Wikipedia:Main Page history/2022 January 26b

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From today's featured article

AAC Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5 fighter

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. (Full article...)

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Wellbee

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In the news

Roch Marc Christian Kaboré

In Burkina Faso, a coup d'état led by military officer Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba deposes President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré (pictured) and announces the dissolution of the parliament, government and constitution.
Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk and peace activist Thích Nhất Hạnh dies at the age of 95.
Belgian-British pilot Zara Rutherford becomes the youngest woman to fly solo around the world.

On this day

January 26: Australia Day (1788); Republic Day in India (1950)

Cullinan Diamond

661 – Ali, the fourth Islamic caliph, was assassinated, effectively ending the Rashidun Caliphate.
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.
1905 – The 3,107-carat (621 g; 1.37 lb) Cullinan Diamond (pictured), the largest gem-quality rough diamond ever found, was discovered at the Premier Mine in Gauteng, South Africa.
1952 – Spontaneous anti-British riots erupted in Cairo following the killings of 50 Egyptian auxiliary police officers the previous day.
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.

Manuel do Cenáculo (d. 1814)
Seán MacBride (b. 1904)
Suleman octuplets (b. 2009)

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Today's featured picture

The Australian brushturkey (Alectura lathami), also known as the gweela, is a common, widespread species of mound-building bird in the family Megapodiidae (the incubator birds) found in eastern Australia. It is a large bird with a prominent, fan-like tail flattened sideways, and its plumage is mainly blackish, but with a bare red head, and a yellow or purple wattle. The male's wattle becomes much larger during breeding season, often swinging from side to side as it runs. The male's head and wattle also become much brighter during the breeding and nesting season. The brushturkey is a clumsy flyer and cannot fly long distances, only taking to the air when threatened by predators or to roost in trees at night and during the heat of the day. This Australian brushturkey was photographed in Newington, New South Wales.

Photograph credit: John Harrison

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