Good Saturday Morning September 4…
I hope that you all have a great weekend.
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Today in Naval and Marine Corps History
September 4
Today in Naval History September 4
1804 The ketch USS Intrepid, outfitted with a large explosive charge to destroy the enemy fleet in Tripoli harbor, is apparently intercepted while entering the harbor and is destroyed in a violent explosion. Lt. Richard Somers, commanding USS Intrepid, and his dozen volunteer officers and men perish in the mission.
1941 The German submarine U-652 attacks the destroyer USS Greer (DD 145), which is tracking the submarine southeast of Iceland. Though the destroyer is not damaged in the attack, USS Greers depth charges damage U-652. The attack leads President Franklin D. Roosevelt to issue his shoot-on-sight order, directing the Navy to attack any ship threatening U.S. shipping or foreign shipping under escort.
1954 The icebreakers USS Burton Island (AGB 1) and USCGC Northwind complete the first transit of Northwest Passage through the McClure Strait.
1954 A P2V-5 Neptune from VP-19 is attacked by two Soviet MiG-15s and crashes in the Sea of Japan, 40 miles off the coast of Siberia. One crewman is lost and the other nine are rescued by a USAF SA-16 amphibian.
1960 USS Bushnell (AS 15) and USS Penguin (ASR 12) begin relief operations in Marathon, Fla., after Hurricane Donna.
Today in History
| September 4 | ||
| 1260 | At the Battle of Montaperto in Italy, the Tuscan Ghibellines, who support the emperor, defeat the Florentine Guelfs, who support papal power. | |
| 1479 | After four years of war, Spain agrees to allow a Portuguese monopoly of trade along Africa's west coast and Portugal acknowledges Spain's rights in the Canary Islands. | |
| 1781 | Los Angeles, first an Indian village Yangma, is founded by Spanish decree. | |
| 1787 | Louis XVI of France recalls parliament. | |
| 1790 | Jacques Necker is forced to resign as finance minister in France. | |
| 1804 | USS Intrepid explodes while entering Tripoli harbor on a mission to destroy the enemy fleet there during the First Barbary War. | |
| 1820 | Czar Alexander declares that Russian influence in North America extends as far south as Oregon and closes Alaskan waters to foreigners. | |
| 1862 | Robert E. Lee's Confederate army invades Maryland, starting the Antietam Campaign. | |
| 1870 | A republic is proclaimed in Paris and a government of national defense is formed. | |
| 1881 | The Edison electric lighting system goes into operation as a generator serving 85 paying customers is switched on. | |
| 1886 | Elusive Apache leader Geronimo surrenders to General Nelson A. Miles at Skeleton Canyon, Ariz. | |
| 1893 | Beatrix Potter sends a note to her governess' son with the first drawing of Peter Rabbit, Cottontail and others. The Tale of Petter Rabbit is published eight years later. | |
| 1915 | The U.S. military places Haiti under martial law to quell a rebellion in its capital Port-au-Prince. | |
| 1941 | German submarine U-652 fires at the U.S. destroyer Greer off Iceland, beginning an undeclared shooting war. | |
| 1942 | Soviet planes bomb Budapest in the war's first air raid on the Hungarian capital. | |
| 1943 | Allied troops capture Lae-Salamaua, in New Guinea. | |
| 1944 | British troops liberate Antwerp, Belgium. | |
| 1945 | The American flag is raised on Wake Island after surrender ceremonies there. | |
| 1951 | The first transcontinental television broadcast in America is carried by 94 stations. | |
| 1957 | Arkansas governor Orval Faubus calls out the National Guard to bar African-American students from entering a Little Rock high school. | |
| 1967 | Operation Swift begins as US Marines engage North Vietnamese Army troops in Que Son Valley. | |
| 1972 | Mark Spitz becomes first Olympic competitor to win 7 medals during a single Olympics Games. | |
| 1975 | Sinai II Agreement between Egypt and Israel pledges that conflicts between the two countries "shall not be resolved by military force but by peaceful means." | |
| 1998 | Google founded by Stanford University students Larry Page and Sergey Brin. | |
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ROLLING THUNDER REMEMBERED Thanks to the Bear
LOOKING BACK 55-YEARS to the Vietnam Air War— … For The List for Saturday, 4 September 2021…Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968)…
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post for 4 September 1966…
Napoleon: "History is the laboratory of warriors."
This following work accounts for every fixed wing loss of the Vietnam War and you can use it to read more about the losses in The Bear's Daily account. Even better it allows you to add your updated information to the work to update for history…skip
Vietnam Air Losses
Access Chris Hobson and Dave Lovelady's work at: https://www.VietnamAirLosses.com.
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Thanks to Dr. Rich
Washington Post X-15 story
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/08/29/smithsonians-legendary-rocket-plane-heads-storage-during-renovations/
Gone to storage for 4 Years? Two years to go
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Thanks to NHHC
Overview
"The U.S. Navy and the Landings at Salerno, Italy, 3–17 September 1943" discusses the background to Operation Avalanche and U.S. Navy participation in the amphibious landings.
Operation Avalanche Images
From the pre-invasion build-up through the beach landings
USS Savannah (CL-42) at Salerno: Strike of a German "Fritz X" Guided Bomb and Its Aftermath
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Thanks to Micro
There's A Problem In The Upper Reaches Of Our Military
by Victor Davis Hanson
It is the beginning of a never-ending bad dream. Joe Biden and the Pentagon have managed to birth a new terrorist haven, destroy much of U.S. strategic deterrence, and alienate our allies and much of the country.
In the hours after the horrific deaths of 13 service members, we have been reassured by our military that our partnership with the Taliban to provide security for our flights was wise. We were told that the terrorist victors share similar goals to ours in a hasty American retreat from Kabul. We were reminded that Afghan refugees (unlike U.S. soldiers) will not be forced to be vaccinated on arrival. Such statements are either untrue or absurd.
On the very day of the attack that killed American troops, the sergeant major of the U.S. Army reminded us in a tweet that diversity is our strength, commemorating not the dead but Women's Equality Day. If so, then is the opposite of diversity -- unity -- our weakness? Will such wokeness ensure that we do not abandon the Bagram airbase in the middle of the night without opposition?
The chief of staff at the Office of Naval Intelligence warned the ONI's active duty and retired service members that they must not criticize Biden, their commander in chief, over the Afghanistan fiasco. The office correctly cited prohibitions found in the Uniform Code of Military Justice barring any disrespect shown to senior government leadership.
Indeed, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps was relieved of his command for posting a video accurately blaming military and civilian leadership for the Afghanistan nightmare.
Yet until Jan. 20, retired top brass had constantly smeared their elected commander in chief with impunity.
Recently retired Gen. Michael Hayden retweeted a horrific suggestion that unvaccinated Trump supporters should be put on planes back to Afghanistan, where they presumably would be left to die.
Other retired high-profile military officials variously called their president an emulator of Nazi tactics, a veritable Mussolini, a liar, and deserving of removal from office sooner than later. None of these retired four-stars faced the sort of repercussions that the Office of Naval Intelligence just warned about.
Hayden earlier had compared Trump's border facilities to Nazi death camps.
More than 50 former intelligence officials on the eve of the November election signed a letter suggesting that incriminating emails found on Hunter Biden's missing laptop might be "Russian disinformation." They used their stature for political purposes to convince the American people that the story was a lie.
Retired Gen. Joseph Dunford and retired Adm. Mike Mullen recently blasted retired brass who had questioned Biden's cognitive ability. OK. But they should have issued a similar warning earlier, when the violations of fellow retired officers were even more egregious in election year 2020.
Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, apologized for doing a photo op with Trump, erroneously buying into the narrative that Trump had ordered rioters cleared from Lafayette Square for the staged picture. Worse, he leaked to journalists that he was so angry with Trump that he "considered" resigning. Think of the irony. If Milley considered a politicized resignation to rebuke Trump over the false charge, then surely he could consider a real resignation after overseeing the worst military disaster of the last half-century in Kabul.
Milley had promised to root out white supremacy from the ranks while recommending that his soldiers read Ibram X. Kendi's racialist diatribes.
Something is terribly wrong in the ranks of America's top commanders that reflects something wrong with the country.
The Pentagon needs to stop virtue-signaling about diversity days and culturally sensitive food for Afghan refugees. Instead, can it just explain why the Bagram airbase was abandoned by night, or why Taliban terrorists are our supposed "partners" in organizing our surrender and escape?
Which general allowed more than $85 billion in American weapons to fall to the Taliban -- a sum equal to the price of seven new U.S. aircraft carriers?
Who turned over to the Taliban the lists of Americans and allied Afghans to be evacuated?
Who left behind biometric devices that the Taliban are now using to hunt down our former Afghan friends?
Somehow our new woke Pentagon is hell-bent on losing the trust of the American people -- along with the wars it fights abroad.
Authored by Victor Davis Hanson
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Thanks to YP ...
Chaps,
Since the approaching HOOK21 is about the Late Unpleasantness in Southeast Asia, I submit a pic from Alpha, Gary Aaron, a fellow Sidewinder since Flown West. It shows two FNG's taking hits in front of an APM. Left FNG is brown bar Candy Andy, the future Buddy Store Bomber, and YP hisself flanks him. I do not note rivulets of perspiration caused by the required dose of chit.
Ready Room Four Starboard (VA-86 and VA-72 had to split a normal sized ready room with an aluminum bulkhead down the middle, with a hatch between the two parts, since we had the Bullpup trainer on our side, and it facilitated the trading of insults…). RR 4S was NOT in these computer generated Timothy Leary colors. It was uniformly haze in-terminate, except the port bulkhead held a giant, framed painting of green scenery painted by the squadron wives. It had add on PLAYMATE OF THE MONTH posters as evidence of testosterone poisoning, back when it was considered realistic and a good thing.
YP(SLDO First LT) had bribed some ship's company pukes to place helmet hangars on the stb bulkhead, and the duty officer desk was on the port bulkhead side, and at the rear was the all important eternal coffee urn and cups, along with the tow sack with corn for popping (or throwing at squadron mates accused of Seagullismo) and the precious movie projector for the torture of two cruise movie officer, YP.
The ready room was nominally air conditioned, but you can imagine the locker room smell. The giant mechanical ticker tape machine was to the port of this picture, and its low tech screen laboriously typed out its messages. The PLAT television screen was above it, and it continuously showed the current or last recovery. Everybody was PLAT LSO qualified, and all approaches and traps were graded. Since Naval Aviators regularly eat their young, no slack was expected or given.
This was our natural element. I loved being in a fleet squadron, and shore duty pukes were just that.
We were blessed.
YP, available for translation...
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Thanks to Carl
REVEALED: The US troops recovering in Walter Reed after suffering gunshot and blast wounds, facial paralysis and burst eardrums in ISIS-K suicide bombing that killed 13 Americans in Kabul
A total of 15 Marines are at Walter Reed hospital following the deadly ISIS-K suicide blast that left 13 service members dead
The attack comes after President Joe Biden's decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan
Lance Cpl. Romel Finley III, Cpl. Kelsee Lainhart, Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews, Lance Cpl. Salvadore Lule, and Cpl. Wyatt Jay Wilson among injured
President Biden and First lady Jill traveled to Walter Reed Thursday night to visit injured Marines
No mention that they actually visited the men that were injured and no pictures
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This Day in U S Military History
September 4
1812 – The Siege of Fort Harrison begins when the fort is set on fire. On September 3, 1812, a band of Miami arrived and warned Captain Zachary Taylor that they would soon be attacked by a large force of Native Americans. That evening, shots were heard, but Taylor was hesitant to send a scout party. He only had 50 men in his garrison, and sickness had reduced the number of effective soldiers to only 15. In the morning, a party was dispatched and discovered the bodies of two white settlers, the Doyle brothers. The brothers were buried, and the party reported back to Fort Harrison. Captain Taylor, with his 15 able soldiers and about 5 healthy settlers, made ready for the expected attack. Each of the 20 men was issued sixteen rounds to fire. That day, September 4, a force of 600 Potawatomi (under Chief Pa-koi-shee-can), Wea (under War Chief Stone Eater), Shawnee, Kickapoo and Winnebago warriors approached Fort Harrison. A party of 40 men under command of Kickapoo Chief Namahtoha approached under a flag of truce and asked to parley with Taylor the next morning. Taylor agreed, and the Indian force retreated to camp for the night. That night, a warrior crawled up and set the blockhouse on fire. When the sentries opened fire on the arsonist, the 600-strong Indian war party attacked the west side of the fort. Taylor ordered the fort's surgeon and a handful of defenders to control the fire. The blockhouse, which was attached to the barracks, had a store of whiskey, which soon ignited, and the fire raged out of control. Taylor admitted in his report that the situation looked hopeless, and two of his healthy men fled the fort. Warning the fort that "Taylor never surrenders!", the captain organized a bucket brigade to fight the fire before it destroyed the fort's picket walls. One woman, Julia Lambert, even lowered herself down into the fort's well to fill buckets more quickly. The fire did serve one purpose, in that it illuminated the night, revealing the attackers. The fire left a 20-foot-wide (6.1 m) gap in the outer wall, which the garrison temporarily sealed with a 5-foot-high (1.5 m) breastwork. The remaining few of the garrison returned the fire of the Indians so fiercely that they were able to hold off the attack. All remaining invalids were armed to maintain defense, while healthy men were put to work repairing a hole left in the fort's walls. The fort was repaired by daybreak of September 5. The Indian force withdrew just beyond gun range and butchered area farm animals within sight of the fort. The garrison and settlers inside the fort, meanwhile, had lost most of their food in the fire, and had only a few bushels of corn, and faced starvation. News of the siege arrived in Vincennes as Colonel William Russell was passing through with a company of regular infantry and a company of rangers, on their way to join Ninian Edwards, governor of Illinois Territory. Colonel Russell's companies joined with the local militia and 7th Infantry Regiment and marched to the relief of Fort Harrison. Over 1000 men arrived from Vincennes on September 12, and the Indian force departed. The next day, however, a supply train following Colonel Russell was attacked in what became known as the Attack at the Narrows in modern Sullivan County, Indiana
1886 – For almost 30 years he had fought the whites who invaded his homeland, but Geronimo, the wiliest and most dangerous Apache warrior of his time, finally surrenders in Skeleton Canyon, Arizona. Known to the Apache as Goyalkla, or "One Who Yawns," most non-Indians knew him by his Spanish nickname, Geronimo. When he was a young man, Mexican soldiers had murdered his wife and children during a brutal attack on his village in Chihuahua, Mexico. Though Geronimo later remarried and fathered other children, the scars of that early tragedy left him with an abiding hatred for Mexicans. Operating in the border region around Mexico's Sierra Madre and southern Arizona and New Mexico, Geronimo and his band of 50 Apache warriors succeeded in keeping white settlers off Apache lands for decades. Geronimo never learned to use a gun, yet he armed his men with the best modern rifles he could obtain and even used field glasses to aid reconnaissance during his campaigns. He was a brilliant strategist who used the Apache knowledge of the arid desert environment to his advantage, and for years Geronimo and his men successfully evaded two of the U.S. Army's most talented Indian fighters, General George Crook and General Nelson A. Miles. But by 1886, the great Apache warrior had grown tired of fighting and further resistance seemed increasingly pointless: there were just too many whites and too few Apaches. On September 4, 1886, Geronimo turned himself over to Miles, becoming the last American Indian warrior in history to formally surrender to the United States. After several years of imprisonment, Geronimo was given his freedom, and he moved to Oklahoma where he converted to Christianity and became a successful farmer. He even occasionally worked as a scout and adviser for the U.S. army. Transformed into a safe and romantic symbol of the already vanishing era of the Wild West, he became a popular celebrity at world's fairs and expositions and even rode in President Theodore Roosevelt's inaugural parade in 1905. He died at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in 1909, still on the federal payroll as an army scout.
1942 – At Guadalcanal, the Japanese receive additional reinforcements. Off the coast, two older American destroyers utilized as transports are sunk by Japanese destroyers.
1945 – 2,200 Japanese soldiers finally lay down their arms-days after their government had already formally capitulated. Wake Island was one of the islands bombed as part of a wider bombing raid that coincided with the attack on Pearl Harbor. In December of 1941, the Japanese invaded in force, taking the island from American hands, losing 820 men, while the United States lost 120. The United States decided not to retake the island but to cut off the Japanese occupiers from reinforcement, which would mean they would eventually starve. Rear Adm. Shigematsu Sakaibara, commander of the Japanese forces there, ordered the 96 Allied prisoners of war who had been left behind shot dead on trumped-up charges of trying to signal American forces by radio. And so the Japanese garrison sat on Wake Island for two years, suffering the occasional U.S. bombing raid, but no land invasion. In that time, 1,300 Japanese soldiers died from starvation, and 600 from the American air attacks. Two days after the formal Japanese surrender onboard the USS Missouri, Sakaibara capitulated to American forces, which finally landed on the island. Sakaibara was eventually tried for war crimes and executed in 1947.
1967 – The U.S. 1st Marine Division launches Operation SWIFT, a search and destroy operation in Quang Nam and Quang Tin Provinces in I Corps Tactical Zone (the region south of the Demilitarized Zone). A fierce four-day battle ensued in the Que Son Valley, 25 miles south of Da Nang. During the course of the battle, 114 men of the U.S. 5th Marine Regiment were killed while the North Vietnamese forces suffered 376 casualties.
1969 – Radio Hanoi announces the death of Ho Chi Minh, proclaiming that the National Liberation Front will halt military operations in the South for three days, September 8-11, in mourning for Ho. He had been the spiritual leader of the communists in Vietnam since the earliest days of the struggle against the French and, later, the United States and its ally in Saigon. Chinese Premier Chou En-Lai and a delegation from China held talks with First Secretary Le Duan and other members of the North Vietnamese Politburo. The Chinese leaders assured the North Vietnamese of their continued support in the war against the United States. This support was absolutely essential if the North Vietnamese wished to continue the war. Many in the United States hoped the death of Ho Chi Minh would provide a new opportunity to achieve a negotiated settlement to the war in Vietnam, but this did not materialize.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
*PETERS, LAWRENCE DAVID
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps, Company M, 3d Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division. Place and date: Quang Tin Province, Republic of Vietnam, 4 September 1967. Entered service at: Binghamton, N.Y. Born: 16 September 1946, Johnson City, N.Y. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a squad leader with Company M. During Operation SWIFT, the marines of the 2d Platoon of Company M were struck by intense mortar, machinegun, and small arms fire from an entrenched enemy force. As the company rallied its forces, Sgt. Peters maneuvered his squad in an assault on any enemy defended knoll. Disregarding his safety, as enemy rounds hit all about him, he stood in the open, pointing out enemy positions until he was painfully wounded in the leg. Disregarding his wound, he moved forward and continued to lead his men. As the enemy fire increased in accuracy and volume, his squad lost its momentum and was temporarily pinned down. Exposing himself to devastating enemy fire, he consolidated his position to render more effective fire. While directing the base of fire, he was wounded a second time in the face and neck from an exploding mortar round. As the enemy attempted to infiltrate the position of an adjacent platoon, Sgt. Peters stood erect in the full view of the enemy firing burst after burst forcing them to disclose their camouflaged positions. Sgt. Peters steadfastly continued to direct his squad in spite of 2 additional wounds, persisted in his efforts to encourage and supervise his men until he lost consciousness and succumbed. Inspired by his selfless actions, the squad regained fire superiority and once again carried the assault to the enemy. By his outstanding valor, indomitable fighting spirit and tenacious determination in the face of overwhelming odds, Sgt. Peters upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
STOCKDALE, JAMES B.
Rank and organization: Rear Admiral (then Captain), U.S. Navy. Place and date: Hoa Lo prison, Hanoi, North Vietnam, 4 September 1969. Entered service at: Abingdon, Ill. Born: 23 December 1923, Abingdon, Ill.. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while senior naval officer in the Prisoner of War camps of North Vietnam. Recognized by his captors as the leader in the Prisoners' of War resistance to interrogation and in their refusal to participate in propaganda exploitation, Rear Adm. Stockdale was singled out for interrogation and attendant torture after he was detected in a covert communications attempt. Sensing the start of another purge, and aware that his earlier efforts at self-disfiguration to dissuade his captors from exploiting him for propaganda purposes had resulted in cruel and agonizing punishment, Rear Adm. Stockdale resolved to make himself a symbol of resistance regardless of personal sacrifice. He deliberately inflicted a near-mortal wound to his person in order to convince his captors of his willingness to give up his life rather than capitulate. He was subsequently discovered and revived by the North Vietnamese who, convinced of his indomitable spirit, abated in their employment of excessive harassment and torture toward all of the Prisoners of War. By his heroic action, at great peril to himself, he earned the everlasting gratitude of his fellow prisoners and of his country. Rear Adm. Stockdale's valiant leadership and extraordinary courage in a hostile environment sustain and enhance the finest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for September 4, 2020 FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
4 September
1911: BOSTON AIR MEET. Lt Thomas DeWitt Milling became the first Army officer to fly at night. While participating in a 160-mile tristate air race, Milling had to land his plane by the light of gasoline flares. Earle L. Ovington won the race. (24)
1922: KEY EVENT. Lt James H. Doolittle completed the first transcontinental flight in one day in a rebuilt DH-4B with Liberty 400 HP engines. He flew from Pablo Beach, Fla, to Rockwell Field, Calif., and covered the 2,163 miles in 21 hours 20 minutes flying time. (9)
1923: The airship USS Shenandoah (ZR-1) made its first flight at Lakehurst, N.J. (20)
1933: At Glenville, Ill., James R. Wedell flew his Wedell-Williams Airplane to a 305-MPH world speed record. (9)
1936: Louise Thaden and Blanche Noyes won the Bendix Trophy Race. They also set an east-west transcontinental speed record for women, when they flew from Floyd Bennett Field, N. Y., to Los Angeles, Calif., in 14 hours 55 minutes in a Beachcraft airplane with a Wright Whirlwind engine. (24)
1950: KOREAN WAR. At Hanggan-dong, an H-5 helicopter made its first rescue of a U.S. pilot behind enemy lines, when Lt Paul W. Van Boven saved Capt Robert E. Wayne. (28)
1952: KOREAN WAR. 75 fighter-bombers flew well north of the Chongchon River to attack targets, flushing out about 89 MiGs from their bases in Manchuria. While protecting the F-84s, 39 F-86 Sabres engaged the MiGs, destroying 13, to equal the one-day record set on 4 July. Four F-86s fell to the MiG pilots. Maj Frederick C. Blesse, 334th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, destroyed his fifth enemy aircraft to become an ace. An H-19 from the 3d Air Rescue Squadron saved a downed fighter pilot and two crewmen of a US Navy helicopter, which had lost power and crashed in the water while attempting to pick up the pilot. (28) The USAF awarded the production contract for Lockheed's 383 transport, better known as the C-130 Hercules. (4)
1957: Lockheed's C-140 Jetstar prototype first flew. (12)
1958: Four F-100 Super Sabres completed the first nonstop jet fighter flight from the US to Norway. (24)
1959: At Sioux Falls, Idaho, an unmanned balloon, launched for scientific purposes, soared to an altitude of 150,000 feet. (24) The Minuteman missile program received the highest national priority for production. (6)
1961: PROJECT TACKHAMMER/OPERATIONS STAIR STEP and BRASS RING. Through 27 November, three operations offered a show of force to Soviet Union's erection of the Berlin Wall. Airlift units moved a Composite Air Strike Force to Europe from 4 to 7 September under Project TACKHAMMER, and then they carried nearly 10,000 troops and some 2,380 tons of cargo to the region from 31 October to 27 November during Operation STAIR STEP. In November, airlifters also moved Tactical Air Command F-104s and personnel in Operation BRASS RING. (18)
1970: The Army's CH-47 Chinook helicopter flew its maiden flight with the new T-55-1-11A Lycoming engines at Edwards AFB, Calif. (3)
1975: For outstanding air refueling support, the Tactical Air Command gave Strategic Air Command its "Gen Carl 'Tooey' Spaatz Award" in memory of the first Chief of Staff of the Air Force and pioneer in air refueling. On 4 October, the Strategic Air Command then gave the first award to the 11th Air Refueling Squadron at Altus AFB, Okla. (1)
1981: Vandenberg AFB, Calif., moved the last modified Thor space booster into storage at Norton AFB in San Bernardino, Calif. (6)
1984: At Palmdale, Calif., Rockwell International rolled out the first B-1B (Tail No. 82-0001) for the public. (1) Exercise GALLANT EAGLE '84. Through 12 September, the Strategic Air Command, the Tactical Air Command, Military Airlift Command, and Army units in the west took part in the largest US military exercise since 1962. Gallant Eagle involved 44 B-52s (182 sorties), KC-135s and KC-10s (309 support missions), command and control, and reconnaissance aircraft. (1)
1987: An F/A-18 fired an Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile for the first time at supersonic speeds at Point Mugu, Calif. (5) 1996: A C-141 Starlifter from the 305th Air Mobility Wing at McGuire AFB, N. J., evacuated 30 passengers from Bujumbura, Burundi, to Nairobi, Kenya, to remove them from the danger of a civil war in Burundi. (26)
2005: HURRICANE KATRINA. Air Guard pararescue specialists saved 538 human lives in one day. This one-day total was the highest number of saves by Air National Guard rescue assets during the hurricane relief operation. (32) HURRICANE KATRINA. During their first three days of relief operations, Air National Guard aircrews flew 785 sorties to transport 12,854 people and 39,013 tons of cargo. (32)
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