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The List 5294 TGB


Good Monday Morning April 27

Regards,

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This day in Naval History April 27

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1805 With naval bombardment from USS Nautilus, USS Hornet, and USS Argus, Lt. Presley OBannon leads his Marines to attack Derne, Tripoli, and raises the first U.S. flag over foreign soil. The Battle of Derna was the Marines' first battle on foreign soil, and is notably recalled in the first verse of the Marines Hymn.





1813 A U.S. naval squadron under the command of Commodore Isaac Chauncey supports an attack on York (now Toronto), Canada, of nearly 1,800 troops under Gen. Zebulon Pike during the War of 1812.





1861 - President Lincoln extended blockade of Confederacy to VA and NC ports

1865 - Body of John Wilkes Booth brought to Washington Navy Yard.





1944USS Bluegill (SS 242) torpedoes the Japanese light cruiser Yubari west of Sonsorol Island, while USS Halibut (SS 232) sinks Japanese minelayer off Okinawa.



1952 During the Korean War, USS Samuel N. Moore (DD 747) conducts counter-battery fire against enemy shore batteries off Kosong, Korea. The enemy guns are silenced. Also on this date, USS Waxbill (AMS) is damaged by enemy shore battery off Wonsan, Korea.

1963 USS Daniel Webster (SSBN 626) is launched at Groton, Conn. Commissioned a year later, she serves until decommissioned in August 1990.



Thanks to CHINFO

Executive Summary:

• Two Sailors from USS Kidd have been evacuated as COVID-19 continues to spread on the destroyer, reports USNI News.

• The New York Times Magazine reported on the Marine Corps' adjustments to boot camp while mitigating the threat of COVID-19.

• The Associated Press reports that USNS Comfort began to offload its last remaining patients over the weekend as it prepares to leave New York City.





Today In History. What Happened This Day In History

April 27



1296

Edward I defeats the Scots at the Battle of Dunbar.


1509

Pope Julius II excommunicates the Italian state of Venice.


1565

The first Spanish settlement in Philippines is established in Cebu City.


1773

British Parliament passes the Tea Act.


1746

King George II wins the Battle of Culloden.


1813

American forces capture York (present-day Toronto), the seat of government in Ontario.


1861

President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus.


1861

West Virginia secedes from Virginia after Virginia secedes from the Union.


1863

The Army of the Potomac begins marching on Chancellorsville.


1865

The Sultana, a steam-powered riverboat, catches fire and burns after one of its boilers explodes. At least 1,238 of the 2,031 passengers--mostly former Union POWs--are killed.


1909

The Sultan of Turkey, Abdul Hamid II, is overthrown.


1937

German bombers of the Condor Legion devastate Guernica, Spain.


1941

The Greek army capitulates to the invading Germans.


1950

South Africa passes the Group Areas Act, formally segregating races.


1961

The United Kingdom grants Sierra Leone independence.


1975

Saigon is encircled by North Vietnamese troops.


1978

The Afghanistan revolution begins.


1989

Protesting students take over Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China.


1521…Magellan killed in the Philippines »

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April 26, 1962

At Lake Groom, Nevada, Louis W. "Lou" Schalk Jr. made the first of 13 flights in the A-12, which was the prototype for later versions of the Blackbird, including the SR-71. He reached a top speed of 2,287 mph and altitudes that exceeded 90,000 feet.



April 27, 1939

In Washington, D.C., the Army Air Corps places an order for the first production batch of Lockheed P-38 Lightnings.



April 28, 1919

American Leslie Irvin made the first jump from an airplane using a free-type (to be opened at will by a rip-chord) backpack parachute and landed at McCook Field in Dayton, Ohio. The parachute was designed by Floyd Smith.



April 29, 1918

Capt. Edward V. "Eddie" Rickenbacker, Daedalian Founder Member #169, assists downing a German Albatros scout craft over Toul, France and receives half credit for the kill. A former racecar driver, he originally reached France as Gen. John J. Pershing's chauffeur, but volunteered for combat.



April 30, 1917

In Europe, Capt. William "Billy" Mitchell, Daedalian Founder Member #12595, becomes the first officer of the Army Air Service to fly over enemy territory in a French aircraft.



May 1, 1934

Navy Lt. Frank Akers made a hooded landing in an OJ-2 observation biplane at College Park, Maryland, in the first demonstration of the blind landing system intended for carrier use and under development by the Washington Institute of Technology. In subsequent flights Akers took off under a hood from NAS Anacostia, D.C., and landed at College Park without assistance.



May 2, 1923

From May 2-3, 1923, Lieutenants John A. Macready and Oakley G. Kelly completed the first nonstop, transcontinental flight across the U.S. in a Fokker T-2. The mission originated at Roosevelt Field, New York, and lasted 26 hours and 50 minutes, traversing 2,500 miles. They were greeted at Rockwell Field in San Diego by an estimated 100,000 spectators upon arrival. Kelly was Daedalian Founder Member #34. Macready was Founder Member #469; learn more about him HERE.

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Thanks to Harry …and Dr. Rich.

Blue Angels - 2019 Season 'Highlights' ...

Starts off by violating social distancing .. while upside down no less …

Still don't know how he moved the camera around while flying inverted in formation ???

Big Screen … sound up … enjoy!!



https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ydp_1sXXqTI



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Thanks to the Bear


ROLLING THUNDER REMEMBERED…When Naval Aviation Roared… Tales of the Brave and Bold… #4…

COMMEMORATING THE 50th ANNIVERSARY OF THE VIETNAM WAR (1961-1973) and honoring the gallant Naval Aviators, Naval Flight Officers and air crews who carried the war to the heartland of North Vietnam in the years of Operation ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968)... GOOD MORNING. It is Monday, 27 April 2020, and I have another...



ROLLING THUNDER REMEMBERED…When Naval Aviation Roared… Tales of the Brave and Bold… #4…

April 26, 2020Bear Taylor0 Comments

COMMEMORATING THE 50th ANNIVERSARY OF THE VIETNAM WAR (1961-1973) and honoring the gallant Naval Aviators, Naval Flight Officers and air crews who carried the war to the heartland of North Vietnam in the years of Operation ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968)…

GOOD MORNING. It is Monday, 27 April 2020, and I have another Rolling Thunder Alpha Strike tale to tell. But first, a remembrance of this week fifty years ago (27 April- 3 May 1970). On the battlefield, the President ordered troops into Cambodia and at home he was on TV explaining what we were doing. His historic speech of 30 April 1970 (23-minutes) merits a look-back. The current issues President Trump faces in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria are mirrored, in the main, by the difficulties President Nixon found in searching for a way to end the Vietnam war with honor. Getting into foreign wars is easy. Getting out–exiting–is not… A lesson we failed to memorize after exiting Vietnam… Watch at:

https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/april-30-1970-address-nation-situation-southeast-asia

At the end of April 1970 the United States had lost 41,987 young warriors "killed in battle" in Southeast Asia (1961-1970). Nine fixed wing aircraft were lost with twelve fatalities. Killed in action included: CAPTAIN WENDELL LEE BROWN, USAF, and 1LT JOSE HECTOR ORTIZ, USAF: CAPTAIN JERRY NEWTON PHILLIPS, USAF, and CAPTAIN RODNEY HAROLD STONE, USAF; and LCOL LAURENCE YERGES CONAWAY, USAF, and 1LT CARL RUSSELL CHURCHILL. These brave aviators perished in air combat fifty years ago this week. Readers are encouraged to visit the VVMF, Wall of Faces and leave a timely remembrance at the individual memorial pages commemorating the 50th anniversary of their respective sacrifice for our country. Greater detail on the facts of their final flights are found at CHRIS HOBSON'S VIETNAM AIR LOSSES made available on line by DAVID LOVELADY at… https://VietnamAirLosses.com



WHEN NAVAL AVIATION ROARED… #4… USS ENTERPRISE (CVA(N)-65 and Attack Carrier Air Wing NINE strike Kep Airfield on 7 June 1967…

USS ENTERPRISE and CVW-9 were on the second of six deployments to Southeast Asia and combat ops in the Gulf of Tonkin from their home Naval Air Stations of Alameda, Lemoore, North Island, Sanford (Florida), Miramar and Whidbey Isand. The carrier departed Alameda on 9 November 1966 and returned on 6 July 1967 after spending 132 days at Yankee Station supporting Operation Rolling Thunder. The air wing lost 13 aircraft, eight in combat. Aviator losses: five POWs, two MIA (later declared KIA) and two KIA…

PREFACE to Tale #4… Snipped from Wayne Thompson's TO HANOI AND BACK: The United States Air Force and North Vietnam, 1966-1973. The entire 430-page book is available on line at…

.
Subject: To Hanoi and Back

https://media.defense.gov/2010/Oct/01/2001309673/-1/-1/0/ToHanoiAndBack.pdf

"Early (March 1965) in Rolling Thunder, (President L.B.) Johnson liked to have a weekly Tuesday luncheon meeting with McNamara and Secretary of State Dean Rusk. On these occasions and at other times when the three got together, McNamara often presented a list of proposed targets that had already been coordinated with the State Department. He gave the President estimates of possible civilian casualties and other risks associated with the prospective targets. Johnson would approve perhaps a dozen targets, usually fewer, and these would have to be hit within the week or Johnson's approval would have to be sought again… Not until September 1965 were any targets approved indefinitely. In 1966, weekly progams were replaced by five multiweek programs (Rolling Thunder 48, 49, 50, 51, and 52) each lasting from one to four months. By the end of 1966, the President had personally approved more than two hundered targets, but he had also disapproved many on the original list of ninety-four (identfied as most important by the JCS)." (p23-24) (Italics are mine)….

"In Rolling Thunder the Johnson administration devised an air campaign that did a lot of bombing in a way calculated not to threaten the enemy regime's survival. President Johnson repeatedly assured the communist rulers of North Vietnam that his forces would not hurt them, and he clearly meant it…. The North Vietnamese leaders were too formidable a group to not make the most of the advantages Johnson gave them." (p32)… "On 22 April 1967, (53 years ago this week) in the wake of the powerplant strikes, President Johnson approved a new target list. The Haiphong cement plant, the only target deferred the previous November, could be bombed. (And would be by KITTY HAWK on 25 April 1967, see last para below). Since it was the primary customer of one of the bombed power plants, the power plant was already in trouble. Navy aircraft promptly put it out of operation, and North Vietnam had to begin importing cement. The prohibition imposed by the President in December on striking within ten nautical miles of the center of Hanoi was lifted enough to permit attacks on three targets: an electrical switching station, a railyard, and a bridge…. President Johnson's target selections of April 22 not only sent the fighter-bombers back to Hanoi, but for the first time permitted them to strike MiGs on the ground. The key jet airfields at Phuc Yen and Gia Lam remained out of bounds, together with two others near Haiphong, but Johnson authorized limited attacks on Kep (Thirty-seven miles northeast of Hanoi) and Hoa Lac (nineteen miles west of Hanoi)."… (p62)…



THE MISSION. On 7 June 1967, USS ENTERPRISE and Carrier Air Wing NINE were tasked to strike the Kep airfield complex in coordination with a follow-on strike by USS CONSTELLATION and Carrier Air Wing FOURTEEN. The Kep airfield, a designated JCS target, was a major base supporting enemy air operations and was home for sixteen MiG-17 aircraft. The concrete runway was 9,750- feet long and the complex included taxiways, ten support buildings, a parking apron and numerous aircraft revetments. At the time of the strike nine MiG aircraft were parked at the airfield.

THE ENEMY DEFENSES. The Kep area of North Vietnam was one of the most heavily defended target complexes of the warring nation. In addition to the airfield, located 37 miles northeast of Hanoi, the northeast railroad system between Hanoi and China was supported from Kep. The route to and from the target was also heavily defended by MiGs from several airfields, SAMs, and AAA. The area in and around Kep included: ten 85mm sites (72 barrels); thirty-six 37mm/57mm sites (212 barrels); and, nine automatic weapon sites (50 barrels). Four Firecan radar sites were located in the area. There were 15 SA-2 surface-to-air missile sites covering the 72-mile route to and from the target and twelve additional sites within range of Kep. The threat of MiG-17/21 aircraft from Kep and nearby Phuc Yen and Gia Lam airfields, along with early warning and ground controlled radar, completed the integrated defense system protecting northeast North Vietnam. The Gauntlet was manned, ready and waiting for CVW-NINE's bravest…

PLANNING. Since the initial strike on Kep on 24 April 1967 (53 years ago this week), the North Vietnamese had steadily increased the antiaircraft defenses protecting Kep and all NVN airfields. In the most recent strike on 31 May 1967, the stike group had been forced to abort their attack by the extremely heavy antiaircraft fire over Kep and along Highway 1A to the northeast. On that strike, two strike aircraft were lost and an additional twelve aircraft were damaged by enemy fire. The strike leader, Commander Sheldon Omar SCHWARTZ, Commanding VF-96, determined that the best way to avoid the disastrous lessons of the 31 May strike was to revise air wing tactics. He determined that the strike called for speed and surprise, neither of which was possible if the bomber elements of the strike group included the A-4C Skyhawks of VA-113 and VA-56. His fresh approach called for limiting the attack element to twelve F-4B Phantoms from VF-96 and VF-92. The plan called for innovations in weaponeering that allowed higher than normal run-in speeds and the use of a low altitude approach with a close-in pop-up at the target vice the usual high altitude approach necessary to accommodate the Skyhawks. The attack group was composed of twelve F-4Bs with four VA-35 A-6A Intruders supporting as Iron Hand and flak suppressors. Each F-4B strike aircraft was armed with two Sparrow III and four Sidewinder air-to-air missiles in addition to a load of ten MK-82s or four CBU-24 bombs. Because of the ability of the F-4s to defend themselves from MiGs, additional support aircraft for TARCAP was unnecessary. Relying on the elements of speed and surprise during the attack, the strike leader chose to use all aircraft in the strike group in the attack on the Kep complex. No other support aircraft were required in the target area.

EXECUTION. Launch and rendezvous of the twenty aircraft strike group was uneventful with each of the twelve F-4Bs tanking 2000-pounds to allow the use of maximum airspeeds en route. Over the water leg to the coast-in point the strike leader used unexpected large cumulonimbus clouds for radar masking. After crossing the coast of North Vietnam north of Haiphong, Commander SCHWARTZ and his RIO, LCDR Dean NORDELL, led the strike group to minimum altitude to make use of the hills and ridges for radar terrain masking, allowing the strike group to approach the target area with maximum possible surprise. They were virtually unopposed to that point. Shortly after coasting-in the A6 Ironhand group, led by LCDR Robert MILES, accelerated ahead at 550-knots while the strike group maintained 450-knots. This put the A6 group over the target well ahead of the strike group and contributed substantially to the fact that no SA-2 surface-to-air missiles were fired at the ENTERPRISE strike group while the following strike group, CVW-14 from CONSTELLATION, encountered six SAMs while approaching Kep and attacking the airfield.

At a point 30 miles from Kep, Commander SCHWARTZ accelerated his twelve F4 attackers to 550-knots and at 5-miles short of the airfield executed a pop-up maneuver to lead the attack on the target from optimum altitude to execute planned 45-degree dives, each aircraft diving on their respective assigned targets in the complex. While the flight encountered no SAMs, the SAM warnings were continuous, and the flak over the target was intense, from the roll-in altitude of 12,000-feet down to dive recovery altitude of 3,000-feet. The twelve F-4s were receiving fire from all calibers. Despite the severity of the enemy AAA all aircraft pressed their respective attacks to put a total of 40 MK-82s and 16 CBU-24s into the targets in the Kep airfield complex. No aircraft were lost in the attack and only one sustained minor AAA damage. Exit from the target, a high speed withdrawal to feet wet, and return to ENTERPRISE was without incident. Mission accomplished.

EFFECT. Photography taken by an RA-5C reconnaissance aircraft just prior to the follow-on strike by the CONSTELLATION strike group provided the following damage results for the ENTERPRISE strike led by Commander SCHWARTZ: Two MiG-17s heavily damaged; One MiG-17 destroyed; the runway interdicted in three places; and, thorough coverage by CBU-24 bomblets throughout the northeast revetment area.

Humble Host Note: The air wing tactics employed by Commander SCWARTZ that made the main battery of CVW-NINE a combination of F-4s and A-6s, with the A-4Cs assigned other supporting roles was as a result of the painful ENTERPRISE experience on a 19 May 1967 aborted strike on the Van Dien vehicle repair facility a few miles south of Hanoi. It was called "the Navy's black Friday" by Chris Hobson. That's a tale for another day…



BITS OF RIBBON. The strike leader, Commander SCHWARTZ, was recommended for and recieved the SILVER STAR. In addition, a few DFCs were approved for LCDRs leading sections. A hand-full of Individual Air Medals and another fist-full of Green Weenies with Combat Vs were awarded to some of the 22 junior officers of the forty CVW-NINE warriors making the trip to Kep on 7 June. For most of the junior officers it was just another exciting 2-points toward the next Strike Flight Air Medal. It was inexplicably tough for a JO on ENTERPRISE to get recommended for a DFC. Among the warriors recognized for their intrepid participation in the Kep strike were: Commander T.S. REMSEN, CO VF-92; LCDR Tom BRUYERE; LCDR Charles GUERNSEY; LCDR Dean NORDELL; LCDR Dean FORSGREN; LTJG Donald MILLS; and, LTJG John WOHLFIEL..

NEXT POST. Monday, 4 May 2020. NAVAL AVIATION ROARS. USS KITTY HAWK and Carrier Air Wing ELEVEN obliterate the Haiphong Cement Plant on 25 April as directed by President Johnson on 22 April 1967.

Lest we forget… Bear

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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS

FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS FOR APRIL 26

THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY



1911: The Signal Corps accepted the first Army Curtiss plane, a Curtiss IV Model D, and the second

Army Wright plane, a Wright B, at San Antonio. Both aircraft were pusher-types. (21)



1913: Robert G. Fowler flew from Panama to Cristobal, ocean-to-ocean, nonstop, in 57 minutes with

cameraman Raymond A. Duhem. The flight represented the first seaplane flight across Panama,

the first seaplane flight in Panama, and the first passenger-carrying flight in Central America.

Duhem also shot the first pictures from the air of the Canal and Central America. Panamanian

authorities later arrested them when the story and pictures appeared in a newspaper. (20) (24)



1949: At Cleveland, Ohio, Harold E. Thompson flew the Sikorsky S-52-1 helicopter to a world speed

record of 129,616 MPH over three kilometers (see 6 May). (24)



1963: A Titan II, launched from an underground silo at Vandenberg AFB, made the first successful

flight of intercontinental range.



1972: Four USAF fighters used Paveway I laser-guided "smart" bombs to knock down the Thanh Hoa

Bridge. Prior to this attack, 871 conventional missions had caused only minor damage to the

bridge. (16) (21)



1977: When the 525 TFS arrived at Bitburg AB with its F-15 Eagles, the 36 TFW became the first unit

outside the US to be equipped with these aircraft. (4) (30)

Through 30 April, after the Ethiopian government announced the closure of some US facilities

in that country, 9 MAC C-141s flew 22 missions and a World Airways DC-8 flew 1 mission to

airlift 323 Americans and 692,000 pounds of cargo from Addis Ababa and Asmara to Athens,

Greece. (18)



1978: Two KC-135 crewmembers shared the distinction of being the first female navigators to .

form alert duty in SAC: Capt Elizabeth A. Koch from the 22 AREFW at March AFB and 1Lt

Ramona L.S. Roybal from the 916 AREFS at Travis AFB. (1)



1990: After a scheduled five-month layoff, Northrop's B-2A started flying again. This six-hour, fiveminute

test flight above Edwards AFB took the Stealth Bomber to 35,000 feet. It also completed

four mid-air refuelings with a KC-10. (8: Jul 90)



1991: A C-141 delivered 15 tons of blankets for Kurdish refugees in the first airlift mission into Iran

since 1979. (18)



1995: AFSPACE declared its GPS satellites fully operational. This system provided accurate geographical

coordinates. (16) (26)



1999: Operation ALLIED FORCE. To support NATO operations over Kosovo, President William

J. Clinton approved a Selected Reserve Call-Up of air refueling resources, including 47 tankers

and 2,116 personnel assigned to 4 AMC-gained AFRC units and five ANG units. (22)



2007: Following a 12-minute performance at Langley AFB, Va., Air Combat Command officials gave

F-22A Raptor demonstration the official seal of approval for future air shows. (AFNEWS,

"ACC Approves Raptor Demonstration," 27 Apr 2007.)

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Thanks to Mike

US Fleet Parked Planes









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Thanks to Dick.

From our friend, Tony.


Subject: Pancho's Guest Ranch Hotel and Happy Bottom Riding Club



Pancho's Guest Ranch Hotel and Happy Bottom Riding Club

Pretty interesting but really long so be prepared.

A bit of aviation history. Long, but worth every minute.





Pancho's Guest Ranch Hotel and Happy Bottom Riding Club


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