Browsing: Military

A Brief History On April 1, 2018, we have just 2 words for you, April Fools! This time instead of publishing a satirical spoof containing false stories, we will list 10 times real people really got fooled, either as individuals or as a group. Digging Deeper 1. US Public, War of the Worlds. On October 30, 1938, CBS radio in the United States aired a for radio adaptation of the HG Wells 1898 science fiction story, The War of the Worlds, directed and narrated by Orson Welles. In spite of periodic reminders that the program was a work of fiction,…

A Brief History On March 30, 1939, the Heinkel 100 single engine piston powered fighter prototype set a new World Speed Record at 463 mph (745 kph). Incredibly, although then the fastest plane in the world, the He 100 was not put into production! Reasons given for not producing this potential super-fighter plane vary with the source, but the bottom line is that the fortunate Allies did not have to face a German fighter 4 years ahead of other fighter types. Digging Deeper German planners knew that war would be starting soon, and in an effort to streamline wartime weapons…

A Brief History On March 27, 1794, the United States Congress authorized the building and purchase of a fleet of 6 frigates, ships that would become the core of what became a standing US Navy, a naval fighting force that would eventually rule the oceans for many decades, ruling the waves from World War II to the present. Digging Deeper After fighting and winning the American Revolutionary War against the greatest military power in the world, Great Britain, the US fought valiantly at sea with a tiny Navy against the greatest naval power in the world, albeit with the help…

A Brief History On March 22, 1960, Scientists Arthur Schawlow and Charles Townes of Bell Labs in New Jersey patented their invention of the LASER, a device that concentrates and focuses visible light that today we find useful in a myriad of applications. Without the laser, we would not have CD’s and DVD’s, BluRay’s and the like. Digging Deeper The theoretical possibility of creating a laser or laser like device was proposed by Albert Einstein in 1917 and other theoretical scientific work contributing to the development of the laser (and its predecessor, the maser) continued throughout the 20th Century. In…

A Brief History On March 20, 1922, the USS Langley CV-1 was commissioned as the first American aircraft carrier in the US Navy. The ship had previously been a coal hauling ship (collier) named USS Jupiter AC-3 and had been converted for use with airplanes. The US Navy had seen the value of airplanes as anti-ship weapons when Army Air Corp Maj. Gen. Billy Mitchell demonstrated his ability to sink or heavily damage battleships by aerial attack. Of course, the scouting ability of an air fleet greatly expanded the ability of a sea going commander to reconnoiter the seas around…