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Good Monday morning July 13 2026 . It was cloudy and cool when I got up and it is supposed to start clearing around 10 and climbing to 87 around 3 and they have extreme heat watch in place.
Classes tonight and fortunately we have A\C .
A bit to unpack this morning.
Peruse at your leisure there is no test at the end
Warm Regards,
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Thanks to \Al
Monday Morning Humor--World Cup
After his team was eliminated from the World Cup, the Nigerian captain personally offered to refund all expenses that fans of his country paid for to travel to the USA. According to sources close to the player, he just needs their bank details and pin numbers to complete the transactions.
What do you call an American in the world cup final.
Ref
Germany sent a strong team to the World Cup. Unfortunately, it's the drinking team.
With the bribery and corruption scandal surrounding the World Cup, I want to remind everyone that money can't change someone's mind. But it seems some are willing to try.
An Argentinian walks down the street, where he bumps into a Swiss and asks, “How are you, what are you up to?"
The Swiss replies, "Ah, nothing much, playing the Croatians in the World Cup tomorrow!"
"What a coincidence...?! We're playing them on Sunday!"
Two fans are arguing in a sports bar. One says, “My team has the best striker in the world.”
The other replies, “If he’s so good, why does he spend half the game rolling on the grass?”
Soccer players are the only people who get hurt and immediately check if the referee noticed.
Some captions seen on Instagram during World Cup:
• “Emotionally unavailable until the final whistle.”
• “Running on snacks, caffeine, and soccer stress.”
• “Game-day mode: activated.”
• “Some people watch casually. I yell professionally.”
• “No VAR needed. That was clearly a goal.”
• “Current mood: screaming at referees.”
• “90 minutes. Unlimited drama.”
• “Just here for the chaos and corner kicks.”
Some funny tweets:
• “I’d survive a zombie apocalypse if my team played during it.”
• “My neighbor just celebrated louder than I did at my wedding.”
• “Penalty shootouts should count as a medical condition.”
• “I don’t even support this team anymore, but now I’m emotionally trapped.”
I find it amazing that Americans call it soccer until the World Cup starts—then suddenly they’re football experts.
Only four games left. Have a great week,
Al
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This Day in Navy and Marine Corps History:
This day in Naval and Marine Corps History (thanks to NHHC)
Here is a link to the NHHC website: https://www.history.navy.mil/. Go here to see the director’s corner for all 100 H-Grams
July 13
1812
The frigate, USS Essex, commanded by Capt. David Porter, captures the merchant brig, Lamprey, in the Atlantic.
1854
The sloop of war, USS Cyane, bombards San Juan del Norte (Greytown), Nicaragua, in retaliation for ill-treatment of U.S. citizens. Marines and Sailors also seize weapons and powder in retribution for an attack on U.S. Consular officials for U.S. refusal to pay reparation.
1939
Rear Adm. Richard Byrd is appointed to command the 1939-1941 U.S. Antarctic Service Expedition. Under objectives outlined by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Byrd establishes an east and west base and holds a wide range of scientific observations until international tensions end the expedition in early 1941.
1943
TBF aircraft (VC 13) based on board USS Core (ACV 13) sinks German submarine U 487, 720 miles south-southwest of Fayal, Azores.
1943
The Japanese are intercepted from landing reinforcements in the Solomon Islands, resulting in the night Battle of Kolombangara. During the battle, the U.S. Navy loses USS Gwin (DD 433).
1991
USS Kentucky (SSBN 737) is commissioned at Groton, Conn., the third Navy vessel to be named after the Bluegrass state. The thoroughbred of the Fleet is an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine.
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Today in World History: July 13
1099 The Crusaders launch their final assault on Jerusalem.
1534 Ottoman armies capture Tabriz in northwestern Persia.
1558 Led by the Count of Egmont, the Spanish army defeats the French at Gravelines, France.
1585 A group of 108 English colonists, led by Sir Richard Grenville, reaches Roanoke Island, North Carolina.
1643 In England, the Roundheads, led by Sir William Waller, are defeated by Royalist troops under Lord Wilmot in the Battle of Roundway Down.
1754 George Washington surrenders Fort Necessity to the French, leaving them in control of the Ohio Valley.
1787 Congress, under the Articles of Confederation, enacts the Northwest Ordinance, establishing rules for governing the Northwest Territory, for admitting new states to the Union and limiting the expansion of slavery.
1798 English poet William Wordsworth visits the ruins of Tintern Abbey.
1832 Henry Schoolcraft discovers the source of the Mississippi River in Minnesota.
1862 Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest defeats a Union army at Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
1863 Opponents of the draft begin three days of rioting in New York City.
1866 The Great Eastern begins a two week voyage to complete a 12-year effort to lay telegraph cable across the Atlantic between Britain and the United States.
1878 The Congress of Berlin divides the Balkans among European powers.
1939 Frank Sinatra records his first song, "From the Bottom of My Heart," with the Harry James Band.
1941 Britain and the Soviet Union sign a mutual aid pact, providing the means for Britain to send war materiel to the Soviet Union.
1954 In Geneva, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China and France reach an accord on Indochina, dividing Vietnam into two countries, North and South, along the 17th parallel.
1971 The Army of Morocco executes 10 leaders accused of leading a revolt.
July 13 1943 The largest Tank Battle in History ends
There is a great book out there that details all the things on each side including the vulnerability of the German Tiger tanks that the Russians took advantage of to win this one.. skip
The Battle of Kursk, involving some 6,000 tanks, two million men, and 5,000 aircraft, ends with the German offensive repulsed by the Soviets at heavy cost.
In early July, Germany and the USSR concentrated their forces near the city of Kursk in western Russia, site of a 150-mile-wide Soviet pocket that jutted 100 miles into the German lines. The German attack began on July 5, and 38 divisions, nearly half of which were armored, began moving from the south and the north. However, the Soviets had better tanks and air support than in previous battles, and in bitter fighting Soviet antitank artillery destroyed as much as 40 percent of the German armor, which included their new Mark VI Tiger tanks. After six days of warfare concentrated near Prokhorovka, south of Kursk, the German Field Marshal Gunther von Kluge called off the offensive, and by July 23 the Soviets had forced the Germans back to their original positions.
In the beginning of August, the Soviets began a major offensive around the Kursk salient, and within a few weeks the Germans were in retreat all along the eastern front.
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Rollingthunderremembered.com .
July 13
Thanks to Dan Heller and the Bear
Links to all content can now be found right on the homepage http://www.rollingthunderremembered.com. If you scroll down from the banner and featured content you will find "Today in Rolling Thunder Remembered History" which highlights events in the Vietnam war that occurred on the date the page is visited. Below that are links to browse or search all content. You may search by keyword(s), date, or date range.
An item of importance is the recent incorporation of Task Force Omega (TFO) MIA summaries. There is a link on the homepage and you can also visit directly via https://www.rollingthunderremembered.com/task-force-omega/. There are 60 summaries posted thus far, with about 940 to go (not a typo—TFO has over 1,000 individual case files).
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Thanks to Micro
To remind folks that these are from the Vietnam Air Losses site that Micro put together. You click on the url below and get what happened each day to the crew of the aircraft. ……Skip
For Monday July 13
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. From the archives
. Thanks to Mots
In response to yesterday’s flat spin article my thanks to Mots who was my RIO and one of the best. The only thing he hated was when I said OH! Chit and did not tell him right away what had happened up front. He would always find a way to get me back and one night he flew us into a thunderstorm while flying a missile profile at mach for the small boys. We took a lightning hit and the St. Elmo’s fire was coming down the canopy rails and I looked in the mirror and Mots had his arms on the rails and the St. Elmos fire was going down his arms and he was happy…..skip
Thumper,
As an instructor in the RAG, and as a RIO, I had to do this same maneuver with a student more than once, until this accident and they stopped doing it as part of a syllabus hop. On two occasions one or the other engines encountered a compressor stall and flames and smoke came up out of the intake and I would tell the student to pull that engine to idle and then to shut it down. In a calm voice, god-like as you put it, I would immediately then tell the student to put his feet flat on the deck and to let me see both hands. After several flips and whifferdills around from back to right side up and sometimes never going onto its back, the plane would fly out of it on its own with plenty of altitude to spare. I would be calling out altitude and airspeed and telling the pilot to, “Just relax, let the plane do its thing. It’s going to fly out." Once I saw the nose drop and 250-300kts I would tell him to start flying the airplane and then once level and we had 350-400kts, restart the engine that was shut down. I never encountered a tail slide that lasted very long. Usually the plane fell off one way or the other or onto its back and then kept on rolling until it was right side up. They were never the same. I’m glad to this day that I survived this and that I never have to do that again! It was definitely not a fun hop!
As a RIO instructor in the RAG, and flying with new pilots, I can honestly say that some of those flights scared me more than night landings on a pitching and/or rolling deck. RAG Carrier quals were also sometimes exciting. The smoothest CARQUAL with a F-14 newbie that I did was with Admiral Gillcrist. He just knew what he was doing and how to fly an airplane. I was in VF-51 then and he used one of our planes to bounce and qual. He flew the whole syllabus of flights.
As a RAG instructor I believe that I only gave out 2 pink slips in 2 years but not for this hop. It was usually because the guy didn’t know how to navigate or did something stupid like go belly up and blind while doing a rendezvous. These things are making me nervous to talk about. I better stop now.
Mots
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. From the archives
Thanks to Dan
Here is some more VHPA Data that Pete LaChat just forwarded to me:
From: Jack Gale <jackgale@gmail.com>
Subject: Copied from HAL-3
Date: July 10, 2022 at 9:24:02 PM PDT
These statistics are right from the U.S. Government. We had a VERY hazardous job over there.
The Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association (VHPA) estimates that over 100,000 helicopter pilots and crew members served during the Vietnam War. Over 4,800 helicopter pilots and crew members were killed in action, and more than 300 are buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
How many helicopters were shot down during the Vietnam War?
11,846 helicopters
According to the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association, a total of 11,846 helicopters were shot down or crashed during the war, resulting in nearly 5,000 American pilots and crew killed.
What was the casualty rate of helicopter pilots in Vietnam?
Over 10% of all combat and combat support deaths in Vietnam occurred in helicopter operations, a total of 6,175 (2,202 pilots, 2,704 aircrew and 1,269 passengers).
What was the deadliest job in Vietnam?
Overall, the U.S. military used nearly 12,000 helicopters in Vietnam, of which more than 5,000 were destroyed. To be a helicopter pilot or crew member was among the most dangerous jobs in the war.
And we only lost 44 men. I don't know the number for the choppers.
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. From the archives
Thanks to Carl…..This is awesome
(Prepare yourself to be awed by the vastness of the universe!)
Breaking Down NASA Webb Space Telescope's First Images of the Invisible Universe The JWST delves into nebulas, colliding galaxies, an active black hole, and even provides a breakthrough look at an alien world.
July 12, 2022 9:22 a.m. PT
It's not often that the sequel is as good as the original, but the JWST's second image release certainly lived up to expectations set by the jaw-dropping deep field released on Monday evening. In fact, it surpassed it by leaps and bounds.
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. Thanks to History Facts
5 Ways Albert Einstein Changed the World
PHYSICIST ALBERT EINSTEIN
German-born physicist Albert Einstein (1879-1955) was so influential, his very name has become synonymous with genius. While working as a patent clerk in 1905 at the age of 26, Einstein submitted four papers to the German journal Annalen der Physik that changed humanity’s perception of time, gravity, and light. Today, historians mark the year as Einstein’s annus mirabilis, or “miracle year” — and he was just getting started.
Much of Einstein’s work is famously dense. Few people other than physicists need to fully comprehend the mind-bending ideas behind the general theory of relativity and Einstein’s other theories, but these discoveries form the bedrock of technologies the rest of us enjoy every day. Here are five ways Einstein’s ideas changed the world, and continue to provide a roadmap for humanity’s future.
GPS Would Be Impossible Without the General Theory of Relativity
Some 10,900 nautical miles above our heads, 31 satellites orbit Earth as part of the Global Positioning System (GPS) — but if it wasn’t for Einstein, those satellites would be little more than space junk. The very foundation of GPS is accurate timekeeping, as satellites need to keep time to correctly log the distance from a ground-based receiver (such as your smartphone). GPS satellites are so precise, the atomic clocks on board are accurate to within three-billionths of a second, a feat impossible without Einstein’s special and general theories of relativity. The special theory of relativity states that time flows differently depending on velocity. Because satellites travel at 8,700 miles per hour, they “lose” 7 microseconds per day compared to Earth-based receivers. Additionally, Einstein’s general theory of relativity — an idea published in 1915 that basically elaborates on his previous theory by throwing gravity in the mix — similarly states that distance from a source of mass, in this case the Earth, also affects the flow of time. This means that technically speaking, your head ages slightly faster than your feet because your feet are closer to the Earth (on time scales that are ultimately negligible). Today, GPS takes into account this “time dilation,” so satellites always know where you are when you open Google Maps.
The Explanation of Photoelectric Effect Helped Make Modern Solar Power Possible
It probably comes as no surprise that Einstein won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1921, but what many people don’t realize is that the award wasn’t honoring the wunderkind’s groundbreaking general theory of relativity, but rather his revolutionary yet often overlooked explanation of the photoelectric effect. The initial discovery of the photoelectric effect came in 1887 from German physicist Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (yes, that Hertz), who noticed that when ultraviolet light hit a metal plate, it created sparks. What was puzzling was that different metals required different frequencies to produce the same effect. Then, in 1905, 26-year-old Einstein solved this conundrum by introducing a new conception of light, which he published in his first paper submitted to Annalen der Physik. He argued that light wasn’t just a wave, as some scientists suggested, but also a stream of particles, later known to science as “photons.” Einstein posited that these photons contained a fixed amount of energy depending on their frequency, and his theory — though derided for years — successfully explained the photoelectric phenomenon. Though solar cells predated Einstein’s discovery by dozens of years, it wasn’t until Einstein’s theory that scientists understood why they worked, which helped make solar panels even more efficient.
Lasers Were Developed Thanks to Einstein’s Quantum Theory of Radiation
Lasers (an acronym for “Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation”) scan your groceries at the supermarket, make self-driving cars possible, and form the backbone of optical communication. And yes, we can thank Einstein for this one, too. In 1917, Einstein published a paper detailing his quantum theory of radiation. The theory basically states that atoms can be stimulated to change energy levels when hit with a specific frequency. If that excited atom is hit with another photon of the same frequency, it’ll produce two coherent photons (traveling in the same direction) while the atom’s electron returns to its ground state. This means you can artificially create a sudden burst of coherent light as atoms discharge in a chain reaction, otherwise known as “stimulated emission of radiation” (the “ser” in “laser”). It wasn’t until after World War II that scientists found a use for Einstein’s discovery; the laser was developed by using mirrors to create light amplification.
The E=MC2 Equation Formed the Scientific Basis for the Nuclear Bomb
The final discovery of Einstein’s “miracle year” was the concept that light and energy are equivalent, and that their relationship can be explained with the elegantly simple equation E=MC2, meaning energy equals mass times the speed of light squared. Describing mass as essentially super-dense energy, Einstein’s equation shows how even small amounts of mass at atomic levels can produce a tremendous amount of energy when multiplied by the speed of light squared — and you probably see where this is going. This process explains how a neutron fired from a uranium atom splits it into smaller atoms while releasing a tremendous amount of energy. It’s known as nuclear fission, and when the process is controlled, it provides low-emission nuclear energy. When released in an uncontrolled state, it can be used to produce an atomic bomb. Einstein himself never worked on the Manhattan Project, the secret government program to make the first nuclear bomb, but he rubber-stamped the idea in a 1939 letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt that argued for the U.S. to make the bomb before Nazi Germany. Einstein later regarded that letter as the “one great mistake in my life.”
The E=MC2 Equation Could Point to the Future of Energy
As previously described, nuclear fission works by breaking apart an element such as a heavy uranium-235 atom into two smaller atoms (krypton and barium). However, something interesting also occurs: If two light nuclei (i.e., hydrogen) can overcome electrostatic repulsion, they fuse together to form a heavy helium-4 atom — sort of like fission but in reverse. Similarly, following the E=MC2 equation, this process produces a tremendous amount of energy and heat. This is known as nuclear fusion, and it’s the atomic science that is the energy-producing engine of stars. On paper, nuclear fusion could provide the answer to humanity’s expanding energy needs. There’s no enriched material involved; nuclear proliferation with fusion reactors isn’t a worry; a meltdown is scientifically impossible; there’s no radioactive material produced as a byproduct; it’s completely carbon-free; and fusing atoms together releases 4 million times more energy than the chemical process of burning coal. There’s just one catch: Building a fusion reactor is immensely complicated. That’s never stopped people before, though. An international coalition of scientists and agencies is hard at work creating the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, or ITER, which is set to go online in 2025.
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Thanks to American Facts
Animal masonry 101
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Bees, Ants & More—Check Out These 12 Amazing Animal-Built Homes!
From forests to backyards, America is full of incredible animal-made structures that rival—and sometimes even surpass—human architecture. Bees craft intricate hexagonal hives, ants build elaborate underground colonies, and many other creatures create amazing structures without using any kind of blueprint. Take a look at these 12 remarkable constructions and be inspired by their ingenuity.
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Beehives
The first entry on the list goes to perhaps the most famous and finest example of animal architecture: the beehive. Built by incredibly industrious insects, beehives are among the most efficient structures in nature.
The regular hexagons provide the least-perimeter way to enclose infinitely many unit areas in the plane: the best way to separate the surface of their hives in equal parts all around, using the least possible total perimeter, thus reaching 100% efficiency in design.
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Ant colony
If beehives aren’t the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about animal architecture, there’s a good chance you’re thinking of ant colonies.
Ants build the elaborate colony structure by hollowing out the area with their mandibles, grain by grain, without a blueprint, without a leader, and in total darkness. Unless the soil dries out dramatically, the chambers will keep their form.
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Prairie dog town
These cute creatures excavate their homes by digging burrows into the ground, primarily in the Great Plains of North America. The region experiences extreme seasonal weather variations from season to season, requiring their homes to be built to withstand extreme temperatures, floods, and fires.
These underground "towns" have nursery rooms, pantries, living quarters, and temporary refuges—each smartly separated to serve a specific purpose.
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Beaver dam
Another famous animal architect, the beaver, uses felled trees to build dams. These dams create still ponds where beavers can construct their winter homes, called lodges.
These creatures prepare for winter by covering their lodge with a fresh coat of mud, which hardens to create a barrier against the cold and predators.
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Caddisfly larvae case
Caddisfly larvae construct protective cases using silk and whatever materials are available, such as sand, small stones, and plant debris.
These cases camouflage the larvae from predators and can be remarkably diverse in appearance, reflecting their creativity and resourcefulness.
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Octopus den
It’s no secret that octopuses are incredibly intelligent animals, and their dens are proof of it. These clever mollusks use shells, stones, and even discarded human objects to reinforce their homes. Some species go a step further, decorating their dens with seaweed and other found materials.
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Bagworm silk tent
Bagworms construct silk tents around themselves using bits of leaves, twigs, and other debris. These tents serve as mobile homes, providing protection as the insect feeds and grows.
Some species even camouflage their bags to blend into the environment, helping them avoid predators.
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Osprey nest
Ospreys build massive nests in tall trees or on human-made structures near bodies of water. These nests are carefully constructed with sticks and lined with softer materials, creating a sturdy platform that can last for multiple breeding seasons.
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Coral reef
Coral reefs are massive structures built by tiny coral polyps. These marine architects secrete calcium carbonate to form hard skeletons, gradually creating vast and complex habitats for a myriad of marine species. They are often referred to as the "rainforests of the sea" due to their biodiversity.
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Spider web
Another famous architect from the animal kingdom, the spider, creates webs that serve as both homes and hunting tools. The silk used in these webs is incredibly strong, and different species produce a variety of designs, including sheets, orbs, and funnel shapes.
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Swallow nest
Swallows build cup-shaped nests that can house entire colonies, using mud pellets, usually attached to vertical surfaces like cliffs or man-made structures.
The construction is precise and stable, providing protection for their young against predators and environmental elements.
Burrowing owl burrow
As their name suggests, burrowing owls make their homes underground, often taking over burrows abandoned by prairie dogs or other mammals.
They use these subterranean homes to protect their young and hide from the heat of the day.
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Thanks to Brett
The economics of illegal immigrants
A shocking analysis by the Federal Reserve revealing the true cost of the illegal immigration during the Biden administration. The fed is supposedly apolitical so maybe we can have a degree of faith in these numbers.
Source: Blue State Blues News The Federal Reserve Just Confirmed What Bidens Border Crisis Actually Cost You - Blue State Blues News
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Thanks to Bill S. …
More on the F-16’s launched on 9/11..
Thanks, Rich.
Sass and Lucky tell a great story! Good to see it out there in video now.
In 2002, I interviewed both of them for a series of stories Aviation Week ran about the “Military Response on 9/11”. Heather did NOT want to be interviewed, but Sass ordered her to talk to me. I was only allowed to use her call sign, because there was concern for ALL U.S. pilots’ safety, at the time. (Terrorist sleeper cells were the threat.)
Before I talked to her, Heather had been interviewed by a local TV reporter, whose story was all ga-ga about “a female fighter pilot risking her life to save America!”. Lucky was still PO’ed about that report.
I don’t have a scan of the final product, but for techie detail, here’s the story I filed in ’02.
Cheers,
Bill
SUBJECT: DCGUARDq
BOB - DCGUARDq (scott) - 3 images on CD; UPDATED 8-30
{{Precede}}
This is Part 3 of an ongoing special report covering how the military responded to terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Earlier stories were featured in the June 3 and June 10 issues. For this segment, one D.C. Air National Guard F-16 pilot chose to not have her name used, so is identified only by her call-sign.
ANDREWS AFB, MD.
Within minutes of American Airlines Flight 77 hitting the Pentagon on Sept. 11, three Air National Guard F-16s took off from here in response to a plea from the White House to "Get in the air, now!" Those fighters were flown by three pilots who had decided, on their own, to ram a hijacked airliner and force it to crash, if necessary. Such action almost certainly would have been fatal for them, but could have prevented another terrorism catastrophe in Washington.
One of those F-16s launched with no armament--no missiles and no usable ammunition in its 20 mm. gun. The other two "Vipers" only had a full load of 20 mm. "ball" or training rounds, not the high-explosive incendiary (HEI) bullets required for combat, and no air-to-air missiles.
The Andrews-based 121st Fighter Squadron was not standing alert on Sept. 11, because the Air National Guard (ANG) unit was not assigned to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad) air defense force. Norad had already scrambled two F-16s from their alert base at Langley AFB, Va., but they were still approximately 12 min. from Washington when the Pentagon was struck at 9:37 a.m. (AW&ST June 3, p. 48).
The 121st squadron's day had started normally. Three F-16s were flying an air-to-ground training mission on a range in North Carolina, 180 naut. mi. away. At Andrews, several officers were in a scheduling meeting when they received word that the World Trade Center (WTC) had been hit by an aircraft.
Minutes later, after United Airlines Flight 175 slammed into the second WTC tower, a squadron pilot called a friend in the Secret Service "to see what was going on. He was told some bad things were happening. At that time, we weren't thinking about defending anything. Our primary concern was what would happen to the air traffic system," said Lt. Col. Marc H. "Sass" Sasseville, the current 121st FS commander. On Sept. 11, he was the director of operations and Air Operations Officer--the acting operations group commander under the 113th Wing.
Soon thereafter, the Secret Service called back, asking whether the squadron could get fighters airborne. The unit's maintenance section was notified to get several F-16s armed and ready to fly.
Anticipating such an order, Col. Don C. Mozley, the 113th Logistics Group Commander, had already ordered his weapons officer to "break out the Aim-9s and start building them up." The missiles had to be transported from a bunker on the other side of the base, which would take awhile.
"After the Pentagon was hit, we were told there were more [airliners] coming. Not 'might be;' they werecoming," Mozley recalled.
Sasseville grabbed three F-16 pilots and gave them a curt briefing: "I have no idea what's going on, but we're flying. Here's our frequency. We'll split up the area as we have to. Just defend as required. We'll talk about the rest in the air." All four grabbed their helmets, g-suits and parachute harnesses, and headed for the operations desk to get aircraft assignments.
Another call from the Secret Service commanded, "Get in the air now!" Almost simultaneously, a call from someone in the White House declared the Washington area "a free-fire zone. That meant we were given authority to use force, if the situation required it, in defense of the nation's capitol, it's property and people," Sasseville said.
He and his wingman, “Lucky”, sprinted to the flight line and climbed into waiting F-16s armed only with "hot" guns and 511 rounds of "TP"--non-explosive training rounds. "They had two airplanes ready to go and were putting missiles on Nos. 3 and 4. Maintenance wanted us to take the ones with missiles, but we didn't have time to wait on those," Sasseville said. Maj. Dan "Raisin" Caine and Capt. Brandon "Igor" Rasmussen climbed into the jets being armed with Aim-9s, knowing they would takeoff about 10 min. behind Sasseville and “Lucky”.
"We had two air-to-air birds on the ramp...that already had ammo in them. We launched those first two with only hot guns," said CMSgt Roy Dale "Crank" Belknap, the 113th Wing production superintendent. "By then, we had missiles rolling up, so we loaded those other two airplanes while the pilots were sitting in the cockpit."
Inside, at the operations desk, Lt. Cols. Phil "Dog" Thompson and Steve "Festus" Chase were fielding a flood of calls from the Secret Service and the FAA's two area air traffic control facilities--Washington Center and Washington National Approach Control. Thompson is chief of safety for the 113th Wing, and Chase is now commander of the new Air Sovereignty Detachment here. By then, Brig. Gen. David F. Wherley, Jr., the 113th Wing commander, was on-site, trying to determine whether the unit had authorization to launch fighters.
"By this time, [commercial] airplanes were landing, but there were still several unidentified ones flying. One was in the northwest [area], basically coming down the [Potomac] River," Thompson said. Later, they would learn that the FAA and Norad's Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) were tracking the hijacked United Flight 93, and feared it was coming towards Washington. Thanks to intervention by passengers, the aircraft ultimately crashed in Pennsylvania.
Maj. Billy Hutchison and his wingmen had just landed after being recalled from their training mission in North Carolina. When Hutchison checked in via radio, Thompson told him to take off immediately.
"Billy had about 2,400-lb. of gas; the other two [F-16s] were too light," Thompson said. "I told Billy to take off, but don't use afterburner to save gas. He took off with nothing--no weapons. I told him to 'do exactly what ATC asks you to do.' Primarily, he was to go ID [identify] that unknown [aircraft] that everybody was so excited about. He blasted off and flew a standard departure route, which took him over the Pentagon."
According to now-official accounts, an armed Norad-alert F-16 from Langley AFB, flown by Maj. Dean Eckmann of the 119th Fighter Wing (Fargo, N.D.), was the first defender to overfly the Pentagon. At the time, Hutchison and his fellow "Capital Guardians"--as the 121st FS is known--were unaware that other fighters were over the city.
Minutes later, Sasseville and Lucky were in the air, roughly 6 min. after they had reached their F-16s. "I was still turning things on after I got airborne. By that time, the [Norad alert] F-16s from Langley were overhead--but I didn't know they were there," Sasseville recalled. "We all realized we were looking for an airliner--a big airplane. That was [United] Flight 93; the track looked like it was headed towards D.C. at that time."
The DCANG was not in the Norad or NEADS communication and command loops, so its pilots weren't on the same frequencies as Norad air defense fighters. The Andrews-based F-16s were launched by the Secret Service and someone in the White House command center, not Norad. At the time, there was no standing agreement between the Secret Service and the 113th Wing for the latter to provide fighters in response to an attack on Washington.
Hutchison made two loops up the Potomac, reversing course near Georgetown and the Pentagon, flying at 500-1,000 ft. above the terrain. Sasseville and Lucky were at 5,000-6,000 ft., "because I didn't want to get too low for a good radar angle, and not too high, so we could get somewhere fast," Sasseville said. He later conceded he was "making things up on the fly." Obviously, there was no precedent to draw upon. All the pilots were relying on their training and ability to think under pressure.
Hutchison was probably airborne shortly after the alert F-16s from Langley arrived over Washington, but 121st FS pilots admit their timeline-recall "is fuzzy." But it's clear that Hutchison, Sasseville and Lucky knew their options were limited for bringing down a hijacked airliner headed for an undetermined target in the capitol city. Although reluctant to talk about it, all three acknowledge they were prepared to ram a terrorist-flown aircraft, if necessary. Indeed, Hutchison--who might have been the first to encounter Flight 93 if it had, indeed, been flying low and fast down the Potomac--had no other choice.
Sasseville and Lucky each had 511 rounds of ammo, but that only provided roughly a 5-sec. burst of the 20 mm. gun. And where should they shoot to ensure a hijacked aircraft would be stopped? Sasseville planned to fire from behind and "try to saw off one wing. I needed to disable it as soon as possible--immediately interrupt its aerodynamics and bring it down."
He admits there was no assurance that a 5-sec. burst of lead slugs could slice an air transport's wing off, though. His alternative was "to hit it--cut the wing off with my wing. If I played it right, I'd be able to bail out. One hand on the stick and one hand on the ejection handle, trying to ram my airplane into the aft side of the [airliner's] wing," he said. "And do it skillfully enough to save the pink body...but understanding that it might not go as planned. It was a tough nut; we had no other ordnance."
Still unaware that Norad's on-alert F-16s were overhead, patrolling at a higher altitude, Sasseville initially split the airspace into four sectors. He swept the northwest area of Washington--where the hijacked United Flight 93 was expected to be--and had Lucky guard the northeast area.
Approximately 10 min. after Sasseville and Lucky took off, Caine and Rasmussen launched, the first Andrews-based F-16s to carry both hot guns and live Aim-9 missiles. They worked the city's southern sectors. Soon, F-16s from Richmond, Va., and Atlantic City, N.J., as well as F-15s from Langley AFB, were arriving. The air picture was confused, at best, and radio frequencies were alive with chatter.
"The FAA controllers were doing their best to get us information [about unidentified aircraft], but we were used to working with AWACS and their weapons directors and controllers," Rasmussen said. Eventually, Washington's Reagan National Airport was designated "Bullseye," and fighters were given range and bearing to targets from there.
Possibly the highest-ranking pilot in the area, Sasseville "essentially declared myself the CAP [combat air patrol] commander and set up deconfliction altitudes so we didn't run into each other. There really wasn't time for niceties." For the rest of the day, a dozen or so fighters rotated in and out of the region, running intercepts on myriad helicopters and light aircraft.
"They were snapping to targets everywhere," Thompson said. "A lot of light aircraft fly under the [controlled] airspace here, and they had no idea what was going on. What really scared us was Washington Approach broadcasting, 'Anyone flying within 25 mi. of the Washington TACAN is authorized to be shot down.' We kind of winced at that, because there are plenty of hard reasons to not shoot somebody down. We were really in an ID posture--and trying to really be careful."
A miracle of the post-attack hours on Sept. 11 was that no aircraft was shot down accidentally, a credit to the training and discipline of U.S. fighter crews. That fact is even more impressive when one considers many of those pilots had little or no experience with air defense techniques and protocols.
"We really didn't know the intricacies of Norad's mission--how it works," Thompson explained. "We've never been an air defense unit. We practice scrambles, we know how to do intercepts and other things, but there's a lot of protocol in the air defense business. We obviously didn't have that expertise, but it worked out fine. For the first three days, everybody seemed to be reasonably happy with our orchestrating the D.C. CAP. By day-four, we'd pretty much turned into a national asset" as Norad assumed control of CAPs nationwide.
On that first day, many of the pilots flying CAP over Washington, New York and other U.S. cities were faced with the very real possibility of having to shoot down or ram their fighter into an air transport filled with innocent passengers.
"I was asking myself, 'Is this when I have to make the million-dollar decision on my own?' But with smoke billowing out of the Pentagon...," Rasmussen said. "That's what we get paid to do, though. When young guys sign up, they may not see that the 'guts and glory' of fighter-flying may cost you your life. That day brought everything into focus."
In the afternoon, Sasseville and Lucky were flying their second mission of the day--armed with Aim-9 missiles now--when they were told to contact an AWACS aircraft in the area and "expect special tasking." They were directed to fly a 280-deg. heading for 140 naut. mi.--almost due west of Washington. Unable to communicate by secure or encrypted means, the AWACS controller lowered his voice and told Sasseville via radio they were going to "escort Air Force One," President Bush's aircraft.
Two Langley F-15s offered to go along, and Sasseville concurred. Soon, an AWACS controller reported a fast-moving, unidentified aircraft southwest of Air Force One, approximately 60 naut. mi. away, but on a "cutoff vector" to the president's Boeing 747. It was above 40,000 ft. and the 747 was "in the 20,000-ft. range," but Sasseville sent the F-15s to intercept the unknown aircraft. It was a Learjet that hadn't yet landed after aircraft nationwide had been ordered out of the air.
Sasseville and the two F-15s later joined on Air Force One, while Lucky positioned her F-16 about 10 naut. mi. in front of the 747. With the SADL datalink system, she was able to monitor her position relative to Sasseville's SADL-equipped F-16 positioned on Air Force One's left wing. Another flight of F-16s from Ellington AFB, Tex., were positioned about 5 mi. in trail. They had escorted the president from Offutt AFB, Nebr., according to 121st FS officers.
Why the D.C.-based F-16s were sent to shadow the president's aircraft back to Andrews AFB has not been disclosed. Apparently, someone in the Norad or Secret Service command loop had received information about a potential threat to the 747, prompting a request for additional armed escorts.
Surrounded by fighters, Air Force One descended rapidly towards its home base. Lucky made a clearing pass over the airfield, pulled up, circled back and joined on Sasseville's wing. All of the fighters remained with the 747 until the latter landed, then climbed and established a CAP over Andrews.
Despite being short of aircrews the next few days (see p. 76), the 121st flew continuously for about 63 hr., maintaining protective CAPs over Washington. They were aided by fighters from other ANG, Reserve and active-duty units, as well.
"We were generating airplanes faster than they could put 'em up," remarked "Crank" Belknap. "And we still are."
Regards, Scott
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On Jul 12, 2026, at 9:16 AM, Richard Sugden, MD <rsugden@tmcwy.com> wrote:
On 9/11, with the word that there was an errant airliner headed for DC, the Washington National Guard dispatched two unarmed F-16’s to bring it down if necessary … Here’s a great interview with Gen. “Sass” Sasseville (Maj. then) , and LT Heather “Lucky” Penney who flew that mission, after only a few minute briefing on how, unarmed, they might bring down an civilian airliner.
Heather’s dad, John Penney, was a United Captain who developed an interest in warbirds and brought many MiG’s into the country, checked me out in our MiG-15 and -17, and flew “Rare Bear” in the Reno Air Races Unlimited Category … I’d heard the story from John, but never to this detail …
If you have a “Smart” TV you can also find this on YouTube … This is the full CBS interview ...
Enjoy!
Rich
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This Day in U S Military History…
July 13
1861 – Union General George B. McClellan distinguishes himself by routing Confederates under General Robert Garnett at Corrick’s Ford in western Virginia. The battle ensured Yankee control of the region, secured the Union’s east-west railroad connections, and set in motion the events that would lead to the creation of West Virginia. Two days before Corrick’s Ford, Union troops under General William Rosecrans flanked a Confederate force at nearby Rich Mountain. The defeat forced Garnett to retreat from his position on Laurel Hill, while part of McClellan’s force pursued him across the Cheat River. A pitched battle ensued near Corrick’s Ford, in which Garnett was killed—the first general officer to die in the war. But losses were otherwise light, with only 70 Confederate, and 10 Union, casualties. The Battle of Corrick’s Ford was a significant victory because it cleared the region of Confederates, but it is often overlooked, particularly because it was overshadowed by the Battle of Bull Run, which occurred shortly thereafter on July 21. However, the success made McClellan a hero, even though his achievements were inflated. Two weeks later, McClellan became commander of the Army of the Potomac, the primary Federal army in the east. Unfortunately for the Union, the small campaign that climaxed at Corrick’s Ford was the zenith of McClellan’s military career.
1863 – Rioting against the Civil War military draft erupted in New York City; about 1,000 people died over three days. Antiabolitionist Irish longshoremen rampaged against blacks in the deadly Draft Riots in New York City in response to Pres. Lincoln’s announcement of military conscription. Mobs lynched a black man and torched the Colored Orphan Asylum.
1866 – Great Eastern began a two week voyage to complete a 12-year effort to lay telegraph cable across the Atlantic between Britain and the United States. Massachusetts merchant and financier Cyrus W. Field first proposed laying a 2,000-mile copper cable along the ocean bottom from Newfoundland to Ireland in 1854, but the first three attempts ended in broken cables and failure. Field’s persistence finally paid off in July 1866, when Great Eastern, the largest ship then afloat, successfully laid the cable along the level, sandy bottom of the North Atlantic. As messages traveled between Europe and America in hours rather than weeks, Cyrus Field was showered with honors. Among the honors was this commemorative print referring to the cable as the Eighth Wonder of the World.
1866 – Colonel Henry Carrington begins construction on Fort Phil Kearny, the most important army outpost guarding the Bozeman Trail. In 1863, a Georgia-born frontiersman named John Bozeman blazed a wagon road that branched off from the Oregon Trail and headed northwest to the gold fields of western Montana. The trail passed through the traditional hunting grounds of the Sioux, and Chief Red Cloud attacked several wagon trains to try to stop the violation of Indian Territory. Despite the questionable legality of the Bozeman Trail, the U.S. government decided to keep it open and began building a series of protective army forts along the route. Colonel Henry Carrington was assigned the task of designing and building the largest and most important of these outposts, Fort Phil Kearny. A talented strategist and designer, Carrington planned the fort with care. He selected a site in northern Wyoming that was near a source of water and commanded a view over a good section of the Bozeman Trail. He began building on this day in 1866, setting up a timbering operation and sawmill to supply the thousands of logs needed for construction. By fall, Carrington had erected an imposing symbol of American military power. A tall wooden palisade surrounded a compound the size of three football fields. Inside the walls, Carrington built nearly 30 buildings, including everything from barracks and mess halls to a stage for the regimental band. Only the most massive and determined Indian attack would have been capable of taking Fort Phil Kearny. Unfortunately, Carrington’s mighty fortress had one important flaw: the nearest stands of timber lay several miles away. To obtain the wood essential for heating and further construction, a detachment had to leave the confines of the fort every day. The Indians naturally began to prey on these “wood trains.” In December, a massive Indian ambush wiped out a force of 80 soldiers under the command of Captain William Fetterman. Despite this weakness, Fort Phil Kearny was still a highly effective garrison. Nonetheless, the U.S. Army found it nearly impossible to halt completely the Indian attacks along the trail. In 1868, the government agreed to abandon all of the forts and close the trail in exchange for peace with the Indians. Immediately after the soldiers left, the Indians burned Carrington’s mighty fortress to the ground.
1943 – The 10 Mountain Division came into being on July 13, 1943, at Camp Hale, Colorado as the 10th Light Division (Alpine). The combat power of the Division was contained in the 85th, 86th, and 87th Infantry Regiments. The Division’s year training at the 9,200 foot high Camp Hale honed the skills of its soldiers to fight and survive under the most brutal mountain conditions.
The Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
ADRIANCE, HARRY CHAPMAN
Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 27 October 1864, Oswego, N.Y. Accredited to: Massachusetts. G.O. No.: 55, 19 July 1901. Citation: In the presence of the enemy during the battle near Tientsin, China, 13 July 1900, Adriance distinguished himself by meritorious conduct.
BREWSTER, ANDRE W.
Rank and organization: Captain, 9th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Tientsin, China, 13 July 1900. Entered service at: Philadelphia, Pa. Birth: Hoboken, N.J. Date of issue: 15 September 1903. Citation: While under fire rescued 2 of his men from drowning.
COONEY, JAMES
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 27 July 1860, Limerick, Ireland. Accredited to: Massachusetts. G.O. No.: 55, 19 July 1901. Citation: In the presence of the enemy during the battle near Tientsin, China, 13 July 1900, Cooney distinguished himself by meritorious conduct.
FOLEY, ALEXANDER JOSEPH
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 19 February 1866, Heckersville, Pa. Accredited to: Pennsylvania. G.O. No.: 55, 19 July 1901. Citation: In the presence of the enemy in the battle near Tientsin, China, 13 July 1900, Foley distinguished himself by meritorious conduct.
LAWTON, LOUIS B.
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, 9th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Tientsin, China, 13 July 1900. Entered service at: Auburn, N.Y. Birth: Independence, lowa. Date of i55ue: 11 March 1902. Citation: Carried a message and guided reinforcements across a wide and fireswept space, during which he was thrice wounded.
MATHIAS, CLARENCE EDWARD
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 12 December 1876, Royalton, Pa. Accredited to: Pennsylvania. G.O. No.: 55, 19 July 1901. Citation: In the presence of the enemy during the advance on Tientsin, China, 13 July 1900, Mathias distinguished himself by meritorious conduct.
SUTTON, CLARENCE EDWIN
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 18 February 1871, Middlesex County, Va. Accredited to: Washington, D.C. G.O. No.: 55, 19 July 1901. Citation: In action during the battle near Tientsin, China, 13 July 1900. Although under heavy fire from the enemy, Sutton assisted in carrying a wounded officer from the field of battle.
*VON SCHLICK, ROBERT H.
Rank and organization: Private, Company C, 9th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Tientsin, China, 13 July 1900. Entered service at: San Erancisco, Calif. Birth: Germany. Date of issue: Unknown. Citation: Although previously wounded while carrying a wounded comrade to a place of safety, rejoined his command, which partly occupied an exposed position upon a dike, remaining there after his command had been withdrawn, singly keeping up the fire, and obliviously presenting himself as a conspicuous target until he was literally shot off his position by the enemy.
PITTS, RYAN M.
Rank and Organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry, 173d Airborne Brigade. Place and Date: July 13, 2008, Wanat ViIlage, Kunar Province, Afghanistan. Entered Service At: Boston, MA. Accredited To: . Born: 1985 , LOWELL, MA. G.O. Number: . Date of Issue: 07/21/2014. Departed: No. Citation: Sergeant Ryan M. Pitts distinguished himself by extraordinary acts of heroism at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a Forward Observer in 2d Platoon, Chosen Company, 2d Battalion (Airborne), 503d Infantry Regiment, 173d Airborne Brigade during combat operations against an armed enemy at Vehicle Patrol Base Kahler in the vicinity of Wanat Village, Kunar Province, Afghanistan on July 13, 2008. Early that morning, while Sergeant Pitts was providing perimeter security at Observation Post Topside, a well-organized Anti-Afghan Force consisting of over 200 members initiated a close proximity sustained and complex assault using accurate and intense rocket-propelled grenade, machine gun and small arms fire on Wanat Vehicle Patrol Base. An immediate wave of rocket-propelled grenade rounds engulfed the Observation Post wounding Sergeant Pitts and inflicting heavy casualties. Sergeant Pitts had been knocked to the ground and was bleeding heavily from shrapnel wounds to his arm and legs, but with incredible toughness and resolve, he subsequently took control of the Observation Post and returned fire on the enemy. As the enemy drew nearer, Sergeant Pitts threw grenades, holding them after the pin was pulled and the safety lever was released to allow a nearly immediate detonation on the hostile forces. Unable to stand on his own and near death because of the severity of his wounds and blood loss, Sergeant Pitts continued to lay suppressive fire until a two-man reinforcement team arrived. Sergeant Pitts quickly assisted them by giving up his main weapon and gathering ammunition all while continually lobbing fragmentary grenades until these were expended. At this point, Sergeant Pitts crawled to the northern position radio and described the situation to the Command Post as the enemy continued to try and isolate the Observation Post from the main Patrol Base. With the enemy close enough for him to hear their voices and with total disregard for his own life, Sergeant Pitts whispered in the radio situation reports and conveyed information that the Command Post used to provide indirect fire support. Sergeant Pitts’ courage, steadfast commitment to the defense of his unit and ability to fight while seriously wounded prevented the enemy from overrunning the Observation Post and capturing fallen American soldiers, and ultimately prevented the enemy from gaining fortified positions on higher ground from which to attack Wanat Vehicle Patrol Base. Sergeant Ryan M. Pitts’ extraordinary heroism and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, Company C, 2d Battalion (Airborne), 503d Infantry Regiment, 173d Airborne Brigade and the United States Army.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for July 13, FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD “PHIL” MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
13 July
1911: Glenn Curtiss flew the Navy’s second aircraft, the A-2, at Hammondsport for the first time; Lt Thomas G. Ellyson flew the second flight. (24)
1916: The 1st Aero Company, from New York’s National Guard, became the first Guard unit to be mobilized into Federal Service in answer to the border crisis with Mexico. The unit trained at Mineola, but did not deploy to the border. (21)
1918: The 1st Marine Aviation Force left Miami for Philadelphia, where the Marines boarded the De Kalb Navy Transport for France. They disembarked at Brest on 30 July. (10)
1921: KEY EVENT. Brig Gen William “Billy” Mitchell’s Martin MB-2 and Handley Page bombers sank several ships off the Virginia Capes. The tests studied the use of bombs on ships to suggest how ship design could counter an air attack. The bombers sank a German sub, the destroyer G-102, the light cruiser Frankfurt, and the battleship Ostfriesland on 21 July to prove that unopposed aircraft could sink capital ships. (5) (18)
1948: The first of three Consolidated Vultee rocket research test vehicles built under a cancelled research contract with the US AAF launched successfully. (6)
1950: KOREAN WAR. An Air Weather Service RB-29 led the first strategic bombing strike from Japan against North Korea. The FEAF Bomber Command sent 49 B-29s from the 22 BG and 92 BG to attack oil refineries and marshalling yards at the port of Wonsan. (1) (2) (28) The 3 ARS began flying SB-17s off the Korean coast to drop rescue boats to downed B-29 crews. (28)
1952: KOREAN WAR. Far East Air Forces initiated a new general warning leaflet drop program over enemy territory. The new leaflet identified specific towns and targets to be destroyed by air attacks. (28)
1959: PROJECT SKYHOOK. The Office of Naval Research sent a “record-sized” plastic balloon to 139,500 feet in altitude. (24) The 4530th Combat Crew Training Wing at Williams AFB, Ariz., graduated the last active duty F-86F class (60A). Operation HERCULES ARK. The 4440th Air Delivery Group airlifted 20 calves donated by businessmen in Waco, Texas, to Colonel Dean Hess's Orphans Home of Korea. (11)
1965: SAC issued a requirement for a mobile ICBM. (6)
1967: DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSSES. Nine Air Force, eight Navy, and one Marine astronaut received DFCs for their Mercury and Gemini space flights. (16)
1968: An FB-111A bomber successfully completed a 30-minute maiden flight from Carswell AFB.
1972: At Eglin AFB, the GAM-72A Quail missile completed its last operational test in an overwater flight. (6) 1
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From the archives in case you did not know of this
Thanks to Brett
I never knew the extent of what happened here
Geopolitical Futures:
Daily Memo: The Bitter Legacy of French Colonization of Algeria
The conflict has returned as a new Algeria takes shape.
By: Hilal Khashan
July 13, 2023
Algerian-French relations have never been normal. They’ve never been governed by the principles and customs of traditional diplomacy between countries. The Algerians’ collective consciousness is traumatized by the historical memory of unbridled occupation. More than 60 years after the end of the Algerian war, the wounds are still open on both sides despite the occasional symbolic gesture by France, which refuses to express regret or apologize. French President Emmanuel Macron angered Algeria two years ago by accusing the its military-political establishment of writing an official history of the colonial period based on falsehoods and of inciting hatred toward France. However, attestations by senior French military officers who fought in Algeria about how they commanded their troops contradict Macron’s claims.
Occupation of Algeria
France has intended to occupy Algeria since the time of Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1808, he assigned engineer Vincent-Yves Boutin to prepare a study on the Algerian coast and to craft a detailed map of the best landing site for the French army. However, these plans were put on hold after Napoleon’s disastrous defeat in the 1812 Russian campaign, subsequent losses at Leipzig and elsewhere, and eventual abdication after the Treaty of Fontainebleau in 1814. Following a diplomatic incident in 1827, the French blockaded the port of Algiers, made easy by the destruction of the Algerian fleet during the Battle of Navarino. In 1830, King Charles X ordered an invasion of Algeria partly to deflect attention from his domestic difficulties. The French occupation of Algeria lasted from 1830 to 1962 and was the most prolonged and heinous colonial occupation in modern history.
During its colonization of Algeria, France sought to erase the country’s culture and dismantle its society through genocide. France discouraged the use of Arabic and forced the Algerians to use French. It impoverished them by seizing arable land, giving it to the French colonialists, and stealing natural resources like as oil and gas. It implemented draconian policies toward the indigenous population, including impoverishment, displacement, bloodshed and the monopolization of Algeria’s markets. French officers often gave peasants a choice between providing food or suffering extermination. They pointed their guns at villages while the villagers walked toward them carrying eggs, sheep, chickens and honey. French-colonized Algeria provided all means of livelihood for the new settlers from France and the rest of Europe, entitling them to own Algeria’s most fertile land. The first European settlement goes back to 1836, and by the end of the 19th century there were 1 million settlers in Algeria, mostly French but also Italians and Spaniards. France was keen on strengthening Europe’s presence in Algeria and on eradicating its Arab and Islamic identity in favor of Christianizing the country. France used Algeria as a springboard to the rest of North Africa, the Sahel and Africa’s Atlantic territories.
Genocidal Massacres
The French did not seize Algeria quickly. Algerians put up fierce resistance, prompting the French army to use unusual cruelty. By 1849, they succeeded in subduing the country, especially in the north, two years after Emir Abdelkader surrendered to Gen. Louis Juchault de Louis Juchault de Lamoricie. Before pacifying Algeria, France committed systematic killings, torture and crimes against humanity. In 1960, France conducted its first 17 nuclear tests in southern Algeria. Three years ago, France returned to Algiers the skulls of 24 Algerian fighters killed and beheaded by the French army during the battle of Zaatcha in 1849. The French army sent the skulls to Paris as war trophies. For Algerians, the skulls – part of the Museum of Mankind’s 18,000-skull collection – attested to French colonial barbarism and fascination with decapitation that goes back to inventing the guillotine in 1792.
Marshall Thomas Bugeaud said the objective of the French campaign against Algeria was to occupy it with the sword and the plow: “The sword is on the necks of the Arabs, and the plow is in the hands of the French colonizer.” In November 1830, the French garrison in Blida, southwest of Algiers, massacred the civilian population to avenge a rebel attack, killing an untold number of the downtown residents. They did not spare babies, slitting their throats in their mothers’ arms. Describing a separate massacre at El Ouffia, southeast of Algiers, Gen. Anne Jean Marie Rene Savary said French soldiers rode on horseback and carried human heads on the blades of their swords as onlookers gazed at the slaughtered women with their severed forearms and ears. Commenting on the massacre, the French commander-in-chief congratulated his forces for the enthusiasm and intelligence they showed on that occasion. Gen. Nicolas Changarnier said the only entertainment he allowed in the winter to his troops, stationed in Wadi El Harrach and Bourkika, was marauding the tribes in the area.
In 1844, the French turned the Ketchaoua Mosque, one of Algeria’s most famous historical mosques, into an armory and a residence for bishops. When thousands of Algerian protesters sat inside it, the French soldiers killed them all. Gen. Eugene Cavaignac’s troops committed some of the most gruesome atrocities during his deployment in Algeria in the 1830s. He believed that excessive violence against Algerians was unavoidable on the path to civilizing them. In one instance in 1845, a French army commander ordered fumigating more than 750 Algerians who sought shelter in a cave and refused to surrender. Col. Lucien de Montagnac proudly declared that he cut off heads – not artichoke heads, but many human heads. He said some of the soldiers told him that their officers urged them not to leave any Arab alive, and he added that the soldiers he was honored to command were afraid that their officers would order their flogging if they brought in a living Arab. French soldiers committed many crimes against civilians – executing raids that were frequently referred to as “razzias” – by killing and displacing them and stealing their possessions and sources of livelihood, which became a source of food for the troops.
Francois Canrobert, celebrated for his spectacular bravery as a light infantry battalion commander, wrote in his memoirs that his unit burned the villages of the Amazigh Beni Snous tribe. The soldiers did not hesitate to kill the elderly, women and children because no one could defend them. The most brutal act was the killing of women after raping them. Razzia spread among the soldiers of the French army. It was a method of systematic destruction, sparing neither people nor property. The generals of France’s Army of Africa, whether royalists, republicans or Bonapartists, considered their actions to be glorious. The first phase of the occupation of Algeria involved reducing the population so that it would no longer threaten the French forces. Between 1830 and the beginning of the French Third Republic in 1870, the local population decreased by about 875,000.
The French promised the Algerians self-rule if they fought alongside them. The number of Algerian soldiers who fought with the Free French Forces in World War II reached 175,000, of whom 26,000 died during the war. Algerian soldiers were always in the first ranks of the war, forming shields for the French troops. When the war ended, the Algerians protested peacefully to express their joy, hoping France would keep its promises. Instead, the French military and pied-noir settlers killed at least 45,000 Algerians in the Setif and Guelma demonstrations on May 8, 1945. France reneged on its promises, paving the way for the 1954 Algerian War of Independence. In Vietnam, Algerians in the Foreign Legion saw what happened in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu and how a Third World irregular military force defeated the vaunted French army. They decided to rise to arms to gain Algeria’s independence, which they did six months later.
On Oct. 17, 1961, the French police committed a massacre by order of the Paris police chief, Maurice Papon, against Algerians who participated in a peaceful demonstration, killing at least 200 demonstrators. More than 800 others disappeared, and reports claim that the police officers threw them into the sewers and the Seine River. Although Charles de Gaulle knew what happened, he kept the officers responsible for the massacre in their positions.
Discrimination, Resistance and Betrayal
The 1870 Cremieux Decree granted French citizenship to Algeria’s Jewish community and denied it to Muslims. Their exclusion from the naturalization law was a prelude to the 1881 Indigenous People Law, which required them to obey Europeans unthinkingly. A list of 41 punishable acts included opening a school without a permit, refusal to work on European farms, delay in paying taxes, assembly of more than five persons and uttering anti-French phrases. The law gave the governor-general unfettered power to impose punishments without trial in the interest of public security. It also entitled him to adopt the principle of collective responsibility in response to personal offenses and authorized administrators and mayors to imprison people and confiscate their property without a judicial ruling. Gen. Charles de Gaulle repealed the law in 1944, giving Algerian Muslims French rights.
In 1827, the French minister of war, comte de Clermont-Tonnerre, said in his report to the French Cabinet that the occupation of Algeria would lead to its people’s civilization and Christianization. In 1904, the French governor-general of Algeria issued a decree banning the opening of Arabic-language schools without a license from the military authority. The license stipulated allegiance to France and a pledge to refrain from teaching about Islam or the history of Algeria and the Arab world. However, France failed to erase the Islamic identity of the Algerian people despite the intensity of missionary activity and its fight against the Arabic language, prompting exasperated French lawmakers to accuse the Algerians of living on the margins of history.
The French government did not express interest in allowing its Algerian collaborators, known as Harkis, to immigrate to France. However, French officers who commanded them helped about 10 percent of them to make it to France in violation of official instructions. In France, they lived in squalid camps, and scores of children died of disease and poor medical care. Those who stayed behind endured reprisals and defamation.
The Rift Deepens
Algeria’s current president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, said a sweet word could not erase 132 years of French colonization. A protest movement from 2019 to 2021 raised demands to expel France and the French language from Algeria. Tebboune identified with the matter because of the intractable differences with France and its refusal to apologize for its colonial past. The Algerian government tightened the screws on the French language, which had dominated all aspects of life. The Ministry of Culture also told its departments and institutions to revert to using the Arabic language in transactions and activities in compliance with the provisions of the Constitution. Some Algerians said the measure reflects the Algeria the people want, and although it came late, it is good. Many described this long-awaited decision as equivalent to the departure of the last French soldier from Algeria.
Relations between Algeria and France have recently hit a new low. Tebboune issued a decree in June requiring the full performance of the Algerian national anthem on official occasions. The anthem contains the lines: “Oh, France, the day of reckoning is coming, so get ready and take the answer from us.” This prompted angry statements from French officials. A new banknote issued last year and featuring text in both English and Arabic also sparked outrage in France. Algeria has also started teaching English at the primary school level instead of French as part of the dispute with Paris over cultural memory.
The colonial legacy of the political disharmony between Algeria and France became an ideological struggle. The conflict has returned in the context of divergent interests between Macron and the new Algeria led by Tebboune, as well as French pressure on Algeria to halt its political, economic and cultural transformation. The crimes committed by France against the Algerian people left deep wounds that have not yet healed, primarily because of the unresolved history between the two countries. Algeria insists that France take political and legal steps to do justice to memory and history. France rejects Algerian demands, arguing that memory belongs to historians. French historian Benjamin Stora said history unites Algerians and French, but memory separates them.
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