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…
20 October 1941: USS Hornet {CV 8} is put in commission at Norfolk, CAPT Marc Mitscher, USN commanding. Laid down 25 Sept 1939 and launched in 14 Dec 1940, the USS Hornet, seventh ship in the Navy to bear that name, was built by Newport News Shipbuilding at a cost of $32M. At her launching,…
Let’s see: – Political leaders supporting rapid growth of new lending institutions issuing mortgages for municipal and residential construction? Check – Mortgages easier than ever to obtain with comensurate building boom? Check – Skyrocketing land values with exponential speculation? Check – Borrowers assuming more credit with deceasing ability to pay it off? Check – Appearance…
From the Secretary of the Navy WASHINGTON (NNS) — The Secretary of the Navy, Donald C. Winter released the following birthday message to the fleet in anticipation of the Navy’s 233rd birthday. “On 13 October 1775, the Continental Congress voted on a resolution to commission a swift sailing vessel with a crew of 80 men…
…another chapter in the Long War against terror is written: The toll: * Seventeen American Sailors dead: Hull Maintenance Technician Second Class Kenneth Eugene Clodfelter, 21, of Mechanicsville, Va. Electronics Technician Chief Petty Officer Richard Costelow, 35, of Morrisville, Pa. Mess Management Specialist Seaman Lakeina Monique Francis, 19, of Woodleaf, N.C. Information Systems Technician Timothy…
Some things you learn by reading. Some thngs you learn by watching Somethings you learn by doing. But some knowledge is only gained from years (decades) of watching, doing, learning. Carrier ops is one such area – and if you think differently, read this…
Fifty-five hours and 18minutes. 11,236.6 nautical miles. No GPS, no inertial nav, no fly-by-wire, no computers save the biologic ones and the whizwheels. No movies, no SATCOM, no sleeper seats. No in-flight refueling – no stops. No digital weather radar. Four aircrew, one nine-month old baby ‘roo and 8,592 gallons of AVGAS. Non-stop, Austalia to…
…and another book to add to the growing pile: In the Nightmare RONALD RADOSH We know that history holds many surprises. One does not expect to learn more about the secret history of the Gulag than we already know from both Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago and Anne Applebaum’s Gulag: A History. This feat, however, is…
“I’ll take ‘Space’ for $100B Alex” “Russia, South Ossetia, Georgia and the ISS.” “What is – How the US could find itself locked out of the ISS after 2010 Alex” Russia’s invasion and occupation of South Ossetia could have far reaching effects off world. In a scenario strikingly reminiscent of the movie, 2010, increased tensions…
The mid-1950’s were a fascinating time in aircraft development in the US. The famous “Century Series” was well underway with participation by almost all of America’s premiere aircraft manufacturers, a series of X-planes were pushing the boundaries at a remote desert lake-bed only recently renamed for one aviator who gave his life while testing a…
