A Brief History On September 7, 1876, the infamous James-Younger gang attempted to pull off a bank robbery in Northfield, Minnesota, but an alert and irate group of citizens quickly armed themselves and foiled the robbery, killing three of the robbers and wounding others. Digging Deeper Frank and Jesse James eluded capture, but two Younger brothers were caught and sent to prison.  The gang had previously served the Confederate States during the American Civil War as “bushwhackers,” basically land based pirates attacking and robbing Union forces and anyone believed to be Union sympathizers. Infamous bank robber Willie Sutton explained why…

A Brief History On September 6, 1939, the Battle of Barking Creek in the skies over England became an historic event for Britain’s RAF, the first loss of an RAF fighter plane and fighter pilot during World War II.  Unfortunately, this “combat” was a mistake, as radar operators misidentified the blips on their screen as enemy aircraft when in fact those menacing blips flying toward the English coast were actually RAF Hurricane fighters. Digging Deeper Spitfire fighters scrambled to intercept the supposed enemy and promptly shot down a pair of the incoming Hurricanes, killing one of the unfortunate pilots.  Such…

A Brief History On September 6, 2022, Ukrainian military forces conducted a surprise counter-offensive against the much larger and better equipped Russian forces that had invaded Ukraine in February of 2022, a continuation of the land grab Russia had illegally begun against their neighbor by seizing the Crimea in 2014.  Not only did Ukraine resist the Russian invasion of 2022, but the counter-offensive of September also resulted in Ukraine regaining over 3000 square kilometers of previously lost territory.  As the Russia-Ukraine war grinds toward 2025, the haughty Russians, previously believed to be a juggernaut of military power, has still failed…

A Brief History On September 6, 1997, two to two and a half billion people worldwide were glued to their TV sets watching the funeral of Princess Diana, a similar number of TV viewers that watched the 2009 funeral of pop rocker Michael Jackson. Digging Deeper Did you realize funerals were much bigger television events than Super Bowls?  In fact, the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II of the UK ranks Number 1 on the list of most watched TV events with a staggering 5.1 billion viewers worldwide! The opening ceremonies of the 1996 and 2008 Summer Olympics drew 3.6 and…

A Brief History On September 5, 1970, German race car driver Karl Jochen Rindt was killed in a practice lap accident for the 1970 Italian Grand Prix event at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza in Italy.  Despite succumbing to his injuries, he became the first driver to be posthumously awarded the Formula One World Drivers’ Championship after piling up enough wins to secure the championship. Digging Deeper Despite being born in Germany, Rindt competed as an Austrian.  The 1970 win was his only Formula One World Drivers’ Championship season, though he also won the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans in…