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New York Times
10 hours ago
- General
- New York Times
John Cruickshank, Last World War II Victoria Cross Winner, Dies at 105
Flight Lt. John Cruickshank was at the controls of a Royal Air Force plane on submarine patrol in July 1944 when he spotted a German U-boat steaming placidly on the surface of the Norwegian Sea. Swooping low, just 50 feet above the waves, the plane raked the submarine with gunfire, but the airplane's depth charges failed to deploy. As Flight Lieutenant Cruickshank returned for a second run, he was now fully in the U-boat's sights, and the submarine fired a shell that exploded inside the airplane's fuselage. The bombardier was killed, and Flight Lieutenant Cruickshank was lacerated by shrapnel, though he gave no indication of his grievous wounds to his crew. He released the depth charges himself, sinking the U-boat. Wounded in 72 places, he had to be carried to a bunk as the crew braced for the five-hour night flight back to the plane's R.A.F. base in the Shetland Islands, off the northern tip of Scotland. Drifting in and out of consciousness, Flight Lieutenant Cruickshank refused morphine, knowing that his co-pilot did not have the skills to land their amphibious seaplane by himself. Fuel was leaking from damaged lines, and the fuselage was gashed. As they neared home, Flight Lieutenant Cruickshank demanded to be carried back to the cockpit and propped in a seat. It was dark; despite his agony, he ordered his co-pilot to circle for an hour until daylight would allow a safer touchdown. With hands hovering shakily over the controls, he coached the co-pilot through the descent and a water landing. A doctor rushed aboard to give him a blood transfusion before he was evacuated. Flight Lieutenant Cruickshank, then 24, was presented with the Victoria Cross, the supreme recognition for valor for members of the British and Commonwealth Armed Forces. 'He set an example of determination, fortitude and devotion to duty in keeping with the highest traditions of the Service,' the award citation read. The last surviving Victoria Cross recipient from World War II, John Cruickshank died this month at 105. His death was announced on Saturday by the Royal Air Force, which said his death occurred the previous week. He lived in Aberdeen, Scotland, where he was born, and where he retired in 1985 after a postwar career in banking. His wife, Marion Beverley, whom he married in 1955, died in 1985. The couple had no children. Mr. Cruickshank, who was unable to return to military flying after his injuries and left the R.A.F. in 1946, was modest when discussing his wartime heroics. In 2004, he was present when Queen Elizabeth II unveiled a monument to the Coastal Command, the service that defended Allied ships during the war; he told the queen, 'Decorations didn't enter my head.' That same year, he told The Daily Telegraph, 'The citation said 'showed great courage' and all that nonsense, but a lot of people would have done that in those circumstances.' John Alexander Cruickshank was born on May 20, 1920, and enlisted in the British Army in 1939 after completing high school in Edinburgh. Commissioned as an officer pilot in 1942, he was assigned to the squadron based at an R.A.F. facility on Sullom Voe, an inlet in the Shetland Islands. The base was part of the Coastal Command that protected Allied supply convoys against German U-boats, or naval submarines, in the Atlantic Ocean and North Sea throughout World War II. On July 17, 1944, Flight Lieutenant Cruickshank was captain of a Catalina flying boat, a widely used Allied seaplane, on a mission to protect the British fleet in the Norwegian Sea. He was an experienced pilot making his 48th patrol in his 10-man plane, an ungainly-looking propeller craft, though on all his previous missions he had sighted just one U-boat and failed to sink it. West of the Lofoten Islands of Norway, toward the end of a long patrol, the Catalina's radar lit up with a blip some 40 miles away. Surmising that it was a friendly vessel, Flight Lieutenant Cruickshank ordered a flare to be set off and a code letter to be flashed. In response, the German submarine, U-361, fired a barrage of flak. John Appleton, an airman who helped the flight lieutenant after he was hit by shrapnel — his injuries included two serious lung wounds and 10 penetrating leg wounds — told the Imperial War Museum in a 1995 interview that he was sure his commanding officer was mortally wounded. He meant to keep him comfortable as he died. 'I realized he must be in terrible pain,' Mr. Appleton recalled. 'I can see blood started to soak through into his chest, even through all his pullovers and flying gear, and so on. But he hadn't mentioned any of this at all.' 'In the back of my head,' Mr. Cruickshank told The Telegraph in 2004, 'was the worry that the co-pilot was not trained in landing a Catalina.' Airman Appleton, with the help of another crewman, carried the flight lieutenant back to the cockpit as the plane neared home, after the wounded pilot implored, 'You must help me up.' 'It was very difficult,' Mr. Appleton said. 'Not so much difficult for us, but we just thought how agonizing for a person so badly wounded.' King George VI bestowed the Victoria Cross on Flight Lieutenant Cruickshank. 'By pressing home his second attack in his gravely wounded condition and continuing his exertions on the return journey with his failing strength,' the award citation read, 'he seriously prejudiced his chance of survival even if the aircraft safely reached its base.'
Engadget
11-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Engadget
YouTuber recreates a floppy disk from scratch
There's nothing quite like the drive to build something just to see if you can. YouTuber polymatt set out to create a floppy disk drive, the favored storage medium of yesteryear, from scratch, because why not. For anyone born too late to have regularly used one, a floppy disk is a magnetically coated, flexible polyester disk encased in a protective shell. Insert it into a floppy drive, and a magnetic head reads or writes data on the disk. If you've ever wondered why the "save" icon looks the way it does, it's based on the shape of a floppy disk. To start, polymatt measured and recreated the disk enclosure and other pieces in Shapr3D and MakeraCAM, then cut the aluminum pieces on a Carvera Air CNC machine. The magnetic disk itself was made by laser-cutting a piece of PET film and coating it with a suspension of iron oxide powder. After assembling all the components and a few touch-and-go moments, he was actually able to magnetize the floppy disk and write to it, albeit at a very basic level. We declared the floppy disk dead in 2010, and in the years since then even those that clung on the longest have abandoned it. The Japanese government finally said goodbye to the floppy disk in 2024, and the German Navy moved on from the format in the same year. The US government only just stopped using 8-inch floppy disks to coordinate the launch of nukes in 2019. Polymatt's project was a wonderful dive into nostalgic tech and engineering prowess. Maybe next time he can make a compact disc from scratch.
Bloomberg
08-08-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Thyssenkrupp Eyes Naval Unit Spinoff to Tap Europe Defense Boom
Thyssenkrupp AG is moving to cut loose its warship unit, hoping to ride a surge in European defense spending while stepping back from a business that has long been slow, costly, and hard to scale. Shareholders will vote Friday on a proposal to float a minority stake in Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems, which builds submarines and surface ships for the German navy and other customers worldwide. The company will retain a 51% stake in TKMS, enough to maintain control while unlocking value in a division poised to benefit from rising defense outlays.
Western Telegraph
23-07-2025
- General
- Western Telegraph
Pair of NATO warships seen off Fishguard, Pembrokeshire
The European vessels sighted are part of the Allied Maritime Command's Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group One (SNMCMG1) and were en route from the French port of Brest to Belfast. The two ships which were anchored just off Fishguard harbour were A53, the Latvian Navy's LVNS Virsaitis - a 65m-long minelayer and the flagship of NATO's mine countermeasures group and NATO Warship M1065, officially known as M1065 Dillingen, which is a German Navy minehunter. The Latvian-registered A53, Virsaitis, is the flagship of the command. (Image: Marc Evans) While in Brest on a port visit, the commanding officers of the ships met Rear Admiral Jan Bied-Charreton, Commander of the French Maritime Forces in the Atlantic. M1065 Dilligen is a German Navy minehunter. (Image: Marc Evans) The ships are currently on routine training around the UK, Royal Navy spokesperson, Commander Serena Brotherton, told the Western Telegraph. She added: "The SNMCMG is an international team of Navy ships from NATO countries. "They work together to keep NATO's waters safe by finding and removing sea mines. These groups are always ready to act quickly in emergencies, take part in training exercises, and help NATO protect its members and deter threats." "There are two groups – this one, which is Group 1, which focusses on the North Atlantic and Baltic and then Group 2 which is to south around the Med."
The Hindu
27-05-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
The silver jubilee of a strategic partnership
This month, India and Germany celebrate 25 years of strategic partnership. It is a partnership that has steadily evolved and is well equipped to take on the challenges of today's world. Germany's 'Focus on India' strategy outlines our vision for the future of the bilateral partnership. The new German Coalition Treaty, as well as early phone calls between German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul with his Indian counterpart S. Jaishankar speak a clear language — we will continue to build on this partnership, and to closely coordinate with our Indian partners. Our ties are multifaceted, but essentially stand on four pillars — peace, prosperity, people and the future of our planet. A shared vision Peace and stability are fundamental prerequisites for the development of our countries. India and Germany share a vision of a peaceful, stable and rules-based world. At the core of our trusted political relationship is a unique format: The Intergovernmental Government Consultations build a strong bridge between our government that solidifies and channels our ties in a comprehensive, productive and purposeful way. An area that has particularly thrived over the last years is our cooperation in the defence sector. I remember vividly standing on the hot tarmac at the Sulur Air Force station (Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu) during the Tarang Shakti Exercise (2024), witnessing the incredible air show of Indian and German pilots whizzing through the air with great skill, coordination and teamwork. These joint military exercises and port calls by the German Navy anchor the Indo-Pacific in the German geostrategic mental map. In the future, we can expect closer strategic cooperation, and closer ties between our defence industries. Prosperity means more than just economic growth. In a more comprehensive sense, it allows our people to flourish, to find meaningful jobs, and to provide their families with the means for a better future. Around 2,000 German companies are active in India, and they create more than 750,000 jobs for Indians. One of my most memorable moments in Delhi was visiting the Delhi-Meerut Rapid Rail. These are high-tech trains on great infrastructure, operated by young, talented Indians in the uniforms of Deutsche Bahn, our national railway company, which runs the operations in Delhi. A growing number of Indian companies are also present in Germany, increasingly integrated into our high-tech supply lines. In times of unprecedented global trade disruptions, these closely integrated supply lines testify to the trust that we place in each other. And this could be just the beginning, as a free trade agreement between India and the European Union — two of the global economic powerhouses — becomes tangible. Science and technology are another part of the prosperity equation. We do ambitious research together, and you will find Indian researchers in our top scientific institutions. With tech cooperation, we can transform environmental challenges into business cases. People-to-people ties People fill our strategic partnership with life and stories. A growing number of Indians now call Germany their home. Over 50,000 Indians study in our country — by now the largest group of foreign students at German universities. Some of them spend a few years in Germany, get their first jobs, gain technical experience, earn good money. Many of them then return to India to build their families there. Some Indians also stay in Germany and see their children grow up in our country. Either way, they deepen and enrich our ties. Many young Indians showcase their life in Germany online. I have met many of them in person and listened to their stories. I am always impressed by this uniquely Indian ability to make a new place a home. I see young Indians adapting, thriving, and making their contribution to German society and economy. Germany offers many opportunities to young, ambitious and gifted Indians, but more doors will open to those who learn German. I witness a great interest in our language all across India and we will have to explore new ways together to match well-equipped German teachers with every interested Indian. The second hurdle is in getting more Germans to study and to work in India. We need more people who understand the story of India, more people who speak one of the many fascinating languages of India, and more people who settle down there to set up shop. Any investment in the younger German and Indian generations will be an investment in the people that will propel our strategic partnership to new heights in the next 25 years. Green development Our partnership on the challenges and the future of our planet is one of the most important one: Planet earth is our common ecological lifeline, it future-proofs our livelihoods. In 2022, Germany committed €10 billion in preferential loans and grants for India, over a span of 10 years. This is what we call the Indo-German Green and Sustainable Development Partnership (GSDP). We cooperate with our Indian friends on a large scale on renewables, on biodiversity and on smart city projects. In addition to that, private sector cooperation in this area is also noteworthy. Recently, I visited renewable energy projects in Gujarat, whose scale and ambition are just astonishing — solar panels and windmills in all directions. The rotor blades of the wind turbines are partly produced by a German company — with our technology, we want to be a part of India's energy transition, and of the fast-paced economy of this country. I have had the privilege of serving in India twice — between 2007 and 2010 — and as Ambassador since 2022. In these years, India has developed in the most impressive way. And so has our strategic partnership. Looking back at what we have achieved together fills me with a sense of accomplishment, and with great optimism for what is yet to come. Philipp Ackerman is the German Ambassador to India
