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Gary Carter

Gary Edmund Carter (April 8, 1954 – February 16, 2012) was an American professional baseball catcher whose 19-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career was spent primarily with the Montreal Expos and New York Mets. Nicknamed "The Kid" for his youthful exuberance, Carter was named an All-Star 11 times, and was a member of the 1986 World Series Champion Mets.

Carter was known throughout his career for his hitting, excellent defense, ability to handle pitchers, and on-field leadership. He made clutch contributions to the Mets' World Series championship in 1986, including a 12th-inning single against the Houston Astros which won Game 5 of the NLCS and a 10th-inning single against the Boston Red Sox to start the comeback rally in Game 6 of the World Series. He is one of only four people ever to be named captain of the Mets, and he had his number retired by the Expos.

After leaving the major leagues, Carter coached baseball at the college and minor-league levels.

In 2003, he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Carter was the first Hall of Famer whose plaque depicts him as a member of the Montreal Expos.

Early life
Carter was born in the Los Angeles suburb of Culver City in 1954 to Jim Carter, an aircraft worker, and his wife, Inge. Athletic at a young age, Carter - along with four other boys - won the 7-year-old category of the first national Punt, Pass, and Kick skills competition in 1961. A month after he turned twelve in 1966, his 37-year-old mother died of leukemia. Carter attended Sunny Hills High School in Fullerton, where he played football as a quarterback, baseball as an infielder, and graduated in 1972. He also played American Legion Baseball, and was named the 1971 American Legion Graduate of the Year.

After receiving more than a hundred athletic scholarship offers, Carter signed a letter of intent to play football for the UCLA Bruins as a quarterback, but then signed with the Montreal Expos, after they selected him in the third round (53rd overall) of the 1972 Major League Baseball draft.

Montreal Expos
Carter was drafted by the Montreal Expos as a shortstop in the third round of the 1972 Major League Baseball draft. Carter got his nickname "The Kid" during his first spring training camp with the Expos in 1974.

Rookie season
The Expos converted Carter to a catcher in the minor leagues. In 1974, he hit 23 home runs and drove in 83 runs for the Expos' Triple-A affiliate, the Memphis Blues. Following a September call-up, Carter made his major league debut in Jarry Park in Montreal in the second game of a doubleheader against the New York Mets on Monday, September 16. Despite going 0–4 in his debut game, he finished the season batting .407 (11–27). His first major league hits came in both games of an Expos sweep of another doubleheader with the Mets on September 18, as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning of the opener and as the catcher in the nightcap. His first MLB home run came on September 28 against Steve Carlton in a 3–1 victory over the visiting Philadelphia Phillies.

Carter split time between right field and catching during his rookie season (1975), and was selected for the National League All-Star team as a right fielder. He did not get an at bat, but appeared as a defensive replacement for Pete Rose in the ninth inning, and caught Rod Carew's fly ball for the final out of the NL's 6–3 victory. In that rookie season, Carter hit .270 with 17 home runs and 68 runs batted in, receiving the Sporting News Rookie of the Year Award and finishing second to San Francisco Giants pitcher John Montefusco for the National League Rookie of the Year award.

That same year he was voted the Expos Player of the Year, which he also won in 1977, 1980, and 1984.

Expos catcher
Carter again split time in the outfield and behind the plate in 1976. Limited to 91 games by a broken finger, he batted just .219 with six home runs and 38 RBIs. In 1977, young stars Warren Cromartie, Ellis Valentine, and Andre Dawson became full-time outfielders. In mid-June, former starting catcher Barry Foote was traded to the Phillies, opening up even more starts for Carter behind the plate. With little time at other positions, he responded with 31 home runs and 84 RBIs. In 1980, Carter hit 29 home runs, drove in 101 runs, and earned the first of three consecutive Gold Glove Awards. He finished second to third baseman Mike Schmidt in NL MVP balloting, whose Phillies took the National League East by one game over the Expos.

Carter caught Charlie Lea's no-hitter on May 10, 1981, the nightcap of a doubleheader split, during the first half of the strike shortened season. The season resumed on Sunday, August 9, with Carter playing in the 1981 All-Star Game, his first. His two home runs earned him the game's MVP award, and made him the fifth and most recent player to hit two home runs in an All-Star Game.

MLB split the fractured 1981 season into two halves, with the first-place teams from each half in each division meeting in a best-of-five divisional playoff series. The four survivors moved on to two best-of-five League Championship Series. The Expos won the NL East's second half with a 30–23 record. In his first post-season, Carter batted .421, hit two home runs and drove in six in the Expos' three games to two victory over the Phillies in the division series. Carter's average improved to .438 in the NLCS, with no home runs or RBIs, and his Expos lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games, who won the World Series over the New York Yankees.

Pierre Elliott Trudeau, then prime minister of Canada, once remarked of Carter's popularity saying "I am certainly happy that I don't have to run for election against Gary Carter." However some Expos were put off by Carter's unabashed enthusiasm, feeling that he was too taken with his image and basked in his press coverage too eagerly, derisively naming him "Camera Carter." Andre Dawson felt Carter was "more a glory hound than a team player."

1984 season
Carter hit a home run in the 1984 All-Star Game to give the NL a 2–1 lead that they would not relinquish, earning him his second All-Star game MVP award. Carter's 106 RBIs (an NL lead), 159 games played, .294 batting average, 175 hits and 290 total bases were personal highs.

The 1984 Expos finished fifth in the NL East. At the end of the season, the rebuilding Expos chafed at Carter's salary demands and traded him in December to the Mets for Hubie Brooks, Mike Fitzgerald, Herm Winningham, and Floyd Youmans.

New York Mets

In his first game with New York on April 9, 1985, he hit a tenth-inning home run off Neil Allen to give the Mets a 6–5 Opening Day victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. The Mets and Cardinals rivaled for the National League East championship, with Carter and ex-Cardinal first baseman Keith Hernandez leading NY. The season came down to the wire as the Mets won 98 games but lost the division by three games to the Cardinals. Carter hit a career-high 32 home runs and drove in 100 runs. The Mets had three players finish in the top ten in NL MVP balloting that season (Dwight Gooden 4th, Carter 6th, and Hernandez 8th).

1986 World Series Champions
In 1986, the Mets won 108 games and took the National League East by $21 1/2$ games over the Phillies. Carter suffered a postseason slump in the NLCS, batting .148. However, he hit a walk-off RBI single to win Game 5. Carter also had two hits in Game 6, which the Mets won in 16 innings.

The Mets won the World Series in seven games over the Boston Red Sox. Carter batted .276 with nine RBIs in his first World Series, and hit two home runs over Fenway Park's Green Monster in Game Four. He is the only player to hit two home runs in both an All-Star Game (1981) and a World Series game. Carter started a two-out rally in the tenth inning of Game 6, scoring the first of three Mets runs that inning on a single by Ray Knight. He also hit an eighth-inning sacrifice fly that tied the game. Carter finished third on the NL MVP ballot in 1986.

1987–1988
Carter batted .235 in 1987, and ended the season with 291 career home runs. He had 299 home runs by May 16, 1988 after a fast start, then slumped until August 11 against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field when he hit his 300th. During his home run drought, Carter was named co-captain of the team with Hernandez, who had been named captain the previous season.

Carter ended 1988 with 11 home runs and 46 RBIs—his lowest totals since 1976. He ended the season with 10,360 career putouts as a catcher, breaking the career mark of Detroit Tigers catcher Bill Freehan (9,941).

The Mets won 100 games that season, taking the NL East by 15 games. Heavily favored, they were upset by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS. Carter batted .183 in 50 games for the Mets in 1989. In November, the Mets released Carter after five seasons, during which he had hit 89 home runs and drove in 349 runs.

After the Mets
Released by the Mets after the 1989 season, Carter subsequently joined the San Francisco Giants. At age 36, he platooned with catcher Terry Kennedy in 1990, batting .254 with nine home runs. A Los Angeles Dodger in 1991, he found himself again in a pennant race, with LA finishing one game behind the Atlanta Braves in the National League West.

At the end of the season, Carter returned to Montreal for his final season, obtained off waivers from the Dodgers. Carter was still nicknamed "the Kid" by teammates despite his age. In his last at-bat (in the seventh inning) on September 27, 1992, he hit a double over the head of Chicago Cubs right-fielder and former Expos teammate Andre Dawson. This hit drove in Larry Walker and proved to be the winning hit. After the hit, he was given a standing ovation. The Expos went 87–75 and finished second behind the Pittsburgh Pirates in the National League East.

Career statistics
Over a nineteen-year major league career Carter was an eleven-time All-Star, won three Gold Glove Awards, and five Silver Sluggers. He played in 2,296 games, accumulating 2,092 hits in 7,971 at bats for a .262 career batting average, along with 324 home runs, 1,225 runs batted in, and a .335 on-base percentage. He hit 307 home runs as a catcher, ranking him seventh all-time at the position. His 1,225 career runs batted in also ranks him seventh all-time among major league catchers.

Carter's 2,056 games played as a catcher rank him fourth on the all-time list. He caught 127 shutouts during his career, ranking him sixth all-time among major league catchers in that category. He led National League catchers eight times in putouts, five times in assists and three times in baserunners caught stealing. His 810 baserunners caught stealing are the most for any major league catcher since the end of the dead-ball era, when stolen bases were more prevalent. His 11,785 putouts and 149 double plays during his playing career both rank tenth all-time among major league catchers.

Carter's .991 career fielding percentage was five points above the league average during his playing career. When he broke the 100 assists barrier in 1977, he joined Johnny Bench and Jim Sundberg as the only major league catchers to have more than 100 assists in a season since the end of World War II.

In all, Carter amassed the second highest career WAR for a catcher during his career.

Post-playing career
After his retirement as a player, Carter served as an analyst for Florida Marlins television broadcasts from 1993 to 1996. He also appeared in the movie The Last Home Run (1998) which was filmed in 1996.

Hall of Fame
Carter was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his sixth year on the ballot, on January 7, 2003. He became the first Hall of Famer whose plaque depicts a player with the Montreal Expos logo. Carter had originally expressed a preference during his final playing season to be inducted wearing an Expos cap. Given the uncertainty of the Expo franchise at the time, Carter's employment by the Mets organization since retiring as a player, his World Series title with the Mets, and his media celebrity during his stint in New York, Carter shifted his preference to be enshrined with a Mets cap after his election to the Hall. The New York City media strongly supported Carter's preference to go into the Hall as a Met. Carter joked that "he wanted his Cooperstown cap to be a half-and-halfer, split between the Expos and Mets". The final decision rested with the Hall of Fame, and Hall president Dale Petroskey declared that Carter's achievements with the Expos over twelve season had earned his induction, whereas his five seasons with the Mets by itself would not have, saying "we want to have represented on the plaque the team that best represents where a player made the biggest impact in his career. When you look at it, it's very clear. Gary Carter is an important part of the history of the Expos." Carter accepted the Hall's decision with grace, stating: "The fact I played 11 years in Montreal and the fact that the majority of my statistics and accomplishments were achieved there, it would be wrong, probably, to do it any other way." At the induction ceremony, Carter spoke some words in French, thanking fans in Montreal for the great honor and pleasure of playing in that city, while also taking great care to note the Mets' 1986 championship as the highlight of his career.

Carter was inducted into the New York Mets Hall of Fame in 2001. While the Mets have not retired number 8, it has remained unissued by the team since his election to the Hall of Fame in 2003. In 2001, he was elected into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame along with Dave McKay, and his number eight was retired by the Expos. After the Expos moved to Washington, D.C. to become the Washington Nationals following the 2004 season, a banner displaying Carter's number along with those of other Expos stars Andre Dawson, Tim Raines and Rusty Staub was hung from the rafters at the Bell Centre, home of the NHL's Montreal Canadiens. In Washington, D.C., Carter is recognized in the Ring of Honor at Nationals Park.

Coaching
Carter was named Gulf Coast League Manager of the Year his first season managing the Gulf Coast Mets in 2005. A year later, he was promoted to the A-level St. Lucie Mets, and guided his team to the 2006 Florida State League championship, again earning Manager of the Year honors. In more recent years, Carter was criticized, most notably by former co-captain Keith Hernandez, for twice openly campaigning for the Mets' managerial position while it was still occupied by incumbents Art Howe in 2004, and in 2008 Willie Randolph.

In 2008, he managed the Orange County Flyers of the Golden Baseball League, guiding his team to the GBL Championship and was named Manager of the Year.

For the following season Carter was named manager of the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. The Ducks won the 2009 second half Liberty Division title, but were defeated by the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs in the Liberty Division playoffs.

In October 2009, Carter was named head baseball coach for the NCAA Division II Palm Beach Atlantic University Sailfish.

Personal life
Carter met his future wife, Sandy, when she was a student at Fullerton College. They married in 1975. They had three children.

His daughter Kimmy was the head softball coach at Palm Beach Atlantic University and was a softball catcher for Florida State from 1999 to 2002.

Carter was an active philanthropist, and championed causes that fought leukemia and illiteracy.

The Gary Carter Foundation (of which Carter was the president) supports 8 Title I schools in Palm Beach County whose students live in poverty. Typically, these schools have 90% or more students eligible for free or reduced lunches. The Foundation seeks to "better the physical, mental and spiritual well being of children." To accomplish this, they advocate "school literacy by encouraging use of the Reading Counts Program, a program that exists in the Palm Beach County School District". Since its inception, The Gary Carter Foundation has placed over $622,000 toward charitable purposes, including $366,000 to local elementary schools for their reading programs.

The 11th edition of the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, published in 2012, credits Carter, who rarely used profanity, with the first recorded use of the term "f-bomb."

Illness and death
In May 2011, Carter was diagnosed with four malignant tumors in his brain after experiencing headaches and forgetfulness. Doctors confirmed that he had a grade IV primary brain tumor known as glioblastoma multiforme. Doctors said that the extremely aggressive cancer was inoperable and Carter would undergo other treatment methods to shrink his tumor. On January 20, 2012, daughter Kimmy posted on her blog that an MRI had revealed additional tumors on her father's brain. Even as he battled an aggressive form of brain cancer, Carter did not miss opening day for the college baseball team he coached.

Carter died on February 16, 2012, at the age of 57. Nine days later, the Mets announced that they were adding a memorial patch to their uniforms in Carter's honor for the entire 2012 season. The patch features a black home plate with the number 8 and "KID" inscribed on it. On the Mets' 2012 opening day, the Carter family unveiled a banner with a similar design on the center field wall of Citi Field.

The NHL's Montreal Canadiens, who had purchased the Expos' mascot Youppi! and hung retired numbers in its arena after the Expos' relocation to Washington, paid tribute to Carter by presenting a video montage and observing a moment of silence before a game against the New Jersey Devils on February 20, 2012. All Canadiens players took to the ice during pre-game warm-ups wearing number 8 Carter jerseys, and Youppi! appeared wearing an Expos uniform. In addition, Youppi! wore a patch on his Canadiens jersey featuring a white circle with a blue number 8 inside it for the remainder of the season. Tom Verducci, longtime Sports Illustrated baseball writer, reminisced about Carter following his death, "I cannot conjure a single image of Gary Carter with anything but a smile on his face. I have no recollection of a gloomy Carter, not even as his knees began to announce a slow surrender ... Carter played every day with the joy as if it were the opening day of Little League." "Gary actually took a lot of grief from his teammates for being a straight arrow. It wasn't the cool thing to do but on the same token, I think he actually served as a role model for a lot of these guys as they aged. He was the ballast of that team. They did have a lot of fun, there's no question about that, but they were also one of the fiercest, most competitive teams I've ever seen and obviously their comebacks from the '86 postseason defines that team. Carter was a huge part of that."

At Carter's memorial service, on February 24, 2012, Expo teammate Tommy Hutton made note of Carter's deep faith. The three loves in Carter's life, Hutton said, were his family, baseball, and God.

Faillon Street West in Montreal, located near IGA Stadium, the tennis stadium built on the site of the former Parc Jarry, was renamed Gary Carter Street in his honor.

On March 28, 2014, during an exhibition game between the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Mets at Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Quebec, a banner was unveiled in honor of Carter in a special ceremony before the first pitch. Carter's widow Sandy and daughter Kimmy were present on field for an emotional video tribute and the unveiling of the banner on the outfield wall, which reads "Merci! Thank You!" and contains an image of a baseball overlaid with Carter's retired number 8.

title: Gary Carter


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The Co-operative Bank

The Co-operative Bank plc is a British retail and commercial bank based in Manchester, England. Established as a bank for co-operators and co-operatives following the principles of the Rochdale Pioneers, the business evolved in the 20th century into a mid-sized British high street bank, operating throughout the UK mainland. Transactions took place at cash desks in co-op stores until the 1960s, when the bank set up a small network of branches that grew from 6 to a high of 160. Branches for residents of the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands were closed in the 2010s during a significant rescaling exercise. it has 50 branches in the UK.

The Co-operative Bank is the only UK high street bank with a customer-led Ethical Policy which is incorporated into the bank's articles of association. The Ethical Policy was introduced in 1992 and incorporated into the bank's constitution in 2013. The policy was revised and expanded in 2015 in line with over 320,000 customer responses to a poll. The latest Values and Ethics report was published in May 2020.

Despite its name, the bank has never been a cooperative itself. In the 1970s it was registered as a separate PLC that was wholly owned by the co-operative society it was part of, in order to achieve its status as a bank among other banks entitled to use inter-banking systems. That society, The Co-operative Group, maintains some relationship with the bank today, including managing the licensed use of the brand name "Co-operative ..." and maintained full and later partial ownership until 2017.

In 2013–14, after a merger with Leek-based Britannia Building Society, a failed attempt to buy a larger rival and a troubled commercial property loan portfolio, the bank was the subject of a rescue plan to address a capital shortfall of about £1.9 billion. Representatives of the bank's then 12.6 million co-owners and management dealt with a crisis by negotiating with creditors to exchange their claims on the bank's liabilities for equity in a debt-for-equity swap. This swap reduced the bank's liabilities while increasing its ability to withstand the significant losses which had rapidly become apparent. It was a private transaction and thus avoided the part-nationalisations that befell larger rivals in UK, USA and elsewhere in the 2008 global financial crisis.

The Co-operative Group, which had previously owned the bank outright, became a minority shareholder holding a 20% stake in the bank. Following restructuring and the formation of a new holding company on 1 September 2017, the Co-operative Group no longer had a stake in the bank and the relationship agreement between the two organisations ended in 2020.

The bank is now a plc with debt securities listed on the London Stock Exchange. Its equity is not listed. The bank's sole shareholder is the Co-operative Bank Finance plc. The sole shareholder of the Co-operative Bank Finance plc is the Co-operative Bank Holdings Ltd which is a private company limited by share capital. The holding company is owned by hedge funds and other asset management companies, though talks are ongoing with the Coventry Building Society on their acquisition of the bank.

Origins
The bank was formed in 1872 as the Loan and Deposit Department of the Co-operative Wholesale Society, becoming the CWS Bank four years later. However, the bank did not become a registered company until 1971, when the Co-operative Bank Act 1971 (c. xxii) separated the banking business from the Co-operative Wholesale Society. In 1975, the bank became the first new member of the Committee of London Clearing Banks for 40 years and thus able to issue its own cheques.

Expansion
The bank merged with the Britannia Building Society in 2009, increasing its branch network to 373 branches.

Following the UK government's acquisition of 43.4% of Lloyds Banking Group in 2009, the Co-operative Bank entered into negotiations with Lloyds Banking Group to purchase over 600 of its branches. The purchase was publicly announced in July 2012 and it was revealed that the branches would be initially split from Lloyds under the resurrected TSB brand. On 24 April 2013 the Co-operative Bank announced that it had decided against proceeding with the deal. The reasons given were the poor economic outlook in the UK and an increase in financial regulation requirements. The Financial Times had previously reported that the Co-operative would require a £1 billion increase in capital to support enlarging the bank.

2013 financial crisis

In March 2013 the bank reported losses of £600m. In May Moody's downgraded its credit rating by six notches to junk (Ba3) resulting in the chief executive Barry Tootell's resignation.

Over the weekend of 15–16 June 2013 negotiations between the Co-operative Group and its regulator the Prudential Regulation Authority culminated in reports that the bank had a shortfall in its capital of about £1.5 billion, and that this would be filled by a procedure known as a "bail-in" scheme. Bank chairman Paul Flowers resigned shortly before the announcement of the shortfall. A press release by the bank issued on 17 June 2013 explained that the scheme would compel subordinated (also known as junior) bondholders to convert some or all of their assets from debt instruments to ownership ("equity") shares of uncertain value which would be listed on the London Stock Exchange and a new fixed income instrument. The scheme contrasted with the rescues of other British banks in 2008 and 2009 when central government introduced new capital into the failed institutions. Details of the outcome for small retail investors in the bank were uncertain at the time of the June announcement, but there was no suggestion that ordinary deposits in the bank would be put at any additional risk by the rescue, as they would continue to be covered by the existing compensation scheme. The bondholders had the opportunity to seek to reject the restructuring proposed, and an alternative option of the Bank of England taking over the ownership of the bank under the Banking Act 2009 special resolution regime was considered.

In September it was discovered that there was a £3.6bn funding gap between the value the Co-operative Bank placed on its loan portfolio and the actual value it would realise if forced to sell the assets. In October it was reported that the Co-operative Group had been forced to renegotiate the bank's £1.5bn rescue with US hedge funds Aurelius Capital Management, Beach Point Capital Management, and Silver Point Capital that owned its debt. As a result, the group would lose majority control of its banking arm with the proportion of the bank's equity remaining under its ownership dropping to 30%, less than the 75% proposed in the original rescue plan. The plan passed a creditor vote and on 18 December 2013 a judge on the High Court of England and Wales allowed the plan to move forward.

An independent review commissioned by the bank, published in April 2014, concluded that the root of the bank's problems lay in its 2009 takeover of the Britannia Building Society and poor management controls. The bank's auditors, KPMG, were fined £4 million for misconduct shortly after the takeover of Britannia, particularly the valuation of Britannia's commercial loans and other liabilities, by the Financial Reporting Council in 2019.

2014–16 rehabilitation
The bank's chief executive at the time, Niall Booker, a former banker at HSBC who nursed HSBC's sub-prime lending business back to health, was appointed in 2013. He attempted to refocus the bank's strategy as a retail and SME lender. At this point, the bank was Britain's seventh biggest lender, and the majority of the bank's revenue was made from interest charges on loans.

Flotation on the London Stock Exchange was planned for 2014 but the plans were abandoned in March 2014 when a rights issue was announced to raise an additional £400 million. In May 2014 the bank finalised the £400 million fundraising plan and obtained shareholder approval, which reduced the Co-operative Group's ownership of the bank to just over 20%.

The Co-operative Bank lost 38,000 current account customers in the first half of 2014 after suffering what it called a "hurricane of negative publicity" following the lender's near collapse. However, this loss was partly offset by 9,700 who switched to the bank – double the number who joined six months earlier, resulting in a net loss of 28,199 customers (around 2% of the bank's total). The rate of loss slowed significantly in 2015, resulting in a loss of 2,250 current account customers between January and August of that year. Overall, between 2014 and 2017, the number of current account holders dropped from 1.5 million to 1.4 million.

Nevertheless, the bank reported progress in its rehabilitation, as its losses sharply narrowed and it strengthened its capital position. Figures released by the bank in August 2014 for the first half of the year showed a pre-tax loss of £75.8 million was identified, compared to £844.6 million for the same period in 2013. Co-op Bank also said its core Tier 1 capital ratio, a key measure of financial strength, stood at 11.5 percent at the end of June and was expected to be significantly above the previous guidance of 10 percent at the end of 2014. However the bank, as expected, was unable to meet the new Bank of England financial stress tests in December 2014.

In late 2014 the bank sold its repossessed properties business for £157.5 million, and its ATM operating business for £35 million. It also outsourced its mortgage servicing operation to Capita, transferring about 660 staff to Capita.

The narrowing of losses was driven largely by a faster-than-expected reduction in unwanted assets, including significant parts of the portfolio of sub-prime mortgages the bank inherited from its merger with Britannia Building Society. Non-core assets reduced by £ billion, and credit impairments improved. In August 2014 the bank said it had cut staff numbers by 21 percent (about 1,560 workers) in the previous year and that there were more job losses to come. The bank had also closed 46 branches, reducing its branch network by 16 percent since the start of 2014. Another 25 would close in the remainder of the year, it said. In August 2015 the bank said that it had closed 62 branches over the previous year, taking the total down to 165. This was partly due to a 28% drop in in-branch transactions resulting from a change in demand from branch to internet banking. By that point staff reductions had exceeded 2,000 workers. After the closure of 54 branches during the first three months of 2016 the bank described its programme of branch closures as "mostly finished". The total number of jobs cut by the bank between 2013 and 2017 was approximately 2,700. The closure of a further 10 branches in the spring of 2017 reduced the branch total to 95, down from nearly 300 at the start of the process.

In December 2014 a Bank of England assessment measured the bank's core capital ratio (a measure of financial strength) at minus 2.6%. As a result, the bank appointed Bank of America Merrill Lynch to help sell £6.6 billion of mortgages.

The bank was not expected to make a full-year profit until 2017 at the earliest. In August 2015 Booker said that he expected the bank would be "part of the consolidation of some of the country’s smaller banks", and that stock-market flotation would remain an option for the future. He said that there had been "no meaningful discussions" concerning the suggestion that the hedge funds which own 80% of the bank's equity were looking at buying up the Co-operative Group's remaining 20% holding.

On 1 April 2016 the bank announced a pre-tax loss for 2015 of £611 million, more than double the loss of £264m for 2014. Booker's salary rose to £3.85m from its 2014 level of £3.1m, an increase of 24.2%. In November 2016 the bank announced a reduction of the workforce to 4,015, a loss of 200 staff.

2017 restructuring, investment and proposed sale
In February 2017 the bank's board announced that they were "commencing a sale process" for the bank and were "inviting offers". They said that they were also considering options other than a sale to build capital, including raising cash from new and existing investors. A statement from the Co-operative Group indicated that it supported the decision. In April 2017 the Co-operative Group wrote off its 20% stake in the bank and in May 2017 the bank began seeking a debt-for-equity swap. In June 2017 the bank's board discontinued the formal sale process. By that time the bank's total losses since its financial crisis amounted to £2.6 billion. It was then announced that institutional bondholders had agreed to convert £426 million of bonds into equity, which would give them a 17 per cent stake in the bank. Additionally, it was announced that existing investors had agreed to put £250 million of new equity into a newly established holding company, which would take a 68 per cent stake in the bank. The investors also agreed to add £100 million over 10 years to the bank's pension fund and provide over £200 million of collateral to assist in separating the bank's pension from that of the Co-operative Group. The group was due to own 1 per cent of the bank, with the bank retaining its name and ethical policy. These arrangements were implemented in September 2017 and the final 1% stake held by the group was sold shortly afterwards for £5 million, ending the group's ownership of the bank entirely. The "relationship agreement" between the bank and the group is due to come to an end in 2020. During the uncertainty of the first half of 2017 the bank lost a further 25,000 current account customers. The bank reduced staff numbers by 800 in 2017 and made a pre-tax loss of £174.4 million (the loss for the previous year had been £477.1 million). In February 2018 the bank announced that its remaining branch network would be reduced from 95 to 68 branches during April and May 2018.

2018 onwards: extension of portfolio and growth
Andrew Bester joined as the bank's CEO in July 2017, setting out to deliver a plan to enhance the bank's digital capabilities while developing the ethical brand further.

In September 2018 the bank expressed an interest in bidding for part of a £775 million fund designed to help banks develop their business banking services and encourage SME customers to transfer their accounts from RBS Group. The fund was created by RBS as a consequence of its £45 billion Government bailout during the financial crisis of 2007–2008. In May 2019, the bank was awarded £15 million by Banking Competition Remedies (BCR) to grow its presence in the business banking market, following its successful application for funding from Pool B of the Capability and Innovation Fund.

2020-2024: contraction
During the first half of 2020 the bank allocated £11.2m to "loan impairments", giving a loss for that period of £44.6m. In August 2020 the closure was announced of 18 of the bank's remaining 68 branches – to take place by the end of the year – along with an 11% reduction in staff numbers, as a response to a reduction in branch use and historically low interest rates. the bank has 50 branches in the UK.

On October 6, 2020, it was announced that Andrew Bester had informed the board of directors of his intention to step down as chief executive officer and as a director of its parent company The Co-operative Bank Finance plc. On October 20, 2020, it was announced that Nick Slape would be the CEO of the Co-operative Bank after stepping up from his role as CFO.

As a part of wider turnaround plans, in August 2023 the bank acquired the mortgage accounts of Sainsbury's Bank and in March 2024 announced it would consult staff on a restructure which would reduce staffing by 12%, about 400 staff.

A series of banking entities engaged in talks and offers to acquire the bank including US private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management in November 2020, challenger bank Shawbrook in October 2023 and which culminated in a tentative offer from the Coventry Building Society which was provisionally accepted in April 2024.

2024 onwards: proposed takeover by Coventry Building Society
On 19 April 2024, Coventry Building Society agreed takeover terms for the bank, worth up to £780 million. The deal is subject to the two firms agreeing a contract and gaining approval from financial services regulators.

On 24 May 2024, Coventry Building Society finalised its takeover of the bank, and announced that it would not be giving its members a vote on the deal. The purchase is subject to approval from financial regulators, but is expected to be completed in early 2025.

Membership before financial crisis
Despite its name, the Co-operative Bank was not itself a true co-operative as it was not owned directly by its staff, nor customers. Prior to 2013 it was owned by a holding company itself owned by a co-operative – The Co-operative Group. Its customers could, however, choose to become Co-operative Group members and hence indirectly acquire an ownership interest in the bank, earning dividends on their account holdings and borrowing with the Bank.

The bank also had approximately 2,500 preference shareholders, which were irredeemable fixed-interest shares. These shareholders could attend the bank's general meetings, but only had speaking and voting rights if the dividend is in arrears, or on any resolution varying their rights or winding up the bank.

Unlike other co-operative banks, such as the Dutch company Rabobank, the Co-operative Bank did not have a federal structure of local banks, instead being a single national bank.

Customer Union for Ethical Banking
In October 2013, around the time of the takeover, a group of customers, supported by Ethical Consumer magazine, launched a Save our Bank campaign, to keep the bank adhering to its ethical policy and eventually bring it back into co-operative ownership. 10,000 people signed up to the campaign. In 2016 the campaign became the Customer Union for Ethical Banking, a formal co-operative, which retained the Save our Bank name on its website. The union now has 1,200 members who all pay a small yearly membership fee. In 2019, the bank committed to ongoing engagement with the customer union, through a formal recognition agreement.

Ethical policy

The Co-operative Bank operates an Ethical Policy and has an ethical code of conduct as part of its constitution. The Ethical Policy is overseen by a values and ethics committee chaired by an independent director. The policy excludes the provision of any banking services to businesses that take part in certain business activities or sectors. These include a commitment not to finance "the manufacture or transfer of armaments to oppressive regimes" or "any business whose core activity contributes to global climate change, via the extraction or production of fossil fuels". The bank estimates that it has declined finance totalling in excess of £1bn since the policy was introduced in 1992. The policy is based on a regularly renewed customer mandate in the form of a survey. In the 2005/06 financial year, whilst making profits of £96.5 million, it turned away business of nearly £10 million.

The Ethical Policy only applies to the balance sheet of the Co-operative Bank and never applied to other Co-operative Group businesses such as the Co-operative Asset Management, the group's asset management business. Nevertheless, this business received criticism in 2009 for not following the bank's Ethical Policy and in 2013 it was sold to the Royal London Group.

In June 2005, the bank closed the account of Christian Voice, a Christian evangelical group, because of its standpoint on homosexuality, specifically the group's "discriminatory pronouncements on grounds of sexual orientation". They said the group was "incompatible with the position of the Co-operative Bank, which publicly supports diversity and dignity". Christian Voice said the bank was discriminating against it on religious grounds. Gay Times subsequently selected the Co-operative Bank for its Ethical Corporate Stance Award.

In late 2014 the bank undertook an advertising campaign to promote its Ethical Policy. The Co-operative Bank brand subsequently came top in YouGov's survey of the most improved brands of 2015.

The expanded Ethical Policy, updated in 2015, is built on five pillars: Banking, Workplace, Products and Services, Campaigning and Business.

Charity and community
The bank's partnership with youth homelessness charity, Centrepoint, continued during 2018 and raised over £1m, helping to fund a national helpline for Centrepoint, and a specialist helpline service based in Manchester.

In 2018, the bank partnered with charity Refuge and successfully lobbied for the launch of a new banking industry code of practice for customers affected by financial abuse.

Smile
The bank launched a separate internet-only operation known as smile in 1999. It has around half a million customers.

Britannia
In October 2008, it was reported that Co-operative Financial Services was in talks with Britannia Building Society with a view to sharing facilities and possibly a full merger. Such a venture was facilitated by the passing of the Building Societies (Funding) and Mutual Societies (Transfers) Act 2007, although further secondary legislation was required before such a merger could take place. On 21 January 2009, Co-operative Financial Services and Britannia Building Society agreed to a merger, with the new "super-mutual" being brought under the stewardship of The Co-operative Group. The proposed merger was subject to a vote by Britannia's members at their AGM, and on 29 April 2009 the members voted overwhelmingly in favour of the merger. Neville Richardson, Britannia CEO, became chief executive of the combined business.

In the short term, both Britannia Building Society and the Co-operative Bank continued operating their own products, branch networks and systems. All Britannia branches were due to be rebranded under the Co-operative name by the end of 2013, but this was abandoned in the wake of the financial crisis, with a great many simply closing and only a smaller number being retained and converted.

In June 2013, a member of the Treasury Select Committee criticised Richardson – who had left the bank in 2011 – over his role in the merger. In 2014, an independent review reported that the problems faced by both companies had been exacerbated by the merger. In the same year the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, told the Treasury Select Committee that the Britannia Building Society would have collapsed if it had not been taken over by the Co-operative Bank.

Technical problems
In 2009, the Co-operative Bank received considerable public criticism from business customers for problems with the bank's business internet banking service. It subsequently emerged that the service crashed when more than 130 users logged on simultaneously, and some business customers were left unable to access their accounts for days.

In 2011, some Co-operative Bank customers were left temporarily unable to use their debit cards as a result of IT problems.

In 2021, the Bank's Open Banking service began to suffer a "temporary outage", which is still ongoing in 2023.

Controversies
On 17 November 2013, Labour Party advisor and the former Co-operative Bank chairman, Rev. Paul Flowers, was caught buying crack cocaine and methamphetamine. The former Labour councillor served as the Bank's chairman from April 2010 until June 2013 and it was under his chairmanship that in March 2013 the bank reported losses of £600 million; in May 2013, Moody's had downgraded its credit rating by six notches to junk (Ba3) and the chief executive Barry Tootell resigned. Flowers was suspended by both the Labour Party and the Methodist Church. On 19 November it was discovered that Flowers had previously resigned as a Labour Party Councillor for Bradford Council after "inappropriate" content was discovered on his computer.

On 19 November 2013, the group's chairman Len Wardle, who was leading the board when Flowers was appointed to his position, resigned "with immediate effect" because of the Flowers scandal.

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

title: The Co-operative Bank


text:
Sonic the Comic

Sonic the Comic was a British children's comic published by Fleetway Editions between 1993 and 2002. It was the UK's Sega comic, featuring stories about its mascot Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters, as well as comic strips based on other Sega video games, along with news, reviews, and tips for games released for Sega systems.

Format and publication history
The original price for Sonic the Comic was 95 pence, but it incrementally increased over the comic's lifespan, until the price had reached £1.50 by the final issue. The comic generally contained four comic strip stories, each usually following different storylines and being written and drawn by different writers and artists. The first was always a seven-page story about Sonic himself (except for #148 which began with the Tails strip), and in the earliest issues, the remaining three would involve a different Sega game character (see list below). Later, the Sega backup strips were supplanted by stories focusing on supporting Sonic characters such as Tails, Knuckles, Amy and the Chaotix. The anthology "Sonic's World" featured a variety of events in the STC world not covered by the main character strips.

The different strips could at times contrast heavily with each other, with different strips aimed at different age groups or with a different balance between comedy and drama: the humour-based Decap Attack strip could appear alongside the darker and more violent Streets of Rage strip. Lew Stringer has stated that the majority of readers were aged between five and ten and many strips were written with this in mind: "That doesn't mean that older readers can't appreciate the stories and artwork of course but it's worth bearing in mind that if the stories sometimes seem juvenile, it's because they are. Having said that, it doesn't mean we can be sloppy because we're 'just' writing for kids".

Aside from the comic strips, for its first few years STC regularly featured content related to Sega videogaming. Fitting in with the Sonic convention of calling levels "Zones", these sections were given such titles as the "Q-Zone" (which featured videogame tips and cheats), the "News Zone" and the "Review Zone". Readers' artwork was printed in the "Graphic Zone", and letters were featured in "Speedlines".

Megadroid
The mascot of the comic was a robot named Megadroid, composed of parts of a Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. Megadroid was the persona used by the editors of Sonic the Comic to answer letters and provide story recaps and general magazine news (much like Tharg in 2000AD, and in fact created by former Tharg Richard Burton). He acted as a liaison between the readers (whom he called "boomers," deriving from the term "sonic boom") and the "humes who think they're in charge".

Megadroid had two one-off strips; the first (#41) was a tour of the STC offices for the Christmas issue, and a second (#83) in which he ran away from the STC offices to a seaside town only to return from his harrowing experience to attend to the needs of the boomers.

Megadroid was dropped from the comic in 1998, and with him the "Speedlines" letter page vanished. Speedlines returned in 2000, though it was no longer a regular feature and instead of Megadroid, the letters were supposedly answered by Sonic himself (actually editor Andy Diggle and later Steve MacManus).

Staff
The bulk of the work in the comic was written by either Nigel Kitching or Lew Stringer, while art was provided by Richard Elson, Nigel Dobbyn, Carl Flint, Woodrow Phoenix, Roberto Corona, Mike McMahon, Kitching himself and many others. The first editor was Richard Burton.

Several of the comic's contributors have found success elsewhere in comics. Mark Millar, who wrote the first Streets of Rage storyline and some Sonic strips, has since written major titles for DC and Marvel Comics such as Wanted and Civil War; editor Andy Diggle has since become a comics writer; and Road to Perdition illustrator Richard Rayner contributed to Decap Attack scripts.

Demise
The demise of STC began when budget cuts at the comic led to the number of pages being cut from 36 to 32 beginning with issue 95 in 1997 and as a result, the loss of the news, game review and game tips sections (though the slow phasing out of these sections had already been ongoing since early 1995). Despite being one of Fleetway's biggest selling comics in 1998, from issue 133, published that July, one strip an issue was given over to reprints to save money as part of Fleetway's policy of five-year reader cycles (issue 133 was published shortly after the comic's fifth birthday). Later in the year, the mascot Megadroid was removed, along with the "Speedlines" letters page. Two further strips were replaced by reprints in issues 155 and 157, leaving just the main Sonic strip and the cover as the only new material in each issue. With the lack of new supporting character strips, Nigel Kitching was asked to share the main strip with Lew Stringer, causing the plans for the "Shanazar" story arc to be heavily altered.

During this time, the main strip's stories came under the "Time Zone" banner, mostly being set on Shanazar and then later involving dimensional portals leading to other dimensions and Earth's history (identical to the previous Amy and Tekno stories) due to editorial preference. Neither Mobius nor any of the main characters bar Sonic and Amy featured, and the lack of ancillary strips meant no other stories could be told. Following issue 157, Lew Stringer replaced Nigel Kitching as the comic's sole writer.

After Andy Diggle became the comic's editor, Stringer's run concluded with an apocalyptic final storyline, and Kitching returned with issue 175 for a ten-part adaptation of the videogame Sonic Adventure. From issue 185, the comic became fully reprint, aside from new covers drawn by Richard Elson. This happened at short notice – even Kitching was not aware that issue 184 would be his last until he requested an extension for the ten-issue storyline he was in the middle of writing, having apparently already made plans for future stories that would follow it. He revealed the cancellation to fans on the unofficial STC Yahoo! Groups mailing list on 19 April 2000, a little over two months before the last issue was published and only a few weeks after he himself had been made aware of the fact. As a result, the final story ended with a handful of loose ends from earlier stories left untied.

Fully reprint issues continued to be published until issue 223, which reprinted the four-part storyline "The Evil Empire" and featured an article by Nigel Kitching about his time working on the comic, an abridged version of which was posted to the STC Mailing List.

Sonic the Hedgehog comic strips
Sonic the Comic began its run with a series of fairly inconsequential one-shot stories, and only established its identity and ongoing storyline and setting with the new team of writer Nigel Kitching and artist Richard Elson for the issue 7 story "Super Sonic" and issue 8's "The Origin of Sonic". The comic adopted a version of the "Kintobor origin" of Sonic and Doctor Robotnik, which had originally been featured in a promotional comic for the first Sonic game printed in Disney Adventures and had been elaborated upon in Mike Pattenden's book Stay Sonic. Like other UK Sonic publications, STC used the Stay Sonic version as its basis. This origin story established that Sonic was originally a normal brown hedgehog on the planet Mobius, who burrowed his way into the underground laboratory of Dr. Ovi Kintobor, a scientist who wished to rid the planet of all evil through the use of powerful gems called the Chaos Emeralds. In addition, he helped Sonic increase his running speed with the gift of red shoes designed to handle the incredible friction he generated, until the hedgehog eventually broke the sound barrier with a sonic boom which turned him blue. However, an accident involving the unstable Chaos Emeralds and a rotten egg transformed Kintobor into the evil Dr Ivo Robotnik, leading to the events of the games Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

"The Origin of Sonic" led into a storyline in which Sonic, Tails and their friends were sent forward in time six months. During their absence, Doctor Robotnik had successfully conquered the entire planet of Mobius, and Sonic and co. were forced underground, operating as "freedom fighters" attempting to bring down Robotnik's rule of the planet. This situation remained until issue 100 (1997), when Robotnik was deposed.

In the comic's early issues, three of the four strips in each edition were based on popular Sega video games. As time went on, these strips dwindled and were phased out entirely in favour of other stories about Sonic and related characters. The first of these was a Tails solo series which saw him return to his home in the Nameless Zone, where it was believed that he, not Sonic, was the great hero of Mobius. In addition to Tails and Sonic, other members of the Freedom Fighters included Johnny Lightfoot and Porker Lewis, characters based upon the generic rabbit and pig sprites freed from Badniks in the video games. The team soon added the "Kintobor computer" to their ranks - an artificial intelligence based on the brain patterns of Doctor Robotnik's former self - and were later joined by Amy Rose, a female hedgehog infatuated with Sonic, whose lies about being his girlfriend had made her a target for Robotnik's forces. Robotnik himself was later redesigned to match the appearance of his counterpart in the animated series Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog; and he gained a close ally in the green-skinned scientist Grimer, the comic's equivalent of Snively from the cartoon Sonic the Hedgehog. Grimer was instrumental in creating Metallix, the Metal Sonic, an enemy that featured prominently in Sonic the Comic ' s first major multi-part Sonic story, an adaptation of the video game Sonic CD entitled "The Sonic Terminator".

Knuckles the Echidna and the Floating Island soon made their debuts as Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles were adapted, and Knuckles subsequently featured in his own storylines in which he attempted to learn more about his lost race of Echidnas and their relationship with the Floating Island and the Chaos Emeralds. The comic also introduced original characters such as the sky pirate Captain Plunder, rebellious super-Badnik Shortfuse the Cybernik and engineering genius Tekno the Canary, who occasionally featured in their own dedicated strips. The comic's incorporation of characters from Knuckles' Chaotix established the alternate dimension called the Special Zone as a major location, and also introduced the Brotherhood of Metallix, an army of Metal Sonic robots who rebelled against Robotnik and embarked on a plan to alter the timeline and take over Mobius.

One element of Sonic the Comic that was distinct from other Sonic fiction was its depiction of Sonic's powered-up form, Super Sonic or known to fans as "Fleetway Super Sonic". In STC, Super Sonic was a monstrous, inhibitionless alter-ego, the Mr. Hyde to Sonic's Doctor Jekyll, into which Sonic transformed in times of stress or exposure to the Chaos Emeralds. The appearances of Super Sonic were few and far between in the first eighty or so issues of the comic, although he became a prominent threat during the build-up to issue 100. Following a storyline in which the Chaos Emeralds' energy was transferred out of Sonic and into the Special Zone, Super Sonic continued to exist as a separate entity, forcing Sonic to pursue him. After Super Sonic was defeated by being frozen in time within the time-travelling, dimension-jumping Omni-Viewer, Sonic was left isolated in the Special Zone; on Mobius, Shortfuse joined the Freedom Fighters, and Knuckles ended a long quest back to the Floating Island. Super Sonic's subsequent escape from the Omni-Viewer triggered a planet-wide electromagnetic pulse that the Omni-Viewer shunted to Mobius, deactivating all of Robotnik's robots and computer systems. With no technology or troops to protect him, Robotnik was finally deposed as Mobius' ruler in the comic's 100th issue.

After establishing the new state of play on Mobius—including the now-amnesiac Super Sonic's befriending of magician Ebony and psychic Pyjamas—the next major move for STC was its adaptation of Sonic 3D Blast, which proved to be the last game adaptation for a prolonged period of time. Although it ultimately amounted to little more than use of the different elements from the game (Flickies Island, the birds used for Badniks and dimensional travel via Mobius Rings), with the added introduction of a new Metallix villain (with its design based on Knuckles this time), it was a key stepping stone in shaping the direction of Sonic stories right up until the conclusion of the series. The story introduced the interdimensional alien race known as the Drakon Empire (spun out of a dangling plot point from nearly one hundred issues prior), who allied themselves with Doctor Robotnik in an attempt to acquire the Chaos Emeralds, revealing their previous ownership of the gems ages prior. Alliances, betrayals and double-crosses culminated in Robotnik's successful capture of the Emeralds and a 4-issue epic in which he had god-like powers & reshaped Mobius entirely, but when his body was drained of Chaos Energy, he vanished into a sub-atomic dimension.

A series of dimension-hopping adventures by Amy and Tekno resulted in Mobius being briefly invaded by Earth military forces, after which Sonic pursued Grimer and Nack the Weasel in their quest to recover Robotnik. Trapped on the sub-atomic world of Shanazar, Sonic found it hard to adapt to the local culture, and when Amy's adventures led her to join him on the planet, the two explored the world's numerous vastly different zones, combating myriad threats. Robotnik had his own plans, however, using the dimensional technology that brought Sonic, Grimer and Nack to Shanazar to enlarge the world, fusing it with Mobius in a Crisis on Infinite Earths-style event. Shanazar's zones could now be accessed from portals on Mobius, and various doorways had also opened to various points in Earth's history. Infuriated with yet another failure, however, Robotnik decided to bring his long war with Sonic to an end by destroying Mobius once and for all. Entering into a partnership with the living plastic alien hive-mind, The Plax, Robotnik used their technology to absorb elemental energy from both Mobius and Earth, forcing both worlds into total ecological collapse. His scheme was again foiled, however, by Shortfuse, who wired his armour into Robotnik's machine, undoing the damage and draining the energy from the villain, with the added bonus of the feedback finally liberating him from his armour.

This proved to be one defeat too many for Robotnik; retreating physically and mentally, he languished in darkness until Grimer, desperate to snap his master out of his depression, initiated the events of the comic's final storyline, the adaptation of Sonic Adventure (although in practice, this would prove to be the loosest game adaptation yet, as the game's wildly different approach was largely incompatible with the STC universe). Discovering a canister containing a creature of living chaos energy, Grimer unleashed the fear-inducing "Chaos" upon the Freedom Fighters, leading to the death of Johnny Lightfoot. Rampaging out of Grimer's control, Chaos then attacked the Floating Island, intending to absorb the Chaos Emeralds; however, Knuckles jettisoned the emeralds before he could absorb more than one, causing the island itself to plunge into the ocean. While Robotnik then set about gathering the emeralds to lure all the players to his fortress that they might all die together, Sonic was transported into the ancient past of Mobius by Tikal and Pachacamac, two of the planet's race of echidnas, where he witnessed the beginning of the war between the Echidnas and the Drakon Empire, the origins of the Chaos Emeralds, and the creation of Chaos, who proved to be a Drakon prosecutor mutated by exposure to the emeralds. Returning to the present, Sonic arrived just as Chaos absorbed the remaining emeralds and became Perfect Chaos. Robotnik's suicide plan was thwarted, however, by the unexpected appearance of Super Sonic, dying due to depletion of his own chaos energy. Absorbing Chaos's energy, reverting him back to his Drakon form, Super Sonic became his old evil self again and turned on the Freedom Fighters, until Ebony used her magics to fuse Sonic and Super Sonic back together again.

The original stories in Sonic the Comic came to an end at this point with issue #184, but the comic continued until #223 with reprinted material from throughout the magazine's life.

Sonic the Hedgehog
As the central protagonist and main character of the comic, Sonic's personality differed slightly from his typical portrayals in other Sonic fiction; a flawed hero, he can act arrogant, rude and somewhat self-centred, being condescending towards Tails in particular (often referring to him as "pixel brain"). Despite his flaws, Sonic will always rescue the innocent from danger when the situation arises. After Johnny Lightfoot's death at the hands of Chaos, Sonic blames himself and disappears for a short while, returning from his self-imposed exile with a less egocentric attitude and a stronger will. Sonic's origin was first used in 1991 in a Disney comic then now put into Sonic the Comic. Sonic was once a brown hedgehog, he then one day met the scientist Dr. Kintobor who invented a machine powered by the mysterious power of the Chaos Emeralds. Dr. Kintobor also invented Sonic's trademark speed shoes to help amplify Sonic's speed. While testing Dr. Kintobor's invention, Sonic broke the sound barrier, giving him his looks and speed. The adaptation of Sonic Adventure led to Sonic's redesign to match his modern incarnation.

When Sonic is required to do some undercover work, he adopts the persona of "Bob Beaky", a heavily wrapped-up bird.

Miles "Tails" Prower
Tails is Sonic's best friend as well as sidekick. Tails is commonly insulted by Sonic, who often calls him "Pixel Brain". Despite this, Tails still looks up to him. Tails was born in the Nameless Zone. Similar to Tails' backstory in the Canon games, he used to get picked on due to his twin tails. Tails eventually ran off and was found by Sonic in the Swamp Zone. This depiction of Tails does not have the genius-level intelligence of his video game counterpart, but is capable of flying the Tornado on his own, and coming up with cunning schemes to triumph over his enemies.

Knuckles the Echidna
Knuckles is the guardian of the Master Emerald, which gives the Chaos Emeralds their power as well as the secret to the Floating Island's levitation powers. Following the adaptation of Sonic Adventure, Knuckles is also in possession of one of the Chaos Emeralds. In this media depiction, Knuckles is not too fond of Sonic's character, and is notably less gullible than his video game counterpart.

Amy Rose
Amy first appeared in a two-part story where she was arrested by Dr. Robotnik's Trooper Badniks for the criminal offense of association with Sonic; she had been saying she was his girlfriend. While annoyed at the fact she had been lying about them being an "item", Sonic still had a duty to rescue her and did so, but to his horror realised that she was now a fugitive and would have to stay with the Freedom Fighters.

Amy's character swiftly matured as the comic went on and became one of the most valuable members of the Freedom Fighters, especially due to her expert marksmanship with her crossbow (as opposed to wielding the Piko Piko Hammer), which she created herself. The notion of a love interest in Sonic was, for the most part, underplayed and one of the comic's writers, Nigel Kitching, revealed he saw it partly as Amy just trying to annoy Sonic. Several times, Sonic would be left exasperated by either civilians assuming the two were dating, which Amy would play along with or her playing up the crush. Because of this, when trapped on the Miracle Planet with her, he faked being lost for two days.

She appeared often in strips, with a few solo stories by Lew Stringer where she saved the day without the others noticing. She constantly showed self-righteousness, pragmatism and quick thinking: in the story "Plasma" in #78, she both worked out how to defeat the villain and let Sonic believe he had as she knew that, as a symbol of hope for Mobius, "it's important that they think it's him who saves the day!". She also took a second-in-command role, taking full control when Sonic was absent or transformed into Super Sonic. When Sonic was lost in the Special Zone, she led the Freedom Fighters until he returned in #100. At a later part of the comic's life, Amy would be mostly written by Lew Stringer as a straightforward adventurer and had a long series of back-up strips teamed up with her best friend Tekno.

Nigel Kitching originally planned for Amy to be more of an irritant for Sonic, influenced by 1930s and 40s "Hollywood screwball comedies" like It's a Wonderful World, but while still being a capable fighter. However, Deborah Tate wanted the character to be of a role model for girls, as she was the only female regular character at the time, and dictated that she be more sensible and mature.

The Chaotix Crew
The Chaotix characters – Vector, Mighty, Espio, and Charmy – were written into Sonic the Comic as protectors of the Special Zone. The storyline had them framed without losing Sonic's trust. Along with Knuckles, this ensemble has been developed through many adventures as some of Sonic's best friends, always willing to help out.

Heroes

 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Amy Rose
 * Johnny Lightfoot
 * Porker Lewis
 * Shortfuse the Cybernik
 * Tekno the Canary
 * The Chaotix Crew
 * The Omni-Viewer
 * Doctor Ovi Kintobor
 * Tikal the Echidna
 * Morain Blackthorn
 * Ebony the Cat
 * Norris Wimple
 * Fabian Vane
 * Eternity Ring
 * Big the Cat
 * Police Chief Bodger
 * The Ultimax
 * Pyjamas
 * Blockhead Bill
 * Sally and Tufftee Acorn
 * Queen Bee

Villains

 * Doctor Robotnik
 * Grimer
 * Super Sonic
 * Doctor Zachary
 * Commander Brutus
 * Captain Plunder
 * The Drakon Empire
 * Metallix, the Metal Sonic and the Brotherhood of Metallix
 * Nack the Weasel
 * Megatox
 * Nutzan Bolt
 * Chaos
 * The Plax
 * Trogg
 * Lord Sidewinder
 * Max Gamble
 * Vermin the Cybernik
 * D.R.A.T.
 * Metamorphia
 * Marxio Brothers
 * Death-Trap
 * Colonel Percy Granite
 * Windy Wallis
 * Cam and Bert
 * Vichama
 * The Family
 * Percival Kane
 * Ryan Baggit
 * Spice Maidens
 * Ms Alpha, Mr Beta, Mr Gamma and Mr Delta

Non-Sonic comic strips
When STC started out, three of the four strips in each issue originated from games other than Sonic. After a while, they were gradually replaced by Sonic spin-offs.

 * Shinobi (3 series)
 * Streets of Rage (3 series)
 * Kid Chameleon (2 series)
 * Eternal Champions (2 series)
 * Golden Axe (2 series)
 * Decap Attack (3 series)
 * "Pirate STC" (1 series)
 * Marko's Magic Football (1 series)
 * Ecco the Dolphin (2 series)
 * Wonder Boy (2 series)
 * Sparkster (1 series)
 * Mutant League Football (1 series)
 * Shining Force (1 series)
 * "Megadroid" (2 series)

Of these, "Pirate STC" and the "Megadroid" strips was the only ones not to be based on an existing video game; "Pirate STC" was based on a series of adverts for the Sega Mega Drive and Mega-CD, while the "Megadroid" strips were based on the host robot of Sonic the Comic.

Decap Attack
Decap Attack was an adaptation of a Genesis/Mega Drive game. The strip outlasted all the other non-Sonic strips, seemingly becoming Nigel Kitching's pet project. Richard Piers Rayner co-wrote some episodes and Mike McMahon drew several.

The strip contained a very absurdist and manic sense of black humour, dealing with the daily life of Chuck, Head (the talking skull who, to Head's annoyance, gets thrown at enemies), the evil-minded Igor (who is constantly trying to kill Chuck) and the stereotypical mad scientist Professor Frank N. Stein, who is actually putting on his German accent and really comes from Cardiff. The game's adversary Max D. Cap only appeared twice, along with his accountant sidekick Rupert, who is constantly encouraging Max to be more stereotypically evil in his mannerisms. In the first story, he was chased away by the horror of Stein's newest creation, a creature cloned with half a brain ("...a Blockbusters contestant!"); in the second, he was in charge of the train to Hell ("now boarding for Hell, Damnation and Milton Keynes") that transported new damned souls.

Streets of Rage
Three comic strip series based on the Streets of Rage Genesis/Mega Drive games were published in Sonic the Comic. The strip first appeared in issue 7 of STC and was written by Mark Millar, and the last Streets of Rage story ran from STC 41-46 and was written by Nigel Kitching. All three series featured artwork by Peter Richardson.

The strip was set in a city ruled by Mr. X and his organised crime group The Syndicate, who were opposed by the video games' player characters Axel, Blaze, Max and later Skate. In the first story, Axel, Blaze and Max quit the police force and become vigilantes. Streets of Rage was darker and more violent than STC's other strips, and the stories were relatively long for the comic, being told over six parts.

Related publications
In addition to Sonic the Comic, nine issues of Sonic the Poster Mag were published. This comic consisted of an A1-sized poster, on the reverse of which was printed a comic strip in A4-sized sections. The poster was folded to match the pages of the comic. Most of the stories were based around Sonic, but one was devoted to Shinobi and another to Streets of Rage. Issues 1 & 2 were not strips. Issue 1 contained information on the two cartoon series (Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and "SatAM") and the second featured game tips for Sonic Chaos.

In 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1999 Sonic Summer Specials were published. The 1995 issue consisted mainly of reprinted material from Sonic the Poster Mag, and the 1999 edition was entirely reprints. In addition, in 1996 the Knuckles Knock-Out Special was printed, containing material devoted to Sonic's "friendly rival".

Collected editions
Four 32-page compilation books were released by Ravette Publishing in 1994. Early Sonic stories were reprinted in Sonic the Hedgehog Beats the Badniks (issues 1–4) and Sonic the Hedgehog: Spin Attack (issues 6 & 8–10), while Shinobi: The Fear Pavilion (issues 1–6) and Streets of Rage: Bad City Fighters (issues 7–12) each collected the complete first story from their respective series.

Twenty-five copies of each book were given away as competition prizes in issues 23 (Beats the Badniks and Spin Attack) and 24 (Shinobi and Streets of Rage), although in each competition the winners were unable to choose which of the two books to receive as a prize.

Virgin Books
In 1993, Virgin Publishing released four Sonic novels, written by James Wallis, Carl Sargent and Marc Gascoigne under the collective pseudonym "Martin Adams". These were based on the origin established in Stay Sonic and shared many similarities with early STC, including the origin of Robotnik and the early cast (Johnny, Porker, Sally Acorn, Joe Sushi et al.). The second title, Sonic the Hedgehog in the Fourth Dimension, involved a time-travelling Sonic being forced to ensure Kintobor became Robotnik, in order to save Mobius - several years before STC featured a similar plot element.

GamesTM feature on STC
In its 87th issue, the British video games magazine GamesTM featured a four-page article on “Sonic The Comic,” entitled “Paper With Attitude,” which included observations by various people who worked on the comic such as Nigel Kitching, scans of the comic, a production sketch of Captain Plunder, and the history of STC. Amongst the points raised in the article included the following:

• Unlike a number of other comics (such as those made by Marvel) any artwork was drawn only after STC was written as a full script.

• Halfway during Robert Corona's tenure, a new licensing agency came up with new guidelines for drawing Sonic, which included the position, orientation, and the number of his spikes varying from each angle, the fact that Sonic's pupils “always had to be touching some part of the outside of his eyes,” and the fact that they could never show Sonic's teeth.

• There were restrictions on the amount of violence allowed. A lynching scene in the “Knuckles” series, for instance, was redrawn to place the noose around his body rather than his neck, while in a “Sonic” story a gun was redrawn to have it fire a sucker dart. There was, however, more freedom in regards to other Sega franchises, as characterised by the “Decap Attack” series, where Kitching (in his own words) “got away with murder” and in terms of the story where the brain of the detective was physically removed to erase his memories, Kitching was “absurdly proud of this for some reason.”

• The Megadroid mascot was the creation of Richard Burton.

• Nigel Kitching decided to have Robotnik overthrown in the 100th issue because he felt that the fact that Robotnik remaining dictator of Mobius despite the number of times Sonic defeated him sent out a negative message: that evil “can never actually be defeated.”

• The news, game, and review sections were removed later on during the comic's run due to budgetary reasons.

• Positive comments were made about the unofficial continuation of STC, STC Online. Nigel Kitching noted that the people at STC Online "are producing rather good continuations of the STC strips." Robert Corona noted that he couldn't say “how impressed I am at the dedication and talent that goes into STC Online," feeling that it was great that "those guys refused to accept the end just because the publisher decided to pull the plug." Andy Diggle was also pleased about STC finding a new home, noting that "It's nice to see that STC actually HAS an online presence."

title: Sonic the Comic


text: User talk:69.138.164.95

title: User talk:69.138.164.95


text:
Lockheed HC-130

The Lockheed HC-130 is an extended-range, search and rescue (SAR)/combat search and rescue (CSAR) version of the C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft, with two different versions operated by two separate services in the U.S. armed forces.

The HC-130H Hercules and HC-130J Super Hercules versions are operated by the United States Coast Guard in a SAR and maritime reconnaissance role.

The HC-130P Combat King and HC-130J Combat King II variants are operated by the United States Air Force for long-range SAR and CSAR. The USAF variants also execute on scene CSAR command and control, airdrop pararescue forces and equipment, and are also capable of providing aerial refueling to appropriately equipped USAF, US Army, USN, USMC, and NATO/Allied helicopters in flight. In this latter role, they are primarily used to extend the range and endurance of combat search and rescue helicopters.

In July 2015, it was announced that the U.S. Forest Service will be receiving some of the U.S. Coast Guard's HC-130H aircraft to use as aerial fire retardant drop tankers as the Coast Guard replaces the HC-130H with additional HC-130J and HC-27J Spartan aircraft, the latter being received from the Air National Guard as part of a USAF-directed divestment of the C-27.

Development
The United States Coast Guard was the first recipient of the HC-130 variant. In keeping with the USN/USMC/USCG designation system of the time, the designation for the first order in 1958 was R8V-1G, but with the introduction of the Tri-Service aircraft designation system for commonality with the US Army and USAF in 1962, this was eventually changed to HC-130B. Six USCG HC-130E aircraft were produced in 1964, but production soon switched to the new C-130H platform which was entering service. The first HC-130H flew on 8 December 1964 and the USCG still operates this aircraft.

First flown in 1964, the USAF HC-130P Combat King aircraft has served many roles and missions. Based on the USAF C-130E airframe, it was modified to conduct search and rescue missions, provide a command and control platform, conduct in-flight refueling of helicopters, and carry supplemental fuel in additional internal cargo bay fuel tanks for extending range or air refueling. They were also originally modified to employ the Fulton surface-to-air recovery system, although this system has since been discontinued and the specialized equipment removed. The HC-130N was a follow-up order without the Fulton recovery system and all USAF extant HC-130Ps have since had their Fulton recovery systems removed.

USAF HC-130P/N Combat King
The USAF HC-130P/N, also known as the Combat King aircraft, can fly in the day against a reduced threat; however, crews normally fly night, low-level, air refueling and airdrop operations using night vision goggles. The aircraft can routinely fly low-level NVG tactical flight profiles to avoid detection. To enhance the probability of mission success and survivability near populated areas, USAF HC-130 crews employ tactics that include incorporating no external lighting or communications and avoiding radar and weapons detection.

Secondary mission capabilities include performing tactical airdrops of pararescue specialist teams, small bundles, zodiac watercraft, or four-wheel drive all-terrain vehicles; and providing direct assistance to a survivor in advance of the arrival of a recovery vehicle. Other capabilities are extended visual and electronic searches over land or water, tactical airborne radar approaches and unimproved airfield operations. A team of three Pararescuemen, trained in emergency trauma medicine, harsh environment survival and assisted evasion techniques, is part of the basic mission crew complement.

Up until 2016, HC-130P/N aircraft of the Combat Air Forces were a combination of mid to late-1960s vintage aircraft based on C-130E airframes and mid-1990s vintage aircraft based on C-130H3 airframes. All underwent extensive modifications. These modifications included night vision-compatible interior and exterior lighting, a personnel locator system compatible with aircrew survival radios, improved digital low-power color radar and forward-looking infrared systems. As of 2018, with the exception of a handful of extant aircraft in the Air National Guard, all remaining HC-130P/N aircraft are operated by the Air Force Reserve Command.

USCG HC-130H

The HC-130H first flew on 8 December 1964. The Coast Guard began equipping with the HC-130H in the late sixties and early seventies,. U.S. Coast Guard HC-130Hs were primarily acquired for long-range overwater search missions, support airlift, maritime patrol, North Atlantic Ice Patrol and command and control of search and rescue, replacing previously operated HU-16 Albatross amphibious and HC-123 Provider land-based aircraft. Like their USAF counterparts, USCG HC-130s also have the capability of air dropping rescue equipment to survivors at sea or over open terrain. They carried additional equipment and two 1,800-gallon fuel bladders in the cargo compartment.

USAF HC-130P Combat Shadow

The MC-130P Combat Shadow series of aircraft initially entered service in December 1965 during the Vietnam War as the HC-130H CROWN airborne controller. The CROWN airborne controllers located downed aircrew and directed Combat Search and Rescue operations over North Vietnam. In mid-1966 flight testing began of rescue helicopters equipped with aerial refueling receivers, and 11 of the controller aircraft were modified as tankers and redesignated the HC-130P SAR Command and Control/vertical lift (helicopter) aerial refueling aircraft, entering service in Southeast Asia in November 1966. Originally assigned to the Tactical Air Command (TAC) and then the Military Airlift Command (MAC), Combat Shadows have been part of the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) since that command's establishment in 1993. In February 1996, AFSOC's 28-aircraft HC-130P tanker fleet was redesignated the MC-130P Combat Shadow, aligning the variant with AFSOC's other M-series special operations mission aircraft. At the same time as this redesignation, USAF continued to field HC-130P/N aircraft as dedicated CSAR platforms under the Air Combat Command (ACC) and in ACC or PACAF-gained CSAR units in the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard.

USCG HC-130J
The new HC-130J aircraft are derived from the Lockheed Martin KC-130J tanker operated by the U.S. Marine Corps. The USCG has six HC-130Js in service, but they are not capable of refueling helicopters in flight. The first delivery of this variant to the United States Coast Guard was in October 2003. They initially operated in a logistic support role until they received significant modifications, including installations of a large window on each side of the fuselage to allow crew members to visually scan the sea surface, the addition of an inverse synthetic aperture sea search radar, flare tubes, a forward-looking infrared/electro-optical sensor, a gaseous oxygen system for the crew and an enhanced communications suite. Aircraft are installed with the Minotaur Mission System and incorporates sensors; radar; and command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment and enables aircrews to gather and process surveillance information that can be transmitted to other platforms and units during flight.

The first of these modified Coast Guard HC-130Js was delivered in March 2008 and complete delivered in September 2019. The 17th HC-130J for the United States Coast Guard is expected to be delivered in 2024.

The Coast Guard is acquiring a fleet of 22 new, fully missionized HC-130J aircraft to replace its legacy HC-130Hs.

USAF HC-130J Combat King II
The USAF HC-130J Combat King II combat rescue variant has modifications for in-flight refueling of helicopters and tilt-rotor aircraft, including refueling pods on underwing pylons and additional internal fuel tanks in the cargo bay. The HC-130J Combat King II is also capable of itself being refueled in flight by boom-equipped tankers such as the KC-135, KC-10 and KC-46.

Lockheed Martin officials conducted the first flight of the USAF HC-130J version on 29 July 2010. The first HC-130J was delivered to the USAF in September 2010, but underwent further testing before achieving Initial Operational Capability (IOC) in 2012.

The HC-130J personnel recovery aircraft completed developmental testing on 14 March 2011. The final test point was air-to-air refueling, and was the first ever boom refueling of a C-130 where the aircraft's refueling receiver was installed during aircraft production. This test procedure also applied to the MC-130J Combat Shadow II aircraft in production for Air Force Special Operations Command.

Given the advancing age of its current HC-130P/N airframes, all of which are based on either the venerable (and since retired) mid/late-1960s vintage C-130E airframe or the more recent mid-1990s vintage C-130H2/H3 airframe, the Air Force plans to eventually buy up to 39 HC-130J Combat King IIs to equip rescue squadrons in the active Air Force, the Air Force Reserve Command and the Air National Guard. The first HC-130J was delivered to the 563d Rescue Group at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona on 15 November 2012.

The US Air Force Reserve received its first HC-130J on 2 April 2020 when it was delivered to the 920th Rescue Wing's 39th Rescue Squadron at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida.

U.S. Coast Guard operations

The United States Coast Guard operates 18 HC-130H aircraft from three bases around the United States:

 * CGAS Clearwater, Florida
 * CGAS Kodiak, Alaska
 * CGAS Barbers Point (formerly NAS Barbers Point), Hawaii

These aircraft are used for search and rescue, enforcement of laws and treaties, illegal drug interdiction, marine environmental protection, military readiness, International Ice Patrol missions, as well as cargo and personnel transport.

The Coast Guard also currently operates an additional 9 HC-130J aircraft from CGAS Elizabeth City, North Carolina.

Neither the HC-130H nor the HC-130J in their U.S. Coast Guard variants are equipped for the aerial refueling of helicopters.

U.S. Air Force operations
The HC-130P (to include HC-130P/N) is primarily based on the C-130E airlift aircraft, with a smaller number based on the C-130H. The USAF HC-130J is a newly manufactured aircraft. As the dedicated fixed-wing combat search and rescue platform in the USAF inventory, the HC-130 is operated by the following units:

 * Air Combat Command
 * 347th Rescue Group (347 RQG), 71st Rescue Squadron (71 RQS), Moody AFB, Georgia – HC-130J
 * 563d Rescue Group (563 RQG), 79th Rescue Squadron (79 RQS), Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona – HC-130J
 * Air Education and Training Command
 * 58th Special Operations Wing (58 SOW), 415th Special Operations Squadron (415 SOS), Kirtland AFB, New Mexico –  HC-130J
 * Air Force Reserve Command
 * 920th Rescue Wing (920 RQW), 39th Rescue Squadron (39 RQS), Patrick Space Force Base, Florida – HC-130P/N (transitions to HC-130J FY20/21)
 * Air National Guard
 * 106th Rescue Wing (106 RQW), 102d Rescue Squadron (102 RQS), New York Air National Guard, Francis S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base, New York – HC-130J
 * 129th Rescue Wing (129 RQW), 130th Rescue Squadron (130 RQS), California Air National Guard, Moffett Federal Airfield, California – HC-130J
 * 176th Wing (176 WG), 211th Rescue Squadron (211 RQS), Alaska Air National Guard, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska – HC-130J

HC-130s were assigned to the Air Combat Command (ACC) from 1992 to 2003, to include those Air Force Reserve Command and Air National Guard rescue units operationally-gained by ACC. Prior to 1992, they were assigned to the Air Rescue Service as part of Military Airlift Command (MAC). In October 2003, operational responsibility for the Continental United States (CONUS) and Alaskan air search and rescue (SAR) mission, as well as the worldwide combat search and rescue (CSAR) mission was transferred to the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) at Hurlburt Field, Florida.

In October 2006, all USAF CSAR forces were reassigned back to Air Combat Command with the exception of those Alaska Air National Guard CSAR assets which were transferred to the operational claimancy of Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). The CONUS and Alaska SAR missions were also transferred back to ACC and PACAF, respectively. However, the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center (AFRCC) that had been previously located at McClellan Air Force Base, California and Scott Air Force Base, Illinois under MAC and at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia under ACC, was relocated to Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida under the control of 1st Air Force (1 AF), the USAF component command to U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) and ACC's numbered air force for the Air National Guard.

While under AFSOC and since returning to ACC and PACAF, USAF, AFRC and ANG HC-130s have been deployed to Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Djibouti, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Greece in support of Operations Southern and Northern Watch, Operation Allied Force, Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation Unified Protector. HC-130s also support continuous alert commitments in Alaska, and provided rescue coverage for NASA Space Shuttle operations in Florida until that program's termination in 2011.

The USAF's first HC-130Js gained initial operating capability (IOC) in April 2013, permitting retirement of the first group of HC-130P aircraft based on C-130E airframes that were built in the mid and late 1960s. The first HC-130J was delivered by Lockheed Martin to Air Combat Command on 23 September 2010 for testing.

In 2009, there were HC-130P aircraft operated by the Air National Guard, and 10 by the Air Force Reserve Command. As of 2019, unofficial estimates place the number of HC-130Ps remaining at 6 airframes, all assigned to Air Force Reserve Command.

World's longest turboprop aircraft distance record
On 20 February 1972, Lieutenant Colonel Edgar Allison, USAF, and his flight crew,(CPT Richard J. Racette, Aircraft Commander, Niles IL; CPT David E. Gardner, Pilot, South Gate CA; MAJ Anthony Liparulo, Navigator, New London, CT; CPT Carl E. Bennett, Navigator, Hamilton TX; TSGT Morelle E. Larouche, Flight Engineer, Holyoke MA; TSGT William F. Litton, Flight Engineer, Pennington Gap PA; TSGT Theodore Trainer, Loadmaster, Wapabo WA; TSGT Robert Landry, Crew Chief, New Orleans, LA; Major Kenneth S. Wayne, Flight Surgeon, Oak Park IL; SSGT William L. Hippert, Radio Operator, Rahway NJ; SSGT Pat E. Carrothers, Radio Operator, Lake Charles LA.) set a recognized turboprop aircraft class record of 8732.09 mi for a great circle distance without landing. The USAF Lockheed HC-130H was flown from Ching Chuan Kang Air Base, Republic of China (Taiwan), to Scott AFB, Illinois in the United States. As of 2018, this record still stands more than 40 years later.

Variants

 * HC-130B
 * Rescue version of the C-130B for United States Coast Guard (USCG) introduced in 1959, formerly R8V-1G and SC-130B.

 * HC-130E
 * Modified rescue version of the C-130E for USCG, six were produced in 1964.

 * HC-130H
 * Combat rescue version of the C-130E and C-130H for the United States Air Force (USAF) and enhanced SAR version for the USCG, with Fulton surface-to-air recovery system installed in USAF versions; many USAF versions later updated to HC-130P standard.

 * HC-130P Combat King
 * Extended range version of the HC-130H, modified for in-flight refueling of helicopters, refueling pods on underwing pylons, and additional internal fuel tanks in the cargo bay. Initial examples in series based on C-130E airframe until late 1960s.  Later examples built in the 1980s and 1990s based on C-130H airframe.

 * HC-130P/N Combat King
 * Additional order of new HC-130Ps without Fulton surface-to-air recovery system or existing HC-130Ps with Fulton system removed.

 * HC-130J
 * Modified rescue version of the C-130J for USCG.

 * HC-130J Combat King II
 * USAF combat rescue variant of the C-130J with changes for in-flight refueling of helicopters, including refueling pods on underwing pylons and capabilities to receive fuel inflight from boom-equipped tankers. The USAF HC-130J eliminates the enlisted Flight Engineer position, but unlike the USAF C-130J airlift version, still retains a Combat Systems Officer/Navigator position.

Operators

 * United States Air Force
 * United States Coast Guard
 * United States Forest Service
 * United States Forest Service

title: Lockheed HC-130


text:
Registration of Political Parties Act 1998

The Registration of Political Parties Act 1998 (c. 48), is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which made legal provision to set up a register of political parties in the United Kingdom. Previously there had been no such register, and political parties were not specially recognised.

The legislation was introduced for a variety of reasons. It was planned to introduce some elements of list-based proportional representation in elections to the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly and also to introduce full list-based proportional representation in European Parliament elections in England, Scotland and Wales and for that, political parties needed to have a stronger legal recognition. Additionally, various pieces of legislation needed to refer to parties and so were using ad hoc definitions, which might have been incompatible.

Another motivation was the use of the names Literal Democrats, Conversative Party, and Labor Party by people in elections in the 1990s; these names were criticised as potentially confusing with the names of the three major parties in the UK (the Liberal Democrats, the Conservative Party and the Labour Party, respectively). In the 1994 European Elections, Richard Huggett stood as a Literal Democrat candidate for the Devon and East Plymouth seat, taking more votes than the Conservative Party margin over the Liberal Democrats, leading to a legal challenge by the Liberal Democrat candidate.

Candidates for election could no longer be described as an "Independent Conservative" or "Independent Liberal" on a ballot paper, as the 1998 Act prohibits any description which could cause confusion with a registered political party. In practice, the description used is either the name of a registered party or the word "Independent".

The legislation therefore introduced a register of political parties and included provisions to prohibit "confusion" with already-existing parties, names that were more than six words, or were "obscene or offensive".

As the act also permitted logos on ballot papers, the act also introduced a similar register for emblems, which had the result that the Communist Party of Britain is the only party in the United Kingdom permitted to use the hammer and sickle as its ballot-paper logo, although they usually use the hammer and dove variant. Parties may register more than one emblem, or none at all; most have two or three.

The act was amended by the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (2000 c. 41) to change the registration authority to the Electoral Commission from "the registrar or other officer who performs the duty of registration of companies in England and Wales under the Companies Act 1985".