To All,
Good Saturday Morning May 27 2023.
I hope that you all have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. Remember to think about those who lost their lives in defense of our country.
Regards,
Skip
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This day in Naval and Marine Corps History May 27
On This Day
1862 USS Bienville captures the British blockade-runner Patras off Bulls Island, S.C. and USS Santiago de Cuba captures the schooner Lucy C. Holmes off Charleston.
1919 The crew of the Curtiss flying boat NC-4 arrives at Lisbon, Portugal for a stop during its transatlantic flight to Portsmouth, England, arriving May 31.
1942 Mess Attendant 2nd Class Doris Miller receives the Navy Cross for his heroism at Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941. Adm. Chester W. Nimitz presents the medal to Miller on board USS Enterprise (CV 6). He is killed when his ship is torpedoed Nov. 24, 1943, during the invasion of the Gilbert Islands.
1943 USS Runner (SS 275) departs Midway for her third war patrol but is never heard from again. Overdue and presumed lost in July 1943, she is struck from the Navy list that October.
1952 During the Korean War, USS Douglas H. Fox (DD 779) receives eight to 10 rounds of 76-mm fire off Suwon, Korea. The destroyer returns fire, silencing the gun crew.
1995 USS Paul Hamilton (DDG 60) is commissioned at Charleston, S.C. before sailing to her homeport of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Paul Hamilton, named for the third Secretary of the Navy Paul Hamilton, is the 10th in a class of ship that continues to serve the fleet.
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Today in World History May 27
.1564 John Calvin, one of the dominant figures of the Protestant Reformation, dies in Geneva.
1647 Achsah Young becomes the first woman known to be executed as a witch in Massachusetts.
1668 Three colonists are expelled from Massachusetts for being Baptists.
1813 Americans capture Fort George, Canada.
1907 The Bubonic Plague breaks out in San Francisco.
1919 A U.S. Navy seaplane completes the first transatlantic flight.
1929 Colonel Charles Lindbergh marries Anne Spencer Morrow.
1935 The Supreme Court declares President Franklin Roosevelt's National Recovery Act unconstitutional.
1937 San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge opens.
1941 The German battleship Bismarck is sunk by British naval and air forces.
1942 German General Erwin Rommel begins a major offensive in Libya with his Afrika Korps.
1944 American General Douglas MacArthur lands on Biak Island in New Guinea.
1960 A military coup overthrows the democratic government of Turkey.
1969 Construction begins on Walt Disney World in Florida.
1972 President Richard M. Nixon and Soviet Communist Party chief Leonid Brezhnev sign an arms reduction agreement.
1999 The international war crimes tribunal indicts Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic for war atrocities.
1939
A boat carrying 937 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution is turned away from Havana, Cuba, on May 27, 1939. Only 28 immigrants are admitted into the country. After appeals to the United States and Canada for entry are denied, the rest are forced to sail back to Europe, where they're distributed among several countries including Great Britain and France.
On May 13, the S.S. St. Louis sailed from Hamburg, Germany to Havana, Cuba. Most of the passengers—many of them children—were German Jews escaping increasing persecution under the Third Reich. Six months earlier, 91 people were killed and Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues were destroyed in what became known as the Kristallnacht pogrom. It was becoming increasing clear the Nazis were accelerating their efforts to exterminate Jews by arresting them and placing them in concentration camps. World War II and the formal implementation of The Final Solution were just months from beginning.
The refugees had applied for U.S. visas, and planned to stay in Cuba until they could enter the United States legally. Even before they set sail, their impending arrival was greeted with hostility in Cuba. On May 8, there was a massive anti-Semitic demonstration in Havana. Right-wing newspapers claimed that the incoming immigrants were Communists.
The St. Louis arrived in Havana on May 27. Roughly 28 people onboard had valid visas or travel documents and were allowed to disembark. The Cuban government refused to admit the nearly 900 others. For seven days, the ship's captain attempted to negotiate with Cuban officials, but they refused to comply.
The ship sailed closer to Florida, hoping to disembark there, but it was not permitted to dock. Some passengers attempted to cable President Franklin D. Roosevelt asking for refuge, but he never responded. A State Department telegram stated that the asylum-seekers must "await their turns on the waiting list and qualify for and obtain immigration visas before they may be admissible into the United States."
As a last resort, the St. Louis continued north to Canada, but it was rejected there, too. "No country could open its doors wide enough to take in the hundreds of thousands of Jewish people who want to leave Europe: the line must be drawn somewhere," Frederick Blair, Canada's director of immigration, said at the time.
Faced with no other options, the ship returned to Europe. It docked in Antwerp, Belgium on June 17. By then, several Jewish organizations had secured entry visas for the refugees in Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Great Britain. The majority who had traveled on the ship survived the Holocaust; 254 later died as the Nazis swept through the continent.
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ROLLING THUNDER REMEMBERED Thanks to the Bear … Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968)…
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post
Skip… For The List for Saturday, 27 May 2023… Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968)…
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post for 27 May 1968… Ho Chi Minh on his 78th birthday: "Forward! We march with our young generation."
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 Interesting Facts
What's the loudest sound ever recorded?
6 of the Loudest Sounds on Earth
You may think your upstairs neighbor's 1 a.m. vacuuming session is noisy, but it's nothing compared to what nature (and the occasional human-made marvel) can throw at us. Sounds can injure your ear immediately once they reach 120 decibels, the typical volume of a police siren if you're right beside it, but the loudest sound ever recorded was more than 300, loud enough to increase atmospheric pressure to a point that causes damage to far more than just human ears.
Decibels are logarithmic measures of sound intensity — so keep in mind that the scale gets exponentially bigger as the number goes up. Doubling the volume on your stereo does not even come close to doubling the decibel output. So when an undersea creature produces a noise around 30 decibels higher than the loudest rocket launched by NASA (true story), you know you have a seriously big sound on your hands.
Which natural phenomenon produced the loudest known sound? What widely misunderstood sea giant generates an ear-shattering kind of Morse code? Just how loud is an asteroid impact? These six giant sounds will put that garage band next door in some serious context.
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Krakatoa Eruption
The loudest sound ever recorded was an 1883 volcanic eruption on the Indonesian island of Krakatoa, clocking in at an estimated 310 decibels. Not that anybody who heard the explosion at full blast lived to tell the tale; it was estimated to have a force equivalent to 10,000 times that of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945, and destroyed most of the island while shooting unstable clouds of hot gas to the surrounding area.
However, plenty of witnesses farther away did survive — and there were a lot of them. Some 100 miles away in North Jakarta, the noise still reached around 172 decibels. Violent tsunamis shook the Indian Ocean, and the waves even rocked boats in South Africa. Atmospheric pressure spikes reached as far as England, and a cloud of ash bathed an area of 300,000 square miles around the volcano in darkness. The global temperature even dropped, and didn't return to normal until five years later.
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Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai Eruption
The closest we've come to a repeat of Krakatoa was likely the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai eruption near the Polynesian island of Tonga in January 2022. Sonic booms were felt as far north as Alaska, and researchers more than 6,000 miles away at Boise State University in Idaho recorded subterranean frequencies equivalent to about 100 decibels. The force, which was about half that of Krakatoa, sent a wave of pressure around the globe.
Fortunately, this blast wasn't nearly as deadly, with three fatalities recorded compared to Krakatoa's estimated 36,000. Still, it wreaked a lot of havoc. Tonga was largely cut off from the rest of the world for days, ash blanketed large swaths of the surrounding area, and tsunamis caused major damage along the coastlines. On one of the closer outlying islands, all the homes were destroyed. The volcano had created its own new island several years before; that was entirely obliterated, along with large chunks of two nearby islands.
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Sperm Whales
Planet Earth is full of loud animals. Howler monkey cries can be as loud as gunshots, for example, and some species of bats emit high frequencies that could be harmful to us if they were low enough to hear. But nobody holds a candle to the sperm whale, whose clicks and calls have been measured as high as 230 decibels. That number drops significantly if the sound is traveling through air, but at 170 decibels, it's still ear-shattering.
Scientists had thought for a long time that sperm whales were silent, but whalers had long told stories of what sounded like knocking on ships' hulls when sperm whales were present. Once scientists listened to sperm whales with an underwater receiver, they thought the "muffled, smashing noise" was coming from inside the ship at first, before realizing they were picking up the atypical sounds of sperm whales, which don't have the song-like quality of other species.
These Morse code-like clicks, used by sperm whales to communicate with one another, form an elaborate language, including phrases of clicks called codas. Different groups of whales even have different dialects within their codas. In addition to their communicative clicks, sperm whales also send out waves of sound at multiple frequencies as a form of echolocation while hunting their favorite food: giant squid.
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Tsar Bomba
You'll often see explosions compared to the force of a nuclear blast — but no blast was bigger than Tsar Bomba, aka Big Ivan, a Soviet thermonuclear bomb detonated as a test on a small island in the Arctic Ocean in 1961. It was at least 3,300 times more powerful than the United States bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, although its potential capacity was twice that. The flash was seen more than 600 miles away, and monitors as far away as New Zealand recorded three rounds of pressure waves.
As for the sound itself: A cameraman recording the event described it as "a remote, indistinct and heavy blow, as if the Earth has been killed." The blast is typically referred to in terms of its force rather than its decibel level, but 224 decibels is a common estimate.
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Saturn V Rocket
It's no secret that rocket launches are really, really loud, but the Saturn V rocket, launched in the 1960s and 1970s during the Apollo program, was notoriously noisy. In testing, it measured as high as 204 decibels, although NASA notes that it typically maxed out at 195 — still plenty noisy enough to be dangerous.
Legends have circulated about this noise, some of them myths. It didn't melt the concrete underneath it or start grass fires a mile away. Still, launch viewers had to stand around 3.5 miles away from the pad for their own safety.
NASA's new Space Launch System (SLS) rockets will be even louder and more powerful, but the launch pads will have built-in sound dampening capabilities, using around 450,000 gallons of water that will rush onto the pad at launch to protect both eardrums and the equipment itself.
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The Tunguska Event
Asteroid impacts, like the 2013 Chelyabinsk Event, have created some of Earth's biggest sounds, but the 1908 Tunguska Event in Siberia is perhaps the most legendary. Scientists believe that a space rock around 120 feet in diameter entered Earth's atmosphere at about 33,500 miles per hour. After the resulting heat and pressure destroyed the rock itself, it became a fireball, releasing a destructive level of energy with no impact crater. Researchers were able to track ground zero from the pattern of the trees in the decimated forest around it; they fanned out radially away from the crash site until the very center, where trees stood upright, but entirely stripped of bark and branches.
One witness describes the impact's sound as "a mighty crash… followed by a noise like stones falling from the sky, or of guns firing." He had been working at a trading post 40 miles from the impact, and had been knocked out of his chair by a heat blast that made him feel as if his shirt was on fire. Later, scientists would estimate the sound of the blast at around 197 decibels.
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From Dr. Rich
For us old farts ...Thanks to Craig ...
We grew up in the 40's-50's-60's.
We studied in the 50's-60's-70's.
We dated in the 50's-60's-70's.
We got married and discovered the world in the 60's-70's-80's.
We ventured into the 70's-80's.
We stabilized in the 90's.
We got wiser in the 2000's.
And went firmly through the 2010's.
Here we are in the 2020s
Turns out we've lived through NINE different decades…TWO different centuries…
TWO different millennia…
We have gone from the telephone with an operator for long-distance calls to video calls to anywhere in the world, we have gone from slides to YouTube, from vinyl records to online music, from handwritten letters to email and WhatsApp..
From live matches on the radio, to black and white TV, and then to HDTV…
We went to Blockbuster and now we watch Netflix..
We got to know the first computers, punch cards, diskettes and now we have gigabytes and megabytes in hand on our cell phones or iPads…
We wore shorts throughout our childhood and then long pants, oxfords, Bermuda shorts, etc.
We dodged infantile paralysis, meningitis, H1N1 flu and now COVID-19…
We rode skates, tricycles, invented cars, bicycles, mopeds, gasoline or diesel cars and now we ride hybrids or 100% electric…
Yes, we've been through a lot but what a great life we've had.
They could describe us as "exennials" people who were born in that world of the fifties, who had an analog childhood and a digital adulthood.
We're kind of Ya-seen-it-all.
Our generation has literally lived through and witnessed more than any other in every dimension of life.
It is our generation that has literally adapted to "CHANGE."
A big round of applause to all the members of a very special generation, which are UNIQUE.
Here's a precious and very true message that I received from a friend:
TIME DOES NOT STOP
Life is a task that we do ourselves every day.
When you look... it's already six in the afternoon; when you look... it's already Friday; when one looks... the month is over; when one looks... the year is over; when one looks... 50, 60, 70 and 80 years have passed!
When you look... we no longer know where our friends are.
When you look... we lost the love of our life and now, it's too late to go back.
Do not stop doing something you like due to lack of time. Do not stop having someone by your side, because your children will soon not be yours, and you will have to do something with that remaining time, where the only thing that we are going to miss will be the space that can only be enjoyed with the usual friends. This time that, unfortunately, never returns…
The day is today!
WE ARE NO LONGER AT AN AGE TO POSTPONE ANYTHING.
Hopefully, you have time to read and then share this message... or else leave it for *Later* and you will see that you will never share it!
Always together ...
Always united ...
Always brothers ...
Always friends ...
Pass it on to your best friends.
Don't leave it for later 😉😉😉```
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Thanks to Brett
Geopolitical Futures:
Keeping the future in focus
Daily Memo: Germany's Economy Contracts for Second Consecutive Quarter
Business confidence also fell in the past month.
By: GPF Staff
Daily Memo: Germany's Economy Contracts for Second Consecutive Quarter
Recession. Germany's economy has slipped into a technical recession, after contracting 0.3 percent in the first quarter, according to figures published Thursday by federal statistics agency Destatis, which revised its initial estimate of zero percent. It was the second consecutive quarterly decline in gross domestic product. The main catalyst for the contraction was a drop in household consumption by 1.2 percent compared to the previous quarter, driven by high inflation and rising interest rates. The Munich-based Ifo institute's business confidence index also fell to 91.7 in May from 93.4 in April, after six consecutive months of growth, as German companies indicate skepticism about the upcoming summer. In France, meanwhile, there are signs of an economic slowdown in the second quarter.
India and Australia. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrapped up a three-day visit to Australia on Wednesday. He met with his Australian counterpart, Anthony Albanese, with whom he discussed trade, investment and security cooperation, as well as mining and critical minerals. They also launched negotiations on a comprehensive economic cooperation deal, which the two countries hope to complete by the end of the year.
SWIFT alternative. The deputy head of Iran's central bank announced that Tehran plans to launch an alternative to the SWIFT banking system in the next few months. It has invited the nine members of the Asian Clearing Union (India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan and the Maldives) to participate. The bank said Arab countries, Belarus and Mauritius could also be included in the future.
Making it official. Defense ministers from Russia and Belarus agreed on formal terms for deploying Russian nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory during a meeting in Minsk on Thursday. The Russian minister said the agreement complies "with all existing international legal obligations."
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Thanks to Mark
A Memorial Day Reminder -- The Noblest Calling
This was submitted by a friend and Golden Eagles member
Captain George "Buck" Wroten.
Dear Friends -- As we approach another Memorial Day, I came across this powerful story written by a Vietnam Veteran about his experiences in that War – and his visit to the Vietnam Memorial many years later. And since this year we have been celebrating 50 years since our Vietnam POWs were released – I thought I would share this with you – it's powerful – some of you may have already seen it – hope the rest of you enjoy it.
I also hope you will take some time this Memorial Day to honor all those who have paid the ultimate price for our Freedom.
With all our problems – we still live in a wonderful country – Red, White, and Blue Skies –
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THE NOBLEST CALLING -- By J.D. WETTERLING
I visited with three old friends recently at a park near my town. It seemed like only yesterday that we were all together, but actually it had been 28 years. There was a crowd at the park that day and it took us a while to connect, but with the aid of a computer we made it. I found Lance at panel 54W, line 037, Lynn over at panel 51W, line 032, and Vince down at panel 27W, line 103.
In 1968 we were gung-ho young fighter pilots in Vietnam, the cream of the crop of the U.S. Air Force pilot training system, and now their names are on that 250-foot-long, half-size model of Washington's Vietnam War Memorial that moves around the country. I had intentionally avoided visiting the wall when it came to town in years past because I did not trust myself to keep my composure. But after nearly three decades it was time to try for some closure on this issue. I told my wife that I preferred to go alone, if that was all right. Truth be known, I nearly backed out at that.
Dancing the Wild Blue
Standing in front of that somber wall, I tried to keep it light, reminiscing about how things were back then. We used to joke about our passionate love affair with an inanimate flying object--we flew F-100s--and we marveled at the thought that we actually got paid to do it. We were not draftees but college graduates in Vietnam by choice, opting for the cramped confines of a jet fighter cockpit over the comfort of corporate America. In all my life I've not been so passionate about any other work. If that sounds like an exaggeration, then you've never danced the wild blue with a supersonic angel.
I vividly remember the Sunday afternoon, in the summer of '68, when we flew out of Travis Air Force Base, California, on a troop transport headed for Vietnam. Lynn, Lance and I crowded around the same porthole and watched the Golden Gate Bridge disappear below broken clouds. We had gone through fighter pilot school together and had done some serious bonding. In an exceedingly rare moment of youthful fighter pilot humility, I wondered if I would live to see that bridge again. For reasons I still don't understand, I was the only one of the three of us who did.
Once in Vietnam, we passed the long, lonely off-duty hours at Dusty's Pub, a lounge that we lieutenants built on the beach of the South China Sea at Tuy Hoa Airbase. The roof at Dusty's doubled as a sun deck and the walls were nonexistent. The complaint heard most often around the bar, in the standard gallows humor of a combat squadron, was, "It's a lousy war, but it's the only one we have." (I've cleaned up the language a bit.) We sang mostly raunchy songs that never seemed to end--someone was always writing new verses--and, as an antidote to loneliness, fear in the night and the sadness over dead friends, we often drank too much.
Vince joined us at Dusty's Pub halfway through my tour of duty, and since he was a like-minded country kid from Montana, we hit it off. He had a wide grin, slightly stooped shoulders and his own way of walking--he just threw his feet out and stepped on them. But what he lacked in military bearing he made up for with the heart of a tiger. He often flew as my wingman, and we volunteered for the night missions on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. One starless night, the longest, saddest night of my life, we got into a nasty gun duel with some anti-aircraft artillery batteries. I watched Vince die in a mushroom-shaped fireball that for a moment turned night into day.
Lance--a New York boy who took unmerciful grief from us because he talked like a New Yawker--crashed into the side of a mountain in the central Vietnamese highlands while attacking a target. Lynn, a happy-go-lucky jock from Pennsylvania's Slippery Rock College with a hound named John the Basset, returned to his base on a stormy night in July after weather aborted his mission.
Two miles of wet runway weren't enough to stop an F-100 landing at 160 knots with all its bombs still on board He ran off the end, flipped over, and slid through the minefield at the perimeter fence, setting off a gruesome sound and light show. At the wall, I told the guys only about the good parts of the last 28 years. Lacy, one of our associates from Dusty's Pub, became an astronaut, and a few summers ago I watched from my backyard, near Tampa, as he blasted off. His voice over the radio from space was at least an octave lower than it was the day I heard him radio for help while swinging from his parachute hung in a tree in Laos. Another Dusty's patron, Rick, is now a two-star general, and I reminded them what we used to say about the military promotion system--it's like a septic tank, only the really big chunks float to the top.
I didn't tell them about how ostracized Vietnam vets still are, that during that same week, one of the nation's leading newspapers had run an article that implied we Vietnam vets were, to quote one syndicated columnist, "either suckers or psychos, victims or monsters." I didn't tell them that Hanoi Jane, who shot at us and helped torture our POWs, had married one of the richest guys in the United States. I didn't tell them that the secretary of defense they fought for back then has now declared that he was not a believer in the cause for which he assigned them all to their destiny. I didn't tell them that a dope doing, muck- sucking, lecherous, draft-age kid from Arkansas who hid out in England and the Soviet Union to dodge his duty while they were fighting and dying is now the commander-in-chief. And I didn't tell them we lost that lousy war. I gave them the same story I've used since the Nixon administration: We were winning when I left.
I relived that final day as I stared at the black onyx wall. The dawn came up like thunder after 268 combat missions in 360 days in the valley of the shadow. The ground trembled as 33 F-100s roared off the runway, across the beach and out over the South China Sea, climbing into the rising sun. On the eastern horizon, a line of towering deep-purple clouds stood shoulder-to-shoulder before a brilliant orange sky that slowly turned powder blue from the top down. From somewhere on that stage, above the whine of spinning turbine blades, I could hear a choir singing Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus" in fortissimo: "The Lord God omnipotent reigneth," and He was bringing me home, while Lance and Lynn and Vince will remain as part of the dust of Southeast Asia until the end of time.
I was not the only one talking to the wall through tears. A leather-vested, bare-chested biker two panels to my left was in even worse shape. I backed about 25 yards away from the wall and sat down on the grass under a clear blue sky and midday sun that perfectly matched the tropical weather of the war zone. The wall, with all 58,200 names, consumed my field of vision. I tried to wrap my mind around the megatonnage of violence, carnage and ruined lives that it represented.
Then I thought of how Vietnam was only one small war in the history of the human race. I was overwhelmed with a sense of mankind's wickedness.
God, Duty, Honor, Country
My heart felt like wax in the blazing sun and I was on the verge of becoming a spectacle in the park. I arose and walked back up to the wall to say good-bye and ran my fingers over the engraved names -- Lance and Lynn and Vince -- as if I could communicate with them in some kind of spiritual Braille. I wanted them to know that God, duty, honor and country will always remain the noblest calling. Revisionist history from elite draft dodgers trying to justify and rationalize their own actions will never change that.
I have been a productive member of society since the day I left Vietnam. I am proud of what I did there, and I am especially proud of my friends--heroes who voluntarily, enthusiastically gave their all. They demonstrated no greater love to a nation whose highbrow opinion makers are still trying to disavow them. May their names, indelibly engraved on that memorial wall, likewise be found in the Book of Life.
Dave Newell
Golden Eagles VP/Email Coordinator
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THIS IS STILL GOING STRONG
Thanks to Mat
Multi-Volume Book Series Tells Full Story of the Blue Angels
Blue Angels Decades Takes the NFDS 10 Years at a Time
Since their formation in 1946 many books have been written about the US Navy's Flight Demonstration Squadron (NFDS), better known as the Blue Angels. Author Mat "Irish" Garretson has launched an ambitious book project – Blue Angels Decades – that, when completed, will tell the entire story of the Team in unprecedented detail. How this book series came to be is a story in itself.
"Two years ago, I was spending a lot of time in the archives at the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, conducting research for a book I was then writing on the A-7 Corsair II," Garretson recalls, "one day, as I was walking through the archives, I came across rows of shelves, each containing boxes labelled, 'Blue Angels Archives'. Curiosity got the better of me, and I asked the Curator for permission to inspect the boxes that covered the early years of the Team. Permission was granted, and what I found in those boxes astonished me. Inside were hundreds of photos and documents, most of which I had never seen before...and I thought I had seen everything there was to see about the early days of the Blue Angels. It was clear to me that these items needed to be shared with the world."
"Other books on the Blue Angels have all been single-volume, 'stand-alone' books," explains Garretson, "and most offer cursory details about the team's history, and tend to include the same familiar photographs. I quickly realized that the only way to do justice to the material in the archives was to create a multi-volume work that would tell the Team's story year-by-year. At first, I considered a series where each Volume would cover one decade...the 1940s, 1950s, etc. But, given that the Blue Angels were established in 1946, that first volume would be fairly short." Garretson decided to telling the story in ten-year increments, starting with 1946, "A Blue Angels Decade", he explains.
Diving deep into the official Blue Angels' archives, as well as sharing material from Team alumni and their families, Blue Angels Decades - Volume One tells the story of the early years of the Blue Angels in words, historical documents, newspaper clippings, and pictures, almost all of which have never before seen in print. Each chapter of the book covers one season, and includes a detailed calendar of demonstrations flown in that year. "The airshow calendars are one of the features in Volume One that I am most proud of," said Garretson, "historical records for the first three years of demonstrations were practically nonexistent. The most-detailed record that exists in the archives of these shows was a two-page, typewritten note from Dave Scheuer."
Known to the Team as 'Grandfather', Scheuer served as the Grumman Tech Rep to the Blues, and later served as President of the Blue Angels Association. "Scheuer's note basically reads, 'In the first three years, the Team flew shows in', and then lists about a dozen locations." Using Scheuer's note as a baseline, and referencing other items in the archives as well as memoirs from early Blue Angels, Garretson was able to begin to piece together more-detailed demonstration calendar. Additional confirmation of shows was gleaned in the archives of newspapers across the US. "It took nearly a year for me to piece together the 'puzzle' of the first three years of Blue Angels' shows," admits Garretson, "but, being able to provide readers with the first-ever detailed show calendars for these years was worth it."
Blue Angels Decades - Volume One was released on November 5, 2021 during the Team's end of season show in Pensacola, and was met by rave reviews. "I truly wish I'd had this detailed history when I was Boss," stated Greg Wooldridge, "It's hard to express how impressed I am with the work. It should be required reading for all new Blues." Wooldridge's sentiments were echoed by fellow alumnus and Boss, Kevin Mannix, "Due to its incredible detail, I know that this will become the "official historical document" of the Blue Angels."
"The reaction to Volume One, especially from Blue Angels past and present, has been very rewarding," admits Garretson, "to know that I've met or exceeded their expectations with this effort is a powerful incentive for me to do better with each and every volume." Future Volumes are planned to be released during every end of season show. Garretson is challenging himself to have all seven prior decades/Volumes in print by the Team's 80th anniversary, in 2026.
Like future Volumes, Blue Angels Decades - Volume One comes in two versions. "The Regular Edition is a softbound version," states Garretson, "In addition to this Regular Edition, 1,000 hardbound, 'Plankowner Editions' were also produced. These special editions are numbered and signed, and come in a striking book sleeve, along with a similarly-numbered, two-inch metal commemorative challenge coin." Copies of Blue Angels Decades - Volume One are available at select retailers, and online via Amazon or at blueangelsdecades.com.
The Birth of the Blues
"…a flight exhibition team be organized within the Naval Air Advanced Training Command to represent the Navy at air shows and similar events."
ADM Chester A. Nimitz, Chief of Naval Operations
The quote above comes from an April 2, 1946 directive issued by Nimitz, and addressed to RADM Frank D. Wagner, Chief of Naval Air Training. Like many within the Navy, Nimitz saw the value of a flight exhibition team. Ostensibly, such a team could enhance the service's recruitment and retention efforts, but Nimitz saw a bigger picture: such a team would likely generate headlines, ensuring that Naval Aviation got its fair share of a shrinking, post-war defense budget.
Upon receiving his orders, Wagner reached out from his office at NAS Pensacola to RADM Ralph Davison, Chief of Naval Air Advanced Training, then based at NAS Jacksonville ('Jax'). Davison had under his command a number of exceptional instructor pilots, most of them decorated combat veterans. Wagner had directed Davison to do what was necessary to put Nimitz' directive into action, and Davison knew just the man for the job: LCDR Roy "Butch" Voris. As the Chief Flight Officer for the IATU (Instructors' Advanced Training Unit) based at Jax, Voris was responsible for overseeing the training of the Unit's instructors. A consummate pilot and war Ace, he had the skillset and professionalism needed to flesh out a plan on how best to assemble, operate and maintain a flight demonstration team. Davison's directive to Voris read, "You are requested to provide comment and recommendations on the desirability and feasibility of organizing a flight demonstration team to represent the Navy and Naval Aviation at air shows and other events as directed." While ordered to prepare for his commanding officer "…comment and recommendations…", Voris understood that, if his recommendations were favorably received, it was likely that he'd be the one ordered to turn those recommendations into reality. And in the end, that's exactly what happened. On April 24, 1946 Washington gave the go-ahead to form a team, with Voris serving as its Officer in Charge.
Within six weeks of Nimitz' directive, Voris took delivery of the first of four F6F-5 Hellcats; three for use in the demonstrations, and one as a spare. In his research for Davison, Voris had considered the FM-2, F4U and F7F in addition to the F6F, but in the end, the Hellcat won out. The reason for this was two-fold; first, the IATU was already supporting F6Fs. The second reason had to do with optics. Some might very well criticize the Navy for spending big money on state-of-the art aircraft, better utilized by front-line units; especially during these lean times. Besides, nobody involved in the project had any expectations as to what the response to this flight team would be. In addition to aircraft, Voris began to assemble his men. He had established a set of criteria for the pilots he would fly with; namely, they had to be exceptional pilots, be combat veterans, they had to be instructor pilots within the Navy's Training Command, and they had to be single. In the end, Voris selected LCDR Lloyd Barnard, LT Maurice "Wick" Wickendoll, and LT Melvin "Mel" Cassidy. The officers were supported by a cadre of 13 enlisted maintainers, likewise hand-picked. In the end, these 21 individuals would collectively be referred to as, "The U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Team".
Training flights commenced on May 21st, and the Team quickly worked out a routine that included maneuvers that would impress both the public and fellow aviators. On June 6th, the Team performed their first show to an audience of one: CDR Dan "Dog" Smith, Davison's Director of Training. A good friend and accomplished pilot himself, Voris knew if he could impress Smith, then the Team had hit on something special. With Barnard on his left wing, and Wickendoll on his right, Voris led Davis, following in another Hellcat, to a unmanned outlying field (OLF) away from Jax. Smith landed at the OLF, and quickly parked his aircraft, keeping his engine running so that he could communicate with Voris via radio. Mightily impressed by what he saw, Smith said he'd arrange to have Admiral Davison see the routine the following day. On June 7th, in the skies above NAS Jacksonville, the U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Team put on a show for Davison, a few of his staff, and their spouses. Like Smith, what Davison saw impressed him…so much so that he approved the Team to perform at nearby Craig Field for the inaugural Southeastern Air Show and Exhibition, slated to take place on June 15th and 16th. Returning to his office, Davison then contacted RADM Wagner, informing him of the successful demonstration he had just witnessed. Wagner relayed to Davison his pleasure that all had come together so quickly and successfully. He also instructed Davison to get the Team to Pensacola as soon as practical.
In the span of just 73 days since Nimitz had issued his directive to Wagner, the U.S. Navy's Flight Demonstration Team was roaring low above Craig Field, in front of a relatively small but enthusiastic crowd. From these humble beginnings was born what is today recognized as the world's preeminent precision flight squadron…the United States Navy Blue Angels.
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This Day in U S Military History May 27
1919 – First Lieutenant Elmer F. Stone, USCG, piloting the Navy's flying boat NC-4 in the first successful trans-Atlantic flight, landed in the Tagus River estuary near Lisbon, Portugal on 27 May 1919. Stone was decorated that same day by the Portuguese government with the Order of the Tower and Sword. Three aircraft, designated NC-1, NC-3 and NC-4–called "Nancy" boats–had taken off from New York's Rockaway Naval Air Station for Lisbon on May 8, with intermediate stops planned for Newfoundland and the Azores. Only NC-4 completed the 3,925-mile transatlantic flight. Heavy rain and fog forced NC-1 down at sea, where it sank on May 17. NC-3 came down in rough seas and taxied 200 miles into the harbor at Horta in the Azores.
1941 – Despite US neutrality thus far into World War II, the US Navy assists the Royal Navy in its pursuit of the German battleship Bismarck. British code-breakers had been able to decrypt some German signals, including an order to the Luftwaffe to provide support for the damaged Bismarck making for Brest, and the French Resistance provided the British with confirmation that Luftwaffe units were relocating there. British Admiral John Tovey, in charge of the pursuit, could now turn his forces toward France to converge in areas through which Bismarck would have to pass. A squadron of Coastal Command PBY Catalinas based in Northern Ireland joined the search, covering areas where Bismarck might be headed in her attempt to reach occupied France. At 10:30, a Catalina piloted by Ensign Leonard B. Smith of the US Navy located her, some 690 nmi (1,280 km; 790 mi) northwest of Brest. At her current speed, she would have been close enough to reach the protection of U-boats and the Luftwaffe in less than a day. Bismarck would be sunk early the next day.
1942 – The Japanese invasion fleet for Midway puts to sea from Saipan and Guam with troop transports carrying 5000 men. They are escorted by cruisers and destroyers. Likewise, the invasion force for the Aleutians sets sail in two groups from Ominato.
1942 – The damaged USS Yorktown arrives at Pearl Harbor and repairs begin immediately.
1945 – On Okinawa, American forces attacking southward, continue to encounter heavy Japanese resistance. Japanese aircraft begin a two-day series of strikes against the Allied naval forces around the island. The US destroyer Drexler is sunk.
1945 – The US 25th Division, part of the US 1st Corps, takes Santa Fe on Luzon. There is still heavy fighting in several parts of Mindanao.
1958 – The Air Force received its first production Republic F-105B Thunderchief. In 1951, Republic Aviation began a project to develop a supersonic tactical fighter-bomber to replace the F-84F. The result was the F-105 Thunderchief, which later gained the affectionate nickname "Thud". Although the prototype YF-105A made its first flight on October 22, 1955, the first production aircraft, an F-105B, was not delivered to the United States Air Force (USAF) until May 27, 1958. A supersonic aircraft capable of carrying conventional and nuclear weapons internally as well as externally, the F-105B was the heaviest, most complex fighter in the USAF inventory when it became operational. F-105s were produced only in the "B," "D" and "F" series (later, some "F"s were modified to become F-105Gs). Of the 833 Thunderchiefs built, only 75 were produced as F-105Bs.
1958 – The F-4 Phantom II makes its first flight. The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is a tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor aircraft/fighter-bomber originally developed for the United States Navy by McDonnell Aircraft. It first entered service in 1960 with the U.S. Navy. Proving highly adaptable, it was also adopted by the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Air Force, and by the mid-1960s had become a major part of their respective air wings. The Phantom is a large fighter with a top speed of over Mach 2.2. It can carry more than 18,000 pounds (8,400 kg) of weapons on nine external hardpoints, including air-to-air missiles, air-to-ground missiles, and various bombs. The F-4, like other interceptors of its time, was designed without an internal cannon. Later models incorporated a M61 Vulcan rotary cannon. Beginning in 1959, it set 15 world records for in-flight performance, including an absolute speed record, and an absolute altitude record. During the Vietnam War, the F-4 was used extensively; it served as the principal air superiority fighter for both the Navy and Air Force, and became important in the ground-attack and aerial reconnaissance roles late in the war. The Phantom has the distinction of being the last U.S. fighter flown to attain ace status in the 20th century. During the Vietnam War, the USAF had one pilot and two weapon systems officers (WSOs), and the US Navy one pilot and one radar intercept officer (RIO), achieve five aerial kills against other enemy fighter aircraft and become aces in air-to-air combat. The F-4 continued to form a major part of U.S. military air power throughout the 1970s and 1980s, being gradually replaced by more modern aircraft such as the F-15 Eagle and F-16 in the U.S. Air Force, the Grumman F-14 Tomcat in the U.S. Navy, and the F/A-18 Hornet in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps. The F-4 Phantom II remained in use by the U.S. in the reconnaissance and Wild Weasel (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses) roles in the 1991 Gulf War, finally leaving service in 1996. It was also the only aircraft used by both U.S. flight demonstration teams: the USAF Thunderbirds (F-4E) and the US Navy Blue Angels (F-4J). The F-4 was also operated by the armed forces of 11 other nations. Israeli Phantoms saw extensive combat in several Arab–Israeli conflicts, while Iran used its large fleet of Phantoms in the Iran–Iraq War. Phantoms remain in front line service with seven countries, and in use as an Target drone in the U.S. Air Force. Phantom production ran from 1958 to 1981, with a total of 5,195 built, making it the most numerous American supersonic military aircraft.
1968 – Last Monday of the month. Memorial Day, which began in 1868 as Decoration Day, was set aside to remember those who have died in the service of their country. Celebrated on May 30 for the first 100 years, Memorial Day was officially changed to the last Monday in May in 1968.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
McHUGH, MARTIN
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 1837, Cincinnati, Ohio. Accredited to: Ohio. G.O. No.: 17, 10 July 1863. Citation: Serving on board the U.S.S. Cincinnati during the attack on the Vicksburg batteries and at the time of her sinking, 27 May 1863. Engaging the enemy in a fierce battle, the Cincinnati amidst, an incessant fire of shot and shell, continued to fire her guns to the last, though so penetrated by shellfire that her fate was sealed. Serving bravely during this action, McHugh was conspicuously cool under the fire of the enemy, never ceasing to fire until this proud ship went down, "her colors nailed to the mast."
PUTNAM, EDGAR P.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company D, 9th New York Cavalry. Place and date: At Crumps Creek, Va., 27 May 1864. Entered service at: Stockton, N.Y. Birth: Stockton, N.Y. Date of issue: 13 May 1892. Citation: With a small force on a reconnaissance drove off a strong body of the enemy, charged into another force of the enemy's cavalry and stampeded them, taking 27 prisoners.
RUTHERFORD, JOHN T.
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, Company L, 9th New York Cavalry. Place and date: At Yellow Tavern, Va., 11 May 1864; At Hanovertown, Va., 27 May 1864. Entered service at: Canton, N.Y. Birth:——. Date of issue: 22 March 1892. Citation: Made a successful charge at Yellow Tavern, Va., 11 May 1864, by which 90 prisoners were captured. On 27 May 1864, in a gallant dash on a superior force of the enemy and in a personal encounter, captured his opponent.
STRONG, JAMES N.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company C, 49th Massachusetts Infantry. Place and date: At Port Hudson, La., 27 May 1863. Entered service at: Pittsfield, Mass. Birth: ——. Date of issue: 25 November 1893. Citation: Volunteered in response to a call and took part in the movement that was made upon the enemy's works under a heavy fire therefrom in advance of the general assault.
WARREN, FRANCIS E.
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company C, 49th Massachusetts Infantry. Place and date: At Port Hudson, La., 27 May 1863. Entered service at: Hinsdale, Mass. Birth: Hinsdale, Mass. Date of issue: 30 September 1893. Citation: Volunteered in response to a call, and took part in the movement that was made upon the enemy's works under a heavy fire therefrom in advance of the general assault.
CUTTER, GEORGE W.
Rank and organization: Landsman, U.S. Navy. Born: 1849, Philadelphia, Pa. Accredited to: Pennsylvania. G.O. No.: 176, 9 July 1872. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Powhatan, Norfolk, Va., 27 May 1872. Jumping overboard on this date, Cutter aided in saving one of the crew of that vessel from drowning.
*FLEEK, CHARLES CLINTON
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U .S. Army, Company C, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division. Place and date: Binh Duong Province, Republic of Vietnam, 27 May 1967. Entered service at: Cincinnati, Ohio. Born: 28 August 1947, Petersburg, Ky. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sgt. Fleek distinguished himself while serving as a squad leader in Company C, during an ambush operation. Sgt. Fleek's unit was deployed in ambush locations when a large enemy force approached the position. Suddenly, the leading enemy element, sensing the ambush, halted and started to withdraw. Reacting instantly, Sgt. Fleek opened fire and directed the effective fire of his men upon the numerically superior enemy force. During the fierce battle that followed, an enemy soldier threw a grenade into the squad position. Realizing that his men had not seen the grenade, Sgt. Fleek, although in a position to seek cover, shouted a warning to his comrades and threw himself onto the grenade, absorbing its blast. His gallant action undoubtedly saved the lives or prevented the injury of at least 8 of his fellow soldiers. Sgt. Fleek's gallantry and willing self-sacrifice were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit on himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.
*PHIPPS, JIMMY W.
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps, Company B, 1st Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division (Rein), FMF. Place and date: Near An Hoa, Republic of Vietnam, 27 May 1969. Entered service at: Culver City, Calif. Born: 1 November 1950, Santa Monica, Calif. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a combat engineer with Company B in connection with combat operations against the enemy. Pfc. Phipps was a member of a 2-man combat engineer demolition team assigned to locate and destroy enemy artillery ordnance and concealed firing devices. After he had expended all of his explosives and blasting caps, Pfc. Phipps discovered a 175mm high explosive artillery round in a rice paddy. Suspecting that the enemy had attached the artillery round to a secondary explosive device, he warned other marines in the area to move to covered positions and prepared to destroy the round with a hand grenade. As he was attaching the hand grenade to a stake beside the artillery round, the fuse of the enemy's secondary explosive device ignited. Realizing that his assistant and the platoon commander were both within a few meters of him and that the imminent explosion could kill all 3 men, Pfc. Phipps grasped the hand grenade to his chest and dived forward to cover the enemy's explosive and the artillery round with his body, thereby shielding his companions from the detonation while absorbing the full and tremendous impact with his body. Pfc. Phipps' indomitable courage, inspiring initiative, and selfless devotion to duty saved the lives of 2 marines and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for May 27, FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
27 May
1913: Under General Order No. 39, Army officers who qualified as military aviators received a Military Aviator's Certificate and badge. At the time, 24 officers qualified. (18)
1931: The first full-scale wind tunnel for testing airplanes placed in operation at the Langley Field Laboratory of the NACA. (21)
1939: Lt Col Alfred A. Cunningham, first Marine and fifth naval aviator, died at his home in Sarasota, Fla.
1951: KOREAN WAR. Unit 4/SAM C-47s flew leaflet drop/voice broadcast sorties encouraging the enemy to surrender to elements of the U.S. Army's IX Corps. Some 4,000 enemy soldiers surrendered, with many carrying leaflets. The captives reported morale problems among the enemy because of UN aerial attacks. (28)
1958: Gen O. P. Weyland accepted TAC's first production F-105B Thunderchief from Republic at its Farmingdale plant in Long Island. (12) Company test pilot Robert Little flew the McDonnell Douglas' XF-4H-1 Phantom II prototype on its first flight in St. Louis. (8)
1959: The 702 SMW (ICM-Snark) at Presque Isle AFB received SAC's first Snark missile. (6)
1963: McDonnell-Douglas' two-seat, twin-engine F-4C Phantom II completed its first flight. (4) (12)
1965: The Army's XH-51A, fastest helicopter in the world, demonstrated its rigid motor system and auxiliary jet engine during a test flight. It had a top speed of 272 MPH. Without thrust from the engine, the XH-51A could be operated as a helicopter.
1966: The McDonnell Douglas F-4J Phantom made its first public flight.
1970: The Air Force completed the Minuteman III's basic R&D program. The last launch of the Minuteman III at the Eastern Test Range took place on 14 December 1970.
1971: Boeing received a $81,745,707 contract to produce 19 737 jet transports for the USAF's Undergraduate Navigator Training System. Honeywell received an earlier contract to build 52 ground simulators for the system. (16)
1996: The Air Force named the ninth B-2 the "Spirit of Hawaii" in ceremonies at Hickam AFB. (AFNEWS Article 960453, May 96)
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