On or about February 5, 1945 one of the remarkable heroes of the French Resistance and British Special Operations Executive (SOE) - Violette Szabo - was executed by the Nazi's following her July 1944 capture. Born in Paris on on June 26, 1921 Violette's familiy moved to London during her childhood. During WWII she joined the SOE.

Following her training and early in April 1944 Violette parachuted into German occupied France. She quickly went to work relaying valuable intel back to the Allies before returning to England at the end of the month.

Last week the US Air Force announced, as part of a proposed series of budget cuts, that it was planning on cutting five squadrons of what has been perhaps the most useful manned aircraft in the Air Force's inventory over the past three decades: the A-10 Thunderbolt II. In turn, only one F-15 and one F-16 squadron would be cut even though our military hasn't faced seriously contested airspace at virtually any point this century.

What's more, neither the F-15 or F-16 have proven themselves as effective, including in terms of cost, as the A-10 in the role of providing close air support (CAS)