Wikipedia:Main Page history/2011 August 17

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The air-tractor sledge

The air-tractor sledge was a converted fixed-wing aircraft taken on the 1911–14 Australasian Antarctic Expedition, the first plane to be taken to the Antarctic. Expedition leader Douglas Mawson had planned to use the Vickers R.E.P. Type Monoplane as a reconnaissance and search and rescue tool, and to assist in publicity, but the aircraft crashed heavily during a test flight only two months before Mawson's scheduled departure date. The plane, stripped of its wings, was nevertheless sent south with the expedition, and converted to a sledge; brakes were fashioned from a pair of geological drills and a steering system from the plane's landing gear. The air-tractor was first tested in November 1912 and subsequently assisted in laying depots for the summer sledging parties, but its use during the expedition was minimal; the freezing conditions resulted in the jamming of the engine's pistons, and its frame was left on the ice when the expedition returned home in December 1913. In 2008 a team from the Mawson's Huts Foundation began searching for the remains of the air-tractor sledge; a seat was found in 2009, and parts of the tail a year later. The foundation believes that the air-tractor is still at the expedition's base, buried beneath the ice. (more...)

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From Wikipedia's newest content:

Christine Baranski

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  • On this day...

    August 17: Independence Day in Indonesia (1945)

    Sukarno, accompanied by Mohammad Hatta, proclaiming Indonesian independence

  • 986Byzantine–Bulgarian Wars: The Bulgarians defeated the Byzantine forces at the Gate of Trajan near present-day Ihtiman, with Byzantine Emperor Basil II barely escaping.
  • 1915American Jew Leo Frank was lynched by a mob of prominent citizens in Marietta, Georgia, for the alleged murder of a 13-year-old girl.
  • 1945Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta proclaimed the independence of Indonesia (pictured), igniting the Indonesian National Revolution against the Dutch Empire.
  • 1947 – A commission led by Cyril Radcliffe established the Radcliffe Line, the border between India and Pakistan after the Partition of India.
  • 2008 – With the victory in the 4×100 m medley relay at the Beijing Summer Olympics, Michael Phelps set the records for the most gold medals won by an individual in a single Olympics (8) as well as total career gold medals (14) in modern Olympic history.
  • More anniversaries: August 16August 17August 18

    It is now August 17, 2011 (UTC) – Refresh this page

    Today's featured picture

    Hohenzollern Bridge, Cologne

    The Hohenzollern Bridge crossing the Rhine in Cologne, Germany, with the Cologne Cathedral in the background. The bridge is a tied-arch railway bridge, as well as a pedestrian bridge. Originally built in 1911, it survived numerous Allied bombings in World War II, only to be destroyed by German engineers as the war drew to a close in 1945. Reconstruction began soon after and the bridge was opened to pedestrian traffic in 1948 and completely opened in 1959.

    Photo: Thomas Wolf

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