A Brief History On August 22, 2007, the Texas Rangers beat the Baltimore Orioles with a score of 30-3, the most runs ever scored by a major league baseball team in the modern era. Sometimes it just happens that one side has all the might or all the luck and really gives it to the other side. This disparity can take place in sports, in wars or in just about in any other competitive endeavor. Here 10 of those lopsided victories that left one side hurt and stunned are listed. (Sorry American football fans, you will have to click on this…
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A Brief History On August 20, 1940, Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the war-torn United Kingdom, delivered one of his most stirring wartime speeches, one that hailed the efforts of the Royal Air Force (RAF), known from then on and forever after as “The Few.” Digging Deeper All of Great Britain, but especially England, was being slammed by the might of Hitler’s Lufwaffe, and with almost all of the rest of Europe already under Axis control, the British were on their own. Hitler and his Nazi troops , however, could neither eliminate the UK from the war nor invade the island of Great Britain…
A Brief History On August 19, 1940, the B-25 Mitchell was flown for the first time. Although its service life did not extend as long as many other airplanes, this medium bomber was adapted for a huge variety of uses and configurations, making it one of the most versatile aircraft ever. Here 6 (well, okay, actually 7) such multi-purpose aircraft are listed in the order the author finds most interesting or exciting. Digging Deeper 6. De Haviland DH.98 Mosquito. Entering service in 1941 as a high-speed unarmed bomber, the Mosquito was built mostly of wood, giving it a light airframe…
A Brief History On August 17, 1943, the U.S. 8th Air Force, the main American unit of heavy bombers stationed in England, launched 376 B-17 bombers against Schweinfurt and Regensburg in Germany, a raid that came to symbolize the dangers of unescorted bombing. Digging Deeper The ambitious plan was to attack Regensburg with 146 and Schweinfurt with 230 B-17s. The bombers were only escorted part of the way because the British Spitfires and American P-47 Thunderbolt fighters lacked the ability to cover the range. The escorting Spitfires could only accompany the bombers as far Antwerp, and the Thunderbolts could barely reach the far…
A Brief History On August 16, 1944, the Nazis flew the prototype of the Ju-287 for the first time. Manufactured by the German aircraft company Junkers, it was a 4-engine, jet-powered bomber whose forward-swept wings made it radically different from any other airplane in existence at the time. Digging Deeper With a turbojet engine on each side of its nose, and another under each wing, the Ju-287 flew to speeds of almost 350 mph, which was fast but still not fast enough. Originally it was supposed to have been equipped with even more powerful jet engines, but developmental difficulties meant that Junkers had to go with what was available, the Jumo…