To All
Good Sunday Morning January 3
I hope that your first weekend of 2021 is going well
Regards,
Skip
This Day In Naval History – January 3
1904 - Marines from USS Dixie arrive in Panama.
1909—USS Scorpion arrives to help the survivors of the Messina, Sicily earthquake. With the Great White Fleet making its way through the Suez Canal, President T. Roosevelt orders the U.S. Navy to assist.
1943—USS Humboldt (AVP 21) rescues 10 survivors from the Philippines motor-ship Dona Aurora, which was sunk by Italian submarine Enrico Tazzol on Dec. 25, 1942.
1944—Marine Maj. Gregory Boyington is shot down by Japanese and taken prison of war.
1945—Task Force 38, under Vice Adm. John S. McCain, begins operations against Japanese airfields and shipping in the Formosa area, with aircraft sinking six enemy ships.
1945—USS Kingfish (SS 234) attacks a Japanese convoy in the Bonin Islands sinking a Japanese army cargo ship and two freighters 200 miles north of Chichi Jima.
Today in History January 3
1521 | Martin Luther is excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church. | |
1777 | General George Washington defeats the British led by British General Lord Charles Cornwallis, at Princeton, New Jersey. | |
1861 | Delaware rejects a proposal that it join the South in seceding from the Union. | |
1903 | The Bulgarian government renounces the Treaty of Commerce tying it to the Austro-Hungarian empire. | |
1910 | The Social Democratic Congress in Germany demands universal suffrage. | |
1912 | Plans are announced for a new $150,000 Brooklyn stadium for the Trolley Dodgers baseball team. | |
1916 | Three armored Japanese cruisers are ordered to guard the Suez Canal. | |
1920 | The last of the U.S. troops depart France. | |
1921 | Italy halts the issuing of passports to those emigrating to the United States. | |
1924 | King Tutankhamen's sarcophagus is uncovered near Luxor, Egypt. | |
1930 | The second conference on Germany's war reparations begins at the Hague, in the Netherlands. | |
1931 | Hundreds of farmers storm a small town in depression-plagued Arkansas demanding food. | |
1933 | The Japanese take Shuangyashan, China, killing 500 Chinese. | |
1946 | President Harry S. Truman calls on Americans to spur Congress to act on the on-going labor crisis. | |
1958 | The British create the West Indies Federation with Lord Hailes as governor general. | |
1959 | Alaska is admitted into the Union as the 49th and largest state. | |
1959 | Fidel Castro takes command of the Cuban army. | |
1961 | The United States breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba. | |
1966 | Cambodia warns the United Nations of retaliation unless the United States and South Vietnam end intrusions. | |
1977 | Apple Computers incorporates. | |
1978 | North Vietnamese troops reportedly occupy 400 square miles in Cambodia. North Vietnamese Army (NVA) troops were using Laos and Cambodia as staging areas for attacks against allied forces. | |
1985 | President Ronald Reagan condemns a rash of arson attacks on abortion clinics. | |
1990 | Manuel Noriega, former leader of Panama, surrenders to US forces. | |
1993 | George H. W. Bush and Boris Yeltsin sign the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). | |
1994 | More than 7 million people receive South African citizenship that had previously been denied under Apartheid policies. | |
1996 | The first mobile flip phone, the Motorola StarTAC, goes on sale. | |
1999 | Mars Polar Lander launched. | |
2000 | The last original weekday Peanuts comic strip is published after a 50-year run, following the death of the strip's creator, Charles Schultz. |
1924 King Tut's sarcophagus uncovered »
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Thanks to George
Paul Dietzel was a B-29 pilot in WW II
https://ww2thebigone.com/2016/09/09/before-his-football-fame-world-war-ii-shaped-paul-dietzel/
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Thanks to Shadow
The more things change... the more they remain the same.
Dear Friends,
Was looking for something on my computer and came across this little thing I wrote years ago about how I felt about Mitt Romney (probably wrote something similar about McCain when he ran). And this coincided with a question someone asked of me yesterday on the golf course, as to why so many Republicans were not willing to go to the wall for Trump and instead are openly criticizing him (he particularly had Sen. Ben Sasse in mind)? My immediate response was simple… "Because they lie"… Politicians will lie as surely as the sun will come up tomorrow… that simple. They will claim they're conservative, talk the talk; but once elected will not walk the walk. And once ensconced, when their true colors come out, they're still hard to remove. HOW MANY TIMES DID THE NATIONAL PARTY… discourage any challenge to elected faux Republicans just to keep a seat in the House or Senate? I would venture to say that at least half the Republican's elected to national political office in this country today… ran as Republican's simply because they couldn't have gotten elected in their home state if they ran as the liberal Democrats that they really were… so they simply lied about their core beliefs in order to win an election. It's that simple.
Over my life, I've always sought to educate myself by reading… my choices were eclectic to say the least…they ranged from Jack London, Malcolm X, Hemingway, Michener, Ruark, Rand, Flemming… Eric Hoffer and others… Hoffer… Probably not a name very familiar to most of you, but a guy I really felt some simpatico with; for he came from "hard times"… myself coming from a lower middle class background I could really relate to some of his thoughts… like most of the others listed... Hoffer wrote about his personal observations about the conditions of our existence. He wrote one of my favorite comments about life and would be intellectuals/politicians, it went like this… "Scratch an intellectual, and you will find a would be aristocrat who loathes the sight, sound and the smell of common folk". To me that one ranked right up there with two of my other favorites from Michener "Where do we get such men"… and Jack London's inspiration to me of; "Tis the easiest thing… to live a placid and complacent life… But to do so, is to have never lived at all"! If you have some leisure time, I highly recommend a couple of Hoffer's books… "The True Believer" and "The Passionate State of Mind". I learned more about real life, human interactions and values... from these authors, than I ever did in the halls of academia. I recall vividly, my run in with Prof. Herbert Marcuse at UCSD when I was invited to some of his lectures and thinking as I listened to him extol his philosophy of "The Enlightened Intellectuals Leading the Masses"… My thoughts were... "Man…Old Hoffer had this guy nailed down to a tee"! It gave me the courage to challenge Marcuse and say the only way I could accept his theory was if I was the one who got to pick the so called intellectuals and not him... and others like him! Fat chance of that!
Anyway… what all this leads to is my personal feelings about this nations future. We're in a hell of a mess! Through the mechanizations of a cabal of the national media, the elitist, would be intellectuals, corrupt politicians and liars (I doth repeat myself)… we are facing the greatest threat to our future and personal freedoms than ever before in our nations history. Sadly, over the decades, we have concentrated so much of our attentions to the threats abroad… we have failed to understand the enemy from within. There is hope… but it can only succeed through resolve. And simply, let common sense guide you. When they try to sell you something that while it may sound good (especially things designed to appeal to your emotions)… stop and ask yourself… "What are the consequences"? "Are we being manipulated"? And the answer is… "You're damn right we are"! Think about it!
Hopefully my observations about Romney, will give you some insight into the future. God Bless!
Rant over for today.
Shadow
See the attachment
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Thanks to Richard for a wild ride
Subject: SR-71 Blackbird Breakup at Mach 3.2
Another great flying story.
SR-71 Breakup
by Bill Weaver
Among professional aviators, there's a well-worn saying: Flying is simply hours of boredom punctuated by moments of stark terror. And yet, I don't recall too many periods of boredom during my 30-year career with Lockheed, most of which was spent as a test pilot.
By far, the most memorable flight occurred on Jan. 25, 1966. Jim Zwayer, a Lockheed flight test reconnaissance and navigation systems specialist, and I were evaluating those systems on an SR-71 Blackbird test from Edwards AFB, Calif. We also were investigating procedures designed to reduce trim drag and improve high-Mach cruise performance. The latter involved flying with the center-of-gravity (CG) located further aft than normal, which reduced the Blackbird's longitudinal stability.
We took off from Edwards at 11:20 a.m. and completed the mission's first leg without incident. After refueling from a KC-135 tanker, we turned eastbound, accelerated to a Mach 3.2 cruise speed, and climbed to 78,000 ft., our initial cruise-climb altitude.
Several minutes into cruise, the right engine inlet's automatic control system malfunctioned, requiring a switch to manual control. The SR-71's inlet configuration was automatically adjusted during supersonic flight to decelerate air flow in the duct, slowing it to subsonic speed before reaching the engine's face. This was accomplished by the inlet's center-body spike translating aft and by modulating the inlet's forward bypass doors. Normally, these actions were scheduled automatically as a function of Mach number, positioning the normal shock wave (where air flow becomes subsonic) inside the inlet to ensure optimum engine performance.
Without proper scheduling, disturbances inside the inlet could result in the shock wave being expelled forward— a phenomenon known as an "inlet unstart." That causes an instantaneous loss of engine thrust, explosive banging noises, and violent yawing of the aircraft-— like being in a train wreck. Unstarts were not uncommon at that time in the SR-71's development, but a properly functioning system would recapture the shock wave and restore normal operation.
On the planned test profile, we entered a programmed 35-deg. bank turn to the right. An immediate unstart occurred on the right engine, forcing the aircraft to roll further right and start to pitch up. I jammed the control stick as far left and forward as it would go. No response. I instantly knew we were in for a wild ride.
I attempted to tell Jim what was happening and to stay with the airplane until we reached a lower speed and altitude. I didn't think the chances of surviving an ejection at Mach 3.18 and 78,800 ft. were very good. However, g-forces built up so rapidly that my words came out garbled and unintelligible, as confirmed later by the cockpit voice recorder.
The cumulative effects of system malfunctions, reduced longitudinal stability, increased angle-of-attack in the turn, supersonic speed, high altitude, and other factors imposed forces on the airframe that exceeded flight control authority and the Stability Augmentation System's ability to restore control.
Everything seemed to unfold in slow motion. I learned later the time from event onset to catastrophic departure from controlled flight was only 2-3 sec. Still trying to communicate with Jim, I blacked out, succumbing to extremely high g-forces. The SR-71 then literally disintegrated around us. From that point, I was just along for the ride.
My next recollection was a hazy thought that I was having a bad dream. Maybe I'll wake up and get out of this mess, I mused. Gradually regaining consciousness, I realized this was no dream; it had really happened. That also was disturbing, because I could not have survived what had just happened. Therefore, I must be dead. Since I didn't feel bad— just a detached sense of euphoria— I decided being dead wasn't so bad after all.
AS FULL AWARENESS took hold, I realized I was not dead, but had somehow separated from the airplane. I had no idea how this could have happened; I hadn't initiated an ejection. The sound of rushing air and what sounded like straps flapping in the wind confirmed I was falling, but I couldn't see anything. My pressure suit's face plate had frozen over and I was staring at a layer of ice.
The pressure suit was inflated, so I knew an emergency oxygen cylinder in the seat kit attached to my parachute harness was functioning. It not only supplied breathing oxygen, but also pressurized the suit, preventing my blood from boiling at extremely high altitudes. I didn't appreciate it at the time, but the suit's pressurization had also provided physical protection from intense buffeting and g-forces. That inflated suit had become my own escape capsule.
My next concern was about stability and tumbling. Air density at high altitude is insufficient to resist a body's tumbling motions, and centrifugal forces high enough to cause physical injury could develop quickly. For that reason, the SR-71's parachute system was designed to automatically deploy a small-diameter stabilizing chute shortly after ejection and seat separation. Since I had not intentionally activated the ejection system— and assuming all automatic functions depended on a proper ejection sequence— it occurred to me the stabilizing chute may not have deployed.
However, I quickly determined I was falling vertically and not tumbling. The little chute must have deployed and was doing its job. Next concern: the main parachute, which was designed to open automatically at 15,000 ft. Again I had no assurance the automatic-opening function would work. I couldn't ascertain my altitude because I still couldn't see through the iced-up face plate. There was no way to know how long I had been blacked-out or how far I had fallen. I felt for the manual-activation D-ring on my chute harness, but with the suit inflated and my hands numbed by cold, I couldn't locate it. I decided I'd better open the face plate, try to estimate my height above the ground, then locate that "D" ring.
Just as I reached for the face plate, I felt the reassuring sudden deceleration of main-chute deployment. I raised the frozen face plate and discovered its uplatch was broken. Using one hand to hold that plate up, I saw I was descending through a clear, winter sky with unlimited visibility. I was greatly relieved to see Jim's parachute coming down about a quarter of a mile away. I didn't think either of us could have survived the aircraft's breakup, so seeing Jim had also escaped lifted my spirits incredibly.
I could also see burning wreckage on the ground a few miles from where we would land. The terrain didn't look at all inviting— a desolate, high plateau dotted with patches of snow and no signs of habitation. I tried to rotate the parachute and look in other directions. But with one hand devoted to keeping the face plate up and both hands numb from high-altitude, subfreezing temperatures, I couldn't manipulate the risers enough to turn. Before the breakup, we'd started a turn in the New Mexico-Colorado-Oklahoma-Texas border region. The SR-71 had a turning radius of about 100 mi. at that speed and altitude, so I wasn't even sure what state we were going to land in. But, because it was about 3:00 p.m., I was certain we would be spending the night out here.
At about 300 ft. above the ground, I yanked the seat kit's release handle and made sure it was still tied to me by a long lanyard. Releasing the heavy kit ensured I wouldn't land with it attached to my derriere, which could break a leg or cause other injuries. I then tried to recall what survival items were in that kit, as well as techniques I had been taught in survival training.
Looking down, I was startled to see a fairly large animal— perhaps an antelope— directly under me. Evidently, it was just as startled as I was because it literally took off in a cloud of dust.
My first-ever parachute landing was pretty smooth. I landed on fairly soft ground, managing to avoid rocks, cacti, and antelopes. My chute was still billowing in the wind, though. I struggled to collapse it with one hand, holding the still-frozen face plate up with the other.
"Can I help you?" a voice said. Was I hearing things? I must be hallucinating. Then I looked up and saw a guy walking toward me, wearing a cowboy hat. A helicopter was idling a short distance behind him. If I had been at Edwards and told the search-and-rescue unit that I was going to bail out over the Rogers Dry Lake at a particular time of day, a crew couldn't have gotten to me as fast as that cowboy-pilot had.
The gentleman was Albert Mitchell, Jr., owner of a huge cattle ranch in northeastern New Mexico. I had landed about 1.5 mi. from his ranch house— and from a hangar for his two-place Hughes helicopter. Amazed to see him, I replied I was having a little trouble with my chute. He walked over and collapsed the canopy, anchoring it with several rocks. He had seen Jim and me floating down and had radioed the New Mexico Highway Patrol, the Air Force, and the nearest hospital.
Extracting myself from the parachute harness, I discovered the source of those flapping-strap noises heard on the way down. My seat belt and shoulder harness were still draped around me, attached and latched. The lap belt had been shredded on each side of my hips, where the straps had fed through knurled adjustment rollers. The shoulder harness had shredded in a similar manner across my back. The ejection seat had never left the airplane; I had been ripped out of it by the extreme forces, seat belt and shoulder harness still fastened.
I also noted that one of the two lines that supplied oxygen to my pressure suit had come loose, and the other was barely hanging on. If that second line had become detached at high altitude, the deflated pressure suit wouldn't have provided any protection. I knew an oxygen supply was critical for breathing and suit-pressurization, but didn't appreciate how much physical protection an inflated pressure suit could provide. That the suit could withstand forces sufficient to disintegrate an airplane and shred heavy nylon seat belts, yet leave me with only a few bruises and minor whiplash was impressive. I truly appreciated having my own little escape capsule.
After helping me with the chute, Mitchell said he'd check on Jim. He climbed into his helicopter, flew a short distance away, and returned about 10 min. later with devastating news: Jim was dead. Apparently, he had suffered a broken neck during the aircraft's disintegration and was killed instantly. Mitchell said his ranch foreman would soon arrive to watch over Jim's body until the authorities arrived. I asked to see Jim and, after verifying there was nothing more that could be done, agreed to let Mitchell fly me to the Tucumcari hospital, about 60 mi. to the south.
I have vivid memories of that helicopter flight, as well. I didn't know much about rotorcraft, but I knew a lot about "red lines," and Mitchell kept the airspeed at or above red line all the way. The little helicopter vibrated and shook a lot more than I thought it should have. I tried to reassure the cowboy-pilot I was feeling OK; there was no need to rush. But since he'd notified the hospital staff that we were inbound, he insisted we get there as soon as possible. I couldn't help but think how ironic it would be to have survived one disaster only to be done in by the helicopter that had come to my rescue.
However, we made it to the hospital safely— and quickly. Soon, I was able to contact Lockheed's flight test office at Edwards. The test team there had been notified initially about the loss of radio and radar contact, then told the aircraft had been lost. They also knew what our flight conditions had been at the time, and assumed no one could have survived. I briefly explained what had happened, describing in fairly accurate detail the flight conditions prior to breakup.
The next day, our flight profile was duplicated on the SR-71 flight simulator at Beale AFB, Calif. The outcome was identical. Steps were immediately taken to prevent a recurrence of our accident. Testing at a CG aft of normal limits was discontinued, and trim-drag issues were subsequently resolved via aerodynamic means. The inlet control system was continuously improved and, with subsequent development of the Digital Automatic Flight and Inlet Control System, inlet unstarts became rare.
Investigation of our accident revealed that the nose section of the aircraft had broken off aft of the rear cockpit and crashed about 10 mi. from the main wreckage. Parts were scattered over an area approximately 15 mi. long and 10 mi. wide. Extremely high air loads and g-forces, both positive and negative, had literally ripped Jim and me from the airplane. Unbelievably good luck is the only explanation for my escaping relatively unscathed from that disintegrating aircraft.
Two weeks after the accident, I was back in an SR-71, flying the first sortie on a brand-new bird at Lockheed's Palmdale, Calif., assembly and test facility. It was my first flight since the accident, so a flight test engineer in the back seat was probably a little apprehensive about my state of mind and confidence. As we roared down the runway and lifted off, I heard an anxious voice over the intercom. "Bill! Bill! Are you there?"
"Yeah, George. What's the matter?"
"Thank God! I thought you might have left." The rear cockpit of the SR-71 has no forward visibility— only a small window on each side— and George couldn't see me. A big red light on the master-warning panel in the rear cockpit had illuminated just as we rotated, stating, "Pilot Ejected." Fortunately, the cause was a misadjusted microswitch, not my departure.
Bill Weaver flight tested all models of the Mach-2 F-104 Starfighter and the entire family of Mach 3+ Blackbirds--the A-12, YF-12 and SR-71. He subsequently was assigned to Lockheed's L-1011 project as an engineering test pilot, became the company's chief pilot, and retired as Division Manager of Commercial Flying Operations. He still flies Orbital Sciences Corp.'s L-1011, which has been modified to carry a Pegasus satellite-launch vehicle (AW&ST Aug. 25, 2003, p. 56). An FAA Designated Engineering Representative Flight Test Pilot, he's also involved in various aircraft-modification projects, conducting certification flight tests.
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January 3
This Day in U S Military History
1777 – General George Washington defeats the British led by British General Lord Charles Cornwallis, at Princeton, New Jersey. On the night of January 2, George Washington, Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, repulsed a British attack at the Battle of the Assunpink Creek in Trenton. That night, he evacuated his position, circled around General Lord Cornwallis' army, and went to attack the British garrison at Princeton. Brigadier General Hugh Mercer of the Continental Army, clashed with two regiments under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Charles Mawhood of the British Army. Mercer and his troops were overrun and Washington sent some militia under Brigadier General John Cadwalader to help him. The militia, on seeing the flight of Mercer's men, also began to flee. Washington rode up with reinforcements and rallied the fleeing militia. He then led the attack on Mawhood's troops, driving them back. Mawhood gave the order to retreat and most of the troops tried to flee to Cornwallis in Trenton. In Princeton itself, Brigadier General John Sullivan encouraged some British troops who had taken refuge in Nassau Hall to surrender, ending the battle. After the battle, Washington moved his army to Morristown, and with their third defeat in 10 days, the British evacuated southern New Jersey. With the victory at Princeton, morale rose in the ranks and more men began to enlist in the army. The battle (while considered minor by British standards) was the last major action of Washington's winter New Jersey campaign.
1945 – Third Fleet carriers begin a 2 day attack against Formosa destroying 100 aircraft with loss of only 22 aircraft. VMF-124 and VMF-213 from the USS Essex struck Formosa and the Ryukyu Islands in the first Marine land strike off a carrier.
1945 – In the Ardennes the fighting continues. There are desperate German attacks on the narrow corridor leading to Bastogne which manage to upset the timetable of the US attacks a little but achieve nothing else. Forces from the US Third and now also the First Armies are attacking toward Houffaliza from the south and north. In Alsace the German attacks and the American retreat continue. The US VI Corps is being pressed particularly hard around Bitche. Farther south there is also fighting near Strasbourg.
1951 – As massive numbers of Chinese troops crossed the frozen Han River east and west of Seoul, Eighth Army began evacuating the South Korean capital. The ROK government began moving to Pusan. In one of the largest FEAF Bomber Command air raids, more than sixty B-29s dropped 650 tons of incendiary bombs on Pyongyang. UN forces burned nearly 500,000 gallons of fuel and 23,000 gallons of napalm at Kimpo in preparation for abandoning the base to the advancing enemy. Far East Air Forces flew 958 combat sorties, a one-day record.1958 – The Air Force forms two squadrons of the Strategic Air Command (SAC) armed with medium-range ballistic missiles.
1959 – President Eisenhower signs a special proclamation admitting the territory of Alaska into the Union as the 49th and largest state. The European discovery of Alaska came in 1741, when a Russian expedition led by Danish navigator Vitus Bering sighted the Alaskan mainland. Russian hunters were soon making incursions into Alaska, and the native Aleut population suffered greatly after being exposed to foreign diseases. In 1784, Grigory Shelikhov established the first permanent Russian colony in Alaska on Kodiak Island. In the early 19th century, Russian settlements spread down the west coast of North America, with the southernmost fort located near Bodega Bay in California. Russian activity in the New World declined in the 1820s, and the British and Americans were granted trading rights in Alaska after a few minor diplomatic conflicts. In the 1860s, a nearly bankrupt Russia decided to offer Alaska for sale to the United States, which earlier had expressed interest in such a purchase. On March 30, 1867, Secretary of State William H. Seward signed a treaty with Russia for the purchase of Alaska for $7.2 million. Despite the bargain price of roughly two cents an acre, the Alaskan purchase was ridiculed in Congress and in the press as "Seward's folly," "Seward's icebox," and President Andrew Johnson's "polar bear garden." Nevertheless, the Senate ratified purchase of the tremendous landmass, one-fifth the size of the rest of the United States. Despite a slow start in settlement by Americans from the continental United States, the discovery of gold in 1898 brought a rapid influx of people to the territory. Alaska, rich in natural resources, has been contributing to American prosperity ever since.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
TURNER, GEORGE B.
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Battery C, 499th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, 14th Armored Division. Place and date. Philippsbourg, France, 3 January 1945. Entered service at: Los Angeles, Calif. Born: 27 June 1899, Longview, Tex. G.O. No.: 79, 14 September 1945. Citation: At Phillippsbourg, France, he was cut off from his artillery unit by an enemy armored infantry attack. Coming upon a friendly infantry company withdrawing under the vicious onslaught, he noticed 2 German tanks and approximately 75 supporting foot soldiers advancing down the main street of the village. Seizing a rocket launcher, he advanced under intense small-arms and cannon fire to meet the tanks and, standing in the middle of the road, fired at them, destroying 1 and disabling the second. From a nearby half-track he then dismounted a machinegun, placed it in the open street and fired into the enemy infantrymen, killing or wounding a great number and breaking up the attack. In the American counterattack which followed, 2 supporting tanks were disabled by an enemy antitank gun. Firing a light machinegun from the hip, Pfc. Turner held off the enemy so that the crews of the disabled vehicles could extricate themselves. He ran through a hail of fire to one of the tanks which had burst into flames and attempted to rescue a man who had been unable to escape; but an explosion of the tank's ammunition frustrated his effort and wounded him painfully. Refusing to be evacuated, he remained with the infantry until the following day, driving off an enemy patrol with serious casualties, assisting in capturing a hostile strong point, and voluntarily and fearlessly driving a truck through heavy enemy fire to deliver wounded men to the rear aid station. The great courage displayed by Pfc. Turner and his magnificently heroic initiative contributed materially to the defense of the French town and inspired the troops about him.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for January 3, FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
3 January
1933: General Douglas MacArthur ordered the Air Corps "to conduct the land-based air operations in defense of the US and its overseas possessions." (5)
1935: Lincoln Ellsworth and Herbert Hollick-Kenyon completed an Antarctic flight. (24)
1945: BATTLE OF THE BULGE: American and British forces counterattacked the Germans under the protection of American airpower. (4) TEST FIRE-BOMB RAID. In a test-bombing mission to determine the efficacy of fire bombing over conventional high-explosive bombing, 57 of 97 B-29s bombed Nagoya, Japan,. The results gave the Japanese the mistaken impression that their fire-prevention system was adequate. (17)
1949: Representative Carl Vinson of Georgia introduced a bill to speed guided missile research and to create a 70-group Air Force. (24)
1950: Jacqueline Cochran set new Federation Aeronautique Internationale 500-kilometer closedcourse speed record of 444 miles per hour. (5)
1951: KOREAN WAR. In one of the largest Far East Air Forces Bomber Command air raids, more than 60 B-29s dropped 650 tons of incendiary bombs on Pyongyang, N. Korea. UN forces burned nearly 500,000 gallons of fuel and 23,000 gallons of napalm at Kimpo before abandoning the base. Altogether, Far East Air Forces flew 958 combat sorties, a one-day record. (28)
1960: American Airline Boeing 707s set records of 3 hours 39 minutes from Los Angeles, Calif., to Baltimore, Md., and 4 hours 24 minutes from Los Angeles to Boston, Mass. A Transworld Airlines 707 flew from Los Angeles to New York in 3 hours 57 minutes, while Eastern Airlines DC-8 completed a flight Long Beach, Calif., to Miami, Fla., in 3 hours 58 minutes (5)
1963: At Eglin AFB, Fla., a Boeing BOMARC-B missile successfully intercepted its first low-altitude aircraft. (5) PROJECT FARM GATE. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) augmented the Farm Gate detachment in Vietnam with an additional 10 B-26s, 5 T-28s, and 2 C-47s. (17)
1966: The No. 2 XB-70 flew for 3 minutes at 70,000 feet over Edwards AFB, Calif., for the first time. (16)
1978: Lockheed Missiles and Space Company received $34 million to build a spacecraft for the Satellite Infrared Experiment (SIRE) to measure long wave infrared signatures of objects against the stellar background. This craft also carried two secondary payloads, a space sextant and a sensor to measure the isotopic composition of solar flares. (5)
1993: President George Bush and Soviet President Boris Yeltsin signed the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) to reduce nuclear bombers, missiles, bombs, and warheads. (16) (26)
2007: Through 4 January, a Wyoming Air National Guard C-130 Hercules and 10 airmen assisted the Colorado National Guard with a cattle feeding operation near Lamar in southeast Colorado after huge snowstorm blanketed the area. Colorado National Guard helicopters and the C-130 dropped hay to cattle. (AFNEWS, "Air National Guard Dropping Hay for Colorado Cattle," 4 Jan 2007.) (32)
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