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Donald Hardman (21 February 1899 – 2 March 1982) was a senior Royal Air Force (RAF) commander. He joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1917 and flew fighters over the Western Front, achieving nine victories to become a decorated ace. Between the wars he saw service with RAF squadrons in India and Egypt. At the outbreak of World War II, Hardman was a wing commander, attached to the Air Ministry. In 1944 he commanded No. 232 (Transport) Group during the Burma campaign. He served successively as Assistant Chief of the Air Staff, Commandant of RAF Staff College, Bracknell, and Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of RAF Home Command. He was knighted in 1952. Hardman was Chief of the Air Staff of the Royal Australian Air Force from 1952 to 1954, and was responsible for reorganising its geographically based command-and-control system into a functional structure. After returning to Britain, he joined the Air Council in May 1954, and was promoted to air chief marshal the following year. He retired from the RAF in 1958. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Sacred Heart Cathedral, Kaifeng

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In the news

Cillian Murphy

At the British Academy Film Awards, Oppenheimer wins Best Film and six other awards, including Best Actor for Cillian Murphy (pictured).
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny dies in a corrective labor colony near Kharp, at the age of 47.
In American football, the Kansas City Chiefs defeat the San Francisco 49ers to win the Super Bowl.
In association football, the Africa Cup of Nations concludes with Ivory Coast defeating Nigeria in the final.
Alexander Stubb is elected President of Finland.

On this day

February 21

Malcolm X

1746 – Jacobite rising of 1745: The siege of Inverness ended with British forces surrendering to the Jacobite army.
1862 – American Civil War: The Confederate Army began an attempt to gain control of the Southwest with a major victory in the Battle of Valverde.
1952 – A number of student protesters demanding the establishment of Bengali as an official language were killed by police in Dhaka, East Pakistan.
1965 – American Black nationalist Malcolm X (pictured) was assassinated while giving a speech in New York City's Audubon Ballroom.
1973 – After accidentally straying into Israeli-occupied airspace, Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 was shot down by two fighter aircraft, killing 108 of the 113 people on board.

Gaius Caesar (d. AD 4)
Léo Delibes (b. 1836)
Incas (parakeet) (d. 1918)
Elliot Page (b. 1987)

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Today's featured picture

Mud is a small Himalayan village in the cold desert region of Spiti in Himachal Pradesh, India. In 2011, the village had a population of 213. At an altitude of 3,810 metres (12,500 ft) on the Pin River (a tributary of the Spiti River), the village is located at the base of the Parbati range that towers almost vertically 1,600 metres (5,200 ft, very nearly a mile) above. Mud is notable geologically for the nearby Muth Formation, which consists of white quartz arenite, which has a thickness of 258 to 300 metres (846 to 984 ft) and is resistant to weathering. This photograph shows the village of Mud with the tall rock strata behind.

Photograph credit: Timothy A. Gonsalves

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