Good Sunday Morning
I hope that your Weekend has started well. .
Regards,
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Today in Naval History
July 26
1812
USS Essex captures the British brig, HMS Leander, off Newfoundland. Engaging British vessels the following week, USS Essex burns the brig, HMS Hero, and captures the ship, Nancy, also off Newfoundland on August 2.
1852
John P. Kennedy takes office as the 21st Secretary of the Navy, serving until 7 March 1853.
1912
The first tests of an airborne wireless are conducted near Annapolis, Md. using the Wright (B 1) piloted by Lt. John Rodgers. On one flight, Ensign Charles H. Maddox, who is giving technical assistance to the aviators, sends messages to USS Stringham (TB 19) at a distance of about one and a half miles.
1946
Joy Bright Hancock is promoted to Captain and is appointed Director of the WAVES, or Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service. She guides WAVES in the later 1940s the early 1950s, a period that also witnesses the Navy's women achieve status as part of the Regular Navy. Capt. Hancock retires from active duty in June 1953 and dies on Aug. 20, 1986.
1948
President Harry S. Truman signs Executive Order 9981, desegregating the Armed Services.
1954
Two AD Skyraiders of Air Group 5 from USS Philippine Sea (CVA 47) are attacked by two Chinese (LA 7) aircraft while the Skyraiders are searching for survivors of Cathay Pacific airline, which was shot down three days prior off Hainan Island. Returning fire, the Skyraiders splash both attackers.
2003
USS Mustin (DDG 89) is commissioned at Naval Air Station North Island, Calif. The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer is the second to be named Mustin, but the first to be named for the distinguished family of that name: Capt. Henry D. Mustin (1874-1923; Vice Adm. Lloyd M. Mustin (1911-1999), Vietnam War veteran Vice Adm. Henry C. Mustin II and Lt. Cmdr. Thomas M. Mustin. The first USS Mustin, DD-413 of World War II era, was named for the family patriarch: Capt. Henry D. Mustin (1874-1923), who piloted the first aircraft ever catapulted from a ship, and flew the first combat missions of American aircraft from Mississippi during the Mexican campaign in 1914.
No CHINFO on the weekends
Today in History July 26
657 | Mu'awiya defeats Caliph Ali in the Battle of Siffin in Mesopotamia. | |
1526 | Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon and colonists leave Santo Domingo for Florida. | |
1529 | Francisco Pizarro receives a royal warrant to "discover and conquer" Peru. | |
1758 | British forces capture France's Fortress of Louisbourg after a seven-week siege. | |
1759 | The French relinquish Fort Ticonderoga in New York to the British under General Jeffrey Amherst. | |
1775 | The Continental Congress establishes a postal system for the colonies with Benjamin Franklin as the first postmaster general. | |
1790 | An attempt at a counter-revolution in France is put down by the National Guard at Lyons. | |
1794 | The French defeat an Austrian army at the Battle of Fleurus, France. | |
1830 | King Charles X of France issues five ordinances limiting the political and civil rights of citizens. | |
1847 | Liberia becomes the first African colony to become an independent state. | |
1848 | The French army suppresses the Paris uprising. | |
1886 | William Gladstone is replaced by Lord Salisbury as Prime Minister of England. | |
1918 | Britain's top war ace, Edward Mannock, is shot down by ground fire on the Western Front. | |
1920 | The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified. | |
1948 | In an Executive Order, President Harry Truman calls for the end of discrimination and segregation in the U.S. armed forces. | |
2005 | The shuttle Discovery launches on mission STS-114, marking a return to space after the shuttle Columbia crash of 2003. |
Some other notables
26 July
1944 ME-262 Scores first operational victory
1945 Potsdam Declaration is issued to the Japanese instructing them to surrender unconditionally or face total destgruction
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Royce Williams deserves MOH
Thanks to Denny
I think you know the story about my old CAG, Royce Williams shooting down 4 Russian MiGs during the Korean War. Here is a Youtube on this subject. This has verification of the kills by the Russians. I sent this to Royce and he is now in contact with the author. Hope he gets his MOH!
Denny
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I missed 2
A repeat to see if you remembered what you missed last year
How well do you know the ships of the U.S. Navy?
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Thanks to Carl
I remember watching my dad getting his brand new blue uniform ready for his first day in it. Putting all the ribbons and insignia on and making the hat. I was not that keen on the blue. What is really neat about these pictures is that I saw and remembered all these aircraft while growing up at Air Force bases all over the country. One sound you will never forget is a B-36 taking off and then you can hear it droning up at 35,000 feet. One thing I will always remember is going with my dad to the airshow at the base and he would talk to me about each airplane. One day he stopped at a funny looking airplane with no propeller and told me very soon most of the airplanes would be built like that Skip
Thanks to Carl
The US Air Force at 70: From early jets to stealth aircraft
40 Photos with details in link! Enjoy!
In 1947, the flyboys broke away from the US Army to establish the Air Force as a separate branch. Here's a look back at the aircraft of those seven decades.
https://www.cnet.com/pictures/us-air-force-at-70-from-early-jets-to-stealth-aircraft/
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A tidbit from Paul
How The F-35 Triggered Topgun's Biggest Syllabus Revamp In Nearly Four Decades
Paul
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Thanks to Bill
This is what it looks like when a MK-48 torpedo breaks your keel
By David Larter, Breaking Defense, 17 July
Torpedos are every surface sailor's worst nightmare.
The damage inflicted on a surface combatant by a modern torpedo striking the hull is so severe that it presents an existential threat to even the U.S. Navy's famously tough ships.
That point was hammered home during last week's sinking exercise (or SINKEX) inflicted on the former landing ship tank Racine, conducted as part of the biennial Rim of the Pacific exercise.
In the video below, watch as the fast-attack submarine Olympia finishes Racine off with an MK-48 Advanced Capability torpedo. Rest in peace, USS Racine.
The Office of Naval Research is working with Aerojet Rocketdyne to try and extend the range of the MK-48 by increasing the efficiency of the engine propelling the weapon.
The idea behind extending the range of the torpedo is to keep valuable submarines away from potential targets and allow a third party (a P-8 Poseidon overhead, for example) to relay the targeting data.
"Through third-party targeting, you can use it as a standoff weapon," analyst Bryan Clark, with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said in a recent interview. "If you can extend that range to 50 or more miles, you can attack submarines without your sub having to hold that target organically with its sensors."
At those ranges, it's unlikely the submarine would give away its position by firing a torpedo, he said. Using this method, he added, the service can get the most out of the weapons packed on the attack boat.
"If you have 30 torpedoes onboard, you may only have one or two targets within range of your sensors and weapons," Clark said, arguing that with third-party targeting, one could conceivably use the submarine as a submerged arsenal.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for July 25, 2020 FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
26 July
1915: Through 29 July, Capt Benjamin D. Foulois and his 1st Aero Squadron with 8 JN-2 airplanes traveled from San Diego by train to Fort Sill, Okla. There they participated in observation and fire control experiments with the Field Artillery School. (24)
1937: Jacqueline Cochran, flying a Beechcraft, set the women's US record of 203.895 MPH for 1,000 kilometers (620 miles). (24)
1939: A B-17 Flying Fortress, carrying a 1,123-pound load, set a 204-MPH average speed record over a closed triangular course of 1,000 kilometers.
1943: A flight of 10 P-47s destined for various units in the United Kingdom, supported by two B-24s and one C-87, flew from Presque Isle, Me., to Prestwick, Scotland, with stops at Goose Bay, Labrador, Bluie West One, Greenland, and Reykjavik, Iceland. The formation lost one P-47 in a landing accident at Greenland, while a second P-47 developed a mechanical problem on the last leg to Prestwick and had to return to Iceland. When the eight P-47s landed at Prestwick on 11 August, the pilots achieved the first, last, and only flight of single-engine fighters (reciprocating engines) across the Atlantic in World War II. The P-47 with mechanical problems made the flight to Prestwick on 12 August. The P-47 pilots from the 2d Ferrying Group at Newcastle Army AB in Wilmington, Del., included Capt Barry Goldwater, who ran as the Republican nominee for President in 1964.
1949: The National Military Establishment announced production of the Sikorsky H-5H, the first amphibian helicopter.
1951: The US services created Project LINCOLN, an Armed Forces-supported and MIT-managed study of the air defense program. (24)
1958: Explorer IV, a US Army satellite, placed in orbit. (16) (24) Capt Iven C. Kincheloe, a Korean War ace who set a 126,200-foot altitude record in 1956, died in a F-104 crash at Edwards AFB. In September 1959, the Air Force renamed Kinross AFB, Mich., as Kincheloe AFB. (24)
1960: The Pershing I missile first launched from a mobile tactical launcher. (16) (24)
1963: The launch of Syncon 2 placed the first satellite in a geosynchronous orbit. The satellite's speed matched the earth's rotation, which allowed it to remain over the same geographic area. (21)
1970: In a Schleicher ASW-12 sailplane, Ben Green and Wallace A. Scott and set a new glider record of 717 miles for straight-line distance between Odessa, Tx., and Columbus, N. Mex.
1971: APOLLO XV. The Apollo XV Endeavor capsule carried David R. Scott, Alfred M. Worden, Jr., and James B. Irwin, on the fourth moon mission from Kennedy Space Center. The lunar module Falcon separated from the Endeavor and landed in the Moon's Hadley-Apennine region near Salyut Crater on 30 July. It left on 2 August and landed in the Pacific on 7 August. Apollo XV had two firsts: use of a lunar rover and first deep space walk. The mission also set three FAI records: greatest mass lifted from the earth to lunar orbit, 76,278 pounds; time outside a spacecraft on the moon, Scott with 18 hours 18 minutes; and distance traveled on the moon, 16,470 feet in the Lunar Rover. (9)
1972: North American Rockwell selected to develop a $2.6 billion space shuttle and space transportation system. (12)
2005: The Space Shuttle Discovery made the first "Return to Flight" flight into space (STS-114) after the 1 February 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. On 9 August, the Discovery returned from its successful trip to resupply the International Space Station. Prolonged bad weather in Florida caused Mission Commander Eileen Collins to land at Edwards AFB. The external tank debris problem that destroyed Columbia unexpectedly recurred during Discovery's launch. As a result, on July 27 NASA postponed future flights to make additional modifications to the flight hardware. On 4 July 2006, NASA resumed shuttle flights with STS-121. (3)
2006: A C-17 from the 62 AW at McChord AFB airdropped a 72,000 pound mockup of a 65-foot long rocket booster over Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards AFB. The airdrop was the third in a series of airdrop tests flown to verify the C-17's ability to safely release at launch altitude the AirLaunch Company's QuickReach rockets, which carried small satellites into low-earth orbit under the Falcon Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) program. This was the heaviest weight ever dropped by a C-17 and a new record for the heaviest single item ever dropped from an aircraft. (3)
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This Day in US Military History
26 July
1942 – About 400 miles southeast of Fiji, the American aircraft carriers Wasp, Enterprise and Saratoga rendezvous with the invasion force for Guadalcanal. It is the most powerful force the US Navy has yet assembled in the Pacific.
1942 – Actor Gene Autry is sworn into the Army Air Corps on the air, during his regular radio show, Gene Autry's Melody Ranch. He served as an officer until 1945, when he resumed his show. Autry was born in Tioga, Texas, in 1907, the son of a livestock and horse trader who was also a Baptist minister. The family later moved to Oklahoma. In high school, Autry worked as a railway telegrapher at the local railroad depot, where he spent slow moments strumming his $8 guitar and singing. Passing through the depot one day, a stranger-who turned out to be Will Rogers-suggested that Autry try singing on the radio. Inspired, Autry traveled to New York City to look for a singing job but had no luck. Back home, he began working for a local radio station and found success as "Oklahoma's Yodeling Cowboy." Eventually, Autry and railroad dispatcher Jim Long wrote several country songs, including the world's first gold record, "That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine." Autry became a regular on National Barn Dance, the forerunner of the Grand Ole Opry. In 1934, producer Nat Levine was looking for an actor who could sing and ride a horse. Autry wasn't an actor but had already established a loyal radio audience, so Levine put him in numerous B-grade westerns. Playing the lead role in a long-running series of Saturday matinee films, Autry became America's favorite singing cowboy. In 1940, his musical-variety radio show, Gene Autry's Melody Ranch, debuted; it ran until 1956. He became America's favorite TV cowboy in 1950 when he debuted The Gene Autry Show, which ran through 1956. In each episode, he and his sidekick, Pat Buttram, rode from town to town, maintaining law and order. From "Back in the Saddle Again" to yuletide mainstays such as "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "Frosty the Snowman," Autry's music became part of American life. He was also an entrepreneur, owning hotels, gas stations, and the California Angels baseball team, among other ventures. He also owned a television production company and was proud of discovering "Annie Oakley" star Gail Davis, whom he featured in dozens of his movies and television program episodes and who had performed in his traveling rodeo. Her appearances spun off into her own series, which Autry's company produced. Autry was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1969. Autry died in 1998.
1945 – The heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis delivers the consignment of Uranium-235, needed to assemble the first operational atomic bomb, to the American base on Tinian.
972 – Although South Vietnamese paratroopers hoist their flag over Quang Tri Citadel, they prove unable to hold the Citadel for long or to secure Quang Tri City. Fighting outside the city remained intense. Farther to the south, South Vietnamese troops under heavy shelling were forced to abandon Fire Base Bastogne, which protected the southwest approach to Hue. North Vietnamese troops had captured Quang Tri City on May 1 as part of their Nguyen Hue Offensive (later called the "Easter Offensive"), a massive invasion by North Vietnamese forces that had been launched on March 31. The attacking force included 14 infantry divisions and 26 separate regiments, with more than 120,000 troops and approximately 1,200 tanks and other armored vehicles. The main North Vietnamese objectives, in addition to Quang Tri in the north, were Kontum in the Central Highlands, and An Loc farther to the south. Initially, the South Vietnamese defenders were almost overwhelmed, particularly in the northernmost provinces, where they abandoned their positions in Quang Tri. At Kontum and An Loc, the South Vietnamese were more successful in defending against the attacks, but only after weeks of bitter fighting. Although the defenders suffered heavy casualties, they managed to hold their own with the aid of U.S. advisors and American airpower. Fighting continued all over South Vietnam into the summer months. The heavy fighting would continue in the area of Quang Tri and Hue until September, when the South Vietnamese forces finally succeeded in recapturing Quang Tri. With the communist invasion blunted, President Nixon declared that the South Vietnamese victory proved the viability of his "Vietnamization" program, which he had instituted in 1969 to increase the combat capability of the South Vietnamese armed forces so U.S. troops could be withdrawn.
2000 – The US Navy reported that an F-14 Tomcat jet crashed in Saudi Arabia during a training flight. Iraqi air defense later reported that Iraqi units had shot down a US Air Force F-14 over southern Iraq in mid July and claimed that the Navy report was a coverup. The U.S. Air Force does not fly F-14s.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
WILSON, LOUIS HUGH, JR.
Rank and organization: Captain, U.S. Marine Corps, Commanding Rifle Company, 2d Battalion, 9th Marines, 3d Marine Division. Place and date: Fonte Hill, Guam, 25-26 July 1944. Entered service at: Mississippi. Born: 11 February 1920, Brandon, Miss. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as commanding officer of a rifle company attached to the 2d Battalion, 9th Marines, 3d Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces at Fonte Hill, Guam, 25-26 July 1944. Ordered to take that portion of the hill within his zone of action, Capt. Wilson initiated his attack in mid-afternoon, pushed up the rugged, open terrain against terrific machinegun and rifle fire for 300 yards and successfully captured the objective. Promptly assuming command of other disorganized units and motorized equipment in addition to his own company and 1 reinforcing platoon, he organized his night defenses in the face of continuous hostile fire and, although wounded 3 times during this 5-hour period, completed his disposition of men and guns before retiring to the company command post for medical attention. Shortly thereafter, when the enemy launched the first of a series of savage counterattacks lasting all night, he voluntarily rejoined his besieged units and repeatedly exposed himself to the merciless hail of shrapnel and bullets, dashing 50 yards into the open on 1 occasion to rescue a wounded marine Iying helpless beyond the frontlines. Fighting fiercely in hand-to-hand encounters, he led his men in furiously waged battle for approximately 10 hours, tenaciously holding his line and repelling the fanatically renewed counterthrusts until he succeeded in crushing the last efforts of the hard-pressed Japanese early the following morning. Then organizing a 17-man patrol, he immediately advanced upon a strategic slope essential to the security of his position and, boldly defying intense mortar, machinegun, and rifle fire which struck down 13 of his men, drove relentlessly forward with the remnants of his patrol to seize the vital ground. By his indomitable leadership, daring combat tactics, and valor in the face of overwhelming odds, Capt. Wilson succeeded in capturing and holding the strategic high ground in his regimental sector, thereby contributing essentially to the success of his regimental mission and to the annihilation of 350 Japanese troops. His inspiring conduct throughout the critical periods of this decisive action sustains and enhances the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.
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Thanks to Burt ...
A note for my future AutoBio.
June 8, 1966. Joe Walker's F-104 hit the XB-70 wingtip then took off both vertical fins of the world's most expensive airplane.
One always remembers where you were when first learning about a big tragedy. I was in a Office/Trailer at the Navy Joint Parachute Facility, west of El Centro, getting ready for another flight test (a heavyweight LAPES air delivery) with our new C-130E cargo transport.
https://installations.militaryonesource.mil/in-depth-overview/naval-air-facility-el-centro
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-altitude_parachute-extraction_system
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After an early morning flight test sortie in XB-70 Air Vehicle #2 (AV/2), pilots Al White and Major Carl Cross rendezvoused with a flight of four fighter-type aircraft and a Lear Jet. The idea was to group the fighters in formation around the XB-70 while photographers aboard the Lear Jet documented the event. All five aircraft were powered by General Electric engines, and the photos were to be used in GE advertising.
After over forty minutes of formation photo work, disaster struck. One of the fighters, a Lockheed/NASA F-104 flown by NASA chief test pilot Joe Walker, moved too close to the XB-70 ultimately resulting in a collision. The F-104 (NASA serial number 013) was caught in the XB-70's wing tip vortices, and then flipped over onto the top of the massive bomber. Joe Walker was killed instantly as the XB-70's twin vertical tails were torn away. The F-104 exploded and fell to Earth in at least three pieces. The crew of the XB-70, initially unaware of the collision, continued in straight and level flight for 16 seconds, eventually to enter a unrecoverable flat spin. Al White ejected in the final few seconds, but tragically, Major Cross lost his life when the XB-70 impacted the ground. The pieces of Walker's F-104 came to rest nearly six kilometers to the north.
The Valkyrie, as it was named, was enormous for its time: its cockpit was three stories in the air, its delta wings stretched 105 feet and it was 185 feet long. Six General Electric YJ93 jet engines could propel the plane at speeds up to Mach 3, three times the speed of sound. Weighing a half-million pounds due to its stainless steel rather than aluminum construction, the Valkyrie was designed as an intercontinental bomber and it featured an advanced aerodynamic design, including canards and drooping wing tips. The program was cancelled before the aircraft went into production, however, leaving two prototypes that became research aircraft.
The Air Force planned to turn over the second XB-70 to the Flight Research Center that month for a NASA SST research program. But before it did so a photo shoot was planned. Like many other Air Force aircraft, the XB-70 was powered by General Electric jet engines, and the manufacturer wanted a group formation photo of those planes.
An F-4B Phantom, a YF-5A Freedom Fighter, a Lockheed F-104N Starfighter, and a T-38A Talon formed up on the huge, white XB-70 over California's high desert near Edwards. The photo chase aircraft that day was a Learjet owned by singer Frank Sinatra. Flight Research Center chief pilot Joe Walker, who had flown the X-15 rocket plane, the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle and many other unique research aircraft, was flying one of the center's F-104s just off the Valkyrie's right wing.
Walker's F-104 was suddenly drawn in toward the bomber. His aircraft clipped the right wing tip, rolled up and over, struck the XB-70's right vertical fin, sheered off most of the left vertical fin, and exploded into a ball of fire as it glanced off the left wing.
"Mid-air! Mid-air! Mid-air!" yelled one of the chase pilots over his radio.
For 16 seconds the XB-70 continued to fly straight and level. Then the experimental bomber began a slow roll into an inverted spiral; portions of a wing broke away and fuel began streaming from the stricken aircraft.
"Eject! Eject! Eject!" yelled another chase pilot, as the airplane began falling away toward the hills north of Barstow, Calif. North American Aviation pilot Al White managed to eject, although he was severely injured in the process. Air Force Maj. Carl Cross could not get out, however, and died in the crash.
The crash investigation pointed to the wake vortex of the XB-70's wingtips as the reason for the F-104's sudden roll over and into the bomber. Not much was understood about wake vortices at the time, although they are now recognized as very powerful and potentially deadly mini-tornados trailing from an aircraft's wingtips.
Although not as capable in performance as the aircraft that crashed, the remaining XB-70 was pressed into service. It flew for another two years conducting sonic boom research in connection with the SST program until it was retired when that program was cancelled.
In early 1969, NASA research pilot Fitzhugh Fulton and Air Force Lt. Col. Emil "Ted" Sturmthal ferried the surviving XB-70 to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, where it remains on display today at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.
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