TheList 5708

The List 5708     TGB

 

Good Monday Morning     May 10

I hope you all had a great Mother's Day weekend with your families

Regards,

Skip.

 

This day in Naval History May 10,

 

1775 American forces under Gen. Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen cross Lake Champlain and capture the British fort at Ticonderoga, New York. The US Navy has honored this action by naming five ships after the battle.

1862 The Norfolk Navy Yard is burned before being evacuated by Confederate forces in a general withdrawal up the peninsula to defend Richmond. Also on this date, Pensacola is re-occupied by Union Army and Navy forces. Confederate forces destroyed the Navy Yard the day before.

1944 USS Cod (SS 224) attacks a large Japanese convoy and destroyer off the west coast of Luzon. USS Silversides (SS 236) attacks a Japanese convoy about 120 miles south-southwest of Guam.

1945 During the Okinawa Campaign, Pharmacists Mate Second Class William D. Halyburton aids a fallen Marine, shields his body, and is mortally wounded. He is posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. USS Halyburton (FFG-40) is named in his honor.

1952 During the Korean War, USS Maddox (DD 731) and USS Laffey (DD 724) fire on railroad targets at Wonson.

1960 USS Triton (SSRN 586), commanded by Capt. Edward L. Beach, completes a submerged circumnavigation of the world in 84 days following many of the routes taken by Magellan.

1993 USS Lake Erie (CG 70) is commissioned at Bath Iron Works in Maine. Two days later, the Ticonderoga-class cruiser sets sail for her homeport at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

 

 

 

Thanks to CHINFO

 

Executive Summary:

•           National and international news reported on USS Monterey's seizure of weapons in the Arabian Sea.

•           Trade press continued coverage of CNO Adm. Mike Gilday's remarks at the Navy Memorial SITREP event.

•           Local San Diego media reported about the commissioning of USS Miguel Keith.

 

 

Today in History May 10

1285		Philip III of Spain is succeeded by Philip IV ("the Fair").
1503		Christopher Columbus discovers the Cayman Islands.
1676		Bacon's Rebellion begins in the New World.
1773		To keep the troubled East India Company afloat, Parliament passes the Tea Act, taxing all tea in the American colonies.
1774		Louis XVI succeeds his father Louis XV as King of France.
1775		American troops capture Fort Ticonderoga from the British.
1794		Elizabeth, the sister of King Louis XVI, is beheaded.
1796		Napoleon Bonaparte wins a brilliant victory against the Austrians at Lodi bridge in Italy.
1840		Mormon leader Joseph Smith moves his band of followers to Illinois to escape the hostilities they experienced in Missouri.
1857		The Bengal Army in India revolts against the British.
1863		General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson succumbs to illness and wounds received during the Battle of Chancellorsville.
1865		Union cavalry troops capture Confederate President Jefferson Davis near Irvinville, Georgia.
1869		The Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads meet in Promontory, Utah.
1859		French emperor Napoleon III leaves Paris to join his troops preparing to battle the Austrian army in Northern Italy.
1872		Victoria Woodhull becomes first the woman nominated for U.S. president.
1917		Allied ships get destroyer escorts to fend off German attacks in the Atlantic.
1924		J. Edgar Hoover is appointed head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
1928		WGY-TV in Schenectady, New York, begins regular television programming.
1933		Nazis begin burning books by "unGerman" writers such as Heinrich Mann and Erich Maria Remarque, author of All Quiet on the Western Front.
1940		German forces begin a blitzkrieg of the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, skirting France's "impenetrable" Maginot Line.
1940		Winston Churchill succeeds Neville Chamberlain as British Prime Minister.
1940		The Battle of France begins. It ends six weeks later as the British Expeditionary Forces are evacuated at Dunkirk
1941		England's House of Commons is destroyed during the worst of the London Blitz: 550 German bombers drop 100,000 incendiary bombs.
1960		The USS Nautilus completes the first circumnavigation of the globe underwater.
1994		Nelson Mandela is sworn in as South Africa's first black president.

 

1869 Transcontinental railroad completed

 

1934    Dust storm sweeps from Great Plains across Eastern states

 

Thanks, Skip, for finding the dust storm day in History.  I was 2 weeks old, in a farm house in Nebraska, and survived because my folks could seal the leaky window sills with wet towels.  Most of our livestock choked to death.  Incidentally, please encourage all your readers to write their own "ego-bios".  Just finished mine . .  Most fun I had in a long time.  Can't find my car keys, but can go back 70 years like it was yesterday.   V/R. Brown Bear

 

 

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1972  LT Randy Cunningham and LTJG Willie Driscoll shot down three North 

Vietnamese MiGs in one engagement to become the United States' first "aces"

of the Vietnam War. 

What the write up missed about Cunningham's 3-MiG kills on that mission was (1) his squadron mate, Matt Connolly & Tom Blonski, shot 2-MiG's off his 6 o'clock; & 2) Cunningham got shot down, ejected, and got picked up and returned to the Connie. All 4 got Navy Cross'. 

Best regards,

Hot Dog sends

Steve Shoemaker and Kieth Crenshaw also got one in    that gaggle. Booger sends

 

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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS

FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS FOR MAY 10

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

 

May 10

 

1911: Lt George E. M. Kelly became the first Army pilot to die in an airplane, when he crashed his Curtiss pusher at San Antonio to avoid striking encamped soldiers. However, he was the second Army officer to die in a crash. Lt Thomas E. Selfridge, flying as an observer with Orville Wright, died on 17 September 1908. (4) (11)

 

1913: FIRST AERIAL BOMBING. Didier Masson and Thomas Dean, flying for Mexican General Alvarado Obregon, conducted the first aerial bombing in an American war by bombing Mexican Federal gunboats in Guaymas Bay, Gulf of California. (21)

 

1942: The carrier USS Ranger, off the African Gold Coast, launched 60 US AAF P-40s to Accra. From there, they were flown in stages to the 10th Air Force in India. (24)

 

1944: CHENGTU PROJECT. Using primitive construction methods, 400,000 laborers completed this project to build five very heavy bomber bases and six fighter fields in China to support B-29 operations. The work started in January. (21) (24)

 

1953: KOREAN WAR. Flying through intense flak Col Victor E. Warford, 58 FBW Commander, led 8 F-84 ThunderJets to attack the hydroelectric generating facilities at Sui-ho near the Yalu River. Through 11 May, 39 B-29 Superfortresses raided the 375-acre Yangsi troop concentration area twelve miles southeast of Sinuiju City, achieving 63 percent destruction of one of the last large lucrative targets remaining in N. Korea. (28)

 

1955: The USAF issued a requirement for a surface-launched, turbojet subsonic decoy missile for the B-47 or B-52. It became the Goose missile. (6) General Electric's XJ79 turbojet engine made its first flight in the NB-45 test aircraft over Schenectady, N.Y. This engine later powered the Convair B-58, the Lockheed F-104, and the McDonnell Douglas F-4. (8: May 90)

 

1961: Maj Elmer E. Murphy flew a B-58 from Carswell AFB (43 BMW) on a 30-minute, 45-second flight at 1,302 MPH over a 669.4-mile closed-course. This gave the USAF permanent possession of the Bleriot Cup given by the Aero Club of France. (1) (24)

 

1962: After a 3-year testing program, a USAF BOMARC-A launched from Eglin AFB intercepted an F-104 Starfighter drone 150 miles away. (16) (24)

 

1964: At Rosemount, Minn, Tracy Barnes rode a Barnes 14A Balloon to an FAI altitude record of 38,650 feet for balloons in subclasses A-3 through A-9 (400 to 4000 cubic meters). (9)

 

1965: Lt Col James W. Wood became the first pilot to fly the variable, swept-wing F-111 at Edwards AFB. (3) Tactical control of aircraft in battle areas assigned to the Air Force by the JCS. (16) (26)

 

1972: The Fairchild-Republic A-10A prototype, an entry in the USAF's A-X competition to select a close-air-support fighter, completed its first flight at Edwards AFB. (3) LINEBACKER I: Through 11 May, 8 TFW F-4 Phantoms dropped precision-guided munitions on the Paul Doumer Bridge in Hanoi, North Vietnam, and closed the bridge to traffic. The attacks began a campaign against logistics and industrial targets in North Vietnam, including the mining of North Vietnames harbors. (17) (21) After several months of dropping bombs against the invading North Vietnamese, Navy fighter squadrons spent the day engaging MiGs in the heaviest aerial action of the war. VF96 from the USS Constellation (CVA64) destroyed six of eight MiGs. In their F-4J, Lt Randy Cunningham and his backseater, Lt (JG) Willie Driscoll, of VF96 downed three MiG-17s. When combined with their two earlier kills on 19 January and 8 May, they became the first American aces of the Vietnam War, the first all-missile aces, and the first U.S. aces since the Korean War. After their third kill, a SAM hit forced both men to eject from their F-4 south of Hanoi. The effort required to rescue the Navy's two newest aces was hectic and dangerous as the rescuers faced fire from two North Vietnamese PT boats and heavy fire from communist shore positions. (http://www.aerosphere.com/html/randy_cunningham.shtml)

 

1995: A C-141 Starlifter from the 349th Air Mobility Wing (AMW) carried a ton of medical supplies to Zaire after an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in Central Africa. A C-5 Galaxy delivered another ton of supplies to Kinshasa, Zaire, later in the month. (16)

 

 

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Thanks to Dutch R. for forwarding

Thanks to KenP 

Aviation History this week -

Before listing more events under this week's Aviation History, I'd like to remember the May 10 passing of Evelyn Stone Bryan Johnson in 2012. Known as "Mama Bird", between her first solo flight on 8 November 1944 and her retirement from flying in the mid-1990s, she had logged 57,635.4 hours (about 6½ years) in the air, flying about 5,500,000 miles (8,856,683 km) and was the oldest flight instructor in the world. She trained more pilots and gave more FAA exams than any other pilot. Wow! Born in Corbin, KY, on November 4, 1909, "Mama Bird" died at 102 and would have been 110 later this year. http://www.silverwings.org/evelyn-bryan-johnson-mama-bird-flew-west-at-age-102/  

 

 

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The forgotten realities of World War II

Without the U.S. contribution, fascism would have won

By Victor Davis Hanson - -

May 8 marked the end of World War II in Europe 70 years ago — a horrific conflict that is still fought over by historians.

More than 60 million people perished — some 50 million of them in Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union and China.

The prewar Soviet state in the 1920s and 1930s had killed perhaps 20 million of its own citizens in purges, exiles, collectivizations, forced famines and show trials. Then it lost an estimated 25 million soldiers and civilians to the German army on the Eastern Front. Hitler's Germany by late 1942 had occupied almost 1 million square miles of Soviet ground.

The Soviet Red Army would eventually be responsible for three-quarters of Germany's World War II casualties, but at a cost of approximately 9 million dead of its own combatants. Nevertheless, the Allied defeat of the Axis powers is more complicated than just the monumental and heroic sacrifice of the Soviet soldier.

World War II started largely because the Soviet Union had assured Hitler that the two powers could partner up to divide Poland. With his eastern rear thus secure, Hitler then would be free to fight a one-front war in the West against the European democracies.

The Soviet Union only entered the war after it was double-crossed by Hitler in June 1941. Before the surprise German invasion, the Soviets had supplied Germany with substantial fuel, food and metals to help it bomb Great Britain into submission. For all practical purposes, Russia had been Nazi Germany's most useful ally.

Duplicitous Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin at one time or another both fought against and followed non-aggression arrangements with every Axis power — Germany, Italy and Japan. In contrast, the United States was the only major power of the war that did not start fighting until it was directly attacked.

The war in Europe was not just won with Soviet blood. When World War II started, America was isolationist and the Soviet Union collaborationist. After the fall of France in June 1940, Great Britain until June 1941 alone faced down the huge Nazi Empire that ranged from the Arctic Circle to the Sahara desert. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's steadfast leadership, Britain's superb air force and its indomitable Royal Navy ensured that even when outnumbered, isolated and bombed, England would be unconquerable.

Once the United States entered the war after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Axis cause was largely doomed. America mobilized 12 million soldiers — about the same number as did the Soviet Union, despite having a population of about 40 million fewer citizens.

American war production proved astonishing. At the huge Willow Run plant in Michigan, the greatest generation turned out a B-24 heavy bomber every hour. A single shipyard could mass-produce an ocean-going Liberty merchant ship from scratch in a week.

In just four years, the United States would produce more airplanes than all of the major war powers combined. Germany, Japan, Italy and the Soviet Union could not build a successful four-engine heavy bomber. America, in contrast, produced 34,000 excellent B-17s, B-24s and B-29s.

By 1944, the new U.S. Navy had become the largest in the history of civilization at more than 6,000 ships. Its B-29 heavy bomber program and Manhattan Project efforts together cost more $50 billion in today's dollars.

America sent troops throughout the Pacific islands, and to North Africa, Italy and Western Europe. The United States staged two simultaneous bombing campaigns against Germany and Japan while conducting surface and submarine campaigns against all of the Axis powers.

At the same time, the United States supplied the Soviet Union with 400,000 heavy trucks, 2,000 locomotives, 11,000 railcars and billions of dollars worth of planes, tanks, food, clothing and strategic resources. By 1943-44, the U.S. also supplied about 20 percent of Britain's munitions.

If the measure of wartime success is defined by quickly defeating and humiliating enemies at the least cost in blood and treasure, then America waged a brilliant war.

Of the major powers, only America's homeland was not systematically bombed. It was never invaded. While its 400,000 fatalities were a terrible cost of victory, the United States lost the smallest percentage of its population of any major power.

By late 1944, the American M1 rifle, B-29 heavy bomber, P-51 Mustang fighter, Gato-class submarines, Essex-class aircraft carriers and Iowa-class battleships were the best weapons of their class.

America did not win World War II alone. But without the United States, the war against Axis fascism would have been lost.

Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

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Thanks to John who is no Spring Chicken himself

The Marine Who Went to Parris Island at 50

History

By Matt Fratus | April 08, 2021

He wasn't like the rest of the aspiring Marines who arrived at Parris Island in 1942. Paul Douglas had some miles on him. At 50, Douglas wore glasses, was wrinkled in the face, and had gray hair. He was more than twice as old as nearly all his fellow recruits; in some cases he was nearly three times as old. He was almost certainly one of the few people on the entire island born in the 19th century — 1892, to be exact. 

Old enough to be the father of the drill instructors tearing into him every day, Pvt. Douglas was committed to earning the title of US Marine. Five months after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Douglas had managed to get himself into the military. He had called his old friend Frank Knox, who was, at that point, the secretary of the US Navy. The two had been friends in Chicago, and Knox had the influence to get Douglas a ticket to boot camp.

Born and raised on a farm in Salem, Massachusetts, Douglas played center for the Columbia University football team and, after his newspaper years, earned a doctorate in economics. He joined the faculty of the University of Chicago in 1920 as an economics professor and later gained fame as an author and activist. In 1939, as World War II began in Europe, he was elected a Chicago alderman. After an unsuccessful run for Senate, Douglas took his lifetime of experience, old-man strength, and wit, and started fresh.  1942. Douglas was the oldest recruit in the history of Marine basic recruit training. He earned a Purple Heart and Bronze Star at the Battle of Peleliu. Photo courtesy of the Parris Island History Museum/DVIDS.

"I found myself able to take the strenuous boot camp training without asking for a moment's time out and without visiting the sick bay," he proudly wrote after graduation.

The Marines initially had him writing training manuals, but the former college professor had other plans. His goal was to be an infantry officer, and he used his connections to move through the ranks toward it. After seven months of enlisted service, Douglas was commissioned as a captain in the Marine Corps.

He sailed for the Pacific theater and arrived with the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division, at the island of Peleliu. "We hadn't noticed him before he spoke," wrote E.B. Sledge, an enlisted Marine and author of the book With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa. "He wore green dungarees, leggings, and a cloth-covered helmet like ourselves and carried a .45 caliber automatic pistol like any mortar gunner, machine gunner, or one of our officers. Of course, he wore no rank insignia, being in combat." 

Douglas' actions in battle quickly overcame the Marines' initial shock at his age. During the Battle of Peleliu, he made trips to the front lines to evacuate the wounded and dead. Along the way, he realized fellow Marines were in desperate need of resupply for flamethrowers and rocket launchers. He left the front lines to retrieve supplies while under small-arms and mortar fire. His resupply efforts earned him a Bronze Star, along with a Purple Heart for a shrapnel wound. 

Douglas was promoted to major and saw action in Okinawa, where he left an unforgettable impression on the Marines in combat. In the midst of the heavy fighting, Douglas scrambled to assist in resupplying ammunition at the front lines. One Marine, Pfc. Paul E. Ison from a demolition team, saw Douglas lying on the ground with a bullet wound to his forearm.

"If I live to be 100 years old I will never forget this scene," Ison said. "There, lying on the ground, bleeding from his wound was a white-haired Marine major. He had been hit by a machine gun bullet. Although he was in pain, he was calm and I have never seen such dignity in a man. He was saying 'Leave me here. Get the young men out first. I have lived my life. Please let them live theirs.'".

His fellow Marines evacuated him, and Douglas spent 14 months in a hospital rehabilitating his wounded forearm. He was medically retired, never to regain full control over his hand, and was promoted to lieutenant colonel a year later. In 1949, he was elected to the US Senate, where he served for 18 years. Today, the Parris Island visitors center is named in his honor.

"All of us have standards by which we measure other men," Ison said. "Paul Douglas is one of the finest, bravest and truest men that I have known during my lifetime. It was an honor to have been associated with him, to have shared danger with him and to have observed his nobility of character when he was wounded and asked to be left behind so that younger men might live."

 

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This was a group of P-38 pilots in WWII… a Great Story

 

Thanks to Old Bandit.   We have had earlier versions of this before in the list and it is still inspiring

Where do we get such men?

Well worth the time.

 

From Moon, a good friend.

 

Before you <click> on the link below, know it's about 13 minutes long, an eternity in today's sound-bite world!!!  I found it to be a very moving video honoring the 88,000 American airmen killed in WWII…it is truly a superbly done tribute to pilots who died in the war. The gentleman who did the sculpture was the "last man standing" in the group he flew with … he began the project at the age of 90 … where do we get such men!!!

mOOn out!!!

 

https://lestweforgetsculpture.org/

 

--

The reason that the American Navy does so well in wartime, is that war is chaos, and the Americans practice chaos on a daily basis." -- Grossadmiral Karl Donitz, Kriegsmarine

 

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ROLLING THUNDER REMEMBERED Thanks to the Bear

LOOKING BACK 55-YEARS to the Vietnam Air War— For The List for Monday, 10 May 2021... Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻

 

OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (1965-68)

From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post for 10 May 1966..

"Laos 1962-64: Photo Recce and the saga of LT Chuck Klusmann"

 

http://www.rollingthunderremembered.com/rolling-thunder-remembered-10-may-1966-in-the-beginning/

 

 

 

Vietnam Air Losses

Access Chris Hobson and Dave Lovelady's work at:  https://www.VietnamAirLosses.com.

 

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This Day in U S Military History…….May 10

 

1869 – In a remote corner of Utah, the presidents of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads meet and drive a ceremonial last spike into a rail line that connects their railroads and makes transcontinental railroad service possible for the first time in U.S. history. Although travelers would have to take a roundabout journey to cross the country on this railroad system, the driving of the golden spike at Promontory Point, Utah, forever closed a chapter of U.S. history. No longer would western-bound travelers need to take the long and dangerous journey by wagon train, and the west would surely lose some its wild charm with the new connection to the civilized east. As early as 1852, Congress considered the construction of a transcontinental railroad, but the question became enmeshed in the regional politics of the time. In 1866, starting in Omaha and Sacramento, the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads began working toward each other across a northern route, with land grants offered by the government as an incentive for their work. In their eagerness for land, the two lines built right past each other, and the final meeting place had to be renegotiated. On May 10, 1869, the two lines finally met at Promontory Point, Utah.

 

1945 – On Luzon, the advance of US 43rd Division, part of US 11th Corps, loses momentum. On Mindanao, part of the US 40th Division lands on the coast of Macalajar Bay, in the north of the island. The naval support group is commanded by Rear-Admiral Struble. The landing is successful. Filipino guerrillas provide additional support and the beachhead is rapidly consolidated and extended. Some elements advance some 5 miles to the southeast and link up with units of the US 31st Division. There is heavy fighting between the American and Japanese forces already present on the island. Units of the US 19th Division begin to eliminate a number of Japanese pockets of resistance around Davao.

1945 – The 22d Marines, 6th Marine Division, executed a pre-dawn attack south across the Asa River Estuary and seized a bridgehead from which to continue the attack toward Naha, the capital of Okinawa. The bridgehead is about 1 mile wide and 400 yards deep. During the night a Bailey bridge is built to allow tanks and artillery to cross the river. The US 1st Marine Division makes slight progress towards Shuri, facing heavy Japanese opposition. At sea, Japanese Kamikaze strikes hit 1 American destroyer and 1 mine layer.

1972 – President Richard Nixon's decision to mine North Vietnamese harbors is condemned by the Soviet Union, China, and their Eastern European allies, and receives only lukewarm support from Western Europe. The mining was meant to halt the massive North Vietnamese invasion of South Vietnam that had begun on March 30. In the continuing air war over North Vietnam, the United States lost at least three planes and the North Vietnamese 10, as 150 to 175 American planes struck targets over Hanoi, Haiphong, and along rail lines leading from China.

1972 – Air Force Capt. Charles B. DeBellevue of the 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron, flying with Capt. Richard S. Ritchie in a McDonnell Douglas F-4D, records his first aerial kill. Later, DeBellevue recorded four additional victories with pilot Ritchie–both men achieved the designation of ace (traditionally awarded for five enemy aircraft confirmed shot down in aerial combatt). In August, DeBellevue, flying with Captain John A. Madden, Jr., shot down two more MiGs, becoming the leading American ace of the Vietnam War.

 

Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

*HALYBURTON, WILLIAM DAVID, JR.
Rank and organization: Pharmacist's Mate Second Class, U.S. Naval Reserve. Born: 2 August 1924, Canton, N.C. Accredited to: North Carolina. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving with a Marine Rifle Company in the 2d Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division, during action against enemy Japanese forces on Okinawa Shima in the Ryukyu Chain, 10 May 1945. Undaunted by the deadly accuracy of Japanese counterfire as his unit pushed the attack through a strategically important draw, Halyburton unhesitatingly dashed across the draw and up the hill into an open fire-swept field where the company advance squad was suddenly pinned down under a terrific concentration of mortar, machinegun and sniper fire with resultant severe casualties. Moving steadily forward despite the enemy's merciless barrage, he reached the wounded marine who lay farthest away and was rendering first aid when his patient was struck for the second time by a Japanese bullet. Instantly placing himself in the direct line of fire, he shielded the fallen fighter with his own body and staunchly continued his ministrations although constantly menaced by the slashing fury of shrapnel and bullets falling on all sides. Alert, determined and completely unselfish in his concern for the helpless marine, he persevered in his efforts until he himself sustained mortal wounds and collapsed, heroically sacrificing himself that his comrade might live. By his outstanding valor and unwavering devotion to duty in the face of tremendous odds, Halyburton sustained and enhanced the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life in the service of his country.

REPORT THIS AD

*SABO, JR., LESLIE H.
Rank: Specialist Fourth Class, Organization: U.S. Army, Company: Company B, 3d Battalion, Division: 506th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division, Born: February 23, 1948, Austria, Departed: Yes (05/10/1970), Entered Service At: Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, G.O. Number: , Date of Issue: 05/16/2012, Accredited To: Pennsylvania, Place / Date: May 10, 1970, Se San, Cambodia.  Citation:  Specialist Four Leslie H. Sabo Jr. distinguished himself by conspicuous acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty at the cost of his own life while serving as a rifleman in Company B, 3d Battalion, 506th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division in Se San, Cambodia, on May 10, 1970. On that day, Specialist Four Sabo and his platoon were conducting a reconnaissance patrol when they were ambushed from all sides by a large enemy force. Without hesitation, Specialist Four Sabo charged an enemy position, killing several enemy soldiers. Immediately thereafter, he assaulted an enemy flanking force, successfully drawing their fire away from friendly soldiers and ultimately forcing the enemy to retreat. In order to re-supply ammunition, he sprinted across an open field to a wounded comrade. As he began to reload, an enemy grenade landed nearby. Specialist Four Sabo picked it up, threw it, and shielded his comrade with his own body, thus absorbing the brunt of the blast and saving his comrade's life. Seriously wounded by the blast, Specialist Four Sabo nonetheless retained the initiative and then single-handedly charged an enemy bunker that had inflicted severe damage on the platoon, receiving several serious wounds from automatic weapons fire in the process. Now mortally injured, he crawled towards the enemy emplacement and, when in position, threw a grenade into the bunker. The resulting explosion silenced the enemy fire, but also ended Specialist Four Sabo's life. His indomitable courage and complete disregard for his own safety saved the lives of many of his platoon members. Specialist Four Sabo's extraordinary heroism and selflessness, above and beyond the call of duty, at the cost of his life, are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, Company B, 3d Battalion, 506th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division, and the United States Army.

 

 

 

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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for May 10, 2021 FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY

 

10 May

 

1911 – First U.S. Army pilot casualty, 2nd Lt. George Edward Maurice Kelly (1878–1911), London-born, and a naturalized United States citizen in 1902, is killed when he banks his Curtiss Type IV (or Curtiss Model D), Army Signal Corps serial number 2, sharply to avoid plowing into an infantry encampment near the present site of Fort Sam Houston, Texas. The Aviation Camp (aka Remount Station) at Fort Sam Houston is renamed Camp Kelly, 11 June 1917, then Kelly Field on 30 July 1917, and finally Kelly AFB on 29 January 1948. Airframe rebuilt, finally grounded in February 1914, refurbished, and placed on display in the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C. Due to this crash, the commanding officer of Fort Sam Houston bans further training flights at the base, the flying facilities being moved to College Park Airport, College Park, Maryland in June–July 1911. A replica of this airframe is preserved at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

 

1913: FIRST AERIAL BOMBING. Didier Masson and Thomas Dean, flying for Mexican General Alvarado Obregon, conducted the first aerial bombing in an American war by bombing Mexican Federal gunboats in Guaymas Bay, Gulf of California. (21)

1913 – First flight of the Sikorsky Russky Vityaz, or Russian Knight, also called Le Grand, first four-engine aircraft in the world piloted by Igor Sikorsky, first man to fly a four engine powered aircraft.

 

1918 – Birth of George Welch (pilot), World War II flying ace, a Medal of Honor nominee, and an experimental aircraft pilot after the war. Welch is best known both for being one of over 17 United States Army Air Forces fighter pilots able to get airborne to engage Japanese forces in the attack on Pearl Harbor.

 

1919 — The recently formed Avro Transport Company in Manchester opens Britain's first scheduled air service. A fare of four guineas (£4.20) is being charged for the journey of 50 miles. The company is using four of Avro 504K aircraft, modified to carry two passengers.

 

1928 — Air Corps T. C. airship lands on deck of S.S. American Trader near Ambrose Light, New York, transfers cargo and takes off again.

 

1935 — Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd returns to the United States from Second Antarctic Expedition.

 

1941 – At 2305 hrs. Messerschmitt Bf 110D, Werknr 3868, 'VJ+OQ', appears over Eaglesham, Renfrewshire. Pilot bails out and when challenged by David McLean, Head Ploughman of a local farm, as to whether he is German, the man replies in good English; "Yes, I am Hauptmann Alfred Horn. I have an important message for the Duke of Hamilton". Horn is taken to McLean's cottage where McLean's wife makes a pot of tea, but the German requests only a glass of water. Horn has hurt his back and help is summoned. Local Home Guard soldiers arrive and Horn is taken to their headquarters at the Drill Hall, Busby, near Glasgow. Upon questioning by a visiting Royal Observer Corps officer, Major Graham Donald, Horn repeats his request to see the Duke. Donald recognises "Hauptmann Horn" to be none other than Rudolph Hess. The remains of Hess' Messerschmitt Bf 110 are now in the Imperial War Museum.

 

1942: The carrier USS Ranger, off the African Gold Coast, launched 60 US AAF P-40s to Accra. From there, they were flown in stages to the 10th Air Force in India. (24)

 

1945 – Sighting a Japanese Kawasaki Ki-45 (Allied reporting name "Nick" fighter flying high over Okinawa, U. S. Marine Corps First Lieutenant Robert R, Klingman in a Vought F4U Corsair gives chase for over 185 miles and intercepts the Ki-45 at 38,000 feet (12,000 m). Finding his guns frozen, he climbs well above the Corsair's service ceiling of 41,600 feet (12,700 m) and cuts off the Kawasaki Ki-45′s tail with his propeller in several passes, causing it to crash. He then belly lands safely at Kadena Air Base on Okinawa. He receives the Navy Cross for the action.

 

1944: CHENGTU PROJECT. Using primitive construction methods, 400,000 laborers completed this project to build five very heavy bomber bases and six fighter fields in China to support B-29 operations. The work started in January. (21) (24)

 

1946 – First successful launch of an American V-2 rocket at White Sands Proving Ground.

 

1953: KOREAN WAR. Flying through intense flak Col Victor E. Warford, 58 FBW Commander, led 8 F-84 ThunderJets to attack the hydroelectric generating facilities at Sui-ho near the Yalu River. Through 11 May, 39 B-29 Superfortresses raided the 375-acre Yangsi troop concentration area twelve miles southeast of Sinuiju City, achieving 63 percent destruction of one of the last large lucrative targets remaining in N. Korea. (28)

 

1955: The USAF issued a requirement for a surface-launched, turbojet subsonic decoy missile for the B-47 or B-52. It became the Goose missile. (6) General Electric's XJ79 turbojet engine made its first flight in the NB-45 test aircraft over Schenectady, N.Y. This engine later powered the Convair B-58, the Lockheed F-104, and the McDonnell Douglas F-4. (8: May 90)

 

1961: Maj Elmer E. Murphy flew a B-58 from Carswell AFB (43 BMW) on a 30-minute, 45-second flight at 1,302 MPH over a 669.4-mile closed-course. This gave the USAF permanent possession of the Bleriot Cup given by the Aero Club of France. (1) (24)

 

1962: After a 3-year testing program, a USAF BOMARC-A launched from Eglin AFB intercepted an F-104 Starfighter drone 150 miles away. (16) (24)

 

1964: At Rosemount, Minn, Tracy Barnes rode a Barnes 14A Balloon to an FAI altitude record of 38,650 feet for balloons in subclasses A-3 through A-9 (400 to 4000 cubic meters). (9)

 

1965: Lt Col James W. Wood became the first pilot to fly the variable, swept-wing F-111 at Edwards AFB. (3) Tactical control of aircraft in battle areas assigned to the Air Force by the JCS. (16) (26)

 

1972 — "LineBacker I" offensive of Vietnam War begins.

 

1972: The Fairchild-Republic A-10A prototype, an entry in the USAF's A-X competition to select a close-air-support fighter, completed its first flight at Edwards AFB. (3) LINEBACKER I: Through 11 May, 8 TFW F-4 Phantoms dropped precision-guided munitions on the Paul Doumer Bridge in Hanoi, North Vietnam, and closed the bridge to traffic. The attacks began a campaign against logistics and industrial targets in North Vietnam, including the mining of North Vietnames harbors. (17) (21) After several months of dropping bombs against the invading North Vietnamese, Navy fighter squadrons spent the day engaging MiGs in the heaviest aerial action of the war. VF96 from the USS Constellation (CVA64) destroyed six of eight MiGs. In their F-4J, Lt Randy Cunningham and his backseater, Lt (JG) Willie Driscoll, of VF96 downed three MiG-17s. When combined with their two earlier kills on 19 January and 8 May, they became the first American aces of the Vietnam War, the first all-missile aces, and the first U.S. aces since the Korean War. After their third kill, a SAM hit forced both men to eject from their F-4 south of Hanoi. The effort required to rescue the Navy's two newest aces was hectic and dangerous as the rescuers faced fire from two North Vietnamese PT boats and heavy fire from communist shore positions. (http://www.aerosphere.com/html/randy_cunningham.shtml)

 

1986 – The U. S. Navy selects the F/A-18 Hornet as the official airplane of the Blue Angels. It replaces the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk.

 

1995: A C-141 Starlifter from the 349th Air Mobility Wing (AMW) carried a ton of medical supplies to Zaire after an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in Central Africa. A C-5 Galaxy delivered another ton of supplies to Kinshasa, Zaire, later in the month. (16)

 

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World News for 10 May thanks to Military Periscope

Please see the attachment