To All,
Good Wednesday morning October 11, 2023
The plumber came back late yesterday and we thought the leak was fixed. This morning I found water and not sure if it was another leak or a teenage granddaughter. I have some paper towels down to locate it and I an hoping that I do not see anything.. Just our luck it rained a bit last night after the weather guessers said no rain for at least ten days. And the beat goes on.
A bit of history and some tidbits
Regards
Skip
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Today in Naval and Marine Corps History thanks to NHHC
October 11
1776 Brig. Gen. Benedict Arnolds 17-ship flotilla is defeated in three long and separate actions at the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain as they engage 25 ships under Capt. Thomas Pringle. Though defeated, the battle delays the British advance and causes it to fall back into winter quarters. It is nearly a year before the advance is renewed.
1841 Abel P. Upshur becomes the 13th Secretary of the Navy, serving until July 1843. Among his achievements are the replacement of the old Board of Navy Commissioners with the bureau system, regularization of the officer corps, increased Navy appropriations, construction of new sailing and steam warships, and the establishment of the Naval Observatory and Hydrographic Office.
1933 The rigid airship Macon (ZRS 5) departs NAS Lakehurst, NJ, for her new home on the West Coast at NAS Sunnyvale, CA. The airship followed the Atlantic coast down to Macon, GA, and turned westward over the southern route. The craft arrived at Sunnyvale on the afternoon of 15 Oct., completing the 2,500-mile nonstop flight in approximately 70 hours.
1940 Rear Adm. Harold G. Bowen, the technical aid to the Secretary of the Navy, proposes a program for the development of radio ranging equipment (radar). This formed the basis for the Navy's prewar radar development effort, which included an airborne radar for surface search in addition to identification equipment and ship based radar.
1942 A cruiser-destroyer task force led by Rear Adm. Norman Scott intercepts a similar Japanese Navy unit. In the resulting Battle of Cape Esperance, the Japanese lose the heavy cruiser Furutaka and destroyer Fubuki, with two more destroyers sunk by American air attacks the next day. The destroyer Duncan (DD 485) is the only loss from Scott's Task Force 64. This victory is the U.S. Navy's first of the Guadalcanal Campaign.
1944 USS Tang (SS 306) sinks Japanese freighters Joshu Go and Oita Maru in the Formosa Strait. Also on this date, USS Trepang (SS 412), in an attack on a Japanese convoy south of Honshu, sinks landing ship T.105 about 105 miles southwest of Tokyo Bay.
1956 An R6D-1 from VR-6 on scheduled Military Air Transport Service flight from Lakenheath, England, to Lajes, Azores, disappears over the Atlantic with nine crewmembers and 50 passengers aboard. Ships and aircraft searched during the following 14 days and find debris from the Liftmaster, but fail to locate survivors.
1968 Apollo 7 is launched. The first U.S. three-man space mission is commanded by Navy Cmdr. Walter Schirra, Jr. Donn F. Eisele is the command module pilot and Marine Corps Maj. Ronnie Cunningham serves as lunar module pilot. The mission lasts 10 days and 20 hours with 163 orbits. Recovery is facilitated by HS-5 helicopters from USS Essex (CVS 9).
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Today in World History October 11
1531 The Catholics defeat the Protestants at Kappel during Switzerland's second civil war.
1540 Charles V of Milan puts his son Philip in control.
1727 George II of England crowned.
1795 In graditude for putting down a rebellion in the streets of Paris, France's National Convention appoints Napoleon Bonaparte second in command of the Army of the Interior.
1862 The Confederate Congress in Richmond passes a draft law allowing anyone owning 20 or more slaves to be exempt from military service. This law confirms many southerners opinion that they are in a 'rich man's war and a poor man's fight.'
1877 Outlaw Wild Bill Longley, who killed at least a dozen men, is hanged, but it took two tries; on the first try, the rope slipped and his knees drug the ground.
1899 South African Boers, settler from the Netherlands, declare war on Great Britain.
1906 San Francisco school board orders the segregation of Oriental schoolchildren, inciting Japanese outrage.
1942 In the Battle of Cape Esperance, near the Solomon Islands, U.S. cruisers and destroyers decisively defeat a Japanese task force in a night surface encounter.
1945 Negotiations between Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek and Communist leader Mao Tse-tung break down. Nationalist and Communist troops are soon engaged in a civil war.
1950 The Federal Communications Commission authorizes the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) to begin commercial color TV broadcasts.
1962 Pope John XXIII opens the 21st Ecumenical Council (Vatican II) with a call for Christian unity. This is the largest gathering of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in history; among delegate-observers are representatives of major Protestant denominations, in itself a sign of sweeping change.
1968 Apollo 7, with three men aboard, is successfully launched from Cape Kennedy.
1972 A French mission in Vietnam is destroyed by a U.S. bombing raid.
1972 Race riot breaks out aboard carrier USS Kitty Hawk off Vietnam during Operation Linebacker.
1975 Saturday Night Live comedy-variety show premiers on NBC, with guest host comedian George Carlin and special guests Janis Ian, Andy Kaufman and Billy Preston; at this writing (2013) the show is still running.
1976 The so-called "Gang of Four," Chairman Mao Tse-tung's widow and three associates, are arrested in Peking, setting in motion an extended period of turmoil in the Chinese Communist Party.
1984 Astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan, part of the crew of Space Shuttle Challenger, becomes the first American woman to walk in space.
From yesterday
1985 Navy F-14's launch from USS Saratoga (CV 60), intercept an Egyptian 737 airliner over international waters, and direct it to Sigonella, Sicily. The airliner was carrying four Middle Eastern terrorists who hijacked the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro Oct. 7 and murdered a U.S. citizen. The hijackers are taken into custody.
Thanks to Pence……VAW-125 helped conduct the intercept of the Tomcats with the Egyptian Airliner!
1987 Operation Pawan by Indian Peace Keeping Force begins in Sri Lanka; thousands of Tamil citizens, along with hundreds of Tamil Tigers militants and Indian Army soldiers will die in the operation.
1991 Confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas begin.
2000 NASA launches its 100th Space Shuttle mission.
2001 The Polaroid Corporation, which had provided shutterbugs with photo prints in minutes with its "instant cameras" since 1947, files for bankruptcy.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
ROLLING THUNDER REMEMBERED Thanks to the Bear … Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968)…
Skip… For The List for Wednesday, 11 October 2023… Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968)…
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post for 11 October 1968… Wanna win?… "Bomb them back to the Stone Age."…
Thanks to Micro
From Vietnam Air Losses site for Wednesday October 11
October 11: https://www.vietnamairlosses.com/loss.php?id=3031
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
MOAA - Wall of Faces Now Includes Photos of All Servicemembers Killed in the Vietnam War
The site works, find anyone you knew in "search" feature.
https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/ )
Wall of Faces Now Includes Photos of All Service members Killed in the Vietnam War
By: Kipp Hanley
AUGUST 15, 2022
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNThanks to Interesting Facts
Everyone has a unique tongue print.
When detectives investigate a crime scene in any prime-time cop drama, they're often on the hunt for one thing: fingerprints. Because these intricate patterns of whorls and lines are exclusive to each individual, fingerprints have been a go-to method for tracking down suspects for more than a century. However, our fingerprints are not unique when it comes to being, well, unique. Our tongues, like our fingerprints, are also specific to each individual. That's right — people have tongue prints, which vary from one person to another due to both shape and texture. And perhaps surprisingly, the organ has been gaining some popularity as a method for biometric authentication.
Where fingerprints can be altered, eyes affected by astigmatisms or cataracts, and voices changed just by the all-too-common cold, the human tongue is relatively protected from external factors. Sticking out one's tongue for a print also involves a layer of conscious control and consent that goes beyond what's required for retinal scans or even fingerprinting, which could make it a more appealing biometric tool for some. In fact, these "lingual impressions" may be so advantageous over other forms of authentication that some researchers have started investigating the idea of a tongue print database, using high-resolution digital cameras to record every ridge, line, and contour of that muscular organ in our mouths. Although promising, this research is in its early stages — meaning that "lick to unlock" won't be an iPhone feature any time soon.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Thanks to Brett
Geopolitical Futures:
https://geopoliticalfutures.com
Daily Memo: Another Close Call for the US and Turkey in Syria
With conflicting interests, the NATO allies are bound to get in each other's way.
By: Caroline D. Rose
October 11, 2023
The U.S. and Turkish militaries experienced another close call in northeastern Syria last Thursday, when U.S. ground forces stationed at the Hasakah military base detected a Turkish unmanned aerial vehicle conducting strikes less than half a mile away. While U.S. defense officials have said American commanders made countless calls to Turkish military leaders to notify them of the U.S. presence in the area and warn against further encroachment, Turkish officials reportedly didn't pick up. The U.S. then used an F-16 fighter jet to shoot down the Turkish drone.
The NATO allies had another near clash last November, when Turkey launched airstrikes on a Kurdish base used by U.S. forces in northeastern Syria. But last week's incident was the first time the U.S. shot down an aircraft from one of its allies in the war-torn country. Washington and Ankara have indicated that the incident could have been a result of mechanical failure and miscommunication, rather than intentional targeting, and have issued statements characterizing it as a "regrettable incident." However, it indicates the continued risks of accidental escalation between U.S. and Turkish forces as they pursue different objectives in Syria.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Thanks to Dr.Rich and Cowboy for finding a URL
: GUARANTEE you'll be amazed
https://youtube.com/shorts/ajs1aaRYVxk?si=-zaSTNvryWQ7KIey
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Thanks to Brett
Stratfor - The Growing Risk of an Israel-Hezbollah Escalation
Oct 11, 2023
Israeli forces launch artillery fire toward southern Lebanon from the border zone in northern Israel on Oct. 9, 2023, while Hezbollah denied involvement in clashes or ''any infiltration attempt'' into Israel.
(JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images)
The latest clashes between Israel and Hezbollah suggest that the constraints on direct confrontation are weakening, threatening to worsen political and economic conditions in Lebanon and significantly increase security threats in both countries. While Israel prepares for an expected ground incursion into the Gaza Strip, tensions are also rising in the north along the border with Lebanon. On Oct. 10, Palestinian militants (including Hamas) fired rockets from southern Lebanon into northern Israel. Israeli military officials claim the militants fired 15 rockets and an anti-tank guided missile in the incident, adding that Israeli air defenses intercepted four of the incoming missiles, while the 11 remaining rockets landed in unpopulated areas of Israeli territory. Further incidents in northern Israel have occurred since the rocket barrage. In response to the attacks, Israeli tanks fired shells into Lebanon, destroying an observation post belonging to the large militant group Hezbollah, which has largely stayed out of the conflict so far. There were no reports of casualties in Israel or Lebanon due to the Oct. 10 cross-border exchanges, though other clashes in recent days have killed as many as nine Hezbollah fighters and three members of the Israeli military. The attacks are the latest between Israel and Lebanon-based militants since Oct. 7, when the Gaza-based militant groups Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and others launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, which included ground raids and rocket attacks into southern Israel. The militants killed 1,000 Israelis and abducted as many as 150 others.
• On Oct. 9, a number of PIJ militants operating from southern Lebanon crossed into northern Israel and clashed with Israeli forces, killing three members of the Israeli military, including a brigade commander. Meanwhile, Israeli retaliatory strikes in response to a series of clashes with Lebanon-based militants on Oct. 8-9 killed a total of nine members of Hezbollah, which controls southern Lebanon.
• In response to the continuing clashes, the United Kingdom's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office on Oct. 10 updated its travel advice for Lebanon, recommending against all but essential travel to the country as a whole, and against all travel to southern Lebanon.
• Israel deployed additional troops on Oct. 9 to secure the northern border as part of its activation of 300,000 reserve troops in preparation for ground conflict in Gaza.
The clashes on Israel's northern border occur in the broader context of heightened Israel-Hezbollah tensions stemming in part from Israel's shadow conflict with Iran. Israeli tensions with Hezbollah have been high since May 2021, when Palestinian militants in Lebanon fired rockets into Israel during the Gaza War. Since then, Hezbollah has allowed more aggressive attacks by Palestinian militant groups from Lebanese soil, with the group itself reportedly conducting an attack earlier in 2023. This is likely because Iran, Hezbollah's main sponsor, has recently focused on building the capacity of the group's militia, along with that of Palestinian militant groups, to deter Israel from attacking Iran. In recent years, Israel has been widely suspected of carrying out a number of assassinations of Iranian nuclear personnel and sabotage attacks against Iranian nuclear and missile infrastructure. In addition, the Israeli military conducts frequent airstrikes on Iran-associated targets in Syria, including airports in Damascus and Aleppo, which Israel alleges that Iran uses to smuggle weapons and equipment to Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon.
• Israel and Lebanon last fought a direct conflict in 2006, which started after Hezbollah militants launched a cross-border raid into Israel, killing eight Israeli soldiers and kidnapping two others. The approximately one-month conflict resulted in 165 Israeli deaths and over 1,300 Lebanese fatalities. During the war, Israel struck targets in and around Beirut, including the Rafik Hariri International Airport and other critical infrastructure.
• More recently, the movement of Hezbollah weapons within Lebanon has led to sectarian clashes. For example, on Aug. 9 sectarian clashes between local Christian militias and Hezbollah broke out in the northern Lebanese village of Kahaleh after a Hezbollah vehicle carrying weapons from Syria overturned. The clashes killed one villager and one Hezbollah operative.
Despite constraints on escalation, continuing clashes on the Israel-Lebanon border increase the likelihood of an Israel-Hezbollah confrontation, which would worsen the political and economic crises in Lebanon, and greatly elevate security risks on both sides of the border. International efforts are reportedly underway aimed at ensuring Hezbollah will not escalate, with the United States warning Hezbollah against making the ''wrong decision'' in attacking Israel. While Iran has voiced support for Hamas' actions from Gaza and Iran may have helped plan and approve the attacks, Iran also has vested interests in preventing escalation to a full-scale war so it can use Hezbollah to deter future Israeli attacks on Iran. Were Israel and Hezbollah to resume mass conflict, Israeli strikes would weaken Hezbollah's capabilities and limit its capacity to serve as a credible deterrent. Hezbollah for its part also is concerned that a war with Israel may weaken its power in Lebanon, and so domestic considerations are also an important constraint on action. That being said, continuing clashes, combined with Israel's impending ground offensive into Gaza, make escalation increasingly likely. The most likely escalatory path is a tit-for-tat escalatory cycle where Hezbollah and Israel increase strikes on each other amid growing casualties on both sides. Another less likely scenario is one where significant Palestinian casualties in Gaza prompt Hezbollah to escalate, as the group views itself as the vanguard of anti-Israeli resistance movements in the region and would not want to lose legitimacy by being seen as staying out of a fight. Under either pathway, Israel-Hezbollah escalation would have serious political and economic consequences for Lebanon and increase security risks in both Israel and Lebanon. An Israel-Hezbollah escalation would threaten to further undermine the tenuous political environment in Lebanon. For instance, other armed groups in Lebanon, such as Christian-based Lebanese Forces, could seize the opportunity to attack what they may see as a distracted Hezbollah, which would increase the likelihood of political deadlock in Lebanon and could also potentially trigger a sectarian conflict. Moreover, as Lebanon is currently facing a large-scale economic crisis, a Hezbollah escalation with Israel would exacerbate Lebanon's large-scale economic crisis, especially if Israeli strikes target critical infrastructure in the country. Finally, from a safety and security standpoint, a Hezbollah-Israel escalation would dramatically increase risks for businesses and travelers both in Israel — especially in cities in northern Israel, like the port of Haifa — and for Lebanon in terms of Israeli strikes. While Israeli strikes pose the highest risk to southern Lebanon, Israel has struck targets throughout the country in the past, including in and around Beirut. Israeli officials have reportedly gone so far as to warn Hezbollah leaders that the Israeli military may increase attacks on Syria, a key hub for arms shipments to Hezbollah, in the event Hezbollah enters into direct conflict with Israel, illustrating how an Israel-Hezbollah conflict could expand to encompass a third country.
• Lebanon's political class is currently deadlocked on choosing a new president and the post has been vacant since 2022. As a key political party in Lebanon, Hezbollah has veto power over the post, and a war with Israel at this stage would only further increase the deadlock.
• Lebanon is currently in the midst of a multi-year currency and economic crisis, with high exchange rates between the dollar and the Lebanese pound making the import of goods harder, and local banks facing dwindling currency reserves. The crisis would only worsen if Israel begins more aggressive strikes against Lebanon as they would likely damage critical infrastructure, possibly up to and including Beirut International Airport.
• Finally, an Israel-Hezbollah escalation would have security consequences for businesses on both sides of the border. Sustained Hezbollah strikes on northern Israel, combined with the ongoing Gaza conflict, would limit where businesses could safely operate in Israel, creating essentially an island of safety in central Israel. The attacks may also cause supply chain disruptions as the key port of Haifa in northern Israel would be among Hezbollah's likely targets for attack. Meanwhile, Israeli retaliatory strikes on Lebanon would cause significant collateral safety risks for businesses across Lebanon, including the capital Beirut.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Thanks to NHHC
75th Anniversary of World War II
1. Guadalcanal: Victory at Cape Esperance (Sort of), 11/12 October 1942
"Bakayaro!" ("dumb ass") were the last words uttered by Rear Admiral Aritomo Goto as he was mortally wounded by American shells crashing into the bridge of his flagship, the heavy cruiser Aoba, just before midnight on 11/12 October 1942. Goto believed to the end that he was being fired upon by another group of Japanese ships. So convinced was he that no American force would dare to challenge the Japanese at night after the debacle of Savo Island (9 August 1942) that he refused to believe his own lookouts, who reported American cruisers crossing his "T." His ship kept flashing her recognition lights and the signal "I am Aoba," guns trained fore and aft, loaded with shore bombardment ammunition, until it was too late. Goto had some reason for confidence. At the moment that Rear Admiral Norman Scott's cruiser-destroyer force (TF-64) opened fire, ten Allied cruisers had engaged the Japanese navy in surface combat since the start of the war and nine of them were on the bottom of the ocean, with no loss to the Japanese. In the Battle of Cape Esperance, off the northwest coast of Guadalcanal, TF-64 would put one Japanese heavy cruiser (Furutaka) and a destroyer (Fubuki) on the bottom of Ironbottom Sound, for the loss of one destroyer (USS Duncan—DD-485—48 crewmen lost) lost to both enemy and friendly fire during a heroic solo torpedo attack. The light cruiser USS Boise (CL-47) was put out of action by a hit in her 6-inch magazine, and only through the discipline and heroism of the crew (107 of whom died) and a lot of luck, did the ship not suffer a catastrophic explosion.
The battle went wrong for the U.S. forces from the moment of Scott's first command, but it went worse for the Japanese. Scott's battle plan was a model of the KISS ("keep it simple, stupid") principle; nine ships in a single column, and his first order was a column turn to port to reverse course. Every ship in the formation received and understood the order except his own flagship, the heavy cruiser USS San Francisco (CA-38), fourth in line, which executed a simultaneous turn, throwing the rest of the formation into confusion. Fortunately, the ships behind San Francisco followed the lead of the flagship instead of the admiral's order. As a result, the four U.S. cruisers and two trailing destroyers crossed the Japanese "T." Had the formation executed the order correctly, the inadvertent result would have been that the Japanese could have crossed the American "T," which probably wouldn't have done the Japanese much good given Goto's mindset. Unfortunately, the three U.S. destroyers in the lead steamed off into the darkness, and Scott spent most of the rest of the battle trying, mostly unsuccessfully, to get his ships to cease fire because he was not certain they were not firing on their own destroyers (and sometimes they were: Both USS Farenholt (DD-491)—and Duncan were hit by friendly fire, Duncan seriously). Because of uncertainty regarding the location of his own lead destroyers, Scott withheld giving the order to open fire until the opposing forces were within such close range that the junior radar officer on USS Helena (CL-50) commented, "What are we going to do, board them?"
The Japanese, however, were pummeled by numerous U.S. shells, many from what the Japanese subsequently would call the "machine-gun cruisers," Boise and Helena (CL-50), each with 15 6-inch/47-caliber guns in five triple turrets, which could put out a prodigious rate of fire (and the near-continuous gun flashes also made for good targets). The Aoba was severely mauled and nearly sunk. The second heavy cruiser in the Japanese line, the Furutaka, seeing the flagship in severe distress, valiantly maneuvered to interpose herself between Aoba and the American cruisers, and for her valor was hit over 90 times and sunk. The third (and last) Japanese heavy cruiser, the Kinugasa, took a less gallant course and turned opposite to the American course and disappeared into the darkness, whereupon she succeeded in scoring several effective hits on several U.S. ships, including the one that nearly sank the Boise, before she beat a retreat with one destroyer and the mangled Aoba.
At a cost of 163 lives and one destroyer, Scott had inflicted some degree of revenge for the defeat at Savo Island (Aoba, Furutaka, and Kinugasa had comprised three of the five Japanese heavy cruisers at Savo). The results of the battle came as an enormous shock to the Japanese, which was followed by much recrimination; Goto was probably lucky he was dead. The fact that the Japanese were so uncharacteristically taken completely by surprise caused the U.S. to learn some bad lessons about Japanese night-fighting capability, as well as the proper use of radar and tactical formations (particularly torpedo tactics), which would cost the U.S. in later battles. As one U.S. officer at the battle would later comment, Cape Esperance was a three-way battle in which chance was the major victor. Nevertheless, the victory was a huge morale booster for U.S. naval forces in the vicinity of Guadalcanal and for the Marines ashore, which would be short-lived, however. (For more on the Battle of Cape Esperance, please see attachment H-011-1.)
nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
H-011-1: Guadalcanal: Victory at Cape Esperance (Sort of), 11/12 October 1942
H-Gram 011, Attachment 1
Samuel J. Cox, Director NHHC
October 2017
Although Admiral Chester Nimitz, Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, was rightly known for his even-tempered, gentlemanly leadership style, it is less well remembered that he had nerves of steel and ice water in his veins when the situation required, and he was single-minded in his drive to engage with and defeat the enemy. Not long after the debacle at the Battle of Savo Island, as U.S. Navy forces were licking their wounds and had essentially ceded the night waters around Guadalcanal to the Japanese, Nimitz issued the following directive on 19 August 1942:
"Suitable targets present themselves only rarely to our guns, bombs and torpedoes. On those rare occasions our tactics must be such that our objective will be gunned, bombed or torpedoed to destruction. Surely we will have losses—but we will also destroy ships and be that much nearer to the successful conclusion of the war. We cannot expect to inflict heavy losses on the enemy without ourselves accepting the risk of punishment. To win this war we must come to grips with the enemy. Courage, determination and action, will see us through."
Since Sailors on ships don't get to decide when to fight, Nimitz's message was clearly directed at the Commander of U.S. Forces in the South Pacific Area, Vice Admiral Robert Ghormley; the commander of the U.S. carrier task force (CTF-61), Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher; and the commander of the U.S. amphibious force (CTF-62), Rear Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner, none of whom appeared to "get" Nimitz's intent. Although Turner sent multiple risky supply runs into Guadalcanal, Fletcher spent most of his time out of range of Japanese land-based aviation (and too far to provide regular close support to Guadalcanal), while steaming around in submarine-infested waters. To be fair to both commanders, a severe shortage of fuel oil adversely affected their operations, but after the Battle of Savo Island (and a couple of subsequent smaller night battles that went badly for the U.S. forces) Ghormley considered it too dangerous to risk U.S. surface ships in night action around Guadalcanal to interdict the frequent runs by the Japanese "Tokyo Express" bringing reinforcements and supplies by destroyer to the Japanese army forces on Guadalcanal that were attempting to dislodge the U.S. Marines. Although the Japanese army repeatedly underestimated the force levels required to eject the Marines, nevertheless the increasing numbers and supplies made it increasingly more difficult for the Marines to hold the island in the face of repeated Japanese attacks.
After what both Nimitz and CNO King viewed as a lackluster performance at the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, and after he was slightly wounded when his flagship USS Saratoga (CV-3) was torpedoed and put out of action on 31 August, Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher was promoted to Vice Admiral and then sent back to the States, where he never held combat command again. His successor as commander of the carrier task force, Rear Admiral Leigh Noyes, didn't last much longer, being relieved after USS Wasp (CV-7) was torpedoed and sunk on 15 September. Ghormley's days were numbered, too. After a major command conference held on Ghormley's flagship, USS Argonne (AG-31) at Noumea, French New Caledonia, on 28 September 1942, Nimitz's concern increased that Ghormley (a close friend) lacked the fortitude and aggressiveness needed for the job, as well as the physical stamina. Nimitz then flew to Guadalcanal (where Ghormley had not yet been) to see for himself the conditions on the ground. Nimitz clearly recognized the extreme challenges in getting sufficient supplies to the island, but also identified a long list of things that could be done—and that weren't being done—to improve the situation, which Nimitz then handed to Ghormley on his way back to Hawaii. In response to pressure from Nimitz, Ghormley issued an order on 5 October to Rear Admiral Norman Scott to take a task group of cruisers and destroyers into the approaches to Guadalcanal and interdict the next "Tokyo Express" run.
Fortuitously, Rear Admiral Scott, an aggressive commander in the mold Nimitz was looking for, had spent the previous several weeks in intensive night training, trying to make up for two previous decades in which the U.S. Navy mostly avoided such evolutions. In fact, U.S. doctrine specifically called for cruisers to avoid night fighting, and destroyers were to engage only when necessary (and withhold using their torpedoes for "high-value" units). Scott's efforts would get their test on the night of 11/12 October 1942.
The Japanese had quickly realized that any supply ships, even fast destroyer-transports, were at serious risk if they were caught during daylight by U.S. Marine and Navy aircraft flying from Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. After a couple of night attacks by U.S. aircraft, the Japanese also determined that running the missions when the moon was full was a bad idea (reaching this conclusion at the same time that Brigadier General Roy Geiger, USMC, commander of U.S. aircraft on Guadalcanal, banned further nighttime attacks as too dangerous due to several operational losses). As a result, "Tokyo Express" runs were timed to go about every three days during the dark phase of the moon.
The Japanese planned for a major coordinated army and navy offensive to retake Guadalcanal timed for mid-October. To do so, the Japanese needed to get more reinforcements and at least some heavy artillery onto the island, and to suppress air operations from Henderson Field. So, the Japanese operation on 11/12 October was much more than the typical five- to six-destroyer "Tokyo Express" run. The Japanese sent two task groups: a reinforcement group and a bombardment group. For reasons that made sense only to the Japanese, the reinforcement group went first and the bombardment followed several hours later. The reinforcement group, consisting of the seaplane tenders Nisshin and Chitose (serving as transports, with cranes to get heavy artillery off) and six destroyers carrying hundreds of troops, was sighted by U.S. scout aircraft, although the seaplane tenders were misidentified as cruisers (so Rear Admiral Scott knew he was facing more than a normal "Tokyo Express"). Their speed was miscalculated so that they arrived off Guadalcanal faster than Scott expected, and before Scott arrived to interdict. So important did the Japanese consider this group that the last six Zeros providing air cover were ordered to stay on station until after nightfall and ditch when they ran out of gas; five of the pilots perished.
The Japanese bombardment group, under the command of Rear Admiral Aritomo Goto and consisting of three heavy cruisers (flagship Aoba, Furutaka, and Kinugasa, all among the victors at the Battle of Savo Island,) and two destroyers remained undetected by U.S. scout aircraft as they passed through a gauntlet of rain showers. When the reinforcement group arrived off Guadalcanal, they reported that there were no American ships present, which reinforced Goto's false sense of security.
In the meantime, Rear Admiral Scott's cruiser-destroyer force transited up the west coast of Guadalcanal, where it was sighted by the surprised Japanese submarine I-26, which submerged rapidly before issuing a contact report; when it resurfaced to do so it was too late. Scott's force consisted of nine ships in single line-ahead formation, with destroyers USS Farenholt (DD-491), USS Duncan (DD-485), and USS Laffey (DD-459) in the lead, followed by four cruisers: the flagship heavy cruiser USS San Francisco (CA-38), light cruiser USS Boise (CL-47) , heavy cruiser USS Salt Lake City (CA-25), and light cruiser USS Helena (CL-50). Two destroyers, USS Buchanan (DD-484) and USS McCalla (DD-488), followed behind the cruisers.
Boise and Helena were each equipped with the newer SG radar (centimetric wave), which was much more accurate and less prone to false alarms than the older SC radars (metric-wave) on San Francisco and Salt Lake City (although the "older" SC radars were only a year old.) Scott had also been mistakenly informed that the Japanese had receivers that could detect the SC radar (they didn't), which would give the Japanese the edge on warning. As a result, Scott ordered the SC radars turned off so as not to give away his presence, an order that Salt Lake City either didn't get or ignored. Regardless, Scott did not have a radar picture onboard San Francisco until after the battle started. Scott had also previously ordered all four cruisers to offload all but one each of their catapult-launched scout float planes to avoid what happened at Savo Island, where burning float planes essentially divided the ships in two and served as beacons for additional Japanese fire. Scott ordered the remaining float planes to launch after dark to search for the Japanese. The plane from Salt Lake City caught fire and crashed immediately after launch, but fortunately the Japanese reinforcement group was already around the corner on the north side of Guadalcanal and did not see the flames—nor did the approaching bombardment group, which was in a rain squall. Helena didn't get the word to launch, and jettisoned her plane over the side. Boise's plane developed engine trouble and set down north of Guadalcanal, where it observed the rest of the battle from the water. At 2250, San Francisco's plane sighted the reinforcement group north of Guadalcanal and her report caused confusion because the Japanese were not expected to be there yet. The reinforcement group failed to report the presence of a scout plane to Rear Admiral Goto.
As Scott transited northward just west of the strait between Guadalcanal and Savo Island, the Japanese reinforcement group was already past him unseen to the east, while the Japanese bombardment group was approaching from the west—the direction from which Scott was expecting a Japanese force of some kind to come. The Japanese cruisers were in a line-ahead formation with Aoba in the lead, followed by Furutaka and Kinugasa, while the two destroyers screened slightly ahead on each flank. Right before Scott gave the order for his formation to conduct a column turn and reverse course to stay within the strait—and unbeknownst to him—radar on Helena and then Boise began detecting the Japanese ships approaching from the northwest. As related in the introduction, Scott's order immediately went wrong. Instead of following the lead destroyers into the column turn, flagship San Francisco immediately turned to port. Captain Edward J. "Mike" Moran on Boise, following behind San Francisco, had to make a quick decision: Either do what the admiral ordered and follow the destroyers into the column turn, or do what the flagship was doing and stay behind San Francisco into her turn. He chose the latter, as did the rest of the ships in the formation. Captain Robert Tobin, the destroyer squadron leader on Farenholt, then had to guess what he was supposed to do, so he led the three destroyers in a port turn to reverse course coming up alongside the U.S. cruisers, between them and the approaching Japanese, although Duncan spun out alone into the darkness.
San Francisco's mistake actually resulted in Scott being in position to cross Goto's "T." Had the U.S. ships correctly executed the column turn, which would have taken longer, the two forces would have approached each other on a perpendicular collision course, and Goto might even have crossed Scott's "T." Scott delayed opening fire while he tried to determine exactly where his lead destroyers were. The picture was further clouded as U.S. ships reported relative and true bearings of Japanese ships interchangeably. Goto remained convinced that the ships his lookouts were reporting ahead (initially at 11,000 yards) had to be the Japanese reinforcement group since American ships had not operated in force off Guadalcanal at night since their thrashing at Savo Island two months earlier. Goto was still not convinced even after his lookouts at 7,000 yards reported that the ships were the enemy, and he ordered his flagship Aoba to flash her recognition lights and signal her identity via flashing light. (For whatever reason, the U.S. ships did not seem to have seen this, apparently while staring at their radar scopes.)
As the two forces closed to within 4,500 yards, Captain Gilbert C. Hoover on Helena, convinced that the ships he was seeing to west were Japanese and not U.S. destroyers, requested permission to open fire. Hoover misinterpreted Scott's acknowledgment of the transmission as permission, and opened fire at 2345. Other U.S. ships followed suit. Scott then spent the next several minutes trying, unsuccessfully, to order a cease-fire. Farenholt, caught in the line of fire, received some damage from rounds impacting her masts and one in her hull that were intended for the Japanese cruisers beyond, while Laffey went to an emergency backing bell to get out of the line of fire.
Although Goto had ordered his ships to go to general quarters as a precaution, he was still caught by surprise and unprepared. His guns were still trained fore and aft, still loaded with antipersonnel bombardment rounds, when his flagship was savaged by repeated hits from the Americans. Furutaka turned to parallel in the same direction as the American course, valiantly interposing herself between the Americans and the Japanese flagship, and paid the price. Aoba would ultimately survive (with over 40 hits and 79 dead), but Furutaka would not. The Japanese destroyer on the starboard side of the Japanese formation, Fubuki, took a severe pounding and would sink too (Fubuki had been instrumental in sinking the heavy cruiser USS Houston (CA-30)—during the Battle of Sunda Strait on 1 March 1942). In a rare event by that time of the war, 111 of Fubuki's crew would be rescued by the Americans the next day and become prisoners of war.
As Aoba limped away under cover of a smoke screen, and Furutaka was smothered in U.S. shellfire (hit over 90 times, with 258 dead), the third cruiser in the Japanese line, Kinugasa, opted to turn parallel, but in the opposite direction as the American line, quickly taking her out of the close-range fight. Kinugasa then proceeded to give a demonstration of accurate Japanese nighttime shooting, and fired several torpedoes at Helena and Boise, which both ships successfully maneuvered to avoid. Kinugasa received only a few hits, much less than she inflicted. Kinugasa repeatedly straddled Boise forward, stressing her hull. Then, she hit and jammed Boise's number 1 turret and ignited a fire; as the crew of burning turret 1 attempted to abandon it, they were cut down by another hit. Another shell hit Boise below the waterline. This was a special Type 91 shell, which was specifically designed to do exactly what it did: hit short and hole the target below the waterline. In a freak combination, the hits were both devastating and saved the ship. The first hits resulted in a flash fire that incinerated the entire crews of turrets 1 and 2—over a hundred men—and threatened a magazine explosion. Only the discipline and training of Boise's crew in how they handled powder prevented an instant explosion. Captain Moran ordered the forward magazines flooded, but the men who would carry out that order were dead. However, the hole and cracks below the waterline flooded the magazine before it could detonate. Nevertheless, the fire was so great that observers on other ships assumed Boise was lost. Like Furutaka, Salt Lake City placed herself between the burning Boise and the Japanese, and took a couple hits from Kinugasa as a result.
As the battle was starting, the destroyer Duncan (second in line) had become separated from the other two leading destroyers, at which point she sighted Japanese ships, probably Kinugasa and a destroyer. Alone and lacking any orders, the skipper of Duncan, Lieutenant Commander Edmund B. Taylor, decided to conduct a solo torpedo attack. Just as Duncan was in position to launch her torpedoes, she took a devastating series of hits from both Japanese and American shells, which knocked out the gun director among other things, and one of her torpedoes actually launched into her own forward stack. With the flames forward out of control, the only means of escape from the advancing flames for the bridge crew was to jump directly into the water from the bridge. Meanwhile, the crew aft of the blaze continued to try to fight the fire, and fight the ship at the same time, guns still blazing. Eventually, however, the flames forced all the survivors into the water. The next day, the destroyer USS McCalla found the burned-out hull of Duncan still afloat, without her crew, and sent a boat with a damage-control party aboard to try to save the ship; they were driven off when it became apparent that the forward magazine was in danger of exploding. One hundred and ninety-five of Duncan's valiant crew were ultimately rescued, but 48 were lost. Lieutenant Commander Taylor would be awarded a Navy Cross. (Taylor's son, Captain Edmund R. Taylor Jr., would be killed in the same helicopter crash that took the life of Rear Admiral Rembrandt Robinson in the Gulf of Tonkin in May 1972.)
As the remains of Goto's force withdrew to the northwest, Scott initially turned to follow, but believing that they had sunk more Japanese ships than were actually involved and concerned over the fate of Boise and Duncan, he opted to withdraw to the south. (Japanese sinking claims were just as inflated.) The Japanese force received orders to turn around and attack, which they were in no condition to do, and after a brief period of advance to save face, Kinugasa turned about to retreat. The Japanese did send two destroyers to search for survivors of Furutaka, which were caught and bombed by U.S. aircraft at dawn, and one (Murakumo) was immobilized. Two more Japanese destroyers came to the rescue, and they were also bombed, sinking Natsugumo before Murakumo finally sank, too, bringing total Japanese losses in the battle to one heavy cruiser, three destroyers, and 565 men, for the loss of one U.S. destroyer and 163 American dead. The loss of a heavy cruiser in a night surface action was a profound shock to the Japanese, who had come to believe themselves to be nearly invincible at night. It was also a huge morale boost to the U.S. Navy, who had finally proved that the Japanese were not invincible at night.
Nevertheless, the Americans took away some bad lessons. Most importantly, because of the surprise, the Japanese were not able to mount an effective torpedo attack, so the U.S. remained oblivious to the real power and range of the Japanese Long Lance torpedo—and a line of nine American ships all in a column would have made a great target (especially with Boise's and Helena's near-continuous gunfire flashes acting as beacons) had the Japanese not been thrown into total chaos in the opening moments of the battle. The U.S. would use that formation again and suffer for it several times. (To be fair, though, Japanese Rear Admiral Mikawa had used a single column formation to great effect at Savo Island, because it was the most simple to control, and even he lost control of it.) Scott's choice of San Francisco as flagship (the "traditional" choice since she was the largest ship in the force), which did not have the most modern radar, would also be repeated in future battles. Nevertheless, numerous practical lessons were learned about communications, gunnery, and ship-handling necessary to fight at night. Despite the chaotic aspects of the battle, Scott was the first U.S. commander who could claim to have engaged a major Japanese surface force in battle (night or day) and won.
Meanwhile, however, the Japanese reinforcement group successfully completed its mission unmolested, putting ashore hundreds of Japanese troops, and four 15-cm (approximately 6-inch) artillery pieces, which were the first that could reach the western end of Henderson Field from Japanese lines. They opened fire the next night, presaging a far more devastating bombardment to follow.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
This Day in U S Military History
October 11
1939 – Albert Einstein wrote his famous letter to FDR about the potential of the atomic bomb. Einstein, a long time pacifist, was concerned that the Nazis would get the bomb first. In the letter, Einstein argued the scientific feasibility of atomic weapons, and urged the need for development of a US atomic program. The physicists Leo Szilard, Eugene Wigner, and Edward Teller, who were profoundly disturbed by the lack of American atomic action, had enlisted the aid of the Nobel prize-winner Einstein in the summer of 1939, hoping that a letter from such a renowned scientist would persuade Roosevelt into action.
1942 – In the World War II Battle of Cape Esperance in the Solomon Islands, U.S. cruisers and destroyers decisively defeated a Japanese task force in a night surface encounter sinking two Japanese ships while losing only USS Duncan (DD-485).
1951 – A Marine battalion was flown by transport helicopters to a frontline combat position for the first time, when HMR-161 lifted the 3d Battalion, 7th Marines, and its equipment, during Operation Bumblebee, northeast of Yanggu, Korea. This is the first battalion sized combat helolift.
1952 – Two USAF 4th Fighter-Interceptor Wing F-86 Sabre jet pilots shot down enemy aircraft. It was future ace Captain Clyde A. Curtin's first aerial victory of the war. Captain Clifford Jolley chalked up his seventh and final enemy aircraft kill. Four other MiGs were destroyed in a series of battles over northwest Korea.
1968 – Apollo 7, The first manned Apollo mission, was launched from Cape Kennedy with astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn Fulton Eisele and R. Walter Cunningham aboard. It made 163 orbits. The mission lasted 10 days and 20 hours. Recovery was by HS-5 helicopters from USS Essex (CVS-9).
1972 – A French mission in Vietnam was destroyed by a U.S. bombing raid.
2000 – The shuttle Discovery with a crew of 7 lifted off from Cape Canaveral for an 11-day mission to the International Space Station. It marked the shuttle fleet's 100th mission. STS-92 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Space Shuttle
2009 – Luis Armando Pena Soltren, a suspect wanted for the 1968 hijacking of Pan Am Flight 281, is surrendered after more than 40 years. Pan Am Flight 281 was a regularly scheduled Pan American World Airways flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was hijacked on November 24, 1968, by 4 men from JFK International Airport, New York to Havana, Cuba. US Fighter jets followed plane to Cuba. Soltren, lived as a fugitive in Cuba. He pleaded guilty to the hijacking on March 18, 2010. On January 4, 2011 he was sentenced to 15 years in prison, without the possibility of parole.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
*BLACKWELL, ROBERT L.
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Army, Company K, 119th Infantry, 30th Division. Place and date: Near St. Souplet, France, 11 October 1918. Entered service at: Hurdle Mills, N.C. Birth: Person County, N.C. G.O. No.: 13, W.D., 1919. Citation: When his platoon was almost surrounded by the enemy and his platoon commander asked for volunteers to carry a message calling for reinforcements, Pvt. Blackwell volunteered for this mission, well knowing the extreme danger connected with it. In attempting to get through the heavy shell and machinegun fire this gallant soldier was killed.
HILTON, RICHMOND H.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company M, 118th Infantry, 30th Division. Place and date: At Brancourt, France, 11 October 1918. Entered service at: Westville, S.C. Born: 8 October 1898, Westville, S.C. G.O. No.: 16, W.D., 1919. Citation: While Sgt. Hilton's company was advancing through the village of Brancourt it was held up by intense enfilading fire from a machinegun. Discovering that this fire came from a machinegun nest among shell holes at the edge of the town, Sgt. Hilton, accompanied by a few other soldiers, but well in advance of them, pressed on toward this position, firing with his rifle until his ammunition was exhausted, and then with his pistol, killing 6 of the enemy and capturing 10. In the course of this daring exploit he received a wound from a bursting shell, which resulted in the loss of his arm.
KEARBY, NEEL E. (Air Mission)
Rank and organization: Colonel, U.S. Army Air Corps. Place and date: Near Wewak, New Guinea, 11 October 1943. Entered service at: Dallas, Tex. Birth: Wichita Falls, Tex. G.O. No.: 3, 6 January 1944. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action with the enemy, Col. Kearby volunteered to lead a flight of 4 fighters to reconnoiter the strongly defended enemy base at Wewak. Having observed enemy installations and reinforcements at 4 airfields, and secured important tactical information, he saw an enemy fighter below him, made a diving attack and shot it down in flames. The small formation then sighted approximately 12 enemy bombers accompanied by 36 fighters. Although his mission had been completed, his fuel was running low, and the numerical odds were 12 to 1, he gave the signal to attack. Diving into the midst of the enemy airplanes he shot down 3 in quick succession. Observing 1 of his comrades with 2 enemy fighters in pursuit, he destroyed both enemy aircraft. The enemy broke off in large numbers to make a multiple attack on his airplane but despite his peril he made one more pass before seeking cloud protection. Coming into the clear, he called his flight together and led them to a friendly base. Col. Kearby brought down 6 enemy aircraft in this action, undertaken with superb daring after his mission was completed.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for October 11, FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
11 October
1910: Former President Theodore Roosevelt became the first President to fly in an aircraft, when he flew as a passenger with Archibald Hoxsey in a Wright biplane at St. Louis. (20) (21)
1927: While crossing the Atlantic, George Haldeman and Ruth Elder were forced to land in the ocean near a freighter. (9)
1945: The Army launched a US-made ballistic missile for the first time at White Sands Proving Ground. The Tiny Tim booster with a WAC Corporal rocket reached 43 miles in altitude. (21)
1947: The Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter, a transport variant of the B-29 Superfortress, began service in ATC. It could be configured to transport materiel, troops, or casualties. (18)
1949: Bob Woodhouse and Woody Jongeward set a new endurance record of 1,124 hours 14 minutes in an Aeronca at Yuma. (24)
1957: A Navy A3D Skywarrior set a new speed record from San Francisco to Honolulu in 4 hours 29 minutes 55 seconds. (9) A Thor missile launched from Cape Canaveral became the second to be tested successfully in the program. It exceeded the designed 1,500-mile range and landed in the Atlantic Ocean some 2,000 miles away from the Cape. (24)
1958: The USAF launched Pioneer I, a lunar probe vehicle, to 80,000 miles in height before it fell back to earth on 13 October. (24)
1961: Maj Robert White flew the X-15 to 215,000 feet at Edwards AFB. PROJECT FARM GATE. President John F. Kennedy authorized a detachment from the 4400th Combat Crew Training Squadron, later part of the 1st Air Commando Group, with 151 officers and enlisted men and eight T-28, four SC-47, and four RB-26 aircraft to deploy to South Vietnam as Project Farm Gate. The unit arrived in Vietnam on 14 November and flew its first T-28 strike mission from Bien Hoa on 26 December. The Farm Gate aircraft carried Vietnamese Air Force markings. The aircraft were used until 1 April 1964. (17)
1966: Lockheed Missiles and Space Company engineer Deke Sonnichsen claimed six world records when he flew a Quick Silver Libra II Piccard hot-air balloon to 21,250 feet. He then traveled from Tracy to Salida, Calif., and claimed altitude records in the AX-4, AX-5, AX-6, AX-7, and AX-8 categories, while setting a distance record of 20.24 miles. (9)
1968: APOLLO VII. The first manned mission in the lunar landing program launched from Kennedy Space Center Complex 34 on a Saturn IB booster. The crew, which included Maj Don F. Eisele, splashed down on 22 October after completing 163 revolutions of the earth. (16) (26)
1970: The USAF's first undergraduate helicopter pilot student entered training at Fort Wolters, Texas. The Army program was geared to train 225 Air Force pilots a year. (16) (26)
1972: In ceremonies at Littleton, Colo., Martin Marietta delivered the X-24B experimental lifting body to the USAF and NASA. 1984: MAC flew US Secret Service vehicles to Puerto Rico to protect Pope John Paul II during his visit to San Juan. (26)
1985: A 438 MAW C-141 Starlifter flew 11 American survivors from the hijacked Italian cruise ship, Achille Lauro, from Cairo, Egypt to Newark Liberty International Airport, N. J. (16) (26)
1986: Through 16 October, the Air Force flew medicine and other supplies to El Salvador's capital city after an earthquake destroyed 96 percent of its buildings. (16) (26)
1990: Rockwell pilot Ken Dyson flew the X-31A Enhanced Fighter Maneuverability demonstrator for the first time above Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale. (20)
1995: The F-111 Aardvark began flying to the aircraft graveyard at Davis Monthan AFB, Ariz., after a decision to retire all F-111s from service. (16)
1998: Operation PHOENIX DUKE. The violent repression of Albanians in Kosovo by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia threatened to spark a war between Yugoslavia and the NATO states. AMC, ANG, and AFRC airlifters and tankers moved into position under this operation. Yugoslavia averted conflict by agreeing to cease operations against the Kosovar Albanians. Most of the command's assets returned to home station in early November. (22)
2001: The KC-135 manager at Wright-Patterson's Aeronautical Systems Center asked the AFFTC at Edwards AFB to accelerate testing of the C/KC-135 Multi-Point Refueling System (MPRS) to give the tankers a probe-and-drogue capability to refuel U.S. Navy and NATO aircraft. (3)
2007: Operation ENDURING FREEDOM. Two C-17 Globemaster III crews completed one of the largest single airdrops in Afghanistan since the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom. The 817th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron from Manas AB, Kyrgyzstan, dropped more than 85,000 pounds in 62 bundles over the Paktika province in southeastern Afghanistan to provide personnel on the ground supplies to operate with through the winter. Two C-17s replaced four C-130 Hercules aircraft on the mission. (AFNEWS, "C-17 Crews Make Record Airdrop," 16 Oct 2007.)
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "SkipsList" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to skipslist+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/skipslist/CACTjsm2pkn%3DfFJOFKAvDVB2y18r4%2Bm0qGbu5QVQg_c%2BXks84hw%40mail.gmail.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.