A Brief History On September 7, 1997, the latest and greatest of America’s jet fighter air superiority fighter planes first took to the sky. Incredibly complex, sophisticated, and of course, expensive, the Lockheed F-22 Raptor was designed to be a stealthy fighter that could take down enemy fighters and bombers without even being detected. Despite its steep price, the fighter would be worth the cost if it could deliver on its promises. Could it deliver? Read on… Digging Deeper Back in World War II, several nations attempted to produce fighter aircraft specifically designed to out fight other fighters and provide…
Browsing: September 7
A Brief History On September 7, 1776, American revolutionary Ezra Lee attempted to use a submarine called the Turtle in combat. The hand powered little one man sub did not perform as expected, and Lee was unable to attach his offensive explosive charge to a British warship. Twice in the past we have used this example and the B-32 Dominator to make a list of 10 Underperforming Weapons and 5 More Underperforming Weapons. Today we take this opportunity to list another 5 weapons that disappointed the people meant to use them. Digging Deeper 1. M-4 Sherman Tank, 1942. When the American Army…
A Brief History On September 7, 1812, The Battle of Borodino was fought as part of the Napoleonic Wars during the French invasion of Russia. As a result of France’s tactical victory, Emperor Napoleon I the Great (r. 1804-1814, 1815), one of history’s “great captains”, captured Moscow. In commemoration of Napoleon’s victory, this article lists those particularly illustrious military commanders considered the “great captains” of history. The notes for each entry are to sources that explicitly refer to the individuals as “great captains”. Digging Deeper Cyrus II of Persia (c. 600 – 530 BC), commonly known as Cyrus the Great and…
A Brief History On September 7, 1776, American patriot Ezra Lee made the first attack by a submarine against a surface warship in history against the HMS Eagle in New York Harbor. The attack failed when the screw designed to attach an explosive mine to the side of the Eagle failed to penetrate the ship’s hull, allowing the bomb to float away and explode harmlessly. Last year on this date we list 10 Underperforming Weapons, weapons and weapon systems that did not live up to expectations though they may have had some level of limited success. Also see our articles…
A Brief History On September 7th, 1533, in what had to ironically have been one of the most disappointing births in history, the future Queen Elizabeth I of England made her grand entrance onto the world and political stage. Digging Deeper The first article of this series on the Six Wives of Henry VIII discussed the possibility that Catherine of Aragon might have lied about being a virgin at the time of her marriage to Henry. This article focuses on the consequences of Anne Boleyn denying Henry sex and what might have happened had she not. By divorcing Catherine of…
