Author: Major Dan

A Brief History On July 10, 1942, an American pilot spotted an intact Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter downed on Akutan island.  The Zero was recovered and restored to flying condition by the Americans and provided information needed to develop American fighters and tactics to cope with the Zero’s great performance.  Here we list 10 of the most formidable fighter planes American pilots have had to face in combat.  Digging Deeper 10.  Mikoyan and Gurevich MiG-29. Inflicting (disputed by allies) rare air to air kills on a British Tornado and an American B-52 during the 1991 Gulf War, the MiG-29…

A Brief History On July 10, 1942, a US pilot spotted a downed Japanese A6M Zero fighter plane on Akutan Island, Alaska.  The relatively intact fighter was recovered by US forces, made airworthy, and extensively tested, providing valuable intelligence about the Zero that had been terrorizing American pilots.  Last year we used this incident to list 10 of the greatest “enemy” fighter planes, and this time we list 10 of the greatest (sometimes more interesting or famous than important) intelligence coups of World War II.  Some of these coups can be times when preventing the enemy from learning something is…

A Brief History On July 9, 1922, Johnny Weissmuller became the first man to break 60 seconds in the 100 meter freestyle swim, posting a world record time of 58.6 seconds.  Weissmuller rode his fame as a swimmer to become the Tarzan of the movies that we think of as the definitive Tarzan.  He was the greatest swimmer of his day, but girls routinely beat his best times today.  Here we list 10 of the greatest swimmers in the world and in history, some of which may not be what you are thinking of.  (Maybe next time we can list the worst swimmers!)…

A Brief History On July 9, 1958, an earthquake (7.9 to 8.3 on the Richter scale) struck Alaska, shaking off a 90 million (long) ton block of rock and ice into Lituya Bay in southern Alaska, resulting in the biggest wave ever recorded. Digging Deeper A megatsunami is created when an impact event occurs, such as a meteor striking the water, a landslide causing large amounts of material to fall into the water, or violent  volcanic activity.  This differs from normal tsunamis that originate from volcanic or tectonic activity on the sea floor, while megatsunamis events are created by impact…

A Brief History On July 9, 1903, the future leader of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin, was exiled to Siberia for 3 years.  Financing the Communist movement in Russia by robbery, extortion and kidnappings, it is no surprise that Stalin (born Ioseb Jugashvili) was arrested several times and sent to Siberia, where he invariably escaped to return to fomenting revolution.  Vladimir Lenin likewise served 3 years of exile in Siberia for sedition.  (If punitive exile was supposed to erase revolutionary zeal, it appears not to have worked.) Digging Deeper Many future leaders of countries had found themselves in jail prior…