title: Party (upcoming film)

text: Party is entirely filmed in the Fiji Islands. The project was publicly announced in a promotional event for the film Gemini Ganeshanum Suruli Raajanum. For this film, director Prabhu decided to pick Premgi Amaren to compose the film's soundtrack and the background score entirely, replacing his usual choice, Yuvan Shankar Raja who composed for all the director's ventures. It was noted that Premgi earlier composed one song in "Chennai 600028" film and also doing the additional background score of the director's previous films as well. In an interview, Chandran added that, the movie's filming is like going on an excursion and the director is handling the big star cast with absolute ease. Rajesh Yadav and Praveen were selected as the cinematographer and editor respectively, continuing their association with the director where they worked together in "Chennai 600028 II". Stunt Silva signed in as stunt choreographer for this project. A promotional teaser was released on 13 December 2017, and was followed by two more that introduced the cast and revealed their respective characters.


title: Party (upcoming film)

text: Unlike Prabhu's previous projects which had Yuvan Shankar Raja composing the film's soundtrack and score, Premgi Amaren both composed the film's soundtrack and score as well for this project. A single was launched on 2 July 2018, which features actors Suriya and Karthi making their second ventures as playback singers.


title: Party (upcoming film)

text: Despite filming having completed and the film cleared by the censor board, the film remains unreleased for undisclosed reasons, although the makers were adamant on a theatrical release only, rather than direct-to-streaming.


title: El Camino Real (California)

text: El Camino Real (Spanish; literally The Royal Road, often translated as The King's Highway) is a 600-mile (965-kilometer) commemorative route connecting the 21 Spanish missions in California (formerly the region Alta California in the Spanish Empire), along with a number of sub-missions, four presidios, and three pueblos. Sometimes associated with Calle Real, its southern end is at Mission San Diego de Alcalá and its northern terminus is at Mission San Francisco Solano.


title: El Camino Real (California)

text: The name was revived in the American era in connection with the boosterism associated with the Mission Revival movement of the early 20th century. Streets throughout California bear the "El Camino Real" name. The route has been continually upgraded and is decorated with Commemorative bell markers.


title: El Camino Real (California)

text: In earlier Spanish colonial times, any road under the direct jurisdiction of the Spanish crown and its viceroys was considered to be a "camino real". Examples of such roads ran between principal settlements throughout Spain and its colonies such as New Spain. Most "caminos reales" had names apart from the appended "camino real". The original route begins in Baja California Sur, Mexico, at the site of Misión de Nuestra Señora de Loreto Conchó, present day Loreto, (the first mission successfully established in Las Californias).


title: El Camino Real (California)

text: The Portolá expedition of 1769 included Franciscan missionaries, led by Junípero Serra. Starting from Loreto, Serra established the first of the 21 missions at San Diego. Serra stayed at San Diego and Juan Crespí continued the rest of the way with Gaspar de Portolá. Proceeding north, Portolá followed the coastline (today's California State Route 1), except where forced inland by coastal cliffs.


title: El Camino Real (California)

text: Eventually, the expedition was prevented from going farther north by the entrance to San Francisco Bay, the Golden Gate. Crespí identified several future mission sites which were not developed until later. On the return trip to San Diego, Gaspar de Portolá found a shorter detour around one stretch of coastal cliffs via Conejo Valley.


title: El Camino Real (California)

text: Portolá journeyed again from San Diego to Monterey in 1770, where Junipero Serra (who traveled by ship) founded the second mission (later moved a short distance south to Carmel). Carmel became Serra's Alta California mission headquarters.


title: El Camino Real (California)

text: The Juan Bautista de Anza expedition of (1775–76) entered Alta California from the southeast (crossing the Colorado River near today's Yuma, Arizona), and picked up Portolá's trail at Mission San Gabriel. De Anza's scouts found easier traveling in several inland valleys, rather than staying on the rugged coast. On his journey north, de Anza traveled the San Fernando Valley and Salinas Valley. After detouring to the coast to visit the Presidio of Monterey, de Anza went inland again, following the Santa Clara Valley to the southern end of San Francisco Bay and on up the east side of the San Francisco Peninsula.


title: El Camino Real (California)

text: Between 1683 and 1835, Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries established a series of religious outposts from today's Baja California and Baja California Sur into present-day California. Heavy freight and long distance passenger movement was practical only via ships by a coastal water route.


title: El Camino Real (California)

text: To facilitate overland travel, mission settlements were approximately 30 miles (48 kilometers) apart, so that they were separated by one long day's ride on horseback along the 600-mile (966-kilometer) long El Camino Real (Spanish for "The Royal Highway," though often referred to in the later embellished English translation, "The King's Highway"), and also known as the "California Mission Trail". Tradition has it that the padres sprinkled mustard seeds along the trail to mark the windings of the trail's northward progress with bright yellow flowers, creating a golden trail stretching from San Diego to Sonoma.


title: El Camino Real (California)

text: Valuable seeds were brought to California also marking the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro with trees for different uses. For example, ash trees were the marker for where a spring was to be found, as seen to this day at the church of in Fresnillo, Zacatecas.


title: El Camino Real (California)

text: By the mid-nineteenth century, when California became a state, the route had been improved in certain sections, but was wholly inadequate for large stagecoaches and freight wagons. In 1892, Anna Pitcher of Pasadena, California initiated an effort to establish a commemorate route which was adopted by the California Federation of Women's Clubs in 1902. In the early twentieth century, organizations and government agencies became interested in creating official designations or commemorations of roads and highways. Given the lack of standardized highway signs at the time, it was decided to place distinctive bells along the route, hung on supports in the form of an high shepherd's crook, also described as "a Franciscan walking stick". The bells were designed by Mrs ASC Forbes, who also owned the California Bell Company where they were cast. The first of 450 bells were unveiled on August 15, 1906, at the Plaza Church in the Pueblo near Olvera Street in Los Angeles.


title: El Camino Real (California)

text: A 1915 map produced by the Automobile Club of Southern California traced the route that connected the missions for motorists to follow. The club and associated groups cared for the bells from the mid-1920s through 1931 after the original organization which installed the bells fragmented. Distinctive route markers were added to U.S. Route 101 and other national auto trails when the joint board of state highway officials adopted the United States Numbered Highway System in 1926. The state highways forming El Camino Real were identified as Highway 1, U.S. Route 101 and Highway 82 on the San Francisco Peninsula in a 1959 law. Most of the bells eventually disappeared due to vandalism, theft or simple loss due to the relocation or rerouting of highways and roads. The State took over bell maintenance in 1933. After a reduction in the number of bells to around 80, the State began replacing them, at first with concrete, and later with iron. Justin Kramer took over the production of the bells in 1959. The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) began a restoration effort in 1996.


title: El Camino Real (California)

text: Keith Robinson, Principal Landscape Architect at Caltrans developed an El Camino Real restoration program which resulted in the installation of 555 El Camino Real Bell Markers in 2005. The Bell Marker consists of a 460 mm diameter cast metal bell set atop a 75 mm diameter Schedule 40 pipe column that is attached to a concrete foundation using anchor rods. The original 1906 bell molds were used to fabricate the replacement bells. The bells are most typically marked "1769 & 1906", and include a designer's copyright notice. The two dates represent the date of the founding of the first Alta-California mission in San Diego, and the date of the setting of the first commemorative bell-marker, respectively. In 1997, the California Federation of Women's Clubs, in conjunction with California State Automobile Association, developed a restoration project as part of CalTrans "Adopt-a-Highway" program. Permits issued by Caltrans for installations along state routes have detailed specifications on how the bell should be set up for safety and legal considerations.


title: El Camino Real (California)

text: For some indigenous populations, the bells are painful symbols of the dehumanization of their ancestors, together with the domination and erasure of their culture. The Amah Mutsun tribal band shared with local authorities how the bells represent historical injustices and oppression of their people. In response, a bell at the University of California, Santa Cruz was removed by campus officials in June 2019. The issue was also present when the statues of Junípero Serra were damaged and/or removed in 2020 during the George Floyd protests which expanded to include monuments of individuals associated with the controversy over the genocide of indigenous peoples in the Americas. The historical preservation commission of Santa Cruz reported to the city council in November 2020 that the bells represent a painful history for the indigenous people of the city, and noted that a bell in Mission Park Plaza had been stolen in 1999 and not replaced. Santa Cruz scheduled the removal of the last bell in the city, at the intersection of Soquel and Dakota avenues, for August 28, 2021, but the bell was stolen the night before it was to be removed. The Tribal Band, an organization of local tribes, led a ceremony to mark the occasion in spite of the theft.


title: El Camino Real (California)

text: Several modern highways include parts of the commemorative route, though large sections are on city streets (for instance, most of the stretch between San Jose and San Francisco). The full route as defined by the California State Legislature is as follows:


title: El Camino Real (California)

text: Some older local roads that parallel these routes also have the name. Mission Street in San Francisco does correspond to the commemorative route. An unpaved stretch of the old road has been preserved just east of Mission San Juan Bautista; this section of road runs parallel to the San Andreas Fault, which can be clearly seen where the ground drops several feet. Many streets throughout California bear the name of the road, often with scant relation to the original.


title: El Camino Real (California)

text: A section of the old mission road, El Camino Real fronts the Rios-Caledonia Adobe in San Miguel. This road served stagecoaches and then was paved as part of the original US 101 highway.


title: El Camino Real (California)

text: The route through San Mateo and Santa Clara counties is designated as State Route 82, and some stretches of it are named "El Camino Real". The old road is part of the de Anza route, located a few miles east of Route 101.


title: El Camino Real (California)

text: El Camino Real is designated as California Historical Landmark #784. There are two state historical markers honoring the road: one located near Mission San Diego de Alcalá in San Diego and the other one near Mission San Francisco de Asís in San Francisco.


title: Operation Chromite (film)

text: Operation Chromite () is a 2016 South Korean war drama film directed by John H. Lee and based on the real-life events of the Battle of Inchon, although it presents a fictionalized version of the historical CIA/US military intelligence operation "Trudy Jackson", conducted before the actual landing operation. It was released on 27 July 2016 in South Korea.


title: Operation Chromite (film)

text: In 1950, just a few months after North Korean forces have overrun most of South Korea, an American-led UN coalition is deployed to Korea to aid the struggling South Koreans. General of the Army Douglas MacArthur devises a secret plan to attack behind enemy lines at the port city of Incheon. The risky strategy is opposed by leaders of the other military branches, forcing MacArthur to devise a clandestine operation to gather essential information from within occupied Incheon by coordinating a weeklong South Korean intelligence operation known as "X-Ray".


title: Operation Chromite (film)

text: The linchpin of this top-secret incursion, Captain Jang Hak-Soo of the South Korean navy Intelligence Unit (a former North Korean army officer who defected to South Korea after seeing his father executed in front of him by his fellow communist officers), and seven members of the X-Ray unit disguise themselves as a North Korean inspection unit and infiltrate the North Korean army command center in Incheon, coordinated by Soviet-trained Commander Lim Gye-Jin, a protégé of the North Korean leader, Kim Il-Sung. Their prime objective is to determine the placement of North Korean defenses (such as mines and artillery) and the tactical characteristics of the Incheon harbor (notorious for swift currents and major tidal surges), and secure a lighthouse crucial to the landing's success.


title: Operation Chromite (film)

text: Immediately suspicious of Jang's "inspection mission", Lim attempts to impede his comrade's investigation and orders his staff to monitor the new arrivals closely. The U.S. command relays MacArthur's orders to obtain navigation charts showing naval mine placements in the harbor and prepare a strategy to assist the coalition forces with landing an amphibious assault in a narrow two-hour window between tides. When contacts within the South Korean military intelligence unit known as KLO (Korean Liaison Office, predecessor to present-day South Korean Headquarters of Intelligence Detachment, or HID) warn Jang that time is running out to successfully complete the mission, he pushes his group to extremes. Meanwhile, in Tokyo, MacArthur prepares "Operation Chromite", an invasion force of 75,000 UN troops and over 200 warships, to imminently depart for the Korean Peninsula.


title: Operation Chromite (film)

text: The film was number-one on its opening at the South Korean box office, grossing . with around seven million tickets sold . It grossed worldwide.


title: Operation Chromite (film)

text: In the United Kingdom, it was 2017's best-selling foreign language film on home video, above "Your Name" in second place.


title: Operation Chromite (film)

text: On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 37% based on 19 reviews, with an average rating of 7.89/10.


title: Operation Chromite (film)

text: "The Battle of Jangsari 9.15", a sequel to the film "Chromite", was released in 2019, the second part of a trilogy. The film covers a later small attack at Jangsari, intended to draw North Korean attention from Inchon.


title: McCulloch v. Maryland

text: McCulloch v. Maryland, 17 U.S. (4 Wheat.) 316 (1819), was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that defined the scope of the U.S. Congress's legislative power and how it relates to the powers of American state legislatures. The dispute in "McCulloch" involved the legality of the national bank and a tax that the state of Maryland imposed on it. In its ruling, the Supreme Court established firstly that the "Necessary and Proper" Clause of the U.S. Constitution gives the U.S. federal government certain implied powers necessary and proper for the exercise of the powers enumerated explicitly in the Constitution, and secondly that the American federal government is supreme over the states, and so states' ability to interfere with the federal government is restricted. Since the legislature has the authority to tax and spend, the court held that it therefore has authority to establish a national bank, as being "necessary and proper" to that end.


title: McCulloch v. Maryland

text: The state of Maryland had attempted to impede an operation by the Second Bank of the United States through a tax on all notes of banks not chartered in Maryland. Though the law, by its language, was generally applicable to all banks not chartered in Maryland, the Second Bank of the United States was the only out-of-state bank then existing in Maryland, and the law was thus recognized in the court's opinion as having specifically targeted the Bank of the United States. The Court invoked the Necessary and Proper Clause of the Constitution, which allows the federal government to pass laws not expressly provided for in the Constitution's list of enumerated powers of Congress if such laws are necessary and proper to further the powers expressly authorized.


title: McCulloch v. Maryland

text: "McCulloch" has been described as "the most important Supreme Court decision in American history defining the scope of Congress's powers and delineating the relationship between the federal government and the states." The case established two important principles in constitutional law. First, the Constitution grants to Congress implied powers to implement the Constitution's express powers to create a functional national government. Prior to the Supreme Court's decision in "McCulloch", the scope of the U.S. government's authority was unclear. Second, state action may not impede valid constitutional exercises of power by the federal government.


title: McCulloch v. Maryland

text: Almost immediately after the U.S. Constitution's ratification in 1788, a major public debate arose over whether to establish a national bank for the United States. Upon George Washington's inauguration as the first President of the United States in 1789, his Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, proposed creating a national bank to regulate American currency and deal with national economic problems. But Washington's Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson, strongly opposed the bank's creation, fearing that it would usurp power from the individual states and concentrate it to a dangerous degree in the central federal government. Congress created the First Bank of the United States in 1791 with a 20-year charter, but the issue continued to be controversial. Those who supported Hamilton's vision of a stronger central government eventually formed the Federalist Party, while those who opposed him and supported Jefferson's vision of a decentralized government that focused on states' rights formed the Democratic-Republican Party.


title: McCulloch v. Maryland

text: The First Bank's charter expired in 1811 and was not renewed. However, national economic problems in the aftermath of the War of 1812 prompted Congress to pass similar legislation in 1816 to create the Second Bank of the United States. The U.S. government only owned 20 percent of the bank's equity, and many state governments resented the bank for calling in loans it had made to them. Consequently, some states passed laws designed to hinder the bank's operation, while others simply tried to tax it. In 1818, the Maryland General Assembly—Maryland's state legislature—passed a law levying a $15,000 annual tax on any bank operating in Maryland that were issuing notes and bills that were not properly stamped by the Maryland's Treasury, the Western Shore Treasury.


title: McCulloch v. Maryland

text: James William McCulloch, a cashier of the Baltimore Branch of the Second Bank of the United States, issued unstamped bank notes to Baltimore resident George Williams. The lawsuit was filed by John James, an informer who sought to collect half of the fine, as provided for by the statute. The Bank was represented by Daniel Webster. The case was appealed to the Maryland Court of Appeals, where the state of Maryland argued that "the Constitution is silent on the subject of banks." It was Maryland's contention that without specific constitutional authorization for the federal government to create a bank, any such creation would be rendered unconstitutional.


title: McCulloch v. Maryland

text: The Court determined that Congress had the power to create the Bank. Chief Justice Marshall supported his conclusion with four main arguments:


title: McCulloch v. Maryland

text: Firstly, he argued that historical practice established Congress's power to create the bank. Marshall invoked the creation of the First Bank of the United States in 1791 as authority for the constitutionality of the second bank. The first Congress had enacted the bank after great debate, and it was approved by an executive "with as much persevering talent as any measure has ever experienced, and being supported by arguments which convinced minds as pure and as intelligent as this country can boast."


title: McCulloch v. Maryland

text: Secondly, Marshall rebutted the argument that states retain ultimate sovereignty because they ratified the constitution: "The powers of the general government, it has been said, are delegated by the states, who alone are truly sovereign; and must be exercised in subordination to the states, who alone possess supreme dominion." Marshall contended that it was the people who ratified the Constitution and thus the people, not the states, who are sovereign.


title: McCulloch v. Maryland

text: Thirdly, Marshall addressed the scope of congressional powers under Article I. The Court broadly described Congress's authority before it addressed the Necessary and Proper Clause. Marshall admitted that the Constitution does not enumerate a power to create a central Bank but said that is not dispositive as to Congress's power to establish such an institution: "In considering this question, then, we must never forget, that it is a "constitution" we are expounding."


title: McCulloch v. Maryland

text: Fourthly, Marshall supported his opinion textually by invoking the Necessary and Proper Clause, which permits Congress to seek an objective while it exercised its enumerated powers as long as that objective is not forbidden by the Constitution. In liberally interpreting the Necessary and Proper Clause, the Court rejected Maryland's narrow interpretation of the clause that the word "necessary" in the clause meant that Congress could pass only laws that were absolutely essential in the execution of its enumerated powers. The Court rejected that argument, on the grounds that many of the enumerated powers of Congress under the Constitution would be useless if only laws deemed essential to a power's execution could be passed. Marshall also noted that the Necessary and Proper Clause is listed within the powers of Congress, not its limitations.


title: McCulloch v. Maryland

text: The Court held that the word "necessary" in the Necessary and Proper Clause does not refer therefore to the only way of doing something but applies to various procedures for implementing all constitutionally-established powers: "Let the end be legitimate, let it be within the scope of the Constitution, and all means which are appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end, which are not prohibited, but consist with the letter and spirit of the Constitution, are Constitutional."


title: McCulloch v. Maryland

text: Chief Justice Marshall also determined that Maryland could not tax the bank without violating the constitution since, as Marshall commented, "the power to tax involves the power to destroy". The Court thus struck down the tax as an unconstitutional attempt by a state to interfere with a federal institution, in violation of the Supremacy Clause.


title: McCulloch v. Maryland

text: The opinion stated that Congress has implied powers, which must be related to the text of the Constitution but do not need to be enumerated within the text.


title: McCulloch v. Maryland

text: The case was a seminal moment in federalism: the formation of a balance between federal powers and state powers. Marshall also explained in the case that the Necessary and Proper Clause does not require all federal laws to be necessary and proper and that federal laws that are enacted directly pursuant to one of the expressed, enumerated powers granted by the Constitution do not need to comply with the Necessary and Proper Clause, which "purport[s] to enlarge, not to diminish the powers vested in the government. It purports to be an additional power, not a restriction on those already granted."


title: McCulloch v. Maryland

text: Though Marshall rejected the Tenth Amendment's provision of states' rights arguing that it did not include the word "expressly," unlike the Articles of Confederation, which the Constitution replaced, controversy over the authority of the amendment being violated by the decision has existed. Compact theory also argues that the federal government is a creation of the states and that the states maintain superiority. Unlike Marshall, his successor, Roger B. Taney, established dual federalism by which separate-but-equal branches of government are believed to be a better option.


title: McCulloch v. Maryland

text: "McCulloch v. Maryland" was cited in the first substantial constitutional case presented before the High Court of Australia in "D'Emden v Pedder" (1904), which dealt with similar issues in the Australian Federation. While recognizing American law as not binding on them, the Australian Court nevertheless determined that the "McCulloch" decision provided the best guideline for the relationship between the Commonwealth federal government, and the Australian States, owing in large part to strong similarities between the American and Australian constitutions.


title: Swami Sarvapriyananda

text: Swami Sarvapriyananda (Pre-Monastic name Biswarup ) is a Hindu monk (sannyasi) belonging to the Ramakrishna Order. He is the current resident Swami and head of the Vedanta Society of New York, a position he has been serving since January 2017.


title: Swami Sarvapriyananda

text: Swami Sarvapriyananda was born in Kolkata and grew up in Bhubhaneshwar in the Indian state of Odisha to a pious Bengali family. From childhood onwards, he was inclined towards spirituality and was inspired by the lives of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda. His family was also devoutly religious. His parents and grandparents were initiated devotees in the Ramakrishna Order tradition. He has stated that his first goal in life was to become a pilot and the second was to find God, with the second goal later becoming his only goal. Sarvapriyananda joined the Ramakrishna Order in 1994 and took his monastic vows as sanyasa diksha was bestowed upon him


title: Swami Sarvapriyananda

text: by Swami Ranganathananda in 2004. His family, at first, objected to his decision to become a monk but later accepted his decision. After passing school, he completed his Business Management degree from Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar.


title: Swami Sarvapriyananda

text: Swami Sarvapriyananda served as assistant minister of the Vedanta Society of Southern California in 2015. He was later appointed head of the Vedanta Society of New York, a position he has been serving since 6 January 2017. Swami Tathagatananda was his predecessor. He was in the first group of Hindu swamis to participate as a Nagral Fellow for the year 2019–20 at Harvard Divinity School.


title: Swami Sarvapriyananda

text: Before being posted to the Hollywood Temple, he served as an acharya or teacher at Monastic probationer training center, Belur Math. He also served the Ramakrishna Order by becoming the vice principal of Deoghar Vidyapith Higher Secondary School and becoming Principal of Ramakrishna Mission Shikshanamandira (teacher-training college), Belur Math.


title: Swami Sarvapriyananda

text: Sarvapriyananda frequently speaks at symposia and events focused on Advaita Vedanta teachings, and has participated in discussions with other non-dualists like Deepak Chopra. He is a very strong proponent and scholar of the Indian Upanishad school of thought and the philosophy or Darshan, particularly of Self and Consciousness contained in them. He has delivered many lectures on the same topic. Fortune India mentions Sarvapriyananda as "one of the best known lecturers of the Vedanta in the world today". Speaking with Time on the occasion of the International Day of Yoga in 2018, Sarvapriyananda stated that "doing (yoga) the right way can change the way you live, work and love" while criticising the "vulgarisation and distortion of yoga today".


title: Propfan

text: A propfan, also called an open rotor engine, or unducted fan (as opposed to a ducted fan), is a type of aircraft engine related in concept to both the turboprop and turbofan, but distinct from both. The design is intended to offer the speed and performance of a turbofan, with the fuel economy of a turboprop. A propfan is typically designed with a large number of short, highly twisted blades, similar to the (ducted) fan in a turbofan engine. For this reason, the propfan has been variously described as an "unducted fan" (UDF) or an "ultra-high-bypass (UHB) turbofan."


title: Propfan

text: In the 1970s, Hamilton Standard described its propfan as "a small diameter, highly loaded multiple bladed variable pitch propulsor having swept blades with thin advanced airfoil sections, integrated with a nacelle contoured to retard the airflow through the blades thereby reducing compressibility losses and designed to operate with a turbine engine and using a single stage reduction gear resulting in high performance." In 1982, the weekly aviation magazine Flight International defined the propfan as a propeller with 8–10 highly swept blades that cruised at a speed of , although its definition evolved a few years later with the emergence of contra-rotating propfans.


title: Propfan

text: In 1986, British engine maker Rolls-Royce used the term "open rotor" as a synonym for the original meaning of a propfan. This action was to delineate the propfan engine type from a number of ducted engine proposals at the time that had "propfan" in their names. By the 2000s, "open rotor" (OR) became a preferred term for propfan technology in research and news reports, with "contra-rotating open rotor" (CROR) also occasionally being used to distinguish between single-rotation propfans. As of 2015, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) defined an open rotor concretely (but broadly) as "a turbine engine fan stage that is not enclosed within a casing;" in contrast, it had only a working definition of an open rotor engine (the more commonly used term for propfan in the 21st century), calling it "a turbine engine featuring contra-rotating fan stages not enclosed within a casing." The engine uses a gas turbine to drive an unshrouded (open) contra-rotating propeller like a turboprop, but the design of the propeller itself is more tightly coupled to the turbine design, and the two are certified as a single unit.


title: Propfan

text: El-Sayed differentiates between turboprops and propfans according to 11 different criteria, including number of blades, blade shape, tip speed, bypass ratio, Mach number, and cruise altitude.


title: Propfan

text: About a decade after German aerospace engineers began exploring the idea of using swept wings to reduce drag on transonic speed aircraft, Hamilton Standard in the 1940s attempted to apply a similar concept to engine propellers. It created highly swept propeller blades with supersonic tip speeds, so that engines with exposed propellers could power aircraft to speeds and cruising altitudes only attained by new turbojet and turbofan engines. Early tests of these blades revealed then-unresolvable blade flutter and blade stress problems, and high noise levels were considered another obstacle. The popularity of turbojets and turbofans curtailed research in propellers, but by the 1960s, interest increased when studies showed that an exposed propeller driven by a gas turbine could power an airliner flying at a speed of Mach 0.7–0.8 and at an altitude of . The term propfan was created during this period.


title: Propfan

text: One of the earliest engines that resembled the propfan concept was the Metrovick F.5, which featured twin contra-rotating fans—14 blades in the fore (front) fan and 12 blades in the aft (back) fan—at the rear of the engine and was first run in 1946. The blades, however, were mostly unswept. Other contra-rotating propeller engines that featured on common aircraft included the four powerful Kuznetsov NK-12 engines (each powering its own set of coaxial contra-rotating propellers) on the Soviet Union's Tupolev Tu-95 high-speed military bomber and Antonov An-22 military transport aircraft, and the Armstrong Siddeley Double Mamba (ASMD) engines (both connected to a lone set of coaxial contra-rotating propellers) on the British Fairey Gannet anti-submarine aircraft. Both setups had four largely unswept blades in the front propeller and the back propeller.


title: Propfan

text: When the 1973 oil crisis caused petroleum price spikes in the early 1970s, interest in propfans soared, and NASA-funded research began to accelerate. The propfan concept was outlined by Carl Rohrbach and Bruce Metzger of the Hamilton Standard division of United Technologies in 1975 and was patented by Rohrbach and Robert Cornell of Hamilton Standard in 1979. Later work by General Electric on similar propulsors adopted the name unducted fan, which was a modified turbofan engine, with the fan placed outside the engine nacelle on the same axis as the compressor blades.


title: Propfan

text: During this era, the propeller problems became fixable. Advances were made in structural materials, such as titanium metal and graphite and glass fiber composites infused with resin. These materials replaced aluminum and steel metals in blade construction, which allowed the blades to be made thinner and stronger. Computer-aided design was also useful in refining blade characteristics. Since the blades bend and deflect with higher power loading and centrifugal force, the initial designs needed to be based on the in-motion shape. With the help of computers, the blade designers would then work backward to find the optimal unloaded shape for manufacturing purposes.


title: Propfan

text: Hamilton Standard, the only large American manufacturer of aircraft propellers, developed the propfan concept in the early 1970s. Hamilton Standard tested numerous variations in conjunction with NASA.


title: Propfan

text: Under the Propfan Test Assessment (PTA) program, Lockheed-Georgia proposed modifying a Gulfstream II to act as in-flight testbed for the propfan concept, while McDonnell Douglas proposed modifying a DC-9 for the same purpose. NASA chose the Lockheed proposal. The Gulfstream II had a nacelle added to the left wing, containing a Allison 570 turboprop engine (derived from the XT701 turboshaft developed for the Boeing Vertol XCH-62 heavy lift helicopter). The engine used an eight-bladed, , single-rotation Hamilton Standard SR-7 propfan. The test engine, which was named the Allison 501-M78, had a thrust rating of . It was first operated in flight on March 28, 1987. The extensive test program, which cost about $56 million, racked up 73 flights and over 133 hours of flight time before finishing on March 25, 1988. In 1989, however, the testbed aircraft returned to the air from April 3 through April 14 to measure ground noise levels during flight. The engine was removed after that, and the aircraft was converted to a space shuttle training aircraft later that year.


title: Propfan

text: The GE36 Unducted Fan (UDF), from American engine maker General Electric (GE) with 35-percent participation from French partner Snecma (now Safran), was a variation on the original propfan concept and resembled a pusher configuration piston engine. GE's UDF had a novel direct-drive arrangement, where the reduction gearbox was replaced by a low-speed seven-stage free turbine. One set of turbine rotors drove the forward set of propellers, while the rear set was driven by the other set of rotors which rotated in the opposite direction. The turbine had 14 blade rows with seven stages. Each stage was a pair of contra-rotating rows. Airframers, who had been wary of issue-prone gearboxes since the 1950s, liked GE's gearless version of the propfan: Boeing intended to offer GE's pusher UDF engine on the 7J7 platform (which would have had a cruise speed of Mach 0.83), and McDonnell Douglas planned to do likewise on their MD-94X airliner. The GE36 was first flight tested mounted on the #3 engine station of a Boeing 727-100 on August 20, 1986. The GE36 UDF for the 7J7 was planned to have a thrust of , but GE claimed that in general its UDF concept could cover a thrust range of , so a UDF engine could possibly match or surpass the thrust of the CF6, GE's family of widebody engines at that time.


title: Propfan

text: McDonnell Douglas developed a proof-of-concept aircraft by modifying its company-owned MD-80, which is suited for propfans due to its aft fuselage-mounted engines (like its DC-9 ancestor), in preparation for the possible propfan-powered MD-91 and MD-92 derivatives and a possible MD-94X clean-sheet aircraft. They replaced the left side JT8D turbofan engine with the GE36. Test flights began in May 1987, which proved the design's airworthiness, aerodynamic characteristics, and noise signature. Following the initial tests, a first-class cabin was installed inside the aft fuselage and airline executives were offered the opportunity to experience the UDF-powered aircraft first-hand. The test and marketing flights of the GE-outfitted demonstrator aircraft concluded in 1988, exhibiting a 30% reduction in fuel consumption over turbo-fan powered MD-80, full Stage 3 noise compliance, and low levels of interior noise/vibration. The GE36 would have the same thrust on the MD-92X, but the same engine would be derated to thrust for the smaller MD-91X. The MD-80 was also successfully flight tested in April 1989 with the 578-DX propfan, which was a prototype from the Allison Engine Company (at that time a division of General Motors) that was also derived from the Allison XT701 and built with Hamilton Standard propellers. The engine program was jointly developed between Allison and another division of United Technologies, the engine maker Pratt & Whitney. Unlike the competing GE36 UDF, the 578-DX was fairly conventional, having a reduction gearbox between the LP turbine and the propfan blades. Due to jet fuel price drops and shifting marketing priorities, Douglas shelved the propfan program later that year.


title: Propfan

text: None of these projects came to fruition, however, mainly because of excessive cabin noise (compared to turbofans) and low fuel prices. For General Electric, the GE36 UDF was meant to replace the CFM56 high-bypass turbofan that it produced with equal partner Snecma in their CFM International joint venture. In the 1980s the engine was initially uncompetitive against the International Aero Engines rival offering, the IAE V2500. In December 1986, the chairman of Snecma declared that the in-development CFM56-5S2 would be the last turbofan created for the CFM56 family, and that """There is no point in spending more money on turbofans. UDF is the future." The V2500 ran into technical problems in 1987, however, and the CFM56 gained major sales momentum. General Electric lost interest in having the GE36 cannibalize the CFM56, which went five years before it received its first order in 1979, and while "the UDF could be made reliable by earlier standards, turbofans were getting much, much better than that." General Electric added the UDF's blade technology directly into the GE90, the most powerful jet engine ever produced, for the Boeing 777.


title: Propfan

text: At the beginning of the 1990s, the Soviet Union/Russia performed flight tests on the Progress D-236, a geared contra-rotating propfan engine based on the core of the Progress D-36 turbofan, with eight blades on the front propeller and six blades on the back propeller. One testbed was a propfan mounted to an Ilyushin Il-76 and flown to the Hannover ILA 90 airshow, which was intended for an unidentified four-propfan aircraft. The D-236 flew 36 times for a total of 70 flight test hours on the Il-76. The other testbed was a , mounted to a Yakovlev Yak-42E-LL and flown to the 1991 Paris Air Show, as a demonstration for the planned Yak-46 aircraft with twin propfan engines, which in its base 150-seat version would have a range of and cruise at a speed of (Mach 0.75). The Soviets claimed the D-236 had a true aerodynamic efficiency of 28 percent and a fuel savings of 30 percent over an equivalent turboprop. They also revealed plans for propfans with power ratings of .


title: Propfan

text: Like the Progress D-236, the more powerful Progress D-27 propfan engine is a contra-rotating propfan with eight front blades and six back blades, but the D-27 has advanced composite blades with a reduced thickness-to-chord ratio and a more pronounced curvature at the leading edge. An engine that was launched in 1985, the D-27 delivers of power with of thrust at takeoff. Two rear-mounted D-27 propfans propelled the Ukrainian Antonov An-180, which was scheduled for a 1995 first flight and a 1997 entry into service. In January 1994, Antonov rolled out the first prototype of the An-70 military transport aircraft, powered by four Progress D-27s attached to wings mounted to the top of the fuselage. The Russian Air Force placed an order for 164 aircraft in 2003, later canceled. As of 2013, the An-70 was still thought to have a promising future as a freighter. However, since the propeller component of the Progress D-27 is made by Russia's SPE Aerosila, the An-70 was stymied by Ukraine's political conflict with Russia. Instead, Antonov began working with Turkey in 2018 to redevelop the An-70 as a rebranded An-77, so that the aircraft can comply with modern-day requirements without Russian supplier participation.


title: Propfan

text: In the first decade of the 21st century, rising jet fuel prices increased emphasis on engine/airframe efficiency to reduce emissions, which renewed interest in the propfan concept for jetliners beyond the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350XWB. For instance, Airbus patented aircraft designs with twin rear-mounted contra-rotating propfans. Rolls-Royce had the rear (pusher) configured RB.509-11 and front (tractor) configured RB.509-14 geared propfan designs, which produced using the gas generator from its XG-40 engine with of shaft power. It became lukewarm on propfan technology in the 1980salthough it developed an open rotor design that was thought to be a finalist for the Irkut MS-21 narrowbody aircraft. The Rolls-Royce RB3011 engine would have a diameter of about and require a gearbox.


title: Propfan

text: The European Commission launched an Open Rotor demonstration in 2008 led by Safran within the Clean Sky program funded with 65 million euros over eight years. A demonstrator was assembled in 2015, and ground tested in May 2017 on its open-air test rig in Istres, aiming to reduce fuel consumption and associated CO emissions by 30% compared with current CFM56 turbofans. After the completion of ground testing at the end of 2017, Safran's geared open rotor engine had reached technology readiness level 5. The demonstrator's twelve-blade front propeller and ten-blade back propeller had diameters of , respectively. The demonstrator, based on the core of the Snecma M88 military fighter engine, uses up to , provides a thrust of about , and would cruise at a speed of Mach 0.75. Safran's future open rotor engine, however, would have a maximum diameter of almost .


title: Propfan

text: In 2007, the Progress D-27 was successfully modified to meet the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Stage 4 regulations, which correspond to International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Chapter 4 standards. A 2012 trade study projected that propfan noise would be 10–13 decibels quieter than allowed by Stage 4 regulations. Stage 5 noise limits reduce the limits by only seven effective perceived noise decibels (EPNdB), within the propfan noise envelope. The study also projected that open rotors would be nine percent more fuel-efficient but remain 10–12 decibels louder than turbofans. Snecma claimed that its propfan engines would have about the same noise levels as its CFM LEAP turbofan engine.


title: Propfan

text: In 2021, CFM announced its Revolutionary Innovation for Sustainable Engines (RISE) development program to produce a single-stage, gear-driven propfan paired with active stators in a puller/tractor, configuration with flight tests to begin by 2025. The rotor was expected to be in diameter. The engine was expected to produce of thrust, with a 20% increase in fuel efficiency. The company claimed its motivation was the global emphasis on reducing emissions. The engine was planned to support both hydrogen and sustainable aviation fuels. The engine was expected to include a compact high-pressure core and a recuperating system to preheat combustion air with exhaust heat along with ceramic matrix composites in the hot section and resin-transfer-molded composite fan blades. In addition to the rotor, the design includes a nonrotating set of variable-pitch stator blades that act as flow recovery vanes. The design increases the fan-pressure ratio and reduces rotor loading, increasing airspeed. The fan stage is to be powered by a high-speed booster compressor and a high-speed, low-pressure-shaft-driven front gearbox. The engine is slated for certification as an "integrated engine" instead of a traditional "propeller/engine" because of its airframe integration complexity. CFM planned for an aerodynamically three-dimensional rotor with 12 woven carbon-fiber composite blades. Aided by a smaller engine core, the CFM RISE engine would have a bypass ratio of 75.


title: Propfan

text: Turboprops have an optimum speed below about , because propellers lose efficiency at high speed, due to an effect known as wave drag that occurs just below supersonic speeds. This powerful drag has a sudden onset, and it led to the concept of a sound barrier when first encountered in the 1940s. This effect can happen whenever the propeller is spun fast enough that the blade tips approach the speed of sound.


title: Propfan

text: The most effective way to address this problem is by adding blades to the propeller, allowing it to deliver more power at a lower rotational speed. This is why many World War II fighter designs started with two or three-blade propellers but by the end of the war were using up to five blades; as the engines were upgraded, new propellers were needed to more efficiently convert that power. Adding blades makes the propeller harder to balance and maintain, and the additional blades cause minor performance penalties due to drag and efficiency issues. But even with these sorts of measures, eventually the forward speed of the plane combined with the rotational speed of the propeller blade tips (together known as the helical tip speed) will again result in wave drag problems. For most aircraft, this will occur at speeds over about .


title: Propfan

text: A method of decreasing wave drag was discovered by German researchers in 1935—sweeping the wing backwards. Today, almost all aircraft designed to fly much above use a swept wing. Since the inside of the propeller is moving slower in the rotational direction than the outside, the blade is progressively more swept back toward the outside, leading to a curved shape similar to a scimitar - a practice that was first used as far back as 1909, in the Chauvière two-bladed wood propeller used on the Blériot XI. (At the blade root, the blade is actually swept forward into the rotational direction, to counter the twisting that is generated by the backward swept blade tips.) The Hamilton Standard test propfan was swept progressively to a 39-degree maximum at the blade tips, allowing the propfan to produce thrust even though the blades had a helical tip speed of about Mach 1.15.


title: Propfan

text: The blades of the GE36 UDF and the 578-DX have a maximum tip speed in rotation of about , or about half the maximum tip speed for the propeller blades of a conventional turbofan. That maximum blade tip speed would be kept constant despite wider or narrower propeller diameter (resulting in an RPM reduction or increase, respectively).


title: Propfan

text: Drag can also be reduced by making the blades thinner, which increases the speed that the blades can attain before the air ahead of them becomes compressible and causes shock waves. For example, the blades of the Hamilton Standard test propfan had a thickness-to-chord ratio that tapered from less than 20% at the spinner junction to 2% at the tips, and 4% at mid-span. Propfan blades had approximately half the thickness-to-chord ratio of the best conventional propeller blades of the era, thinned to razor-like sharpness at their edges, and weighed as little as . (The GE36 UDF engine that was tested on the Boeing 727 had front and back blades that weighed each.)


title: Propfan

text: One of the major problems with the propfan is noise. The propfan research in the 1980s discovered ways to reduce noise, but at the cost of reduced fuel efficiency, mitigating some of the advantages of a propfan.


title: Propfan

text: General methods for reducing noise include lowering tip speeds and decreasing blade loading, or the amount of thrust per unit of blade surface area. A concept similar to wing loading, blade loading can be reduced by lowering the thrust requirement or by increasing the amount, width, and/or length of the blades. For contra-rotating propfans, which can be louder than turboprops or single-rotating propfans, noise can also be lowered by:


title: Propfan

text: Engine makers expect propfan implementations to meet community (as opposed to cabin) noise regulations without sacrificing the efficiency advantage. Some think that propfans can potentially cause less of a community impact than turbofans, given their lower rotational speeds. Geared propfans should have an advantage over ungeared propfans for the same reason.


title: Propfan

text: In 2007, the Progress D-27 was successfully modified to meet the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Stage 4 regulations, which correspond to International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Chapter 4 standards and were adopted in 2006. A 2012 trade study projected that noise from existing open rotor technology would be 10–13 decibels quieter than the maximum noise level allowed by the Stage 4 regulations; the newer Stage 5 noise limits (which replaced the Stage 4 regulations for larger aircraft in 2018 and mirrored the ICAO Chapter 14 noise standard established in 2014) are more restrictive than the Stage 4 requirement by only seven effective perceived noise decibels (EPNdB), so current propfan technology shouldn't be hindered by the Stage 5 standards. The study also projected that at existing technology levels, open rotors would be nine percent more fuel-efficient but remain 10–12 decibels louder than turbofans. Snecma, however, maintains that open-rotor tests show that its propfan engines would have about the same noise levels as its CFM LEAP turbofan engine, which entered service in 2016.


title: Propfan

text: Further reductions can be achieved by redesigning the aircraft structure to shield noise from the ground. For example, another study estimated that if propfan engines were used to power a hybrid wing body aircraft instead of a conventional tube-and-wing aircraft, noise levels could be reduced by as much as 38 EPNdB compared to ICAO Chapter 4 requirements. In 2007, the British budget airline easyJet introduced its ecoJet concept, a 150-250 seat aircraft with V-mounted open rotor engines joined to the rear fuselage and shielded by a U-tail. It unsuccessfully initiated discussions with Airbus, Boeing, and Rolls-Royce to produce the aircraft.


title: Propfan

text: A twin-engine aircraft carrying 100–150 passengers would require propfan diameters of , and a propfan with a propeller diameter of would theoretically produce almost of thrust. These sizes achieve the desired high bypass ratios of over 30, but they are approximately twice the diameter of turbofan engines of equivalent capability. For this reason, airframers usually design the empennage with a T-tail configuration for aerodynamic purposes, and the propfans may be attached to the upper part of the rear fuselage. For the Rolls-Royce RB3011 propfan prototype, a pylon of about long would be required to connect the center of each engine to the side of the fuselage. If the propfans are mounted to the wings, the wings would be attached to the aircraft in a high wing configuration, which allows for ground clearance without requiring excessively long landing gear. For the same amount of power or thrust produced, an unducted fan requires shorter blades than a geared propfan, although the overall installation issues still apply.


title: Propfan

text: Turboprops and most propfans are rated by the amount of shaft horsepower (shp) that they produce, as opposed to turbofans and the UDF propfan type, which are rated by the amount of thrust they put out. The rule of thumb is that at sea level with a static engine, is roughly equivalent of thrust, but at cruise altitude, that changes to about thrust. That means two engines can theoretically be replaced with a pair of propfans or with two UDF propfans.


title: Balaji Vishwanath

text: Balaji Vishwanath Bhat (1662–1720) was the first of a series of hereditary Peshwas hailing from the Bhat family who gained effective control of the Maratha Empire during the 18th century. Balaji Vishwanath assisted a young Maratha Emperor Shahu to consolidate his grip on a kingdom that had been racked by civil war and persistently intruded on by the Mughals under Aurangzeb. He was called "the Second Founder of the Maratha State". Later, his son Bajirao I became the Peshwa.


title: Balaji Vishwanath

text: Balaji Vishwanath Bhat was born into a Marathi Konkanastha Chitpavan Brahmin family. The family hailed from the coastal Konkan region of present-day Maharashtra and were the hereditary Deshmukh for Shrivardhan under the Siddi of Janjira. He went out in search of employment to the upper regions of western ghats and worked as a mercenary trooper under various Maratha generals. According to Kincaid & Parasnis, Balaji Vishwanath entered the Maratha administration during the reign of Sambhaji or the regency of his brother, Rajaram. Later, he served as an accountant for the Maratha general, Dhanaji Jadhav, at Janjira. Between 1699 and 1702, he served as the "Sar-subhedar" or head-administrator at Pune and from 1704 to 1707 as Sarsubedar of Daulatabad. By the time Dhanaji died, Balaji had proven himself as an honest and able officer. Balaji fell out with Dhanaji's son and successor, Chandrasen Jadhav and went over to the newly released Maratha ruler Shahu who took note of his abilities and appointed Balaji as his assistant ("c."1708).


title: Balaji Vishwanath

text: Next Shahu turned to subdue the Angre clan. Tukoji Angre had commanded Chattrapati Shivaji's navy, and was succeeded in 1690 by his son Kanhoji Angre. Kanhoji received from Tarabai the title of "Sarkhel" or Koli Admiral of the Maratha fleet. The conflict between Tarabai and Shahu offered Kanhoji an opportunity to effectively free himself of the suzerainty of either. He captured the major trading center of Kalyan and the neighboring forts of Rajmachi and Lohgad. Shahu sent a large force under his "Peshwa" or Prime Minister, Bahiroji Pingale. Kanhoji defeated Pingale and imprisoned him at Lohagad, and started to advance towards Shahu's capital Satara. Shahu commanded Balaji again to raise another army to subdue Kanhoji. Balaji preferred the path of negotiation and was appointed as Shahu's plenipotentiary to negotiate with the admiral. Balaji and Kanhoji met at Lonavala. The newly appointed Peshwa appealed to the old sailor's patriotism for the Maratha cause. Angre agreed to become the "Sarkhel" (admiral) of Shahu's navy with control of the Konkan. Balaji and Angre then jointly attacked the Muslim Siddis of Janjira. Their combined forces captured most of the Konkan coast, including Balaji's birthplace of Shrivardhan, which became part of the Angre fiefdom. Delighted with Balaji's success, Shahu dismissed Bahiroji Pingale and appointed Balaji Vishwanath as Peshwa on 16 November 1713.


title: Balaji Vishwanath

text: There existed a power vacuum in the Mughal empire, caused by the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, and that of his successor Bahadur Shah, leading to continual internecine conflict within the imperial family and the leading Mughal grandees. Farrukhsiyar came to the throne in 1713 with the help of the two powerful nobles, Sayyid Hussain Ali Khan and Sayyid Abdullah Khan. Claiming descent from the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, the Sayyid Brothers had turned king-makers in the Mughal court. Soon after, differences arose between them and the Emperor Farruksiyar. And while the Mughals were intriguing in the civil war between the factions of Shahu and Tarabai, the Marathas themselves became a major factor in the quarrels between the Emperor and the Sayyids.


title: Balaji Vishwanath

text: To rid himself of the tutelage of the Sayyids in 1718, Farrukhsiyar dispatched Sayyid Hussain Ali Khan as Viceroy of the Deccan with orders to restore Mughal authority over the south. Farrukhsiyar sought the patronage of Marathas, which by then had conquered most of India and were planning to dispose of the Mughal throne in Delhi. Hussain Ali Khan found himself harried by the Marathas who resorted to their traditional guerilla tactics. Unable to defeat the Marathas in a pitched battle and weary of chasing after constantly marauding Maratha horsemen, Hussain Ali Khan sought to make peace with the Marathas.


title: Balaji Vishwanath

text: In July 1718, Balaji negotiated a Maratha-Mughal treaty with Hussain Ali Khan, demanding the Maratha right of ""Chauth"" (literally: 1/4th of revenues) and ""Sardeshmukhi"" (an additional 10% of revenues) of the old Mughal provinces of the Deccan. To this Balaji Vishwanath added the demand of Chauth and Sardeshmukhi over the rich provinces of Gujarat and Malwa, and the restoration of Chattrapati Shivaji's conquests in Karnataka, in return for which Balaji promised that Shahu would acknowledge the nominal overlordship of the Mughal Emperor, and the Marathas would provide a force of 15,000 armed horsemen to the Mughal Empire.To these demands, Sayyid Hussain Ali Khan readily agreed, with a view to utilize the Maratha soldiers to their advantage in their struggle with the Emperor.


title: Balaji Vishwanath

text: Farrukhsiyar refused to ratify this treaty and sought to depose and murder the Sayyids.The plot was betrayed to Sayyid Abdullah Khan who was in Delhi, who succeeded in neutralizing other powerful Mughal nobles like Asaf Jah I (also known as Chin Qilich Khan and Nizam-ul-Mulk) and Sarbuland Khan (governor of Patna) with promises of rich governorships of Malwa and Kabul respectively. In September 1718, accompanied by Balaji Vishwanath and supported by (now) sixteen thousand strong Maratha horsemen commanded by the gallant Parsoji Bhosale Hussain Ali Khan arrived in Delhi. Most of Farrukhsiyar's supporters fled but the Emperor's partisans resisted but were overcome at the cost of two thousand Maratha soldiers.


title: Balaji Vishwanath

text: Farrukhsiyar was dethroned, blinded and imprisoned by the Sayyid's, who substituted in his place a more pliable puppet, Rafi-ul-darjat in February 1719. This hapless prince was dying of tuberculosis and was in turn replaced after a reign of only three months by his older brother Rafi Ud-Daulah.) Rafi-ul-Darjat duly ratified the Maratha treaty.Shahu and his successors were recognized by the Mughal Emperors as the rightful heirs to Chattrapati Shivaji. The Mughals became a puppet government of Marathas and gave a quarter of their total revenue as Chauth and additional 10% for their protection.


title: Balaji Vishwanath

text: Shahu I wanted to establish his rule in the Northern part of Kolhapur territory. After he defeated Shivaji II of Kolhapur in 1714, Sambhaji II son of Rajasbai became the Chhatrapati of Kolhapur. He ruled his territory with the advice of the Ramchandra Pant Amatya. In 1716, Ramchandra Pant died in Panhala. Now, Sambhaji began to raid the territory of Shahu with the help of Udaji Chavan and Yashwantrao Thorat. The Shirol was under Chavan and the Ashta, Yelvi, Walwa and the jagir in Warana valleys was under Yashwantrao.


title: Balaji Vishwanath

text: After Balaji Vishwanath returned from Delhi with imperial "sanads", he decided to march against Sambhaji. He captured Ashta, Yelvi and other villages in the Warana valley, and went on to attack Panhala. At that time Yashwantrao Thorat was in Bijapur territory. He got the news that Balaji Vishwanath captured his jagir in Warana valley and went to attack on Panhala fort. He immediately took some troops with him and went towards Panhala fort. The forces of Peshwa Balaji and Yashwantrao came in front of each other near Panhala fort. This battle was fought in 1719. Yashwantrao Thorat was defeated and killed in the battle. This battle is known as 'Battle of Panhala'.


title: Balaji Vishwanath

text: Balaji returned in triumph from Delhi to Satara, having also secured the release after decades of Mughal captivity, the mother (Yesubai), wife (Savitribai) and half-brother (Madan Singh) of Shahu. Weary from his labors and the tiresome journey back from the imperial capital, Balaji Vishwanath's health began to fail. In October 1719 he obtained leave from Shahu to retire to the village of Saswad near Pune that had been granted by Shahu to the Peshwa. Balaji Vishwanath died on 12 April 1720. He was succeeded by his elder son, the celebrated Baji Rao I, who was appointed "Peshwa" by Chattrapati Shahu.


title: Balaji Vishwanath

text: Balaji Vishwanath also laid the foundation for the complex administrative system of the Marathas that held sway for a century after his death. The Maratha tax collection system from a wide swathe of nominally Mughal provinces was based on a widespread network of agents and collectors. "To it as much as to their victories in the field the Marathas owed the spread of their empire". The mechanism of revenue collected was supported by credit facilities from established banking families.


title: Balaji Vishwanath

text: Balaji married Radhabai Barve and had two sons, Baji Rao I and Chimaji Appa. He also had two daughters. The older, Bhiubai married Abaji Joshi of Baramati, brother of the banker Balaji Naik famed as Bajirao I's most tormenting creditor. The younger, Anubai married Venkatrao Ghorpade of Ichalkaranji. Their heirs ruled the state of Ichalkaranji till 1947.


title: Balaji Vishwanath

text: A statue of Balaji Vishwanath stands at his ancestral village of Shrivardhan near Raigad, Maharashtra.


title: Sleeve garter

text: A sleeve garter is a garter worn on the sleeve of a shirt. It came into wide use, especially in the US, in the latter half of the 19th century when men's ready-made shirts came in a single (extra long) sleeve length. Sleeve garters allow individuals to customize sleeve lengths and keep their cuffs from becoming soiled while working or at the correct length when worn under a jacket.


title: Sleeve garter

text: While a century ago this item of clothing was something a man may have worn regardless of profession (with the possible exception of the wealthy or those too well-dressed to wear non-tailored shirts), today sleeve garters are usually seen in relation to one of the following contexts.


title: Sleeve garter

text: According to jazz historian Al Rose, the popular image of an early 20th-century saloon pianist being flashily dressed with arm garters was inspired by the way Tony Jackson used to dress while performing.


title: Sleeve garter

text: Today, sleeve garters are part of the costume of poker dealers and other card dealers in casinos. While this is widely understood to make it more difficult for the dealer to cheat by concealing a card in his sleeve, the sleeve garter is usually accompanied by a vest and bow tie (and sometimes a visor) suggesting that this usage, might hark back to late 19th and early 20th centuries fashion at least as much as it serves a real purpose.


title: Sleeve garter

text: The sleeve garter is often seen in modern depictions of the Old West, not only on musicians and gamblers but on the stereotypical well-dressed gunslinger. In this case, the suggestion may be that the sleeve garter facilitates freedom of movement and aids in gunslingers' ability to quick draw.


title: Sleeve garter

text: Today, the sleeve garter sometimes accessorizes the costumes of rodeo participants. A small ornamental plate called a "concho", typically depicting an Old West motif, may be attached to the garter.


title: Sleeve garter

text: "Day Dreaming Bookkeeper", Norman Rockwell's 1924 illustration, shows an accountant wearing a vest, a visor, a bowtie and very narrow sleeve garters. While the fellow is probably meant to be seen as old-fashioned in his dress, the presence of sleeve garters in this picture may indicate that men who worked with papers and ink sometimes wore sleeve garters up until the second quarter of the 20th century.


title: Male dominance (BDSM)

text: Practices of domination common to many BDSM and other various sexual relationships are also prevalent, such as various forms of body worship, cock and ball worship, ass worship, fellatio, foot worship; tease and denial; corporal punishment including spanking, breast torture, caning, whipping; orgasm denial; and as well as verbal humiliation, face slapping, hair pulling, dripping hot wax on the genitals, spitting, golden showers, "forced" chastity, and irrumatio.


title: Male dominance (BDSM)

text: A 1995 study indicated that 71% of heterosexual males preferred a dominant-initiator role, but a more recent study from 2015 indicates that only 29.5% of men who are active in BDSM express a preference for a dominant role, 24% consider themselves to be switches and 46.6% of men prefer the submissive role.


title: Male dominance (BDSM)

text: Maledom scenarios are common in BDSM fiction, including works such as the "Story of O" and the works of John Norman and Adrian Hunter. Maledom is a growing adult film genre.


title: Male dominance (BDSM)

text: Maledom fiction began with the works of the Marquis de Sade who wrote about sexual scenarios in which men tortured others, primarily women. The term "sadism" is derived from de Sade's name. Since then, the lifestyle around male dominance has grown into a large part of the BDSM scene.


title: Male dominance (BDSM)

text: The "Fifty Shades" novel series by E. L. James are some of the most widely read BDSM-themed novels of our time.


title: Continental Basketball Association

text: The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) (originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association) was a men's professional basketball minor league in the United States from 1946 to 2009.


title: Continental Basketball Association

text: The Continental Basketball Association was founded on April 23, 1946 under its previous name, the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League. It billed itself as the "World's Oldest Professional Basketball League"; its founding pre-dated the founding of the National Basketball Association by two months. The league fielded six franchises – five in Pennsylvania (Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton, Allentown, Lancaster, and Reading) – with a sixth team in New York (Binghamton, which moved in mid-season to Pottsville, Pennsylvania). In 1948, the league was renamed the Eastern Professional Basketball League. Over the years it would add franchises in several other Pennsylvania cities, including Williamsport, Scranton, and Sunbury, as well as teams in New Jersey (Trenton, Camden, Asbury Park), Connecticut (New Haven, Hartford, Bridgeport), Delaware (Wilmington) and Massachusetts (Springfield).


title: Continental Basketball Association

text: From the 1940s through the 1960s, many NBA teams had unofficial quotas on the number of black players on their teams. Many players joined other professional leagues, including the EPBL. The league was fast and physical, often played in tiny, smoke-filled gyms across the Northeast and featuring the best players who just couldn’t make the NBA—many because of the quotas.


title: Continental Basketball Association

text: Following the lead of the 1961–63 American Basketball League in adding a three-point line, the Eastern League added a three-point line for its 1964–65 season. Although three-point shots during the 1960s were few and far between, the Eastern League developed several scorers who used the three-point shot to their advantage.


title: Continental Basketball Association

text: For the 1970–71 season, the league rebranded itself the Eastern Basketball Association, operating both as a professional Northeastern regional league and as an unofficial feeder system to the NBA and ABA. The CBA's first commissioner was Harry Rudolph (father of NBA referee Mendy Rudolph). Steve A. Kauffman, currently a basketball agent, succeeded Rudolph as commissioner in 1975. Kauffman executed a plan to bring the Anchorage Northern Knights into the league beginning with the 1977–78 season. Kauffman kept the league name because he felt having a team in the Eastern League from Alaska might get the league additional notice and recognition. The establishment of the Anchorage franchise garnered national media attention, including a feature story in "Sports Illustrated".


title: Continental Basketball Association

text: Kauffman served as commissioner until 1978, when his deputy commissioner, Jim Drucker, took the reins. Drucker's eight-season reign was the longest in the league's history. Drucker (son of Norm Drucker, another top NBA referee) continued as commissioner until 1986.


title: Continental Basketball Association

text: As commissioner, the league was renamed the Continental Basketball Association in 1978, eventually leading to expansion across the country.


title: Continental Basketball Association

text: During Drucker's term, the league expanded from 8 to 14 teams, landed its first national TV contracts and saw franchise values increase from $5,000 to $500,000 (an aggregate increase in equity value from $24,000 to $7 million). The league instituted novel rule changes including sudden-death overtime, a no foul-out rule and a change in the way league standings were determined. Under the "7-Point System", seven points were awarded each game: three points for winning a game and one point for every quarter a team won. As a result, a winning team would wind up with four to seven points in the standings, while a losing team could collect from zero to three points. This made for at least some fan interest even in the late stages of games that were otherwise blowouts; the trailing team could still get a standings point by winning the final quarter, especially if the team that was leading chose to rest some or all of its starters. The league used this method to calculate division standings from its implementation in 1983 until the league's end in 2009.


title: Continental Basketball Association

text: After Darryl Dawkins shattered two basketball backboards during his 1979–80 NBA season, the CBA with the consultation of the NBA installed "collapsible rims" on its baskets. The design was chosen from 10 prototypes. Several college basketball players were asked to try to break the rims and the three best designs were tested in the CBA. When force was placed on these spring-loaded rims, the rim would sprng down and then safely snap back in place. The NBA and CBA adopted the best of the three models for the 1981–82 season.


title: Continental Basketball Association

text: Also during this time, the CBA created a series of halftime promotions. The most successful was the "1 Million Dollar CBA Supershot". In an era where the typical basketball halftime promotion, even in NCAA Division I and the NBA, would feature a winning prize worth less than $100, the CBA's Supershot (created in 1983) offered a grand prize of $1 million if a randomly selected fan could hit one shot from the far foul line, . No one won the insured prize, but the shot attracted national media coverage in "Sports Illustrated", "The New York Times" and "The Sporting News". In 1985, the CBA followed with the "Ton-of-Money Free Throw", which featured a prize of of pennies ($5,000) if a randomly selected fan could make just one free throw. Two of fourteen contestants were successful. The next year, the league featured the "Easy Street Shootout". In that shootout, 14 contestants (one from each CBA city), were selected and the person making the longest shot won a $1,000,000 zero-coupon bond. The winner was Don Mattingly (no relation to the New York Yankee baseball player), representing the Evansville Thunder. Finally, after the league's 1985 All-Star Game in Casper, Wyoming, the CBA invited fans to make a paper airplane from the centerfold of their game program (each identified with a unique serial number) and attempt to throw the paper airplane through the moon roof of a new Ford Thunderbird parked mid-court. Four fans were successful and a tie-breaker determined the winner who drove home with the new $17,000 car.


title: Continental Basketball Association

text: In 1984, the CBA signed a cable television contract with Black Entertainment Television (BET) with 10 CBA games televised on a tape delay. For national media attention, the league created the "CBA Sportscaster Contest" to select a color commentator for its BET telecasts. With tryouts nationwide, the promotion was featured on the "NBC Nightly News", "Entertainment Tonight", in "Sports Illustrated" and other media. The contest was won by a NJ high school basketball coach, Bill Lange. In an interesting twist, years later Lange coached the Philadelphia Spirit minor-league team in the United States Basketball League.


title: Continental Basketball Association

text: After two tape-delayed seasons on BET, CBA games moved to ESPN, with 13 games televised live. ESPN sportscaster Bob Ley did the play-by-play and former NBA player and coach Kevin Loughery provided the color. Drucker left as Commissioner, and his TV production company, Global Sports, produced the ESPN telecasts.


title: Continental Basketball Association

text: In August 1999, the CBA's teams were purchased by an investment group led by former NBA star Isiah Thomas. The group bought all of the individually owned franchises of the CBA, in a $10 million acquisition. Over the course of the next 18 months, Thomas was faced with a plethora of business troubles, losing the league’s partnership with the NBA and ultimately abandoning the league into a blind trust that left teams unable to meet payroll or pay bills. The combined-ownership plan was unsuccessful and, by 2001, the CBA had declared bankruptcy and ceased operations; it folded on February 8, 2001 without managing to complete the 2000–01 season.


title: Continental Basketball Association

text: Before the 2000–01 season, the CBA signed a television contract with BET to broadcast up to 18 games, including the CBA All-Star Game, although the CBA folded midway through the season. Several of its teams briefly joined the now-defunct International Basketball League.


title: Continental Basketball Association

text: In fall 2001, CBA and IBL teams merged with the International Basketball Association and purchased the assets of the defunct CBA (including its name, logo and records) from the bankruptcy trustee and resumed operations as the CBA, assuming the former league's identity and history. The league obtained eight new franchises (for a total of ten) for the 2006 season. The Atlanta Krunk Wolverines and Vancouver Dragons deferred their participation until the 2007–2008 season and the Utah Eagles folded on January 25, 2007. The CBA's 2007–08 season began with 10 franchises, the greatest number of teams to start a CBA season since the 2000–01 season. In addition to six returning franchises the CBA added three expansion teams – the Oklahoma Cavalry, the Rio Grande Valley Silverados and East Kentucky Miners; the Atlanta Krunk joined the league after sitting out the 2006–07 season.


title: Continental Basketball Association

text: The 2008–2009 season began with only four teams, instead of the expected five. The Pittsburgh Xplosion folded under unclear circumstances, and the league scheduled games against American Basketball Association (ABA) teams for the first month of the season in an attempt to stay solvent. The maneuver was not enough. On February 2, 2009, the league announced a halt to operations, turning a scheduled series between the Albany Patroons and Lawton-Fort Sill Cavalry into the league-championship series.


title: Continental Basketball Association

text: During the 1946–47 Eastern League season, the Hazleton Mountaineers had three African-American players on their roster during the season – Bill Brown, Zack Clayton and John Isaacs. Isaacs previously played with an all-black touring squad (the Washington Bears), while Brown and Clayton were alumni of the Harlem Globetrotters. During the 1955–56 season, the Hazleton Hawks Eastern League team was the first integrated professional league franchise with an all-black starting lineup: Tom Hemans, Jesse Arnelle, Fletcher Johnson, Sherman White and Floyd Lane. The all-black Dayton Rens competed in the 1948–49 National Basketball League.


title: Continental Basketball Association

text: During the early years of the CBA (when it was known as the EPBL), the league's relationship with the NBA was frosty at best. The NBA would send several players to the Eastern League for extra playing time, and for several seasons two Eastern League teams would play the opening game of a New Year's Eve doubleheader at Madison Square Garden (with the NBA playing the nightcap game). Although the NBA played exhibition games with the Eastern League during the late 1940s and early 1950s the exhibition games ceased in 1954, when the Eastern League signed several college basketball players involved in point-shaving gambling scandals during their college years (including Jack Molinas, Sherman White, Floyd Layne and Al Roth). The Eastern League also signed 7-foot center Bill Spivey, the former University of Kentucky standout who was accused of point-shaving (although Spivey was acquitted of all charges, the NBA still banned him from the league for life).


title: Continental Basketball Association

text: After a few seasons, however, the NBA and EPBL resumed exhibition games in the 1950s (including a 1956 matchup in which the NBA's Syracuse Nationals lost to the EPBL's Wilkes-Barre Barons at Wilkes-Barre's home court). Other EPBL-NBA exhibition matchups include an October 1959 contest in which the New York Knicks defeated the Allentown Jets 131–102 at Allentown; and a contest in April 1961, in which the Boston Celtics also played an exhibition contest against Allentown (defeating the Eastern Leaguers soundly). The Eastern League became a haven for players who wanted to play professionally, but were barred from the NBA because of academic restrictions. Even though Ray Scott had left the University of Portland two months after his matriculation, the NBA could not sign Scott to a contract until Scott's class graduated. The EPBL, however, could sign him and Scott played 77 games for the Allentown Jets before later joining the NBA's Detroit Pistons.


title: Continental Basketball Association

text: By the 1967–68 season, the Eastern League lost many of its players when the upstart American Basketball Association formed. Players such as Lavern "Jelly" Tart, Willie Somerset, Art Heyman and Walt Simon (all of whom were all-stars in the Eastern League a year before) were now in ABA uniforms. The ABA continued to siphon off NBA and Eastern League players, leaving the Eastern League with only six teams in 1972 and four teams in 1975. Only the ABA-NBA merger in June 1976 kept the Eastern League alive, as an influx of players from defunct ABA teams joined the league.


title: Continental Basketball Association

text: In 1979, the NBA signed four players from the newly renamed CBA. The CBA, receiving no compensation from the NBA for these signings, sued the NBA. The suit was settled and in exchange for the right to sign any CBA player at any time, the NBA paid the CBA $115,000; it also paid the CBA $80,000 to develop NBA referees in the CBA. During this time, the NBA created the "10-day-contract", where an NBA could sign a CBA player for 10 days, at the "pro rata" NBA minimum salary (as per the NBA's collective bargaining agreement). The NBA team could re-sign him to a second 10-day contract. After the second 10-day contract, the team had to either return the player to his CBA team or sign him for the balance of the NBA regular season. The CBA teams, in turn, received compensation for each 10-day contract.


title: Continental Basketball Association

text: By 1980, the CBA had become the official development league of the NBA. CBA teams had exclusive rights to players released by their NBA affiliated teams. NBA teams could sign players from any CBA team. By 1986, 54 former CBA players were playing in the NBA.


title: Continental Basketball Association

text: During the 1993-94 season, the NBA–CBA affiliate relationship was replaced by an annual draft of NBA players. The draft gave CBA teams exclusive negotiating rights with NBA players in the event of their release from an NBA roster. The CBA team would own exclusive rights to the draftee in perpetuity.


title: Continental Basketball Association

text: During the 1980s and 1990s, the NBA's relationship with the CBA grew to the point where dozens of former CBA stars found their way onto NBA rosters, including Tim Legler (Omaha Racers), Mario Elie (Albany Patroons), and John Starks (Cedar Rapids Silver Bullets). The CBA also sent qualified coaches to the NBA, including Phil Jackson (Albany Patroons), Bill Musselman (Tampa Bay Thrillers), Eric Musselman (Rapid City Thrillers), Flip Saunders (LaCrosse Catbirds) and George Karl (Montana Golden Nuggets). In 2001, the NBA formed its own minor league, the National Basketball Development League (the NBDL or "D-League"). At the end of the 2005–2006 season, three current and one expansion CBA franchise jumped to the NBDL. During the 2006–07 season no players were called up from the CBA to the NBA, ending a streak of over 30 seasons of at least one call-up per year. That would soon lead to the beginning of the end for the CBA.


title: Continental Basketball Association

text: In 1987 the CBA announced that they would allow teams to sign players banned for drug use by the NBA. Mitchell Wiggins, who was suspended by the NBA for cocaine use, was one of the first players signed in the CBA under the new rule that was implemented in conjunction with the NBA and NBA Players Association.


title: Continental Basketball Association

text: The CBA followed largely the same basketball rules as the NBA and most other professional leagues. Sometimes rules adopted by the CBA on an experimental basis later became permanent in that league and were adopted by other levels of basketball as well; others remained unique to the CBA. From 1978 through 1986, CBA commissioner Jim Drucker created several new rules to raise fan interest, which were then adopted by the league:


title: Continental Basketball Association

text: The CBA established a draft in 1985, following the reduction operated that year by the NBA to its draft which brought it from 10 rounds to 7. This allowed the CBA teams to have a wider selection of players: the selection criteria were the same as the NBA draft. As for the NBA draft, players had to renounce their college eligibility if they wanted to declare early. While initially the draft was limited to players who were not drafted in the NBA, this later changed, and on several occasions players were drafted by both the NBA and the CBA. Some examples include Nick Van Exel (1993, Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA and Rapid City Thrillers of the CBA), Dontonio Wingfield (1994, Seattle SuperSonics and Rapid City Thrillers), Stephen Jackson (1997, Phoenix Suns and La Crosse Bobcats), and Jason Hart (2000, Milwaukee Bucks and Idaho Stampede).


title: Continental Basketball Association

text: CBA franchises usually selected players who had the higher chance to sign for them instead of signing overseas or in the NBA, even though some teams used their picks in the later rounds to select players who were likely to be drafted in the NBA, in the event these players were cut in the preseason. Some teams also used their picks for publicity: for example, Cheryl Miller, a female player who played for USC in college, was selected by the Rockford Lightning with the 57 pick in the 1986 CBA draft; in the 1994 CBA draft Mexican soccer player Jorge Campos was drafted by the Mexico Aztecas, despite his ineligibility. In 1997, Lamar Odom, then a highly recruited high school prospect, was given the opportunity to enter the CBA draft and choose the team he wanted to play for, reversing the traditional drafting process; Odom, however, decided not to hire an agent and opted to play in college.


title: Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star

text: The Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star was an American airborne early warning and control radar surveillance aircraft operational in the 1950s in both the United States Navy (USN) and United States Air Force (USAF).


title: Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star

text: The military version of the Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation was used to serve as an airborne early warning system to supplement the Distant Early Warning Line, using two large radomes (a vertical dome above and a horizontal one below the fuselage). It replaced the TBM-3W used by the USN. Some EC-121s were also used for signal intelligence gathering. The EC-121 was introduced in 1954 and phased out in 1978, although a single specially modified EW aircraft remained in USN service until 1982.


title: Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star

text: The USN versions when initially procured were designated WV-1 (PO-1W), WV-2, and WV-3. The USAF Warning Stars served during the Vietnam War both as electronic sensor monitors and as a forerunner to the Boeing E-3 Sentry AWACS. USAF aircrews adopted its civil nickname, "Connie" (diminutive of Constellation) as reference, USN aircrews used the nickname "Willie Victor".


title: Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star

text: Since 1943, the Lockheed Constellation had been in USAAF service as the C-69. The use of the Constellation by the USN for patrol and airborne early warning duties was first investigated in 1949, when the USN acquired two Lockheed L-749 Constellations. First flown on 9 June 1949, the PO-1W carried large, long-range radars in massive radomes above and below the fuselage. As the radomes possessed considerably more side area, the vertical stabilizers of the PO-1W had to be enlarged. After the PO-1W (redesignated WV-1 in 1952) had proved that operating large radars on aircraft was possible, the USN ordered the WV-2 based on the L-1049 Super Constellation. The WV-1s were transferred to the Federal Aviation Agency in 1958–1959.


title: Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star

text: The WV-2/EC-121D was initially fitted with a dorsal AN/APS-45 height finder and a ventral AN/APS-20 search radar. These were later upgraded to AN/APS-103 and AN/APS-95 radars, although not simultaneously. The crew commonly numbered 18, six officers (two pilots, two navigators, and two weapons controllers) and 12 enlisted (two flight engineers, one radio operator, two crew chiefs, five radar operators, and two radar technicians). However, when North Korea shot down a Navy EC-121 in 1969, a crew of 31 was on board.


title: Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star

text: Orders were placed totaling 142 PO-2W Constellations based on the Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation, with deliveries beginning in 1953. The PO-2W was redesignated WV-2 in 1954. In 1962, with standardization of aircraft designations within the Department of Defense, the WV-2 then became the EC-121K. In total, 13 of these were converted to WV-2Q electronic intelligence (ELINT) aircraft (becoming EC-121M in 1962). Nine were converted to WV-3 weather reconnaissance aircraft (WC-121N in 1962). The EC-121K was also operated by Training Squadron 86 (VT-86) at NAS Glynco, Georgia, for training of student naval flight officers destined to fly both the EC-121 and the Grumman E-2 Hawkeye. At NAS Glynco's closure, VT-86 transferred to NAS Pensacola, Florida, in 1973, the squadron's last EC-121 was also flown to NAS Pensacola, being stored in the collection of the National Museum of Naval Aviation, where it still remains. A single aircraft became an NC-121K, the electronic warfare variant assigned to Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 33 (VAQ-33) at NAS Key West, Florida. The aircraft was the last EC-121 in operational service, flying until 25 June 1982.


title: Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star

text: The USAF received 10 RC-121C and 74 EC-121D Warning Stars also based on the L-1049, beginning with diversions from the Navy contracts in October 1953. The 10 RC-121Cs became trainers, designated TC-121C. Between 1966 and 1969, 30 retired USN EC-121s were transferred to USAF and converted in EC-121Rs as sensor-monitoring aircraft. Of the 74 EC-121s, 42 were converted to the EC-121H upgrade beginning in 1962, and in 1969, 15 of the remaining EC-121Ds and seven of the EC-121Hs were further upgraded into the final operational variant, the EC-121T, serving as an AWACS prototype in Southeast Asia in 1972. Five EC-121Ds were modified to be broadcasting aircraft for psychological warfare operations, the predecessors of the EC-130 Commando Solo.


title: Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star

text: WV-2s, redesignated EC-121s in 1962, served from 1954 to 1965 in two "barrier" forces, one off each coast of the North American continent. The barrier forces consisted of five surface picket stations each manned by radar destroyer escorts and an air wing of WV-2s/EC-121s that patrolled the picket lines at 1,000–4,000 m (3,000–12,000 ft) altitude in 6- to 20-hour missions. Their objective was to extend early warning coverage against surprise Soviet bomber and missile attacks as an extension of the DEW Line.


title: Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star

text: In April 1954, the first Lockheed Super Constellation (Model 1049C), WV-2 BuNo. 128323, was received at NAS Barbers Point by Airborne Early Warning Squadron One (VW-1).


title: Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star

text: The Atlantic Barrier (BARLANT) consisted of two rotating squadron detachments sourced from AEW Squadron Thrteen (VW-13) and AEW Squadron Fifteen (VW-15) from NAS Patuxent River, Maryland and one squadron, AEW Squadron Eleven (VW-11), permanently based at Naval Station Argentia, Newfoundland. Their mission was to fly orbits to the Azores and back. An additional AEW training unit was based at NAS Patuxent River for training flight crews and maintenance personnel.


title: Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star

text: BARLANT became operational on 1 July 1956, and flew continuous coverage until early 1965. The barrier was shifted to cover the approaches between Greenland, Iceland, and the United Kingdom (GIUK) barrier in June 1961. Aircraft from Argentia were staged through NAS Keflavik, Iceland, to extend coverage times.


title: Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star

text: The Pacific Barrier (BARPAC) received the first operational AEW squadron, Airborne Early Warning Squadron One (VW-1) and the first EC-121K aircraft. AEW Squadron Three followed with AEW Squadrons Twelve, Fourteen, and Sixteen. In January 1958 VW-1 and VW-3 relocated to NAS Agana, Guam, M.I. where VW-1 continued its AEW commitments and VW-3 operational commitment was divided between AEW and weather. BARPAC became operational with AEW Squadron Twelve (VW-12) based at NAS Barbers Point, Hawaii, operating from a deployment base at NAS Midway on 1 July 1958 and later expanded to include AEW Squadrons Fourteen (VW-14) and Sixteen (VW-16). Their orbits overlapped the radar picket stations of the ships of Escort Squadron Seven, from roughly Adak Island to Midway. Normally, five WV-2s/EC-121s were required at any single time to provide coverage over the entire line.


title: Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star

text: The Hawaiian barrier force operations were discontinued by September 1965, and their EC-121K aircraft were placed in storage. However, VW-1 continued operating until 1972, flying weather ops and supplying AEW to naval forces in the Gulf of Tonkin. USN C-121, EC-121, WC-12,1 and NC-121 operations continued until 1975 in seven other squadrons and until 1982 in an eighth. Some EC-121s were used in Vietnam, mirroring USAF EC-121 missions, but orbiting the Gulf of Tonkin, as that was the USN's assigned area.


title: Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star

text: Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron One (VQ-1) and Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron Two (VQ-2) operated EC-121M ELINT gathering aircraft at NAF Atsugi, Japan, and Naval Station Rota, Spain, respectively, until they transitioned to the EP-3B Orion and EP-3E Aries aircraft.


title: Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star

text: Weather Reconnaissance Squadron Four (VW-4) operated WV-3-"cum"-WC-121s between 1954 and 1975 as Hurricane Hunters, with its primary base at NAS Jacksonville, Florida, and a forward base at Naval Station Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico. Its Pacific counterpart, Weather Reconnaissance Squadron Three (VW-3) Typhoon Trackers was the operational weather squadron in the Pacific, flying from NAS Agana, Guam, tracking typhoons from 1955 to 1960. On June 30, 1960 Weather Reconnaissance Squadron Three, VW-3, disbanded and many of its aircraft (8 - BuNo. 145 series) and crews were absorbed by VW-1, which retained AEW designation and took on the weather commitments and the Title of "Typhoon Trackers" of VW-3. VW-4 later transitioned to WP-3A Orion.


title: Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star

text: Also operating C-121 and EC-121 aircraft was Oceanographic Development Squadron Eight (VXN-8) at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, which employed the aircraft for specific projects (e.g., Project BIRDSEYE, MAGNET, ASWEPS etc.) for the Office of Naval Research until they were replaced by RP-3A and RP-3D Orion aircraft. VXN-8 also operated four additional NC-121 aircraft called the "Blue Eagles". These specially modified aircraft were equipped with complete radio and television transmitting equipment and studios for simultaneous broadcast of American and Vietnamese television and radio programs prior to the installation of ground stations during the Vietnam War. The aircraft flew nightly 7 days per week broadcasting such American TV programs as "Combat", "Have Gun-Will Travel", and "Gunsmoke", along with other popular programs of the time in addition to Vietnamese programs recorded prior to each flight . Nightly American news broadcasts were transmitted live usng an onboard TV studio and an Air Force newscaster bringing the latest news from home and the world. The "Blue Eagles" operated out of Saigon and Danang Air Bases for around 5 years commencing in 1965.


title: Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star

text: Air Development Squadron Six (VX-6, based at NAS Quonset Point, Rhode Island, also operated R7V aircraft, redesignated C-121J, in support of United States Antarctic Program operations until replaced by LC-130F Hercules aircraft.


title: Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star

text: The EC-121 was also operated by Training Squadron 86 (VT-86) at NAS Glynco, Georgia, for training student naval flight officers destined for the E-2 Hawkeye and by Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 33 (VAQ-33) for the Fleet Electronic Warfare Systems Group (FEWSG) at NAS Norfolk, Virginia, and later, following a squadron homeport change, at NAS Key West, Florida. At the time of its retirement on June 25, 1982, VAQ-33's NC-121K aircraft, Buno 141292 was the last NC-121K and the last of its type operated by the USN.


title: Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star

text: The USAF operated EC-121s between 1954 and 1978, with three wings at maximum employment and three independent squadrons as operations wound down. Until the Vietnam War, their primary mission was to provide complementary early warning radar coverage to the Pacific and Atlantic barriers by flying orbits 300 miles offshore from the continental United States in what were termed "contiguous barriers". The coverage orbits overlapped those of land-based early warning radars.


title: Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star

text: Initial deployment of EC-121Cs began with 551st Airborne Early Warning and Control Wing, based at Otis Air Force Base, Massachusetts. Operational on 21 December 1954, 551st AEWCW subsequently upgraded to EC-121D and later EC-121H Warning Stars.


title: Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star

text: Its Pacific counterpart was 552d Airborne Early Warning and Control Wing (AEWCW), based at McClellan Air Force Base, California, becoming operational on 1 July 1955. After the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, 552nd AEWCW also had administrative control of the 966th AEWCS, based at McCoy Air Force Base, Florida. The 966th had a dual mission - monitoring activity in Cuban airspace and flying Gold Digger missions (continuous tracks of U-2 surveillance missions).


title: Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star

text: The third air wing to operate EC-121s was 553rd Reconnaissance Wing, a Vietnam war organization activated in 1967 and based in Thailand until inactivation in 1970 (See BatCat below). In 1966, Lockheed modified 30 ex-USN Super Constellations (two EC-121P/WV-3 and 28 EC-121K/WV-2) aircraft to EC-121Rs for the specialized reconnaissance mission flown by the 553rd. Aircraft were delivered during the course of 1967. The 553rd RW flew over land and off the coast of Vietnam, over Laos and Cambodia, monitoring and retransmitting low-power signals. Usually, they orbited the Ho Chi Minh Trail in 8-hour shifts. As it was expensive to operate and it exposed a large crew to enemy fire, it was replaced in December 1970 by the much smaller (and eventually unmanned drone) QU-22 Pave Eagle sensor monitor.