Browsing: February

A Brief History On February 11, 1939, a prototype Lockheed P-38 Lighting twin engine fighter plane flew from California to New York in a then record 7 hours and 2 minutes.  This new US fighter plane was the fastest fighter in the world at this time, the first fighter to exceed 400 mph in level flight.  So what was wrong with it? Digging Deeper Normally our articles about military aircraft extol the virtues of the subject plane, but here we digress to look at the shortcomings and criticisms of this venerable aircraft, one of the creations of Clarence “Kelly” Johnson,…

A Brief History On February 10, 1962, the United States and the Soviet Union exchanged spies that had been captured by each country at the Glienicke bridge over the Havel River in Berlin, later known by a more romantic sounding name, “The Bridge of Spies.” Digging Deeper Perhaps the most famous American spy captured by the enemy since the Revolutionary War, Francis Gary Powers was a pilot for the CIA flying the top secret U-2 spy plane over the Soviet Union when he was shot down and arrested for espionage.  The U-2 spy plane is a jet powered extremely high…

A Brief History On February 9, 1825, the United States of America had the only incident (so far) of no presidential candidate winning a majority of the Electoral votes in a presidential election, forcing the House of Representatives to elect our next president. Digging Deeper The presidential election of 1824 had been contentious, which is how these things usually are!  In this election there were four major candidates instead of the usual two.  Presidential elections often have numerous obscure candidates, but only rarely does a third or fourth party candidate garner enough votes to actually win an electoral vote.  Senator…

A Brief History On February 8, 1960, the Hollywood Walk of Fame was officially opened with the placement of the first 8 brass and terrazzo stars in the famous sidewalk.  The Walk of Fame would almost immediately become a tourist favorite and a treasured honor to have one’s name placed in the sidewalk at Hollywood Blvd. and Vine St. in Hollywood, California. Digging Deeper Administered by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, the attraction gets about 10 million visitors per year.  Now having over 2500 stars (no, we are not going to list them!), the inaugural class of 8 plaques included…

A Brief History On February 7, 1497, the followers of Dominican priest Girolamo Savonarola of Florence, Italy, gathered and burned a large quantity of objects they referred to as “vanities,” objects such as cosmetics, books, artwork, mirrors, fancy clothes, playing cards, and musical instruments, any objects these religious zealots thought could lead people to sin. Digging Deeper Misguided people have engaged in burning books and other articles that they have seen as contrary to their view of what is “proper,” “right,” or “moral” throughout history, and of course the Florence incident was not the first or largest of these burnings,…