A Little Common Sense
A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.
– Thomas Paine
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This Date in Naval Aviation History: Operation Vittles – Navy-style
27 October 1948. Four months earlier, the Soviets began their blockade of Berlin in earnest. All surface transportation into the part of the city occupied by the Western Allies (US, UK and France) was cut off and all supplies, food, fuel and the like was prevented from entering the city. But the air approaches into…
Midway 70 Years Later: First Person POVs
Through the years (!) I’ve been writing this blog, a number of first person POVs have crossed the (virtual) desk – either sent directly to me or serendipitously. As a historian by avocation I find I much prefer the first person narrative because all the after action reports and analyses, while no doubt offering…
The Solomons Campaign: Cactus Air Force and the Bismarck Sea
Thus far, and not surprisingly so, the conversation has focused on the naval forces – afloat and ashore, at work in the Solomons. Today we go a wee bit joint and talk about land-based air and its contribution. We are all (or should be) pretty familiar with the inter-service rivalry that sprung up pre-war between…
Countdown to Midway: 3 June – First Contact
WEDNESDAY, 3 JUNE 1942 ALASKA: In an attempt to divert forces from the Midway area, a Japanese carrier-based bombers and fighters bomb and strafe Ft Mears and Dutch Harbor in several waves inflicting little damage but killing 52 US personnel. P-40s from Cold Bay trying to intercept them arrive 10 minutes after the last attack…
Flightdeck Friday: A Family Remembers a Father, Naval Officer and Former Vigilante B/N
A few days back I received a very nice note regarding an earlier Flightdeck Friday whose subject, the A5A Vigilante, is a favorite of mine.  Now, having been frustrated upon checking into VT-10 (ahem, many years ago) to learn that I’d missed the last class allowed to go Vigi’s, any story about Vigi’s will make…
Sixty Years Ago – The Beginning of the End of an Era
23 July 1947: VF-17A becomes the Navy’s first all-jet squadron with the initial delivery of 2 x FD-1 Phantoms at NAS Quonset Point, RI and the era of props on carriers begins to close. This followed by a year, the first carrier ops of a jet with a FD-1 onboard USS Franklin D. Roosevelt. Taking subsequent…