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Airsoft

Airsoft, also known as survival game (サバイバルゲーム) in Japan where it was popular, is a team-based shooting game in which participants eliminate opposing players out of play by shooting them with spherical plastic projectiles shot from airsoft guns.

Although similar to paintball in concept and gameplay, airsoft pellets do not leave visible markings on their target and hits are not always apparent. Though the pellet impacts can leave small bruises or welts on exposed skin (and so protective gear is still recommended), the game relies heavily on an honor system in which players who have been hit are expected to call themselves out of play in keeping with honesty and sportsmanship.

The airsoft guns used are mostly magazine-fed, with some having manual/battery motor-powered spring-piston pump power plants similar to Nerf Blasters, or pneumatically powered by replaceable compressed gas (e.g. propane ("green gas"), 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane or CO2) canisters. Many airsoft guns also have mounting platforms compatible with genuine firearm accessories, and most cosmetically resemble real firearms. This makes them popular for military simulation and historical reenactments. There are also professional gun safety and weapon manipulation training conducted with airsoft in some fields, such as law enforcement training, due to better safety and lower cost. The United States Coast Guard, for instance, officially adopted airsoft for training in 2018.

Airsoft gameplay varies in style and composition, but often ranges from action shooting to short organized live action role-playing (LARP) scenarios, close quarters battle skirmishes, military simulations (MilSim) or historical reenactments. It is played in indoor courses or outdoor fields. Combat situations on the field may involve the use of genuine military tactics to achieve objectives set in each game. Participants may attempt to emulate the tactical equipment and accessories used by modern military and police organizations. A game is normally kept safe by trained professionals acting as supervisors and marshals.

Before gameplay, an airsoft gun's muzzle velocity is usually checked through a chronograph and usually measured in feet per second (FPS) or joules, a measurement for kinetic energy. Some countries have a set velocity or muzzle energy restriction; guns shooting over the legal muzzle velocity can be confiscated. Some playing fields further restrict minimum engagement distances, requiring players to yell "Bang Bang!" or another phrase instead of actually shooting other players at close distances. This is done to prevent any potential injuries from high-energy pellets shot at short ranges.

In certain countries use of laser sights of any kind is illegal, including gun scopes with integrated lasers.

History
Airsoft originated from Japan in the early 1970s, when photographer Ichiro Nagata, an avid shooting enthusiast himself, thought about making model guns that shoot real projectiles that could not kill. These "guns" were trademarked as soft air guns, tailoring to the needs of shooting enthusiasts while conforming to Japan's strict weapons control laws. The name "soft air" referred to the compressed Freon-silicone oil mixture (later replaced by a propane-silicone oil mixture known as "Green Gas") that was used as a propellant gas, which was significantly weaker than the canistered CO2 used in proper airguns (pellet guns and BB guns). Originally designed for target shooting, the plastic balls used in these "soft air guns" can be shot at humans without causing injury due to the low muzzle energy. After Tokyo Marui introduced its revolutionary electric motor-gear box design, which allows sustainable rapid-fire using rechargeable batteries, soft air guns became popular for casual wargames, which the Japanese call survival games (サバイバルゲーム). Asahi Firearms was a model company from Japan who operated in the 1980s and 90s and was one of the early pioneers of the airsoft hobby.

Airsoft guns spread to the United Kingdom in the late 1980s and early 1990s via a company called LS. They were sold in separate pieces and had to be assembled out of box before they were capable of shooting. These then became available to the rest of Europe and North America and rapidly gained popularity worldwide. Since the mid-1980s, airsoft has been adapted with a purely recreational application in mind, and the sport is enjoyed by all ages. Airsoft replicas are produced globally, with the majority being manufactured in East Asia. Many law enforcement agencies and military units within the United States now start using airsoft for force-on-force tactical training drills.

Equipment
The guns used in airsoft are typically classified as imitation firearms. They have a mechanism for shooting projectiles 6 mm or 8 mm in diameter.

Airsoft guns are classified according to their operating principle, which can be spring-loaded, electric (battery-powered Automatic Electric Guns, Airsoft Electric Guns or "AEGs"), or gas-powered (if these have a blowback feature they are known as "GBBs"). Some companies produce full replicas of counterpart grenade launchers which fire a projectile spray of 6 mm pellets by use of a high-powered spring mechanism or a compressed gas propellant (i.e. green gas, propane, compressed air, or CO2). There is also a type of airsoft gun that is powered by a single (HPA) high-pressure air tank and a battery pack to power the internal FCU "Fire Control Unit" computer board. These guns are often known for their high and adjustable ROF or "rate of fire" and durability. These HPA replicas are most often referred to as "PolarStars", although this refers to a popular brand of HPA engines and accessories.

A typical airsoft gun is noticeably lighter than its "real steel" counterpart due to the use of aluminum alloy and plastic materials, though some have added weights in them for a more realistic feel. Japan has specific rules about producing airsoft guns with metal parts, while newer guns, especially those made in Taiwan and Mainland China, have both internal and external parts that are metallic. Smoke caps, as well as noise amplifiers, are available for certain airsoft guns to add realism.

Gas handgun magazines usually contain 10 to 30 pellets in a standard-capacity magazine; however, some are high-capacity magazines and can hold 50 rounds or more. In the case of AEG rifles, magazines come in either real-capacity (equivalent to the 30-round capacity of its real steel counterpart), low-capacity (10-50 rounds), mid-capacity (75-160 rounds), or high-capacity (190+ rounds). These magazines have spring followers like in BB guns. The high-cap magazines often have a ratchet wheel that can be wound up periodically to force pellets up from the holding chamber of the magazine to the feeding chute. Due to loose pellets in the reservoir, they often make a rattling noise when running or walking. Some airsoft guns have a battery-powered box or drum magazine that holds thousands of pellets, but these are usually only used and allowed on LMGs (light machine gun) type replicas.

It is common for owners to "tech" (modify) their guns. The majority of gearboxes are made to Tokyo Marui specifications and have aftermarket upgrade parts available commercially. Some gearboxes are proprietary in design. It is also possible to perform DIY modifications.

Hop-up
The "hop-up" system, which is installed in most stock airsoft rifles and pistols, is used to increase effective ranges by putting backspin on the pellets. The Magnus effect causes the pellets to experience more lift as they are shot, counteracting against gravity. A small rubber nub protrudes into the top of the barrel through a small hole, and it catches the top of the pellet as it moves past. Adjusting the hop-up makes the nub more or less protrude into the barrel, so that backspin is increased or reduced. Ideally, the hop-up should be adjusted so that the pellets fly as far as possible in a straight line without curving upward too far or dropping too quickly. Hop-Up does decrease the muzzle velocity (a gun firing 340 ft/s with the hop fully unwound can drop to as low as 300 ft/s). Ease and location of adjustment vary by gun design; some equipment provides a control that can be adjusted quickly during gameplay, while others may require partial disassembly. For example, a common location for Hop-Up adjustment is where the ejection port would be on a real firearm, which allows the machine to be covered while still allowing quick access to adjust the Hop-Up.

Customization
Some players customize their airsoft guns, either to improve performance or for purely aesthetic reasons. Additions include scopes, fore-grips, and flashlights, red dot sights being the most commonly used. Red dot sights are used to help aim, fore-grips are used to get a better grip on the airsoft gun, and flashlights (whether mounted or held in another hand) are used to illuminate dark areas and/or to blind opponents.

Even though in certain countries lasers are illegal, they are popular attachments in the U.S. and Europe. Laser sights are more for their appearance than any practical effect, largely because they must be weak enough not to carry a risk of damaging another player's eyesight, which rules out using any laser powerful enough to produce a visible dot on the target in sunlight (although lasers can be useful for night games).

Also available are "mock suppressors/silencers". These resemble the actual firearm accessory that dampens sound. Since Airsoft does not use combustibles for propulsion these usually serve no function. Although there are models that function to "light up" a glow-in-the-dark BB using UV light similar to a tracer round.

Projectile
Most airsoft guns fire round plastic pellets, usually white, but Tracers are common as well. The pellets mostly range from 0.12 to 0.48 g. However, the most popular weights for AEGs (automatic electric guns) and GBB* (Gas Blow-Back guns) are 0.20 g to 0.32 g (whose muzzle velocity ranges from approximately 250 ft/s to 400 ft/s). While heavier rounds (0.36–0.40 g) are typically used in long-range and sniper applications since they are more stable in flight and less easily deflected by wind.

The pellets which are called BBs are usually bought in bags or bottles of 2,000 to 5,000, but other sizes are available, such as a 250,000 round (65 kg) package of tournament grade BBs. Biodegradable BBs are a fraction more expensive than non-bio counterparts, but many fields require them. BBs are typically 5.95mm ±0.01 mm in diameter.

Ballistics
Due to the low muzzle energy (less than 1.5 J even for high-power models) and poor sectional density, the pain an airsoft pellet causes on skin impact is about the same as getting pinched. As a reference value, a standard 0.20 gram 6 mm pellet, which is the most common size and weight, traveling at 100 m/s has 1 J of kinetic energy. Calculating the Joules and energy generated by airsoft guns is important because of phenomena like "joule creep" where the FPS remains the same while the energy of the airsoft BB leaving the airsoft gun barrel increases.

Different regions vary in the velocity airsoft guns are allowed to shoot at. In the United States, velocity differs from the type of gameplay field. Close Quarter Battle arenas typically regulate velocity on airsoft guns at around 350 ft/s. For outdoor fields, velocity is usually regulated by the type of gun. With a standard 0.20 g pellet, fully automatic Airsoft Electric Guns (AEGs) are often set at less than 400 ft/s, semi-automatic DMR-style AEGs at 400 - 450 ft/s, and bolt-action (manually cocked spring-piston) sniper rifles at 450 - 500 ft/s.

The maximum effective range of field-legal airsoft guns is all around 100 m with a highly upgraded sniper rifle replica. Most airsoft guns used for field play will have an effective range of around 43 –, depending on the intended gameplay role. Most Airsoft guns are capable of shooting from 60 to 125 m/s, although it is also possible to purchase upgraded internals that will enable the gun to shoot up to 550 ft/s or higher. In California, a common limit for CQB is 350 ft/s. In Ireland, Italy and Japan the muzzle energy limit for airsoft guns is 1 joule no matter what the type of gameplay. In the UK, the law allows weapons locked to semi-automatic and bolt-action rifles to fire up to 2.5 joules (at muzzle velocity up to 518 ft/s). Any weapon "which is capable of discharging two or more missiles successively without repeated pressure on the trigger" is limited, by law, at 1.3 joules (velocity up to 374 ft/s). Northern Ireland has a maximum velocity of 100 m/s with 0.20 g pellets, without regard to the type of equipment. In Sweden, the legal limitations of airsoft guns caps the energy limit at 10 joules for manual guns, and 3 joules for semi- and fully automatic guns.

The ballistics of spring- or electrically powered airsoft guns differ from real firearms in that a longer barrel will not always result in better accuracy. The "sweet spot" for barrel length in a spring/electric powered airsoft gun is around 450 mm, beyond which added barrel length will not improve accuracy. In any case, barrel quality, velocity consistency, and hopup quality/design are more important factors with regard to accuracy. Added barrel length will result in slightly increased velocity if the cylinder size and compression are appropriate for the barrel length. For example, a gun with a large cylinder and a long barrel will shoot slightly harder than a gun with a small cylinder and a short barrel (ceteris paribus). This rule will apply even for barrels longer than 500 mm, if there is enough cylinder volume and air compression to propel the pellet through the barrel. However, the resulting velocity increase will be hardly noticeable. The only considerable advantage of using a longer inner barrel in an AEG or spring-powered gun is that it generally will make the gun quieter due to the weakened muzzle pop.

In gas-powered guns, added barrel length (to an appropriate extent) can result in increased velocity and accuracy to a degree. Tighter-bore barrels will increase velocity because there will be less space between the pellet and the barrel for the air to escape through. Most stock airsoft guns have 6.03 - 6.05 mm bore barrels, but best performance is usually seen with "tightbore" barrels, which are 6.01 - 6.05 mm in diameter. However, the tighter the bore, the more likely the chance of a pellet jam, and subsequently, tightbores need to be cleaned and lubricated regularly. It is generally agreed upon that a high-quality 6.01-6.02 mm barrel will provide the highest muzzle velocity, while a good-quality 6.03 mm or 6.05 mm barrel will provide the best compromise between power, accuracy and ease of maintenance. The actual accuracy difference between tightbore sizes is debatable and usually outweighed by bore consistency. Although, with the newfound popularity with HPA guns, the debate has been opened that barrels with a larger diameter (up to 6.13 mm) could provide a more accurate shot. Due to the higher volume of air surrounding the pellet it negates the chance of the pellet coming into contact with the barrel, throwing the pellet's trajectory off, similar to a musket, in how the bullet slams about before leaving the barrel.

Safety
Airsoft guns are not to be confused with BB guns, which are airguns that shoot .177 in metallic spherical pellets, unlike the plastic pellets shot by airsoft guns.

Many manufacturers and retailers suggest treating an airsoft gun like a real gun at all times. This will help alleviate safety issues resulting in an accidental/negligent discharge, or prevent a public panic due to a carelessly displayed airsoft gun being mistaken for a real firearm. Most manufacturers include an orange tip on the muzzle of the airsoft gun for signaling and safety purposes, and most retailers urge consumers not to remove the orange tip as it is used to help distinguish them from a real firearm. The orange tip serves many purposes, one of them being for law enforcement to help discern airsoft guns from real firearms and thus prevent unnecessary excessive forces.

The minimum safe level of gear required to participate in most games includes a pair of ANSI Z87.1 eye protection, preferably a fully sealed APEL-rated ballistic eyewear. Traditional prescription glasses and sunglasses, or goggles not rated sufficiently for impact-resistance, may shatter and/or be perforated upon being struck when used for airsoft or paintball, causing injury to the eye. Masks, face shields and other types of full-face coverings such as balaclavas are recommended at most airsoft fields.

Community safety precautions
Rules such as a maximum muzzle velocity and engagement distance guidelines are used by different groups. Some organizations have created common safety rules and guidelines. Most minimum engagement distances are 10 feet.

When not actively playing, some fields require "barrel bags", also known as barrel socks, barrel condoms, barrel blockers, or barrel sleeves, to be placed over the muzzle of the gun. The magazine is usually removed as well, and the gun fired to clear the chamber. Most fields also require players to leave their guns set to the safety position when they are not shooting, a practice common when using real firearms. In certain countries, such as the Philippines, additional special rules have been adopted.

Legal restrictions
Airsoft is legal in most parts of the world. Some countries have specific restrictions, such as maximum muzzle velocity and "unrealistic" coloring to distinguish them from actual firearms. They are legal throughout the United States, but restrictions do exist in cities like Chicago and Detroit. The states of New Mexico, New York and New Jersey, however, do not allow airsoft guns to be used or handled publicly because of the resemblance to real firearms. They may be used on private property with the consent of the owner. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection FAQ page states that Airsoft guns are considered look-alike firearms which require the special blaze orange marking.

Ireland
In Ireland, Airsoft guns are classified as Realistic Imitation Firearms but not restricted as much as in the United Kingdom. Under the Criminal Justice Act of 2006, Airsoft guns are legal in the Republic. One can buy, sell and import Airsoft guns without notifying relevant law enforcement authorities. They do not need to be painted in fluorescent colors, they do not need to have an orange tip, but they cannot launch the projectile with a kinetic energy exceeding 1 joule. However, carrying an imitation firearm in public is prohibited, and a gun carry case is required, as for real firearms. Airsoft shops are spread over the country, and buyers must be aged 18 or over to purchase an airsoft gun. There is no age limit on Airsoft, as long as a minor has an adult's permission.

United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, most Airsoft guns are classified as realistic imitation firearms or RIFs. The sale, manufacture, or importation (but not gifting) of these is illegal under the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006. A defence is allowed for selling for specific purposes including airsoft skirmishing.

The minimum age for buying any imitation firearm in the UK is 18. It is an offense to possess an imitation firearm in a public place without a reasonable excuse, for example traveling to, or from, or being at an airsoft skirmish site.

Most UK airsoft sites and retailers participate in the United Kingdom Airsoft Retailer Association (UKARA) registration scheme. A player who has participated in at least 3 skirmishes over a period of at least 56 days at the same skirmish site can be registered by that site. Retailers have access to the database to verify that the purchaser can provide them with a defence.

As an alternative to RIFs, IFs (Imitation Firearms, including 'two tones') are available in the UK. These are RIFs which have been painted a bright color (excluding white/silver/gold) over at least 51% of the item. No specific defence is required for selling an IF, although the minimum age for purchasing remains 18.

Canada
In Canada, there are laws pertaining to airsoft importing. All airsoft guns that are bought in Canada are legal, but when importing it, the gun has to have between 366FPS and 500FPS to pass inspection at customs, otherwise the gun will be shipped back or destroyed.

United States
Airsoft guns in the United States are sold with a federally mandated orange tip which must be 1/4 inch or longer covering the muzzle of the replica. Manufacturers and importers may cite Title 15 of the Code of Federal Regulations, which stipulates that "no person shall manufacture, enter into commerce, ship, transport, or receive any toy, look-alike, or imitation firearm" without approved markings; these may include an orange tip, orange barrel plug, brightly colored exterior of the whole toy, or transparent construction (part 272.2, formerly part 1150.2). However, section 272.1 (formerly 1150.1) clearly indicates that these restrictions shall not apply to "traditional B-B, paint-ball, or pellet-firing air guns that expel a projectile through the force of compressed air, compressed gas or mechanical spring action, or any combination thereof." This exempts airsoft guns from these requirements, placing them in the same category as BB-guns, pellet, air, and paintball, none of which are conventionally sold or used with an orange tip, and many of which bear as much resemblance to real firearms as airsoft guns do.

Military and police training
Airsoft technology is used in military training and law enforcement training. Due to airsoft's realism, relatively safe projectiles, and economical ammunition, it is well-suited to war games and force-on-force scenarios to train and improve troop's tactical proficiency via associative learning and stress inoculation. Multiple airsoft inventions were developed originally for military and law enforcement use.

Marking rounds were invented by Kerry T. Bowden to allow trainees to see where each projectile landed. Much like paintball and simunitions, these marking pellets would break upon impact, marking the target with luminescent liquid. Unlike traditional plastic pellets, marking rounds are heavier to ensure breakage of the shell on impact. The weight can be adjusted by adding heavier liquid. Marking rounds are critical for trainees because they allow the shooter to see exactly where they hit the target. This allows them to extrapolate their mistakes and improve their aim.

Reusable grenades were improved by Scott Frank to emulate the fragmentation of a real grenade in war games and scenarios. The grenade can be loaded with paint or pellets. It uses a quick release of highly pressurized gas to break the shell and quickly disperse pellets or paint in all directions. Frank's grenade, although not the first, aimed to be as realistic and predictable as an actual grenade. He developed a more accurate timing mechanism and secondary safety mechanisms to prevent accidental discharge. Both marking rounds and reusable grenades gave airsoft the edge it needed to enter into military and law enforcement training grounds.

The airsoft guns used for training differ from civilian models. Guns manufactured for professional training are made to replicate the weight, feel and the sound of its real steel counterpart. In general, professional training airsoft guns are GBB models and enhanced with a weighted blowback mechanism to increase the force of the kick. Some are AEGs and are built with a blowback mechanism. They are also outfitted with muzzle protectors that amplify the sound to a decibel level comparable to that of a real firearm. The average FPS for professional training airsoft guns is higher than civilian models. Economically, airsoft is cheaper than simulation training. Benjamin Kratz, Fort Jackson's battalion executive officer, said that one blank M16 round can cost as much as 32 airsoft rounds. Airsoft can also be used in military simulations such as in malls or prisons to add to the immersion. There are different event producers like MiR Tactical holding these events.

title: Airsoft


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Network News Transfer Protocol

The Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) is an application protocol used for transporting Usenet news articles (netnews) between news servers, and for reading/posting articles by the end user client applications. Brian Kantor of the University of California, San Diego, and Phil Lapsley of the University of California, Berkeley, wrote, the specification for the Network News Transfer Protocol, in March 1986. Other contributors included Stan O. Barber from the Baylor College of Medicine and Erik Fair of Apple Computer.

Usenet was originally designed based on the UUCP network, with most article transfers taking place over direct point-to-point telephone links between news servers, which were powerful time-sharing systems. Readers and posters logged into these computers reading the articles directly from the local disk.

As local area networks and Internet participation proliferated, it became desirable to allow newsreaders to be run on personal computers connected to local networks. The resulting protocol was NNTP, which resembled the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) but was tailored for exchanging newsgroup articles.

A newsreader, also known as a news client, is a software application that reads articles on Usenet, either directly from the news server's disks or via the NNTP.

The well-known TCP port 119 is reserved for NNTP. Well-known TCP port 433 (NNSP) may be used when doing a bulk transfer of articles from one server to another. When clients connect to a news server with Transport Layer Security (TLS), TCP port 563 is often used. This is sometimes referred to as NNTPS. Alternatively, a plain-text connection over port 119 may be changed to use TLS via the  command.

In October 2006, the IETF released, which updates NNTP and codifies many of the additions made over the years since RFC 977. At the same time, the IETF also released, which specifies the use of Transport Layer Security (TLS) via NNTP over STARTTLS.

Network News Reader Protocol
During an abortive attempt to update the NNTP standard in the early 1990s, a specialized form of NNTP intended specifically for use by clients, NNRP, was proposed. This protocol was never completed or fully implemented, but the name persisted in InterNetNews's (INN) nnrpd program. As a result, the subset of standard NNTP commands useful to clients is sometimes still referred to as "NNRP".

NNTP server software

 * Leafnode
 * InterNetNews
 * C News
 * Apache James
 * Synchronet
 * yProxy
 * DIABLO, a backbone news transit system, designed to replace INND on backbone machines.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Network News Transfer Protocol


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Scuderia Ferrari

Scuderia Ferrari is the racing division of luxury Italian auto manufacturer Ferrari and the racing team that competes in Formula One racing. The team is also known by the nickname "The Prancing Horse" (il Cavallino Rampante or simply il Cavallino), in reference to their logo. It is the oldest surviving and most successful Formula One team, having competed in every world championship since.

The team was founded by Enzo Ferrari, initially to race cars produced by Alfa Romeo. By 1947, Ferrari had begun building its own cars. Among its important achievements outside Formula One are winning the World Sportscar Championship, 24 Hours of Le Mans, 24 Hours of Spa, 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, Bathurst 12 Hour, races for Grand tourer cars, and racing on road courses of the Targa Florio, the Mille Miglia, and the Carrera Panamericana. The team is also known for its passionate support base, known as the tifosi. The Italian Grand Prix at Monza is regarded as the team's home race.

As a constructor in Formula One, Ferrari has a record 16 Constructors' Championships. Their most recent Constructors' Championship was won in. The team also holds the record for the most Drivers' Championships with 15, won by nine different drivers including Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Mike Hawthorn, Phil Hill, John Surtees, Niki Lauda, Jody Scheckter, Michael Schumacher, and Kimi Räikkönen. Räikkönen's title in is the most recent for the team. The 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix marked Ferrari's 1000th Grand Prix in Formula One.

Schumacher is the team's most successful driver. Joining the team in and driving for them until his first retirement in, he won five consecutive drivers' titles and 72 Grands Prix for the team. His titles came consecutively between and, and the team won consecutive constructors' titles between  and 2004, marking the era as the most successful period in the team's history. The team's drivers for the season are Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. The latter will be replaced by Lewis Hamilton in.

History
Scuderia Ferrari was founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929 to enter amateur drivers in various races. Ferrari himself had raced in Costruzioni Meccaniche Nazionali and Alfa Romeo cars before that date. The idea came about on the night of 16 November at a dinner in Bologna, where Ferrari solicited financial help from textile heirs Augusto and Alfredo Caniato and wealthy amateur racer Mario Tadini. He then gathered a team which at its peak included over forty drivers, most of whom raced in various Alfa Romeo 8C cars; Ferrari himself continued racing, with moderate success, until the birth of his first son Dino in 1932. The prancing horse blazon first appeared at the 1932 Spa 24 Hours in Belgium on a two-car team of Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Spiders, which finished first and second.

In 1933, Alfa Romeo experienced economic difficulties and withdrew its team from racing. From then, the Scuderia Ferrari became the acting racing team of Alfa Romeo when the factory released to the Scuderia the up to date Monoposto Tipo B racers. In 1935, Enzo Ferrari and Luigi Bazzi built the Alfa Romeo Bimotore, the first car to wear a Ferrari badge on the radiator cowl. Ferrari managed numerous established drivers (notably Tazio Nuvolari, Giuseppe Campari, Achille Varzi, and Louis Chiron) and several talented rookies (Mario Tadini, Guy Moll, Carlo Maria Pintacuda, and Antonio Brivio) from his headquarters in Viale Trento e Trieste, Modena, Italy, until 1938, at which point Alfa Romeo made him the manager of the factory racing division, Alfa Corse. Alfa Romeo had bought the shares of the Scuderia Ferrari in 1937 and transferred, from 1 January 1938, the official racing activity to Alfa Corse whose new buildings were being erected next to the Alfa factory at Portello, Milan. The Viale Trento e Trieste facilities remained active to assist the racing customers.

Enzo Ferrari disagreed with this policy change and was dismissed by Alfa in 1939. In October 1939, Enzo Ferrari left Alfa when the racing activity stopped and founded Auto Avio Costruzioni Ferrari, which also manufactured machine tools. The agreement with Alfa included the condition that he would not use the Ferrari name on cars for four years. In the winter of 1939–1940, Ferrari started work on a racecar of his own, the Tipo 815 (eight cylinders, 1.5 L displacement). The 815s, designed by Alberto Massimino, were thus the first true Ferrari cars. After Alberto Ascari and the Marchese Lotario Rangoni Machiavelli di Modena drove them in the 1940 Mille Miglia, World War II put a temporary end to racing and the 815s saw no more competition. Ferrari continued to manufacture machine tools (specifically oleodynamic grinding machines). In 1943, he moved his headquarters to Maranello, where it was bombed in November 1944 and February 1945.

Rules for a Grand Prix World Championship had been established before the war; it took several years afterwards for the series to become active. Meanwhile, Ferrari rebuilt his works in Maranello and constructed the 12-cylinder, 1.5 L Tipo 125, which competed at several non-championship Grands Prix. The car made its debut at the 1948 Italian Grand Prix with Raymond Sommer and achieved its first win at the minor Circuito di Garda with Giuseppe Farina. After the four-year condition expired, the road car company was called Ferrari S.p.A., while the name SEFAC (Società Esercizio Fabbriche Automobili e Corse) was used for the racing department.

Headquarters
The team was based in Modena from its pre-war founding until 1943, when Enzo Ferrari moved the team to a new factory in Maranello in 1943, and both Scuderia Ferrari and Ferrari's road car factory remain at Maranello to this day. The team owns and operates a test track on the same site, the Fiorano Circuit built in 1972, which is used for testing road and race cars.

Identity
The team is named after its founder Enzo Ferrari. Scuderia is Italian for a stable reserved for racing horses, and is also commonly applied to Italian motor racing teams. The prancing horse was the symbol used on Italian World War I ace Francesco Baracca's fighter plane. It became the logo of Ferrari after the fallen ace's parents, close acquaintances of Enzo Ferrari, suggested that Ferrari use the symbol as the logo of the Scuderia, telling him it would "bring him good luck".

Formula One
Since its debut in 1950, Ferrari has become a byword for Formula One. For many, Ferrari and Formula One racing have become inseparable, being the only team to have competed in every season since the world championship began.

Engine supply
Ferrari produces engines for its own Formula One cars and has supplied engines to other teams. Ferrari has previously supplied engines to Minardi (1991), Scuderia Italia (1992–1993), Sauber (1997–2005 with engines badged as Petronas, and 2010–2025), Prost (2001, badged Acer), Red Bull Racing (2006), Spyker (2007), Scuderia Toro Rosso (2007–2013, 2016), Force India (2008), and Marussia (2014–2015). When regulations changed in 2014, Cosworth decided not to make the new V6 turbo engines. Marussia, Cosworth's only team at the time, signed a multi-year deal with Ferrari, beginning in 2014. For the 2024 season, Ferrari supplies the Haas F1 Team and Sauber Motorsport.

Relationship with governing body
Ferrari did not enter the first-ever race of the championship, the 1950 British Grand Prix, due to a dispute with the organisers over "start money". In the 1960s, Ferrari withdrew from several races in strike actions. In 1987, Ferrari considered abandoning Formula One for the American IndyCar series. This threat was used as a bargaining tool with the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), and Enzo Ferrari offered to cancel the IndyCar Project and commit to Formula One on the condition that the technical regulations were not changed to exclude V12 engines. The FIA agreed to this, and the IndyCar project was shelved, although a car, the Ferrari 637, had already been constructed. In 2009, it had emerged that Ferrari had an FIA-sanctioned veto on the technical regulations.

Team orders controversies
Team orders have proven controversial at several points in Ferrari's history. At the 1982 San Marino Grand Prix, the two Ferraris were leading with Gilles Villeneuve ahead of Didier Pironi. The team showed the slow sign to its drivers, and, as per a pre-race agreement, the driver leading at that point was expected to take the win of the Grand Prix. Villeneuve slowed and expected that Pironi would follow; the latter did not and instead passed Villeneuve. Villeneuve was angered by what he saw as a betrayal by his teammate and, at one point, had even refused to go onto the podium. This feud is often considered to have been a contributory factor to his fatal accident in qualifying at the next race, the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix.

At the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix, after having started from pole position and leading the first 70 laps, Rubens Barrichello was instructed to let Ferrari teammate Michael Schumacher pass him, a move that proved to be unpopular among many Formula One fans and the FIA, the sport's governing body. Following this incident and others in which team orders were used, such as McLaren's use of them at the 1997 European Grand Prix and at the 1998 Australian Grand Prix, and Jordan Grand Prix's at the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix, team orders in Formula One were officially banned ahead of the season.

On lap 49 of the 2010 German Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso went past Felipe Massa for the race lead, after Ferrari had informed Massa that Alonso was "faster than him". This communication has widely been interpreted as a team order from Ferrari. Alonso won the race, with Massa finishing second and Sebastian Vettel taking the final place on the podium. Ferrari were fined the maximum penalty available to the stewards, $100,000, for breach of regulations and for "bringing the sport into disrepute" as per "Article 151c' of the International Sporting Code". Ferrari said they would not contest the fine. The team were referred to the FIA World Motor Sport Council, where they upheld the stewards' view but did not take any further action. The ban on team orders was subsequently lifted for the season.

Formula One team sponsorship
The Ferrari Formula One team was resistant to the commercial sponsorship for many years and it was not until that the cars began to feature the logo of the Fiat group (which had been the owners of the Ferrari company since ). Until the 1980s, the only other companies whose logos appeared on Ferrari's Formula One cars were technical partners, such as Magneti Marelli, Brembo, and Agip. At the end of the season, Philip Morris International through its brand Marlboro withdrew its sponsorship agreement with McLaren after 22 years (since the  season) to become the title sponsor of Ferrari, resulting to the change of the official team's name to Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro from the beginning of the  season until the 2011 European Grand Prix. Marlboro had already been Ferrari's minor sponsor since the season and increased to the team's major sponsorship in the  season.

Alongside Jordan Grand Prix, the team was required to run non-tobacco liveries in United States Grand Prix in the 2000s due to United States Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement requirements, as Phillip Morris was sponsoring Team Penske at the time; a clause in the settlement allowed each tobacco company to sponsor only one sporting entity. In September 2005, Ferrari signed an extension of the arrangement until 2011 at a time when advertising of tobacco sponsorship had become illegal in the European Union, and other major teams had withdrawn from relationships with tobacco companies (e.g. McLaren had ended its eight-year relationship with West). In reporting the deal, F1 Racing magazine judged it to be a black day for the sport, putting non-tobacco funded teams at a disadvantage and discouraging other brands from entering a sport still associated with tobacco. The magazine estimated that between 2005 and 2011, Ferrari received $1 billion from the agreement. The last time Ferrari ran explicit tobacco sponsorship on the car was at the 2007 Chinese Grand Prix, with barcodes and other subliminal markers used afterwards.

On 8 July 2011, it was announced that the Marlboro section of its official team name had been removed from the 2011 British Grand Prix onwards, following complaints from sponsorship regulators. As a consequence, the official team's name was reverted to Scuderia Ferrari. At the 2018 Japanese Grand Prix, Ferrari added Philip Morris International's new Mission Winnow project logos to the car and team clothing. Although Mission Winnow is described as a non-tobacco brand "dedicated to science, technology and innovation", commentators such as The Guardian Richard Williams have noted that the logos incorporate elements whose shapes mimic the iconic Marlboro cigarette packet design. In 2019, Mission Winnow became the team's title sponsor, and the team originally entered the season as Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow. Mission Winnow was dropped from team name before the season opener, while the car's Mission Winnow logos were replaced by a special 90th anniversary logo, after Australian authorities had launched an investigation into whether the initiative introduced by Philip Morris contravened laws banning tobacco advertising. Mission Winnow was restored for the second race of the season, and was used until the Monaco Grand Prix. The Mission Winnow logos were again replaced by the 90th anniversary logos for the Canadian until the Russian Grand Prix. The Mission Winnow branding returned at the Japanese Grand Prix. At the end of the season, the Mission Winnow sponsorship was dropped to promote new technologies.

On 10 September 2009, Ferrari announced that it would be sponsored by Santander from 2010 on a five-year contract. The contract was subsequently extended to end in late 2017. After a four-year break, Santander and Ferrari renewed their partnership on 21 December 2021 with a multi-year contract. As part of the deal with Acer, Acer was allowed to sell Ferrari-badged laptops. On the other hand, semiconductor chip maker AMD, announced in early 2009 that it had decided to drop its sponsorship of the team and was waiting for its contract to expire after its former vice-president/sales executive (who was an avid fan of motorsports) had left the company. AMD returned to sponsor the team in 2018. On 3 July 2014, Ferrari announced a two-year sponsorship agreement with the United States-based Haas Automation tool company, which transferred into a powertrain deal in 2016 when the Haas F1 Team entered the sport.

On 14 April 2018, AMD announced a multi-year sponsorship with Scuderia Ferrari on the occasion of the Chinese Grand Prix held on the Shanghai Circuit. The AMD logo was visible on the nose of the Ferrari SF71H. In December 2021, the team extended its 10-year partnership with Kaspersky Lab, which also became its esports team partner. This deal was terminated following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The official suppliers of Ferrari for the 2021 season included Pirelli, Puma, Radiobook, Experis-Veritaaq, SKF, Magneti Marelli, NGK, Brembo, Riedel Communications, VistaJet, and Iveco. Other suppliers included Alfa Romeo, Palantir Technologies, Bell Sports, and Sabelt. The companies sponsoring Ferrari for the 2021 season included Shell, Ray-Ban, United Parcel Service, Estrella Galicia, Weichai Group, Richard Mille, Mahle GmbH, Amazon Web Services, and Officine Meccaniche Rezzatesi.

On 24 April 2024, the team announced a multi-year title partnership with HP Inc., renaming the team as Scuderia Ferrari HP from the 2024 Miami Grand Prix onwards.

Formula Two
Ferrari competed in the Formula 2 series in several years, as follows:
 * 1948–51: 166 F2
 * 1951–53: 500 F2
 * 1953: 553 F2
 * 1957–60: Dino 156 F2
 * 1967–69: Dino 166 F2

Sportscar racing
From the late 1940s to the early 1970s, Ferrari competed in sports car racing with great success, winning the overall World Sportscar Championship (WSC) twelve times. Ferrari cars (including non-works entries) won the Mille Miglia eight times, the Targa Florio seven times, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans nine times. In this span of time, Ferrari was almost the only constructor able to support the participation in both the two most important categories of international car motor racing at the time, i.e. the Formula One and endurance racing championships. The fact that it did so, achieving remarkable success with few resources and coming from an impoverished post-World War II Italy, it is seen as a testament to the prowess, passion, and dedication to the men of the Scuderia and its founder. Ferrari scored international successes in sports car racing while still at the startup phase, taking wins in 1948 at the Mille Miglia and at the Targa Florio with the Ferrari 166 S and in 1949 at the Mille Miglia, at the12 Hours of Paris, at the 24 Hours of Spa, at the Targa Florio, and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans all in the same season. This remarkable streak of victories was achieved with the 2-litre Ferrari 166 MM against larger engined sports cars and already known marques. The 166MM in its famous barchetta form represented also a milestone in car design history and was soon copied abroad, ending up revisited in the lines of the Shelby Cobra of the early 1960s. Ferrari cars, being able to win at the first try at Le Mans and to triumph in all the major races of the time, become soon a product of excellence and famous, rich people started to desire and buy them.

In 1967, the last where Ford and Ferrari could battle on the tarmac, saw Ferrari taking the championship but losing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race. This last race was really controversial as the race timing completely disappeared for some hours during nighttime before reappearing with altered results. This and other controversial aspects of the race were recounted by the late Mauro Forghieri, famously quoting a dialogue with Mr Finance, then in charge of organising the Le Mans race. A change of rules denying the participation to prototype cars for the 1968 season forced Ferrari out from the championship and in this way the Ferrari vs. Ford battle in endurance racing met its end. The 1970s was the last decade Ferrari entered as a works effort in sports car racing. After an uninspired performance in the season, Enzo Ferrari stopped all development of sports cars in prototype and grand touring (GT) racing at the end of the year to concentrate on Formula One. This choice paid off and Ferrari was able to contend the Formula One title already from the season and then went on to win several titles in the following years. After Ferrari withdrawal from the WSC, the series soon saw a decline in the level of competition and reduced almost to a one-contender show until the 1987 season, when several manufacturers entered the championship again. Since the 1985 season, the championship was declassed to a team one and there was not a largely participated world manufacturer title for sportscars until the inception of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). Ferrari cars were raced in a range of classes, such as GT racing by other entrants, but not by the factory Scuderia Ferrari team. In the 1990s, Ferrari returned to sports prototypes as a constructor with the Ferrari 333 SP with success, although Scuderia Ferrari itself never raced this car. From 2006, Ferrari returned to GT car racing with a factory effort Ferrari Competizioni GT, in partnership with racing teams, such as AF Corse, Kessel Racing, and Risi Competizione, among others. With factory support, these teams achieved great success in major international GT2 and GTE Pro/GTLM competitions. Starting from this same year, AF Corse won the GT2 manufacturers' title along with the team's title each year it was contested in the FIA GT Championship. It also took two drivers' titles in 2006 and 2008 in the same series. Following the demise of the GT Championship and the creation of a new world championship series for endurance racing by the FIA, Ferrari/AF Corse continued to enjoy much success in GT racing. Of the ten GT manufacturers' championships contested from the introduction of the WEC championship in 2012, Ferrari won seven editions (2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2021, and 2022). Almost the same happened with the GT drivers' title, which had been awarded since the 2013 season, with Ferrari/AF Corse winning five out of nine editions (2013, 2014, 2017, 2021, and 2022). To this tally, AF Corse added four out of six LMGTE PRO team trophies. Several other trophies were won also in the LMGTE PRO/AM class in the WEC. Other victories were also achieved in international and national championships both in GT2/LmGTE and GT3 classes all over the world. Among the victories in prestigious racing events are the two GT2 class wins scored at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2008 and 2009 by Risi Competizione and the four GTE Pro class wins scored by AF Corse at the same event: in 2012 and 2014 with the Ferrari 458 GT2 driven by Gianmaria Bruni, Giancarlo Fisichella, and Toni Vilander; in 2019 with the Ferrari 488 GTE Ferrari 488 GTE driven by Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, and Daniel Serra; and in 2021 with the same car driven by Pier Guidi, Calado, and Côme Ledogar. A Ferrari 488 GT3 scored the overall win at the 2017 12 Hours of Bathurst and the 2021 24 Hours of Spa. In 2023, after a 50-year hiatus, Ferrari returned to the top class of endurance racing with its new Ferrari 499P, a Le Mans Hypercar prototype. Subsequently, they were able to compete for the world title and in prestigious events, such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 24 Hours of Daytona, and the 12 Hours of Sebring. The 499P was managed by AF Corse and this caused a restructuring of the GT activities of the successful Italian team. At the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans, Ferrari achieved its first Le Mans victory since 1965 with the No. 51 499P driven by Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, and Antonio Giovinazzi. In the same year, a Ferrari 296 GT3 run by Frikadelli Racing won the 24 Hours of Nürburgring. At the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans, Ferrari achieved its eleventh victory, recording consecutive victories at Le Mans for the first time since 1965 with the No. 50 499P driven by Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen. While the Ferrari No. 51 499P driven by Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, and Antonio Giovinazzi, winner of the previous edition, came in third place.

Formula One results
As a constructor, Ferrari has achieved the following statistics:
 * Constructors' Championship winning percentage: 24.2%
 * Drivers' Championship winning percentage: 20.3%
 * Winning percentage: NaN%

Formula One records
Ferrari has achieved unparalleled success in Formula One and holds many significant records including (all numbers are based on World Championship events only). Ferrari is the most successful Formula One engine manufacturer with NaN wins, having achieved a single non-Ferrari victory with Scuderia Toro Rosso at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix, as well as one Ferrari privateer win at the 1961 French Grand Prix.

Drivers' Champions
Nine drivers have won the Drivers' Championship while driving for Ferrari, winning a total of fifteen Drivers' Championships.
 * 🇮🇹 Alberto Ascari
 * 🇦🇷 Juan Manuel Fangio
 * 🇬🇧 Mike Hawthorn
 * 🇺🇸 Phil Hill
 * 🇬🇧 John Surtees
 * 🇦🇹 Niki Lauda
 * 🇿🇦 Jody Scheckter
 * 🇩🇪 Michael Schumacher
 * 🇫🇮 Kimi Räikkönen

Team principals / sporting directors

 * 🇮🇹 Federico Giberti (1950–1951)
 * 🇮🇹 Nello Ugolini (1952–1955)
 * 🇮🇹 Eraldo Sculati (1956)
 * 🇮🇹 Mino Amorotti (1957)
 * 🇮🇹 Romolo Tavoni (1958–1961)
 * 🇮🇹 Eugenio Dragoni (1962–1966)
 * 🇮🇹 Franco Lini (1967)
 * 🇮🇹 Franco Gozzi (1968–1970)
 * Peter Schetty (1971–1972)
 * 🇮🇹 Alessandro Colombo (1973)
 * 🇮🇹 Luca Cordero di Montezemolo (1974–1975)
 * 🇮🇹 Daniele Audetto (1976)
 * 🇮🇹 Roberto Nosetto (1977)
 * Marco Piccinini (1978–1988)
 * 🇮🇹 Cesare Fiorio (1989–1991)
 * 🇮🇹 Claudio Lombardi (1991)
 * 🇮🇹 Sante Ghedini (1992–1993)
 * 🇫🇷 Jean Todt (1993–2007)
 * 🇮🇹 Stefano Domenicali (2008–2014)
 * 🇮🇹 Marco Mattiacci (2014)
 * 🇮🇹 Maurizio Arrivabene (2015–2018)
 * 🇮🇹 Mattia Binotto (2019–2022)
 * 🇫🇷 Frédéric Vasseur (since 2023)

Privateer entries
Between and, numerous privateer teams entered Ferrari cars in World Championship events. Between them, these teams achieved five podium finishes, including Giancarlo Baghetti's win at the 1961 French Grand Prix, and one fastest lap (Baghetti at the 1961 Italian Grand Prix). The 1966 Italian Grand Prix was the last time a Ferrari car was entered by a privateer team when Giancarlo Baghetti drove a private Ferrari car entered by the British Reg Parnell team.

title: Scuderia Ferrari


text:
John Stark

Major-General John Stark (August 28, 1728 – May 8, 1822) was an American military officer who served during the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War. He became known as the "Hero of Bennington" for his exemplary service at the Battle of Bennington in 1777.

Early life

John Stark was born in Londonderry, New Hampshire (at a site that is now in Derry) in 1728. His father, Archibald Stark (1693–1758) was born in Glasgow, Scotland, to parents who were from Wiltshire, England; Stark's father met his future wife when he moved to Londonderry in Ireland. When Stark was eight years old, his family moved to Derryfield (now Manchester, New Hampshire), where he lived for the rest of his life. Stark married Elizabeth "Molly" Page, with whom he had 11 children including his eldest son Caleb Stark.

On April 28, 1752, while on a hunting and trapping trip along the Baker River, a tributary of the Pemigewasset River, he was captured by Abenaki warriors and brought back to Canada but not before warning his brother William to paddle away in his canoe, though neighbor David Stinson was killed. While a prisoner of the Abenaki, he and his fellow prisoner Amos Eastman were made to run a gauntlet of warriors armed with sticks. Stark grabbed the stick from the first warrior's hands and proceeded to attack him, taking the rest of the warriors by surprise. The chief was so impressed by this heroic act that Stark was adopted into the tribe, where he spent the winter.

The following spring a government agent sent from the Province of Massachusetts Bay to work on the exchange of prisoners paid his ransom of $103 Spanish dollars and $60 for Amos Eastman. Stark and Eastman then returned to New Hampshire safely.

French and Indian War
Stark served as a second lieutenant under Major Robert Rogers during the French and Indian War. His brother William Stark served beside him. As a member of the daring Rogers' Rangers, Stark gained valuable combat experience and a detailed knowledge of the northern frontier of the American colonies. While serving with the rangers in 1757, Stark went on a scouting mission toward Fort Carillon in which the rangers were ambushed.

General Jeffery Amherst, in 1759 ordered Rogers' Rangers to journey from Lake George to the Abenaki village of St. Francis, deep in Quebec. The Rangers went north and attacked the Indian town. Stark, Rogers' second-in-command of all ranger companies, refused to accompany the attacking force out of respect for his Indian foster-parents residing there. He returned to New Hampshire to his wife, whom he had married the previous year.

At the end of the war, Stark retired as a captain and returned to Derryfield, New Hampshire. His time with the Rangers taught him tactics that he would put to good use during the revolution.

Bunker Hill
The Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, signaled the start of the American Revolutionary War, and Stark returned to military service. On April 23, 1775, Stark accepted a Colonelcy in the New Hampshire Militia and was given command of the 1st New Hampshire Regiment and James Reed of the 3rd New Hampshire Regiment, also outside of Boston. As soon as Stark could muster his men, he ferried and marched them south to Boston to support the blockaded rebels there. He made his headquarters in the confiscated Isaac Royall House in Medford, Massachusetts.

On June 16, the rebels, fearing a preemptive British attack on their positions in Cambridge and Roxbury, decided to take and hold Breed's Hill, a high point on the Charlestown peninsula near Boston. On the night of the 16th, American troops moved into position on the heights and began digging entrenchments.

As dawn approached, lookouts on HMS Lively, a 20-gun sloop of war, noticed the activity and the sloop opened fire on the rebels and the works in progress. This in turn drew the attention of the British admiral, who demanded to know what the Lively was shooting at. Subsequent to that, the entire British squadron opened fire. As dawn broke on June 17 the British could clearly see hastily constructed fortifications on Breed's Hill; British General Thomas Gage knew that he would have to drive the rebels out before fortifications were complete. He ordered Major General William Howe to prepare to land his troops. Thus began the Battle of Bunker Hill. American Colonel William Prescott held the hill throughout the intense initial bombardment with only a few hundred American militia. Prescott knew that he was sorely outgunned and outnumbered, so he sent a desperate request for reinforcements.

Stark and Reed with the New Hampshire minutemen arrived at the scene soon after Prescott's request. The Lively had begun a rain of accurate artillery fire directed at Charlestown Neck, the narrow strip of land connecting Charlestown to the rebel positions. On the Charlestown side, several companies from other regiments were milling around in disarray, afraid to march into range of the artillery fire. Stark ordered the men to stand aside and calmly marched his men to Prescott's positions without taking any casualties.

When the New Hampshire militia arrived, the grateful Colonel Prescott allowed Stark to deploy his men where he saw fit. Stark surveyed the ground and immediately saw that the British would probably try to flank the rebels by landing on the beach of the Mystic River, below and to the left of Bunker Hill. Stark led his men to the low ground between Mystic Beach and the hill and ordered them to "fortify" a two-rail fence by stuffing straw and grass between the rails. Stark also noticed an additional gap in the defense line and ordered Lieutenant Nathaniel Hutchins from his brother William's company and others to follow him down a 9 ft bank to the edge of the Mystic River. They piled rocks across the 12 ft beach to form a crude defense line. After this fortification was hastily constructed, Stark deployed his men three-deep behind the wall. A large contingent of British with the Royal Welch Fusiliers in the lead advanced towards the fortifications. The Minutemen crouched and waited until the advancing British were almost on top of them, and then stood up and fired as one. They unleashed a fierce and unexpected volley directly into the faces of the fusiliers, killing 90 in the blink of an eye and breaking their advance. The fusiliers retreated in panic. A charge of British infantry was next, climbing over their dead comrades to test Stark's line. This charge too was decimated by a withering fusillade by the Minutemen. A third charge was repulsed in a similar fashion, again with heavy losses to the British. The British officers wisely withdrew their men from that landing point and decided to land elsewhere, with the support of artillery.

Later in the battle, as the rebels were forced from the hill, Stark directed the New Hampshire regiment's fire to provide cover for Colonel Prescott's retreating troops. The day's New Hampshire dead were later buried in the Salem Street Burying Ground, Medford, Massachusetts.

While the British did eventually take the hill that day, their losses were formidable, especially among the officers. After the arrival of General George Washington two weeks after the battle, the siege reached a stalemate until March the next year, when cannon seized at the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga were positioned on Dorchester Heights in a deft night manoeuvre. This placement threatened the British fleet in Boston Harbor and forced General Howe to withdraw all his forces from the Boston garrison and sail for Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Among the notable men who served under Stark was Captain Henry Dearborn, who later became Secretary of War under President Thomas Jefferson. Dearborn arrived with 60 militia men from New Hampshire.

Trenton and Princeton
As Washington prepared to go to New York in anticipation of a British attack there, he knew that he desperately needed experienced men like John Stark to command regiments in the Continental Army. George Washington immediately offered Stark a command in the Continental Army. Stark and his New Hampshire regiment agreed to attach themselves to the Continental Army. The men of the New Hampshire Line were sent as reinforcements to the Continental Army during the Invasion of Canada in the spring of 1776. After the retreat of the Continental Army from Canada, Stark and his men traveled to New Jersey to join Washington's main army. They were with Washington in the battles of Princeton and Trenton in late 1776 and early 1777.

After Trenton, Washington asked Stark to return to New Hampshire to recruit more men for the Continental Army. Stark agreed, but upon returning home, learned that while he had been fighting in New Jersey, a fellow New Hampshire Colonel named Enoch Poor had been promoted to Brigadier General in the Continental Army. In Stark's opinion, Poor had refused to march his militia regiment to Bunker Hill to join the battle, instead choosing to keep his regiment at home. Stark, an experienced woodsman and fighting commander, had been passed over for someone with no combat experience and apparently no will to fight. On March 23, 1777, Stark resigned his commission in disgust, although he pledged his future aid to New Hampshire if it should be needed.

Bennington and beyond
Four months later, his home state offered Stark a commission as brigadier general of the New Hampshire Militia. He accepted on the strict condition that he would not be answerable to Continental Army authority. Soon after receiving his commission, Stark assembled 1,492 militiamen in civilian clothes with personal firearms. He traveled to Manchester, Vermont. At this place, he was ordered by Major General Benjamin Lincoln (of the Continental Army) to reinforce Philip Schuyler's Continental army on the Hudson River. Stark refused to obey Lincoln, who was another general whom he believed was unfairly promoted over his head. Lincoln was diplomatic enough to allow him to operate independently against the rear of General John Burgoyne's British army.

Burgoyne sent an expedition under Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Baum to capture American supplies at Bennington, Vermont. Baum commanded 374 Brunswick infantry and dismounted dragoons, 300 Indians, loyalists, and Canadians, and two 3-pound cannons manned by 30 Hessians. Stark heard about the raid and marched his force to Bennington. Meanwhile, Baum received intelligence that Bennington was held by 1,800 men. On August 14, Baum asked Burgoyne for reinforcements but assured his army commander that his opponents would not give him much trouble. The Brunswick officer then fortified his position and waited for Lieutenant Colonel Heinrich von Breymann's 642 soldiers and two 6-pound cannons to reach him. Colonel Seth Warner also set out with his 350 men to reinforce Stark.

After waiting out a day of rain, at 3:00 PM on the 16th Stark sent 200 militia to the right, 300 men to the left, 200 troops against a position held by Tories, and 100 men on a feint against Baum's main redoubt. In the face of these attacks, the Indians, loyalists, and Canadians fled, leaving Baum stranded in his main position. As his envelopment took effect, Stark led his remaining 1,200 troops against Baum, saying, "We'll beat them before night or Molly Stark's a widow." After an ammunition wagon exploded, Baum's men tried to hack their way out of the trap with their dragoon sabers. Baum was fatally hit and his men gave up around 5:00 PM. With Stark's men somewhat scattered by their victory, Breymann's column appeared on the scene. At this moment Colonel Seth Warner's 350 Green Mountain Boys arrived to confront Breymann's men. Between Stark and Warner, the Germans were stopped and then forced to withdraw. The New Hampshire and Vermont soldiers severely mauled Breymann's command but the German officer managed to get away with about two-thirds of his force. Historian Mark M. Boatner wrote,

"As a commander of New England militia Stark had one rare and priceless quality: he knew the limitations of his men. They were innocent of military training, undisciplined, and unenthusiastic about getting shot. With these men he killed over 200 of Europe's vaunted regulars with a loss of 14 Americans killed."

Another version has Stark rallying his troops with the cry, "There are your enemies, the Red Coats and the Tories. They are ours, or this night Molly Stark sleeps a widow!"

Stark's action contributed to the surrender of Burgoyne's northern army after the Battles of Saratoga by raising American morale, by keeping the British from getting supplies, and by subtracting several hundred men from the enemy order of battle. Stark reported 14 killed and 42 wounded. Of Baum's 374 professional soldiers, only nine men escaped. For this feat Stark won his coveted promotion to brigadier general in the Continental Army on October 4, 1777.

Saratoga is seen as the turning point in the Revolutionary War, as it was the first major defeat of a British general and it convinced the French that the Americans were worthy of military aid. After the Battle of Freeman's Farm Gen. Stark's brigade moved into a position at Stark's Knob cutting off Burgoyne's retreat to Lake George and Lake Champlain.

John Stark sat as a judge in the court martial that in September 1780 found British Major John André guilty of spying and in helping in the conspiracy of Benedict Arnold to surrender West Point to the British.

He was the commander of the Northern Department three times between 1778 and 1781 along with commanding a brigade at the Battle of Springfield in June 1780.

Later years

After serving with distinction throughout the rest of the war, Stark retired to his farm in Derryfield, renamed Manchester in 1810, where he died on May 8, 1822, at the age of 93.

It has been said that of all the Revolutionary War generals, Stark was the only true Cincinnatus because he truly retired from public life at the end of the war. In 1809, a group of Bennington veterans gathered to commemorate the battle. General Stark, then aged 81, was not well enough to travel, but he sent a letter to his comrades, which closed "Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils." The motto Live Free or Die became the New Hampshire state motto in 1945. Stark and the Battle of Bennington were later commemorated with the 306 ft tall Bennington Battle Monument and a statue of Stark in Bennington, Vermont.

Historic sites
There is a New Hampshire historical marker (number 48) near John Stark's birthplace on the east side of New Hampshire Route 28 (Rockingham Road) in Derry, New Hampshire, just south of the intersection of Lawrence Road. There is a second stone marker at the actual homestead location.

Stark's childhood home is located at 2000 Elm Street in Manchester, New Hampshire. The home was built in 1736 by John's father Archibald. The building is now owned by the Molly Stark Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The property, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is open by appointment only. Manchester's Stark Park, also a listed property, is home to his grave and is named in his honor. There is a bronze statue of General Stark in front of the New Hampshire Statehouse in Concord; it was dedicated in 1890. A statue of General Stark is also located in front of the West Annex of the City of Manchester's City Hall. New Castle's Fort Stark was renamed for the General in 1900. It was one of seven forts built in the area to protect the nearby city of Portsmouth. The historic site is placed on a peninsula known as Jerry's point (or Jaffrey's Point) on the southeast side of the island.

In 1894 the state of New Hampshire donated a statue of General Stark for the National Statuary Hall of the United States Capitol.

Secondary references

 * Gen. John Stark's home farm: a paper read before the Manchester Historic Association October 7, 1903; by Roland Rowell. A copy can be found in the Boston Public Library.
 * Major General John Stark, hero of Bunker Hill and Bennington, 1728–1822; by Leon W. Anderson. [n.p.] Evans Print. Co., c1972. .  A copy can be found in the Boston Public Library.
 * Ferling, John. Almost a Miracle: The American Victory in the War of Independence. Oxford University Press, 2009.
 * John Stark, Freedom Fighter; by Robert P. Richmond. Waterbury, Conn.: Dale Books, 1976.  (Juvenile literature).  A copy can be found in the Boston Public Library.
 * Patriots: the men who started the American Revolution; by A.J. Langguth. New York, Simon & Schuster, 1988.  ISBN 0-671-67562-1.
 * A New Age Now Begins: A People's History of the American Revolution; by Page Smith. Vols I and II of VIII.  (Note: vol. II contains the index for both vol. I and vol. II).  ISBN 0-07-059097-4.
 * The ranger service in the upper valley of the Connecticut, and the most northerly regiment of the New Hampshire militia in the period of the revolution : an address delivered before the New Hampshire Society of Sons of the American Revolution at Concord, N.H., April 26, 1900
 * State Builders: An Illustrated Historical and Biographical Record of the State of New Hampshire. State Builders Publishing Manchester, NH 1903
 * The ranger service in the upper valley of the Connecticut, and the most northerly regiment of the New Hampshire militia in the period of the revolution : an address delivered before the New Hampshire Society of Sons of the American Revolution at Concord, N.H., April 26, 1900
 * State Builders: An Illustrated Historical and Biographical Record of the State of New Hampshire. State Builders Publishing Manchester, NH 1903

title: John Stark


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