On 29 September 1940, a mid-air collision occurred over Brocklesby, New South Wales, Australia. Two Avro Ansons of No. 2 Service Flying Training School RAAF were on a cross-country navigational exercise and made a banking turn at an altitude of 1,000 feet (300 metres). Leading Aircraftman Leonard Fuller lost sight of the aircraft below him, and the pair collided, locking together and knocking out the upper Anson's engines. The lower Anson's turret wedged into the other's port wing root, its fin and rudder balancing the upper aircraft's port tailplane. Both navigators and the pilot of the lower Anson bailed out. Fuller found that he was able to control the interlocked aircraft using his ailerons and flaps, together with the still-functioning engines on the machine underneath. After flying for five miles (eight kilometres), he made an emergency landing in a paddock. All four crewmen survived the incident, and the upper Anson was repaired and returned to flight service. The freak accident garnered news coverage around the world and, according to the Greater Hume Shire Council, it remains Brocklesby's "main claim to fame". (Full article...)
1962 – Alouette 1, Canada's first satellite, and the first satellite constructed by a country other than the Soviet Union or the United States, was launched.
The birds of Thailand represent nearly one thousand species. At least seven bird species previously found in Thailand have since been extirpated, and approximately fifty of the country's species are globally threatened. In 1991, it was estimated that 159 resident and 23 migratory species were endangered or vulnerable due to forest clearance, illegal logging, hunting and habitat degradation, especially in the lowlands. The birds of Thailand are mainly typical of the Indomalayan realm, with affinities to the Indian subcontinent to the west, and, particularly in Southern Thailand, with the Sundaic fauna to the southeast. The northern mountains are outliers of the Tibetan Plateau with many species of montane birds, and, in winter, the avifauna is augmented by migrants from the eastern Palearctic and Himalayas. The Java sparrow has been introduced by humans, and the cattle egret(pictured) has naturally colonised. The white-eyed river martin, known only from its single wintering site in Thailand, is probably extinct. (Full list...)
In 1805 he took over the Cádiz blockade, and on 21 October of that year Nelson's fleet engaged the Franco-Spanish one at the Battle of Trafalgar. The battle was a British victory, but during the action Nelson was fatally wounded by a French sharpshooter. Numerous monuments, such as Nelson's Column, have been created in his memory, and his signal "England expects that every man will do his duty" has been widely quoted, paraphrased and referenced.
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