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To strictly answer the question posed “What was the P-38 Lightning's only weakness during WW2?” I am going to refer you to the following resource, which is the best article length assessment on the internet of the P-38 in World War 2 :Dr Carlo Kopp, AFAIAA, SMIEEE, PEng, “Der Gabelschwanz Teufel – Assessing the Lockheed P-38 Lightning,” Technical Report APA-TR-2010-1201. December, 2010, Updated April, 2012 Assessing the Lockheed P-38 LightningMore than anything else, the biggest weakness of the P-38 was TRAINING.The P-38 was a big tricycle landing gear, twin engine plane with a pair of turbo-superchargers on its engines. The last were effectively jet engines without burning fuel and had nearly an additional engine’s worth of maintenance associated with both of them. [This was why P-38 squadrons had fewer planes than single engine fighter squadrons.] These characteristics called for a turbo-supercharged twin engine tricycle landing gear transition trainer to get the pilots from an AT-6 Texan to a P-38. Either that, or a lot of stick time in a P-38 before being thrust into combat.None of the ETO/MTO Army Air Forces, the 8th, 9th, 12th, or 15th, provided either.Both the Pacific 5th and 13th AF’s had a General George Kenney devised “P-38 Preparatory Academy.” [I have not found anything on what the 7th (Pacific) and 14th (China) AF’s did as far as P-38 transition training is concerned]The reason for a lack of a transition trainer for the P-38 was the same as the lack of one for the B-26 Marauder. In 1943 the limited supply of Curtiss AT-9 trainers with some of the necessary characteristics were being provided only for the B-24 and later B-29 4-engine bombers.The B-24 in particular was an air crew killer that desperately needed a transition trainer. It being by far the most fatal crash prone plane in the USAAF service in WW2.See my post here:Trent Telenko's answer to During WWII, the B-24 Liberator was by far the most-produced Allied aircraft. It flew faster and farther than the B-17 with twice the payload, but there doesn't seem to be much written about it compared to many planes which had far less impact on the war. Why is this?The reason that the 8th, 9th, 12th, or 15th Air Forces did not go the General Kenney training route boiled down to priority and mission.Kenney was at the bottom of the USAAF fighter priority list and he had to minimize losses to have a fighter force at all. He was also not on the D-Day time table in Operation Point Blank that drove “MAXIMUM EFFORT” and damn the human costsFor which see:Pointblank directive - Wikipedia“The Pointblank directive authorised the initiation of Operation Pointblank, the code name for the primary portion [2] of the Allied Combined Bomber Offensive intended to cripple or destroy the German aircraft fighter strength, thus drawing it away from frontline operations and ensuring it would not be an obstacle to the invasion of Northwest Europe.”And See:Operation POINTBLANK - United States Air Force Academyhttps://www.usafa.edu/app/uploads/Harmon04.pdfUSAAF leaders in Europe did not have the benefit of time to do the right thing with the P-38 and its pilots. Starting Oct 1943 every available P-38 and pilot — however trained — were thrown into the aerial meat grinder at 30,000 feet over Germany.The pilots of the 55th Fighter Group, among others, would pay the price.Dr Carlo Kopp ‘s article “Der Gabelschwanz Teufel – Assessing the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, puts it this way:The outstanding success of the P-38 in the Med and the Pacific was not matched by units of the 8th AF in the UK. These were applied to the long range escort role, equipped with the P-38H. The H model, a stopgap while production of the P-38J was being organised, supplanted the G in May, 1943, and differed primarily in the use of more powerful F-17 engines with automatic engine mixture controls (autolean/autorich), B-33 turbochargers and automatic oil cooler flaps, and a new AN-M2C cannon. The more powerful V-1710F-17 hit the design limits of the leading edge intercoolers, oil coolers and radiators, which limited military power output to 1,240-1,350 HP, only late build aircraft with improved oil coolers could maintain the nominal 1,425 HP.The 55th FG became operational with the P-38H at Nuthampstead in the UK, in October, 1943, deploying from McChord Field in Washington state, where it was a training unit periodically stripped of squadrons to reinforce MTO and SWPA FGs.and later:Perhaps the best critique of the ETO record of the P-38 is that by former 20th FG Capt. Arthur Heiden, who flew the P-38 during the Spring of 1944, in the company of better known pilots such as Jack Ilfrey, and Ernest Fiebelkorn, later instructed on the P-38 and P-51, and after the war went on to log in excess of 25,000 hrs of flying time:"The quality of multi-engine training during World War II bordered on the ridiculous. I am convinced that with training methods now in use we could take most of civilian private pilots who might be about to fly the Aztec or Cessna 310, and in ten hours, have a more confident pilot than the ones who flew off to war in the P-38. A P-38 pilot usually got his training in two ways. The first way, of course, was twin-engine advanced training in Curtiss AT-9s, which had the unhappy feature of having propellers you couldn't feather. After sixty hours of this, the student received ten hours of AT-6 gunnery, although he might get his gunnery training in the AT-9, since AT-6s were in short supply.""At this point he had his chance to fly the RP-322 for another twenty hours. The 322, as you know, was the British version of the airplane, and they came with assorted equipment and things on them that nobody could predict. Upon graduation from the RP-322 he was assigned to a P-38 Replacement Training Unit (RTU) or an Operational Training Unit (OTU) for 100 hours or more of fighter training. A second way to get into the P-38 was to transition from single engine fighters. In this event, someone probably took him up in a multi-engine transport or bomber and demonstrated engine shutdown a couple of times after skimming the tech order, a blindfold check, and then Ignoring the check list (not for real fighter pilots!), he blasted off. More than one neophyte has described his first "launch" in a P-38 as being hit in the ass with a snow shovel.""Either method of training, probably, made little difference as neither guy knew that much about multi-engine operations and procedures. True, he had been warned about the magic number of 120 miles per hour his Vme (editor:Vmca) or single-engine control speed. He had swam in glue during a couple of prop featherings while in formation with his instructor. He was, also, warned never to turn into a dead engine, never put down the gear until he had made the field, and never to go around with one caged. That was about it until shortly thereafter the old Allison time bomb blew up, and he was in business the hard way. Right on takeoff. "Some people lucked out if the runway was long enough. Some overshot or undershot and they bent the whole thing. Some tried a single-engine go-around anyway, usually with horrible results. Such happenings would make a son of a bitch out of any saint.""Tony Levier's spectacular demonstrations were an attempt to rectify all these problems, but the damage had been done. The Air Corps, as far as I knew, never did change its pilot training.""For perspective, it must also be remembered that two other significant events had taken place in training (in England). Theater indoctrination at Goxhill in England had received the same overhaul that had occurred in the States. The most important of all may have been the training units set up by the combat organizations themselves. Here it was possible to up-date training to the latest information and for individual commanders to put their special stamp on things and develop new tactics. "But and this is giant towering BUT this was all for the P-51 pilots.""What would have happened if the P-38 pilots and their units could have been blessed with the same wonderful opportunity?"For context, we present a previously unpublished letter from the Commanding Officer of the 20th Fighter Group, to the 8th Air Force Headquarters. The letter spells out the problems faced by the P-38 Groups in clear, unambiguous terms.20th Fighter Group HeadquartersAPO 637 U.S. Army(E-2)3 June 1944Subject: P-38 Airplane in Combat.To: Commanding General, VIII Fighter Command, APO 637, U.S. Army.1. The following observations are being put in writing by the undersigned at the request of the Commanding General, VII FC. They are intended purely as constructive criticism and are not intended in any way to "low rate" our present equipment.2. After flying the P-38 for a little over one hundred hours on combat missions it is my belief that the airplane, as it stands now, is too complicated for the 'average' pilot. I want to put strong emphasis on the word 'average,’ taking full consideration just how little combat training our pilots have before going on an operational status.3. As a typical case to demonstrate my point, let us assume that we have a pilot fresh out of flying school with about a total of twenty-five hours in a P-38, starting out on a combat mission. He is on a deep ramrod, penetration and target support to maximum endurance. He is cruising along with his power set at maximum economy. He is pulling 31" Hg and 2100 RPM. He is auto lean and running on external tanks. His gun heater is off to relieve the load on his generator, which frequently gives out (under sustained heavy load). His sight is off to save burning out the bulb. His combat switch may or may not be on. Flying along in this condition, he suddenly gets "bounced", what to do flashes through his mind. He must turn, he must increase power and get rid of those external tanks and get on his main. So, he reaches down and turns two stiff, difficult gas switches {valves} to main - turns on his drop tank switches, presses his release button, puts the mixture to auto rich (two separate and clumsy operations), increases his RPM, increases his manifold pressure, turns on his gun heater switch (which he must feel for and cannot possibly see), turns on his combat switch and he is ready to fight. At this point, he has probably been shot down or he has done one of several things wrong. Most common error is to push the throttles wide open before increasing RPM. This causes detonation and subsequent engine failure. Or, he forgets to switch back to auto rich, and gets excessive cylinder head temperature with subsequent engine failure.4. In my limited experience with a P-38 group, we have lost as least four (4) pilots, who when bounced, took no immediate evasive action. The logical assumption is that they were so busy in the cockpit, trying to get organized that they were shot down before they could get going.5. The question that arises is, what are you going to do about it? It is standard procedure for the group leader to call, five minutes before R/V and tell all the pilots to "prepare for trouble". This is the signal for everyone to get into auto rich, turn drop tank switches on, gun heaters on, combat and sight switches on and to increase RPM and manifold pressure to maximum cruise. This procedure, however, does not help the pilot who is bounced on the way in and who is trying to conserve his gasoline and equipment for the escort job ahead.6. What is the answer to these difficulties? During the past several weeks we have been visited at this station time and time again by Lockheed representatives, Allison representatives and high ranking Army personnel connected with these two companies. They all ask about our troubles and then proceed to tell us about the marvelous mechanisms that they have devised to overcome these troubles that the Air Force has turned down as "unnecessary". Chief among these is a unit power control, incorporating an automatic manifold pressure regulator, which will control power, RPM and mixture by use of a single lever. It is obvious that there is a crying need for a device like that in combat.7. It is easy to understand why test pilots, who have never been in combat, cannot readily appreciate what each split second means when a "bounce" occurs. Every last motion when you get bounced is just another nail in your coffin. Any device which would eliminate any of the enumerated above, are obviously very necessary to make the P-38 a really effective combat airplane.8. It is also felt that much could done to simplify the gas switching system in this airplane. The switches {valve selector handles} are all in awkward positions and extremely hard to turn. The toggle switches for outboard tanks are almost impossible to operate with gloves on.9. My personal feeling about this airplane is that it is a fine piece of equipment, and if properly handled, takes a back seat for nothing that the enemy can produce. But it does need simplifying to bring it within the capabilities of the 'average' pilot. I believe that pilots like Colonel Ben Kelsey and Colonel Cass Huff are among the finest pilots in the world today. But I also believe that it is difficult for men like them to place their thinking and ability on the level of a youngster with a bare 25 hours in the airplane, going into his first combat. That is the sort of thinking that will have to be done, in my opinion, to make the P-38 a first-class all around fighting airplane.HAROLD J. RAUColonel, Air Corps,Commanding.Captain Stan Richardson of the 55th Fighter Group recalls some of his experiences as an instructor (before his tour with the 55th) at a stateside RTU.The airplane was a "dream" on single-engine. While I was instructing in P-38's at Muroc AAF, on occasion the instructor and three students (four ship flight) would each feather the right propeller (remember, only a single generator, and that on the left engine) for a "tail chase" which included loops, slow and barrel rolls, and just generally having a good time. The exercise was to instill confidence in the pilots ability to control the aircraft on one engine. My area of "expertise" while instructing at Muroc was single-engine demo's in a piggyback P-38. Take-off on two engines, feather the right engine shortly after take-off. Climb to 10,000'. Demonstrate various emergency procedures (landing gear and flap extension), propeller operation in fixed pitch (simulating electrical failure), high speed stalls, a loop, a roll or two, then return to the airfield for landing on one engine. Make a typical fighter approach on the deck, pitch out, drop the landing gear, then some flaps, finally full flaps and plunk it onto the runway.For a short period in my life flying P-38's I had as much time on one engine as I did on two. Keep in mind that most of my P-38 flying occurred just after my 20th birthday. Some of my P-38 combat time was while I was a 20 year old snot-nosed kid. No brains, lotsa luck. Gad! I love that bird.....It was a dandy flying machine in instrument conditions associated with poor weather. I had to return once from Berlin on one engine. No problem."Capt. Heiden went on to discuss some of the problems inherent with high altitude escort missions over Europe. He points out that all the combat instructors who gained their experience in Africa or in the Pacific, had done the vast majority of their combat flying below 20,000 feet. Therefore, new pilots were trained to fly the P-38 at altitudes below that height. Very few pilots had flown the Lightning at the altitudes required by 8th Air Force mission profiles and were loath to do so. Many of the P-38 trained pilots arriving in Britain requested assignment to the 9th Air Force in order to fly at lower levels where they had both experience and confidence in the ability of the airplane to do the job. Nonetheless, the high priority given to providing escort fighters determined that nearly all the incoming pilots were destined for the 8th. Most P-38 pilots were completely unprepared for high altitude operations nor the technical problems involved.Capt. Heiden continues:"These new pilots made their attempts to go to altitude. This is what the curriculum called for and they gave it their best, but those early airplanes, the way they were set up, just wouldn't make it. There were disastrous incidents of ignition breakdown because of high-tension leakage. The oxygen systems were woefully inadequate. This is what they put into the airplane and the pilot in the cockpit was stuck with he had. It just wouldn't do the job. No one liked 30,000 feet anyway. There had been no training for it. There had never been any need for it. It was too cold and the windows frosted up.""All this piled up on the 8th Air Force pilots, but there they were at 30,000 feet plus and sixty below zero. It was miserable.""Then things really started to come apart. Now, suddenly, turbochargers were running away. They were blowing up engines on the basis of one engine blow up every seven hours. Intercoolers were separating the lead from the fuel and the result was lowered octane. Hands and feet were freezing; pilots were calling their airplanes airborne ice wagons and they were right. Frost on the windows got thicker than ever. Most disgusting of all was the leisurely way the German fighters made their get-aways straight down.""Another problem seldom mentioned was the single generator problem. If a generator was lost or a low battery the Curtis Electric prop would lose the Dynamic Brake and go to extreme Low Pitch. This was called a RUN AWAY. It could happen on Take Off with a low battery. Since you couldn't feather it set up a lot of drag making it difficult to make it around to land. The Killer situation was to lose the Generator or lose the engine with the Generator on it while 2 or 3hrs into Germany. Procedure was to SET the Props then turn off all electrical power. Then momentarily turn it back on to reset the props as needed. Being sure everything electrical was also turned off -- No Radios. The forgotten thing was you were at altitude and the OAT was -60degrees and the little old battery was cold soaked. Hence, dead as a dog. Result, with a lot of altitude you have less than an hour with one or two props in RUNAWAY.I have no statistics to back me up on this, but believe, that more P-38s were lost from this than any other factor including combat. This simple problem did not receive attention until April, '44.""This leads us to another vague fact. This is the need of boost pumps to maintain fuel pressure to the engines at around 20,000' and above. No boost pumps, a pilot will need to get down to 20K or below, and if he needs more than cruise power he will have to get way down low.""My only experience in these problems, was of course the runaway prop, and once when the boost pump circuit breakers popped while we were engaged with some 109s. So there I was holding in the circuit breakers with my right hand while flying with my left, hoping to get to a lower altitude before something burned up."Original photo via W.M. Bodie"P-38 units from the moment of going on initial operational status were committed to MAX EFFORT. No two ways about it. No time to shake things out, to discover your problems. You got there and zap, you were in up to your eyeballs. This meant that everything flyable went and everything that still had wings would be made flyable. No matter what. This in effect was the same as demanding, by direct order, that everyone and everything must have, immediately if not sooner, 100 percent combat capabilities. Like Casey Jones, the pressure was all the way up without any margins whatsoever.""Despite these revolting developments, the pilots of the 8th knew that the P-38 could outturn, outclimb, outrun and outfight anybody's airplane in the air so they set about rectifying their problems.""Every one of these problems was solved with the introduction of the P-38L.""Let me repeat this again and again. It can never be emphasized too strongly. It makes up the Gospel Word. The P-38L. Now there was the airplane.""Nothing, to these pilots, after the hard winter of 1943-44 could be more beautiful than a P-38L outrolling and tailgating a German fighter straight down, following a spin or split-S or whatever gyration a startled, panicked and doomed German might attempt to initiate. You just couldn't get away from the P-38L. Whatever the German could do, the American in the P-38L could do better." (cited from [8] with permission from Arthur W. Heiden).I’ll add the foundation of modern piloting is the checklist…and the USAAF in WW2 simply did not use them. The pilots of the P-38 suffered the most for this lack.It was a decade after WW2 before the USAF figures out its training problems, when Strategic Air Command’s (SAC) operational research on 1940's-1950's accident rates showed that pilots who weren't "natural pilots" had a lower accident rate than the "natural pilots".It turned out that men who had to work hard to qualify as rated pilots followed the checklists more often. While the "Naturals" tended to fly "seat of the pants".Thus, SAC's obsession with checklists was born. And SAC's stand down after the Cold War was a huge blow to the professionalism of the USAF today.It should be noted as well that the British Commonwealth’s WW2 RAF Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS), unlike the USAAF, used check lists as it’s foundational pilot training.See:Australia and the Empire Air Training Scheme - WikipediaHad the UK Aircraft buying commission** been less concerned over Allison engine commonality and allowed it’s P-38 turbo-supercharger technology in RP-322 to be shipped to the RAF in 1941. It is very likely the checklist obsessed RAF would have worked out all the kinks in the P-38 before the USAAF entered WW2 in the same way it did the B-17 Flying Fortress.This did not happen and USAAF P-38 pilots paid the blood price of this institutional failure in the winter of 1943–1944./End**Correction included from the comments.

Classification of data is an essential aspect of statistics. It is the way to organize the data in an efficient way. That is quite useful to perform the statistics operation on the data without any hassle. Most of the students may not be aware of the classification of data. But as statistics experts, we have to help the students to clear all their doubts. Here in this blog, we will share with you the best guide on the classification of data. Let’s begin with the introduction:-Introduction of Classification of dataData classification is defined as the way to organize the data by relevant categories. Therefore it makes the data quite easy to use for the data analyst. The data classification is used for legal discovery, risk management, and compliance. There can be different guidelines for data classifications vary from organization to organization.Apart from that, the data can also be protected more efficiently. Besides, when you do the proper data classification, then you can quickly locate and retrieve the data. Tagging data is also available in it to make it easily searchable and trackable. It also reduces the risk of duplication of data. Therefore the data storage also decreases, and it can be cheap to backup the data. Besides, whenever you want to perform any operation on the data, then the process will also be done at a rapid pace. In some cases, it is is quite tricky and technical.Objectives of Data ClassificationThe primary objectives of data classification are:The major motive of data classification to arrange the high volume of data in a way that the similarities and differences can be understood without any hassle.For comparison aid.For pointing out the important characteristics of the data.It is used to give importance to the prominent data collected and used to separate the other optional elements from that data.You can also perform the statistical method on the collected material data.It is used to highlight the similarity in data.We use it for distinctiveness in data with the help of groping the data into different classes and classifications.It is useful for the scientific arrangement of data that makes the data more reliable.It is useful for data more precise and reduce redundancy.With it you can make changes in data more effectively and without any hassle.Why do you need classification of data?Data classification is exciting from the ancient era. But it is improving time over time. As we know that nowadays, technology is everywhere. And all these technologies are used to store the data. Therefore these technologies require it for easy access, maintaining regular compliance. Apart from that, the data analysts are using it regularly. They used it to search and retrieve the data. The best part of data classification is data security. It ensures data security and restricts the data being retrieved, transmitted, and copied. Here are some of the benefits of data classification:-ConfidentialityWith data classification, you can develop a system where you can allow the users to access only the limited data. It can only happen with the proper classification of the data. In this way, the most sensitive information with a limited number of users. E.g., the admin of a particular system can access all the data, but the users can only access the data which is provided by the admin. The most common technology used in this system is encryption.The integrity of dataIt allows you to get the integrity of data. In other words, the data is integrated with the other organized data, and the users require permission to access the data. It happened in a well-organized manner.Availability of dataIn this, the data can be available to a large number of audience with proper security and ease of access. There is no need to search for particular data to perform any statistics methods. Due to well-organized data, users can easily search for the data.Steps for Effective data classificationWe should know that all the data doesn’t need to be classified. Only some most critical data should go through the process of classification and reclassification process. Nowadays, data scientists and other data professionals have created the framework to organize the data. All they need to do is the assignment the raw data to the software to sort the data into different categories. They need to make sure that the classification of data will also solve the future requirements of statistics operations.ScanIt is the initial step and involves the process where we analyze the entire database. In this process, we analyze every single database to get the raw data.IdentifyIn this step, we identify the types of data that we need to insert in different categories. E.g, we can put the age and gender data into the demographic category. Similarly, we can put the job designation in the profession category. In some cases, we also identify the data as per character types or integer types.SeparateIn this step, we separate the data which is no longer required to perform. For example, in the demographic category, we also put the weight measurement data, which is no longer useful for our data operations. In this case, we separate this data from the demographic category.Creating a Data Classification PolicyThis is the step to generate the data classification policy. Every organization has its own data classification policy. So be careful while creating the data classification policy because it will affect the business in the long run.Prioritize and Organize DataLast but not the least step. It is time to implement the data classification policy on your data. You have to prioritize the sensitive information to sort first rather than the insensitive one.Types of ClassificationThere are three types of data classifications.(1) One -way classificationWhen we are going to classify data based on the single characteristics, then this type of classification is known as one-way classification.For example, The students of the school may be classified by gender as girls or boys.(2) Two -way classificationIn this classification we do the classification based on two characteristics at a single time.For example: The students of the school may be classified by gender and age.(3) Multi-way ClassificationIn this we classified the data on the basis of multiple characteristics at a single time on the given dataset.For example:- The students of the school may be classified by gender, age, height, weight, etc.Basis of ClassificationThe data can be classified with various characteristics, depending on the purpose of our requirement and study we are going to perform on the data. Here are some basics of classification of data:-Geographical classificationIn this, we classify the data according to different locations. The location can be a city, state, country, or even continent. E.g. classification of the data of the income of the professionals in various cities of new York.Chronological ClassificationIn this, we classified the data based on time. That’s why this classification is known as chronological classification. e.g., the classification of the data about the number of deaths from COVID 19 in the US in the last month.Qualitative ClassificationAs the name suggests in this classification we do classified the data according to the qualities of data. As we know that qualitative data is far different than quantitative data. We can not measure the qualitative data with the help of numbers such as 3, 20, 40, etc. Qualification is further divided into two types:Simple: In this qualitative data, we exactly divide the data into two different groups. In the first group, we put the data of those users who have fulfilled the requirement, and the other is doesn’t. E.g., the educated and the uneducated group of the citizens.Manifold: In this, we classified the data according to more than one characteristic of an attribute. In other words, we classified the data into two different groups, then divided these two groups into two more different groups based on some quality. There is no limit of classification of data with this classification that has generated from just two groups. For example, the classification of data about students in a class as per their age followed by classification as per their height.Quantitative or Numerical ClassificationQuantitative classification can be done with the help of numerical values. In this, we can divide the data into different groups with numerical values. Besides, we range each group with the higher and the lower value. In this classification we can classify the numerical value of the data based on different regions and time. Quantitative classification is totally based on variables. Thus we also know it as classification of variables.ConclusionNow it may be clear in your mind what is the classification of data, how it works, and the importance of it. Next time whenever you are going to do it. Then you may be quite confident to use it. If it is still overwhelming for you to understand the classification of data.Original Source

The world’s first garden-tomb was constructed in India. The structure, known as Humayun’s Tomb was constructed in memory of Mughal emperor Humayun.India is home to the longest-lasting and the oldest civilizations in the world. Ancient India was home to empires which were older and bigger than contemporary empires in other areas, including Mesopotamia and Egypt. The Indus Valley (picture) civilization dates as far back as 2400 BC, which makes it nearly 4,500 years old.Indians swear by vegetarianism so it comes as no surprise that the country is home to the largest population of vegetarians in the world.India is home to the largest population of cattle in the world and not surprisingly the largest milk producer in the world is also India.Every major religion in the world: Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and Sikhism (picture) have a presence in India.City Montessori School in Lucknow,India is the largest Montessori school in the world . More than 26,000 students study there.Chail, a picturesque hill station in Himachal Pradesh is home to the highest cricket ground in the world. A whole hill was levelled to build the ground, which is nearly 2,500 meters above sea level.Sunderbans, home to the majestic Royal Bengal Tiger, is the largest block of tidal halophytic margroves on Earth.India has the largest postal system in the world. In this picture, an Indian army officer deployed on the Line of Control in Kargil during the 1999 conflict reads a letter sent to him by his daughter.India is home to a number of martial art forms, the most famous of which is ‘kalaripayattu’. References to martial arts and, specifically, one-on-one combat goes way back to the Vedic period; the ‘Dhanurveda’ and the ‘Mahabharata’ speak of this. Fighting with staves (sticks) was an art form greatly revered as well, with Sangam literature (2nd century BC to 2nd century AD) writing about young warriors receiving training in multiple forms of martial arts – archery, spear/sword fighting, horsemanship, etc. Martial arts as a particular discipline continued to grow, both in form and space, right up to the Mughal period… tales of mighty Rajput warriors and hardy Maratha fighters are an example.India has the around 32 lakh km of road network crisscrossing the country. Needless to say, this is the largest road network in the world.The first university in the world was set up in Takshilla in the year 700 BC. Students from around the world studied a number of different subjects.India is the largest buyer of gold in the world. Indians fascination with gold is never ending. Hardly surprising that the country is the largest buyer of precious yellow metal in the world.If you want a brain workout what better than indulging in a game of chess. Did you know that chess is an Indian invention? In ancient India, the game was known as “Chaturanga”, which means ‘four members of an army.River Ganga, which is worshipped by Hindus, is the most densely populated river basin on the planet. More people live on the banks of Ganga than on any other river in the world.Surgery was invented in India. India was way ahead in the field of medicine and surgery in ancient times. Surgeries were performed in India nearly 3,000 years back. Sushruta is considered as the “founding father of surgery” .India has the second largest Muslim population the world, the first being Indonesia, but no other country has more mosques than India.India is the outsourcing capital of the world. More than half of outsourced information technology services in the world have their origin in India. This industry contributes substantially to the economy of the country.India,the largest democracy, is the only country where citizens got the right to vote from day one of independence. In comparison, US, the world's second largest democracy this right came into effect more than 150 years after Independence.India is the home to largest number of train passengers. More people (around 2.5 crore) travel on trains in a day in India than the entire population of many countries. India also boasts of having the fourth largest train network in the world. Indian Railways is also the largest civilian employer in the world.The Indira Gandhi International airport in Delhi is the second largest airport in the world.Kumbh Mela is largest religious gathering in the world. Every 12 years, an estimated 100 million (10 crore) people, that is more than the population of many countries, gather in Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh) to take part in the festivities.Navigation was invented in India. Navigation has its origin in a Sanskrit word ’Navgatih’ and the art of navigating in rivers and seas was not only invented in India but was also perfected here. The first navigators used River Indus (picture) to hone their skills more than 6,000 years ago.India is the home to the oldest city in the world. When Lord Buddha visited Varanasi city in 500 BC, it was already 1,300 years old! This makes it the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world.Which country has the largest number of English speakers in the world? Not the United Kingdom, not United States of America, not Canada. India has the largest population of English speakers on the planet. Thanks to the British for this one.India is the world leader in diamond polishing. 90 per cent of all diamonds mined around the world are processed and polished in India.World’s largest School Lunch Programme has been undertaken by India. The mid-day meal scheme is the world's largest school lunch programme. This scheme has multiple goals. A) To check the high drop out rate meals are provided as incentive to continue in school; B) The meal provides much needed nourishment to the students who are from economically weak sections of the society; C) As the students stay in school they get educated.India is the most peace loving country. India has the distinction of not having invaded any country. Invaders, ranging from Alexander the Great (picture, a still from the movie Alexander) to the Mughals, have always made their way to India over the centuries but no one from India has crossed into foreign territory to plunder or to rule.India is home to a mind boggling 1,652 dialects and languages, which is more than anywhere else in the world.Largest number of elected persons in the world is in India: Panchayati Raj is a form of government at the village level. A group of people are elected in each village to run the affairs of the village. This unique form of governance has made India home to the largest number of elected persons in the world.India is the only nation to develop thorium based nuclear power. In a country with a population of more than 1 billion, we need massive amount of electric power to light up each and every home. This has resulted in finding unique solutions to feed the power-hungry masses. With Uranium in short supply, Indian scientists have developed the technique to harness energy from thorium.India has the lowest cost commercial satellite launcher .PSLV (picture) and GSLV are two of India's main satellite launch vehicles and both are proven rockets having launched satellites from different nations at rates which are more than half of what NASA and European Space Agency charge.India is the only developing nation to have a nuclear submarine. India has joined a very select group of nations which have the capability of designing and operating a nuclear-powered submarine.India has the world’s cheapest car and that is Tata Nano.India is home to all religions since ancient times. Jews and Christians have lived in India continuously for the last 2,215 years and 2,067 years, respectively.India has the cheapest call rates in the world and for this reason alone millions are able to afford owning a mobile phone and making calls.India has the world’s lowest cost supercomputer.Indian scientist have developed the world's cheapest supercomputer which is used for carrying out complex tasks including weather prediction.India is one of only 5 nations to send a mission to moon. India joined a select group of countries to have sent a spacecraft, Chandrayaan, to study the moon. Chandrayaan-2 India’s second lunar exploration mission is planned to be launched in the first quarter of 2018.India is the world’s largest producer of two-wheelers, the primary mode of commuting for Indians.India is home to the world’s largest oil refinery. With a capacity of refining 1.24 million barrels a day, Reliance' refinery at Jamnagar (Gujarat) is the largest in the world.India is home to the world’s highest motorable pass: Khardung La situated at an height of 5600 metres in Ladakh is the world's highest motorable pass.India leads the world in the production and consumption of butter.India has the largest number of people who have bank accounts. This number has increased manifold after PM Modi launched a new scheme Jan Dhan Yojna wherein people who didn't have bank accounts were encouraged to open one and reap the benefits.India is the largest producer of movies in a year than all other countries combined.Tejas, which is on the verge of entering service with the Indian Air Force is the world's smallest and lightest 4th generation fighter aircraft.India is home to the wettest place in the world: Mawsynram in Meghalaya gets the highest recorded average rainfall in the world.India was the first in the world to extract and purify sugar.India is home to the world’s biggest family: The world's biggest family lives in Baktawng village in Mizoram. The head of the family is Ziona Chana, who has 39 wives, 94 children and 33 grandchildren.Thanks for reading :)Source : InternetPS: I apologize for any exact similarity of this answer with others.