War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lin_Zexu
1937:
Nearly six months after Edward, Duke of Windsor, abdicated the British throne, he married American socialite Wallis Simpson in a private ceremony near Tours, France. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallis_Simpson
1968:
American artist Andy Warhol and two others were shot and wounded at his New York City studio "The Factory" by radical feminist Valerie Solanas. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Warhol
2012:
Dana Air Flight 992, a passenger flight from Abuja to Lagos, Nigeria, suffered dual engine failure and crashed into a building, resulting in the deaths of all 153 on board and ten more on the ground. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dana_Air_Flight_992
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
grapple: 1. (transitive) To seize something and hold it firmly. 2. (transitive, figuratively) Normally used with with: to ponder and intensely evaluate a problem. 3. (transitive) To fasten, as with a grapple; to fix; to join indissolubly. 4. (intransitive) To use a grapple. 5. (intransitive) To wrestle or tussle. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/grapple
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Americans have been selling this view around the world: that progress comes from perfect protection of intellectual property. Notwithstanding the fact that the most innovative and progressive space we've seen — the Internet — has been the place where intellectual property has been least respected. You know, facts don't get in the way of this ideology. --Lawrence Lessig https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lawrence_Lessig