Fifth ship of the Essex-class CVs. Fifth ship named for Benjamin Franklin… The date – 19 March 1945. Area of operations – fifty miles off the coast of Japan. Flight ops have been underway since before dawn, beginning with a strike against Honshu and another against shipping in Kobe harbor. On…
Requirement: 1) place a satellite in orbit during the IGY; 2) accomplish a scientific experiment in orbit; 3) track the satellite and ensure its attainment of orbit. Because of an ongoing classified program to put reconnaissance satellites in orbit (Project WS-117 using Air Force Thor MRBM’s – which later became the Korona-series of reconnaissance…
“…everybody’s going to make it.” – Thomas K. Jones, 1982 Counterveil vs. Countervalue… Decapitating strikes… Winning a protracted nuclear war… Nuclear calculus… These, and other topics were points of not just mere discussion, but deep, serious study and analysis in the early 1980’s by, among others, a small cohort of graduate students at the Naval…
GPS, LORAN, radar, SATCOM and detailed, up-to-date charts. Today we take so many things for granted when it comes to navigating the far-flung corners of this sphere. ”Twasn’t always this way though and this week’s Flightdeck Friday is a remarkable story of a crew caught up in the opening days of a world…
Operation Highjump–Air operations in the Antarctic ended. From 24 December 1946, six PBM’s, based on seaplane tenders, operated in the open seas around the continent of Antarctica, and from 9 February, six R4D’s operated ashore from the airstrip at Little America. Together these aircraft logged 650 hours on photographic mapping flights covering 1,500,000 square miles…
The keel of the first nuclear powered aircraft carrier, the USS Enterprise (CVAN 65) was laid at Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company. Enterprise under construction in slipway #11 Big E in late 1960 (USS Robert E. Lee in foreground, outbound for sea trials) Underway, October 1962 with CVW-6 embarked for the Cuban Missile…
On February 4, 2003 President George W. Bush delivered the following memorial speech at the Memorial Service in honor of the STS-107 Space Shuttle Columbia Crew–David M. Brown, Rick D. Husband, Laurel B. Clark, Kalpana Chawla, Michael P. Anderson, William C. McCool and Ilan Ramon. The service was held at National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s…
Ladies and Gentlemen, I’d planned to speak to you tonight to report on the state of the Union, but the events of earlier today have led me to change those plans. Today is a day for mourning and remembering. Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the…
Then:  (CIA A-12 Recce mission on 26 January) Now: Taedong River, Pyongyang, North Korea ( 38°59’27.83″N x 125°43’32.13″E) Remember: Remember: Read the story here, here or here. A clearly provactive and illegal hijacking on the high seas by the North Koreans – and compounded by inexplicably poor contingency planning on the part of US…
