A Brief History On July 15, 1954, the first prototype of what became the Boeing 707 and US Air Force C-135 family of airplanes made its first flight. Many airplanes have served a dual role well, moving cargo and people for civilian purposes or the same for the military. Sometimes a military airplane might be an ideal test aircraft for scientific purposes, or as a weather observing plane. Here we list 10 of these airplanes that have done double duty, and of course there are many more. Digging Deeper 10. Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny.” The most widely produced North American airplane…
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 July 15, 1838, while delivering a speech at Harvard Divinity School, Ralph Waldo Emerson described Jesus as a “great man,” but not “God.” He further caused a furor by discounting the miracles attributed to Jesus in the Bible as not true. Digging Deeper One of the guiding lights of the 19th Century philosophical Transcendentalist Movement, Emerson was a prolific writer of essays and a speech maker, and was a friend and mentor to Henry David Thoreau. In 1836, his essay, Nature, became the foundation of Transcendentalism, and his 1837 speech he called The American Scholar was called by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.…
A Brief History On July 15, 1815, Emperor Napoleon I of the French surrendered to the British aboard the HMS Bellerophon. If you are unfamiliar with the name of the ship, it comes from the greatest Greek hero of ancient times (until Hercules). Naming a ship after a mighty hero sure sounds better than naming one after some pencil necked politician. The British have always found some pretty nifty names for their warships and so have the US Navy, at least sometimes. Here we list 10 of the impressive, intimidating, just plain cool names for ships, and for each we…
A Brief History On July 14, 2004, Robert Novak of the Washington Post exercised irresponsible journalistic ethics by publishing an article outing Valerie Plame as a CIA operative. Digging Deeper Plame was the wife of Ambassador Joseph Wilson, a career diplomat that had been the US Ambassador to a few minor countries and had served other diplomatic roles. Plame, who was already a CIA agent when she married Wilson, was used to good advantage by the CIA with her husband providing diplomatic cover. All that changed when Wilson angered the administration of George W. Bush by publicly opposing the expected invasion of…
A Brief History On July 14, 1881, the outlaw known as Billy the Kid was shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett in New Mexico. The Kid was a wild one, having killed at least 8 men and possibly many more (legend says 21) by the time he was 21 years old. The West was called Wild for a reason. Outlaws and rough justice were the way of life and battles between ranchers, rustlers, cattlemen, and robbers were not rare. Here we list 10 of the wildest of the characters that made the West Wild. Digging Deeper 10. Apache Kid. Named…