To All
Good Sunday Morning February 11, 2024. The dawn came up clear, calm and cool this morning and I feel much better after the bug got me yesterday. The chores are calling. I hope you all have a wonderful day.
The List turns 24 today. Hard to believe…skip
Regards,
skip
HAGD
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
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 February 11
1862—Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles directs the formation of an organization to evaluate new inventions and technical development that eventually leads to the National Academy of Science.
1943—USS Fletcher (DD 445) and Scouting Observation Plane (VCS 9) from light cruiser Helena (CL 50) sink Japanese submarine I-18 in the Coral Sea.
1944—USS Gudgeon (SS 211) sinks Japanese freighter Satsuma Maru that was previously damaged by Chinese B-25s off Wenchow, China.
1945—The Yalta Conference ends after an 8-day session where President Franklin D. Roosevelt, along with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Premier Josef Stalin, discuss Europe's post-war reorganization and the reestablishment of a war-torn Europe, and for the Soviets to enter the war against Japan upon Germany's defeat.
1957—USS William C. Lawe (DD 763) rescues all hands from the sinking Italian merchant vessel, Giacomo H. Atlieri, off Cape Bonifati, Italy.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
This day in World History
February 11
660 BC Traditional founding of Japan by Emperor Jimmu Tenno.
1531 Henry VIII is recognized as the supreme head of the Church of England.
1805 Sixteen-year-old Sacajawea, the Shoshoni guide for Lewis & Clark, gives birth to a son, with Meriwether Lewis serving as midwife.
1809 Robert Fulton patents the steamboat.
1815 News of the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812, finally reaches the United States.
1858 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous, a French miller's daughter, claims to have seen an apparition of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes.
1903 Congress passes the Expedition Act, giving antitrust cases priority in the courts.
1904 President Theodore Roosevelt proclaims strict neutrality for the United States in the Russo-Japanese War.
1910 Theodore Roosevelt Jr. and Eleanor Alexander announce their wedding date--June 20, 1910.
1926 The Mexican government nationalizes all church property.
1936 The Reich arrests 150 Catholic youth leaders in Berlin.
1939 The Negrin government returns to Madrid, Spain.
1942 The German battleships Gneisenau, Scharnhorst and Prinz Eugen begin their famed channel dash from the French port of Brest. Their journey takes them through the English Channel on their way back to Germany.
1945 The meeting of President Franklin Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Marshal Joseph Stalin in Yalta, adjourns.
1951 U.N. forces push north across the 38th parallel for the second time in the Korean War.
1953 Walt Disney's film Peter Pan premieres.
1954 A 75,000-watt light bulb is lit at the Rockefeller Center in New York, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Thomas Edison's first light bulb.
1955 Nationalist Chinese complete the evacuation of the Tachen Islands.
1959 Iran turns down Soviet aid in favor of a U.S. proposal for aid.
1962 Poet and novelist Sylvia Plath commits suicide in London at age 30.
1964 Cambodian Prince Sihanouk blames the United States for a South Vietnamese air raid on a village in his country.
1965 President Lyndon Johnson orders air strikes against targets in North Vietnam, in retaliation for guerrilla attacks on the American military in South Vietnam.
1966 Vice President Hubert Humphrey begins a tour of Vietnam.
1974 Communist-led rebels shower artillery fire into a crowded area of Phnom Pehn, killing 139 and injuring 46 others.
1975 Mrs. Margaret Thatcher becomes the first woman to lead the British Conservative Party.
1990 South African political leader Nelson Mandela is released from prison in Paarl, South Africa, after serving more than 27 years of a life sentence.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
OPERATION COMMANDO HUNT Thanks to the Bear
Skip… For The List for the week beginning Monday, 5 February 2024 and ending Sunday, 11 February 2024… Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION COMMANDO HUNT (1968-1972)
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post of 28 April 2017… The TS/SI plan to destroy North Vietnam— Linebacker I/II — was on the shelf and ready to go on 5 February 1969… 27,000 American braves would perish (KIA) before the plan would be executed… Shame!…
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 can read what happened each day to the aircraft and its crew. ……Skip
Below is the first major raid of rolling thunder and its results
From Vietnam Air Losses site for "Sunday 11 February
11: https://www.vietnamairlosses.com/loss.php?id=87
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 . 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
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Thanks to Admiral Cox and the NHHC
On November 17, 2016 Admiral Cox provided the first of so far 79 H-Grams. If you are not familiar with them I encourage you all to go to the site and see what a powerful list of all the major battles the Navy has been involved in over the last two centuries. Especially those of WWII.
This is what our fathers and grandfathers were doing 80 years ago
This H-gram covers the invasion of Kwajalein and Eniwetok atolls in the Marshall Islands and the U.S. carrier raid on the Japanese stronghold of Truk in February 1944.
Download a PDF of H-Gram 026 (4 MB). "Back issue" H-grams, enhanced with photos and charts, can be found here.
Contents
Operation Flintlock: The Invasion of Kwajalein, 31 January 1944
Operation Catchpole: The Invasion of Eniwetok, 17 February 1944
Operation Hailstone: The Carrier Raid on Truk, 17–18 February 1944
75th Anniversary of World War II
Operation Flintlock: The Invasion of Kwajalein, 31 January 1944
"Dangerous and reckless," argued Vice Admiral Raymond Spruance and Rear Admiral Richmond K. Turner after Admiral Chester Nimitz made the decision to invade Kwajalein Atoll directly, bypassing other Japanese-held fortified islands in the southern Marshall Islands.
After the bloodbath on Tarawa in November 1943, U.S. Navy commanders and planners were seized by a sudden bout of retrospection and caution. Nimitz's own planners, Spruance (Commander of Fifth Fleet), Turner (Commander, V Amphibious Force), and Marine Major General H. M. "Howling Mad" Smith, all argued for taking the islands of Wotje and Maloelap in the southern Marshalls before attempting to take the heavily defended islands of Kwajalein Atoll. (Wotje and Maloelap were strongly defended as well.) Even after Nimitz overruled them all, Spruance and Turner continued to push back until Nimitz, in his typical gentlemanly manner, offered to fire them if they didn't want the mission. In the end, Nimitz's audacious judgment would be vindicated.
The U.S. force that simultaneously invaded both ends of Kwajalein Atoll (and the largest lagoon in the world) was massive, including 54,000 U.S. Marine and U.S. Army assault troops, with gunfire support provided by seven pre–World War II battleships, six escort carriers, and numerous cruisers and destroyers (about 300 ships total). The landings had to be delayed from early January to the end of the month in order to amass enough assault transports to execute the landings with two divisions of Marines and soldiers. Additional air support and cover (and suppression of other Japanese bases in the Marshall Islands) was provided by six fleet carriers and six light carriers with over 700 aircraft, accompanied by seven modern fast battleships. Japanese aircraft were swept from the skies before the landings even took place and all Japanese submarines in the area were sunk. Not one U.S. ship was lost in the operation and only a few were damaged––not severely. Numerous tactical, technical, and technological improvements had been made, all examples of the rapid implementation of lessons learned from the Tarawa landings. The battles ashore were vicious but short. The approximately 9,000 Japanese defenders fought and died almost to the last man, not knowing that their high command had already given up on holding the outermost ring of islands (including the Marshalls) and, therefore, that no reinforcement or support could get through. U.S. Marine and Army battle deaths were less than half of those on Tarawa, about 400.
With the capture of Kwajalein (and the undefended Majuro Atoll) the U.S. had acquired the bases necessary to sustain an offensive drive across the central Pacific while bypassing and strangling several other fortified Japanese-held islands in the Marshalls. The Japanese, however, also learned lessons from Kwajalein––in particular, the futility of trying to defend on the beach in the face of overwhelming U.S. Navy firepower. The Japanese would compensate and adapt, and future landings would prove far more costly for the U.S. as a result. (For more an Operation Flintlock and the invasion of Kwajalein, please see attachment H-Gram 026-1.)
Operation Catchpole: The Invasion of Eniwetok, 17 February 1944
The invasion of Eniwetok Atoll, the western-most island in the Marshalls (360 miles west of Kwajalein) was an opportunistic rush job, executed with an 8,000-man U.S. Marine and Army "reserve force" that had not been necessary to use for the landings on Kwajalein. Against a much smaller force of Japanese, the Battle of Eniwetok would cost almost as many U.S. lives as Kwajalein. A major factor was that the compressed timeline did not allow the extensive and detailed level of reconnaissance and intelligence preparation that had preceded the Kwajalein landings. On the other hand, delay of the landings would have enabled the Japanese to continue to improve their fortification effort. The U.S. knew there were about 800 Japanese on the island of Engebi. (On account of its airfield, Engebi was the primary objective of the Eniwetok invasion.) The big surprise was that two islands thought by the U.S. to have been empty (Eniwetok and Parry) were actually occupied by 2,000 troops of the veteran Japanese First Amphibious Brigade, which had begun to arrive there on 4 January 1944.
The U.S. Navy support to the landings on Eniwetok was leaner than at Kwajalein and included three pre–World War II battleships, three escort carriers, three heavy cruisers, as well as other escorts, amphibious ships, and auxiliaries. Additional air support was provided by one of TF 58's four carrier task groups, TG 58.4, consisting of the carrier Saratoga (CV-3) and two light carriers. Nevertheless, no Japanese air, surface or subsurface assets opposed the landings at Eniwetok Atoll, as the Japanese high command had already given up on it. The massive U.S. carrier strike on the major Japanese base at Truk was timed to ensure no air or naval forces from Truk could respond to the landings at Eniwetok (see also H-Gram 026-2).
After some initial confusion, the first landings at Engebi by two battalions of U.S. Marines went reasonably well, and the fight was over relatively quickly. Only then, however, did U.S. intelligence personnel sifting through captured documents discover just how many Japanese were on the two other islands––islands that the battleship Tennessee (BB-43) and ten troop transports had unwittingly passed within yards on entering the lagoon, while the Japanese "played possum." This discovery necessitated a change of plans from simultaneous to sequential assault on Eniwetok and Parry islands.
The assault by two Army battalions on Eniwetok Island initially became bogged down, and the third Marine reserve battalion from Engebi was committed to taking the island. As a result, the mission to assault Parry Island was given to the two Marine battalions that had taken Engebi. The Japanese on Eniwetok and Parry put up a tough fight. However, they had not expected the landings to come from inside the lagoon rather than from the ocean side––an assumption they had also made in Kwajalein. In the end, almost all the 3,500 Japanese defenders on the islands were killed and only about 100 taken alive. U.S. losses were about 400 killed or missing. The capture of Eniwetok prevented the Japanese from using the airfield on Engebi to attack U.S. forces in the Marshalls, and Eniwetok would be used as a forward logistics base for the invasion of the Marianas Islands planned for June 1944. (For more on Operation Catchpole and the invasion of Eniwetok, please see attachment H-Gram 026-2.)
Operation Hailstone: The Carrier Raid on Truk, 17–18 February 1944
At dawn on 17 February 1944, 72 F6F Hellcats from five U.S. fleet aircraft carriers caught the Japanese by surprise at their major fleet forward base at Truk Island, piercing the aura of impregnability of the island, which until then had been known somewhat exaggeratedly as the "Gibraltar of the Pacific." Over the next day and a half, more than 1,200 strike sorties by more than 500 aircraft from nine aircraft carriers (five fleet carriers and four light carriers) pummeled the island in a near continuous stream of raids, flagrantly ignoring traditional "hit-and-run" carrier doctrine.
By the time the raids on Truk were over, which included the first carrier-launched night strike in U.S. Navy history, between 250 and 275 Japanese aircraft had been shot down or destroyed on the ground and 80 percent of the supplies on Truk had been destroyed, including 17,000 tons of fuel. More than 4,500 Japanese had been killed. Japanese ship losses included two light cruisers, four destroyers, three auxiliary cruisers, six other naval auxiliaries, three small warships, and 32 transports or freighters (including five tankers). U.S. losses included one fleet carrier damaged by a torpedo in an aerial night strike, one battleship slightly damaged, 25 aircraft lost, and 40 dead. Several Japanese ships were sunk by U.S. submarines and surface ships, including a light cruiser sunk by the battleships Iowa (BB-61) and New Jersey (BB-62), with Commander of the Fifth Fleet Vice Admiral Raymond Spruance on board and in tactical control. The strikes would have been even more catastrophic to the Japanese had the commander of the Combined Fleet, Admiral Mineichi Koga, not ordered his ships out of Truk just days before the strike. The Japanese would not use Truk again as a major anchorage for the remainder of the war, and in March 1944, Admiral Nimitz made the decision that Truk could be bypassed and left to "wither on the vine." The raid was a huge blow to Japanese morale and a huge boost to the confidence of U.S. naval aviators, who, in addition to implementing numerous innovations during the raids, proved that U.S. carrier forces could stand and fight against large concentrations of shore-based air power and prevail. (For more on Operation Hailstone please see attachment H-Gram 026-3.)
H-026-3: Operation Hailstone—Carrier Raid on Truk Island, 17–18 February 1944
Japanese shipping under air attack in Truk Lagoon, as seen from a USS Intrepid (CV-11) aircraft on the first day of raids, 17 February 1944. Dublon Island is at left, with Moen Island in the background. Four of these ships appear to have been hit by this time (80-G-215151).
H-Gram 026, Attachment 3
Samuel J. Cox
February 2019
Through the interwar years and into World War II, the Japanese Mandate island of Truk in the Central Caroline Islands had developed a forbidding reputation as an impregnable stronghold, the "Gibraltar of the Pacific," which was somewhat exaggerated. The Japanese had been very secretive about what they were doing there after having acquired it from the Germans during World War I and kept it under a mandate from the League of Nations. The Japanese had in fact heavily fortified the island. Its strategic location made it the preferred base of the carriers and battleships of the Japanese Combined Fleet in the first two years of the war, and many an intelligence reports for impending battles began with the Japanese marshaling forces at Truk for their next offensive operation. Air and naval forces at Truk could quickly be shifted from there to counter U.S. actions from New Guinea to the Solomons to the Gilberts, Marshalls, Wake Island, and the Marianas. What the Japanese didn't anticipate was three simultaneous U.S. advances in New Guinea, the Solomons and the Marshalls that resulted in their forces being severely jerked around, wasting a lot of scarce fuel and often being in the wrong place at the wrong time. U.S. submarines, once fixes had been implemented for faulty torpedoes, increasingly found the waters around Truk to be favorable hunting grounds.
The pre-war U.S. concept that carriers should be used in a "hit and run" mode was still deeply ingrained in the U.S. Navy even into 1944. Staying put and duking it out with a large land-based air force was still considered by many to be a really bad idea, not conducive to carrier longevity. However, by early 1944, the Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Admiral Chester Nimitz, had reached the conclusion that it was time to pierce the aura of Truk and that he had sufficient carrier forces to conduct a major multi-day attack against the Japanese stronghold. With an aggressive carrier task force commander like Rear Admiral Marc "Pete" Mitscher, Nimitz had the right man for the job. As it turned out, Nimitz's counterpart, Admiral Mineichi Koga, commander in chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet, made the same assessment at about the same time and decided it was time to get the Combined Fleet out of Truk.
Aerial attack on Japanese shipping during raid on Truk in the Carolines. Aerial photo by plane of VT 17 from the USS Bunker Hill (CV 17), 17–18 February 1944. Target is a Japanese destroyer of the Minekaze class (80-G-218544).
The first carrier strike on Truk, designated Operation Hailstone, was scheduled for 17 to 18 February 1944, and timed to coincide with the U.S. landings on Eniwetok (Operation Catchpole) in the western Marshall Islands (see also H-Gram 026-2). Truk (now known as Chuuk, capital of the Federated States of Micronesia) is roughly equidistant from Eniwetok (669 nautical miles) and Rabaul (696 nautical miles) and ships and aircraft operating from Truk represented a significant threat to the Eniwetok operation. The Combined Fleet had deployed to Eniwetok in reaction to the U.S. carrier strikes on Wake Island in October 1943 (and had burned up a huge amount of scarce fuel doing so). Normally, however, due to fuel scarcity and U.S. submarines, the bulk of the Combined Fleet (including Admiral Koga's flagship, the super-battleship Musashi) remained inside the Truk Lagoon. The lagoon was big enough that naval gunfire from outside the reef could not reach ships anchored inside the lagoon. In the middle of the lagoon, the island of Truk was fairly large, mountainous, and heavily wooded. It was defended by about 7,500 deeply entrenched Japanese troops, and another 3-4,000 Japanese sailors ashore in support functions at air strips, seaplane bases, and repair and logistics facilities. In addition to the considerable anti-aircraft fire that could be put up from the ships in the lagoon, the island was defended by over 40 major-caliber anti-aircraft guns, although the fire control radar intended for those guns had gone down on a transport ship sunk by a U.S. submarine. Of greatest concern to any attacking force was the 300 to 400 Japanese aircraft based at five airfields on the island at any given time. (The number fluctuated considerably as aircraft were shifted around).
In preparation for the strike, two U.S. Marine Corps B-24 Liberator bombers flying from Bougainville in the Solomons conducted a high-altitude, long-range photo-reconnaissance mission (the first) over Truk on 4 February 1944. Although the imagery was incomplete due to cloud cover, plenty of lucrative targets were identified, including one battleship, two aircraft carriers, and five or six heavy cruisers. The Japanese, however, detected the flight and wasted no time understanding its import. Admiral Koga gave the order to clear out. Within days, the majority of the Combined Fleet had shifted to the west to Palau, and the Musashi went all the way back to Japan.
The unlucky Japanese light cruiser Agano was delayed departing Truk due to previous damage. Agano had been hit by a torpedo from a U.S. Avenger during the strike on Rabaul on 11 Nov 1943 (see H-Gram 024) and while being towed to Truk for repairs was hit by a torpedo from Scamp (SS-277). (Agano's escorts fought off an attack by Albacore, SS-218, the same day). Finally leaving Truk for Japan on 16 February, Agano was hit by two of four torpedoes from submarine Skate (SS-305) but remained afloat until the morning of the following day, during which the Japanese destroyer Oite rescued 523 of Agano's 726-man crew. However, Oite was torpedoed and sunk during the U.S. airstrikes on Truk on 17 February, during which all but 22 of Oite's crew and all of the survivors of Agano were lost. (Of note, Skate had put a torpedo into the super-battleship Yamato off Truk on Christmas Day 1943, sending the seriously damaged Yamato back to Japan for repairs.) By 17 February the only Japanese ships left in Truk were two light cruisers, eight destroyers, and about 50 other auxiliaries, cargo ships, merchant ships, and patrol and service craft.
The commander of the U.S. Fifth Fleet, Vice Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, personally assumed command of Task Force 50, shifting his flag from the heavy cruiser Indianapolis to the new battleship New Jersey. Spruance was selected for his fourth star just before the raid on Truk and was actually promoted just afterwards. The Fast Carrier Force (TF 58) was under the command of Rear Admiral Marc A. "Pete" Mitscher, who had relieved Rear Admiral Charles A. Pownall after the Gilbert Islands operations, embarked on Yorktown. The U.S. Force consisted of four new Essex-class carriers––Yorktown, Essex Intrepid, and Bunker Hill––plus Enterprise and four light carriers Belleau Wood, Cabot, Monterey, and Cowpens, along with more than 500 aircraft. In addition, six new fast battleships, ten cruisers and 28 destroyers rounded out the force. TG 58.4, under the command of Rear Admiral Samuel P. Ginder, with Saratoga, Princeton, Langley, and escorts was detached from TF 58 to cover the landings at Eniwetok (Operation Catchpole), where they commenced strikes on 16 February 1944.
On 12/13 February 1944, three fast carrier task groups departed Majuro Atoll (recently captured in the Marshall Islands) and topped off from five tankers before making a high-speed run toward Truk. These task groups included TG58.1, Commander Carrier Group 1, Rear Admiral John W. Reeves consisting of Enterprise, Yorktown, Belleau Wood, three light cruisers, and one anti-aircraft cruiser; TG 58.2, Commander Carrier Group 2, Rear Admiral Alfred .E. Montgomery, consisting of Essex, Intrepid, Cabot, three heavy cruisers, and one anti-aircraft cruiser; and TG 58.3, Commander Carrier Group 3, Rear Admiral Frederick C. Sherman, consisting of Bunker Hill, Monterey (future U.S. President Lieutenant Gerald Ford in crew), Cowpens, and battleships North Carolina (BB-55), Iowa (BB-61), New Jersey (BB-62, Vice Admiral Spruance embarked), Massachusetts (BB-59), South Dakota (BB-57), Alabama (BB-60), and two heavy cruisers.
TF 58 reached the launch point 90 nautical miles northeast of Truk on 17 February and commenced launching an hour and a half before dawn. The first strike was a 72-plane fighter sweep from the five U.S. fleet carriers, which caught the Japanese by surprise, the Japanese having just stood down after two weeks of high alert following the B-24 reconnaissance mission. The advance fighter sweep was a new technique devised by Rear Admiral Mitscher. About 45 Japanese fighters scrambled into the air only minutes before the U.S. fighters arrived overhead, and about another 45 were able to get airborne during the course of the fighter sweep. Over 30 Japanese fighters were shot down and 40 more destroyed on the ground by strafing––all for a loss of four U.S. fighters. The fighter sweep was followed immediately by 18 Avengers dropping incendiary and cluster fragmentation bombs (another innovation) on Japanese dispersal areas. By the afternoon, no Japanese fighters were challenging the U.S. air raid. Of about 365 Japanese aircraft at Truk when the raid began, only about 100 survived, the rest having been shot down or destroyed on the ground.
A Mark XIII aerial torpedo hits a Japanese cargo ship during the first day of U.S. Navy carrier air raids on Truk, 17 February 1944. Note the several torpedo wakes, including one very erratic one ending with the torpedo broaching (80-G-217624).
Commencing at 0443, the five light carriers began a staggered launch, resulting in a near continuous stream of strike aircraft (another innovation) arriving over Truk during the morning. During the course of the day there were 30 distinct U.S. airstrikes, delivering 369 1,000-pound bombs, 498 500-pound bombs, and 70 torpedoes. Many of the attacks went against Japanese shipping in the lagoon. The commander of Bombing Ten (VB-10), future Rear Admiral James D. Ramage, sank the merchant tanker Hoyo Maru. An Avenger from Intrepid's Torpedo Squadron 6 (VT-6), flown by Lieutenant James E. Bridges, hit the ammunition ship Aikoku Maru, which blew up with such force it obliterated the ship and, unfortunately, Bridges' aircraft and aircrew, too; all three were lost. The Japanese destroyer Fumizuki suffered a near miss, but the crew could not control the flooding and she sank the next day. The destroyer Tachikaze had run aground on 4 February and was still immobilized when she was hit by a torpedo and sunk. The destroyer Oite was hit and sunk as related above. The destroyer Shigure, survivor of numerous battles (and sole survivor of two) survived yet another, although she suffered serious damage with a bomb hit in her No. 2 turret, killing 21 and wounding 45.
Some Japanese ships tried to escape and were sunk by waiting submarines, while others were either blocked in the lagoon by U.S. air attack or set upon by U.S. surface ships as they attempted to flee. The light cruiser Naka was caught trying to flee 35 nautical miles west of Truk by several waves of Helldivers and Avengers from Bunker Hill and Cowpens and was hit by a bomb and a torpedo, breaking in two and sinking with the loss of 240 crewmen (210 were rescued).
As U.S. Navy aircraft were slaughtering Japanese auxiliaries and merchant ships inside the lagoon, Vice Admiral Spruance led an "around-the-atoll cruise" (TG 50.9) on 17 February to catch leakers, bombarding shore installations as it went. Consisting of the new battleships New Jersey and Iowa, the heavy cruisers Minneapolis (CA-36) and New Orleans (CA-32) (all survivors of the Tassafaronga debacle in November 1942), and four destroyers (covered by combat air patrol from the light carrier Cowpens), TG 50.9 caught the light cruiser Katori. That ship, the auxiliary cruiser Akagi Maru, two destroyers Maikaze and Nowaki), and a minesweeping trawler Shonan Maru No. 15 had left Truk before the attack but had not gotten far enough away. Aircraft from several carriers had already pounded the small group. The Akagi Maru was hit by three bombs, causing several large explosions, and she was abandoned. Despite her own damage, Katori took on a number of survivors from Akagi Maru, although all would be lost when Katori itself went down. All told, 788 crewmen and 512 passengers on Akagi Maru were lost.
Although aircraft could have finished off Katori, which had already been hit by one torpedo and as many as seven bombs, Spruance wanted a surface engagement, so Mitscher waved off further air attacks on the damaged light cruiser. Aviators, and some of Spruance's own staff, viewed Spruance's decision as reckless. (I can only imagine that from the bridge of an Iowa-class battleship, Spruance felt pretty invincible.) Spruance directed Minneapolis, New Orleans, and two destroyers to engage the Katori. The destroyers Bradford (DD-545) and Burns (DD-588) fired several salvos of torpedoes at Katori, all of which missed. Katori responded with a torpedo salvo of her own, which also missed. Eventually Iowa fired 46 16-inch and 124 5-inch shells at the Katori hitting her multiple times, yet she continued to fight valiantly until the end, her guns still firing as she rolled over and sank. Although there were survivors of Katori in the water, none were rescued by the U.S. or the Japanese. In the end, there were no survivors from her crew of about 300 nor were there any from those previously rescued from Akagi Maru.
As Katori met her end, the destroyer Maikaze valiantly stood by the Katori and got off a salvo of torpedoes at the Iowa and New Jersey that might have hit but for a timely warning from U.S. aircraft overhead. The New Jersey maneuvered and the torpedoes passed just ahead. VADM Spruance remarked, "That would have been embarrassing" (had the torpedoes hit). Like Katori, Maikaze absorbed tremendous punishment but kept firing until she was finally finished off by the U.S. cruisers, going down with all-hands. In the meantime, the little trawler Shonan Maru No. 15 put up a valiant fight against the destroyer Burns. The Japanese trawler continued to fire even as she went under, also with all hands.
The Nowaki, on the other hand, made good her escape and was able to open considerable distance during the melee with Katori and Maikaze. New Jersey and Iowa pursued, and opened fire at the extreme range of 34,000 to 39,000 yards, straddling Nowaki several times and hitting her with splinters. The last salvo, at a range of 22 miles, is believed to be the longest-range gun shot at an enemy ship. (Nowaki would be sunk by torpedoes from the destroyer Owen in the Philippines on 26 October 1944.) The surface engagement ended when Burns was directed to dispatch a Japanese submarine chaser, the CH-24, which opened fire on Burns with her single 3-inch gun. Despite her valiant but futile gesture, CH-24 didn't last long. Burns attempted to rescue about 60 Japanese survivors in the water, who vigorously resisted being rescued. Whaleboats from Burns were able to haul about six unwilling Japanese out of the water. With the remainder refusing rescue, but close enough to Truk that they might be rescued by the Japanese, the Burns dropped three depth charges onto the survivors, ensuring they would not live to fight another day.
Like the little CH-24, the counter-attack by the Japanese was valiant but feeble. At 1900, six or seven Kate torpedo bombers, retrofitted with radar, attacked the U.S. carrier force. Intense U.S. anti-aircraft fire kept most of the Kates away. One made a concerted attack, and an attempt to intercept it with a night fighter guided by a radar-equipped Avenger failed. At 2211, the Kate put a torpedo into the starboard quarter of the Intrepid, jamming her rudder, killing 11 and wounding 17, and forcing her to withdraw for several months of repairs.
Between midnight and dawn, Mitscher pulled another innovation out of the hat, launching the first night carrier bombing attack against shipping in U.S. carrier history. Twelve specially-equipped TBF-1C Avengers from Enterprise's VT-10, carrying four 500-pound bombs each, conducted a night strike on remaining shipping in Truk Lagoon. In 25 runs, the Avengers scored 13 direct hits and 7 near misses (plus two direct hits on islets mistaken for ships) which actually accounted for about one third of the hits on ships achieved by the entire force during two days of strikes. Despite the November 1943 loss of Navy ace and Medal of Honor awardee Butch O'Hare in the first attempt at night intercepts by U.S. carrier fighters, the Enterprise continued to be the leader in night battle tactics development; after the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944, Enterprise would be designated as the night strike carrier, tasked with developing and executing tactics for night fighting.
Violating the "and run" part of long-standing "hit and run" carrier doctrine, at dawn on 18 February, aircraft from Enterprise, Yorktown, Essex, and Bunker Hill attacked Truk again. Meeting no air opposition, the carrier planes bombed and strafed airfields, hangars, storage tanks (with 17,000 tons of fuel that went up in smoke), and ammo dumps with great effect. By the time the U.S. strikes ended, U.S. carriers had flown 1,250 combat sorties, dropping 400 tons of bombs and torpedoes on shipping and 94 tons on land targets. The Japanese had lost between 250 and 275 aircraft and 75 percent of their supplies on Truk. Japanese warship losses included two light cruisers, four destroyers, two submarine chasers, one auxiliary minesweeper, and a motor torpedo boat. Additional ships sunk included three auxiliary cruisers, 16 Navy transport ships, three Army transport ships, one freighter, two submarine tenders, and––probably most valuable––five tankers. Damaged ships included two destroyers, two submarines, a repair ship, a seaplane tender, a submarine chaser, and a target ship. One additional cargo ship was also damaged.
The cost to the United States of Operation Hailstone was one fleet carrier damaged, one battleship slightly damaged, 25 aircraft lost, and 40 dead. A number of U.S. aircrew were rescued by submarine. In one case, a Kingfisher float plane launched from the heavy cruiser Baltimore, flown by Lieutenant Junior Grade D. F. Baxter, flew right into the lagoon and rescued an Essex Hellcat pilot that had been shot down on the morning fighter sweep of 18 February, while nine other Hellcats held a Japanese destroyer at bay. The submarine Searaven (SS-196) also rescued the entire three-man crew of a Yorktown Avenger.
The Japanese never again used Truk as a major fleet anchorage, and the devastating carrier attack was a huge blow to Japanese morale (and a big boost to U.S. carrier pilots' morale and confidence). At the time of the attack, Allied commanders had not yet decided whether Truk would need to be invaded or could be bypassed. On 12 Mar 1944, Admiral Nimitz made the decision to bypass it.
Of the Marshalls campaign and the raid on Truk, Navy historian and Rear Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison would write, "Courage and determination the Navy had shown from the first, but in the Marshalls it demonstrated mastery of the art of amphibious warfare; of combining air, surface, submarine and ground forces to project fighting power irresistibly across the seas. The strike on Truk demonstrated a virtual revolution in naval warfare; the aircraft carrier emerged as the capital ship of the future, with unlimited potentialities."
(Sources for this section include Rear Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison's History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, vol. VII, Aleutians, Gilberts and Marshalls. Also: The Admirals: Nimitz, Halsey, Leahy and King: The Five-Star Admirals Who Won the War at Sea, by Walter R. Borneman, 2012; The Fleet at Flood Tide: America at Total War in the Pacific, by James Hornfischer, 2016. Additional sources include Naval History and Heritage Command Dictionary of American Fighting Ships [DANFS], for U.S. ship histories and combinedfleet.com for Japanese ship histories.)
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Thanks to Interesting Facts
The Antikythera Mechanism is a 2,000-year-old "computer" from ancient Greece.
The Antikythera Mechanism is one of the most astounding archaeological finds in history. Discovered within the ruins of an ancient Greco-Roman shipwreck first found by sponge divers in 1900, it was brought to the surface the following year as part of the world's first major underwater archaeological excavation. At first, the mechanism — in dozens of corroded, greenish pieces of bronze — was more or less overlooked in favor of the many bronze and marble statues, coins, amphorae, and other intriguing items the shipwreck contained. But in the 1950s, science historian Derek J. de Solla Price took particular interest in the machine, convinced that it was in fact an ancient computer. In the early 21st century, advanced imaging techniques have proved Price correct.
Of course, this wasn't a digital creation, but an analog computer, likely dating to around the first century BCE. Although only portions of the original device survive, scientists have been able to piece together its original function. About the size of a mantle clock, the Antikythera Mechanism was a box full of dozens of gears with a handle on the side. When the handle turned, the device calculated eclipses, moon phases, the movements of the five visible planets — Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn — and more. It even included a dial for the timing of the ancient Olympics and religious festivals. Nothing else like it is known from antiquity, and nothing like it shows up in the archaeological record for another 1,000 years. Scientists aren't sure exactly who made the device, although the ancient Greek astronomer and mathematician Hipparchus has been suggested as the creator, and the famed mathematician and inventor Archimedes may also have been involved. While its origin will likely remain a mystery, the mechanism's purpose has only grown clearer with time — and its existence has completely altered our understanding of the history of technology.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Thanks to Mugs
"The F-22 exhaust nozzles are very expensive and are the only exhausts to provide rearward stealth over a reasonable radar frequency range in a fighter plane," Mark Knight, a pilot and an aviation expert, says on Quora. "To provide thrust vectoring using a circular nozzle would produce slightly more thrust from the same engine, but a circular nozzle would compromise the stealth of the F-22 from many rearward angles. Yes, the F-35 has a circular nozzle, and yes, it does compromise the stealth of the F-35 from some rear hemisphere angles. The philosophy with the F-35 design was to concentrate on forward hemisphere stealth and not to spend so much on rearward stealth. The F-35 still has reasonable rear hemisphere stealth, but it cannot come close to the F-22 in that regard
Interesting video features airshow comparison between F-35A and J-31 - T...
Dario Leone
It's fair to say that the U.S. F-35 is much more mature than the current version of the Chinese J-31. In fact the...
Frontal stealth as a priority for Russian and Chinese Stealth Fighters
Knight continues. "The Su-57 was going to have F-22 style nozzles developed for it but once the engineers got started and discovered how expensive it was going to be the Russian government decided that the improved rear aspect stealth was not worth the extra cost. So, the Su-57 was developed with frontal stealth as a priority. The Chinese did not even consider such designs for their stealth fighters as front hemisphere stealth was all that they considered important."
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Thanks to History Facts
Canned food was invented for military use, but soldiers had to cut cans open with bayonets.
HOME
MILITARY CANNED FOOD
In the late 18th century, the French army was looking for a way to keep food edible long enough to get it to soldiers on the front lines throughout Europe and beyond. Napoleon's government offered a payment to whoever could develop a proper food preservation system, and in 1795, Nicolas Appert, a French chef, candymaker, and brewer, began experimenting with different techniques. He eventually discovered that sealing food in airtight containers and then heating them could prevent spoilage. At first, he packed a variety of foods such as soups, fruits, and vegetables into empty champagne bottles, sealed the cork with a mixture made of cheese and lime, and placed the bottles in boiling water. He then moved from bottles to jars and, eventually, also experimented with tin cans.
In 1810, Appert's method of canning food was officially recognized by the French government; he was awarded the prize money and published his methods in a book called The Art of Preserving Animal and Vegetable Substances for Many Years. The same year, the process for using tin-coated iron cans for preserved food was patented, and by 1813, England was supplying canned food to the Royal Navy. While the problem of properly preserving food was solved, another issue presented itself: opening the cans. Soldiers resorted to using their weapons to get to their food, trying to cut them open with their bayonets or knives. It wasn't until decades later, in the 1850s, that the can opener was finally invented.
How many of you still have your P-38 on your key chain to open C-Rats....I have mine skip
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
This Day in U S Military History
February 11
1815 – News of the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812, finally reached the United States.
1854 – Commodore Matthew Perry pulled into Edo Bay, Japan, 12 months early with 9 warships to begin talks for a treaty.
1942 – German battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst, as well as the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, escape from the French port of Brest and make a mad dash up the English Channel to safety in German waters. The Gneisenau and Scharnhorst had been anchored at Brest since March 1941. The Prinz Eugen had been tied to the French port since the Bismarck sortie in May 1941, when it and the battleship Bismarck made their own mad dash through the Atlantic and the Denmark Strait to elude Royal Navy gunfire. All three were subject to periodic bombing raids–and damage–by the British, as the Brits attempted to ensure that the German warships never left the French coast. But despite the careful watch of British subs and aircraft, German Vice Admiral Otto Ciliax launched Operation Cerberus to lead the ships out of the French port. The Germans, who had controlled and occupied France since June 1940, drew British fire deliberately, and the Gneisenau, Scharnhorst, and Prinz Eugen used the resulting skirmish as a defensive smoke screen. Six German destroyers and 21 torpedo boats accompanied the ships for protection as they moved north late on the night of February 11. In the morning, German planes provided air cover as well; ace pilot Adolf Galland led 250 other fighters in an unusually well coordinated joint effort of the German navy and Luftwaffe. The British Royal Air Force also coordinated its attack with the Royal Navy Swordfish squadron, but a late start–the RAF did not realize until the afternoon of February 12 that the German squadron had pushed out to sea–and bad weather hindered their effort. All three German warships made it to a German port on February 13, although the Gneisenau and Scharnhorst had been damaged by British mines along the way. The British lost 40 aircraft and six Navy Swordfish in the confrontation, while the Germans lost a torpedo boat and 17 aircraft. The "Channel Dash," as it came to be called, was extremely embarrassing to the British, as it happened right under their noses. They would get revenge of a sort, though: British warships sunk the Scharnhorst in December 1944 as the German ship attempted to attack a Russian convoy. The Gneisenau was destroyed in a bombing raid while still in port undergoing repairs, and the Prinz Eugen survived the war, but was taken over by the U.S. Navy at war's end.
1951 – General MacArthur informed the Joint Chiefs of Staff, "It is evident that the enemy has lost his chance for achieving a decisive military decision in Korea." This statement came on the eve of the Chinese fourth phase offensive.
1951 – The Chinese fourth-phase offensive was launched against X Corps in central Korea along the Hoengsong-Wonju axis. The U.S. 2nd and 7th Infantry Divisions and the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team suffered 2,018 casualties during the Battle of Hoengsong. The largest single loss of U.S. soldiers happened when 530 men of the 15th and 503rd Field Artillery Battalions were completely overrun.
1965 – Pres. Lyndon Johnson ordered air strikes against targets in North Vietnam, in retaliation for guerrilla attacks on the American military in South Vietnam. The American "Rolling Thunder" bombing campaign intensified.
1979 – Followers of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini seized power in Iran, nine days after the religious leader returned to his home country following 15 years of exile. Premier Bakhtiar resigned.
1994 – The space shuttle "Discovery" returned from an eight-day mission.
1995 – The space shuttle Discovery landed at Cape Canaveral, Fla., ending a historic rendezvous mission with Russia's Mir space station.
1997 – Space shuttle Discovery was launched on a mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.
1999 – US jets struck 7 Iraqi air defense sites.
2000 – The space shuttle Endeavour lifted into orbit with a crew of six under commander Kevin Kregel and a mission to map the Earth.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
TOBAN, JAMES W.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company C, 9th Michigan Cavalry. Place and date: At Aiken, S.C., 11 February 1865. Entered service at: Northfield, Mich. Born: 1844, Northfield, Mich. Date of issue: 9 July 1896. Citation: Voluntarily and at great personal risk returned, in the face of the advance of the enemy, and rescued from impending death or capture, Maj. William C. Stevens, 9th Michigan Cavalry, who had been thrown from his horse.
ATKINS, DANIEL
Rank and organization: Ship's Cook, First Class, U.S. Navy. Born: 1867, Brunswick, Va. Accredited to: Virginia. G.O. No.: 489, 20 May 1898. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Cushing, 11 February 1898. Showing gallant conduct, Atkins attempted to save the life of the late Ens. Joseph C. Breckenridge, U.S. Navy, who fell overboard at sea from that vessel on this date.
EVERETTS, JOHN
Rank and organization: Gunner's Mate, Third Class, U.S. Born: 25 August 1873, Therold, Canada. Accredited to: New G.O. No.: 489, 20 May 1898. Citation: Serving on board the U.S.S. Cushing, 11 February 1898, Everetts displayed gallant conduct in attempting to save the life of the late Ens. Joseph C. Breckinridge, U.S. Navy, who fell overboard at sea from that vessel.
SMITH, ALBERT JOSEPH
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Marine Corps. Place and date: Marine Barracks, Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Fla., 11 February 1921. Entered service at: Michigan. Born: 31 July 1898, Calumet, Mich. G.O. No.: 72, 29 September 1921. Citation: At about 7:30 a.m. on the morning of 11 February 1921, Pvt. Smith, while on duty as a sentry, rescued Plen M. Phelps, late machinist's mate second class, U.S. Navy, from a burning seaplane which had fallen near his post, gate No. 1, Marine Barracks, Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Fla. Despite the explosion of the gravity gasoline tank, with total disregard of personal safety, he pushed himself to a position where he could reach Phelps, who was pinned beneath the burning wreckage, and rescued him from the burning plane, in the performance of which he sustained painful burns about the head, neck and both hands.
DAHLGREN, EDWARD C.
Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant (then Sergeant), U.S. Army, Company E, 142d Infantry, 36th Infantry Division. Place and date: Oberhoffen, France, 11 February 1945. Entered service at: Portland, Maine. Birth: Perham, Maine. G.O. No.: 77, 10 September 1945. Citation: He led the 3d Platoon to the rescue of a similar unit which had been surrounded in an enemy counterattack at Oberhoffen, France. As he advanced along a street, he observed several Germans crossing a field about 100 yards away. Running into a barn, he took up a position in a window and swept the hostile troops with submachine gun fire, killing 6, wounding others, and completely disorganizing the group. His platoon then moved forward through intermittent sniper fire and made contact with the besieged Americans. When the 2 platoons had been reorganized, Sgt. Dahlgren continued to advance along the street until he drew fire from an enemy-held house. In the face of machine pistol and rifle fire, he ran toward the building, hurled a grenade through the door, and blasted his way inside with his gun. This aggressive attack so rattled the Germans that all 8 men who held the strongpoint immediately surrendered. As Sgt. Dahlgren started toward the next house, hostile machinegun fire drove him to cover. He secured rifle grenades, stepped to an exposed position, and calmly launched his missiles from a difficult angle until he had destroyed the machinegun and killed its 2 operators. He moved to the rear of the house and suddenly came under the fire of a machinegun emplaced in a barn. Throwing a grenade into the structure, he rushed the position, firing his weapon as he ran; within, he overwhelmed 5 Germans. After reorganizing his unit he advanced to clear hostile riflemen from the building where he had destroyed the machinegun. He entered the house by a window and trapped the Germans in the cellar, where he tossed grenades into their midst, wounding several and forcing 10 more to surrender. While reconnoitering another street with a comrade, he heard German voices in a house. An attack with rifle grenades drove the hostile troops to the cellar. Sgt. Dahlgren entered the building, kicked open the cellar door, and, firing several bursts down the stairway, called for the trapped enemy to surrender. Sixteen soldiers filed out with their hands in the air. The bold leadership and magnificent courage displayed by Sgt. Dahlgren in his heroic attacks were in a large measure responsible for repulsing an enemy counterattack and saving an American platoon from great danger.
*BENNETT, THOMAS W.
Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S. Army, 2d Platoon, Company B, 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry. Place and date: Chu Pa Region, Pleiku Province, Republic of Vietnam, 9-11 February 1969. Entered service at: Fairmont, W. Va. Born: 7 April 1947, Morgantown, W. Va. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Cpl. Bennett distinguished himself while serving as a platoon medical aidman with the 2d Platoon, Company B, during a reconnaissance-in-force mission. On 9 February the platoon was moving to assist the 1st Platoon of Company D which had run into a North Vietnamese ambush when it became heavily engaged by the intense small arms, automatic weapons, mortar and rocket fire from a well fortified and numerically superior enemy unit. In the initial barrage of fire, 3 of the point members of the platoon fell wounded. Cpl. Bennett, with complete disregard for his safety, ran through the heavy fire to his fallen comrades, administered life-saving first aid under fire and then made repeated trips carrying the wounded men to positions of relative safety from which they would be medically evacuated from the battle position. Cpl. Bennett repeatedly braved the intense enemy fire moving across open areas to give aid and comfort to his wounded comrades. He valiantly exposed himself to the heavy fire in order to retrieve the bodies of several fallen personnel. Throughout the night and following day, Cpl. Bennett moved from position to position treating and comforting the several personnel who had suffered shrapnel and gunshot wounds. On 11 February, Company B again moved in an assault on the well fortified enemy positions and became heavily engaged with the numerically superior enemy force. Five members of the company fell wounded in the initial assault. Cpl. Bennett ran to their aid without regard to the heavy fire. He treated 1 wounded comrade and began running toward another seriously wounded man. Although the wounded man was located forward of the company position covered by heavy enemy grazing fire and Cpl. Bennett was warned that it was impossible to reach the position, he leaped forward with complete disregard for his safety to save his comrade's life. In attempting to save his fellow soldier, he was mortally wounded. Cpl. Bennett's undaunted concern for his comrades at the cost of his life above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for February 11, FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
11 February
1913: Representative James Hay of West Virginia introduced the first bill for a separate aviation corps (H.R. 28728) in Congress, but it failed to pass. (24)
1936: Iona Coppedge and Josephine Garrigus flew their Aeronca monoplane at Dayton, Ohio, to a women's altitude record of 15,252 feet for multiseat planes weighing less than 617.288 pounds empty. (24)
1944: Eighth Air Force conducted a radar bombing attack on important German chemical plants. (4)
1945: The Consolidated Vultee XP-81 first flew. (5)
1959: A weather balloon launched at the Army Signal Research and Development Laboratory, Fort Monmouth, N.J., set a world altitude record by reaching 146,000 feet. (24)
1962: The 1405th Air Base Wing at Scott AFB, Ill., acquired the first T-39 (later designated the CT-39) Sabreliner for the Military Air Transport Service. (18)
1964: B-26s WITHDRAWN FROM SOUTHEAST ASIA. After a wing failed in combat, all B-26s in South Vietnam were grounded. Then when other B-26s suffered structural wing failures the USAF withdrew the aircraft from combat. On 1 April, the last B-26 flew to Clark AB, Philippines. (17)
1965: The US for the first time stopped and restarted a Titan III-A in space to place the vehicle in three different orbits. This rocket also marked the 1,000th man-made object in space recorded by the North American Aerospace Defense Command. (5)
1966: Project FAST FLY. To complete an accelerated B-47 phaseout program, the Strategic Air Command retired its last two B-47E bombers (Tail Nos. 53-2286 and 53-6235). They were stationed at Pease AFB, N.H., and Mountain Home AFB, Idaho, respectively. (1)
1974: The Titan IIIE/Centaur suffered a partial failure in its first flight test at Cape Canaveral when the Centaur engine malfunctioned. NASA still planned to use the vehicle for the Viking Mars Lander in 1975 and the US-German Helios program. (5)
1975: During the B-1's third test flight at Edwards, the aircrew first used the new automated flight test data system. (3)
1977: Jimmy Carter became the first President to fly in the E-4A National Emergency Airborne Command Post in a flight from Andrews AFB, Md., to Robins AFB, Ga. (1)
1985: The T-46A "Next Generation Trainer" had its official rollout ceremony. (16)
1998: A B-1B dropped its first Joint Direct Attack Munition, a satellite guided conventional bomb, at China Lake, Calif. (21) The first C-32A, a modified Boeing 757-200, flew its maiden flight from the Renton Municipal Airport in Renton, Wash. The Air Force purchased 4 C-32As to replace the 89 AW's C-137 fleet, which had flown the Vice President, cabinet members, and congressional delegations around the world since the 1950s. (22)
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
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/CACTjsm2q1EaLhTGBiD9_9LEjgeraarnnH7wg%2BXPd%3Diu9dGESyg%40mail.gmail.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.