title: Lingaa

text: In the present, Karunakaran reveals that his invitation to Lingaa was merely a ruse, as he believes that danger is afoot; recalling the fate of the dam inspector. At a function, Nagabhushan reveals to an accomplice that he plans to drill small holes into the dam, which would be filled with explosives; when triggered, would destroy the dam. Lakshmi secretly records Nagabhushan's conversation with the help of a spy camera and plays it before the entire town, exposing Nagabhushan. Lingaa then reveals that he had already discovered the pen drive and had the dam's certificate approved, copied, and spread throughout the Internet; ultimately culminating in Nagabhushan being ousted from his position. Enraged, he kidnaps Lakshmi and escapes in a hot air balloon. Having a bomb with him, he plans to detonate it over the dam, to spite Lingaa. Lingaa pursues him on a bike and drives it over a ledge at the exact time Nagabhushan's balloon appears on it, landing on top of it; he manages to climb into the carriage. After an ensuing fight, he kicks Nagabhushan out, who plunges to his death in the water below and kicks the bomb into the reservoir, which explodes moments later, thus saving the dam. With his work done, Lingaa plans to leave. However, the police finally catch up to him, demanding that he testify for an inquiry (about his recent jewel heist). Just before leaving, they are joined by Lakshmi, having fallen in love with Lingaa.


title: Lingaa

text: The script as well as screenplay for "Lingaa" were penned by Pon Kumaran, who had registered the story with the South Indian Film Writers' Association under the title "King Khan" in 2010. The story is loosely based on John Penniquick who built Mullaperiyar Dam. He had also penned the dialogues for the film. The pre-production works began in March 2014. The following month, Ravikumar stated on Facebook that filming would commence soon and that the film was titled "Lingaa". Eros International was confirmed to distribute the film worldwide. Rockline Venkatesh was announced as producer. A. R. Rahman was roped in as the music composer for the film and R. Rathnavelu as the cinematographer. Sabu Cyril was confirmed to handle the art direction for the film. Samjith Mhd, who had worked with Ravikumar earlier in "Policegiri" (2013), was confirmed as the film's editor. Hollywood stuntman Lee Whittaker was recruited to frame the stunt sequences. During the audio launch of the film's soundtrack album, Ravikumar said the title "Lingaa" was suggested to him by Rajinikanth. Director Ameer earlier had the rights to the title for his next project but handed over the rights to Ravikumar for Rajinikanth.


title: Lingaa

text: In April 2014, Shriya Saran and Samantha Ruth Prabhu were selected to play the role of Lakshmi and Bharathi. But later both of them were replaced due to date issues. Then Sonakshi Sinha confirmed her involvement in the project for the role of Bharati and Hansika Motwani was signed for the role of Lakshmi. Then Hansika Motwani came out of the project due to her Telugu projects. In late April 2014, Telugu actor Jagapati Babu confirmed on his Yahoo messenger and his Yahoo mail that he was signed on for a role in the film. Sudeep was reported to have refused an important role in the film, but he however denied being approached for the film in the first place. Further, reports circulated again in August 2014 which strongly suggested Sudeep was a part of the cast as he was seen during the canning of the climax portions but he clarified that he wasn't offered a role in the film yet. Comedian Santhanam joined the team in May 2014. Actors Radha Ravi, Vijayakumar and R. Sundarrajan were called up to play important roles in the film.


title: Lingaa

text: British actress Lauren J. Irwin was selected to appear in the pre-independence portions of the film. American actor, director and writer William Orendorff was selected to play a key role in the film and furthermore, confirming his involvement in the project through Twitter. Anushka Shetty was roped as another heroine and she joined the unit on 27 June 2014 (last schedule). Sonakshi Sinha, in an interview with "Mumbai Mirror", said that there are two different tracks of filming scenes, and that Anushka Shetty and her will not share much screen space and was given liberty to pick up the role she felt suitable for her. In June 2014, actor Karunakaran was selected to play a supporting role. Actor Dev Gill was selected to play a secondary antagonist role. Director and comedian Manobala confirmed that he would appear in a small yet significant role as a train driver. Comedian Brahmanandam was selected to portray the role of a police officer. Actresses Trisha Krishnan and Nayanthara were rumored to perform an item number, but the latter's inclusion remained unconfirmed and the former denied the news saying that she was never approached.


title: Lingaa

text: Principal photography commenced on 1 May 2014 in Mysuru, Karnataka, India, with a customary Puja ceremony. Rajinikanth and Sonakshi Sinha took part in the shoot. The muhurat shot of the movie was filmed in May 2014 at the Chamundeshwari Temple in Mysuru. Cinematographer R. Rathnavelu revealed that filming would be done using a Red Dragon 6K camera. In addition to this, the Phantom Flex 4K camera was used for filming action sequences. The film crew shot in various locations in Karnataka like Melukote, Manuvana, Pandavapura, Chamundi Hills and inside the residential portion of Mysore Palace. On 10 May 2014, Sonakshi had completed her portions for the first schedule of the film's shooting. On 18 May 2014, Rajinikanth and Sonakshi Sinha shot some scenes dating back to the British era in front of the illuminated residential portion of the palace. Horses were used for the shot. Over 50 policemen and 30 bouncers had been deployed to prevent people from getting near the shooting area in Mysore.


title: Lingaa

text: The team then moved to Ramoji Film City, Hyderabad for a two-month schedule, where sequences featuring the entire cast were shot for 50 days. A song sequence featuring Rajinikanth and Anushka was shot at Annapurna Studios, wherein the production team had designed a huge set for the song. On 13 July 2014, actress Sonakshi Sinha completed her filming schedule in Hyderabad. The Hyderabad schedule ended on 30 July 2014. During the Hyderabad schedule of the film, news circulated that Rajinikanth fainted on the sets while filming a heavy action sequence but Ravikumar denied this, citing that the actor was healthy.


title: Lingaa

text: In early August 2014, the team shot some scenes near the Radisson Hotel in Chennai, with Anushka Shetty in the frame. In mid-August 2014, the production unit confirmed that 80% of the filming was completed. Filming then moved to Thirthahalli and the Jog Falls, where some important scenes were canned for twenty-five days. For the film's climax, a big statue of Lord Shiva and dam both as set were constructed next to the Jog water-falls. Shooting also took place at the Linganamakki Dam. The film's climax requirements accounted for . In September 2014, the climax portion's filming was allotted ten days, confirming the shoot in Karnataka. On 22 September 2014, Whittaker confirmed that the climax portions of the film were completed with a stunt sequence choreographed by him. The film's shooting was wrapped up by 23 September 2014 except filming of two song sequences that were reported to be canned in Chennai and Scotland. Ravikumar stated that the climax scene, which involved a hot air balloon, was inspired by a sequence "Armour of God" (1986).


title: Lingaa

text: During the Hyderabad schedule of the film, some villagers of Anajpur village in Rangareddy district in Telangana had tried to halt the shooting of "Lingaa", stating that some chemicals were mixed in the nearby lake during shoots, polluting local water. But the crew members stated that they had sought the permission of the irrigation department and the village Panchayat for shooting. The crew members also dismissed allegations of chemicals in the lake. During the shooting of the climax portions near the Linganamakki Dam, environmental organisations opposed the permission granted to the production unit for shooting, suggesting a threat to the location as public entry to the dam was prohibited. The organisations also had sent a petition to both the Deputy Collector's office and the Deputy Commissioner's office, who in turn, sent the petition to the Chief Minister of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah, for scrutinity. Regarding the same issue, officials of the Karnataka State Police Board also sent a letter to the Chief Minister asking him to end the shooting of the portions of the film there, citing that the bio-diversity and life in and around the dam would be affected. The elephants featured in the film were constructed through CGI, and a disclaimer was issued for this at the beginning of the film.


title: Lingaa

text: Some critics drew similarities to the film, along with Vijay's "Kaththi" (2014), on the basis of the characterisation of the lead protagonist, to the themes and script transitions, as well as the message involved in the film, was listed in an article by "Behindwoods".


title: Lingaa

text: The soundtrack album consisting of five songs, were composed by A. R. Rahman. The album of the original version was released on 5 November 2014, at a promotional event held at Chennai, with Rajinikanth, K. S. Ravikumar and the cast and crew attending the event, except Rahman where he spoke in a video about the making of the film. The Telugu version was released on 8 November 2014, at a curtain raiser, event held at Hyderabad, where Chiranjeevi and K. Viswanath attended as the chief guest. The Hindi version was released on 26 November 2014.


title: Lingaa

text: The motion poster of the film was released on Ganesh Chaturthi, on 29 August 2014. The first poster featured Rajinikanth walking with a temple being shown in the poster's backdrop. The official teaser was released on 22 October 2014, coinciding with Diwali. The trailer was released on 5 November 2014 at the audio launch of the film. A 40-second song teaser of "Mona Gasolina" featuring Rajinikanth and Anushka Shetty was released on 7 November 2014. Another 40-second song teaser1 was released on 8 November 2014 of the song "En Mannavva" featuring Rajinikanth and Sonakshi Sinha.


title: Lingaa

text: While the original duration of the film lasts about 175 minutes, the makers trimmed the original version from 166 minutes, and the Hindi version was reduced to 148 minutes, due to mixed reviews. The makers unveiled few deleted scenes from the film post-release.


title: Lingaa

text: Eros International had bought the film from Rockline Venkatesh for approximately , which includes theatrical, overseas distribution and music rights for all languages. The film was cleared by the Central Board of Film Certification on 24 November 2014. Lingaa was released worldwide on 12 December 2014, which coincided with Rajinikanth's birthday, and it is the first time in Rajinikanth's career, to have his film released on his birthday. The reservations for the film kickstarted on 10 December 2014. The film was released on an estimated 5500 screens.


title: Lingaa

text: "Lingaa" had the largest opening day for a Tamil film as it earned nett in India and grossed worldwide. The film also set records on its opening weekend; it earned nett in India and grossed worldwide. After its second weekend, the film's domestic total reached nett.


title: Lingaa

text: M Suganth of "The Times of India" gave 2.5 out of 5 and wrote, "The scale of the production, some of Santhanam's one-liners and the charisma of Rajinikanth somewhat make it bearable but they aren't enough." "Behindwoods" rated the film 2.5 out of 5 and stated, "Rajinikanth's mesmerizing energy let down by writing. But give it your time for Superstar's non-diminishing charisma." "Rediff" rated 3 out of 5 and felt that ""Lingaa" is buffoonery at its most old-school". "Sify" called "Lingaa" "a mixed bag. The star charisma of Rajinikanth is intact but the film is long with a weak storyline that flounders with a long drawn out climax." "The Hindustan Times" said ""Lingaa" offers nothing new despite being one of Rajinikanth's better works in the recent past." "Oneindia.in" rated it 3 out of 5, calling it a "Typical Rajinikanth movie" and stating "KS Ravikumar's story telling skills induces a fresh dimension to the movie. "CNN-IBN" also rated it 3 out of 5, commenting "Because two Rajinikanths are always better than one".


title: Lingaa

text: On 2 November 2014, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court bench's Justice M. Venugopal ordered a notice to producer 'Rockline' Venkatesh, script writer Pon Kumaran and director K.S. Ravikumar on account of accusations by the film maker K.R. Ravi Rathinam of the Tamil Nadu Housing Board colony who claimed that script of "Lingaa" was actually the one he had written for directing a film titled "Mullai Vanam 999" based on the construction of the Mullaperiyar dam by John Pennycuick. Further, actor Rajinikanth who wasn't involved in the film script larceny was issued notice as he had distribution rights for the film. However, Justice M. Venugopal refused to pass any interim orders to hold audio release that is scheduled on 5 November 2014.


title: Lingaa

text: On 3 December 2014, the court dismissed a writ petition filed by Ravi Rathinam. Justice Venugopal claimed the dispute to be private and it could have been solved only by initiating civil or criminal proceedings and not by invoking the writ jurisdiction of the High Court.


title: Lingaa

text: The film's worldwide distribution rights were sold for . The distributors of Tamil Nadu suffered large losses and asked for their money back. A distributor under the banner Marina stated that it suffered losses in Trichy and Thanjavur areas and submitted a petition to go on a hunger strike. Vijayabhargavi Entertainers stated that they suffered losses in Chengalpet region. Capricorn Pictures incurred losses in North Arcot and South Arcot (Cuddalore-Villupuram) circles. Sukra Films and Chandrakala Movies lost money in Coimbatore and Tirunelveli-Tuticorin respectively. The distributors claimed that after 25 days of its release, "Lingaa" recovered only 30 percent of the down payment. Some theatre owners received settlements for their losses. Rajinikanth later refunded one-third of the loss reportedly incurred by distributors and exhibitors. He decided to pay them 'on a humanitarian basis', who demanded a full refund and had threatened a 'begging protest' in front of the actor's residence.


title: Mega Man X

text: Capcom released "Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1 & 2" on July 24, 2018 and July 26, 2018 in Japan, for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Windows, which contains all eight main games over both collections, as well as bonus modes.


title: Mega Man X

text: "X" was created by Dr. Thomas Light. He was a new type of robot with the ability to think, feel, and make his own decisions. Recognizing the potential danger of this model (in particular if he were to break the first rule of robotics: a robot must never harm a human being), Light sealed X away in a diagnostic capsule for over 30 years of testing. X's capsule was uncovered by an archaeologist named Dr. Cain almost 100 years after X's creation. Excited by the possibilities X presented, Cain disregarded the warnings Light had logged in the capsule and created a legion of robots that replicated X's free will; these robots were called "Reploids" (shortened from Replica Android, but known as "Repliroids" in Japan).


title: Mega Man X

text: A number of Reploids turned against humans. These Reploids were dubbed "Mavericks" ("Irregulars" in Japan), and a force called the Maverick Hunters ("Irregular Hunters") was formed to combat them. The Maverick Hunters were led by Sigma until he, too, became a Maverick and declared war against the humans, thus starting the Maverick War. X took it upon himself to join the Maverick Hunters under their new leader Zero. Throughout the series, X and Zero battle against the Mavericks to stop their plots to destroy the human race.


title: Mega Man X

text: After the series reached an unresolved cliffhanger, a game entitled "Mega Man X DiVE" was released by Capcom Taiwan in which a human plays "Mega Man X", until due in part to some corrupted data known as Maverick Data, he/she gets transported into the Deep Log, a massive database with data on every Mega Man game. The player must progress through the scrambled code of the Maverick Wars, Elf Wars, and the Game Of Destiny, to destroy the Maverick Data causing the slow corruption of the Deep Log.


title: Mega Man X

text: An interactive movie game known as "Rockman X Interactive" was in development between December 1995 and 1996; it would have featured several new characters and reportedly greatly influenced the direction of "Super Adventure Rockman", another interactive movie which released in 1998. A copy of the design documents were once being sold on Yahoo! Auctions Japan, but were later taken down due to concerns about how the seller obtained them.


title: Mega Man X

text: In 2010, Armature Studio, a development studio founded by the creators of "Metroid Prime", were developing a first-person shooter trilogy titled "Maverick Hunter", which was intended to build on the mythology of "Mega Man X". However, it was cancelled by Capcom after six months of development due to it being considered a "significant gamble" for the company. The game was one of the several cancelled "Mega Man" games of the 2010s, which also included "Legends 3", "Online", "Universe" and "Star Force 4".""


title: Mega Man X

text: "Rockman XZ: Time Rift" was first revealed in September 2020 on NebulaJoy's official website, which included the game's logo. It was a crossover game between the "X" and "Zero" series for mobile phones, in a similar vein to "X DiVE". Shortly after footage of the game leaked online, it was announced that the title was cancelled in August due to the underperformance of "Devil May Cry: Pillar of Combat".


title: Mega Man X

text: "Mega Man X" plays similarly to its predecessor series "Mega Man", but with various new features: X has, by default beginning with "X2", the ability to dash along the ground, cling to walls, jump off walls, and dash jump to cover greater distance than a normal jump. This all gives X more mobility than his original series counterpart.


title: Mega Man X

text: X is also able to locate capsules and tanks that permanently upgrade his armor. These upgrades are all either hidden or require an exceptional feat to reach. Upgrades common to each game are increased maximum hit points, "sub-tanks" which can be filled with surplus health pick-ups and then used at any time to refill the character's hit points, and the ability to charge weapons earned from bosses, which gives them an enhanced secondary fire mode. In later games, there are multiple armor types available that can either be mixed and matched, or completed for additional armor set bonuses.


title: Mega Man X

text: Starting in "X3", Zero is a playable character. In "X3", Zero is armed with a beam saber in addition to the traditional "buster" arm cannon, but relies on his saber almost exclusively starting in "X4". In "X5", both X and Zero gain the ability to duck. In "X6", the player can rescue reploids to replenish health and acquire upgrades not otherwise available. In "X7", the playable character Axl is introduced. Axl utilizes two guns known as Axl Bullets. In "X8", a tag system is introduced, along with a new Double Attack feature, where the two selected characters can attack at the same time.


title: Mega Man X

text: Mavericks replace the Robot Masters, and Sigma replaces Dr. Wily. The stage boss Mavericks are based on various types of organisms (usually animals, but plants and fungi are also represented) instead of being humanoid, as were most of the bosses in the classic series, although their attacks and names are usually based on mechanical or chemical phenomena or laws of physics like in the original games. The main group of antagonists in each game, which are fought as mid-bosses and/or fortress bosses, are normally humanoid in appearance.


title: Mega Man X

text: In "Maverick Hunter X", the player can unlock an OVA called "The Day of Sigma" that details the events leading up to the first level, including Sigma turning Maverick; it was produced by Xebec (who also produced "MegaMan NT Warrior" and "Mega Man Star Force") and later included in the "Legacy Collection". Characters from the "X" series also appeared in the "Mega Man" animated series in the episode "Mega X", which was an pitch at an "X" cartoon that never got off the ground.


title: Mega Man X

text: Several tie-in manga adaptations have been released, mainly serialized in Kodansha's children's magazine "Comic BomBom", its quarterly special issues and its sister magazine "Deluxe BomBom". An adaptation of the first four games in the series by Yoshihiro Iwamoto ran from 1994 to 1998 and was collected into 12 volumes. An original story featuring elements from the first "Mega Man X" game called "Irregular Hunter Rockman X" by Shigeto Ikehara ran from 1994 to 1995 and was collected into two volumes. The magazine also published several one-shots, including one based on the "Mega Mission" carddass series by Hitoshi Ariga and an original self-contained story called "Team X Shutsujin seyo!!" by Daisuke Inoue.


title: Mega Man X

text: The character of X appeared in the obscure Brazilian comic "Novas Aventuras de Mega Man" (translated as "The New Adventures of Mega Man"), where he is Classic Mega Man and Roll's younger brother; the comic rather notoriously implies that all three characters are attracted to each other in a sexual manner. Similarly, the fourth and final issue of the Dreamwave Productions comic series included a short story with "Mega Man X" at the end of the issue, where X travels back in time to get help from Classic Mega Man and Dr. Light; the intention was to publish a comic based on "Mega Man X", however Dreamwave shut down before any issues were released.


title: Mega Man X

text: Characters from "Mega Man X" appeared twice in the Archie Comics series; the first time was during the "Dawn of X" arc, and the second time was during the "Sonic the Hedgehog" crossover "Sonic and Mega Man 2: Worlds Unite".


title: Shirley Ardell Mason

text: Shirley Ardell Mason (January 25, 1923 – February 26, 1998) was an American art teacher who was reputed to have dissociative identity disorder (previously known as "multiple personality disorder"). Her life was purportedly described, with adaptations to protect her anonymity, in 1973 in the book "Sybil", subtitled "The True Story of a Woman Possessed by 16 Separate Personalities". Two films of the same name were made, one released in 1976 and the other in 2007. Both the book and the films used the name Sybil Isabel Dorsett to protect Mason's identity, though the 2007 remake stated Mason's name at its conclusion.


title: Shirley Ardell Mason

text: Mason's diagnosis and treatment under Cornelia B. Wilbur have been criticized, with allegations that Wilbur manipulated or misdiagnosed Mason. Mason herself eventually told her doctor that she did not have multiple personalities and that the symptoms had not been genuine, although whether or not this statement accurately reflected Mason’s views later in life remains controversial.


title: Shirley Ardell Mason

text: Shirley Mason was born and raised in Dodge Center, Minnesota, the only surviving child of Walter Wingfield Mason (a carpenter and architect) and Martha Alice "Mattie" Atkinson. In regard to Mason's mother: "...many people in Dodge Center say Mattie" — "Hattie" in the book — "was bizarre," according to Bettie Borst Christensen, who grew up across the street. "She had a witch-like laugh... She didn't laugh much, but when she did, it was like a screech." Christensen remembers Mason's mother walking around after dark, looking in the neighbors' windows. At one point, Martha Mason was reportedly diagnosed with schizophrenia.


title: Shirley Ardell Mason

text: Shirley Mason graduated from Dodge Center High School in 1941 and became an art student at Mankato State College, now Minnesota State University, Mankato. In the early 1950s, she was a substitute teacher and a student at Columbia University. She had long suffered from blackouts and emotional breakdowns, and finally entered psychotherapy with Cornelia B. Wilbur, a Freudian psychiatrist. Their sessions together are the basis for Flora Schreiber's book on Shirley Mason. From 1970–71, she taught art at Rio Grande College in Rio Grande, Ohio (now the University of Rio Grande).


title: Shirley Ardell Mason

text: Some people in Mason's hometown, reading the book, recognized Mason as Sybil. By that time, Mason had severed nearly all ties with her past and was living in West Virginia. She later moved to Lexington, Kentucky, where she lived near Wilbur. She taught art classes at a community college and ran an art gallery out of her home for many years.


title: Shirley Ardell Mason

text: Wilbur diagnosed Mason with breast cancer in 1990, and she declined treatment; it later went into remission. The following year, Wilbur developed Parkinson's disease, and Mason moved into Wilbur's house to take care of her until Wilbur's death in 1992. Mason was a devout Seventh-day Adventist. When her breast cancer returned, Mason gave away her books and paintings to friends. She left the rest of her estate to a Seventh-day Adventist TV minister. Mason died on February 26, 1998.


title: Shirley Ardell Mason

text: Over one hundred paintings were found locked in a closet in Mason's Lexington home when it was being emptied after her estate sale. These paintings, often referred to as the "Hidden Paintings", span the years 1943, eleven years before starting psychotherapy with Wilbur, to 1965, the year that Wilbur diagnosed her as having her alternate personalities integrated. Several of the paintings were signed by Mason. However, many remained unsigned, and include examples of some of the artwork presumably created by, and signed by the alternate personalities.


title: Shirley Ardell Mason

text: Flora Rheta Schreiber's non-fiction book "Sybil: The True Story of a Woman Possessed by 16 Separate Personalities" told a version of Mason's story with names and details changed to protect her anonymity. In 1998, Sigmund Freud historian Peter J. Swales discovered Sybil's true identity. Schreiber's book, whose veracity was challenged ("e.g.", "Sybil Exposed" by Debbie Nathan), stated that Mason had multiple personalities as a result of severe child sexual abuse at the hands of her mother, who, Wilbur believed, had schizophrenia.


title: Shirley Ardell Mason

text: The book was made into a highly acclaimed TV movie starring Sally Field and Joanne Woodward, in 1976. The TV movie was remade in 2007 with Tammy Blanchard and Jessica Lange.


title: Shirley Ardell Mason

text: Mason's diagnosis has been challenged. Psychiatrist Herbert Spiegel saw Mason for several sessions while Wilbur was on vacation and felt that Wilbur was manipulating Mason into behaving as though she had multiple personalities when she did not. Spiegel suspected Wilbur of having publicized Mason's case for financial gain. According to Spiegel, Wilbur's client was a hysteric but did not show signs of multiple personalities. In fact, he later stated that Mason denied to him that she was "multiple" but claimed that Wilbur wanted her to exhibit other personalities. Spiegel confronted Wilbur, who responded that the publisher would not publish the book unless it was what she said it was.


title: Shirley Ardell Mason

text: Spiegel revealed that he possessed audio tapes in which Wilbur tells Mason about some of the other personalities she has already seen in prior sessions. Spiegel believes these tapes are the "smoking gun" proving that Wilbur induced her client to believe she was multiple. Spiegel made these claims 24 years later, after Schreiber, Wilbur and Mason had all died and he was finally asked about the topic.


title: Shirley Ardell Mason

text: In August 1998, psychologist Robert Rieber of John Jay College of Criminal Justice stated that the tapes belonged to him and that Wilbur had given them to him decades earlier. He cited the tapes to challenge Mason's diagnosis. Rieber had never interviewed or treated Mason but asserted that she was an "extremely suggestible hysteric." He claimed Wilbur had manipulated Mason in order to secure a book deal.


title: Shirley Ardell Mason

text: In a review of Rieber's book, psychiatrist Mark Lawrence asserts that Rieber repeatedly distorted the evidence and left out a number of important facts about Mason's case to advance his case against the validity of the diagnosis.


title: Shirley Ardell Mason

text: Debbie Nathan's "Sybil Exposed" draws upon an archive of Schreiber's papers stored at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and other first-hand sources. Nathan claims that Wilbur, Mason, and Schreiber knowingly perpetrated a fraud and describes the purported manipulation of Wilbur by Mason and vice versa and that the case created an "industry" of repressed memory. Nathan hypothesizes that Mason's physical and sensory issues may have been due to untreated pernicious anemia, the symptoms of which were mistaken at the time for psychogenic issues. She notes that after Mason was treated with calf's-liver supplements for chronic blood disorders as a child and young woman, her psychological symptoms likewise went into remission for years at a time, and that Wilbur herself noted that "Sybil" suffered from pernicious anemia later in life. Nathan's writing and her research methods have been publicly criticized by Mason's family and by Dr. Patrick Suraci, who was personally acquainted with Shirley Mason.


title: Shirley Ardell Mason

text: In addition, Suraci claims that Spiegel behaved unethically in withholding tapes which supposedly proved Wilbur had induced Mason to believe she had multiple personalities. Spiegel also claimed to have made films of himself hypnotizing Mason, supposedly proving that Wilbur had "implanted false memories" in her mind, but when Suraci asked to see the films Spiegel said he had lost them. Although Wilbur's papers were destroyed, copies and excerpts within Flora Rheta Schreiber's papers at the Lloyd Sealy Library of John Jay College were unsealed in 1998.


title: Shirley Ardell Mason

text: In 2013, Nancy Preston published "After Sybil", a personal memoir which includes facsimile reproductions of Mason's personal letters to her, along with color plates of her paintings. According to Preston, Mason taught art at Ohio's Rio Grande College, where Preston was a student. The two became close friends and corresponded until a few days before Mason's death. In the letters, Mason claimed that she had had multiple personalities.


title: Swept wing

text: A swept wing is a wing that angles either backward or occasionally forward from its root rather than in a straight sideways direction.


title: Swept wing

text: Swept wings have been flown since the pioneer days of aviation. Wing sweep at high speeds was first investigated in Germany as early as 1935 by Albert Betz and Adolph Busemann, finding application just before the end of the Second World War. It has the effect of delaying the shock waves and accompanying aerodynamic drag rise caused by fluid compressibility near the speed of sound, improving performance. Swept wings are therefore almost always used on jet aircraft designed to fly at these speeds.


title: Swept wing

text: The term "swept wing" is normally used to mean "swept back", but variants include forward sweep, variable sweep wings and oblique wings in which one side sweeps forward and the other back. The delta wing is also aerodynamically a form of swept wing.


title: Swept wing

text: 1. to arrange the center of gravity of the aircraft and the aerodynamic center of the wing to coincide more closely for longitudinal balance, e.g. Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet and Messerschmitt Me 262. Although not a swept wing the wing panels on the Douglas DC-1 outboard of the nacelles also had slight sweepback for similar reasons.


title: Swept wing

text: 3. most commonly to increase Mach-number capability by delaying to a higher speed the effects of compressibility (abrupt changes in the density of the airflow), e.g. combat aircraft, airliners and business jets.


title: Swept wing

text: 1. enabling a wing carry-through box position to achieve a desired cabin size, e.g. HFB 320 Hansa Jet.


title: Swept wing

text: 2. providing static aeroelastic relief which reduces bending moments under high g-loadings and may allow a lighter wing structure.


title: Swept wing

text: For a wing of given span, sweeping it increases the length of the spars running along it from root to tip. This tends to increase weight and reduce stiffness. If the fore-aft chord of the wing also remains the same, the distance between leading and trailing edges reduces, reducing its ability to resist twisting (torsion) forces. A swept wing of given span and chord must therefore be strengthened and will be heavier than the equivalent unswept wing.


title: Swept wing

text: A swept wing typically angles backward from its root rather than forwards. Because wings are made as light as possible, they tend to flex under load. This aeroelasticity under aerodynamic load causes the tips to bend upwards in normal flight. Backwards sweep causes the tips to reduce their angle of attack as they bend, reducing their lift and limiting the effect. Forward sweep causes the tips to increase their angle of attack as they bend. This increases their lift causing further bending and hence yet more lift in a cycle which can cause a runaway structural failure. For this reason forward sweep is rare and the wing must be unusually rigid.


title: Swept wing

text: There are two sweep angles of importance, one at the leading edge for supersonic aircraft and the other 25% of the way back from the leading edge for subsonic and transonic aircraft. Leading edge sweep is important because the leading edge has to be behind the mach cone to reduce wave drag. The quarter chord (25%) line is used because subsonic lift due to angle of attack acts there and, up until the introduction of supercritical sections, the crest was usually close to the quarter chord.


title: Swept wing

text: Typical sweep angles vary from 0 for a straight-wing aircraft, to 45 degrees or more for fighters and other high-speed designs.


title: Swept wing

text: Shock waves can form on some parts of an aircraft moving at less than the speed of sound. Low-pressure regions around an aircraft cause the flow to accelerate, and at transonic speeds this local acceleration can exceed Mach 1. Localized supersonic flow must return to the freestream conditions around the rest of the aircraft, and as the flow enters an adverse pressure gradient in the aft section of the wing, a discontinuity emerges in the form of a shock wave as the air is forced to rapidly slow and return to ambient pressure.


title: Swept wing

text: At the point where the density drops, the local speed of sound correspondingly drops and a shock wave can form. This is why in conventional wings, shock waves form first "after" the maximum Thickness/Chord and why all airliners designed for cruising in the transonic range (above M0.8) have supercritical wings that are flatter on top, resulting in minimized angular change of flow to upper surface air. The angular change to the air that is normally part of lift generation is decreased and this lift reduction is compensated for by deeper curved lower surfaces accompanied by a reflex curve at the trailing edge. This results in a much weaker shock wave towards the rear of the upper wing surface and a corresponding "increase" in critical mach number.


title: Swept wing

text: Shock waves require energy to form. This energy is taken out of the aircraft, which has to supply extra thrust to make up for this energy loss. Thus the shocks are seen as a form of drag. Since the shocks form when the local air velocity reaches supersonic speeds, there is a certain "critical mach" speed where sonic flow first appears on the wing. There is a following point called the drag divergence mach number where the effect of the drag from the shocks becomes noticeable. This is normally when the shocks start generating over the wing, which on most aircraft is the largest continually curved surface, and therefore the largest contributor to this effect.


title: Swept wing

text: Sweeping the wing has the effect of reducing the curvature of the body as seen from the airflow, by the cosine of the angle of sweep. For instance, a wing with a 45 degree sweep will see a reduction in effective curvature to about 70% of its straight-wing value. This has the effect of increasing the critical Mach by 30%. When applied to large areas of the aircraft, like the wings and empennage, this allows the aircraft to reach speeds closer to Mach 1.


title: Swept wing

text: One limiting factor in swept wing design is the so-called "middle effect". If a swept wing is continuous - an oblique swept wing - the pressure isobars will be swept at a continuous angle from tip to tip. However, if the left and right halves are swept back equally, as is common practice, the pressure isobars on the left wing in theory will meet the pressure isobars of the right wing on the centerline at a large angle. As the isobars cannot meet in such a fashion, they will tend to curve on each side as they near the centerline, so that the isobars cross the centerline at right angles to the centerline. This causes an "unsweeping" of the isobars in the wing root region. To combat this unsweeping, German aerodynamicist Dietrich Küchemann proposed and had tested a local indentation of the fuselage above and below the wing root. This proved to not be very effective. During the development of the Douglas DC-8 airliner, uncambered airfoils were used in the wing root area to combat the unsweeping.


title: Swept wing

text: Swept wings on supersonic aircraft usually lie within the cone-shaped shock wave produced at the nose of the aircraft so will "see" subsonic airflow and work as a subsonic wing. The angle needed to lie behind the cone increases with increasing speed, at Mach 1.3 the angle is about 45 degrees, at Mach 2.0 it is 60 degrees. The angle of the Mach cone formed off the body of the aircraft will be at about sinμ = 1/M (μ is the sweep angle of the Mach cone)


title: Swept wing

text: When a swept wing travels at high speed, the airflow has little time to react and simply flows over the wing almost straight from front to back. At lower speeds the air "does" have time to react, and is pushed spanwise by the angled leading edge, towards the wing tip. At the wing root, by the fuselage, this has little noticeable effect, but as one moves towards the wingtip the airflow is pushed spanwise not only by the leading edge, but the spanwise moving air beside it. At the tip the airflow is moving along the wing instead of over it, a problem known as "spanwise flow".


title: Swept wing

text: The lift from a wing is generated by the airflow over it from front to rear. With increasing span-wise flow the boundary layers on the surface of the wing have longer to travel, and so are thicker and more susceptible to transition to turbulence or flow separation, also the effective aspect ratio of the wing is less and so air "leaks" around the wing tips reducing their effectiveness. The spanwise flow on swept wings produces airflow that moves the stagnation point on the leading edge of any individual wing segment further beneath the leading edge, increasing effective angle of attack of wing segments relative to its neighbouring forward segment. The result is that wing segments farther towards the rear operate at increasingly higher angles of attack promoting early stall of those segments. This promotes tip stall on back-swept wings, as the tips are most rearward, while delaying tip stall for forward-swept wings, where the tips are forward. With both forward and back-swept wings, the rear of the wing will stall first creating a nose-up moment on the aircraft. If not corrected by the pilot the plane will pitch up, leading to more of the wing stalling and more pitch up in a divergent manner. This uncontrollable instability came to be known as the "Sabre dance" in reference to the number of North American F-100 Super Sabres that crashed on landing as a result.


title: Swept wing

text: Reducing pitch-up to an acceptable level has been done in different ways such as the addition of a fin known as a "wing fence" on the upper surface of the wing to redirect the flow to a streamwise direction. The MiG-15 was one example of an aircraft fitted with wing fences. Another closely related design was the addition of a dogtooth notch to the leading edge, used on the Avro Arrow interceptor. Other designs took a more radical approach, including the Republic XF-91 Thunderceptor's wing that grew wider towards the tip to provide more lift at the tip. The Handley Page Victor was equipped with a crescent wing, with three values of sweep, about 48 degrees near the wing root where the wing was thickest, a 38 degree transition length and 27 degrees for the remainder to the tip.


title: Swept wing

text: Modern solutions to the problem no longer require "custom" designs such as these. The addition of leading-edge slats and large compound flaps to the wings has largely resolved the issue. On fighter designs, the addition of leading-edge extensions, which are typically included to achieve a high level of maneuverability, also serve to add lift during landing and reduce the problem.


title: Swept wing

text: In addition to pitch-up there are other complications inherent in a swept-wing configuration. For any given length of wing, the actual span from tip-to-tip is shorter than the same wing that is not swept. There is a strong correlation between low-speed drag and aspect ratio, the span compared to chord, so a swept wing always has more drag at lower speeds. In addition, there is extra torque applied by the wing to the fuselage which has to be allowed for when establishing the transfer of wing-box loads to the fuselage. This results from the significant part of the wing lift which lies behind the attachment length where the wing meets the fuselage.


title: Swept wing

text: Sweep theory is an aeronautical engineering description of the behavior of airflow over a wing when the wing's leading edge encounters the airflow at an oblique angle. The development of sweep theory resulted in the swept wing design used by most modern jet aircraft, as this design performs more effectively at transonic and supersonic speeds. In its advanced form, sweep theory led to the experimental oblique wing concept.


title: Swept wing

text: Adolf Busemann introduced the concept of the swept wing and presented this in 1935 at the 5. Volta-Congress in Rome. Sweep theory in general was a subject of development and investigation throughout the 1930s and 1940s, but the breakthrough mathematical definition of sweep theory is generally credited to NACA's Robert T. Jones in 1945. Sweep theory builds on other wing lift theories. Lifting line theory describes lift generated by a straight wing (a wing in which the leading edge is perpendicular to the airflow). Weissinger theory describes the distribution of lift for a swept wing, but does not have the capability to include chordwise pressure distribution. There are other methods that do describe chordwise distributions, but they have other limitations. Jones' sweep theory provides a simple, comprehensive analysis of swept wing performance.


title: Swept wing

text: "Assume a wing is a cylinder of uniform airfoil cross-section, chord and thickness and is placed in an airstream at an angle of yaw – i.e., it is swept back. Now, even if the local speed of the air on the upper surface of the wing becomes supersonic, a shock wave cannot form there because it would have to be a sweptback shock – swept at the same angle as the wing – i.e., it would be an oblique shock. Such an oblique shock cannot form until the velocity component normal to it becomes supersonic."


title: Swept wing

text: To visualize the basic concept of simple sweep theory, consider a straight, non-swept wing of infinite length, which meets the airflow at a perpendicular angle. The resulting air pressure distribution is equivalent to the length of the wing's chord (the distance from the leading edge to the trailing edge). If we were to begin to slide the wing sideways (spanwise), the sideways motion of the wing relative to the air would be added to the previously perpendicular airflow, resulting in an airflow over the wing at an angle to the leading edge. This angle results in airflow traveling a greater distance from leading edge to trailing edge, and thus the air pressure is distributed over a greater distance (and consequently lessened at any particular point on the surface).


title: Swept wing

text: This scenario is identical to the airflow experienced by a swept wing as it travels through the air. The airflow over a swept wing encounters the wing at an angle. That angle can be broken down into two vectors, one perpendicular to the wing, and one parallel to the wing. The flow parallel to the wing has no effect on it, and since the perpendicular vector is shorter (meaning slower) than the actual airflow, it consequently exerts less pressure on the wing. In other words, the wing experiences airflow that is slower - and at lower pressures - than the actual speed of the aircraft.


title: Swept wing

text: One of the factors that must be taken into account when designing a high-speed wing is compressibility, which is the effect that acts upon a wing as it approaches and passes through the speed of sound. The significant negative effects of compressibility made it a prime issue with aeronautical engineers. Sweep theory helps mitigate the effects of compressibility in transonic and supersonic aircraft because of the reduced pressures. This allows the mach number of an aircraft to be higher than that actually experienced by the wing.


title: Swept wing

text: There is also a negative aspect to sweep theory. The lift produced by a wing is directly related to the speed of the air over the wing. Since the airflow speed experienced by a swept wing is lower than what the actual aircraft speed is, this becomes a problem during slow-flight phases, such as takeoff and landing. There have been various ways of addressing the problem, including the variable-incidence wing design on the Vought F-8 Crusader, and swing wings on aircraft such as the F-14, F-111, and the Panavia Tornado.


title: Swept wing

text: The term "swept wing" is normally used to mean "swept back", but other swept variants include forward sweep, variable sweep wings and oblique wings in which one side sweeps forward and the other back. The delta wing also incorporates the same advantages as part of its layout.


title: Swept wing

text: Sweeping a wing forward has approximately the same effect as rearward in terms of drag reduction, but has other advantages in terms of low-speed handling where tip stall problems simply go away. In this case the low-speed air flows towards the fuselage, which acts as a very large wing fence. Additionally, wings are generally larger at the root anyway, which allows them to have better low-speed lift.


title: Swept wing

text: However, this arrangement also has serious stability problems. The rearmost section of the wing will stall first causing a pitch-up moment pushing the aircraft further into stall similar to a swept back wing design. Thus swept-forward wings are unstable in a fashion similar to the low-speed problems of a conventional swept wing. However unlike swept back wings, the tips on a forward swept design will stall last, maintaining roll control.


title: Swept wing

text: Forward-swept wings can also experience dangerous flexing effects compared to aft-swept wings that can negate the tip stall advantage if the wing is not sufficiently stiff. In aft-swept designs, when the airplane maneuvers at high load factor the wing loading and geometry twists the wing in such a way as to create washout (tip twists leading edge down). This reduces the angle of attack at the tip, thus reducing the bending moment on the wing, as well as somewhat reducing the chance of tip stall. However, the same effect on forward-swept wings produces a wash-in effect that increases the angle of attack promoting tip stall.


title: Swept wing

text: Small amounts of sweep do not cause serious problems, and had been used on a variety of aircraft to move the spar into a convenient location, as on the Junkers Ju 287 or HFB 320 Hansa Jet. However, larger sweep suitable for high-speed aircraft, like fighters, was generally impossible until the introduction of fly by wire systems that could react quickly enough to damp out these instabilities. The Grumman X-29 was an experimental technology demonstration project designed to test the forward swept wing for enhanced maneuverability during the 1980s. The Sukhoi Su-47 "Berkut" is another notable demonstrator aircraft implementing this technology to achieve high levels of agility. To date, no highly swept-forward design has entered production.


title: Swept wing

text: The first successful aeroplanes adhered to the basic design of rectangular wings at right angles to the body of the machine, but there were experimentalists who explored other geometries to achieve better aerodynamic results. The swept wing geometry appeared before World War I, and was conceived as a means of permitting the design of safe and stable aeroplanes. The best of these designs imposed "self-damping" inherent stability upon a tailless swept wing. These inspired several flying wing gliders and some powered aircraft during the interwar years.


title: Swept wing

text: The first to achieve stability was British designer J. W. Dunne who was obsessed with achieving inherent stability in flight. He successfully employed swept wings in his tailless aircraft (which, crucially, used washout) as a means of creating positive longitudinal static stability. For a low-speed aircraft, swept wings may be used to resolve problems with the center of gravity, to move the wing spar into a more convenient location, or to improve the sideways view from the pilot's position. By 1905, Dunne had already built a model glider with swept wings and by 1913 he had constructed successful powered variants that were able to cross the English Channel. The Dunne D.5 was exceptionally aerodynamically stable for the time, and the D.8 was sold to the Royal Flying Corps; it was also manufactured under licence by Starling Burgess to the United States Navy amongst other customers.


title: Swept wing

text: Dunne's work ceased with the onset of war in 1914, but afterwards the idea was taken up by G. T. R. Hill in England who designed a series of gliders and aircraft to Dunne's guidelines, notably the Westland-Hill Pterodactyl series. However, Dunne's theories met with little acceptance amongst the leading aircraft designers and aviation companies at the time.


title: Swept wing

text: The idea of using swept wings to reduce high-speed drag was developed in Germany in the 1930s. At a Volta Conference meeting in 1935 in Italy, Dr. Adolf Busemann suggested the use of swept wings for supersonic flight. He noted that the airspeed over the wing was dominated by the normal component of the airflow, not the freestream velocity, so by setting the wing at an angle the forward velocity at which the shock waves would form would be higher (the same had been noted by Max Munk in 1924, although not in the context of high-speed flight). Albert Betz immediately suggested the same effect would be equally useful in the transonic. After the presentation the host of the meeting, Arturo Crocco, jokingly sketched "Busemann's airplane of the future" on the back of a menu while they all dined. Crocco's sketch showed a classic 1950's fighter design, with swept wings and tail surfaces, although he also sketched a swept propeller powering it.


title: Swept wing

text: At the time, however, there was no way to power an aircraft to these sorts of speeds, and even the fastest aircraft of the era were only approaching .The presentation was largely of academic interest, and soon forgotten. Even notable attendees including Theodore von Kármán and Eastman Jacobs did not recall the presentation 10 years later when it was re-introduced to them.


title: Swept wing

text: Hubert Ludwieg of the High-Speed Aerodynamics Branch at the AVA Göttingen in 1939 conducted the first wind tunnel tests to investigate Busemann's theory. Two wings, one with no sweep, and one with 45 degrees of sweep were tested at Mach numbers of 0.7 and 0.9 in the 11 x 13 cm wind tunnel. The results of these tests confirmed the drag reduction offered by swept wings at transonic speeds. The results of the tests were communicated to Albert Betz who then passed them on to Willy Messerschmitt in December 1939. The tests were expanded in 1940 to include wings with 15, 30 and -45 degrees of sweep and Mach numbers as high as 1.21.


title: Swept wing

text: With the introduction of jets in the later half of the Second World War, the swept wing became increasingly applicable to optimally satisfying aerodynamic needs. The German jet-powered Messerschmitt Me 262 and rocket-powered Messerschmitt Me 163 suffered from compressibility effects that made both aircraft very difficult to control at high speeds. In addition, the speeds put them into the wave drag regime, and anything that could reduce this drag would increase the performance of their aircraft, notably the notoriously short flight times measured in minutes. This resulted in a crash program to introduce new swept wing designs, both for fighters as well as bombers. The Blohm & Voss P 215 was designed to take full advantage of the swept wing's aerodynamic properties; however, an order for three prototypes was received only weeks before the war ended and no examples were ever built. The Focke-Wulf Ta 183 was another swept wing fighter design, but was also not produced before the war's end. In the post-war era, Kurt Tank developed the Ta 183 into the IAe Pulqui II, but this proved unsuccessful.


title: Swept wing

text: A prototype test aircraft, the Messerschmitt Me P.1101, was built to research the tradeoffs of the design and develop general rules about what angle of sweep to use. When it was 80% complete, the P.1101 was captured by US forces and returned to the United States, where two additional copies with US-built engines carried on the research as the Bell X-5. Germany's wartime experience with the swept wings and its high value for supersonic flight stood in strong contrast to the prevailing views of Allied experts of the era, who commonly espoused their belief in the impossibility of manned vehicles travelling at such speeds.


title: Swept wing

text: During the immediate post-war era, several nations were conducting research into high speed aircraft. In the United Kingdom, work commenced during 1943 on the Miles M.52, a high-speed experimental aircraft equipped with a straight wing that was developed in conjunction with Frank Whittle's Power Jets company, the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) in Farnborough, and the National Physical Laboratory. The M.52 was envisioned to be capable of achieving in level flight, thus enabling the aircraft to potentially be the first to exceed the speed of sound in the world. In February 1946, the programme was abruptly discontinued for unclear reasons. It has since been widely recognised that the cancellation of the M.52 was a major setback in British progress in the field of supersonic design.


title: Swept wing

text: Another, more successful, programme was the US's Bell X-1, which also was equipped with a straight wing. According to Miles Chief Aerodynamicist Dennis Bancroft, the Bell Aircraft company was given access to the drawings and research on the M.52. On 14 October 1947, the Bell X-1 performed the first manned supersonic flight, piloted by Captain Charles "Chuck" Yeager, having been drop launched from the bomb bay of a Boeing B-29 Superfortress and attained a record-breaking speed of Mach 1.06 (). The news of a successful straight-wing supersonic aircraft surprised many aeronautical experts on both sides of the Atlantic, as it was increasingly believed that a swept-wing design not only highly beneficial but also necessary to break the sound barrier.


title: Swept wing

text: During the final years of the Second World War, aircraft designer Sir Geoffrey de Havilland commenced development on the de Havilland Comet, which would become the world's first jet airliner. An early design consideration was whether to apply the new swept-wing configuration. Thus, an experimental aircraft to explore the technology, the de Havilland DH 108, was developed by the firm in 1944, headed by project engineer John Carver Meadows Frost with a team of 8–10 draughtsmen and engineers. The DH 108 primarily consisted of the pairing of the front fuselage of the de Havilland Vampire to a swept wing and small vertical tail; it was the first British swept wing jet, unofficially known as the "Swallow". It first flew on 15 May 1946, a mere eight months after the project's go-ahead. Company test pilot and son of the builder, Geoffrey de Havilland Jr., flew the first of three aircraft and found it extremely fast – fast enough to try for a world speed record. On 12 April 1948, a D.H.108 did set a world's speed record at 973.65 km/h (605 mph), it subsequently became the first jet aircraft to exceed the speed of sound.


title: Swept wing

text: Around this same timeframe, the Air Ministry introduced a program of experimental aircraft to examine the effects of swept wings, as well as the delta wing configuration. Furthermore, the Royal Air Force (RAF) identified a pair of proposed fighter aircraft equipped with swept wings from Hawker Aircraft and Supermarine, the Hawker Hunter and Supermarine Swift respectively, and successfully pressed for orders to be placed 'off the drawing board' in 1950. On 7 September 1953, the sole Hunter Mk 3 (the modified first prototype, "WB 188") flown by Neville Duke broke the world air speed record for jet-powered aircraft, attaining a speed of 727.63 mph (1,171.01 km/h) over Littlehampton, West Sussex. This world record stood for less than three weeks before being broken on 25 September 1953 by the Hunter's early rival, the Supermarine Swift, being flown by Michael Lithgow.


title: Swept wing

text: In February 1945, NACA engineer Robert T. Jones started looking at highly swept delta wings and V shapes, and discovered the same effects as Busemann. He finished a detailed report on the concept in April, but found his work was heavily criticised by other members of NACA Langley, notably Theodore Theodorsen, who referred to it as "hocus-pocus" and demanded some "real mathematics". However, Jones had already secured some time for free-flight models under the direction of Robert Gilruth, whose reports were presented at the end of May and showed a fourfold decrease in drag at high speeds. All of this was compiled into a report published on June 21, 1945, which was sent out to the industry three weeks later. Ironically, by this point Busemann's work had already been passed around.


title: Swept wing

text: In May 1945, the American Operation Paperclip reached Braunschweig, where US personnel discovered a number of swept wing models and a mass of technical data from the wind tunnels. One member of the US team was George S. Schairer, who was at that time working at the Boeing company. He immediately forwarded a letter to Ben Cohn at Boeing, communicating the value of the swept wing concept. He also told Cohn to distribute the letter to other companies as well, although only Boeing and North American made immediate use of it.


title: Swept wing

text: Boeing was in the midst of designing the B-47 Stratojet, and the initial Model 424 was a straight-wing design similar to the B-45, B-46 and B-48 it competed with. Analysis by Boeing engineer Vic Ganzer suggested an optimum sweepback angle of about 35 degrees. By September 1945, the Braunschweig data had been worked into the design, which re-emerged as the Model 448, a larger six-engine design with more robust wings swept at 35 degrees. Another re-work moved the engines into strut-mounted pods under the wings due to concerns of the uncontained failure of an internal engine could potentially destroy the aircraft via either fire or vibration. The resulting B-47 was hailed as the fastest of its class in the world during the late 1940s, and trounced the straight-winged competition. Boeing's jet-transport formula of swept wings and pylon-mounted engines has since been universally adopted.


title: Swept wing

text: In fighters, North American Aviation was in the midst of working on a straight-wing jet-powered naval fighter, then known as the FJ-1; it was later submitted to the United States Air Force as the XP-86. Larry Green, who could read German, studied the Busemann reports and convinced management to allow a redesign starting in August 1945. The performance of the F-86A allowed it set the first of several official world speed records, attaining on 15 September 1948, flown by Major Richard L. Johnson. With the appearance of the MiG-15, the F-86 was rushed into combat, while straight-wing jets like the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star and Republic F-84 Thunderjet were quickly relegated to ground attack missions. Some, such as the F-84 and Grumman F-9 Cougar, were later redesigned with swept wings from straight-winged aircraft. Later planes, such as the North American F-100 Super Sabre, would be designed with swept wings from the start, though additional innovations such as the afterburner, area-rule and new control surfaces would be necessary to master supersonic flight.


title: Swept wing

text: The Soviet Union was also quick to investigate the advantages of swept wings on high speed aircraft, when their "captured aviation technology" counterparts to the western Allies spread out across the defeated Third Reich. Artem Mikoyan was asked by the Soviet government's TsAGI aviation research department to develop a test-bed aircraft to research the swept wing idea — the result was the late 1945-flown, unusual MiG-8 "Utka" pusher canard layout aircraft, with its rearwards-located wings being swept back for this type of research. The swept wing was applied to the MiG-15, an early jet-powered fighter, its maximum speed of outclassed the straight-winged American jets and piston-engined fighters initially deployed during the Korean War. The MiG-15 is believed to have been one of the most produced jet aircraft; in excess of 13,000 would ultimately be manufactured.


title: Swept wing

text: The MiG-15, which could not safely exceed Mach 0.92, served as the basis for the MiG-17, which was designed to be controllable at higher Mach numbers. Its wing sweep, 45° near the fuselage ( the same as the F-100 Super Sabre), changed to 42° for the outboard part of the wing. A further derivative of the design, designated MiG-19, featured a relatively thin wing suited to supersonic flight that was designed at TsAGI, the Soviet Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute; swept back at an angle of 55 degrees, this wing featured a single wing fence on each side. A specialist high-altitude variant, the Mig-19SV, featured, amongst other changes, an adjustable flap to generate greater lift at higher altitudes, helping to increase the aircraft's ceiling from to .


title: Swept wing

text: Germany's swept wing research was also obtained by the Swedish aircraft manufacturer SAAB, with the help of ex-Messerschmitt engineers that had fled to Switzerland during late 1945. At the time, SAAB saw the need to make aeronautical advances, particularly in the new field of jet propulsion. The company incorporated both the jet engine and the swept wing to produce the Saab 29 Tunnan fighter; on 1 September 1948, the first prototype conducted its maiden flight, flown by the English test pilot S/L Robert A. 'Bob' Moore, DFC and bar, Although not well known outside Sweden, the Tunnan was the first Western European fighter to be introduced with such a wing configuration. In parallel, SAAB also developed another swept wing aircraft, the Saab 32 Lansen, primarily to serve as Sweden's standard attack aircraft. Its wing, which had a 10 per cent laminar profile and a 35° sweep, featured triangular fences near the wing roots in order to improve airflow when the aircraft was being flown at a high angle of attack. On 25 October 1953, a SAAB 32 Lansen attained a Mach number of at least 1.12 while in a shallow dive, exceeding the sound barrier.


title: Swept wing

text: The successes of aircraft such as the Hawker Hunter, the B-47, and F-86 showed the value of the swept wing research acquired from Germany. Eventually, almost all advanced design efforts for high speed aircraft would incorporate a wing with a swept leading edge, with either a swept wing or delta wing planform. The Boeing B-52, designed in the 1950s, continues in service as a subsonic long-range heavy bomber. While the Soviets never matched the performance of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress with a jet aircraft, the intercontinental range Tupolev Tu-95 turboprop bomber with its near-jet class top speed of 920 km/h, combining swept wings with propeller propulsion, also remains in service today, being the fastest propeller-powered production aircraft. In Britain, two swept-wing bombers entered service, the Vickers Valiant (1955) and the Handley Page Victor (1958).


title: Swept wing

text: By the early 1950s, nearly every new fighter had a swept wing. By the 1960s, most civilian jets also adopted swept wings. Most early transonic and supersonic designs such as the MiG-19 and F-100 used long, highly swept wings. Swept wings would reach Mach 2 on the BAC Lightning, and Republic F-105 Thunderchief, built to operate at low level and very high speed primarily for nuclear strike, but with a secondary air-to-air capability. By the late 1960s, the McDonnell F-4 Phantom II, was used in large numbers by air forces influenced by the United States. Variable geometry wings were employed on the American F-111, Grumman F-14 Tomcat and Soviet Mikoyan MiG-27, although the idea would be abandoned for the American SST design. After the 1970s, most newer generation fighters optimized for maneuvering air combat since the USAF F-15 and Soviet Mikoyan MiG-29 have employed relatively short-span fixed wings with relatively large wing area.


title: Theodosia Bartow Prevost

text: Theodosia Bartow Prevost (November 1746 – May 18, 1794), also known as Theodosia Bartow Burr, was an American Patriot. Raised by a widowed mother, she married British Army officer Jacques Marcus Prevost at age 17. After the American Revolution began, her own Patriot leanings led her to offer the use of her house, the Hermitage, as a meeting- and resting-place for revolutionaries, including Alexander Hamilton, Marquis de Lafayette, and Aaron Burr; it was briefly used as the headquarters of George Washington, who counted her amongst his friends. Burr's visit to the Hermitage began a secret romance that, following the death of Prevost's first husband, led to marriage.


title: Theodosia Bartow Prevost

text: The couple moved to New York City due to Burr's legal practice, and she acted as a crucial ally and confidante as he began his political career. She was known for her wit, unusually deep education and intellectual acuity; her death in 1794 left Burr without "his best ally in the political wars to come".


title: Theodosia Bartow Prevost

text: Theodosia was born in November 1746 to Ann Sands Stillwell and Theodosius Bartow, an attorney, in Shrewsbury Township, New Jersey. Her mother's family was noted for their beauty and had lived in America since 1638; her father's family had arrived in 1702 when John Bartow was sent to establish a Church of England ministry in Westchester County, New York. Theodosius died on October 5, 1746, several weeks before Theodosia was born. Five years later, Theodosia's mother married Philip de Visme, a captain in the British Army, with whom she had five more children.


title: Theodosia Bartow Prevost

text: De Visme provided for Theodosia's tutoring, ensuring that she received a "cosmopolitan education" and became fluent in French. She would later translate French political treatises to English, and exchanged informed political observations and arguments as equals with Burr in their correspondence.


title: Theodosia Bartow Prevost

text: At the age of seventeen, Theodosia married Jacques Marcus Prevost, a Swiss native and the brother of Augustine Prévost, who was serving as commander of the British Army forces in New Jersey. They married in Trinity Church in 1763. They had five children: Sally, Anna Louisa, Mary Louisa, Augustine, and John. When Prevost was dispatched to the West Indies in the early 1770s, Theodosia and the children remained in New Jersey.


title: Theodosia Bartow Prevost

text: Despite her family's background (both her stepfather and husband were officers of the Royal American Regiment) Theodosia aligned herself with the Patriots, counting William Livingston and Robert Troup as friends and allies. During the Revolution Theodosia's home, the Hermitage – named after the cottage of Jean-Jacques Rousseau – became a gathering-place for American soldiers. When she heard that George Washington was in the area following the Battle of Monmouth she extended an invitation for him to stay there. He accepted this invitation in July 1778, and briefly utilized the Hermitage as his headquarters. The home and its culture were "decidedly French" due to Theodosia's background, and she was known for the intelligent conversation her French salons represented. Other visitors included generals Charles Lee and Jeremiah Wadsworth.


title: Theodosia Bartow Prevost

text: During the war, with her estate being owned by her husband, it was at various times under risk of confiscation as Loyalist property; her powerful friends, allies and patrons, including Livingston and William Paterson, ensured the case was halted.


title: Theodosia Bartow Prevost

text: Theodosia first met Aaron Burr in July 1778 when he accompanied George Washington to her home after the Battle of Monmouth. The two became friends and Burr began regularly visiting Theodosia's home in New Jersey. By November 1778 he was writing to his sister to speak of Theodosia's "honest and affectionate heart" and their regular conversations; his constant visits to the Hermitage provoked gossip, with Paterson baldly referring to Theodosia as "the object of [Burr's] Affections". The two fell in love, and by 1780 were openly lovers, despite a 10-year age gap. In December 1781, Theodosia discovered her husband had died of yellow fever.


title: Theodosia Bartow Prevost

text: Theodosia and Burr's writings to each other covered politics, philosophy and feminism, with the two discussing both Rousseau and British feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. They modelled their relationship on a "mature affection", rather than the standard practice of marriages and relationships being based on social standing and convenience rather than love; this appealed to Theodosia's sense of independence and intellectual freedom. After Burr became licensed as an attorney, Theodosia and he married on July 2, 1782 at the Hermitage, with Livingston personally issuing the license. Their first child, and the only one to survive to adulthood, was born on June 21, 1783, and also named Theodosia.


title: Theodosia Bartow Prevost

text: The Burrs moved to New York City in 1783, moving to Broadway in 1790 as Aaron's legal career took off. This increase in work led to him travelling more, but their "intellectual partnership" did not suffer: the two wrote letters back and forth notable for their candor, with Theodosia constantly disagreeing with her husband's views, "never shy to point out his flaws", and Aaron treating her as he would any other intelligent person, sending her political books and newspapers on a regular basis that he thought she would enjoy. Theodosia's keen sense of observation and adeptness at "judging [Aaron's] peers on the national scene" made her a crucial ally in his political career, particularly after he joined the United States Senate in 1791.


title: Theodosia Bartow Prevost

text: Both Theodosia and Aaron had a "passionate commitment to education", and Theodosia educated her daughter as any wealthy male child would have been: she could read and write at three, studied Latin, Greek and French, and had read "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" by age 10. Aaron handled more and more of this as Theodosia's health began to deteriorate. Her illness was not a shock – she had been ill as long as they had known each other – but by 1792 she was in regular pain, with doctors' prescriptions doing little to help. Aaron offered to resign from the Senate to spend more time with her, but she refused to allow it. She died on May 28, 1794 at the age of 47. She was buried in the now defunct St. John's Burying Ground, which was associated with Trinity Church. Aaron later wrote that she was "the best woman and finest lady" he had ever known.


title: Vladimir Ivashko

text: Vladimir Antonovich Ivashko (; , "Volodymyr Antonovych Ivashko"; 28 October 1932 – 13 November 1994) was a Soviet Ukrainian politician, briefly acting as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the period from 24 to 29 August 1991. On 24 August Mikhail Gorbachev resigned from the post, and on 29 August the CPSU was suspended by the Supreme Soviet. Before becoming General Secretary he had been voted Gorbachev's Deputy General Secretary within the Party on 12 July 1990, a newly created position as a result of the 28th Congress of the Communist Party.


title: Vladimir Ivashko

text: The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the time between Mikhail Gorbachev's resignation and its suspension was politically impotent. By the time of the 28th Congress in July 1990, the party was largely regarded as being unable to lead the country and had, across the fifteen republics of the Soviet Union, split into opposing factions favouring either independent republics or the continuation of the Soviet state. Stripped of its leading role in society, the party lost its authority to lead the nation or the cohesion that kept the party united. Actual political power lay in the positions of President of the Soviet Union (held by Gorbachev) and President of the Russian SFSR (held by Boris Yeltsin). During the August Coup he did not make public statements but on behalf of the Secretariat distributed letters to local party organizations calling on them to uphold the CPSU.


title: Vladimir Ivashko

text: Gorbachev brought in his ally Ivashko in to replace the long-serving Volodymyr Shcherbytsky as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine on 28 September 1989. Ivashko led the Communists to victory in the first relatively free parliamentary election held in the Ukrainian SSR, which took place from 4 March to 18 March 1990, the Communists winning 331 seats to the Democratic Bloc's 111 seats. Ivashko was elected by the communist majority to the post of the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian SSR on 4 June 1990. Since the abandonment by the Communists of their "leading role" in early 1990 this position now superseded that of First Secretary of the Communist Party as the most powerful position in Ukraine.


title: Vladimir Ivashko

text: He resigned his position as First Secretary on 22 June 1990 following opposition demonstrations against his simultaneous occupation of both the posts of First Secretary of the ruling party and Chairman of the legislature. However, on 9 July 1990 he too resigned as Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian SSR after declining to be recalled to Kyiv during the 28th Congress of the Communist Party in Moscow, and a few days later successfully secured the position of Deputy General Secretary of the CPSU.


title: Vladimir Ivashko

text: On August 23, 1990, a secret memorandum from Ivashko outlined strategies to hide the Communist Party's assets through Russian and international joint ventures because Boris Yeltsin, who was the new president of the Russian Republic in the Soviet Union, wanted to levy taxes on the Communist Party's vast administrative property holdings and on the party itself. The memorandum was to organize the transfer of CPSU funds, CPSU financing and support of its operations through associations, ventures, foundations, etc. which are to act as invisible economics. In November 1990, the offshore structure Fimaco was formed by the Russian Central Bank, then known as Gosbank, to hide these funds. According to Sergei Tretyakov, KGB chief Vladimir Kryuchkov sent US$50 billion worth of funds of the Communist Party to an unknown location in the lead-up to the collapse of the USSR.


title: Vladimir Ivashko

text: Following the failed August 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Gorbachev resigned from his post of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and Ivashko became acting General Secretary. On 29 August 1991 the activity of the CPSU was suspended throughout the country, on 6 November Yeltsin banned the activities of the party in Russia and Gorbachev resigned from the presidency on 25 December; the following day the Soviet of Republics dissolved the Soviet Union.


title: Vladimir Ivashko

text: Ivashko retired in 1992 and died on 13 November 1994, at the age of 62, after an undetermined long illness.


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: The trial of Oscar Pistorius for the murder of Reeva Steenkamp and several gun-related charges (The State vs Oscar Pistorius) in the High Court of South Africa in Pretoria opened on 3 March 2014. Pistorius was a leading South African runner that won attention as an athlete with a disability competing at a high level, including at multiple Paralympic Games and the 2012 Summer Olympics. Steenkamp, a model, had been Pistorius's girlfriend for three months. In the early morning of Thursday, 14 February 2013, Steenkamp was shot and killed by Pistorius at his Pretoria home. Pistorius acknowledged that he shot Steenkamp, but he said that he mistook her for an intruder. Pistorius was taken into police custody and was formally charged with murder in a Pretoria court on 15 February 2013. The entire trial was broadcast live via audio, and parts of the trial were also broadcast live via television.


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: On 11–12 September 2014, judge Thokozile Masipa delivered a verdict that Pistorius was not guilty of murder but guilty of the culpable homicide of Steenkamp and reckless endangerment with a firearm at a restaurant. On 21 October 2014, he was sentenced to a maximum of five years for culpable homicide with a concurrent three-year suspended prison sentence for reckless endangerment.


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: He was released on parole on 19 October 2015 after serving one sixth of his sentence. However, the state appealed the conviction, and in December 2015, the Supreme Court of Appeal overturned the conviction for culpable homicide, finding him guilty of murder instead. On 6 July 2016 Masipa sentenced Pistorius to six years in prison for murder. The state appealed again, this time for a longer sentence. The Supreme Court of Appeal then imposed a sentence of 15 years – with the time he had already served reducing the time to an additional 13 years and five months.


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: The bail hearing commenced on 19 February 2013 before Chief Magistrate of Pretoria, Desmond Nair. On the first day of the bail hearing, Magistrate Nair ruled that Pistorius was charged with a Schedule 6 criminal offence, which relates to serious crimes including premeditated murder and requires exceptional circumstances for release on bail.


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: Both the prosecution and the defence said that Pistorius had fired four shots through a locked toilet door, hitting Steenkamp, who was inside, three times. Based on testimony from Detective Hilton Botha, Prosecutor Gerrie Nel claimed that Pistorius had put on his prosthetic legs, walked across his bedroom to the bathroom, and intentionally shot Steenkamp through the door. Nel argued that the time required for this process was sufficient to establish the alleged murder as premeditated.


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: Pistorius said that he had thought Steenkamp was in the bed, and that the person in the toilet was an intruder; and that he didn't put his prosthetic legs on until after firing the shots.


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: Detective Hilton Botha claimed that Pistorius was a flight risk and should remain in custody, because he had a house in Italy and offshore bank accounts. Defence lawyer, Barry Roux denied that Pistorius owned a house in Italy. He also pointed out that Pistorius' prosthetic legs and his fame meant it was virtually impossible for him to flee without being recognized. On 22 February 2013, at the conclusion of the four-day bail hearing, Magistrate Nair said that the state had not convinced him that Pistorius posed a flight risk and released him on bail, which was fixed at R1 million (US$113,000).


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: Detective Hilton Botha was the first police officer to arrive at the scene of the shooting. On the second day of the hearing, Botha, who was the prosecution's lead witness at the hearing, gave contradictory evidence and admitted to a number of procedural mistakes at the crime scene. He initially said the witness who heard screaming was away, but later said the distance was . It was later determined that this witness lived 177 metres away.


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: Botha also said the trajectory of the gunshots indicated that they had been fired downward and directly toward the toilet, which conflicted with Pistorius' statement that he was not wearing his prosthetics at the time. He acknowledged that procedural mistakes had been made during the crime scene investigation and that police had found no evidence inconsistent with the version of events presented by Pistorius. Botha was also forced to admit the police had overlooked a bullet that hit the toilet bowl (and was later discovered by the defence's forensic team), and that investigators had walked through the crime scene without protective boots. He also had to retract statements that testosterone and needles were found in Pistorius's bedroom, after it was shown the substance he found was a herbal remedy.


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: The case took a dramatic turn on 22 February 2013, shortly before the trial began after it was disclosed that Botha was facing charges of attempted murder himself. In 2011, Botha along with two other officers, was accused of firing at a taxi with seven passengers inside during a drunken incident. The case had been dropped but was reinstated on 4 February, 10 days before Pistorius shot Steenkamp. Botha was replaced by Vineshkumar Moonoo, described as "the most senior detective" in the South African Police Service.


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: The trial commenced on 3 March 2014 in the High Court in Pretoria. There was no jury, as the jury system in South Africa was abolished during the apartheid era. The trial was assigned to judge Thokozile Masipa, who appointed two assessors, Janette Henzen du Toit and Themba Mazibuko, to help her evaluate the case and reach a verdict. In addition to the murder charge, Pistorius also faced a charge of illegal possession of ammunition and two charges of firing a gun in a public space.


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: Section 35 of the South African Bill of Rights provides that "Every accused person has a right to a fair trial, which includes the right... to be tried in a language that the accused person understands... ". At the start of the trial, Masipa told the court that the proceedings would be held in English with the assistance of interpreters, and confirmed that Pistorius spoke English.


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: The opening statement of prosecutor Gerrie Nel noted that the murder case against Pistorius was based largely on circumstantial evidence, as there were no eyewitnesses to the incident.


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: At the trial, the defence said that Pistorius woke up because of the heat and humidity. Steenkamp was already awake and asked him if he was having trouble sleeping. Walking around on his stumps, Pistorius opened the balcony door and brought in a fan to try and cool the room down. While doing this, he heard a noise coming from the bathroom. He thought an intruder had broken into the house. He got his gun from under the bed, and whispered to Steenkamp to call police.


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: Pistorius then returned to the bathroom calling out for Reeva as he did so. He said he tried to open the toilet door, but couldn't because it was locked. He then went back into the bedroom on his stumps, opened the balcony door and started screaming for help. He put on his prosthetic legs, and then tried to kick down the toilet door open. When that didn't work, he moved back to the bedroom to get his cricket bat. He used the bat to smash holes in the door. One of the door panels broke open enabling him to reach inside and open the door. He found Steenkamp alive, slumped over the toilet.


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: At the trial, Pistorius' neighbour, Johan Stipp, a radiologist, testified that he found Pistorius praying over Steenkamp's body when he went over to help after being woken by what he described as the sound of gunshots and a woman screaming. Stipp testified that the first thing he remembered Pistorius saying when he saw him was "I shot her. I thought she was a burglar. I shot her."


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: Johan Stander, manager of the estate where Pistorius lived, testified that Pistorius called at 3.18 am saying "Please, please come to my house. I shot Reeva, I thought she was an intruder. Please, please come quick." He went with his daughter and found Pistorius coming down the stairs with Steenkamp in his arms. "He was broken, he was screaming, he was crying, he was praying, I saw the truth that morning", he said.


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: The lead defence advocate in the case was Barry Roux. Pistorius' defence was that, by shooting at what he believed to be an intruder, he believed he was acting in self-defence. He had no intention or motive to kill Steenkamp.


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: Pistorius' defence, therefore, amounted to a claim that he did not intend to act unlawfully. If the killing of Steenkamp was unintentional, under South African law, he should not be found guilty of murder. The court then had to consider whether firing the shots was something that a reasonable person, in his circumstances, would have done. If the court concluded that this was a reasonable mistake, it would convict him of Culpable homicide – defined in South African criminal law as the negligent unlawful killing of another human being – roughly the equivalent to the concept of manslaughter in other jurisdictions.


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: The defence also challenged the state’s timing of the fatal shots disputing allegations that they occurred after an argument. The state claimed the shots occurred at 3.17am. Roux said the noises heard at that time were made by Pistorius as he smashed open the toilet door with a cricket bat. The shots were fired earlier, which meant that the screams heard by witnesses before 3.17am were made by Pistorius calling for help. The defence argued that the screams could not have been made by Steenkamp because she was already fatally wounded.


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: The defence closed its case on 8 July. Barry Roux stated that the timeline of events laid out by the defence proves that Pistorius' story is true, and that Pistorius should only ever have faced culpable homicide charges, not murder. and protested "We were unable to call a number of witnesses because they refused, and didn't want their voices heard all over the world."


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: Chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel claimed the killing was premeditated and that Pistorius shot Steenkamp deliberately after they had an argument. At the trial he said "You fired four shots through the door whilst knowing that she was standing behind the door". At the trial, pathologist Gert Saayman said Steenkamp was shot in the head, pelvis and arm with "black talon" ammunition. He said these particular bullets open up into a petal-like shape on impact and were "designed to cause maximum damage".


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: Nel said the killing was premeditated based on contested testimony by those who lived nearby that they heard an argument and a woman screaming prior to shots being fired. The defence argued that the screaming all came from Pistorius. Whether what the witnesses heard were gun shots or the whacks of his cricket bat breaking down the door afterwards was also contested. Concerned about the claim of premeditation, the presiding magistrate asked Nel why Pistorius hadn't staged a break-in to make his story look more believable. Nel replied: "He planned it that night when she (Steenkamp) locked herself in (the toilet)".


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: In his closing arguments, Nel claimed that Pistorius concocted a "snowball of lies", demanding that Pistorius face consequences for his actions.


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: At the bail hearing, the prosecution argued that Pistorius was wearing his prosthetic legs when he shot Steenkamp, claiming that the time he took to put them on was evidence of premeditated murder. However, when the case went to trial, Nel agreed that Pistorius was not wearing them at the time of the shooting, after prosecution witness Christian Mangena, a police ballistics analyst, testified "the shooter was most likely not wearing prosthetic legs".


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: Prosecution witness Johannes Vermeulen, a police forensic analyst, testified Pistorius was probably not wearing his prosthetic legs when he broke the toilet door down with a cricket bat after the shooting either. However, defence lawyer, Roux pointed out to Vermeulen that if Pistorius had been on his stumps, he would not have been able to balance while swinging a cricket bat with enough force to break the door.


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: Pistorius and Steenkamp had only been dating for three months when she was shot. Peet van Zyl, Pistorius's agent, testified that Pistorius was in a "loving and caring relationship" with Steenkamp. Van Zyl described the sprinter as "hypervigilant", and said he rarely lost his temper.


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: On 24 March, the court heard testimony about messages sent on iPhones between Pistorius and Steenkamp using WhatsApp. Ninety percent of them were described as loving and normal, but there were a few from Steenkamp accusing Pistorius of jealousy and possessiveness. In one of them, sent less than three weeks before her killing, Steenkamp told Pistorius "I'm scared of you sometimes, of how you snap at me", and described his behaviour as "nasty".


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: Roux pointed out that out of 1,700 messages between Pistorius and Steenkamp, only four conversations were argumentative. Roux told the Court: "There was a disagreement, unhappiness, but if you look at the messages, it was resolved very quickly". On 13 February (just a few hours before she died), Steenkamp sent Pistorius a text saying: "You are an amazing person with so many blessings and you are more than cared for." Pistorius replied: "Stay tonight if you like."


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: Steenkamp died on Valentine's Day. At one point in the trial, Roux asked Pistorius to read from a Valentine card which Steenkamp had given the athlete before she died. Steenkamp wrote: "I think today is a good day to tell you that, I love you".


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: The prosecution tried to show that Pistorius and Steenkamp were heard arguing prior to the shooting. The state’s first witness, Michelle Burger, lived 177 metres away from Pistorius' house but claimed to hear Steenkamp screaming from behind the closed toilet door.


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: Acoustic engineer Ivan Lin testified that tests suggested that if Steenkamp was screaming in Pistorius’ toilet, it was "very unlikely" that the screams would be audible or intelligible from away, and that "although we can typically distinguish male and female screams, you cannot do so reliably, without exception". Pistorius's lawyer, Barry Roux suggested to Michelle Burger that Pistorius was so upset, his voice became high pitched and that he sounded like a woman when he screamed. Roux also said it impossible for Steenkamp to have cried out after the shots, because she was shot in the head and had brain damage.


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: A number of other witnesses also claimed they heard a woman's screams and gunshots on the night Steenkamp died. The defence cross examined these witnesses, attempting to establish that, in fact, this was Pistorius screaming for help and that the "explosive sounds" came from the door to the toilet being battered down. This argument was bolstered on 6 May, by a married couple who lived next to Pistorius's house, testifying that they both heard a man crying loudly in a high-pitched voice and calling three times for help. Another immediate neighbour testified that she heard a man crying, describing the sounds as a "cry of pain".


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: Throughout the court proceedings, Pistorius had numerous emotional outbursts, including crying, howling and vomiting. When asked in court to explain what happened, he cried loudly, "his body racked with sobs". Masipa temporarily adjourned proceedings to allow him to calm down. Yvette van Schalkwyk, a social worker and probation officer was assigned to Pistorius after he shot dead his girlfriend. She testified that he was heartbroken and genuinely sorry for what Reeva Steenkamp's parents were going through. She said that in February 2013 she sat with him in the cells during his bail appearance, where he vomited twice and cried 80% of the time. She said he was in mourning, suffering emotionally, and that Pistorius told her he missed Steenkamp a great deal. "He loved her. .. He couldn't think what her parents must be going through" she said.


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: However, Prosecutor Gerrie Nel, known as a "bull terrier" for his aggressive interrogations, claimed Pistorius hadn't shown any remorse and accused Pistorius of "getting emotional (in court) because you're getting frustrated because your version [of events] is improbable."


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: Eventually, Nel requested a mental health assessment which was conducted by psychiatrist Merryll Vorster. She concluded that Pistorius had an anxiety disorder stemming from his childhood. His parents separated when he was six and his father was hardly ever around. His mother was so anxious, she slept with a firearm under her pillow. She died in 2002 which meant Pistorius lost an "emotional attachment figure". Given his disability, Vorster argued that Pistorius was more likely to respond to any threat with "fight" rather than "flight". The evaluation also found that Pistorius was not mentally incapacitated to the extent where he could not tell right from wrong, though it did say that he currently suffered post-traumatic stress disorder, and would need continuing psychiatric care or he could become suicidal.


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: On 30 June, the surgeon who amputated Pistorius' legs when he was only eleven months old, Gerald Versfeld agreed, that he would be "severely impaired in a dangerous situation, and would be unable to flee if on his stumps".


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: Pistorius was also assessed by clinical psychologist, Jonathan Scholtz. On 2 July, defence lawyer Roux read excerpts from his report, which stated "Mr Pistorius has been severely traumatised by the events that took place on 14 February 2013, He currently suffers from a post-traumatic stress disorder, and a major depressive disorder ... The degree of anxiety and depression that is present is significant. He is also mourning the loss of Ms Steenkamp. Mr Pistorius is being treated and should continue to receive clinical care by a psychiatrist and a clinical psychologist for his current condition. Should he not receive proper clinical care, his condition is likely to worsen and increase the risk for suicide." The report did not confirm a diagnosis of "Generalised Anxiety Disorder" by a witness called by the defence, "No evidence could be found to indicate that Mr Pistorius suffered from anxiety to the extent that it impaired his functioning prior to the incident in February 2013." The report found some jealousy but no evidence of abuse by Pistorius: "There is evidence to indicate that Mr Pistorius was genuine with his feelings towards Miss Steenkamp and that they had a normal loving relationship. He did become insecure and jealous at times but this was normal for the specific situation. He would express his displeasure and irritation but would try and sort it out later by talking with Miss Steenkamp. Although the relationship was still young, there were no signs of abusive coercion like those often found in these kinds of relationships."


title: Trial of Oscar Pistorius

text: Wayne Derman, professor of sport and exercise medicine at the University of Cape Town, testified that Pistorius was "hyper-vigilant". On 3 July, under cross-examination, Derman testified "You've got a paradox of an individual who is supremely able, and you've got an individual who is significantly disabled". Derman, who had treated Pistorius over six years while working with South African Olympic and Paralympic teams, said Pistorius' anxieties included concern about flying. "He has a specific fear of being trapped somewhere without being able to move very rapidly." and that on the night he killed Steenkamp, "fleeing was not an option" as Pistorius was not wearing his artificial legs.