A Brief History On May 15, 1941, the Gloster E.28/39 jet powered fighter prototype made its first flight. This first of the Allied jet powered aircraft would be further developed into the first operational Allied jet fighter, the Gloster Meteor. The test aircraft could only make 338 mph, much slower than piston engine propeller driven fighters, but the Meteor was superb for its day when it was introduced in July of 1944, later variants capable of 600 mph. Although with limited combat experience, including no air to air combat (except against V-1 cruise missiles) the Meteor joined the War too…
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A Brief History On May 14, 1878, the town of Salem, Massachusetts, was fittingly (in a way) the scene of the last known trial for the crime of witchcraft in the United States. Had people gone mad? Was there some sort of time warp? Were there ghosts from 1692 at work here? Digging Deeper Goofy as it sounds to us today, there are still plenty of people who believe in witches and witchcraft, and even the former Republican Vice Presidential nominee and erstwhile Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin can be seen on video being cleansed and protected from witchcraft by…
A Brief History On May 12, 2008, the Agriprocessors, Inc. kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, was the scene of the largest anti-illegal immigrant raid in the history of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Division of the US Department of Homeland Security. Arrests for identity theft, document fraud, social security number fraud and other fraud related crimes numbered 400 in the largest such mass arrest in the US up to that date. Digging Deeper Not only were there 400 arrests, but within an astounding 4 days there were 300 people convicted, most of whom served 5 months in jail…
A Brief History On May 11, 1891, while paying a State visit to Lake Biwa, Otsu, Japan, heir to the throne of the Russian Empire Tsesarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich (the future Czar Nicholas II, Emperor of Russia) was attacked with a sword by one of the Japanese policemen escorting him, wounding the Tsesarevich. Digging Deeper Lucky for Nicholas his cousin, Prince George of Greece and Denmark (seriously, Greece and Denmark? How did that happen?) was on the spot with his cane, with which he blocked the second sword strike, saving the life of Nicholas. The first strike had landed on Nicholas’s…
A Brief History On May 10, 2013, almost 12 years after the tragic terrorist events of September 11, 2001, a new One World Trade Center skyscraper under construction on the site of the former twin towers became once again, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. Digging Deeper When Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked airliners and flew them into the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center complex in Manhattan, New York City, sending the formerly tallest buildings in the world crashing to the ground, it was resolved nearly immediately that New York and the United States would rebuild…