A Brief History On July 28, 1935, the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress first took flight, starting a career that many claim as the greatest bomber aircraft of all time. Of course, the Avro Lancaster crowd has something to say about that, and the eternal B-52, descendant of the Flying Fortress, will probably serve for 100 years before it is retired. Even the proponents of the Consolidated B-24 Liberator question the title going to the B-17, but among the men that flew them, the B-17 was and will always be the greatest. Digging Deeper When the giant (for its day) Boeing…
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A Brief History On July 27, 1995, veterans of the Korean War finally got to see their sacrifice acknowledged when the Korean War Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C. Digging Deeper Often referred to as a “forgotten war” or even as an “unknown war,” the Korean War was actually the first major international conflict of the Cold War between the Communists and the Democratic West, and it took place from 1950 to 1953 before a truce ended the fighting, but technically not the conflict. Communist North Korea, an ally of the Soviet Union and Red China, had invaded Democratic South…
A Brief History On July 21, 1973, Israeli agents of the Mossad killed a waiter in Lillehammer, Norway, seeking revenge for the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre of Israeli athletes. The hapless victim was innocent and had nothing to do with the terrorist event, and the murder was just another blunder by a country attempting to conduct spy games. Over the years there have been some egregious errors by secret agencies, and here we list 10 of those “oops” moments. Digging Deeper 10. Soviet Gift to US Found to be Bugged, 1952. The Soviet organization, Young Pioneers, gave the US ambassador…
A Brief History On July 19, 1919, England celebrated Peace Day in honor of winning World War I. Unfortunately, her veterans were not so thrilled, and expressed their unhappiness by rioting and burning down the Luton Town Hall. Digging Deeper British commoners were drafted to fight in World War I, for low pay and under horrible conditions. Treated like cannon fodder by politicians and generals that did not understand modern warfare, they died and suffered en masse. Soldiers with trench foot, pneumonia, and other serious illnesses were treated with contempt at recovery centers and were made to engage in physical…
A Brief History On July 19, 1963, Joe Walker flew a North American X-15 rocket plane to a record altitude of 106 kilometers, qualifying him as an astronaut. The X-15 rocket plane was an extraordinary aircraft, to say the least. Over the years there have been airplanes that have stood out among the rest, for their performance, their records, their longevity or for capabilities that no planes before had mastered. Here we list 10 of these exceptional machines, real operational planes, not fantasy experimental ones, ones that caught our attention. Digging Deeper 10. Lockheed C-130, 1956-present. The first turboprop cargo plane…