Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 July 3

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From today's featured article

Vultee Vengeance dive bombers operated in Australian service between 1942 and 1950, and saw combat during World War II. A total of 400 of the type were ordered for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in 1942. Large-scale deliveries commenced in 1943, and 342 arrived before the order was cancelled. RAAF Vengeance-equipped units entered combat in mid-1943. The main frontline deployment of the type began in January 1944, but ended after only six weeks as the Vengeance was considered inferior to other available aircraft. All combat units equipped with Vengeances were converted to operate heavy bombers. The type remained in RAAF service for training and support purposes until 1946, and some were used by the Royal Australian Navy until 1950. While there is consensus among historians that the Vengeance was obsolete at the time it entered Australian service, some argue that it proved successful. Others, including the RAAF's Air Power Development Centre, have judged that the type was unsuitable. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Avro Vulcan XM607

... that during Operation Black Buck, Avro Vulcan bomber XM607 (pictured) flew for nearly 15 hours to drop 21 bombs on the Falkland Islands?
... that international windsurfing champion Lena Erdil is the daughter of a Turkish father and a German mother, who met each other while windsurfing?
... that the hymn tune of the 16th-century "An Wasserflüssen Babylon" ("By the rivers of Babylon") was largely popularized with the text of a 17th-century Passion hymn?
... that Andrea L. Thompson served in the United States Army for 28 years before becoming National Security Advisor to the Vice President?
... that supplements and "symposia" published by academic journals may be paid publications, neither independently peer-reviewed nor edited by journal staff?
... that the Chicago Express Loop is a proposed underground high-speed rail rapid transit system that will connect Chicago's Loop with O'Hare International Airport?
... that Zhang Xiaoqian, one of China's top doctors, was spared from persecution during the Anti-Rightist Campaign by Mao Zedong, who called him a "simpleminded person"?
... that a veteran tree near Brig o' Turk in the Trossachs has "eaten" a bicycle?

In the news

Andrés Manuel López Obrador

Twelve boys and a man trapped in Thailand’s Tham Luang Nang Non cave are found alive after ten days missing, with rescue operations ongoing.
Andrés Manuel López Obrador (pictured) is elected President of Mexico.
The Japanese sample-return spacecraft Hayabusa2 arrives at the asteroid 162173 Ryugu.
Saudi Arabia lifts its ban on women driving.
Canada legalizes the recreational use of cannabis with effect from October 2018, making it the second country to do so.

On this day

July 3: Independence Day in Belarus

Eternal Light Peace Memorial

324 – Roman emperor Constantine the Great defeated former colleague Licinius in the Battle of Adrianople.
1754 – French and Indian War: George Washington surrendered Fort Necessity in Pennsylvania, the only military surrender in his entire career.
1938 – On the 75th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Gettysburg, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the Eternal Light Peace Memorial (pictured).
1970 – The Troubles: The British Army imposed the Falls Curfew on Belfast, Northern Ireland, which resulted in greater Irish republican resistance.
1988 – United States Navy warship USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.

William Jones (d. 1749) · Leoš Janáček (b. 1854) · Bo Xilai (b. 1949)

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Today's featured picture

Väike-Maarja Church (pictured in 2013) is located at Väike-Maarja in Lääne-Viru County, Estonia. Initially designed as a fortress church, construction began in the 14th century. It has three nave-halls in Gothic style, as well as an organ installed by Gustav Normann and stained-glass windows by Riho Hütt. The original spire collapsed in a 2010 storm and was subsequently rebuilt.

Photograph: Ivar Leidus

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