To All,
Good Saturday morning December 12
I hope that your weekend is off to a good start
Regards
Skip.
Binnacle List
Thanks to Dutch. Maybe you can help to overload Cowboy's email like you did for me last summer. skip
Cowboy,
Skip informs you are doing a little medical -ordered R&R -
WE pray all is well and that you are healing quickly and comfortably!
Very best regards,
tom@koelzer.us
Dutch
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This day in Naval History
Dec. 12
1862—During the Civil War, a Confederate torpedo (mine) sinks USS Cairo in Yazoo River. Her wreck is recovered in 1965, but is badly damaged during the salvage efforts.
1937—After Japan invades Nanking, China, USS Panay (PR 5) evacuates American citizens when it comes under attack from Japanese aircraft, killing three men and wounding 43 sailors and five civilians.
1941—The Naval Air Transport Service (NATS) is established.
1942—Five torpedo boats attack 11 Japanese destroyers off Cape Esperance, Guadalcanal. Motor torpedo boats PT 37 and PT 40 sink Japanese destroyer Terutsuki. In return, the Japanese destroyers Kawakaze and Suzukaze sink PT 44 off Savo Island.
1972—Capt. Eugene A. Cernan, commander of Apollo 17, walks on the Moon and raises the U.S. flag. Cmdr. Ronald E. Evans is the Command Module Pilot and Harrison H. Schmitt is the Lunar Module pilot. The mission lasts 12 days, 13 hours and 52 minutes.
2001—USS Russell (DDG 59) recovers four crewmembers from an Air Force B-1B Lancer bomber, which crashed at about 11:30 a.m. EST into the Indian Ocean 30 miles north of the British base of Diego Garcia.
Today in History December 12
1753 |
| George Washington, the adjutant of Virginia, delivers an ultimatum to the French forces at Fort Le Boeuf, south of Lake Erie, reiterating Britain's claim to the entire Ohio River valley. |
1770 |
| The British soldiers responsible for the "Boston Massacre" are acquitted on murder charges. |
1862 |
| The Union loses its first ship to a torpedo, USS Cairo, in the Yazoo River. |
1863 |
| Orders are given in Richmond, Virginia, that no more supplies from the Union should be received by Federal prisoners. |
1901 |
| Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi receives the first transatlantic radio transmission in St. John's Newfoundland. |
1927 |
| Communists forces seize Canton, China. |
1930 |
| The Spanish Civil War begins as rebels take a border town. |
1930 |
| The last Allied troops withdraw from the Saar region in Germany. |
1931 |
| Under pressure from the Communists in Canton, Chiang Kai-shek resigns as president of the Nanking Government but remains the head of the Nationalist government that holds nominal rule over most of China. |
1943 |
| The German Army launches Operation Winter Tempest, the relief of the Sixth Army trapped in Stalingrad. |
1943 |
| The exiled Czech government signs a treaty with the Soviet Union for postwar cooperation. |
1956 |
| The United Nations calls for immediate Soviet withdrawal from Hungary. |
1964 |
| Kenya becomes a republic. |
1964 |
| Three Buddhist leaders begin a hunger strike to protest the government in Saigon. |
1967 |
| The United States ends the airlift of 6,500 men in Vietnam. |
1979 |
| South Korean Army Major General Chun Doo-hwan, acting without authorization from President Choi Kyu-ha, orders the arrest of Army Chief of Staff General Jeong Seung-hwa, alleging that the chief of staff was involved in the assassination of ex-President Park Chung Hee. |
1985 |
| Arrow Air Flight 1285 crashes after takeoff at Gander, Newfoundland; among the 256 dead are 236 members of the US Army's 101st Airborne Division. |
1991 |
| The Russian Federation becomes independent from the USSR. |
1995 |
| Willie Brown beats incumbent mayor Frank Jordon to become the first African-American mayor of San Francisco. |
2000 |
| The US Supreme Court announces its decision in Bush v. Gore, effectively ending legal changes to the results of that year's Presidential election. |
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Thanks to Dutch….This one had me toe tapping and smiling
Jingle Bells PLUS!!
These 'surprise' performances are becoming more commonplace,
but I'd love to be around when one took place. I wouldn't have
minded missing my train for this happy, toe tapping,
presentation.....US Air Force style
https://www.youtube.com/embed/ khQN5ylb3H0?rel=0
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Thanks to Al
Monday Morning Humor--Army-Navy Football Game
The 121st Army-Navy football game will take place at West Point (for the first time since 1943) on 12 December at 1500.
On Dec. 12, the U.S. Naval Academy and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point will meet on the gridiron. A game that steeped in tradition is bound to have some interesting details associated with it. Here are a few you may not know:
Navy and Army have faced off a total of 120 times. To date, Navy has 61 wins, Army has 52. There have been seven ties. Navy won 14 Army-Navy games in a row from 2002 to 2015, the longest winning streak in the history of the series. The largest victory was in 1973: Navy 51 Army 0.
Midshipmen and cadets played the first Army-Navy football game Nov. 29, 1890 on "The Plain" at West Point. Navy had been playing organized football since 1879 and defeated the newly established Army team, 24-0. The 271 members of the Corps of Cadets each contributed 52 cents to pay half of the Navy's traveling costs for the 1890 game.
Although today we know the game as an annual tradition (and it has been such since 1930), there have been 10 times when the Army-Navy game was not played. It's said that the longest interruption, which lasted from 1894 to 1898, came about after an argument between an Army general and a Navy admiral almost resulted in a duel following the 1893 game. The game also wasn't played in 1909. That year, Army canceled its remaining games after Cadet Eugene Byrne died from an injury sustained in an October game against Harvard.
Twice during World War I, in 1917 and 1918, games were canceled on orders from the War Department. And in 1928 and 1929, the academies could not reconcile player eligibility standards.
On Nov. 27, 1926, the game was held in Chicago for the formal dedication of Soldier Field in honor of the American servicemen who had fought in World War I.
Going into both the 1944 and 1945 games, Army and Navy were ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively. Army won both games.
The 1901 game marked the first time a U.S. President attended the annual Army-Navy gridiron battle. Less than three months after taking office following the assassination of then-President William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt traveled to Philadelphia to watch the Cadets top the Midshipmen, 11-5.
A 1973 episode of "M*A*S*H" referenced a fictional Army-Navy game that ended 42-36 Navy. To this day, no Army-Navy game has ended with that score. The radio announcer in the episode says the game is the 53rd Army-Navy game. That game was played in 1952; Navy won, 7-0.
The Rose Bowl is the only site west of the Mississippi River to host the Army-Navy game -- it did so in 1983. Only six Army-Navy games have been held on the campus of either academy. Two of those games were during World War II, one in 1942 and the other in 1943. New York's Polo Grounds holds the record for the most games hosted outside of Philadelphia, although the last game played there was in the 1920s.
Following each game, players sing both teams' alma maters. The winning team joins the losing team and sings facing the losing team's students. Then the losing team joins the victors on their side of the field and sings the winner's alma mater to its students. This act is a show of mutual respect and solidarity.
And now some humor…
An Army football player was almost killed in a tragic horseback riding accident. He fell from the horse and was nearly trampled to death. Thank God the manager of the K-Mart came out and unplugged it.
A Cadet and a Mid were strolling down the street when the Mid said, "How sad, a dead bird."
The Cadet looked up and said, "Where, where?"
Navy is playing Army, which has a first down with three minutes left in the half. An Army fan sets off a firecracker, and Navy, thinking it's the end of the half, runs off the field. Three plays later, Army punts.
Q: Do you know why the Army football team should change its name to the "Opossums"?
A: Because they play dead at home and get killed on the road.
Q: Why doesn't Army have ice on the sidelines during games?
A: The guy with the recipe graduated.
Q. What do you get when you drive slowly by the Military Academy campus?
A. A degree.
Q: What do a Navy Midshipman and a West Point Cadet have in common?
A: They both got accepted to West Point.
The Army coach gave his Army football team a few days off. Several decided to go down to Panama City Beach for fun and relaxation.Coach saw the players the first day back at practice and asked about their vacation.
"Not good coach," said the players. "We never made it to the beach."
"Why not," the coach asked, "car trouble?"
"No," they replied, "every few miles down the interstate we saw signs that said, 'Exit, Clean Restrooms'. You have no idea how many restrooms we cleaned between West Point and Panama City."
Two Army football players were given a special SAT test to meet their admission requirements to the Military Academy. Soon after the test began the first guy turns to the second guy and asks, "Old MacDonald had a what?"
The other replies, "He had a farm."
The first asks, "How do you spell it?"
To which the second replied, "E-I-E-I-O."
The Annapolis grad walked into the bar, sat down and said, "Hey barkeep, you hear the joke about the four West Point players in a farmhouse?" Chairs scraped behind him, and four of the biggest, meanest guys in the bar stood up.
"We played for Army. You sure you wanna tell that joke?"
The Navy grad smirked in disbelief and said, "What, and have to explain it four times?"
Q: How many West Point plebes does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: None, it's a second-year course.
Q: Did you hear that Army just bought twenty new septic tanks?
A: Yeah, and Army coach says as soon as they learn to drive them, they're gonna invade Annapolis.
Q: How many Army Cadets does it take to change a tire?
A: Just one, but he gets four hours credit and it counts as a lab science!
Q: How come the Army football team doesn't have a website?
A: They can't string three "W's" together.
Go Navy, beat Army!!!
Al
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NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN Putting a very fine point on Balkanization - Dutch
Gary Steele, 1st Black Army Football Player, Invited to 2020 Army-Navy Game
Thanks to Micro
Go Navy!
For the big day TODAY....:
And this:
Beat Army!
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This Day in U S Military History
1901 – Italian physicist and radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi succeeds in sending the first radio transmission across the Atlantic Ocean, disproving detractors who told him that the curvature of the earth would limit transmission to 200 miles or less. The message–simply the Morse-code signal for the letter "s"–traveled more than 2,000 miles from Poldhu in Cornwall, England, to Newfoundland, Canada. Born in Bologna, Italy, in 1874 to an Italian father and an Irish mother, Marconi studied physics and became interested in the transmission of radio waves after learning of the experiments of the German physicist Heinrich Hertz. He began his own experiments in Bologna beginning in 1894 and soon succeeded in sending a radio signal over a distance of 1.5 miles. Receiving little encouragement for his experiments in Italy, he went to England in 1896. He formed a wireless telegraph company and soon was sending transmissions from distances farther than 10 miles. In 1899, he succeeded in sending a transmission across the English Channel. That year, he also equipped two U.S. ships to report to New York newspapers on the progress of the America's Cup yacht race. That successful endeavor aroused widespread interest in Marconi and his wireless company. Marconi's greatest achievement came on December 12, 1901, when he received a message sent from England at St. John's, Newfoundland. The transatlantic transmission won him worldwide fame. Ironically, detractors of the project were correct when they declared that radio waves would not follow the curvature of the earth, as Marconi believed. In fact, Marconi's transatlantic radio signal had been headed into space when it was reflected off the ionosphere and bounced back down toward Canada. Much remained to be learned about the laws of the radio wave and the role of the atmosphere in radio transmissions, and Marconi would continue to play a leading role in radio discoveries and innovations during the next three decades. In 1909, he was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in physics with the German radio innovator Ferdinand Braun. After successfully sending radio transmissions from points as far away as England and Australia, Marconi turned his energy to experimenting with shorter, more powerful radio waves. He died in 1937, and on the day of his funeral all British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) stations were silent for two minutes in tribute to his contributions to the development of radio.
1937 – During the battle for Nanking in the Sino-Japanese War, the U.S. gunboat Panay is attacked and sunk by Japanese warplanes in Chinese waters. The American vessel, neutral in the Chinese-Japanese conflict, was escorting U.S. evacuees and three Standard Oil barges away from Nanking, the war-torn Chinese capital on the Yangtze River. After the Panay was sunk, the Japanese fighters machine-gunned lifeboats and survivors huddling on the shore of the Yangtze. Two U.S. sailors and a civilian passenger were killed and 11 personnel seriously wounded, setting off a major crisis in U.S.-Japanese relations. Although the Panay's position had been reported to the Japanese as required, the neutral vessel was clearly marked, and the day was sunny and clear, the Japanese maintained that the attack was unintentional, and they agreed to pay $2 million in reparations. Two neutral British vessels were also attacked by the Japanese in the final days of the battle for Nanking.
1941 – U.S. Navy takes control of the largest and most luxurious ocean liner on the seas at that time, France's Normandie, while it is docked at New York City. Shortly thereafter, the conversion for U.S. wartime use began. The Normandie was unique in many ways. It was the first ship built, in 1931, in accordance with the guidelines laid down in the 1929 Convention for Safety of Life at Sea. It was also huge, measuring 1,029 feet long and 119 feet wide. It displaced 85,000 tons of water. It offered passengers seven accommodation classes (including the new "tourist" class, as opposed to the old "third" class, commonly known as "steerage") and 1,975 berths. It took a crew of more than 1,300 to work her. But despite its size, it was also fast: capable of 32.1 knots. The liner was launched in 1932 and made its first transatlantic crossing in 1935. In 1937, it was reconfigured with four-bladed propellers, which meant it could now cross the Atlantic in less than four days. When France surrendered to the Germans in June 1940, and the puppet Vichy regime was installed, the Normandie was in dock at New York City. Immediately placed in "protective custody" by the Navy, it was clear that the U.S. government was not about to let a ship of such size and speed fall into the hands of the Germans, which it certainly would upon returning to France. In November 1941, Time magazine ran an article stating that in the event of the United States' involvement in the war, the Navy would seize the liner altogether and turn it into an aircraft carrier. It also elaborated on how the design of the ship made such a conversion relatively simple. When the Navy did take control of the ship, shortly after Pearl Harbor, it began the conversion of the liner-but to a troop ship, renamed the USS Lafayette (after the French general who aided the American Colonies in their original quest for independence). The Lafayette never served its new purpose. On February 9, 1942, the ship caught fire and capsized. Sabotage was originally suspected, but the likely cause was sparks from a welder's torch. Although the ship was finally righted, the massive salvage operation cost $3,750,000–and the fire damage made any hope of employing the vessel impossible. It was scrapped–literally chopped up for scrap metal–in 1946.
1941 – USMC F4F "Wildcats" sink the first 4 major Japanese ships off Wake Island.
1944 – Bomber Command Lancaster bombers, escorted by Mustang fighters, attack Witten, the only city in the Ruhr industrial area that has not been bombed yet.
1950 – The 1st Marine Division closed into Hungnam having cut its way through six Chinese divisions, killing approximately 20,000 of the enemy, on the way to the sea from Chosin/Changjin Reservoir. Legend has it that the division commander, Major General O. P. Smith, supposedly characterized the operation with, "Retreat? Hell, we're just attacking in a different direction!"
1951 – First flight of helicopter with gas-turbine engine at Windsor Locks, CT, demonstrates
1953 – Chuck Yeager reached Mach 2.43 in Bell X-1A rocket plane.
1985 – 248 American soldiers and eight crew members were killed when an Arrow Air charter crashed after takeoff from Gander, Newfoundland.1997 – Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, the international terrorist known as "Carlos the Jackal," went on trial in Paris on charges of killing two French investigators and a Lebanese national. He was convicted and began serving a life prison sentence.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
*ELROD, HENRY TALMAGE
Rank and organization: Captain, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 27 September 1905, Rebecca, Ga. Entered service at: Ashburn, Ga. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while attached to Marine Fighting Squadron 211, during action against enemy Japanese land, surface and aerial units at Wake Island, 8 to 23 December 1941. Engaging vastly superior forces of enemy bombers and warships on 9 and 12 December, Capt. Elrod shot down 2 of a flight of 22 hostile planes and, executing repeated bombing and strafing runs at extremely low altitude and close range, succeeded in inflicting deadly damage upon a large Japanese vessel, thereby sinking the first major warship to be destroyed by small caliber bombs delivered from a fighter-type aircraft. When his plane was disabled by hostile fire and no other ships were operative, Capt. Elrod assumed command of 1 flank of the line set up in defiance of the enemy landing and, conducting a brilliant defense, enabled his men to hold their positions and repulse intense hostile fusillades to provide covering fire for unarmed ammunition carriers. Capturing an automatic weapon during 1 enemy rush in force, he gave his own firearm to 1 of his men and fought on vigorously against the Japanese. Responsible in a large measure for the strength of his sector's gallant resistance, on 23 December, Capt. Elrod led his men with bold aggressiveness until he fell, mortally wounded. His superb skill as a pilot, daring leadership and unswerving devotion to duty distinguished him among the defenders of Wake Island, and his valiant conduct reflects the highest credit upon himself and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for December 12, 2020 FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
12 December
1929: Cmdr Richard E. Byrd for his flights over the poles and Charles M. Manly (posthumously) for pioneer developments in airplane engines received Langley Medals. (24)
1935: Lt Hugh F. McCaffery (USA) and crew of five set an amphibian distance record of 1,033.2 miles from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Chapman Field, Miami, Fla. (24)
1941: Maj Gen Herbert A. Dargue, a pioneer aviator, died when his plane crashed into a Sierra Nevada mountain side near Bishop, Calif. (24)
1944: MEDAL OF HONOR: Maj Richard I. Bong, 49th Fighter Group, 9th Fighter Squadron, with 38 aerial victories, received the medal from General MacArthur in ceremonies at Tacloban in the Philippines. (17)
1953: In the rocket-powered Bell X-1A, which a B-29 bomber dropped over Edwards AFB, Calif., Maj Charles E. Yeager attained a speed of 1,650 MPH (Mach 2.44). (3) (9)
1957: In an F-101A Voodoo fighter-bomber, Maj Adrian E. Drew set a world speed record of 1,207.6 MPH at Edwards AFB, Calif. (20)
1958: The USAF ended the Goose missile program, which simulated a B-52 or B-47 on radar, in favor of the Snark missile. (6)
1968: Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard units called to active duty in January and May 1968 started to inactivate. (16)
1970: Congress did not fund the Subsonic Cruise Aircraft Decoy (SCAD) program for FY1971. (6) X-RAY SKY SURVEY. A Scout rocket carried the first US satellite launched by another country into orbit. The rocket took Explorer 42 into an equatorial orbit from Italy's San Marco launch platform in the Indian Ocean, near the Kenyan coast, to conduct this special survey. (7)
1975: The E-3A Airborne Warning and Control System arrived at Edwards AFB, Calif., for testing. (3)
1979: North Atlantic Treaty Organization ministers voted to deploy Ground Launched Cruise Missiles and Pershing II missiles in Europe during a meeting in Brussels, Belgium. (4)
1985: Through 20 January 1986, the Military Airlift Command supported recovery operations after an Arrow Air DC-8 crashed on takeoff from Gander International Airport, Newfoundland. The accident claimed the lives of 248 101st Airborne Division paratroopers and eight civilians. Nine C-141s returned the remains to the U.S, while an additional 17 airlift missions moved 770 passengers and nearly 125 tons of cargo. (18)
1988: The 33d Air Rescue and Recovery Squadron saved 11 passengers off of a life raft from the sunken ship, Selina, in the Pacific between the Philippines and Japan. The were flown to Clark AB, Philippines, for examination and treatment. (26)
1996: The USAF and the Boeing Aircraft Company successfully demonstrated that an AGM-86C Conventional Air Launched Cruise Missile, guided only by a Global Positioning System, could deliver precision strike accuracy. During the test flight, a B-52H launched the modified missile on a 4-hour 30-minute flight. The missile hit the target area with the accuracy required for a precision strike. The demonstra-tion featured a steep-terminal-dive to deliver a penetrator warhead on target--a first for a this cruise missile. (AFNEWS Article 961299)
1998: At Beale AFB, Calif., a 1st Reconnaissance Squadron pilot, Maj Alan Zwick, shattered a world record by flying his U-2 and payload to an altitude more than 12 ½ miles above the Earth. Zwick broke the previous record of Rudolf Fiam, a Czechoslovakian pilot, who flew a Yakovlev 40 on 24 February 1979 to an altitude of 28,513 feet with a payload of 4,400 pounds. Zwick surpassed that record 12 minutes into his flight, and he continued to climb to over 66,800 feet, or 38,287 feet higher than the Czechoslovakian record. (AFNEWS Article 981999, 24 Dec 98) A KC-135R, modified with Pacer CRAG, flew its first overseas mission from Grand Forks AFB. The 905 AREFS aircraft transferred 95,000 pounds of fuel to a B-52 in Alaskan airspace during the mission. (22) 2000: Following the fatal crash of a Marine Corps Osprey during a training sortie in North Carolina, the U. S. Marine Corps suspended all MV-22 flight testing. The USAF also halted all CV-22 developmental testing by the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB, Calif. (3)
2001: Operation ENDURING FREEDOM. A B-1B on a bombing mission to Afghanistan crashed in the Indian Ocean, 10 miles north of Diego Garcia. It was the USAF'S first aircraft loss in the operation and the first B-1 lost in combat. The crew survived. (21)
2005: From Charleston AFB, S.C., 17 C-17s from the 437th Airlift Wing and the 315th Airlift Wing-- the largest formation of C-17 Globemaster IIIs to take off from a single base--launched into the morning skies to demonstrate the USAF's strategic airdrop capability. The previous record was 15 C-17s from McChord AFB, Wash. The training formation left the base to locations around the southeast to perform required quarterly, semiannual and end-of-year training. (AFNEWS Article, "Charleston AFB Breaks C-17 Flying Record," 12 Dec 05)
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Thanks to Paul and Ed
Saturday 12 December at 1130 Pacific time, the Medal of Valor - will be awarded to a 97 year old fighter pilot for actions in Korean War. This is the highest award that the American Legion can award for bravery.
I am honored to know Royce Williams - hear his story - call him friend, and have been helping a band of distinguished Veterans who have asked for his Silver Star to be upgraded to the Medal Of Honor for his actions that resulted in shooting down 4 MIGS in one engagement. Because it was classified at the highest level at the time and to protect NSA sources - He kept his secret for over 50 years. Not even his wife knew. It has now been declassified.
I liken his story to the Soldier/Marine who throws himself on a grenade in a foxhole to save his comrades. Why? Because he accepted the Vector against 7 MIG15's that were more advanced than his Panther to protect the Oriskany into what became a 1 vs 7 engagement (almost sure death). While he is credited with shooting down 4, a 5th MIG did not return home - so potentially that was due to being damaged as well - the experienced Russian Pilots - and were not able to land back in "RUSSIA"!!!! Now you know why it was so classified.
Royce does not seek any accolades - humble to a fault - but we the Veterans in the American Legion have fully endorsed his Medal of Valor and have also endorsed the upgrade request to the Medal of Honor 70 years after his actions. If you want to attend - virtually - log on to Youtube streaming or Zoom Meeting 681-618-0590 PW938529. We will not be allowing 2 way talking on Zoom, but you can share in the event - see this hero - comment through Text.
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