To All,
Good Sunday Morning April 14.
Regards,
Skip
HAGD
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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
April 14
1898 The first post-Civil War hospital ship, USS Solace (AH 2) is commissioned and soon participates in the Spanish-American War attending to wounded servicemen from battles in Cuba
1942 USS Roper (DD 147) sinks German submarine U 85 off the Virginia Capes. Before being sunk by Roper, U 85 sank three Allied merchant vessels.
1945 USS Tirante (SS 420), commanded by Lt. Cmdr. George L. Street III, attacks a Japanese convoy in the approaches to the Yellow Sea and sinks a transport ship and two vessels. Street earns Medal of Honor for his actions.
1969 A North Korean aircraft shoots down an unarmed EC-121 propeller-driven Constellation, killing all 31 crewmembers on board.
1988 During Operation Ernest Will, USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG 58) strikes an Iranian mine off Qatar, injuring 10 sailors. Four days later, the US Navy retaliates with Operation Praying Mantis, which strikes Iranian oil platforms, sinks an Iranian frigate, patrol ship, and damages another frigate.
On This Day In The Navy:
1960 - The Navy's navigation satellite, Transit 1B, which demonstrates the first engine restart in space, is placed into orbit from Cape Canaveral, Florida, by Thor-Able-Star.
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This Day in World History April14
1471 The Earl of Warwick, who fought on both sides in the War of the Roses, is killed at the Battle of Barnet with the defeat of the Lancastrians.
1543 Bartolome Ferrelo returns to Spain after discovering a large bay in the New World (San Francisco).
1775 The first abolitionist society in United States is organized in Philadelphia.
1793 A royalist rebellion in Santo Domingo is crushed by French republican troops.
1828 The first edition of Noah Webster's dictionary is published.
1860 The first Pony Express rider arrives in San Francisco with mail originating in St. Joseph, Missouri.
1865 President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated in Ford's Theater by John Wilkes Booth.
1894 Thomas Edison's kinetoscope is shown to the public for the first time.
1900 The World Exposition opens in Paris.
1912 The passenger liner Titanic--deemed unsinkable--strikes an iceberg on her maiden voyage and begins to sink. The ship will go under the next day with a loss of 1,500 lives.
1931 King Alfonso XIII of Spain is overthrown.
1945 American B-29 bombers damage the Imperial Palace during firebombing raid over Tokyo.
1953 The Viet Minh invade Laos with 40,00 troops in their war against French colonial forces.
1959 The Taft Memorial Bell Tower is dedicated in Washington, D.C.
1961 The first live broadcast is televised from the Soviet Union.
1969 The first major league baseball game in Montreal, Canada is played.
1981 America's first space shuttle, Columbia, returns to Earth.
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OPERATION COMMANDO HUNT Thanks to the Bear
Skip… For The List for the week beginning Monday, 8 April 2024 through Sunday, 14 April 2024… Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION COMMANDO HUNT (1968-1972)…
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post of 30 June 2019…
B-52 Operation MENU targeting leaked to NVN… No surprises…?…
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
From Vietnam Air Losses site for "Sunday 14 April
14. https://www.vietnamairlosses.com/loss.php?id=2839
This following work accounts for every fixed wing loss of the Vietnam War and you can use it to read more about the losses in The Bear's Daily account. Even better it allows you to add your updated information to the work to update for history…skip
Vietnam Air Losses Access Chris Hobson and Dave Lovelady's work at: https://www.VietnamAirLosses.com.
This is a list of all Helicopter Pilots Who Died in the Vietnam War . Listed by last name and has other info https://www.vhpa.org/KIA/KIAINDEX.HTM
MOAA - Wall of Faces Now Includes Photos of All Service members 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
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Thanks to Interesting Facts
8 Things You Didn't Know About the Amazon Rainforest
The Amazon rainforest is the largest forest on the planet. Most famously associated with Brazil, it also extends across parts of Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, Venezuela, Guyana, French Guiana, and Suriname. The river of the same name that winds through it is the second-longest on earth — equivalent to the distance between New York and Rome. Most of us are at least vaguely familiar with this true natural wonder, but here are eight things you probably didn't know about the Amazon rainforest.
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While It's the World's Largest Rainforest, It's Not the Oldest
The stats are impressive: Covering an area of approximately 2.1 million square miles, the Amazon rainforest is twice as big as Mexico. However, it falls short of the land area of the contiguous United States, which is nearly 3 million square miles by comparison. The Amazon also contains, by far, the world's largest area of primary forest — dense areas of native tree species that are untouched by human activity — accounting for nearly 85% of its total size. The next largest primary forest is that of the Congo in Africa (about 650,000 square miles).
Although the Amazon is unquestionably the biggest forest on the planet, it's nowhere near the oldest. Scientists estimate that the Amazon is approximately 55 million years old; the much smaller Daintree rainforest in Australia dates back 180 million years and is Earth's oldest forest.
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The Amazon's Trees Aren't Quite the Lungs of the Planet
French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted it and CNN reported it, but contrary to popular belief, the Amazon rainforest doesn't actually produce 20% of the world's oxygen. The late Wallace Broecker, an American geochemist and professor of earth and environmental sciences at Columbia University, debunked the popular myth as early as 1996. Since then, several other scientists have also disproved the statistic, including climate and environmental scientist Jonathan Foley.
It's true that, each day, trees use the sun to photosynthesize large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, converting it into oxygen. However, ants, termites, bacteria, and fungi soon consume it. After the sun goes down, the trees also use some of that oxygen to enable them to continue to create energy. Considering all parts of the ecosystem, the end result is that trees produce, at best, a few percent, and certainly nowhere near 20% of the world's oxygen.
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The Amazon Rainforest Contains Unrivaled Biodiversity
The Amazon rainforest is one of the most biodiverse environments on the planet; according to Greenpeace, more than 3 million species live in it. (Unfortunately, due to deforestation, it's estimated that one-third of them are threatened with extinction.)
In the Amazon, you'll find the jaguar, which is South America's largest cat. This strong swimmer is happy munching on much of what hangs out in the same neighborhood, including deer, armadillos, monkeys, and lizards. A jaguar would be ill-advised to pick a fight with a black caiman, however: At over 16 feet long, this mighty crocodile is the Amazon's biggest predator. Sharing the water is the green anaconda, the world's heaviest and most powerful snake. Other notable creatures in the forest include the capybara, which looks much like an oversized guinea pig; the reclusive Amazonian tapir, with its squat trunk; and the three-toed sloth, one of the slowest-moving creatures in the world.
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The Rate of Deforestation Is Alarming
It's difficult to determine the exact size of the area covered by the world's rainforests, partly because much of it is inaccessible and because the rapid rate of deforestation makes it hard to maintain up-to-date figures. What scientists do know is that many millions of acres are burned every year. According to Conservation International, the Amazon lost about 3,600 square miles of rainforest in 2015, which equates to an area the size of Cyprus or the state of Maine.
Since then, the rate of deforestation in the Amazon has been on an upward trend. Land is being cleared for ranching, logging, and unsustainable agriculture. (Forest soils are poor because most of the nutrients are stored in the biomass. Once what's in the soil has been used up, the leaf litter which once replenished the soil's fertility is gone.) Companies also mine for gold and drill for oil in the area, and as communities demand new housing, infrastructure projects such as road building also contribute to the problem.
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Its Plants Provide a Host of Health Benefits
Indigenous groups treat the rainforest as one big medicine cabinet. Approximately 80,000 plant species can be found in the forest, many of which have health-enhancing properties. Guaraná, for instance, contains four times as much caffeine as coffee. It was used in the Amazon as a tonic long before manufacturers of sports and energy drinks got wind of it. Equally well-known is the use of quinine, which is extracted from the bark of the cinchona tree and was traditionally used in the treatment of malaria. (These days, the World Health Organization recommends the use of other substances, which cause fewer side effects.)
Indigenous peoples also use matico leaves as a treatment for coughs, easing nausea, and as an antiseptic. The herbal supplement uña de gato, known in English as cat's claw, is believed to help ease symptoms of rheumatism, toothache, and bruising. The bark and stems of the vine-like Chondrodendron tomentosum are a source of curare, which Indigenous hunters typically used as an arrow poison. Its muscle relaxant and paralysis-inducing properties have been studied to enhance our understanding of treatments for tetanus, Parkinson's disease, and multiple sclerosis.
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More Than 400 Indigenous Tribes Call the Rainforest Home
Survival International suggests that around 1 million Indigenous peoples inhabit the Amazon rainforest. They form about 400 different tribes, each with their own language, culture, and identity. A few are nomadic, but most live in permanent settlements close to the river, which enables them to hunt, farm, fish, and access services such as health care and education. Some Indigenous groups — perhaps around 15 in Peru and at least twice that number in Brazil — are recognized as "uncontacted" and live an isolated life deep in the forest. However, recent reports indicate that some are choosing to make contact with the outside world.
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It's Home to the World's Largest City Without a Road Connection
The Jesuits founded the Peruvian port of Iquitos in 1757, and the city's population burgeoned as the rubber trade kicked in at the end of the 19th century. Today, the Iquitos' urban area has almost half a million inhabitants. It is widely believed to be the largest city in the world without a road connection to the outside world. To reach it, most visitors catch a flight from Lima, though planes also touch down at two other regional hubs, Tarapoto and Pucallpa.
Essential supplies arrive by air, though most of what the city needs is brought in by cargo ship along the Amazon River. Small vessels shuttle between Iquitos and outlying settlements, while larger cruise ships carry tourists keen to experience the nature and wildlife that's found in the remote rainforest.
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There's an Opera House in the Jungle
Across the border in Brazil, another city's fortunes waxed and waned with the rubber industry. Manaus was already a thriving port city by the 19th century, thanks to its location at the confluence of the Rio Negro and the Solimões, which join to form the Amazon River. But as the increasing popularity of the bicycle, then the motor car, soon created an unprecedented demand for rubber, the city flourished. Its population grew rapidly as migrants flocked to the city to find work.
Those who had made their fortunes competed to build houses that would outshine those of their neighbors. The construction of the Manaus Opera House, which opened in 1897, was an example of the one-upmanship common at the end of the century — and a message to the rest of the world that this Amazonian city had arrived. Its success would be short-lived, however. As the industry collapsed, unable to compete with its Asian competitors, the theater was a casualty and closed in 1924. Fortunately, it reopened in the 1990s and now stages concerts and performances.
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From the list archives just about 8 years ago. This is worth the repeat just because it says a lot about who we were and what we did as Naval Aviators and I was proud to be one of them. I have read every one of his books and they are very entertaining…Skip
Thanks to The Bear
Naval Aviation…Intruder Reunion …San Diego, April 16, 2016
Reaching back a few years - thanks to THE Bear, who we hope is comfortable and safe on his mountain
Steven Coonts on Naval Aviation…Intruder Reunion Speech…San Diego, April 16, 2016
April 30, 2016Mighty Thunder0 Comments STEVEN COONTS ON NAVAL AVIATION…INTRUDER REUNION SPEECH…SAN DIEGO, APRIL 16, 2016
Ladies and gentlemen, friends, shipmates:
Naval Aviation, which for me was A-6 Intruders, was the great adventure of my life. It was one of those rare instances in life when the reality lives up to its advanced billing. Actually, the reality was better than anything I dreamed it could be. I have certainly had other great adventures, including marriage, the practice of law, fatherhood, civilian flying and writing. Still, naval aviation was…….
Well, let me tell you about it. I was awe-struck by my instructors in flight school. They were mostly fleet pilots doing an instructor tour, except for a few plow-backs who desperately wanted to get to the fleet, and many were combat veterans. They were really old, positively geriatric, in their mid-to late twenties mostly, with a few old crocks in their early thirties.
They were warm and fuzzy, touchy-feely guys. I remember one flight I had in basic training in a T-2 Buckeye, with an instructor who was trying to teach me the nuances of basic instruments. I was trying to make all those little needles behave and grossly over-controlling with a death grip on the stick when my instructor in the back seat grabbed the stick and started bucking the airplane. "You don't have to be smart to do this," he said, and whack, whack, whack, with the stick. "If I had any goddamn brains I wouldn't be here." Whack, whack, whack. "Now stop trying to squeeze the black juice out of the fuckin' stick. Use your fingers." Whack, whack, whack. "Your airplane."
I thought those guys owned the ground they walked on, and I wanted to be one of them.
After the west coast RAG, VA-128, I reported to VA-196, the Main Battery. On our first cruise to WESTPAC aboard USS Enterprise, I realized that I had finally made it into this Band of Brothers, this fraternity of those who were willing and could and did. It was a self-selected group. All those who didn't want it or couldn't do it had dropped out, or been washed out or killed somewhere along the way.
A-6s were something special because they carried a crew of two. That meant the A-6 squadrons were large, with many diverse personalities. Later, when I tried to write a novel about the experience, that wonderful human zoo gave me plenty of inspiration.
No doubt your naval aviation adventures were very similar to mine. The young nugget pilots and BNs, the old fart lieutenant commanders, and the fossil commanders were almost universally from blue-collar or middle-class families. Naval Aviation was a step up in life for all of us. To my delight, I fit right in. I had grown up in a coal town in central West Virginia; I knew that no matter what happened, I didn't want to spend the rest of my days grubbing out a meager living in the coalfields. That ambition kept me motivated all the way. Not that we were making big bucks in the Navy, because we weren't. Still, we were all a part of something larger than we were individually; we served in the United States Navy and Marine Corps, and we served our nation.
Truthfully, I feel blessed that life gave me that opportunity. And I feel sorry for all of those young men who found a reason to take the easy course, who didn't see or appreciate the challenges of naval aviation that demanded the best that was in them every single day, from flying, counseling sailors, pretending to give guidance to chiefs, wrestling with the supply system and the paperwork, to horsing around with friends in the ready room and ashore. Later, for me, came a flight instructor's tour at VA-128 and a tour as an assistant catapult and arresting gear officer aboard USS Nimitz. Every day I was called upon to give the best I had.
I loved the Navy and would have probably stayed in until they kicked me out if I had only had a wife who was willing to share the adventure. Mine wasn't. So after nine years of active duty I pulled the plug, went to law school, became a lawyer and ultimately got into writing.
It was in 1984, after a divorce, when I had plenty of spare time and absolutely no money, that I finally decided to put butt in chair and write that story of what naval aviation was like during my two Vietnam cruises. The flying, the dying, the fear, the exhilaration I felt in a cockpit with the stick and throttles in my hands and the rudder pedals beneath my feet, the insanity of the Vietnam War, the truly marvelous young men I shared it with… all of it. I only wish that I had been a better, more experienced writer, but I wasn't. Still, I had lived it and tried to capture it. I was willing to fail. You can't be a writer unless you are willing to fail.
Like every first novelist, I wrote nights and weekends. Unlike most, I then got lucky; The US Naval Institute was looking for a novel to follow Tom Clancy's The Hunt For Red October. I had thirty-two rejections in hand when the Naval Institute accepted my little flying story, picked my manuscript from the 150 that had been submitted. The original working title was For Each Other. I thought that title worked rather well, because if we didn't know what we were fighting for, at least we knew we were fighting for each other. The publisher thought that title smacked too much of a romance novel. They retitled it Flight of the Intruder, and to my absolute amazement, the novel stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for 28 weeks.
Fools occasionally ask me if I was Jake Grafton, the hero of the tale. Of course not. The book was the lore of the time and place, and the characters were amalgams of all the people I met in naval aviation. I didn't want to tell my story—I wanted to tell everyone's story. One perceptive reviewer noted that all the characters in the book were flawed in some ways and heroes in others. Of course; they were human.
That is not to say I liked everyone I met along the way, because I am no saint and only a saint could do that. I met some jerks and I met some fantastic officers who rose to very high positions in the Navy. But most of the people I met were like me, serving their country, doing the best they could, and eventually, sooner or later, they left the service and got on with the rest of their lives. They were the same type of men who served with George Washington, with U.S. Grant, who fought in the trenches of France, who manned the destroyers and destroyer escorts in the Battle of the Atlantic, who went ashore on Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima, who manned SBDs and torpedo planes to hit the Japanese task force at Midway. I am so proud that I was one of them.
All of us carry Naval Aviation with us everywhere we go, every day.
Sometimes young men and women ask me if they should join the service. Yes, I always say. It isn't a lifetime commitment. The experience will enrich your life if you treat every day as an adventure, not a career. If you spend your days sucking up to the boss while worrying about your fittie, you won't enjoy the challenge and the people. Do something else. Go to truck driving school, or become a plumber, or a politician.
The success of Flight of the Intruder allowed me to become a professional novelist. I have been doing it for thirty years. So far, I have published 36 books: twenty-one solo novels, nine co-authored tales, one work of nonfiction, and five anthologies. One of my novels was published under a pen name, Eve Adams, The Garden of Eden. Three of my novels were actually semi-sci-fi, the Saucer trilogy. If you are a hard-core sci-fi fan, you will be disappointed. The three Saucer tales are flying stories, chase books mixed with political satire.
I am always a bit skeptical when someone tells me they have read everything I ever wrote, because very, very, few people ever found The Garden of Eden, no doubt because the publisher slapped a pen name on it and refused to tell anyone who wrote it. Like most of my old paperbacks, you can buy it on amazon for a penny plus shipping. If you can't afford a penny for a really terrific book, you should probably get a job as a greeter at Walmart.
My latest literary crime is The Art of War, which was published in February in hardcover, audio and ebook formats. The Chinese plant a nuclear weapon in Norfolk to destroy the Atlantic Fleet, sort of Pearl Harbor II. Fortunately Jake Grafton and Tommy Carmellini manage to once again save the world as we know it from the forces of evil, which is the definition of a thriller.
People ask me, "Of all the books you have written, which is your favorite?" It's always the next one. My next novel will be published just two months from now, on June 13th; Liberty's Last Stand. It is perhaps the most politically incorrect book yet to be published in this century. Knowing naval aviators as I do, I think most of you are going to love it. It's a big book, 178,000 words, a doorstop. President Barry Soetoro declares martial law, and Texas declares its independence. Texas is joined by a handful of other states, and what happens is another American Civil War. You will be delighted to hear that Jake Grafton and Tommy Carmellini manage to save America from its president. Liberty's Last Stand, available in all formats on June 13. It's available for preorder now online from amazon and Barnes & Noble, and from your favorite bookstore.
In the interest of full disclosure, I should tell you that if you are a fan or disciple of Barack Obama, you should probably avoid this book, which will raise your blood pressure to unacceptable levels.
And since writers write, perhaps I should tell you a little about my next two projects, both non-fiction. We are negotiating a contract for License to Kill, which I wrote with William B. Scott and Mike McDaniel. The manuscript is complete, almost, and will probably be published later this year or early next year. Unfortunately I can't tell you any more about it at this time. We still have a few more people to talk to and don't want the buzz to turn them off.
Aviation historian Barrett Tillman and I are in the early stages of writing a book about The Dragon's Jaw: The Thanh Hoa Bridge. I was very reluctant to emotionally go back to Vietnam, so this project dragged for a couple of years. Finally I decided to suck it up and do it while I was still able and many of the men who flew the missions were still above ground to talk to. This evening I am soliciting your help. If you flew one or more missions against the Dragon's Jaw, which wasn't dropped into the Ma River until May 10, 1972, or against the associated rail-yard, barracks, SAM or flak sites, we would like to hear from you.
The best way to help would be for you to send me an email detailing your experiences, the squadron, your pilot or BN, the date, other planes involved, basically everything you can remember. I am especially interested in how the mission affected you. Where in the cruise did it come, were you especially worried, how was the flak and SAMs? What was memorable about the mission or missions? In other words, tell me more than date and target. Don't think this is an English essay; I'll write the story, that's what they pay me for, but I need your thoughts and input to do that.
On every table tonight I have placed a stack of my cards. Grab one. It gives my email address and the coonts.com website, which also has an email address. If you lose the card, don't sweat it. I am ridiculously easy to find; Coonts.com, or if you can't remember that, and some of us pilots have trouble with the memory thing, which was why we flew with kneeboards and pencils and BNs, you can google me: Stephen Coonts. That will take you to the website, where you can hit the Contact Steve icon. All you have to do is remember how to spell my name. C-o-o-n-t-s.
Home | Stephen Coonts
NEW Release by Stephen Coonts. THE ART OF WAR. Stephen Coonts' latest thriller, The Art of War, was published February 2, 2016, by St Martin's Press. Steve has published more books since that time and THE DRAGON'S JAW with Barrett Tillman Tillman was exceptional
I'd like to close by telling you about a telephone conversation I had with a former A-6 pilot, Captain Sam Sayers, who flew eleven missions against the bridge, in Alpha strikes and single-plane night missions as a member of VA-85. Many of you will remember Captain Sam, who went on to command the Blue Blasters of VA-34, then the east coast RAG, VA-42. He and his BN Charlie Hawkins were once shot up near Vinh. He made it to the ocean, and when the plane, which was on fire, became uncontrollable, he and Charlie ejected. They were rescued from the ocean by an HU-16 Albatross from Da Nang. I met Sam when he was the technical adviser on the movie Flight of the Intruder and we became good friends and hunting buddies. As he once told me about the movie, "Don't blame me. I would tell them that they had something wrong and the director would listen respectfully, then say, 'Duly noted, but we're making a movie. Now go find a chair in a corner and watch.
I suppose you have all seen the movie at one time or another. At the publicity blast for the opening, the director, John Milius, asked me if I would have done anything differently than he did. I would have opened the movie differently, I said. I would have had Jake and Morg fly the mission, take the bullet, and after landing back aboard ship, I would have had the camera linger on the scene of the corpsmen lifting the BN's body from the cockpit as the opening credits ran, and I would have showed the blood. A cockpit full of blood, rich red blood, all over everything. The novel and the movie are about blood. As is naval aviation. As is war. The Intruder crews were American warriors riding the hard, sharp, deadly tip of the arrow. Some of them gave their lives, and some of them spent an early stint in hell as prisoners of the North Vietnamese.
I remember standing at my locker aboard Enterprise donning my flight gear for missions up north. Taking off my wedding ring, putting my wallet in the locker, knowing that I might be shot down, killed or captured. You had to be willing to die to do this. I was young, and perhaps foolish, but I was one of those idiots who would rather die than look bad, one of those who would rather die than let my shipmates down, those whose luck was not as good as mine, those who had gone before and paid the ultimate price.
I didn't get shot down, and obviously I didn't die. My luck was better than those who did, and believe me, it was only luck. So I tried to tell their story, your story, our story, for all of us. For Each Other.
But I digress……..
I ended my telephone call with Sam Sayers a few weeks ago with a question. "Knowing all you know now about naval aviation and the political mess that was the Vietnam War, if you had it to do over again, would you do it?"
Sam spoke for me, and perhaps all of us, when he said, "Hell, yes!"
Thank you… and God Bless America.
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Thanks to DR and Rich
Subject: "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem"
Hi to all -
Iran
Today, Iran launched its first ever direct attack on Israel. As a response to the attack on their consulate, which killed several of their top military commanders, Iran had no choice but to respond in some dramatic fashion. Such is the nature of 'eye for eye, tooth for tooth'. Somewhere in the area of 200-250 missiles, cruise and ballistic, plus drones, were sent directly from Iran towards Israel. Israel claims that 99% were shot down, most before they entered Israeli air space. That claim has yet to be certified. If true, it represents a new record of intercepts.
So, if Israel responds with a counter attack, Iran will be forced to attack again, and it will go back and forth from there.
Several things look a bit shaky about this event. First, this was hardly a sneak attack. Iran has been saying for days it would strike, meaning that Israel would be on high alert. The drones and missiles were tracked almost from the moment of launch. Either very good intelligence, or very poor military planning on the part of Iran. The government of Iran is not popular among their own people. Protests and demonstrations have been in progress for years, and many of the population want this government gone. Iran is not popular as a neighbor in the region. Outside of their sponsored terrorist groups, most of the nations of that area also want the Mullahs gone. So, Iran must be careful, or they will take on a lot of people they do not want to fight.
It looks to me like this was a 'probing attack', to test the defenses of Israel, and also that it was more for show than effect. This way, Iran can say 'look, we sent in a massive response, but sadly, most of the weapons missed or were shot down. Well, we tried.' This might explain their 'one and done' comments while the attack was in progress, claiming that this did its job of responding to the Consulate attack, now we can all go home and save face.
Even more troubling to the mullahs was that Israel was not the only party that responded. These missiles and drones had to pass over other countries to get to Israel, and the air force of Jordan claims to have shot down 'dozens' of them. The military of the UK, and our own US, also shot down many of these drones and missiles. There are rumors that even Saudi Arabia shot down a number of them. So, if this escalates, Iran faces not one, but many enemies, just when their own people would like to overthrow the government. Things could get dicey very fast, and lots of people could be drawn into this conflict as well.
No doubt, everyone has noticed how effective and professional the IDF was in this fight.
Biden is another big loser in this. No matter who or how he supports, he will lose some part of his 'base' over that choice. He has openly committed to backing Israel, so that means that the Iran deal is done. And the Arab vote here in the US, especially Michigan. Another massive foreign policy failure, just before the election, is also not going to play well. Had Trump been in charge here, this likely would not have happened. But, by giving Iran all that money, and ignoring all their forbidden activities, Biden gave them the impression that they could do what they wanted to do.
Ukraine
The Ukraine forces made a couple of attacks on Russian power stations, some well back from the front lines. These attacks did some damage, not fatal. So, Russia has been striking power stations and other grid infrastructure in Ukraine, destroying significant portions of it. This cannot be fixed or replaced in the short term, or cheaply. Just another unhealed wound for Ukraine, when they cannot afford it.
So, I do not see this as the start of WWIII, yet. But, it could escalate into a protracted and bloody regional war that will draw in many other nations, whether they want to be involved or not. Certainly oil supplies will be affected. Meaning costs will go up.
Looks like we are shooting ourselves in the foot, again.
Rich
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This Day in U S Military History…….April 14
1918 – Six days after being assigned for the first time to the western front, two American pilots from the U.S. First Aero Squadron engaged in America's first aerial dogfight with enemy aircraft. In a battle fought almost directly over the Allied Squadron Aerodome at Toul, France, U.S. fliers Douglas Campbell and Alan Winslow succeeded in shooting down two German two-seaters. By the end of May, Campbell had shot down five enemy aircraft, making him the first American to qualify as a "flying ace" in World War I. The First Aero Squadron, organized in 1914 after the outbreak of World War I, undertook its first combat mission on March 19, 1917, in support of the 7,000 U.S. troops that invaded Mexico to capture Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa. Despite numerous mechanical and navigational problems, the American fliers flew hundreds of scouting missions for U.S. Brigadier General John J. Pershing and gained important experience that would later be used over the battlefields of Europe in World War I.
1942 – The American destroyer Roper sinks German U-boat U-85. This is the first sinking of an German submarine by an American ship.
1945 – Robert Dole, later US senator and 1996 presidential candidate, was severely crippled by an artillery shell. During World War II, Robert Dole served in the 85th Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division. While stationed in Italy he participated in Operation Craftsman where he was wounded during a firefight with German troops. Dole spent nearly 40 months in army hospitals and lost most of the use of his right arm as a result.
1945 – US 7th Army and allies forces captured Nuremberg and Stuttgart, Germany. The US 3rd Army captures Bayreuth.
1945 – Reichsfuhrer SS Himmler orders that no prisoners at Dachau "shall be allowed to fall into the hands of the enemy alive."
1945 – Allied forces conduct Operation Teardrop. Two carrier task groups carry out an extensive search for Seewolf U-boats suspected of transporting V2 rockets to be launched against New York City.
1945 – The US 14th Corps continues its advance onto the Bicol Peninsula in the southwest of Luzon. Calauag is taken. In north Luzon, US 1st Corps continues attacking near Baguio but fails to make significant progress.
1945 – Japanese Kamikaze attacks damage the battleship USS New York. On Okinawa, American forces attack strong Japanese defenses in the hilly Motobu Peninsula in the north.
1945 – B-29's damaged the Imperial Palace during firebombing raid over Tokyo.
1945 – The Fifth Army, now under Lucian K. Truscott (General Mark Clark, former commander of the Fifth, was made commander of the Allied armies in Italy), began pushing its way up the peninsula, capturing Massa and crossing the Frigido River. After meeting considerable German resistance in the mountains, the Fifth sent the Germans running once the battle took to open country. Bologna became the next target, falling to the Fifth one week after engaging the enemy in Italy. Ferrara, Bondeno, and Modena succumbed shortly thereafter, Genoa on the 27th, and Milan on the 29th–an agenda of assaults that mimicked Napoleon's Italian campaigns. Helping the U.S. effort was the work of Italian guerilla partisan groups, who had successfully taken control of the area west of the Como-Milan-Genoa line. By the time of the unconditional surrender of the Germans, signed at Caserta on April 29, almost 660,000 Axis troops lay dead–compared with 321,000 Allied dead.
1975 – The American airlift of Vietnamese orphans to the United States ends after 2,600 children are transported to America. The operation began disastrously on April 4 when an Air Force cargo jet crashed shortly after take-off from Tan Son Nhut airbase in Saigon. More than 138 of the passengers, mostly children, were killed. Operation Baby Lift was initiated to bring South Vietnamese orphans to the United States for adoption by American parents. Baby Lift lasted 10 days and was carried out during the final, desperate phase of the war, as North Vietnamese forces were closing in on Saigon. Although the first flight ended in tragedy, all other flights took place without incident, and Baby Lift aircraft ferried orphans across the Pacific until the mission concluded on April 14, only 16 days before the fall of Saigon and the end of the war.
1988 – The USS Samuel B. Roberts strikes a mine in the Persian Gulf during Operation Earnest Will. The Roberts had arrived in the Persian Gulf and was heading for a refueling rendezvous with USS San Jose on 14 April when the ship struck an M-08 naval mine in the central Persian Gulf, an area she had safely transited a few days previously. The mine blew a 15-foot (5 m) hole in the hull, flooded the engine room, and knocked the two gas turbines from their mounts. The blast also broke the keel of the ship; such structural damage is almost always fatal to most vessels. The crew fought fire and flooding for five hours and saved the ship. Among other steps, sailors cinched cables on the cracked superstructure in an effort to stabilize it. She used her auxiliary thrusters to get out of the mine field at 5kts. She never lost combat capability with her radars and Mk13 missile launcher. Ten sailors were medevaced by HC-5 CH-46s embarked in USS San Jose for injuries sustained in the blast, six returned to the Roberts in a day or so. Four burn victims were sent for treatment to a military hospital in Germany, and eventually to medical facilities in the United States. Four days later, U.S. forces retaliated against Iran in Operation Praying Mantis, a one-day campaign that was the largest American surface engagement since World War II. U.S. ships, aircraft, and troops destroyed two Iranian oil platforms allegedly used to control Iranian naval forces in the Persian Gulf, sank one Iranian frigate, damaged another, and sent at least three armed, high-speed boats to the bottom. The U.S. lost one Marine helicopter and its crew of two airmen in what appeared to be a night maneuver accident rather than a result of hostile operations.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
JORDAN, ROBERT
Rank and organization: Coxswain, U.S. Navy. Born: 1826, New York, N.Y. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 17, 10 July 1863. Citation: Attached to the U.S.S. Minnesota and temporarily serving on the U.S.S. Mount Washington, during action against the enemy in the Nansemond River, 14 April 1863. When the Mount Washington drifted against the bank following several successive hits which struck her boilers and stopped her engines, Jordan boarded the stricken vessel and, for 6 hours as fierce artillery and musketry continued to rake her decks, calmly assisted in manning a 12-pound howitzer which had been mounted on the open hurricane deck.
SIMONDS, WILLIAM EDGAR
Rank and organization: Sergeant Major, 25th Connecticut Infantry. Place and date: At Irish Bend, La., 14 April 1863. Entered service at: Canton, Conn. Birth: ——. Date of issue: 25 February 1899. Citation. Displayed great gallantry, under a heavy fire from the enemy, in calling in the skirmishers and assisting in forming the line of battle.
THIELBERG, HENRY
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 1833, Germany. Accredited to: Massachusetts. G.O. No.: 17, 10 July 1863. Citation: Serving temporarily on board the U.S.S. Mount Washington during the Nansemond River action, 14 April 1863. After assisting in hauling up and raising the flagstaff, Thielberg volunteered to go up on the pilothouse and observe the movements of the enemy and although 3 shells struck within a few inches of his head, remained at his post until ordered to descend.
WOOD, ROBERT B.
Rank and organization: Coxswain, U.S. Navy. Born: New Garden Ohio. Accredited to: Ohio. G.O. No.: 17, 10 July 1863. Citation: Attached to the U.S.S. Minnesota and temporarily serving on the U.S.S. Mount Washington, during action against the enemy in the Nansemond River, 14 April 1863. When the U.S.S. Mount Washington drifted against the bank and all men were driven from the decks by escaping steam following several successive hits which struck her boilers and stopped her engines, Wood boarded the stricken vessel and, despite a strike on the head by a spent ball, continued at his gun for 6 hours as fierce artillery and musketry continued to rake her decks.
WOODS, SAMUEL
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 1835, California. Accredited to. California. G.O. No.: 17, 10 July 1863. Citation: As captain of the gun, serving temporarily on board the U.S.S. Mount Washington, during the Nansemond River action, 14 April 1863. When one of his comrades was struck by a bullet and knocked overboard, Woods fearlessly jumped into the water and swam after him. Before he reached him, the man sank beneath the surface and Woods promptly swam back to the vessel, went to his gun, and fought it to the close of the action. At the close of the battle, he tirelessly cared for the wounded.
*MAGRATH, JOHN D.
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Company G, 85th Infantry, 10th Mountain Division. Place and date: Near Castel d'Aiano, Italy, 14 April 1945. Entered service at: East Norwalk, Conn. Birth: East Norwalk, Conn. G.O. No.: 71, 17 July 1946. Citation: He displayed conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty when his company was pinned down by heavy artillery, mortar, and small arms fire, near Castel d'Aiano, Italy. Volunteering to act as a scout, armed with only a rifle, he charged headlong into withering fire, killing 2 Germans and wounding 3 in order to capture a machinegun. Carrying this enemy weapon across an open field through heavy fire, he neutralized 2 more machinegun nests; he then circled behind 4 other Germans, killing them with a burst as they were firing on his company. Spotting another dangerous enemy position to this right, he knelt with the machinegun in his arms and exchanged fire with the Germans until he had killed 2 and wounded 3. The enemy now poured increased mortar and artillery fire on the company's newly won position. Pfc. Magrath fearlessly volunteered again to brave the shelling in order to collect a report of casualties. Heroically carrying out this task, he made the supreme sacrifice–a climax to the valor and courage that are in keeping with highest traditions of the military service.
STREET, GEORGE LEVICK, III
Rank and organization: Commander, U.S. Navy, U.S.S. Tirante. Place and date: Harbor of Quelpart Island, off the coast of Korea, 14 April 1945. Entered service at. Virginia. Born: 27 July 1913, Richmond, Va. Other Navy awards: Navy Cross, Silver Star with 1 Gold Star. Citation. For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as commanding officer of the U.S.S. Tirante during the first war patrol of that vessel against enemy Japanese surface forces in the harbor of Quelpart Island, off the coast of Korea, on 14 April 1945. With the crew at surface battle stations, Comdr. (then Lt. Comdr.) Street approached the hostile anchorage from the south within 1,200 yards of the coast to complete a reconnoitering circuit of the island. Leaving the 10-fathom curve far behind he penetrated the mined and shoal-obstructed waters of the restricted harbor despite numerous patrolling vessels and in defiance of 5 shore-based radar stations and menacing aircraft. Prepared to fight it out on the surface if attacked, Comdr. Street went into action, sending 2 torpedoes with deadly accuracy into a large Japanese ammunition ship and exploding the target in a mountainous and blinding glare of white flames. With the Tirante instantly spotted by the enemy as she stood out plainly in the flare of light, he ordered the torpedo data computer set up while retiring and fired his last 2 torpedoes to disintegrate in quick succession the leading frigate and a similar flanking vessel. Clearing the gutted harbor at emergency full speed ahead, he slipped undetected along the shoreline, diving deep as a pursuing patrol dropped a pattern of depth charges at the point of submergence. His illustrious record of combat achievement during the first war patrol of the Tirante characterizes Comdr. Street as a daring and skilled leader and reflects the highest credit upon himself, his valiant command, and the U.S. Naval Service.
*DUNHAM, JASON L.
Rank and Organization: Corporal, United States Marine CorpsFor conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as Rifle Squad Leader, 4th Platoon, Company K, Third Battalion, Seventh Marines (Reinforced), Regimental Combat Team 7, First Marine Division (Reinforced), on 14 April 2004. Corporal Dunham's squad was conducting a reconnaissance mission in the town of Karabilah, Iraq, when they heard rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire erupt approximately two kilometers to the west. Corporal Dunham led his Combined Anti-Armor Team towards the engagement to provide fire support to their Battalion Commander's convoy, which had been ambushed as it was traveling to Camp Husaybah. As Corporal Dunham and his Marines advanced, they quickly began to receive enemy fire. Corporal Dunham ordered his squad to dismount their vehicles and led one of his fire teams on foot several blocks south of the ambushed convoy. Discovering seven Iraqi vehicles in a column attempting to depart, Corporal Dunham and his team stopped the vehicles to search them for weapons. As they approached the vehicles, an insurgent leaped out and attacked Corporal Dunham. Corporal Dunham wrestled the insurgent to the ground and in the ensuing struggle saw the insurgent release a grenade. Corporal Dunham immediately alerted his fellow Marines to the threat. Aware of the imminent danger and without hesitation, Corporal Dunham covered the grenade with his helmet and body, bearing the brunt of the explosion and shielding his Marines from the blast. In an ultimate and selfless act of bravery in which he was mortally wounded, he saved the lives of at least two fellow Marines. By his undaunted courage, intrepid fighting spirit, and unwavering devotion to duty, Corporal Dunham gallantly gave his life for his country, thereby reflecting great credit upon himself and upholding the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for April 14, FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
14 April
1917: The Navy's first guided missile effort began when the Naval Consulting Board recommended a $50,000 payment to test aerial torpedoes--automatically controlled airplanes or aerial machines carrying high explosives--to the Navy Secretary. (24)
1918: Lts Douglas Campbell and Alan F. Winslow, flying Nieuport 28s of the 94th Pursuit Squadron, shot down the first two enemy aircraft in a 10-minute battle over Toul Airdrome on the first day of U.S combat operations in World War I. (4) (20)
1918: Capt. Edward V. Rickenbacker flies his first combat mission in France. He will become America's "Ace of Aces" during WW I.
1929: The patent application is made for the "pilot maker" flight trainer by inventor Edward Albert Link. Link's first military sales came because of the Air Mail scandal, when the Army Air Corps took over carriage of U.S. Air Mail. Twelve pilots were killed in a 78-day period due to their unfamiliarity with Instrument Flying Conditions. The Link Trainer will become an essential part of every pilot's training before the Second World War begins.
1936: Boris Sergievsky set a 24,950.712-foot world altitude record and a world record for amphibians with a payload of 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) at Stratford using a Sikorsky S-43. (24)
1940: First Air Corps detachment assigned to an Alaskan station arrived at Fairbanks, Alaska. (24)
1952: KOREAN WAR. The first AFRES wing ordered to active duty service, the 403d Troop Carrier Wing (Medium), arrived at Ashiya AB, Japan. An SA-16 from the 3 ARS, while under enemy small arms fire from the shoreline, rescued a U.S. naval aviator from the water. (28)
1960: The US Navy's first underwater launch of a Polaris missile, from a depth of 200 feet off San Clemente Island, achieved a surface ignition. (24) Through 16 June, TAC's first RB-66C quarterly rotation to Europe, called Swamp Fox, took place. 1962: Lt Col Leland F. Wilhelm (USA) set a world time-to-climb record by flying a YHU-ID Iroquois helicopter to 9,843 feet in 2 minutes 14.6 seconds. (24)
1966: The C-141A's first airdrops from an altitude below 1,200 feet were made at Fort Bragg. The aircraft made "jeep size" drops from 700 feet. (18) 1970: The Minuteman III deployment in North Dakota began when Minot's 91 SMW accepted its first missile. It arrived on board a C-141 in a flight from Hill AFB in the first airlift of an operational Minuteman III. (6) (16)
1972: BATTLE OF AN LOC. Through 30 June, C-130s airdropped 4,853 tons in 359 sorties to the besieged garrison at An Loc to prevent a North Vietnamese take over. The C-130s used high altitude airdrops for the first time to resupply US forces. By the time the road routes to An Loc reopened on 23 July, the C-130s had flown 763 sorties to deliver 10,081 tons of supplies. B-52 attacks provided essential close air support to embattled troops in An Loc. (18)
1986: Operation EL DORADO CANYON. The US retaliated against Libya for its involvement in terrorism with an airstrike, using 24 F-111s from RAF Lakenheath, five EF-111s from RAF Upper Heyford and Navy aircraft from the USS America and USS Coral Sea (14 A-6Es, six A-7s and six F/A-18s). In the mission, the aircraft successfully hit targets at Benina Airfield, Benghazi Military Barracks, and Aziziyah Barracks in Tripoli. The USAF lost an F-111 in the attack. Air refueling support came from 28 KC-10 Extenders and KC-135 Stratotankers, flying out of RAF Fairford and RAF Mildenhall. The tankers refueled the F-111 strike force four times, maintaining radio silence during the entire mission. On the return flight to the UK, the tankers refueled the F-111s two more times. (16) (26)
1999: Operation NORTHERN WATCH. Through 15 April, New York's 107 AREFW deployed nearly 100 members and 4 KC-135Rs to Turkey for a month with this operation. They teamed up there with New Hampshire's 157 AREFW. (32)
2000: Through 15 April, the Global Hawk UAV set a new unofficial record for its weight class by completing a 31.5-hour endurance mission. The Compass Cope-R remotely piloted vehicle held the previous record of 28.2 hours for 26 years. (3)
2006: An AFFTC crew flew an F-22 Raptor at Edwards AFB for the first time with an AIM-120D Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile. The test determined the effects of noise and vibration on the missile while still under development. (3)
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