7597
Good Friday morning July 17 2026 .The Heat wave is still here and heating up 86 by 1 and staying into the mid 80s until 3 or so.
Take care of yourselves where ever you are.
Cool Regards,
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This Day in Navy and Marine Corps History July 17
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 17
1858 The steam screw frigate, USS Niagara, and the British ship, HMS Agamemnon, depart Queenstown, Ireland, to assist in laying the first trans-Atlantic telegraph cable.
1898 Santiago, Cuba surrenders to U.S. Naval forces during the Spanish-American War.
1927 Maj. Ross E. Rowell, USMC, leads a flight of five DHs, which are two-seat biplanes, in a strafing and dive bombing attack against bandit forces surrounding a garrison of Marines at Ocotal, Nicaragua.
1944 USS Gabilan (SS 252) sinks Japanese minesweeper (W 25) northwest of Zenizu, Japan.
1975 U.S. Apollo (Apollo 18) and Soviet Soyuz (Soyuz 19) space craft dock in space, making the first manned space flight conducted jointly by the 2 nations. The Apollo craft remains for 9 days, 1 hour, and approximately 28 minutes. USS New Orleans (LPH 11) later recovers the Apollo craft.
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Today in World History July 17
1453 France defeats England at Castillon, France, ending the Hundred Years' War.
1762 Peter III of Russia is murdered and his wife, Catherine II, takes the throne.
1785 France limits the importation of goods from Britain.
1791 National Guard troops open fire on a crowd of demonstrators in Paris.
1799 Ottoman forces, supported by the British, capture Aboukir, Egypt from the French.
1801 The U.S. fleet arrives in Tripoli.
1815 Napoleon Bonaparte surrenders to the British at Rochefort, France.
1821 Andrew Jackson becomes the governor of Florida.
1864 Confederate President Jefferson Davis replaces General Joseph E. Johnston with General John Bell Hood in hopes of defeating Union General William T. Sherman outside Atlanta.
1898 U.S. troops under General William R. Shafter take Santiago de Cuba during the Spanish-American War.
1944 Field Marshall Erwin Rommel is wounded when an Allied fighter strafes his staff car in France.
1946 Chinese communists attack the Nationalist army on the Yangtze River.
1960 American pilot Francis Gary Powers pleads guilty to spying charges in a Moscow court.
1966 Ho Chi Minh orders a partial mobilization of North Vietnam to defend against American airstrikes.
1987 Lt. Col. Oliver North and Rear Adm. John Poindexter begin testifying to Congress regarding the Iran-Contra scandal.
1938
"Wrong Way" Corrigan crosses the Atlantic »
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Rollingthunderremembered.com .
July 17
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 Thursday July 17
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Thanks to Brett
In the Asia-Pacific, a New Security Arrangement Takes Shape
U.S. retrenchment is expediting the process, but don’t count China out just yet.
By: Victoria Herczegh
Last week, Japan, Australia and New Zealand reaffirmed their commitment to closer defense cooperation during a trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Turkey. Almost at the same time, the Philippines and Vietnam elevated their ties to an enhanced strategic partnership, agreeing to establish new maritime coordination mechanisms, including coast guard cooperation and a direct hotline to manage incidents in the South China Sea. Together, these developments represent the clearest indication yet that regional allies and partners are responding to Washington’s gradual withdrawal by building a more interconnected security network of their own instead of accommodating – or ceding power to – China.
To be sure, the U.S. is still the dominant power in East Asia, but over the past few months, its shift toward retrenchment has become apparent. As U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth emphasized in his speech at the 2026 Shangri-La Dialogue, Washington’s new “flexible, practical realism” strategy seeks increased transactional burden-sharing from regional allies, including those that meet new defense spending standards and accelerate their military transformation to take on more active roles in maintaining security. This stands in stark contrast to the traditional model, whereby the U.S. acted as the sole security guarantor for the region. Moreover, the Trump administration recently reverted to the military designation of “Pacific Command,” having performatively changed it to “Indo-Pacific Command” some years ago.
Japan and Australia have taken notice and have adapted to the transition accordingly. Both have steadily expanded their defense diplomacy, defense industrial cooperation and operational presence throughout Southeast Asia, transforming themselves from traditional U.S. allies into influential regional security providers. Last week’s affirmation, then, shows that this process is expanding beyond bilateral cooperation into a broader network of like-minded middle powers. Discussions on defense technology cooperation, Pacific Island engagement and New Zealand's potential acquisition of Japan's upgraded Mogami-class frigates further illustrate that these relationships are becoming increasingly institutionalized. Instead of waiting for Washington to coordinate collective responses, its principal allies are intensifying coordination among themselves.
The most striking example of this evolving regional architecture is the Philippines. Long regarded as one of Washington's closest treaty allies and one of China's most outspoken maritime challengers, Manila has become a proactive security actor in its own right. Over the past several months, the Philippines has significantly expanded its defense relationships beyond the U.S., pursuing parallel security arrangements with Japan, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, while simultaneously strengthening cooperation with fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Negotiations over Visiting Forces Agreements with Canada and New Zealand, discussions regarding the transfer of Japanese Abukuma-class destroyer escorts and Type 88 anti-ship missiles, Australia's expanding military exercises with Philippine forces, and deeper intelligence cooperation with Tokyo collectively demonstrate an acceleration of Philippine defense diplomacy. Importantly, these initiatives no longer just revolve around the U.S.-Philippines alliance but place Manila at the center of an expanding regional security network connecting Northeast Asia, Oceania and Southeast Asia.
The Philippines' growing strategic partnership with Vietnam is instructive. By recently agreeing to establish maritime hotlines, expand coast guard coordination and reaffirm their commitment to international law in the South China Sea, Manila and Hanoi are institutionalizing practical mechanisms meant to reduce risk while boosting their collective capacity to manage Chinese maritime pressure. The timing is particularly significant, coming shortly before the 10th anniversary of the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling that rejected China's expansive maritime claims. Although Vietnam continues to balance cooperation with strategic autonomy, the steady expansion of practical security cooperation with the Philippines reflects a shared view that maritime stability is better preserved through closer coordination than through isolated bilateral engagement with Beijing.
Meanwhile, Vietnam and Indonesia have also intensified bilateral and multilateral defense cooperation to preserve a rules-based regional order. Indonesia's comprehensive strategic partnership with Vietnam, joint maritime law enforcement training involving Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and the U.S., and expanding coast guard cooperation show a gradual but unmistakable movement toward greater operational coordination. At the same time, Indonesia has significantly strengthened defense ties with Japan through a new defense cooperation agreement, while simultaneously deepening its security partnership with Australia under the Jakarta Treaty. Vietnam has followed a similar path, boosting defense cooperation with Japan while maintaining close engagement with Manila. Individually, these agreements may appear incremental, but collectively they reveal an unprecedented frequency of defense agreements, exercises, strategic affirmations and institutional mechanisms emerging since early spring.
These developments naturally have implications for China's regional position. Earlier this year, Beijing appeared to possess a rare opportunity to improve relations with several ASEAN members. At the height of the Middle East energy crisis, China offered dialogue and economic assistance to vulnerable Southeast Asian states, particularly the Philippines, whose dependence on Gulf energy imports created acute economic pressure. For a brief period, Manila appeared willing to reopen discussions on joint energy development and broader cooperation with Beijing, provided it remain consistent with international law and progress toward a South China Sea Code of Conduct.
That opportunity, however, gradually narrowed. As Japan simultaneously offered assistance in expanding regional energy resilience, and as ASEAN members themselves accelerated efforts to strengthen economic cooperation, Beijing's comparative diplomatic advantage decreased.
More important, the rapid acceleration of security cooperation among regional actors fundamentally changed the strategic environment. Instead of moving closer to China in response to perceived U.S. retrenchment, prominent ASEAN states increasingly diversified their security relationships with Japan, Australia and one another. China's initiatives through the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, its new "3+3" dialogue mechanism with Vietnam and its brief engagement with the Philippines have thus remained comparatively limited in practical strategic effect. While these initiatives demonstrate Beijing's continuing desire to cultivate closer regional partnerships, they have largely been overtaken by the far more dynamic expansion of the emerging regional security network.
This does not mean China is losing Southeast Asia altogether. Economically, Beijing remains indispensable for ASEAN. Trade, investment, supply chains and infrastructure links give China considerable regional influence that no external actor can easily replace. Security dynamics, however, increasingly follow a different trajectory. As Japan and Australia assume more proactive leadership roles and key ASEAN states deepen cooperation among themselves, Beijing simply has less room to maneuver.
This helps explain China's recent military posture while broader negotiations with Washington continue. Beijing has focused on reinforcing relationships within its traditional strategic network, including enhancing military coordination with Russia and engaging more with North Korea. Beijing’s growing wariness of the new, denser network of alliances is apparent. It is increasingly criticizing U.S. regional allies, especially Japan. China’s rare test-firing of a ballistic missile from a nuclear submarine into the Pacific Ocean last week is clearly a statement meant to warn neighboring countries.
Overall, the gradual recalibration of Washington's regional strategy has expedited the emergence of a new regional security architecture. Its closest allies, particularly Japan and Australia, are assuming more proactive roles, while influential ASEAN states have become increasingly active security players in their own right. The resulting network continues to rest on U.S. influence but does not depend on direct U.S. leadership.
This complicates China’s strategic environment. Beijing increasingly faces an interconnected coalition of regional partners intent on preserving stability through cooperation. If China chooses to intensify its maritime power projection, that network is likely to become even more cohesive. At the same time, China's economic influence remains substantial and is unlikely to diminish in the near future, so the competition will continue to unfold across both the economic and security spheres.
The evolution of the U.S.-China dialogue will be decisive in the region's strategic trajectory. If Washington and Beijing stabilize their relationship through successful negotiations and effective crisis-management mechanisms, regional actors may find greater room to balance deterrence with pragmatic engagement. But if bilateral ties deteriorate further, the emerging security network is likely to deepen and institutionalize even more rapidly, encouraging greater defense cooperation among U.S. allies and ASEAN partners. This will only reinforce China's reliance on its own strategic partnerships.
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Thanks to Brett
.. President Trump Unveils America First Plan to Replace Illegal Alien Truck Drivers With U.S. Veterans
Trump says America's veterans should fill these jobs instead of illegal aliens.
BIG LEAGUE POLITICS
President Donald Trump announced a new America First initiative aimed at replacing illegal alien truck drivers with qualified U.S. military veterans, arguing that the policy will make America’s highways safer while creating new opportunities for those who served the nation.
The announcement came during the Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit, where Trump highlighted his administration’s ongoing effort to remove unqualified and illegal commercial drivers from America’s roads.
us@POTUS announces that any American veteran who has driven a heavy truck for our military will soon be eligible for a Commercial Driver's License.
The policy builds on the administration’s crackdown on commercial driver’s licenses issued to foreign nationals. Earlier this year, the Department of Transportation implemented stricter English-language proficiency requirements for commercial truck drivers and launched reviews of licenses held by foreign citizens authorized to work in the United States.
According to the Trump administration, roughly 28,000 illegal aliens have already lost their commercial driver’s licenses during Trump’s second term as federal authorities intensify enforcement.
Trump said his administration already has the perfect replacement workforce ready to step in.
“We’re going to take our veterans, we’re going to make them, we’re going to teach them a lot about driving trucks,” Trump said. “And in many cases, they know. We’re going to say any American who’s driven a heavy truck for our military will automatically be eligible for a commercial driver’s license.”
The proposal would streamline the licensing process for veterans with experience operating heavy military vehicles, allowing them to transition more easily into commercial trucking careers after leaving the armed forces.
Trump unveiled the initiative while discussing the recent death of a Pennsylvania state trooper who was killed in a crash involving a truck driver who federal officials say was an illegal alien from Haiti. According to the Department of Homeland Security, the driver allegedly lacked lawful immigration status but possessed a commercial driver’s license issued by Massachusetts.
The Administration has repeatedly argued that weak enforcement under previous administrations allowed dangerous and unqualified foreign drivers onto American highways.
Trump has also emphasized concerns that many foreign commercial drivers cannot adequately read English road signs or communicate with law enforcement and emergency personnel, prompting the administration’s push to restore English proficiency standards for commercial driver’s license holders.
The White House has cited multiple fatal crashes involving foreign commercial drivers as justification for tightening federal oversight of CDL licensing and immigration enforcement within the trucking industry.
The new initiative reflects Trump’s broader America First agenda by pairing stronger immigration enforcement with expanded employment opportunities for American workers—particularly military veterans who already possess experience operating heavy equipment under demanding conditions.
If implemented, the proposal would simultaneously remove illegal alien drivers from America’s roads while helping thousands of veterans transition into high-demand trucking careers, reinforcing the administration’s pledge to put American workers first.
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Some bits from the Flyover
FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2026
Good Morning! On this day in 1955, Disneyland opened in Anaheim, California. Built on 160 acres of former orange groves, the $17 million theme park quickly became profitable. Today, it attracts over 18 million visitors annually, who spend nearly $3 billion.
Trump Declassifies Election Intel Files
President Donald Trump used a primetime White House address on Thursday to announce the declassification of intelligence on foreign threats to U.S. elections, four months before the midterms.
Trump said the documents, posted to the White House website during the speech, reveal "shocking vulnerabilities" tied to hacking, exploitation, and foreign interference.
He charged that China illegally obtained 220 million voter files beginning in 2020, including names, addresses, voting history, and party affiliation. A White House official said the materials do not allege votes were changed or machines hacked in 2020, and Beijing denied any interference.
Trump called on the director of national intelligence, the Department of Justice, the FBI and the CIA to launch an investigation and press criminal charges against those involved.
ABC and NBC declined to carry the address live on their broadcast networks, opting to stream it instead, while CNN said it would monitor the speech and run a live feed online.
Iran Warns of 'Red Line' as US Ramps Up Attacks
Iran declared that the Strait of Hormuz was an inviolable "red line" on Thursday, warning it will "resist until the end" and strike infrastructure across the Gulf region if President Trump attacks Iranian power plants and bridges.
The exchange follows a fifth consecutive night of U.S. strikes targeting Iranian missile sites, coastal defenses, and command centers as U.S. Central Command ramped up its air campaign to the heaviest rate since the start of the war.
Iran has also lashed out at U.S. allies, with Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan reporting incoming Iranian missile and drone attacks. Tehran's top negotiator, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, called it "an essential and existential war with America."
Trump told Fox News he's weighing even heavier strikes and hasn't ruled out a ground campaign.
House Sets Cash-Rounding Rules for Stores
The House passed what it called "the Common Cents Act" by voice vote, setting national rules for rounding cash transactions to the nearest nickel and legally ending penny production in the U.S.
Under the new bill, if an amount has 1, 2, 6, or 7 as the last cent digit, it can generally be rounded down to the nearest nickel. On the other hand, if an amount ends with 3, 4, 8, or 9 as the last cent digit, it can be rounded up.
The legislation also authorizes the Treasury to test a redesigned, lower-cost nickel made with zinc instead of the current copper-heavy alloy. Currently, every 5-cent nickel cost nearly 14 cents to produce last year, and the U.S. Mint lost roughly $18 million on nickel production alone.
➤ President Trump's longtime teleprompter operator is accused of using inside knowledge of the president's speeches to win $100,000 in bets.
➤ Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth is now mandating annual testosterone screening for service members over 30 years old across the entire military.
➤ The Trump administration is moving to fence off a historic public square beside the White House, escalating a broader security overhaul.
➤ President Trump ordered ICE to resume vehicle stops one day after DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin paused them following two fatal officer-involved shootings in Maine and Texas.
➤ Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., warned he would leave the Democratic Party if it officially became "the anti-Israel party," though he signaled no plans to depart the caucus imminently.
➤ The federal Department of Labor deployed a fraud strike force to New York, citing $507 million in improper unemployment insurance payments in 2025 and the nation's highest fraud rate at 15%.
➤ The NCAA Rules Subcommittee approved an automated ball-strike challenge system for college baseball, with the change expected to take effect in 2027 following a trial at this year’s SEC Tournament.
➤ The ACC overhauled its football tiebreaker rules this week, adding a new “team quality” ranking after last season’s five-way tie sent 7-5 Duke to the conference championship game, where the Blue Devils won the title.
➤ The British government urged FIFA to investigate Argentina after the team’s players posed with a banner asserting sovereignty over the disputed Falkland Islands following their 2-1 semifinal victory over England.
➤ Lionel Messi, 39, and Lamine Yamal, 19, will meet on the field for the first time in Sunday’s World Cup final—nearly two decades after Messi was photographed cradling Yamal as a baby in Barcelona.
➤ The Trump administration announced new 25% tariffs on Brazil under Section 301, effective July 22, in the first of a broader global tariff rollout expected to cover 80-plus countries within weeks.
➤ FCC Chairman Brendan Carr says the commission will vote Aug. 6 to eliminate its 39% cap on local TV station ownership, replacing the decades-old rule with a case-by-case review of broadcast deals.
➤ Forty-two percent of American adults still rely on their parents for financial support, including 72% of Gen Zers and 53% of millennials, according to a new study.
➤ A meteorite that crashed into a New Jersey home in 2024 contained an "alien world chemistry" of prebiotic molecules and ancient brine fluids, offering clues about how organic compounds may have reached early Earth.
➤ Scientists identified a new monkey species in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with orange lips and a deep roar. It’s only the fifth new African monkey species described in 75 years.
➤ Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope confirmed four hidden white dwarf stars near Earth, including the ninth closest known white dwarf to our sun, just 25 light-years away.
➤ Former Rep. George Santos, expelled from Congress for fraud, will participate in the new Fox reality show Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test in September, months after President Trump commuted his prison sentence.
➤ Paramount will reboot its G.I. Joe franchise with comedy actor Danny McBride at the helm, as The Righteous Gemstones and Pineapple Express star makes his feature directorial debut from his own script.
➤ Luke Skywalker’s screen-used lightsaber from the climactic Darth Vader duel in The Empire Strikes Back sold Wednesday for $3.75 million, setting a world auction record for a Star Wars prop. (See Lightsaber)
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Thanks to Dutch, Bruddah ..and RS..
Great piece!
[Socialism as well .. and certainly DSA members!! - RS]
I’ve oft heard liberals answer the reason communism hasn’t worked as of yet is due to the wrong people implementing it. Marco Rubio brings out the BS flag on that one.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio also commented on leftist violence. "It has always been driven by a hatred — above all else, a hatred for civilization itself. It is a revolt of the worst against the best, a revolt of the weak and the cowardly against the strong and the good. It is perpetrated by those who cannot build, who cannot create, and who cannot create great things, and take revenge upon the world for their own inadequacy by seeking to destroy those who can. This is what Radical Leftism is." (From a separate piece).
They also say that the theory is spot on but it hasn’t been implemented properly yet. Again, Rubio yells BS! Communism’s premise is so totally flawed and in direct contrast to human nature that it can never succeed. It is based on dividing up an existing pie equally among the masses and doesn’t allow for anybody to baked anymore pies! The rulers have their own bakers, so don’t worry about them! They’ll do just fine! The rest of society is dead.
That’s no way to run one! Rubio hits it head on here.
Communism? Not here! Not now! Not ever! For those who insist on living under it, there is still North Korea, but quite rapidly we are running out of communist countries.They have overcome what Rubio is talking about. Not much use in going to Cuba! It is on the clock, IYKWIM. We shouldn’t have to tolerate listening to these Bolsheviks ever again.
Just sayn'
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From the Archives thanks to Shadow. One of my favorites.
Jake
Many years ago... I remember a quote from an old pilot by the name of Conrad... who
said this about the famous Piper Cub; “It’s such a simple little airplane, why it can barely
kill ya”!
I’d been out of the Corps for about a year and decided I’d take the family back to
Carolina for Thanksgiving. I was no longer a hot shot F-4 pilot… but just another civilian
trying to make it in California’s fast lane… I was undergoing some huge life changes.
Thanksgiving was always a wonderful event for my family… raised in the South… it was
usually the one time of the year when my Mom and Dad and my brothers… all got
together with our greater extended family of cousins, Aunts and Uncles. It was a time to
celebrate the present and remember the past… actually, to me, it was the essence of what
Thanksgiving was all about.
My cousins and I shared many fond and not so fond memories of growing up on and off
the farm… it was hard times. Like it has been said before… We may not have lived on
Tobacco Road… but by God you could see it from there. And even though we were poor
in those days (abject poverty by today’s standards)… we were also rich in that we had a
tremendously strong sense of family… it was one for all and all for one. No matter what
happened, no matter how hard it got… we had each other. I’ve never known a more
sharing, caring family. What one had… we all had. If you needed anything, someone in
the family would step up to help and make it happen.
I guess sharing this common hardship made us all that much closer… and now that we
were all reaching a more comfortable period of our lives… we looked back on those
times not in despair… but in recognition that we had overcome it all… as such, we
remembered mostly the good times… leaving the sad buried in the trash heap of time…
as it should be.
It had been a long time since I’d been there… Military service, a war and a marriage with
children had interrupted any opportunities to make the yearly pilgrimage… but now I had
the time and the money and we made the most of it.
Our family had a tradition in those days… Thanksgiving corresponded with the opening
of bird season in Carolina… and daylight would find all the men folk wearing hunting
clothes at breakfast and then we’d head out into the fields to do some shooting… while
all the ladies spent most of the morning in the kitchen making up the Thanksgiving
Feast… and honestly, they seemed to enjoy their work as much as we did our hunting.
It was communal dining at it’s best… after prayer… the large line started and everyone
heaped their plates with all the fixin’s… and then grabbed a seat wherever one was
available. I happened to be sitting next to my first cousin Buddy’s, Mother in Law.
Everyone called her Jake.
Now Jake was “Country Girl” personified… originally from Arkansas… she’d come to
live with Buddy and his wife Dotty after losing her husband and to my knowledge, it was
never a problem. Jake pitched right in and was accepted by everyone as part of the family
that she was. We all loved her.
During the meal, Jake informed me she would be visiting California for the first time that
coming summer. Her very best friend from High School had invited her out to spend the
summer in Oxnard… I don’t know what I was thinking when I said; “That’s not far from
us in La Costa… maybe you could come down and spend a weekend with us while
you’re there”. Jake said she’d be delighted and I gave her our phone number.
Eight months later, Jake called… she said she was ready for a weekend visit and would I
pick her up at the bus station… I told her no way… I’d come get her… “Now where are
you staying”? She said Oxnard… All of a sudden it dawned on me… Hell, she was all the
way up by Pt. Mugu! Just getting her and coming back would be an all day affair; with
L.A. traffic and all that. I told Jake I would call her back the next day and tell her when I
could pick her up.
The next morning I was making calls on clients… and my first stop was with a guy
named Bob Long, one of the owners of a major design firm in downtown San Diego. Bob
was a really neat guy… He had a Cessna 182 and used to fly medical supplies down to a
bunch of doctors in rural Mexico as a humanitarian gesture. Now Bob knew of my
military flight experience and was always after me to go flying with him in the 182…
That morning, we were chewing the fat and he asked if I could take Friday off and go
flying with him. I said I’d love to… but I was going to have to drive up to Oxnard and
pick up my cousin’s mother in law… Bob’s eyes lit up and he said, “Perfect! We can kill
two birds with one stone”. “You and I can finally do some flying and we can pick her up
during the process”. I’m thinking; what a guy… and we made plans… he’d pick me up at
Palomar Airport; we’d fly up to Oxnard, pick up Jake and fly back… I was looking
forward to a great day!
That night I called Jake and as I was dialing, it dawned on me that maybe this might not
work after all… I had no idea how a little old country girl would feel about flying in a
small airplane… especially considering her age… she had to be in her mid-70’s at the
time. I hoped for the best, but resigned myself I’d drive if she was afraid. Her friend
answered the phone and turned me over to Jake. I told her I would drive up and pick her
up… but if it was alright with her… my friend and I would fly up and pick her up in an
airplane. “If you’re afraid of flying, I’ll understand”. Jake immediately shot back…
“Why Sonny, that would be great… I’m not afraid… I flew all the way out here from
Carolina… Why would you think that”? I thought to my self… Old Jake’s cool… this
ought to be fun.
Friday morning Bob landed at Palomar and we took off for Oxnard… Man, it was one of
those million dollar… Southern California days… Blue skies, no smog and you could see
forever. We went up the coast to Orange County and finally cut inland for a bit to go
through the VFR corridor at LAX and then back along the coast to Oxnard. We landed
and pulled up to the terminal and got out to greet Jake and her friend. After a few minutes
of small talk… we took Jake out to the plane and sat her in and put her seat belt on… if
she had any fear at all, she sure wasn’t showing it… in fact she had that wide eyed look
of anticipation and joy… almost child like.
Bob was gracious enough to let me do the flying and Jake was sitting directly behind me
as we took off to the west until I had enough altitude to turn south over Pt. Mugu… from
there, we hugged the coast line and flew toward L.A. I was able to give Jake a running
commentary on the towns and cities below… Malibu, Santa Monica, L.A., Long Beach,
where I pointed out the Queen Mary… Huntington Beach (we could see Disneyland from
the coast)… then New Port, Laguna Beach and finally the vast Marine Corps Base at
Pendleton… the whole time, Jake’s nose was pressed against the window… taking it all
in.
In retrospect… Jake was the perfect passenger… and only someone who loves flying can
appreciate what a joy it is to introduce someone new to a world you love… I loved to
fly… and Jake shared in my passion. In my heart I knew… if she were a kid again… she
would be a pilot some day… but being in her 70’s, I knew that wouldn’t happen… but it
was a memorable flight.
I finally turned on final at Palomar and did my best to grease it on… we pulled up to the
terminal and got out… I thanked Bob and offered to pay for the gas we’d used and he
refused… he leaned over and said, “It was worth it just to see her enjoy it so much”.
Again…What a guy! Bob loved to fly too and we both would later have many discussions
about that flight… Bob said it ranked right up there with him taking one of Charles
Lindbergh’s Grand kids for his very first flight.
On the short drive to my house, I asked Jake how long she intended to stay… “Well, a
few days if you don’t mind”… I assured her she was welcome as long as she wanted to
stay. Jake was a joy to have around… she jumped right in and became part of the
family… she cooked, she washed and we did our best to keep her entertained… over a
three week period, we took her to the San Diego Zoo, where I’d driven a tour bus while
in college… we went to the harbor, La Jolla and Del Mar… and even took a trip to
Disneyland… we had a ball… she was as open and enthusiastic during our ground travels
as she was on the plane ride… and I feel confident in saying… she was having the time of
her life.
Alas… all good things must come to an end. Jake’s friend called one night and was a bit
pithy on the phone… she’d only expected her to be gone for a week or so… it had been
three weeks since I’d picked her up. When Jake hung up she looked at me and said, “I
think I better go back… my friend is a little upset that I’ve been gone so long”. I said I’d
see about taking her back in a day or so. I called Bob and he told me some bad news…
the airplane was in the shop and wouldn’t be available for another 4 days.
There was a new aircraft dealer at Palomar… They were marketing the Rockwell 112 &
114 series and the Varga Kachina… The guys were new to the business and a little
naïve… Their insurance requirements were so high… that very few locals had enough
time to fly their planes… If I recall it right, you had to have at least 1,000 hrs total time
and 500 retractable to rent their planes… because of this, I became an ad hoc demo pilot
for them. I’d demonstrate the planes to potential customers and they’d rent the plane to
me at cost when I needed it… a good deal for both of us. I called to see if any aircraft
were available. The 112 was in the shop and the 114 was out on a charter… but the little
Varga was available.
Now the Varga was a neat little airplane. It started life as a Shinn or Morrissey and then
eventually went into production until the company fell on hard times… then Varga
bought the production rights and made some improvements and it went back into
production. It was a fun plane with excellent flying qualities… sorta of a poor man’s
T-34… to which it had a strong resemblance.
I did some quick thinking and realized that Jake had packed light and I’d be able to get
her and her little bit of luggage in the back. I called her at my house and told her we’d
leave the next morning and fly back to Oxnard. I booked the plane for the next day and
went back to work.
We got up the next morning and we were blessed again with another beautiful day. Jake
and I drove to the airport and I got her strapped in and explained how to use the headset
and mike… I did my pre-flight and climbed in and started her up. We took off to the west
and as I climbed out, I marveled at what another perfect day it was… the air was like
glass… perfectly smooth and it just added to the experience. Between the airport and the
coast line… we flew over the beautiful Gladiola fields just east of the freeway… it was
an awesome sight… God’s own kaleidoscope of living color… any of you who have ever
driven up I-5 when they were in bloom will know what I’m talking about… it was a
perfect start to the flight.
Once I reached the coast, we turned north and re-traced our flight of three weeks ago and
Jake seemed to be enjoying it just as much, if not more than the first flight… from the
rear cockpit and through the canopy of the little Varga she could see even more than the
first time… she had a 360 degree panorama to look at… San Clemente and Santa
Catalina Islands on our left… the incredible coast line on our right… and the inspiring
mountains farther to the east. I actually remember thinking to myself… “Thank you God,
for letting us enjoy this incredible day”!
As we flew by the Queen Mary, I set us up for the VFR corridor… and in the process; I
noticed the fuel tanks were going down unevenly… Hmmm, that’s curious, never had
that happen before. By the time I got over LAX… I was showing ¾ of a tank on the left
and a little less than ½ on the right. I did some quick calculating in my head and figured
that I’d arrive at Oxnard with a half tank on the left and a little less than a quarter on the
right if it kept going the way it was… I wasn’t overly concerned and continued to press
on.
I also continued to give Jake a narrated tour of California’s Gold Coast… As we neared
Pt. Mugu, I called Approach Control to get permission to over-fly Pt. Mugu at 3,500 feet.
I was cleared and as I went over the airfield, I was able to point out to Jake two F-14’s
coming into the break for landing… she was getting the full E-Ticket ride.
Once I cleared Pt. Mugu’s airspace, I called Oxnard Tower and reported my position and
altitude… The tower told me to wait… a minute later they asked if I wanted to enter
downwind or on a long base leg… I told them it was their call… either would work for
me. While waiting for them to reply… I told Jake we were a little high for being as close
to the airport as we were… and that when I descended… we’d be coming down pretty
fast. At that point, I pulled the throttle back to idle… I’m heading 90 degrees to the
runway and still hadn’t heard from the tower… I decided to add some power on until I
heard from them… As I pushed the throttle up… NOTHING!... I couldn’t believe it!
I immediately checked the fuel gauges… I had a little less than ½ a tank on the left and
just above empty on the right… The fuel pressure read zero! I hit the boost pump and
could hear the little motor whirring away… instantly I could tell it was cavitating… it
didn’t have the normal thunk, thunk, thunk… it sounded like when fuel was going
through it.
I keyed the radio and said… “Oxnard Tower, Varga 21 Sierra is Mayday…. I just lost my
engine”! They immediately responded… “State your intentions”!
It is amazing what goes through your mind in situations like this… I looked around and
saw no suitable off airport alternative… Lots of buildings… the roads were heavy in
traffic and all the fields around the airport looked freshly plowed and were full of
laborers… I switched off the right tank thinking I may be drawing air from it and left the
boost pump on… no luck. Being perpendicular to the runway was presenting another
problem… I would actually have to turn away, almost parallel to the runway in order to
have a good setup. A corkscrew approach if you will. And then I noticed we were coming
down like a brick! All those practice engine out exercises with the engine wind milling…
it just ain’t the same… Man it seemed like we were coming down twice as fast!
I called the tower and said, “I’m gonna try to make the runway”… They responded
immediately that they had me in sight and I was cleared to land. By the time I turned
parallel… I could see a Cessna moving down the taxi way. Abeam, it felt like I had the
glide ratio of the Space Shuttle… I was at best glide speed, but the nose seemed buried
and the prop still wind milled… I thought for a second to lift the nose to see if I could get
it to stop and immediately discarded that notion… I was afraid my descent would
increase if I slowed down and I only had one chance to do this thing… I had a sight
picture in my mind and thought I could make it… As I turned toward the runway… the
rate of descent increased… and I realized, I could not make the runway. I called the tower
and told them I couldn’t make the runway but was going to try to make the parallel taxi
way that was closer. As I said this, I saw the Cessna make an immediate left turn off the
taxi way into the grass… a real heads up on his part… sorry to say, I never got to thank
him.
This was going to be a circling approach… I had no chance of setting up for a straight
in… I was in a continuous turn since the abeam position… at this point, I was beginning
to believe I was gonna make it… I looked up and saw a large hangar left of the taxi way
and could see people come running out of it like ants… obviously to see me crash. I was
thinking… not today bucko… I’ve got this thing made!
And then it happened! I saw movement… a huge yellow fuel truck pulls out from the
ramp of the hangar and pulls right onto the ramp at the end of the taxi way… right where
I was bore sighted! I was incredulous! And then he stops!
He couldn’t have picked a worse spot! I’m about 200 feet up and falling like an anvil…
and this guy decides to pull right in my way to watch the crash! My mind was working at
warp speed… I only had one option other than diving into the ground and killing myself
and poor Jake… I pointed the nose right at the cab and pushed it as far forward as I
dared… my descent immediately increased, but so did my speed… my only chance was
to build up as much speed as possible in that last 150 feet to hopefully leap frog over the
truck… and that is exactly what I did.
As I came down toward the truck, I swear I could see the driver… he was wide eyed and
trying to get the big beast in gear… at the last second, I picked the nose up and sailed
right over the cab. I made it! Once I cleared the cab and saw the large ramp and taxi
way… it was just a question of not stalling and getting her on the ground. As I touched
down, the prop (speed brake)… finally quit turning and I coasted to a stop… I looked up
and saw the crash truck racing toward me and he finally stopped about ten feet away.
Whew! I took a deep breath and reflected… Man, I’d been to war, I’d survived a total
gyro failure on a night Cat Shot… rode the worlds fastest bicycle when I landed an A-4 in
a thirty knot crosswind… I’d been on fire and suffered through a hundred other
emergencies in tactical jet aircraft… but I’d never lost the one and only engine I had on
an airplane… until now. After all that I’d been through… this simple little airplane had
almost got me!
As I looked up, one of the firemen comes striding toward me in his silver suit, smiling
and holding his right hand up in the air with his thumb up… I reached over and opened
the canopy and smiled… and then I saw his face change as he looked behind me.
Oh God… Jake! I’d completely forgotten about Jake! As I jerked around, I was fearful of
what I’d see… in warp speed my mind suspected a heart attack… or worse… as I twisted
around I saw her face and she looked completely frustrated… She immediately looked at
me and said… “Son… Why are we stopping here… Gladys is way up there at the
terminal… she won’t know how to find us”!
The fireman raced over to the plane and said, “Mam… are you alright”? She says, “No,
my friend is waiting way up there and we’re stopped here”! I un-strapped and helped
Jake get out of the airplane. It turned out that Jake was oblivious to all that was going
on… the last thing she heard clearly was me telling her we’d be coming down kinda
fast… she didn’t understand anything I was saying to the tower or they to me… she just
thought everything was normal… until the plane stopped.
In the end, I had to laugh… Old Jake had the airplane ride of her life that day… and she
also got her first ride in a fire truck, as it delivered us to the front of the terminal… lights
flashing, horn blaring and siren whining. She was having the time of her life… and I was
just happy to be alive.
Post Script…
The aircraft was towed to the maintenance hangar and an FAA inspector just happened to
be on the field that day. He confirmed the fuel tank levels and we tried to start the
airplane and it just wouldn’t start… we tried left tank, then right, then both… nothing
worked. I then got the bright idea to fuel up the right tank level with the left… once that
was done I hit the boost pump and it just whirred for about 10 seconds and then went
thunk, thunk, thunk… I had fuel pressure and it started right up.
After a discussion with the friendly Fed… I had the airplane fully fueled and assured him
I would land immediately if I started getting a dissimilar feed like before… he also had
me fill out an incident report and I finally took off and flew back to Palomar… with
absolutely no problem. I went to see Chet, the head of maintenance and told him the
whole story.
Chet called the Factory the next morning and they’d already received a call from the
FAA. The Factory guy was insistent… that events could absolutely not have occurred the
way I’d described them. He suspected I’d run the airplane out of gas and was making up
a story to cover it up. Chet defended me and pointedly told him I was very experienced
and was in fact a former F-4 Pilot. That impressed the factory guy even less… “Damn
Prima Dona Fighter Pilots… I’ll come over there and prove it can’t happen the way he
described.
Two days later… he shows up and has the airplane fueled with half a tank of fuel on the
left and one quarter of a tank on the right. He told Chet he was going to prove the engine
would continue to run, even if the right tank ran empty. He and Chet climbed in the plane
and took off and orbited over Palomar. About a half hour later… the engine quits deader
than a door nail… and the Factory guy wasn’t as lucky as I was and didn’t quite make the
end of the runway… he hit in the dirt and collapsed the gear… doing some major damage
to the aircraft and even more to his ego. My friends received a brand new Varga a couple
of weeks later as a replacement.
To their credit… they finally isolated and identified the problem and corrected it… and I
enjoyed many more flights in the poor man’s T-34. It really was a fun airplane to fly.
And Old Jake… well every time I’d see her after that, before she finally passed… would
hug me and tell everyone around us… that I was her favorite pilot! She’d then smile and
say… “We enjoyed a special day together… didn’t we”? I’d smile and reply… “Yes we
did”!
Godspeed Jake.... Shadow
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.
Thanks to Bill
this will make you laugh
Harley Davidson Speaks Out About Declining Bike Sales
The slump in sales at H-D are not President Trump's fault. The Baby Boomers all have motorcycles, Generation X is only buying a few, and the Millennials aren’t buying any at all. A recent study was done to find out why Millennials don't ride motorcycles:
1. Pants won't pull up far enough for them to straddle the seat.
2. Can't get their phone to their ear with a helmet on.
3. Can't use two hands to eat while driving.
4. Don't get a trophy and a recognition plaque just for buying one.
5. Don't have enough muscle to hold the bike up when stopped.
6. Might have a bug hit them in the face and then they would need emergency care.
7. Motorcycles don't have air conditioning.
8. Can't afford one because they spent 12 years in college trying to get a degree in Humanities, Social Studies or Gender Studies, for which no jobs are available.
9. Allergic to fresh air.
10. Pajamas get caught on the exhaust pipes.
11. Might get their hands dirty checking the oil.
12. Handlebars have buttons and levers, and can’t be controlled by touch-screen.
13. Have to shift manually, and use something called a clutch.
14. Too dangerous to take selfies while riding.
15. Don't come with training wheels like their bicycles did.
16. Don't have power steering or power brakes.
17. Nose ring interferes with the face shield.
18. Would have to use leg muscle to back up.
19. When stopped, a light breeze might blow exhaust in their face.
20. Could rain on them and expose them to non-soft water.
21. Might scare their emotional support dog, then the dog would need therapy.
22. Can't get the motorcycle down the basement stairs of their parent's home.
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Worth repeating
Thanks to Dr. Rich
For all the Bubbas and the rest of you. ..
Between 65 and over!! Live and enjoy life....
A bit of good advice from John.,,
You may have seen this one before....worth a second look!!
Many of us are between 65 and over. My friend sent me this excellent list for aging . . . and I have to agree it's good advice to follow. The guy who sent this hi-lighted #19
1. It’s time to use the money you saved up. Use it and enjoy it. Don’t just keep it for those who may have no notion of the sacrifices you made to get it. Remember there is nothing more dangerous than a son or daughter-in-law with big ideas for your hard-earned capital. Warning: This is also a bad time for investments, even if it seems wonderful or fool-proof. They only bring problems and worries. This is a time for you to enjoy some peace and quiet.
2. Stop worrying about the financial situation of your children and grandchildren, and don’t feel bad spending your money on yourself. You’ve taken care of them for many years, and you’ve taught them what you could. You gave them an education, food, shelter and support. The responsibility is now theirs to earn their own money.
3. Keep a healthy life, without great physical effort. Do moderate exercise (like walking every day), eat well and get your sleep. It’s easy to become sick, and it gets harder to remain healthy. That is why you need to keep yourself in good shape and be aware of your medical and physical needs Keep in touch with your doctor, do tests even when you’re feeling well. Stay informed.
4. Always buy the best, most beautiful items for your significant other. The key goal is to enjoy your money with your partner. One day one of you will miss the other, and the money will not provide any comfort then, enjoy it together.
5. Don’t stress over the little things. You’ve already overcome so much in your life. You have good memories and bad ones, but the important thing is the present. Don’t let the past drag you down and don’t let the future frighten you. Feel good in the now. Small issues will soon be forgotten.
6. Regardless of age, always keep love alive. Love your partner, love life, love your family, love your neighbor and remember: “A man is not old as long as he has intelligence and affection.”
7. Be proud, both inside and out. Don’t stop going to your hair salon or barber, do your nails, go to the dermatologist and the dentist, keep your perfumes and creams well stocked. When you are well-maintained on the outside, it seeps in, making you feel proud and strong.
8. Don’t lose sight of fashion trends for your age, but keep your own sense of style. There’s nothing worse than an older person trying to wear the current fashion among youngsters. You’ve developed your own sense of what looks good on you – keep it and be proud of it. It’s part of who you are.
9. ALWAYS stay up-to-date. Read newspapers, watch the news. Go online and read what people are saying. Make sure you have an active email account and try to use some of those social networks. You’ll be surprised what old friends you’ll meet. Keeping in touch with what is going on and with the people you know is important at any age
10. Respect the younger generation and their opinions. They may not have the same ideals as you, but they are the future, and will take the world in their direction. Give advice, not criticism, and try to remind them that yesterday’s wisdom still applies today.
11. Never use the phrase: “In my time.” Your time is now. As long as you’re alive, you are part of this time. You may have been younger, but you are still you now, having fun and enjoying life.
12. Some people embrace their golden years, while others become bitter and surly. Life is too short to waste your days on the latter. Spend your time with positive, cheerful people, it’ll rub off on you and your days will seem that much better. Spending your time with bitter people will make you older and harder to be around.
13. Don’t abandon your hobbies. If you don’t have any, make new ones. You can travel, hike, cook, read, dance. You can adopt a cat or a dog, grow a garden, play cards, checkers, chess, dominoes, golf. You can paint, volunteer or just collect certain items. Find something you like and spend some real time having fun with it.
14 Even if you don’t feel like it, try to accept invitations. Baptisms, graduations, birthdays, weddings, conferences. Try to go. Get out of the house, meet people you haven’t seen in a while, experience something new (or something old). But don’t get upset when you’re not invited. Some events are limited by resources, and not everyone can be hosted The important thing is to leave the house from time to time. Go to museums, go walk through a field. Get out there.
15. Be a conversationalist. Talk less and listen more. Some people go on and on about the past, not caring if their listeners are really interested. That’s a great way of reducing their desire to speak with you. Listen first and answer questions, but don’t go off into long stories unless asked to. Speak in courteous tones and try not to complain or criticize too much unless you really need to. Try to accept situations as they are. Everyone is going through the same things, and people have a low tolerance for hearing complaints. Always find some good things to say as well.
16. Pain and discomfort go hand in hand with getting older. Try not to dwell on them but accept them as a part of the cycle of life we’re all going through. Try to minimize them in your mind. They are not who you are, they are something that life added to you. If they become your entire focus, you lose sight of the person you used to be.
17. If you’ve been offended by someone – forgive them. If you’ve offended someone - apologize. Don’t drag around resentment with you. It only serves to make you sad and bitter. It doesn’t matter who was right. Someone once said: “Holding a grudge is like taking poison and expecting the other person to die.” Don’t take that poison. Forgive, forget and move on with your life.
18. If you have a strong belief, savor it. But don’t waste your time trying to convince others. They will make their own choices no matter what you tell them, and it will only bring you frustration. Live your faith and set an example. Live true to your beliefs and let that memory sway them.
19.This one is for the Bubbas------ Laugh. Laugh A LOT. Laugh at everything. Remember, you are one of the lucky ones. You managed to have a life, a long one. Many never get to this age, never get to experience a full life. But you did. So what’s not to laugh about? Find the humor in your situation.
20. Take no notice of what others say about you and even less notice of what they might be thinking. They’ll do it anyway, and you should have pride in yourself and what you’ve achieved. Let them talk and don’t worry. They have no idea about your history, your memories and the life you’ve lived so far. There’s still much to be written, so get busy writing and don’t waste time thinking about what others might think. Now is the time to be at rest, at peace and as happy as you can be!
REMEMBER: “Life is too short to drink bad wine or warm beer”
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This Day in U S Military History…….July 17
1801 – The U.S. fleet arrived in Tripoli after Pasha Yusuf Karamanli declared war for being refused tribute.
1821 – Spain ceded Florida to the United States.
1870 – A drunken brawl turns deadly when “Wild Bill” Hickok shoots two soldiers in self-defense, mortally wounding one of them. William Hickok had earned his reputation as a gunslinger a decade earlier after shooting three men in a gunfight in Nebraska. He parlayed his standing as a sure-shooting gunman into a haphazard career in law enforcement. In 1869, he was elected interim sheriff of Ellis County, Kansas. Hays City, the county seat, was a rough-and-tumble frontier town, and the citizens hoped Hickok could bring order to the chaos. Unfortunately, after Hickok had killed two men in the line of duty after just five weeks, they concluded that he was too wild for their tastes and they elected his deputy to replace him in November. Unemployed, Hickok passed his time gambling, drinking, and occasionally working as a hunting guide. He quickly became bored and was considering taking work at the nearby Fort Hays as an army scout. On this day in 1870, Hickok had been drinking hard at Drum’s Saloon in Hays City. Five soldiers from the 7th Cavalry stationed at Fort Hays were also at the bar. They were drunk and began to exchange words with the notoriously prickly “Wild Bill.” A brawl broke out, and the soldiers threw Hickok to the floor. One trooper tried to shoot Hickok, but the gun misfired. Hickok quickly pulled his own pistols and opened fire. He wounded one private in the knee and wrist, and another in the torso. The three remaining soldiers backed off, and Hickok exited the saloon and immediately left town. A clear case of self-defense, Hickok was cleared of any wrongdoing. Yet, one of the soldiers, Private John Kile, later died of his wound and Hickok’s chances of becoming an army scout evaporated. He spent the next six years working in law enforcement, gambling, and appearing in Wild West shows. He was murdered in a Deadwood, South Dakota, saloon in 1876.
1944 – An explosion at Port Chicago, now the Concord Naval Weapons Station in Ca., killed 320 seamen when a pair of ammunition ships exploded. 10,000 tons of ammunition exploded. 202 of the victims were black enlisted men. The Navy court-martialed 50 black sailors for refusing to go back to work after the catastrophe. They were released from prison in 1946 with dishonorable discharges and reductions in rank. In 1999 Pres. Clinton issued a pardon to Freddie Meeks, one of the last living convicted African American sailors.
1945 – The first Anglo-American carrier air strike on the Tokyo area is conducted by the forces of the British Pacific Fleet (Admiral Sir Bernard Rawlings), designated Task Force 37, and the US 3rd Fleet (Admiral Halsey). During the night (July 17-18), the HMS King George V and 5 US battleships bombard Hitachi on Honshu. The Allied battleships fire some 2000 tons of shells on Hitachi in fifty minutes.
1952 – The U.S. 2nd Infantry Division’s 23rd Infantry Regiment sustained heavy casualties, including 39 killed and 84 missing in action, during the Battle for Old Baldy.
1953 – Lieutenant Guy P. “Lucky Pierre” Bordelon scored his fifth aerial victory and qualified as the only U.S. Navy ace of the Korean War and the only Korean War ace who did not fly an F-86 Sabre jet. Bordelon, detached to K-6 airfield from the carrier USS Princeton, flew an F4U-5N Corsair named “Annie Mo.” All his victories were the so-called “Bedcheck Charlies” engaged on nighttime harassment bombing missions.
1972 – South Vietnamese paratroopers fight their way to within 200 yards of the Citadel in Quang Tri City, which was described by reporters who accompanied the troops as a city of rubble and ash. Citizens emerging from neighborhoods retaken by the paratroopers joined the refugees, who had been streaming south toward Hue on Route 1 to get out of the way of continued fighting in Quang Tri. North Vietnamese troops had captured Quang Tri City on May 1 as part of their Nguyen Hue Offensive (later called the “Easter Offensive”), a massive invasion by North Vietnamese forces that had been launched on March 31. The attacking force included 14 infantry divisions and 26 separate regiments, with more than 120,000 troops and approximately 1,200 tanks and other armored vehicles. The main North Vietnamese objectives, in addition to Quang Tri in the north, were Kontum in the Central Highlands, and An Loc farther to the south. Initially, the South Vietnamese defenders were almost overwhelmed, particularly in the northernmost provinces, where they abandoned their positions in Quang Tri. At Kontum and An Loc, the South Vietnamese were more successful in defending against the attacks, but only after weeks of bitter fighting. Although the defenders suffered heavy casualties, they managed to hold their own with the aid of American advisors and airpower. Fighting continued all over South Vietnam into the summer months. After months of heavy fighting, the South Vietnamese forces finally retook Quang Tri province entirely in September. With the communist invasion blunted, President Nixon declared that the South Vietnamese victory proved the viability of “Vietnamization,” a program that he had instituted in 1969 to increase the combat capability of the South Vietnamese armed forces so U.S. troops could be withdrawn.
I can remember doing photo runs over An Loc and getting pictures of burned out tanks …theirs and devastation every where…skip
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
CRUSE, THOMAS
Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Big Dry Fork, Ariz., 17 July 1882. Entered service at: Owensboro, Ky. Birth: Owensboro, Ky. Date of issue: 12 July 1892. Citation: Gallantly charged hostile Indians, and with his carbine compelled a party of them to keep under cover of their breastworks, thus being enabled to recover a severely wounded soldier.
MORGAN, GEORGE H.
Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, 3d U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Big Dry Fork, Ariz., 17 July 1882. Entered service at: Minneapolis, Minn. Birth: Canada. Date of issue: 15 July 1892. Citation: Gallantly held his ground at a critical moment and fired upon the advancing enemy (hostile Indians) until he was disabled by a shot.
TAYLOR, CHARLES
Rank and organization: First Sergeant, Company D, 3d U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Big Dry Wash, Ariz., 17 July 1862. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Baltimore, Md. Date of issue: 16 December 1882. Citation: Gallantry in action.
WEST, FRANK
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Big Dry Wash, Ariz., 17 July 1882. Entered service at: Mohawk, N.Y. Birth: Mohawk, N.Y. Date of issue: 12 July 1892. Citation: Rallied his command and led it in the advance against the enemy’s fortifled position.
WAYBUR, DAVID C.
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, 3d Reconnaissance Troop, 3d Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Agrigento, Sicily, 17 July 1943. Entered service at: Piedmont, Calif. Birth: Oakland, Calif. G.O. No.: 69, 21 October 1943. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty in action involving actual conflict with the enemy. Commander of a reconnaissance platoon, 1st Lt. Waybur volunteered to lead a 3-vehicle patrol into enemy-held territory to locate an isolated Ranger unit. Proceeding under cover of darkness, over roads known to be heavily mined, and strongly defended by road blocks and machinegun positions, the patrol’s progress was halted at a bridge which had been destroyed by enemy troops and was suddenly cut off from its supporting vehicles by 4 enemy tanks. Although hopelessly outnumbered and out-gunned, and himself and his men completely exposed, he quickly dispersed his vehicles and ordered his gunners to open fire with their .30 and .50 caliber machineguns. Then, with ammunition exhausted, 3 of his men hit and himself seriously wounded, he seized his .45 caliber Thompson submachinegun and standing in the bright moonlight directly in the line of fire, alone engaged the leading tank at 30 yards and succeeded in killing the crewmembers, causing the tank to run onto the bridge and crash into the stream bed. After dispatching 1 of the men for aid he rallied the rest to cover and withstood the continued fire of the tanks till the arrival of aid the following morning.
*PENDLETON, CHARLES F.
Rank and organization: Corporal. U.S. Army, Company D, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3d Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Choo Gung-Dong, Korea, 16 and 17 July 1953. Entered service at: Fort Worth, Tex. Born: 26 September 1931, Camden, Tenn. Citation: Cpl. Pendleton, a machine gunner with Company D, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and indomitable courage above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy. After consolidating and establishing a defensive perimeter on a key terrain feature, friendly elements were attacked by a large hostile force. Cpl. Pendleton delivered deadly accurate fire into the approaching troops, killing approximately 15 and disorganizing the remainder with grenades. Unable to protect the flanks because of the narrow confines of the trench, he removed the machine gun from the tripod and, exposed to enemy observation, positioned it on his knee to improve his firing vantage. Observing a hostile infantryman jumping into the position, intent on throwing a grenade at his comrades, he whirled about and killed the attacker, then inflicted such heavy casualties on the enemy force that they retreated to regroup. After reorganizing, a second wave of hostile soldiers moved forward in an attempt to overrun the position and, later, when a hostile grenade landed nearby, Cpl. Pendleton quickly retrieved and hurled it back at the foe. Although he was burned by the hot shells ejecting from his weapon, and he was wounded by a grenade, he refused evacuation and continued to fire on the assaulting force. As enemy action increased in tempo, his machine gun was destroyed by a grenade but, undaunted, he grabbed a carbine and continued his heroic defense until mortally wounded by a mortar burst. Cpl. Pendleton’s unflinching courage, gallant self-sacrifice, and consummate devotion to duty reflect lasting glory upon himself and uphold the finest traditions of the military service.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for July 17, FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD “PHIL” MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
17 July
1908: FIRST AVIATION LEGISLATION. Kissimmee, Fla., enacted a municipal ordinance regulating aircraft within city limits. (24)
1918: Through 19 July, Naval Reserve Lt Godfrey L. Cabot practiced “the art of picking up Burdens in Flight . . . to make possible Trans-Atlantic Flight.” Flying a seaplane and using a grappling hook attached to a rope, he hoisted 45- and 55-pound bags from floats into the aircraft. He estimated “that with practice . . . two men, in one hour, [should be able] to wind up all the fuel that an airplane . . . requires for a full load.” (18)
1927: Maj Ross E. Rowell (USMC) led five DH’s in a strafing and bombing attack against bandit forces surrounding a USMC garrison at Ocotal, Nicaragua. This was the first preplanned and organized diving attack in combat. (24)
1929: Dr. Robert H. Goddard fired a liquid-fueled, 11-foot rocket at Auburn, Mass. It carried a small camera and a barometer. Both were recovered intact after the flight. (24)
1938: Supposedly trying to fly to California, Douglas (Wrong-Way) Corrigan left Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn in a 9-year-old Curtiss Robin and arrived on 18 July in Dublin, Ireland, 28 hours 13 minutes later. (9) (24)
1944: FIRST NAPALM USE IN EUROPE. P-38 pilots from Ninth Air Force dropped napalm incendiary bombs on a fuel depot at Coutances, France. (20) (21)
1948: With the Berlin Blockade still in effect, B-29s arrived in England for training at British bases. These were the first US bombers to be based in the UK after World War II. (16) (24)
1962: Maj Robert White flew X-15 No. 3, with the XLR-99 rocket engine, on the first spaceflight by a manned aircraft. He reached a record altitude of 58.7 miles (314,750) feet above Edwards AFB. This was the first flight in which the X-15 achieved its designed altitude. White also became the first man to exceed Mach 6, when he attained 3,784 MPH. (3) (9)
1967: The ADC’s 73d Surveillance Wing, which detected and tracked objects in space, became operational at Tyndall AFB, Fla. (16)
1969: The Alaskan Air Command assumed responsibility for resupplying Fletcher’s Ice Island (T-3) with food, fuel, equipment, and supplies. Scientists used the floating, 20-square-mile island for weather and other research. The Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, on the northern coast of Ellesmere Island in Canada’s high Arctic, produced a tabular iceberg that was 160 feet thick and covered an area of 35 square miles. Discovered by Col Joseph Fletcher, the iceberg was named T-3 or Fletchers Ice Island. It moved around the Arctic Ocean for many years, before exiting through the Fram Strait, between Greenland and Svalbard, and moving around the southern tip of Greenland to disintegrate and melt in Davis Strait. (26)
1979: The ALCM test program began when General Dynamics launched its first AGM-109. (3)
1987: The first of 33 MH-53J Enhanced Pave Low III helicopters rolled out of the Naval Air Rework Facility at NAS Pensacola. Pave Low provided night and adverse weather navigation capabilities to the helicopter. (16)
1989: Northrop pilot Bruce Hinds and Lt Col Richard Couch, B-2 Combined Test Force Director, flew the B-2A’s first flight over Edwards AFB. (20)
1990: Through 1 August, the 60 MAW, 62 MAW, 438 MAW, and the 374 TAW delivered 582 tons of relief supplies and moved 2,475 passengers to Clark AB after a 7.7 earthquake devastated the village of Baguio. (16) (26)
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