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Good Wednesday morning July 15 2026 .The Heat wave is here and all across the USA .CLEAR AND HEATING UP TO 91 BY 1 and staying that high until 4 or 5.
Take care of yourselves where ever you are.
Cool Regards,
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This Day in Navy and Marine Corps History:July 15
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 15
1862 While CSS Arkansas makes her way down the Yazoo River, she encounters the Union gunboats USS Carondelet, USS Tyler, and USS Queen of the West. In the ensuing battle, CSS Arkansas damages the first two vessels and makes her way into the Mississippi River, where she boldly fights through the Federal fleet to find refuge at the Confederate batteries at Vicksburg, Miss.
1896 USS Oregon (BB 3) is commissioned.
1942 USS Grunion (SS 216) sinks the Japanese submarine chasers (25 and 26) off Kiska, Aleutian Islands.
1942 USS Terror (CM 5), the first minelayer built as such, is commissioned. During World War II she participates in Operation Torch, the Battle for Iwo Jima, and the Okinawa Invasion, where she is struck by a kamikaze on May 1, 1945.
1943 TBF aircraft from (VC 29) from USS Santee (CVE 29) sinks German submarine (U 509) south of the Azores.
1943 PBY (VP 92) and British destroyer HMS Rochester and frigates HMS Mignonette and HMS Balsam sink German submarine (U 135) west of the Canary Islands. Previously, (U 135) sank 3 and damaged 1 Allied vessels, none from the United States.
2017 The guided-missile destroyer USS John Finn (DDG 113) is commissioned in a ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. The ship honors Chief Aviation Ordnanceman John Finn, who received the Medal of Honor for heroism during the first attack by Japanese airplanes at Pearl Harbor.
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Thanks to Admiral Cox
H-Gram 98 (99 is still inwork)
Since this is not a year that ends in 0 or 5 for the Battle of Midway (4–7 June 1942), I thought I would recycle my H-gram in commemoration of the D-Day landings on the Normandy beaches in June 1944. Today, most American accounts about D-Day focus on the actions of the U.S. Army, and the heroic actions of the Army troops that went ashore Utah and Omaha Beaches, some of the most courageous actions in the annals of military history. However, few know that prior to the Army establishing a headquarters on the beaches late in the afternoon of 6 June, the D-Day landings were under Navy command and control and designated Operation Neptune. This H-gram is about the Navy’s role in the amphibious landing phase of the overarching Operation Overlord, more commonly known as D-Day.
I am also recycling a second piece on Exercise Tiger, which occurred in April 1944 and was the full-scale rehearsal for the landings at Utah Beach. The trial was a disaster due to a horrific friendly fire incident on the beach, when troops were accidentally shelled by naval vessels due to timing errors. That was followed by a devastating attack on a convoy of US tank landing ships (LSTs) by German S-boats, which sank two LSTs and damaged others, resulting in the loss of more than 600 US Army and Navy lives—significantly more than would be lost during the actual landing at Utah Beach on 6 June 1944. Omaha Beach was another story.
Overview
By H-Hour on Omaha Beach (0630, 6 June 1944), pretty much everything had already gone to hell. Of the 64 amphibious tanks that were supposed to land on the beach five minutes before the first infantry assault wave, 27 were on the bottom of the ocean, having sunk due to heavy seas. Four more amphibious tanks were destroyed when LCT-607 struck a mine and sank. Twenty-eight tanks made it ashore because Lieutenant Dean Rockwell, USN, commander of LCT Flotilla 12, assessed the seas as too rough and, on his own initiative, chose to take the tanks all the way to the beach at great risk to the eight LCTs under his command (LCT-607 was lost on the way in). Another three tanks reached the beach because Ensign Henry Sullivan, in command of LCT-600, stopped launching tanks after the first one sank and took the rest of them all the way to the beach, also on his own initiative. Of the 28 tanks launched into the water from the other seven LCTs (which didn’t receive Rockwell’s order), only two made the swim of 2–3 miles to the beach; the rest tragically sank with most of their crews.
The loss of the tanks, mostly due to sea conditions and not the enemy, wasn’t all that went wrong. The shore bombardment was only 30 minutes long, inadequate time to take out most of the heavily fortified and well-concealed German gun positions, which the Navy knew based on its experience with Japanese islands. However, the need to minimize the amount of time for the German reserve forces to react to the landing was considered by the Army to be of overriding importance. The strikes by 450 B-24 heavy bombers just before the landing missed the beach due to overcast, and 13,000 bombs went long and did nothing except add to the din. Then eight LCT(R) “rocket ships” fired 1,080 rockets each, and almost all of them fell short of the beach. Instead of the expected understrength German garrison division, the beach was defended by the first-line 352nd Infantry Division, which had just arrived to defend a coastline that was ideally suited for defense.
The first US troops to land at Omaha Beach were slaughtered by the hundreds. Some landing craft never made it to the beach; in others that did, no one got off alive. Navy coxswains whose craft were disabled wound up fighting as infantrymen, using weapons from the dead. Navy combat demolition units were in the second wave to blow beach obstacles; most did not make it ashore. The same was true for the Navy beach battalions, beachmasters, and naval shore fire control teams. Navy physicians and corpsmen who went ashore in the first waves suffered high casualties, but were noted afterward to be “the bravest of the brave.” By 0830, Omaha Beach was so littered with destroyed and damaged landing craft, tanks, vehicles, uncleared German obstacles (most of them mined), and hundreds of dead on the beach and in the rising tide that the senior surviving Navy beachmaster called a halt to any further landings of other than assault troops.
Although the Germans fought ferociously at the other four Normandy beaches, those landings went relatively well. But at Omaha, the Germans were winning, when several US destroyers, acting on their own initiative, closed to within 800–1,000 yards of the beach (one to 400 yards, close enough to be hit by rifle fire) and found innovative ways to provide fire support to troops without the benefit of shore spotting (most of the troops’ radios had been lost in the surf). By 0950, all of the US destroyers, plus three British destroyers, were ordered to close the beach, risking mines, shore battery fire, and the likelihood of running aground in the shallows. As the fire from the destroyers finally began to take a serious toll on the German defenders, in one of the most extraordinary acts of mass courage in the history of the U.S. Army, with many of their leaders dead, the surviving soldiers fought their way up the 100-foot bluffs backing the beach. It was this epic bravery by U.S. soldiers that carried the day at bloody Omaha Beach, and their extraordinary valor should never be forgotten. However, in the words of the chief of staff of the 1st Infantry Division, Colonel Stanhope Mason, “Without that gunfire (from the destroyers), we positively could not have crossed the beaches,” or perhaps in the words of the V Corps commander, Major General Leonard Gerow, after he finally got ashore: “Thank God for the U.S. Navy.”
There are no comprehensive figures for U.S. Navy casualties on D-Day that I can find, although one footnote in a medical report gives numbers of 363 dead and 2,020 wounded. During the dedication of the Navy Memorial at Normandy in 2008, the figure of 1,068 Navy dead was cited, but not from an authoritative source, and that number would certainly include losses in the weeks before and after D-Day. In almost every account of D-Day, Navy losses are just rolled into overall Allied losses, generally considered to be about 10,000 casualties, of which 2,500 died (although recent research suggests a significantly higher toll of about 4,500 dead, mostly on Omaha Beach). Navy personnel climbed Pointe du Hoc with the Army Rangers, parachuted in with the airborne troops, manned the landing craft (along with many U.S. Coast Guard coxswains), and served in numerous roles in the first waves of the landing, suffering high casualties; as a result, determining exactly how many of those men died is a challenge.
The Navy did of course keep an accurate count of how many warships were lost, and in that regard, the week after D-Day was much more costly to the Navy than D-Day itself. The largest U.S. Navy ship lost on D-Day was the destroyer USS Corry (DD-463), which was hit by German shore fire and then probably succumbed to a mine in the opening moments of the bombardment of Utah Beach. Additionally, the minesweeper USS Osprey (AM-56), and numerous amphibious craft, including nine LCIs and 26 LCTs, were also lost at sea. But in the days that followed, the destroyers USS Glennon (DD-620) and USS Meredith (DD-726), destroyer escort USS Rich (DE-695), the minesweeper USS Tide (AM-125), five LSTs, and the troop transport Susan B. Anthony (AP-72) were sunk by the Germans, mostly by mines, as they protected the vital flow of more troops and supplies into the Normandy beachhead.
Although the great majority of ships involved in the invasion were British Royal Navy vessels, and the ground troops of the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada deserve the credit for defeating the Germans ashore, the U.S. Navy played an absolutely critical part in what the Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, termed “the great crusade” to defeat Germany and rid the world of Nazi tyranny.
Please see H-Gram 031, attachment H-031-1, for more detail on Operation Neptune.
Photo #: 80-G-250062 Rear Admiral Don P. Moon, USN
Rear Admiral Donald P. Moon, USN, as commander, of XI Amphibious Force, Group II, at the amphibious training base, Algiers, Algeria. Photo is dated 24 March 1944, but may have been taken earlier (NHHC 80-G-250062).
The Exercise Tiger Debacle, 28 April 1944
On 5 August 1944, Rear Admiral Donald Pardee Moon committed suicide on board his flagship USS Bayfield (APA-33) in the Bay of Naples. Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal announced that Moon’s death was the result of combat fatigue. Other reports indicate Moon suffered a serious head injury during darkened ship, resulting in constant severe headaches that impaired his judgment, which were described in Moon’s suicide note. Some suggested that the stress of planning for the rushed impending landings in southern France (Operation Dragoon, 15 August 1944) contributed. Others believed that a sense of guilt over what happened during Exercise Tiger was a motivating factor, or at least a concern that a court of inquiry might be convened.
Exercise Tiger was intended to be a full-dress rehearsal for the landings on Utah Beach. Instead, the rehearsal cost more lives (over 650) than the actual landings at Utah Beach on D-Day and served as an example of what could have occurred on D-Day were it not for Adolf Hitler’s shortsighted Navy policies, which left the Germans with a paltry naval capability to defend the Normandy beaches. Nevertheless, on the night of 27–28 April, nine German S-boats (the Allies called them E-boats) got in among a convoy of eight fully loaded LSTs en route to the practice landing and hit three of them with torpedoes, sinking two (one going down in only six minutes) and blowing the stern off the third, with heavy loss of U.S. Army (at least 441) and US Navy (198) lives. There was no known damage suffered by the S-boats from Allied fire.
The LST convoy was part of a much larger “Assault Force U,” which was under the command of Rear Admiral Moon. Moon was an officer of stellar reputation, and the reality was that there was not much of anything he could have done that would have made a big difference in the outcome. Nevertheless, presiding over such a debacle weighed heavily on him. Other senior officers held him responsible, at least in an informal sense, and the fact that the first rehearsal landings were a succession of foul-ups didn’t help (including reported deaths by “friendly fire”). Moon, however, put those lessons to good use, and the actual landings on Utah Beach under his command were executed significantly better than on any of the other beaches, for which he is a hero and his untimely death a tragedy.
The fact that the D-Day landings didn’t suffer the same fate as Exercise Tiger was due to several factors. The principal one was Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s bold decision to launch the invasion in the face of adverse weather forecasts; the S-boats were in port as the Allied invasion fleet crossed the English Channel since the Germans assumed that no one in their right mind would invade in that weather. Second, even if they had come out, there were nowhere near enough S-boats to make more than a dent in the massive Allied invasion fleet. Third, the extraordinary Allied deception effort had the Germans, including what naval forces they had, expecting the invasion in the wrong place.
For more on Exercise Tiger, please see H-Gram 029, attachment H-029-1.
As always, feel free to share H-grams widely. Previous H-grams may be found here.
Published: Mon Jun 22 11:38:02 EDT 2026
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Today in World History July 15
1099 Jerusalem falls to the Crusaders.
1410 Poles and Lithuanians defeat the Teutonic knights at Tannenberg, Prussia.
1685 The Duke of Monmouth is executed in Tower Hill in England.
1789 The electors of Paris set up a "Commune" to live without the authority of the government.
1806 Lieutenant Zebulon Pike begins his western expedition from Fort Belle Fontaine.
1813 Napoleon Bonaparte's representatives meet with the Allies in Prague to discuss peace terms.
1834 Lord Napier of England arrives at Macao, China, as the first chief superintendent of trade.
1863 Confederate raider Bill Anderson and his Bushwhackers attack Huntsville, Missouri, stealing $45,000 from the local bank.
1895 Ex-prime minister of Bulgaria, Stepfan Stambolov, is murdered by Macedonian rebels.
1901 Over 74,000 Pittsburgh steel workers go on strike.
1942 The first supply flight from India to China over the 'Hump' is flown.
1958 President Dwight Eisenhower sends 5,000 Marines to Lebanon to keep the peace.
1960 John F. Kennedy accepts the Democratic nomination for president.
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Rollingthunderremembered.com .
July 15
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 Wednesday July 15
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. Thanks to Interesting Facts
You can hear the roar of Africa’s Victoria Falls from up to 25 miles away.
Sandwiched along the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe in Africa is one of the greatest natural wonders of the world (literally). Nearly twice as tall as Niagara Falls, Victoria Falls plunges some 350 feet down into the basin of a vast gorge below. The steady stream of water is so powerful, it’s created a rainforestlike microclimate, because its voluminous spray blankets the surrounding area continuously. Although the world largely knows this wonder as Victoria Falls (after Queen Victoria, naturally), locals have traditionally called it Mosi-oa-Tunya, meaning “The Smoke that Thunders.” The name is arguably a better fit, as the “thunder” of this massive waterfall can be heard from 25 miles away, and its “smoke” (aka water plume) can be seen even farther.
Victoria Falls is actually several waterfalls in one. On the Zimbabwe side, there’s Devil's Cataract, Main Falls, Rainbow Falls, and Horseshoe Falls, and on the Zambia side lies the Eastern Cataract. If you want to see the waterfall at its most dramatic, visit between February and May when the summer rains, and by extension Victoria Falls itself, are at their highest volume. However, other times of year have plenty to offer, too. Between mid-August and mid-December, daring adventurers can take a dip in Devil’s Pool, a swimming hole that brings those unburdened by acrophobia — fear of heights — to the very edge of the Fall’s dizzying plunge.
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. Thanks to History Facts
"Take Me Out to the Ball Game" has a feminist twist.
Baseball is known as “America's pastime,” a tradition so embedded in U.S. culture that the songwriters who penned “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” in 1908 did so even though they had never actually seen a game themselves. The song’s familiar chorus about snacking on Cracker Jack and rooting for the home team is often sung during the seventh-inning stretch at baseball games, but the tune’s lesser-known verses have a surprisingly feminist twist.
The song tells the tale of a baseball-loving woman named Katie Casey, described in the lyrics as “mad” for the sport. Katie saw every game, knew all the players, and was confident enough in her knowledge of the rules to “[tell] the umpire he was wrong.” The portrayal of a passionate female sports fan was progressive for its time, but it was not exactly factual. Instead, the lyrics are believed to have been inspired by actress and activist Trixie Friganza, who songwriter Jack Norworth was believed to be having an affair with at the time. Friganza was involved in New York’s suffrage movement, and was reportedly a fan of the New York Giants. Her image also appeared on two early editions of sheet music for the song. In 1927, long after his alleged affair with Friganza had ended and seven years after women won the right to vote, Norworth slightly reimagined some of the lyrics to the famous song. He did keep his female protagonist, but inexplicably changed Katie Casey’s name to Nelly Kelly.
By the Numbers
Earliest known use of the word “feminist”
1852
Amount of the largest free-agent contract in MLB history
$700 million
Years the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League existed (1943-1954)
12
Baseball cards in the National Baseball Hall of Fame collection
140,000
DID YOU KNOW?
“Happy Birthday” was originally known as “Good Morning to All.”
Along with “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” “Happy Birthday” is one of the most recognizable songs in history, sung in many different languages all around the world. Written in 1893 by Patty Smith Hill, a director at the Louisville Experimental Kindergarten School in Kentucky, and her sister Mildred J. Hill, an educator and musician, the song originally appeared in a book of music titled Song Stories for the Kindergarten — at least, the melody did. The tune was actually titled “Good Morning to All,” and it was meant as a cheerful classroom greeting for young children, with the lyrics: “Good morning to you/Good morning to you/Good morning, dear children/Good morning to all.” By March 1924, the melody appeared in a songbook with altered lyrics opening the second verse: “Happy birthday to you.” It was published with incremental lyrical changes over the years, and by 1933, 40 years after its inception, the song was widely known as “Happy Birthday to You.”
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Thanks to Thomas W.Smith
. This Week in American Military History
July 11, 1864: Confederate Army forces under the command of Lt. Gen. Jubal Early reach the outskirts of Washington, D.C.
Brief skirmishing follows. Artillery fire is exchanged. But a previous delay at nearby Monocacy Junction, Maryland, caused by a sizeable, but numerically inferior Union Army force under the command of Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace (future author of Ben Hur) buys time for Union defenders to strengthen their positions around the nation’s capital.
Early will withdraw the following day, commenting to one of his officers, “Major, we haven't taken Washington, but we scared Abe Lincoln like hell.”
The New York Times will refer to Early’s drive toward D.C., “the boldest, and probably the most successful of all the rebel raids.”
July 11, 1955: The first U.S. Air Force Academy class begins with 306 cadets at the Academy’s temporary site, Lowry Air Force Base in Denver, Colorado. The Academy will be moved to its permanent site at Colorado Springs in 1958.
I remember going through one of the Labs on Lowry where the Cadets were staying with myh 8th grade class and they were doing experiments with lasers…very cool….skip
July 11, 1798: The U.S. Marine Corps – born as the Continental Marines Nov.
10, 1775 (the official birthday of the Corps) and disbanded at the conclusion of the American Revolution – is reestablished by an act of Congress.
July 12, 1862: The U.S. Army version of the Medal of Honor – the nation’s highest award for valor in combat – is signed into law, stipulating that the decoration be awarded “to such noncommissioned officers and privates as shall most distinguish themselves by their gallantry in action, and other soldierlike qualities, during the present insurrection.”
The Navy version (awarded to both sailors and Marines) had become law more than six months earlier, on Dec. 21, 1861.
July 14, 1813: Lt. (future Lt. Col.) John M. Gamble becomes the first – and thus far only – U.S. Marine to command a ship in action. Gamble’s vessel, the captured British whaler Greenwich, captures the British whaler Seringapatam.
Gamble – a Lieutenant (though several reputable sources say, captain) of Marines aboard USS Essex – had been awarded command of Greenwich by U.S.
Navy Captain (future commodore) David Porter, who was the father of the Civil War’s famous Admiral David Dixon Porter.
Gamble’s exploits will become legendary, though few know of him outside Marine Corps circles.
July 16, 1862: The U.S. Congress establishes the rank of rear admiral for David G. Farragut, who will become best known for purportedly uttering the command, “Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!,” or the more likely command, “Damn the torpedoes! "Four bells. Captain [Percival] Drayton, go ahead! [Lt. Commander James] Jouett, full speed!” during the 1864 Battle of Mobile Bay, Alabama.
Farragut (destined to become admiral) is the nation’s first rear admiral
July 17, 1898: Spanish forces under the command of Gen. José Toral surrender Cuba to U.S. forces under Gen. William R. Shafter during the Spanish American War.
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Thanks to the California Fly Overf
WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 2026
Good Morning! On this day in 1929, the Oakland Airport Inn opened as the nation's first airport hotel, with 37 rooms, a restaurant, and a barbershop. Amelia Earhart later became one of its regular guests.
You never know what the tide might bring in, but this definitely wasn't a seashell. As we report below, a decades-old military relic washed up on a Southern California beach, triggering a temporary beach closure and a careful response from authorities.
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Anaheim ☀️ 92°/70° | Bakersfield ☀️ 103°/75° | Death Valley ☀️ 114°/93° | Eureka ☀️ 62°/53° | Fresno ☀️ 103°/73° | Huntington Beach ☀️ 81°/71° | Lake Tahoe ☀️ 78°/54° | Los Angeles ☀️ 90°/71° | Palm Springs ☀️ 111°/88° | Redding ☀️ 104°/70° | Riverside ☀️ 102°/72° | Sacramento ☀️ 102°/65° | San Diego ☀️ 80°/68° | San Francisco ☀️ 70°/56° | San Jose ☀️ 88°/59° | San Luis Obispo ☀️ 87°/59°
Oakland Approves $125M Coliseum Sale
Oakland's City Council approved a revised $125 million deal to sell the city's stake in the Coliseum complex to the Oakland Acquisition Company.
The buyer will pay $50 million at closing, with the balance paid over time with interest. The city will also receive 6% of future ticket fees generated at the site.
The purchasing group includes the African American Sports and Entertainment Group, which has been working to redevelop the site. The agreement also recognizes a $5 million deposit already paid.
Mayor Barbara Lee said the deal would "bring in city revenue, create good paying jobs and drive real economic opportunities for our residents."
The agreement replaces a 2024 sale arrangement that was delayed and ultimately restructured after years of negotiations over the site's future.
Sierra Mining Revives Amid Metals Push
Blue Moon Metals is developing the Blue Moon Mine at a preexisting underground mine site near Hornitos in Mariposa County, focused on critical metals including silver, copper, and zinc.
CEO Christian Kargl-Simard said the company has spent more than $20 million, with a crew of about 25 now developing an underground tunnel. He expects the mine to be fully operational by 2029.
The ore would ship to the company’s Nevada processing facility, and the project is expected to generate $50 million in free cash flow each year for about a decade.
A second firm, Lode Gold, is working the historic Fremont Mine nearby. President Trump designated Mariposa an Opportunity Zone and signed an executive order intended to help fast-track mining permits.
The environmental group Earthworks criticized the order, saying it removes protections for communities and the environment.
Surgeons Perform First Gorilla Mastoid Surgery
Surgeons at UC San Diego Health operated on the infected mastoid bone behind the ear of a 12-year-old gorilla at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, in what is believed to be the first reported such procedure on a gorilla.
The gorilla, named Mizani, had developed sinusitis and a bone infection called mastoiditis. A CT scan confirmed the diagnosis.
Keepers first noticed trouble in March, when Mizani began holding his head, squinting, and eating less.
Doctors Jeffrey Harris and Krish Suresh adapted human microsurgery techniques, with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance finding no record of the procedure ever being performed on a gorilla.
Mizani has recovered well. The condition appears to have predated his arrival at the park in November 2024.
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➤ Oakland: Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 179 on Monday at a Chinatown affordable-housing site, enacting finance reforms the state estimates will cut the cost of building each affordable unit by $60,000 to $70,000. The measure also adds $900 million for homeless-housing programs.
➤ Sonoma County: Crews downgraded evacuation orders to a warning after stopping the 17-acre Ledson Fire near Santa Rosa. The blaze started Monday near Kenwood in the burn scars of the 2017 Nuns and 2020 Glass fires. No structures were damaged.
➤ Napa County: Meanwhile, crews held the Hardin Fire to 79 acres of grassland in rural Pope Valley on Monday, reaching 60% containment by nightfall with no structures damaged. No evacuations were ordered.
➤ Santa Clara County: Officials are going door-to-door to recover more than 1,000 Costco grapevines that may carry the invasive glassy-winged sharpshooter, which spreads Pierce's disease. The plants were sold this spring, and crews are racing to protect local vineyards and farms.
➤ San Francisco: Sweet Joanna's Cafe, a fixture at the University of San Francisco's downtown campus for nearly 35 years, faces closure after the school declined to renew its lease. Owner Joseph Abughosh rallied regulars with protest posters but struck a more hopeful tone after a call from USF's president.
➤ Modesto: Federal prosecutors indicted Samian Sivansay, 27, on a felon-in-possession charge after alleging he posted photos and videos of guns on Instagram in June. Officers tracked him from Arizona, and after a brief chase found nine firearms in his abandoned car.
➤ Stanislaus County: The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is accepting applications through Aug. 3 for 11 limited deer-hunting permits at the Los Banos and North Grasslands wildlife areas for the final week of A Zone deer season, Sept. 16-20. Winners will be selected Aug. 4.
➤ Fresno: A judge ruled Monday that Stewart Coleman must stand trial for murder in the August shooting death of Carl Johnson, who had come to Coleman's northwest Fresno home to look at fishing gear. Coleman has pleaded not guilty.
➤ Farmersville: The city council endorsed the bipartisan Dignity Act, becoming the sixth Central Valley city to back the bill, which would grant eligible immigrants a renewable seven-year legal status and work authorization. Some speakers criticized its $1,000 annual fee and lack of a path to citizenship.
➤ San Luis Obispo County: Caltrans began full overnight closures of ramps along Highway 1 and US 101 on Monday, from 7:30 p.m. to 7 a.m. through Aug. 7, as crews remove existing striping and install updated lane delineation.
➤ San Bernardino: A procession Monday brought home Lt. Col. Gabriel Estrella, 39, one of eight people killed when a B-52 bomber crashed shortly after takeoff from Edwards Air Force Base on June 15. Firefighters saluted from freeway overpasses as the motorcade traveled along the 10 Freeway.
➤ Southern California: Triple-digit heat, active wildfires, and peak king tides are creating hazardous conditions this week. Temperatures could reach 110 degrees inland as officials warn of elevated fire danger, coastal flooding, and dangerous beach conditions.
➤ Ventura County: An unexploded 1950s-era Super Bazooka round washed ashore at Mugu State Beach and was detonated in place after authorities determined it was too dangerous to move. The beach and a stretch of Pacific Coast Highway were briefly closed, and officials urged the public to leave any suspected military ordnance alone and call 911.
➤ Los Angeles: The police department let its agreement with license-plate-camera vendor Flock Safety expire as it works to rewrite the contract after a watchdog raised concerns about privacy and civil liberties. The report also credited the department's automatic license plate readers with recovering 337 stolen cars over two months.
➤ Mojave Desert: Search crews are looking for Julie Goforth, 63, of Long Beach, who disappeared Friday morning while dirt biking with a friend at the El Mirage off-highway recreation area near Adelanto. The two became separated, and ground and air searches have found no trace.
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WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 2026
Thanks to the Flyover
Good Morning! On this day in 2006, Twitter launched publicly. The idea emerged from a brainstorming session: an SMS service for sharing brief "status" updates, inspired by birds' chirps.
We've all been there: someone greets you warmly by name, and your mind goes completely blank. Turns out there's a science to why faces stick, but names slip away, plus a few tricks to fix it in today's Wisdom Wednesday. Are you good with names, or hopeless like the rest of us? Hit reply and let us know.
Trump Notifies Congress of Resumed Iran War
President Trump notified Congress that the United States has resumed war against Iran, invoking the War Powers Act and restarting a 60-day clock for congressional approval after a ceasefire collapsed over attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. forces have struck Iranian missile sites, air defenses, and naval assets for three straight nights.
On Tuesday, Trump also scrapped a proposed 20% toll on cargo transiting the strait, opting instead for trade and investment deals with Gulf states, while pressing ahead with a blockade targeting only Iranian ships. Oil climbed to a one-month high on the news.
Trump hosted Iraq's prime minister at the White House Tuesday, who said after that all U.S. forces would leave Iraq by Sept. 30, part of a pivot from military ties to energy and trade.
130 Million Americans Under Heat Wave Alerts
A massive heat wave stretching from Los Angeles to Boston is putting more than 130 million Americans under heat alerts this week, with temperatures running 20 to 30 degrees above normal across the northern Plains and the Northeast.
Records are already falling. Salt Lake City hit a preliminary 109 degrees Sunday, topping a 107-degree mark first set in 1960, while Billings, Montana, reached 111.
More heat is coming. It will peak in the Northeast on Wednesday, with heat indices near 105 in Washington and 100 in New York City. Meanwhile, parts of Texas are expected to receive 10 to 15 inches of rain and face flash flood threats this week.
List: Per-Person Healthcare Spending by State
Americans spent an average of $9,717 per person on health care in 2024, but the figure varies widely by state, from $7,233 in Utah to $14,044 in Alaska, according to new Bureau of Economic Analysis data.
The top five spenders, on an average per-person basis, were Alaska ($14,044), Washington, D.C. ($13,865), South Dakota ($12,451), New York, and West Virginia.
The lowest per-person averages were Utah, Nevada ($7,536), South Carolina, Texas, and Alabama. The lowest spending was clustered across the Mountain West and South.
Analysts say prices and geography, more than how often people receive care, drive the gap. Hospital and physician costs, provider wages, and local demographics are the key factors.
➤ Hearing specialists say once hearing fades, it's gone for good, making a few simple habits the only way to protect it.
➤ Newly released records show a former special counsel's team accessed texts from dozens of lawmakers in both parties, drawing constitutional accusations.
➤ A state just cleared the way for seniors in assisted living to raise a glass together, no liquor license required.
➤ President Trump announced that he'll deliver a prime-time address to the nation Thursday at 9 p.m. ET, expected to cover the resumed fighting with Iran and his push for the SAVE America Act voter ID legislation.
➤ The House on Tuesday passed the Sunshine Protection Act in a bipartisan 308-117 vote, which would make daylight saving time permanent nationwide, though states could opt out. The bill moves now to the Senate.
➤ Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett urged Congress to boost court security funding in a rare appearance on Capitol Hill, citing an anticipated rise of 38% in threats and what Barrett described as a recent "swatting" incident at her home.
➤ Health and Human Services officials reported $5.56 billion in expected fraud recoveries and projected savings over six months, returning $12.70 for every dollar spent on healthcare fraud enforcement.
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Thanks to Interesting Facts
. Pizza And Other Bizarre Things We Have Sent Into Space
NASA has strict rules about non-essential items. And yet, over the decades, astronauts have managed to bring along all sorts of odd objects in their Personal Preference Kits. Sure, some may have been marketing stunts—like the time Pizza Hut delivered a meal to the International Space Station—but others were personal caprices, like David Walker’s gorilla suit smuggled onboard in 1984. Read on to discover the full list!
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A gorilla suit
Space can get boring. It got a little more entertaining for astronaut Scott Kelly in 2016, when his twin brother, Mark Kelly, sent him a vacuum-sealed gorilla suit all the way to the ISS for his birthday.
Kelly’s crewmates didn’t know about it, so he had fun pranking them by suddenly appearing in the suit aboard the station. One of the prank videos went viral. As Kelly put it: "How can you not like space gorilla?"
Dirt from Yankee Stadium
Astronaut Garrett Reisman, a lifelong Yankees fan, of course, took a little piece of the Bronx to orbit. In 2008, aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour on mission STS-123, he brought a vial of dirt from Yankee Stadium’s pitcher’s mound—along with other Yankees memorabilia, including items autographed by players.
Amelia Earhart’s watch
In 2010, astronaut Shannon Walker brought Amelia Earhart’s watch to the International Space Station. The legendary aviator had worn it during two transatlantic flights, and it traveled to space on the 82nd anniversary of her first historic solo flight across the Atlantic.
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Pizza
Space pizza finally became a reality in 2001, when Pizza Hut paid millions to deliver a vacuum-sealed pizza to the International Space Station.
It was, quite literally, a publicity stunt out of this world. The pizza—topped with salami to withstand space conditions—was eaten by Russian cosmonaut Yuri Usachov aboard the ISS.
Pieces of the Wright Brothers’ first plane
Tucked into Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit was a small piece of fabric and a fragment of wood from the Wright Brothers' 1903 Flyer—carried all the way from Kitty Hawk to the Sea of Tranquility. He took them with him as he became the first person to step onto the Moon in 1969.
A set of instruments to play "Jingle Bells"
Just before Christmas in 1965, astronauts Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford pulled off a surprise serenade in space.
They had smuggled a harmonica and a set of sleigh bells aboard their Gemini 6A mission and played "Jingle Bells" for Mission Control—creating the first musical performance ever in space. The instruments are now on display at the Smithsonian Institution.
Several LEGO pieces
NASA's collaboration with LEGO took a literal leap when, in 2011, sets of LEGO bricks were sent to the International Space Station aboard mission STS-133.
Astronauts assembled models—such as the Hubble Space Telescope—in microgravity, engaging students around the world in STEM education.
A Buzz Lightyear toy
Buzz Lightyear truly went "to infinity and beyond" when a 12-inch action figure flew aboard Space Shuttle Discovery in 2008. Spending 15 months on the International Space Station, Buzz was part of NASA’s educational outreach efforts.
Upon return, he was honored with a parade at Disney World and now resides in the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.
A lightsaber
In a nod to sci-fi fandom, a lightsaber prop used by Mark Hamill in Return of the Jedi journeyed to space aboard Space Shuttle Discovery in 2007.
The initiative celebrated the 30th anniversary of Star Wars, symbolizing the intersection of science fiction and real-world space exploration.
Dinosaur bones
In 1985, during NASA's SpaceLab 2 mission, astronaut Loren Acton brought aboard a fossilized bone and a piece of eggshell from Maiasaura peeblesorum, a dinosaur species known for nurturing its young.
These fossils, discovered in Montana, were sent to space to symbolize the connection between Earth’s prehistoric life and space exploration.
Communion bread and wine
In a very profound gesture, Buzz Aldrin privately took Christian communion aboard Apollo 11. As a Presbyterian elder, he carried a tiny wafer and a small pouch of wine, blessing them while orbiting the Moon shortly after the lunar landing.
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Golf clubs (and golf balls)
During Apollo 14, Alan Shepard secretly packed a makeshift 6-iron—a golf club head duct-taped to a lunar tool—and two golf balls.
On live TV, he took a couple of awkward, one-handed swings while wearing his stiff spacesuit. The first ball flopped; the second soared "miles and miles," Shepard joked. It actually traveled about 40 yards, which is quite impressive in lunar terms.
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This Day in U S Military History…….July 15
1941 – Master spy Juan Pujol Garcia, nicknamed “Garbo,” sends his first communique to Germany from Britain. The question was: Who was he spying for? Juan Garcia, a Spaniard, ran an elaborate multiethnic spy network that included a Dutch airline steward, a British censor for the Ministry of Information, a Cabinet office clerk, a U.S. soldier in England, and a Welshman sympathetic to fascism. All were engaged in gathering secret information on the British-Allied war effort, which was then transmitted back to Berlin. Garcia was in the pay of the Nazis. The Germans knew him as “Arabel,” whereas the English knew him as Garbo. The English knew a lot more about him, in fact, than the Germans, as Garcia was a British double agent. None of Garcia’s spies were real, and the disinformation he transmitted to Germany was fabricated-phony military “secrets” that the British wanted planted with the Germans to divert them from genuine military preparations and plans. Among the most effective of Garcia’s deceptions took place in June 1944, when he managed to convince Hitler that the D-Day invasion of Normandy was just a “diversionary maneuver designed to draw off enemy reserves in order to make a decisive attack in another place”-playing right into the mindset of German intelligence, which had already suspected that this might be the case. (Of course, it wasn’t.) Among the “agents” that Garcia employed in gathering this “intelligence” was Donny, leader of the World Aryan Order; Dick, an “Indian fanatic”; and Dorick, a civilian who lived at a North Sea port. All these men were inventions of Garcia’s imagination, but they leant authenticity to his reports back to Berlin–so much so that Hitler, while visiting occupied France, awarded Garcia the Iron Cross for his service to the fatherland. That same year, 1944, Garcia received his true reward, the title of MBE-Member of the British Empire–for his service to the England and the Allied cause. This ingenious Spaniard had proved to be one of the Allies’ most successful counterintelligence tools.
1942 – The first supply flight from India to China over the ‘Hump’ was flown to help China’s war effort.
1943 – General Griswold replaces General Hester in command of operation in New Georgia. There is an air battle over Rendova in which the Americans lose 3 aircraft and claim to shoot down more than 40 Japanese planes.
1945 – American naval vessels bombard Muroran, the second biggest steel center in Japan, lying in Volcano Bay on the east side of the island of Hokkaido. Three battleships bombarded the Muroran and some 1000 carrier planes bombed the cities of Hakodati, Otaru, Abashiri, Kushiro, Asahigawa and Obihiro, all on Hokkaido.
1945 – American B-29 Superfortress bombers, based in the Marianna Islands, raided an oil refinery at Kudamatsu on Honshu Island while fighters and bombers from Okinawa attacked objectives on Kyushu and southern Honshu.
1950 – F-80s accounted for 85 percent of the enemy’s losses to air attack. Far East Air Forces Commander, Lieutenant General George E. Stratemeyer, stated that he wouldn’t trade the F-80 for all the F-47s and F-51s he could get. “It does a wonderful job in ground support and can take care of the top-side job if enemy jets appear.”
1953 – U.S. Air Force Captain James Jabara, 4th Fighter-Interceptor Wing, qualified as the second and last “triple ace” of the war — 15 kills. He also was the second ranking jet ace of the war.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
MORRISON, JOHN G.
Rank and organization: Coxswain, U.S. Navy. Entered service at: Lansingburg, N.Y. Born: 3 November 1842, Ireland G.O. No.: 59, 22 June 1865. Citation: Serving as coxswain on board the U.S.S. Carondelet, Morrison was commended for meritorious conduct in general and especially for his heroic conduct and his inspiring example to the crew in the engagement with the rebel ram Arkansas, Yazoo River, 15 July 1862. When the Carondelet was badly cut up, several of her crew killed, many wounded and others almost suffocated from the effects of escaped steam, Morrison was the leader when boarders were called on deck, and the first to return to the guns and give the ram a broadside as she passed. His presence of mind in time of battle or trial is reported as always conspicuous and encouraging.
ROBINSON, THOMAS
Rank and organizarion: Captain of the Afterguard, U.S. Navy. Born: 17 May 1837, Norway. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 77, 1 August 1866. Citation: For heroic efforts to save from drowning Wellington Brocar, landsman, of the Tallapoosa, off New Orleans, 15 July 1866.
BUCHANAN, DAVID M.
Rank and organization: Apprentice, U.S. Navy. Born: 1862, Philadelphia, Pa. Accredited to: Pennsylvania. G.O. No.: 246, 22 July 1879. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Saratoga off Battery, New York Harbor, 15 July 1879. On the morning of this date, Robert Lee Robey, apprentice, fell overboard from the after part of the ship into the tide which was running strong ebb at the time and, not being an expert swimmer, was in danger of drowning. Instantly springing over the rail after him, Buchanan never hesitated for an instant to remove even a portion of his clothing. Both men were picked up by the ship’s boat following this act of heroism.
HAYDEN, JOHN
Rank and organization: Apprentice, U.S. Navy. Born: 1863, Washington, D.C. Accredited to: Washington, D.C. G.O. No.: 246, 22 July 1879. Citation: On board the U.S. Training Ship Saratoga. On the morning of 15 July 1879, while the Saratoga was anchored off the Battery, in New York Harbor, R. L. Robey, apprentice, fell overboard. As the tide was running strong ebb, the man, not being an expert swimmer, was in danger of drowning. David M. Buchanan, apprentice, instantly, without removing any of his clothing, jumped after him. Stripping himself, Hayden stood coolly watching the 2 in the water, and when he thought his services were required, made a dive from the rail and came up alongside them and rendered assistance until all 3 were picked up by a boat from the ship.
HAYS, GEORGE PRICE
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army 10th Field Artillery, 3d Division. Place and date: Near Greves Farm, France, 14-15 July 1918. Entered service at: Okarche, Oklahoma. Born: 27 September 1892, China. G.O. No.: 34, W.D., 1919. Citation: At the very outset of the unprecedented artillery bombardment by the enemy, his line of communication was destroyed beyond repair. Despite the hazard attached to the mission of runner, he immediately set out to establish contact with the neighboring post of command and further establish liaison with 2 French batteries, visiting their position so frequently that he was mainly responsible for the accurate fire therefrom. While thus engaged, 7 horses were shot under him and he was severely wounded. His activity under most severe fire was an important factor in checking the advance of the enemy.
Another Nise
*OTANI, KAZUO
Staff Sergeant Kazuo Otani distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action on 15 July 1944, near Pieve Di S. Luce, Italy. Advancing to attack a hill objective, Staff Sergeant Otani’s platoon became pinned down in a wheat field by concentrated fire from enemy machine gun and sniper positions. Realizing the danger confronting his platoon, Staff Sergeant Otani left his cover and shot and killed a sniper who was firing with deadly effect upon the platoon. Followed by a steady stream of machine gun bullets, Staff Sergeant Otani then dashed across the open wheat field toward the foot of a cliff, and directed his men to crawl to the cover of the cliff. When the movement of the platoon drew heavy enemy fire, he dashed along the cliff toward the left flank, exposing himself to enemy fire. By attracting the attention of the enemy, he enabled the men closest to the cliff to reach cover. Organizing these men to guard against possible enemy counterattack, Staff Sergeant Otani again made his way across the open field, shouting instructions to the stranded men while continuing to draw enemy fire. Reaching the rear of the platoon position, he took partial cover in a shallow ditch and directed covering fire for the men who had begun to move forward. At this point, one of his men became seriously wounded. Ordering his men to remain under cover, Staff Sergeant Otani crawled to the wounded soldier who was lying on open ground in full view of the enemy. Dragging the wounded soldier to a shallow ditch, Staff Sergeant Otani proceeded to render first aid treatment, but was mortally wounded by machine gun fire. Staff Sergeant Otani’s extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the United States Army.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for July 15, FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD “PHIL” MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
15 July
1920: KEY EVENT. Capt St. Clair Street led a flight of four DH-4s from Mitchel Field, New York, to Nome, Alaska, and back to Mitchel Field, covering 8,690 miles in 110 flying hours. (U.S. Air Service, “To Nome and Back,” Clifford A. Tinker, Vol 3, No. 5) 1925: Dr. A. Hamilton Rice’s Expedition, with Lt Walter Hinton piloting the Curtiss Seagull plane, returned from the Amazon after discovering the headwaters of the Amazon River. Rice’s expedition was the first to use a plane for exploring. (24)
1933: Through 22 July, Wiley Post completed the first solo global flight in a Lockheed Vega, the “Winnie Mae.” He flew the 15,596 miles in 7 days 18 hours 49 minutes at an average speed of 134.5 MPH. (9) (20)
1950: KOREAN WAR. The 51 FS (Provisional) at Taegu flew the first F-51 Mustang combat missions in Korea. Fifth Air Force assigned the “Mosquito” call signs to airborne controllers in T-6 aircraft. This name later became the aircraft’s identifier. (28)
1952: KOREAN WAR. Fifth Air Force fighter-bombers flew approximately 175 sorties against the Sungho-ri cement plant and a nearby locomotive repair facility. (28)
1954: The first jet-powered transport built in the US, the Boeing 707, the prototype for the KC-135 Stratotanker and the commercial Stratoliner, underwent flight testing near Seattle. (16) (24)
1958: Operation BLUE BAT. After the Iraqi government fell, tensions increased in Lebanon. This strain led Lebanon’s President to seek US security assistance. TAC dispatched its Composite Air Strike Force BRAVO to the Middle East in 12 hours. By the 8 September end of the crisis, MATS aircraft had moved 5,500 passengers and 5,500 tons of cargo in 314 missions to support the strike force. (2) (24) 1961: The 341 SMW activated at Malmstrom AFB as SAC’s first silo-based Minuteman wing. (1) (6)
1965: The Air Force awarded the first Minuteman III R&D contract to Boeing. (6)
1968: Commercial air service between the US and USSR began when an Ilyushin-62 aircraft of the Soviet flag carrier Aeroflot left Moscow. The aircraft landed at Kennedy IAP on 16 July after a 13-hour, 17-minute flight via Montreal. Pan American World Airways, the US flag carrier, flew two Boeing 707s from New York on 16 July to Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport via Copenhagen.
1970: Deputy SECDEF David Packard approved the Subsonic Cruise Aircraft Decoy (SCAD) for development. (6)
1973: LAST SEA COMBAT MISSION/VIETNAM SUMMARY. All US bombing in Cambodia ended after eight years of conventional operations in SEA. An A-7D from 354 TFW flew the last combat mission in SEA. Altogether, the USAF flew 5.25 million sorties over South Vietnam, North Vietnam, northern and southern Laos, and Cambodia. The USAF lost 2,251 planes—1,737 to hostile action and 514 for operational reasons—at a cost of $3,129,948,000. During the Vietnam War, tactical or intratheater airlift carried 7 million tons of passengers and cargo between 1962-1973. The Air Force Reserve made valuable contributions to strategic airlift operation. By October 1972, reserve aircrews had made 1,294 trips to Vietnam, delivering 30,434 tons of cargo and 3,600 personnel. Between 1964 and mid-August 1973, air rescue operations in Southeast Asia saved 3,883 lives. And from 9 June 1964 through 15 August 1973, KC-135s flew 194,687 sorties to supply 8,964 million pounds of fuel during 813,878 refuelings. They also routinely airlifted people, equipment, and aircraft parts between the US, forward bases, and bases in the Far East and Southeast Asia. (16) (26)
1975: Apollo XVIII. Astronauts Thomas Stafford, Vance Brand, and Donald “Deke” Slayton launched from Cape Canaveral to meet up with the Soyuz 19 cosmonauts. Mr. Slayton, at 51, became the oldest man to fly in space. 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. (8: Jul 90)
1976: Mather AFB started interservice navigator training for Navy and Marine personnel. (16) (26)
1981: The first TR-1, a high-altitude tactical reconnaissance aircraft rolled out at Lockheed's plant in Palmdale. (12)
1982: SAC launched its 1,500th missile from Vandenberg AFB. (16) (26)
1985: Exercise READEX 85-2. Two B-52s from the 42 BMW simulated Harpoon launches as part of this US Atlantic Command exercise. The event marked the first Full Operational Test and Evaluation (FOT&E) of the Harpoon anti-ship missile. (16) (26)
1998: Raytheon Aircraft Company’s first T-6A Texan II aircraft, or the Joint Primary Aircraft Training System (JPATS), successfully completed its initial flight at Wichita, Kan. To meet Air Force and Navy primary aircraft training needs, the DoD decided to buy 740 T-6A aircraft, along with the accompanying JPATS Ground Based Training System. (AFNEWS Article 981039, 17 Jul 98)
2000: Whiteman AFB received the final B-2A from Northrop Grumman. It was the first test vehicle (AV-1 or Tail No. 82-1066), named Fatal Beauty. With its assignment to the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman AFB, the aircraft received a new name, Spirit of America. (21)
2002: The first production C-17 (P-86), fitted with the Block 13 software upgrade, arrived at McChord AFB. The Block 13 upgrade included a state-of-the-art Terrain Awareness Warning System (TAWS) and improved Station Keeping Equipment (SKE). The TAWS featured a terrain map to help aircrews detect and avoid terrain, while the upgraded SKE had a multi-functional display that enabled 18 aircraft to fly in formation within 10 nautical miles and up to 100 aircraft to fly in formation within 100 nautical miles. The new SKEs also allowed C-17 aircrews to perform formation airdrops in nearly all types of weather. (22)
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