A Brief History On October 24, 1929, the New York Stock Exchange suffered the catastrophic day of losses known as Black Thursday, the day that for all intents and purposes started the Great Depression. Also known as The Great Crash or The Crash of ’29, this was the most significant stock market crash and economic event in the history of the United States, so enormous in scope that it plunged the entire industrialized world into a decade long depression. Digging Deeper The 1920’s in the United States was a time of excitement and prosperity. Women could vote, Prohibition went into…
Author: Major Dan
Major Dan
Major Daniel Zar is a retired veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He served during the Cold War and has traveled to many countries around the world. Prior to his military service, he graduated from Cleveland State University, having majored in sociology. Following his military service, he worked as a police officer eventually earning the rank of captain prior to his retirement.
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A Brief History On October 23, 1911, during the Italo-Turkish War, history saw the first use of airplanes for warfare purposes when an Italian airplane flew over Turkish positions as the first aerial reconnaissance mission by an airplane in history. Only 9 days later, on November 1, 1911, an Italian airplane dropped a bomb on Turkish troops, the first aerial bombardment in history. During this same conflict Italian pilots fired the first shots in anger from these planes, but only from pistols. All three of these milestones occurred in what is now Libya. Digging Deeper The aircraft involved was an…
A Brief History On October 22, 1797, Frenchman and balloonist Andre-Jacques Garnerin performed the first successful descent in a frameless parachute from a height of 3,000 feet. Garnerin had built a silk frameless parachute, the canopy of which we would recognize as a typical parachute today, with the lines running from the 23 foot diameter canopy to the basket Garnerin rode in. The parachute and basket Garnerin rode in were suspended underneath the hot air balloon gondola by a rope running through a hollow tube. (Previous parachute attempts were made with devices umbrella like in construction with umbrella like frames.)…
A Brief History On October 21, 1978, the Australian pilot of a Cessna 182 (small single engine propeller airplane) disappeared, but not before he radioed to Melbourne air traffic control that he was being shadowed by “not an aircraft.” Digging Deeper The 20 year old pilot, Frederick Valentich, had 150 flying time under his belt, and was authorized to fly at night in clear conditions. Although strongly desiring a career in the Australian Air Force, he had been rejected on academic grounds and had failed key tests to start a career in commercial aviation. He was apparently a lackluster pilot,…
A Brief History On October 20, 1944, Army and Naval forces of the United States landed on the Philippine island of Leyte in an amphibious assault to reclaim the islands from the Japanese who had taken the Philippines from the US and Philippine forces led by General Douglas MacArthur in 1942. MacArthur watched the landings from the deck of the cruiser USS Nashville and later that afternoon before conveniently located movie cameras the great man (just ask him!) waded ashore, keeping his famous “I shall return” promise when he fled the Philippines prior to his forces surrendering to the Japanese.…