A Brief History On November 23, 2022, American audiences will have the opportunity to see a new motion picture we got to pre-screen the other day, a Korean War era historical/biographical film about the first African American Naval aviator, a man named Jesse Brown (Jonathan Majors), touching on the struggles with racism in the recently integrated US military as well as his loving family and devoted White friend, fellow pilot Tom Hudner. Digging Deeper Devotion features thrilling flight scenes of US Navy fighter aircraft in peacetime and in combat, which for me was portrayed in brilliant cinematic fashion, though not…
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A Brief History On November 4, 1962, the US conducted the last event of Operation Fishbowl, a series of nuclear blasts conducted at high altitude. Digging Deeper Operation Fishbowl consisted of 5 tests, part of the larger Operation Dominic, that in 1962 saw an incredible 31 nuclear blasts. Why so many nuclear test blasts in such a short time? Because the Soviets had resumed testing after an unofficial nuclear test moratorium between the superpowers from 1959 to 1961. Luckily for the health of humans around the globe, the US, UK and USSR signed the Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in…
A Brief History On November 1, 1951, the US Army conducted nuclear tests in the Nevada desert that included a diabolical exercise in which 6,500 US Army troops were exposed to the effects of a nearby nuclear detonation and its associated radiation. Digging Deeper Called Operation Buster–Jangle, the US conducted a series of seven nuclear tests, that included the November 1 test in which the 6500 troops, of which participation was not voluntary, were dug in foxholes and trenches only six miles from an air burst nuclear bomb of 21 kilotons yield, about that of the Nagasaki bomb. After having…
A Brief History On October 29, 1955, the Soviet Navy of the USSR suffered yet another in a long line of what we call “Naval Oops Moments” when the battleship Novorossiysk struck a World War II era naval mine and sank. Digging Deeper The Novorossiysk was the former Italian battleship Giulio Cesare, commissioned way back in 1914, but turned over to the Soviets after World War II. Ironically, the big ship was sunk in her own home harbor at Sevastopol, the Crimean headquarters of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet. Sadly, 608 sailors died in the incident, and the ship was…
A Brief History On October 26, 1943, the aptly named Dornier Do 335 Pfeil, or Arrow, made its first flight. Sleek and menacing looking, this unique fighter had an engine and propeller on both the front and the back of the fuselage and had the performance to match its appearance. Digging Deeper Today, we offer you a list of candidates for the meanest looking plane of World War II, but feel free to add your own choice. Bell P-39 Airacobra Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress Curtiss P-40 Warhawk Dornier Do 335 Pfeil Junkers Ju-87 Messerschmitt Me-163 Komet Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe…