Browsing: March

A Brief History On March 14, 1945, a British Lancaster heavy bomber dropped a bomb known as the “Grand Slam,” a 22,000 lb behemoth that was the largest and most powerful bomb ever used up to that time. For years, only a nuclear bomb would be more powerful. Digging Deeper British weapons designer extraordinaire, Barnes Wallis, designed numerous ingenious weapons, including the “Tall Boy” bomb, a 12,000 pound monster “earthquake” bomb that was used to attack hardened targets such a submarine pens and the German battleship Tirpitz (which was finally sunk with Tall Boys). Wallis also designed the “bouncing bomb”…

A Brief History On March 13, 1997, the skies over Arizona from the Nevada state line through Phoenix and on to Tuscon, a 300 mile stretch, were lit by a series of lights that fascinated and baffled thousands of witnesses that observed them, including Governor Fife Symington of Arizona. Digging Deeper Believed by many to be some sort of UFO or alien related event, the phenomena consisted of 2 major manifestations, the first being a triangular series of lights moving across the night sky, and the second being stationary lights over Phoenix. The first group of moving lights, arrayed in…

A Brief History On March 12, 1993, Janet Wood Reno, was sworn in as the first female Attorney General of the United States, and served as such through the entire Bill Clinton presidency, leaving office in January of 2001.  (Note: March is Women’s History Month) Digging Deeper Born in Florida in 1938, Reno was an exceptional student, earning Valedictorian honors at her high school and going on to Cornell University where she earned a BS in Chemistry.  Reno continued her education at Harvard Law School where she graduated with a JD (Juris Doctor) in 1963, as one of 16 women…

A Brief History On March 11, 1916, the United States Navy commissioned its first “Super-Dreadnaught” modern battleship, the USS Nevada BB-36.  Named after the State of Nevada, the USS Nevada was the first of a 2 ship class, the other ship being the USS Oklahoma BB-37. Digging Deeper By 1911, the navies of the world had progressed past the “Dreadnaught” state of battleship construction (1906) to the “Super-Dreadnaught” evolutionary stage with the advent of the British Orion class battleships.  The US immediately countered with the New York class battleship, with 14 inch main guns to match those of Japan and…

A Brief History On March 10, 1978, the Dassault Mirage 2000 fighter bomber made its first flight.  This lightweight, multi-role, single engine jet fighter would go on to serve as the backbone of the French Air Force fighters and also with 8 other countries. Digging Deeper Produced from 1978 to 2007, just over 600 of these jets were built at a cost of about $23 million each.  The Mirage 2000 is an evolutionary heir to the Mirage III, and the basis for development of the larger, heavier, twin engine Mirage 4000.  The Mirage 2000 is more or less the French…