Good Saturday Morning March 20 .
I hope that you all are off to a great weekend.
This was my greeting one year ago today
Greetings from my house arrest in rainy California. I hope that you are all doing well. I intend to put out a List each day until this is over. My granddaughter and I are making progress on the 875 piece 3-D puzzle of Harry Potter's Hogwarts Astronomy tower. I think I will need an uptick to my glasses prescription before this is over. Little did I know what awaited me over the next 7 months. But I did get new glasses.
Regards,
Skip.
Today in Naval History
March 20
1918
Ensign Stephen Potter is the first American to shoot down an enemy seaplane, a German plane off the German coast during World War I.
1924
Curtis D. Wilbur takes office as the 43rd Secretary of the Navy, where he gains his greatest achievements in enlarging and modernizing the fleet, and establishing a naval air force that would become an overwhelming force during World War II.
1942
Secretary of Navy James V. Forrestal places the newly-established construction battalions, later called Seabees, under the command of officers with the Civil Engineer Corps who are trained in the skills required for the performance of construction work.
1944
TBF and FM-2 aircraft from Composite Squadron (VC 6) onboard USS Block Island (CVE 21) sink German submarine U 1059 west-southwest of Dakar.
1945
Submarine USS Balao (SS 285) attacks a Japanese convoy and sinks one troopship and three fishing vessels and damages another off the Yangtze estuary about 90 miles north-northwest of Shanghi.
1945
As Fast Carrier Task Force 58 planes bomb Kure and Kobe Harbors, Japanese aircraft single out the US Navy carriers for attack. USS Wasp (CV 18), USS Essex (CV 9), and USS Franklin (CV 13) are hit. After struck by a second bomb, Franklin suffers subsequent explosions on the flight and hangar decks. Heroic work by her crew, assisted by nearby ships, bring the fires and flooding under control. For their actions during this occasion, both Lt. Cmdr. Joseph T. OCallaghan and Lt.j.g. Donald A. Gary receive the Medal of Honor.
1969
While serving with Battery D, 2nd Battalion, 11th Marines, at Phu Loc 6 in Quang Nam Province, Vietnam, Navy Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class David R. Ray is killed in action while providing medical aid to injured Marines during an enemy attack on his unit. Petty Officer Ray is posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism in that action.
1994
USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG 54) is commissioned at Long Beach, Calif., where then-Secretary of the Navy John H. Dalton was the keynote speaker. The Arleigh Burke guided-missile destroyer.
1999 - USS Porter (DDG 78) is commissioned at Port Canaveral, Fla. The guided-missile destroyer is the 28th of the Arleigh Burke-class and the fifth U.S. Navy ship to be named after Commodore David Porter and his son, Adm. David Dixon Porter.
Today in History March 20
1413 | Henry IV of England is succeed by his son Henry V. | |
1739 | In India, Nadir Shah of Persia occupies Delhi and takes possession of the Peacock throne. | |
1760 | The Great Fire of Boston destroys 349 buildings. | |
1792 | In Paris, the Legislative Assembly approves the use of the guillotine. | |
1815 | Napoleon Bonaparte enters Paris and begins his 100-day rule. | |
1841 | Edgar Allan Poe's The Murders in the Rue Morgue, considered the first detective story, is published. | |
1852 | Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin is published. | |
1906 | Army officers in Russia mutiny at Sevastopol. | |
1915 | The French call off the Champagne offensive on the Western Front. | |
1918 | The Bolsheviks of the Soviet Union ask for American aid to rebuild their army. | |
1922 | President Warren G. Harding orders U.S. troops back from the Rhineland. | |
1932 | The German dirigible, Graf Zepplin, makes the first flight to South America on regular schedule. | |
1939 | President Franklin D. Roosevelt names William O. Douglas to the Supreme Court. | |
1940 | The British Royal Air Force conducts an all-night air raid on the Nazi airbase at Sylt, Germany. | |
1943 | The Allies attack Field Marshall Erwin Rommel's forces on the Mareth Line in North Africa. | |
1965 | President Lyndon B. Johnson orders 4,000 troops to protect the Selma-Montgomery civil rights marchers. | |
1969 | Senator Edward Kennedy calls on the United States to close all bases in Taiwan. | |
1976 | Patty Hearst is convicted of armed robbery. | |
1982 | U.S. scientists return from Antarctica with the first land mammal fossils found there. | |
1987 | The United State approves AZT, a drug that is proven to slow the progress of AIDS. |
1345 Black Death is created, allegedly »
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Thanks to Dr Rich
. click link below .
Capt. Royce Williams, USN (Ret) - 1952 - in F-9F vs. 7 Russian MiG's - shot down 4 - Up for CMH - Great video!!
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Thanks to Chuck
MUST SEE!!! AMAZING WWII STORIES D DAY OSS Secret Agent Paul Cyr Full Documentary 2017 - YouTube
This gets better as it goes!! Absolutely INCREDIBLE!!!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUMNjK4zFqk
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Another from Chuck and worth the watch to see a look at China and the New Silk Road
I seldom agree w/ Bill but this is spot on!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DH4v6FnbvM
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One American Hero praises another
Thanks to Dr. Rich
This aired yesterday on OLN's podcast …
For those of you who have asked about the Veterans Airlift Command .. here's the scoop from the boss …
If you're interested in doing VAC flights, check out the website, http://veteransairlift.org and get in touch @ info@veteransairlift.org - very rewarding!!
Or, send a few bucks .. VAC and Walt will appreciate it!!
And, check out this short clip before you go ...
Here's a typical flight we did a couple of weeks ago … This was the email requesting the flight:
Army SGT Josh Hooker sustained severe injuries to both legs due to an IED blast in 2006. SGT Hooker spent 9 months at Walter Reed before being transferred to Balboa in San Diego. The surgeons at Balboa ultimately amputated his left leg below the knee, and fitted him w. a prosthesis. His right foot causes him constant pain resulting in several surgeries.
His brother decided to become a podiatrist to be able to help him with his foot. SGT Hooker will be traveling to Montana with his wife and three children, where his brother will be performing surgery to hopefully allow him to keep his foot. His dates are flexible, He will need at least three weeks of recovery time.
We brought him home to San Diego …. He walked out to the plane w. crutches, finally able to bear weight!! His mom and dad were at the airport to meet the family … They're standing to the right, next to his wife and three kids … Their son, in the cowboy hat, gave Sue his new pocket watch he was so happy to get home!!
Great Falls, MT to San Diego, CA 2/27
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GREAT!!! Thanks to Doctor Rich
Grab a beer and AirDrop this to your widescreen TV … and take a ride on Space Ship I w. Burt narrating, and see many other amazing innovations and adventures that the 'Ultimate Engineer-Entrepreneur' has accomplished …
Enjoy!!
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https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0ujUWg4DJfo&t=3587s
At the very least, I want readers of BRAB to have access to watch this entire lecture. It looks like it has been on YouTube for a couple of years.
I have watched dozens of my lectures on YouTube over the 16 years since our spaceflights but I had lost track of this one and didn't realize how powerful it is, because it's presented to a sophisticated audience and it shows me in front of the projected slides so you can easily read the slides and watch the movie while I am making the presentation.
Of course we need to assure that this video is preserved in our archives so it does not become impossible to find years from now.
Burt
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Thanks to Dr. Rich
FAA Safety Team | Safer Skies Through Education | |
Use of COVID-19 Vaccines by Pilots and Air Traffic Controllers The COVID-19 public health emergency has driven extraordinary global efforts to develop an effective and safe vaccine. Some of the vaccines in clinical testing are using novel technology, such as messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA). The vaccines produced by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson have been made available to the American public under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). After careful review of available data regarding safety profiles, the FAA Office of Aerospace Medicine (AAM) adopts the following policy as both safe and operationally responsive to this unique situation: Holders of FAA-issued Airman Medical Certificates or Medical Clearances may receive the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines; however, a 48-hour no fly/no safety related duty interval must be observed after each dose. Individuals holding an FAA-issued Airman Medical Certificate or Medical Clearance should be reminded that they are prohibited from performing flight crewmember duties or air traffic control duties if they do not meet medical certification requirements, including those related to adverse events from medications that render them unable to perform such duties. AAM will monitor the patient response to Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines and may adjust this policy as necessary to ensure aviation safety. Additional vaccines will each be evaluated as EUAs are issued. Read FAQs on the use of COVID-19 vaccines by pilots and air traffic controllers here: https://www.faa.gov/coronavirus/guidance_resources/vaccine_faq/ Read more on the FAA's Coronavirus Guidance and Resource page here: https://www.faa.gov/coronavirus/guidance_resources/#useOfVaccines This notice is being sent to you because you selected "General Information" in your preferences on FAASafety.gov. If you wish to adjust your selections, log into https://www.faasafety.gov/Users/pub/preferences.aspx where you can update your preferences. | |
Earn your WINGS to get a chance to win a cash prize. Go to www.mywingsinitiative.org for more info. Join us on Facebook: | |
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ROLLING THUNDER Thanks to the Bear—20 March 1966 From the archives of http://www.rollingthunderremembered.com
"Power, Position and Resolve"
Vietnam Air Losses
Access Chris Hobson and Dave Lovelady's work at: https://www.VietnamAirLosses.com.
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Thanks to Chucker
This is the only Oath I have ever needed. And I still live by it.
"I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God. "
Chucker
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This Day in U S Military History
March 20
1916 – Albert Einstein publishes his general theory of relativity.
1917 – Gideon Sundback, Swedish-born engineer, patented an all-purpose zipper while working for the Automatic Hook and Eye Co. of Hoboken, New Jersey. The zipper name was coined by B.F. Goodrich in 1923, who used it to fasten rubber galoshes.
1918 – The Bolsheviks asked for American aid to rebuild their army.
1922 – The 11,500-ton Langley was commissioned into the U.S. Navy as America's first aircraft carrier. Langley was not regarded as a beautiful ship. Her flight deck was 533 feet long and 64 feet wide with an open-sided hanger deck, inspiring the nickname "the Old Covered Wagon." Under the leadership of Commander Kenneth Whiting, Langley served as a base for reconnaissance aircraft and a laboratory to develop new procedures for launching and recovering planes, such as the use of cross-deck arresting wires to brake incoming aircraft.
1954 – After a force of 60,000 Viet Minh with heavy artillery had surrounded 16,000 French troops, news of Dien Bien Phu's impending fall reaches Washington. French General Henri Navarre had positioned his forces 200 miles behind enemy lines in a remote area adjacent to the Laotian border. He hoped to draw the communists into a set-piece battle in which he supposed superior French firepower would prevail. He underestimated the enemy. Viet Minh General Vo Nguyen Giap entrenched artillery in the surrounding mountains and massed five divisions around the French positions. The battle, which far exceeded the size and scope of anything to date in the war between the French and the Viet Minh, began with a massive Viet Minh artillery barrage and was followed by an infantry assault. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and other members of the Eisenhower administration were stunned at the turn of events and discussions were held to decide on a course of action. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Arthur Radford proposed the use of nuclear strikes against the Viet Minh. Other options included massive conventional air strikes, paratrooper drops, and the mining of Haiphong Harbor. In the end, President Eisenhower decided that the situation was too far gone and ordered no action to be taken to aid the French. Fierce fighting continued at Dien Bien Phu until May 7, 1954, when the Viet Minh overran the last French positions. The shock at the fall of Dien Bien Phu led France, already plagued by public opposition to the war, to agree to grant independence to Vietnam at the Geneva Conference in 1954.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
*VILLEGAS, YSMAEL R.
Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company F, 127th Infantry, 32d Infantry Division. Place and date: Villa Verde Trail, Luzon, Philippine Islands, 20 March 1945. Entered service at: Casa Blanca, Calif. Birth: Casa Blanca, Calif. G.O. No.: 89, 19 October 1945. Citation: He was a squad leader when his unit, in a forward position, clashed with an enemy strongly entrenched in connected caves and foxholes on commanding ground. He moved boldly from man to man, in the face of bursting grenades and demolition charges, through heavy machinegun and rifle fire, to bolster the spirit of his comrades. Inspired by his gallantry, his men pressed forward to the crest of the hill. Numerous enemy riflemen, refusing to flee, continued firing from their foxholes. S/Sgt. Villegas, with complete disregard for his own safety and the bullets which kicked up the dirt at his feet, charged an enemy position, and, firing at point-blank range killed the Japanese in a foxhole. He rushed a second foxhole while bullets missed him by inches, and killed 1 more of the enemy. In rapid succession he charged a third, a fourth, a fifth foxhole, each time destroying the enemy within. The fire against him increased in intensity, but he pressed onward to attack a sixth position. As he neared his goal, he was hit and killed by enemy fire. Through his heroism and indomitable fighting spirit, S/Sgt. Villegas, at the cost of his life, inspired his men to a determined attack in which they swept the enemy from the field.
HAGEMEISTER, CHARLES CHRIS
Rank and organization: Specialist Fifth Class (then Sp4c.) U .S. Army, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). Place and date: Binh Dinh Province, Republic of Vietnam, 20 March 1967. Entered service at: Lincoln, Nebr. Born: 21 August 1946, Lincoln, Nebr. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. While conducting combat operations against a hostile force, Sp5c. Hagemeister's platoon suddenly came under heavy attack from 3 sides by an enemy force occupying well concealed, fortified positions and supported by machine guns and mortars. Seeing 2 of his comrades seriously wounded in the initial action, Sp5c. Hagemeister unhesitatingly and with total disregard for his safety, raced through the deadly hail of enemy fire to provide them medical aid. Upon learning that the platoon leader and several other soldiers also had been wounded, Sp5c. Hagemeister continued to brave the withering enemy fire and crawled forward to render lifesaving treatment and to offer words of encouragement. Attempting to evacuate the seriously wounded soldiers, Sp5c. Hagemeister was taken under fire at close range by an enemy sniper. Realizing that the lives of his fellow soldiers depended on his actions, Sp5c. Hagemeister seized a rifle from a fallen comrade, killed the sniper, 3 other enemy soldiers who were attempting to encircle his position and silenced an enemy machine gun that covered the area with deadly fire. Unable to remove the wounded to a less exposed location and aware of the enemy's efforts to isolate his unit, he dashed through the fusillade of fire to secure help from a nearby platoon. Returning with help, he placed men in positions to cover his advance as he moved to evacuate the wounded forward of his location. These efforts successfully completed, he then moved to the other flank and evacuated additional wounded men despite the fact that his every move drew fire from the enemy. Sp5c. Hagemeister's repeated heroic and selfless actions at the risk of his life saved the lives of many of his comrades and inspired their actions in repelling the enemy assault. Sp5c. Hagemeister's indomitable courage was in the highest traditions of the U.S. Armed Forces and reflect great credit upon himself.
*KAWAMURA, TERRY TERUO
Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S. Army, 173d Engineer Company, 173d Airborne Brigade, Republic of Vietnam. Place and date: Camp Radcliff, Republic of Vietnam, 20 March 1969. Entered service at: Oahu, Hawaii. Born. 10 December 1949, Wahiawa, Oahu, Hawaii. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Cpl. Kawamura distinguished himself by heroic action while serving as a member of the 173d Engineer Company. An enemy demolition team infiltrated the unit quarters area and opened fire with automatic weapons. Disregarding the intense fire, Cpl. Kawamura ran for his weapon. At that moment, a violent explosion tore a hole in the roof and stunned the occupants of the room. Cpl. Kawamura jumped to his feet, secured his weapon and, as he ran toward the door to return the enemy fire, he observed that another explosive charge had been thrown through the hole in the roof to the floor. He immediately realized that 2 stunned fellow soldiers were in great peril and shouted a warning. Although in a position to escape, Cpl. Kawamura unhesitatingly wheeled around and threw himself on the charge. In completely disregarding his safety, Cpl. Kawamura prevented serious injury or death to several members of his unit. The extraordinary courage and selflessness displayed by Cpl. Kawamura are in the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for March 20, 2021 FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
20 March
1909: The Herring-Curtiss Company formed to build airplanes with a capital stock of $360,000. (24)
1918: The 28th Pursuit Squadron was attached by flights to various RAF squadrons on the British Front in France. (5)
1922: The Navy commissioned its first airplane carrier, the USS Langley (the Jupiter, a converted Collier, or coal ship), at Norfolk, Va. (24)
1932: The Boeing XP-26, prototype for the P-26 Peashooter, first flew. It was the first all-metal monoplane fighter purchased by the Army and the last pursuit plane with an open cockpit and fixed landing gear. (5) (21)
1942: The Douglas C-54 Skymaster entered military service. (18)
1952: KOREAN WAR. In the Sui-ho Reservoir area in Korea, MiG-15s attacked a USAF patrol. The F-86 pilots destroyed five MiGs and damaged approximately 13 others. (28)
1953: The ZP2N-1, a production model of the postwar "N" Class nonrigid airship (975,000 cubic feet), designed for midocean anti-submarine warfare, made its first flight. Twelve such airships were procured. (24)
1964: The 50th Minuteman launched from Cape Canaveral. (5)
1966: The 43 BMW at Davis-Monthan AFB received the first KC-135Q. It was an A model modified to carry the special fuel for the SR-71 Blackbird. (18)
1967: USAFE released nine bases in France to the Military Liquidation Section under Project Fast Relocations. (4)
1970: A Thor-Delta rocket carried a 535-pound NATO I military satellite, the first of two, into stationary orbit over the Atlantic from the Eastern Test Range. It contained X-band communications systems. (26)
1977: In the third and final flight of the materials screening vehicle program, an Athena D launched from Wallops Island with three reentry vehicles to gather data on nose tip materials and designs. (5)
1979: Boeing rolled out ALCM Flight Test Missile No. 1. (12)
1984: The 23 TFW at England AFB, La., received the 713th and last A-10 ordered by the USAF. (11)
2003: Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. Conventional US and coalition ground forces invaded Iraq. (32)
2006: The C-17 Globemaster III fleet surpassed its millionth flight hour during a mission to evacuate injured US troops from Iraq to Germany for medical treatment. Colonel William O. Hill, the 172 AW Commander (Mississippi ANG) from Allen C. Thompson ANGB at Jackson International Airport, flew C-17 (tail no. 03-3113) on the mission. (22)
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