Valston Hancock (31 May 1907 – 29 September 1998) was a senior
commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). A graduate of the
Royal Military College, Duntroon, Hancock transferred to the RAAF in
1929 and qualified as a pilot. After fifteen years of occupying staff
and training posts, he saw combat in the Aitape–Wewak campaign of the
Pacific War during 1945. Flying Bristol Beaufort light bombers, he led
No. 100 Squadron, and later No. 71 Wing, earning the Distinguished
Flying Cross. After the war, Hancock became the inaugural commandant of
RAAF College, followed by a succession of senior positions, before being
promoted to air marshal and serving as Chief of the Air Staff from 1961
to 1965. He was knighted in 1962. In his role as the Air Force's senior
officer, Hancock continued the policy of developing a chain of forward
airfields in Northern Australia. He also evaluated potential
replacements for the RAAF's English Electric Canberra bomber.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valston_Hancock>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1940:
Two Avro Ansons of the Royal Australian Air Force collided in
mid-air over Brocklesby, but locked together and were landed safely.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1940_Brocklesby_mid-air_collision>
1962:
Alouette I, Canada's first satellite, and the first
constructed by a country other than the Soviet Union or the United
States, was launched.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alouette_1>
1963:
The University of East Anglia was founded in Norwich, England,
after talk of establishing a university in the city began as early as
the 19th century.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_East_Anglia>
1990:
The Lockheed YF-22, the prototype for the F-22 Raptor, made its
first flight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_YF-22>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
Neptunian:
1. (Roman mythology) Of or pertaining to Neptune, the Roman god of fresh
water and the sea, the counterpart of the Greek god Poseidon.
2. (by extension, rare) Of or pertaining to water or the sea.
3. (by extension, geology) Formed by the action of water.
4. (by extension, geology, historical) Of, pertaining to, or supporting
Neptunism (“a discredited theory that rocks were formed from the
crystallisation of minerals in the early Earth's oceans”). [...]
5. (astrology) Pertaining to the astrological influence of the planet
Neptune.
6. (astronomy) Of or pertaining to the planet Neptune.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Neptunian>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Man sees, hears, touches, tastes and smells that which it is
necessary for him to see, hear, touch, taste and smell in order to
preserve his life. The decay or loss of any of these senses increases
the risks with which his life is environed, and if it increases them
less in the state of society in which we are actually living, the reason
is that some see, hear, touch, taste and smell for others. A blind man,
by himself and without a guide, could not live long. Society is an
additional sense; it is the true common sense.
--Miguel de Unamuno
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno>