Browsing: Military

A Brief History Possibly on June 16, 1944 (the exact date is unknown, said to be sometime in the Spring of 1944, so we chose this date), American Army Air Force pilot William Overstreet, Jr. was flying his North American P-51 Mustang in pursuit of a German Messerschmitt Bf-109 when the 2 fighter planes amazed onlookers on the ground by flying right under the lower arches of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. The epic event has been caught on canvas by artist Len Krenzler, in his painting “Berlin Express Arrives in Paris” (2000). Digging Deeper Overstreet and his squadron…

A Brief History On June 15, 1936, the Vickers Wellington twin engine bomber made its maiden flight. The bomber would be produced from 1936 until the end of World War II in 1945, with a massive production run of well over 11,400 copies, over 4 000 more than the larger and more famous 7377 Avro Lancasters built. The Wellington was quickly found to be inadequate for a role as a daylight heavy bomber but proved highly effective in other roles as a medium bomber, both versatile and resilient. Digging Deeper Designed by inventive genius Barnes Wallis, the guy that gave…

A Brief History On June 9, 1959, the United States Navy launched the USS George Washington, the first ballistic missile submarine capable of launching nuclear missiles. We used that occasion to publish the article “10 Weapons Milestones (Modern Systems that Changed the Game)” in which we named 10 of the most interesting and important advances in weaponry of the 19th and 20th Centuries. Today we list 10 more of those weapons and or weapons systems, and we branch out to include the 21st Century and Olden times as well. (Lightsabers not included!) Digging Deeper 1. Lasers (a Directed Energy Weapon),…

A Brief History On June 6, 1944, the character played by Robert Mitchum in the movie The Longest Day (1960), Brigadier General Norman Cota, makes a stirring announcement to his men who are under heavy enemy fire and terrified of moving forward: “Only two kinds of people are gonna stay on this beach — those that are already dead and those that are gonna die. Now get off your butts! You guys are the Fightin’ 29th!” It turns out Norman Cota was a real US Army General (eventually Major General) and he really did rally his men of the 29th…

A Brief History On June 5, 1944, the British RAF plastered the Normandy coast of France with 5,000 tons of bombs dropped by over 1,000 bombers in preparation for the D-Day landings the next day. The bombing failed to destroy the German defenses, and the further bombing of the German “Atlantic Wall” after midnight on D-Day (June 6, 1944) by 2,000 allied bombers also failed to achieve any particular benefit, especially due to cloudy conditions and bombers being extra cautious to avoid dropping bombs on Allied troops taking part in the landings, causing the bombs to fall too far inland…