A Brief History On September 14, 1984, retired USAF Colonel Joseph Kittinger made aviation history by becoming the first person to pilot a gas balloon solo across the Atlantic. Digging Deeper Kittinger scored other aviation firsts when he made the then record high altitude skydive, 102,800 feet, in 1960, a record that stood until 2012. Kittinger flew 483 combat missions in Vietnam, including being shot down and captured in 1972. Kittinger had also previously set altitude records for balloon flight, and on one of those high-altitude flights became the first human to view the curvature of the Earth fully. Not…
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A Brief History On September 11, 1941, aviator Charles Lindbergh delivered a speech for the America First Committee in Des Moines, Iowa, in which he claimed the US was being coerced into World War II, alleging, “…pressing this country toward war; the British, the Jewish, and the Roosevelt Administration.” Digging Deeper Having become a celebrity and American hero by becoming the first pilot to fly non-stop solo across the Atlantic in 1927, Lindbergh was a popular figure. Unfortunately, he had political leanings that included anti-British and anti-Jewish sentiments, while openly admiring Germany. An anti-communist, Lindbergh echoed contemporary German ideology by…
A Brief History On August 29, 1915, US Navy salvage crews raised the submarine, F-4, from the seabed off Honolulu where she had sunk with all hands on March 25, 1915, the first USN sub lost and another in a long list of Naval “Oops Moments.” Digging Deeper Tiny by today’s standards, the F-4 was only 142 feet and 7 inches long with a beam of 15 feet, with a crew of only 21 on the day she sank. Her original name had been USS Skate, although it was changed before her launch. Interesting trivia regarding her salvage is that…
A Brief History On August 27, 1982, far away from Anatolia, Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide killed Turkish diplomat Atilla Altıkat in Ottawa, Ontario, as vengeance for the Armenian Genocide of 1915. Time and distance do not always stop those bent on revenge, and we list a few of those incidents. Digging Deeper In 1943, the US conducted Operation Vengeance, sending P-38 fighters 435 miles to shoot down and kill Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the architect of the Pearl Harbor raid. From 1972 to 1973, Israel’s Mossad conducted Operation Wrath of God, revenge for the murders of Israeli athletes…
A Brief History On August 25, 1967, US Navy World War II pilot, George Lincoln Rockwell, was shot and killed by a former member of his hateful group. Digging Deeper Born to European American parents that worked as comedians, little was funny about George. His parents divorced when he was young, and he was later denied admission to Harvard. He did attend Brown University but left in 1938 to join the Navy as a pilot. He served the US Navy well during World War II, although he did not engage in combat. Recalled to active duty for the Korean War,…