Guadalcanal Campaign August 1942 to February 1943

USS Wasp hit by Japanese torpedoes 15 September 1942

The Battle of Guadalcanal, the first major offensive against Japan by Allied forces in the Second World War, finally ended on 9 February 1943.

Six months earlier on 7 August 1942 predominantly American forces landed on the islands of Guadalcanal, Tulagi and Florida in the southern Solomon Islands to try and protect vital supply and communication routes between the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. The Allied invasion quickly overpowered the Japanese forces on the islands and the Allies quickly captured Tulagi and Florida, along with a partially completed airfield on Guadalcanal that was renamed Henderson Field.

Festival International de Ballons 2012, Switzerland

720 HD Video Clips

Here is a compilation of HD video clips taken at this year's Festival International de Ballons at Château-d'Oex in Switzerland. 

The footage was taken on a Blackberry PlayBook in 1080.

Festival International de Ballons à Château-d'Oex, Switzerland

The official Chateau d'Oex balloon landing

The 34th Festival International de Ballons took place in Château d'Oex, Switzerland between 21 and 29 January 2012.

The festival is one of the greatest gatherings in the world of fans and flyers of the most graceful form of flight imaginable.

Hot air balloons that ranged from remote controlled miniatures to enormous craft shaped like airships took to the air for a week long fiesta of majestic flight in the heart of the Pays d'Enhaut, the most spectacular region of the Swiss Alps.

The nine day programme included daily flights and competitions, opportunities for passenger flights, the stunning night burn with scores of illuminated balloons and the David Niven Cup, awarded to the pilot able to fly the furthest distance.

Here are a selection of photographs taken at this year's festival.

Breitling Orbiter, Château d’Oex, Switzerland

The first Breitling Orbiter balloon, outside the Musée de l’Espace Ballon in the centre of Château d’Oex and just a few steps away from the official take-off site.

The museum takes visitors on a journey through the history of lighter-than-air flight, from Icar to Piccard.

The Breitling Orbiter 3 was the first balloon to fly non-stop around the world. Pilots Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones took off from Château d’Oex at 0805 on 1 March 1999 on their historic flight. They landed 19 days, 21 hours and 55 minutes later in Egypt on 21 March.

They had travelled 25,361 miles (40,814 km), at an average speed of 161 knots, in a unique balloon, the Breitling Orbiter 3, which was designed and built by Bristol based Cameron Balloons in the UK. The Breitling Orbiter 3 was 180 feet tall (55 m) when fully inflated and was equipped with six burners that were fuelled by propane stored in 28 titanium gas cylinders.