Wikipedia:Main Page history/2011 November 11

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Today's featured article
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...) Recently featured: SS Edmund Fitzgerald – Edward VII – Governor of Kentucky Archive – By email – More featured articles...
Did you know...
From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that Joshua L. Goldberg (pictured), the first rabbi to serve as a World War II U.S. navy chaplain, was a Russian army deserter? ... that its ability to solve wind drift calculations made the Course Setting Bomb Sight the "most important bombsight" of World War I? ... that before his death in 2011, Tadeusz Sawicz was believed to have been the last surviving Polish pilot to have fought in the Battle of Britain? ... that on Christmas Day 1914, aircraft from the British seaplane carrier HMS Empress participated in the Cuxhaven Raid on hangars housing Zeppelin airships? ... that bandleader Mitch Miller studied at a music school named for David Hochstein, a promising young American violinist killed in World War I? ... that in August 1944, eighty Germans were taken prisoner by a British sergeant of the 2nd Parachute Brigade? ... that chemist Charles Phelps Smyth received the Medal of Freedom for covert intelligence work he did in Europe during World War II, when he was 50 years old? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
Graham Spanier Pennsylvania State University fires its president Graham Spanier (pictured) and head football coach Joe Paterno in response to a child sexual abuse scandal. Russian Phobos sample return mission Fobos-Grunt and Chinese Mars orbiter Yinghuo-1 are launched from Baikonur. American boxer Joe Frazier dies at the age of 67. Russia starts commercial natural gas deliveries to Western Europe via the Nord Stream, the world's longest submerged pipeline. Floods and landslides in Colombia kill more than one hundred people. Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events...
On this day...
November 11: Armistice Day in Europe; Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth; Independence Day in Angola (1975); Veterans Day in the United States 1215 – The Fourth Lateran Council, which defined the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, convened. 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. 1805 – War of the Third Coalition: French, Austrian and Russian units all suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Dürenstein. 1918 – The armistice treaty between the German Empire and the Allies was signed in a railway carriage in the Forest of Compiègne of France (signatories pictured). 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. More anniversaries: November 10 – November 11 – November 12 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now November 11, 2011 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture

An aerial view of Waikoloa, an ahupuaʻa in the South Kohala District on the northwest portion of the island of Hawaiʻi, with the Hilton Waikoloa resort hotel in the foreground. The region is named after Kohala, the oldest of the island's five volcanoes.

Photo: George

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