title: Battle of Gazala

text: The rest of the Italian XX Motorized Corps, the Italian 101st Motorised Division "Trieste", would open a gap in the minefield north of the Bir Hakeim box near the Sidi Muftah box, to create a supply route to the armour. Rommel anticipated that, having dealt with the Allied armour, he would capture El Adem, Ed Duda, Sidi Rezegh and "Knightsbridge". The Axis tanks would then be in a position to attack on the following day westwards against the Eighth Army defensive boxes between Gazala and Alem Hamza, meeting the eastwards attack by the Italian X and XXI corps. By late May, the Axis forces comprised and


title: Battle of Gazala

text: At 14:00 on 26 May, the Italian X and XXI Corps launched a frontal attack on the central Gazala positions, after a heavy artillery concentration, beginning (Operation Venice). A few elements of the and XX Mobile Corps were attached to these assault groups. During the day, the bulk of the moved, to give the impression that this was the main Axis assault. When night fell, the armoured formations turned south in a sweeping move around the southern end of the Gazala line.


title: Battle of Gazala

text: In the early hours of 27 May, Rommel personally led the elements of , the (DAK), Italian XX Motorised Corps and the German 90th Light Division, in a bold flanking move around the southern end of the Allied line, using the Allied minefields to protect the Axis flank and rear. Ariete Division of XX Motorised Corps was held up for about an hour by the 3rd Indian Motor Brigade of the 7th Armoured Division, dug in about south east of Bir Hakeim at Rugbet el Atasc. The 132nd Tank Infantry Regiment of the "Ariete" Division sent its experienced VIII and IX Medium Tank battalions forward, while the fresh X Medium Tank Battalion was in second line. The Indian position was overrun with the loss of some of which were repairable on the field, killed and , while the Indians lost killed and wounded and about including Admiral Sir Walter Cowan and most of its equipment. The 21st Panzer Division was advancing south of the position and did not take part in the action.


title: Battle of Gazala

text: Further to the east, the 15th Panzer Division had engaged the 4th Armoured Brigade of the 7th Armoured Division, which had been ordered south to support the 3rd Indian and 7th Motorised brigades. In a mutually costly engagement, the Germans were surprised by the range and power of the guns on the new M3 (Grant) tanks. The 4th Armoured Brigade then withdrew toward El Adem and spent the night near the Belhamed supply base, east of El Adem. By late morning, the Axis armoured units had advanced more than north but by noon had been stopped by the 1st Armoured Division in more mutually costly fighting.


title: Battle of Gazala

text: On the far right of the Axis advance, the 90th Light Division engaged the 7th Motorised Brigade at Retma and forced it to withdraw eastwards on Bir el Gubi. Resuming their advance toward El Adem before noon, armoured cars of the 90th Light came upon the advanced HQ of 7th Armoured Division near Bir Beuid, dispersing it and capturing a number of officers including the commander, Frank Messervy, who pretended to be a batman and escaped. The "inexcusable" lapse in security left the division without effective command for the next two days. As planned, 90th Light division reached the El Adem area by mid-morning and captured a number of supply dumps. The following day, the 4th Armoured Brigade was sent to El Adem and the 90th Light Division was driven back to the south-west.


title: Battle of Gazala

text: The tank battle continued for three days; lacking possession of Bir Hakeim, Rommel drew the into a defensive position, using the extensive Allied mine belts to block an Allied approach from the west. The British tanks attacked several times from the north and east against accurate defensive fire. The Axis supply situation became desperate; defending the German rear, the Ariete Division repulsed attacks by the British armoured brigades on 29 May and during the first week of June.


title: Battle of Gazala

text: The Bir Hakeim box was defended by the 1st Free French Brigade under Marie-Pierre Kœnig. On 27 May, the Italian IX Tank Battalion of the 132nd Tank Infantry Regiment (Ariete Division), which had not been engaged in the destruction of the 3rd Indian Brigade box and had continued to advance alone at full speed, stumbled in the French positions and launched a hasty attack, which was a costly failure against the French guns and mines. On the night of the 90th Light and Trieste divisions were sent south to renew the attack on Bir Hakeim, where the battle continued for another ten days.


title: Battle of Gazala

text: Reinforced with a further , the Axis attacked Bir Hakeim again on 9 June and overran the defences by the following day. Ritchie ordered the remaining troops to evacuate as best they could, under the cover of darkness. Under fire through the night, many of the French were able to find gaps in the line through which to withdraw. The survivors then made their way some to the west, to rendezvous with transport from the 7th Motor Brigade. About (including of the original garrison of and about troops, many of whom were wounded, were captured when the 90th Light Division occupied the position on 11 June.


title: Battle of Gazala

text: Early on 29 May, supply vehicles supported by the Trieste and Ariete divisions, worked through the minefield north of Bir Hakeim and reached the . On 30 May, Rommel pulled the back westward against the edge of the minefields, creating a defensive position. A link was formed with elements of the Italian X Corps, which were clearing two routes through the minefields from the west. In the process, the Sidi Muftah box was overrun and the defending 150th Infantry Brigade was destroyed after brutal fighting. At one point, Rommel personally led a platoon of panzer grenadiers in the attack;


title: Battle of Gazala

text: Acting on mistaken reports about German tank losses, Auchinleck strongly urged Ritchie to counter-attack along the coast, to exploit the absence of German tanks and break through to Timimi and then Mechili. Ritchie was more concerned by Tobruk, brought reinforcements up to the El Adem box and created new defensive boxes opposite the gaps in the minefield. Ritchie ordered the Eighth Army to counter-attack against the on 5 June but they were met by accurate fire from tank and anti-tank guns positioned in the cauldron. In the north, XIII Corps made no progress but the attack by 7th Armoured and 5th Indian divisions on the eastern flank of the cauldron at 02:50 initially went well. An important element of the plan was the destruction of the Axis anti-tank screen with an artillery bombardment but because of an error in plotting its position, the bombardment fell too far to the east. When the 22nd Armoured Brigade advanced, it was met by massed anti-tank fire and checked. The 32nd Army Tank Brigade, advancing from the north, joined the attack at dawn but also ran into massed fire, losing fifty of seventy tanks.


title: Battle of Gazala

text: By early afternoon on 5 June, Rommel split his forces, deciding to attack east with the and 21st Panzer divisions while he sent elements of 15th Panzer Division northwards against the Knightsbridge Box. The eastward thrust towards Bir el Hatmat dispersed the tactical HQs of the two British divisions, as well as the HQs of the 9th Indian Infantry Brigade, the 10th Indian Infantry Brigade and other smaller units, which caused command to break down. The 22nd Armoured Brigade, having lost its was forced from the battlefield by more attacks from the 15th Panzer Division. Three Indian infantry battalions, a reconnaissance regiment and four artillery regiments of the attacking force were left behind, unsupported by armour and overrun. Rommel retained the initiative, maintaining his strength in the cauldron while the number of operational British tanks diminished. A number of probes were sent to test the various opposing strong points and from 6 to 8 June, further attacks were launched on Bir Hakeim and repulsed by the French garrison. The 7th Motor Brigade and 29th Indian Infantry Brigade continued to harass the Axis lines of communications.


title: Battle of Gazala

text: On 11 June, Rommel pushed the 15th Panzer Division and 90th Light Division toward El Adem and by 12 June had begun forcing the 201st Guards Brigade out of the Knightsbridge Box to Tobruk. The 29th Indian Infantry Brigade repulsed an attack on the El Adem box on 12 June but the 2nd and 4th Armoured Brigades on their left were pushed back by the 15th Panzer Division and had to leave their damaged tanks on the battlefield. On 13 June, the 21st Panzer Division advanced from the west and engaged the 22nd Armoured Brigade. The demonstrated a superiority in tactics, combining tanks with anti-tank guns in the attack; Rommel acted rapidly on intelligence obtained from Allied radio traffic intercepts. By the end of the day, the British tank strength had been reduced from to about the had established armour superiority and a dominating line of positions, making XIII Corps on the Gazala line vulnerable to being cut off. By the end of 13 June, the Knightsbridge box was virtually surrounded and it was abandoned by the Guards Brigade later that night, with their commanding officer Thomas Bevan having been killed the previous day. Due to these defeats, 13 June became known as "Black Saturday" to the Eighth Army.


title: Battle of Gazala

text: On 13 June, the 21st Panzer Division attacked Rigel Ridge in the middle of a sandstorm. The Germans overran part of the 2nd Scots Guards at the Knightsbridge Box at the west end of Rigel Ridge, overlooked by the 6th South African Anti-tank battery of the 2nd Field Regiment, Natal Field Artillery and a battery of the 11th Regiment RHA nearby. The South African gunners kept firing until their guns were destroyed, allowing the withdrawal of other Allied formations. The South African battery commander had decided to stay and maintain fire against the German tanks, to delay the Germans for as long as possible. The remaining guns were commanded individually and fired at the Panzers over open sights. The German tanks took up positions behind the ridge, with anti-tank guns placed between them. A column of Panzers attacked from the rear, surrounding them and cutting off all escape and the gunners kept firing until the eight guns had been destroyed. About half the gun detachments were killed and wounded, including the battery commander and many officers. The last gun in action was manned by Lieutenant Ashley and a signaller; when the battery had been silenced, the Axis tanks approached cautiously and the South African gunners were taken prisoner. (The entire Natal Field Artillery Regiment was captured and was not re-formed until after the war.) The Germans captured over prisoners.


title: Battle of Gazala

text: On 14 June, Auchinleck authorised Ritchie to withdraw from the Gazala Line. The defenders in the El Adem and two neighbouring boxes held on and the 1st South African Division was able to withdraw along the coast road, practically intact. The road could not accommodate two divisions and the remaining two brigades of the 50th (Northumbrian) Division could not retreat eastwards, because of the Axis tanks and attacked south-west, breaking through the lines of the 27th Infantry Division "Brescia" and 17th Infantry Division "Pavia" of X Corps; then headed south into the desert, before turning east. London would not contemplate a withdrawal to the better defensive positions on the Egypt-Libya frontier and on 14 June, Auchinleck ordered to Ritchie to hold a line running south-east from Acroma (west of Tobruk) through El Adem to Bir El Gubi. By the evening of 15 June, the Point 650 box had been overrun and on 16 June, the defenders at Point 187 had been forced by lack of supplies to evacuate. The defensive boxes at El Adem and Sidi Rezegh were also attacked by the . On 17 June, both boxes were evacuated ending any chance of preventing the encirclement of Tobruk. Ritchie ordered the Eighth Army to withdraw to Mersa Matruh, about east of the frontier, leaving Tobruk to threaten the Axis lines of communication as in 1941. The retreat became known to some as the Gazala Gallop.


title: Battle of Gazala

text: In February 1942, the army, navy and air force commanders-in-chief in Cairo had agreed that Tobruk should not stand another siege. The defences at Tobruk had not been maintained and it was garrisoned by inexperienced troops. Auchinleck viewed the defence of Tobruk as a lesser matter and told Ritchie that he did not intend to hold it at all costs. An immense store of supplies of every description had been accumulated around the port for an Allied offensive and Auchinleck expected it to be able to hold out for two months with the supplies in the fortress. The British prime minister Winston Churchill had placed great store on the symbolic value of Tobruk and there was an exchange of ambiguous signals, leading to the port becoming surrounded and besieged, rather than evacuated as originally planned.


title: Battle of Gazala

text: Operation Venice () began on 26 May 1942 and drove the Eighth Army east of Tobruk, leaving it vulnerable to attack from the east. Gott garrisoned Tobruk with the two brigades of 2nd South African Division (Major-General Hendrik Klopper) along with the 201st Guards (Motorised) Brigade, 11th Indian Infantry Brigade, 32nd Army Tank Brigade and the 4th Anti-Aircraft Brigade. penetrated a weak spot on the eastern defensive perimeter and took the port within twenty-four hours. The garrison of 33,000 men was captured, many of those on the western perimeter not having been engaged. Over 1,000 vehicles in working order, of food and of petrol were captured. The surrender was the largest capitulation of British Empire forces in the war after the Battle of Singapore in February 1942. Later in the year, a Court of Inquiry () found Klopper to be largely blameless for the surrender and ascribed the defeat to failures among the British high command. The findings were kept secret until after the war, doing little to restore the reputation of Klopper and his troops.


title: Battle of Gazala

text: With the capture of Tobruk, the Axis gained a port nearer the Aegean–Crete route and a large amount of Allied supplies. If the Allies could not stop the Germans in Egypt, they would take the Suez Canal (forcing Britain to use supply lines twice as long, threatened by U-boats) and potentially drive for the oilfields in the Middle East. Hitler rewarded Rommel with a promotion to the rank of field-marshal, the youngest German officer ever to achieve this rank. Rommel remarked he would have preferred another panzer division.


title: Battle of Gazala

text: Auchinleck dismissed Ritchie on 25 June and assumed command of the Eighth Army for the First Battle of El Alamein, where he stopped Rommel's advance. In August, Auchinleck was replaced as Eighth Army commander by the XIII Corps commander, Lieutenant-General William Gott and as C-in-C Middle East Command by General Sir Harold Alexander. Gott was killed when his aircraft was shot down and Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery was appointed as his replacement.


title: Battle of Gazala

text: The Eighth Army lost wounded or captured, including taken at Tobruk The Germans suffered , about 15 per cent of their force. Italian casualties were 3,000 men, 125 tanks, 44 armoured cars, 450 motor vehicles, 39 guns and seventy-four anti-tank guns. On 30 June, the Afrika Korps reported that Axis tank losses were that only tanks were operational, the Italian XX Corps was down to fifteen tanks and the 90th Light Division had only left. The Eighth Army lost thousands of tons of supplies, nearly of artillery ammunition, nearly rounds of small-arms ammunition and a huge number of tanks. Hundreds of damaged tanks had been left behind when armoured regiments retreated and it was estimated that there were casualties in 17 days. On 22 June, the Desert Air Force had aircraft, them in the Middle East, the Germans the Italians another reserve and the Mediterranean excluding Italy. The Royal Army Ordnance Corps recovered up to 19 June, repaired sent to Egypt US-made tanks). The Eighth Army was reduced to about tanks by the end of the battle and shuffling operational tanks and crews between units disrupted unit organisation. Seven field artillery regiments, and two tank repair workshops (which had been moved into Tobruk) were lost. By 1 July, the Eighth Army was back at El Alamein, with tanks, from workshops and waiting to be repaired.


title: Battle of Gazala

text: began an advance upon Egypt, while the Eighth Army fell back to El Alamein. Auchinleck decided not to hold Mersa Matruh, choosing to fight a delaying action with X and XIII Corps. The was delayed at the Battle of Mersa Matruh but signal failures led to disorganisation and the X Corps line of retreat along the coast road being cut off. The corps broke out at night to the south and worked its way around the German positions, collided with Axis forces several times and lost more than forty tanks and a large quantity of supplies. Auchinleck had ordered the bulk of the Eighth Army to retire another to El Alamein, from Alexandria. The retirements brought the Eighth Army closer to its base and the Qattara Depression to the south of El Alamein closed the southern flank. The Allied and Axis forces fought the First Battle of El Alamein, the Battle of Alam el Halfa and the Second Battle of El Alamein. (Operation Agreement, a British landing at Tobruk during the night of to rescue Allied prisoners, was a failure.


title: Gleipnir

text: In Norse mythology, Gleipnir (Old Norse "open one") is the binding that holds the mighty wolf Fenrir (as attested in chapter 34 of the "Prose Edda" book "Gylfaginning"). The Gods had attempted to bind Fenrir twice before with huge chains of metal, but Fenrir was able to break free both times. Therefore, they commissioned the dwarves to forge a chain that was impossible to break. To create a chain to achieve the impossible, the dwarves fashioned the chain out of six supposedly impossible things:


title: Gleipnir

text: Therefore, even though Gleipnir is as thin as a silken ribbon, it is stronger than any iron chain. It was forged by the dwarves in their underground realm of Niðavellir.


title: Gleipnir

text: Gleipnir, having bound Fenrir securely, was the cause of Týr's lost hand, for Fenrir bit it off in revenge when he was not freed. Gleipnir is said to hold until Ragnarök, when Fenrir will finally break free and devour Odin.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: The Boulton Paul Defiant is a British interceptor aircraft that served with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during World War II. The Defiant was designed and built by Boulton Paul Aircraft as a "turret fighter", without any fixed forward-firing guns, also found in the Blackburn Roc of the Royal Navy.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: In combat, the Defiant was found to be effective at destroying bombers, the role it was designed for, but was vulnerable to the "Luftwaffe"s more manoeuvrable, single-seat Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters. The Defiant had been designed to destroy unescorted bombers by means of beam or ventral attacks and therefore lacked forward-firing armament, that proved to be a great weakness in daylight combat with fighters. It did, however, find success when it was converted to a night fighter. It eventually equipped thirteen squadrons in this role, compared to just two squadrons as a day-fighter, though this was mainly due to slow initial production. In mid-1942 it was replaced by better performing night-fighters, the Bristol Beaufighter and de Havilland Mosquito.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: The Defiant continued to find use in gunnery training, target towing, electronic countermeasures and air-sea rescue. <br>


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: During the 1930s, the increasing speed of military aircraft posed a particular challenge to anti-aircraft defences. Advances in aircraft design achieved during the 1920s and 1930s had resulted in a generation of multi-engined monoplane bombers that were substantially faster than their contemporary single-engined biplane fighters then in service. The RAF came to believe that its new generation of turret-armed bombers, such as the Vickers Wellington, would be capable of readily penetrating enemy airspace and of defending themselves without any accompanying fighter escort, but also recognised that the bombers of other European air forces, such as the "Luftwaffe", would similarly be able to penetrate British airspace with impunity.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: During 1935, the concept of a turret-armed defensive fighter to counter the bomber threat emerged during a time in which the RAF anticipated having to defend Great Britain against massed formations of unescorted enemy bombers. The RAF did not expect bombers to be escorted by fighters because fighters would not have the range to reach the UK from Germany. In theory, turret-armed fighters would approach an enemy bomber from below or from the side and coordinate their fire. The separation of the tasks of flying the aircraft and firing the guns would allow the pilot to concentrate on putting the fighter into the best position for the gunner to engage the enemy. However, manually-traversed turrets were viewed as having becoming more problematic and increasingly inadequate to effectively respond to ever-faster hostile aircraft, thus there was considerable interest in using a power-augmented turret.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: The earlier Hawker Demon biplane had tested the concept with 59 of the fighters, which had been manufactured by Boulton Paul under a sub-contract, having been equipped with a hydraulically-powered rear turret, while a number of aircraft already built were also converted as such. Boulton Paul and its managing director John Dudley North had gained considerable experience with defensive turrets from producing several earlier aircraft, including the Boulton Paul Overstrand bomber, and had devised a four-gun power-operated turret, the concept and development work of which would later be a core part of the Defiant design.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: In April 1935, the Air Ministry released Specification F.9/35, which required a two-seater day and night "turret fighter" capable of at . The aircraft was to feature a clean design, concentrating its armament within a power-operated turret, and the accepted performance was to be only slightly beneath that of other emergent fighter designs of the period, along with a sufficient fuel capacity to allow it to perform standing patrols. In particular, the powered turret was to offer considerable flexibility, possessing both a 360-degree upper hemisphere field of fire and the ability to engage enemy bombers from a range of quarters, including below the aircraft itself. Specification F.9/35 had followed the earlier Specification F.5/33, which had sought a pusher design combined with a forward-set turret; F.5/33 had been unceremoniously abandoned as the proposals had offered little in terms of performance gains over existing fighters, and the corresponding Armstrong Whitworth AW.34 design which had been ordered was not completed.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: Boulton Paul, having been focused on turret-equipped aircraft for some time, decided to make a submission for Specification F.9/35; their design was given the company name of "P.82". The proposed fighter was similar in size and appearance to the more conventional Hawker Hurricane, differing in weight primarily due to the use of turret-based armaments. The central feature of the P.82 was its four-gun turret, based on a design by French aviation company Societe d'Applications des Machines Motrices (SAMM), which had been licensed by Boulton Paul for use in the earlier Boulton Paul Sidestrand bomber, eventually installed in the "follow-up" design, the Boulton Paul Overstrand and in the Blackburn Roc naval fighter. The 'Type A' turret was an electro-hydraulically powered "drop-in" unit, with a crank-operated mechanical backup. Small bombs could be housed in recesses in the outer wing. Some of the development work from the company's earlier B.1/35 tender was carried over into the P.82.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: Of the seven designs tendered, the Air Ministry ranked the P.82 as being the second-best submission, after the Hawker Hotspur but ahead of others such as Armstrong Whitworth's twin-engined design. The Air Ministry wanted several designs investigated and the production of two prototypes of each but the associated costs involved in this preference were in excess of the funding thus special permission from HM Treasury was sought. The Treasury agreed to finance the completion of seven prototypes (two Hawker, two Boulton Paul, two Fairey and one Armstrong Whitworth) but only prototypes of the two most promising designs, the P.82 and the Hotspur, were ordered in late 1935. In 1936, Boulton Paul commenced assembly on the first P.82 prototype, "K8310", at their new Wolverhampton facility; an order for a second prototype, "K8620", was received by the following year.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: In 1937, the first P.82 prototype, "K8310", was rolled out. Furnished with a 1,030 hp (768 kW) Rolls-Royce Merlin I and initially lacking its turret, the aircraft bore a great resemblance to the contemporary Hawker Hurricane, although it was at least heavier. On 11 August 1937, "K8310", which had recently received the name "Defiant", conducted its maiden flight. This initial flight, piloted by Boulton Paul's chief test pilot Cecil Feather, occurred nearly a year ahead of the rival Hotspur but still without the turret. Official acceptance trials did not commence until nine months later. On 30 July 1939, the second prototype, "K8620", equipped with a Merlin II engine and a full turret, conducted its first flight. "K8620" had received various modifications over the first prototype, such as telescopic radio masts and revisions to the canopy and to the undercarriage fairing plates; implementing these improvements had incurred delays to the completion of the second prototype.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: Production orders had been prepared for the Hotspur, the initial front-running submission but Boulton Paul's turret design had gained the attention of the Air Ministry. Hawker's progress on the project had been delayed by their commitments on other aircraft programs including the more conventional Hurricane; thus the prototype Hotspur, "K8309", did not conduct its maiden flight until 14 June 1938. On 28 April 1937, an initial production order for 87 aircraft was received by Boulton Paul for the P.82; as this was prior to the first flight of the prototype, the aircraft had effectively been ordered 'off the drawing board'. The order for the rival Hotspur was cancelled in 1938.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: Completing its acceptance tests with the turret installed, the Defiant attained a top speed of and subsequently was declared the victor of the turret fighter competition. Flight trials had revealed the aircraft to possess positive flight characteristics and considerable stability, which was of particular value when using the turret. According to aviation author Michael Bowyers, the usefulness of the Defiant had suffered due to the overly long development time for the type, observing that the Defiant's service entry was delayed to such an extent that only three production aircraft had reached the RAF, and these were only for trial purposes, by the outbreak of the Second World War. Due to delays with the type entering production, there were not enough available Defiants to begin standing patrols in 1940, by which point the introduction of not only more advanced fighters but bombers as well had allegedly undermined the usefulness of the type.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: On 30 July 1939, the first production Defiant, "L6950", conducted its maiden flight; it commenced official trials with the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) in September that year. Apart from some detail changes, the production "Defiant Mk I" looked similar to the two Defiant prototypes. It was powered by the Rolls Royce Merlin III engine, which was capable of generating 1,030 hp/768 kW or 1,160 hp/865 kW.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: By January 1940, over half of the original production batch had been completed. Beyond the initial production order in April 1937, follow-on orders had been issued for the type; in February 1938, an additional 202 Defiant Mk I aircraft were ordered; three months later, another 161 aircraft were ordered. In December 1939, yet another 150 aircraft were ordered, raising the overall total to 513. In 1940, this rose to 563 Defiant Mk Is on order, while a further 280 were ordered under a rearranged manufacturing plan issued in mid-1940. However, the performance of the Defiant had been determined to be inadequate by this point, which led to manufacturing being sustained principally for economic reasons. A total of 713 Defiant Mk I aircraft were completed.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: In response to a service request which sought greater performance, the "Defiant Mk II", powered by the 1,260 hp Merlin XX engine, was promptly developed. On 20 July 1940, "N1550", the first production Defiant Mk II performed its initial flight. The Mk II featured a pressurised fuel system, additional fuel, an enlarged rudder, a deeper radiator, a modified engine mounting and elongated cowling. Once sufficient numbers of the Merlin XX engine were available, production of the improved variant commenced; in August 1941, the first production deliveries of the Defiant Mk II took place.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: The Defiant Mk II was soon paired with the newly developed airborne interception radar (AI) to become a night fighter. While initial AI equipment was too heavy and bulky to be practical for equipping smaller aircraft, the improved AI Mk. IV radar was suitably sized for the Defiant; the first such equipped Defiants were introduced in late 1941. Later versions of the AI radar were adopted over time, such as the AI Mk VI. The need for both the Defiant and the Hurricane in the night fighter role petered out by 1942 as the larger Bristol Beaufighter became the RAF's primary night fighter type, freeing both aircraft for other duties.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: In the search for alternative uses for the Defiant, which included limited service with the RAF Search and Rescue Force and suitability trials for cooperative operations with the British Army, it was determined that Defiant production would continue in order to satisfy a pressing requirement for high speed gunnery targets. A dedicated version of the aircraft, the "Defiant TT Mk I", was developed for this purpose; modifications included the removal of the turret, the installation of target-towing equipment, including a target stowage box and a wind-driven winch, and the addition of a winch operator under an enclosed canopy. In January 1942, the prototype Defiant TT Mk I, "DR863", conducted its maiden flight; fighter production was phased out shortly thereafter.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: The last Defiant Mk IIs under construction were completed as TT Mk I aircraft. Dozens of existing Defiant Mk Is would be remanufactured to the similar "Defiant TT Mk III" standard; roughly 150 of such conversions took place during 1943–1944. So that the type could be used to meet the growing overseas demand for target-towing aircraft, the Defiant was tropicalized, a large portion of which was the installation of large filters underneath the aircraft's nose.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: The P.85 was Boulton Paul's tender to Specification O.30/35 for the naval turret fighter. A version of the Defiant for Fleet Air Arm (FAA), it had leading edge slats and a deeper fuselage, for the lower landing speeds required of carrier aircraft. The engine would be either a Bristol Hercules radial or the Merlin. Despite the P.85's higher estimated top speed, the Blackburn Roc was selected. With Blackburn already busy producing other projects, the detail design and production of the Roc was given to Boulton Paul. Ultimately, the only use of the Defiant within the FAA was its adoption of the target tug version.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: The first Defiant prototype had not been fitted with a turret at first and had an impressive top speed. In 1940, Boulton Paul removed the turret from the prototype as a demonstrator for a fixed-gun fighter based on Defiant components. The armament offered was either 12 Browning machine guns (six per wing) or four Hispano cannon in place of eight of the Brownings. The guns could be depressed for ground attack. By that time, the RAF had sufficient quantities of Hawker Hurricanes and Supermarine Spitfires and did not require a new single-seat fighter. With a calculated top speed of about at the P.94 was almost as fast as a contemporary Spitfire although less manoeuvrable.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: The Defiant was a single-engine interceptor aircraft. It used a monoplane structure which was coupled with main landing gear which retracted into a broad mainplane section. The pilot's cockpit and rear turret were faired into a streamlined upper fuselage section. Tankage for up to of fuel was housed within the wing centre section along with a large ventral radiator that completed the resemblance to the Hawker fighter. The center section employed a two-spar arrangement, and the wing itself had removable wingtips. The rear fuselage comprised two metal cones connected by a two-foot transitional section and a flat upper deck. The Defiant employed an all-metal stressed skin monocoque structure, which was built in sections that were subsequently bolted together, a manufacturing method previously used on other Bolton Paul-designed aircraft. It was a relatively clean design and made use of a simple, weight-saving structure.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: The primary mission of the Defiant was the destruction of incoming enemy bombers. The principal armament of the aircraft is its powered dorsal turret, equipped with four 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns. The fuselage was fitted with aerodynamic fairings that helped mitigate the drag of the turret; they were pneumatically powered and could be lowered into the fuselage so that the turret could rotate freely. The Brownings were electrically fired and insulated cut-off points in the turret ring prevented the guns firing when they were pointing at the propeller disc or tailplane. The gunner could rotate the turret directly forward and transfer firing control of the guns to the pilot, with the guns firing along each side of the cockpit canopy; this was rarely done as the turret's minimum forward elevation was 19° and the pilot did not have a gunsight, possibly because the Defiant was outfitted to perform zero deflection shooting, as were several contemporaneous designs arising from Air Ministry specifications.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: The zero deflection gunnery technique was practised, among others, by British ace Albert Ball using Lewis guns on Forster mounts – which largely eliminated the need for either complex gun sights or aiming-off by eye. An elevation of +19° combined with ballistic properties of .303 (7.7mm) Brownings and the Defiant's operational speed made 'line of sight' aiming – as practised by Luftwaffe pilots – a practical proposition. This technique (described more fully in the article "Schräge Musik)" seems to have been neither taught nor practised by the RAF. Despite being common knowledge among veteran First World War aircrew, featuring in Air Ministry requirements reflected in fighter designs such as the contemporaneous Gloster G9 twin-engine bomber-interceptor – armed with five 20mm cannon at +12° – virtually all losses of Bomber Command aircraft shot down by Luftwaffe night fighters using upward-firing were ascribed to flak until 1944.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: The gunner's hatch was in the rear of the turret, which had to be rotated to the side for entry and exit. There was not enough room in the turret for the gunner to wear a seat-type or back pack parachute so gunners were provided with a special all-in-one garment nicknamed the "rhino suit". Frederick "Gus" Platts, an air gunner who served in 230, 282 and 208 squadrons, stated: "The Rhino suit we had to wear on Defiants was a bear but I couldn't come up with an alternative, even though it killed dozens of us. I forget the details of it but we could not have sat on our chute or even keep it nearby as in other turrets, so you wore – all in one – an inner layer that fitted a little like a wetsuit of today. The chute fitted around this, and then the dinghy and the outer clothing. There was inner webbing and pockets that literally fell apart (I presume) when one bailed out".


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: In October 1939, No. 264 (Madras Presidency) Squadron was reformed at RAF Sutton Bridge to operate the Defiant. Initial training, formal squadron acceptance, and development of tactics began with other aircraft as it received its first Defiants only in early December at Martlesham Heath. In February 1940, the Defiant commenced night fighter training operations; the squadron tested its tactics against British medium bombers – Hampdens and Blenheims – and 264's CO flew against Robert Stanford Tuck in a Spitfire, showing that the Defiant could defend itself by circling and keeping its speed up. It became clear during these trials that the Defiant was suited only to performing its designed for bomber-destroyer duties and was vulnerable to fighters.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: By March 1940, 264 Squadron had two flights operational with Defiants and No. 141 Squadron received its first Defiant. When the Defiant was first introduced to the public, the RAF put out a disinformation campaign, stating that the Defiant had 21 guns: four in the turret, 14 in the wings and three cannon in the nose. On 12 May 1940, the first operational sortie occurred as a flight of six Defiants flew with six Spitfires of 66 Squadron over the English Channel to the coastline in the vicinity of The Hague, Netherlands; during this flight, a single Ju 88, which had been in the process of attacking a destroyer, was shot down. The following day, in a patrol that was a repetition of the first, Defiants claimed four Junkers Ju 87 "Stuka" dive bombers, but were subsequently attacked by a flight of Bf 109Es. The escorting Spitfires were unable to prevent five of the six Defiants from being shot down by a frontal attack.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: During the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk, the squadron was based at RAF Manston, as one of the 16 squadrons that No. 11 Group had for the evacuation. On 27 May 264 Squadron claimed three He 111 and two damaged. On 28 May, shortly after take-off, 10 Defiants were attacked by about 30 Bf 109s – forming a circle, they claimed six German fighters for the loss of three Defiants. The Defiant was initially successful against enemy aircraft and its best day was 29 May, when No. 264 Squadron claimed 37 kills in two sorties: 19 Ju 87 "Stuka"s, mostly picked off as they came out of their dives, nine Messerschmitt Bf 110 twin-engined heavy fighters, eight Bf 109s, and a Ju 88. One Defiant gunner was lost after he bailed out but the pilot managed to fly the aircraft back to its base and it was subsequently repaired. On 31 May, seven Defiants were lost in one day as Hurricanes and Spitfires failed to come to their aid in a battle with Bf 109s. It was concluded that underslung radio aerials on the Defiants had affected radio communication between the fighter squadrons


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: "Luftwaffe" fighters suffered losses when "bouncing" flights of Defiants from the rear, apparently mistaking them for Hurricanes. The German pilots were unaware of the Defiant's rear-firing armament and encountered concentrated defensive fire. The "Luftwaffe" changed tactics, to outmanoeuvre the Defiant and attack from below or dead ahead, where the turret guns offered no defence. Defiant losses quickly mounted, particularly among the gunners, who were often unable to leave stricken aircraft. The additional weight of the turret and the second crewman plus the aerodynamic drag gave the Defiant a lower performance than conventional single-seat fighter aircraft.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: 264 Squadron developed a counter against single-seat aircraft such as the Bf 109. By flying in an ever-descending Lufbery circle, Defiant crews sacrificed the advantage of height but eliminated the possibility of attack from underneath, while giving 360° of defensive fire. This tactic was used by 264 Squadron, but when the Defiants of 141 Sqn were committed to combat a few months later during the Battle of Britain, it chose to ignore their advice. On 19 July, seven out of nine 141 Squadron Defiants sent to cover a convoy off Folkestone were shot down by Bf 109s of JG 51, and the remaining two survived, one badly damaged, thanks only to the intervention of Hurricanes of 111 Sqn. The Hurricane pilots reported that the Defiants had shot down four Bf 109s. Although 264 Squadron claimed 48 kills in eight days over Dunkirk, the cost was high with 14 Defiants lost. Actual German losses were no more than 12–15 enemy aircraft; the turret's wide angle of fire meant that several Defiants could engage the same target at one time, leading to multiple claims.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: On 22 August, in response to an urgent demand for aircraft to defend Britain's airspace, 264 Squadron relocated to RAF Hornchurch, Essex, while also using RAF Manston as a forward base. On 24 August, nine Defiants of 264 scrambled from Manston to engage an incoming German force; in the ensuing engagement, three Ju 88s and a single Bf 109E were shot down for the loss of two Defiants. Later that same day, another cluster of bombers appeared and were engaged by seven Defiants that had been in the process of refuelling; three Ju 88s and two Bf 109Es were downed while one Defiant was in turn downed along with another damaged.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: On 26 August 264 Squadron engaged a formation of 12 Dornier Do 17 bombers over north-eastern Kent but was attacked by a large formation of Bf 109s. Three aircraft were lost (two to ace Hpt. Gunther Lutzow of JG 3) but six Do 17s and a Bf 109 were shot down. Three of those victories were awarded to one Defiant, crewed by Flight Sergeants E. R. Thorn (pilot) and F. J. Barker (air gunner). They shot down two Do 17s but were then engaged by a Bf 109, which set their Defiant on fire; they managed to shoot down the German fighter before making a forced landing. For this, they were awarded a bar to the Distinguished Flying Medal.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: The squadron lost a further five aircraft (to JG 26) on 28 August, with nine crew killed, and effectively ended operations, withdrawing to RAF Duxford the following day. With these losses, the Defiant—which had been intended from the start as a day and night fighter—was transferred to night operations instead. The type had proven unsuited to the demands of the day fighter when set against the likes of the Bf 109E, and was less capable than other RAF aircraft such as the Hurricane and the Spitfire. By 31 August, over half the delivered Defiants had been shot down by "Luftwaffe" aircraft, a rate that was deemed to be unacceptable.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: The Defiant's kill ratio was better than is commonly thought. In 20 days of frontline service in the Battle of Britain in July and August, 141 and 264 Squadron shot down 25 German aircraft for the loss of 17 Defiants. It was concluded that when operating against escorted bombers the Defiant should always be sent into battle with a top cover of Hurricanes or Spitfires so it could concentrate on its designed for role of shooting down the bombers, but this proved impractical particularly as the Defiant's radio reception (due to its underslung antenna) was relatively poor.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: On 1 July, 141 Squadron despatched "L6997" on the first Defiant night patrol. In August, the squadron was operating both by day and night; on 15 August, the first possible nighttime success by a Defiant was recorded, and from September onwards, the squadron principally operated at night. In September, as a response to the commencement of heavy attacks upon London by the "Luftwaffe", known as "the Blitz", B Flight of No. 141 moved to RAF Biggin Hill, Bromley, while A Flight relocated to Gatwick Airport, West Sussex in October prior to moving to RAF Gravesend, Kent. Successful claimed interceptions took place, such as two He 111s being claimed on 15/16 September; the first confirmed kill by Defiant of the squadron was made on 22 December, of a single He 111.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: The Defiant night fighters had initially lacked airborne interception radar, thus enemy aircraft were spotted and attacked via the eyes of the crew alone, aided by ground-based searchlights intended to illuminate attacking bombers. In the opening months of 1941, as the German night bombing campaign reached its peak, increasing numbers of Defiant night fighter-equipped squadrons became operational and commenced night patrols although, according to Bowyers, there were relatively few claims across many Defiant sorties. As a counterpoint, aviation author John Taylor noted that during the "Blitz" on London of 1940–41, the four Defiant-equipped squadrons were responsible for shooting down more enemy aircraft than any other type in the theatre.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: The improved Defiant Mk II model was fitted with the AI Mk. IV radar and a Merlin XX engine, increasing the aircraft's performance, particularly at night time. In September 1941, 264 Squadron became the first to receive the Defiant Mk II, bringing them into operational use by mid-September. The principal users of the Mk II night fighter were 96, 151, and 262 Squadrons. As the radar-equipped Defiants began filtering through to operational squadrons, the "Luftwaffe"'s bombing campaign petered out as German forces had become heavily engaged on the Eastern Front as they embarked upon the Operation Barbarossa the invasion of the Soviet Union.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: Defiant night fighters typically attacked enemy bombers from below, in a similar manoeuvre to the later German "Schräge Musik" method. Defiants attacked more often from slightly ahead or to one side, rather than from directly under the tail. The turret-fighter concept was not immediately discarded and the fitting of Defiant-type turrets to Beaufighter and Mosquito night fighters was tried to enable these aircraft to duplicate these methods but the deleterious effect on performance proved drastic and the idea was abandoned.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: After trials in 1940 with the School of Army Co-operation to assess its capabilities in that role, the Defiant was tested as a high-speed gunnery trainer with the Air Ministry agreeing to continue production. The Defiant was removed from combat duties in 1942 and used for training, target towing, electronic countermeasures and air-sea rescue.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: Two types of electronic countermeasures equipment were carried by the Defiant, both countering the German "Freya" early warning radar. The first system to be deployed was "Moonshine", which re-transmitted the radar's signals to simulate large formations of aircraft. As each "Moonshine" transmitter only covered part of the Freya's frequency, a formation of eight Defiants was needed, giving the appearance of over 100 aircraft. As the system required formation flying, it could only be used in daylight, where it could draw German fighters onto British fighters leaving another area relatively free for a British bombing raid.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: A "Special Duties Flight" was set up in May 1942 to use the new countermeasures equipment, with "Moonshine" being used for its first live test on 6 August 1942. Subsequently, it was used operationally as part of "Circuses" against coastal targets and on 19 August in support of the Dieppe Raid. The Flight became No. 515 Squadron RAF on 1 October 1942, operations with "Moonshine" continuing until November 1942.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: 515 Squadron continued operations with the second countermeasures system, "Mandrel", a noise jammer which overwhelmed the signals from "Freya". Individual Defiants were sent to orbit positions 50 miles (80 km) off the enemy coast. By using nine aircraft a 200-mile (320-km) gap could be made in the Germans' radar coverage. 515 Squadron flew its first mission using Mandrel on the night of 5/6 December 1942, continuing to use its Defiants for jamming operations until early 1943, when it began to receive twin-engined Bristol Beaufighters which had longer range and could carry more electronic equipment. The Defiant flew its last jamming mission on 17 July 1943, with one aircraft being lost out of four sent out that night.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: In the air-sea rescue role, the Defiant was the intended replacement for the Westland Lysander in shallow air-sea rescue units. In order for this task to be performed, Defiants in this capacity were equipped with a pair of underwing pods that each contained two "M"-type dinghies. In March 1942, No. 281 Squadron formed at RAF Ouston, Northumberland, partially operating Defiant Mk Is; four more squadrons received the type within the next two months. However, six months following their introduction to the role, the Defiant had proved to be a poor choice for the role, in part due to the aircraft already been worn out by their previous service, which limited the sortie rate; other issues included its high stalling speed and wide turning radius. By the end of 1942, the Defiant had been phased out of the air-sea role.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: A high-speed target tug variant, the Defiant Mk III, was developed in response to a growing demand for such a type; this model featured considerable modifications for the role, such as lacking the dorsal turret. Many of the surviving Mk I and Mk II Defiants also had their turrets removed when they were converted for the same role. In this final target towing variant, the Defiant ended up with a number of overseas assignments with both the RAF and Fleet Air Arm in the Middle East, Africa and India. Further deployments occurred to Canada, where the Defiant was used as a target tug and trainer with the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: Defiants were also used for "special" work including tactical evaluations with the RAF Gunnery Research Unit and the Air Fighting Development Unit (AFDU) at Farnborough. Two Defiants were issued for ejection seat development work: one to R Malcolm Ltd (later ML Aviation) and the other to Martin-Baker. On 11 December 1944, Defiant "DR944" was delivered to Martin-Baker's facility at Denham; sometime thereafter, a primitive ejector seat was fitted into the observers position for trial purposes. On 11 May 1945, Martin-Baker used "DR944" to test their first ejection seat with dummy launches. Various trials using "DR944" took place until May 1948. The other Defiant, "AA292", was delivered to R Malcolm Ltd at White Waltham Airfield on 15 April 1945 and the first airborne trial with dummies was held in the following October.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: The surviving complete example of the type is a Defiant I, "N1671", on display as a night fighter at the Royal Air Force Museum in Cosford, Shropshire. It was one of four Defiants delivered to No. 307 Polish Night Fighter Squadron at RAF Kirton in Lindsey, Lincolnshire on 17 September 1940 and was passed to No. 153 Squadron at the end of October 1941 and 285 Sqn in 1942. In 1954, it was identified for storage as a historical aircraft and passed to the RAF Museum in 1971.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: The aircraft was moved on 20 May 2009 to Rochester Airport, where it was restored by the Medway Aircraft Preservation Society (MAPS). It was returned to Hendon on 6 December 2012, and was then moved from Hendon to Royal Air Force Museum Cosford in November 2016 for display in War in the Air hangar.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: Major parts of at least two other Defiants survive; "N1766" and "N3378", both Mk Is. A full-scale replica Defiant was created on site at Boulton Paul in Wolverhampton by ex Boulton Paul engineer Jack Holmes and team at the Boulton Paul Heritage Society. A total of 50000+ man hours went into its production and it was unveiled in 2003 marking 60 years since the last Defiant flew out of Penderford [the World War II training airfield next to the Boulton Paul Factory in Wolverhampton]. Due to change of ownership at the Boulton Paul site, the Defiant faced losing its home in Wolverhampton, and in 2015 was relocated to its now permanent home on display at the Kent Battle of Britain Museum.


title: Boulton Paul Defiant

text: A second example built by the Boulton Paul Association, in the colours of 264 Squadron (L7005), now resides at the Kent Battle of Britain Museum in Hawkinge. It was acquired by the Museum in 2015 after the association went into administration.


title: Captain N: The Game Master

text: Captain N: The Game Master is an American-Canadian animated television series that aired on television from 1989 to 1991 as part of the Saturday morning cartoon lineup on NBC. The show was produced by DIC Animation City and incorporated elements from many of the most popular video games of the time from the Japanese company Nintendo. There was also a comic book version by Valiant Comics, despite only featuring characters from games produced by Nintendo. The show is also part of an hour-long block in Season 2 with "The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3" and with "Super Mario World" in Season 3 in a half-hour block.


title: Captain N: The Game Master

text: The character Captain N first appeared in "Nintendo Power" magazine, created by Nintendo staff member and magazine editor Randy Studdard. The original concept involved Captain N (originally known as "Captain Nintendo") as a Nintendo employee and the Mother Brain as a piece of programming from a Nintendo game pak that went rogue. Captain N had the power to temporarily give life to characters and items from Nintendo games.


title: Captain N: The Game Master

text: The story left a door open for a sequel (Mother Brain is temporarily defeated but her return was said to be inevitable, and Captain N vows to stop her when the time comes). Nintendo of America, Inc. later decided to follow Studdard's ideas and create a cartoon series, opting neither to credit nor to compensate its creator. DIC Entertainment was shopped as the animation studio, and changed various aspects of the original idea while keeping the main premise of the Captain opposing Mother Brain as he interacted with a number of video game characters.


title: Captain N: The Game Master

text: Captain Nintendo also appeared in a prerecorded Nintendo Universe tip line series by Nintendo that was updated weekly. Captain Nintendo was joined by a computer companion named Emerald to offer tips on popular Nintendo Game Paks, as well as upcoming game announcements.


title: Captain N: The Game Master

text: At the outset of the first episode the hero of the series, Kevin Keene, a teenager from Northridge, Los Angeles, California, and his dog Duke are taken to another universe known as Videoland when they are sucked into a vortex called the Ultimate Warp Zone that formed in his television.


title: Captain N: The Game Master

text: To fulfill an ancient prophecy, Kevin is destined to become the hero "Captain N: The Game Master" and save Videoland from evil forces led by Mother Brain from the floating world/fortress called Metroid. By the time Kevin arrives on the scene, Mother Brain has almost succeeded in capturing the Palace of Power and conquering all Videoland. Kevin (who in Videoland is armed with a Zapper and a belt buckle shaped like an NES controller) and Duke appear suddenly on the other side of the Ultimate Warp Zone before the N Team, which consists of Princess Lana (the acting ruler of Videoland as the first episode explains the absence of her father the King), Simon Belmont, Mega Man, and Kid Icarus, none of whom show any confidence in Kevin's ability in the beginning. However, after Lana is kidnapped by the enemy shortly after Kevin's arrival, the reluctant group puts their differences aside to go on a rescue mission where Kevin eventually gains the others' confidence. During season 2, Game Boy (a human-sized supercomputer shaped like the console) joins the N Team.


title: Captain N: The Game Master

text: In most episodes, the N Team's enemy is a group of video game villains, usually led by the boisterous and loud Mother Brain who is accompanied by her minions, the Eggplant Wizard, the thuggish King Hippo, and the scheming Dr. Wily. A "villain of the week" is featured in some episodes when a particular video game becomes the setting (such as Malkil of "Wizards & Warriors"). Several other characters make recurring appearances, including Donkey Kong, The Count from "Castlevania" and Dr. Light from "Mega Man". The cast of the "Legend of Zelda" cartoon reprise their respective roles for several guest appearances during the series.


title: Captain N: The Game Master

text: The focus of the show is mostly action-adventure sourced from the video games they feature, with comic relief in the form of the character's interactions with one another and the environment and their quirks and catchphrases. Sometimes humor (intentionally, or unintentionally) also stems from the comparatively loose interpretations of the laws of reality that apply in Videoland.


title: Captain N: The Game Master

text: Because "Captain N: The Game Master" took place in a world where video games existed as reality, a multitude of video games were used in the thirty-four episodes of the series. In some cases only areas and elements from the game were used, but the protagonist was absent (some examples include "Wizards & Warriors", "Dragon Warrior", and "Metroid"). The following video games were portrayed at least once during the series' run with the ones that appeared having their own world in Videoland:


title: Captain N: The Game Master

text: Although nearly every major Nintendo franchise at the time was represented at some point or another in the show, the "Super Mario" games were noticeably absent, although a line mentioning the game is included in the pilot episode comparing the Ultimate Warp Zone that brings Captain N to Videoland to the warp zones in "Super Mario Bros." This is because "The Super Mario Bros. Super Show" was airing around the same time which featured the characters and world of the "Mario" games.


title: Captain N: The Game Master

text: The "Captain N" comic book was published by Valiant Comics as part of the "Nintendo Comics System" in 1990. Despite being based on the television cartoon of the same name, it was actually quite different from the show. The comics had a more serious tone than the cartoon. Additionally, all third-party characters (Simon Belmont, Mega Man, Dr. Light, the Count, and Dr. Wily) were not in the comic. Samus Aran, who never appeared in the cartoon, was a recurring character who falls in love with Kevin, and becomes Lana's rival for his affections. When asked by a fan why Samus did not appear in the television series, Jeffrey Scott said that he never heard about her. An article at 1UP.COM describes Samus as "rambunctious, reckless, and gets into @#!*% contests with Lana over Kevin's affections, which makes for some of the most entertaining situations in the series". The reviewer added: "Not to say that the deadly quiet, contemplative Samus who fights for truth and justice in the more recent "Metroid" games isn't awesome, but there's something compelling about a Samus who's greedy and conniving – and is proud to admit it."


title: Captain N: The Game Master

text: Mother Brain's second-in-command became Uranos, the God of the Sky based on a regular enemy from "Kid Icarus". Pit's toga was changed from white to yellow and, in most of the stories, Lana's dress was purple. However, in the comics Lana has a weapon – a scepter she had in concept art, but only had a very brief appearance on one episode of the show.


title: Captain N: The Game Master

text: In the last printed issue of the comic book, a letter column promised that Mega Man would make an appearance but the comic was aborted abruptly and this never came into existence. The first issue was to be included as a digital reprint on the DVD set, but could not since the rights to the comic are in limbo.


title: Captain N: The Game Master

text: "Captain N" was entered broadcast syndication, and aired on local stations from 1992 to 1993 by Rysher Entertainment, "Captain N & The Video Game Masters", a 65-episode package which included "Captain N", "The Legend of Zelda", "The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3", and "Super Mario World".


title: Captain N: The Game Master

text: Family Channel played only the first 26 episodes from fall 1991 to summer 1992, while season 3 aired on NBC. Episodes were slightly time compressed to fit in more commercials, making episodes around 2 minutes shorter. Episodes were split into 4 acts instead of 2 or 3, adding an extra commercial fade. Family Channel airings also included the featured songs that played on the NBC and YTV airings, unlike later airings on WGN, Fox, and USA Network.


title: Captain N: The Game Master

text: Starting in the fall of 1993, USA Network briefly began showing reruns of the series on their Sunday lineup of their USA Cartoon Express animation block. Unlike other reruns, USA opted to edit scenes out of various episodes to cut the length down to their required limit in order to fit in more commercials. In 1994, it was taken off in most channels, and this was the last time the series has been shown on US TV.


title: Captain N: The Game Master

text: In the early 1990s, three season 2 "Captain N" episodes were released on VHS tapes distributed by Buena Vista Home Video in the US. ("Gameboy", "Quest for the Potion of Power", and "The Trouble with Tetris"). Each tape contained one episode.


title: Captain N: The Game Master

text: "Captain N" was released in Region 1 on February 27, 2007, by Shout! Factory and Sony BMG Music Entertainment. However, although the set is called "The Complete Series", there are some omissions:


title: Captain N: The Game Master

text: The DVD set is packaged in two double-disc thin packs. The booklet planned for the set was omitted due to time constraints, as no further delays were wanted.


title: Captain N: The Game Master

text: A single-disc release titled "Adventures in Videoland", containing 4 episodes, was released by NCircle Entertainment on July 22, 2008.


title: Captain N: The Game Master

text: Every episode of Season 3 is available on Australian DVD alongside the entire series of the "Super Mario World" cartoon, just like in the US.


title: Captain N: The Game Master

text: Actor and writer Noel Clarke revealed to Digital Spy in an interview that he was interested in developing a live action film adaptation of the series.


title: Nala Damayanthi (2003 film)

text: Nala Damayanthi is a 2003 Indian Tamil-language comedy film directed by Mouli, written and produced by Kamal Haasan. The film stars R. Madhavan in the lead role, with Geetu Mohandas and Shrutika playing supporting roles. The film follows the story of a naive Tamil cook stuck in Australia. It was released on 12 June 2003 to positive reviews. Madhavan, later remade in Hindi-language as "Ramji Londonwaley" in 2005.


title: Nala Damayanthi (2003 film)

text: Ramji Narayanaswami Iyer, a naive and docile Tamil Brahmin cook, dreams of marrying off his sister Bhagyam to a good family, as they are orphans and it becomes his sole responsibility. As per convention, he has shell out dowry for the marriage and somehow falls short of the agreed sum. Incidentally, the groom's family happens to admire the food cooked by Ramji and plans him to send to Melbourne, Australia as a cook for a multimillionaire Australian-based Indian family. In return, he has to send part of his salary as compensation for the dowry he owes.


title: Nala Damayanthi (2003 film)

text: The millionaire dies of indigestion the day Ramji arrives, leaving him jobless and without his passport and visa, which had been stolen. Desperate to stay and earn, he starts working illegally as a cook in an Indian hotel owned by an NRI Badri, but to stay on, he needs to get a legal work permit as the immigration police are on his heels. Ivan, Badri's cunning lawyer friend, explains to him that the only way out is marriage with an Australian citizen. Ramji reluctantly agrees for a fake marriage with Ivan's fiancé Damayanthi, a free-spirited motorbiker of Sri Lankan Tamil Christian background, and they get married over the weekend. For all these gimmicks, Ivan charges heavy fees from Badri and deposits in the joint account of his with Damayanthi. Ramji converts to Christianity, becoming Robert, and then moves into Damayanthi's house.


title: Nala Damayanthi (2003 film)

text: The police believes this is a fake marriage and decides to refer the matter to the consulate. Constant stalking by the police forces the couple to stay together to avoid detection by authority. Damayanthi is deeply troubled with the rural mannerisms of Ramji. To break the ice, Ramji cooks delicacies for Damayanthi and wins her heart. Over a period of time, Damayanthi realises that Ivan is fooling around with her and does not love her.


title: Nala Damayanthi (2003 film)

text: Meanwhile, Ramji is not able to send the dowry installments as promised and his sister's in-laws throw her out. Damayanthi handles this situation smartly, sends all the money received for the fake marriage in their joint account to her, and makes sure her long-time friend takes care of her. In their confrontation with the consulate, Ramji answers more than he is asked at the immigration office then is forced to return to India. Damayanthi eventually comes along to Palakkad and the film ends with a happy note where couple starts off a restaurant. Actors Kamal Haasan and Jayaram come to inaugurate their restaurant and wish the couple luck.


title: Nala Damayanthi (2003 film)

text: Kamal Haasan had written the script with himself in mind to play the lead role in the late 1990s, but never got down to making it because he felt it would not have been cost-effective. Through the project, he had aimed to reprise his character of the Palakkad Brahmin cook Kameshwaran from "Michael Madana Kama Rajan" (1990) and place him in funny situations occurring in a foreign country. He had briefly considered making the film in early 1999 with the title of "Londonil Kameshwaran" after "Marudhanayagam" had run into production troubles, but instead chose to prioritise his commitments for "Hey Ram" (2000). After the profitable "Pammal K. Sambandam" (2002), Mouli asked Kamal Haasan to re-collaborate with this particular script but Kamal Haasan was uninterested. R. Madhavan was selected by Kamal Haasan to replace him, after the pair had shot for "Anbe Sivam" together in the period. Geetu Mohandas was signed in February 2003 after Mouli had seen her picture in a magazine, and thus she made her comeback to the Tamil film industry after having appeared as the child in the 1988 film, "En Bommukutty Ammavukku". While casting for the role of the lead actress, the makers had made several broadcasts over Radio Australia without success. Mouli had been insistent on casting a new actress in Tamil and subsequently considered Malayalam actresses Kavya Madhavan and Navya Nair before finalising Mohandas. The actress was also recommended to the team by actor Jayaram. Bruno Xavier, an Australia-based Sri Lankan Tamil actor, was selected to play the antagonist's role after a successful audition.


title: Nala Damayanthi (2003 film)

text: The film was shot predominantly in Sydney & Melbourne, Australia in February and March 2003 to make most of the daylight hours. Anu Hasan, daughter of producer Chandra Haasan, helped with production duties and cut costs of the team's shoot in Australia, as well leading post-production works while also provided voice for the film's lead actress Geethu.


title: Nala Damayanthi (2003 film)

text: The film's music was composed by Ramesh Vinayakam, which is his third Tamil project he signed. Actor Kamal Haasan sang an English folk song, titled "Stranded On The Streets", which was written by Pradeep Govind, and also contained the Tamil version of the song "Sudupattadha". The remaining songs were written by Vaali and Na. Muthukumar.


title: Nala Damayanthi (2003 film)

text: The soundtrack for the film was released on 10 May 2003. The album got positive reviews with the songs "Stranded On The Streets" and "Enna Ithu".


title: Nala Damayanthi (2003 film)

text: The film was a success at the box office and performed well in multiplexes across Chennai. Sify gave a verdict that the film was a "comedy caper" and a "clean comedy with some warm moments". The Hindu called the film a "decent offering", adding that "a logical storyline and a well thought out script by Kamal Hassan are definite scoring points that sustain viewers' interest till the end".


title: Nala Damayanthi (2003 film)

text: Kamal Haasan stated that he intended of remaking the film in Hindi, with the title of "Maharaj", but the project did not take off. Madhavan later wrote and starred in a Hindi version, "Ramji Londonwaley", which released in September 2005.


title: Baja 1000

text: The Baja 1000 is an annual Mexican off-road motorsport race held on the Baja California Peninsula. It is one of the most prestigious off-road races in the world, having attracted competitors from six continents. The race was founded by Ed Pearlman in 1967 and is sanctioned by SCORE International. The race is the final round of a four-race annual series, which also includes the San Felipe 250, the Baja 400 and the Baja 500. The 2017 Baja 1000 marked the 50th anniversary of the race.


title: Baja 1000

text: The Baja 1000 has various types of classes include Trophy trucks, Dirtbikes, Truggys, Side-by-sides, Baja Bugs and Buggies all competing at the same time on the same course. The course has remained relatively the same over the years, about every other event being either a point-to-point race from Ensenada to La Paz, or a loop race starting and finishing in Ensenada. The name of the event can be misleading as the mileage varies for the type of event. A "Loop" can be 600 to 850 miles starting and finishing in Ensenada, or "Point to Point" also known as the 900.


title: Baja 1000

text: When Jack McCormack and Walt Fulton of Honda's American subsidiary decided to hold a long-distance run to prove the reliability of the new Honda CL72 Scrambler motorcycle, they approached well-known off-road motorcycle racer and local Triumph and Honda dealer, Bud Ekins for suggestions. Ekins suggested the Tijuana to La Paz route (Federal Highway 1) which was of rocks, sand washes, dry lake beds, cattle crossings, and mountain passes, with few paved roads. Ekins declined to undertake the run because of his professional association to Triumph, but suggested that his brother Dave Ekins and the son of another Southern California Honda distributor, Billy Robertson Jr. could accomplish the trip for American Honda.


title: Baja 1000

text: After performing an aerial pre-run over the peninsula in Fulton's Cessna 180, Ekins and Robertson began the journey to La Paz just after midnight on March 22, 1962. While being followed by two journalists in an airplane and using telegraph offices at the Mexican border and in La Paz, Dave Ekins recorded the first official timed run in 39 hours 56 minutes (39:56) with a total distance of . The event received coverage in the "Globe, Argosy", and "Cycle World" magazines, earning awe and respect for Honda and the Baja run. The "Globe "and "Argosy "accounts also included close encounters with death and other dangers which Ekins claims were "colorful additions".


title: Baja 1000

text: Wanting to beat the existing motorcycle record and to help fuel sales of the Meyers Manx, Bruce Meyers used his original prototype buggy called "Old Red" for an attempt at breaking the record set by Ekins. After pre-running a course south to La Paz, Ted Mangels and Bruce Meyers started the record-breaking attempt back to Tijuana from La Paz at 10:00 pm on April 19, 1967. With a journalist from "Road & Track" magazine following the two to witness the attempt, the final official time was 34:45, beating Ekins' run by more than five hours. Upon returning to the United States, the journalist documenting the run sent out press kits with photographs and a news release with the headline "Buggy Beats Bike in Baja." to hundreds of magazines and newspapers. Soon, more stories of adventure, close calls, and broken speed records received media coverage around the world. Following the event, Bruce Meyers and his Meyers Manx became an overnight sensation and the competition between four wheels and motorcycles for the fastest Baja run began.


title: Baja 1000

text: In the following months, more attempts at breaking the record would take place. One of the attempts included a multiple vehicle run organized by Ed Pearlman that ended in an official four wheel record being recorded but, with the overall time falling short of the record set by Meyers. On July 4, 1967, an American Motors Rambler American sedan would leave Tijuana at 9:00 am to successfully break the record set by Meyers with an overall time of 31 hours.


title: Baja 1000

text: As the timed runs recorded via telegraph became popular, a need for an organized event to compete for the quickest Baja run was starting to grab the attention of other competitors. In response to Meyers' record setting run, Ed Pearlman convinced Dick Cepek, Claude Dozier, Ed Orr, Drino Miller and journalist John Lawlor to make the run to La Paz. In June 1967, Pearlman and group left Tijuana and immediately ran into mechanical troubles. This trip inspired Pearlman to organize an off-road race down the Baja peninsula by creating the National Off-Road Racing Association (NORRA). After Pete Condos and Pearlman put up the funds to incorporate NORRA, the group announced an official recognition of the previous record setters and created classes that related to the type of vehicle used to break the record. During the later part of summer, NORRA named the event the "Mexican 1000 Rally" and announced the first official race from Tijuana to La Paz was to be held on the peninsula.


title: Baja 1000

text: The first official race started in Tijuana, Baja California, on October 31, 1967, and was named the NORRA Mexican 1000 Rally. The course length that year was and ended in La Paz, with the overall winning time of 27 hours 38 minutes (27:38) set by Vic Wilson and Ted Mangels while driving a Meyers Manx buggy. From 1967 to 1972, the race was organized by NORRA and grew in popularity with ABC's "Wide World of Sports" sending Jim McKay to cover the 1968 event, and attracting new participants like the late Mickey Thompson, Indy 500 winner Parnelli Jones, movie actor James Garner, and Mary McGee, the first woman to compete in the event. By 1971, major sponsors such as Olympia Brewing Company and Minolta Cameras began to support Parnelli Jones in his Dick Russell designed and Bill Stroppe prepared "Big Oly" Bronco and Larry Minor in a similar Stroppe prepared Bronco.


title: Baja 1000

text: In October 1973, the price for a barrel of crude oil shot up 70% overnight as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) launched the Arab Oil Embargo. With fear that competitors would abandon the idea of competing and stay home, NORRA cancelled the 1974 Baja race – despite assurances from the Federal government run Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) that fuel prices would remain stable – and announced they would instead hold an event in the state of Arizona.


title: Baja 1000

text: It was at that time in history, Baja California governor Milton Castellanos handed over sanctioning of the event to a non-profit Mexican corporation called the "Baja Sports Committee" (BSC). BSC renamed the event the "Baja Mil" (Baja 1000) and scheduled the race to run on the original dates chosen by NORRA. Though NORRA held a competing event in the United States that same weekend, BSC successfully ran the race from Ensenada to La Paz like the years prior. Unaware of the challenges, BSC found promoting Baja races more difficult than anticipated.


title: Baja 1000

text: Instead of giving up the race, the Mexican government requested help from SCORE International in hosting and promoting future Baja races. Through negotiations with Mickey Thompson and his SCORE organization, the Government agreed to give exclusive rights to SCORE to hold Baja races and also reluctantly allowed SCORE to cancel the event for 1974 (a year where motorsport was curtailed in the United States because of the oil crisis). SCORE hired Sal Fish as president and took control of the Baja 1000 from that year on with the Baja 1000 race resuming under new control in 1975.


title: Baja 1000

text: The 1979 race was notable for Walker Evans’ overall win in a Dodge truck, the first truck to win the overall title of the race. In 2012, the racing organization was purchased by Roger Norman and continues to run under his presidency.


title: Baja 1000

text: The Baja 1000 is open to entrants competing in several classes ranging from dirt bikes, ATVs, side-by-sides, buggies, truggy and custom fabricated race vehicles. Race teams consist of factory-supported groups that build custom fabricated vehicles and provide chase vehicles via helicopter, to the much smaller and less glamorized sportsman teams competing in an all-stock vehicle with no chase vehicle support at all. Stock Volkswagen Type One Beetles are modified for use in off-road terrain, known as Baja Bugs, have been a common sight throughout the event duration, but the factory-supported, all-spaceframe Trophy Truck entries are the most visible.


title: Baja 1000

text: In contrast to the current factory EX supported modern race vehicles that overall the car and truck classes, Erik Carlsson drove a basically stock front wheel drive Saab 96 V4, finishing third in 1969 and fifth in 1970.


title: Baja 1000

text: The starting order is generally determined by a random draw, except when preferential starts are given to those who finished in top positions in the previous race/season, or when qualifying is held. For Trophy Trucks & Class 1 vehicles, qualifying for the Baja 1000 is now held during SEMA at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.


title: Baja 1000

text: Each year there are reports of spectators sabotaging or booby-trapping the course by digging holes, blocking a river to create a makeshift watersplash, or burying and hiding obstacles. Racers are warned to beware of large crowds of spectators in remote parts of the course since it may indicate hidden traps or obstacle changes. Many of the booby traps are not created to intentionally injure the contestants but are created by the local spectators as jumps or obstacles for their own entertainment and to create intriguing moments to be caught on videotape. The haphazardly designed obstacles, created by the spectators, are often very dangerous as the contestants may inadvertently enter the booby-trap at unsafe speeds, resulting in damage to the vehicles or injuries to competitors or spectators. Awareness of booby traps and course alterations are often part of race-day strategy and convey an advantage to the best prepared teams – nonetheless given the danger the traps pose, it is customary for competitors to quickly communicate course hazards to other competitors through on-board radio communications and radio relay.


title: Guus Til

text: Guus Berend Til (born 22 December 1997) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Eredivisie club PSV and the Netherlands national team.


title: Guus Til

text: Til was born in Samfya, Zambia, where his father worked in the development field. He moved to the Netherlands at age 3, as his family settled in the Bijlmermeer in Amsterdam.


title: Guus Til

text: Til is a youth exponent from AZ. He made his professional debut on 4 August 2016 as a substitute in a UEFA Europa League play-off match against PAS Giannina, replacing Joris van Overeem after 71 minutes.


title: Guus Til

text: On 5 August 2019, Spartak Moscow announced they had signed Guus Til from AZ for a reported transfer fee of €18 million (the third highest transfer fee in club history at the time). He also signed a 4 year contract with the club. In his Russian Premier League debut on 11 August 2019 against FC Akhmat Grozny, he provided 2 assists in a 3–1 victory. He scored his first goal for Spartak on 25 August 2019 in an away game against PFC Krylia Sovetov Samara, when his added-time goal gave his team a 2–1 comeback away victory.


title: Guus Til

text: On 3 September 2020, Til joined Bundesliga side SC Freiburg on a season-long loan with option to buy.


title: Guus Til

text: On 2 June 2021, Til extended his contract with Spartak until 31 May 2024 and was loaned to Feyenoord for the 2021–22 season. Spartak held an option to terminate his loan early if he appeared in fewer than half of all official games for Feyenoord up until 1 January 2022.


title: Guus Til

text: On 29 July 2021, Til scored a hat-trick against FC Drita of Kosovo in the second qualifying round for the inaugural edition of the UEFA Europa Conference League.


title: Guus Til

text: On 3 October, Til was named the Eredivisie Player of the Month for September following four goals in three league matches for Feyenoord, which all ended in victory for the Rotterdam club.


title: Guus Til

text: On 4 July 2022, Til signed a four-year contract with PSV. Til scored a hat-trick on his debut for the club, a 5–3 win over rivals Ajax in the Johan Cruyff Shield on 30 July.


title: Guus Til

text: In March 2018, Til earned from Ronald Koeman his debut international call-up to the Netherlands national team. He made his debut coming on as a substitute for Kenny Tete in the 78th minute of a 3–0 friendly win against Portugal on 26 March 2018.


title: Guus Til

text: In May 2021, the Football Association of Zambia had confirmed they had contacted Til over a possible switch of international allegiance. Zambia head coach Milutin Sredojević stated that Til was still undecided on his future. Til returned to the Netherlands national team in September 2021 scoring his first goal in a 6–1 win over Turkey.


title: Nick Bakay

text: Nicholas Bakay (; born October 8, 1959) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer and sports commentator. He is known as the voice of Salem Saberhagen on ABC/The WB's "Sabrina the Teenage Witch", "", and Norbert Beaver on "The Angry Beavers". He played Karl on the Fox sitcom "'Til Death" as well as serving as a producer of the show until it was cancelled by Fox. He is also one of the executive producers of the CBS sitcom "Mom".


title: Nick Bakay

text: Nicholas Bakay was born on October 8, 1959 in Buffalo, New York, where he attended Nichols School. He graduated from Kenyon College in 1981. He has Hungarian roots (his surname means "from Baka").


title: Nick Bakay

text: Bakay served as a writer of "Sabrina the Teenage Witch", in which he also voiced Salem Saberhagen, a witch who has been transformed into the Spellman family's pet cat for trying to take over the world. Bakay also served as a writer for "", also providing his voice as Salem as well. He was also the voice of Norbert on "The Angry Beavers".


title: Nick Bakay

text: Bakay is a lifelong sports fan. He writes a weekly column for NFL.com called "Nick Bakay's Manly House of Football", as well as occasional columns for ESPN.com and "ESPN The Magazine". He appears on "SportsCenter" on ESPN Wednesday and Thursday mornings during NFL season, and has frequently done segments on "NFL Total Access" on NFL Network. Bakay also has guest hosted numerous episodes of "Up Close" and "Talk2", as well as contributed to "Jim Rome Is Burning" and numerous other sports shows.


title: Nick Bakay

text: Early in his career he wrote the storylines for the Evil Clown Comics series which appeared in "National Lampoon" magazine. From 1993 to 1994, he was a writer for the comedy sketch series "In Living Color", and appeared as Stu Dunfy, the host of the fictional game show "The Dirty Dozens". He worked at Comedy Central, writing and appearing on numerous shows, including "Night After Night with Allan Havey" and "Sports Monster".


title: Nick Bakay

text: Beginning in 2000, Bakay worked as a producer on the CBS hit comedy "The King of Queens", where he also wrote and acted in several episodes. He co-wrote "" (2009) as well as its sequel "" (2015) with "King of Queens" star Kevin James.


title: Nick Bakay

text: In 2006, Bakay created, wrote and voiced a cartoon for Comedy Central called "The Adventures of Baxter and McGuire", which was nominated for an Emmy in the "Best Broadband Comedy" category.


title: Nick Bakay

text: In 2013, Bakay began as a producer for the series "Mom". Bakay also voiced the self-help radio announcer throughout the series.


title: Nick Bakay

text: Bakay has guest-starred on numerous TV sitcoms. He appeared on "In Living Color" in a semi-recurring role as Stu Dunfy, guest-host of the sketch "The Dirty Dozens" (and other voice work). He also appeared on the "Seinfeld" episode "The Smelly Car" where Bakay played Elaine's boyfriend.


title: Nick Bakay

text: Bakay was seen or heard on "That '70s Show". In the episode "Ski Trip", Bakay played Gus, a gay truck driver attracted to Kelso. In another episode, he was the voice of Donna's journal. In "An Eric Forman Christmas", he was the voice of Santa Claus in Kelso's Rankin-Bass-modeled dream.


title: Nick Bakay

text: Bakay had numerous recurring roles (such as Father McDaniel, Gus and miscellaneous voice work) on "The King of Queens", which he also served as a producer and writer on. In the sitcom "Ellen", Bakay starred as bookstore employee Lloyd in the second seasons' tenth episode, alongside comedian Ellen DeGeneres.


title: Nick Bakay

text: He had a supporting role on two late night talk shows: "Night After Night with Allan Havey" and Dennis Miller's short-lived show.


title: Nick Bakay

text: In 2009, Bakay sold his condo home in West Hollywood for $2 million. He now lives in the Hollywood Hills.


title: Nine Years' War (Ireland)

text: The Nine Years' War, sometimes called Tyrone's Rebellion, took place in Ireland from 1593 to 1603. It was fought between an Irish alliance—led mainly by Hugh O'Neill of Tyrone and Hugh Roe O'Donnell of Tyrconnell—against English rule in Ireland, and was a response to the ongoing Tudor conquest of Ireland. The war was fought in all parts of the country, but mainly in the northern province of Ulster. The Irish alliance won some important early victories, such as the Battle of Clontibret (1595) and the Battle of the Yellow Ford (1598), but the English won a victory against the alliance and their Spanish allies in the siege of Kinsale (1601–02). The war ended with the Treaty of Mellifont (1603). Many of the defeated northern lords left Ireland to seek support for a new uprising in the Flight of the Earls (1607), never to return. This marked the end of Gaelic Ireland and led to the Plantation of Ulster.


title: Nine Years' War (Ireland)

text: The war against O'Neill and his allies was the largest conflict fought by England in the Elizabethan era. At the height of the conflict (1600–1601) more than 18,000 soldiers were fighting in the English army in Ireland. By contrast, the English army assisting the Dutch during the Eighty Years' War was never more than 12,000 strong at any one time.


title: Nine Years' War (Ireland)

text: The Nine Years' War was caused by the clashes between the Gaelic Irish lord Hugh O'Neill and the advance of the English state in Ireland, from control over the Pale to ruling the whole island. In resisting this advance, O'Neill managed to rally other Irish septs who were dissatisfied with English government and some Catholics who opposed the spread of Protestantism in Ireland.


title: Nine Years' War (Ireland)

text: Hugh O'Neill came from the powerful Ó Néill sept of Tír Eoghain, which dominated the centre of the northern province of Ulster. His father, Matthew O'Neill, Baron Dungannon, was the reputed son of Conn O'Neill the Lame, the first O'Neill to be created Earl of Tyrone by the English Crown. Matthew O'Neill had been appointed by Conn as his heir, whereas Conn's eldest surviving son Shane O'Neill was the preferred heir according to the Irish custom of tanistry. After a period of warfare, Shane had Matthew murdered and became O'Neill after his father died. After the murder of Matthew's first heir, Brian, the English authorities spirited the next heir Hugh out of Tyrone to be brought up with the Hovenden family in the Pale. At the parliament of 1585, Hugh O'Neill requested and was granted his English law birthright to the title of Earl of Tyrone. Prior to this and for several years afterwards Hugh O'Neill warred with the aging reigning chief of Tyrone, Turlough Lynagh O'Neill for control of Tyrone. Turlough died in 1595 allowing Hugh to be inaugurated "the O'Neill". Hugh however had also ruthlessly murdered his chief competitor to the title, Shane's son Hugh Gavelagh O'Neill. He also had sub-chiefs who wouldn't toe the line murdered such as Phelim McTurlough O'Neill, lord of Killetra.


title: Nine Years' War (Ireland)

text: From Hugh Roe O'Donnell, his ally, Hugh O'Neill enlisted Scottish mercenaries (known as Redshanks). Within his own territories, O'Neill was entitled to limited military service from his sub-lords or "uirithe". He also recruited his tenants and dependants into military service and tied the peasantry to the land to increase food production (see Kern). In addition, he hired large contingents of Irish mercenaries (known as "buanadha") under leaders such as Richard Tyrrell. To arm his soldiers, O'Neill bought muskets, ammunition, and pikes from Scotland and England. From 1591, O'Donnell, on O'Neill's behalf, had been in contact with Philip II of Spain, appealing for military aid against their common enemy and citing also their shared Catholicism. With the aid of Spain, O'Neill could arm and feed over 8,000 men, unprecedented for a Gaelic lord, and leaving him well prepared to resist English incursions into Ulster.


title: Nine Years' War (Ireland)

text: By the early 1590s, the north of Ireland was attracting the attention of Lord Deputy Fitzwilliam, who had been charged with bringing the area under crown control. A provincial presidency was proposed; the candidate for office was Henry Bagenal, an English colonist settled in Newry, who would seek to impose the authority of the crown through sheriffs to be appointed by the Dublin government. O'Neill had eloped with Bagenal's sister, Mabel, and married her against her brother's wishes; the bitterness of this episode was made more intense after Mabel's early death a few years after the marriage, when she was reportedly in despair about her husband's neglect and his mistresses.


title: Nine Years' War (Ireland)

text: In 1591, Fitzwilliam broke up the MacMahon lordship in Monaghan when The MacMahon, hereditary leader of the sept, resisted the imposition of an English sheriff; he was hanged and his lordship divided. There was an outcry, with several sources alleging corruption against Fitzwilliam, but the same policy was soon applied in Longford (territory of the O'Farrells) and East Breifne (Cavan – territory of the O'Reillys). Any attempt to further the same in the O'Neill and O'Donnell territories was bound to be resisted by force of arms.


title: Nine Years' War (Ireland)

text: The most significant difficulty for English forces in confronting O'Neill lay in the natural defences that Ulster enjoyed. By land there were only two viable points of entry to the province for troops marching from the south: at Newry in the east, and Sligo in the west – the terrain in between was largely mountains, woodland, bog, and marshes. Sligo Castle was held by the O'Connor sept, but suffered constant threat from the O'Donnells; the route from Newry into the heart of Ulster ran through several easily defended passes and could only be maintained in wartime with a punishing sacrifice by the Crown of men and money.


title: Nine Years' War (Ireland)

text: The English did have a foothold within Ulster, around Carrickfergus north of Belfast Lough, where a small colony had been planted in the 1570s; but here too the terrain was unfavorable for the English, since Lough Neagh and the river Bann, the lower stretch of which ran through the dense forest of Glenconkeyn, formed an effective barrier on the eastern edge of the O'Neill territory. A further difficulty lay in the want of a port on the northern sea coast where the English might launch an amphibious attack into O'Neill's rear. The English strategic situation was complicated by interference from Scots clans, which were supplying O'Neill with soldiers and materials and playing upon the English need for local assistance, while keeping an eye to their own territorial influence in the Route (modern County Antrim).


title: Nine Years' War (Ireland)

text: In 1592, Hugh Roe O'Donnell had driven an English sheriff, Captain Willis, out of his territory, Tyrconnell (now part of County Donegal). In 1593, Maguire supported by troops out of Tyrone led by Hugh O'Neill's brother, Cormac MacBaron, had combined to resist Willis' introduction as Sheriff into Maguire's Fermanagh. After Willis was expelled from Fermanagh, Maguire, with the aid of MacBaron, launched punishing raids into northern Connacht, burning villages around Ballymote Castle.


title: Nine Years' War (Ireland)

text: Maguire launched a more ambitious raid into Connacht during June, when he clashed with forces led by the governor of Connacht, Sir Richard Bingham, but the English were beaten back and Maguire continued to spoil thorough Roscommon before returning north. In response, the crown forces were gathered under the command of Sir Henry Bagenal, who launched an expedition into Monaghan, then Fermanagh, to crush Maguire and his allies, receiving his commission on 11 September 1593. Bagenal had under his command 144 horse, 763 foot, and 118 kern, to which O'Neill was to bring a further 200 horse and 1,200 foot. Bagenal entered Fermanagh on 22 September and was joined by O'Neill four days later. Unable to make a crossing of the River Erne, Bagenal and O'Neill marched (separately) northwards to the northern end of Lower Lough Erne. Blocking forces were posted by Maguire at the ford of Belleek, but these were overcome by Bagenal and O'Neill at the Battle of Belleek on 10 October.


title: Nine Years' War (Ireland)

text: Initially O'Neill assisted the English, hoping to be named as Lord President of Ulster himself. Elizabeth I, though, had feared that O'Neill had no intention of being a simple landlord and that his ambition was to usurp her authority and be "a Prince of Ulster". For this reason she refused to grant O'Neill provincial presidency or any other position which would have given him authority to govern Ulster on the crown's behalf. Once it became clear that Henry Bagenal was marked to assume the presidency of Ulster, O'Neill accepted that an English offensive was inevitable, and so joined his allies in open rebellion in February 1595, with an assault on the Blackwater Fort, which guarded a strategic bridge on the River Blackwater.


title: Nine Years' War (Ireland)

text: Later in 1595 O'Neill and O'Donnell wrote to King Philip II of Spain for help, and offered to be his vassals. He also proposed that his cousin Archduke Albert be made Prince of Ireland, but nothing came of this. A truce in late 1595 was followed by the submission of Hugh Maguire in April 1596, and Tyrone promised to explain his conduct before the Queen in London, but the arrival of three Spanish envoys from Philip II in 1596 promising men and supplies ended any chances of peace. An unsuccessful armada sailed in 1596; the war in Ireland became a part of the wider Anglo-Spanish War.


title: Nine Years' War (Ireland)

text: The English authorities in Dublin Castle had been slow to comprehend the scale of the rebellion. After failed negotiations in 1595, English armies tried to break into Ulster but were repulsed by a trained army including musketeers in prepared positions; after a stinging defeat at the Battle of Clontibret, successive English offensives were driven back in the following years. At the Battle of the Yellow Ford in 1598 up to 2,000 English troops were killed after being attacked on the march to Armagh. The rest were surrounded in Armagh itself but negotiated safe passage for themselves in return for evacuating the town. O'Neill's personal enemy, Sir Henry Bagenal, had been in command of the army and was killed during the early engagements. It was the heaviest defeat ever suffered by the English army in Ireland up to that point.


title: Nine Years' War (Ireland)

text: The victory prompted uprisings all over the country, with the assistance of mercenaries in O'Neill's pay and contingents from Ulster, and it is at this point that the war developed in its full force. Hugh O'Neill appointed his supporters as chieftains and earls around the country, notably James Fitzthomas Fitzgerald as the Earl of Desmond and Florence MacCarthy as the MacCarthy Mór. In Munster as many as 9,000 men came out in rebellion. The Munster Plantation, the colonisation of the province with English settlers, was dealt a serious blow; the colonists, among them Edmund Spenser, fled for their lives.


title: Nine Years' War (Ireland)

text: Only a handful of native lords remained consistently loyal to either side, and loyalties were complicated by splits within clans. However all the fortified cities and towns of the country sided with the English colonial government. Hugh O'Neill, unable to take walled towns, made repeated overtures to inhabitants of the Pale to join his rebellion, appealing to their Catholicism and to their alienation from the Dublin government and the provincial administrations. For the most part, however, the Old English remained hostile to their hereditary Gaelic enemies.