Browsing: Military

A Brief History On May 27, 1958, the McDonnell Aircraft (later McDonnell Douglas) F-4 Phantom II naval interceptor made its first flight.  Designed as a carrier airplane to defend the fleet against Soviet supersonic bombers, the concept was to create an interceptor that could climb rapidly and fly fast enough to catch bombers before they got close enough to attack the fleet. Digging Deeper Prior to entering service in 1960, the F-4 proved its concept by setting 15 aviation records for such things as speed and altitude.  Designed to shoot down bombers rather than dogfight with fighters, the F-4 was…

A Brief History On May 25, 1738, a treaty was finally signed, ending the war between Maryland and Pennsylvania known as The Conojocular War, or Cresap’s War. Digging Deeper The war had started in 1730 over boundary disputes, and escalated over the next few years to the point where military forces became involved in 1736 and 1737. The treaty, ordered by King George II, had ended the shooting war, but the boundary dispute lasted all the way until 1767 when the Mason-Dixon Line became recognized as the boundary. The colonial governments of Pennsylvania and Maryland became embroiled in the dispute…

A Brief History On May 24, 1940, Ukrainian born Igor Sikorsky flew the first successful single rotor helicopter in history, the Vought-Sikorsky VS-300 (untethered flight).  Within 2 years, his Sikorsky R-4 became the first mass produced helicopter in the world. Digging Deeper Sikorsky was born in Kiev, Ukraine, in 1889 back in the days of the Russian Empire.  He was of Polish, Russian, and Ukrainian origin, and became a noted aviation pioneer while a Russian subject.  Some of his early Russian accomplishments included design and flying of the first multi-engine fixed wing aircraft, the Russky Vitas (1913) and the Ilya…

A Brief History On May 22, 1942, Ted Williams, arguably the best baseball player of that time, joined the United States Navy Reserve and later served in the US Marine Corps as a naval aviator.  He flew the F4U Corsair but did not fly in actual combat against the Japanese as he was still on Hawaii awaiting assignment when the war ended.  Many other big name celebrities have fought for their country, and here we list 10 of them.  Some fought and gained fame, allowing them to become celebrities, while others on the list were already famous people at the…

A Brief History On May 22, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson announced his “Great Society” program that was to end poverty and racial injustice in the United States.  His reforms did neither, as we see so evidently today.  Presidents have often failed miserably in their attempts to achieve their agendas, and here we list 10 of those losing propositions.  (Note: The order listed does not indicate importance or scale of the blunders.) Digging Deeper 10. Richard Nixon, Cover up Watergate.  Nixon’s attempt to cover up the Watergate break-in by operatives of his re-election campaign blew up in his face when tapes…