title: Dodge WC series

text: Well before the onset of World War II, it was clear that the USA needed to update its military. The Quartermaster Corps (Q.C.), responsible at the time for providing the military with non-combat vehicles, moved to standardize truck designs, and by 1939, as the war in Europe erupted, the Army had settled on five payload-based general-purpose, cross-country truck classes: , , -, 4- and . Introduction of a ton standard 4WD class meant a significant doctrine shift, away from the conventional belief that all the extra weight, costs and mechanical complexity of adding 4-wheel-drive wouldn't be worth it on any general purpose military vehicle with an off-highway payload capacity below the old 1ton standard Army cargo unit. Even in the civilian market, the use of all-wheel drive was practically non-existent in anything below . Light-duty off-roaders were a very small niche-market, filled by after-market conversions, primarily by Marmon-Herrington.


title: Dodge WC series

text: By June 1940 the Q.C. had tested and approved its first three standard commercial based, all-wheel drive trucks: the " 4x4 Dodge", the GMC 6x6 and a Mack 6x6. With regards to Dodge however, the U.S. military reconsidered its preferences for the build-up for the war almost immediately after this.


title: Dodge WC series

text: Whereas in 1936, a Marmon-Herrington converted Ford had become the Army's first half-ton 4-wheel drive, and the Army had initially standardized Dodge's 4x4 truck — following Dodge's push for building tonners, after mid 1940 it was decided they preferred Dodge to build light-duty four-wheel drives, contracting for a series of half-ton trucks, while GM / Chevrolet was instead going to become the standard supplier for trucks. Dodge successfully outbid GMC's 1939 ACK-101 half-ton truck, as well as Marmon-Herrington, who could not retrofit in the required volume or price, not to mention International's M-1-4 half-ton truck, which wasn't built until 1941, for the U.S. Marine Corps. So, when in the summer of 1940 the largest government truck contract awarded went to Chrysler's Dodge / Fargo Division, for more than 14,000 (mostly) 4x4 trucks, this was in the midst of the transition, and thus included both orders for ton and 1ton trucks, as GM / Chevy still needed to tool up for mass-producing 4WD 1-tonners.


title: Dodge WC series

text: Dodge had started developing designs for a 4x4 half-ton in 1939, and began production in earnest in 1940 — both 4x4 half-tons, as well as 1-ton 4x4 and 4x2 trucks. On all 1940 trucks, front sheetmetal was mostly identical to the commercial VC and VF models of that year, with the addition of a big brush guard mounted in front of the grille and headlights. Except for the addition of 4-wheel drive, and custom bodies on the ton command cars, the trucks followed the 1939 procurement doctrine, to ""use commercial trucks with only a few modifications such as brush guards and towing pintles to fit them for military use.""


title: Dodge WC series

text: The first of the -ton, 4x4, VC series military trucks were based on Dodge's 1939 commercial, one-ton rated model "TC"-series. The military VC models kept the same wheelbase and got the same civilian engine upgrade for 1940, but gained four-wheel drive, and a new internal technical code: T-202. Manufacturing of the half-ton Dodge VC-models (SNL number ) began in 1940, making these the U.S. Army's first ever light-duty, mass-produced 4-wheel drive trucks. The soldiers also called the light command reconnaissance vehicles "jeeps," but this was also common with several other vehicles at the time. — before that term migrated to the quarter-tons, starting gradually in 1941.


title: Dodge WC series

text: A total of 4,640 VC models were built across six variants – mostly pick-ups and reconnaissance cars. On the one hand, these ton VC trucks proved so successful, that much greater quantities were immediately ordered, and they were further developed into the , ton "WC" models built in 1941. On the other hand, an even lighter and smaller 4x4 truck was needed: a "quarter-ton", that would soon replace the Dodges as the U.S.' lightest 4x4 military trucks. Although no longer standard, the VC trucks remained in use until the end of the war. The Dodge VC models were built a year ahead, and in a slightly greater number than any of the pre-standard quarter-ton jeeps that followed.


title: Dodge WC series

text: In 1940, Dodge also built 6,472 four-wheel drive 1-ton trucks, under two U.S. contracts – one awarded to Dodge, and one to Fargo. The models VF-401 to VF-407 (or engine/tech type T-203 by Dodge – and G-621 by the Army), were a continuation of their experimental pre-war predecessors, the RF-40(-X) and TF-40(-X) (or T-200 / T-201), still riding on a chassis of the same wheelbase. Production consisted of just over 6,000 closed cab, open bed cargo trucks, plus just under 400 dump-trucks.


title: Dodge WC series

text: Like on the -ton VC-series, the 1940 VF-400 1-ton models simply used civilian front sheet-metal, based on the 1939 commercial model , with a brush-guard fitted in front of the grille and headlights — but with a Dodge developed front driving axle, directional, cross-country tires, and a military cargo body. Importantly, one thousand of the VF-400 series cargo trucks were equipped with a power take-off, gear-driven Braden model MU capacity winch — a feature that was carried over on many of the subsequent and WC series models, directly from 1941. And although the light-duty WC models that followed, did "not" receive the VF-400's two-speed transfer cases, these "did" return on the and . An ambulance model, , was also designed, but only three units were built, likely experimental.


title: Dodge WC series

text: These proved to be the last of Dodge's 1-ton 4x4 trucks for the war. Although the Army had steadily taken the bulk of its trucks in this category from Dodge / Fargo up til then, further production of 1-ton 4x4 trucks was instead awarded to GM's Chevrolet G506, which became the standard in this segment for the rest of the war.


title: Dodge WC series

text: Aside from four-wheel drive trucks, production started for a militarized commercial 1-ton, rear-wheel drive truck in 1940 — initially Dodge's model VF-31, cargo (engineering code T-98) under the government SNL number G-618. The 4x2 model VF-31 was succeeded by the model WF-31 (internally T-118) for 1941 (closed cab tractor) and 1942 (cab and chassis) — both on a wheelbase — and the 1942 model WF-32, closed cab, stake and platform cargo truck, on a "" wheelbase. After a modest production of 516 units of the WF-31, at least 9,500 Dodge WF-32 trucks were built, mostly for lend-lease to Russia.


title: Dodge WC series

text: The 1940 VC-series Dodge -ton 4x4s were well liked but considered only an interim solution, because they were essentially a modified civilian truck. At the outset of World War II a more military design was laid out. Dodge evolved the 1940 VC1 to VC6 into the equally half-ton rated WC series of military light trucks, produced in 38 model variants, of which 30 were four-wheel driven, in varying amounts — thousands of some models were produced, while only a few of some others were made. Where the military VCseries still used much civilian sheet-metal, distinguished by a brush-guard in front of the grille — the WCseries came with wide-open, almost flat fenders that prevented mud build-up, clogging rotation of the wheels — as well as a redesigned, sloping nose with an integrated, round, grated grille / brush-guard. A new ambulance with a fully enclosed, all-steel box rear body was designed, on a longer, 123 inch wheelbase; and PTO-driven winches were now fitted to some models.


title: Dodge WC series

text: The ton WC models were the first all-military design Dodge developed in the build-up to full mobilization for World WarII, and they were the U.S. Army's first standard light 4x4 trucks — prior to the quarter-tons — when the U.S. formally declared war in December 1941. Soldiers would sometimes call the new vehicles 'jeeps', as was still common practice before the term migrated to the yet to be introduced Willys and Ford -tons, and eventually stuck to those.


title: Dodge WC series

text: Both the Dodge half-ton VC and WC trucks were part of the Army series. Some 77,750 four-wheel drive ton WC numbered trucks were produced from late 1940 to early 1942, under War Department contracts. Additionally, aside from the fully military 4WD models, a small total of 1,542 two-wheel drive units retaining civilian sheet-metal were also supplied to the U.S. military, bearing WC model numbers in this same range. These models carried the SNL-code G-613, and brought the total number of half-ton WCseries up to some 79,300 units, and the grand total of all half-tonners (VC and WC; 4WD and 2WD) to almost 84,000.


title: Dodge WC series

text: From August 1941, the Dodge T-211 models received the uprated 92hp (gross) engine, that was from then on fitted to all WC trucks produced through August 1945: the T-215 half-tons, all of the G-502, -ton models, as well as the G-507, T-223, 6x6 trucks.


title: Dodge WC series

text: In 1940 the Army revised its range of standard, payload-based, general-purpose truck classes: a chassis requirement was added; the was to be replaced by a , and additional heavy categories were specified. The Quartermaster General wanted to start direct negotiations with Dodge, GM and Mack for certain models immediately, but not until after February 1941 could the Quartermaster Corps choose manufacturers directly, based on their engineering and production capabilities. One deciding factor had to do with availability of certain critical components, like transfer cases and especially constant-velocity joints, not used much on commercial trucks, but all-wheel drive vehicles all needed these; plus additionally, they would use two or three times the amount of driven axles, meaning more gears to cut for all the differentials. Produced up to the war by a few specialized firms with limited capacity, from spring 1942 Ford, Dodge and Chevrolet joined in fabricating these in mass quantity, with Dodge's experience in making quality, precision parts dating back from the earliest beginnings of the company.


title: Dodge WC series

text: While very successful, the -ton WC trucks had to be supplanted by new ton trucks. In late 1941, Dodge introduced a redesigned WCseries 4x4 trucks uprated to ton and their SNL code changed to . The ton featured a lower profile truck bed that could seat eight troops, plus under seat stowage compartments; while service-parts remained 80 percent interchangeable with the existing ton series. Maintaining 80% service parts interchangeability with the ton models was of great value. The ton models could swiftly be deployed, and the ton, WCtrucks remained in use to the end of World War II.


title: Dodge WC series

text: Throughout the war, Dodge was the U.S. Army's sole producer of ton trucks, and built a total of 255,193 of these across all variants from April 1942 to August 1945.


title: Dodge WC series

text: Standard vehicles in the ton 4x4 class were the / Weapons Carrier, (Radio) Command Reconnaissance, Carryall, and the Ambulance. In the cargo/troop and command trucks, the and are identical to the and , but with a longer frame, extending to carry the protruding front bumper with front-mounted winch.


title: Dodge WC series

text: After the U.S. Army reorganized from using eight-troop rifle squads to twelve-men squads, a single squad could no longer be carried as a unit in the ton, 4x4, and trucks. At the direction of Major General Courtney Hodges, Chief of Infantry, the troop- and weapons-carriers were thus in 1943 stretched with an additional driven rear axle, to derive longer 6-wheel drive, 1ton trucks. Using the same engine, gearbox, and cockpit, and sharing much of the other mechanicals, plus near-identical front-half sheet-metal as the -tons, the new 6x6, , 1tons' main difference was the use of a dual-range transfer-case, sourced out of the prior 1940, 1ton VF-400 models, instead of the single-speed box of the-tons and -tons. The result were the and cargo, troop and weapons carriers, to move whole 12-troop squad teams per vehicle.


title: Dodge WC series

text: The latter was of course equipped with a longer frame, housing an engine power take-off drive-shaft from the transfer-case forward, to drive a Braden MU2 winch, mounted on a more protruding front-bumper, reducing the approach angle. The winch capacity was originally rated at pull-strength, but in late 1943 the wire rope size was upgraded from to , the capacity rating was raised to , both on tons and the 6WDs.


title: Dodge WC series

text: The chassis and certain other components were strengthened in the design of the new, longer, double the payload rated models, and many of these changes were incorporated back into subsequent production of the -ton models as well. Although this caused some inconsistency in the mechanical uniformity of the -tons, it "did" keep parts the same as much as possible between the -tons and the new 1-tons, benefiting both the uniformity and ease of production of all the different models, as well as the tons, making them even more rugged from then on.


title: Dodge WC series

text: Twelve G-614 half-ton capacity, 4x4, XAC-2 / experimental 'Aqua-Cheetah', amphibious vehicles were built in 1942, by the Amphibian Car Corporation. One unit was submitted to Britain for testing, (under Lend-Lease), and the remaining eleven were subsequently rebuilt by the same firm, as G-552, XAC-3, amphibious 3/4ton trucks. Both the tons and the tons were built based on Dodge WC series mechanicals. The vehicles performed well in testing, but neither Britain nor the U.S. decided to standardize them.


title: Dodge WC series

text: This table provides the relations between U.S. military and Dodge identification numbers, chassis payload classification in U.S. tons (907 kg), wheels and drive, and description of body fitted, according to the U.S. Army Ordnance SNL supply list. <br>


title: Dodge WC series

text: The U.S. government used category numbers starting with 'G-', whereas Dodge used "technical" category numbers starting with a 'T', and "model" numbers starting with two letters, like 'WC-'. The U.S. Army simply considered the 1941 Dodge "WC" series as evolutions of the initial 1940 "VC" series – all within the half-ton, 4x4, SNL trucks.


title: Dodge WC series

text: In the case of two vehicle identifications separated by a slash, the first code refers to the vehicle "without" a winch, and the second code, in bold print, to the same vehicle, on a longer frame, holding a front winch, typically resulting in a longer front overhang, and distinctly reduced approach angle. Not only were the winches driven by a power take-off from the engine, but unlike the later Dodge M-series trucks, on which an extension was bolted to the frame when mounting a winch — on the WCseries the winch equipped versions actually had a different frame.


title: Dodge WC series

text: On the 1-ton rated VF-400 series trucks, the PTO-driven winch had a 10,000 pound capacity, but added almost 1,000 pounds to the vehicles weight, reducing the payload to 2400 pounds.


title: Dodge WC series

text: All engines were liquid-cooled, straight-six Chrysler flathead gasoline engines, mated to four-speed manual transmissions and a single-range transfer-case offering part-time four-wheel drive. Only the T203 and the T223 configurations applied in the 1ton models, and in the 6×6 trucks had a dual-ratio transfer-case.


title: Dodge WC series

text: The 1940 Dodge / Fargo VC models formed the first production run in the U.S. military's range of half-ton, light four-wheel drive military trucks. Created based on Chrysler's 1939 commercial, one-ton rated, TC models of light trucks and carry-all, the VC models formed the foundation for the subsequent 1941, ton WC series. (The company's naming system then progressed the first letter alphabetically per model year, and the second letter tied to the truck's payload rating, based on chassis and components strength.)


title: Dodge WC series

text: All variants used the same wheelbase as the civilian trucks, but with the addition of part-time four-wheel drive. Bodywork and sheet metal on the pick-ups and carryall were largely copied from the civilian models — however, for the reconnaissance and radio cars, a dedicated open four seater body was created, manufactured by Budd Company. Also the same inline six, flathead engine was used, but horsepower was raised from a civilian rating in 1939 to at 3000 rpm in the 1940 . The transmission had 4 speeds, and the transfer case just one – it only shifted drive to the front axle, to engage or disengage four-wheel drive; on-road it remained rear-wheel drive.


title: Dodge WC series

text: The half-ton, 4x4, Dodge WC series were evolutionary redesigns of the preceding VC series, retaining the military series code. Starting production in late 1940, until replacement by the 3/4ton models in early 1942, they progressed through three mechanical engineering versions (, , and ), in barely a year and a half – while receiving the specification engine midway through production of the coded versions. Half-ton rated WC series models received thirty-eight numbers, roughly chronologically, in the to range, but skipping numbers , to , and to .


title: Dodge WC series

text: The WC series is immediately recognizable by its redesigned, now military sheet-metal. Wide-open, simplified front and rear fenders replaced the bulbous civilian ones, offering more wheel-travel, and less risk of wheels clogging stuck with thick mud in the wheel-well. The front brush-guard and grille were redesigned, replacing the civilian art-deco front with a single, integrated, upright, round welded grate.


title: Dodge WC series

text: The T-207 range had an uprated 85 hp engine, and these units had front axles with Bendix-Weiss constant-velocity joints, whereas and models were given front axles either made by Bendix or with Rzeppa design CV joints, made by Ford.


title: Dodge WC series

text: From the T-211 models onwards, the rear brakes were instead of drums. Among the versions, no single WC model number was explicitly used for winch-equipped units.


title: Dodge WC series

text: The T-215 types introduced a military design dashboard with round gauges, replacing the civilian dash with square ones.


title: Dodge WC series

text: A further 1,542 rear-wheel drive units (engineering code T-112) were built as through , and through — mostly carry-alls and pick-ups). These retained civilian bodywork, fenders and grilles, as well as regular front axles, and a one-ton on-road rating.


title: Dodge WC series

text: Entering production during 1941 to early 1942, they were specifically designed to serve as military ambulances. These early variants are distinguishable from the later ones by having a curved radiator grille, while the later ones ( onwards) featured a flat grille. These versions were given a longer wheelbase.


title: Dodge WC series

text: Carryall trucks with a nominal carrying capacity of . The , and followed engineering patterns T-207, T-211 and T-215 respectively — whereas the and were T-112, rear-wheel drive only models, retaining civilian bodywork with bulbous fenders.


title: Dodge WC series

text: Closed cab, two seater pickups with a nominal carrying capacity of a . Some portion of these models were manufactured with winch, at least of the , the (pictured), and the , reducing the payload to — but no distinct model number was assigned for such units. The engine displacement was increased to the T-215's volume of mid-series, after engine No. 42001.


title: Dodge WC series

text: Weapon carriers, two seater pickups with open cab. The open cab pickups could be fitted with an optional M24 machine gun mount, which bolted across the front of the bed. The mount could carry the M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle, as well as the M1919 Browning machine gun, and the 0.5 in (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine gun.


title: Dodge WC series

text: Open cab weapons carrier, with Braden MU winch, and transverse seats, designed to tow the 37mm M3 anti-tank gun as well as carry the gun crew and ammunition. This type was usually issued to early tank destroyer units. 5570 built.


title: Dodge WC series

text: Almost 1,400 panel van trucks, and panel van bodied radio communication cars. At first, regular panel van trucks were ordered: 642 units of , and 103 units of . The subsequent panel vans were however furnished and equipped as radio communication cars. The 650 radio panel vans almost outnumbered their bare transportation siblings, and they were also the only radio communication cars that Dodge built in a panel van body style in the entire VC and WC series range.


title: Dodge WC series

text: Almost half of production, 650 units, went to the British Empire under the U.S. Lend-Lease agreement.


title: Dodge WC series

text: There were also negligible numbers made with civilian style bodywork, similar to the 1940 VC-6 Carryall, with only "rear-wheel drive", with the (Dodge) and (U.S.) internal codes – six units of (1941), and a further eight as , in 1942.


title: Dodge WC series

text: These models were built as technical service trucks for the U.S. Army Signal Corps, designed to install and repair hard telephone lines. Together with some earlier ton GMC/Chevrolet models, and the later ton and , they were also known by the Signal Corps as the K-50 trucks.


title: Dodge WC series

text: Of the two-wheel drive WC-39 and WC-50, only a single unit of each were built, but the four-wheel drive numbered 370 units.


title: Dodge WC series

text: Just over one thousand emergency repair chassis and trucks were ordered within the half-ton Dodge , WC series. The Dodge SNL G-657 "Master Parts List" doesn't explicitly list most of them as built to serve as emergency repair trucks, but the "Summary Report of Acceptances, Tank-Automotive Materiel, 1940–1945", shows that at least 956 emergency repair chassis and trucks were received by the Army, involving at least all of the , , , and models.


title: Dodge WC series

text: Dodge delivered at least all thirty WC-20, and most of the WC-41 units, as closed cabs with a bare chassis, on a wheelbase, fitted with dual rear wheels, though a minority, particularly of the , , and , were possibly built on a wheelbase; and some as pick-ups. Most were furnished with third party utility service rear bodies, as M1 emergency repair trucks, to provide mobile facilities for emergency ordnance repair (/). One other body-type was ordered: one T-211 oil servicing truck in 1941.


title: Dodge WC series

text: By late 1941, the Dodge WC range was significantly revised. All four-wheeled models were reinforced and uprated for a nominal three-quarter ton off-road payload; and for 1943, a stretched six-wheel drive, 1-ton rated variant was developed.


title: Dodge WC series

text: All models were widened to front and rear tracks of , widening the front track by as much as , and the rear track by on most models. The tires were widened from 7.50×16 to 9 inches (from 19 cm to 23 cm) wide. moreover, the bulk production variants were significantly shortened, giving the vehicles much more square proportions, like on their younger ton brothers. On the troops & weapons carriers, and command/reconnaissance & radio trucks, the wheelbase were all cut by almost half a meter (18in / 46cm), from a to a wheelbase. Only ambulances, carry-alls, and technical service trucks kept a long wheelbase. Panel vans were dropped from the range and no longer made.


title: Dodge WC series

text: The big volume models (the WC-51/-52, and the WC-56/-57/-58) also got literally more square bodies, and overall length to width ratios. The integrated grille / brush-guard became straight, and the hoods (bonnets) became lower and wider, and were flattened – both as in losing their previous curvature, and now being simply horizontal – so they became more useful as an improvised table-top, and the front windows / windshields on these models could now also be folded forward, to lay flat on their hoods, just like on the -tons. "Under" the hood, the -tons kept the 6-cylinder inline, L-head engine of 92 hp (73 kW) gross, from the later model halfton WC series.


title: Dodge WC series

text: The biggest volume production variants, the pick-up / troops and weapons-carrier models, received a completely redesigned rear bed, that mostly consisted of two longitudinal, rectangular boxes, that integrated the rear wheel wells with under-seat stowage compartments fore and aft of the rear wheels, while now seating troops "on top of" the rear wheels, facing each other, instead of "in between" the wheels, further widening these models to 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m), but offering much more space for the troops' backpacks and gear, between their feet. Asingle such truck, at less than ( long, offered practical all-terrain transportation to a full eight man rifle squad, their weapons and personal kit.


title: Dodge WC series

text: With the nickname 'jeep' now moving on to the smaller ton trucks, some soldiers called the Dodges 'Beeps' (for "Big jeep") instead.


title: Dodge WC series

text: Eventually, as much as "half" of the more than "fifty" different WCseries models manufactured, were WC51 & WC52 cargo/troop and weapons carriers — and one third of those with an engine-powered front winch.


title: Dodge WC series

text: The WC-54 Truck, 3/4 ton, 4×4 Ambulance, Dodge (G-502), was produced as an ambulance, but a few were modified to serve as radio/telephone trucks with the US Signal Corps. A total of 26,002 units were built from 1942 through 1944, after which the ambulance was redesigned, and replaced by the in 1945.


title: Dodge WC series

text: The WC-64 KD Truck, 3/4 ton, 4x4 Ambulance Dodge (G-502) was an ambulance based on the same chassis as the but with a knock-down body designed to increase the number of vehicles that could be shipped at the same time. The rear boxes were supplied in two major parts: lower and upper. The lower part of the box was attached to the chassis at the factory, while the upper box was crated for installation in the field. 3,500 Knock-down ambulances were built between the beginning of 1945 and the end of the war, the great majority (2,531 units) went to allies under lend-lease:


title: Dodge WC series

text: A carryall, mechanically the WC-53 was virtually identical to the but was fitted with a body which was the 1939 civilian carryall modified to military specifications. All four rear side windows were wind-up opening and the seating consisted of front folding passenger seat to allow rear access, two person second row leaving space to access to the rear full width three person seat. The spare wheel was carried on a mount on the driver's side and although the door was fully operational it could not be opened and the driver had to enter from the passenger side. The rear end had split tailgates.


title: Dodge WC series

text: WC-53s were also fitted as radio trucks with a bench on the left side with the operator seated sideways. 8,400 : Truck, 3/4 ton, 4×4 Dodge Carryall () were built. No carryalls came from the factory with a winch, though there was a field modification available.


title: Dodge WC series

text: The WC-56 Truck, Command Reconnaissance, 3/4 ton, 4x4 w/o Winch, Dodge () was a command and reconnaissance vehicle akin to a large quarter-ton jeep. It did not prove popular as it was heavier and not as maneuverable as the jeep, and its distinctive profile made it a target. The soft-top included side-curtains, for better weather shielding. 21,156 units were built.


title: Dodge WC series

text: The WC-57 Truck, Command Reconnaissance, 3/4 ton, 4x4 w/Winch Dodge (G-502) was identical to the , but fitted with a Braden MU2 7,500 lb (3,402 kg) capacity winch at the front bumper. 6,010 units built.


title: Dodge WC series

text: The WC-58 Truck, Radio, 3/4 ton, 4×4 w/o Winch, Dodge (G-502) was identical to the Command / Reconnaissance Car, but fitted with a Signal Corps Radio set in front of the rear seat, and a 12-volt electrical system. Some models may have been built, based on the with winch, as well. A total of 2,344 radio equipped units were built, but it is unclear whether these were included as part of the / production, or constituted an additional 2,344 radio car units.


title: Dodge WC series

text: The G-502, WC-51 & WC-52: "Truck, Cargo, -ton, 4x4, Weapons Carrier" (; from early 1942), had largely redesigned bodies and frames, compared to their half-ton, 1940–1941 forebears, yet retained mechanically as much as possible — improving what was necessary, while maintaining supply, logistics, and training continuity. The design was now blatantly more jeep-like, with a much shorter, lower, wider, versatile, open cab pickup body. The hood became flat and horizontal, and the windshield could now also be folded forward, flat on it. With the top and bows down, the and -52 followed the low-profile design doctrine of the time. Engine and drive-train were almost completely carried over from the half-tons, except for the uprated, wider track axles (), which were now closer together, for a wheelbase.


title: Dodge WC series

text: The WC-51 and -52 could be fitted with an optional M24A1 machine gun mount, or other devices. The M24A1 mount bolted across the front of the bed, and could carry the M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle, the M1919 Browning machine gun, or the M2 Browning machine gun.


title: Dodge WC series

text: Lack of a winch gave the a shorter front overhang, and thus a better approach angle. The not only differed from the by having a power take-off driven Braden MU2 7,500 lb (3,400 kg) capacity winch on the front bumper, but to accommodate it, the was actually built on its own, longer frame. With about every third unit carrying a winch, these were thus rarely ever retrofitted.


title: Dodge WC series

text: Almost three quarters of Dodge's 255,195 total ton, , WC series production, were built as and , cargo, troops and weapon carriers. 123,541 were built without winch as the , and 59,114 with a front winch as — for a total of 182,655 units. When adding the 5,380 , M6 Gun Motor Carriages, that were later downgraded back to specification, it brings the total number to over 188,000 of these models. Although nearly a quarter of that (44,229) were passed on to allies, mostly through Lend-Lease, once the 1939 U.S. Army reorganization from 8man to 12man (rifle) squads got tied more closely into troop-car procurement, Dodge received orders for a similar amount (43,224 built) of the stretched, 12troop (one squad) capacity, & , 1ton, 6x6 trucks.


title: Dodge WC series

text: A substantial amount – almost a quarter – of all the ton weapons carriers (a total of 44,229 and trucks), were provided through Lend-Lease to various Allies:


title: Dodge WC series

text: The M6 37 mm Gun Motor Carriage, 3/4-ton, 4×4 (abbreviated as M6 GMC), or fully described "M6 Fargo Gun Motor Carriage with 37mm Anti-tank Gun," (by Dodge numbered ), was a modified Dodge , designed and built to carry an M3A1 37mm anti-tank gun combined with gun shield, mounted on its cargo bed, facing rearward. The with gun combination was designated by Standard Nomenclature List supply catalog number . A total of 5,380 were built by Fargo in 1942, but most were later dismantled / downgraded and returned to service as cargo trucks.


title: Dodge WC series

text: Fielded as a stopgap design from late 1942 in North Africa, in limited use with the US Army Tank Destroyer Battalions, and in the Pacific War in 1943/1944, improvements in enemy tanks quickly rendered the 37mm gun underpowered, and better guns became available. The was first downgraded to "limited standard" in 1943, and subsequently declared obsolete, finally by early 1945.


title: Dodge WC series

text: The WC-59 Truck, Telephone Maintenance, 3/4 ton, 4×4 Dodge () was designed to install and repair telephone lines. Based on the same chassis as the ambulances, sharing a longer wheelbase than the regular ton WC series. The spare wheel was carried behind the seats, and a step ladder fitted where the spare wheel normally would have been. 549 units were built. The bespoke bed made it a K-50 truck to the Signal Corps. These were initially fitted to both Dodge and Chevrolet chassis.


title: Dodge WC series

text: The WC-61 Light Maintenance Truck, 3/4 ton, 4×4 Dodge () was also designed to install and repair telephone lines. Replacement for the , the had the step ladder mounted on the roof, the spare wheel was still fitted behind the seats, and the tool trunks were accessible from the outside. Just 58 were built. The US Signal Corps referred to these as the K-50B truck.


title: Dodge WC series

text: The WC-60 chassis, fitted with a bed similar to the by the American Coach and Body Co. of Cleveland, Ohio, formed the M2 Emergency Repair truck, 3/4 ton, 4×4 Dodge (SNL supply code G-061), a mobile workshop designed for field maintenance. Its open-topped service-type bed featured numerous tool trunks and stowage bins, accessible from the outside. 296 units were built.


title: Dodge WC series

text: The G-507 Cargo and Personnel Carrier, 1-ton, 6x6 Truck, Dodge ( w/o Winch) was based on a lengthened Weapons Carrier with an extra axle added. When the U.S. Army enlarged rifle squads from eight to twelve men, the ton no longer sufficed, and a longer 6×6 variant was created that used most of the mechanical parts and some of the sheet metal of the . The trucks could be driven by all six wheels (6x6) or by the four rear wheels only (6×4). A number of components were strengthened in this design, and many of these changes were also incorporated in subsequent ton production. Production amounted to 43,224 units total, — 23,092 units without winch, and 20,132 variants "with" winch. One prototype was produced as an armored car.


title: Dodge WC series

text: A total of 6,344 WC-62 and WC-63 cargo trucks were provided to World War II Allies — 4,074 to the Free French forces, 2,123 to British, and 137 units to Brazil.


title: Dodge WC series

text: The WC-63 Truck, Cargo and Personnel Carrier, 1 ton, 6×6 with Winch, Dodge () Weapons Carrier was based on a lengthened with an extra axle added. Identical to the but fitted with a PTO-powered Braden MU2 winch, initially of , later capacity.


title: Dodge WC series

text: The table below lists the comprehensive set of models in the Dodge WC series family showing the different codes that were assigned together with each model's core specifications.


title: Dodge WC series

text: Different colors have been used to code groupings for maximum convenience, based on nominal payload rating, model family, and wheels and drive.


title: Dodge WC series

text: Lend-lease models (mainly for Russia), and Canadian-built models are presented in red, at the bottom.


title: Dodge WC series

text: Although Chrysler / Dodge supplied over 380,000 WC-series to the war effort – more than the number of MB jeeps actually built by Willys (some 360,000), and the vehicles served with equal versatility – the Dodge WC-series, that were nicknamed "jeeps" by the soldiers, before that moniker subsequently migrated to its quarter-ton brothers, never received any comparable level of fame. The Dodge WC-series have therefore been called one of WWII's unsung heroes.


title: Dodge WC series

text: Almost 60,000 Dodge WC series models were provided to the U.S.' allies of World War II under the Lend-Lease program:


title: Dodge WC series

text: To the Soviets, the almost 25,000 new 1942 all-wheel drive -ton multi-purpose WC series were so fundamentally innovative, that they fitted no standard Red Army category. Russia much appreciated these vehicles, that perfectly filled the gap between 4WD automobiles and heavy trucks, and simply called them "Dodge three-quarters".


title: Dodge WC series

text: Dodge WC series vehicles are visible in many World War II movies, and American TV series. One of the most conspicuous examples is the frequent use of the WC-54 ambulances in the acclaimed "M*A*S*H" TV series, situated in the Korean War.


title: Dodge WC series

text: In many WW II films, directors would place high-ranking allied officers in Dodge Command Cars, although in reality, the German military quickly realized that personnel riding in the Command Cars were typically prime targets, and Allied generals and dignitaries would in reality prefer to ride in regular jeeps, to prevent advertising themselves as high-profile targets.


title: Maurice Evans (actor)

text: Maurice Herbert Evans (3 June 1901 – 12 March 1989) was an English actor, noted for his interpretations of Shakespearean characters. His best-known screen roles are Dr. Zaius in the 1968 film "Planet of the Apes" and Samantha Stephens's father, Maurice, on "Bewitched".


title: Maurice Evans (actor)

text: Evans was born at 28 Icen Way in Dorchester, Dorset. He was the son of Laura (Turner) and Alfred Herbert Evans, a Welsh dispensing chemist and keen amateur actor who made adaptations of novels by Thomas Hardy for the local amateur company. Young Maurice made his first stage appearance as a small boy in "Far from the Madding Crowd".


title: Maurice Evans (actor)

text: He first appeared on the stage in 1926 at the Cambridge Festival Theatre and joined the Old Vic Company in 1934, playing Hamlet, Richard II, and Iago. He was selected by Terence Gray to appear in the opening production in November 1926 at the Festival Theatre, taking the part of Orestes in two parts of the sensational production of the "Oresteia" of Aeschylus. This was followed by Lord Belvoir in "The Man Who Ate the Popomack" by W. J. Turner, and Saint Anthony in Maeterlinck's "The Miracle of Saint Anthony".


title: Maurice Evans (actor)

text: In 1927, Evans played a poet in "The Pleasure Garden" by Beatrice Mayor followed by Young Man in "On Baile's Strand" by W. B. Yeats, Midir in "The Immortal Hour" by Fiona Macleod, the Hon. Algernon Moodie in "The Rumour" by C.K. Munro, Mark Ingestire in "Sweeney Todd" by Dibdin Pitt, the poet in "The Lost Silk Hat" by Lord Dunsany, the Captain in "Androcles and the Lion" by George Bernard Shaw, Mister Four and Young Man in "The Adding Machine" by Elmer Rice, Don Juan in the play of the same title by James Elroy Flecker, two parts in Terence Gray's own play "The Red Nights of the Tcheka", the Stage Manager in "The Player Queen" (also by Yeats), the Second Engineer in "The Insect Play" by the Čapek brothers, Prince Kamose in another Gray play called "And in the Tomb", and finally in June 1927, Don Pelegari in Pirandello's "Each In His Own Way". Both Yeats and Shaw attended performances of their own plays.


title: Maurice Evans (actor)

text: In 1927, he was one of a group of out-of-work actors including Laurence Olivier, chosen to perform in a "tryout" of R. C. Sherriff's "Journey's End" directed by James Whale at the Apollo Theatre in London, and later in 1929 at the Savoy Theatre which had been leased by the Chicago theatre manager Maurice Browne. It was a huge success, running for two years and making Maurice's name. He played the young officer Raleigh, who dies at the end of the play. In 1934, he went to the Old Vic Theatre where his interpretation of Shakespeare's "Richard II" was highly praised. It was as a result of this that he was invited to join Katharine Cornell in the United States. His first appearance on Broadway was in "Romeo and Juliet" opposite Katharine Cornell in 1936, but he made his biggest impact in Shakespeare's "Richard II", a production whose unexpected success was the surprise of the 1937 theatre season and allowed Evans to play "Hamlet" (1938) (the first time that the play was performed uncut on the New York stage), Falstaff in "Henry IV, Part 1" (1939), "Macbeth" (1941) and Malvolio in "Twelfth Night" (1942) opposite the Viola of Helen Hayes, under the direction of Margaret Webster. He also starred opposite Cornell in the 1935 production of George Bernard Shaw's "St. Joan".


title: Maurice Evans (actor)

text: When the U.S. entered the Second World War, he enlisted in the United States Army and he later was in charge of an Army Entertainment Section in the Central Pacific. He arranged for the transfer of Carl Reiner from the Signal Corps to the entertainment unit in Hawaii, where Major Evans was his commanding officer. The unit produced dozens of shows for the troops in the Pacific. Reiner later hired Evans for the part of Hobart the butler in "The Jerk", as Evans's agent had indicated that the part would enable Evans to maintain his union benefits.


title: Maurice Evans (actor)

text: Evans produced his famous "G.I. version" of "Hamlet" that cut the text of the play to make the title character more appealing to the troops, an interpretation so popular that he later took it to Broadway in 1945. Evans rose to the rank of Major by the end of the war. He shifted his attention to the works of Shaw, notably as John Tanner in "Man and Superman" and as King Magnus in "The Apple Cart". In 1952, he starred as the murderous husband in the original Broadway stage production of "Dial M for Murder". He also successfully produced Broadway productions in which he did not appear, notably "The Teahouse of the August Moon".


title: Maurice Evans (actor)

text: In 1956, Evans recorded an LP of stories from "Winnie-the-Pooh". American television audiences of the 1960s will remember Evans as Samantha's father, Maurice, on the sitcom "Bewitched". His real-life insistence that his first name be pronounced "Morris" was ironically at odds with his "Bewitched" character's contrasting stance that it be pronounced "Maw-REESE". Evans also appeared in the fourth season of "Daniel Boone" starring Fess Parker playing a French impresario "Beaumarchais." He also played The Puzzler on "Batman" in a double episode storyline (which was common for that series) in December 1966. Continuing his American TV appearances, he guest starred in "The Big Valley" from the latter part of the fourth and final season of that western series in April 1969, an episode entitled "Danger Road."


title: Maurice Evans (actor)

text: Evans had great impact on the big screen as well. He played a diabolical villain in "Kind Lady" (1951; co-starring Ethel Barrymore, Keenan Wynn, and Angela Lansbury); Emperor Antoninus in "Androcles and the Lion" (1952); and Sir Arthur Sullivan in "The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan" (1953). Evans appeared memorably in two 1968 films: as the evolved orangutan, Dr. Zaius in "Planet of the Apes" (and the 1970 sequel "Beneath the Planet of the Apes") and as the doomed "Hutch", who attempts to warn his friend, the title character, Rosemary Woodhouse, in the thriller "Rosemary's Baby", of the true Satanic nature of her neighbours, Roman and Minnie Castavet (played by Sidney Blackmer and Ruth Gordon).


title: Maurice Evans (actor)

text: Evans appeared in more American television productions of Shakespeare than any other actor. Beginning in 1953, for the famous television anthology, "Hallmark Hall of Fame", he starred in the first feature-length (i.e., longer than an hour) dramatisations of the plays to be presented on American television. They were:


title: Maurice Evans (actor)

text: In bringing so much Shakespeare to American television in such a short span of time (between 1953 and 1960), Evans was a true pioneer. This had never been tried before – at least, not in the U.S. He firmly believed that it was an actor's job to "lead public taste, not to play to public taste".


title: Maurice Evans (actor)

text: Evans brought his Shakespeare productions to Broadway many times, playing Hamlet on the Great White Way in four separate productions for a record grand total of 283 performances. He and Dame Judith Anderson starred on Broadway several times in "Macbeth". Their performances were widely regarded as the definitive portrayals of these characters, although one notable dissenter was Orson Welles, who stated that Evans, as an actor, was "worse than bad – he was poor."


title: Maurice Evans (actor)

text: Evans appeared on Broadway as Hamlet four times, but the productions of the play that he appeared in were consecutive revivals of it – no other actor played Hamlet on Broadway between 1938, when Evans first played him there, and 1946, which marked Evans's last Broadway Hamlet. He is very likely the only actor to have accomplished this, so far.


title: Maurice Evans (actor)

text: Although he had taken U.S. citizenship in 1941, Evans had returned to Britain by the end of the 1960s. Aside from an infrequent trip to the United States and occasional visits to retired actors in financial need (as a representative of the Actors' Fund, of which he was a longtime trustee), he lived quietly near Brighton. He never married, and was survived by a brother, Hugh, of London.


title: Maurice Evans (actor)

text: Evans died, aged 87, in Rottingdean, East Sussex, England, reportedly of heart failure as a result of a bronchial infection.


title: 2021–22 West Ham United F.C. season

text: The 2021–22 season was the 126th season in existence of West Ham United Football Club and the club's tenth consecutive season in the top flight of English football. In addition to the domestic league, West Ham United participated in this season's editions of the FA Cup, EFL Cup and UEFA Europa League.


title: 2021–22 West Ham United F.C. season

text: As part of their pre-season preparations, West Ham United confirmed they would play friendly matches against Dundee, Leyton Orient, Northampton Town, Reading, Celtic, Brentford and Atalanta.


title: 2021–22 West Ham United F.C. season

text: "The Hammers" were drawn at home to Leeds United in the third round and away to Kidderminster Harriers in the fourth round.


title: 2021–22 West Ham United F.C. season

text: Due to participation in UEFA competitions, the "Hammers" entered the competition in the third round and were drawn away to Manchester United and then Manchester City at home in the fourth round.


title: 2021–22 West Ham United F.C. season

text: West Ham were drawn against Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb, Belgian side Genk and Austrian side Rapid Wien in the group stage, with the fixtures being released a day later.


title: Kaifi Azmi

text: Kaifi Azmi (born Athar Husain Rizvi; 14 January 1919 – 10 May 2002) was an Indian Urdu poet. He is remembered as the one who brought Urdu literature to Indian motion pictures. Together with Pirzada Qasim, Jaun Elia and others he participated in many memorable Mushaira gatherings of the twentieth century. His wife was theatre and film actress Shaukat Kaifi.


title: Kaifi Azmi

text: Azmi was born into a Shia Muslim family in the village of Mizwaan in Azamgarh district of Uttar Pradesh.


title: Kaifi Azmi

text: He was from a family of artists. His three brothers are also shayars (poets). Azmi was married to Shaukat Azmi. They have a daughter, Shabana Azmi who is an actress, and a son, Baba Azmi, a cinematographer. Azmi's daughter-in-law Tanvi Azmi is also an actress.


title: Kaifi Azmi

text: At age eleven, Azmi wrote his first ghazal in Bahraich "Itna To Zindagi Mein Kisi Ki Khalal Pade" and somehow managed to get himself invited to a "mushaira" and over there, he recited a ghazal, rather a couplet of the ghazal which was very much appreciated by the president of the mushaira, Mani Jaisi, but most of the people, including his father, thought he recited his elder brother's ghazal. When his elder brother denied it, his father and his clerk decided to test his poetic talent. They gave him one of the lines of a couplet and asked him to write a ghazal in the same meter and rhyme. Azmi accepted the challenge and completed a ghazal. This particular ghazal was to become a rage in undivided India and it was immortalised as it was sung by legendary ghazal singer, Begum Akhtar. Azmi abandoned his studies of Persian and Urdu during the Quit India agitations in 1942 and shortly thereafter became a full-time Marxist when he accepted membership of the Communist Party of India in 1943. During this period, the leading progressive writers of Lucknow noticed him. They were very impressed by his leadership qualities. They also saw in him a budding poet and extended all possible encouragement towards him. Consequently, Azmi started to win great acclaim as a poet and became a member of Progressive Writers' Movement of India. At the age of twenty-four, he started activities in the textile mill areas of Kanpur. As a full-time worker, he left his life of comfort, though he was the son of a zamindar. He was asked to shift his base to Bombay, work amongst the workers and start party work with a lot of zeal and enthusiasm.


title: Kaifi Azmi

text: Like most of the Urdu poets, Azmi began as a ghazal writer, cramming his poetry with the repeated themes of love and romance in a style that was replete with clichés and metaphors. However, his association with the Progressive Writers' Movement and Communist Party made him embark on the path of socially conscious poetry. In his poetry, he highlights the exploitation of the subaltern masses and through them he conveys a message of the creation of a just social order by dismantling the existing one. Yet, his poetry cannot be called plain propaganda. It has its own merits; intensity of emotions, in particular, and the spirit of sympathy and compassion towards the disadvantaged section of society, are the hallmark of his poetry. His poems are also notable for their rich imagery and in this respect, his contribution to Urdu poetry can hardly be overstated. Azmi's first collection of poems, "Jhankar" was published in 1943. His important works including anthologies of poetry, were "Aakhir-e-Shab", "Sarmaya", "Awaara Sajde", "Kaifiyaat", "Nai Gulistan", an anthology of articles he wrote for "Urdu Blitz", "Meri Awaaz Suno", a selection of his film lyrics, and the script of "Heer Ranjha" in Devanagari.


title: Kaifi Azmi

text: Azmi's work in films includes working as a lyricist, writer, and actor. Azmi wrote his first lyrics for the film "Buzdil", directed by Shaheed Latif and music by SD Burman, released in 1951. His early work as a writer was mainly for Nanubhai Vakil's films like "Yahudi Ki Beti" (1956), "Parvin" (1957), "Miss Punjab Mail" (1958) and "Id Ka Chand" (1964). While directors like Khwaja Ahmad Abbas and Bimal Roy strove to create the "New Cinema", writers like Sahir Ludhianvi, Jan Nisar Akhtar, Majrooh Sultanpuri, and Kaifi changed the tenor and vocabulary of the Hindi film song, creating a fresh new wave in Hindi film lyrics that lasted many years. His greatest feat as a writer was Chetan Anand's "Heer Raanjha" (1970) wherein the entire dialogue of the film was in verse. It was a tremendous achievement and one of the greatest feats of Hindi film writing. Azmi also won great critical accolades for the script, dialogues and lyrics of M.S. Sathyu's "Garam Hawa" (1973), based on a story by Ismat Chughtai. Azmi also wrote the dialogues for Shyam Benegal's "Manthan" (1976) and Sathyu's "Kanneshwara Rama" (1977). As a lyricist and songwriter, though he wrote for numerous films, he will always be remembered for Guru Dutt's "Kaagaz Ke Phool" (1959) and Chetan Anand's "Haqeeqat" (1964), India's greatest war film. Some notables films for which he wrote lyrics include "Kohra" (1964), "Anupama" (1966), "Uski Kahani" (1966), "Saat Hindustani" (1969), "Shola Aur Shabnam", "Parwana" (1971), "Bawarchi" (1972), "Pakeezah" (1972), "Hanste Zakhm" (1973), "Arth" (1982) and "Razia Sultan" (1983). For "Naunihal" (1967), he wrote the song "Meri Aawaz Suno Pyar ka Raaz Suno" (Hear my voice, hear the secret of love) sung by Mohammad Rafi. The song is picturised over the funeral procession of Prime Minister of India, Jawahar Lal Nehru. Years later, after Azmi's own death his daughter, Shabana Azmi mentioned finding comfort in verses from the song. Azmi wrote the lyrics for "Bible Ki Kahaniyan", the first Christian mythological television show broadcast in India. He also played a memorable role of Naseem's grandfather in "Naseem" (1995). Azmi died on 10 May 2002 at around the age of eighty-three. He was survived by his wife, daughter, and son. His autobiography is included in a collection of his works, "Aaj Ke Prashid Shayar: Kaifi Azmi".


title: Kaifi Azmi

text: Azmi was the subject of a documentary film called "Diksha" (2015), directed by Raman Kumar. In 1997, he recited his own poems for "Kaifiyaat", an audio book on his collected works.


title: Kaifi Azmi

text: "Kaifi Aur Mein", a play based on his life, his works and the memoir of his wife, Shaukat Azmi – "Yadon Ki Rahguzar" (Down Memory Lane), was written and performed by Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi, and performed in India as well as abroad in 2006. Another play, directed by Rani Balbir, "Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Hasin Sitam", based on Kaifi Azmi's life and writings was staged in 2005, and received rave reviews.


title: Kaifi Azmi

text: He was the recipient of Padma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian award in 1974. Besides he was awarded the Uttar Pradesh Urdu Academy Award and the Sahitya Akademi Award for Urdu for his collection "Awaara Sajde", Special Award of Maharashtra Urdu Academy, Soviet Land Nehru Award, Lotus Award from the Afro-Asian Writers' Association, and President's Award for national integration. In 1998, Government of Maharashtra conferred the Jyaneshwara Award on him. He was also honoured with the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Fellowship for lifetime achievement.


title: Kaifi Azmi

text: Kaifi Azmi returned his Padma Shri in the 1980s after the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Vir Bahadur Singh remarked that those speaking Urdu as a second language should be made to sit on a donkey and paraded. According to his daughter Shabana Azmi, her father replied that he had written in Urdu all his life, and if his State’s Chief Minister held such views on the language, he, as a writer, must stand up for himself.


title: Kaifi Azmi

text: In 2000, he was conferred the first Millennium Award by the Government of Delhi and the Delhi Urdu Academy. He has also been honoured with a doctorate from Vishva Bharati University, Santiniketan.


title: Kaifi Azmi

text: The government has also inaugurated a train named "Kaifiyat Express" which runs from his hometown Azamgarh to Old Delhi.


title: Kaifi Azmi

text: On 14 January 2020, search engine Google commemorated Kaifi Azmi with a Doodle on his 101st birth anniversary. Google commented: "With work ranging from passionate love poems and activist verses to Bollywood songs lyrics and screenplays, Azmi has become one of the most renowned poets of the 20th century in India, and his humanitarian efforts continue to impact people's lives today." There is street also named after him Kaifi Azmi road in Hyderabad. There is also a road in R. K. Puram, New Delhi named Kaifi Azmi Marg after him.


title: Demography of Northern Ireland

text: Northern Ireland is the smallest of the four components of the United Kingdom in terms of both area and population, containing 2.9% of the total population and 5.7% of the total area of the United Kingdom. It is the smaller of the two political entities on the island of Ireland by area and population, the other being the Republic of Ireland. Northern Ireland contains 27.1% of the total population and 16.75% of the total area of the island of Ireland.


title: Demography of Northern Ireland

text: Northern Ireland has a population of 1,903,175, an increase of 92,312 (5.1%) over the ten-year period since the last census. The population density is 133 people per km, less than half that of Great Britain but almost twice that of the Republic of Ireland. The Belfast Metropolitan Area dominates in population terms, with over a third of the inhabitants of Northern Ireland.


title: Demography of Northern Ireland

text: When Northern Ireland was created, it had a Protestant majority of approximately two-to-one, unlike the Republic of Ireland, where Catholics were in the majority. The 2001 census was the first to show that the Protestant and other (non-Catholic) Christian share of the population had dropped below 50%, but 53.1% still identified as being from a Protestant or other Christian background. In the 2011 census, this dropped to 48.4%. In 2021, the number of Catholics by background (45.7%) overtook the Protestant and other Christian by background share (43.48%), becoming the plurality, with no group in the overall majority.


title: Demography of Northern Ireland

text: Its people speak both Irish and dialects of English heavily influenced by the Scots language. This is both because of historic links with Scotland going back centuries, and because of settlements of lowland Scots Protestants in Ulster in the 17th century, such as the Plantation of Ulster. Also unlike the Republic, a large proportion of people in Northern Ireland have a British national identity. Many people in Northern Ireland have a Northern Irish identity, whether in addition to a British or Irish identity or by itself. Most people in Northern Ireland are entitled to both British and Irish passports.


title: Demography of Northern Ireland

text: In 2001, 91.0% of the population were born in Northern Ireland, 7.2% were born in other parts of the UK and Ireland, and 1.8% were born elsewhere. By 2011, the proportion of immigrants from outside the UK and Ireland had risen to 4.3%, while the proportion born within them (outside Northern Ireland) had fallen to 6.7%. The highest number of non-British/Irish immigrants are in Belfast, followed by Craigavon Urban Area and Dungannon. Dungannon has a bigger share of immigrants than any town in Northern Ireland, while Strabane has the smallest share of these immigrants.


title: Demography of Northern Ireland

text: English is by far the most commonly spoken language in Northern Ireland. Two regional languages of Northern Ireland, Irish and Ulster Scots, are protected under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Several other languages are spoken by immigrants to Northern Ireland, the most common of which is Polish.


title: Demography of Northern Ireland

text: A question about knowledge of Irish was reintroduced to the census in 1991, for the first time since 1911. In 2011, the census question was modified to ask about Ulster Scots alongside Irish.


title: Demography of Northern Ireland

text: For the first century that Northern Ireland existed, the majority or plurality of its population identified with Protestantism, and with its founding, the region was intended to have a permanent Protestant majority. With the 2021 census, Catholics outnumbered Protestants for the first time. The following table shows the religion stated by respondents to the 2001, 2011 and 2021 censuses.


title: Demography of Northern Ireland

text: The religious affiliations in the districts of Northern Ireland at the time of the 2011 census were as follows. Note that these boundaries changed in 2015.


title: Demography of Northern Ireland

text: In Northern Ireland national identity is complex. Many in Northern Ireland have a British national identity and view the English, Scots and Welsh as fellow members of their common nation while regarding people from the Republic of Ireland as foreigners. Many others in Northern Ireland view people from the Republic of Ireland as being members of their common nation encompassing the island of Ireland and regard the English, Scots and Welsh as foreigners. Co-existing with this dichotomy is a Northern Irish identity, which can be held alone or, as is also the case with Englishness, Scottishness and Welshness, alongside a British identity, or alongside an Irish identity. A small number of people see themselves as being both British and Irish.


title: Demography of Northern Ireland

text: Although there is a strong correlation between religion and national identity, Catholics tending to identify as Irish and Protestants tending to identify as British, this is not an absolute relationship, and the correlation is much weaker amongst Catholics than it is amongst Protestants. Amongst Catholics, geography also plays an important role, with Catholics in heavily Protestant parts of Northern Ireland being more likely to call themselves British and less likely to call themselves Irish than Catholics in more Catholic areas of Northern Ireland. (The reverse is true for Protestants, but to a lesser extent.) In the 2011 census there were four of the twenty-six districts of Northern Ireland, all on the east coast, where more Catholics considered themselves British than considered themselves Irish.


title: Demography of Northern Ireland

text: While in the 2011 census Protestants outnumbered Catholics in only half of the districts in Northern Ireland, those who considered themselves British outnumbered those who considered themselves Irish in twenty of the twenty-six districts in Northern Ireland. This is partly because Catholics were more likely to see themselves as British than Protestants were to see themselves as Irish (13% vs. 4% respectively), but is also partly because those of no religion were substantially more likely to see themselves as British as see themselves as Irish. The irreligious tend to live in Protestant areas, suggesting that they are mostly of Protestant descent. Members of the immigrant population, which includes many Poles, are also more likely to consider themselves Catholic.


title: Demography of Northern Ireland

text: Northern Irish identity was almost equally held amongst Protestants as amongst Catholics, and it varied little according to geography.


title: Demography of Northern Ireland

text: Those born in Northern Ireland have automatic British citizenship on the same basis and with the same provisos as those born elsewhere in the United Kingdom. As well as this, and despite the withdrawal of its constitutional claim to Northern Ireland in 1999, the Irish Government also grants the right to Irish citizenship to those born in Northern Ireland on the same basis and with the same provisos as those born within the Republic of Ireland. This means that most people in Northern Ireland are entitled to a British passport, an Irish passport, or both, as they so choose. By agreement between the Irish Government and Post Office Ltd, post offices in Northern Ireland provide a service whereby customers can apply for an Irish passport, operating alongside their service whereby customers can apply for a British passport. In the 2011 census, respondents stated that they held the following passports.


title: Demography of Northern Ireland

text: According to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Authority the average (median) age increased from 34 years to 37 years between the 2001 and 2011 censuses. Over the same period, the share of the population represented by children aged under 16 years fell from 24 per cent to 21 per cent, while the proportion of people aged 65 years and over rose from 13 per cent to 15 per cent.


title: Ratchet (slang)

text: Ratchet is a slang term in hip hop that, in its original sense, was a derogatory term used to refer to an uncouth woman, and may be a Louisianan dialect form of the word "wretched" or a variation of the word "ratshit." The term has since been extended to have broader meanings and connotations and is no longer strictly bound by race or gender.


title: Ratchet (slang)

text: Usage of the term is recorded early as 1992 by Pimp C of UGK, on the song "I'm So Bad" from the Too Hard To Swallow album. August 11, 1998 in rapper E-40's "Lieutenant Roast a Botch" track from his album "The Element of Surprise". The word also appears in publication in 1999, with the song "Do the Ratchet" on the album "Ratchet Fight in the Ghetto" by Anthony Mandigo from Shreveport, Louisiana. Mandigo reportedly learned the term from his grandmother. In 2004, Lil' Boosie in conjunction with Mandigo, recorded a new version of "Do the Ratchet". The CD liner notes define "ratchet" as: "n., pron., v, adv., 1. To be ghetto, real, gutter, nasty. 2. It's whatever, bout it."


title: Ratchet (slang)

text: In its original sense, the term referred to an uncouth woman, and may be a Louisianan regiolect version of the word "wretched" or a variation of the word "ratshit." The term has since been extended to have broader meanings and connotations and is no longer strictly bound by race or gender.


title: Ratchet (slang)

text: The term gained popularity in 2012 through music artists and celebrities. It has been used in ways similar to the word "ghetto". "Ratchet" can be used as an adjective, noun, or verb.


title: Ratchet (slang)

text: The word has evolved to have many different meanings, and it can have either a positive or negative connotation. Some African-American women have reappropriated the word and embraced the meaning, including to describe ratchet feminism, whereas others point to how the term reinforces the negative portrayal of African-American women in the media. The term has also been reappropriated to describe a mode of intersectional analysis associated with African-American LGBT culture.


title: Ratchet (slang)

text: Numerous musicians have used the term "ratchet" in their songs. In November 2012, LL Cool J released a single called "Ratchet". In December 2012, Beyoncé posted a picture of herself wearing earrings that contained the word "ratchet". Juicy J, Lil Debbie, Cam'ron, Future, and Lil' Boosie are some other artists who have also used the term in their music. Miley Cyrus had been criticized by some as appropriating ratchet culture. The term and concept of ratchet was displayed in the 2013 YouTube video by Emmanuel and Phillip Hudson, "Ratchet Girl Anthem- SHE RACHEEET!". Lil Peep with producer Diplo made the record "RATCHETS" featuring Lil Tracy. The day that Lil Peep died, Lil Tracy uploaded a song to SoundCloud called "Ratchet Bitches Cocaina" and removed it shortly afterwards. Megan Thee Stallion used the term in the chorus of her 2020 viral hit, "Savage". Lizzo used the term in the chorus of her 2021 single, "Rumors", which features Cardi B.


title: Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia

text: Prince August Wilhelm Heinrich Günther Viktor of Prussia (29 January 1887 – 25 March 1949), nicknamed "Auwi", was the fourth son of German Emperor Wilhelm II by his first wife, Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein. He was a vocal supporter of Nazism and of Adolf Hitler.


title: Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia

text: He was born in the Potsdamer Stadtschloss when his grandfather was still the Crown Prince of Prussia. He spent his youth with his siblings at the New Palace, also in Potsdam, and his school days with his brothers at the Prinzenhaus in Plön in his mother's ancestral Schleswig-Holstein. Later, he studied at the universities of Bonn, Berlin and Strasbourg. He received his doctorate in political science in 1907 "in an exceedingly dubious manner", as one author describes it.


title: Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia

text: Prince August Wilhelm married his cousin Princess Alexandra Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg on 22 October 1908 at the Berliner Stadtschloss. The couple had planned to take up residence in Schönhausen Palace in Berlin, but changed their mind when his father, Kaiser Wilhelm, decided to leave his son the Villa Liegnitz in the Sanssouci Park. In 1912 their only child, Prince Alexander Ferdinand of Prussia, was born. Their Potsdam residence developed into a meeting place for artists and scholars.


title: Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia

text: During the First World War, August Wilhelm was made district administrator ("Landrat") of the district of Ruppin; his office and residence was now Schloss Rheinsberg. His personal adjutant Hans Georg von Mackensen played an important role in his life; the two had been close friends since August Wilhelm's youth. These "pronounced homophilic tendencies" contributed to the failure of his marriage to Princess Alexandra Victoria. The couple did not divorce while August Wilhelm's father, Kaiser Wilhelm II, was Emperor, owing to his opposition to the idea.


title: Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia

text: Initially, many Allied and German leaders favored transitioning Germany to a constitutional monarchy with August Wilhelm as either Emperor or regent for one of Crown Prince Wilhelm's children, although this possibility was quickly precluded when Philipp Scheidemann was forced by the pressures of the German Revolution to declare a republic. Winston Churchill, who at the time served as Secretary of State for War in the Lloyd George War Cabinet, blamed the failure to retain the monarchy for the political instability that would plague the Weimar Republic.


title: Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia

text: After the end of the war, the couple separated and formally divorced in March 1920. August Wilhelm was awarded custody of their son. After his divorce and the marriage of his friend von Mackensen to Winifred von Neurath, the daughter of Konstantin von Neurath, August Wilhelm lived a reclusive life in his villa in Potsdam. He took drawing lessons with Arthur Kampf, and the sale of his pictures secured him an additional source of income.


title: Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia

text: August Wilhelm joined the conservative nationalist veterans group Der Stahlhelm (English: "The Steel helmet"). In the following years he had increasing contact with the NSDAP. To the unease of his family and against his father's will, he joined the "dangerous, revolutionary" NSDAP on 1 April 1930, whereupon he received the low membership number 24, for symbolic reasons. In November 1931, he was accepted into the paramilitary (SA) with the rank of . His involvement with the NSDAP and his adoration of Adolf Hitler made August Wilhelm often the subject of mockery by the left-wing press (who gave him the nickname , or "Auwi the Little Brown Shirt"), politicians (French Ambassador André François-Poncet called him "Hans the Brown Sausage") and from the National Socialists themselves (Joseph Goebbels referred to him as a "good-natured but slightly boy").


title: Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia

text: As a representative of the erstwhile Hohenzollern dynasty, August Wilhelm was deliberately used by the party to gain votes in elections: he was made its lead candidate for election to the Prussian Parliament in April 1932, and appointed an election speaker alongside Hitler, whom he accompanied on flights across Germany at the same time. Through his appearances at the party's mass rallies, he addressed himself to sections of the population that were lukewarm towards National Socialism and convinced them "that Hitler was not a threat, but a benefactor of the German people and the German Empire".


title: Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia

text: He was identified (in an investigation in the 1960s) as one of those that pulled the trigger in the execution of Albrecht Höhler in 1933.


title: Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia

text: In 1933, August Wilhelm was given a position within the Free State of Prussia and became a member of the German Reichstag. However, after the abolition of the Weimar Republic after the passing of the Enabling Act of 1933, and the establishment of the dictatorship of the Third Reich, the party no longer needed the former prince, who had secretly hoped "that Hitler would one day hoist him or his son Alexander up to the vacant throne of the Kaiser". Thus, in spring 1934 he was denied direct access to Hitler and by the summer after the Night of the Long Knives found himself in the wilderness politically, but that did not reduce his adoration of Hitler.


title: Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia

text: On 30 June 1939 he was made an "SA-"Obergruppenführer, the second-highest rank in the SA, but he made derogatory remarks about Joseph Goebbels in private, and so was denounced in 1942. From then on, he was completely sidelined and was banned from making public speeches.


title: Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia

text: In early February 1945, in the company of the former Crown Princess Cecilie, August Wilhelm fled the approaching Red Army by going from Potsdam to Kronberg to take refuge with his aunt Princess Margaret of Prussia, a sister of his father.


title: Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia

text: At the end of the Second World War, on 8 May 1945, August Wilhelm was arrested by the U.S. Army and imprisoned in Ludwigsburg. At his denazification trial () in 1948, he was asked if he had since repudiated National Socialism, and replied: "I beg your pardon?" He was thus categorized as "incriminated" by the denazification process and sentenced to two-and-a-half years' hard labour. However, as he had been confined in the Ludwigsburg internment camp since 1945, he was considered to have served his sentence.


title: Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia

text: Immediately after his release, new proceedings were instituted against August Wilhelm. A court in Potsdam, in the Soviet occupation zone, issued an arrest warrant against him, but soon after that he became seriously ill and died at a hospital in Stuttgart at the age of 62. He was buried in Langenburg in the cemetery of the princes of Hohenlohe-Langenburg.


title: Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia

text: With his wife, Princess Alexandra of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, Prince August Wilhelm had one son:


title: Dimethyl ether

text: (sometimes ambiguously simplified to CHO as it is an isomer of ethanol). The simplest ether, it is a colorless gas that is a useful precursor to other organic compounds and an aerosol propellant that is currently being demonstrated for use in a variety of fuel applications. It is an isomer of ethanol.


title: Dimethyl ether

text: The required methanol is obtained from synthesis gas (syngas). Other possible improvements call for a dual catalyst system that permits both methanol synthesis and dehydration in the same process unit, with no methanol isolation and purification.


title: Dimethyl ether

text: Both the one-step and two-step processes above are commercially available. The two-step process is relatively simple and start-up costs are relatively low. A one-step liquid-phase process is in development.


title: Dimethyl ether

text: Dimethyl ether is a synthetic second generation biofuel (BioDME), which can be produced from lignocellulosic biomass. The EU is considering BioDME in its potential biofuel mix in 2030; It can also be made from biogas or methane from animal, food, and agricultural waste, or even from shale gas or natural gas.


title: Dimethyl ether

text: The Volvo Group is the coordinator for the European Community Seventh Framework Programme project BioDME where Chemrec's BioDME pilot plant is based on black liquor gasification in Piteå, Sweden.


title: Dimethyl ether

text: The largest use of dimethyl ether is as the feedstock for the production of the methylating agent, dimethyl sulfate, which entails its reaction with sulfur trioxide:


title: Dimethyl ether

text: Dimethyl ether can also be converted into acetic acid using carbonylation technology related to the Monsanto acetic acid process:


title: Dimethyl ether

text: Dimethyl ether is a low-temperature solvent and extraction agent, applicable to specialised laboratory procedures. Its usefulness is limited by its low boiling point (), but the same property facilitates its removal from reaction mixtures. Dimethyl ether is the precursor to the useful alkylating agent, trimethyloxonium tetrafluoroborate.


title: Dimethyl ether

text: A mixture of dimethyl ether and propane is used in some over-the-counter "freeze spray" products to treat warts, by freezing them. In this role, it has supplanted halocarbon compounds (Freon).


title: Dimethyl ether

text: Dimethyl ether is also a component of certain high temperature "Map-Pro" blowtorch gas blends, supplanting the use of methyl acetylene and propadiene mixtures.


title: Dimethyl ether

text: Dimethyl ether is also used as a propellant in aerosol products. Such products include hair spray, bug spray and some aerosol glue products.


title: Dimethyl ether

text: A potentially major use of dimethyl ether is as substitute for propane in LPG used as fuel in household and industry. Dimethyl ether can also be used as a blendstock in propane autogas.


title: Dimethyl ether

text: It is also a promising fuel in diesel engines, and gas turbines. For diesel engines, an advantage is the high cetane number of 55, compared to that of diesel fuel from petroleum, which is 40–53. Only moderate modifications are needed to convert a diesel engine to burn dimethyl ether. The simplicity of this short carbon chain compound leads during combustion to very low emissions of particulate matter. For these reasons as well as being sulfur-free, dimethyl ether meets even the most stringent emission regulations in Europe (EURO5), U.S. (U.S. 2010), and Japan (2009 Japan).


title: Dimethyl ether

text: At the European Shell Eco Marathon, an unofficial World Championship for mileage, vehicle running on 100% dimethyl ether drove 589 km/liter (169.8 cm/100 km), fuel equivalent to gasoline with a 50 cm displacement 2-stroke engine. As well as winning they beat the old standing record of 306 km/liter (326.8 cm/100 km), set by the same team in 2007.


title: Dimethyl ether

text: To study the dimethyl ether for the combustion process a chemical kinetic mechanism is required which can be used for Computational fluid dynamics calculation.


title: Dimethyl ether

text: Dimethyl ether is a refrigerant with ASHRAE refrigerant designation R-E170. It is also used in refrigerant blends with e.g. ammonia, carbon dioxide, butane and propene.


title: Dimethyl ether

text: Dimethyl ether was the first refrigerant. In 1876, the French engineer Charles Tellier bought the ex-Elder-Dempster a 690 tons cargo ship "Eboe" and fitted a methyl-ether refrigerating plant of his design. The ship was renamed "Le Frigorifique" and successfully imported a cargo of refrigerated meat from Argentina. However the machinery could be improved and in 1877 another refrigerated ship called "Paraguay" with a refrigerating plant improved by Ferdinand Carré was put into service on the South American run.


title: Dimethyl ether

text: Unlike other alkyl ethers, dimethyl ether resists autoxidation. Dimethyl ether is also relatively non-toxic, although it is highly flammable. BASF Explosion Disaster on July 28, 1948 in Ludwigshafen was caused by this compound – 200 people died, a third of the industrial plant was destroyed.


title: Logistic distribution

text: In probability theory and statistics, the logistic distribution is a continuous probability distribution. Its cumulative distribution function is the logistic function, which appears in logistic regression and feedforward neural networks. It resembles the normal distribution in shape but has heavier tails (higher kurtosis). The logistic distribution is a special case of the Tukey lambda distribution.


title: Logistic distribution

text: When the location parameter  is 0 and the scale parameter  is 1, then the probability density function of the logistic distribution is given by


title: Logistic distribution

text: Because this function can be expressed in terms of the square of the hyperbolic secant function "sech", it is sometimes referred to as the "sech-square(d) distribution". (See also: hyperbolic secant distribution).


title: Logistic distribution

text: The logistic distribution receives its name from its cumulative distribution function, which is an instance of the family of logistic functions. The cumulative distribution function of the logistic distribution is also a scaled version of the hyperbolic tangent.


title: Logistic distribution

text: The inverse cumulative distribution function (quantile function) of the logistic distribution is a generalization of the logit function. Its derivative is called the quantile density function. They are defined as follows:


title: Logistic distribution

text: An alternative parameterization of the logistic distribution can be derived by expressing the scale parameter, formula_19, in terms of the standard deviation, formula_20, using the substitution formula_21, where formula_22. The alternative forms of the above functions are reasonably straightforward.


title: Logistic distribution

text: The logistic distribution—and the S-shaped pattern of its cumulative distribution function (the logistic function) and quantile function (the logit function)—have been extensively used in many different areas.


title: Logistic distribution

text: One of the most common applications is in logistic regression, which is used for modeling categorical dependent variables (e.g., yes-no choices or a choice of 3 or 4 possibilities), much as standard linear regression is used for modeling continuous variables (e.g., income or population). Specifically, logistic regression models can be phrased as latent variable models with error variables following a logistic distribution. This phrasing is common in the theory of discrete choice models, where the logistic distribution plays the same role in logistic regression as the normal distribution does in probit regression. Indeed, the logistic and normal distributions have a quite similar shape. However, the logistic distribution has heavier tails, which often increases the robustness of analyses based on it compared with using the normal distribution.


title: Logistic distribution

text: The PDF of this distribution has the same functional form as the derivative of the Fermi function. In the theory of electron properties in semiconductors and metals, this derivative sets the relative weight of the various electron energies in their contributions to electron transport. Those energy levels whose energies are closest to the distribution's "mean" (Fermi level) dominate processes such as electronic conduction, with some smearing induced by temperature. Note however that the pertinent "probability" distribution in Fermi–Dirac statistics is actually a simple Bernoulli distribution, with the probability factor given by the Fermi function.


title: Logistic distribution

text: The logistic distribution arises as limit distribution of a finite-velocity damped random motion described by a telegraph process in which the random times between consecutive velocity changes have independent exponential distributions with linearly increasing parameters.


title: Logistic distribution

text: In hydrology the distribution of long duration river discharge and rainfall (e.g., monthly and yearly totals, consisting of the sum of 30 respectively 360 daily values) is often thought to be almost normal according to the central limit theorem. The normal distribution, however, needs a numeric approximation. As the logistic distribution, which can be solved analytically, is similar to the normal distribution, it can be used instead. The blue picture illustrates an example of fitting the logistic distribution to ranked October rainfalls—that are almost normally distributed—and it shows the 90% confidence belt based on the binomial distribution. The rainfall data are represented by plotting positions as part of the cumulative frequency analysis.


title: Logistic distribution

text: The United States Chess Federation and FIDE have switched its formula for calculating chess ratings from the normal distribution to the logistic distribution; see the article on Elo rating system (itself based on the normal distribution).


title: Chinese aircraft carrier Fujian

text: Fujian (18; ), named after Fujian province, is the first of the Type 003 class aircraft carrier (NATO/OSD Fujian-class CV), and is currently fitting out. Built for the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), "Fujian" was launched on 17 June 2022 and is China’s first fixed-wing aircraft carrier with a fully indigenous design, featuring a CATOBAR system and electromagnetic catapults.


title: Chinese aircraft carrier Fujian

text: The Type 003 class was originally unofficially called Type 002 when , China's then-incomplete second carrier, was believed to be designated Type 001A. "Shandong"s official designation, Type 002, was revealed during commissioning. Observers hence believed the third carrier will be Type 003.


title: Chinese aircraft carrier Fujian

text: The Type 003 is expected to use steam turbines and electromagnetic catapults, whereas preceding Chinese carriers launched aircraft with ski jumps.


title: Chinese aircraft carrier Fujian

text: For CNS Fujian's propulsion system, its structure is still not very clear. According to Chinese military commentator Song Zhongping, the system has "integrated electric propulsion" (IEP).


title: Chinese aircraft carrier Fujian

text: The carrier's size is expected to be between the unfinished 85,000-ton and the United States Navy's 100,000-ton supercarriers. Early assessment measured the Type 003 at approximately long, roughly the length of the US Navy's ships. Renewed assessment indicated that its length was 316 meters and has a flight deck with a width of 76 meters. Comparisons have also been drawn to the American s. Earlier press reports and Chinese media generally suggested that the ship might have a displacement of around 80,000 tons to 85,000 tons. Later assessment backed by satellite images suggested the displacement was underestimated, and the Type 003 carrier might be closer in displacement to about 100,000 tons. Analyst Robert Farley believes the Type 003 will be the "largest and most advanced aircraft carrier ever built outside the United States" when completed.


title: Chinese aircraft carrier Fujian

text: The Type 003 was originally intended to use steam-powered catapults. In 2013, PLAN Rear Admiral Yin Zhuo said that China's next aircraft carrier would be equipped with an electromagnetic launch system. Multiple prototypes were spotted by media in 2012, and aircraft capable of using the system were tested at naval research facilities. The change to electromagnetic (EM) catapults likely explains the increase in size from previous Chinese carriers.


title: Chinese aircraft carrier Fujian

text: Construction began in the mid-2010s. The exact date is not known; "The National Interest" reported March 2015; "The Diplomat" reported that "initial work" had begun in February 2016, followed by a notice to proceed given to the Shanghai Jiangnan Shipyard Group in March 2017. Works were reportedly delayed in June 2017 by electromagnetic and steam catapults tests. By November 2017, the Navy had reportedly developed an IEP system to power electromagnetic catapults, allowing work on the Type 003 to resume.


title: Chinese aircraft carrier Fujian

text: The block modules were moved from the manufacturing facility to the staging area in May 2020, and into dry dock in July 2020. Almost all of the keel and base hull blocks were in the dock by early September 2020; the foremost part of the bow was missing. Measurements based on satellite and aerial photography suggested a hull/waterline length of 300 meters - nearly the flight deck length of China's existing carriers - a maximum beam of , and a displacement of more than . In mid-2020, anonymous Chinese sources projected a launch in the first half of 2022. In September 2020, Rick Joe of "The Diplomat" projected a launch in mid-2022 at the earliest.


title: Chinese aircraft carrier Fujian

text: In July 2021, satellite pictures showed that construction was moving ahead, with key elements such as the superstructure and three catapult launch systems being added to the hull. On 10 November, Bloomberg reported that "China is three to six months away from launching its third aircraft carrier", citing a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.


title: Chinese aircraft carrier Fujian

text: The aircraft carrier, named "Fujian", was launched with the hull number 18 on 17 June 2022. This name received scrutiny in Western media as its namesake Fujian province is located opposite Taiwan across the strait. However, a PLA Navy spokesperson explained that Chinese aircraft carriers are named after provinces, as per PLAN vessel naming regulations. Previous Chinese aircraft carriers, "Liaoning" and "Shandong", are also named after provinces of China.


title: Chinese aircraft carrier Fujian

text: The third carrier is expected to have an expanded carrier air wing. In September 2016, a CATOBAR launch prototype of the J-15 fighter was spotted in Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC). A ground-based test facility was built to simulate aircraft catapult operation for the third carrier. In 2018, defense analyst Kyle Mizokami predicted the carrier would operate an air group of 40 fighter aircraft, plus propeller-powered transport and airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft. In 2020, the KJ-600 carrier-based AEW&C aircraft began test flights.


title: Chinese aircraft carrier Fujian

text: In 2021, analysts reported that the third carrier will operate Shenyang J-15B variant, featuring CATOBAR launch capability, modern fifth-generation avionics, active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, new airframes, stealth coatings, new engines with possible thrust-vectoring capability, and compatibility to launch PL-10 and PL-15 missiles. The J-15B is viewed as an interim carrier-based fighter until a dedicated fifth-generation successor enters service.


title: Craig Gordon

text: Craig Sinclair Gordon (born 31 December 1982) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Scottish Premiership club Heart of Midlothian, where he is club captain, and the Scottish national team.


title: Craig Gordon

text: Gordon started his career with Heart of Midlothian. He spent time on loan at Cowdenbeath (in 2001–02), before establishing himself as Hearts' first-choice keeper between 2003 and 2007, winning the Scottish Cup in 2005–06. English Premier League club Sunderland bought him in 2007 for £9 million (then the British transfer record fee for a goalkeeper).


title: Craig Gordon

text: Gordon suffered serious injuries during his time with Sunderland and was released from his contract in 2012. After two years out of the game, Gordon signed for Celtic in July 2014. He won five Scottish league titles, two Scottish Cups and four Scottish League Cups with Celtic, including domestic trebles in 2016–17, 2017–18 and 2018–19. He left Celtic and returned to Hearts in June 2020.


title: Craig Gordon

text: Gordon was the regular goalkeeper for the Scotland national football team between 2004 and 2010, before injuries interrupted his career, and returned to the national set-up in 2014. He made the Scotland national football team roll of honour, having made his 50th full international appearance for Scotland in 2017. Gordon has been voted the SFWA Footballer of the Year three times, in 2006, 2015 and 2022, and was voted SPL and SFWA Young Player of the Year in 2004.


title: Craig Gordon

text: Born in Edinburgh, Gordon attended Balerno Community High School from 1994 until 1999. His father, David Gordon, played in goal for several East of Scotland clubs, and Gordon spent many Saturday afternoons as a child watching him play. Gordon started off his own career as a goalkeeper at local team Currie Boys Football Club, and then went on to join and graduate from the Heart of Midlothian (Hearts) youth development programme. He won the Scottish Youth Cup in 1999–2000, with Hearts beating Rangers 5–3 at Hampden Park and the SPL Under-18 League in 2000–01, both under the management of John McGlynn.


title: Craig Gordon

text: Gordon was loaned to lower league club Cowdenbeath in 2001. In his time there he continued to train regularly with Hearts, but spent two nights a week training with Cowdenbeath. His first professional game was at Forthbank against Stirling Albion, and he went on to make a total of 13 appearances before being recalled by Hearts. Cowdenbeath went undefeated in their home games during Gordon's time there, and he won praise for an outstanding performance in an away league match in Dumfries versus Queen of the South which ended 3–1. Divisional champions that season, Queens dominated the game, but Gordon's saves thwarted them time and again, with opposition manager John Connolly describing Gordon's performance as "sensational".


title: Craig Gordon

text: Gordon made his debut for Hearts in a 1–1 draw with Livingston on 6 October 2002. His one other appearance that season was in a 4–0 defeat against Falkirk on 25 January 2003 in the third round of the Scottish Cup. Over the course of the following season, 2003–04 season, he edged out Tepi Moilanen as the regular Hearts goalkeeper, playing in 29 of Hearts' league fixtures. Gordon made his first appearance in European competition on 6 November 2003, playing in the first leg of Hearts' UEFA Cup second round tie in France against Bordeaux. He performed well and kept a clean sheet in an impressive 1–0 win for Hearts. Despite that result, Heart lost the return leg 2–0 in Edinburgh to go out on aggregate. His performances that year resulted in him being short-listed for the Scottish PFA Young Player of the Year award, which was eventually won by then Celtic midfielder Stephen Pearson. Gordon did win SFWA Young Player of the Year and SPL Young Player of the Year accolades for 2003–04. He was selected as SPL Young Player of the Month too for December 2003. Manager Craig Levein praised Gordon for his performances, stating that he had a "brilliant" season and that whilst Levein initially only intended to play him in a handful of games, "he did so well that I couldn't take him out [of the first team]." Gordon signed a new three-year contract with the club in August 2004.


title: Craig Gordon

text: In his first full season as first choice goalkeeper, Hearts qualified for the UEFA Cup after they finished third behind champions Celtic and Rangers. The team qualified for the group stages of the UEFA Cup beating Braga on aggregate 5–3. Hearts also reached the semi finals of both the Scottish Cup (beaten by Motherwell after extra time) and Scottish League Cup (beaten by Celtic) in season 2004–05.


title: Craig Gordon

text: Gordon had become a Scotland regular by 2005 and his consistent displays during the 2005–06 season helped Hearts to a second-place finish in the Scottish Premier League and victory in the Scottish Cup. The trophy was won in a penalty shootout against Gretna following a 1–1 draw, with Gordon saving opponent Derek Townsley's penalty. He kept a clean-sheet in a 4–0 win against Edinburgh derby rivals Hibernian in the semi-final. Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov rejected an approach from Serie A side Palermo for Gordon earlier in the season. That season he was voted Scottish Football Writers' Association Player of the Year, becoming the first Hearts player to win the award since Sandy Jardine in 1986 and also the first goalkeeper since Rangers' Andy Goram in 1993.


title: Craig Gordon

text: For much of the 2006–07 season rumours linked Gordon with a move away from Tynecastle, particularly following his involvement in the issuing of a statement against club owner Vladimir Romanov. Gordon and Paul Hartley flanked captain Steven Pressley as he read out a statement claiming there was "significant unrest" in the Hearts dressing room. The venue for this statement, Hearts' Riccarton training ground, led to the media dubbing the players the "Riccarton Three". Rangers, Aston Villa, Arsenal and Manchester United were all credited with an interest in the player in late 2006. Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger observed Gordon in action in Scotland's 1–0 victory against France in a Euro 2008 qualifying match. He touted Gordon as having "presence and good handling and [he] looks a very good goalkeeper to me." Gordon confirmed his rising stock with a spectacular cross-goal save in the October 2006 Edinburgh derby and the following month he was named as Hearts' new captain, replacing the departed Pressley. Despite Hearts' claims that he was ill, he was "dropped" to the bench for the game against Dundee United in December 2006 for what many believed to be a disciplinary measure by the club following his involvement in the "Riccarton Three" statement. He was reinstated for the Edinburgh derby match against Hibernian three days later. He was not listed in the squad to face Rangers on 27 January 2007, four days before the closure of the transfer window, and it was confirmed by the club that they were negotiating his transfer. Gordon remained a Hearts player when the window closed.


title: Craig Gordon

text: In March 2007, Gordon expressed his interest in playing for Arsenal, after reports had cited that he was linked as a candidate to succeed the veteran Jens Lehmann as Arsenal's first-choice goalkeeper, stating "Arsenal is one of the top teams in Britain, in Europe, if not the world, so it is something that would definitely interest any player". Hearts failure to qualify for European competition at the season's end further increased speculation that Gordon would be sold, with Sunderland and Aston Villa rumoured suitors in July 2007. His appearance in Hearts 3–1 friendly defeat by Barcelona on 28 July proved to be his last for the club for 13 years.


title: Craig Gordon

text: On 8 November 2007, Gordon was inducted into the Hearts Hall of Fame. Still only 24, he was the youngest player ever to have that honour bestowed upon him.


title: Craig Gordon

text: In August 2007, Gordon agreed a five-year contract with Sunderland. The £9 million fee was the highest a British club had ever paid for a goalkeeper, until Manchester United paid around £17 million for David de Gea in 2011. Gordon made his debut for Sunderland in the opening game of the 2007–08 Premier League against Tottenham Hotspur, keeping a clean sheet as his side won 1–0. During this match, the rival goalkeeper was Paul Robinson and the England first choice. It was the first time a Scotland first choice goalkeeper and an England first choice goalkeeper had faced each other in a club match since 2001, when Arsenal's David Seaman faced Tottenham's Neil Sullivan.


title: Craig Gordon

text: Following Sunderland's 7–1 loss to Everton in December, Sunderland manager Roy Keane dropped Gordon to the bench and Welsh goalkeeper Darren Ward took his place. Gordon regained his place as first choice goalkeeper three games later.


title: Craig Gordon

text: Midway through the 2008–09 season, Gordon was sidelined for several months with a knee injury and found himself as backup to Márton Fülöp. He regained his place in the starting eleven at the beginning of the 2009–10 season. On 7 November away at Tottenham Hotspur, he broke his arm after colliding with Jermain Defoe and was sidelined for nearly three months. He returned on 23 January in a game against Portsmouth.