Good Monday Morning January 1,2024
To All,
.My wife and I had an interesting New Years evening. About 6 PM she had a bad fall in the house and we had not even been drinking. With help I finally got her into the car and off to the ER. The first one was closed --early I might add. The second one had a line of ambulances waiting to unload and I got her in and joined a number of our new friends waiting. Her left shoulder and leg took a hit when she fell and her head went into the side of the cabinet. After a while a long while a nurse came by and took her into get some X-Rays and then we had to wait for a doctor to read them and see what needed to be done. After her time with the doctor She came out trussed up like a Christmas goose. Apparently she had cracked her ball joint in her shoulder and a few other things. We did make it out before midnight and she had to sleep in a lounge chair last night that she could manipulate. The sun is not up yet and I am waiting to be summoned. It could have been a lot worse but we have to go to the doctor this week as soon as we can get in. To get another opinion and more tests. Happy New Year. No more rain until Wednesday.
Regards,
Skip
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This day in Naval and Marine Corps History (thanks to NHHC)
Here is a link to the NHHC website: https://www.history.navy.mil/
This day in Naval and Marine Corps History
January. 1
1819—Smith Thompson takes office as the sixth Secretary of the Navy, serving until Aug. 31, 1823.
1943—USS Nautilus (SS 168) evacuated 29 civilians from Teop Island, Solomons. Also on this date, USS Porpoise (SS 172) attacked a Japanese convoy and sank the freighter Renzan Maru off northeastern coast of Honshu, Japan.
1944—PBY aircraft sink Japanese cargo ship Kanaiyama Maru near Lorengau, Admiralities.
1944—USS Ray (SS 271) sinks a Japanese gunboat at the mouth of Ambon Bay, while USS Puffer (SS 268) attacks a Japanese convoy at the western entrance of the Mindanao Sea, sinking an army cargo ship. On the same day USS Herring (SS 233) attacks a Japanese convoy, sinking an aircraft transport ship 220 miles off Tokyo Bay.
1950 - Mary T. Sproul commissioned as first female doctor in Navy
1959—The U.S. Naval Observatory introduces a system of uniform atomic time using cesium beam atomic oscillators. This measurement is adopted as standard by the International Committee on Weights and Measures.
1962—Navy SEAL teams are established with Teams One and Two formed with personnel from Underwater Demolition Teams.
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This day in World History
January 1
1500 The Portuguese explorer Pedro Alvares Cabral reaches the coast of Brazil and claims the region for Portugal.
1586 Sir Francis Drake launches a surprise attack on the heavily fortified city of Santo Domingo in Hispanola.
1698 The Abenaki Indians and Massachusetts colonists sign a treaty halting hostilities between the two.
1766 The Old Pretender, son of James III, dies.
1788 The Times, London's oldest running newspaper, publishes its first edition.
1808 A U.S. law banning the import of slaves comes into effect, but is widely ignored.
1824 The Camp Street Theatre opens as the first English-language playhouse in New Orleans.
1830 William Lloyd Garrison publishes the first edition of a journal entitled The Liberator, calling for the complete and immediate emancipation of all slaves in the United States.
1863 Confederate General Braxton Bragg and Union General William Rosecrans readjust their troops as the Battle of Murfreesboro continues.
1863 President Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the slaves in the Confederacy.
1891 Facilities opened on Ellis Island, New York, to cope with the vast flood of immigrants coming into the United States.
1907 The Pure Food and Drug Act becomes law in the United States.
1915 The German submarine U-24 sinks the British battleship Formidable in the English Channel.
1918 The first gasoline pipeline begins operation. Along the 40 miles and three inches of pipe from Salt Creek to Casper, Wyoming.
1923 Sadi Lecointe sets a new aviation speed record flying an average of 208 mph at Istres.
1937 At a party at the Hormel Mansion in Minnesota, a guest wins $100 for naming a new canned meat--Spam.
1945 In Operation Bodenplatte, German planes attack American forward air bases in Europe. This is the last major offensive of the Luftwaffe.
1959 Fidel Castro seizes power in Cuba as General Fulgencio Batista flees.
1986 As the United States builds its strength in the Mediterranean, Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi threatens to retaliate if attacked.
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OPERATION COMMANDO HUNT Thanks to the Bear
MERRY CHRISTMAS
Skip… For The List for Monday, 25 December 2023 through Sunday, 7 January 2024… Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION COMMANDO HUNT I (1968-1972)… Weeks 7 & 8…
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post for December 1968…
Christmas Season 1968: historic events, painful losses and heroic sacrifice…
Thanks to Micro
To remind folks that these are from the Vietnam Air Losses site that Micro put together. You click on the url below and get what happened each day to the crew of the aircraft. ……Skip
I hope that you all appreciate the work that Micro puts in to locate these each day. I read each one of them each day and the work he has put into expanding them from the original is extensive and he keeps it going with updates on the locations and history from folks who read them and can add their knowledge of what happened because they were there.
From Vietnam Air Losses site for "Monday 1 January
January 1: https://www.vietnamairlosses.com/loss.php?id=1525
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.
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
(This site was sent by a friend last week and I forgot to forward. The site works, find anyone you knew in "search" feature. https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/ )
Wall of Faces Now Includes Photos of All Service members Killed in the Vietnam War
By: Kipp Hanley
AUGUST 15, 2022
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Thanks to Al
Monday Morning Humor--New Year's Day
When I am very busy, but still want to keep in touch, guess what I do? I send jokes.
When I have nothing to say, but still want to keep contact, I send jokes.
When I have something to say, but don't know what, and don't know how...I send jokes.
My jokes let you know that you are still remembered, you are still important, you are still loved, you are still cared for.
So, the next time you get a joke from me, don't think that you've been sent just another forwarded joke, but that you've been thought of today and that I, on the other end of your computer, wanted to send you a smile.
With that said, if you do not want to receive Monday Morning Humor e-mails, just let me know and I will take care of it.
Your friend, Al
New Year's reflections--
Looking back on the months gone by,
As a new year starts and an old one ends,
I contemplate what brought me joy,
And I think of my loved ones and my friends.
Recalling all the happy times,
Remembering how they enriched our lives,
I reflect upon who really counts,
As the fresh and bright new year arrives.
And when I ponder those who do,
I immediately think of you.
Thanks for being one of the reasons why I had a good year, and hope we all have a better, happier and healthier 2024
Submitted by Allen Atkins:
Last night at 11:58, I raised my left leg and kept it up for three minutes.
That way I was guaranteed to be starting the New Year on the RIGHT FOOT!
My goal for 2023 was to lose 10 pounds. Only have 14 to go.
As you think about New Year's resolutions, I am pass this on to you because it definitely works, and we could all use a little more calmness in our lives.
By following simple advice heard on the Dr. Phil show, you too can find inner peace. Dr Phil proclaimed, "The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started and have never finished."
So, I looked around my house to see all the things I started and hadn't finished, and before leaving the house this morning, I finished off a bottle of Merlot, a bottle of White Zinfandel, a bottle of Bailey's Irish Cream, a bottle of Kahula, a package of Oreos, the remainder of my old Prozac prescription, the rest of the cheesecake, some Doritos and a box of chocolates. You have no idea how great I feel.
Please pass this on to those whom you think might be in need of inner peace.
I just got off the phone with a friend living in northern Montana near the Canadian border. He said that since early this morning the snow has been nearly waist high and is still falling. The temperature is dropping way below zero and the north wind is increasing to near gale force.
His wife has done nothing but look through the kitchen window and just stare.
He says that if it gets much worse, he may have to spoil her and let her in.
For Christmas this year my wife purchased me a week of private lessons at the local health club. Though still in great shape from when I was on the varsity chess team in high school, I decided it was a good idea to go ahead and try it. I called and made reservations with someone named Tanya, who said she is a 26-year-old aerobics instructor and athletic clothing model. My wife seemed very pleased with how enthusiastic I was to get started.
• Day 1.--They suggest I keep this "exercise diary" to chart my progress this week. Started the morning at 6:00 AM. Tough to get up, but worth it when I arrived at the health club and Tanya was waiting for me. She's something of a goddess, with blond hair and a dazzling white smile. She showed me the machines and took my pulse after five minutes on the treadmill. She seemed a little alarmed that it was so high, but I think just standing next to her in that outfit of hers added ten points. Enjoyed watching the aerobics class. Tanya was very encouraging as I did my sit ups, though my gut was already aching a little from holding it in the whole time I was talking to her. This is going to be GREAT!
• Day 2.--Took a whole pot of coffee to get me out the door, but I made it. Tanya had me lie on my back and push this heavy iron bar up into the air. Then she put weights on it, for heaven's sake! Legs were a little wobbly on the treadmill, but I made it the full mile. Her smile made it all worth it. Muscles feel GREAT!!
• Day 3.--The only way I can brush my teeth is by laying the tooth brush on the counter and moving my mouth back and forth over it. I am certain that I have developed a hernia in both pectorals. Driving was okay as long as I didn't try to steer. I parked on top of a Volkswagen. Tanya was a little impatient with me and said my screaming was bothering the other club members. The treadmill hurt my chest so I did the stair monster. Why would anyone invent a machine to simulate an activity rendered obsolete by the invention of elevators? Tanya told me regular exercise would make me live longer. I can't imagine anything worse.
• Day 4.--Tanya was waiting for me with her vampire teeth in a full snarl. I can't help it if I was half an hour late, it took me that long just to tie my shoes. She wanted me to lift dumbbells. Not a chance, Tanya. The word "dumb" must be in there for a reason. I hid in the men's room until she sent Lars looking for me. As punishment she made me try the rowing machine. It sank.
• Day 5.--I hate Tanya more than any human being has ever hated any other human being in the history of the world. If there were any part of my body not in extreme pain I would hit her with it. She thought it would be a good idea to work on my triceps. Well, I have news for you Tanya, I don't have triceps. And if you don't want dents in the floor don't hand me any barbells. I refuse to accept responsibility for the damage, YOU went to sadist school, YOU are to blame. The treadmill flung me back into a science teacher, which hurt like crazy. Why couldn't it have been someone softer, like a music teacher, or social studies?
• Day 6.--Got Tanya's message on my answering machine, wondering where I am. I lacked the strength to use the TV remote so I watched eleven straight hours of the weather channel.
• Day 7.--Well, that's the week. Thank goodness that's over. Maybe next time my wife will give me something a little more fun, like a free upper-colon exam or gum surgery.
Helga's diary…
• Dear Diary - Day 1: All packed for the cruise which I got for Christmas--all my nicest dresses, swimsuits, short sets. Really, really exciting. Our local Red Hat chapter—the Late Bloomers decided on this "all-girls" trip. It will be my first one—and I can't wait!
• Dear Diary - Day 2: Entire day at sea, beautiful. Saw whales and dolphins. Met the Captain today--seems like a very nice man.
• Dear Diary - Day 3: At the pool today. Did some shuffleboard, hit golf balls off the deck. Captain invited me to join him at his table for dinner. Felt honored and had a wonderful time. He is very attractive and attentive.
• Dear Diary - Day 4: Won $800.00 in the ship's casino. Captain asked me to have dinner with him in his private cabin. Had a scrumptious meal complete with caviar and champagne. He asked me to stay the night, but I declined. Told him I could not be unfaithful to my husband.
• Dear Diary - Day 5: Pool again today. Got sunburned, and I went inside to drink at piano-bar, stayed there for rest of day. Captain saw me, bought me several large drinks. Really is quite charming. Again asked me to visit his cabin for the night. Again I declined. He told me, if I did not let him have his way with me, he would sink the ship... I was shocked.
• Dear Diary - Day 6: Today I saved 2600 lives. Twice.
Things I learned last night…
There are difficult words to say when you are drunk, like…
• Specificity
• Indubitably
• Innovative
• Preliminary
• Proliferation
• Cinnamon
• British Constitution
There are impossible words to say when you are drunk, like
• Thanks, but I don't want to go home with you.
• No, I don't want another drink.
• No kebab for me, thank you.
• Sorry, but you're not good looking enough for me.
• Good evening officer
• I'm not interested in fighting you.
• No one wants to hear me sing.
Here's wishing you a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2024 and beyond,
Al
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Thanks to Craig ...and Dr. Rich
Legacy Tails: Learjet 35A—Hold the Coffee
by Mark Huber
- November 1, 2022, 8:33 AM
When Bill Lear created the Learjet in the early 1960s, he envisioned a small, fast, and simple airplane—a concept the marketplace embraced. His 20-series and the slightly elongated 30-series¬ aircraft that followed sold briskly for more than 20 years, until long after he had left the company. Riding in the back of a Learjet once meant trips to the chiropractor and exercising bladder control, but it also meant the ultimate in aviation cool: speed.
Bill Lear first came to the idea of the Learjet while living in Switzerland in the late 1950s. He subsequently set up shop in Wichita, where he took big risks during the development of the Model 23, such as skipping construction of a production prototype on soft tooling. He fed his perpetually struggling company with investor money and earnings from the stereo eight-track tape player he had developed for automobiles.
For some pilots, the airplane was too hot to handle. "The takeoff and landing speeds were like [those of] fighters," said the late aerodynamicist James Raisbeck, who founded a company that develops Learjet modifications. "The stall speed was 120 knots and when it stalled [the airplane] would roll suddenly." Several design changes tamed some of these tendencies in the follow-on Models 24 and 25, but 20-series Lears retain a deserved reputation for demanding much of their pilots.
Lear sold his 60 percent share of Learjet in 1967 for $27 million to the Gates Rubber Company. Under Gates, Learjet would launch one of its most popular models, the 35, with production of 738 aircraft between 1973 and 1994. The 35 and the more ubiquitous and powerful 35A were basically model 25s with a slightly longer fuselage, bigger wings, and more powerful, fuel-efficient, and quieter Honeywell TFE731-2-2B engines (3,500 pounds of thrust, each).
The aircraft requires a two-pilot crew and offers seating for up to eight passengers—although any more than six is decidedly uncomfortable. This is an airplane built for speed. The cabin measures a tight 12.9 feet long by 4.9 feet wide by 4.3 feet tall and volume is just 268 cu ft. The baggage "compartment" is something of an afterthought: a mere 40 cu ft of space you access by folding down the rear bench seat in the cabin. The good news is that you can access this in flight. The bad news is that, if those seats are occupied, someone has to move for you to do it. The aircraft's available three-foot-wide cabin door and 9.4 psi cabin pressure differential, which allows the aircraft to maintain sea-level cabin altitude up to 25,700 feet, have made it a historical favorite with air ambulance providers.
The 35A can fly at speeds up to 464 knots, has a brisk climb rate of 3,500 fpm, a maximum altitude of 45,000 feet, and a maximum range of 2,400 nm. Under standard temperature and altitude conditions, the aircraft can easily use runways shorter than 5,000 feet. But bring your gas card. The aircraft burns up to 200 gallons per hour at cruise power and has a fuel capacity of 931 U.S. gallons. By way of comparison, a similar aircraft of the era, a Cessna Citation V, burns 182 gallons an hour at cruise but is more than 30 knots slower.
Numerous modification kits were fitted to the Learjet 35 series from both the factory and third-party providers that can increase gross weight, improve engine performance, range, and handling, reduce approach speeds and runway requirements, and add baggage capacity via wing lockers. Two key providers of these mods are Raisbeck and Avcon. About 30 percent of the in-service fleet has been modified with kits from one or both of these providers. Similarly, a variety of instrument panel modernizations are available. However, the aircraft's low hull value makes it difficult to economically justify overinvesting in upgrades beyond those that are mandated by regulation such as ADS-B Out. You would be hard-pressed to find an aircraft retrofitted for Wi-Fi.
More than 400 Learjet 35s are still in service. In the U.S., Michigan-based Royal Air Freight/Royal Air Charter operates one of the largest civil fleets while the U.S. Air Force still flies 18 for officer/executive transport with the designation C-21A. Used examples can be obtained for as little as $400,000, with updated aircraft in prime condition fetching near $1 million.
My first introduction to the Learjet 35 came while employed with an aircraft seating company in the form of an engineering drawing with an accompanying photograph. The drawing was of a single, side-facing seat placed opposite the aircraft entry door. Lifting up the seat cushion revealed a commode seat atop a too-small stainless steel bowl that can be filled with blue-water disinfectant.
This, I was told, was the toilet.
Thus, there is no lav in this airplane, per se. Rather a little "privacy" curtain in the front of the aircraft can be undone. If you are shy, this is not the airplane for you. And sometimes, there is no lav at all, according to John Yegerlehner, president of Spectra Jet in Springfield, Ohio, a company expert in the maintenance of the make and model. Yegerlehner has worked on 35s since 1988, beginning with the Air Force's fleet, which once numbered into the 80s.
"Ninety percent of our 35 customers disable the toilet," said Yegerlehner. "They keep it dry so they don't have to worry about corrosion or servicing it [after use]. The longest trips in the airplane are three to four hours and most people can hold it that long, or, if it's a charter they will do shorter legs, land, and let people get out. It is such a pain to keep those things in working order."
Despite the restroom indignities, the 35 is an appealing aircraft for the right buyer, typically a Part 91 operator who flies 200 hours or less per year. Honeywell continues to support the engine, many of which are enrolled in its MSP Gold hourly service program. Yegerlehner said, despite the aircraft's age and cabin limitations, values of some aircraft are increasing. "I had a customer who bought one five years ago for $450,000. He sold it last year for $750,000. Getting one in any condition is pretty much worth getting."
However, like any other legacy aircraft, the 35/35A has some rather specific maintenance issues related to scarcity and the idiosyncrasies of its original manufacture. Yegerlehner notes that the aircraft was in a state of almost constant evolution during its production run and few aircraft are exactly alike. And big-ticket maintenance items including the thrust reversers, tip-tank boots, and landing gear can present some sourcing challenges as Bombardier no longer supports the aircraft save for engineering.
The Aeronca engine thrust reversers need to be inspected every 1,400 hours and reassembled with new bushings and bearings. Any other defective components on the reversers discovered during the inspection need to be replaced and sometimes those can be hard to come by. The tip tank boots need to come off at the 12-year inspection and the rubber boots that are part of the connection from those tanks to the main wet wings need to be replaced as part of that process. Finding landing gear and replacement parts for it can also be a bit of an adventure, with major inspections on these components beginning at 6,000 landings. Yegerlehner's firm has also discovered delaminated honeycomb floor boards during 12,000-hour inspections, when the wings and horizontal stabilizer must come off and be X-rayed. The floorboards needed replacement, an event he characterizes as "a pretty big deal." A number of 35As currently on the market are coming up on the 12,000-hour mark and those inspections, along with the required replacement parts, can easily top $100,000.
Parts support for classic Learjets, series 20-50, is provided by Global Parts in Augusta, Kansas. "They still have quite a bit of stock on a lot of things," Yegerlehner said. Other parts can be obtained from various salvage yards in Kansas and Oklahoma, he said.
Despite its age, Yegerlehner thinks the Learjet 35A is a good, reliable airplane. Royal Air still runs some of its 1970s vintage 35As up to six hours a day. "They have their normal failures like any other airplane, but on the whole, they are quite mission capable," said Yegerlehner.
But skip the coffee….
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Historical Facts
The ancient Roman calendar started the year in March.
WORLD HISTORY
Today's modern calendar comes with a lot of quirks, not least of which are the names of the last four months. Although September, October, November, and December seemingly begin with numeral prefixes, the numbers don't match their place in the calendar. October, for example, is not the eighth month of the year, but the 10th. So what's going on here? Well, blame the Romans.
Ancient Rome's original calendar, which according to myth was created by the city's legendary founder Romulus in the eighth century BCE, contained only 10 months. The year lasted 304 days, beginning in March (named for the Roman god Mars) and ending in December, the 10th month (marking the annual harvest). But because this calendar woefully underestimated the true length of a year, it was replaced with a new calendar by the Roman king Numa Pompilius around 713 BCE. The new calendar put the year at 355 days long, divided into 12 months, based on the cycles of the moon. It added the month of January to the start of the year and tacked on February at the end, though the latter eventually moved to its current position between January and March. This change threw the numerically named months (which at that point also included Quintilis and Sextilis) out of whack. Strangely, no one seemed to mind, and this quirk of the calendar has been with us ever since.
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Today's Interesting Fact
Do you see a man on the moon?
Some cultures see a frog (or a rabbit) on the moon.
Ever since early humans first stared at the night sky, the moon has played a starring role in stories and folklore. Personified by gods and goddesses such as the Greek Selene, Roman Luna, Chinese Chang'e, and Hindu Chandra, the moon takes various shapes depending on who's doing the looking. Many Western cultures see a man's face in the moon, with his misshapen eyes, nose, and mouth formed from the dark lunar "seas" — actually vast hardened lava plains — on the moon's near side. Others see a whole male figure, with stories from Germany and elsewhere telling of a man banished to the moon for chopping wood on the Sabbath.
Some cultures don't see a man at all, but instead a woman, like the New Zealand Maori legend of Rona, the moon's maiden. In Angola, a tale tells of a frog in the moon. In a Chinese tale, the goddess Chang'e flees to the moon, where she is turned into a toad; according to the myth, she and her rabbit, Yutu, can be seen on the moon's surface creating the elixir of immortality with a mortar and pestle. Many of these tales are thousands of years old, but some remain alive and well to this day. In 2019, China landed the world's first spacecraft and lunar rover on the far side of the moon; their names were Chang'e-4 and Yutu-2.
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1 January
This Day in U S Military History
1735 – Paul Revere was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He attended North Grammar School. He served for a short time in the French and Indian War. After the war, he married Sarah Orne and entered his father's silversmith business. Paul Revere soon became interested in the issue of American liberty. He received lots of attention from political cartoons he drew. Paul Revere was a member of the "Sons of Liberty." On December 16, 1773, he took part in the Boston Tea Party. On April 18, 1775, Revere and William Dawes were sent to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock of British plans to march from Boston to seize military stores at Concord. A signal was established to warn if the British were coming by land or by sea. From the steeple of the Old North Church in Boston, two lanterns would mean the British were coming by sea, and one would mean by land. One lantern was lit. The British were coming by land. Revere left Boston around 10 PM. Along the road to Lexington, he warned residents that "the British are coming!" He arrived in Lexington around midnight riding a borrowed horse. At 1 AM, Revere, William Dawes, and Dr. Samuel Prescott left for Concord. Revere was captured. Only Prescott got through to Concord. Revere was released without his horse and returned to Lexington. At Lexington he joined Adams and Hancock and fled into safety in Burlington. Revere returned to rescue valuable papers in Hancock's trunk. When the British arrived on April 19, the minutemen were waiting for them. In 1778 and 1779, Revere commanded a garrison at Castle Williams in Boston Harbor. Revere left the service in disrepute. During and after the war, Revere continued his silversmith trade in Boston. He died on May 10, 1818
1945 – In Operation Bodenplatte, The German Luftwaffe makes a series of heavy attacks on Allied airfields in Belgium, Holland and northern France. They have assembled around 800 planes of all types for this effort by deploying every available machine and pilot. Many of the pilots have had so little training that they must fly special formations with an experienced pilot in the lead providing the navigation for the whole force. The Allies are surprised and lose many aircraft on the ground. Among the German aircraft losses for the day are a considerable number of planes shot down by German anti-aircraft fire. Allied losses amount to 300 planes opposed to about 200 German aircraft shot down. Meanwhile, the land battle in the Ardennes continues with the Allied counterattacks gathering force. The most notable gains are by the US 8th Corps. Farther south in Alsace the forces of German Army Group G begins an offensive in the Sarreguemines area (Operation Nordwind) towards Strasbourg. The US 7th Army retires before this attack on orders from Eisenhower.
1983 – The ARPANET officially changes to using the Internet Protocol, creating the Internet.
1985 – The Internet's Domain Name System (DNS) is created. DNS is a hierarchical distributed naming system for computers, services, or any resource connected to the Internet or a private network. It associates various information with domain names assigned to each of the participating entities. Most prominently, it translates easily memorized domain names to the numerical IP addresses needed for the purpose of locating computer services and devices worldwide. The Domain Name System is an essential component of the functionality of the Internet.
2000 – The arrival of 2000 saw no terrorist attacks, Y2K meltdowns or mass suicides among doomsday cults, but instead saw seven continents stepping joyously and peacefully into the New Year.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
KERR, JOHN B.
Rank and organization: Captain, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At White River, S. Dak., 1 January 1891. Entered service at: Hutchison Station, Ky. Birth: Fayette County, Ky. Date of issue: 25 April 1891. Citation: For distinguished bravery while in command of his troop in action against hostile Sioux Indians on the north bank of the White River, near the mouth of Little Grass Creek, S. Dak., where he defeated a force of 300 Brule Sioux warriors, and turned the Sioux tribe, which was endeavoring to enter the Bad Lands, back into the Pine Ridge Agency.
KNIGHT, JOSEPH F.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Troop F, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At White River, S. Dak., 1 January 1891. Entered service at: – – – . Birth: Danville, 111. Date of issue: 1 May 1891. Citation: Led the advance in a spirited movement to the assistance of Troop K, 6th U.S. Cavalry.
MYERS, FRED
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company K, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At White River, S. Dak., 1 January 1891. Entered service at: Washington, D.C. Birth: Germany. Date of issue: 4 February 1891. Citation: With 5 men repelled a superior force of the enemy and held his position against their repeated efforts to recapture it.
SMITH, CORNELIUS C.
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company K, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: Near White River, S. Dak., 1 January 1891. Entered service at: Helena, Mont. Birth: Tucson, Ariz. Date of issue: 4 February 1891. Citation: With 4 men of his troop drove off a superior force of the enemy and held his position against their repeated efforts to recapture it, and subsequently pursued them a great distance.
MacGlLLlVARY, CHARLES A.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company I, 71st Infantry, 44th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Woelfling, France, 1 January 1945. Entered service at: Boston, Mass. Birth: Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. G.O. No.: 77, 10 September 1945. Citation: He led a squad when his unit moved forward in darkness to meet the threat of a breakthrough by elements of the 17th German Panzer Grenadier Division. Assigned to protect the left flank, he discovered hostile troops digging in. As he reported this information, several German machineguns opened fire, stopping the American advance. Knowing the position of the enemy, Sgt. MacGillivary volunteered to knock out 1 of the guns while another company closed in from the right to assault the remaining strong points. He circled from the left through woods and snow, carefully worked his way to the emplacement and shot the 2 camouflaged gunners at a range of 3 feet as other enemy forces withdrew. Early in the afternoon of the same day, Sgt. MacGillivary was dispatched on reconnaissance and found that Company I was being opposed by about 6 machineguns reinforcing a company of fanatically fighting Germans. His unit began an attack but was pinned down by furious automatic and small arms fire. With a clear idea of where the enemy guns were placed, he voluntarily embarked on a lone combat patrol. Skillfully taking advantage of all available cover, he stalked the enemy, reached a hostile machinegun and blasted its crew with a grenade. He picked up a submachine gun from the battlefield and pressed on to within 10 yards of another machinegun, where the enemy crew discovered him and feverishly tried to swing their weapon into line to cut him down. He charged ahead, jumped into the midst of the Germans and killed them with several bursts. Without hesitation, he moved on to still another machinegun, creeping, crawling, and rushing from tree to tree, until close enough to toss a grenade into the emplacement and close with its defenders. He dispatched this crew also, but was himself seriously wounded. Through his indomitable fighting spirit, great initiative, and utter disregard for personal safety in the face of powerful enemy resistance, Sgt. MacGillivary destroyed four hostile machineguns and immeasurably helped his company to continue on its mission with minimum casualties.
*YANO, RODNEY J. T.
Rank and organization: Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army, Air Cavalry Troop, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. Place and date: Near Bien Hao, Republic of Vietnam, 1 January 1969. Entered service at: Honolulu, Hawaii. Born: 13 December 1943, Kealakekua Kona, Hawaii. Citation: Sfc. Yano distinguished himself while serving with the Air Cavalry Troop. Sfc. Yano was performing the duties of crew chief aboard the troop's command and control helicopter during action against enemy forces entrenched in dense jungle. From an exposed position in the face of intense small arms and antiaircraft fire he delivered suppressive fire upon the enemy forces and marked their positions with smoke and white phosphorous grenades, thus enabling his troop commander to direct accurate and effective artillery fire against the hostile emplacements. A grenade, exploding prematurely, covered him with burning phosphorous, and left him severely wounded. Flaming fragments within the helicopter caused supplies and ammunition to detonate. Dense white smoke filled the aircraft, obscuring the pilot's vision and causing him to lose control. Although having the use of only 1 arm and being partially blinded by the initial explosion, Sfc. Yano completely disregarded his welfare and began hurling blazing ammunition from the helicopter. In so doing he inflicted additional wounds upon himself, yet he persisted until the danger was past. Sfc. Yano's indomitable courage and profound concern for his comrades averted loss of life and additional injury to the rest of the crew. By his conspicuous gallantry at the cost of his life, in the highest traditions of the military service, Sfc. Yano has reflected great credit on himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for 1 January, FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
1 January
1914: Tony Jannus, flying a Benoist Flying Boat, started America's first regularly scheduled airline service with a flight between Tampa and St. Petersburg, Fla. This service lasted three months with two round trips a day. (5) (21)
1929: KEY EVENT--THE QUESTION MARK. Through 7 January, to test inflight refueling and crew and aircraft endurance, Maj Carl A. Spaatz flew the Question Mark, a modified Fokker C2-3 with a Wright 220 HP engine, to a world duration record of 150 hours and 40 minutes. The Question Mark-named for its unknown capacity to remain airborne-was an US Army Air Corps high-wing, trimotor monoplane with a large capacity fuel tank in the cabin, a large hopper in the cabin for receiving fuel, and lines and hand-operated pumps to transfer fuel to the wing tanks. The two modified Douglas C1 biplane tankers each had two 150-gallon cabin tanks and a 40-foot fueling hose. Flying between Santa Monica and San Diego in California, the tankers refueled the Question Mark 43 times, which allowed it to remain aloft until engine problems forced a landing. During the refueling, the tankers also passed 5,700 gallons of fuel plus oil, food, water, and other items (roughly 40 tons) to the Question Mark. All officers on the mission--Carl Spaatz, Ira Eaker, Harry Halverson, and Pete Quesada--became generals, as did two officers on the refueling aircraft: Ross G. Hoyt and Joseph G. Hopkins. MSgt Roy Hooe, the fifth crewman on the Question Mark, earned a reputation as the best crew chief in the Air Corps. The crewmembers of the Question Mark were each awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) for the mission, while the refuelers received letters of commendation. (18)
1943: Ground Controlled Approach (GCA) equipment used in an emergency for the first time, when a snowstorm closed down Naval Air Station (NAS) Quonset Point Airfield, R. I., 30 minutes before a flight of PBY's were to arrive. The GCA crew used search radar and the control tower as a relay to talk one PBY into position for a contact landing. Nine days earlier, the GCA had completed its first experimental demonstration. (5)
1944: Project ORDCIT. Cal Tech's Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory began work on long range missiles. This project later produced the Army's Private A and Corporal missiles. (6)
1945: Operation HERMANN. 700-800 German fighters surprised Ninth Air Force and 2d Tactical Air Force (RAF) airfields in Belgium and northern France. They destroyed 30 American and 120 RAF planes, but lost 200 planes in the attack. (4) BOMBING IWO JIMA. Through 19 February, Seventh Air Force bombers continued its attacks on Iwo Jima in preparation for amphibious landings. The aircraft destroyed buildings and planes and blasted holes in the runways of the island's airfields, but did not affect the 22,000 deeply entrenched troops of Maj Gen Tadamichi Kuribayashi. (17)
1951: KOREAN WAR. When nearly 500,000 Chinese Communist and N. Korean troops launched a new ground offensive, Fifth Air Force responded with an air raid on enemy columns. (28)
1954: At Jacksonville, Fla., the U. S. Navy set up the Air Weapon Systems School. (24)
1958: The USAF moved the 1st Missile Division and the 704th Strategic Missile Wing to Cooke AFB (Vandenberg), Calif. The 704th was the Strategic Air Command's first ballistic missile wing. The 672d Strategic Missile Squadron also activated there with Thor intermediate range ballistic missiles. (6)
1962: First Titan II units, the 390th Strategic Missile Wing and 570th Strategic Missile Squadron, were activated at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz. (6) (12) The Strategic Air Command activated the first model "B" Minuteman I wing, the 44th Strategic Missile Wing, at Ellsworth AFB, S. Dak. (6)
1965: Operation of Synchronus Communications Satellite (SYNCOM) II and SYNCOM III transferred from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to the Department of Defense. The Department of Defense furnished the communications ground stations used to relay transmissions via the two SYNCOMS for the past two years. SYNCOM III later proved useful in providing communications for Vietnam. (5) The USAF activated the 4200th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale AFB, Calif., to fly the SR-71. (16) (26)
1966: Air National Guard airlift units started flying about 75 cargo flights a month to Southeast Asia. Additionally, the guard flew about 100-plus flights a month to augment the Military Airlift Command's global airlift mission. (16) (26) At Tullahoma, Tenn., the Arnold Engineering Development Center established a large rocket facility to operate high-altitude test cells. (16) (26)
1967: The USAF received 140 CV-2 Caribou aircraft from the US Army. This event marked the first time that an entire inventory of an aircraft transferred from one service to another. The aircraft went to Seventh Air Force, which gave the NAF operational control over all fixed wing cargo aircraft in Vietnam. (5) (16) (17)
1969: The 71st Special Operations Squadron, Air Force Reserves, flew the first AC-119 gunship combat mission in Vietnam. (16)
1973: At Pease AFB, N. H., the 509th Bombardment Wing became the first FB-111 unit to use operational Short-Range Attack Missiles. (6)
1983: The US Mission Control Center, International Search and Rescue Satellite System, collocated with the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center at Scott AFB, Ill., began 24-hour test operations. Thereafter, mission control recorded worldwide satellite data from emergency electronic transmissions. (2)
1984: The Military Airlift Command assigned its 375th Aeromedical Airlift Wing to the Twenty-Third Air Force along with the aeromedical evacuation mission, C-9 aircraft, and the operation of Scott AFB, Ill. (2) Space Command assumed resource management responsibilities for the Global Positioning System. (26)
1988: The Strategic Air Command its crew assignment policy to permit mixed male/female crews in Minuteman and Peacekeeper launch facilities. The male and females were segregated before. (16) (26)
1995: The Air Force Reserve activated its first KC-135 Stratotanker unit, the 931st Air Refueling Group. (16)
1997: After a seven-year retirement from active service, the SR-71 Blackbird returned to mission ready status. The aircraft and its personnel operated from Edwards AFB, Calif., as a detachment of the 9th Reconnaissance Wing from Beale AFB. (3)
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From the List archives
Thanks to Ed .
We were on the USS Midway together 51years ago.
He flew A-7s and I flew RF-8s
For the Christmas season - The Missmus Bismus Series (7)
Missmus Bismus, Feliz Navidad, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year
Well, here it is New Years Eve and I'm just now getting out some Remembered Sky Christmas presents.
In my defense as explained in the Epilogue, the "presents" are based on an extended time frame context that ran until Spring 1973. While certain events trigger memories from my Naval Aviation career and particularly from Christmas 1972, the center of gravity of these four posts is on people not war stories and mainly on humor and laughter. Much of this comes unbidden by me at Christmas time. There are quite a few pictures. And Missmus Bismus is explained but be warned its complete phraseology is shall we say, aviator language.
I hope these posts will bring back some old and good memories.
I'll repeat one quote used from Dickens' Christmas Carol:
"It is required of every man," the Ghost returned, "that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellowmen, and travel far and wide; and if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death. It is doomed to wander through the world—oh, woe is me!—and witness what it cannot share, but might have shared on earth, and turned to happiness!" Jacob Marley (A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens)
It would most certainly be an unforced error in ignoring ole Marley's words, no?
Missmus Bismus #1: The Ghosts of Christmas Past (http://rememberedsky.com/?p=4398)
Missmus Bismus #2: The Ornaments (http://rememberedsky.com/?p=4426)
Missmus Bismus #3: Shangri-La…found (http://rememberedsky.com/?p=4437)
Missmus Bismus #4: Epilogue (http://rememberedsky.com/?p=4444)
Stay safe
Ed, Boris, and Remembered Sky
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