Wikipedia:Main Page history/2013 May 26

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From today's featured article

Heinrich Bär (1913–57) was a German Luftwaffe flying ace in World War II. He flew more than 1,000 combat missions, and fought in all major German theatres of the war, including the Western, Eastern and Mediterranean fronts. He was shot down on 18 occasions and was credited with 220 aerial victories, around 16 of which were in the Messerschmitt Me 262, an early jet fighter. Bär joined the Reichswehr in 1934 and transferred to the Luftwaffe in 1935. Serving first as a mechanic, then as a pilot on transport aircraft, he was informally trained as a fighter pilot. He claimed his first aerial victory in September 1939 on the French border. By the end of the Battle of Britain, his tally of victories was 17. Transferred to the Eastern front to participate in Operation Barbarossa, he quickly accumulated further kills, earning the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords for 90 aerial victories in February 1942. Hermann Göring's personal dislike of Bär, coupled with Bär's insubordinate character and lack of military discipline, deprived him of higher awards. After the war, Bär continued as an aviator, and was killed in a flying accident near Braunschweig. (Full article...)

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From Wikipedia's newest content:

... that the text for Bach's last cantata in his second year in Leipzig, Es ist ein trotzig und verzagt Ding, BWV 176, reflects the meeting of Jesus and Nicodemus (pictured)?

... that in 1317, a canon from Beeston Priory had to travel to Rome to seek absolution from Pope John XXII for attacking the Bishop of Norwich with a sword?

... that the Flag of Benin, first chosen in 1959, was reinstated in 1990 following the collapse of the People's Republic of Benin?

... that on the night of 24 February 1874, David Livingstone's corpse was placed in the tower of the Holy Ghost Mission in Bagamoyo, Tanzania?

... that Fu Sheng was credited with saving the Confucian classic Book of Documents from the book burning of the First Emperor of China?

... that the Metropolitan's Residence in Chernivtsi expresses the "cultural identity of the Orthodox Church within the Austro-Hungarian Empire during a period of religious and cultural toleration"?

... that Ohio's current Perry County Courthouse was the county's fifth courthouse in seventy years?

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In the news

Li Xiaoxia

In association football, Bayern Munich defeat Borussia Dortmund to win their 5th UEFA Champions League title.

Several days of rioting occur in Stockholm, Sweden.

American writer Lydia Davis wins the Man Booker International Prize.

An off-duty British soldier is attacked and killed by two men on a street in London.

At the World Table Tennis Championships, Zhang Jike wins the men's singles and Li Xiaoxia (pictured) wins the women's singles.

An EF5 tornado strikes Moore, Oklahoma, in the United States, killing at least 24 people.

In ice hockey, the IIHF World Championship concludes with Sweden defeating Switzerland in the final.

Recent deaths: Henri Dutilleux – Ray Manzarek

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On this day...

May 26: Mother's Day in Algeria, France, Morocco, Poland and Sweden (2013); Independence Day in Georgia (1918)

451 – Armenian rebels were defeated by forces of the Sassanid Empire on the Avarayr Plain in Vaspurakan, but the loss played a major factor in their being granted religious freedom 33 years later.

1644 – Portuguese Restoration War: Portuguese and Spanish forces both claimed victory in the Battle of Montijo.

1906 – Vauxhall Bridge (pictured) in London opened, crossing the River Thames between Vauxhall and Westminster.

1938 – The House Un-American Activities Committee was established to investigate alleged disloyalty and subversive activities by people or organizations suspected of having communist or fascist ties.

1991 – Lauda Air Flight 004 experienced an uncommanded thrust reverser deployment of an engine and broke apart in mid-air, killing all 223 people on board.

More anniversaries: May 25 – May 26 – May 27

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It is now May 26, 2013 (UTC) – Reload this page

Today's featured picture

The meeting place of the Australian Senate, the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, in Parliament House, Canberra. Established in the Australian Constitution, the 76-seat senate has 12 representatives from each of Australia's six states and two from each of the country's internal territories.

Photo: JJ Harrison

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