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Innsbruck [SEP] In the 4th century the Romans established the army station Veldidena (the name survives in today's urban district Wilten) at Oenipons (Innsbruck), to protect the economically important commercial road from Verona-Brenner-Augsburg in their province of Raetia. The first mention of Innsbruck dates back to the name "Oeni Pontum" or "Oeni Pons" which is Latin for bridge (pons) over the Inn (Oenus), which was an important crossing point over the Inn river.
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Innsbruck [SEP] The Counts of Andechs acquired the town in 1180. In 1248 the town passed into the hands of the Counts of Tyrol. The city's arms show a bird's-eye view of the Inn bridge, a design used since 1267. The route over the Brenner Pass was then a major transport and communications link between the north and the south of Europe, and the easiest route across the Alps. It was part of the Via Imperii, a medieval imperial road under special protection of the king.
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Innsbruck [SEP] The revenues generated by serving as a transit station on this route enabled the city to flourish. Innsbruck became the capital of all Tyrol in 1429 and in the 15th century the city became a centre of European politics and culture as Emperor Maximilian I also resided in Innsbruck in the 1490s. The city benefited from the emperor's presence as can be seen for example in the Hofkirche. Here a funeral monument for Maximilian was planned and erected partly by his successors.
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Innsbruck [SEP] The ensemble with a cenotaph and the bronze statues of real and mythical ancestors of the Habsburg emperor are one of the main artistic monuments of Innsbruck. A regular postal service between Innsbruck and Mechelen was established in 1490 by the Thurn-und-Taxis-Post. In 1564 Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria received the rulership over Tirol and other Further Austrian possessions administered from Innsbruck up to the 18th century. He had Schloss Ambras built and arranged there his unique Renaissance collections nowadays mainly part of Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum.
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Innsbruck [SEP] Up to 1665 a stirps of the Habsburg dynasty ruled in Innsbruck with an independent court. In the 1620s the first opera house north of the Alps was erected in Innsbruck (Dogana). In 1669 the university was founded. Also as a compensation for the court as Emperor Leopold I again reigned from Vienna and the Tyrolean stirps of the Habsburg dynasty had ended in 1665. During the Napoleonic Wars Tyrol was ceded to Bavaria, ally of France.
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Innsbruck [SEP] Andreas Hofer led a Tyrolean peasant army to victory in the Battles of Bergisel against the combined Bavarian and French forces, and then made Innsbruck the centre of his administration. The combined army later overran the Tyrolean militia army and until 1814 Innsbruck was part of Bavaria. After the Vienna Congress Austrian rule was restored.
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Innsbruck [SEP] Until 1918, the town (one of the 4 autonomous towns in Tyrol) was part of the Austrian monarchy (Austria side after the compromise of 1867), head of the district of the same name, one of the 21 "Bezirkshauptmannschaften" in the Tyrol province. The Tyrolean hero Andreas Hofer was executed in Mantua; his remains were returned to Innsbruck in 1823 and interred in the Franciscan church. During World War I, the only recorded action taking place in Innsbruck was near the end of the war.
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Innsbruck [SEP] On February 20, 1918, Allied planes flying out of Italy raided Innsbruck, causing casualties among the Austrian troops there. No damage to the town is recorded. In November 1918 Innsbruck and all Tyrol were occupied by the 20 to 22 thousand soldiers of the III Corps of the First Italian Army. In 1929, the first official Austrian Chess Championship was held in Innsbruck. In 1938 Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany in the "Anschluss".
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Innsbruck [SEP] Between 1943 and April 1945, Innsbruck experienced twenty-two air raids and suffered heavy damage. In 1996, the European Union approved further cultural and economic integration between the Austrian province of Tyrol and the Italian autonomous provinces of South Tyrol and Trentino by recognizing the creation of the Euroregion Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino.
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Innsbruck [SEP] Innsbruck has a humid continental climate (Köppen "Dfb") using isotherm or oceanic climate ("Cfb") using the original isotherm since it has larger annual temperature differences than most of Central Europe due to its location in the centre of the Continent and its position around mountainous terrains. Winters are often very cold (colder than those of most major European cities) and snowy, although the foehn wind sometimes brings pronounced thaws.
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Innsbruck [SEP] Spring is brief; days start to get warm, often over , but nights remain cool or even freezing. Summer is highly variable and unpredictable. Days can be cool and rainy, or sunny and extremely hot, sometimes hitting . In summer, as expected for an alpine-influenced climate, the diurnal temperature variation is often very high as nights usually remain cool, being on average, but sometimes dipping as low as . The average annual temperature is .
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Innsbruck [SEP] Innsbruck is divided into nine boroughs (cadastral settlements) that were formed from previously independent municipalities or villages. These nine boroughs are further divided into twenty wards (cadastral districts). All wards are within one borough, except for the ward of Hungerburg (Upper Innsbruck), which is divided between two. For statistical purposes, Innsbruck is further divided into forty-two statistical units ("Statistischer Bezirk") and 178 numbered blocks ("Zählsprengel").
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Innsbruck [SEP] The following are the nine boroughs with the population as of 31 October 2011: The results of the 2018 local elections were: Innsbruck is a very popular tourist destination, organizing the following events every year: Due to its location between high mountains, Innsbruck serves as an ideal place for skiing in winter, ski-jumping and mountaineering in summer. There are several ski resorts around Innsbruck, with the Nordkette served by a cable car and additional chair lifts further up.
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Innsbruck [SEP] Other ski resorts nearby include Axamer Lizum, Muttereralm, Patscherkofel, Igls, Seefeld, Tulfes and Stubai Valley. The glaciated terrain in the latter makes skiing possible even in summer months. The Winter Olympic Games were held in Innsbruck twice, first in 1964, then again in 1976, when Colorado voters rejected a bond referendum in 1972 to finance the Denver games, originally awarded in 1970. The 1976 Winter Olympics were the last games held in the German-speaking Alps (Austria, Germany, or Switzerland).
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Innsbruck [SEP] Along with St. Moritz, Switzerland and Lake Placid, New York in the United States, it is one of three places which have twice hosted the Winter Games. It also hosted the 1984 and 1988 Winter Paralympics. Innsbruck hosted the 1st Winter Youth Olympic Games in 2012. Innsbruck also hosts one of the 4 ski-jumping competitions of the 4 Hills Tournament every year.
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Innsbruck [SEP] Other notable events held in Innsbruck include the Air & Style Snowboard Contest from 1994 to 1999 and 2008 and the Ice Hockey World Championship in 2005. Together with the city of Seefeld, Innsbruck organized the Winter Universiade in 2005. Innsbruck's Bergiselschanze is one of the hills of the famous Four Hills Tournament. Innsbruck is home to the football club FC Wacker Innsbruck, which plays in the Austrian Football Bundesliga (first tier) as of the 2018–19 season. Former teams include the FC Swarovski Tirol and FC Tirol Innsbruck.
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Innsbruck [SEP] FC Wacker Innsbruck's stadium, Tivoli Neu, is one of eight stadiums which hosted Euro 2008 which took place in Switzerland and Austria in June 2008. The city also hosted an American Football final, Eurobowl XXII between the Swarco Raiders Tirol and the Raiffeisen Vikings Vienna. The city hosted opening round games in the 2011 IFAF World Championship, the official international American Football championship.
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Innsbruck [SEP] In 2018 Innsbruck will host the IFSC Climbing World Championships 2018 from September 6 to September 16 and the 2018 UCI Road World Championships from September 22 to September 30. Innsbruck is a substantial tourist centre, with more than a million overnight stays. In Innsbruck, there are 86,186 employees and about 12,038 employers. 7,598 people are self-employed. Nearly 35,000 people commute every day into Innsbruck from the surrounding communities in the area. The unemployment rate for the year 2012 was 4.2%.
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Innsbruck [SEP] The national statistics office, Statistik Austria, does not produce economic data for the City of Innsbruck alone, but on aggregate level with the Innsbruck-Land District summarized as NUTS 3-region Innsbruck. In 2013, GDP per capita in the NUTS 3-region Innsbruck was €41,400 which is around 60% above the EU average.
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Innsbruck [SEP] The headquarters of Tiwag (energy production), Bank für Tirol und Vorarlberg (financial services), Tiroler Versicherung (insurance) and MED-EL (medical devices) are located in Innsbruck. The headquarters of Swarovski (glass), Felder Group (mechanical engineering) and Swarco (traffic technology) are located within from the city. Residential property is very expensive by national standards.
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Innsbruck [SEP] The average price per square metre in Innsbruck is €4,430 (2015), which is the second highest per square metre price among Austrian cities surpassed only by Salzburg (€4,823), but followed by Vienna (€3,980). Innsbruck is located along the A12/A13 highway corridor (Inn Valley Autobahn and Brenner Autobahn respectively), providing freeway access to Verona, Italy and Munich, Germany. The A12 and A13 converge near Innsbruck, at which point the A13 terminates.
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Innsbruck [SEP] Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof, the most important railway station of Innsbruck and Tyrol, is one of the busiest railway stations in Austria. It is served by the Lower Inn Valley line to Germany and eastern Austria, the Arlberg line to the west and the Brenner line, which connects northern Italy with southern Germany via the Brenner pass. Since December 2007 suburban services have been operated as the Innsbruck S-Bahn. Innsbruck Airport is located in the suburb of Kranebitten, which is located in the west of the city.
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Innsbruck [SEP] It provides services to airports including Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and Vienna. It also handles regional flights around the Alps, as well as seasonal flights to other destinations. During the winter, activity increases significantly, due to the high number of skiers travelling to the region. The airport is approximately from the centre of Innsbruck. Local public transport is provided by Innsbrucker Verkehrsbetriebe (IVB), a public authority operating a network of bus and tram routes.
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Innsbruck [SEP] The metre-gauge tram network consists of four city lines, 1, 2, 3 and 5, and two lines serving the surrounding area: , the Innsbrucker Mittelgebirgsbahn to Igls, and line "STB", the Stubaitalbahn running through the Stubai Valley to Fulpmes. The network is planned to be enlarged during the coming years to reach the neighboring village Rum in the east and Völs in the west . Numerous bus lines serve the inner city and connect it with surrounding areas.
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Innsbruck [SEP] Until 2007 the bus network included two trolleybus routes, but these were abandoned in preparation for planned expansion of the tram network. In December 2007, the Hungerburgbahn, a funicular service to the district of Hungerburg, was reopened after a two-year closure for extensive rebuilding, with partial realignment and a new extension across the Inn River and into central Innsbruck. The line was also equipped with new vehicles.
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Innsbruck [SEP] Because of the unique design of the stations, drafted by the famous architect Zaha Hadid, the funicular evolves immediately to a new emblem of the city. The line was rebuilt by the Italian company Leitner, and can now carry up to 1,200 persons per hour. It is operated by a private company, the 'Innsbrucker Nordkettenbahnen'. Innsbruck is a university city, with several locally based colleges and universities.
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Innsbruck [SEP] Innsbruck is home to the oldest grammar school "(Gymnasium)" of Western Austria, the "Akademisches Gymnasium Innsbruck". The school was founded in 1562 by the Jesuit order and was the precursor of the university, founded in 1669. Innsbruck hosts several universities. The most well-known are the University of Innsbruck (Leopold-Franzens-Universität), the Innsbruck Medical University, and the university of applied sciences MCI Management Center Innsbruck.
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Innsbruck [SEP] The Austrian Service Abroad is a NGO, which provides positions for an alternative Austrian national service at 85 organizations in 35 countries worldwide in the sectors Holocaust Memorial Service, Social Service and Peace Service. It was founded by Andreas Maislinger and Andreas Hörtnagl in 1998 and is based in Innsbruck.
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RAF Bomber Command Memorial [SEP] The Royal Air Force Bomber Command Memorial is a memorial in Green Park, London, commemorating the crews of RAF Bomber Command who embarked on missions during the Second World War. The memorial, located on Piccadilly near Hyde Park Corner, was built to mark the sacrifice of 55,573 aircrew from Britain, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Poland and other countries of the Commonwealth, as well as civilians of all nations killed during raids. Queen Elizabeth II unveiled the memorial on 28 June 2012, the year of her Diamond Jubilee.
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RAF Bomber Command Memorial [SEP] The controversy over the tactics employed by RAF Bomber Command during the Second World War meant that an official memorial to the aircrews had been delayed for many years. Despite describing bombers as "the means of victory" in 1940, British prime minister Winston Churchill did not mention Bomber Command in his speech at the end of the war.
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RAF Bomber Command Memorial [SEP] An appeal was made for £5.6 million to build the memorial, and funding came from donations made by the public, as well as substantial amounts from Lord Ashcroft and businessmen John Caudwell and Richard Desmond. Robin Gibb, the singer, became a key figure behind the appeal, working alongside Jim Dooley to raise funds and have the memorial built.
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RAF Bomber Command Memorial [SEP] Liam O'Connor designed the memorial, built of Portland stone, which features a bronze sculpture of seven aircrew, designed by the sculptor Philip Jackson to look as though they have just returned from a bombing mission and left their aircraft. Aluminium from a Royal Canadian Air Force Handley Page Halifax of No. 426 Squadron that had crashed in Belgium in May 1944 was used to build the roof of the memorial, which was designed to evoke the geodetic structure of the Vickers Wellington.
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RAF Bomber Command Memorial [SEP] The Halifax, LW682 OW/M, had been removed from a swamp in 1997 with three of the crew found still at their posts. They were buried with full military honours in Geraardsbergen and the remains of the aircraft were sent to Canada. Some of the metal was used for the restoration of a Halifax in Trenton, Ontario, and the rest was melted down by the Bomber Command Museum of Canada in Nanton, Alberta.
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RAF Bomber Command Memorial [SEP] The Museum provided ingots for the memorial to commemorate the 10,659 of 55,573 Bomber Command aircrew killed during the war that were Canadian. The plinth of the memorial is inscribed with the following text by Pericles: "Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it." There had been controversy in the lead-up to the official opening, with a lack of forthcoming funds to pay for the projected £700,000 cost of the ceremony.
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RAF Bomber Command Memorial [SEP] A number of veterans put forward their own money as security for the event, making them liable for the costs if donations did not cover the total. The Ministry of Defence drew criticism for not providing any money, in particular the Defence Secretary, Philip Hammond, who would be attending. A number of veterans had also missed out on applying for tickets in the early stages, although many other parties returned theirs to allow them to attend.
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RAF Bomber Command Memorial [SEP] Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the memorial on 28 June 2012, unveiling the bronze sculpture. The ceremony was attended by 6,000 veterans and family members of those killed, and the Avro Lancaster of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight dropped red poppy petals over Green Park. In October 2012 it was reported that some of the trustees of the charity set up to fund the construction and opening of the Bomber Command Memorial would be liable for a shortfall of £500,000.
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RAF Bomber Command Memorial [SEP] In May 2013, less than a year after its unveiling, the memorial was vandalised. The word 'Islam' was spray-painted on the Bomber Command Memorial and also on the Animals in War Memorial nearby. In March 2015, Les Munro, one of the last surviving members of the Dambusters Raid, intended to sell his war medals and flight logbook at auction to raise funds for the upkeep of the RAF Bomber Command Memorial.
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RAF Bomber Command Memorial [SEP] The auction was cancelled after Lord Ashcroft donated £75,000 to the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund towards the upkeep, with a further NZ$19,500 donated by the Museum of Transport and Technology in Auckland, New Zealand, where the medals will go on display. Munro died a few months later in August 2015.
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Grace Cathedral, San Francisco [SEP] Grace Cathedral is an Episcopal cathedral on Nob Hill, San Francisco, California. It is the cathedral church of the Episcopal Diocese of California. The cathedral is famed for its mosaics by Jan Henryk De Rosen, a replica of Ghiberti's "Gates of Paradise", two labyrinths, varied stained glass windows, Keith Haring AIDS Chapel altarpiece, and medieval and contemporary furnishings, as well as its forty-four bell carillon, three organs, and choirs.
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Grace Cathedral, San Francisco [SEP] The cathedral has one of only a handful of remaining Episcopal men and boys cathedral choirs, the Grace Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys; the 24 boys of the choir attend the Cathedral School for Boys, while the 12 men are a professional ensemble. There is also a mixed-voice adult choir. The director of music and choirmaster is Ben Bachmann. Alan Jones retired as dean in 2009. He was also the moderator of The Forum at Grace Cathedral.
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Grace Cathedral, San Francisco [SEP] In 2010 Jane Shaw was installed as the eighth dean of Grace Cathedral. She left Grace Cathedral in September 2014 to become Dean for Religious Life and Professor of Religious Studies at Stanford University. In 2015 Malcolm Clemens Young became the ninth Dean of Grace Cathedral. The cathedral's ancestral parish, Grace Church, was founded in 1849 during the California Gold Rush; the Little Grace Chapel was built on Powell near Jackson across the street from the first Episcopal Church in San Francisco, Trinity Church.
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Grace Cathedral, San Francisco [SEP] After Trinity moved away, Grace Church moved into the larger building; an imposing third church, for a time called Grace "Cathedral", was built at California and Stockton starting in 1862. The new church was consecrated on May 3, 1868. Prominent members of San Francisco society joined the parish in the third church, including Leland Stanford and William Henry Crocker.
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Grace Cathedral, San Francisco [SEP] In 1865, Mark Twain published (in "The Californian" newspaper) purported private correspondence between himself and potential short-term rectors, satirizing the church's efforts to find a short-term rector in the 1860s and 1870s. Among the short-term rectors were roll film inventor Hannibal Goodwin and James Smith Bush, the great-grandfather of former US President George H. W. Bush and great-great-grandfather of former US President George W. Bush.
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Grace Cathedral, San Francisco [SEP] The 1862 building was destroyed in the fire following the 1906 earthquake. The family of railroad baron and banker William Henry Crocker donated the site of their ruined Nob Hill property (on the block bounded by California, Jones, Sacramento, and Taylor) for a diocesan cathedral, which took its name and founding congregation from the nearby parish. Dean J. Wilmer Gresham nurtured the young cathedral and work began on the present structure with the laying of the cornerstone in 1910.
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Grace Cathedral, San Francisco [SEP] Designed in French Gothic style by Lewis P. Hobart, it was completed in 1964 as the third largest Episcopal cathedral in the nation. On March 28, 1965, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a sermon at Grace Cathedral as part of the festival celebrating its completion and consecration. The service took place on the fourth Sunday of Lent. Approximately 5,000 people were present to hear King's sermon.
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Grace Cathedral, San Francisco [SEP] It was the largest gathering at the cathedral for the next 37 years, until the September 11, 2001, memorial service took place. The initial plans were drawn up by George Bodley and redesigned by his partner Cecil Hare after Bodley's death; Hobart, acting as Hare's local agent, completed the design. The cathedral was built using ferroconcrete over four campaigns, lasting from 1928–30, 1931–34, 1939–43, and 1961–64.
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Grace Cathedral, San Francisco [SEP] From 1914 to 1930, the congregation met in the present basement of the nave, now named the Founders Crypt. Services moved to the present Chapel of Grace in 1930, and by 1934, work on the Cathedral had been sufficiently completed to allow services to move there. Further work on the building was suspended by the Great Depression; the north tower was completed in 1943, followed by a long suspension in construction until 1960, when work on the final tower was started.
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Grace Cathedral, San Francisco [SEP] The completion of the final tower in 1964 marked the end of structural construction, although much of the interior finish remains incomplete. The overall plan and exterior of the French Gothic cathedral is inspired by cathedrals at Amiens, Paris, Beauvais, and Chartres. The interior features are inspired by the Aragon Palma Cathedral, and the Chapel of Grace is drawn from the Sainte-Chapelle. Overall, Grace Cathedral is long, wide at the transepts, with a central spire ("flèche") rising above street level.
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Grace Cathedral, San Francisco [SEP] The towers are above street level. The entry floor of the cathedral is itself above street level, and the sanctuary floor is above sea level. Under the original Bodley plans, Grace Cathedral would have been smaller and more square, long and wide. Grace Cathedral has a significant collection of varied works by Jan Henryk De Rosen.
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Grace Cathedral, San Francisco [SEP] Among these are a faux-tile mural behind the Chapel of Grace reredos from 1932, the mural in the Chapel of the Nativity's Adoration from 1946 showing the Holy Family with the magi and shepherds. At the donor's request, the original angels hovering above were removed by the artist, however constellations still mark their place. De Rosen also included a little image of his boyhood home in Warsaw in the mural.
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Grace Cathedral, San Francisco [SEP] On a smaller scale, De Rosen painted exquisite panels for the original old high altar which is now in the Chapel of St. Francis columbarium. The most visible works of De Rosen in Grace Cathedral are the historical aisle murals that were painted in 1949 and 1950 and composed in a style blending elements of the early Italian masters Giotto and Mantegna. The cathedral entrance has a large pair of doors, often called the "Ghiberti doors".
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Grace Cathedral, San Francisco [SEP] They are reproductions of the doors of the Florence Baptistery by Lorenzo Ghiberti, also dubbed the "Gates of Paradise". In 1943, the Nazi occupation government ordered the original doors to be removed from the Florence baptistery, along with other portable artworks, to protect them from bombing and possibly to give Hermann Göring a chance to add them to his collection. They were hidden in a disused railway tunnel until 1944, and latex casts were made after their rediscovery.
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Grace Cathedral, San Francisco [SEP] The replica doors were cast in 1956 from molds of the original doors and were destined for a war memorial, but when financing for the memorial fell through, San Francisco philanthropist Charles D. Field bought these replicas, and they were then shipped to San Francisco and installed on the newly completed church in time for its official dedication in 1964. The original Ghiberti doors are no longer installed in the baptistery as corrosion and weathering led conservators to decide that they must be preserved in a museum under a totally dry and controlled atmosphere.
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Grace Cathedral, San Francisco [SEP] The doors now in the baptistery are also modern replicas installed in 1991. Laid out on the floor of Grace Cathedral is a labyrinth that is based on the famous medieval labyrinth of "Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres" (The Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres) located in Chartres, France. It is said that if a visitor walks the pattern of the labyrinth it will bring them to a meditative state. There is also another labyrinth outside of the cathedral in its courtyards.
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Grace Cathedral, San Francisco [SEP] Contained in the cathedral are of stained glass windows by noted artists that depict over 1100 figures ranging from Adam and Eve to Albert Einstein. 32 windows or window groups, dating from 1930 to 1966, were designed by American Charles Connick and his Boston studio. Connick windows include the Chapel of Grace and baptistry window series that contains over 32,000 pieces of glass and covers nearly .
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Grace Cathedral, San Francisco [SEP] The cathedral also contains 24 faceted windows by Gabriel Loire of Chartres, France, including the Human Endeavor series depicting John Glenn, Thurgood Marshall, Jane Addams, Robert Frost, and Einstein. Between 1995 and 1998, several of the cathedral's choir and aisle windows were restored by Reflection Studios of Emeryville, California. The carillon was the gift of Nathaniel T. Coulson, a San Francisco dentist and realtor who came from Lostwithiel in Cornwall.
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Grace Cathedral, San Francisco [SEP] When Coulson first arrived in San Francisco in 1875, he found his way to Grace Church, which lacked a bell tower. Although a Methodist, he vowed to provide bells for the church and eventually spent his life savings to realize his dream and to erect the Singing (north) Tower to house them. The carillon consists of forty-four bronze bells, cast and tuned at the Gillett & Johnston Foundry of Croydon, England, in 1938.
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Grace Cathedral, San Francisco [SEP] The bells arrived before the cathedral tower was completed, so they spent their first years on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay as the centerpiece of the 1939-40 Golden Gate International Exposition. The carillon was first played from its Singing Tower home on Christmas Eve, 1940, and was formally dedicated in 1943. The bells have been rung to mark a number of important events, including D-Day and the centenary of the San Francisco cable car system.
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Grace Cathedral, San Francisco [SEP] Photographer Ansel Adams produced a series of photographs of the incomplete cathedral in 1935. "Grace Cathedral Park" is the first song on Red House Painters' first self-titled album. "Grace Cathedral Hill" is Track 7 on The Decemberists' "Castaways and Cutouts" album. It recounts a New Year's Eve experience in which the singer and his sullen (presumably grieving) female companion visit the church to light candles.
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Grace Cathedral, San Francisco [SEP] Alfred Hitchcock filmed an abduction scene for his final film, "Family Plot", in the cathedral in 1975. It also appeared in "The Pleasure of His Company" (1961), "Bullitt" (1968), "Time After Time" (1979), "Bicentennial Man" (1999), and ""The Room"" (2003). Jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi composed and recorded a mass for jazz trio and choir.
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Grace Cathedral, San Francisco [SEP] The performance at the cathedral on May 21, 1965 was released as "The Grace Cathedral Concert". Duke Ellington performed his televised Concert of Sacred Music at the cathedral on September 26, 1965. Bay Area local resident, Greg Kihn and the Greg Kihn Band, a popular rock group of the 1980s, filmed some of their MTV "Jeopardy" video inside Grace Cathedral in 1983.
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Grace Cathedral, San Francisco [SEP] Armistead Maupin's iconic "Tales of the City" series has an Episcopal cannibal cult operating out of Grace Cathedral as one of its sub-plots. In the TV adaptation, Maupin plays a cameo role as a priest of Grace Cathedral, but the cathedral interiors were actually filmed in Montreal. Grace Cathedral has had nine deans. Panorama
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St. George's Castle, Preveza [SEP] St. George's Castle (; , or "Hizir kalesi") is an Ottoman fortification located in the city of Preveza, northwestern Greece. It was built in 1807, during the Ali Pasha period of the city (1806-1820), and it was constructed on plans drawn by the French engineer Frédéric François Guillaume de Vaudoncourt (1772-1845). The castle was built in 1807, when the region was governed by Ali Pasha of Tepeleni, a semi-autonomous Ottoman ruler of Epirus.
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St. George's Castle, Preveza [SEP] It was the first major architectural intervention of Ali Pasha in Preveza, after he recaptured it in late November 1806. Ali Pasha pressed François Pouqueville, the French consul stationed in Ioannina, to send for officers and supplies from Napoleon’s troops, as he was particularly interested in securing military engineers who could assist in the construction of new fortifications in the region, and particularly at Preveza and the camps positioned against the Russian troops still stationed on Lefkada.
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St. George's Castle, Preveza [SEP] The castle was initially called by the Ottomans Yeni kale (the new castle), but a few years later (around 1815) another castle took this name, as it was newer than the one we are talking about. The castle was afterwards named Hizir kalesi (the castle of the Green) or (the barracks castle). St. George's castle, as it was named after 1912, was designed by French engineers, who also oversaw the construction of the fort.
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St. George's Castle, Preveza [SEP] It was constructed at the southern edge of Preveza in order to defend the narrow water channel leading from the Ionian Sea into the Gulf of Arta. For the construction, Ali Pasha "hired" two French military engineers; Captain Ponceton, and colonel Frédéric François Guillaume de Vaudoncourt, to assist in the design and execution of the plan.
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St. George's Castle, Preveza [SEP] He, also, brought in several hundreds of Greek workers and stonemasons from many areas of his territory, who worked by compulsory labour and without pay for the project, which was concluded in less than a year's time. It seems likely that Ali Pasha refused to realize de Vaudoncourt's proposed designs, thus taking all the credit for constructing the military works in Preveza. Based on the hand-written reports of the then colonel de Vaudoncourt we can precisely date the construction of the castle.
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St. George's Castle, Preveza [SEP] The works started in February 1807 and were completed in the autumn of the same year. Today, the castle consists of a single enclosure protected by high polygonal bastions. As was typical for fortifications from this time, the walls of the enceinte were set at a slight angle so as to better deflect artillery fire. Although the majority of the original early nineteenth-century structure survives, some aspects of the fort’s defensive features have been modified to accommodate the fortification’s use by the Greek military into the twentieth century.
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St. George's Castle, Preveza [SEP] For example, some of the battery platforms were excavated and the bastions were pierced to create better-protected casemates. Also, all service buildings within the enclosure appear to be completely of twentieth-century manufacture, with the exception of a small masonry building that leads down to a powder magazine. The main entrance to the fort is set at the north-eastern corner of the enclosure, facing the center of the town.
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St. George's Castle, Preveza [SEP] Historic photographs record the fact that there was a guardhouse, now lost, situated above the main entrance.
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Fairey Firefly [SEP] The Fairey Firefly was a Second World War-era carrier-borne fighter aircraft and anti-submarine aircraft principally operated by the Fleet Air Arm (FAA). It was developed and built by the British aircraft manufacturer Fairey Aviation Company. Development of the Firefly can be traced back to pair of specifications issued by the British Air Ministry in 1938, calling for new naval fighter designs.
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Fairey Firefly [SEP] Designed to the contemporary FAA concept of a two-seat fleet reconnaissance/fighter, the pilot and navigator/weapons officer were positioned at separate stations. In flight, the Firefly was superior in terms of both performance and firepower to its predecessor, the Fairey Fulmar. Due to a protracted development, the type only entered operational service towards the end of the conflict, at which point it was no longer competitive as a fighter.
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Fairey Firefly [SEP] The limitations of a single engine in a relatively heavy airframe reduced its performance, but the Firefly proved to be fairly sturdy, long-ranged, and docile aircraft during carrier operations. The Fairey Firefly served in the Second World War as a fleet fighter. During the post-war era, it was soon superseded in the fighter role by the arrival of more modern jet aircraft, thus the Firefly was adapted to perform in other roles, including strike operations and anti-submarine warfare.
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Fairey Firefly [SEP] In these capacities, it remained a mainstay of the FAA until the mid-1950s. Both British and Australian Fireflies routinely performed ground–attack operations from various aircraft carriers during the Korean War. In foreign service, the type was in operation with the naval air arms of Australia, Canada, India and the Netherlands. As late as 1962, Dutch Fireflies were used to carry out attack sorties against Indonesian infiltrators in Dutch New Guinea.
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Fairey Firefly [SEP] Its final uses was found in various secondary roles, such as trainers, target tugs and drone aircraft. During 1938, by which point British authorities were preparing for the likelihood of a major conflict, the Air Ministry issued a pair of specifications calling for naval fighters, a conventional and a "turret fighter".
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Fairey Firefly [SEP] The performance requirements for both was to be able to attain a speed of 275 knots while flying at 15,000 ft and carrying an armament, for the conventional fighter, of eight 0.303 Browning machine guns or four 20mm Hispano cannon. This aircraft would replace the Fairey Fulmar, which had been viewed as an interim design. These specifications were updated during the following year, while several British manufacturers tendered their ideas.
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Fairey Firefly [SEP] Further changes to the official specification followed, such as the turret fighter specification being eliminated entirely, while a modified specification was issued to cover single and dual-seat fighters capable of 330 and 300 knots respectively. Fairey offered designs that could accommodate either a single or twin-seat arrangements, either powered by the Rolls-Royce Griffon engine, or combining a larger airframe with a Napier Sabre engine. After consideration of the manufacturer's responses, Specification N.5/40 replaced the earlier specifications.
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Fairey Firefly [SEP] Due to the necessity of navigating over open sea, it was decided to opt for a two-seater aircraft alone. For defence of naval bases, a separate single seater design would lead to the Blackburn Firebrand. The Firefly was designed by H.E. Chaplin at Fairey Aviation; the design team reportedly used the Fulmar as a starting point. During June 1940, the Admiralty placed an initial order for 200 aircraft "off the drawing board", the first three of which were to function as prototypes.
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Fairey Firefly [SEP] On 22 December 1941, the first prototype of the Firefly performed its maiden flight.
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Fairey Firefly [SEP] Although the aircraft was 4,000 lb (1,810 kg) heavier than the preceding Fulmar (largely due to the adoption of the heavier Griffon engine and the armament of two 20 mm Hispano cannon in each wing), the Firefly was 40 mph (60 km/h) faster due to improved aerodynamics, as well as the increased power of the Griffon IIB engine, being capable of generating a maximum of 1,735 hp (1,294 kW).
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Fairey Firefly [SEP] The Firefly was a low-wing cantilever monoplane, featuring an oval-section metal semi-monocoque fuselage and a conventional tail unit with forward-placed tailplane. It was powered by a Rolls-Royce Griffon liquid-cooled piston engine, which drove a four-blade Rotol-built propeller. A large chin-mounted radiator was present to provide cooling for the engine.
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Fairey Firefly [SEP] The Firefly had retractable main undercarriage and tail wheel, the hydraulically-actuated main landing gear retracting inwards into the underside of the wing centre-section. This undercarriage was widely-set, a highly useful feature for carrier landings. The aircraft was also fitted with a retractable arrester hook mounted underneath the rear fuselage.
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Fairey Firefly [SEP] The pilot's cockpit was located above the leading edge of the wing while the observer/radio-operator/navigator was positioned aft of the wing's trailing edge; these positions provided for better visibility for operating and landing. Both crew were provided with separate jettisonable canopies. The Firefly was equipped with an all-metal wing which could be folded manually, the wings ending up along the sides of the fuselage when folded; when in the flying position, the wings were hydraulically locked in place.
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Fairey Firefly [SEP] The wing itself featured square tips and large Fairey-Youngman flaps, which provided relatively good handling while flown at low speeds. A total of four 20mm cannon were buried within the wings, which was considered to be relatively heavy armament for the era. According to pilots, the general handling of the Firefly was relatively well-balanced, but a level of physical strength was required to effectively execute aerobatics.
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Fairey Firefly [SEP] During 1942, handling and performance trials were first undertaken at RAF Boscombe Down; by 1944, the Firefly had been cleared to use underwing rocket projectiles and, by April 1944, tests involving a double-underwing load of 16 rockets and a pair of 45 gallon (205 l) drop tanks still provided acceptable handling.
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Fairey Firefly [SEP] Further testing with two 90 gallon (410 l) drop tanks or two 1,000 lb (454 kg) bombs deemed acceptable albeit with "...a small adverse effect on handling..." while "...handling with a single 1,000 lb (454 kg) bomb was unpleasant, but manageable."
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Fairey Firefly [SEP] Performance trials at 11,830 lb (5,366 kg) indicated a maximum speed of 315 mph (508 km/h) at 16,800 ft (5,121 m); a climb to 20,000 ft (6,096 m) took 12.4 minutes, along with a maximum climb rate of 2,140 fpm (10.87 m/s) at 3,800 ft (1,158 m), and a service ceiling of 30,100 ft (9,174 m).
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Fairey Firefly [SEP] The primary variant of the aircraft used during the Second World War was the Firefly Mk I, which was operated in all theatres of operation. During March 1943, the first Firefly Mk Is were delivered to the FAA; however, these did not enter operational service until July 1944, at which point they equipped 1770 Naval Air Squadron aboard . The first operations were flown in the European theatre where Fireflies carried out numerous armed reconnaissance flights and anti-shipping strikes along the Norwegian coast.
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Fairey Firefly [SEP] That same year, Fireflies also provided air cover and aerial reconnaissance during strikes on the German battleship . Throughout its operational career, the Firefly took on increasingly demanding roles from fighter to anti-submarine warfare while being stationed mainly with the British Pacific Fleet in the Far East and Pacific theatres. In these theatres, the type was interchangeably used against both Japanese ground targets and fighter aircraft.
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Fairey Firefly [SEP] FAA Fireflies carried out attacks on oil refineries and airfields; it was repeatedly dispatched against several Japanese-controlled islands up until Victory over Japan Day. The Firefly gained a level of public renown when the type became the first British-designed and -built aircraft to overfly the Japanese capital of Tokyo. During May 1945, in anticipation of a major naval offensive against the Japanese mainland, the Canadian government accepted a British offer to loan a pair of Colossus-class aircraft carriers to the Royal Canadian Navy.
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Fairey Firefly [SEP] To equip these carriers, it was necessary to procure naval fighters; based upon the feedback of veteran pilots, Canada opted to acquire the Firefly over opposition that favoured procuring American aircraft instead. As a stop-gap measure, Royal Navy Fireflies were loaned while more advanced purpose-built aircraft were being constructed.
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Fairey Firefly [SEP] Between 1946 and 1954, the Canadian Navy employed 65 Fireflies of the Mk AS 5 type onboard its own aircraft carriers; the service also flew a handful of Mk I Fireflies; during the 1950s, Canada decided to sell several of its Fireflies, buyers included the armed forces of Ethiopia, Denmark, and the Netherlands. After the Second World War, the Firefly remained in front line service with the Fleet Air Arm, continuing in this capacity until the mid-1950s.
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Fairey Firefly [SEP] During this time, British-built Fireflies were also supplied to a number of overseas nations, including Canada, Australia, Denmark, Ethiopia, the Netherlands, India and Thailand. During 1947, the Australian government approved of formation of the Royal Australian Fleet Air Arm and the acquisition of a pair of Majestic class aircraft carriers from Britain. Following a consultation with the Royal Navy, the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) opted to procure both the Firefly and the Hawker Sea Fury to equip its new aircraft carriers.
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Fairey Firefly [SEP] These two types formed the backbone of the newly-formed Australian Carrier Air Groups (CAGs), which would operate a total fleet size of 108 Fireflies, acquired across multiple orders. During May 1949, the first aircraft was delivered; the final Firefly arrived during August 1953. Early RAN operations revolved around aircrew training ahead of achieving operational status during 1950. During the Korean War of the 1950s, both British and Australian Fireflies carried out anti-shipping patrols and ground strikes from various aircraft carriers positioned offshore.
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Fairey Firefly [SEP] Additional missions roles including anti-submarine patrols and aerial observation, as well as assisting battleships in providing effective naval gunfire support. Numerous FAA Fireflies were loaned to the Australian Navy during the conflict as many of its aircraft did not feature cannons when configured for anti-submarine warfare. Despite several incidents of aircraft being struck by anti-aircraft fire, the Firefly provided to be relatively rugged.
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Fairey Firefly [SEP] The type was routinely used for strike operations against targets such as bridges and railway lines to damage North Korean logistics and communications; as the war went on, pilots developed new low-level dive-bombing techniques to achieve greater accuracy. Combat use of the Firefly in the theatre continued until the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement on 27 July 1953, although post-armistice patrols involving the type continued for several years afterwards.
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Fairey Firefly [SEP] FAA Fireflies were again deployed in the Far East amid the Malayan Emergency, where it was used conduct to ground-attack operations against Malayan Communist Party insurgents. The Firefly's front line career with the FAA came to an end shortly following the introduction of the newer and larger Fairey Gannet, which effectively replaced the type. The RAN also decided to relegate their Fireflies to secondary duties following the adoption of newer aircraft, such as the Gannet and the jet-powered de Havilland Sea Venom.
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Fairey Firefly [SEP] Several versions of the type were developed later in its career to serve in a number of secondary roles, including as trainers, target tugs and drone aircraft. As an example, the Indian Navy acquired a batch of 10 aircraft during the mid-50s for target tug purposes. By the end of the 1950s, many operators were disposing of their remaining Fireflies, typically as scrap.
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Fairey Firefly [SEP] During 1960, in response to territorial demands and threats issued by Indonesia, the Netherlands chose to deploy a number of Firefly AS.Mk 4s to Dutch New Guinea. As Indonesian forces began to infiltrate the territory, the Fireflies carried out attack operations during early 1962; these strikes continued until a political settlement was negotiated between the two countries. There are approximately 24 Fairey Fireflies surviving worldwide, including three airworthy examples and at least one other being restored to flying condition.
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Fairey Firefly [SEP] The Fleet Air Arm Museum possesses two Fireflies, the latest acquisition arriving in 2000 from the Imperial War Museum Duxford. Firefly "WB271" was destroyed in July 2003 during an aerobatic air display at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford, Cambridgeshire - Europe's largest display of vintage warplanes. There are three airworthy Fireflies at present: "WB518" was one of the first 10 Mk 6s built, but retained the earlier Mk 5 fuselage.
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