John Balmer (3 July 1910 – 11 May 1944) was a bomber pilot in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). He joined the RAAF in 1932, and gained attention as a cross-country motorist before the war. In 1940 he became the inaugural commanding officer of No. 13 Squadron, operating Lockheed Hudsons in Northern Australia. He was raised to temporary wing commander in 1941, and within a year had taken charge of the RAAF's first Bristol Beaufort unit, No. 100 Squadron. Appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1942, he led the Beauforts on bombing and torpedo missions against Japanese targets during the New Guinea campaign. Posted to England in 1943, Balmer took command of No. 467 Squadron RAAF, flying Avro Lancasters in the air war over Europe. He led his unit through the Battle of Berlin from November 1943 to March 1944. In April he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, and the following month promoted to temporary group captain. Days later, on the night of 11 May, Balmer's last scheduled operation as the squadron's commanding officer, he and his crew were killed when their plane was shot down. He was buried outside Brussels. (Full article...)

Ruins of al-Rahba fortress in 2005

• ... that the last Mongol invasion of Syria ended with a failed siege against al-Rahba (pictured)?
• ... that Japan's National Basketball League and bj league have merged to create the B.League?
• ... that Mitt Romney's March 3 speech represented an unprecedented attack by a major U.S. party's most recent presidential nominee against the party's current front-runner for the nomination?
• ... that Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips turned down offers for the film rights to their comic The Fade Out because they were afraid accepting them would affect the way the book was written?
• ... that Jack Polito, brother of actor Jon Polito, was inspired to become an animator after seeing the 1933 film King Kong?
• ... that three Iranian diplomats and a journalist were kidnapped in Lebanon by Phalange forces almost 34 years ago, and their fate remains unknown?
• ... that in February 2016, fake documents were sent to Companies House claiming that Katrien Meire had resigned as chief executive of Charlton Athletic F.C.?

Alexander Van der Bellen (left) and Norbert Hofer (right)

• At least 20 people are killed in an armed attack on a bakery in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
• The Constitutional Court of Austria annuls the second round of voting in the 2016 presidential election, requiring the round to be re-held (candidates Alexander Van der Bellen and Norbert Hofer pictured).
• An armed attack at Istanbul Atatürk Airport leaves at least 42 people dead and 230 others injured.
• The conservative People's Party, led by Mariano Rajoy, gains the most seats in the Spanish repeat election but remains short of a majority.
• Guðni Th. Jóhannesson is elected President of Iceland.

July 3

French destroyer Mogador

• 987 – Hugh Capet was crowned King of France, becoming the first monarch of the Capetian dynasty, which ruled France continuously until overthrown during the French Revolution in 1792.
• 1767 – Midshipman Robert Pitcairn sighted Pitcairn Island, subsequently named after him, during an expeditionary voyage led by Philip Carteret.
• 1898 – In one of the key naval engagements of the Spanish–American War, the United States Navy destroyed the Spanish Navy's Caribbean Squadron.
• 1940 – Second World War: The British Navy attacked the French fleet (French destroyer Mogador pictured), fearing that the ships would fall into German hands after the armistice between those two nations.
• 1970 – The Troubles: The British Army imposed the Falls Curfew on Belfast, Northern Ireland, which only resulted in greater Irish republican resistance.