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Vickers machine gun

The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a water-cooled .303 British (7.7 mm) machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The gun was operated by a three-man crew but typically required more men to move and operate it: one fired, one fed the ammunition, the others helped to carry the weapon, its ammunition, and spare parts. It was in service from before the First World War until the 1960s, with air-cooled versions of it on many Allied World War I fighter aircraft.

The weapon had a reputation for great solidity and reliability. Ian V. Hogg, in Weapons & War Machines, describes an action that took place in August 1916, during which the British 100th Company of the Machine Gun Corps fired their ten Vickers guns to deliver sustained fire for twelve hours. Using 100 barrels, they fired a million rounds without breakdowns. "It was this absolute foolproof reliability which endeared the Vickers to every British soldier who ever fired one. It never broke down; it just kept on firing and came back for more."

History
The Vickers machine gun was based on the successful Maxim gun of the late 19th century. After purchasing the Maxim company outright in 1896, Vickers took the design of the Maxim gun and improved it, inverting the mechanism as well as reducing its weight by lightening and simplifying the action and using high strength alloys for certain components. A muzzle booster was also added.

The British Army formally adopted the Vickers gun as its standard machine gun under the name Gun, Machine, Mark I, Vickers, .303-inch on 26 November 1912. There were shortages when the First World War began, and the British Expeditionary Force was still equipped with Maxims when sent to France in 1914. Vickers was threatened with prosecution for war profiteering, due to the exorbitant price demanded for each gun. As a result, the price was much reduced. As the war progressed, and numbers increased, it became the British Army's primary machine gun, and was used on all fronts during the conflict. When the Lewis Gun was adopted as a light machine gun and issued to infantry units, the Vickers guns were redefined as heavy machine guns, withdrawn from infantry units, and grouped in the hands of the new Machine Gun Corps (when heavier 0.5 in/12.7 mm calibre machine guns appeared, the tripod-mounted, rifle-calibre machine guns such as the Vickers were further re-classified as "medium machine guns"). After the First World War, the Machine Gun Corps (MGC) was disbanded and the Vickers returned to infantry units.

Before the Second World War, there were plans to replace the Vickers gun as part of a widescale change from rimmed to rimless rounds; one of the contenders was the 7.92mm Besa machine gun (British-built Czech ZB-53 design), which eventually became the British Army's standard tank-mounted machine gun. However, the Vickers remained in service with the British Army until 30 March 1968. Its last operational use was in the Radfan during the Aden Emergency. Its successor in UK service is the British L7 variant of the FN MAG general purpose machine gun.

Use in aircraft
In 1913, a Vickers machine gun was mounted on the experimental Vickers E.F.B.1 biplane, which was probably the world's first purpose-built combat aeroplane. However, by the time the production version, the Vickers F.B.5, had entered service the following year, the armament had been changed to a Lewis gun.

During World War I, the Vickers gun became a standard weapon on British and French military aircraft, especially after 1916, initially in a single gun configuration (Nieuport 17, SPAD VII, Sopwith Triplane), increased to a twin-gun standard in later war fighters (Nieuport 28, SPAD XIII, Sopwith Camel), with exceptions such as the S.E.5, which had a single synchronized Vickers and a Lewis gun mounted above the upper wing. Although heavier than the Lewis, its closed bolt firing cycle made it much easier to synchronise to allow it to fire through aircraft propellers. The belt feed was enclosed right up to the gun's feed-way to inhibit the effect of wind. Steel disintegrating-link ammunition belts were perfected in the UK by William de Courcy Prideaux in mid-war and became standard for aircraft guns thereafter. From 1917 to 1919, French Manufacture d'armes de Châtellerault produced under license .303 Vickers machine guns (240 were delivered before the Armistice) but most of the French aircraft Vickers machine guns were British-made.

By 1917 it had been determined that standard rifle calibre cartridges were less satisfactory for shooting down observation balloons than larger calibres carrying incendiary or tracer bullets; the Vickers machine gun was chambered in the 11mm Vickers round, known as the Vickers aircraft machine gun and sometimes the "Balloon Buster", and was adopted by the Allies as a standard anti-balloon armament, used by both the British and French in this role until the end of the war.

The famous Sopwith Camel and the SPAD XIII types used twin synchronized Vickers, as did most British and French fighters between 1918 and the mid-1930s. In the air, the weighty water-cooling system was rendered redundant by low temperatures at high altitude and the constant stream of air passing over the gun (and lack of any need for sustained fire such as employed by ground troops); but because the weapon relied on boosted barrel recoil, the (empty) water-holding barrel jacket or casing was retained. Several sets of louvered slots were cut into the barrel jacket to aid air cooling, a better solution than that which had initially been attempted with the 1915-vintage lMG 08 German aircraft ordnance. In 1918 the slotted modified original barrel jacket was replaced with a slimmer jacket on the Mk. II version, and in 1927 a muzzle flash suppressor was added on the Mk. II*.

As the machine gun armament of US and UK fighter aircraft moved from the fuselage to the wings in the years before World War II, the Vickers was generally replaced by the faster-firing and more reliable Browning Model 1919 using metal-linked cartridges. The Gloster Gladiator was the last RAF fighter to be armed with the Vickers, later replaced by Brownings. The Fairey Swordfish was fitted with the weapon until production ended in August 1944.

Several British bombers and attack aircraft of the Second World War mounted the Vickers K machine gun or VGO, a completely different design, resembling the Lewis gun in external appearance.

Vickers machine guns, designated as models E (pilot's) and F (observer's, fed from a pan magazine) were also used among others in Poland, where 777 of them were converted to 7.92×57mm Mauser cartridge in 1933–1937.

Variants
The larger calibre (half-inch) version of the Vickers was used on armoured fighting vehicles and naval vessels. The ''Gun, Machine, Vickers, .5-inch, Mk. II'' was used in tanks, the earlier Mark I having been the development model. This entered service in 1933 and was obsolete in 1944. Firing either single shot or automatic it had a pistol type trigger grip rather than the spades of the 0.303 in (7.7 mm) weapon.

The ''Gun, Machine, Vickers, .5-inch, Mk. III'' was used as an anti-aircraft gun on British ships. This variation was typically four guns mounted on a 360° rotating and (+80° to −10°) elevating housing. The belts were rolled into a spiral and placed in hoppers beside each gun. The heavy plain bullet weighed 1.3 oz and was good for 1500 yd range. Maximum rate of fire for the Mark III was about 700 rpm from a 200-round belt carried in a drum. They were fitted from the 1920s onwards, but in practical terms, proved of little use. During the Second World War, the naval 0.5 in (12.7 mm) version was also mounted on power-operated turrets in smaller watercraft, such as Motor Gun Boats and Motor Torpedo Boats.

The Mark IV and V guns were improvements on the Mark II. Intended for British light tanks, some were used during the war on mounts on trucks by the Long Range Desert Group in the North Africa Campaign.

The Vickers machine gun was produced, between the wars, as the vz.09 machine gun.

Foreign service
The Vickers was widely sold commercially and saw service with many nations and their own particular ammunition. It was also modified for each country and served as a base for many other weapons. For example:
 * 6.5×52mm Mannlicher–Carcano
 * 6.5×50mmSR Arisaka
 * 6.5×53mmR
 * 7×57mm Mauser
 * .280 British
 * 7.5×55mm Swiss
 * 7.62×51mm NATO
 * .30-06 Springfield
 * 7.62×54mmR
 * 7.65×53mm Argentine
 * 7.7×58mm Arisaka (licensed as the "fixed type" Type 89 machine gun)
 * 8mm Lebel (2,000 ordered by France in 1914 but only 52 delivered)

Service after World War II

The Union of South Africa retained a large inventory of surplus Vickers machine guns after World War II. Many of these were donated to the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) and National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) during the Angolan Civil War. Angolan militants were usually trained in their use by South African advisers. Small quantities re-chambered for 7.62 mm NATO ammunition remained in active service with the South African Defence Force until the mid-1980s, when they were all relegated to reserve storage. Six were withdrawn from storage and reused by a South African liaison team operating with UNITA during the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale, after which the weapons were finally retired.

In the mid-1960s, the Vickers machine gun remained in service in countries such as India, Israel and Egypt. It saw action with the Ceylon Army in the 1971 JVP insurrection.

Colt–Vickers M1915
By the early 1900s, the U.S. military had a mixed collection of automatic machine guns in use that included M1895 "potato diggers", 287 M1904 Maxims, 670 M1909 Benét–Mercié guns, and 353 Lewis machine guns. In 1913, the U.S. began to search for a superior automatic weapon. One of the weapons considered was the British Vickers machine gun.

Field tests were conducted of the Vickers in 1914, and the gun was unanimously approved by the board for the army under the designation "Vickers Machine Gun Model of 1915, Caliber .30, Water-Cooled". One hundred twenty-five guns were ordered from Colt's Manufacturing Company in 1915, with an additional 4,000 ordered the next year, all chambered for .30-06. Design complexities, design modifications, and focus on producing previously ordered weapons meant that when the U.S. entered World War I in April 1917, Colt had not manufactured a single M1915.

Production began in late 1917 with shipments to the Western Front in mid-1918. The first twelve divisions to reach France were given French Hotchkiss M1914 machine guns, and the next ten had M1915s. The next twelve divisions were to have Browning M1917 machine guns, but there was a shortage of parts. By August 1918, thirteen U.S. divisions were armed with the Colt–Vickers machine gun, and many aircraft were armed with the weapons as well (2,888 guns were converted). 7,653 guns were issued during the war out of 12,125 produced in total. War damage losses reduced the number of M1915s in the U.S. Army inventory from 9200+ to about 8,000 total. After World War I, the Colt–Vickers machine guns were kept in reserve until World War II. Several hundred were sent to the Dutch East Indies and the Philippines, and were all eventually lost to enemy action. In 1940 and 1941, a total of 7,071 M1915 guns were purchased by the United Kingdom to re-equip their forces after the Dunkirk evacuation, which depleted the weapon from the U.S. inventory before their entry into the war. Because the M1915 Colt–Vickers was not chambered for the standard British .303, it was painted with a red band to differentiate it and restricted it to Home Guard use.

Specifications

The weight of the gun itself varied based on the gear attached, but was generally 25 to 30 lb with a 40 to 50 lb tripod. The ammunition boxes for the 250-round ammunition belts weighed 22 lb each. In addition, it required about 7.5 imppt of water in its evaporative cooling system to prevent overheating. The heat of the barrel boiled the water in the jacket surrounding it. The resulting steam was taken off by a flexible tube to a condenser container—this had the dual benefits of avoiding giving away the gun's location, and also enabling re-use of the water, which was very important in arid environments.

In British service, the Vickers gun fired the standard .303 inch cartridges used in the Lee–Enfield rifle, which generally had to be hand-loaded into the cloth ammunition belts. There was also a 0.5 in calibre version used as an anti-aircraft weapon and various other calibres produced for foreign buyers.

The gun was 3 ft long and its cyclic rate of fire was between 450 and 600 rounds per minute. In practice, it was expected that 10,000 rounds would be fired per hour, and that the barrel would be changed every hour—a two-minute job for a trained team. The Vickers gun could sustain fire for long durations of time exceeding the recommended 10,000 rounds an hour due to the water-cooled barrel and hourly barrel swaps. One account states that a Vickers fired just under 5 million rounds in a week as a test in 1963 at Strensall Barracks and was still operable. The muzzle velocity was 2440 ft/s ±40 ft/s with Mark VII(z) ammunition and 2525 ft/s with Mark VIIIz ammunition. The Mark VIIIz cartridge, which had a boat-tailed spitzer 'streamlined' bullet, could be used against targets at a range of approximately 4500 yd. The bullet jackets were generally made of an alloy of cupro-nickel, and gilding metal. Ammunition for the Vickers used colour-coded annuli. Tracer ammunition was marked with a red annulus; armouring-piercing ammunition with a green annulus, and incendiary ammunition with a blue annulus. Explosive ammunition was marked with an orange annulus before the Second World War and was changed to black.

Use
The gun and its tripod were carried separately and both were heavy. The Vickers Mk I was 30 lb (13.6 kg) without the water and tripod, and weighed 40 lb (18.1 kg) with the water. The original design did not anticipate it being carried up jungle-covered mountains on men's backs, but such was the weapon's popularity that men were generally content to pack it to all manner of difficult locations. The tripod would be set up to make a firm base, often dug into the ground a little and perhaps with the feet weighted down with sandbags.

The water jacket would be filled with about 4 L of water from a small hole at the rear end, sealed by a cap. The evaporative cooling system, though heavy, was very effective and enabled the gun to keep firing far longer than its air-cooled rival weapons. If water was unavailable, soldiers were known to resort to using their urine. It was sometimes claimed that crews would fire off a few rounds simply to heat their gun's cooling water to make tea, despite the resulting brew tasting of machine-oil. In extremely cold weather, the cooling water could freeze and damage the gun. This problem was addressed using an insulating water jacket cover, introduced in 1918 but still in use during the Korean War. Some crews added vehicle antifreeze, others drained the water jacket, or simply fired a few rounds periodically to keep the water from freezing.

The loader sat to the gunner's right, and fed in belts of cloth, into which the rounds had been placed. The weapon would draw in the belt from right to left, pull the next round out of the belt and into the chamber, fire it, then send the fired brass cartridge down and out of the receiver while the cloth belt would continue out the left side. During sustained fire, the barrel would heat up which heated the water in the jacket until hot enough for the water to evaporate or boil thereby cooling the barrel releasing the heat through steam. It took the Mk I 600 rounds of continuous fire to boil the water in the jacket, evaporating at a rate of 1.5 pints (0.852 L) per 1,000 rounds. The steam would reach the top of the jacket and enter a steam tube which led to a port that was situated under the jacket near the muzzle. A hose was connected to this, which released the steam into a metal water can allowing it to be vented away from the rest of the gun hiding the steam cloud and the gun's position. This also allowed any condensate to be reclaimed from the steam. Before the can got too full, it would be emptied back into the jacket to replenish the water level which would have fallen as the water evaporated and boiled away. If the water jacket needed to be emptied, a plug under the jacket could be unscrewed to drain the entire jacket.

The Vickers was used for indirect fire against enemy positions at ranges up to 4500 yd with Mark VIIIz ammunition. This plunging fire was used to great effect against road junctions, trench systems, forming up points, and other locations that might be observed by a forward observer, or zeroed in at one time for future attacks, or guessed at by men using maps and experience. Sometimes a location might be zeroed in during the day, and then attacked at night, much to the surprise and confusion of the enemy. New Zealand units were especially fond of this use. A white disc would be set up on a pole near the MMG, and the gunner would aim at a mark on it, knowing that this corresponded to aiming at the distant target. There was a special back-sight with a tall extension on it for this purpose. The only similar weapon of the time to use indirect fire was the German MG 08, which had a separate attachment sight with range calculator.

A British World War II Vickers medium machine gun platoon typically had one officer in command of four guns, in two sections of two, each with a crew and a small team of riflemen whose job was to protect the gun and keep it supplied with ammunition.

Operating mechanism

The Vickers is a fully automatic belt-fed firearm which is fired from a closed-bolt. When ready to fire, a round is in the chamber and the breechblock assembly and working parts are forward. It has a recoil operated, floating action with a toggle lock similar to a Luger pistol. However, unlike the Luger, the mechanism is totally contained within the receiver or body of the Vickers. When operated, the floating action, which consists of the barrel, breechblock assembly and toggle mechanism, reciprocate as a unit within the body of the gun. The mechanism is held together by recoiling plates, that connect the breech end of the barrel to the rear of the toggle mechanism. The breech is locked closed when the toggle is straight. The crank cocking handle is part of the floating action. It acts through the rear pivot of the toggle lock. Pulling the cocking handle causes the toggle to rise. This unlocks the breech and then draws the breechblock assembly rearward. While firing, the opposite end of the crank handle cams on a round lug fixed to the body. Rearward movement of the floating action tips the cocking handle and unlocks the toggle. The recoil that unlocks the toggle is gas assisted. Propellent gases leaving the muzzle are partly contained within the muzzle cap and act on the muzzle cup (attached to the barrel) to assist in propelling the floating action rearward to the point where the toggle mechanism is unlocked. The breechblock assembly then opens fully while opposed by a spring which ultimately returns it to the closed position. The spring under tension acts on a crank mounted on the opposite side of the body to the cocking handle.

The feed block assembly sits directly above the breech. It accepts the canvas belt loaded with ammunition. With each firing cycle, it advances the belt by one round so that a fresh cartridge is presented ready for loading. The belt is advanced by pawls which move from side to side. The pawls are operated by a linkage that engages with the floating action. A second set of spring-loaded pawls tilt up and down as the belt passes over them. These hold the belt during the return cycle of the feed pawls.

The breechblock assembly is roughly as high as the receiver of the gun. On its front face is the extractor block. Levers cause this to move up and down as the action is cycled. It has a slot with two grooves which allow the rim of the cartridge to be held from each side, much like a stripper clip does. With the breechblock assembly closed and ready to fire, the extractor block grips the base of two cartridges: the lower cartridge in the chamber ready to fire and an upper cartridge held in the canvas belt within the feed block. When the breechblock assembly unlocks after firing, the extractor pulls the spent cartridge from the chamber and, once clear, this falls through an ejection port in the underside of the gun's body. Unlocking the breechblock assembly also withdraws the upper round (the next round to be chambered) from the belt. When there is sufficient clearance, the extractor block lowers the new round until it is aligned with the chamber. Forward movement of the breechblock assembly then chambers the round. Near the very end of the forward cycle, the extractor block rises to engage the next round ready to be loaded.

The breechblock assembly houses the firing pin and trigger mechanism. The firing pin, under spring tension, strikes the primer of the cartridge through a hole in the extractor block. It must therefore be retracted before the extractor block moves down as part of the loading cycle. Once retracted, the firing pin is held in a cocked position by a sear, ready for the next firing cycle. As the breechblock assembly fully closes on the breech, the sear disengages but the firing pin is held rearward by the trigger. The end of the trigger protrudes from the top of the breechblock assembly.

To fire the loaded gun, the gunner depresses a paddle at the rear of the gun. Through a lever, this pulls on a sliding bar that trips the trigger to release the firing pin. The weapon then cycles to load the next cartridge for firing. If the paddle is still depressed when the breech closes, the trigger is tripped again and a further firing cycle occurs.

Users

 * 🇰🇼 Kuwait
 * 🇦🇺 Australia
 * 🇧🇩 Bangladesh
 * 🇧🇪 Belgium
 * 🇧🇴 Bolivia Used during the Chaco War
 * British Empire
 * 🇧🇲 Bermuda: Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps
 * British Somaliland: Somaliland Camel Corps
 * Gold Coast
 * Southern Rhodesia
 * 🇬🇧 British Malaya
 * 🇫🇯 Fiji
 * 🇨🇦 Canada
 * Ceylon Used by Ceylonese army in the 1971 JVP insurrection.
 * 🇨🇳 China
 * 🇨🇾 Cyprus: possibly used during the Cypriot intercommunal violence and supplied from Greece or Turkey
 * 🇪🇬 Egypt
 * 🇫🇷 France: 2,000 ordered in 1914
 * 🇫🇮 Finland: Vickers from various sources were acquired from 1920 and 100 were also delivered by United Kingdom during Winter war.
 * German Empire: in 1918, Schutztruppe used 17 Vickers guns captured during the South West Africa campaign.
 * 🇬🇷 Greece
 * 🇮🇳 India
 * 🇮🇩 Indonesia
 * 🇮🇪 Ireland
 * 🇮🇱 Israel
 * 🇮🇹 Italy chambered in 6.5×52mm Carcano for infantry and .303 British for aircraft.
 * 🇯🇴 Jordan: Arab Legion
 * 🇱🇻 Latvia: Mk I and MK II (611 and 120 by April 1936) used by pre-1940 Latvian Army and by Nazi-allied Latvian Police Battalions
 * British Malaya
 * 🇲🇽 Mexico
 * 🇳🇵 Nepal
 * 🇳🇱 Netherlands: More than 1,000 were purchased from the British in December 1918, designated as Vickers M.18 No.1. In 1935, 800 units were rechambered to 7.92x57mmR and designated as Vickers M.18 No.2. The East Indies colonial army variant designated as M.23 machine gun, chambered in 6.5×53mmR. Used some Australian or British-made .303 Vickers during the Indonesian National Revolution.
 * 🇳🇿 New Zealand
 * 🇵🇰 Pakistan Used by Pakistan army in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948.
 * 🇵🇾 Paraguay: captured from Bolivia
 * 🇵🇭 Philippines.
 * 🇵🇱 Poland aircraft version, later rechambered in 7.92×57 mm
 * 🇵🇹 Portugal produced locally as m/917
 * Kingdom of Romania: 200 Vickers in service
 * Russian Empire: Vickers manufactured by Colt in 7.62×54mmR
 * 🇸🇱 Sierra Leone
 * 🇿🇦 South Africa
 * Spanish Republic Supplied to during the Spanish Civil War, by the Soviet Union, Bolivia, and Paraguay.
 * 🇹🇴 Tonga
 * 🇹🇷 Turkey
 * 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
 * 🇺🇸 United States: 12,125 Vickers were issued to the US Army in France
 * Vietnam: Used by Viet Minh
 * South Yemen

Weapons of comparable role, performance and era

 * M1917 Browning machine gun – United States
 * MG 08 – German Maxim machine gun
 * Parabellum MG 14 – aircraft version of MG 08 which copied the upwards toggle from Vickers
 * Marlin M1917/1918 machine gun
 * PM M1910 – Russian Maxim machine gun
 * Schwarzlose machine gun – Austro-Hungarian
 * Hotchkiss Mle 1914 machine gun – French

title: Vickers machine gun


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University of Copenhagen Center for Planetary Research

The Center for Planetary Research at the University of Copenhagen was created in February 2001 when the planetary science groups from the Niels Bohr Institute (Danish: Niels Bohr Institutet) (also known as Niels Bohr Institute for Astronomy, Physics and Geophysics; short NBIfAFG) and the Danish Space Research Institute (DSRI) [Danish: Dansk Rumforskningsinstitut, short DRI or DRKI] were merged. It no longer existed in August 2011. Together with associated national and international groups it aimed to strengthen planetary research in Denmark and to provide a platform for the education of planetary researchers. It spanned a broad range of disciplines from astronomy, physics, geophysics, and space instrumentation to geology and biology.

Purposes
The purposes were:
 * To gather and develop initiatives in planetary science
 * To participate internationally in planetary science missions through development of instruments for ESA and NASA missions
 * To use existing and ongoing observations to model the conditions on the planets, moons, asteroids, and meteorites, thereby gaining knowledge on their formation, evolution, and present conditions.
 * To create an active, international research environment.

Partnerships
The Center for Planetary Research was partnered with 3 institutes, the Natural History Museum of Denmark, the Niels Bohr Institute and the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The engage in research and information exchange, with the Center of Planetary Research acting as part of the University of Copenhagen. Research at the institute if funded in part by the Danish National Research Foundation and the Natural History Museum of Denmark.

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


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Michael Flynn (writer)

Michael Francis Flynn (December 20, 1947 – September 30, 2023) was an American science fiction author. Nearly all of Flynn's work falls under the category of hard science fiction, although his treatment of it can be unusual since he applied the rigor of hard science fiction to "softer" sciences such as sociology in works such as In the Country of the Blind. Much of his short fiction appeared in Analog Science Fiction and Fact.

Early life and education
Flynn was born in Easton, Pennsylvania to his parents, Joseph and Rita (Singley) Flynn. He had a brother, Dennis, who died in childhood. Flynn attended and graduated from Notre Dame High School, then located in Bethlehem Township.

He earned a B.A. in mathematics from La Salle University in Easton, and an M.S. in topology from Marquette University in Milwaukee. He began but did not complete a Ph.D at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Career
Prior to become a science fiction author, he was employed as an industrial quality engineer and statistician with Coors Container Corporation and Stat-A-Matrix/Oriel.

Hugo Award nominations

 * 1987 novella Eifelheim
 * 1988 novella The Forest of Time
 * 1995 novella Melodies of the Heart
 * 2005 novelette The Clapping Hands of God
 * 2007 novelette "Dawn, and Sunset, and the Colours of the Earth"
 * 2007 novel Eifelheim (based on the 1987 novella)
 * 2015 novelette "The Journeyman: In the Stone House"

Prometheus Award

 * 1991 In the Country of the Blind (won)
 * 1992 Fallen Angels (won)
 * 1997 Firestar (finalist)
 * 1999 Rogue Star (finalist)
 * 2001 Lodestar (finalist)
 * 2002 Falling Stars (finalist)
 * 2009 The January Dancer (finalist)
 * 2013 In the Lion's Mouth (nominated)

Other awards

 * Fallen Angels also won the Seiun Award, and was co-written with Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.
 * The novelette "House of Dreams" won a Theodore Sturgeon Award in 1998.
 * The novelette "Quaestiones Super Caelo et Mundo" tied with Kristine Kathryn Rusch's novella "Recovering Apollo 8" for the Sidewise Award for Alternate History in 2007.
 * First winner of the Robert A. Heinlein Medal.

Death
Flynn died at his childhood home in Easton, Pennsylvania, on September 30, 2023, at age 75. He is interred at New St. Joseph's Cemetery in Easton. He was predeceased by his wife of 49 years, Margie.

title: Michael Flynn (writer)


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South Manitou Island

South Manitou Island is located in Lake Michigan, approximately 16 mi west of Leland, Michigan. It is part of Leelanau County and the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The uninhabited island is 8.277 sqmi in land area and can be accessed by a ferry service from Leland. Guided tours on open-air vehicles are available to visitors, but most traffic is on foot. Larger North Manitou Island lies to its north.

The island is 3 mi wide and 3 mi long. It is part of an island chain that extends north to the Straits of Mackinac. The island consists of a ridge of tilted layers of limestone, buried under a blanket of glacial debris. Glaciers carved out the Lake Michigan basin. When the basin filled with water, the peaks of the ridge remained exposed as islands. During post-glacial times, winds blowing on the high, sandy bluffs on the west side of the island moved sand inland, forming sand dunes. Florence Lake is the island's only inland lake. The island has a system of trails and campsites.

A growth of Northern white cedars on the southwestern corner of the island are among the oldest and largest in the world. The largest is 18 ft around and is estimated to be over 500 years old.

History
South Manitou Island was originally settled in the mid-1830s by William Burton to provide cord wood to fuel the Great Lakes steamships. His dock was built in the middle of the crescent-shaped bay on the eastern side of the island, which offered the only natural deep-water harbor between Chicago and Buffalo. In 1847, the village included Burton's Wharf, a house, blacksmith shop, grocery store, barn, and a wooden tamarack railroad track extending from the dock inland to haul wood for the steamers. When the first post office opened in 1870, it was located here. When logging operations ended and the dock fell into disrepair, the original island village dwindled in size and importance. Burdick's moved their general store from its original location near the old dock to a site near the Lifesaving station in 1923 on the southeastern shore, and that marked the shift of the island community to the current village site located at the present dock where the passenger ferry arrives.

Farming developed slowly on the island, but by 1870 most islanders were self-sufficient farmers. Surplus crops were sold to passing ships and mainland markets. The isolation of the island provided an ideal environment for growing prize-winning rye, beans and peas. Today, there are no active farms on the island; farm buildings, abandoned machinery, the old school and cemetery are reminders of the past. The island is now uninhabited, and most of its buildings lie in ruins.

Lighthouse and Life-Saving Service Station
South Manitou Island was popular in the 19th and 20th centuries as a harbor and fueling station. With the completion of the Erie Canal in 1826, the development of commercial navigation on the Great Lakes increased rapidly. The Manitou Passage was the most important route for schooners and steamers traveling the 300 mile length of Lake Michigan. The island was a stop for early mariners between Chicago and the Straits of Mackinac.

To guide storm-driven ships, Congress appropriated $5,000 in 1838 for the construction of a lighthouse. Construction began in 1839, but very little is known about this first lighthouse on South Manitou Island. The specifications were the same as for the Old Presque Isle lighthouse, which included a 30-foot circular tower and a stone keeper's dwelling, but written accounts describe a $1 1/2$-story house with a light tower on one gable end. No sketches or photos exist to determine what was actually built. The location of the light was on a 30-foot sandy knoll near the shore close to the location of the present lighthouse, but the exact location is not known.

In 1858, the U.S. Lighthouse Establishment recognized the need for greater safety and replaced this house with a two-story brick residence with a 35-foot tower on top. The tower housed a Fourth Order Fresnel lens. A fog signal building was added and both structures still stand today.

The increased shipping traffic brought changes and in 1871, a 100-foot tower was built. The tower is 18 feet in diameter at the base. The walls are hollow and 5 feet thick at the base tapering to 3 feet thick at the top. A passageway was added connecting the tower to the keeper's dwelling. A Third Order Fresnel lens from Paris was installed with a 3-wick lamp that had a range of 18 miles. In 1875, the first steam fog signal on Lake Michigan was installed replacing the fog bell. The 100 foot lighthouse was in operation from 1871 to 1958. The lighthouse is still in good condition. Recent efforts have restored its light tower to operational status for the summer months.

In 1901, the United States Life-Saving Service built a station on the island. The USLSS became part of the United States Coast Guard in 1915. The station was permanently closed in 1958. This station is now the island's ranger station and is not open to the public.

Shipwrecks
The Manitou islands are surrounded by over 50 known shipwreck sites, some of which are popular diving spots. A preserve was established in 1988 to conserve the historic and archeological value of the fifty known shipwreck sites, dating from 1835 to 1960. One such shipwreck is the SS Francisco Morazan (1922), which grounded and became a total loss in 1960 off the south shore of the island. She ran over the wreck of the bulk freighter SS Walter L Frost, stranded November 4, 1903, with a cargo of corn and general merchandise.

The eastern side of the island is dominated by a large round bay. This bay is deep until very close to shore. On more than one occasion, ships found here a safe port in a storm, even some of the large bulk carriers. During the "Big Blow" of 1913, Captain John Stufflebeam nosed the bow of the passenger/packet steamer Illinois up onto the beach. He kept the engines going full for 49 hours so the wind would not blow the vessel back out to sea, until he was able to send two seamen ashore to fasten to a stout tree. When the storm abated 24 hours later, he untied from the tree, put his engines in reverse and backed away from shore to proceed safely on his journey.

title: South Manitou Island


text:
Lin

Lin or LIN may refer to:

People

 * Lin (surname) (normally 林), a Chinese surname
 * Lin (The King of Fighters), Chinese assassin character
 * Lin Chow Bang, character in Fat Pizza

Places

 * Lin, Iran, a village in Mazandaran Province
 * Lin, Korçë, village in Pogradec municipality, Albania
 * Lin County, Henan, now Linzhou, China
 * Lin County, Shanxi, in China
 * Lincolnshire, Chapman code LIN

Transport

 * Linate Airport, Milan, Italy
 * Linlithgow railway station, West Lothian, Scotland

Other uses

 * LIN Media, a US TV broadcaster
 * Lingala language, a Bantu language of central Africa
 * Local Interconnect Network, for vehicle computers
 * lin., an abbreviation for linear

title: Lin


text:
German Aerospace Center

The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V., abbreviated DLR, literally German Center for Air- and Space-flight) is the national center for aerospace, energy and transportation research of Germany, founded in 1969. It is headquartered in Cologne with 35 locations throughout Germany. The DLR is engaged in a wide range of research and development projects in national and international partnerships.

The DLR acts as the German space agency and is responsible for planning and implementing the German space programme on behalf of the German federal government. As a project management agency, DLR coordinates and answers the technical and organisational implementation of projects funded by a number of German federal ministries. As of 2020, the German Aerospace Center had a national budget of €1.348 billion.

Overview

DLR has approximately 10.000 employees at 30 locations in Germany. Institutes and facilities are spread over 13 sites, as well as offices in Brussels, Paris and Washington, D.C. DLR has a budget of €1 billion to cover its own research, development and operations. Approximately 49% of this sum comes from competitively allocated third-party funds (German: Drittmittel). In addition to this, DLR administers around €860 million in German funds for the European Space Agency (ESA). In its capacity as project management agency, it manages €1.279 billion in research on behalf of German federal ministries. DLR is a full member of the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems and a member of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres.

In the context of DLR's initiatives to promote young research talent, 16 DLR School Labs were set up at University of Augsburg, Brandenburg University of Technology, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Technische Universität Hamburg-Harburg, RWTH Aachen, Technical University of Dortmund, Technische Universität Dresden and in Berlin-Adlershof, Braunschweig, Bremen, Cologne-Porz, Göttingen, Jena, Lampoldshausen/Stuttgart, Neustrelitz, and Oberpfaffenhofen over the past years. In the DLR School Labs, pupils can become acquainted with the practical aspects of natural and engineering sciences by conducting interesting experiments.

The members of the DLR executive board are Anke Kaysser-Pyzalla (chairman) since August 2015, Klaus Hamacher (vice chairman) since April 2006, Karsten Lemmer (member for Energy and Transport) since March 2017 and Walter Pelzer since 2021.

History
The modern DLR was created in 1997, but was the culmination of over half a dozen space, aerospace, and research institutes from across the 20th century.

The oldest predecessor organization of DLR was established by Ludwig Prandtl in Göttingen in 1907. This Modellversuchsanstalt der Motorluftschiff-Studiengesellschaft (MLStG; German for "Institute for Testing of Aerodynamic Models of the Powered Airship Society") later became the Aerodynamische Versuchsanstalt ("Aerodynamics Laboratory" or "Aerodynamic Experimental Station").

In the 1920s Max Valier, a student of rocket pioneer Hermann Oberth, co-founded the Verein für Raumschiffahrt, VfR, or "Association of Space-Flight", with Johannes Winkler and Willy Ley. In parallel he was acting in collaboration with Fritz von Opel as one of the heads of Opel RAK, a private venture leading to the first manned rocket cars and rocket planes which paved the way for the Nazi era V2 program and US and Soviet activities from 1950 onwards. The Opel RAK program and the spectacular public demonstrations of ground and air vehicles drew large crowds, as well as caused global public excitement, and had a large impact on later spaceflight pioneers.

The Great Depression put an end to the program and briefly after its break-up, Valier eventually was killed while experimenting as part of VfR activities in collaboration with Heylandt-Werke on liquid-fueled rockets in April 1930. He is considered the first fatality of the early space age. Valier's protégé Arthur Rudolph went on to develop an improved and safer version of Valier's engine. Valier and von Opel had engaged in a program that led directly to use of jet-assisted takeoff for heavily laden aircraft. Their experiments had also a tremendous influence on Alexander Lippisch, whose experience with the rocket-powered Ente ("Duck") eventually paved the way to the Messerschmitt Me-163, the first operational rocket fighter craft.

The private experiments of the late 1920s and early 1930s excited also the interest of the German military, which provided funding for further development of rockets as a replacement for artillery. This led to an array of military applications, among them Germany's V-2 terror weapon, the world's first ballistic missile, and also the first human-made object to surpass the Kármán line and thus leaving the Earth's atmosphere.

In the 1940s, the DVL (an AVA sister organization) funded Konrad Zuse's work on the Z3 and Z4 computers. Another German aviation technology research facility, the 1935-founded, top-secret Luftfahrtforschungsanstalt at Völkenrode which conducted research – much of it for military aviation to suit the Luftwaffe's needs – in parallel to the then-existing forerunners of the DLR of today, would not be discovered by the Allies until after the war's end.

In 1947, the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Weltraumfahrt ("Consortium on Space Flight") was formed, leading to the Gesellschaft für Weltraumforschung (GfW; "Society for Space Research") being formed in 1948.

In 1954, the Research Institute of Jet Propulsion Physics (FPS) was established at the Stuttgart airport.

What was later called the DLR was formed in 1969 as the Deutsche Forschungs- und Versuchsanstalt für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DFVLR; "German Test and Research Institute for Aviation and Space Flight") through the merger of several institutions. These were the Aerodynamische Versuchsanstalt (AVA), the Deutsche Versuchsanstalt für Luftfahrt (DVL; "German Laboratory for Aviation"), the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Luftfahrt (DFL; "German Research Institute for Aviation") and (in 1972) the Gesellschaft für Weltraumforschung (GfW; "Society for Space Research").

In 1989, the DFVLR was renamed Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR; "German Research Institute for Aviation and Space Flight"). Also in 1989, the Deutsche Agentur für Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA; "German Agency for Space Flight Affairs") was created.

Following the merger with the Deutsche Agentur für Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA; German for "German Agency for Space Flight Affairs") on 1 October 1997, the name was changed to Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), literally "German Center for Aviation and Space Flight". The shorter translation "German Aerospace Center" is used in English-language publications.

Other German space organizations include the Institut für Raumfahrtsysteme (IRS; Institute for Space Systems), founded in 1970. This should not be confused with DLR's Institut für Raumfahrtsysteme located in Bremen. Also, significant contributions are made to the European Space Agency.

Research

DLR's mission comprises the exploration of the Earth and the solar system, as well as research aimed at protecting the environment and developing environmentally compatible technologies, and at promoting mobility, communication and security. DLR's research portfolio, which covers the four focus areas Aeronautics, Space, Transportation and Energy, ranges from basic research to innovative applications. DLR operates large-scale research centres, both for the benefit of its own projects and as a service for its clients and partners from the worlds of business and science.

The objective of DLR's aeronautics research is to strengthen the competitive advantage of the national and European aeronautical industry and aviation sector, and to meet political and social demands – for instance with regard to climate-friendly aviation. German space research activities range from experiments under conditions of weightlessness to the exploration of other planets and environmental monitoring from space. In addition to these activities, DLR performs tasks of public authority pertaining to the planning and implementation of the German space programme, in its capacity as the official space agency of the Federal Republic of Germany.

The DLR's Project Management Agency (German: Projektträger im DLR) has also been entrusted with tasks of public authority pertaining to the administration of subsidies. In the field of energy research, DLR is working on highly efficient, low- power generation technologies based on gas turbines and fuel cells, on solar thermal power generation, and on the efficient use of heat, including cogeneration based on fossil and renewable energy sources. The topics covered by DLR's transportation research are maintaining mobility, protecting the environment and saving resources, and improving transportation safety.

In addition to the already existing projects Mars Express, global navigation satellite system Galileo, and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, the Institute of Space Systems (German: Institut für Raumfahrtsysteme) was founded in Bremen in January 2007. In the future, 80 scientists and engineers will be doing research into topics such as space mission concepts, satellite development and propulsion technology.

Mars Express
The High Resolution Stereo Camera HRSC is the most important German contribution to the European Space Agency's Mars Express mission. It is the first digital stereo camera that also generates multispectral data and that has a very high resolution lens. The camera records images of the Martian surface which formed the basis for a large number of scientific studies. With the HRSC, which was developed at the German Aerospace Center's Institute of Planetary Research (German: Institut für Planetenforschung), it is possible to analyse details no larger than 10 to 30 meters in three dimensions.

Rosetta and Philae
The comet orbiter Rosetta is controlled from the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC), in Darmstadt, Germany. The DLR has provided the structure, thermal subsystem, flywheel, the Active Descent System (procured by DLR but made in Switzerland), ROLIS, downward-looking camera, SESAME, acoustic sounding and seismic instrument for Philae, the orbiter's landing unit. It has also managed the project and did the level product assurance. The University of Münster built MUPUS (it was designed and built in Space Research Centre of Polish Academy of Sciences ) and the Braunschweig University of Technology the ROMAP instrument. The Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research made the payload engineering, eject mechanism, landing gear, anchoring harpoon, central computer, COSAC, APXS and other subsystems.

Dawn
The framing cameras, provided by the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research and the DLR, are the main imaging instruments of Dawn, a multi-destination space probe to the protoplanets 4 Vesta and 1 Ceres launched in 2007. The cameras offer resolutions of 17 m/pixel for Vesta and 66 m/pixel for Ceres. Because the framing cameras are vital for both science and navigation, the payload has two identical and physically separate cameras (FC1 & FC2) for redundancy, each with its own optics, electronics, and structure.

Columbus

DLR operates the Columbus Control Centre in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. It is responsible for the coordination of scientific activities as well as for systems operations and life support on board the orbiting Columbus laboratory.

In February 2008, the Columbus laboratory, Europe's core contribution to the International Space Station ISS, was brought into space by the Space Shuttle and docked to the ISS. The cylindrical module, which has a diameter of 4.5 m, contains state-of-the-art scientific equipment. It is planned to enable researchers on Earth to conduct thousands of experiments in biology, materials science, fluid physics and many other fields under conditions of weightlessness in space.

Spacelab, Shuttle, Mir, Soyuz
Germany has near ten astronauts and participates in ESA human space programs including flights of German astronauts aboard US Space Shuttles and Russian spacecraft. Besides missions under ESA and flights on Soyuz and Mir, two Space Shuttle missions with the European built Spacelab were fully funded and organizationally and scientifically controlled by Germany (like a separate few by ESA and one by Japan) with German astronauts on board as hosts and not guests. The first West German mission Deutschland 1 (Spacelab-D1, DLR-1, NASA designation STS-61-A) took place in 1985.

The second similar mission, Deutschland 2 (Spacelab-D2, DLR-2, NASA designation STS-55), was first planned for 1988, but then due to the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster was delayed until 1993 when it became the first German human space mission after German reunification.

Remote sensing of the Earth
In remote sensing of the Earth, satellites provide comprehensive and continually updated information on "System Earth". This remote sensing data is used to investigate the Earth's atmosphere, land and ocean surfaces, and ice sheets. Practical applications of this technology include environmental monitoring and disaster relief.

Following the Indian Ocean tsunami of 26 December 2004, for instance, up-to-date maps could be compiled very quickly using Earth observation satellites. These maps could then be used for orientation during relief missions. DLR conducts these research activities at the German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD) (German: Deutsches Fernerkundungsdatenzentrum), a DLR institute based in Oberpfaffenhofen. Nowadays, satellite data is also important for climate research: it is used to measure temperatures, levels, particulate matter levels, rainforest deforestation and the radiation conditions of the Earth's surface (land, oceans, polar ice).

TerraSAR-X
The new German Earth observation satellite TerraSAR-X was launched in June 2007. The objective of this five-year mission is to provide radar remote sensing data to scientific and commercial users. The satellite's design is based on the technology and expertise developed in the X-SAR and SRTM SAR missions (Synthetic Aperture Radar). The sensor has a number of different modes of operation, with a maximum resolution of one meter, and is capable of generating elevation profiles.

TerraSAR-X is the first satellite that was jointly paid for by government and industry. DLR contributed about 80 percent of the total expenses, with the remainder being covered by EADS Astrium. The satellite's core component is a radar sensor operating in the X band and capable of recording the Earth's surface using a range of different modes of operation, capturing an area of 10 to 100 kilometers in size with a resolution of 1 to 16 meters.

Astronomical surveys
The Uppsala–DLR Trojan Survey (UDTS) was a search for asteroids near Jupiter in the 1990s, in collaboration with the Swedish Uppsala Astronomical Observatory. When it concluded there was another survey, the Uppsala–DLR Asteroid Survey, this time with a focus on Near Earth asteroids and both surveys discovered numerous objects.

Suborbital Spaceplane
Studying a suborbital spaceplane, DLR conducted Falke prototype for Hermes spaceplane program, participates in non-realized Sanger II project and since 2005 work under the concept making fast intercontinental passenger transport possible. The SpaceLiner is a reusable vehicle lifting-off vertically and landing like a glider.

RETALT
DLR is a partner for RETALT (RETro Propulsion Assisted Landing Technologies), a program aiming to develop two-stage-to-orbit and single-stage to orbit reusable launch systems.

Aircraft design
DLR is involved in different European H2020 projects (AGILE, AGILE4.0) concerning aircraft design with the objective to improve multidisciplinary optimization using distributed analysis frameworks.

Research aircraft

DLR operates Europe's largest fleet of research aircraft. The aircraft are used both as research objects and as research tools. DLR's research aircraft provide platforms for all kinds of research missions. Scientists and engineers can use them for practical, application-oriented purposes: Earth observation, atmospheric research or testing new aircraft components. DLR is for instance investigating wing flutter and possible ways of eliminating it, which would also help to reduce aircraft noise. So-called "flying simulators" can be used to simulate the flight performance of aircraft that have not been built yet. This method was for instance used to test the Airbus A380 in the early stages of its development. The VFW 614 ATTAS was used to test several systems.

The high-altitude research aircraft HALO (High Altitude and Long Range Research Aircraft) will be used for atmospheric research and Earth observation from 2009. With a cruising altitude of more than 15 kilometers and a range of over 8,000 kilometers, HALO will provide for the first time the capability to gather data on a continental scale, at all latitudes, from the tropics to the poles, and at altitudes as high as the lower stratosphere.

The Airbus A320-232 D-ATRA, the latest and largest addition to the fleet, has been in use by the German Aerospace Center since late 2008. ATRA (Advanced Technology Research Aircraft) is a modern and flexible flight test platform which sets a new benchmark for flying test beds in European aerospace research – and not just because of its size.

DLR and NASA jointly operate the flying infrared telescope SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy). A Boeing 747SP with a modified fuselage enabling it to carry a reflecting telescope developed in Germany is used as an airborne research platform. The aircraft is operated by the Dryden Flight Research Center at Site 9 (USAF Plant 42) in Palmdale, California. Observation flights will be flown 3 or 4 nights a week, for up to eight hours at a time and at an altitude of 12 to 14 kilometers. SOFIA has been designed to remain operational for a period of 20 years. It is the successor to the Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO), which was deployed from 1974 to 1995.

On 31 January 2020, the DLR put its newest aircraft into service, a Falcon 2000LX ISTAR (In-flight Systems & Technology Airborne Research).

Emissions research

DLR conducts research into and noise emissions caused by air transport. In order to ensure that increasing traffic volumes do not lead to an increase in the noise pollution caused by air transport, DLR is investigating options for noise reduction. The "Low-noise Approach and Departure Procedures" research project (German: Lärmoptimierte An- und Abflugverfahren), for instance, forms part of the national research project "Quiet Traffic" (German: Leiser Verkehr).

The objective of this project is to find flight procedures that can reduce the amount of noise generated during takeoff and landing. One approach is to analyse noise propagation at ground level during takeoff using a large number of microphones. Researchers are also trying to reduce the noise at source, focusing for instance on airframe and engine noise. They hope to minimise noise generated in the engines using so-called "antinoise".

The German Aerospace Center's research work on emissions caused by air transport focuses for instance on model calculations concerning the effects of converting the global aircraft fleet to hydrogen propulsion. The growth rates of aviation are above average. This raises the question if emission-free hydrogen propulsion could perhaps limit the effects of growing air traffic volumes on the environment and the climate.

Hydrogen as an energy carrier
The Hydrosol and Hydrosol-2 is one of the energy research projects in which DLR scientists are engaged. For the first time, scientists have achieved thermal water splitting using solar energy, generating hydrogen and oxygen without emissions. For this achievement, the DLR team and several other research groups received the Descartes Prize, a research award created by the European Commission. The FP6 Hydrosol II pilot reactor (around 100 kW) for solar thermochemical hydrogen production at the Plataforma Solar de Almería in Spain started in November 2005 and is in operation since 2008.

Traffic Congestion
During the 2006 FIFA World Cup football championship, DLR implemented the Soccer project aimed at preventing traffic congestion. In this transportation research project, traffic data was obtained from the air in Berlin, Stuttgart and Cologne and used as input for traffic forecasting. A sensor system combining a conventional and a thermographic camera was used to obtain the data. A zeppelin, an aeroplane and a helicopter served as flying research platforms. An image analysis software package generated aerial photos showing the current traffic parameters as well as traffic forecasts. In this way, traffic control centres could be provided with almost-real-time traffic information, and road users could be diverted whenever necessary.

Solar tower power plant
In 2007, the first commercially operated solar tower power plant, the PS10 solar power tower, was commissioned. It has a capacity of eleven megawatt and it is located near Sevilla, in Sanlúcar la Mayor (Spain). DLR is prominently involved in developing the technology for this type of power plant. In solar tower power plants, sun-tracking mirrors (heliostats) redirect the solar radiation onto a central heat exchanger (receiver) on top of a tower. This generates high-temperature process heat, which can then be used in gas or steam turbine power plants to generate electrical power for the public electricity grid. In the future, solar thermal tower plant technology could also be used to generate solar fuels, such as hydrogen, without emissions.

Locations
As of 2022, the DLR had 35 sites in Germany:

Aachen and Aachen-Merzbrück
 * Small Aircraft Technology

Augsburg
 * Augsburg-Universitätsviertel
 * Center for Lightweight Production Technology (Zentrum für Leichtbauproduktionstechnik)

Berlin
 * Berlin-Adlershof
 * Institute of Planetary Research (Institut für Planetenforschung)
 * Institute of Transport Research (Institut für Verkehrsforschung)
 * Institute of Optical Sensor Systems (Institut für Optische Sensorsysteme)
 * Applied Remote Sensing Cluster
 * Project Management Agency - Information Technology
 * Institute of Space Systems, Department of System Conditioning (Abt. Systemkonditionierung)
 * DLR School Lab
 * Located at TU Berlin
 * Institute of Propulsion Technology, Department of Engine Acoustics (Abt. Triebwerksakustik)
 * Berlin-Charlottenburg
 * Berlin-Carnot-Strasse
 * Berlin-Zentrum
 * Project Management Agencies at DLR
 * Simulation and Software Technology

Bonn
 * Bonn-Oberkassel
 * Space Agency (Raumfahrt-Agentur)
 * Project management for aerospace research and technology (Projektträger Luftfahrtforschung und -technologie)
 * DLR Project Management Agency (DLR-Projektträger)
 * International Office of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) - pursues the goal of expanding the international connections of German universities, research institutions and companies
 * EUREKA/COST Office
 * EU Office of the BMBF
 * Bonn-Bad Godesberg
 * DLR Project Management Agency (DLR-Projektträger)

Braunschweig
 * Flight operations
 * Institute of Aerodynamics and Flow Technology
 * Institute of Lightweight Systems
 * Institute of Flight Guidance
 * Institute of Flight Systems
 * Institute of Transportation Systems
 * Institute of Software Technology
 * German-Dutch Wind Tunnels (DNW)
 * DLR School Lab

Bremen
 * Institute of Space Systems
 * Maritime Security Centre
 * DLR School Lab

Bremerhaven
 * Institut for the Protection of Maritime Infrastructures

Cologne
 * Executive Board (Vorstand)
 * Institute of Airport Operations and Air Traffic
 * Institute of Propulsion Technology
 * Institute of Aerospace Medicine
 * Institute of Material Physics in Space
 * Institute of Materials Research
 * Institute of Aerodynamics and Fluid Mechanics, Köln Wind Tunnel Department
 * Institute of Technical Thermodynamics, Solar Research Department
 * Space flight and astronaut training
 * Simulation and Software Engineering
 * Center for Solidification of Supercooled Melts (ZEUS) (Zentrum für Erstarrung Unterkühlter Schmelzen)
 * DLR School Lab
 * German-Dutch Wind Tunnels (DNW)

Cochstedt
 * National Experimental Test Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems

Cottbus and Zittau
 * Institute of Low-Carbon Industrial Processes

Dresden
 * Institute of Software Methods for Product Virtualization

Geesthacht
 * Institute of Maritime Energy Systems

Göttingen
 * Institute of Aerodynamics and Fluid Mechanics
 * Institute of Aeroelasticity
 * Institute of Drive Systems
 * German-Dutch Wind Tunnels (DNW)
 * DLR School Lab
 * DLR Systems Engineering (Systemhaus Technik)
 * DLR Technology Marketing
 * DLR Central Archive

Hannover
 * Institute for Satellite Geodesy and Inertial Sensing

Hamburg
 * Department of Aerospace Psychology (besides research, also involved in the selection of astronauts and Lufthansa pilots)
 * Institute of Aerospace Medicine
 * Research Center for Air Transport Systems
 * DLR School Lab

Jena
 * Institute of Data Science

Jülich
 * Institute for Solar Research
 * Institute for Future Fuels

Lampoldshausen
 * Institute of Space Propulsion
 * Institute of Technical Physics

Neustrelitz
 * Institute of Communications and Navigation: GNSS Validation and Completion Techniques (Validierungs- und Ergänzungstechniken)
 * Institute of Communications and Navigation: Ionospheric Effects and Corrections
 * Remote Sensing Technology Institute: Atmospheric Processes (Atmosphärenprozessoren)
 * German Remote Sensing Data Centre - National Ground Segment
 * Technology Marketing
 * DLR School Lab

Oberpfaffenhofen
 * Applied Remote Sensing Cluster
 * Space Operations and Astronaut Training
 * German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD)
 * Flight Operations
 * Institute of Microwaves and Radar Systems (Institut für Hochfrequenztechnik und Radarsysteme)
 * Institute of Communications and Navigation (Institut für Kommunikation und Navigation)
 * Institute of Remote Sensing Technology
 * Institute of Atmospheric Physics (Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre)
 * Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics (Institut für Robotik und Mechatronik)
 * Institute of System Dynamics and Control (Institut für Systemdynamik und Regelungstechnik)
 * German Space Operations Center (Deutsches Raumfahrt-Kontrollzentrum)
 * DLR School Lab

Oldenburg
 * Institute of Networked Energy Systems (Institut für Vernetzte Energiesysteme)

Rheinbach
 * Institute for the Protection of Terrestrial Infrastructures

St. Augustin
 * Institute for the Protection of Terrestrial Infrastructures
 * Institute for AI Safety and Security

Stade
 * Institute of Lightweight Systems
 * Center for Lightweight Production Technology

Stuttgart
 * Institute of Structures and Design
 * Institute of Vehicle Concepts
 * Institute of Technical Physics
 * Institute of Engineering Thermodynamics
 * Institute of Combustion Technology
 * Institute of Networked Energy Systems (Institut für Vernetzte Energiesysteme)
 * DLR School Lab

Trauen
 * Institute of Propulsion Technology, Engine / Fire Safety department

Ulm
 * Institute of Engineering Thermodynamics
 * Institute of Quantum Technologies
 * Institute for AI Safety and Security

Weilheim (Oberbayern)
 * Space Operations and Astronaut Training

Human spaceflight
Examples of DLR or parent institution human spaceflight missions:
 * FSLP (1983), with Ulf Merbold using Spaceman on STS-9
 * D1 (1985), with Reinhard Furrer and Ernst Messerschmid ( with Netherlands' Wubbo Ockels on STS-61-A)
 * D2 (1993), with Hans Schlegel and Ulrich Walter
 * Mir 92/92E (1992), with Klaus-Dietrich Flade
 * Euromir 94, with Ulf Merbold
 * Euromir 95, with Thomas Reiter
 * MIR '97, with Reinhold Ewald
 * X-SAR/SRTM (2000), with Gerhard Thiele
 * Blue dot (2014), with Alexander Gerst, on the ISS
 * Horizons (2018), with Alexander Gerst, on the ISS

Research aircraft
Examples of research aircraft:
 * Bo 105 (for ATTHeS In-Flight Simulator)
 * EC 135 (for Flying Helicopter Simulator (FHS))
 * VFW 614 (for ATTAS)
 * Boeing 747SP (DLR/NASA project for SOFIA)
 * Airbus A320-232 ("D-ATRA")
 * Zeppelin NT (for traffic analysis)
 * Cessna 208B Grand Caravan ("D-FDLR")
 * Dassault Falcon 20E ("D-CMET")
 * DG 300 Elan-17 (glider)
 * Dornier 228-101 ("D-CODE")
 * Dornier 228-212 ("D-CFFU")
 * DR 400/200R Remorqueur ("D-EDVE")
 * Gulfstream G550 ("D-ADLR", for HALO)
 * LFU 205 ("D-ELFU", since 1985)
 * Grob Strato 2C ("D-CDLR", retired)

Space missions
Examples of DLR (or parent institution) space missions. Many of these are also joint or international missions.

Current

 * TanDEM-X - TerraSAR-X add-on for Digital Elevation Measurement
 * Prisma
 * SATCOMBw
 * TerraSAR-X
 * Columbus
 * BIRD - Bispectral InfraRed Detector
 * FIREBIRD, the BIRD successor mission consisting of TET-1 (Technology Experiment Carrier) and BIROS (Bispectral InfraRed Optical Satellite, formerly Berlin InfraRed Optical Satellite)
 * GRACE - Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment
 * SAR-Lupe
 * EuCROPIS (Euglena and Combined Regenerative Organic-Food Production in Space)
 * DESIS, the DLR Earth Sensing Imaging Spectrometer, a VIS/NIR hyperspectral imager on the International Space Station developed together with Teledyne Brown Engineering
 * EnMAP

Past

 * CHAMP - CHAllenging Minisatellite Payload
 * AZUR
 * AEROS
 * Dawn (spacecraft)
 * HELIOS
 * AMPTE
 * GALILEO
 * ROSAT
 * EXPRESS
 * Equator-S
 * MOMS-2P
 * ABRIXAS
 * SYMPHONIE A+B
 * TV-Sat 1 & 2
 * DFS Kopernikus 1,2,3
 * EUTELSAT II (F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, F6)
 * EUTELSAT W (W2, W3, W4, W1R, HB6, W5)
 * Rosetta
 * Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV)
 * MASCOT lander onboard Hayabusa2

DLR Magazine
DLR Magazine is the institute's flagship publication, also published in English as of June 2010. Subject matter includes science, editorials and images.

title: German Aerospace Center


text:
Talk:Sovkhoz

Untitled
'This article was listed on Votes for deletion in May 2004. The result of the discussion was a consensus to keep the article. An archive of the discussion can be found at Talk:Sovkhoz/Delete.''

On my sources: the numbers are from. The text is written by myself. Andris 04:47, May 11, 2004 (UTC)

I started adding to Sovkhoz and writing kolkhoz, but soon realized that the articles share much. Also, comparison of these forms is required. I suggest to make a single article, Collective farming in the USSR. Also, to avoid confusion, I suggest eiher to rename Collectivisation in the USSR into History of collectivisation in the USSR or to make it into a section of the new article. Any opinions? Mikkalai 04:37, 17 May 2004 (UTC)
 * I agree with having a single article Collective farming in the USSR. Andris 04:53, May 17, 2004 (UTC)
 * A memo for future writing: in early times, there were intermediate forms of collective farming called товарищество по обработке земли, or ТОЗ. Standard translation: "agricultural association", literal translation: "association for land tillage". Mikkalai 04:48, 17 May 2004 (UTC)

See extended discussion regarding inefficiency at Talk:Collectivisation in the USSR. Fred Bauder 15:12, Oct 15, 2004 (UTC)
 * My point exactly: Information about efficiency must be in a single place, referred from multiple other places. This is a norm in wikipedia not to duplicate information over different pages, so that the description may easily diverge and say opposite things at different pages. Mikkalai 22:18, 15 Oct 2004 (UTC)

I reverted this page because it had a lot of material which didn't seem to belong here. I suspect that back in February, a lot of information 86.6.111.214 added (about the results of collectivization) was new to wikipedia, but now the collectivisation article takes care of the most of it. Also, there was some re-duplicated text (at the top and near the bottom).--128.135.24.226 20:20, 19 August 2006 (UTC)

Serfdom
Since Mikkalai has asked that the discussion of this is brought here rather than his talk page, I have put the categories "unfree labor" and "serfdom" back in for the following reasons:

1. The collective farmers were unfree and serfs

The reasons for this are obvious. They were tied to their farms. They could not leave without the permission of their "owner" - the State. They could not choose what to grow. They could not sell to whomever they liked. They were economically exploited. By any reasonable definition, they were state-owned serfs. I am happy to provide sources that make precisely that claim. Lao Wai 10:54, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

 * You are wrong. Obviously you don't know the subject, just heard bits and pieces (I know what you are talking about, but I am not going to educate you until you learn the basic rules of wikipedia: to provide references when you are asked). The farmers could leave. What to grow and whom to sell decides the manager, which is only natural and not the reason to be "serfdom". All working people in the world are economically exploited. If you continue your additions without proper references, you will be in danger to be blocked from editing for disruption of wikipedia. Please learn to respect wikipedia rules. they are for important reasons. `'mikka 16:18, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

 * Simple abuse is not an argument.  Arrogance is childish.  References for what?  There are no claims to be defended here.  Simply inclusion in two categories that are clearly appropriate.  You are wrong to assert that what to grow was a decision the manager, but let us suppose it was.  The manager was not the farmer.  He was the representative of the States - the owners. In fact you are simply proving my point: the collective farmer was not free.  You may defend serfdom if you like, but it is not natural for people to be told what to grow and when by the State.  Farmers could not leave without a passport which was not granted in the vast majority of cases.  Obtaining one became a serious preoccupation of the young.  Actually serfs in Imperial Russia seem to have had fewer problems leaving.  Threaten all you like.  I am happy to go to arbitration any time you feel like it.  I do not intend to be bullied.  Lao Wai 18:51, 9 April 2007 (UTC)
 * A worker in an automobile plant does not decide which cars to make. But we don't tag automotive industry with "serfdom". One last time: either you provide a reference to your claim or I will request you being blocked for ignoring wikipedia policies. `'mikka 19:49, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

 * A worker in a Western car factory can quit. You could make a case that a Soviet car worker was a serf.  However the definition of a serf is a farmer who is tied to the land.  By any reasonable definition that includes Collective farmers.  Request away.  I am happy to dig up sources, but sources for what?  You do not even seem to be denying the truth of these claims.  You make an effort to explain to me what you think is wrong, and I'll make more of an effort to provide sources for whatever it is that you object to.  Nor am I making any - I am just including two categories which are clearly relevant.  But if you think I am doing something wrong, please ask whomever you like.  Lao Wai 19:59, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

 * A source if you like,

 * "Soviet Trade Unions"., Review author[s]: W. W. Kulski, The Journal of Politics © 1951 Southern Political Science Association. pp 283-286

 * Or these,

 * http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/940428/fitzpatrick.shtml

 * http://www.opendemocracy.net/globalization-institutions_government/russians_soviets_3670.jsp

 * http://www.country-studies.com/russia/transformation-and-terror.html

 * Or those well known Fascists at PBS,

 * http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/lo/countries/ru/ru_full.html

Please read the defininion of unfree labor: for those work relations, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will by the threat of destitution, detention, violence (including death), or other extreme hardship to themselves, or to members of their families.

Sovkhozniks were not serfs. they were not forced to work. They were not "tied to land". You can leave sovkhoz and make living by making matryoshka dolls, weaving bast shoes, making wooden spoons whatever.

Freedom of travel means nothing: Palestinians in refugee camps are not allowed to to work freely wherever they want in Lebanon or Jordan, but this does not make them serfs. Freedom of travel/Soviet pasport system in Soviet Union placed many various restrictions, but it was what it was: restriction of free travel.

Low wages and long hours also not sufficientr reason. When in 91th century workers worked for 14 hours in America for cents this was not called "unfree labor". (Actually, it was called; by socialists. But it was a political epithet to describe condition where there was no choice "either you work or starve". But no one actually forced workers to work and we do not put the article factory into category:unfree labor.)

People may use political epithets at will, but one have distinguish when it is a political epithet nd where definition. `'mikka 21:52, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

 * The Soviet Union had a specific legal offense of "parasitism" which meant that anyone who did not work in an approved manner could be sent to the Gulag. Sounds like a threat to me.  Yet again I will point out the obvious fact that Collective Farmers could not move off their farms nor could they make a living at anything else without the permission (and usually the direction) of their owners - the Soviet State.  Freedom of travel means everything and I find it hard to imagine what sort of person would claim otherwise.  Ask the former serfs - by the way, do you find Imperial Russian serfdom totally acceptable because the freedom to move means nothing?  I agree that the Palestinian refugees, as non-Lebanese, are not serfs but your parallel is merely absurd.  It is not merely a restriction on travel but 1. being tied to the land, 2. being forced to work at the State's direction, 3. being unable to sell your produce to anyone but the State at low prices fixed by the State, and 4. generally being a serf.  I did not mention low wages and long hours although I am happy to point out that the Soviet economy was based on forcing the peasants to hand over their surplus at less than economic prices.  Socialist accumulation.  Look it up.  American workers could quit.  Soviet farmers could not.  All in all I find this an irrelevant response.  So far all you have done is bully, insult, deny the truth and threaten to denounce me to the authorities.  A very Soviet response actually.  Political epithets is what you are insisting on, not me.  Lao Wai 10:27, 10 April 2007 (UTC)
 * You cannot put an article into a category without the corresponding text in the article that supports inclusion in the category. It is plain and simple. YOur angry speeches in the talk page are irrelevant. Why is it so difficult to understand? `'mikka 15:07, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

 * I am happy to add corresponding text - and could you please point out to me where that rule exists? I am happy to edit these two pages to make the categories even more explicitly relevant than they are now.  The only angry speeches I see are yours - your whole argument has consisted of nothing but insults, bullying and threats.  I would be delighted if you stopped and started a proper discussion.  There is nothing here to not understand.  Collective farmers were not free, arguably they were a type of serf.  They belong within that category.  As far as I can see every single claim you have made the contrary is not true.  The term is used in the academic literature.  It is appropriate.  Why not include it? Lao Wai 14:31, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

Third Opinion Summary: do not add the categories.

Observations:
 * User:Lao Wai wants to add two categories, namely Unfree Labour and Serfdom, to two articles, and employs the following arguments to support his case:
 * Alleged historical accuracy ("The collective farmers were unfree and serfs")
 * Alleged support by reliable sources

 * User:Mikkalai opposes adding the two categories, employing the following arguments:
 * Alleged lack of historical accuracy ("Sovkhozniks were not serfs. they were not forced to work.")
 * Alleged lack of support by reliable sources ("..without proper references..")
 * Lack of text in the article dealing with the subject matter of the two categories in question.

 * The dispute is about adding categories - that is silly. Go and write about the subject.

Analysis on the Serfdom category:
 * The introduction of unfree labour is quite clear on serfdom: "...the term "serf" is usually used only in relation to pre-modern societies, under feudal political systems." Particularly in Russia, where abolishment of Serfdom is a big thing in the political history of that country, writing that the collective farms were employing serfs is confusing. Lao Wai's argument #1 is incorrect.
 * All references cited to support the inclusion of a serfdom category do mention the word "serfdom", but only when comparing the situation in the USSR collective farms to the situation in the former feudal empire/a feudal state. Leo Wai's argument #2 is incorrect.
 * It has to be noted that Mikkalai's statement, quoted above under #1, is incorrect too. The reason for the conclusion below is not the absence of forced labour, but the fact that the word 'serf' is used exclusively in a feudal context. Mikkalai's argument #1 is incorrect.
 * Don't include the serfdom category.

Analysis on the Unfree Labour category:
 * The qualification of work in USSR collective farms as "unfree labour" was not clear from the sources cited. Wikipedia does not do original research, and interpreting sources in a way not immediately clear is OR. Lao Wai's argument #2 is incorrect.
 * Without a source and relevant text in the article don't add a controversial category. However, I do not see why historical inaccuracy should be a reason to exclude this category, if a reliable source could be found. Forms of Unfree Labour like Truck system and Bonded labour could be applied to the collective farms in some ways. Get a source.
 * BTW, why would Truck system be unfree labor? The article doesn't give any clue. I am asking the question there. (In fact, its talk page already has an opinion that it is incorrect) `'mikka 00:46, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

I will not comment further unless a request is made on my talk page or another third opinion is requested.

--User:Krator (t c) 18:18, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

 * OK. This is now getting a mess.  I agree the term "serf" is usually used for pre-modern societies, but that does not mean it is only so used.  There is nothing confusing about it and if there is confusion, the solution is to rewrite the article to make it clearer.   fail to see that the sources I have provided only use it in relation to pre-Modern Russia and even if they did, it would not matter as the Collective farmers would remain, essentially, serfs.  The word serf is not used exclusively of feudal societies (even if we could agree what feudal meant).  The quote you gave uses usually.  Your objection does not seem a strong one to me.  Can you please expand a little more?  Lao Wai 14:31, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

 * As for the unfree labor, I am not sold on the category and would not fight for it. However there is still no OR on my part.  What have I written that would suggest that?  I am happy to add text if you all would be interested however laws against parasitism are so well known that they would tend to fall into the category of background.  However, if you all want, I would be delighted to edit the article to that end.  I don't even see what is controversial about it. Lao Wai 14:31, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

Let me elaborate further on the applicability of "unfree labor". The form of kolkhoz in itself is not based on forcing people to work. Is a kolkhoznik didn't work, he simply was not paid, that's it. One could easily leave a kolkhoz. At certain period of Soviet history (not all the time!) peasants could not freely move out of rural areas into towns. But they still could survive (I will not go into details; it would be silly in the talk page). Even at this period, anybody (I repeat, anybody) could migrate to work in coal mines or in logging, where was chronic lack of workforce. Of course if you wanted to stay a peasant, then you were in trouble. This is no essential difference with, say, United States of 20th century period of the Great Depression, where people roamed from coast to coast in search of any job.

I am not going to argue about the amount of freedom in Soviet Union. But this is a major political and philosophical issue, not economical one. `'mikka 00:46, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

 * Not paid? Sorry but who exactly owned the farmers house?  Who provided food for his meals?  Who provided medical care?  No one could leave a kolkhoz easily.  That was the point of the internal passport system - as the entire Soviet economy was based on the extraction of an agricultural surplus from the peasants which made the urban population relatively well off, the Soviet state had to force the rural population to remain in the countryside.  This is well documented in any text book you like on the USSR and I am happy to quote several if you like.  Certain periods?  You mean before Yeltsin?  I agree that you could ask to be transferred to an even worse job - jobs I notice that zeks usually did.  So?  It is grotesque to compared the freedom of movement in the US with the massive man-made famine created by this system of serfdom that verged on the genocidal.  I just don't see how you can make that claim.  What were Ukrainian peasants doing during their famine?  Not wandering.  Lao Wai 14:31, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

sovkhozniki
The discussion on russian talk page mentioned (ru:User:Wladimir Mesin, 06.01.2006) that the "sovkhozniki" is an incorrect word, it wasn't used neither in real life, nor in the official documents. It's an error. This is because Sovkhoz was state-owned. Nevertheless, the word "kolkhozniki" did exist, they were members of kolhoz. --Yuriy Lapitskiy 18:04, 9 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Because nobody argued, I'll delete this passage about "sovkhozniki". --Yuriy Lapitskiy 14:34, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

Totally disputed
Lao Wai adds false and incorrect material, but since no one else bothers to edit this page, despite my requests for comments in several places, I am tired to figth stubbornness alone, leaving the article tagged for future editors. `'mikka 20:05, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

Inconsistency in the numbers: more research needed
"The number of state farms grew from less than 1,500 in 1929 to just over 23,000 by the end of the Gorbachev era in the late 1980s.

...

In 1990, the Soviet Union had 25,500 farms, 45% of them being sovkhoz and 55% kolkhoz."

More research needs to be done on state farms. There are inconsistent figures here: 11,500 state farms in 1990 is MUCH less than 23,000 in the late 80s.
 * 23,000 in the late 1980s is correct; the total number of farms in 1990 is incorrect; percent of sovkhoz is correct; para edited to eliminate inconsistency. --Zlerman (talk) 06:42, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

Possible copyright problem
This article has been revised as part of a large-scale clean-up project of multiple article copyright infringement. (See the investigation subpage) Earlier text must not be restored, unless it can be verified to be free of infringement. For legal reasons, Wikipedia cannot accept copyrighted text or images borrowed from other web sites or printed material; such additions must be deleted. Contributors may use sources as a source of information, but not as a source of sentences or phrases. Accordingly, the material may be rewritten, but only if it does not infringe on the copyright of the original or plagiarize from that source. Please see our guideline on non-free text for how to properly implement limited quotations of copyrighted text. Wikipedia takes copyright violations very seriously. Mkativerata (talk) 11:34, 24 September 2014 (UTC)

title: Talk:Sovkhoz