Browsing: Military

A Brief History On January 14, 1969, we were once again reminded how navies around the world manage to make mistakes that cost lives and even entire ships.  This time, 28 lives were lost and 314 sailors injured, but the USS Enterprise, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, was not lost. Digging Deeper We have commented on naval disasters we call “Naval Oops Moments,” and this time the problem was a Zuni rocket under a jet’s wing that blew up.  The explosion destroyed that plane and caused a fire resulting in multiple explosions, destroying 15 jets and blowing holes in the deck.…

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A Brief History On January 11, 1935, American aviatrix Amelia Earhart became the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to California, one of her many aviation firsts.  She was also the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic and was a proponent of women in aviation, of which there have been many great ones, as listed below: Digging Deeper Jackie Cochran (1906-1980) was an aviation pioneer that held more aviation records during her life than any other pilot of either sex.  The first woman to fly supersonic, she also helped organize female pilots for Britain and the US…

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A Brief History On January 4, 1989, two Libyan pilots made the massive blunder of attempting to engage a pair of US Navy F-14 Tomcat fighters over the Gulf of Sidra off the Libyan coast, with the entirely predictable result of both MiG-23 “Flogger” fighters being promptly shot down. Digging Deeper The Libyan fighter pilots would have done well to remember the previous incident over the Gulf of Sidra back in 1981, when two Libyan Su-22 “Fitter” fighters were shot down by a pair of USN Tomcats, another time enemy pilots made the mistake of attacking US naval aviators. As…

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A Brief History On January 3, 2002, an Israeli operation called “Noah’s Ark” resulted in the seizure of a ship load of munitions bound for Gaza to arm Palestinian militants. Digging Deeper The freighter, Karine A, had been purchased by the Palestinian Authority and renamed and crewed with Palestinian sailors, loaded with 50 tons of weapons, and sailed to the coast of the Gaza strip between Israel and Egypt, a territory set aside as a Palestinian homeland and home to over 2 million people. The purchase of the weapons had been arranged and facilitated by Iran and the Iran allied…

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A Brief History On December 30, 2009, the Lanzhou–Zhengzhou–Changsha diesel oil pipeline in Shaanxi, China, suffered a rupture and spilled about 40,000 gallons of fuel into the Wei River and on to the Yellow River.  An environmental disaster, but at least nobody was killed. Digging Deeper Transporting oil, other liquids, and gasses that might be toxic or flammable is dangerous, regardless of the manner of transport.  Trains, trucks, ships, and pipelines are susceptible to accidents, natural disasters, and sabotage, and have all suffered disasters. Some notable pipeline disasters include the LaSalle Heights, Quebec natural gas explosion in 1965 that left…

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