TheList 5329

The List 5329 TGB


To All

Good Sunday morning. May 17, 2020

Regards,

Skip



This day in Naval History May 17



1942 USS Tautog (SS 199) sinks Japanese submarine I-28; USS Triton (SS 201) sinks the Japanese submarine (I 64), and USS Skipjack (SS 184) sinks a Japanese army transport ship.

1943 Destroyers USS Moffett (DD 362) and USS Jouett (DD 396) sink German submarine U 128, which was credited with sinking 12 Allied merchant vessels, including 4 American ships.

1973 Capt. Robin Lindsay Catherine Quigley becomes the first woman to hold a major Navy command when she assumes command of U.S. Navy Service School, San Diego, Calif.

1987 USS Stark (FFG-31) is struck by two Iraqi Exocet Missiles in the Persian Gulf, killing 37 Sailors and wounding 21.

1990 USS Roark (FF-1053) rescues 42 refugees from an unseaworthy craft in the South China Sea.



Thanks to CHINFO

No CHINFO on the weekends



Today in History May 17



1540

Afghan chief Sher Khan defeats Mongul Emperor Humayun at Kanauj.


1630

Italian Jesuit Niccolo Zucchi sees the belts on Jupiter's surface.


1681

Louis XIV sends an expedition to aid James II in Ireland. As a result, England declares war on France.


1756

Britain declares war on France.


1792

Merchants form the New York Stock Exchange at 70 Wall Street.


1814

Denmark cedes Norway to Sweden.


1863

Union General Ulysses Grant continues his push towards Vicksburg at the Battle of the Big Black River Bridge.


1875

The first Kentucky Derby is run in Louisville.


1881

Frederick Douglass is appointed recorder of deeds for Washington, D.C.


1940

Germany occupies Brussels, Belgium and begins the invasion of France.


1954

The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rules for school integration in Brown v. Board of Education.


1973

The Senate Watergate Committee begins its hearings.


1987

In the Persian Gulf the American guided missile frigate USS Stark is struck by 2 Exocet missiles fired by an Iraqi aircraft; only one detonates, but 37 sailors are killed and 21 are wounded. Whether the launch was deliberate or a mistake is still debated.




1943 The Memphis Belle flies its 25th bombing mission »



1940 Lancasters return to England after conducting the "Dambusters" Raid on the Ruhr Valley



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Thanks to Mud



This is a particularly good war time documentary of the Memphis Belle. Go here then scroll down to that video. The 8th Air Force took unbelievable casualties during WWII.



The fact is that there were more 8th Air Force casualties than all the Marines lost in the Pacific



https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a27442948/cold-blue-b17-documentary/



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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS For May 17

FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS FOR MAY 16

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

1913: Domingo Rosillo flew from Key West to Havana in a Morane land monoplane to win a $10,000 prize, flying 90 miles in 2 hours 30 minutes. (24)

1919: The Director of the Air Service ordered the use of the national star insignia on all service planes. (4)

1933: The Army's nonrigid helium coastal patrol airship, the TC-13 (the largest nonrigid airship built for the Air Corps), arrived at Langley Field.

1934: In a Sikorsky S-42, Boris Sergievsky and Raymond B. Quick set a US seaplane altitude record by carrying a 5,000-kilogram (11,000-pound) payload to 20,407 feet at Bridgeport. (24)

1942: Igor I. Sikorsky and Les Morris flew the Sikorsky XR-4 to Wright Field to deliver the Army's first helicopter. (21)

1944: USS Saratoga joined a British Eastern Fleet carrier air strike against the Japanese base at Soerabaja, Java. (24)

1951: KOREAN WAR. Through 22 May, FEAF Bomber Command B-29s flew 94 (mostly nighttime) sorties against enemy ground forces, far more close air support missions in a similar previous period in the war. The B-29s flew few other types of missions during this time. (28)

1961: Cmdr Patrick L. Sullivan and Lt Beverly W. Witherspoon (USN) flew an HSS-2 helicopter to a 192.9 MPH world speed record over a 3-kilometer (1.86 miles) course at Bradley Field, Windsor Locks, Conn. (24)

1964: Operation WATER PUMP. The Royal Lao Air Force (RLAF) began operations against the Pathet Lao. Earlier in March, Detachment 6, 1st Air Commando Wing, moved four T-28s to Udorn RTAFB, Thailand, to train the RLAF in operations and maintenance. The T-28s were painted on 18 May with Laotian markings and turned over to the RLAF. Additional aircraft were obtained from the Vietnamese in late May. (17)

1990: Col Frank Birk and Leroy Schroeder flew Northrop's B-2A on a six-hour, 36-minute test flight above Edwards AFB. The bomber completed several performance tests and three air refuelings in the test. (8: Jul 90) A MAC C-141 airlifted a Soviet SS-20 intermediate range nuclear missile to Andrews AFB for display at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. In exchange, a 438 MAW crew and aircraft from McGuire AFB transported a Pershing II missile to the Shermetyevo Airport near Moscow. (18)

1993: Through 29 May, 9 C-5 Galaxies and 15 C-141 Starlifter missions moved 254 UN troops and 326 tons of equipment to Cambodia to supervise that country's first free elections in 40 years. Three tankers from PACAF provided refuelings to the C-5s flying from Namibia to Cambodia. (16) (18)

1997: The McDonnell-Douglas X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft made its first flight from Edwards AFB, but an overheated engine forced the 28-percent scale concept demonstrator to land six minutes later. It was a remotely piloted jet vehicle designed by NASA to study the maneuverability of aircraft with no vertical tail surfaces. (3)

1998: An AFFTC pilot, Lt Col Steven M. Rainey, became the first USAF pilot to fly the F-22 Raptor. It was the aircraft's third flight and its first flight at Edwards AFB. (3)

1999: The ANG mobilized 18 A-10s and nearly 510 personnel from the 104th Fighter Wing (FW), 110th FW, and 124th FW. The forces formed the 104th Expeditionary Operations Group and left Barnes Municipal Airport, Massachusetts heading for Italy to participate in Operation Allied Force. The 104th Expeditionary Operations Group arrived on 19 May at Trapani AB in Sicily and began flying operations two days later. (32) 1



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Thanks to Dr. Rich

Thanks to Michael …

Why American life went on as normal during the killer pandemic of 1969

By Eric Spitznagel

May 16, 2020 | 10:23am | Updated

Thousands gather without a care at Woodstock in August 1969 despite a deadly flu pandemic, while today we cower in place amid COVID-19.Corbis via Getty Images

Patti Mulhearn Lydon, 68, doesn't have rose-colored memories of attending Woodstock in August 1969. The rock festival, which took place over four days in Bethel, NY, mostly reminds her of being covered in mud and daydreaming about a hot shower.

She was a 17-year-old high-school student from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, when she made the trek to Max Yasgur's farm with her boyfriend Rod. For three nights, she shared an outdoor bedroom with 300,000 other rock fans from around the country, most of whom were probably not washing their hands for the length of "Happy Birthday" — or at all.

"There was no food or water, but one of our guys cut an apple into twenty-seven slices and we all shared it," she said. At some point, a garden hose from one of the farm's neighbors was passed around and strangers used it as a communal source for bathing and drinking, she said.

And all of this happened during a global pandemic in which over one million people died.

Though Woodstock was not held during the peak months of the H3N2 pandemic (the first wave ended by early March 1969, and it didn't flare up again until November of that year), the filthy festival went ahead when the virus was still active and had no known cure.



H3N2 (or the "Hong Kong flu," as it was more popularly known) was an influenza strain that the New York Times described as "one of the worst in the nation's history." The first case of H3N2, which evolved from the H2N2 influenza strain that caused the 1957 pandemic, was reported in mid-July 1968 in Hong Kong. By September, it had infected Marines returning to the States from the Vietnam War. By mid-December, the Hong Kong flu had arrived in all fifty states.

But schools were not shut down nationwide, other than a few dozen because of too many sick teachers. Face masks weren't required or even common. Though Woodstock was not held during the peak months of the H3N2 pandemic (the first wave ended by early March 1969, and it didn't flare up again until November of that year), the festival went ahead when the virus was still active and had no known cure.

"I wish they had social distancing at Woodstock," jokes Lydon, who now lives in Delray Beach, Florida, and works as a purchasing manager for MDVIP, a network of primary care doctors. "You had to climb over people to get anywhere."

"Life continued as normal," said Jeffrey Tucker, the editorial director for the American Institute for Economic Research. "But as with now, no one knew for certain how deadly [the pandemic] would turn out to be. Regardless, people went on with their lives."

Which, he said, isn't all that surprising. "That generation approached viruses with calm, rationality and intelligence," he said. "We left disease mitigation to medical professionals, individuals and families, rather than politics, politicians and government."

While it's way too soon to compare the numbers, H3N2 has so far proved deadlier than COVID-19. Between 1968 and 1970, the Hong Kong flu killed between an estimated one and four million, according to the CDC and Encyclopaedia Britannica, with US deaths exceeding 100,000. As of this writing, COVID-19 has killed more than 295,000 globally and around 83,000 in the United States, according to Johns Hopkins University. But by all projections, the coronavirus will surpass H3N2's body count even with a global shutdown.

Aside from the different reactions to H3N2 and COVID-19, the similarities between them are striking. Both viruses spread quickly and cause upper respiratory symptoms including fever, cough and shortness of breath. They infect mostly adults over 65 or those with underlying medical conditions, but could strike people of any age.

Both pandemics didn't spare the rich and famous — Hitchcock actress Tallulah Bankhead and former CIA director Allen Dulles succumbed to H3N2, while COVID-19 has taken the lives of singer-songwriter John Prine and playwright Terrence McNally, among others. President Lyndon Johnson and Vice President Humphrey both fell ill from H3N2 and recovered, as did UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson from COVID-19 last month.

Both viruses infected animals — a 4-year-old Malayan tiger at the Bronx Zoo tested positive for the coronavirus in early April, and in January 1969, the original Shamu at San Diego's SeaWorld, along with two other killer whales named Ramu and Kilroy, contracted the Hong Kong flu.

Both pandemics brought drama to outer space: During an Apollo 8 mission in December 1968, commander Frank Borman came down with the Hong Kong flu while in orbit. And in early April, three NASA astronauts returned to Earth after seven months aboard the International Space Station, with astronaut Jessica Meir remarking that it felt like coming home "to a different planet."

During both pandemics, horror stories abounded — from the bodies stored in refrigerated trucks in New York last month to corpses stored in subway tunnels in Germany during the H3N2 outbreak.

Those who had H3N2 and survived describe a health battle that sounds eerily familiar to COVID. "The coughing and difficulty breathing were the worst but it was the lethargy that kept me in bed," said Jim Poling Sr., the author of "Killer Flu: The World on the Brink of a Pandemic," who caught the virus while studying at Columbia University. "X-rays after recovery showed scarring at the bottom of my left lung."

Renee Ward, 53, remembers her entire family contracting the virus in Greenville, NC, during Christmas of 1968. "My father got sick first, quickly followed by me and my mother," she said. But their symptoms were mild, for the most part. "Christmas morning, I was trying to play with my new kitchen set from Santa, while my mother watched from the couch and cried because we couldn't travel to be with my grandparents."

Linda Murray Bullard, 60, from Chattanooga, Tenn., remembers visiting a "super" grocery store with her mom just before Thanksgiving in 1968. Days later, her mother was in bed with a fever, chills and dry cough.

"I turned 9 years old on December 5th, but because she was so ill we didn't celebrate," said Bullard. "I just wanted her to feel better." Days before Christmas Eve, her 33-year-old mother went to an ER and was diagnosed with the Hong Kong flu. She died shortly after.

The global fight to stop (or at least slow down) COVID-19 has brought heavy restrictions on all aspects of public life, including restaurants, bars, weddings, funerals, churches, movie theaters and gyms. Schools have reverted to remote learning and most business now happens via Zoom. The Grand Canyon is closed, as are all Disney parks and Las Vegas casinos. Professional sports are on indefinite hold, including Wimbledon, which canceled for the first time since World War II.

How does this compare to the Hong Kong flu? Nathaniel Moir, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, said there were few precautions taken during the H3N2 pandemic other than washing hands and staying home when sick.

"It was like the pandemic hadn't even happened if you look for it in history books," he said. "I am still shocked at how differently people addressed — or maybe even ignored it — in 1968 compared to 2020."

The virus rarely made front-page news. A 1968 story in the Associated Press warned that deaths caused by the Hong Kong flu "more than doubled across the nation in the third week of December." But the story was buried on page 24. The New York Post didn't publish any stories about the pandemic in 1968, and in 1969, coverage was mostly minor, like reports of newly married couples delaying honeymoons because of the virus and the Yonkers police force calling in sick with the Hong Kong flu during wage negotiations.

A vaccine was soon developed — in August 1969, not long after Woodstock — but the news of a cure didn't get much media attention either.



It may seem like the world responded to the 1968 pandemic with a shrug of indifference, but the different approaches may be down to a generational divide, said Poling. In 1968, "we were confident with all the advances in medicine. Measles, mumps, chickenpox, scarlet fever and polio all had been brought under control," he said.

Tucker remembers being taught as a child of the '60s that "getting viruses ultimately strengthened one's immune system. One of my most vivid memories is of a chickenpox party. The idea was that you should get it and get it over with when you are young."

Even with those relaxed ideas about viruses, the Hong Kong flu caught the world by surprise. It was different from previous pandemics because of how fast it spread, thanks largely to increased international air travel.

Much of our current thinking about infectious diseases in the modern era changed because of the SARS outbreak of 2003, which "scared the hell out of many people," said Poling. "It's the first time I recall people wearing masks and trying to distance themselves from others, particularly in situations where someone might cough or sneeze."

The idea that a pandemic could be controlled with social distancing and public lockdowns is a relatively new one, said Tucker. It was first suggested in a 2006 study by New Mexico scientist Robert J. Glass, who got the idea from his 14-year-old daughter's science project.

H3N2 even reached as far as outer space, with Apollo 8's Frank Borman becoming ill in December 1968.



"Two government doctors, not even epidemiologists" — Richard Hatchett and Carter Mecher, who worked for the Bush administration — "hatched the idea [of using government-enforced social distancing] and hoped to try it out on the next virus." We are in effect, Tucker said, part of a grand social experiment.

But the differences between how the world responded to two pandemics, separated by 50 years, is more complicated than any single explanation.

"If I were 48 in 1968, I would have most likely served in World War II," said Moir. "I would have had a little brother who served in Korea, and possibly might have a son or daughter fighting in Vietnam." Death, he said, was a bigger and in some ways more accepted part of American life.

The Hong Kong flu also arrived in a particularly volatile moment in history. There was the race to land a man on the moon and political assassinations and sexual liberation and the civil-rights movement. Without 24/7 news coverage and social media vying for our attention, a new strain of flu could hardly compete for the public's attention.

But, even if people in 1968 had been told to stay home, it's unlikely they would've protested, Moir said. Dining out, for instance, was a rare indulgence for most American families then. Today, "we spend as much eating out as we do preparing food at home," Moir said. A 2013 study by market research firm NPD Group found that between the mid-1960s to the late 2000s, middle-income households went from eating at home 92 percent of the time to 69 percent of the time.

In 2020, we feel that being denied music festivals and restaurants is an egregious attack on our liberty. "A big part of our freakout over COVID-19 is a reaction to everything in this country that we've taken for granted," Moir said. "When it's taken away, we lose our minds."

It's a point echoed by Lydon. Her best memories of that wild weekend aren't the sweaty crowds or the music — Jimi Hendrix's electric guitar scared the "begeebers" out of her, she said — but the quiet moments afterwards back at a parent's house in New Jersey.

"I ate the best grilled-cheese sandwich and drank the best lemonade," she said. And "I took the best shower I ever remember



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Thanks to Carl

Murder Hornets Are Traveling South From Canada

It measures 1.5 to 2 inches long with a wingspan of up to 3 inches.



https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2020/05/16/asian-giant-hornet-in-washington-state.aspx?cid_source=dnl&cid_medium=email&cid_content=art2HL&cid=20200516Z1&et_cid=DM534072&et_rid=873257408

Murder Hornets Are Traveling South From Canada

by Dr. Joseph Mercola May 16, 2020

'Murder Hornets' spotted in US - https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=VhzdOEP62Lw&feature=emb_logo

Don't Try This at Home

STUNG by a GIANT HORNET - https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=i7VMcMJBjD4&feature=emb_logo

Seriously, do not try this. Nathaniel "Coyote" Peterson is the host of Brave the Wild on Animal Planet. In November 2018 he searched for days in the forests of Japan to find a Giant Hornet to do what he does — get bitten or stung.

The hornet he found, as shown in this video, was more than 2 inches long and not at all happy about being caught. While they don't normally attack humans,9 when cornered the hornets do defend themselves. Peterson discovered:10

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Thanks to Dutch

From the net, courtesy of JC …a very good read…



https://thewarhorse.org/my-skid-brothers/



REFLECTIONS

My Skid Brothers

MAY 13, 2020

ANNE BOADEN

The Cobra gunship spanked into the rocks and rolled onto its right side less than two seconds after takeoff. Plexiglass shattered everywhere as the metal frame contorted. The impact severed the organs of the helicopter, spilling fuel and sparking flames. Hellfire missiles, high-explosive rockets, and 20 mm cannon rounds threatened to cook off from the two wing stubs and the ammo bay. Both 33-inch-wide rotors jerked forward and back, splintering on the rocks as the tips swept around. One blade sheared off the top of the gunner's seat in the front cockpit as it dipped with the convulsing bird. Shrapnel peppered the air. Blood soaked the controls, the seats, the pilots.

Grimace was now likely dead. Snooki, too.

* * *

The cargo plane crushes onto the dusty strip outside of Forward Operating Base Dwyer 48 hours later. The silent flight was short—a stone's throw away from Camp Leatherneck for the hulking C-130. When the engines whine down, I twist the five-point harness of the webbed passenger seat and stand. The blood-red seats line the inside of the aircraft like the meaty ribs of a whale. My Beretta slaps my side in its leather shoulder holster as I follow the Marine in front of me. I exit from darkness into light.



The author beside her AH-1W Cobra standing strip alert at Forward Operating Base Dwyer, Helmand Province, Afghanistan in 2011. Photo courtesy of Anne Boaden

The temperature climbs toward 90 degrees, hot for this early October morning, even for southern Afghanistan. The armpits of my flight suit grow dark with sweat. I'm surrounded by the top brass of 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward). Wings flash in the sunlight on nearly every uniform.

Rumors spread that the pilot at the controls fucked up. His takeoff wasn't perfect. He was rushed in the heat of preparing to support a ground unit requesting immediate offensive air support. He failed to notice the mesh matting of his landing pad was coming loose, matting that covered river rocks and desert rubble. The Mobi-Mat was a combat addition to prevent the Afghan moon dust from engulfing the bird on takeoff or landing, causing dangerous brownout. Helicopter pilots considered it a godsend.

The mishap copilot was Ryan Iannelli, a young first lieutenant I'd never heard of, christened "Snooki" by his peers. He had joined his squadron a few weeks before, the new boot pilot of the deployed Cobra detachment based in Forward Operating Base Dwyer.

The pilot in command was Lieutenant Colonel Allen "Grimace" Grinalds, the commanding officer of that Cobra detachment. He had been my first executive officer in a sister squadron in North Carolina a few years prior. He was stern, soft-spoken, fatherly, and destined for general. He gave out advice like, "Nothing good happens after midnight," and, "If you wouldn't say it in front of your mother, don't say it in the squadron." He emanated fairness, stoicism, and calmness. He was one of my favorite leaders in the Corps.

On takeoff, the skinny Cobra slid forward slightly; it should have launched straight into the air. The right skid caught on the mesh flapping in the rotor wash, pitching the nose down excessively. Helicopters don't behave like that.

"Wow! Wow!" Snooki screamed.

"I have the controls!" Grimace screamed back.

No inputs could save the bird.

Grimace did not die. He was sitting in the rear seat and suffered a bruised kidney and minor scrapes to his hand. Snooki took a jagged rotor blade to the side of his neck, below his helmet. Navy medical personnel sprinted to the scene as Grimace and nearby Marines pulled Snooki from the wreckage. An Army Blackhawk medevaced him to the hospital at Camp Bastion. He was pronounced dead 20 minutes later.

When I step past a concrete T-wall protecting the expeditionary runway, a waiting Marine tells me to load my pistol. The enemy threat is high down here. We're no longer at cushy Camp Leatherneck, where base order mandates walking around virtually unarmed. I feel an immediate sense of relief as I slam the magazine home. What use is a sidearm if it's not ready to fire? Everyone else is already locked and loaded.



AH-1W Cobra on strip alert at sunset at FOB Shukvani in 2013. Photo courtesy of Anne Boaden

We're ushered into a single-file line, my two-star general slowly leading the way to a metal pole barn that acts as the chapel. The silent procession enters a large room filled with empty chairs. An aisle runs up the middle. Dead center rests an M4 carbine assault rifle held upright between a pair of desert boots with a flight helmet cresting the top. A set of dog tags hangs from the pistol grip of the rifle. Snooki's name is stenciled on his gear.

Every naval aviator is connected by the gold wings we wear on our chest. They symbolize a shared journey of knowledge, challenge, and check flights. We're all volunteers. I didn't know Snooki personally, he was too new, but I know my presence is essential. I choose a seat near the back.

The piano player sets the mood with churchy hymnals on his electric keyboard. Fine dust settles everywhere as Marines wearing tan flight suits and desert camouflage filter in. I glance around the somber room. I know more than a few of the squadron pilots. Some I haven't seen since flight school, or SERE school, or officer training, but they nod to me as I make eye contact. They are all my skid brothers.

Marines are still cramming into the back of the room as the priest and wing chaplain start the memorial.

"Let us pray," they instruct.

I lower my head.

Snooki died doing the thing he loved best: flying attack helicopters. This memorial, I am reminded, is not to mourn his death, but to celebrate his life. I learn he was a man of great moral character, a devout Christian, and a loving brother and son. Snooki had been asked to deploy to Helmand Province with little notice to replace another pilot. He had happily accepted. The Marine Corps promoted him posthumously to captain.

Two of Snooki's friends walk to the wooden podium. Heavy circles raccoon their eyes. They trade their favorite Snooki stories—how he'd fill a room with laughter with his jokes and singing, goofing around just to make someone smile—and remember him for living life to the fullest. They choke on their words. When they can no longer continue, the pianist takes over.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.

Tears streak down the exhausted faces of the Marines in front.

I once was lost, but now am found,
T'was blind but now I see.

Grown men sob in their folding metal chairs.

My dry eyes burn.

Once the last note trickles from the piano, the entire room stands. The scuffle of boots and a few sad sniffles sound small in the solemn space. The dry air is still.

Marines quietly pay their respects at the front, kneeling before the shrine. A few make the sign of the cross before rising. I taste dust in my mouth. I hear an aircraft overhead, climbing into the hot sky beyond our metal shell. I watch my peers walk to the front with wet faces. I wait.

When my row starts moving, I pause, giving myself space from the captain ahead of me. The aisle stretches out, impossibly long. I march automatically. My booted heels strike the deck too loudly. When Snooki's embossed dog tags come into focus, I stop and kneel, hesitating at the bottom.

The shock of his death weighs on my conscience. A minor aviation mistake should not have cost Snooki his life. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Simultaneously, I feel relieved my old executive officer survived. I simply knew him better. I feel guilty for feeling relieved. One life is not worth more than another. The urge to cry hammers my throat and I blink hard.

I say nothing until I rise and turn left, coming level with the two Cobra pilots watching me. I don't know either of these men, men my age flying the same machine as me who've just spoken about their dead best friend, but it doesn't matter. It matters that I'm here. It matters that they're here. I hug each of them.

"Semper Fidelis."

This is my first combat memorial. It won't be my last.

Anne Boaden

Anne Boaden served on active duty with the U.S. Marine Corps from 2006-2015, deploying in support of Operation Enduring Freedom as an AH-1W Cobra pilot in 2011-2012 and 2013. She currently lives in England and is working on a memoir. She blogs about her life at captainleatherneck.com