The Australian Air Corps (AAC) was a temporary military formation that
existed in the interval between the disbandment of the Australian Flying
Corps (AFC) of World War I and the establishment of the Royal
Australian Air Force (RAAF) in March 1921. Raised in January 1920, the
AAC was commanded by Major William Anderson, a former AFC pilot. Many
members of the AAC were also from the AFC and went on to join the RAAF.
Although part of the Australian Army, the AAC was overseen by a board of
senior officers that included members of the Royal Australian Navy. The
primary purpose of the corps was to maintain assets of the Central
Flying School at Point Cook, Victoria, but it also undertook several
pioneering activities: AAC personnel set an Australian altitude record
that stood for a decade, made the first non-stop flight between Sydney
and Melbourne, and took the country's initial steps in the field of
aviation medicine. The RAAF inherited Point Cook and most of its initial
equipment from the AAC.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Air_Corps>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1700:
An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 9.0 occurred off
the Pacific Northwest coast of North America, as evidenced by Japanese
records of tsunamis.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1700_Cascadia_earthquake>
1905:
The 3,107-carat (621 g; 1.37 lb) Cullinan Diamond, the
largest gem-quality rough diamond ever found, was discovered at the
Premier Mine in Gauteng, South Africa.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cullinan_Diamond>
1952:
Spontaneous anti-British riots erupted in Cairo following the
killings of 50 Egyptian auxiliary police officers the previous day.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo_fire>
1972:
JAT Flight 367 exploded in mid-air over Czechoslovakia; the
only survivor of the 28 on board, flight attendant Vesna Vulović, fell
10,160 m (33,330 ft), setting the record for surviving the highest
fall without a parachute.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesna_Vulovi%C4%87>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
emu:
1. (obsolete) A cassowary (genus Casuarius).
2. A large flightless bird native to Australia, Dromaius
novaehollandiae.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/emu>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Twenty-five years ago I couldn't walk down the street without
being recognized. Now I can put a cap on, walk anywhere and no one pays
me any attention. They don't ask me about my movies and they don't ask
me about my salad dressing because they don't know who I am. Am I happy
about this? You bet.
--Paul Newman
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paul_Newman>
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