Wikipedia:Main Page history/2014 January 19

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From today's featured article

No. 2 Operational Conversion Unit (No. 2 OCU) is a fighter training unit of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Located at RAAF Base Williamtown, New South Wales, it trains pilots to operate the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet (pictured), conducts refresher courses, and trains future Hornet instructors. Pilots new to the Hornet enter No. 2 OCU after first qualifying to fly fast jets at No. 79 Squadron and undertaking initial fighter combat instruction at No. 76 Squadron. Once qualified on the F/A-18, they are posted to one of the RAAF's operational Hornet squadrons. No. 2 OCU was established as No. 2 (Fighter) Operational Training Unit in April 1942. During World War II it provided training on a wide range of aircraft, including P-40 Kittyhawks, Vultee Vengeances, Avro Ansons, CAC Boomerangs, Supermarine Spitfires and Airspeed Oxfords. Disbanded in March 1947, the unit was re-formed at Williamtown in March 1952 in response to the demand for more highly trained pilots in the Korean War. It was renamed No. 2 (Fighter) Operational Conversion Unit in September 1958, and before the Hornet it conducted training with the CAC Sabre, Dassault Mirage III, and Macchi MB-326. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

... that the Mangrove Robin (pictured) consumes a significant amount of crab in its diet, in addition to its primary prey of insects?
... that John Mohardt played baseball for the Detroit Tigers with Ty Cobb and football for the Chicago Bears with Red Grange?
... that a Light Elf can carry 1,250 kilograms (2,800 lb)?
... that St John's Church, Egremont, has the largest unsupported ceiling in Merseyside?
... that the Minar-i Pakistan was designed by Russian-born Pakistani architect Nasreddin Murat-Khan?
... that in Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes series, Dr. Watson was first told about Holmes in the Criterion Bar?
... that the four lions surrounding the Obelisk Commemorating Roger Barnston have been described as either mourning or snoozing?

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In the news

Archaeologists discover the tombs of Sobekhotep I and the previously unknown Abydos Dynasty pharaoh, Seneb Kay.
During heavy fighting over Malakal, South Sudan, a Nile ferry carrying refugees sinks, drowning more than 200 people.
In association football, Cristiano Ronaldo (pictured) wins the FIFA Ballon d'Or and Nadine Angerer wins the Women's World Player of the Year award.
Israeli politician and general Ariel Sharon dies after being in a permanent vegetative state for eight years.
Amid civil conflict, Michel Djotodia resigns as President of the Central African Republic.
Heritage Auctions sells a $1,000 United States Treasury Note for $3,290,000, setting a new world record price for a banknote.

Recent deaths: Hiroo Onoda – Suchitra Sen

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On this day...

January 19: Theophany (Julian calendar)

649 – War against the Western Turks: The forces of Kucha surrendered after a siege led by Tang Dynasty general Ashina She'er, establishing Tang control over the northern Tarim Basin in Xinjiang.
1746 – During the Second Jacobite Rising, Bonnie Prince Charlie (pictured) occupied the town of Stirling, Scotland, but failed to capture its castle.
1862 – American Civil War: In their first significant victory, Union forces defeated the Confederates at the Battle of Mill Springs near modern Nancy, Kentucky.
1917 – Approximately 50 tons of TNT exploded at a munitions factory in Silvertown in West Ham, present-day Greater London, killing over 70 people and injuring over 400 others.
1996 – A tank barge and a tug grounded on a beach in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, US, spilling an estimated 828,000 US gallons (3,130,000 l) of home heating oil.

More anniversaries: January 18 – January 19 – January 20

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It is now January 19, 2014 (UTC) – Reload this page

Today's featured picture

St. Francis in Ecstasy is a painting by the Italian Renaissance master Giovanni Bellini, started in 1475 and completed around 1480. The 124 cm × 142 cm (49 in × 56 in) oil on panel painting depicts Francis of Assisi in ecstasy, although academics disagree upon the reason. The painting is now housed in the Frick Collection in New York City.

Painting: Giovanni Bellini

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