To All
Good Sunday Morning July 30 2023.
I hope you are all having a great weekend
Regards,
Skip
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This Day in Navy and Marine Corps History:
July 30
1918 Headquarters Company and Squadrons A, B, and C of the First Marine Aviation Force arrive at Brest, France, on board USS DeKalb (ID #3010), as U.S. enters European Theater of World War I.
1919 During an inspection by a six-man maintenance crew, the submarine USS G-2 suddenly floods and sinks at her moorings in Two Tree Channel near Niantic Bay off the Connecticut coast. She goes down in 13 1/2 fathoms, drowning three of the inspection crew.
1942 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the act establishing WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service). During World War II, more than 80,000 officers and enlisted women serve in the WAVES.
1943 PV 1 aircraft from (VB 127) sinks German submarine (U 591) off Pernambuco, Brazil. Also on this date, TBFs and F4Fs (VC 29) from USS Santee (CVE 29) sink German submarine (U 43) in the mid-Atlantic, while (PC 624) sinks German submarine (U 375) off Tunisia.
1945 A Japanese submarine sinks USS Indianapolis (CA 35), northeast of Leyte. Only 316 of her 1,199 crew survive. Due to communications and other errors, her loss goes unnoticed until survivors are seen from a passing aircraft on Aug. 2. Four days earlier, she had delivered atomic bomb components used on Japan in August.
2005 USS Halsey (DDG 97) is commissioned at Naval Station North Island in San Diego, Calif. The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer is named after U.S. Naval Academy graduate Fleet Adm. William Bull Halsey Jr., who commanded the U. S. 3rd Fleet during much of the Pacific War against Japan.
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This day in World History 30 July
1619 The House of Burgesses convenes for the first time at Jamestown, Va.
1787 The French parliament refuses to approve a more equitable land tax.
1799 The French garrison at Mantua, Italy, surrenders to the Austrians.
1864 In an effort to penetrate the Confederate lines around Petersburg, Va. Union troops explode a mine underneath the Confederate trenches but fail to break through. The ensuing action is known as the Battle of the Crater.
1919 Federal troops are called out to put down Chicago race riots.
1938 George Eastman demonstrates his color motion picture process.
1940 A bombing lull ends the first phase of the Battle of Britain.
1960 Over 60,000 Buddhists march in protest against the Diem government in South Vietnam.
1965 President Lyndon Johnson signs the Medicare Bill into law.
1967 General William Westmoreland claims that he is winning the war in Vietnam, but needs more men.
1975 Teamster leader Jimmy Hoffa disappears, last seen coming out of a restaurant in Bloomingfield Hills, Michigan.
1988 King Hussein dissolves Jordan's Parliament, surrenders Jordan's claims to the West Bank to the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
1990 Baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent forces George Steinbrenner to resign as principal partner of the New York Yankees.
2003 The last of the uniquely shaped "old style" Volkswagen Beetles rolls off the assembly line in Mexico.
2012 Blackout in India as power grid failure leaves 300 million+ without power.
21st CENTURY
2003
Last classic VW Beetle rolls off the line »
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ROLLING THUNDER REMEMBERED Thanks to the Bear … Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968)…
Thanks to THE BEAR
Skip… For The List for Sunday, 30 July 2023… Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968)
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post for 30 July 1968
CDR Guy Cane, USN, bags a MIG-17 north of Vinh in a 4 v. 4 melee…
https://www.rollingthunderremembered.com/rolling-thunder-remembered-30-july-1968-lbj-in-never-never-land-no-peace-in-sight-and-endless-war-ahead/
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 https://www.vhpa.org/KIA/KIAINDEX.HTM
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Thanks to Carl
The Greatly Misunderstood One-of-a-Kind 'Living Fossil'
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Thanks to Interesting Facts
7 Puzzling Questions About the Calendar, Explained
For most of recorded human history, time has been carved up into various numbers of days, months, and years. Some ancient cultures relied on the moon to note the passage of days, and this ancient tradition still impacts the way we talk about the calendar (the words "moon" and "month" are actually related). Eventually, mathematicians and astronomers encouraged counting the days using another prominent feature of Earth's sky — the sun.
Over the course of a few millennia, the calendar has been shaped and rearranged to fit fleeting political whims, religious observances, bureaucratic challenges, and bizarre superstitions. The story of the calendar is the story of humanity, and the answers to these questions show why.
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Why Are There 12 Months?
At its start in the eighth century BCE, Rome used a 10-month calendar traditionally believed to be created by its legendary wolf-suckling founder, Romulus. This was a lunar calendar: The beginning of a month, or a new moon, was called the "kalends," while a waxing half-moon around the seventh of the month was called the "nones," and a full moon around the 15th of the month was called the "ides." In this calendar, the year started with March, ended in December, and only added up to about 304 days. So what happened to the 60 or so days between December and March? Well, nothing — Romans just waited for the first new moon before the spring equinox to start the new year, meaning that much of the winter passed in a period without a calendar.
This system, understandably, didn't work well, and was soon reformed by Rome's second king, Numa Pompilius, around 713 BCE. Pompilius added additional months — now called January and February — to the end of the year, creating a 12-month calendar (they eventually moved to the front of the year by 450 BCE). The months totaled 354 days, but because of a Roman superstition around even numbers, an extra day was added to January. Since 355 days is still out of sync with the solar year and thus the seasons and celestial events, the king then added extra days, called intercalation, to the latter part of February in certain years. This made the Roman calendar's average length 366.25 days long — still off, but much better than Romulus' temporal train wreck.
Pompilius' creation was eventually undermined by Roman pontifices, or priests, who wielded intercalation like a political cudgel — extending the rule of favored politicians while curtailing the term limits of enemies. After 700 years, the Roman calendar was a mess, and the powerful general and statesman Julius Caesar decided to fix it. Following consultation with Rome's greatest mathematicians and astronomers, he implemented the Julian calendar in 45 BCE. Influenced by the 365-day Egyptian calendar and the mathematics of the Ancient Greeks, this calendar discarded Pompilius' even number superstition and added extra days equaling 365. But the most notable advancement of Caesar's calendar was that it embraced the sun as the basis of the calendar rather than the moon. Finally, after 700 long, horribly mismanaged years, the calendar was divided into our modern 12 months.
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Where Do the Names of the Months Come From?
The short answer is Rome, but the long answer is much more interesting. Remember Romulus' 10-month calendar? Well, September, October, November, and December simply mean "seventh month," "eighth month," "ninth month," and "tenth month" in Latin, respectively. But these names no longer made sense after the later additions of January, named after the Roman god Janus, and February, named after the Roman purification festival Februa. As for the rest of the months, March is named for the Roman god Mars, April after the Greek goddess Aphrodite (though there's some debate about whether it might be based on the Latin word aperio, which means "I open" in relation to spring flowers), May after the Greek deity Maia, and June in honor of the powerful Roman goddess Juno.
The names of the last two months come from a few powerful Romans who got a little full of themselves. In 44 BCE, the month Quintilis (which means "fifth" in Latin) was changed to July in honor of Julius Caesar. His heir, Augustus, received the same honor in 8 BCE, when Sextilis (you guessed it, meaning "sixth" in Latin) was changed to August.
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Why Is February the Shortest Month of the Year?
February has fewer days because of the superstitions of ancient Rome. In the late eighth century BCE, Romans — including their king Numa Pompilius — held a superstition that even numbers were somehow unlucky. Although he created a version of a 12-month calendar, Pompilius realized there was no mathematical way for every month to have an odd number of days and for the total number of days in the year to also be odd. So while the other months were either 29 or 31 days long, February became the unlucky month to have only 28 days, making Pompilius' calendar the apparently-less-scary number of 355.
In 45 BCE, Caesar — disregarding Pompilius' fear of even numbers — added days to a number of other months, but not February. Some experts believe Caesar didn't want to disrupt the important festivals that took place in that month and so he just let it be. But with the introduction of the Julian calendar, February did receive a consolation prize in the form of an additional day every four years. Speaking of which …
4 of 7
Why Do We Need a Leap Day?
A year isn't 365 days, it's actually 365.24219 days. Because of our planet's frustratingly imperfect solar orbit, calendars need small adjustments as the years pass to keep in alignment with equinoxes and solstices. Ancient astronomers and mathematicians figured that waiting four years and then adding a day made the most sense. In 45 BCE, Julius Caesar introduced the modern leap year, which added an extra day in February every four years (though originally that extra day was added between the 23rd and the 24th). This moved the calendar closer to solar reality at 365.25 days. Close, but not close enough — which is where the pope comes in.
5 of 7
Who Made the Modern Calendar?
In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII had a problem. As head of the Catholic Church, he realized that Easter — his religion's holiest day — had drifted 10 days off in relation to the spring equinox, which is supposed to be used to calculate Easter day. That's because Caesar's small mathematical error had grown exponentially larger when stretched across 1,600 years. Gregory XIII needed a very slight adjustment to the calendar, just enough to nudge it closer to that magical 365.24219 number. First, Gregory XIII lopped 10 days off the calendar to set things straight, then tweaked the leap year. Now, whenever a new century began that wasn't divisible by 400 (i.e. 1700, 1800, 1900), no extra day was added. This edged things just enough in the right direction that this new calendar, named the Gregorian calendar, was now 365.2425 days long — close enough. Catholic nations adopted this new calendar immediately, but the Protestant British Empire, along with its American colonies, didn't sign on until 1752. Today, the Gregorian calendar is used in nearly every country.
6 of 7
When Did We Start Using B.C. and A.D.?
Before the invention of A.D. ("anno domini," which means "in the year of our Lord") and B.C. ("before Christ"), years were often tracked by the reigns of pharaohs, kings, and emperors. In a way, B.C. and A.D. still reflect this system but focus on just one moment — the birth of Jesus. It's difficult to trace the exact origins of this system, but one of the earliest recorded uses of "anno domini" occurs in 525 with the work of Dionysius Exiguus, a monk who was trying to determine what days Easter would fall in future years. Crucially, he started his tables with the year 532, stating that this year was "from the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ."
The conception of "B.C." is slightly murkier. Some believe the Venerable Bede, the famous medieval English historian, was the first to use it, or at least greatly popularized it in his 731 work, Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Others point to a 1627 work by a French Jesuit who used "ante Christum" to describe the pre-Jesus years. The terminology became more widespread during the reign of the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne, who used it as a standard form of dating across Europe in the ninth century.
Within the last few decades, more publications and organizations have opted to strip the years of their religious connotation, preferring BCE (Before the Common Era) and CE (Common Era) over the traditional B.C./A.D. system, although the move is not without some controversy. But this subtle change in phrasing doesn't alter the fact that the world still counts the years in accordance with the birth of Jesus.
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Why Is a Week Seven Days?
The seven-day week is a timekeeping oddity. Unlike days, months, and years, the week doesn't align with any celestial reality, and it doesn't divide elegantly into existing periods of time. For example, there aren't 52 weeks in an average year — there are 52.1428571429. So how did this happen? Babylonians, the ancient superpower of Mesopotamia, put a lot of stock in the number seven thanks to the seven observable celestial bodies in the night sky — the sun, moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. This formed the seven-day week, which was adopted by the Jewish people, who were captives of the Babylonians in the sixth century BCE. Eventually, it spread to ancient Greece and elsewhere thanks to the battle-happy Macedonian Alexander the Great. Efforts have been made throughout history to reform the seven-day week, but this oddball unit of time has become ingrained in many religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, rendering any sort of tweak pretty unlikely.
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From the archives
These guys are nuts
Audi R8 Races Motorcycles On Public Highway - 174 mph
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=Y2HKBQMQmbw#t=116
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From the archives
The One Eyed Ugly Bastard
If you have not heard the story of the 'one-eyed Ugly Angel' click the link below (I know most, if not all H-34 drivers and crews are familiar). Also check out the Word document attached. Happy 238th and Semper Fi!
This aircraft and Capt Ben Cascio USMC Ret were instrumental in saving many lives of the Marines of 2/4. YN-19 arrived yesterday at the National Museum of the Marine Corps, after being fully restored, where she will remain. She was flown there by Capt Cascio---not trucked down on the bed of a truck, flown by the same Marines who flew her 45 years ago.
http://www.bringingjerryhome.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/One-Eyed-Ugly-PDF-Full-Story.pdf
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From the archives this day in 2012
Thanks to Tom
Rare North Vietnamese Air Combat Details For Their ' FIGHT ' TIL I D-I-E '.
. Fighter Pilot ACES
Sixteen [ 16 ] Vietnamese pilots earned that honor.
Nguyen Van Coc is also the Top Ace of Vietnam War with 9 kills : 7 planes and 2 UAV (Unmanned Airborne Vehicle) ' Firebees.' Among those seven US planes, six are confirmed by US records, and we should add to this figure a confirmed USAF loss ( the F-102A flown by Wallace Wiggins [ KIA ] on February 3 1968,) originally considered a probable by the VPAF. His 7 confirmed kills qualified Coc as the Top Ace of the war, even after omitting the downed UAVs.
Why so many Vietnamese Aces ? And why did so many VPAF pilots score higher than their American adversaries ?
Mainly because of their numbers [ and tactics. ]
In 1965, the VPAF had only 36 MiG-17s and a similar number of qualified pilots, which increased to 180 MiGs and 72 pilots by 1968. Those brave six dozen pilots confronted about 200 F-4s of the 8th, 35th and 366th TFW, about 140 Thunderchiefs of the 355th and 388th TFW, and about 100 USN aircraft (F-8s, A-4s and F-4s) which operated from the carriers on "Yankee Station" in the Gulf of Tonkin, plus scores of other support aircraft ( EB-6Bs jamming, HH-53s rescuing downed pilots, Skyraiders covering them,
etc.)
Considering such odds, it is clear why some Vietnamese pilots scored more than the Americans; the VPAF pilots simply were busier than their US counterparts. And they " flew till they died." They had no rotation home after 100 combat sorties because they were already home. American pilots generally finished a tour of duty and rotated home for training, command, or flight test assignments. Some requested for a second combat tour, but they were the exceptions.
What about the tactics of both sides ?
Because the USAF did not attack the main radar installations and command centers ( it worried about killing Russian or Chinese advisers,) the Vietnamese flew their interceptors with superb guidance from ground controllers, who positioned the MiGs in perfect ambush battle stations.
The MIGs made fast and devastating attacks against US formations from several directions (usually the MiG-17s performed head-on attacks and the MiG-21s attacked from the rear). After shooting down a few American planes and forcing some of the F-105s to drop their bombs prematurely, the MiGs did not wait for retaliation, but disengaged rapidly. This " guerrilla warfare in the air " proved very successful.
Such tactics were sometimes helped by weird American practices. For example, in late 1966 the F-105 formations used to fly every day at the same time in the same flight paths and used the same callsigns over and over again. The North Vietnamese realized that and took the chance: in December 1966 the MiG-21 pilots of the 921st FR intercepted the "Thuds"
before they met the escorting F-4s, downing 14 F-105s without any losses.
That ended on January 2 1967 when Col. Robin Olds executed Operation "Bolo."
What about training? In mid-1960's the American pilots were focused on the use of air-to-air missiles (like the radar homing AIM-7 Sparrow and IR
AIM-9) to win the air battles. However, they had forgotten that a skillful pilot in the cockpit was as important as the weapons he uses.
The VPAF knew that, and trained its pilots to exploit the superb agility of the MiG-17, MiG-19 and MiG-21 - getting into close combat, where the heavy Phantoms and " Thuds " were at a disadvantage.
Only in 1972, when the "Top Gun" program improved the skills in aerial combat of USN Phantom pilots and the F-4E appeared with a 20 MM built-in Vulcan cannon, could the Americans neutralize that Vietnamese edge.
Finally, the overwhelming US numerical superiority meant that, from the point of view of the Vietnamese pilots, the aerial battlefield was a "
target rich environment." For the American airmen Vietnam was a " target poor environment." The Americans could not find enough enemy aircraft to pile up large scores simply because there weren't that many MiGs around; the VPAF never had more than 200 combat aircraft.
All these factors created more Vietnamese aces than American, and created opportunities for a few Vietnamese aces to pile up bigger scores than their American counterparts. Officially, there were 16 VPAF Aces during Vietnam War (13 were MiG-21 pilots, and three were MiG-17 drivers, there were no MiG-19 aces). The number in parentheses indicates the kills confirmed by US sources; they could be increased in the future.
Here are some accounts of deeds performed by those valiant pilots who faced the most powerful air force in the world in defense of their homeland, and who earned the respect of their enemies, the American airmen.
What about Colonel Toon ?
Readers familiar with American military aviation may have heard of the legendary Vietnamese ace, Col. Toon (or Col. Tomb). Why is he not listed here?
Because, he was precisely that . . "legendary."
No Colonel Toon ever flew for the VPAF; he was a figment of the American fighter pilots' imagination and ready room chatter.
( " Col. Toon " may have been shorthand for any good Vietnamese pilot, like any solo nighttime nuisance bomber in WW2 was called " Washing Machine
Charlie.")
Nguyen Van Bay
When the 923rd Fighter Regiment was created on September 7 1965, Nguyen Van Bay was one of the students chosen to fly the MiG-17F Frescos. His training ended in January 1966, and soon the young Lt. Bay saw action against American aircraft.
On June 211966, four MiG-17s of the 923rd FR engaged an RF-8A recce plane and its escorting F-8 Crusaders of VF-211. Even as the escorting Crusaders destroyed two MiGs, Nguyen Van Bay opened his score when he shot down the F-8E of Cole Black, who ejected to became a POW. Even more important, the Vietnamese People's Air Force pilots achieved their main goal ; as Bay and his buddies distracted the escort, Phan Thanh Trung in the lead MiG shot down the RF-8A. The pilot, Leonard Eastman, was also taken prisoner.
A week later - June 29- Bay and three more MiG-17 pilots engaged American F-105Ds heading for the fuel depots in Hanoi, North Vietnam and ( together with Phan Van Tuc ) Nguyen Van Bay surprised and shot down a "Thud." His victim, the leader of the US formation, turned out to be Major James H. Kasler, a Sabre Ace during the Korean War with 6 MiG kills.
However, his greatest feat happened on April 24 1967. Now a flight leader, Bay scrambled from Kien An airfield and led his flight of MiG-17Fs against a USN raid on the Haiphong docks. Bay closed on an unaware F-8C of
VF-24 and fired a burst of deathly 37 mm shells which broke it into pieces.
The F-8C -BuNo 146915, piloted by Lt. Cdr. E.J.Tucker- caught fire and crashed. Tucker ejected and was captured (unfortunately he died in
captivity.) The escorting F-4Bs of VF-114 entered the battle and fired several Sidewinders against Bay, but Bay's wing-man - Nguyen The Hon- warned him, and Bay sharply broke off, evading all the missiles. Then, Bay headed his MiG-17 Fresco towards one of the Phantoms and shot it down with cannon fire. [ After ejecting ] the crew, Lt. Cdr. C.E. Southwick and Ens.
J.W. Land, was rescued.
They thought they had been downed by AAA.
The next day, April 25, his flight of MiG-17s scored again, shooting down two A-4s with no losses themselves. Both kills are confirmed by the US
Navy: the first victim was the A-4C BuNo 147799 piloted by Lt. C.D.
Stackhouse (POW), who fell under the guns of Bay's MiG-17, and the second was the A-4C BuNo 151102, piloted by Lt (jg) A.R. Crebo, who was rescued.
Bay was awarded the Hero's Medal of the Vietnamese People's Army for his outstanding skill and bravery in combat and for his superb flight leadership.
In early 1972 this Vietnamese MiG ace and his buddy Le Xuan Di were trained by a Cuban advisor in anti-ship warfare, and they certainly were good students, because on April 19 1972 they attacked the destroyers USS Oklahoma City and Highbee,which were shelling targets in Vinh city. While Bay caused only slight damage to the first one, Le Xuan Di hit one of the Highbee's stern turrets with a 500 pound bomb. It was the first air strike suffered by the USN 7th Fleet since the end of WW2.
Nguyen Doc Soat
One of the merits of the Vietnamese People's Air Force was that the more successful pilots could transfer their combat exper-ience to the novice students. That was the case of Nguyen Doc Soat. Originally this young MiG-21 student was assigned to the 921st FR, and his instructors were the hottest VPAF pilots of the outfit : Pham Thanh Ngan ( 8 kills ) and the top Vietnamese ace, Nguyen Van Coc ( 9 victories.) Soat couldn't ask for better teachers. While he did not score kills at that time, he gained valuable experience.
Re-assigned to the recently created 927th Fighter Regiment, when Operation "Linebacker I" began in May 1972, Soat was ready to show his abilities. On the 23rd he scored his first victory, downing a USN A-7B Corsair II with 30 mm fire. His victim was Charles Barnett (KIA).
On June 24 1972 two MiG-21s flown by Nguyen Duc Nhu and Ha Vinh Thanh took off from Noi Bai at 15:12 to intercept some Phantoms attacking a factory in Thai Nguyen, North Vietnam. The American escort reacted rapidly and headed towards them.
But those MiGs were actually only bait ; suddenly two MiG-21PFMs of the 927th FR appeared, piloted by Nguyen Doc Soat (leader) and Ngo Duy Thu (wingman), who took the escorting F-4Es by surprise. Firing a heat-seeking missile R-3S Atoll, Soat downed the F-4E of David Grant and William Beekman. Both crewmen became POWs, as Thu [ caused ejection of ] a second Phantom crew.
Three days later Soat and Thu scrambled from Noi Bai at 11:53 and headed towards four F-4s, but knowing that eight more Phantoms were incoming, they did not risk being "sandwiched" by the arriving US fighters.
They turned back, climbed to 5,000 mts ( 15,000 feet ) and waited.
Their patience was rewarded, and surprised the trailing pair of F-4s.
Both Soat and Thu bagged one Phantom each with
R-3 missiles. Soat's victim was one F-4E. And its crew ( Miller/McDow ) was captured.
On August 26 1972, Nguyen Doc Soat had the distinction of shooting down the only USMC Phantom downed in air combat during the Vietnam War. The RIO of the downed F-4J was rescued, but the unfortunate pilot -Sam Cordova- died. The Vietnamese MiG Ace scored his last victory on October 12, when he destroyed the F-4E of Myron Young and Cecil Brunson ( both POW. )
Along with Nguyen Van Coc and other VPAF vets, Soat is a living legend in the country for which he bravely and skillfully fought 30 years ago.
Source : S. Sherman and Diego Fernando Zampini [ abridged ]
Other Sources :
Air War over North Vietnam, Dr. Itsvan Toperczer, Squadron/Signal Publications Inc. 1998.
MiG-21 Units of the Vietnam War, Istvan Toperczer, 2001, Osprey Military
MiG-17/19 Units of the Vietnam War, Istvan Toperczer, 2001, Osprey Military © 1999- 2012, by Acepilots.com
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F-35 crash report…
Thanks to Bill ... and Dr. Rich
Another case of an electric jet's sensors providing bad data, confusing the FCS.
Hey Bill,
Just FYI – interesting wake turbulence called out as cause of Hill F-35 prang last year.
AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION
F-35A, T/N 15-5197
HILL AFB, UTAH
19 OCTOBER 2022
On 19 October 2022, at approximately 18:08:36 local (L), the mishap aircraft (MA), an F-35A aircraft, tail number (T/N) 15-5197, crashed after the final turn to land on Runway (RWY) 14 at Hill Air Force Base (AFB), Utah (UT). The MA was operated out of Hill AFB, UT by the 421st Fighter Squadron (FS) and assigned to the 388th Fighter Wing (FW). There were no fatalities.
The mishap pilot (MP), assigned to the 388th FW, ejected safely before impact. He sustained minor injuries. The MA was destroyed upon impact, with a total loss valued at $166,340,000.00.
The MA debris fanned out with most of the aircraft impacting within the airfield boundaries on Hill AFB.
The Mishap Flight consisted of four F-35A aircraft, with the MA flying as the #3 aircraft in the flight. After an uneventful training sortie, the MA returned to Hill AFB RWY 14, in a standard formation with the #3 aircraft in one nautical mile trail of the #1 aircraft. On final approach to landing, the MP experienced a slight rumbling to his aircraft due to wake turbulence from preceding aircraft. This air flow disturbance resulted in erroneous inputs to the air data application (ADA) of the F-35 flight control system. The erroneous inputs to the ADA resulted in a condition in which the aircraft flight controls did not respond correctly for the actual current conditions of the MA. Recognizing that the MA was not responding appropriately to control inputs, the MP selected full afterburner power to attempt to recover to controlled flight. Due to
the low altitude, low airspeed, and sideslip flight path of the MA, the MP was unable to recover the aircraft and initiated ejection. The MP ejected before the MA impacted the ground and was destroyed. The MP landed just north of the base outside the Hill AFB airfield boundary fence and was recovered by emergency responders.
The accident investigation board (AIB) president found, by a preponderance of the evidence, the cause of the mishap was that the MA departed controlled flight due to air data system errors immediately prior to landing and there was no opportunity to recover the aircraft to controlled flight. The AIB President found one significantly contributing factor to the mishap: the MP did not increase landing spacing from preceding aircraft in accordance with wake turbulence procedures.
Full report:
Information Classification: General
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This Day in U S Military History…….July 30
1916 – German saboteurs blew up a munitions pier on Black Tom Island, Jersey City, NJ. 7 people were killed. Damages totaled about $20-25 million. Now a section of Liberty State Park (along Morris Pesin road including the park office and Flag Plaza), Black Tom was originally a small island in New York Harbor not far from Liberty Island. Between 1860 and 1880, Black Tom was connected to the mainland by a causeway and rail lines terminating at a freight facility with docks. The area between the island and the mainland was filled in sometime between 1905 and 1916 by the Lehigh Valley Railroad as part of its Jersey City facility. By the beginning of the twentieth century, Black Tom was serving as a major munitions depot. Before the United States entered the First World War, American businessmen would sell their supplies to any buyer. However, by 1915, the British Navy had established a blockade effectively keeping the Germans from being able to buy from the American merchants. The German government, on July 30, 1916, orchestrated the sabotage of freight cars at Black Tom, which were loaded with munitions for the Allies in Europe. According to a recent study, the resulting explosion was the equivalent of an earthquake measuring between 5.0 and 5.5 on the Richter Scale. Windows within a 25-mile radius were broken, the outside wall of Jersey City's City Hall was cracked and pieces of metal damaged the skirt of the Statue of Liberty (it is because of this explosion that the Lady's torch has been closed off to visitors). Most of the immigrants on Ellis Island were temporarily evacuated. Losses were estimate at $20 million and seven people were killed. After the war, a commission appointed to resolve American claims against Germany was established. It took years before a decision was made, finally in June of 1939, the commission ruled that the German Government had authorized the sabotage. However, World War II interrupted any chances of arranging for restitution. In 1953 the two governments finally settled on terms that the German government would pay a total of $95 million for a number of claims including Black Tom. The final payment was received in 1979.
1942 – The US passenger-freighter Robert E. Lee with 268 passengers was sunk by the German U-166 submarine. 15 crew members and 10 passengers died. In 2001 wreckage of the U-166 was found in the Gulf of Mexico and it appeared that it was sunk by Coast Guard PC-566 right after the attack. U-166 had 52 crew members.
1945 – Japanese warships sink the American cruiser Indianapolis, killing 883 seamen in the worst loss in the history of the U.S. navy. As a prelude to a proposed invasion of the Japanese mainland, scheduled for November 1, U.S. forces bombed the Japanese home islands from sea and air, as well as blowing Japanese warships out of the water. The end was near for Imperial Japan, but it was determined to go down fighting. Just before midnight of the 29th, the Indianapolis, an American cruiser that was the flagship of the Fifth Fleet, was on its way, unescorted, to Guam, then Okinawa. It never made it. It was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. Interestingly, the sub was commanded by a lieutenant who had also participated in the Pearl Harbor invasion. There were 1,196 crewmen onboard the Indianapolis; over 350 died upon impact of the torpedo or went down with the ship. More than 800 fell into the Pacific. Of those, approximately 50 died that first night in the water from injuries suffered in the torpedo explosion; the remaining seamen were left to flounder in the Pacific, fend off sharks, drink sea water (which drove some insane), and wait to be rescued. Because there was no time for a distress signal before the Indianapolis went down, it was 84 hours before help arrived. This was despite the fact that American naval headquarters had intercepted a message on July 30 from the Japanese sub commander responsible for sinking the Indianapolis, describing the type of ship sunk and its location. (The Americans assumed it was an exaggerated boast and didn't bother to follow up.) Only 318 survived; the rest were eaten by sharks or drowned. The Indianapolis's commander, Captain Charles McVay, was the only officer ever to be court-martialed for the loss of a ship during wartime in the history of the U.S. Navy. Had the attack happened only three days earlier, the Indianapolis would have been sunk carrying special cargo-the atom bomb, which it delivered to Tinian Island, northeast of Guam, for scientists to assemble.
1956 – US motto "In God We Trust" was authorized.
1971 – US Apollo 15 with astronauts Scott and Irwin landed at Mare Imbrium on the Moon.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
HOMAN, CONRAD
Rank and organization: Color Sergeant, Company A, 29th Massachusetts Infantry. Place and date: Near Petersburg, Va., 30 July 1864. Entered service at:——. Birth: Roxbury, Mass. Date of issue: 3 June 1869. Citation: Fought his way through the enemy's lines with the regimental colors, the rest of the color guard being killed or captured.
HOUGHTON, CHARLES H.
Rank and organization: Captain, Company L, 14th New York Artillery. Place and date: At Petersburg, Va., 30 July 1864; 25 March 1865. Entered service at: Ogdensburg, N.Y. Born: 30 April 1842, Macomb, St. Lawrence County, N.Y. Date of issue: 5 April 1898. Citation: In the Union assault at the Crater (30 July 1864), and in the Confederate assault repelled at Fort Haskell, displayed most conspicuous gallantry and repeatedly exposed himself voluntarily to great danger, was 3 times wounded, and suffered loss of a leg.
JAMIESON, WALTER
Rank and organization: 1st Sergeant, Company B, 139th New York Infantry. Place and date: At Petersburg, Va., 30 July 1864; At Fort Harrison, Va., 29 September 1864. Entered service at: New York, N.Y. Birth: France. Date of issue: 5 April 1898. Citation: Voluntarily went between the lines under a heavy fire at Petersburg, Va., to the assistance of a wounded and helpless officer, whom he carried within the Union lines. At Fort Harrison, Va., seized the regimental color, the color bearer and guard having been shot down, and, rushing forward, planted it upon the fort in full view of the entire brigade.
KNIGHT, CHARLES H.
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company I, 9th New Hampshire Infantry. Place and date: At Petersburg, Va., 30 July 1864. Entered service at Keene, N.H. Birth: Keene, N.H. Date of issue: 27 July 1896. Citation. In company with a sergeant, was the first to enter the exploded mine; was wounded but took several prisoners to the Federal lines.
MATHEWS, WILLIAM H.
Rank and organization: First Sergeant, Company E, 2d Maryland Veteran Infantry. Place and date: At Petersburg, Va., 30 July 1864. Entered service at: Baltimore, Md. Birth: England. Date of issue: 10 July 1892. Citation: Finding himself among a squad of Confederates, he fired into them, killing 1, and was himself wounded, but succeeded in bringing in a sergeant and 2 men of the 17th South Carolina Regiment (C.S.A.) as prisoners.
(Enlisted in 1861 at Baltimore, Md., under the name Henry Sivel, and original Medal of Honor issued under that name. A new medal was issued in 1900 under true name, William H Mathew.)
McALWEE, BENJAMIN F.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company D, 3d Maryland Infantry. Place and date: At Petersburg, Va., 30 July 1864. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Washington, D.C. Date of issue: 4 April 1898. Citation: Picked up a shell with burning fuse and threw it over the parapet into the ditch, where it exploded; by this act he probably saved the lives of comrades at the great peril of his own.
SIMONS, CHARLES J.
Rank and organization. Sergeant, Company A, 9th New Hampshire Infantry. Place and date: At Petersburg, Va., 30 July 1864. Entered service at: Exeter, N.H. Birth: India. Date of issue: 27 July 1896. Citation: Was one of the first in the exploded mine, captured a number of prisoners. and was himself captured, but escaped.
SWIFT, HARLAN J.
Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, Company H, 2d Mew York Militia Regiment. Place and date: At Petersburg, Va., 30 July 1864. Entered service at: New York. Birth: New Hudson, N.Y. Date of issue: 20 July 1897. Citation: Having advanced with his regiment and captured the enemy's line, saw 4 of the enemy retiring toward their second line of works. He advanced upon them alone, compelled their surrender and regained his regiment with the 4 prisoners.
WILKINS, LEANDER A.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company H, 9th New Hampshire Infantry. Place and date: At Petersburg, Va., 30 July 1864. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Lancaster, N.H. Date of issue: 1 December 1864. Citation: Recaptured the colors of 21st Massachusetts Infantry in a hand_to_hand encounter.
WRIGHT, ALBERT D.
Rank and organization: Captain, Company G, 43d U.S. Colored Troops. Place and date: At Petersburg, Va., 30 July 1864. Entered service at:——. Born: 10 December 1844, Elkland, Tioga County, Pa. Date of issue: 1 May 1893. Citation: Advanced beyond the enemy's lines, capturing a stand of colors and its color guard; was severely wounded.
O'NEIL, RICHARD W.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company D, 165th Infantry, 42d Division. Place and date: On the Ourcq River, France, 30 July 1918. Entered service at: New York, N.Y. Birth: New York, N.Y. G.O. No.: 30, W.D., 1921. Citation: In advance of an assaulting line, he attacked a detachment of about 25 of the enemy. In the ensuing hand-to-hand encounter he sustained pistol wounds, but heroically continued in the advance, during which he received additional wounds: but, with great physical effort, he remained in active command of his detachment. Being again wounded, he was forced by weakness and loss of blood to be evacuated, but insisted upon being taken first to the battalion commander in order to transmit to him valuable information relative to enemy positions and the disposition of our men.
*OZBOURN, JOSEPH WILLIAM
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 24 October 1919, Herrin, Ill. Accredited to: Illinois. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as a Browning Automatic Rifleman serving with the 1st Battalion, 23d Marines, 4th Marine Division, during the battle for enemy Japanese-held Tinian Island, Marianas Islands, 30 July 1944. As a member of a platoon assigned the mission of clearing the remaining Japanese troops from dugouts and pillboxes along a tree line, Pvt. Ozbourn, flanked by 2 men on either side, was moving forward to throw an armed handgrenade into a dugout when a terrific blast from the entrance severely wounded the 4 men and himself. Unable to throw the grenade into the dugout and with no place to hurl it without endangering the other men, Pvt. Ozbourn unhesitatingly grasped it close to his body and fell upon it, sacrificing his own life to absorb the full impact of the explosion, but saving his comrades. His great personal valor and unwavering loyalty reflect the highest credit upon Pvt. Ozbourn and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for July 30, 2021 FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
30 July
1909: The Wright plane completed its second test with a 10-mile flight from Fort Myer to Alexandria and back at 42.583 MPH. The speed gave the Wrights a $5,000 bonus (10 percent of a $25,000 base price for each MPH over 40) and made the purchase price $30,000. (4) (12)
1935: Lt Frank Akers (USN) flew an OJ-2 from NAS San Diego and made the first blind landing aboard the carrier USS Langley. He later received the DFC. (24)
1939: The US regained the world payload carrying record when Maj Caleb V. Haynes and Capt W. D. Old flew the Boeing XB-15 to 8,200 feet with a payload of 15 1/2 tons at Wright Field. (24)
1944: VOGELKOP OPERATION. FEAF aircraft supported an amphibious operation, the landings on the Vogelkop Peninsula on the western end of New Guinea. Troops of the 6th Infantry Division met no opposition and began work immediately on airfields at March and Sansapor. Middleburg and Amsterdam Islands, just offshore, were secured, and an airfield on Middleburg was ready for fighters on 17 August.
1948: North American Aviation delivered the first operational jet bomber, the B-45A Tornado, to the Air Force. (21)
1950: KOREAN WAR. 47 B-29s bombed the Chosen Nitrogen Explosives Factory at Hungnam on North Korea's east coast. (28)
1951: KOREAN WAR/ATTACK ON PYONGYANG. Fighters participated in a coordinated attack on selected targets in Pyongyang. The 91 F-80s performing flak suppression, although hampered by cloud cover over the target, were successful as no UN aircraft were lost to flak at Pyongyang during the day. The 354 USAF and USMC fighter-bombers attacking targets around Pyongyang reported fair results. (17) (28)
1952: KOREAN WAR. Following extended heavy rains, 3d Air Rescue Squadron helicopters carried approximately 650 flood-stranded U.S. military members and Koreans to safety. Flying over 100 sorties, five large H-19s transported some 600 evacuees, while two H-5s carried the rest. In the I Corps sector, two H-5s flew over 30 sorties to rescue 60 flood-stranded Koreans and U.S. soldiers. (28) KOREAN WAR. Through 31 July, in one of the largest medium bomber raids against a single target, 60 B-29s destroyed 90 percent of the Oriental Light Metals Company facility, only four miles from the Yalu River. The B-29s achieved the unusally extensive destruction of the target in spite of encountering the largest nighttime counter-air effort to date by the enemy. The attacking bombers suffered no losses. (28)
1959: The Norair N-156F (later modified into the F-5) twin jet tactical fighter completed its first flight at Edwards AFB. (3)
1965: The 7-year Saturn I program ended with the launch of Pegasus III, the tenth success in as many attempts for this booster.
1969: Mariner 6 flew by Mars.
1971: The last C-133 Cargomaster retired from Travis AFB to aircraft graveyard at Davis-Monthan AFB to end a chapter in military airlift history. It fell victim to the jet age and the jumbo airlift capability of the C-5A Galaxy. This event ushered in the modern all-jet airlift fleet. (5) (18) The last F-100 left Vietnam for the CONUS. Its departure ended a combat employment, which began in 1964 and produced 360,283 combat sorties with 243 aircraft losses. (17)
1981: Through 9 August, MAC supported the Gambia evacuation. When Gambia's president attended the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana in London, leftist guerrillas attempted a coup. When loyal Gambian troops and their Senegalese allies were unable to rescue rebel-held hostages and quell rioting in Bangul, MAC sent two C-141s to Dakar, Senegal. On 8 August, the rebel force surrendered and released its hostages. One C-141 evacuated 95 civilians from Bangul to Dakar. (2)
1984: Modified B-1A number four, avionics flight test aircraft, completed its first flight at Edwards AFB. (12)
1985: The USAF Bomarc aerial target drone program ended. (16) (26)
1993: The VISTA NF-16 employed its multi-axis thrust-vectoring system for the first time in a flight over Edwards AFB. That system enabled the aircraft to achieve a 110-degree transient angle-ofattack and a sustained angle-of-attack by September. (20)
1997: Captain Dewey Gay flew a F-16C Fighting Falcon (Tail No. 83-1164) from the 62d Fighter Squadron at Luke AFB to history when he touched down after a 1.3-hour sortie that pushed the F-16 over 4,000 hours. It was the first C-model to reach the 4,000-hour mark. The feat took 14 years. (AFNEWS Article 970991, 13 Aug 97)
1997: The X-38 atmospheric test vehicle made its first captive-carry flight aboard a B-52. The subscale, unmanned X-38 shape was joint NASA Dryden Center and Johnson Space Center project to validate concept for a future International Space Station emergency Crew Return Vehicle. The space "lifeboat" relied on Lifting Body technology. (3)
1998: At Edwards AFB, testing on the C-141A Electric Starlifter came to an end. The joint Air Force Research Laboratory Propulsion Directorate and Lockheed-Martin/Lucas Aerospace testing program outfitted a large military cargo aircraft with electrically operated Fly-By-Wire, PowerBy-Wire flight controls for the first time in aviation history. The C-141A aircraft, assigned to the 418th Flight Test Squadron, flew over 1,000 hours in the program. It was the last C-141A in operational service. With the completion of the test program, the Air Force retired the aircraft to Davis-Monthan AFB. (AFNEWS Article 981113, 30 Jul 98)
2001: The DoD awarded Boeing a $485 million contract to engineer and manufacture an Avionics Modernization Program (AMP) and a separate $1 billion contract for aircraft modifications, support, and other services to complement the AMP enhancements for 519 C-130s. The program would equip the C-130 cockpits with flat panels, digital displays, multi-functional radar, and a state-of-the-art communications system. (22) AETC's C-141 aircrew training school at Altus AFB officially closed to end more than 25 years of C-141 training there. The closure came with the phased retirement of more than 265 C-141Bs. The Air Force, however, modified 56 C-141Bs with state-of-the-art glass cockpits and redesignated them as C-141Cs. (22) A crew from Minot AFB delivered a B-52H to the AFFTC for transfer to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center. It would be converted into an air launch platform to replace Dryden's venerable B-52B Tail No. 52-0008. (3)
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