Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/News/September 2017/Articles


 * Vultee Vengeance in Australian service : Nick's latest "aircraft in Australian service" article, this covers one of the RAAF's most notorious lemons. Ordered in late 1941, the dive bombers did not arrive in strength until 1943 and first saw combat late that year. A large deployment to New Guinea in early 1944 proved short-lived and embarrassing, as the Vengeances were ordered back to Australia after only six weeks to create room at forward airfields for more capable types; a few soldiered on in secondary support roles until 1946, and a handful were used by the Royal Australian Navy for ground training. Nick took the article through GAN and ACR prior to FAC.


 * John C. Breckinridge : A Congressman from Kentucky, Breckinridge was the youngest-ever Vice President of the United States, serving under James Buchanan from 1857 to 1861. In 1860 he ran as the Democratic nominee for President, losing to Abraham Lincoln. During the American Civil War, Breckinridge served as an officer in the Confederate Army, rising to major general, and later became the Confederacy's final Secretary of War.


 * Kaiman-class torpedo boat (Peacemaker67) : Forming part of Peacemaker's series on ships of the Royal Yugoslav Navy (a Good Topic), this article covers a class of 24 torpedo boats built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy between 1904 and 1910. They proved a very successful type, and saw extensive service in the Adriatic during World War I, engaging in shore bombardments, anti-submarine work and many other tasks. Most were scrapped after the war, but four saw service with the Royal Yugoslav Navy through the late 1920s. The article passed both GAN and ACR before achieving FA status.


 * Battle of Leuthen (Auntieruth55) : The Battle of Leuthen was an engagement of the Seven Years' War in which Frederick the Great's Prussian army used maneuver and terrain to decisively defeat a much larger Austrian force. This victory reversed the Austrian successes earlier in 1757, and established beyond doubt Frederick's military reputation in European circles. The article is the third of a four-part series on Frederick the Great's battles that Auntieruth is developing. She took this one through GAN and ACR before FAC.


 * SMS Deutschland (1904) : Part of the Battleships of Germany Featured Topic, this article is about the first of five Deutschland class pre-dreadnought battleships. Deutschland participated in most of the large-scale fleet actions in the first two years of World War I, culminating in the Battle of Jutland in 1916. After the battle, Deutschland was assigned to coastal defense duties and, in 1917, was withdrawn from combat service. She was broken up for scrap by 1922. The article passed both GAN and ACR before its successful FAC nomination.


 * List of Indian naval air squadrons :  This article provides a summary of the history of the Indian Navy's 21 flying squadrons. Of these, ten currently operate fixed-wing aircraft, eight are helicopter squadrons and the remaining three are equipped with unmanned aerial vehicles. Unusually, the Indian Navy has never needed to disband any of its flying units. Krishna nominated this article for a successful A-class review before taking it to FLC.


 * Maurice Wilder-Neligan (Peacemaker67) : Maurice Wilder-Neligan rose from the rank of private to command the South Australian-raised 10th Battalion during the latter stages of World War I. He was an eccentric soul, well known for embarrassing his officers and carrying out various "stunts", but also highly regarded for looking after his soldiers' needs. His tactical skills were impressive, one of his operations being described as "the best show ever done by a battalion in France". He survived the war only to die in New Guinea, apparently as a result of his war wounds.


 * Roger B. Chaffee (Kees08) : This article provides a biography of an American naval aviator, aeronautical engineer and astronaut in the Apollo program. Chaffee joined the US Navy in 1957, and flew 82 reconnaissance sorties over Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He was selected for NASA in 1963, but was killed in the 1967 Apollo 1 disaster before making it into space.


 * German destroyer Z39 (Iazyges) : Z39 was a German destroyer of World War II. Commissioned in 1943, she mainly served in the Baltic where she escorted transports, laid mines and bombarded land forces. The destroyer was bombed on two occasions, but survived the war and was later used by the US Navy for trials purposes and the French Navy as a source of spare parts.


 * Philip Baxter (Hawkeye7) : Hawkeye's latest A-class biography of a nuclear scientist covers a British chemist who served in the Manhattan Project during World War II. He moved to Australia following the war to take up an academic position, and became the Vice-Chancellor of the University of New South Wales less than ten years later. Baxter was one of the most prolific public advocates of nuclear power for Australia, and chaired the International Atomic Energy Agency for two years. In retirement he drove the troubled program to construct the Sydney Opera House to completion.


 * Alfred Shout (Abraham, B.S.) : Abraham, B.S.'s welcome return to the A-class review process covers a New Zealand-born soldier and Australian Victoria Cross recipient of the First World War. Shout took part in the Gallipoli landings on 25 April 1915, was awarded the Military Cross for his "conspicuous courage and ability" two days later, and soon after Mentioned in Despatches. His VC was posthumously awarded for his actions at Lone Pine in August 1915. Shout was the most highly decorated man in the AIF at Gallipoli, and his VC sold for a world record auction price in 2006.


 * Cho Ki-chon (Finnusertop) : Probably the first military history A-class article on a poet, this article provides a biography of a Soviet propaganda officer of Korean descent who made some of the earliest, and most important, contributions to Kim Il-sung's cult of personality. This included the epic poem  Mt. Paektu which chronicled largely made-up guerilla activities attributed to Kim. A few years later, Kim led Koreans to war again and Cho continued to write propaganda poems with names like "Aircraft Hunters" and "Mungyong Pass". Cho died in a United Nations Force bombing raid in 1951.


 * Bill McCann (Peacemaker67) : Bill McCann was a decorated South Australian soldier of World War I who became a barrister and went on to lead the Returned and Services League in South Australia for seven years during the interwar period. During this period he also commanded two militia infantry battalions. McCann was the state prices commissioner from 1938–1954, and nearly had his house burned down as a result of his anti-blackmarketeering work.