A Brief History On October 31, 1941, the United States Navy destroyer, USS Reuben James was sunk by a German U-boat with torpedoes, the first US Navy ship sunk in the European Theater of Operations during World War II, and over a month before the US was even in the war. Today we will tell you a little about the namesake of the fateful ship, and about 10 ships well known for having songs about them. (Apologies to “The Ballad of Gilligan’s Island” and the SS Minnow!) Digging Deeper 1. USS Reuben James. The ship also known as DD-245 was assigned…
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A Brief History On October 26, 1943, what could have been a fantastic advantage in the German air war against Allied bombers in World War II first took to the air, with the first flight of the Dornier Do 335 Pfeil (Arrow). A two engine heavy fighter, the Pfeil was powered by propeller driving engines in the front and the back of the fuselage, a push-pull arrangement unlike any other World War II fighter plane. Alas, for the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) delays in obtaining sufficient engine production and clumsy German bureaucracy meant only 37 of the sleek and fast…
A Brief History On October 24, 1957, the US Air Force combined the proposals of three companies to develop a rocket powered spaceplane that was to perform multiple military roles, including bombing, reconnaissance, and research. Plans included a timeline of planning until 1963, first flights conducted as glide tests with powered test flights to follow in 1964. The plan was for an unmanned glide missile to be fielded in 1968 and a fully operational manned system by 1974. Digging Deeper Intended to be sent into space atop a rocket and return to Earth on a glide and land like an…
A Brief History On October 14, 1938, the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk made its first flight, leading to an eventual production run of 13,738 of the rugged fighters. Although often referred to as “obsolete” at the beginning of World War II, and famously rejected by the British for combat in the Northern European theater, the plane flown by the Flying Tigers with its intimidating shark mouth paint job became one of the main Allied fighters of World War II. (Previously, on November 6th we featured an article, The Hawker Hurricane: The Most Underrated Fighter Plane of World War II, and on…
A Brief History On September 29, 1940, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) experienced the most astounding incident of airplanes colliding in mid-air, becoming locked together, and then safely landing. Incredibly, no crew member of either plane was killed! Digging Deeper At the RAAF No. 2 Service Flying Training School at Station Forest Hill, New South Wales, Australia (near Wagga Wagga if that helps), pilots and navigators learned to fly CAC Wirraway (single engine) and Avro Anson (twin engine) airplanes. The Anson was a derivation of the Avro 652 airliner, that served as a general purpose airplane before and during…