The List 6219
To All,
Good Saturday Morning September 17
I hope that you all have a great weekend.
Regards
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Today in Naval and Marine Corps History
September. 17
1787 The Continental Convention signs the Constitution of the United States at Philadelphia, Pa., replacing the Articles of the Confederation. Named in honor of the Constitution, USS Constitution is launched in 1797 and to date is the world's oldest commissioned U.S. Navy ship in service.
1852 A party of Marines from USS Jamestown land at Buenos Aires, Argentina, to protect Americans during a revolution. During this time, USS Jamestown serves as part of the Brazil Squadron.
1861 During the Civil War, a landing party from USS Massachusetts takes possession of Ship Island, Miss., forcing the Confederates to evacuate.
1902 Landing parties of Marines and Sailors from the sternwheel gunboat USS Cincinnati go ashore at Coln, Panama (later Colombia) to protect American property during a period of unrest.
1944 The Naval Task Force under Rear Adm. William H. P. Blandy lands Army troops on Angaur, Palau Islands, supported by Navy carrier aircraft from USS Wasp (CV 7)and shore bombardment from USS Tennessee. Two days later, Marines land. On Sept. 20, the island is declared secure.
2011 USNS Spearhead (JHSV 1) is christened and launched at Mobile, Ala. The joint high-speed vessel provides rapid transport of military equipment and personnel in theater.
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Today in History September 17
1787 The Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia approves the constitution for the United States of America.
1796 President George Washington delivers his "Farewell Address" to Congress before concluding his second term in office.
1862 The Battle of Antietam in Maryland, the bloodiest day in U.S. history, commences. Fighting in the corn field, Bloody Lane and Burnside's Bridge rages all day as the Union and Confederate armies suffer a combined 26,293 casualties.
1868 The Battle of Beecher's Island begins, in which Major George "Sandy" Forsyth and 50 volunteers hold off 500 Sioux and Cheyenne in eastern Colorado.
1902 U.S. troops are sent to Panama to keep train lines open over the isthmus as Panamanian nationals struggle for independence from Colombia.
1903 Turks destroy the town of Kastoria in Bulgaria, killing 10,000 civilians.
1916 Germany's "Red Baron," Manfred von Richthofen, wins his first aerial combat.
1917 The German Army recaptures the Russian Port of Riga from Russian forces.
1939 With the German army already attacking western Poland, the Soviet Union launches an invasion of eastern Poland.
1942 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill meets with Soviet Premier Josef Stalin in Moscow as the German Army rams into Stalingrad.
1944 British airborne troops parachute into Holland to capture the Arnhem bridge as part of Operation Market-Garden. The plan called for the airborne troops to be relieved by British troops, but they were left stranded and eventually surrendered to the Germans.
1947 James Forestall is sworn in as first the U.S. Secretary of Defense.
1957 The Thai army seizes power in Bangkok.
1959 The X-15 rocket plane makes its first flight.
1962 The first federal suit to end public school segregation is filed by the U.S. Justice Department.
1976 The Space Shuttle is unveiled to the public.
1978 Egypt and Israel sign the Camp David Accords.
1980 Nationwide independent trade union Solidarity established in Poland.
1983 Vanessa Williams becomes the first black Miss America; relinquished crown early after scandal over nude photos.
2001 The New York Stock Exchange reopens for the first time since the September 11 terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers; longest period of closure since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
2006 Alaska's Fourpeaked Mountain erupts for the first time in at least 10,000 years.
2011 Occupy Wall Street movement calling for greater social and economic equality begins in New York City's Zuccotti Park, coining the phrase "We are the 99%."
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1862
Battle of Antietam breaks out
Beginning early on the morning of September 17, 1862, Confederate and Union troops in the Civil War clash near Maryland's Antietam Creek in the bloodiest single day in American military history. The Battle of Antietam marked the culmination of Confederate General Robert E. Lee's first invasion of th... read more
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ROLLING THUNDER REMEMBERED Thanks to the Bear … Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968)…
Thanks to THE BEAR
… For The List for Saturday, 17 September 2022… Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968)…
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post for 17 September 1967… "You will live on because we remember you."…
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.
This is a list of all Helicopter Pilots Who Died in the Vietnam War
. Listed by last name and has other info
MOAA - Wall of Faces Now Includes Photos of All Servicemembers Killed in the Vietnam War
(This site was sent by a friend last week and I forgot to forward. The site works, find anyone you knew in "search" feature. https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/ )
Wall of Faces Now Includes Photos of All Service members Killed in the Vietnam War
By: Kipp Hanley
AUGUST 15, 2022
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Thanks to Carl
Is War What You Asked For?
By James Howard Kunstler
Kunstler.com
September 16, 2022
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This Week in American Military History: From the Navy's first ace to a 'Barren Victory'
by W. Thomas Smith Jr.
09/21/2010
Sept. 19, 1777: Battle of Freeman's Farm — first engagement in the Battle of Saratoga (during the American Revolution) — opens between Continental forces under the command of Gen. Horatio Gates and British forces under Gen. John "Gentleman Johnny" Burgoyne. Brits carry the day, but suffer heavy losses. Continentals will ultimately win Saratoga.
Sept. 20, 1797: The Continental Navy frigate Constitution is launched in Boston harbor.
Today USS Constitution – known affectionately as "Old Ironsides" -- is the "oldest ship in the American Navy," and continues serving in the 21st century as a duly commissioned ship crewed by active-duty U.S. sailors and Naval officers in order to further public awareness of American Naval tradition.
Sept. 20, 1863: Confederate forces under the command of Gen. Braxton Bragg (yes, Fort Bragg, N.C. is named in his honor) prevail against Union forces under Maj. Gen. William, though Bragg's casualties are far higher than those of Rosecrans.
Confederate Gen. D. H. Hill will say: "It seems to me that the elan of the Southern soldier was never seen after Chickamauga; the brilliant dash which had distinguished him was gone forever. He fought stoutly to the last, but after Chickamauga, with the sullenness of despair, and without the enthusiasm of hope. That 'barren victory' sealed the fate of the Southern Confederacy."
Sept. 23, 1779: The famous battle of the North Sea opens between Continental Navy frigate Bonhomme Richard under the command of Capt. John Paul Jones, and Royal Navy frigate HMS Serapis.
During the height of the fighting, Serapis' Captain Richard Pearson issues an appeal to Jones that the American ship surrender. Jones refuses.
According to the story, the British captain – aware that Bonhomme Richard is badly damaged and sinking – shouts across the water between the two dueling ships, inquiring as to whether or not Jones has lowered or struck his colors. Jones shouts back, "I have not yet begun to fight!"
It has since been widely reported that Jones reply was, "I may sink, but I'll be damned if I strike!"
In fact, Bonhomme Richard does sink: But not before Pearson himself surrenders (believed to be "the first time in naval history that colors are surrendered to a sinking ship"), and Jones transfers his flag to his newly captured prize, Serapis.
Bonhomme Richard (the first of five American warships named after Benjamin Franklin's pen name) is the former French frigate, Duc de Duras.
Jones is destined to become "the Father of the American Navy," though – in some circles – it is argued that title belongs to Commodore John Barry.
Sept. 24, 1918: U.S. Navy Ensign (future rear admiral) David S. Ingalls – on loan to the Royal Air Force and flying an RAF Sopwith Camel – shoots down enemy aircraft number five, becoming the first ace in U.S. Naval Aviation history, and the Navy's only ace of World War I.
Sept. 24, 1960: Forty-two years to the day after Ensign Ingalls scores his fifth kill, Naval Aviation history is again made with the launching of America's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise (the eighth of eight so-named American Navy ships since 1775).
Sept. 25, 1957: U.S. Army paratroopers – members of the 101st Airborne Division – escort nine black students into Little Rock Central High School, Little Rock, Arkansas, ending segregation there.
Sept. 26, 1918: Though technically launched at 11:30 p.m., Sept. 25, with an intense artillery barrage; the Meuse-Argonne Offensive – the six-week long "greatest battle of World War I in which the Americans participated" – officially begins just before dawn when whistles are blown along the American trench-lines, and with fixed-bayonets, American soldiers clamber over the top and begin their assault against the German lines.
The battle, which begins with approximately 600,000 American soldiers and Marines, will see U.S. ranks swell to more one million men. An estimated 26,000-plus Americans will be killed, another 96,000 wounded. But the campaign will end the war.
It will be during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive that Private First Class (future Sgt.) Alvin C. York, a Tennessee backwoodsman and former conscientious objector, will find himself in the action for which he will receive Medal of Honor.
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From the List archives.
Thanks to Dutch…Your reputation around the boat was a big thing and this was a big part of it
What? An LSO with a sense of humor?
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The Ultimate Carrier Break | FighterSweep
fightersweep.com
But when you break the deck, there is a little dispensation given for the strict parameters, the unwritten mindset being that with an eye towards being expeditious, and shortening – even if it's just by a few seconds – the amount of time the carrier must steer a dangerously predictable path into the wind, we are going to give this person a little leeway on the rigid parameters.
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Compiled by Brent Hunt, Naval History and Heritage Command's Communication and Outreach Division
Welcome to Navy History Matters—our weekly compilation of articles, commentaries, and blogs related to history and heritage. Every week we'll gather the top-interest items from a variety of media and social media sources and then link you to related content at NHHC's website (history.navy.mil), your authoritative source for Navy history.
H-Gram 029: "April is the Cruelest Month".
T.S. Eliot once wrote, "April is the cruelest month." Although upcoming H-Grams will be chockfull of U.S. Navy victories—Great Marianas Turkey Shoot, Battle of the Philippine Sea, Operation Neptune (Invasion of Normandy), and the capture of U-505—this H-Gram covers a litany of disaster. In his latest H-Gram, Director Sam Cox discusses Exercise Tiger (the deadly rehearsal for the Utah Beach D-Day landings in April 1944); U.S. Navy aircraft losses during the Cold War; the turret explosion on USS Iowa in 1989; and a history of previous U.S. Navy gun, ammunition, and powder accidents. If there is a moral to these incidents, it's that peace or war, training or operation, the Navy is always an inherently dangerous business. To learn more, read H-Gram 029 at the Director's Corner. Also, as promised in last week's edition of Navy History Matters, we've published Exercise Tiger: Disaster at Slapton Sands, an essay by COD's Adam Bisno, at NHHC's World War II: 1944 pages.
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Thanks to Carl
Here's a rare look at an Air Force F-117 stealth jet flying over California
Vintage airpower back in black
BY DAVID ROZA | UPDATED SEP 16, 2021 5:08 PM
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From the Fredericksburg (Virginia) Free Lance Star -
EDITORIAL: Happy Birthday, U.S. Constitution!
BY THE EDITORIAL PAGE STAFF OF THE FREE LANCE-STAR
U.S. Archives
"W E the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."—Preamble to the U.S. Constitution
September 17, Constitution Day, was established by law as a federal observance in 2004 to commemorate the signing of the nation's most important founding document in 1787 in Philadelphia. The act requires that educational institutions that receive federal funds present a program for students on the Constitution. Every American should be familiar with this singular document.
Written largely by Virginia's own James Madison, who is often referred to as "the Father of the Constitution," it created the first legal structure in human history that put limits on government power and allowed people to select their own political leaders. In a world still ruled exclusively by kings and emperors, this was unprecedented.
Now, 232 years later, the constitutional notion of limited democracy within a republican form of government that is subject to numerous checks and balances doesn't seem very radical. But when the Constitution was adopted, it was revolutionary.
As a member of the newly established House of Representative, Madison introduced amendments to the Constitution known collectively as the Bill of Rights, which was based on the 1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights. Those guarantees of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, and yes, even freedom to bear arms, are the very foundation of our national birthright as citizens of the United States.
The Founders were well aware that they were venturing into uncharted territory, and were not sure how their grand experiment in self-governance would end up. Confident that they had provided a sufficient bulwark against an oppressive central government, they also expressed fear that the republic they created could be destroyed from within by opposing factions.
For example, Philadelphia's Benjamin Rush, an eminent physician, abolitionist and social activist who signed the Declaration of Independence and attended the Constitutional Convention, worried that democracy could devolve into mob rule. "In our opposition to monarchy, we forgot that the temple of tyranny has two doors," Rush wrote. "We bolted one of them by proper restraints; but we left the other open, by neglecting to guard against the effects of [the people's] ignorance and licentiousness."
"Licentiousness of the masses" was a term the Founders often used to describe various factions among the populace that were at odds with each other. Their differences, which were "sown into the nature of men," Madison said, "inflamed them with mutual animosity, and rendered them much more disposed to vex and oppress each other than to co-operate for their common good."
In Federalist # 10, Madison acknowledged that there were only two ways to deal with warring factions: either limit their liberty or control their effect on the body politic. He chose the latter.
"If a faction consists of less than a majority, relief is supplied by the republican principle, which enables the majority to defeat its sinister views by regular vote. It may clog the administration, it may convulse the society; but it will be unable to execute and mask its violence under the forms of the Constitution."
However, if a faction consists of the majority of voters, Madison said that the republican principle also helps prevent tyranny over the minority because in a large republic, when many voters of varying interests choose representatives with "the most attractive merit and the most diffusive and established characters," the practical effect is that "it will prove more difficult for unworthy candidates to rise to power."
And the Bill of Rights ensures that even if unworthy candidates do rise to power, Americans' individual rights cannot be legislated away.
American history is a story about warring factions as much as it is about national unity. But even after the most corrosive factionalism between free and slave states, which erupted into a bloody and fratricidal Civil War, the Constitution was still there to provide the framework for the 13th and 14th Amendments ending slavery and enshrining due process and equal protection under the law.
"The constitutional project can be understood as a way to save representative government from its own democratic excesses," wrote Jay Cost, author of "The Inconveniences of Democracy: The Constitution and the Problem of Majority Factionalism," which pointed out that constitutional mechanisms represent an uneasy compromise between majority rule and individual rights that is always in tension.
But "the U.S. Constitution is the longest-running, written instrument of government in the world today, and undoubtedly, the United States would not be as prosperous and powerful a nation without it," Cost added.
Here's to the next 232 years!
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Thanks to Tim
From UK EAGLE .... date unk in 60s
'The era of this dit is when garage petrol pumps had round clock dials and punctures were not yet a thing of the past. Remember them? Welcome back to the sixties.
Eagle was alongside the South Railway Jetty in Pompey Dockyard for a three week Self Maintenance Period. Repairs to the boilers were also scheduled and so shore-side steam was provided to the galleys. At least, that was the plan.
Day One, poor steam pressure, 'hands to dinner' basically became soup and sandwiches. Day Two no improvement and angry chefs. Day Three the Commander decided that if hands wished they could fall-in on the jetty at 1200 and march to Pompey Barracks for dinner. The take-up was abysmal so from Day Four shore leave was granted from 1200-1400 so hands could make their own lunch arrangements. Well, we all know what comes next, don't we!
At the Cdr's Table for Defaulters one of my division was charged with being twenty-three minutes adrift.
The conversation went something like this:
"So, Naval Airman Johnson, what's your excuse?"
"Well sir, I was in the King's Head see, 'aving a pork pie an' a pint for me dinner like, when after a while I says to meself, Johnson I says, I wonder how much time I've got left? An' looking around I looked out the pub winda an' noticed a clock on the building opposite. I realised I still had forty minutes to go so I has another pint, didn't I? And it was only when I got outside sir, I realised I'd been lookin' at a petrol pump in the garage forecourt opposite".
During 'lockdown' Navy Wings started to collate your stories and we have fifty 'dits' for you to enjoy and serve as a focus of remembrance. This collection celebrates the funny, incredible and heroic actions of the aircraft and those that served in the Fleet Air Arm.
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This Day in U S Military History
September 17
1787 – The Constitution of the United States of America is signed by 38 of 41 delegates present at the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Supporters of the document waged a hard-won battle to win ratification by the necessary nine out of 13 U.S. states. The Articles of Confederation, ratified several months before the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781, provided for a loose confederation of U.S. states, which were sovereign in most of their affairs. On paper, Congress–the central authority–had the power to govern foreign affairs, conduct war, and regulate currency, but in practice these powers were sharply limited because Congress was given no authority to enforce its requests to the states for money or troops. By 1786, it was apparent that the Union would soon break up if the Articles of Confederation were not amended or replaced. Five states met in Annapolis, Maryland, to discuss the issue, and all the states were invited to send delegates to a new constitutional convention to be held in Philadelphia. On May 25, 1787, delegates representing every state except Rhode Island convened at Philadelphia's Pennsylvania State House for the Constitutional Convention. The building, which is now known as Independence Hall, had earlier seen the drafting of the Declaration of Independence and the signing of the Articles of Confederation. The assembly immediately discarded the idea of amending the Articles of Confederation and set about drawing up a new scheme of government. Revolutionary War hero George Washington, a delegate from Virginia, was elected convention president. During an intensive debate, the delegates devised a brilliant federal organization characterized by an intricate system of checks and balances. The convention was divided over the issue of state representation in Congress, as more-populated states sought proportional legislation, and smaller states wanted equal representation. The problem was resolved by the Connecticut Compromise, which proposed a bicameral legislature with proportional representation in the lower house (House of Representatives) and equal representation of the states in the upper house (Senate). On September 17, 1787, the Constitution was signed. As dictated by Article VII, the document would not become binding until it was ratified by nine of the 13 states. Beginning on December 7, five states–Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, and Connecticut–ratified it in quick succession. However, other states, especially Massachusetts, opposed the document, as it failed to reserve undelegated powers to the states and lacked constitutional protection of basic political rights, such as freedom of speech, religion, and the press. In February 1788, a compromise was reached under which Massachusetts and other states would agree to ratify the document with the assurance that amendments would be immediately proposed. The Constitution was thus narrowly ratified in Massachusetts, followed by Maryland and South Carolina. On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the document, and it was subsequently agreed that government under the U.S. Constitution would begin on March 4, 1789. In June, Virginia ratified the Constitution, followed by New York in July. On September 25, 1789, the first Congress of the United States adopted 12 amendments to the U.S. Constitution–the Bill of Rights–and sent them to the states for ratification. Ten of these amendments were ratified in 1791. In November 1789, North Carolina became the 12th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. Rhode Island, which opposed federal control of currency and was critical of compromise on the issue of slavery, resisted ratifying the Constitution until the U.S. government threatened to sever commercial relations with the state. On May 29, 1790, Rhode Island voted by two votes to ratify the document, and the last of the original 13 colonies joined the United States. Today, the U.S. Constitution is the oldest written constitution in operation in the world.
1796 – President George Washington delivered his "Farewell Address" to Congress before concluding his second term in office. Washington counseled the republic in his farewell address to avoid "entangling alliances" and involvement in the "ordinary vicissitudes, combinations, and collision of European politics." Also "we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies."
1908 – Orville Wright's passenger on a test flight was Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge. They were circling the landing field at Fort Myer, Va., when a crack developed in the blade of the aircraft's propeller. Wright lost control of the Flyer and the biplane plunged to the ground. Selfridge became powered flight's first fatality, and Wright was seriously injured in the crash. But despite the tragic mishap, the War Department awarded the contract for the first military aircraft to Wright.
1972 – Three U.S. pilots are released by Hanoi. They were the first POWs released since 1969. North Vietnamese officials cautioned the United States not to force the freed men to "slander" Hanoi, claiming that "distortions" about Hanoi's treatment of POWs from a previous release of prisoners in 1969 caused Hanoi to temporarily suspend the release of POWs. The conditions for their release stipulated that they would not do anything to further the U.S. war effort in Indochina. The rest of the POWs were released in March 1973 as part of the agreement that led to the Paris Peace Accords.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
*MONEGAN, WALTER C., JR.
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps, Company F, 2d Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division (Rein.). Place and date: Near Sosa-ri, Korea, 17 and 20 September 1950. Entered service at: Seattle, Wash. Born: 25 December 1930, Melrose, Mass. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a rocket gunner attached to Company F, and in action against enemy aggressor forces. Dug in on a hill overlooking the main Seoul highway when 6 enemy tanks threatened to break through the battalion position during a predawn attack on 17 September, Pfc. Monegan promptly moved forward with his bazooka, under heavy hostile automatic weapons fre and engaged the lead tank at a range of less than 50 yards. After scoring a direct hit and killing the sole surviving tankman with his carbine as he came through the escape hatch, he boldly fired 2 more rounds of ammunition at the oncoming tanks, disorganizing the attack and enabling our tank crews to continue blasting with their 90-mm guns. With his own and an adjacent company's position threatened by annihilation when an overwhelming enemy tank-infantry force bypassed the area and proceeded toward the battalion command post during the early morning of September 20, he seized his rocket launcher and, in total darkness, charged down the slope of the hill where the tanks had broken through. Quick to act when an illuminating shell lit the area, he scored a direct hit on one of the tanks as hostile rifle and automatic-weapons fire raked the area at close range. Again exposing himself, he fired another round to destroy a second tank and, as the rear tank turned to retreat, stood upright to fire and was fatally struck down by hostile machine gun fire when another illuminating shell silhouetted him against the sky. Pfc. Monegan's daring initiative, gallant fighting spirit and courageous devotion to duty were contributing factors in the success of his company in repelling the enemy, and his self-sacrificing efforts throughout sustain and enhance the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country .
*PILILAAU, HERBERT K.
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Company C, 23d Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Pia-ri, Korea, 17 September 1951. Entered service at: Oahu, T.H. Born: 10 October 1928, Waianae, Oahu, T.H. G.O. No.: 58, 18 June 1952. Citation: Pfc. Pililaau, a member of Company C, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and outstanding courage above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy. The enemy sent wave after wave of fanatical troops against his platoon which held a key terrain feature on "Heartbreak Ridge." Valiantly defending its position, the unit repulsed each attack until ammunition became practically exhausted and it was ordered to withdraw to a new position. Voluntarily remaining behind to cover the withdrawal, Pfc. Pililaau fired his automatic weapon into the ranks of the assailants, threw all his grenades and, with ammunition exhausted, closed with the foe in hand-to-hand combat, courageously fighting with his trench knife and bare fists until finally overcome and mortally wounded. When the position was subsequently retaken, more than 40 enemy dead were counted in the area he had so valiantly defended. His heroic devotion to duty, indomitable fighting spirit, and gallant self-sacrifice reflect the highest credit upon himself, the infantry, and the U.S. Army.
*MORRIS, MELVIN
Rank and Organization: Staff Sergeant. U.S. Army. 3d Company. Place and Date: September 17, 1969, Chi Lang, Vietnam. Born: January 7, 1942, Okmulgee, OK . Departed: No. Entered Service At: Fort Bragg, NC. G.O. Number: . Date of Issue: 03/18/2014. Accredited To: . Citation: Melvin Morris is being recognized for his valorous actions on Sept. 17, 1969, while commanding the Third Company, Third Battalion of the IV Mobile Strike Force near Chi Lang. Then-Staff Sgt. Morris led an advance across enemy lines to retrieve a fallen comrade and single-handedly destroyed an enemy force that had pinned his battalion from a series of bunkers. Staff Sgt. Morris was shot three times as he ran back toward friendly lines with the American casualties, but did not stop until he reached safety.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for September 17, 2020 FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
17 September
1908: Lt Thomas E. Selfridge, flying as a passenger with Orville Wright, died when the Wright Flyer crashed at Fort Myer. This event was the world's first fatal airplane accident. Wright also received serious injuries. (12) Two Navy observers, Lt George C. Sweet and Naval Constructor William McEntee, reviewed the Wright flying machine demonstrations at Fort Myer. (29)
1909: Orville Wright flew his Wright Flyer to a FAI altitude record of 564 feet in Berlin, Germany. (9)
1911: Calbraith Perry Rodgers flew a Burgess-Wright Biplane, the Vin Fiz, on the first transcontinental flight. He flew 3,390 miles from Sheepshead Bay to Long Beach after 76 stops and 20 crashes, arriving on 11 December. He was attempting to win a $50,000 prize from Willam Randolph Hearst for flying coast-to-coast in 30 days. The plane was named for Rodgers' sponsor, a grape soda. (20) (24)
1941: During Louisiana maneuvers, the Army dropped parachute troops for the first time in a tactical exercise. The Army acquired 13 DC-3s for the event. (21) (24)
1944: Operation MARKET GARDEN. 1,546 allied planes and 478 gliders carried 35,000 troops for an airborne assault between Eindhoven and Arnhem in Holland to secure the Rhine. (18) (24)
1950: KOREAN WAR. The USMC captured Kimpo Airfield. To support the Eighth Army offensive, Fifth Air Force F-51s and F-80s flew napalm attacks, killing an estimated 1,200 enemy soldiers in Tabu-dong, Yongchon, and other strongholds near the Naktong River. FEAF began a week of dropping four million psychological warfare leaflets. (28)
1951: The 62 TCW's activation at McChord AFB made it the first TAC unit with C-124s assigned. (11)
1952: E. J. Smith flew a Bell helicopter (47D1) to a FAI nonstop distance record by flying 1,217 miles from Fort Worth to Niagara Falls.
1958: Capt Charles E. Gibbs flew a 92 AREFS KC-135 from Fairchild AFB to four closed-circuit FAI records: distance without refueling, 3,125.56 miles; speed for 2,000 kilometers, 589.3 MPH, with payloads of 2,204.6, 4,409.2, 11,023, and 22,046 pounds; speed for 5,000 kilometers, 587.1 MPH; and speed for 5,000 kilometers, 587.136 MPH, with the same payloads. (1)
1959: KEY EVENT. After being dropped from a B-52 near Edwards AFB, Scott Crossfield flew the X-15 to over 1,400 MPH and 50,000 feet in altitude in the plane's initial powered test. (3) (9)
1964: President Johnson announced that the US had an over-the-horizon radar that could see around the earth's curvature to detect missiles shortly after their launch. (5) (16)
1965: Exercise NICE WAY. Through 21 September, as war broke out between Pakistan and India, MATS directed 7 C-130s from Exercise Deep Furrow in Turkey to evacuate 650 Americans from Pakistan. In the exercise, C-130s carried about 375 nationals, who had fled to Afghanistan from Pakistan, back to Turkey. (2) (18) The Air Force Systems Command received the Gen Thomas D. White award for its outstanding contribution to the nation's aerospace progress in 1964. (16)
1970: Gunship developer, pilot, and program director, Maj Ronald W. Terry, received the 1969 Harold Brown Award for achievement in research and development. Major Terry worked for the Gunship program office at Aeronautical Systems Division, Wright-Patterson AFB. (16)
1976: The first Space Shuttle, the Enterprise, rolled out at Palmdale. (12)
1980: For the Glory Trip 77 operational missile test, Vandenberg AFB launched a Minuteman III on a 5,600-mile flight to near Kwajalein. This was the longest Minuteman flight to date.
1987: In a five-hour flight from Rockwell's Palmdale facility, Maj H. Brent Hedgpeth and Lt Col Robert A. Chamberlain flew the 70th production B-1B 2,700 miles to 18 world speed and payload records in the unlimited weight class.
2001: The Air Staff accelerated a program to field the Conventional Air-Launched Cruise Missile (CALCM) on the B-52H. Subsequently, the AFFTC at Edwards AFB trimmed the testing plan from five months to six weeks. After that first accelerated program, the AFFTC sped up several test programs for Operation Enduring Freedom. (3)
2002: The USAF changed the Raptor's official designation from F-22 to F/A-22 to highlight its ground attack capabilities. (3) The Air National Guard's last B-1B left the 116th Bomb Wing (Georgia ANG) at Robins AFB to the "bone yard" at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz. Later, the 116th merged with the USAF's 93d Air Control Wing (ACW) to form the 116th ACW, the USAF's first "blended wing," and fly the E-8C JSTARS. (32)
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