The List 6079
Good Friday Morning April 29.
I hope that you all have a great weekend.
Regards,
Skip.
This day in Naval and Marine Corps History April 29
1814 American sloop USS Peacock and HMS Epervier engage in battle. Peacock takes two 32-pound shots in her fore-yard with the first exchange, but her return broadside smashes most of Eperviers rigging and guns. After 45 minutes, Epervier is captured. The battle is hailed as a tribute of American gunnery as Epervier has 45 shot holes in her port side.
1944 Task Force 58 begins a two-day attack on Japanese shipping, oil and ammunition dumps, aircraft facilities, and other installations at Truk following the support of the Hollandia landings in the Pacific.
1944 USS Pogy (SS 266) sinks the Japanese submarine I 183, 30 miles south of Ashizuri Saki, Japan.
1945 USS Comfort (AH 6) is hit by a kamikaze plane off Okinawa, which kills 28 persons (including six nurses), wounds48 others, and causes considerable damage.
1961 USS Kitty Hawk (CVA 63), an oil-fired aircraft carrier, is commissioned at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.
1975 Commander Task Force 76 receives the order to execute Operation Frequent Wind (initially Talon Vise), the evacuation of U.S. personnel and Vietnamese who might suffer as a result of their past service to the allied effort.
2009 A destroyer formerly known as USS Conolly (DD 979) is sunk during the UNITAS Gold sinking exercise in the Atlantic Ocean.
.What Happened This Day In History APRIL 29
1289 Qalawun, the Sultan of Egypt, captures Tripoli.
1429 Joan of Arc leads French forces to victory over English at Orleans.
1624 Louis XIII appoints Cardinal Richelieu chief minister of the Royal Council of France.
1661 The Chinese Ming dynasty occupies Taiwan.
1672 King Louis XIV of France invades the Netherlands.
1813 Rubber is patented.
1852 The first edition of Peter Roget's Thesaurus is published.
1856 Yokut Indians repel a second attack by the 'Petticoat Rangers,' a band of civilian Indian fighters at Four Creeks, California.
1858 Austrian troops invade Piedmont.
1859 As the French army races to support them and the Austrian army mobilizes to oppose them, 150,000 Piedmontese troops invade Piedmontese territory.
1861 The Maryland House of Delegates votes against seceding from Union.
1862 Forts Philip and Jackson surrender to Admiral David Farragut outside New Orleans.
1913 Gideon Sundback of Hoboken patents the all-purpose zipper.
1916 Irish nationalists surrender to the British in Dublin.
1918 America's WWI Ace of Aces, Eddie Rickenbacker, scores his first victory with the help of Captain James Norman Hall.
1924 Open revolt breaks out in Santa Clara, Cuba.
1927 Construction of the Spirit of St. Louis is completed.
1930 The film All Quiet on the Western Front, based on Erich Maria Remarque's novel Im Western Nichts Neues, premiers.
1945 The Nazi concentration camp of Dachau is liberated by Allied troops.
1945 The German Army in Italy surrenders unconditionally to the Allies.
1946 Former Japanese leaders are indicted in Tokyo as war criminals.
1975 The U.S. embassy in Vietnam is evacuated as North Vietnamese forces fight their way into Saigon.
1983 Harold Washington is sworn in as Chicago's first black mayor.
1992 Four Los Angeles police offices are acquitted of charges stemming from the beating of Rodney King. Rioting ensues.
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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 The List for Friday, 29 April 2022… Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1967)…
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post for 29 April 1967… Westmoreland at home to pump-up support for the war…
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 Brett
Video Pick of the Month
A feel good moment –
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Thanks to Dr. Rich
On April 19, the one-year anniversary of its first flight, NASA's Ingenuity Mars helicopter visited and took images of the crash site of the protective aeroshell and parachute that helped deliver it and the Perseverance rover to the Red Planet. Read more
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Thanks to Brett
Geopolitical Futures:
Keeping the future in focus
Daily Memo: Beijing Promises Growth, Iranian Oil Exports Rise
China has set an ambitious 5.5 percent economic growth target for this year.
By: GPF Staff
Promises. Chinese leaders promised to step up support for the country's economy and to meet the growth target, set at 5.5 percent for the year, at the quarterly economic meeting of the 25-member Politburo. They also said they would respond to the concerns of foreign investors who have been greatly affected by the COVID-19 outbreaks that began last month. Meanwhile, China and the U.S. are discussing the details of a deal that would allow for auditing and oversight of Chinese companies listed on U.S. exchanges. Beijing hopes to sign the deal this year.
Iranian boon. Iran's average daily exports of oil increased by 30 percent in the first quarter of this year compared to 2021, from 668,000 barrels per day to 870,000 bpd. China, which reduced its imports from Russia by 14 percent in March, remains the largest importer of Iranian oil.
Constitutional overhaul. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said a working group was drafting major changes to the country's constitution. The reforms would substantially change Kazakhstan's political system, including by weakening the office of the presidency and strengthening the parliament. Meanwhile, Tokayev spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss bilateral economic cooperation.
Trading accusations. Turkey's Foreign Ministry on Thursday accused Greece of conducting provocative flights near the Turkish coast and violating its airspace. The statement came after Athens on Wednesday criticized Ankara for carrying out a series of overflights in the Aegean Sea, saying on Thursday that Turkey was undermining NATO unity at a critical time. Despite some mild signs of easing, Turkish-Greek relations remain tense over resource disputes in the Aegean Sea and the Cyprus issue.
Power problems. The energy minister for the Indian capital of New Delhi warned that disruptions to the power supply from the Dadri-II and Unchahar power stations may cause electricity shortages for essential institutions, including the metro and government hospitals. He cited coal shortages as the reason for the disruptions at the two power stations, which provide the city with 25-30 percent of its electricity.
New route. Russia's FESCO Transport Group said it is launching a rail container service that will connect the Netherlands, Germany and Italy with Russia – despite the European sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. The route will deliver mostly lumber, consumer goods and food.
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From the List Archives
Thanks to Beau ... and Dr. Richa
Interesting … Collins was born in Rome, Italy in 1930 when his dad was the Army (?) Attaché there - my dad was the USN Attaché in Rome in the early 50's, and we lived there several years … Ciao!
MICHAEL COLLINS Apollo 11 pilot orbited moon
FROM WIRE REPORTS
Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins, who orbited the moon alone while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made their historic first steps on the lunar surface, died in Florida on Wednesday. He was 90.
Collins died of cancer, his family said in a statement: "Mike always faced the challenges of life with grace and humility, and faced this, his final challenge, in the same way."
Though he traveled some 238,000 miles to the moon and came within 69 miles, Collins never set foot on the lunar surface as did his crewmates Aldrin and Armstrong. Armstrong died in 2012.
Collins circled the moon alone, keeping the command module going and running through the 117-page list of contingencies he had prepared in the event anything went awry.
On July 20, 1969, he was a quarter of a million miles from home — farther than any traveler had ever gone on his own — without even radio communication to tether him to the rest of humanity. The moon's bulk blocked Earth from view and cut off contact with mission control for large portions of his orbit.
Collins later admitted he had felt petrified.
Had something gone wrong and Aldrin and Armstrong been stuck on the moon's surface — a real fear — Collins would have returned to Earth alone.
"Whether his work was behind the scenes or on full view, his legacy will always be as one of the leaders who took America's first steps into the cosmos," acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk said in a statement Wednesday.
No regrets
Though Collins was frequently asked if he regretted not landing on the moon, his specialty was as a command module pilot, a job he compared to being the base camp operator on a mountain-climbing expedition.
"I know that I would be a liar or a fool if I said that I have the best of the three Apollo 11 seats, but I can say with truth and equanimity that I am perfectly satisfied with the one I have," he wrote in his 1974 autobiography, Carrying the Fire . "This venture has been structured for three men, and I consider my third to be as necessary as either of the other two."
Aldrin, the remaining Apollo 11 astronaut, tweeted a picture Wednesday of the three crew mates laughing, saying: "Dear Mike, Wherever you have been or will be, you will always have the Fire to Carry us deftly to new heights and to the future."
Collins was born in Rome on Halloween 1930. His parents were Virginia Collins and U.S. Army Maj. Gen. James L. Collins.
The elder Collins was a military attache in Italy when his son was born. His father's brother, Gen. Joseph Lawton "Lightning Joe" Collins, was Army chief of staff during the Korean War. Michael's older brother, James L. Collins Jr., was an Army brigadier general and military historian.
After graduating from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., in 1952, a year behind Aldrin, Collins joined the Air Force, where he became a fighter pilot and test pilot.
John Glenn's 1962 flight that made him the first American to orbit the Earth persuaded Collins to apply to NASA. He was accepted on his second try, in 1963, as part of the third group of astronauts selected. Collins' first mission was 1966's Gemini 10, one of the two-man missions made in preparation for flights to the moon.
Along with John Young, Collins practiced maneuvers necessary for a moon landing and performed a spacewalk during the three-day mission.
The mission
On Jan. 9, 1969, NASA announced that Collins, Armstrong and Aldrin would be the crew of Apollo 11, the United States' first moon landing attempt. Of his fellow Apollo 11 astronauts, Collins said they were: "Smart as hell, both of them, competent and experienced, each in his own way." Still, Collins called the group "amiable strangers" because they never developed as intense a bond as other crews.
Of the three, Collins was the acknowledged jokester. Aldrin called him the "easygoing guy who brought levity into things."
The Apollo 11 crew trained for just six months before launching on July 16, 1969, from Florida's Cape Canaveral. The mission insignia — an eagle landing on the moon with an olive branch in its talons — was largely Collins' creation.
Collins said one of the things that struck him most was the way the Earth looked from space — peaceful and serene but also delicate.
"As I look back on Apollo 11, I more and more am attracted to my recollection, not of the moon, but of the Earth. Tiny, little Earth in its little black velvet background," Collins said while marking the mission's 50th anniversary in 2019.
Early on, Collins said Apollo 11 would be his last mission, though officials at NASA wanted him to continue flying. Collins soon left NASA and joined the State Department as assistant secretary for public affairs for about a year.
Space advocate
Collins went on to become an eloquent advocate for space exploration, in his many books and as founding director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington. He was an inductee of the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame and the International Space Hall of Fame and a recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal, among other honors. He retired from the Air Force Reserve in 1982 at the rank of major general.
In a 2009 interview with NASA, Collins attributed much of his success to luck.
"Usually, you find yourself either too young or too old to do what you really want," he said. "But consider: Neil Armstrong was born in 1930. Buzz Aldrin was born in 1930, and Mike Collins, 1930. We came along at exactly the right time. We survived hazardous careers and were successful in them. But in my own case at least, it was 10% shrewd planning and 90% blind luck. Put "Lucky" on my tombstone."
Collins' wife of 56 years, the former Patricia Finnegan, died in 2014. Their son, Michael L. Collins, died in 1993. Survivors include daughters Ann Starr of Belmont, Mass., and Kate Collins of Chicago; a sister; and seven grandchildren.
The Associated Press,
The Washington Post
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A catchy tune from Dr, Rich
For you rotorheads ... "Pre-flight the Jesus Nut"
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This Day in U S Military History…….April 29
1781 – British and French ships clash in the Battle of Fort Royal off the coast of Martinique. The Battle of Fort Royal was a naval battle fought off Fort Royal, Martinique in the West Indies during the American War of Independence between fleets of the British Royal Navy and the French Navy. After an engagement lasting four hours, the British squadron under Sir Samuel Hood broke off and retreated. De Grasse offered a desultory chase before seeing the French convoys safely to port.
1862 – Union troops officially take possession of New Orleans, completing the occupation that had begun four days earlier. The capture of this vital southern city was a huge blow to the Confederacy. Southern military strategists planned for a Union attack down the Mississippi, not from the Gulf of Mexico. In early 1862, the Confederates concentrated their forces in northern Mississippi and western Tennessee to stave off the Yankee invasion. Many of these troops fought at Shiloh on April 6 and 7. Eight Rebel gunboats were dispatched up the great river to stop a Union flotilla above Memphis, leaving only 3,000 militia, two uncompleted ironclads, and a few steamboats to defend New Orleans. The most imposing obstacles for the Union were two forts, Jackson and St. Phillip. In the middle of the night of April 24, Admiral David Farragut led a fleet of 24 gunboats, 19 mortar boats, and 15,000 soldiers large fleet of ships in a daring run past the forts. Now, the River was open to New Orleans except for the rag-tag Confederate fleet. The mighty Union armada plowed right through, sinking eight ships. At New Orleans, Confederate General Mansfield Lovell surveyed his tiny force and realized that resistance was futile. If he resisted, Lovell told Mayor John Monroe, Farragut would bombard the city and inflict severe damage and casualties. Lovell pulled his troops out of New Orleans and the Yankees began arriving on April 25. The troops could not land until Forts Jackson and St. Phillip were secured. They surrendered on April 29, and now New Orleans had no protection. Crowds cursed the Yankees as all Confederate flags in the city were lowered and stars and stripes were raised in their place. The Confederacy lost a major city, and the lower Mississippi soon became a Union highway for 400 miles to Vicksburg, Mississippi.
1918 – America's WWI Ace of Aces, Eddie Rickenbacker, scored his first victory with the help of Captain James Norman Hall. He eventually racked up 26 victories before the end of the war.
1945 – U.S. Seventh Army's 45th Infantry Division liberates Dachau, the first concentration camp established by Germany's Nazi regime. A major Dachau subcamp was liberated the same day by the 42nd Rainbow Division. Established five weeks after Adolf Hitler took power as German chancellor in 1933, Dachau was situated on the outskirts of the town of Dachau, about 10 miles northwest of Munich. During its first year, the camp held about 5,000 political prisoners, consisting primarily of German communists, Social Democrats, and other political opponents of the Nazi regime. During the next few years, the number of prisoners grew dramatically, and other groups were interned at Dachau, including Jehovah's Witnesses, Gypsies, homosexuals, and repeat criminals. Beginning in 1938, Jews began to comprise a major portion of camp internees. Prisoners at Dachau were used as forced laborers, initially in the construction and expansion of the camp and later for German armaments production. The camp served as the training center for SS concentration camp guards and was a model for other Nazi concentration camps. Dachau was also the first Nazi camp to use prisoners as human guinea pigs in medical experiments. At Dachau, Nazi scientists tested the effects of freezing and changes to atmospheric pressure on inmates, infected them with malaria and tuberculosis and treated them with experimental drugs, and forced them to test methods of making seawater potable and of halting excessive bleeding. Hundreds of prisoners died or were crippled as a result of these experiments. Thousands of inmates died or were executed at Dachau, and thousands more were transferred to a Nazi extermination center near Linz, Austria, when they became too sick or weak to work. In 1944, to increase war production, the main camp was supplemented by dozens of satellite camps established near armaments factories in southern Germany and Austria. These camps were administered by the main camp and collectively called Dachau. With the advance of Allied forces against Germany in April 1945, the Germans transferred prisoners from concentration camps near the front to Dachau, leading to a general deterioration of conditions and typhus epidemics. On April 27, 1945, approximately 7,000 prisoners, mostly Jews, were forced to begin a death march from Dachau to Tegernsee, far to the south. The next day, many of the SS guards abandoned the camp. On April 29, the Dachau main camp was liberated by units of the 45th Infantry after a brief battle with the camp's remaining guards. As they neared the camp, the Americans found more than 30 railroad cars filled with bodies in various states of decomposition. Inside the camp there were more bodies and 30,000 survivors, most severely emaciated. Some of the American troops who liberated Dachau were so appalled by conditions at the camp that they machine-gunned at least two groups of captured German guards. It is officially reported that 30 SS guards were killed in this fashion, but conspiracy theorists have alleged that more than 10 times that number were executed by the American liberators. The German citizens of the town of Dachau were later forced to bury the 9,000 dead inmates found at the camp. In the course of Dachau's history, at least 160,000 prisoners passed through the main camp, and 90,000 through the subcamps. Incomplete records indicate that at least 32,000 of the inmates perished at Dachau and its subcamps, but countless more were shipped to extermination camps elsewhere.
1945 – The unofficial surrender of German forces in Italy is signed at Caserta. The German representatives are present here because of a secret negotiation between the head of the OSS mission in Switzerland, Allan Dulles, and SS General Wolff. These talks have been going on since much earlier in the year, but because of their clandestine nature, the German representatives at Caserta cannot guarantee that the surrender will be ratified by Vietinghoff, commanding German forces in Italy.
1945 – Adolf Hitler marries his longtime partner Eva Braun in a Berlin bunker and designates Admiral Karl Dönitz as his successor. Both Hitler and Braun commit suicide the following day. Eva Braun met Hitler while employed as an assistant to Hitler's official photographer. Of a middle-class Catholic background, Braun spent her time with Hitler out of public view, entertaining herself by skiing and swimming. She had no discernible influence on Hitler's political career but provided a certain domesticity to the life of the dictator. Loyal to the end, she refused to leave the Berlin bunker buried beneath the chancellery as the Russians closed in. The couple was married only hours before they both committed suicide.
1970 – U.S. and South Vietnamese forces launch a limited "incursion" into Cambodia. The campaign included 13 major ground operations to clear North Vietnamese sanctuaries 20 miles inside the Cambodian border. Some 50,000 South Vietnamese soldiers and 30,000 U.S. troops were involved, making it the largest operation of the war since Operation Junction City in 1967. The operation began with South Vietnamese forces attacking into the "Parrot's Beak" area of Cambodia that projects into South Vietnam above the Mekong Delta. During the first two days, an 8,000-man South Vietnamese task force, including two infantry divisions, four ranger battalions, and four armored cavalry squadrons, killed 84 communist soldiers while suffering 16 dead and 157 wounded. The second stage of the campaign began on May 2 with a series of joint U.S.-South Vietnamese operations. These operations were aimed at clearing communist sanctuaries located in the densely vegetated "Fishhook" area of Cambodia (across the border from South Vietnam, immediately north of Tay Ninh Province and west of Binh Long Province, 70 miles from Saigon). The U.S. 1st Cavalry Division and 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, along with the South Vietnamese 3rd Airborne Brigade, killed 3,190 communists in the action and captured massive amounts of war booty, including 2,000 individual and crew-served weapons, 300 trucks, and 40 tons of foodstuffs. By the time all U.S. ground forces had departed Cambodia on June 30, the Allied forces had discovered and captured or destroyed 10 times more enemy supplies and equipment than they had captured inside South Vietnam during the entire previous year. Many intelligence analysts at the time believed that the Cambodian incursion dealt a stunning blow to the communists, driving main force units away from the border and damaging their morale, and in the process buying as much as a year for South Vietnam's survival. However, the incursion gave the antiwar movement in the United States a new rallying point. News of the incursion set off a wave of antiwar demonstrations, including one at Kent State University that resulted in the killing of four students by Army National Guard troops and another at Jackson State in Mississippi that resulted in the shooting of two students when police opened fire on a women's dormitory. The incursion also angered many in Congress, who felt that Nixon was illegally widening the scope of the war; this resulted in a series of congressional resolutions and legislative initiatives that would severely limit the executive power of the president.
1975 – Operation Frequent Wind, the largest helicopter evacuation on record, begins removing the last Americans from Saigon. The North Vietnamese had launched their final offensive in March 1975 and the South Vietnamese forces had fallen back before their rapid advance, losing Quang Tri, Hue, Da Nang, Qui Nhon, Tuy Hoa, Nha Trang, and Xuan Loc in quick succession. With the North Vietnamese attacking the outskirts of Saigon, U.S. Ambassador Graham Martin ordered the commencement of Frequent Wind. In 19 hours, 81 helicopters carried more than 1,000 Americans and almost 6,000 Vietnamese to aircraft carriers offshore. Cpl. Charles McMahon, Jr. and Lance Cpl. Darwin Judge, USMC, were the last U.S. military personnel killed in action in Vietnam, when shrapnel from a North Vietnamese rocket struck them as they were guarding Tan Son Nhut Airbase during the evacuation. At 7:53 a.m. on April 30, the last helicopter lifted off the rook of the embassy and headed out to sea. Later that morning, North Vietnamese tanks crashed through the gates of the Presidential Palace. North Vietnamese Col. Bui Tin accepted the surrender from Gen. Duong Van Minh, who had taken over from Tran Van Huong (who only spent one day in power after President Nguyen Van Thieu fled). The Vietnam War was over.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
GUERIN, FITZ W.
Rank and organization: Private, Battery A, 1st Missouri Light Artillery. Place and date: At Grand Gulf, Miss., 28-29 April 1863. Entered service at: St. Louis, Mo. Birth: New York, N.Y. Date of issue: 10 March 1896. Citation: With two comrades voluntarily took position on board the steamer Cheeseman, in charge of all the guns and ammunition of the battery, and remained in charge of the same for a considerable time while the steamer was unmanageable and subjected to a heavy fire from the enemy.
HAMMEL, HENRY A.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Battery A, 1st Missouri Light Artillery. Place and date: At Grand Gulf, Miss., 28-29 April 1863. Entered service at: St. Louis, Mo. Birth: Germany. Date of issue: 10 March 1896. Citation: With two comrades voluntarily took position on board the steamer Cheeseman, in charge of all the guns and ammunition of the battery, and remained in charge of the same for considerable time while the steamer was unmanageable and subjected to a heavy fire from the enemy.
PESCH, JOSEPH
Rank and organization: Private, Battery A, 1st Missouri Light Artillery. Place and date: At Grand Gulf, Miss., 28_29 April 1863. Entered service at: St. Louis, Mo. Birth: Prussia. Date of issue: 10 March 1896. Citation: With 2 comrades voluntarily took position on board the steamer Cheeseman, in charge of all the guns and ammunition of the battery, and remained in charge of the same, although the steamer became unmanageable and was exposed for some time to a heavy fire from the enemy.
WOON, JOHN
Rank and organization: Boatswain's Mate, U.S. Navy. Born: 1823, England. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 17, 10 July 1863. Citation: Serving on board the U.S.S. Pittsburg, Mississippi River, 29 April 1863. Engaging the enemy batteries at Grand Gulf, the U.S.S. Pittsburg, although severely damaged and suffering many personnel casualties, continued to fire her batteries until ordered to withdraw. Taking part in a similar action after nightfall, the U.S.S. Pittsburg received further damage, but receiving no personnel casualities in the latter action. Woon showed courage and devotion to duty throughout these bitter engagements.
REED, JAMES C.
Rank and organization: Private, Company A, 8th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: Arizona, 29 April 1868. Entered service at:——. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 24 July 1869. Citation: Defended his position (with 3 others) against a party of 17 hostile Indians under heavy fire at close quarters, the entire party except himself being severely wounded.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for 29 April
FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS FOR APRIL 29
THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
1898: The first joint Army-Navy board on aeronautics submitted a report on Professor Samuel P.
Langley's flying machine (at that time a model with a 12-foot wing span) to the War Department.
The report favored further support for Professor Langley's experiments. (29) (See 25
March 1898)
1905: Using the Montgomery Glider, Daniel Malony began a series of glides. He took off from captive balloons. (24)
1918: Lt Edward V. Rickenbacker, who became the leading American ace of World War I, downed his first aircraft. (4)
1926: Ward T. Van Orman and W. W. Morton won the National Balloon Race at Little Rock by flying
848 miles to Petersburg, Va. (24)
1931: The Boeing XB-901 first flew.
1946: Bell Aircraft Corp. received a contract to research and design a 100-mile range subsonic air-to surface missile. It later became the Rascal. (6) (24)
1960: NASA's first test firing of all eight first-stage rocket engines on the Saturn produced 1,300,000 pounds of thrust. (24)
1965: Operation POWER PACK. The USAF used C-130s and C-124s to airlift 12,000 troops and 17,250 tons of equipment and supplies from Pope AFB to San Isidro, Dominican Republic. The airlift, as part of the operation, allowed the US to restore stability to the Caribbean island nation and prevent unfriendly elements from taking it over. Reserve transports and ANG communications aircraft also joined USAF fighters and reconnaissance aircraft in the operation. (21) The Air Force initiated the F-X (later F-15) program by directing AFSC to begin efforts toward acquiring a new tactical fighter. (30)
1967: President Johnson gave the go-ahead to build two prototype supersonic jet transports that could carry 300 passengers at 1,750 MPH. Boeing built the airframe and General Electric the engines at a total cost of $1.144 billion.
1970: APOLLO XI/THOMAS D. WHITE TROPHY. Neil A. Armstrong, and Cols Edwin W. Aldrin and Michael Collins received the trophy for the outstanding scientific and technological accomplishment in achieving the first landing of man on the moon. (See 6 May 1970). (5) (16)
1972: A C-141 airlifted 394 South Vietnamese refugees fleeing a Communist invasion of the Central Highlands to Tan Son Nhut AB. The passenger total was the greatest number transported on a C-141 to date. (18)
1974: SECDEF James R. Schlesinger redirected the lightweight fighter program as a competition between the YF-16 and YF-17 to become the new air combat fighter for the Air Force. (3)
1975: Operation NEW LIFE. Just before the fall of South Vietnam, MAC moved the last of 50,493
refugees from Saigon to safe haven bases in the Pacific on 201 C-141 and C-130 missions. Air
Rescue and Recovery Service HH-53 helicopters airlifted another 362 evacuees from Saigon to
the USS Midway. (2) (16) (18)
Operation NEW ARRIVAL. Through 16 September, MAC used 196 C-141s and C-130s to
airlift 31,155 Vietnamese refugees from the Philippines to Guam, while commercial contract
carriers began an effort to move 121,560 refugees from SEA to the US. (18) (21)
Operation FREQUENT WIND. Through 30 April, USAF, Marine, and Navy helicopters
airlifted 6,000-plus people in the final evacuation of Saigon. This was the first major operation
involving flights of USAF helicopters from an aircraft carrier, the USS Midway. (21)
1976: Through 15 May, USAFE aircrews participated in the first Allied Air Forces Center Europe
Tactical Weapons Meet at Twenthe AB, Netherlands. (16) (26)
1983: First multinational staged improvement program modified F-16B flight accepted. (12)
1985: In the seventh Challenger mission, the Space Shuttle carried Spacelab-3 in the cargo bay. It returned to earth on 6 May.Through 17 May, USAFE units at Spangdahlem AB participated in Exercise Salty Demo, the first integrated basewide effort to measure all facets of an air base's ability to survive attacks and generate post-attack sorties. (26)
1986: Through 7 May, MAC's Weather reconnaissance squadrons carried over 700 air sample containers from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident in the Soviet Union to the Air Force
Technical Applications Center at McClellan AFB, Calif. (16)
1993: The Rockwell X-31A EFM Demonstrator made the first high-angle-of-attack, post-stall, 180- degree turn known as the Herbst Manuever. The aircraft made the turn in a 475-foot radius.
(20)
2006: A C-17 flew 110 Iraqi children, along with 97 parents and escorts, from Amman, Jordan, to Baghdad International Airport, Iraq, in support of "Operation Smile," an international, nongovernmental organization that provides corrective facial surgery for children. Secretary ofDefense Donald H. Rumsfeld approved the C-17 flight to keep the group from having to travel 22 hours by bus from Amman to Baghdad through Iraq's volatile western provinces. (22)
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World News for 29April thanks to Military Periscope
USA—British Virgin Islands Premier Arrested On Drug Charges CNN | 04/29/2022 The United States has arrested top officials from the British Virgin Islands on drug-trafficking and money-laundering charges, reports CNN. On Thursday, Premier Andrew Alturo Fahie and BVI Ports Authority Managing Director Oleanvine Pickering Maynard were arrested in Miami. According to a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) affidavit, the two are accused of helping Lebanese Hezbollah operatives smuggle cocaine through the Island of Tortola in the British overseas territory. A DEA informant lured both officials to Miami, where they were offered cash bribes. Upon accepting the bribes and exiting their planes, each was arrested. BVI Gov. John Rankin, who is appointed by the queen on the advice of the British government, announced Fahie's arrest. He said that Deputy Premier Natalio Wheatley will serve as acting premier of the territory.
USA—1st Red Hawk Jet Trainer Rolls Out Boeing | 04/29/2022 Boeing has unveiled the first new jet trainer for the U.S. Air Force. On Thursday, the first T-7A Red Hawk built under the engineering and manufacturing development phase of the program was rolled out at Boeing's facility in St. Louis, Mo., reported Saab, which is partnered with Boeing on the project. The fully digitally designed aircraft was built and tested with advanced manufacturing, agile software development and digital engineering technology greatly reducing the time from design to first flight, Boeing said. The Red Hawk features open architecture software, enabling the easy integration of future capabilities. The first aircraft will remain in St. Louis for ground and flight testing prior to delivery to the Air Force
USA—Pegasus Tanker Refuels Foreign Aircraft For 1st Time Air Force News Service | 04/29/2022 For the first time, a U.S. Air Force KC-46 Pegasus tanker has refueled an aircraft from another country, reports the Air Force News Service. On April 18, a KC-46 refueled Spanish EF-18 Hornet fighters during the type's first employment concept exercise at Moron Air Base in Spain. During the exercise, the tankers also supported a bomber task force and refueled U.S. fighters over Eastern Europe, said Gen. Mike Minihan, the head of Air Mobility Command. The Pegasus is now cleared to support nearly 85 percent of joint force aircraft seeking refueling from U.S. Transportation Command, said Brig. Gen. Ryan Samuelson, the KC-46 Cross-Functional Team chief.
USA—Biden Seeks $33 Billion In Aid For Ukraine Cable News Network | 04/29/2022 President Joe Biden has asked Congress for an additional $33 billion in aid for Ukraine, reports CNN. On Thursday, the president outlined a proposal designed to support Ukraine for the next several months as Russia's unprovoked war enters a new phase. The package includes $20.4 billion for military and security assistance, including $5 billion in additional drawdown authorities, $6 billion for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative and $4 billion for the Foreign Military Financing program under the State Dept., according to a senior administration official. The new request would cover more artillery, armored vehicles, anti-tank and anti-aircraft capabilities for the Ukrainian military as well as humanitarian assistance, including food, water, medicine and shelter for those displaced by the war. Some of the $20 billion could be used to backfill contributions of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine by other countries, officials said. Around $8.5 billion in economic assistance would help the Ukrainian government respond to the crisis and continue to provide basic services to the Ukrainian people.
Ukraine—British Aid Workers Seized By Russians BBC News | 04/29/2022 Two British volunteers working with the U.K.-based Presidium Network have been detained by Russian forces near Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine, reports BBC News. The two aid workers were trying to rescue a family from a village south of Zaporizhzhia when they were captured. The workers were believed to be operating independently but were in touch with the Presidium Network. The British Foreign Office is seeking to obtain more information on their status.
Ukraine—Missiles Hit Kyiv During U.N. Secretary-General Visit CNN | 04/29/2022 Russian missiles hit Kyiv during a visit by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, reports CNN. Two to five missiles struck the Shevchenkivskyi district, igniting a 25-storey residential building. At least 10 people were injured in the attack, said the State Emergency Service. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported that one of its journalists, Vira Hyrych, died when a missile hit the apartment building where she lived. The missiles struck as Guterres was wrapping up a visit with Ukrainian officials in the capital. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the attack an attempt "to humiliate the U.N. and everything that the organization represents," reported Al Jazeera (Qatar). Guterres traveled to Kyiv after visiting Moscow to seek Putin's support for humanitarian efforts in Ukraine. In Ukraine, he also visited the sites of alleged Russian war crimes in Borodyanka, northwest of Kyiv. The secretary-general emphasized the importance of the U.N.'s humanitarian work in Ukraine and criticized the Security Council for failing to stop the conflict.
United Kingdom—Sinn Fein Leads In Latest N. Ireland Poll Bloomberg News | 04/29/2022 A new poll has Sinn Fein in the lead ahead of next week's election for the North Ireland Assembly, reports Bloomberg News. The LucidTalk poll for the Belfast Telegraph reports 26 percent support for Sinn Fein, which seeks unification with Ireland, and 20 percent support for the unionist Democratic Union Party (DUP). If Sinn Fein wins the vote, it would choose the first minister for the first time under a power-sharing accord reached as part of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. It could also affect British negotiations with the E.U. over the region's trading arrangements. The DUP has been campaigning for the removal of the Northern Irish Protocol, which governs trade following Brexit.
Germany—Lawmakers Approve Heavy Weapons For Ukraine Deutsche Welle | 04/29/2022 The German Parliament has authorized the government to dispatch "heavy weapons and complex systems" to Ukraine, reports Deutsche Welle. The vote in the Bundestag, the lower house of Parliament, comes after Chancellor Olaf Scholz held back from sending heavy equipment to Ukraine as it battles an unprovoked invasion by Russia. The measure covers anti-aircraft systems and armored vehicles as well as provisions for supplying heavier gear to NATO allies on the eastern front. Germany also expects to send more soldiers to NATO missions in the east.
Russia—Cyberattacks Made In Support Of Military Operations In Ukraine, Report Says Nbc News | 04/29/2022 A new report from Microsoft says that Russian hackers have been conducting attacks in Ukraine in conjunction with military operations, reports NBC News. "Based on our direct engagement with impacted entities in Ukraine, we observed that cyber and kinetic military operations appeared to be directed toward similar military objectives," says the report, which was published on Wednesday. At least six different Russian government hacking groups have targeted Ukraine since Moscow launched its unprovoked invasion on Feb. 24. Since the invasion began, Ukraine has been subjected to ongoing attacks, including disinformation campaigns, distributed denial-of-service attacks that temporarily knock websites offline and "wiper" attacks that infect computer networks and delete their files. There are some instances where Russia has attacked telecommunications companies with a combination of missiles and cyberattacks, said Victor Zhora, a top Ukrainian cybersecurity official.
Australia—Another Armidale-Class Patrol Boat Leaves Service Newcastle Weekly | 04/29/2022 The Royal Australian Navy has formally decommissioned its second Armidale-class patrol boat, reports the Newcastle Weekly. On Thursday, the Maitland was retired during a ceremony at HMAS Coonawarra in Darwin after 16 years of service. The navy is replacing its Armidale-class patrol boats with the larger and more capable Arafura-class offshore patrol vessels, officials said.
South Korea—U.S. Forces Practice Underground Ops Yonhap | 04/29/2022 U.S. Forces Korea has been conducting underground training, reports the Yonhap news agency (Seoul). The 2nd Infantry Division recently published photos showing troops wearing gas masks and protective suits during a specialized training program at an underground facility. The unit did not disclose when or where the training occurred. The move appears to be intended to show increased efforts to ensure defense readiness following recent North Korean missile launches, analysts said.
Afghanistan—Former General Promises New War Against Taliban BBC News | 04/29/2022 A former general in the Afghan army says that he and other former soldiers are preparing to launch a new war against the Taliban, reports BBC News. Lt. Gen. Sami Sadat, the former head of Afghan forces in the southern Helmand province and Afghan special operations forces, said that after eight months of Taliban rule, many Afghans have come to believe that military action is the only way forward. An operation could begin next month after the end of the Islamic Eid festival, when the ex-general said he planned to return to Afghanistan. Sadat slammed the Taliban's human-rights abuses, misuse of the Koran for political purposes, harsh restrictions on women and girls and economic mismanagement. It is not clear with what forces Sadat might launch the war. There are numerous groups opposed to the Taliban, but they are divided along ethnic lines and loyal to local commanders. Sadat says he is in touch with the National Resistance Front under Ahmad Massoud, as well as a coalition of other resistance groups. He did not ask for foreign backers, which proved invaluable for the opposition against the previous Taliban regime.
Iran—Talks With Taliban Sought To Ease Tensions New York Times | 04/29/2022 The Iranian government says it is in talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan to ease tensions, reports the New York Times. Relations between the neighbors have spiraled since an Afghan immigrant killed two clerics and injured a third in an attack at the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad in northeastern Iran. Since the attack, there has been an increase in violence against Afghans in Iran, where an estimated five million Afghans live, as well as attacks against Iranians in Afghanistan. In one incident, demonstrators attacked the Iranian consulate in Herat in western Afghanistan and setting its gate on fire. Iran sent additional troops and armor to its border this week after a skirmish between border guards. Tehran says the sides have been in talks to reduce tensions and that a Taliban delegation may soon travel to Iran for further discussions.
Lebanon—Government Runs Out Of Passports Al Jazeera | 04/29/2022 The General Security Organization (GSO) in Lebanon has announced that it will stop issuing passports, reports Al Jazeera (Qatar). Demand for new passports has increased 10-fold over the last two years due to economic collapse and political inertia. There are around 8,000 requests for new passports daily, according to the GSO. The organization said it can no longer keep up with the requests and is indefinitely halting their issuance as its supplies run out. The organization said it has asked the government to procure more but that it has not yet done so.
Israel—42 Injured In Latest Clashes At Al-Aqsa Mosque Haaretz | 04/29/2022 Dozens of people have been injured in fresh clashes at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, reports Haaretz. On Friday morning, Israeli police and Palestinians clashed at the mosque, with demonstrators launching fireworks and throwing rocks. Police employed riot-control measures during an operation on the Temple Mount, including tear gas and foam-tipped bullets, according to Palestinians. Forty-two Palestinians were injured, with 22 being sent to the hospital, said the Red Crescent. Police said they arrested two people during the clashes. The situation had mostly calmed ahead of midday prayers, said the authorities. There have been clashes at the mosque every Friday during Ramadan this year. Muslim leaders have been increasingly angered by growing numbers of Israeli settlers entering the compound, reported Al Jazeera (Qatar). Some Israelis have called for a Jewish temple to be built on the site.
Haiti—20 Dead In Gang Fighting In Port-Au-Prince Sky News | 04/29/2022 At least 20 people have been killed and thousands displaced amid gang battles in Haiti, reports Sky News (U.K.). The Haitian Civil Protection Agency said fighting began on Sunday in four neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince. At least a dozen homes have been burned, authorities said on Wednesday. At least two dozen people have also been wounded in the clashes. Officials warned that the main roads to northern Haiti could be cut off by gangs. Gang violence in the southern part of Port-au-Prince has already blocked access to the southern part of the country. The violence comes as gangs have grown more powerful amid a power vacuum following the assassination of President Jovenel Moise last year.
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