Good Sunday morning December 12.
I hope you are all having a great weekend. Only one more until Christmas.
Regards,
Skip
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This Day in Navy and Marine Corps History
December 12
1862—During the Civil War, a Confederate torpedo (mine) sinks USS Cairo in Yazoo River. Her wreck is recovered in 1965, but is badly damaged during the salvage efforts.
1937—After Japan invades Nanking, China, USS Panay (PR 5) evacuates American citizens when it comes under attack from Japanese aircraft, killing three men and wounding 43 sailors and five civilians.
1941—The Naval Air Transport Service (NATS) is established.
1942—Five torpedo boats attack 11 Japanese destroyers off Cape Esperance, Guadalcanal. Motor torpedo boats PT 37 and PT 40 sink Japanese destroyer Terutsuki. In return, the Japanese destroyers Kawakaze and Suzukaze sink PT 44 off Savo Island.
1972—Capt. Eugene A. Cernan, commander of Apollo 17, walks on the Moon and raises the U.S. flag. Cmdr. Ronald E. Evans is the Command Module Pilot and Harrison H. Schmitt is the Lunar Module pilot. The mission lasts 12 days, 13 hours and 52 minutes.
2001—USS Russell (DDG 59) recovers four crewmembers from an Air Force B-1B Lancer bomber, which crashed at about 11:30 a.m. EST into the Indian Ocean 30 miles north of the British base of Diego Garcia.
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Today in History December 12
1753 |
| George Washington, the adjutant of Virginia, delivers an ultimatum to the French forces at Fort Le Boeuf, south of Lake Erie, reiterating Britain's claim to the entire Ohio River valley. |
1770 |
| The British soldiers responsible for the "Boston Massacre" are acquitted on murder charges. |
1862 |
| The Union loses its first ship to a torpedo, USS Cairo, in the Yazoo River. |
1863 |
| Orders are given in Richmond, Virginia, that no more supplies from the Union should be received by Federal prisoners. |
1901 |
| Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi receives the first transatlantic radio transmission in St. John's Newfoundland. |
1927 |
| Communists forces seize Canton, China. |
1930 |
| The Spanish Civil War begins as rebels take a border town. |
1930 |
| The last Allied troops withdraw from the Saar region in Germany. |
1931 |
| Under pressure from the Communists in Canton, Chiang Kai-shek resigns as president of the Nanking Government but remains the head of the Nationalist government that holds nominal rule over most of China. |
1943 |
| The German Army launches Operation Winter Tempest, the relief of the Sixth Army trapped in Stalingrad. |
1943 |
| The exiled Czech government signs a treaty with the Soviet Union for postwar cooperation. |
1956 |
| The United Nations calls for immediate Soviet withdrawal from Hungary. |
1964 |
| Kenya becomes a republic. |
1964 |
| Three Buddhist leaders begin a hunger strike to protest the government in Saigon. |
1967 |
| The United States ends the airlift of 6,500 men in Vietnam. |
1979 |
| South Korean Army Major General Chun Doo-hwan, acting without authorization from President Choi Kyu-ha, orders the arrest of Army Chief of Staff General Jeong Seung-hwa, alleging that the chief of staff was involved in the assassination of ex-President Park Chung Hee. |
1985 |
| Arrow Air Flight 1285 crashes after takeoff at Gander, Newfoundland; among the 256 dead are 236 members of the US Army's 101st Airborne Division. |
1991 |
| The Russian Federation becomes independent from the USSR. |
1995 |
| Willie Brown beats incumbent mayor Frank Jordon to become the first African-American mayor of San Francisco. |
2000 |
| The US Supreme Court announces its decision in Bush v. Gore, effectively ending legal changes to the results of that year's Presidential election. |
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Thanks to Dutch….This one had me toe tapping and smiling
Jingle Bells PLUS!!
These 'surprise' performances are becoming more commonplace,
but I'd love to be around when one took place. I wouldn't have
minded missing my train for this happy, toe tapping,
presentation.....US Air Force style
https://www.youtube.com/embed/ khQN5ylb3H0?rel=0
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This was a year ago and there is still no word on the MOH
Thanks to Paul and Ed
Saturday 12 December at 1130 Pacific time, the Medal of Valor - will be awarded to a 97 year old fighter pilot for actions in Korean War. This is the highest award that the American Legion can award for bravery.
I am honored to know Royce Williams - hear his story - call him friend, and have been helping a band of distinguished Veterans who have asked for his Silver Star to be upgraded to the Medal Of Honor for his actions that resulted in shooting down 4 MIGS in one engagement. Because it was classified at the highest level at the time and to protect NSA sources - He kept his secret for over 50 years. Not even his wife knew. It has now been declassified.
I liken his story to the Soldier/Marine who throws himself on a grenade in a foxhole to save his comrades. Why? Because he accepted the Vector against 7 MIG15's that were more advanced than his Panther to protect the Oriskany into what became a 1 vs 7 engagement (almost sure death). While he is credited with shooting down 4, a 5th MIG did not return home - so potentially that was due to being damaged as well - the experienced Russian Pilots - and were not able to land back in "RUSSIA"!!!! Now you know why it was so classified.
Royce does not seek any accolades - humble to a fault - but we the Veterans in the American Legion have fully endorsed his Medal of Valor and have also endorsed the upgrade request to the Medal of Honor 70 years after his actions. If you want to attend - virtually - log on to Youtube streaming or Zoom Meeting 681-618-0590 PW938529. We will not be allowing 2 way talking on Zoom, but you can share in the event - see this hero - comment through Text.
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Thanks to Boysie ...and Dr. Rich
1. Ratio of an igloo's circumference to its diameter = Eskimo Pi
2. 2000 pounds of Chinese soup = Won ton
3. 1 millionth of a mouthwash = 1 microscope
4. Time between slipping on a peel and smacking the pavement = 1 bananosecond
5. Weight an evangelist carries with God = 1 billigram
6. Time it takes to sail 220 yards at 1 nautical mile per hour = Knotfurlong
7. 16.5 feet in the Twilight Zone = 1 Rod Sterling
8. Half of a large intestine = 1 semicolon
9. 1,000,000 aches = 1 megahurtz
10. Basic unit of laryngitis = 1 hoarsepower
11 Shortest distance between two jokes = A straight line
12. 453.6 graham crackers = 1 pound cake
13. 1 million-million microphones = 1 megaphone
14. 2 million bicycles = 2 megacycles
15. 365.25 days = 1 unicycle
16. 2000 mockingbirds = 2 kilomockingbirds
17. 52 cards = 1 decacards
18. 1 kilogram of falling figs = 1 FigNewton
19. 1000 milliliters of wet socks = 1 literhosen
20. 1 millionth of a fish = 1 microfiche
21. 1 trillion pins = 1 terrapin
22. 10 rations = 1 decoration
23. 100 rations = 1 C-ration
24. 2 monograms = 1 diagram
25. 4 nickels = 2 paradigms
26. 2.4 statute miles of intravenous surgical tubing at Yale University Hospital = 1 IV League
27. 100 Senators = Not 1 decision
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Thanks to Carl
Ford F pickups over the years
A lotta them…
https://www.motorious.com/articles/handpicked/73-years-of-ford-f-series-trucks/amp/
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Thanks to Michael ...and Dr. Rich
U.S. Air Force Reveals Two New Classified Aircraft Programs
Speaking to POLITICO at the Reagan National Defense Forum, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall revealed the existence of two new classified drone programs on Saturday, both built for combat rather than intelligence-gathering. "They're both unmanned air combat vehicles, unmanned platforms that are d...
View the article. https://flip.it/WBldO3
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Thanks to Carl…There are a lot of other items on this site to keep you entertained.
Donald Trump Jr.: Joe Biden Skipped Army-Navy Game to Avoid "Let's Go Brandon!" Chants
(A great game and win for Navy! The 4th down conversion by Diego Fagot was amazing and NOT called! Snap to him was a surprise to both him and the coach! Outstanding reaction! The center never got any credit.)
Donald Trump Jr.: Joe Biden Skipped Army-Navy Game to Avoid "Let's Go Brandon!" Chants
By Jim Hoft
Published December 11, 2021 at 5:48pm
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ROLLING THUNDER REMEMBERED Thanks to the Bear … Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968)…
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post For … For The List for Sunday, 12 December 2021… Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968)…
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post for 12 December 1966… The Red River Valley Fighter Pilots Association's "Air Warrior Courage Foundation"…
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 Shadow I love his stories about being a Navy brat. The pickings for an Air force
Brat were not as good but we did manage to find some things and get into a bit of trouble.
Interesting Contract - NAVAL AIR MUSEUM BARBER'S POINT
Bear…
Not surprised they are there… I am surprised they're gonna pay some outside group to recover them. What the hell do we have a military for anymore if they can't maintain our own bases… without spending a fortune for some civilian outfit to do it for us? Another sign of decline.
Interesting Contract - NAVAL AIR MUSEUM BARBER'S POINT
But the mention of this reminds me of something I've never written about; you might find it amusing. From the time I was born, until I left home… for the exception of only a couple of years, I grew up on Naval Air Stations. From the time I was about six and had the freedom to roam on the bases… I was a proverbial "Junk Yard Dog"… and a scrounge. Us Navy Brats knew how and where to get neat stuff. From the para-lofts we'd scrounge life rafts and parachutes that had exceeded their shelf life (they would go to the dump if we didn't scrounge them). Never had one of those cheap plastic swimming pools when I was a kid (my parents couldn't afford one in those days)… but bet I had over a dozen 12 man life rafts at one time or another, year to year. Not to mention a bunch of one man life rafts. The big rafts were a kids' dream in that they had all that survival gear with them… paddles, kite, dye markers, survival signaling mirror… on and on. After dividing that all out amongst us… The big rafts became a much cooler backyard pool than any civilian kid ever had… we'd fill that sucker up with water and have a hoot of a good time! When we got tired of messing around in the water… we'd flip it upside down and then we had a mini trampoline!
The parachutes; we'd make teepees out of them (Navy housing always seemed to have a stand of bamboo near by we'd use to provide an interior structure)… we'd then drag a few one man rafts inside and camp out or play cowboys and Indians. We'd take the little pilot chutes and attach them to our bikes and ride around with our own drag chutes going down hill. And then as we approached our teens… we'd hit the dumps. Man what treasure trove! Airplane parts, giant inner tubes, all kinds of treasures… like having your own personal "Flea Market" where everything was free! With a little imagination… you could come up with a thousand ways to turn junk into treasure… and fun!
It was a good life back then… the base had great libraries, the movies and swimming pools were free; heck we even had a huge indoor pool at NAS Jax where we could swim year round. BTW… I first rode the "Dilbert Dunker" when I was eight years old. Often when us kids were there, they'd bring in crews for water survival training… the "Dunker" was part of the routine. Always amazed me that in every group, they would have one or two guys that were actually terrified of the "Dunker" and they practically had to force a guy in or even drop him from flight status if he refused (enlisted crew members). One day I was standing and watching and the senior life guard was next to me yelling out instructions to the trainees and safety swimmers in the pool and I, at one point, having watched it so many times, upped and said… "What's the big deal… I could do that"! I knew the whole routine… Brace yourself going in… as it flips upside down, wait for the bubbles to disperse, unstrap, swim out and away from the "Dunker" and then surface. No big deal. He turned and looked at me and said… "You want to try it"? I said sure. Next thing you know, I'm climbing the ladder, get in the dunker and away we go… I'd seen it so many times, it really wasn't a big deal. Went off without a hitch… from then on, I was a training aid to demonstrate the "Dunker" for the weak of heart, if I happened to be at the pool when a class came through. "If a damn eight year old kid can do this, you supposed adults have no excuses"! I loved that my dad was in the Navy and all the opportunities for a Navy Brat to experience new things. I'm convinced… my dad would have had to be a multi-millionaire in order for me to experience the things I did as a lowly Navy Brat… not to mention the places we lived.
NATTC Headquarters was right at the end of our street on NAS Jax… all the "A" schools had tons of WW II aircraft and Korean War vintage aircraft that they used as training aids for young Mechs going through training… they worked on them during the week… and we played on them on the weekends! I know I was in the cockpit of every WW II Navy Fighter, Dive Bomber and Torpedo Bomber from WW II. Hellcat, Corsair, Wildcat, Dauntless, Bearcat, TBM's, AD Skyraiders… then the early jets… the FJ-1, FH-1, F2H, F9F-5, early F9F-6… even a rare F7U-1 Cutlass! I played in and on all of them! And they were the fuel for many a "Walter Mitty Dreams" by this young boy. It was a great life!
In the summer and weekends I bagged groceries at the Commissary and I had an afternoon paper route during the week. The other kids wanted to sell papers around the exchange, mess halls and barracks… I chose the flight line and O&R. More exposure to airplanes. Somewhere along the way I started to learn, just by observation and listening… and when the opportunity arose… I was full of questions. "What's this, What's that, What does it do, Why"? I know I was the only kid in the world who ever sold a newspaper inside, "Que Sera, Sera" of Operation Deep Freeze fame… when it was being outfitted at O&R Jax. I sold newspapers on the flight line… even sold one to a guy diving an intake of a Banshee! I was like a sponge… it got to the point where I could identify just about any plane the Navy had (and Air Force planes) from just seeing a tail, intake, canopy, nose, etc. And could tell most of them apart by the sound of the engines. I was obsessed!
And frankly, it was a lifetime obsession… even when on active duty… I visited dumps at virtually every base I was stationed at or spent time on… El Centro was a gold mine! Can't tell you how many ejection seats and tail hooks I dragged out of that junk yard… gave them all away to other pilots and RIO's. Wherever I went… I was always on the lookout for planes or parts. Ironically… later in life it paid off handsomely. I have been in junk yards all over the world looking for airplane parts. Amazing the stuff I've found!
A few anecdotes on how it paid off… In the Pensacola Museum there's an F2H-2P that we restored. When we acquired it, there was no tailhook attached to the plane. It was gone. I got to thinking and remembered I had drug a Banshee tailhook home when I was about nine or ten… think I was gonna give it to me teacher whose husband was a Banshee pilot at Jax. It was in the carport storage room for decades. My dad had passed and my mom had moved into new home with a full garage. The following weekend after we got the airplane, I went into my mom's garage and sorted all through the junk stored there and low and behold... there it was, hidden over in a corner. It is now on that Banshee in the Museum to this day. The Banshee was also without landing gear… no problem, I found a complete set in a local junk yard, still in their original shipping crates… brand new!
In my travels though Central and South America… I had two purposes… one for the government and the other for me. I dealt exclusively with the militaries down there and my cover was I was looking for old airplane parts. And over the years I bought hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of airplane parts for pennies on the dollar… especially if they allowed me in their warehouses. In El Salvador I bought Mustang and Corsair parts… Guatemala Mustang parts… Honduras, more Corsair parts (Funny story here… Honduras and Salvador had their short infamous "Soccer War"… both countries had Corsair's in their military at the time… and both countries bought their spare parts from the French. Salvador had early FG-1D's and Honduras flew the later model F4U-5. On the verge of conflict… both countries made frantic orders for spares with the French. When the parts arrived… Salvador got the F4U-5 parts and Honduras got the FG-1D parts! The French claimed it was a mistake, but I doubt it. In the end, neither country would send the other's parts back. I ended up being the beneficiary!) In Bolivia… I bought two B-25's from their Air Force… one was the most combat ready B-25 still in existence… It had all its' armor plating, Pack Guns, fully functioning bomb bay and all gun emplacements still installed as well the mount for the Norden Bomb sight. General Villa, the Chief of Staff was so pleased he took me on a tour of their warehouse in La Paz at the International Airport… He insisted they no longer had any Mustang parts… only T-6, B-25 and F-86 parts. We're in the warehouse and a Technical Sergeant was with us and I come to a large room off to one side. It was so full of parts, it was packed to the ceiling. There was a brand new T-6 prop just inside the door… but what really caught my eye was in the back of the room, I saw the tip of a horizontal stabilizer. And I immediately knew it was for a Mustang! I turned to the General and said in Spanish, "Me General, is parta de Mustang". He says, "No… is T-6"… I say "Mustang"! Then the little technical Sgt. Speaks up and says, "Perdone Jefe, es parta de Mustang". Before it was over, we dragged over $100,000 dollars worth of parts out of that room, plus seven engine cores and nine horizontal stabilizers… all because my childhood obsession had me playing games with myself, identifying airplanes just by the shape of a wing tip, tail, intake… etc., etc.
It even was benefit to the Navy later… somehow the Aviation Supply Officer at NAS Jax, heard I could identify what aircraft a part would go to just by looking at it. They were in the middle of a major inventory and clean up of their vast warehouses on the base and had come across many parts with no tags on them and they didn't know what aircraft they were part of? He called me and I agreed to come over and have a look. We met in his office and he had his sailors and civilians laying out tons of unidentified parts on the grass outside of the warehouses… He had a couple of guys following me as I went around, each had a handful of tags and as I'd identify a part, they'd write up a tag and attach it to that part. It was amazing what they had! A ton of S2F/C-1A parts… cowling, windows, wind screens, doors etc. But the big surprise was three RFI Canopy's for the TA-7 Corsair II. Now the Navy had just grounded their last two TA-7's because both aircraft had bad canopies and there were no known replacements! Go figure? There were also canopies for F-4's, A-4's and single seat A-7's… Also various flight controls and tail hooks… All in all we had a good day. Glad to be of service!
One last anecdote involving the Museum. Don't know if you remember it, but back in the late sixties… Operation Sea Lab, stumbled on and recovered an F6F-3 Hellcat off Coronado in deep water. Because the water was so deep, there was very little corrosion and damage to the aircraft. It was off loaded at North island and sat parked over by the Flight Test Branch, near the sea wall… and it sat there for over two decades. What had been a pristine aircraft, turned into a corroded hulk. Bob Rasmussen finally got control of the airplane and had it delivered to Pima Air Museum in Tucson on the condition they restore it. Once it was there, Pima informed him it would be impossible for them to take on the project… too much corrosion, almost impossible to find spare or replacement parts... Couldn't be done… in fact the engine actually fell off the airframe, shortly after they go it. Rasmussen really wanted the airplane restored, since it was the only F6F-3 around, besides the Smithsonian airplane. It was a rare bird. Because we had restored multiple aircraft recovered from Lake Michigan… Bob called me up one day and asked that I go out to Tucson, look at the Hellcat and tell him if we could restore it? I did and called him back and said, "It would be a monumental project… and a lot had to do with being able to find parts. Hellcat parts were as rare as hen's teeth for some reason… but if we could find the parts… we could do the job, but it would take a long time and a high price in trade material. We came to an agreement and he arranged for the Hellcat to be delivered to us.
Once it was on the way… I knew there would be hell to pay when my employees saw it… "Geezus Roy... what the hell were you thinking when you agreed to this job"? In the meantime, I was calling everybody I knew, looking for Hellcat parts. Nothing, nada, zip… anywhere. I began to think I may have bitten off more than I could chew and then one morning as I was shaving… I had an epiphany! Hell, I knew where there were was a ton of Hellcat parts! If they were still there.
Back in the seventies, I was involved with testing a new chaff dispenser for the F-4. They'd load us up and we'd fly out over San Clemente Island and run the tests. After each test flight, I'd do a low pass over the island and saw what appeared to be many drone wrecks scattered all over the island. Shortly after that Carter became President and the oil crisis hit. We were actually having trouble meeting minimums with the cutback in our fuel allotments. Our average hop in the F-4 was less than an hour and we burned a chit load of gas in the process. It was also about that time, I made the acquaintance of the good folks at the San Diego Coast Guard Station. My wife's family and I had a love/hate relationship… they loved my wife and hated me. Hard core left wingers and I hard worked for Reagan as an intern and on his campaign staff when he ran for re-election in California. As a result, when we'd go down to San Diego… I'd drop her off at her parents and I'd go find something else to do for the rest of the day or spend the night with college friends during the weekends. The less contact with the would be communists… the more peace on earth. One afternoon… I was driving down Harbor Blvd between the International Airport and the Coast Guard Station on San Diego Bay… I looked over as they were pulling out an SA-16 Albatross out of the hangar… looked interesting and what the heck, I had nothing else to do so I pulled into the station and went to the OOD's Office and checked in. We were having a cup of coffee when the phone rang… not good news. The scheduled co-pilot for the afternoon Albatross mission was in a car accident and his wife was injured in the wreck and had been taken to the hospital… he was no longer available. The OOD then tries to call some of the other pilots and no one answered or was away from town for the weekend. I listened and then remembered… I had left the squadron and picked up the wife while I was still in uniform and I'd also put my flight suit in the trunk to get it washed… it was still there. The OOD was getting frantic and then I said, "Hey, I'm an Active Duty Naval Aviator… and I can fill the seat if it comes to that. We could call it a training flight, besides fulfilling the mission". He looks at me and says… "You don't understand… if something comes up you might be out there for hours". I said, "No problem, I've got the whole weekend". As it ended up… I logged four flights and over ten hours of flight time as co-pilot that weekend! It was a hoot! Got to fly the plane, did a lot of sight seeing and one flight we made an emergency drop of a life raft and manual bilge pump in another flotation device, to a sail boat in distress. I was impressed… the crew in back put both right next to the sailboat! After that I told them if they ever needed a co-pilot on weekends, call me and I'd come down, plus the wife could see her communist family members. I ended up logging almost fifty hours in the Albatross over the next few months. One day I had the opportunity to go along on a helicopter flight up to San Nicholas Island to pick up a couple of fishermen that had crashed on the rocks of the island. As we approached the island, I remembered the crashed drones and had the crew fly around the island checking things out (The fishermen were OK and were waiting at the small Base Ops shack at the airfield, so no hurry). As we flew around I was able to see that most of the wrecks were F6F drones from the fifties and sixties… plus quite a few F9F Panthers and a couple of T-33's. All pained red.
Years later, as I was shaving, thinking about the Hellcat… was when I remembered that day from long ago. We had some very talented metal-smiths and mechanics working for us at Black Shadow… and a couple were real characters. When I got to the hangar that morning… Kenny Sorrels, my "Hillbilly" metal-smith, greeted me and I said, "Kenny, I had an epiphany while shaving this morning". I swear this is truth… he looked at me and said, "Damn Boss… Did it hurt bad"? Kenny might not have been the most educated metal-smith we had… but that guy could "Flush Patch" the crack of dawn if he had enough time"… at least that was what he told us on many occasions. He was an artisan when it came to bending, fabricating and repairing metal. I then told Kenny I'd remembered where I might be able to find some Hellcat parts.
Now I had to figure out a way to tell Bob Rasmussen about it without his scum bag Assistant Director finding out about it. I finally called Bob and said… "I think I know where there is a ton of Hellcat parts… but before I tell you, I want your word you won't tell Macon about it" (I had good reason to not trust Macon). Bob's response was… "We don't need to know where you get the parts". I then said, "Yes you do"… He then says "WHY"? I said, "Because they're on Navy property". I told him the whole story and he said he'd call me back. In just a few hours, he'd gotten ahold of "Booger" Valovich, the C.O. at Pt. Mugu, who also "owned" the island. He also found out there was a regular flight from Mugu to the island bi-weekly and I could go out there "Space Available" to survey the wrecks. Bob then told me to get out to Mugu as soon as possible. I flew out to L.A. in a couple of days… got out to the island and checked into the Navy Lodge there and Booger arranged for a jeep and driver. Spent three days out there, checking out the wrecks… got a lot more stories on San Nick than just Hellcats… lot of neat chit out there! Anyway… a week later I was on my way back with two of my best employees with tool boxes and we drove to Oxnard in my van and then caught the flight out to San Nick… we spent five days out there recovering various wrecks… and had them barged to the harbor at Port Hueneme… we finished just in time to make it to Hook '91 in Vegas on the way home.
In the end we had enough parts to rebuild the F6F-3 and two more F6F-5's… it was a Gold Mine in Hellcat parts.
This is the end of Part #1
Shadow
On Dec 10, 2021, at 12:18 AM, Jerry Taylor <beartaylor@comcast.net> wrote:
Roy… passed for your info… Bear
Begin forwarded message:
From: Bruce Herman <bherm6390@att.net>
Date: December 9, 2021 at 6:55:09 PM MST
To: beartaylor@comcast.net
Subject: Interesting Contract - NAVAL AIR MUSEUM BARBER'S POINT
Admiral,
Saw the below contract opportunity. Wondering if the A-4E BuNo is in your logbook?
Related: when I was on the AIRPAC staff conducting an inspection at Barbers, I did some exploring on base. Out by the EWA gate, if you walked back into the wooded area there were all kinds of leftover aircraft parts and components from when the base was a Marine Corps base. Also, a lot of near-whole parts of aircraft near the P-3 hangar and a big hole dug in the ground…a real aircraft graveyard. Wouldn't pass environmental muster today.
Bruce Herman
NAVSUP WEAPON SYSTEMS SUPPORT (NAVSUP WSS) PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT For DEMILITARIZATION AND DISPOSAL OF AIRCRAFT, ENGINES AND MISCELLANEOUS AVIATION EQUIPMENT AT THE HAWAII MUSEUM OF FLYING (DBA NAVAL AIR MUSEUM BARBER'S POINT)
2.0 SCOPE OF WORK
The contractor will be expected to provide all required labor, equipment, materials, transportation and technical services needed to demilitarize and dispose of the following material:
Aircraft:
1 each - A-4E (BuNo. 151030)
1 each - F-4B (BuNo. 152291)
1 each - UH-3H (BuNo. 148043)
1 each - P-3 (BuNo. 160770) (No engines installed)
1 each - UP-3A (BuNo. 152169) (No engines installed)
PROPELLERS:
1 each - N243632
1 each - N243467
1 each - N243354
1 each - N240292NR
MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT
4 each - LAU-7
The majority of aircraft, and aviation components to be disposed of will be free of Low Level Radioactive Waste (LLRW) and HazMat. However, it is likely that some LLRW and HazMat will still be encountered particularly with engines and engine modules.
This may include:
Igniters, exciters, magnesium-thorium components, and thermal barrier coatings;
Low level radioactive isotopes in electronic equipment and alloy metals such as thorium.
RAD waste should be stored in a secure location and disposed of in accordance with all applicable federal, state, and local regulations and should be carried out in manner acceptable to Navy Radiological Support.
Examples of RAD waste include the following:
- Metal alloy turbine blades.
- Various types of jet fuel
- Hydraulic Fluids
- Composite materials and fibers should be disposed of via a locally developed process that complies with all federal, state, and local environmental regulations.
No munitions, spent munitions, unexploded ordnance or other similar material will be handled under this contract
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This Day in U S Military History December 12
1901 – Italian physicist and radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi succeeds in sending the first radio transmission across the Atlantic Ocean, disproving detractors who told him that the curvature of the earth would limit transmission to 200 miles or less. The message–simply the Morse-code signal for the letter "s"–traveled more than 2,000 miles from Poldhu in Cornwall, England, to Newfoundland, Canada. Born in Bologna, Italy, in 1874 to an Italian father and an Irish mother, Marconi studied physics and became interested in the transmission of radio waves after learning of the experiments of the German physicist Heinrich Hertz. He began his own experiments in Bologna beginning in 1894 and soon succeeded in sending a radio signal over a distance of 1.5 miles. Receiving little encouragement for his experiments in Italy, he went to England in 1896. He formed a wireless telegraph company and soon was sending transmissions from distances farther than 10 miles. In 1899, he succeeded in sending a transmission across the English Channel. That year, he also equipped two U.S. ships to report to New York newspapers on the progress of the America's Cup yacht race. That successful endeavor aroused widespread interest in Marconi and his wireless company. Marconi's greatest achievement came on December 12, 1901, when he received a message sent from England at St. John's, Newfoundland. The transatlantic transmission won him worldwide fame. Ironically, detractors of the project were correct when they declared that radio waves would not follow the curvature of the earth, as Marconi believed. In fact, Marconi's transatlantic radio signal had been headed into space when it was reflected off the ionosphere and bounced back down toward Canada. Much remained to be learned about the laws of the radio wave and the role of the atmosphere in radio transmissions, and Marconi would continue to play a leading role in radio discoveries and innovations during the next three decades. In 1909, he was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in physics with the German radio innovator Ferdinand Braun. After successfully sending radio transmissions from points as far away as England and Australia, Marconi turned his energy to experimenting with shorter, more powerful radio waves. He died in 1937, and on the day of his funeral all British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) stations were silent for two minutes in tribute to his contributions to the development of radio.
1937 – During the battle for Nanking in the Sino-Japanese War, the U.S. gunboat Panay is attacked and sunk by Japanese warplanes in Chinese waters. The American vessel, neutral in the Chinese-Japanese conflict, was escorting U.S. evacuees and three Standard Oil barges away from Nanking, the war-torn Chinese capital on the Yangtze River. After the Panay was sunk, the Japanese fighters machine-gunned lifeboats and survivors huddling on the shore of the Yangtze. Two U.S. sailors and a civilian passenger were killed and 11 personnel seriously wounded, setting off a major crisis in U.S.-Japanese relations. Although the Panay's position had been reported to the Japanese as required, the neutral vessel was clearly marked, and the day was sunny and clear, the Japanese maintained that the attack was unintentional, and they agreed to pay $2 million in reparations. Two neutral British vessels were also attacked by the Japanese in the final days of the battle for Nanking.
1941 – U.S. Navy takes control of the largest and most luxurious ocean liner on the seas at that time, France's Normandie, while it is docked at New York City. Shortly thereafter, the conversion for U.S. wartime use began. The Normandie was unique in many ways. It was the first ship built, in 1931, in accordance with the guidelines laid down in the 1929 Convention for Safety of Life at Sea. It was also huge, measuring 1,029 feet long and 119 feet wide. It displaced 85,000 tons of water. It offered passengers seven accommodation classes (including the new "tourist" class, as opposed to the old "third" class, commonly known as "steerage") and 1,975 berths. It took a crew of more than 1,300 to work her. But despite its size, it was also fast: capable of 32.1 knots. The liner was launched in 1932 and made its first transatlantic crossing in 1935. In 1937, it was reconfigured with four-bladed propellers, which meant it could now cross the Atlantic in less than four days. When France surrendered to the Germans in June 1940, and the puppet Vichy regime was installed, the Normandie was in dock at New York City. Immediately placed in "protective custody" by the Navy, it was clear that the U.S. government was not about to let a ship of such size and speed fall into the hands of the Germans, which it certainly would upon returning to France. In November 1941, Time magazine ran an article stating that in the event of the United States' involvement in the war, the Navy would seize the liner altogether and turn it into an aircraft carrier. It also elaborated on how the design of the ship made such a conversion relatively simple. When the Navy did take control of the ship, shortly after Pearl Harbor, it began the conversion of the liner-but to a troop ship, renamed the USS Lafayette (after the French general who aided the American Colonies in their original quest for independence). The Lafayette never served its new purpose. On February 9, 1942, the ship caught fire and capsized. Sabotage was originally suspected, but the likely cause was sparks from a welder's torch. Although the ship was finally righted, the massive salvage operation cost $3,750,000–and the fire damage made any hope of employing the vessel impossible. It was scrapped–literally chopped up for scrap metal–in 1946.
1941 – USMC F4F "Wildcats" sink the first 4 major Japanese ships off Wake Island.
1944 – Bomber Command Lancaster bombers, escorted by Mustang fighters, attack Witten, the only city in the Ruhr industrial area that has not been bombed yet.
1950 – The 1st Marine Division closed into Hungnam having cut its way through six Chinese divisions, killing approximately 20,000 of the enemy, on the way to the sea from Chosin/Changjin Reservoir. Legend has it that the division commander, Major General O. P. Smith, supposedly characterized the operation with, "Retreat? Hell, we're just attacking in a different direction!"
1951 – First flight of helicopter with gas-turbine engine at Windsor Locks, CT, demonstrates
1953 – Chuck Yeager reached Mach 2.43 in Bell X-1A rocket plane.
1985 – 248 American soldiers and eight crew members were killed when an Arrow Air charter crashed after takeoff from Gander, Newfoundland.1997 – Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, the international terrorist known as "Carlos the Jackal," went on trial in Paris on charges of killing two French investigators and a Lebanese national. He was convicted and began serving a life prison sentence.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
*ELROD, HENRY TALMAGE
Rank and organization: Captain, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 27 September 1905, Rebecca, Ga. Entered service at: Ashburn, Ga. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while attached to Marine Fighting Squadron 211, during action against enemy Japanese land, surface and aerial units at Wake Island, 8 to 23 December 1941. Engaging vastly superior forces of enemy bombers and warships on 9 and 12 December, Capt. Elrod shot down 2 of a flight of 22 hostile planes and, executing repeated bombing and strafing runs at extremely low altitude and close range, succeeded in inflicting deadly damage upon a large Japanese vessel, thereby sinking the first major warship to be destroyed by small caliber bombs delivered from a fighter-type aircraft. When his plane was disabled by hostile fire and no other ships were operative, Capt. Elrod assumed command of 1 flank of the line set up in defiance of the enemy landing and, conducting a brilliant defense, enabled his men to hold their positions and repulse intense hostile fusillades to provide covering fire for unarmed ammunition carriers. Capturing an automatic weapon during 1 enemy rush in force, he gave his own firearm to 1 of his men and fought on vigorously against the Japanese. Responsible in a large measure for the strength of his sector's gallant resistance, on 23 December, Capt. Elrod led his men with bold aggressiveness until he fell, mortally wounded. His superb skill as a pilot, daring leadership and unswerving devotion to duty distinguished him among the defenders of Wake Island, and his valiant conduct reflects the highest credit upon himself and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for December 12, 2020 FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
12 December
1929: Cmdr Richard E. Byrd for his flights over the poles and Charles M. Manly (posthumously) for pioneer developments in airplane engines received Langley Medals. (24)
1935: Lt Hugh F. McCaffery (USA) and crew of five set an amphibian distance record of 1,033.2 miles from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Chapman Field, Miami, Fla. (24)
1941: Maj Gen Herbert A. Dargue, a pioneer aviator, died when his plane crashed into a Sierra Nevada mountain side near Bishop, Calif. (24)
1944: MEDAL OF HONOR: Maj Richard I. Bong, 49th Fighter Group, 9th Fighter Squadron, with 38 aerial victories, received the medal from General MacArthur in ceremonies at Tacloban in the Philippines. (17)
1953: In the rocket-powered Bell X-1A, which a B-29 bomber dropped over Edwards AFB, Calif., Maj Charles E. Yeager attained a speed of 1,650 MPH (Mach 2.44). (3) (9)
1957: In an F-101A Voodoo fighter-bomber, Maj Adrian E. Drew set a world speed record of 1,207.6 MPH at Edwards AFB, Calif. (20)
1958: The USAF ended the Goose missile program, which simulated a B-52 or B-47 on radar, in favor of the Snark missile. (6)
1968: Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard units called to active duty in January and May 1968 started to inactivate. (16)
1970: Congress did not fund the Subsonic Cruise Aircraft Decoy (SCAD) program for FY1971. (6) X-RAY SKY SURVEY. A Scout rocket carried the first US satellite launched by another country into orbit. The rocket took Explorer 42 into an equatorial orbit from Italy's San Marco launch platform in the Indian Ocean, near the Kenyan coast, to conduct this special survey. (7)
1975: The E-3A Airborne Warning and Control System arrived at Edwards AFB, Calif., for testing. (3)
1979: North Atlantic Treaty Organization ministers voted to deploy Ground Launched Cruise Missiles and Pershing II missiles in Europe during a meeting in Brussels, Belgium. (4)
1985: Through 20 January 1986, the Military Airlift Command supported recovery operations after an Arrow Air DC-8 crashed on takeoff from Gander International Airport, Newfoundland. The accident claimed the lives of 248 101st Airborne Division paratroopers and eight civilians. Nine C-141s returned the remains to the U.S, while an additional 17 airlift missions moved 770 passengers and nearly 125 tons of cargo. (18)
1988: The 33d Air Rescue and Recovery Squadron saved 11 passengers off of a life raft from the sunken ship, Selina, in the Pacific between the Philippines and Japan. The were flown to Clark AB, Philippines, for examination and treatment. (26)
1996: The USAF and the Boeing Aircraft Company successfully demonstrated that an AGM-86C Conventional Air Launched Cruise Missile, guided only by a Global Positioning System, could deliver precision strike accuracy. During the test flight, a B-52H launched the modified missile on a 4-hour 30-minute flight. The missile hit the target area with the accuracy required for a precision strike. The demonstra-tion featured a steep-terminal-dive to deliver a penetrator warhead on target--a first for a this cruise missile. (AFNEWS Article 961299)
1998: At Beale AFB, Calif., a 1st Reconnaissance Squadron pilot, Maj Alan Zwick, shattered a world record by flying his U-2 and payload to an altitude more than 12 ½ miles above the Earth. Zwick broke the previous record of Rudolf Fiam, a Czechoslovakian pilot, who flew a Yakovlev 40 on 24 February 1979 to an altitude of 28,513 feet with a payload of 4,400 pounds. Zwick surpassed that record 12 minutes into his flight, and he continued to climb to over 66,800 feet, or 38,287 feet higher than the Czechoslovakian record. (AFNEWS Article 981999, 24 Dec 98) A KC-135R, modified with Pacer CRAG, flew its first overseas mission from Grand Forks AFB. The 905 AREFS aircraft transferred 95,000 pounds of fuel to a B-52 in Alaskan airspace during the mission. (22) 2000: Following the fatal crash of a Marine Corps Osprey during a training sortie in North Carolina, the U. S. Marine Corps suspended all MV-22 flight testing. The USAF also halted all CV-22 developmental testing by the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB, Calif. (3)
2001: Operation ENDURING FREEDOM. A B-1B on a bombing mission to Afghanistan crashed in the Indian Ocean, 10 miles north of Diego Garcia. It was the USAF'S first aircraft loss in the operation and the first B-1 lost in combat. The crew survived. (21)
2005: From Charleston AFB, S.C., 17 C-17s from the 437th Airlift Wing and the 315th Airlift Wing-- the largest formation of C-17 Globemaster IIIs to take off from a single base--launched into the morning skies to demonstrate the USAF's strategic airdrop capability. The previous record was 15 C-17s from McChord AFB, Wash. The training formation left the base to locations around the southeast to perform required quarterly, semiannual and end-of-year training. (AFNEWS Article, "Charleston AFB Breaks C-17 Flying Record," 12 Dec 05)
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