85px|Captain Harry Cobby in 1919
Harry Cobby (1894–1955) was the leading fighter ace of the Australian Flying Corps during World War I. A bank clerk when war broke out, he was prevented by his employer from enlisting in the military until 1916. After flying training, he was posted to the Western Front with No. 4 Squadron AFC. In less than a year of combat he achieved 29 victories, all flying the Sopwith Camel. Acclaimed a national hero, Cobby transferred to the newly formed Royal Australian Air Force in 1921. He commanded No. 1 Squadron and RAAF Station Richmond, before leaving to join the Civil Aviation Board in 1936. Re-joining the RAAF at the outbreak of World War II, Cobby was awarded the George Medal in 1943 for rescuing fellow survivors of an aircraft crash. The following year he was appointed Air Officer Commanding No. 10 Operational Group, but was relieved of his post in the wake of the "Morotai Mutiny" of April 1945. Retiring from the RAAF in 1946, Cobby served with the Department of Civil Aviation until his death on Armistice Day in 1955. (more...)
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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1215:
The Fourth Lateran Council convened, defining the doctrine of transubstantiation, the process by which bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Christ. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/transubstantiation
1620:
The Mayflower Compact, the first governing document of the Plymouth Colony, was signed by 41 of the Mayflower's passengers while the ship was anchored in what is now Provincetown Harbor. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayflower_Compact
1805:
War of the Third Coalition: French, Austrian and Russian units all suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Dürenstein. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_D%C3%BCrenstein
1918:
The armistice treaty between the German Empire and the Allies was signed in a railway carriage in the Forest of Compiègne of France . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armistice_with_Germany
1940:
World War II: The German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis captured top secret documents from SS Automedon that would later influence Japan's decision to enter the war. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_auxiliary_cruiser_Atlantis
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
bell the cat (v): To undertake a dangerous action in the service of a group http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bell_the_cat
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
I have seen the truth; I have seen and I know that people can be beautiful and happy without losing the power of living on earth. I will not and cannot believe that evil is the normal condition of mankind. And it is just this faith of mine that they laugh at. But how can I help believing it? I have seen the truth — it is not as though I had invented it with my mind, I have seen it, seen it, and the living image of it has filled my soul for ever. I have seen it in such full perfection that I cannot believe that it is impossible for people to have it. And so how can I go wrong? I shall make some slips no doubt, and shall perhaps talk in second-hand language, but not for long: the living image of what I saw will always be with me and will always correct and guide me. Oh, I am full of courage and freshness, and I will go on and on if it were for a thousand years! Do you know, at first I meant to conceal the fact that I corrupted them, but that was a mistake — that was my first mistake! But truth whispered to me that I was lying, and preserved me and corrected me. But how establish paradise — I don't know, because I do not know how to put it into words. After my dream I lost command of words. All the chief words, anyway, the most necessary ones. But never mind, I shall go and I shall keep talking, I won't leave off, for anyway I have seen it with my own eyes, though I cannot describe what I saw. But the scoffers do not understand that. It was a dream, they say, delirium, hallucination. Oh! As though that meant so much! And they are so proud! A dream! What is a dream? And is not our life a dream? I will say more. Suppose that this paradise will never come to pass (that I understand), yet I shall go on preaching it. And yet how simple it is: in one day, in one hour everything could be arranged at once! The chief thing is to love others like yourself, that's the chief thing, and that's everything; nothing else is wanted — you will find out at once how to arrange it all. And yet it's an old truth which has been told and retold a billion times — but it has not formed part of our lives! The consciousness of life is higher than life, the knowledge of the laws of happiness is higher than happiness — that is what one must contend against. And I shall. If only everyone wants it, it can be arranged at once. --Fyodor Dostoevsky http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fyodor_Dostoevsky