7596
Good Thursday morning July 15 2026 .The Heat wave is here and heating up 90 by 1 and staying into the high 80s until 5 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 16
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 16
July 16
1862 Congress establishes the rank of Rear Admiral, with David G. Farragut named as the first Rear Admiral.
1863 The screw sloop of war USS Wyoming, commanded by Capt. D. McDougal, is fired on by shore batteries and Japanese ships of the Prince of Nagoya. During this action, Wyoming became the first foreign warship to take the offensive to uphold treaty rights in Japan.
1915 The first Navy ships, the battleships USS Ohio (BB 12), USS Missouri (BB 11), and USS Wisconsin (BB 9) transit the Panama Canal, steaming from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
1945 The first atomic bomb test, Trinity, is detonated at Alamogordo, N.M.
1957 An F8U 1P Crusader (Bu#144608), piloted by Maj. John H. Glenn, Jr., USMC, breaks the transcontinental speed record by crossing the country from Los Alamitos, Calif., to Floyd Bennett Field, N.Y., in three hours and 22 min., 50.5 sec. for an average speed of 723.517 mph. This is the first upper atmosphere supersonic flight from the West Coast to the East Coast.
Unfortunately the aircraft now lies on the bottom of the Tonkin Gulf as a result of a ramp strike on USS Oriskany in 1972.It had a nice bronze plaque on the side comerating the event and it already had a spot in the National Air Museum
1987 Republic of Korea Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Choe Sang-Hwa gives a model of the Korean Turtle "Kobuksan" to Secretary of the Navy James Webb Jr. as a symbol of the partnership between the two nations.
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Today in World History
July 16
1765 English Prime Minister Lord Grenville resigns and is replaced by Lord Rockingham.
1774 Russia and the Ottoman Empire sign the Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainardji, ending their six-year war.
1779 American troops under General Anthony Wayne capture Stony Point, N.Y.
1861 The first battle of Bull Run
1875 The new French constitution is finalized.
1882 Mary Todd Lincoln, the widow of Abraham Lincoln, dies of a stroke.
1940 Adolf Hitler orders preparations for the invasion of England.
1944 Soviet troops occupy Vilnius, Lithuania, in their drive towards Germany.
1945 The United States detonates the first atomic bomb in a test at Alamogordo, N. M.
1969 Apollo 11 blasts off from Cape Kennedy, Florida, heading for a landing on the moon.
1999 A private plane piloted by John F. Kennedy Jr. is lost over the waters off Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.
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Rollingthunderremembered.com .
July 16
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 16
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From the archives
Thanks to Wigs. A couple years ago He told me he had sent something special. He was correct. Please watch this one…..Skip
. Peter van Uhm: Why I chose a gun
http://www.ted.com Peter van Uhm is the Netherlands' chief of defense, but that does not mean he is pro-war. At TEDxAmsterdam he explains how his career is one shaped by a love of peace, not a desire for bloodshed -- and why we need armies if we want peace. TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED ...
www.youtube.com
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Thanks to Brett
July 15, 2026
As Iran Declines, Turkey Advances
Ankara is leveraging Tehran’s weakening position to extend its reach across the Fertile Crescent and beyond.
By: Kamran Bokhari
For all the attention paid to the conflict in Iran, the broader changes in the Middle East have gone largely ignored, particularly with regard to Turkey. Egyptian Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Ashraf Salem Zaher arrived in Ankara on July 12 at the head of a high-level delegation for talks on expanding bilateral military cooperation. The visit came just two weeks after Turkish Chief of the General Staff Gen. Selcuk Bayraktaroglu led a senior military delegation to Cairo. Earlier, on July 10, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul, where he called for elevating bilateral ties to a “strategic partnership” at a moment when Beirut, squeezed between Israeli military pressure and Hezbollah’s resistance to disarmament, is seeking external leverage. Meanwhile, Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin held high-level security consultations in Baghdad on June 30 with President Nizar Amedi, Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi and other senior officials before traveling to Irbil, Sulaimaniyah and Kirkuk for meetings with Kurdistan Regional Government leaders Masoud Barzani and Bafel Talabani.
Taken together, these developments build on the momentum generated by the NATO summit in Ankara on July 7-8, which reinforced Turkey’s standing as an emerging geopolitical power and provided the backdrop for Turkish-backed Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Washington’s strategy for the Middle East rests on two pillars: to weaken Iran and to foster a new geopolitical order anchored by Turkey, Arab states and Pakistan. The approach reflects Washington’s broader desire to offload security responsibilities to regional allies and partners as it seeks to reduces its military and economic exposure in the Eastern Hemisphere. Turkey is a linchpin to its plans, as Turkish influence in Syria could shape political and security outcomes in both Lebanon and Iraq. The underlying objective is to prevent Tehran from reclaiming the dominant position it has enjoyed in those countries for decades, even as it preserves a favorable and cheaper balance of power.
For now, Turkish and U.S. interests align. For more than a millennium, the northern rim of the Middle East has been an arena for geopolitical competition between Turkic and Persian powers. In the modern era, Iran’s contiguous arc of influence had obstructed Turkey’s ambitions to revive its influence along its southern flank – that is, until war broke out after the Oct. 7 attacks.
The response to those attacks severely weakened Iran and its regional proxy, Hezbollah, and thus created an unprecedented strategic opening for Ankara.
Turkey moved swiftly to capitalize on this opening war, backing Ahmed al-Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham movement in its successful effort to overthrow the Syrian regime in December 2024. The collapse of the Syrian government was a watershed moment in the modern history of the Middle East. It transformed Syria from a central pillar of Iranian influence into a springboard for Turkish regional ambitions. In this way, Ankara regained a major foothold in the Levant for the first time since the fall of the Ottoman Empire.
Strategically, containing Iran requires Turkey to work with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Central to this effort is Saudi cooperation, given Riyadh’s close ties with Islamabad. Thus, a strategic, if informal, triumvirate has emerged (with secondary support from Egypt and Qatar). Still, the principal driver of this new alignment remains Turkey, whose geographic position and expanding regional footprint make it uniquely able to contest Iranian influence. Unlike the other actors, Ankara possesses the strategic depth and proximity necessary to keep Tehran from reconstituting itself in the Fertile Crescent.
Turkey is trying to parlay its position in Syria into a bigger footprint in Iraq and Lebanon. Demographics are the challenge in both countries; Shiites represent a majority in Iraq and a plurality in Lebanon, and the political principals of these communities are tightly linked to the Iranian government. Ankara would need the assistance of Syria to influence its eastern and western neighbors. The problem is that the al-Sharaa government has yet to consolidate enough power to look beyond its borders.
Even so, the weakening of Iran and Hezbollah means that Turkey’s time is now. Ankara will need to deepen its engagement with the Lebanese state, especially with the country’s Sunni, Christian and Druze constituencies, all of whom require a powerful regional patron if they are to reclaim political space previously held by Hezbollah. For these Lebanese actors, the challenge includes navigating an increasingly volatile domestic balance of power between Israeli military pressure and Hezbollah's entrenched dominance – a balance made even more precarious by Turkey’s role as a potential counterweight to Israel. Put simply, this means Lebanon and Syria are long-term arenas of competing Turkish and Israeli interests.
Meanwhile, in Iraq, Turkey faces a different kind of competition. Unlike in Lebanon, in Iraq it has the benefit of a direct border. A Sunni-dominated government in Syria could aid the political revival of the Sunni minority concentrated in western Iraq and extending through the north and the center.
Over the past two decades, Ankara has also cultivated a close relationship with the Kurdistan Democratic Party, led by the Barzani clan, that controls the Kurdish-majority areas in northern Iraq along the Turkish border. Turkey is also leveraging Iraq's oil export crisis, in the wake of the Iranian disruption of the Strait of Hormuz, to press Baghdad into a deeper energy partnership.
An additional advantage for Turkey lies in the willingness of Baghdad’s new Shiite-led government to work closely with Washington to rein in Iraq’s powerful Shiite militias, an issue that figured prominently in the July 14 meeting between Trump and Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi. Iran’s weakening position and its protracted internal crisis are likely compelling Iraq’s Shiite political forces to reassess the influence Tehran has exercised over their country during the past two decades. Even if change comes, it will be slow and complicated, given the intense factionalism that characterizes Iraq’s Shiite political landscape and the varying degrees of dependence on Iran among its competing actors. From Ankara’s perspective, it is not necessary to displace Iranian influence; the emergence of even a handful of Shiite factions seeking to balance between Iran and Turkey would constitute a meaningful strategic gain.
Iran, however, is unlikely to relinquish its regional position without a fight, particularly because Iraq continues to serve as a strategic buffer at a moment of pronounced vulnerability. Although Syria’s alignment with Turkey has complicated Tehran’s ability to sustain Hezbollah, Iran maintains considerable influence in Iraq. This much was underscored by the decision to route Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's funeral procession through Najaf and Karbala – the two holiest cities for Shiite Islam in southern Iraq – before his final burial in Iran on July 9. Iraq, then, is poised to reemerge as the principal arena of geopolitical competition between Turkey and Iran, echoing the centuries-long struggle for dominance over Iraq and the broader region.
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Thanks to Billy
Date: July 15, 2026 at 1:48:16 PM MDT
Bison 1 Tourist 0
In case who haven't seen the news video of a tourist intruding into a Buffalo’s territory…
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Thanks to Dutch
From the net...courtesy of Mike and Rich...and JC
Hi to all -
7-14-2026 Next Up
Happy Bastille Day!
South Carolina
To fill the vacancy left by the passing of Lindsey Graham, the state has selected his sister, Darline Graham Nordone, to carry on until a new election can be held. Lindsey himself recommended her some time back as a most capable successor for his job.
Texas
They have instituted a kind of Bible study as part of classroom work. Not to preach to students, but as a cultural and historical context for our modern laws and life. The founders in particular were very astute students of the Bible, and many of our laws and customs come from that book. Back then, every home had a Bible, and it was a primary source for learning, and for learning to read, in most households. In the early days of the republic, Bible studies were part of congress, and in fact, the congress hired and paid preachers of many faiths to come and speak in the halls of congress. Congress even paid 'missionaries' to travel and teach, especially to the native populations.
All this is very offensive to the left. After all, they rejected God and religion long ago, and codified this at the 2012 DNC convention, when they demanded, three times (in exactly the ancient tradition of Israel - where the high priest would ask the people in an annual meeting if they would accept God and follow His laws. This was repeated three times, to ensure that there was no confusion or doubt) to remove God from their platform. Since then, the left has embraced every kind of perversion, every kind of nasty behavior, and even murder (including political assassination) as normal and acceptable. So, what happens next? Read your Bible, and history. In the course of time, all those who turned against their God ended up on the wrong side of conflict, and suffered badly for it.
International Courts
Trump has limited their control over the US by insisting that we are a sovereign nation, and not subject to their arbitrary rules. That will gripe the EU leaders and all the other globalists.
Democratic Socialists
They are searching for a candidate to oppose Trump in 2028. They see AOC as their best hope. She is the one that Senator Kennedy described as 'the reason why shampoo bottles need instructions'.
NYC
Just a couple of years ago, the state had 12.7% of all millionaires in the nation. Today, that number has dropped to 8.7% - a loss of one third - and continues to fall as these folks move elsewhere to escape the high taxes and bad business environment. So, who will be left to pay for all that FREE STUFF that Comrade Mamdani wants to give away?
Maine
Anti-ICE agitators (read: Antifa and other democrat sponsored shock troops) have targeted Susan Collins, who now stands to gain from the loss of Platner in the coming election. This is political violence - treason - by the left. The Supreme Court Justices just testified before congress on how they have all been threatened by the left, and how security is now their first priority. At some point, we will have to act against these 'protesters'.
Iran
Another night of air strikes, and also attacks from Iran on shipping. A couple of tankers from Emirates were hit. Two more carrier battle groups are on the way there, and the blockade has been re-established. Until we cut off their supply lines, and target their leaders, this will go on. There is no negotiating or reasoning with unreasonable people. Their new leader, Mojtaba Khamenei vows 'revenge' against the US for hitting them back. We might start with him, and those around him.
UK
The murder of Ann Widdecombe is now being portrayed as a terrorist attack, to silence her voice. The local leftists are cheering her death, just as our own version cheers for the death of our own martyrs, like Charlie Kirk. All part of the same plan and playbook. The problem is that killing people does not silence them - it makes their words even more powerful.
VW
They are looking at laying off 100,000 people across several companies and nations over the next three years. This will not only affect the VW line, but also Porsche, Audi, Seat and Skoda.
Canada
A gay couple hired a surrogate mother, but when sonograms showed the baby had a cleft lip, they demanded that the mother abort the child. She refused, and they are suing her for 'damages' and expenses. You cannot make this stuff up.
Paramount - Warner Brothers
The DoJ has approved this merger, but blue states are very angry. It is not the business model they object to, but the loss of control over content that they fear. These were major propaganda tools for the left, and that will be lost in the merger, and people might, just might, get a less biased approach to their entertainment.
The movie 'Supergirl' was the most massive flop since the 'Catwoman' movie of 2004. The left cannot sell its propaganda. Losing control of the tools will make this even worse for them.
Rich
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From the Archives
Thanks to Peter via Ken and Dr. Rich
Navy Aviators Medal of Honor Awardees
There may be some other of Ward’s clips available….skip
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Thanks to Carl
Tucker: The Car Company Big Auto Murdered
July 15, 2023
Preston Tucker’s Speed Shop Explains the Genius Behind an American Tragedy
Published: 30 Apr 2022
Sean and Mike Tucker are identical twins who happen to be the great-grandsons of Preston Tucker. In collaboration with a noted collector and historian, they have embarked on a quest to preserve the legacy of Preston and the eponymous Tucker ’48.
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. ‘Thanks to Dr.Rich
That time a Marine mechanic stole an A-4M Skyhawk attack aircraft for a joyride
theaviationgeekclub.com
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. Thanks to Interesting Facts
I learned to use chop sticks when I started going to the orient in 1968. Still use them on occasion ..skip
As common eating utensils, chopsticks in Asia are about 2,000 years older than the fork in Europe.
By the time most people in Europe started eating with forks, chopsticks had already been around in Asia for millennia. The versatile utensil is believed to have been invented in China roughly 5,000 years ago, although it was initially little more than twigs used for cooking rather than eating (compared to human fingers, chopsticks were a much safer way to grab food from boiling water). None other than Confucius is credited with helping to make chopsticks popular as eating utensils sometime after 400 BCE. A man who espoused nonviolence, the philosopher believed that knives evoked bloodshed and the “honorable and upright man … allows no knives on his table.” (Chopsticks, then, were a more peaceful way to pick up food compared to spearing it with a knife.)
Chopsticks gradually made their way beyond China’s borders and were the utensil of choice in other Asian countries such as Japan and Vietnam by 500 CE. Forks, meanwhile, slowly gained popularity throughout Europe after initially being used in their two-tined form by the ancient Greeks and Egyptians for cooking. Around the 11th century, they were introduced as eating utensils in Italy and France, after having initially been used in the Byzantine Empire — still in two-pronged form — but were widely frowned upon for centuries as unnecessarily luxurious or effeminate. Medieval Europe ate mostly with rounds of stale bread used as a platform for meat and vegetables, as well as with knives and spoons, which had been ubiquitous since ancient times. It wasn’t until around the 18th century that the use of forks — finally with three and four tines — became commonplace in much of Europe, in a slow process befitting their status as a late-to-the-party addition to the table.
Numbers Don’t Lie
Muscles involved in the use of chopsticks
50
Different parts of a fork
7
Disposable chopsticks used in China every year
45 billion
Kinds of forks in existence
35
National Chopsticks Day is celebrated on February 6.
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From the archives for my Phantom friends
THANKS TO NEWELL
I read with interest “Fantoomery” and Eagle’s F-4 Flaws Assessment in today’s THE LIST. Having spent my entire operational career in that wonderfully ugly beautiful beast (F-4B through F-4S), I am submitting the following for your posting in THE LIST. (Or, if you choose, THE BUBBAS.)
Scorpio
To: All Yesteryear Navy F-4 Jocks
From: CDR Newell Tarrant, USN (Ret.)
SUBJECT: HOMAGE TO THE PHANTOM
I received a widely shared email titled, “Phantom Farewell” in the winter of 2006. It was originally written as a tribute to the F-4 when the aging bird passed from our operational fighter inventory. Additionally, it appeared that this farewell had been written years prior to its 2006 email-recirculation, and by 2006 no one knew who had originally penned it. Although attribution-credit was not established, I judged from its content (and some specifically mentioned Squadron and Pilot-RIO callsigns) that it was likely written by an east-coast-based Navy fighter pilot.
Little matter from which American coast it came, because it was a fighter jock’s heartfelt lament regarding the Phantom’s passing. And for years it remained archived in my computer’s “NAVAIR” folder.
A 2014 reunion of VF-161 “Rock River” squadron-mates hosted by Rear-Admiral Ted “Slapshot” Carter at the Naval War College prompted memories of our F-4’s distinguished history, and tugged my attention back to that old “Phantom Farewell” document. But upon rereading it, I thought that more ought to be said. So, with a sincere tip-of-the-cap to its unknown original author, and consonant with the collaborative spirit of the Phantom’s Stick-and-Scope cockpits, I rewrote it. My intentions were to include additional historical detail and to make it more generally inclusive of the whole bygone Navy F-4 community rather than highlight any individual Sticks or Scopes. No self-promotional agenda intended. This rewrite sought only to expand on the original writer’s goals ― pen a meaningful tribute to our long-retired fighter, and voice a fond recall of how flying the Phantom from carrier flight decks profoundly affected our lives.
Many Navy fighter pilots transitioned to the initial F-4 squadrons from our F-8 Crusader community. Years later, many F-4 jocks transitioned from Phantoms to our newer F-14 Tomcats. And, later yet, to F/A-18 Hornets. Respect for those friendly-rival Navy fighter communities still abounds. This farewell tribute, however, only addresses the Phantom. Thus, submitted in remembrance as a toast to all long-ago, Navy F-4 brethren, “Phantom Reminiscence” follows this explanation of its origin.
F-4’s and Dinosaurs Forever,
Scorpio
PHANTOM REMINISCENCE
There’s no use in stonewalling this any longer. It’s way past time to bid farewell to a once mighty, but bygone, warhorse. A farewell written as if a eulogy, because even the solicitation mailers for those large coffee-table books, whose words and pictures chronicled our stallions’ service, have stopped arriving. In truth, those coffee-table book solicitations stopped arriving decades ago. A tacit proof that our formerly famous fighter is now nearly forgotten. Or if not quite forgotten, our metal-steed is, at best, relegated to our memories of the 20th Century.
Young once, we aged together. So, even these many years removed, I feel it is appropriate to voice an overdue homage, and to acknowledge belatedly that one of the most capable Navy fighter aircraft to dominate contested skies flies no more.
The F-4 Phantom.
Big.
Ugly.
Beautiful.
Beast.
Our Navy’s Phantoms enjoyed a thirty-six-year operational run, bookended by combat in the Vietnam War and Operation Desert Storm. Few airplanes in the history of aviation have adapted so well to warfare’s changing tactical landscape.
The Phantom’s departure ordained our loss of variable jet-intakes, of sawtooth-wing leading edges, of positive-dihedral wingtips, of negative-dihedral slatted-stabilators, and a high of 2.2 Mach topping a fighter cockpit Mach-number gauge. Departing F-4’s also carried away a large chunk of what made my life fulfilling.
In retrospective, the plane was designed in the 1950’s by the McDonnell Aircraft Company as a fighter-interceptor. A successor to the Navy’s underpowered F-3 Demon, the new F-4 needed to be a more robust aerial platform, thrust by strong engines to power aloft an advanced, air-to-air, radar missile system. Bottom line, the Phantom was originally designed to engage high-and-fast inbound Bandits.
Which meant that initially the F-4 launched from Navy flight decks as a long-range air-superiority fighter designed to extend the horizons of fleet defense. The earliest Phantom missions were flown chiefly as fighter-interceptors flying Combat Air Patrol for the Carrier Task Group (CTG), and launching also to fly shotgun on the long-range Soviet “Bear” and “Badger” bombers seeking out the CTG. Then the Vietnam War exploded, and the F-4’s missions expanded. Phantoms now carried bombs under their wings and proved they were capable of beating up the dirt as effectively as their A-4 and A-7 attack-aircraft brethren. Flying sorties into North Vietnam, the Phantoms were often tasked to speed ahead, and to strike the lethal SAM sites and anti-aircraft batteries before our slower attack-aircraft arrived over the target. Thus, for many years the Phantom, sporting a two-man crew and a sophisticated radar-system wedded to its high-speed strike-fighter capabilities, became the air-superiority platform of choice for any high-threat environment.
Time never sleeps, and the Phantom's decades-long superiority eventually ended.
My emotions still churn in the face of this reality, because we served and matured together. Thousands of hours of my adult life were spent strapped into the cockpit of that brutish fighter. It was there that combat was flown, life-long friendships were forged, and America's will, enforced. Airborne, from that lofty perch, I had gazed up star-struck at the heavens and had also looked down warily on hostile lands. I didn't always realize it then (youth, of course, being wasted on the young), but each F-4 sortie flown was a gift. Likewise, the time spent in the company of so many exceptional squadron-mates.
Phantom Phlyers.
Phantom Pherrets.
Phantom Phixers.
I remember the tie-down-chain laden Plane Captains and the hard-working Maintenance Technicians who respected the airplanes as much as we aircrews did. I recall the maintenance Chief Petty Officers who taught young nuggets like me not only how the Phantom’s innards worked, but how to better acquit myself as an officer and a leader. Paid neither enough nor near their worth, our Phantom Phixers demanded little in return except for the opportunities to earn our flight-crews’ respect for their professional contributions, and to serve our squadron well. Etched in the tired creases of their faces at the close of each demanding day, though, I read the depth of my commissioned leadership responsibilities.
As I flip through the yellowed pages of my tattered flight-logbooks and see the officers’ names recorded there, I recall the requisite aircrew skills shared between the Phantom’s two cockpits ― Pilot and Radar Officer, Stick and Scope, Phantom Phlyer and Phantom Pherret. The complementary teamwork between our front and rear cockpits was one of the unique qualities that made flying the F-4 so rewarding. Phantom Stick-Scope collaboration and operating from carrier flight decks were two of the most dynamic and defining characteristics of my aviation life. I know few things as surely as I know that U.S. Navy carrier-based aviators are the best in the world. It feels good to reassert that fact, even decades removed from the rigors of the experience, because it is not braggadocio if performance exceeds swagger.
And what about the down times between our carrier sorties? I remember living shipboard with fellow junior officers in our six- or eight-man bunkrooms, where all manner of JO issues (be it work or play) were discussed and resolved. That tight comradeship reinforced mutual trust; it also taught me the worth of true friendship. My squadron-mates partnered with me in the long deployments at sea and in the dangers of combat. Moreover, in that shared performance crucible, I learned that I would weather well the unknown future ordeals of my life, because anything that I might do after my Navy flight career would, in comparison, be so much easier.
If via fond memories I hustle top-side from my below-decks JO bunk room to those yesteryear carrier flight decks, I can close my eyes and almost hear the clack-clack-clack of the catapult’s shuttle as it moves aft to a ready-position for the next aircraft’s launch. Then thundering jet engine roar soon eclipses all other sound.
My recall now freshly triggered, vivid recollections of Phantom flight-deck prelaunch dynamics gush forth. The Air Boss in Pri-Fly orders, “Start engines!” Jet exhaust stings our nostrils until we lower our canopies, shutting out the burnt JP-5 fumes. In a planned starting sequence, a “huffer” lights our Phantom to life. Our engines spool up and start. Our aircraft systems power on. Preflight checks are performed with our brown-shirted Plane Captain and our white-shirted Troubleshooters. Then comes a release of our aircraft tie-down chains. Pull our chocks. Taxi the deck. Soon we're spotted just behind the catapult, awaiting our turn for launch. We signal the green-shirted Weight-Board Bearer: thumbs-up on our bird’s 56,000 pounds of launch-weight. 56,000 pounds. 28 tons of deadly fighter. Grasp that, if you can.
The plane in front of us launches, leaving wisps of steam whistling aft from the catapult track. The jet-blast deflector comes down, and, splitting the slotted cat track with our two nose-strut tires, we taxi over the shuttle and onto the catapult. We spread our folded wingtips. Then, despite years of this same prelaunch routine, our anticipation starts to spike as we whisk through the regimen unique to the Phantom’s launch. The nose strut extends, granting our fighter the nose-high attitude of a predator preparing to leap into the air. The shuttle’s launch-bridle is attached to our fuselage’s twin belly-hooks located at the forward wing-roots. The shuttle slides forward, taking up the bridle-cable slack and tensioning our bridled bird against the holdback-fitting. Our hands are then held high, held visibly away from any cockpit switches as our squadron’s red-shirted Ordnance-men scramble beneath the F-4 to pull our missiles’ safety-pins and arm our weapons.
Our ordnance now fully armed and our flaps lowered, the yellow-shirted Catapult Officer signals us for engine run up. The bird’s throttles are pushed forward to military power and controls cycled: stick forward, then aft, then left and right. Rudder, deflected left and right.
"You ready, Scope?”
“Right behind you, Stick."
The yellow-jersey clad Catapult Officer signals for full afterburner.
The throttles are pushed all the way forward into their AB detent. Gauges checked a final time. We’re good to go.
We position our heads supportively back against the top of our ejection seats because it’s going to be one helluva terrific kick in the ass when the holdback breaks and the steam catapult hurls us off the flight deck.
The Catapult Officer returns the F-4 pilot’s salute. Then he points forward, reaches down and touches the deck to signal, “Shoot ‘em.” to the green-jersey-clad Catapult Crew stationed in the flight deck’s catwalk.
One potato, two potato, and we’re roaring down the cat.
Sweet shot. 1.2 seconds later (and in less than 300 feet of travel) 56,000 pounds of Phantom and two stoked flyers are airborne. Rotate the nose up a few degrees. Raise the landing gear and flaps. Come out of ‘burner. Climb. Sweet bird.
And for the next couple of hours we stand ready to use this glorious Phantom, this mighty machine of American know-how, for whatever our aerial mission demands. Or perhaps today is not our day to save the world, so we barrier-patrol for our Carrier Task Group while running air-intercepts against our wingman. Later, our mission flown and fuel permitting, as we vector back for home-plate, we might honor one of the CTG picket-ships’ request for a high-speed low-level fly-by. Or vaporize some hoarded fuel in a few minutes of post-patrol turn-and-burn dogfight head-to-head against our wingman. Or fly tail-chase together among the clouds. Or fly through a low-altitude rain squall a couple of times just to fresh-water wash our birds. Or push up the throttles and punch through the sound barrier for the same reason that a dog licks his balls … just because he can.
We are flying the Phantom. The finest aerial champion of its era.
Alas, these are recollections of days long past. Because all that remains of this once great fighter, a plane that gave my professional life its purpose, is now generally found as an empty-shell static-display bird in either aviation museums, or mounted outside in front of air-station main gates across America. In a thirty-six-year blink of an eye the Phantom became obsolete. Me too. Because I have become that balding, wrinkly-faced gent, who you might see wearing a weathered squadron ball cap and an ill-fitting old flight jacket. That garrulous elderly warrior who bores anyone within earshot with his tales of last-century fighter derring-do.
1960 through 1996 marked the halcyon years of the Navy’s Phantom fighter squadrons ― the Chargers, Pacemakers, Silver Kings, Vigilantes, Fighting Falcons, Jolly Rogers, Pukin' Dogs, Grim Reapers, Top Hatters, Red Rippers, Sundowners, Freelancers, Tomcatters, Screaming Eagles, Aardvarks and Black Knights to name but a few of the many. Moreover, the Phantom thrilled airshow audiences worldwide during its five-year tenure as the thundering glossy bird of the Navy’s Blue Angels.
Nowadays I hear assurances of a bright future for the Navy’s newest strike-fighter, the F-35 Lightning, but my time in the arena was spent with the Phantom. And when an airplane possesses that much character and longevity, it ceases to be inanimate for those who strapped into it on a regular basis. We who knew it well miss its strength and raw power. In its day, it bowed to no other fighter.
Very Respectfully,
Scorpio
PS: For all of us who revered the Phantom, war-correspondent Ernest Hemingway’s poetic words ― quoted from a 1944 Collier’s Magazine article that he wrote while posting stories from London during WWII ― might best describe our sentiments.
“You love a lot of things if you live around them,
but there isn’t any woman and there isn’t any horse,
not any before, nor any after,
that is as lovely as a great airplane.
And men who love them are faithful to them
even though they leave them for others.
A man has only one virginity to lose in fighters,
and if it is a lovely plane he loses it to,
there his heart will ever be.”
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Thanks tgo American Facts
. The Empire State Building may be an immense structure that's hard to miss, but its history holds events, quirks, and surprising facts that most people have never heard! From lightning constantly striking it to water invading from below, let's uncover 10 things no one ever told you about this iconic American skyscraper.
25 times a year
Its tall, elegant steel structure is definitely captivating; no wonder thousands of photographers, painters, and filmmakers have chosen the Empire State Building as the backdrop for their work. However, that imposing height comes with something a little scary: it's estimated that the building is struck by lightning about 25 times a year! Fortunately, it was designed to handle these strikes, so it's completely safe.
Really fast
There are buildings that took decades to complete. But this is not the case with the Empire State Building. In fact, this is one of the fastest skyscrapers ever built: It took only one year and 45 days to erect such an architectural masterpiece. That means it was built at a rate of an incredible 4.5 floors per week!
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Unlikely survivor
It was 1945 when the Empire State Building was accidentally struck by a B-25 Mitchell bomber due to the thick fog that covered NYC. A worker named Betty Lou Oliver was on the 80th floor when the plane crashed into the 79th. She was severely injured, but incredibly, she survived. Hours later, while being rescued in an elevator, the damaged cables gave way, and Betty fell 75 floors to the basement. She survived that too!
40 million dollars
A tremendous building like the Empire State couldn't be built on a shoestring budget. When it was constructed —in the midst of the Great Depression, no less— it cost about $41 million. That's a hefty sum, even today! Adjusted for inflation, that would be around $600 to $700 million in 2025. Wow!
Secret floor
If you are afraid of heights, be prepared: the Empire State Building has two public observation decks, one on the 86th floor and another on the 102nd. But there's another one, and it's even higher! It's located on the 103rd floor, but it's not open to the public and is mostly used for VIPs or special occasions.
High security
Although an incredible 4 million people visit the building each year on average, getting in isn't easy. Many visitors say it feels like going through airport security, with X-ray machines and metal detectors everywhere. Visitors must also pass through a security checkpoint before reaching the observation decks, and the building is constantly monitored by cameras and security guards.
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King Kong
We all remember the iconic scene of the imposing King Kong climbing the towering mast of the Empire State Building. And while that image lives on in our minds, there's one detail many people overlook: When the original King Kong movie premiered in 1933, the Empire State Building was less than two years old! Plus, at the time, the building still held the title of tallest in the world, making King Kong's climb even more epic.
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Underground waterways
Beneath what is now NYC, there was a network of streams and rivers that flowed freely before Manhattan and other boroughs covered them. The land below the Empire State Building is no exception, and these old underground waterways still occasionally cause complications. For example, during heavy rains, water can rise and seep into the building's wind tunnels, sometimes flooding areas with up to two feet of water.
The original plans
The Empire State Building was originally supposed to have a dirigible anchor! That's right; the mast at the top of the building was meant to serve as a mooring post for dirigibles, with a docking platform and a door for passengers to disembark. However, due to the extreme height, high winds, and overall potential danger, the idea was discarded. Today, the mast is used for antennas and other communications equipment.
Green building
This iconic building that defines New York's skyline is considered a "green building." And no, it has nothing to do with the color of its walls; it's about something much more meaningful. The sustainability modifications that the Empire State has undergone over the years have made it one of the most energy-efficient buildings of its size, minimizing its environmental impact and earning it the title of "green building."
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This Day in U S Military History…….July 16
1769 – Father Juñpero Serra, a Spanish Franciscan missionary, founds the first Catholic mission in California on the site of present-day San Diego. After Serra blessed his new outpost of Christianity in a high mass, the royal standard of Spain was unfurled over the mission, which he named San Diego de Alcala. Serra came to Spanish America in 1750 and served in the Sierra Gorda missions and then in south-central Mexico. A successful missionary, he was appointed a member of the second Spanish land expedition to Alta California in 1769. When the party reached San Diego, Serra remained with a few followers to found California’s first mission. The rest of the expedition continued on in search of Monterrey harbor, which had been previously used by Spanish sailors. Although the explorers failed in their aim, Serra succeeded in finding Monterrey in 1770, and there he founded his second mission–San Carlos Barromeo. Appointed president of the Alta California presidios, Serra eventually founded a total of nine missions, stretching from San Diego to present-day San Francisco. The Franciscan fathers built large communities around their missions, teaching Christianized Native Americans to farm and tend cattle, and directing their work. These agricultural communities enjoyed a considerable autonomy from first the Spanish colonial authorities and then the Mexican government, but with the coming of the Americans in the mid-19th century most were abandoned.
1916 – Captain Raynal Bolling commanded the 1st Aero Squadron, New York National Guard, when it was mobilized during the Mexican Border Crisis. Using a variety of privately owned aircraft the 1st was the first flying unit organized in the Guard. Though the unit was not deployed to the border before being released from active duty in November 1916, a large number of its members, including Bolling, joined the Signal Corps Reserve (then controlling all Army aviation) prior to the U.S. entry into World War I. During the war Bolling, now a colonel, was a leading planner of American air strategy. For instance, he determined and got approved the use of British DeHaviland’s for observation and daylight bombing missions and British Bristol’s and French Spads as America’s lead fighters. While riding in a staff car near the front at Amiens, France on March 26, 1918, he was surprised by advancing German troops. Bolling and his driver, coming under enemy fire, jumped into a ditch, where Bolling returned fire with his pistol (the only weapon either man had). He killed a German officer and almost immediately was killed himself by another officer. His had to be one of the few pistol fights to have occurred in World War I! Bolling was posthumously awarded the French Legion of Honor and the American Distinguished Service Medal for his bold leadership and far-reaching vision of the role air power would come to play on the battlefield.
1940 – Hitler issues his Directive 16. It begins, “I have decided to begin to prepare for, and if necessary to carry out, an invasion of England.” It goes on to explain the importance of the air battles for the achievement of this aim. At this stage in the planning the German army’s views are dominant. They wish the Channel crossing to take place on a wide front with landings all along the south coast of Britain. They envisage that the force to be employed will be at least 25 and perhaps 40 divisions. They hope that the crossing can be protected by the Luftwaffe and mines on its flanks. This is not a very realistic plan.
1945 – The United States conducts the first test of the atomic bomb at its research facility in Los Alamos, New Mexico. The terrifying new weapon would quickly become a focal point in the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. The official U.S. development of the atomic bomb began with the establishment of the Manhattan Project in August 1942. The project brought together scientists from the United States, Great Britain, and Canada to study the feasibility of building an atomic bomb capable of unimaginable destructive power. The project proceeded with no small degree of urgency, since the American government had been warned that Nazi Germany had also embarked on a program to develop an atomic weapon. By July 1945, a prototype weapon was ready for testing. Although Germany had surrendered months earlier, the war against Japan was still raging. On July 16, the first atomic bomb was detonated in the desert near the Los Alamos research facility. Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, director of the project, watched the mushroom cloud rise into the Nevada sky. “Now I am become death, destroyer of worlds,” he uttered, reciting a passage from an ancient Hindu text. News of the successful test was relayed to President Harry S. Truman, who was meeting with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in Potsdam to discuss the postwar world. Observers at the meeting noted that the news “tremendously pepped up” the president, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill believed that Truman almost immediately adopted a more aggressive tone in dealing with Stalin. Truman and many other U.S. officials hoped that possession of the atomic bomb would be America’s trump card in dealing with the Soviets after the war. Use of the weapon against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 demonstrated the destructive force of the atomic bomb. The American atomic monopoly did not last long, though. By 1949, the Soviets had developed their own atomic bomb, marking the beginning of the nuclear arms race.
1945 – Cruiser Indianapolis left SF with an atom bomb.
1946 – US court martial in Dachau condemned 46 SS to hang for the Malmedy massacre of disarmed GIs.
1950 – U.S. Army Chaplain Herman G. Felhoelter became the first chaplain to earn an award for heroism and the first to lose his life in the Korean War. Voluntarily remaining behind with several critically wounded soldiers, he and his group was overwhelmed and killed by the communists. Chaplain Felhoelter was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.
1969 – At 9:32 a.m. EDT, Apollo 11, the first U.S. lunar landing mission, is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a historic journey to the surface of the moon. After traveling 240,000 miles in 76 hours, Apollo 11 entered into a lunar orbit on July 19. The next day, at 1:46 p.m., the lunar module Eagle, manned by astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, separated from the command module, where a third astronaut, Michael Collins, remained. Two hours later, the Eagle began its descent to the lunar surface, and at 4:18 p.m. the craft touched down on the southwestern edge of the Sea of Tranquility. Armstrong immediately radioed to Mission Control in Houston a famous message, “The Eagle has landed.” At 10:39 p.m., five hours ahead of the original schedule, Armstrong opened the hatch of the lunar module. Seventeen minutes later, at 10:56 p.m., Armstrong spoke the following words to millions listening at home: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” A moment later, he stepped off the lunar module’s ladder, becoming the first human to walk on the surface of the moon. Aldrin joined him on the moon’s surface at 11:11 p.m., and together they took photographs of the terrain, planted a U.S. flag, ran a few simple scientific tests, and spoke with President Richard M. Nixon via Houston. By 1:11 a.m. on July 21, both astronauts were back in the lunar module, and the hatch was closed. The two men slept that night on the surface of the moon, and at 1:54 p.m. the Eagle began its ascent back to the command module. Among the items left on the surface of the moon was a plaque that read: “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot on the moon–July 1969 A.D.–We came in peace for all mankind.” At 5:35 p.m., Armstrong and Aldrin successfully docked and rejoined Collins, and at 12:56 a.m. on July 22 Apollo 11 began its journey home, safely splashing down in the Pacific Ocean at 12:51 p.m. on July 24. There would be five more successful lunar landing missions, and one unplanned lunar swing-by, Apollo 13. The last men to walk on the moon, astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt of the Apollo 17 mission, left the lunar surface on December 14, 1972. The Apollo program was a costly and labor intensive endeavor, involving an estimated 400,000 engineers, technicians, and scientists, and costing $24 billion (close to $100 billion in today’s dollars). The expense was justified by President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 mandate to beat the Soviets to the moon, and after the feat was accomplished, ongoing missions lost their viability.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
COSTELLO, JOHN
Rank and organization: Ordinary Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 1850, Rouses Point, N.Y. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 214, 27 July 1876. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Hartford, Philadelphia, Pa., 16 July 1876. Showing gallantry, Costello rescued from drowning a landsman of that vessel.
FORBECK, ANDREW P.
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 29 August 18,9, New York. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 55, 19 July 1901. Citation: For distinguished conduct in the presence of the enemy during the battle of Katbalogan, Samar, Philippine Islands, 16 July 1900.
STOLTENBERG, ANDREW V.
Rank and organization: Gunner’s Mate Second Class, U.S. Navy. Born: Boto, Norway. Accredited to: California. G.O. No.: 55, 29 July 1899. Citation: For distinguished conduct in the presence of the enemy in battle at Katbalogan, Samar, Philippine Islands, 16 July 1900.
DAHLGREN, JOHN OLOF
Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 14 September 1872, Kahliwar, Sweden. Accredited to: California. G.O. No.: 55, 19 July 1901. Citation: In the presence of the enemy during the battle of Peking, China, 20 June to 16 July 1900, Dahlgren distinguished himself by meritorious conduct.
*FISHER, HARRY
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 20 October 1874, McKeesport, Pa. Accredited to: Pennsylvania. G.O. No.: 55, 19 July 1901. Citation: Served in the presence of the enemy at the battle of Peking, China, 20 June to 16 July 1900. Assisting in the erection of barricades during the action, Fisher was killed by the heavy fire of the enemy.
HUNT, MARTIN
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 9 July 1873, County of Mayo, Ireland. Accredited to: Massachusetts. G.O. No.: 55, 19 July 1901. Citation: In the presence of the enemy during the battle of Peking, China, 20 June to 16 July 1900, Hunt distinguished himself by meritorious conduct.
WALKER, EDWARD ALEXANDER
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 2 October 1864, Huntley, Scotland. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 55, 19 July 1901. Citation: In the presence of the enemy during the battle of Peking, China, 20 June to 16 July 1900. Throughout this period, Walker distinguished himself by meritorious conduct.
YOUNG, FRANK ALBERT
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 22 June 1876, Milwaukee, Wis. Accredited to: Wisconsin. G.O. No.: 55, 19 July 1901. Citation: In the presence of the enemy during the battle of Pehng, China, 20 June to 16 July 1900. Throughout this period, Young distmguished himself by meritorious conduct.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for July 16, FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD “PHIL” MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
16 July
1917: The Aircraft Manufacturers Association formed to solve aircraft patent problems facing US military aviation as war for America neared.
1940: First bombardier training in Air Corps Schools began at Lowry Field with the first class of bombardier instructors. (24)
1945: The world's first nuclear explosion occurred on July 16, 1945, when a plutonium implosion device was tested at a site located 210 miles south of Los Alamos, New Mexico, on the plains of the Alamogordo Bombing Range, known as the Jornada del Muerto. The code name for the test was "Trinity."
Hoisted atop a 100-foot tower, a plutonium device, called "Gadget," detonated at precisely 5:30 am over the New Mexico desert, releasing 18.6 kilotons of power, instantly vaporizing the tower and turning the surrounding asphalt and sand into green glass, called "trinitite." Seconds after the explosion, an enormous blast sent searing heat across the desert, knocking observers to the ground.
A U.S. Navy pilot flying at 10,000 feet near Albuquerque, New Mexico, said it lit up the cockpit of his plane and was like the sun rising in the south. When he radioed Albuquerque Air Traffic Control for an explanation, he was simply told, “Don’t fly south.” After the test, the Alamogordo Air Base issued a press release that stated simply, “A remotely located ammunition magazine containing a considerable amount of high explosives and pyrotechnics exploded, but there was no loss of life or limb to anyone.” The actual cause of the blast was not disclosed until after the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6. The success of the Trinity test meant an atomic bomb could be used by the U.S. military and it marked the start of the Atomic Age. (Text and Image from a Department of Energy article)
1953: Lt Col William F. Barnes flew a F-86D Sabre over a 3-kilometer (1.86 miles) course at Salton Sea, Calif., to a world speed record of 715.74 MPH. (24) In a Cessna L-19B at Wichita, Kans., William Thompson set a world altitude record of 37,063 feet for light planes. (24)
1957: Maj John H. Glenn, Jr. (USMC) used a F8U-1P Crusader to break the cross-county speed record. He flew from Los Alamitos, Calif., to Long Island in 3 hours 22 minutes 50 seconds at 723.51 MPH. He also completed the first upper atmosphere supersonic, west coast-to-east coast flight. (9)
1964: The US Army’s XV-5A, a “lift-fan” VTOL aircraft, made by General Electric and Ryan Aeronautical, made its first vertical takeoff and landing at Edwards AFB.
1965: Rockwell’s OV-10A counterinsurgency aircraft flew its first test flight at company plant in Columbus. (12)
1969: APOLLO XI/FIRST LUNAR LANDING. From Kennedy Space Center, the Apollo XI manned lunar landing mission began for Astronauts Michael Collins, Neil A. Armstrong, and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr. On 20 July, Aldrin and Armstrong flew the lunar module Eagle to the Sea of Tranquility, where Armstrong took the first step on the moon. On 21 July, after 21 hours 36 minutes on the moon the module lifted off; 4 hours later it docked with the command module to return home. On 24 July, the module splashed down in mid-Pacific, 195 hours 19 minutes after launch. The astronauts set FAI records for greatest mass landed on the moon with 16,153 pounds and greatest mass lifted into lunar orbit from the moon with 5,928.6 pounds. For the USAF, Colonels Aldrin and Collins set two records—Aldrin became the second man to step on the moon, while Collins established a record of 59 hours 27 minutes 55 seconds in lunar orbit. (9) (16)
1999. Lockheed Martin Corporation of Marietta received a $370 million contract to produce seven more C-130J aircraft, including four for the ANG. (32)
Thanks to Brett
Apollo/Soyuz
1975: Astronauts Thomas Stafford, Vance Brand, and Donald “Deke” Slayton launched from Cape Canaveral in a Saturn 1B rocket to meet up with the Soyuz 19 cosmonauts that had launched from Kazakhstan. Mr. Slayton, at 51, became the oldest man to fly in space at that time. He was also one of the original seven astronauts. This Apollo mission, when it ended on 24 July, was the last US manned space mission until the first space shuttle launch in 1981. (NASA Images)
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