Family and personal life.

Donald Campbell was born at Canbury House, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, the son of Malcolm, later Sir Malcolm Campbell, holder of 13 world speed records in the 1920s and 1930s in the "Bluebird" cars and boats, and his second wife, Dorothy Evelyn née Whittall.  Campbell attended St Peter's School, Seaford and Uppingham School. At the outbreak of the Second World War he volunteered for the Royal Air Force, but was unable to serve because of a case of childhood rheumatic fever. He joined Briggs Motor Bodies Ltd in West Thurrock, where he became a maintenance engineer. Subsequently, he was a shareholder in a small engineering company called Kine engineering, producing machine tools. Following his father's death on New Year's Eve, 31 December 1948 and aided by Malcolm's chief engineer, Leo Villa, the younger Campbell strove to set speed records first on water and then land.  He married three times — to Daphne Harvey in 1945, producing daughter Georgina (Gina) Campbell, born on 19 September 1946; to Dorothy McKegg (1928–2008) in 1952; and to Tonia Bern in December 1958, which lasted until his death in 1967. Campbell was intensely superstitious, hating the colour green, the number thirteen and believing nothing good ever happened on a Friday. He also had some interest in the paranormal, which he nurtured as a member of the Ghost Club.  Campbell was a restless man and seemed driven to emulate, if not surpass, his father's achievements. He was generally light-hearted and was generally, at least until his 1960 crash at the Bonneville Salt Flats, optimistic in his outlook.

Water speed records.

Campbell began his speed record attempts in the summer of 1949, using his father's old boat, "Blue Bird K4", which he renamed Bluebird K4. His initial attempts that summer were unsuccessful, although he did come close to raising his father's existing record. The team returned to Coniston Water, Lancashire in 1950 for further trials. While there, they heard that an American, Stanley Sayres, had raised the record from, beyond K4's capabilities without substantial modification.  Over the winter of 1950 to 1951, Bluebird K4 was modified to make it a "prop-rider" as opposed to her original immersed propeller configuration. This greatly reduced hydrodynamic drag, as the third planing point would now be the propeller hub, meaning one of the two propeller blades was always out of the water at high speed. She now sported two cockpits, the second one being for Leo Villa.  Bluebird K4 now had a chance of exceeding Sayers' record and also enjoyed success as a circuit racer, winning the Oltranza Cup in Italy in the spring of that year. Returning to Coniston in September, they finally got Bluebird up to 170 mph after further trials, only to suffer a structural failure at which wrecked the boat. Sayers raised the record the following year to in Slo-Mo-Shun IV.  Along with Campbell, Britain had another potential contender for water speed record honours — John Cobb. He had commissioned the world's first purpose-built turbojet Hydroplane, "Crusader", with a target speed of over, and began trials on Loch Ness in autumn 1952. Cobb was killed later that year, when Crusader broke up, during an attempt on the record. Campbell was devastated at Cobb's loss, but he resolved to build a new Bluebird boat to bring the water speed record back to Britain.  In early 1953, Campbell began development of his own advanced all-metal jet-powered "Bluebird K7" hydroplane to challenge the record, by now held by the American prop rider hydroplane Slo-Mo-Shun IV.[1] Designed by Ken and Lew Norris, the K7 was a steel-framed, aluminium-bodied, three-point hydroplane with a Metropolitan-Vickers Beryl axial-flow turbojet engine, producing 3,500-pound-force (16 kN) of thrust.  Like Slo-Mo-Shun, but unlike Cobb's tricycle Crusader, the three planing points were arranged with two forward, on outrigged sponsons and one aft, in a "pickle-fork" layout, prompting Bluebird's early comparison to a blue lobster. K7 was of very advanced design and construction, and its load bearing steel space frame ultra rigid and stressed to 25 g (exceeding contemporary military jet aircraft). It had a design speed of and remained the only successful jet-boat in the world until the late 1960s.  The designation "K7" was derived from its Lloyd's unlimited rating registration. It was carried on a prominent white roundel on each sponson, underneath an infinity symbol. Bluebird K7 was the seventh boat registered at Lloyds in the "Unlimited" series.  Campbell set seven world water speed records in K7 between July 1955 and December 1964. The first of these marks was set at Ullswater on 23 July 1955, where he achieved a speed of but only after many months of trials and a major redesign of Bluebird's forward sponson attachments points. Campbell achieved a steady series of subsequent speed-record increases with the boat during the rest of the decade, beginning with a mark of in 1955 on Lake Mead in Nevada. Subsequently, four new marks were registered on Coniston Water, where Campbell and Bluebird became an annual fixture in the latter half of the 1950s, enjoying significant sponsorship from the Mobil oil company and then subsequently BP.  Campbell also made an attempt in the summer of 1957 at Canandaigua, New York, which failed due to lack of suitable calm water conditions. Bluebird K7 became a well known and popular attraction, and as well as her annual Coniston appearances, K7 was displayed extensively in the UK, United States, Canada and Europe, and then subsequently in Australia during Campbell's prolonged attempt on the land speed record in 1963–1964.  To extract more speed, and endow the boat with greater high speed stability, in both pitch and yaw, K7 was subtly modified in the second half of the 1950s to incorporate more effective streamlining with a blown Perspex cockpit canopy and fluting to the lower part of the main hull. In 1958, a small wedge shaped tail fin, housing an arrester parachute, modified sponson fairings, that gave a significant reduction in forward aerodynamic lift, and a fixed hydrodynamic stabilising fin, attached to the transom to aid directional stability, and exert a marginal down-force on the nose were incorporated into the design to increase the safe operating envelope of the hydroplane. Thus she reached in 1956, where an unprecedented peak speed of was achieved on one run, in 1957, in 1958 and in 1959.  Campbell was awarded the CBE in January 1957 for his water speed record breaking, and in particular his record at Lake Mead in the United States, which earned him and Britain very positive acclaim.

Land speed record attempt.

It was after the Lake Mead water speed record success in 1955 that the seeds of Campbell's ambition to hold the land speed record as well were planted. The following year, the serious planning was under way — to build a car to break the land speed record, which then stood at set by John Cobb in 1947. The Norris brothers designed "Bluebird-Proteus CN7" with in mind.  The brothers were even more enthusiastic about the car than the boat and like all of his projects, Campbell wanted Bluebird CN7, to be the best of its type, a showcase of British engineering skills. The British motor industry, in the guise of Dunlop, BP, Smiths Industries, Lucas Automotive, Rubery Owen as well as many others, became heavily involved in the project to build the most advanced car the world had yet seen. CN7 was powered by a specially modified Bristol-Siddeley Proteus free-turbine engine of driving all four wheels. Bluebird CN7 was designed to achieve 475–500 mph and was completed by the spring of 1960.  Following low-speed tests conducted at the Goodwood motor racing circuit in Sussex, in July, the "CN7" was taken to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, United States, scene of his father's last land speed record triumph, some 25 years earlier in September 1935. The trials initially went well, and various adjustments were made to the car. On the sixth run in CN7, Campbell lost control at over 360 mph and crashed. It was the car's tremendous structural integrity that saved his life. He was hospitalised with a fractured skull and a burst eardrum, as well as minor cuts and bruises, but "CN7" was a write-off. Almost immediately, Campbell announced he was determined to have another go. Sir Alfred Owen, whose Rubery Owen industrial group had built CN7, offered to rebuild it for him. That single decision was to have a profound influence on the rest of Campbell's life. His original plan had been to break the land speed record at over 400 mph in 1960, return to Bonneville the following year to really bump up the speed to something near to 500 mph, get his seventh water speed record with K7 and then retire, as undisputed champion of speed and perhaps just as important, secure in the knowledge that he was worthy of his father's legacy.  Campbell decided not to go back to Utah for the new trials. He felt the Bonneville course was too short at and the salt surface was in poor condition. BP offered to find another venue and eventually after a long search, Lake Eyre, in South Australia, was chosen. It hadn't rained there for nine years and the vast dry bed of the salt lake offered a course of up to. By the summer of 1962, Bluebird CN7 was rebuilt, some nine months later than Campbell had hoped. It was essentially the same car, but with the addition of a large stabilising tail fin and a reinforced fibreglass cockpit cover. At the end of 1962, CN7 was shipped out to Australia ready for the new attempt. Low-speed runs had just started when the rains came. The course was compromised and further rain meant, that by May 1963, Lake Eyre was flooded to a depth of 3 inches, causing the attempt to be abandoned. Campbell was heavily criticised in the press for alleged time wasting and mismanagement of the project, despite the fact that he could hardly be held responsible for the unprecedented weather.  To make matters worse for Campbell, American Craig Breedlove drove his pure thrust jet car "Spirit of America" to a speed of at Bonneville in July 1963. Although the "car" did not conform to FIA (Federation Internationale de L'Automobile) regulations, that stipulated it had to be wheel-driven and have a minimum of four wheels, in the eyes of the world, Breedlove was now the fastest man on Earth.  Campbell returned to Australia in March 1964, but the Lake Eyre course failed to fulfil the early promise it had shown in 1962 and there were further spells of rain. BP pulled out as his main sponsor after a dispute, but he was able to secure backing from Australian oil company Ampol.  The track never properly dried out and Campbell was forced to make the best of the conditions. Finally, in July 1964, he was able to post some speeds that approached the record. On the 17th of that month, he took advantage of a break in the weather and made two courageous runs along the shortened and still damp track, posting a new land speed record of. The surreal moment was captured in a number of well-known images by photographers, including Australia's Jeff Carter. Campbell was bitterly disappointed with the record as the vehicle had been designed for much higher speeds. "CN7" covered the final third of the measured mile at an average of, peaking as it left the measured distance at over. He resented the fact that it had all been so difficult. "We've made it — we got the bastard at last," was his reaction to the success. Campbell's 403.1 mph represented the official land speed record.  In 1969, after Campbell's fatal accident, his widow, Tonia Bern-Campbell negotiated a deal with Lynn Garrison, president of Craig Breedlove and Associates, that would see Craig Breedlove run Bluebird on Bonneville's Salt Flats. This concept was cancelled when the parallel Spirit of America supersonic car project failed to find support.

The Double.

Campbell now planned to go after the water speed record one more time with Bluebird K7 — to do what he had aimed for so many years ago, during the initial planning stages of CN7 — break both records in the same year. After more delays, he finally achieved his seventh water speed record at Lake Dumbleyung near Perth, Western Australia, on the last day of 1964, at a speed of. He had become the first, and so far only, person to set both land and water speed records in the same year.  Campbell's land speed record was short-lived, because FIA rule changes meant that pure jet cars would be eligible to set records from October 1964. Campbell's speed on his final Lake Eyre run remained the highest speed achieved by a wheel-driven car until 2001; "Bluebird CN7" is now on display at the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu in Hampshire, England, its potential only partly realised.

Rocket car plans and final water speed record attempt.

Bluebird Mach 1.1.

Campbell decided a massive jump in speed was called for following his successful 1964 land speed record attempt in Bluebird CN7. His vision was of a supersonic rocket car with a potential maximum speed of. Norris Brothers were requested to undertake a design study. Bluebird Mach 1.1 was a design for a rocket-powered supersonic land speed record car. Campbell chose a lucky date to hold a press conference at the Charing Cross Hotel on 7 July 1965 to announce his future record breaking plans:  Bluebird Mach 1.1 was to be rocket-powered. Ken Norris had calculated using rocket motors would result in a vehicle with very low frontal area, greater density, and lighter weight than if he were to employ a jet engine. Bluebird Mach 1.1 would also be a relatively compact and simple design. Norris specified two off-the-shelf Bristol Siddeley BS.605 rocket engines. The 605 had been developed as a rocket-assisted take-off engine for military aircraft and was fuelled with kerosene, using hydrogen peroxide as the oxidiser. Each engine was rated at thrust. In Bluebird Mach 1.1 application, the combined thrust would be equivalent of 36,000 bhp (27,000 kW; 36,000 PS) at.

Final record attempt.

To increase publicity for his rocket car venture, in the spring of 1966, Campbell decided to try once more for a water speed record. This time the target was. "Bluebird K7" was fitted with a lighter and more powerful Bristol Orpheus engine, taken from a Folland Gnat jet aircraft, which developed of thrust. The modified boat was taken back to Coniston in the first week of November 1966. The trials did not go well. The weather was appalling, and "K7" suffered an engine failure when her air intakes collapsed and debris was drawn into the engine. By the middle of December, some high-speed runs were made, in excess of but still well below Campbell's existing record. Problems with "Bluebird"s fuel system meant that the engine could not reach full speed, and so would not develop maximum power. Eventually, by the end of December, after further modifications to her fuel system, and the replacement of a fuel pump, the fuel starvation problem was fixed, and Campbell awaited better weather to mount an attempt.

Death.

On 4 January 1967, weather conditions were finally suitable for an attempt. Campbell commenced the first run of his last record attempt at just after 8.45 am. Bluebird moved slowly out towards the middle of the lake, where she paused briefly as Campbell lined her up. With a deafening blast of power, Campbell now applied full throttle and Bluebird began to surge forward. Clouds of spray issued from the jet-pipe, water poured over the rear spar and after a few hundred yards, at, Bluebird unstuck from the surface and rocketed off towards the southern end of the lake, producing her characteristic comet's tail of spray. She entered the measured kilometre at 8:46 am. Leo Villa witnessed her passing the first marker buoy at about in perfect steady planing trim, her nose slightly down, still accelerating. 7.525 seconds later, Keith Harrison saw her leave the measured kilometre at a speed of over. The average speed for the first run was. Campbell lifted his foot from the throttle about 3/10 of a second before passing the southern kilometre marker. As Bluebird left the measured kilometre, Keith Harrison and Eric Shaw in a course boat at the southern end of the measured kilometre both noticed that she was very light around the bows, riding on her front stabilising fins. Her planing trim was no worse than she had exhibited when equipped with the Beryl engine, but it was markedly different from that observed by Leo Villa at the northern end of the kilometre, when she was under full acceleration. Campbell had made his usual commentary throughout the run.  Campbell's words on his first run were, via radio intercom: Instead of refuelling and waiting for the wash of this run to subside, Campbell decided to make the return run immediately. This was not an unprecedented diversion from normal practice, as Campbell had used the advantage presented i.e. no encroachment of water disturbances on the measured kilometre by the quick turn-a-round, in many previous runs. The second run was even faster once severe tramping subsided on the run-up from Peel Island (caused by the water-brake disturbance). Once smooth water was reached some or so from the start of the kilometre, K7 demonstrated cycles of ground effect hovering before accelerating hard at 0.63 g to a peak speed of some 200 metres or so from the southern marker buoy. Bluebird was now experiencing bouncing episodes of the starboard sponson with increasing ferocity. At the peak speed, the most intense and long-lasting bounce precipitated a severe decelerating episode — to, -1.86g — as K7 dropped back onto the water. Engine flame-out then occurred and, shorn of thrust nose-down momentum, K7 experienced a gliding episode in strong ground effect with increasing angle-of-attack, before completely leaving the water at her static stability pitch-up limit of 5.2°. Bluebird then executed an almost complete somersault (~ 320° and slightly off-axis) before plunging into the water (port sponson marginally in advance of the starboard), approximately 230 metres from the end of the measured kilometre. The boat then cartwheeled across the water before coming to rest. The impact broke K7 forward of the air intakes (where Campbell was sitting) and the main hull sank shortly afterwards.  Mr Whoppit, Campbell's teddy bear mascot, was found among the floating debris and the pilot's helmet was recovered. Royal Navy divers made efforts to find and recover the body but, although the wreck of K7 was found, they called off the search, after two weeks, without locating his body. Campbell's body was finally located in 2001.  Campbell's last words, during a 31-second transmission, on his final run were, via radio intercom:  The cause of the crash has been variously attributed to several possible causes (or a combination of these causes):  On 28 January 1967 Campbell was posthumously awarded the Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct "for courage and determination in attacking the world water speed record."

Recovery of Bluebird K7 and the body of Donald Campbell.

The wreckage of Campbell's craft was recovered by the Bluebird Project between October 2000, when the first sections were raised, and May 2001, when Campbell's body was recovered. The largest section comprising approximately two-thirds of the centre hull was raised on 8 March 2001. The project began when diver Bill Smith was inspired to look for the wreck after hearing the Marillion song "Out of this World" (from the album "Afraid of Sunlight"), which was written about Campbell and "Bluebird".  The recovered wreck revealed that the water brake had deployed after the accident as a result of stored accumulator pressure; Campbell would not have had time to deploy the relatively slow-moving brake as the boat flipped out of control. The boat still contained fuel in the engine fuel lines, discounting the fuel-starvation theory. The wreckage all evidenced an impact from left to right, wiping the whole front of the boat off in that direction. Campbell's lower harness mounts had failed and were found to be effectively useless. Further dives recovered various parts of K7, which had separated from the main hull when it broke up on impact.  Campbell's body was finally located just over two months later and recovered from the lake on 28 May 2001, still wearing his blue nylon overalls. On the night before his death, while playing cards he had drawn the queen and the ace of spades. Reflecting upon the fact that Mary, Queen of Scots had drawn the same two cards the night before she was beheaded, (1 chance in 2,704), he told his mechanics, who were playing cards with him, that he had a fearful premonition that he was going to "get the chop". It was not possible to determine the cause of Campbell's death, though a consultant engineer giving evidence to the inquest said that the force of the impact could have caused him to be decapitated. When his remains were found, his skull was not present and is still missing.  Campbell was buried in Coniston Cemetery on 12 September 2001 after his coffin was carried down the lake, and through the measured kilometre, on a launch, one last time. A funeral service was then held at St Andrew's Church in Coniston, after an earlier, and positive DNA examination had been carried out. The funeral was attended by his widow Tonia, daughter Gina, other members of his family, members of his former team and admirers. The funeral was overshadowed in the media by coverage of the 9/11 attacks in the United States. Campbell's sister, Jean Wales, had been against the recovery of her brother's body out of respect for his stated wish that, in the event of something going wrong, "Skipper and boat stay together". Jean Wales did, however, remain in daily telephone contact with project leader Bill Smith during the recovery operation in anticipation of any news of her brother's remains. When Campbell was buried in Coniston Cemetery on 12 September 2001 she did not attend the service. Steve Hogarth, lead singer for Marillion, was present at the funeral and performed the song "Out of this World" solo.

Legacy.

Between them, Donald Campbell and his father had set eleven speed records on water and ten on land.  The story of Campbell's last attempt at the water speed record on Coniston Water was told in the BBC television film "Across the Lake" in 1988, with Anthony Hopkins as Campbell. Nine years earlier, Robert Hardy had played Campbell's father, Sir Malcolm Campbell, in the "BBC2 Playhouse" television drama "Speed King"; both were written by Roger Milner and produced by Innes Lloyd. In 2003, the BBC showed a documentary reconstruction of Campbell's fateful water-speed record attempt in an episode of "Days That Shook the World". It featured a mixture of modern reconstruction and original film footage. All of the original colour clips were taken from a film capturing the event, "Campbell at Coniston" by John Lomax, a local amateur filmmaker from Wallasey, England. Lomax's film won awards worldwide in the late 1960s for recording the final weeks of Campbell's life.  In 1956, he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews for the seventh episode of the new television show "This Is Your Life".  An English Heritage blue plaque commemorates Campbell and his father at Canbury School, Kingston Hill, Kingston upon Thames, where they lived.  In the village of Coniston, the Ruskin Museum has a display of Donald Campbell memorabilia, and the Bristol Orpheus engine recovered in 2001 is also displayed. The engine's casing is mostly missing, having acted as a sacrificial anode in its time underwater, but the internals are remarkably preserved. Campbell's helmet from the ill-fated run is also on display.

Restoration.

On Thursday 7 December 2006 Gina Campbell, Donald's daughter, formally gifted the recovered wreckage of Bluebird K7 to the Ruskin Museum in Coniston on behalf of the Campbell Family Heritage Trust. In agreement with the Trust and the museum Bill Smith is to organise the restoration of the boat, which is now under way.[9] Now the joint property of the Ruskin Museum and The Bluebird Project, the intention is to rebuild K7 back to running order circa 4 January 1967. Bill Smith has said that this will take an undisclosed number of years to accomplish. Gina Campbell commented: "I've decided to secure the future of Bluebird for the people of Coniston, the Ruskin Museum and the people of the world". Museum Director Vicky Slowe spoke of Gina's generosity and then said: "Bill Smith has assured us he can get Bluebird fully conserved and reconfigured at no cost to the museum. As of 2008, K7 is being fully restored by The Bluebird Project, to a very high standard of working condition in North Shields, Tyne and Wear, using a significant proportion of her original fabric, but with a replacement BS Orpheus engine of the same type albeit incorporating many original components."  As of May 2009 permission has been given for a one-off set of proving trials of Bluebird on Coniston Water, where she will be tested to a safe speed for demonstration purposes only. There is no fixed date for completion of Bluebird K7 or the trials. When not running K7 will be housed in her own purpose built wing at the Ruskin Museum in Coniston, while remaining in the care of The Bluebird Project.  On 20 March 2018 the restoration was featured on the BBC's The One Show,[10] where it was announced that Bluebird K7 would return to the water on Loch Fad, on the Isle of Bute in Scotland, in August 2018 for handling trials.  In August 2018, initial restoration work on Bluebird was completed. She was transported to Loch Fad where she was refloated on 4 August 2018. Following initial engine trials on 5 August, Bluebird completed a series of test runs on the loch, reaching speeds of about. For safety reasons, there are no plans to attempt to reach any higher speeds.

Donald Malcolm Campbell, (23 March 1921 – 4 January 1967) was a British speed record breaker who broke eight absolute world speed records on water and on land in the 1950s and 1960s. He remains the only person to set both world land and water speed records in the same year (1964). He died during a water speed record attempt at Coniston Water in the Lake District, England.

Donald Malcolm Campbell (23. března 1921 – 4. ledna 1967) byl britský automobilový závodník, tvůrce nových rychlostních rekordů. V 50. letech vytvořil takových rekordů osm, čímž si vysloužil značnou popularitu, jejímž důkazem je i 89. místo v anketě 100 největších Britů z roku 2002. Kromě silničních rychlostních rekordů se věnoval i rychlostním rekordům na vodě, v roce 1964 byl jako dosud jediný člověk držitelem rychlostního rekordu na souši i na vodě. Většinu svých rekordů vytvořil na speciálech Bluebird. Zahynul při havárii během jednoho ze svých pokusů o rekord.


Background and development.

Prior to the creation of "Blunderbuss", Jack White had been a member of the duo the White Stripes along with Meg White. In 2007, the band went on a tour after releasing the album "Icky Thump". In the midst of the tour, the band canceled its United States tour dates, citing Meg White's struggle with acute anxiety; shortly afterwards, the band canceled the remainder of its 2007 tour dates. The band then went on a hiatus, during which Jack White worked on various other projects. In 2008, the Raconteurs, of which White was a member, released its second album, "Consolers of the Lonely". The rock supergroup the Dead Weather, another band that included White, released its debut album "Horehound" in 2009 and "Sea of Cowards" in 2010. In addition, White produced Wanda Jackson's 2011 album "The Party Ain't Over". Ultimately, the White Stripes broke up in 2011. In June 2011, White and his wife Karen Elson, who provided backing vocals for "Blunderbuss", announced their intention to divorce and held a divorce party.  Produced at Third Man Studio in Nashville, Tennessee, "Blunderbuss" has its roots in White's recordings with several artists under his label, Third Man Records, including Tom Jones and Wanda Jackson. During these recordings, White learned to direct groups with as many as 12 people, more than he had directed under his previous musical projects. White started recording his own songs as a result of Wu-Tang Clan member RZA's last-minute cancellation of his attendance of a session that White had planned. Reluctant to send away the musicians who had shown up for the session, White decided to use them to record some of his material. White did not initially intend to create an album, but he found that after recording "six or seven songs it started to click that it was all becoming something". White noted that directing hired musicians rather than working with a band afforded him several advantages: in the latter case he could not "tell other people what to play", whereas in the former case he "could ask people to play something" and then "go somewhere else and work on another part", thus enabling him to write "on the spot... and for other musicians". Furthermore, the "freedom of having [his] own studio and having people in Nashville who could come at short notice" enabled him to use "100 different production styles" on "Blunderbuss". While recording songs for the album, White alternated between all-male and all-female backing bands. He often recorded different versions of individual songs using each band to "see if anything changed". According to White, the sessions for the album generated "something like 25 songs", 13 of which were included in the album. Most of the album's songs were written and recorded in the latter half of 2011.  White decided to release the album through Columbia Records due to its history as "the first record label" and its capacity to expand the album's reach. According to White, friends of his asked him why he did not release the album solely through his label, Third Man Records. He believed that doing so might "do ["Blunderbuss"] a disservice", and he stated that he had "nothing to prove about being indie or anything like that". The album was engineered and mixed by Grammy Award-winning sound engineer Vance Powell, who had also worked with such names as The Whigs and Kings of Leon. While Bob Ludwig was working on mastering, he suggested to Powell that they avoid compression and increase the gain, an idea to which White responded enthusiastically. White was pleased with the results, finding that the album "did not get changed by compression, it was just louder". Most songs on the album were recorded to 8-track analog tape; no more than 14 tracks were used per song. White preferred analog to digital, finding fault in the latter's variety of "options to change the sounds that you are putting down" since it "[took] all the inherent soulful qualities of what is going on". The use of 8-track tape limited the number of tracks White could add to a song, allowing him to "focus on better things".

Composition.

Music.

"Blunderbuss" is a blues and rock album that incorporates a variety of musical elements. "Missing Pieces" and "Take Me with You When You Go" resemble progressive folk music, and "I Guess I Should Go to Sleep" is a country rock song. R&B is present in White's cover of Little Willie John's "I'm Shakin'", which includes female backing vocalists. "Freedom at 21" contains hip hop influences, and it uses a "clattering drum pattern" that was achieved by placing a tape echo on a drumbeat that Carla Azar had played. "On and On and On" presents various moods and musical elements throughout. The final track, "Take Me with You When You Go", begins with "cool jazz breeziness" written in a time signature, then transitions to a "frantic rock" sound. "Pitchfork"'s Ryan Dombal found the album's "early rock, folk, and country styles" to resemble the Beatles' self-titled album. The country soul title track "Blunderbuss" and "Hypocritical Kiss" have been compared by critics to the works of Bob Dylan, and "The Daily Telegraph"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s Neil McCormick compared "Weep Themselves to Sleep" to music on David Bowie's "Aladdin Sane". White occasionally sings in falsetto on the album. Rob Sheffield of "Rolling Stone" noted the presence of "made-in-Nashville flourishes" throughout the album, namely the fiddle, the mandolin, and the pedal steel guitar. "Missing Pieces" opens with a Rhodes piano and continues to use the instrument throughout, and "Sixteen Saltines" consists of "crunchy chords". The acoustic guitar and the Wurlitzer electric piano are prominent on the song "Love Interruption", which features vocals from Ruby Amanfu as well as the bass clarinet, played by Emily Bowland. Steve Kandell of "Spin" described the song as consisting of "mid-tempo soul", and Greg Kot of the "Chicago Tribune" noted the song's "moody atmosphere". "Weep Themselves to Sleep" includes an "itchy and needling" guitar solo that consists of two guitars playing in different channels. This solo has the effect of transitioning out of an atmosphere of "orchestrated stateliness". "Billboard" described "Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy" as having a "complex, hopscotching melody and rhythm". The melody and lyrics for the song were conceived in a dream; upon awaking, White "forced [him]self" to record what he had dreamt. "I Guess I Should Go to Sleep" is written in a "jazzy tempo", and it contains a violin solo.  Critics noted similarities and differences among "Blunderbuss" and music White had written for other musical projects, including the White Stripes, the Dead Weather, and the Raconteurs. "The Toronto Star"'s Ben Rayner stated that White "doesn't feel much like playing the showboating White Stripes guitar god", though he mentioned "flashes of Stripe-esque fury" in the song "Sixteen Saltines". Other critics compared "Sixteen Saltines" to the White Stripes' "Blue Orchid". Michael Roffman of "Consequence of Sound" noted that "Love Interruption" was not as well-received as "Sixteen Saltines", "probably because with the Wurlitzer and the clarinet, ['Love Interruption'] didn't necessarily relive those feelings of seeing the [White Stripes]." "Billboard" viewed "I'm Shakin'" and "Trash Tongue Talker" as resembling music on Wanda Jackson's "The Party Ain't Over", which White produced. Dombal described the album as being "closer to earth than [White's] fantastic White Stripes yet further away than the sometimes-pedestrian Raconteurs or Dead Weather". "The Sunday Times" remarked that "if [White's] lyrics seem oppressively focused on one subject, his music heads happily all over the place, echoing all the previous aspects of his career and wandering into new areas."

Lyrics and themes.

In an interview for "The New York Times", White said that "Blunderbuss"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s central theme is death, a topic he felt "was overwhelming throughout the lyric writing". The vulture resting on White's shoulder on the cover of the album is a representation of this theme. The album's lyrics explore loss, "collapsing relationships", and "breakup emotions of hurt and love", often depicting "weak-willed" men and focusing on "dishonesty, jealousy, [and] immorality". Its songs sometimes depict White "swearing himself off women". Jerry Shiver of "USA Today" called "Blunderbuss" "Jack White's divorce album", and Alexis Petridis of "The Guardian" said that the album occasionally characterizes relationships using lyrics "that are completely hysterical in every sense of the phrase". The opening track "Missing Pieces" depicts the loss of body parts to characterize what "NME"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s Barry Nicolson described as "the give-and-take of relationships": "When they tell you they just can’t live without you/ They ain’t lying, they’ll take pieces of you/ And they’ll stand above you/ And walk away". The narrator of the song "Love Interruption" expresses desires to be subjected to various violent actions by "love". Dombal ultimately viewed the song not as "some masochistic fantasy" but as "a form of self discipline", citing the line "I won't let love disrupt, corrupt, or interrupt me anymore". According to White, the narrator in the closing track "Take Me with You When You Go" initially "sound[s] misogynistic", but "is on his knees begging to be taken with the girl at the end".  "Lyrical hooks" and "high school imagery" appear in the song "Sixteen Saltines", which depicts the conspicuousness of a former lover bringing an "emasculated, exasperated" narrator to a state of fragility. The titular track "Blunderbuss" utilizes internal rhymes and "images of decadence" as it describes an adulterous episode between the narrator and a married woman. Steve Hyden of "The A.V. Club" described "Hypocritical Kiss" as a "duality of recrimination and self-flagellation", and he interpreted the song as depicting an argument between Jack White and his former bandmate Meg White in the midst of the White Stripes' breakup. In the middle of the song, its lyrics shift from the point of view of one speaker in the conversation to the other. White said that the song "Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy" explores "white hipster musicianship and authenticity" and that its use of the word "stripes" represents "the [American] flag and the American dream of profiting at any cost".

Promotion.

On January 30, 2012, White announced the album "Blunderbuss" and release dates of April 23 and April 24. The same day, a free stream of "Love Interruption" was posted to White's website; the song was made available for purchase on January 31 at 12:00a.m. Eastern Standard Time. On February 7, a vinyl version of the song was released along with the B-side "Machine Gun Silhouette". The single peaked at 13 and 27 on the Billboard US Alternative Songs and US Rock Songs charts, respectively. On February 8, "Machine Gun Silhouette" was posted to SoundCloud, but it was quickly removed.  White performed "Love Interruption" and "Sixteen Saltines" on the March 3, 2012 episode of "Saturday Night Live" with two different backing bands, one all-female and the other all-male. On March 8, White performed at a celebration of Third Man Records' third birthday at its headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee. The performance included six songs from "Blunderbuss".  The studio version of "Sixteen Saltines" was released online via White's YouTube channel on March 13. The 7-inch vinyl single, which included a cover of U2's "Love Is Blindness" as its B-side, was released March 20. In observance of Record Store Day, Third Man Records released a 12" vinyl edition of the single whose B-side contained a playable etching of the record label's logo. In addition, a limited edition 12" vinyl containing blue liquid was released. The single peaked at 129 on the UK Singles Chart and 12 on the Billboard US Alternative Songs chart.  A playback of a vinyl copy of the album was held at London, England at County Hall on March 20, 2012. White attended the event, during which he was interviewed by the audience and the Mayor of Lambeth, Councillor Christiana Valcarcel.  On April 1, 2012, Third Man Records released 1000 helium balloons attached to flexi-disc copies of "Freedom at 21". Third Man Records described the stunt as "an experiment exploring non-traditional forms of record distribution and a way to get records in the hands of people who don't visit record shops". A video for the album's final single, a cover of Little Willie John's "I'm Shakin'", was released on October 10, 2012. The song became available for pre-order on October 16, and it was released digitally and on 7-inch vinyl on October 30. The single included the B-side "Blues on Two Trees".

Tour.

On February 3, 2012, White announced performances at Sasquatch! Music Festival and Radio 1's Hackney Weekend via his website. On February 14, he announced additional performance dates as part of a solo tour consisting of concerts in Tennessee, Alabama, and Oklahoma. The tour began on March 10 with a concert at Track 29 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. On March 19, White announced additional concerts in North America and Europe. The tour also included performances in Australia and concluded at the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan. During the tour, White alternated between two backing bands, one all-female and one all-male. The tour included supporting acts Alabama Shakes, First Aid Kit, and Pokey LaFarge.  White's April 27 concert at Webster Hall in New York City was streamed online as part of "American Express Unstaged". Directed by Gary Oldman, the livestream gave viewers the choice to view the concert from a black-and-white shot, a balcony angle, or the director's cut. Viewers could submit pictures of themselves as a contribution to a digital mosaic.  The Grand Ole Opry gave White a framed blunderbuss as a gift after he sold out at the Ryman Auditorium two nights in a row.

Critical reception.

"Blunderbuss" was met with widespread acclaim from music critics, receiving a score of 83 out of 100 on the aggregator site Metacritic, based on 44 reviews. "The Washington Post" called the album "restless, cranky and great, although weirdly inconsequential: less a statement of artistic purpose than a stellar collection of songs". The "Chicago Tribune"'s Greg Kot described "Blunderbuss" as "an entertaining rollercoaster of a listen", and he remarked that the album contained "pulse-pounding story-telling". "The Daily Telegraph's" Neil McCormick stated that the album "crackles with life and energy", and he commented that White combines the influences of his previous musical projects "with a spirit of loose invention and the command of a veteran band leader". "The A.V. Club's" Steven Hyden commented that the album contains "at least five songs... that match the excellence of The White Stripes' best". In a review that called "Blunderbuss" "a purposeful success", "Pitchfork's" Ryan Dombal said that the album has "some of White's best pure songwriting yet, but no earth-cracking riffs".  "Spin's" Steve Kandell remarked that a solo album freed White from restraints present on his other musical projects; he stated that ""Blunderbuss" is a surprisingly measured and grounded response, given the possibilities" and called the album "a mid-career stride". "AllMusic's" Stephen Thomas Erlewine described the album as more "emotionally direct" and "musically evasive" than White's previous work. He commented that this "dichotomy makes "Blunderbuss" a record that only seems richer with increased exposure". "Billboard" praised the album's "diversity and musical ambition" and described it as "familiar enough to please the faithful, adventurous enough to forge a new path forward and satisfying enough to make fans realize anew just how much White has been missed". Jerry Shriver of "USA Today" said that the album "aims wide and often hits home". Rob Sheffield of "Rolling Stone" called its songs "brilliant" and described the album as White's "most expansive and masterful record since the White Stripes' 2003 classic, "Elephant"".  Ben Ratliff of "The New York Times" found several "great moments" in "Blunderbuss" but criticized the album for lacking "the sense of occasion, the strength of the gesture" present in White's previous musical projects. He viewed the "riffs, chord progressions, and dynamic shifts" as "less distinguished" than those of the White Stripes, and he remarked, "Few songs on "Blunderbuss" truly knock the wind out of you, as the White Stripes could". "The Toronto Star" called the album "the most conventional record White has made outside of the Raconteurs" and stated that it "maybe falls just a hair shy of the lofty expectations one might hold for a Jack White solo album".

Debate surrounding White's views toward women.

The album drew mixed commentary on what it revealed about White's views toward women. In an article from Jessica Misener with "The Atlantic", she stated that "Blunderbuss" "crystallizes White's longstanding issues with women". She commented that much of White's music depicts him responding with "[v]itriol" to women "threatening his control" and that the lyrics of "Hypocritical Kiss" include "an instance of blatant manipulation". Regarding "Freedom at 21", she remarked: "White's dismissal of a 21st-century woman in "Blunderbuss"' 'Freedom at 21' makes perfect sense. A modern-day woman, with her sexual freedom and iPhone, represents power and choice, things that White embraces in his own life. But she's come by this in a way that's not on his terms, so she's a villain." In a review of the album, Allison Stewerrt of "The Washington Post" said, "Hangers-on may be frequent targets, but women don't come off well, either: They're creatures of eternal falseness, apparently, who wear too much makeup and want to kill White's mother and send her to hell."  Writing for "The Guardian", Laura Barton disagreed with Misener's article, viewing the nature of White's lyrics as the result of "proximity rather than gender" and stating that other songs written by White contain "plenty examples of tenderness to counterbalance any venom". She commented, "It's undeniable that White's music is fired by the difference between male and female... But nowhere does he assert that the masculine is superior to the feminine, rather that there are differences to be celebrated." In an article for "Slate", Lauren O'Neal also expressed disagreement with Misener's article. Citing White's treatment toward women in his personal life, she remarked that "White seems to be more enlightened than the average man", and she stated that the ""Blunderbuss"'s woman-heavy lineup is perhaps the most impressive of White’s bona fides." Both O'Neal and Barton cited examples of White's collaboration with women, for which Barton called White "a great champion of women in rock'n'roll".  In an interview for "The Guardian", Alexis Petridis asked White about "Freedom at 21", which Petridis described as appearing to be a "protracted moan about feminism, that seems to be suggesting that White's life would have been easier if women just did what he told them to". In response, White asserted that the song was about modern attitudes toward technology: "The early telephones, the telegraph, you had to treat this technology with respect. You can write on the internet for the whole world, you can make comments, but there's no one telling you that's impolite or that's inappropriate." In another interview for "The Guardian" with Tim Lewis, White responded to accusations of misogyny: "I don't know where the hell people got that from me because I've done so much work in my life to promote female musicians and artists... I respect and I'm inspired by them so much."

Accolades.

In 2012, "Sixteen Saltines" was nominated for Best Rock Video at the MTV Video Music Awards and Best Indie/Rock Video – International at the UK Music Video Awards. "Blunderbuss" was nominated for Album of the Year and Best Rock Album at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards. "Freedom at 21" was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song the same year. "I'm Shakin'" was nominated for Best Rock Performance and Best Music Video at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards.  "Rolling Stone" ranked "Blunderbuss" number three on its list of the best albums of 2012, saying that "every hypocritical kiss on the record hits like a hammer". The album was also included in the 2014 edition of the book "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".

Commercial performance.

"Blunderbuss" performed well commercially. It was the first album generated by any of White's musical projects to debut at number one in the United States, with first week sales in the United States totaling 138,000. The album also debuted at number one in Canada, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and the Flanders region of Belgium. "Blunderbuss" sold 33,000 vinyl copies in its first year, making it the best-selling vinyl album of 2012.  In 2012, the album was awarded a diamond certification from the Independent Music Companies Association, indicating at least 200,000 copies sold in Europe. On March 5, 2013, it was awarded gold status by the Recording Industry Association of America, indicating over 500,000 sales in the United States. The album was also certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association and the British Phonographic Industry, indicating sales of at least 35,000 in Australia and 100,000 in the United Kingdom. Music Canada awarded the album a platinum certification for selling at least 80,000 copies in Canada.

Personnel.

Adapted from the "Blunderbuss" liner notes.

Release history.

The vinyl LP version of the record was pressed at United Record Pressing in Nashville, Tennessee. On April 16, Third Man Records streamed the album in its entirety on iTunes for free listening prior to its release. The Japanese edition of the album features "Machine Gun Silhouette" and a cover of U2's "Love Is Blindness" as bonus tracks. The latter song appears on the U2 tribute record "AHK-toong BAY-bi Covered".

Blunderbuss is the debut solo album by Jack White. It was released through digital download on April 20, 2012 and in compact disc and vinyl editions on April 23 through White's own label Third Man Records, in association with XL Recordings and Columbia Records. Written almost entirely by White, the album was recorded and produced by White in Nashville, Tennessee in 2011. Various musical styles appear throughout the album, including blues, rock, folk, and country soul.

Blunderbuss je debutové sólové studiové album Jacka Whitea. Album vyšlo v dubnu 2012 pod jeho vlastní značkou Third Man Records ve spolupráci s XL Recordings a Columbia Records.


Sports career.

Jiří Kejval is a multiple national champion in rowing and for many years he also competed internationally for Czechoslovakia and then the Czech Republic. In the years 1992 and 1993 he won the Rössler-Ořovský Spring Sculls race, which is part of the Prague Primátorky regatta. In 1991 he finished 10 in the World Championships. In 1992 he was selected to compete at the Olympic Games in Barcelona, but because his partner in the two-man crew fell ill he did not compete in the end. He retired from competitive rowing in 1994. He continues to row regularly and a new challenge for him in recent years has been participation in cross country skiing races.

Public office.

In the years 1996–2014 Jiří Kejval held the position of President of the Czech Rowing Association. In the years 2009 to 2012 he was Vice-president of the Czech Olympic Committee for Economics and Marketing. In 2012 he succeeded Milan Jirásek as President of the Czech Olympic Committee. He was re-elected by the Czech Olympic Committee Plenary Session four years later, and his current term ends in 2020.  He devised the Olympic Festival (originally Olympic Park) concept, which since 2014 during the Olympic Games has promoted sport and brought sport closer to the general public, and children in particular. The project has been adopted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and is being expanded to other countries.  In February 2018 at the IOC Session held during the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Jiří Kejval was elected a member of the International Olympic Committee.  He is also Chairman of the IOC Marketing Commission and Chairman of the Board of IOC Television and Marketing Services, and a member of the Medical Commission of the Association of National Olympic Committees. In 2017 he was appointed a member of the Executive Committee of WADA. All Kejval’s roles in sport administration are non-paid. He has also applied the same voluntary principle to all elected members of the Czech NOC leadership.

Business activities.

Jiří Kejval sees his activity in sport as a part of social responsibility. He is able to do this thanks to his successful business career, which he commenced in 1991. In that year he established, together with business partner Martin Kulík, the company TECHO a.s., which from a small producer of interior lighting grew into, over a period of five years, a leader in the area of office furnishings in the Czech Republic.  At the current time around 30 per cent of all offices in the Czech Republic have furnishings from Techo. In addition the company is also a leading creator of commercial interiors in Europe and beyond. It has even supplied furniture, for example, to Buckingham Palace.  His stake in the company, worth hundreds of millions of crowns, was sold in 2008 to the group Royal Ahrend, the number three office furniture producer in Europe. Even after selling the company Kejval has continued as Managing Director and in 2012 he was appointed one of the three board members of Royal Ahrend.

Relationship to art and education.

In 1998 Jiří Kejval co-founded the non-profit organisation Prostor – architektura, interiér, design, which aims to promote Czech architecture, interior design and design. He also supports the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art. At the Czech NOC he has championed a connection between sport and culture in the spirit of Olympic values and ideals. He was also active in the American Fund for Czech and Slovak Leadership Studies, which supports talented Czech and Slovak students.  In 2012 he initiated establishment of the Czech Olympic Foundation. This helps children from disadvantaged family backgrounds to take up sport. He has strived long-term to improve the situation in the area of corporate social responsibility and sport.

Jiří Kejval (born 30 November 1967 in Prague) is a Czech sports official, businessman and since 2012 President of the Czech Olympic Committee (Czech NOC). During his active sports career he competed at international level and for eighteen years was President of the Czech Rowing Association.

Jiří Kejval (* 30. listopadu 1967 Praha) je český sportovní funkcionář, podnikatel a od roku 2012 předseda Českého olympijského výboru (ČOV). Během aktivní sportovní kariéry reprezentoval ve veslování a osmnáct let stál v čele Českého veslařského svazu.


Letters.

Below are the 32 letters of the modern Persian alphabet. Since the script is cursive, the appearance of a letter changes depending on its position: isolated, initial (joined on the left), medial (joined on both sides) and final (joined on the right) of a word.  The names of the letter are mostly the ones used in Arabic except for the Persian pronunciation. The only ambiguous name is, which is used for both and. For clarification, they are often called (literally "-like " after, the name for the letter that uses the same base form) and (literally "two-eyed ", after the contextual middle letterform ), respectively.

Overview table.

Letter construction.

The i'jam diacritic characters are illustrative only, in most typesetting the combined characters in the middle of the table are used.

Letters that do not link to a following letter.

Seven letters (,,,,,, ) do not connect to the following letter, unlike the rest of the letters of the alphabet. The seven letters have the same form in isolated and initial position and a second form in medial and final position. For example, when the letter is at the beginning of a word such as ("here"), the same form is used as in an isolated. In the case of ("today"), the letter takes the final form and the letter takes the isolated form, but they are in the middle of the word, and also has its isolated form, but it occurs at the end of the word.

Diacritics.

Persian script has adopted a subset of Arabic diacritics: zebar ( in Arabic), zir ( in Arabic), and piš "or" ( in Arabic, pronounced "zamme" in Western Persian), tanwīne nasb and šaddah (gemination). Other Arabic diacritics may be seen in Arabic loanwords in Persian.

Short vowels.

Of the four Arabic short vowels, the Persian language has adopted the following three. The last one, sukūn, has not been adopted.  In Iranian Persian, none of these short vowels may be the initial or final grapheme in an isolated word, although they may appear in the final position as an inflection, when the word is part of a noun group. In a word that starts with a vowel, the first grapheme is a silent "alef" which carries the short vowel, e.g. ("omid", meaning "hope"). In a word that ends with a vowel, letters, and respectively become the proxy letters for "zebar", "zir" and "piš", e.g. نو ("now", meaning "new") or بسته ("bast-e", meaning "package").

Tanvin (nunation).

Nunation (, ) is the addition of one of three vowel diacritics to a noun or adjective to indicate that the word ends in an alveolar nasal sound without the addition of the letter nun.

Other characters.

The following are not actual letters but different orthographical shapes for letters, a ligature in the case of the. As to ("hamza"), it has only one graphic since it is never tied to a preceding or following letter. However, it is sometimes'seated' on a vâv, ye or alef, and in that case, the seat behaves like an ordinary vâv, ye or alef respectively. Technically, "hamza" is not a letter but a diacritic.  Although at first glance, they may seem similar, there are many differences in the way the different languages use the alphabets. For example, similar words are written differently in Persian and Arabic, as they are used differently.

Novel letters.

The Persian alphabet has four extra letters that are not in the Arabic alphabet:,, ("ch" in "chair"), ("s" in "measure").

Deviations from the Arabic script.

Persian uses the Eastern Arabic numerals, but the shapes of the digits 'four' (), 'five' (), and'six' () are different from the shapes used in Arabic. All the digits also have different codepoints in Unicode:

Word boundaries.

Typically, words are separated from each other by a space. Certain morphemes (such as the plural ending '-hâ'), however, are written without a space. On a computer, they are separated from the word using the zero-width non-joiner.

Cyrillic Persian alphabet in Tajikistan.

As part of the "russification" of Central Asia, the Cyrillic script was introduced in the late 1930s. The alphabet remained Cyrillic until the end of the 1980s with the disintegration of the Soviet Union. In 1989, with the growth in Tajik nationalism, a law was enacted declaring Tajik the state language. In addition, the law officially equated Tajik with Persian, placing the word "Farsi" (the endonym for the Persian language) after Tajik. The law also called for a gradual reintroduction of the Perso-Arabic alphabet.  The Persian alphabet was introduced into education and public life, although the banning of the Islamic Renaissance Party in 1993 slowed adoption. In 1999, the word "Farsi" was removed from the state-language law, reverting the name to simply "Tajik". the "de facto" standard in use is the Tajik Cyrillic alphabet, and only a very small part of the population can read the Persian alphabet.

The Persian alphabet () or Perso-Arabic alphabet is a writing system used for the Persian language spoken in Iran (Western Persian) and Afghanistan (Dari Persian). The Persian language spoken in Tajikistan (Tajiki Persian) is written in the Tajik alphabet, a modified version of Cyrillic alphabet since the Soviet era.

Termín perská abeceda () nebo persko-arabské písmo označuje modifikované arabské písmo, kterým se zapisuje moderní perština. Aby se mohly vyjádřit i hlásky v arabštině neexistující, vytvořila se pomocí akcentů další čtyři písmena. Další podobné úpravy abecedy se používají i u jiných národů, které také používají persko-arabské písmo (např. Kurdové).


Building history.

Movie house.

The architectural firm Rapp and Rapp, famous for its theater buildings, designed the Italian Renaissance-style building. The building was variously described by the newspapers as being of the French Renaissance or Northern Italianate style. The Paramount was considered, at its opening, to be the largest and most lavish theater for a city the size of Portland. Originally opened as the Portland Publix Theatre, a vaudeville venue in March 1928, the name changed to the Paramount Theater in 1930, as the owners had a contract to run Paramount films locally. The building continued to show films until 1972, after which it hosted concerts.  Visitors were greeted by a high "Portland" sign above the Broadway Marquee, which contained approximately 6,000 theatrical lights. The sign read "Paramount" from 1930–1984. The theatre was designed with many foyers and lobbies. The main entrance to the auditorium boasted huge French-paned windows facing east and south, covered with velvet drapes. The walls were covered with mirrors and marble, and the floors were covered with expensive carpets. The furnishings had been purchased from a French museum and private collections. The concessions stand was made of marble and stretched nearly half the length of the main lobby. It was described as the "longest candy counter in the West."  The lobby was lit with huge crystal chandeliers. Nearly $35,000 had been spent on them. The largest had a span of nearly, weighing over and containing 181 lights. Currently, the largest chandelier has 137 candle bulbs, and the smaller ones each have 124 bulbs.  The top row of the balcony seats was six stories above the stage. Small staircases from the main lobby led to the balcony area which contained men's and ladies' lounges. The men's lounge was equipped with fireplaces, telephones, radios, phonographs and attendants. The women's lounge was furnished with dressing tables, mirrors, maids and hairdressers. There was also a self-playing Louis XV Ampico-Knabe grand piano in ivory and gold on the bridge over the lobby.  The walls of the auditorium were elaborately decorated with murals and near the front of the stage, small balconies were hung with drapes which hid the pipes from the $46,500 Wurlitzer organ. This four-manual organ console was mounted on an elevator and could be raised to the level of the stage at the touch of a button. The seating capacity of the theater was said to have been 4000 seats by the newspaper ads of the day. The ads promised "An acre of seats". Actually, the seating capacity was approximately 3000.  The ceilings were of a special design. The ceiling panels were suspended from the roof of the building and jutted out toward the sides of the auditorium, leaving a small cove next to the wall. A series of electric light bulbs were set in the hollow, not visible to the audience. Their glow fell on the patrons indirectly, giving the effect of space and freedom. The orchestra pit could hold a 30-piece orchestra. There was also a "flying" stage which could be raised or lowered or moved about above the main stage.  In July 1928, the theatre appeared on the front page of the newspaper, figuring in an unusual robbery. A young man, Robert Nolan, had lived in Southern California for a time. While living there, he appeared as an extra in the movie, "Wheel of Chance." He had moved back to Oregon and when he saw that the movie was showing at the Portland theatre, he decided to go see himself on the "silver screen." While he was in the lobby, he saw two people walking by carrying the day's receipts. As he was watching the movie, the idea formed that he should take a chance before he left Portland to acquire a little extra money. He went to the box office and held up the attendants for $1176. He was apprehended several days later, having spent all but $1.50 of the money on bootleggers and drinking parties.  During the Great Depression, the theatre hired roving musicians and a "psychic" to entertain in the lobby before movies, in an effort to attract patrons to the theatre. Admission was 50 cents at this point, down 10 cents from opening night.  By 1936, the theater had been sold to the Evergreen chain, in conjunction with John Hamrick, and between them, they owned eight movie theatres in Portland.  In 1965, the exterior and interior of the building were in a decline, and in September of that year, part of the cast iron balcony which faces Park Avenue (a piece of gingerbread), gave way and fell to the pavement below. The break was along an old fracture line caused by a previous earthquake. The iron had rusted over time without proper maintenance. In August 1970, chunks of the masonry on the corner of Main and Broadway gave way. Two huge blocks, each, fell from the facade, one of them crashing into the main marquee below. The masonry blocks were said to have fallen due to the age of the building. The owners did not seem to be putting any money into maintenance. The theatre was offered for sale in December 1970 and was purchased by John Haviland in 1971, who owned the Park-Haviland Hotel. The theatre was leased to Tom Moyer, owner of a chain of movie theaters.

Concert venue.

Haviland felt that it was uneconomical to operate a 3000-seat theater in the days of television. The last regular film showing was on August 15, 1972 ("Dr. Phibes Rises Again" with Vincent Price).  In 1972, a Seattle-based partnership was formed, Paramount Northwest. They leased the theatre for three years, with an option for six more, and promoted live concerts. Heart played there as part of the "Catch a Rising Star" series (which included Tom Petty and Elvis Costello, among others), for the admission price of 92 cents (promoted by local radio station KGON, 92.3 FM). John Haviland still owned it and claimed that the rent was "1/10 of what it should be for such a theatre": $4000 per month. In December 1972, Haviland proposed a state-run gambling casino on the property, claiming he was losing more than he could afford on the Paramount.  In March 1975, Haviland conducted an auction during which he sold off all the statuary, pipe organ, antique furniture, 16th century suit of armor, mirrors, China, Oriental rugs, original oil paintings, lighted gold-leaf music stands, and pianos (there were 3 grand pianos); basically everything that was not attached to the walls or floors. Haviland was trying to drive out the rock-concert promoting tenants and went into a legal dispute with Paramount Northwest over the lease. He felt that the young people targeted by the concerts were not spending enough money and were destroying the theatre. Haviland won a court case preventing Paramount Northwest from renewing their lease option. Haviland intended to renovate the theatre and offer a higher-class type of entertainment, including dinner theatre.  In August 1976, the Paramount Theatre was sold to Seattle-based West Coast Theatres company. The owner offered to sell the property to the city for $4 million in 1980, but the city council had to decide whether to renovate the Paramount Theatre or build a performing arts center from the ground up.  The City of Portland attempted to buy out the owner in 1982, but talks broke down. The city council finally voted to condemn the building. A condemnation hearing jury determined that the city would have to pay the owner $4.1 million as compensation for the building.  The theater cost $500,000 to build in 1928. As of October 2006, "The Schnitz" was assessed by Multnomah County at more than $32 million.

Restoration.

In 1972, the Portland City Council voted to give the building Landmark Status, over the objections of John Haviland, the owner. The landmark status applied only to the exterior of the building. Many people felt that the interior of the building was more valuable architecturally. The building (as the Paramount Theatre) was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.  A major renovation began in September 1983 to the designs of Boora Architects, restoring the building to much of its original opulence. The interior of the auditorium, however, was painted one neutral color, rather than restoring the murals that had decorated it. Portland residents Arlene and Harold Schnitzer contributed generously to the completion of the initial phase of the Portland Center for the Performing Arts. The one-year, $10 million renovation involved repairing, recasting or replacing much of the theatre's ornate interior as well as making it comfortable and safe for today's audiences and performers.  The landmark 65-foot-tall "Paramount" sign was removed on March 18, 1984, to be used by Ballard Sign Company of Salem as a model for a new replica which would restore the wording used originally (1928–1930): "Portland", appropriate for the building's change in use as well as being historically fitting. The new replica sign, with neon letters five feet tall, was attached to the building on September 4, 1984. The theatre re-opened later the same month.  The concert hall now plays host to a variety of presentations including classical, jazz, pop, rock, folk and gospel music, dance, theatre, travel films, conferences, and weddings.  The concert hall features:  Design highlights: wool carpeting designed in Portland and loomed in New Zealand; original chandeliers renovated and fitted with new crystal in rococo-style lobby; original ornate interior re-paneled, recast and replaced; classic colors of warm neutrals and teal replaced the original dark and heavy gold, green and rose.  When the performing arts center was opened in 1984, it was decided to name the Portland Theatre building after Arlene Schnitzer.  The original theater organ and statuary were sold off in an auction on March 26, 1975. During the auction, there was a general outcry from the audience to keep a particular marble statue, called "Surprise" (a nude girl with her hands thrown across her face) in the theater. A hat was passed among the 1200 member audience to take up a collection, and $5,233.97 was raised to purchase the statue and keep it in the theater lobby. The statue has a finger missing from a bullet from a box-office robbery in the 1950s.

Notable stage appearances.

Partial list of notable personal appearances made on the stage of the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall:

The Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall (opened as the Portland Publix Theatre before becoming the Paramount Theatre after 1930) is a historic theater building and performing arts center in Portland, Oregon, United States. Part of the Portland Center for the Performing Arts, it is home to the Oregon Symphony, Portland Youth Philharmonic, Metropolitan Youth Symphony, White Bird Dance Company, and Portland Arts & Lectures. It is also a concert and film venue. Originally (and sometimes still referred to as) the Paramount Theatre, it is also locally nicknamed "The Schnitz".

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall je koncertní sál v Portlandu v Oregonu. Divadlo bylo postaveno v roce 1928 za 500 000 dolarů. Původně byl sál určen převážně pro film, od roku 1972 se zde pořádají koncerty.


Function.

Where the congregation of a church is united in the nave there is no use for a hagioscope. However, when parts of the congregation separated themselves for purposes of social distinction, by use of walls or other screens from the chancel, or nave, and from the main congregation, such a need arose. In medieval architecture hagioscopes were often a low window in the chancel wall and were frequently protected by either a wooden shutter or iron bars. Hagioscopes are found on one or both sides of the chancel arch; in some cases a series of openings has been cut in the walls in an oblique line to enable a person standing in the porch (as in Bridgwater church, Somerset) to see the altar; in this case and in other instances such openings were sometimes provided for an attendant, who had to ring the Sanctus bell when the Host was elevated.  Though rarely encountered in continental Europe, they are occasionally found to serve such purposes as allowing a monk in one of the vestries to follow the service and to communicate with the bell-ringers. Sometimes squints were placed to enable nuns to observe the services without having to give up their isolation. The unusual design of the church of St Helen's in Bishopsgate, one of the largest surviving ancient churches of London, arose from its once having been two separate places of worship: a 13th-century parish church and the chapel of a Benedictine convent. On the convent side of St Helen's Church, a "squint" allowed the nuns to observe the parish masses; church records show that the squint in this case was not enough to restrain the nuns, who were eventually admonished to "abstain from kissing secular persons", a practice to which it seems they had become "too prone".

Surviving examples.

Finland.

There is only one hagioscope in Finland, at Olavinlinna (St. Olaf's Castle), in the town of Savonlinna. Here, the squint has enabled some congregants to continue gathering at the dark, damp stone church tower through the dead of winter, despite forbidding temperatures and weather conditions.

France.

In France, the hagioscope of Notre-Dame in Dives-sur-Mer, Normandy, has the inscription "trou aux lépreux" (leper window). Other hagioscopes are known at St. Laurent in Deauville, Normandy and at the old church of St. Maurice in Freyming-Merlebach, Lorraine.

Germany.

In Germany, a number of hagioscopes still exist or were rediscovered in the 19th and 20th century. They are found mainly in Lower Saxony which had a small population in the Middle Ages and only a few bigger cities. In cities lepers lived together in housing estates which often had their own chapels. In Georgsmarienhütte the hagioscope of church St. Johann belonged to the former Benedictine convent Kloster Oesede, founded in the 12th century and reconstructed in the early 1980s. Nearby in Bad Iburg a hagioscope was rediscovered at St. Clemens, church of former Benedictine monastery in the castle and monastery complex Schloss Iburg. Other hagioscopes in Lower Saxony are found in Bokelesch, Westoverledingen, Dornum, Midlum, Kirchwahlingen (Gemeinde Böhme) and Hankensbüttel.  In Northrhine-Westphalia, St. Antonius-Kapelle in Gescher-Tungerloh-Capellen has a hagioscope. St. Antonius is used as Autobahn chapel at Bundesautobahn 31. Another hagioscope is found in St. Ulricus in Börninghausen. In Rhineland-Palatinate the church of St. Eligius-Hospital in Neuerburg has a hagioscope. In Baden-Württemberg there is a hagioscope in St. Peter und Paul, the Old Cemetery Church of Nusplingen.

Netherlands.

St. Vitus in Wetsens, and Jistrum, both in Friesland, have hagioscopes, as does the oldest church in the Netherlands, which stands in Oosterbeek.

Sweden.

In Sweden, Bro Church near Visby on Gotland has a cross-shaped hagioscope. Another church on Gotland with a hagioscope is Atlingbo Church. Other hagioscopes are at the church of Vreta Abbey near Linköping, Granhult Kyrka in Uppvidinge and Husaby Kyrka in Götene. The wooden church in Granhult (Småland) has a hagioscope which can be closed.

United Kingdom.

Churches in England with hagioscopes include:  St Wilfrid’s church, Ribchester, Lancashire has a squint on the north side permitting the high altar to be viewed from outside the church.  At St Bees Priory a purpose-built squint was included in the wall of the 14th-century chapel to give a view of the high altar. The window was low enough to allow a person to kneel whilst looking through the aperture. The hagioscope at St Mary the Virgin, Lytchett Matravers, is unusually large; although unknown in origin it provides a view to the communion table from the 16th-century north aisle. It is large enough that it is often used as a corridor for access to the chancel.

A hagioscope (from Gr. "άγιος", holy, and "σκοπεῖν", to see) or squint is an architectural term denoting a small splayed opening or tunnel at seated eye-level, through an internal masonry dividing wall of a church in an oblique direction (south-east or north-east), giving worshippers a view of the altar and therefore of the elevation of the host. Where worshippers were separated from the high altar not by a solid wall of masonry but by a transparent parclose screen, a hagioscope was not required as a good view of the high altar was available to all within the sectioned-off area concerned. Where a squint was made in an external wall so that lepers and other non-desirables could see the service without coming into contact with the rest of the populace, they are termed leper windows or lychnoscopes.

Hagioskop je okénko vedoucí z kostela přímo ven, které umožňovalo zúčastnit se bohoslužby nemocným (např. leprou). Tímto okénkem totiž bylo vidět přímo na oltář při pozdvihování. Podobná okénka - průzory - se v některých případech vyskytují také ve zdech mezi kněžištěm kostela či kaple a sousední prostorou, např. sakristií, kaplí či oratoří (např. kaple gotického paláce Göttweigerhof ve městě Stein (Rakousko).


Accident flight.

The accident airplane, registration N93119, (Boeing 747-131) was manufactured by Boeing in July 1971; it had been ordered by Eastern Air Lines, but after Eastern canceled its 747 orders, the plane was purchased new by Trans World Airlines. The aircraft had completed 16,869 flights with 93,303 hours of operation and was powered by four Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7AH turbofan engines. On the day of the accident, the airplane departed from Ellinikon International Airport in Athens, Greece as TWA Flight 881 and arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) about 4:38pm. The aircraft was refueled, and there was a crew change; the new flight crew consisted of 58-year-old Captain Ralph G. Kevorkian, 57-year-old Captain/Check Airman Steven E. Snyder, and 63-year-old Flight Engineer/Check Airman Richard G. Campbell (all of whom were highly experienced veterans flying with TWA), as well as 25-year-old flight engineer trainee Oliver Krick, who was starting the sixth leg of his initial operating experience training.  The ground-maintenance crew locked out the thrust reverser for engine #3 (treated as a minimum equipment list item) because of technical problems with the thrust reverser sensors during the landing of TWA 881 at JFK, prior to Flight 800's departure. Additionally, severed cables for the engine #3 thrust reverser were replaced. During refueling

Passengers and crew.

There were 230 people on board TWA 800 including 18 crew and 20 off-duty employees, most of whom were crew meant to cover the Paris-Rome leg of the flight.  17 of the 18

Initial investigation.

The NTSB was notified about 8:50 p.m. the day of the accident; a full go team was assembled in Washington, D.C. and arrived on scene early the next morning. Meanwhile, initial witness descriptions led many to believe the cause of the crash was a bomb or surface-to-air missile attack. The NTSB does not investigate criminal activity. The Attorney General is empowered to declare an investigation to be linked to a criminal act, and require the NTSB to relinquish control of the investigation to the FBI. In the case of TWA 800, the FBI initiated a parallel criminal investigation alongside the NTSB's accident investigation.

Search and recovery operations.

Search and recovery operations were conducted by federal, state, and local agencies, as well as government contractors. An HH-60 helicopter of the New York Air National Guard saw the explosion from approximately eight miles away, and arrived on scene so quickly that debris was still raining down, and the aircraft had to pull away. They reported their sighting to the tower at Suffolk County Airport (now Gabreski ANG Base). Remote-operated vehicles (ROVs), side-scan sonar, and laser line-scanning equipment were used to search for and investigate underwater debris fields. Victims and wreckage were recovered by scuba divers and ROVs; later scallop trawlers were used to recover wreckage embedded in the ocean floor. In one of the largest diver-assisted salvage operations

Tensions in the investigation.

Relatives of TWA 800 passengers and crew, as well as the media, gathered at the Ramada Plaza JFK Hotel. Many waited until the remains of their family members had been recovered, identified, and released. This hotel became known as the "Heartbreak Hotel" for its role in handling families of victims of several airliner crashes. The New York "Daily News" wrote that for the families the hotel became "a makeshift grief counseling center".  Grief turned to anger at TWA's delay in confirming the passenger list, conflicting information from agencies and officials, and mistrust of the recovery operation's priorities. Although NTSB vice chairman Robert Francis stated that all bodies were being retrieved as soon as they were spotted, and that wreckage was being recovered only if divers believed that victims were hidden underneath, many families were suspicious

Witness interviews.

Although there were considerable discrepancies between different accounts, most witnesses to the accident had seen a "streak of light" that was unanimously described as ascending, moving to a point where a large fireball appeared, with several witnesses reporting that the fireball split in two as it descended toward the water. There was intense public interest in these witness reports and much speculation that the reported streak of light was a missile that had struck TWA 800, causing the airplane to explode. These witness accounts were a major reason for the initiation and duration of the FBI's criminal investigation.  Approximately 80 FBI agents conducted interviews with potential witnesses daily. No verbatim records of the witness interviews were produced; instead, the agents who conducted the interviews wrote

Further investigation and analysis.

Examination of the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder data showed a normal takeoff and climb, with the aircraft in normal flight before both abruptly stopped at 8:31:12 pm. At 8:29:15 pm, Captain Kevorkian was heard to say, "Look at that crazy fuel flow indicator there on number four... see that?" A loud noise recorded on the last few tenths of a second of the CVR was similar to the last noises recorded from other airplanes that had experienced in-flight breakups. This, together with the distribution of wreckage and witness reports, all indicated a sudden catastrophic in-flight breakup of TWA 800.

Possible causes of the in-flight breakup.

Investigators considered several possible causes for the structural breakup: structural failure and decompression, detonation of a high-energy explosive device, such as a missile warhead exploding either upon impact with the airplane, or just before impact, a bomb exploding inside the airplane, or a fuel-air explosion in the center wing fuel tank.

Structural failure and decompression.

Close examination of the wreckage revealed no evidence of structural faults such as fatigue, corrosion or mechanical damage that could have caused the in-flight breakup. It was also suggested that the breakup could have been initiated by an in-flight

Missile or bomb detonation.

A review of recorded data from long-range and airport surveillance radars revealed multiple contacts of airplanes or objects in TWA 800's vicinity at the time of the accident. None of these contacts intersected TWA 800's position at any time. Attention was drawn to data from the Islip, New York, ARTCC facility that showed three tracks in the vicinity of TWA 800 that did not appear in any of the other radar data. None of these sequences intersected TWA 800's position at any time either. All the reviewed radar data showed no radar returns consistent with a missile or other projectile traveling toward TWA 800.  The NTSB addressed allegations that the Islip radar data showed groups of military surface targets converging in a suspicious

Fuel-air explosion in the center wing fuel tank.

In order to evaluate the sequence of structural breakup of the airplane, the NTSB formed the Sequencing Group, which examined individual pieces of the recovered structure, two-dimensional reconstructions or layouts of sections of the airplane, and various-sized three-dimensional reconstructions of portions of the airplane. In addition, the locations of pieces of wreckage at the time of recovery and differences in fire effects on pieces that are normally adjacent to each other were evaluated. The Sequencing Group concluded that the first event in the breakup sequence was a fracture in the wing center section of the aircraft, caused by an "overpressure event" in the center wing fuel tank (CWT). An overpressure event was defined as a rapid increase in pressure resulting in failure of the structure of the CWT.  Because there was no evidence that an explosive device detonated in this (or any other) area of the airplane, this overpressure event could only have been caused by a fuel/air explosion in the CWT. There were of fuel in the CWT of TWA 800; tests recreating the conditions of the flight showed the combination of liquid fuel and fuel/air vapor to be flammable. A major reason for the flammability of the fuel/air vapor in the CWT of

In-flight breakup sequence and crippled flight.

Recovery locations of the wreckage from the ocean (the red, yellow, and green zones) clearly indicated that: (1) the red area pieces (from the forward portion of the wing center section and a ring of fuselage directly in front) were the earliest pieces to separate from the airplane; (2) the forward fuselage section departed simultaneously with or shortly after the red area pieces, landing relatively intact in the yellow zone; (3) the green area pieces (wings and the aft portion of the fuselage) remained intact for a period after the separation of the forward fuselage, and impacted the water in the green zone.  Fire damage and soot deposits on the recovered wreckage indicated that some areas of fire existed on the airplane as it continued in crippled flight after the loss of the forward fuselage. After about 34 seconds (based on information from witness documents), the outer portions of

Analysis of reported witness observations.

At the start of FBI's investigation, because of the possibility that international terrorists might have been involved, assistance was requested from the CIA (US Central Intelligence Agency. CIA analysts, relying on sound-propagation analysis, concluded that the witnesses could not be describing a missile approaching an intact aircraft, but were seeing a trail of burning fuel coming from the aircraft after the initial explosion. This conclusion was reached after calculating how long it took for the sound of the initial explosion to reach the witnesses, and using that to correlate the witness observations with the accident sequence. In all cases the witnesses could not be describing a missile approaching an intact aircraft, as the plane had already exploded before their observations began.  As the investigation progressed, the NTSB decided to form a witness group to more fully address the accounts of witnesses. From November 1996 through April 1997 this group reviewed summaries of witness accounts on loan from the FBI (with personal information redacted), and conducted interviews with crewmembers from a New York Air National Guard HH-60 helicopter and C-130 airplane, as well as a U.S. Navy P-3 airplane that was flying in the vicinity of TWA 800 at the time of the accident.  In February 1998, the FBI, having closed its active investigation, agreed to fully release the witness summaries to the NTSB. With access to these documents no longer controlled by the FBI, the NTSB formed a second witness group to review the documents. Because of the amount of time that had elapsed (about 21 months) before the NTSB received information about the identity of the witnesses, the witness group chose not to re-interview the witnesses, but instead to rely on the original summaries of witness statements written by FBI agents as the best available evidence of the observations initially reported by the witnesses. Despite the two and a half years that had elapsed since the accident, the witness group did interview the captain of Eastwind Airlines Flight 507, who was the first to report the explosion of TWA 800, because of his vantage point and experience as an

Possible ignition sources of the center wing fuel tank.

To determine what ignited the flammable fuel-air vapor in the CWT and caused the explosion, the NTSB evaluated numerous potential ignition sources. All but one were considered very unlikely to have been the source of ignition.

Missile fragment or small explosive charge.

Although the NTSB had already reached the conclusion that a missile strike did not cause the structural failure of the airplane, the possibility that a missile could have exploded close enough to TWA 800 for a missile fragment to have entered the CWT and ignited the fuel/air vapor, yet far enough away not to have left any damage characteristic of a missile strike, was considered. Computer simulations using missile performance data simulated a missile detonating in a location such that a fragment from the warhead could penetrate the CWT. Based on these simulations, the NTSB concluded that it

Other potential sources.

The NTSB also investigated whether the fuel/air mixture in the CWT could have been ignited by lightning strike, meteor strike, auto-ignition or hot surface ignition, a fire migrating to the CWT from another fuel

Fuel quantity indication system.

Because a combustible fuel/air mixture will always exist in fuel tanks, Boeing designers had attempted to eliminate all possible sources of ignition in the 747's tanks. To do so, all devices are protected from vapor intrusion, and voltages and currents used by the Fuel Quantity Indication System (FQIS) are kept very low. In the case of the 747-100 series, the only wiring located inside the CWT is that which is associated with the FQIS.  In order for the FQIS to have been Flight 800's ignition source, a transfer of higher-than-normal voltage to the FQIS would have needed to occur, as well as some mechanism whereby the excess energy was released by the FQIS wiring into the CWT. While the NTSB determined that factors suggesting the likelihood of a short circuit event existed, they added that "neither the release mechanism nor the location of the ignition inside the CWT could be determined from the available evidence." Nonetheless, the NTSB concluded that "the ignition energy for the CWT explosion most likely entered the CWT through the FQIS wiring".  Though the FQIS itself was designed

Report conclusions.

The NTSB investigation ended with the adoption of the board's final report on August 23, 2000. The Board determined that the probable cause of the TWA 800 accident was: In addition to the probable cause, the NTSB found the following contributing factors to the accident: During the course of its investigation, and in its final report, the NTSB issued fifteen safety recommendations, mostly covering fuel tank and wiring-related issues. Among the recommendations was that significant consideration should be given to the development of modifications such as nitrogen-inerting systems for new airplane designs and, where feasible, for existing airplanes.

Controversy.

The NTSB's conclusions about the cause of the TWA 800 disaster took four years and one month to be published. The FBI's earliest investigations and interviews, later used by the NTSB, were performed under the assumption of a missile attack, a fact noted in the NTSB's final report. Six months into the investigation, the NTSB's chairman, Jim Hall, was quoted as saying, "All three theories—a bomb, a missile, or mechanical failure—remain." Speculation was fueled

Aftermath.

Many internet users responded to the incident; the resulting web traffic set records for internet activity at the time. CNN's traffic quadrupled to 3.9 million hits per day. After the tragedy, the website of "The New York Times" saw its traffic increase to 1.5 million hits per day, 50% higher than its previous rate. In 1996, few U.S. government websites were updated daily, but the United States Navy's crash website was constantly updated and had detailed information about the salvage of the crash site.  The wreckage is permanently stored in an NTSB facility in Ashburn, Virginia that was custom-built for the purpose. The reconstructed aircraft is used to train accident investigators.  On July 18, 2008, the Secretary of Transportation visited the facility and announced a final rule designed to prevent accidents caused by fuel-tank explosions. The rule required airlines to pump inert gas into the tanks. The rule covered the centre-wing tank on all new passenger and cargo airliners, and passenger planes built in most of the 1990s, but not old cargo planes. The NTSB had first recommended such a rule just five months after the incident and 33 years after a similar recommendation issued by the Civil Aeronautics Board Bureau of Safety on December 17, 1963, nine days after the crash of Pan Am Flight 214.  The crash of TWA Flight 800, and that of ValuJet Flight 592 earlier in 1996, prompted Congress to pass the Aviation Disaster Family Assistance Act of 1996 as part of the federal aviation appropriations bill. Among other things, the Act gives NTSB, instead of the particular airline involved, responsibility for coordinating services to the families of victims of fatal aircraft accidents in the United States. In addition, it restricts lawyers and other parties from contacting family members within 30 days of the accident.  During the investigation, the NTSB and the FBI clashed with each other. The agencies lacked a detailed protocol describing which agency should take the lead when it was initially unclear if an event was an accident or a criminal act. At the time of the crash, 49 CFR 831.5 specified that the NTSB's aviation accident investigations have priority over all other federal investigations. After the TWA flight 800 investigation, the NTSB recognized the need for better clarity. to clarify the issue in 49 USC 1131(a)(2)(B), which was amended in 2000 to read: In 2005, the NTSB and the FBI entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that states that, “[i]n the immediate aftermath of a transportation accident, the NTSB is the presumptive lead investigative agency and will assume control of the accident scene.” The FBI may still conduct a criminal investigation, but the NTSB investigation has priority. When investigative priority remains with the NTSB, the FBI must coordinate its investigative activities with the NTSB investigator-in-charge. This authority includes interviewing witnesses. The MOU states that: “[t]his procedure is intended...to ensure that neither NTSB nor FBI investigative activity unnecessarily complicates or compromises the other agency’s investigation. The new statutory language and the MOU have improved coordination between the NTSB and FBI since the TWA flight 800 accident., NTSB and FBI personnel conduct joint exercises. Each agency can call upon the others laboratories and other assets. The NTSB and the FBI have designated liaisons to ensure that information flows between agencies, and to coordinate on-scene operations.  Heidi Snow, the fiancée of Flight 800 victim Michel Breistroff, established the AirCraft Casualty Emotional Support Services (ACCESS) nonprofit group together with families of victims of Pan Am Flight 103.

Memorials.

The TWA Flight 800 International Memorial was dedicated in a parcel immediately adjoining the main pavilion at Smith Point County Park in Shirley, New York, on July 14, 2004. Funds for the memorial were raised by the Families of TWA Flight 800 Association. The memorial includes landscaped grounds, flags from

Trans World Airlines Flight 800 (TWA 800) was a Boeing 747-100 that exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York on July 17, 1996 at about 8:31 p.m. EDT, 12 minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport on a scheduled international passenger flight to Rome, with a stopover in Paris. All 230 people on board died in the crash; it is the third-deadliest aviation accident in U.S. history. Accident investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) traveled to the scene, arriving the following morning amid speculation that a terrorist attack was the cause of the crash. Consequently, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and New York Police Department Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) initiated a parallel criminal investigation. Sixteen months later, the JTTF announced that no evidence of a criminal act had been found and closed its active investigation.

Let TWA 800 byl pravidelný let společnosti Trans World Airlines z letiště Johna F. Kennedyho v New Yorku na Letiště Řím-Fiumicino s mezipřistáním na letišti Charlese de Gaulla v Paříži.


Career.

Leonid Tibilov headed the South Ossetian KGB from 1992 to 1998. He was then a first deputy prime minister and co-chaired a Georgian-Ossetian peacekeeping commission. Tibilov stood at the 2006 presidential election losing to Eduard Kokoity, who won 98% of the vote.  Before the 2012 election Tibilov distanced himself from the outgoing President Kokoity. Tibilov is reported to be loyal to Russia and pledged to consult Russia before appointing a government if he was successful at the election.  In the first round of the 2012 Presidential election, Tibilov received 42.5% of the vote to lead David Sanakoyev. In the second round, Tibilov was elected president with 54% of the vote.  In a move towards integration with the Russian Federation, Tibilov proposed in December 2015 a name change to "South Ossetia–Alania" — in analogy with "North Ossetia–Alania", a Russian federal subject. Tibilov furthermore suggested holding a referendum on joining the Russian Federation prior to April 2017, which would lead to a united "Ossetia–Alania". In April 2016, Tibilov said he intended to hold the referendum before August of that year. However, on 30 May, Tibilov postponed the referendum until after the presidential election due in April 2017. At the name-change referendum, nearly 80 percent of those who voted endorsed the name-change, while the presidential race was won by Anatoliy Bibilov — against the incumbent, Tibilov, who had been supported by Moscow and who, unlike Bibilov, was ready to heed Moscow′s wish for the integration referendum not be held any time soon.

Leonid Tibilov (, "Tybylty Xarithony fyrt Leonid";, "Leonid Kharitonovich Tibilov";, "Leonid Tibilovi"; born 28 March 1951 in Verkhny Dvan, Znaur district) is a South Ossetian politician who served as the President of South Ossetia from 2012 to 2017 after winning the 2012 South Ossetian presidential election.

Leonid Charitonovič Tibilov (, osetsky: "Тыбылты Харитъоны фырт Леонид"; * 28. března 1952, Věrchnyj Dvan, Jižní Osetie) je jihoosetský politik, od roku 2012 do roku 2017 prezident částečně mezinárodně uznané Republiky Jižní Osetie.