This Day in US Military History

[mhansen2]

9 October

1781 – The bombardment of the British forces at Yorktown begins. Among the American guns there were three twenty-four pounders, three eighteen pounders, two eight-inch (203 mm) howitzers and six mortars.

1814 – Sloop-of-war USS Wasp vanished at sea. On this date, she informed the Swedish brig Adonis that she was “standing for the Spanish Main.” She was never seen again, and all hands were lost.”

1862 – “Eliza” was a Confederate sloop that was captured by steamship USS Kensington when carrying a cargo of 15 Hogshead of sugar. She was burned near Calcasieu, Louisiana.

1863 – “Bold Hunter” was a Union cargo ship carrying a cargo of 1025 tons of coal, from Dundee, Scotland for Calcutta, India. She was captured at sea, west of Africa, this date by screw steamer CSS Georgia and burned the next day.

1864 – “Roanoke” was a Union mail steamer of 1,071 tons built in 1851 at New York City. She was on route from Havana, Cuba for New York City with 50 crew and 35 passengers when she was captured 12 miles off Cuba by 2 or 3 Confederates posing as passengers. Reinforced from another ship, the Confederates planned to run the blockade but abandoned the plan and burned the Roanoke off Bermuda.

1867 – The Russians formally transferred Alaska to the US. The U.S. had bought Alaska for $7.2 million in gold.

1873 – LT Charles Belknap calls a meeting at the Naval Academy to establish the U.S. Naval Institute for the purpose of disseminating scientific and professional knowledge throughout the Navy.

1888 – The Washington Monument officially opens to the general public.

1919 - Continuing the transcontinental reliability and endurance test (see 8 October), a DH-4B hits the side of a mountain W of Cheyenne, Wyoming, killing 1st Lt. Edwin V. Vales and badly injuring 2nd Lt. William C. Goldsborough.] Lt. A. M. Roberts and his observer survive a close call when, in an effort to make up for lost time, Roberts chooses the direct route, over Lake Erie, between Buffalo and Cleveland. His engine fails, and he has to ditch in the lake. Luckily, a passing freighter sees the crash and picks up the two men.

1931 - U.S. Navy Keystone PK-1 flying boat, BuNo A-8516, is forced down in heavy seas and sinks.

1933 - Prototype Martin XB-10, 33–157, assigned to the 59th Service Squadron, Langley Field, Virginia, is lost when landing gear will not extend during routine flight, Lt. E. A. Hilary parachutes from bomber, which is destroyed with only 132 flight hours.

1941 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt requested congressional approval for arming U.S. merchant ships.

1945 – The following ships were lost this date in typhoon Louise at or near Okinawa:

USS Dorsey (DD-117)
USS Greene (DD-266)
USS Snowbell (AN-52)
LSM-15
PC-590
PC-814
PC-1238
PC-1558 (PGM-27)
SC-636
SC-999

1949 - Douglas C-47A-90-DL Skytrain, 43-16062, c/n 20528, of the 6th Rescue Squadron, Air Rescue Service, MATS, based at Goose Bay, Labrador, fails to gain sufficient airspeed on takeoff from primitive Isachsen airstrip, abandoned Isachsen weather station, Ellef Ringnes Island, Northwest Territory, Canada, at 1800 hrs. Zulu, lifting off twice before landing gear/skis contacted rising terrain and collapsed. Cause was icing and overload conditions. Four crew and six passengers suffer only minor injuries. Airframe abandoned in place.

1957 - Boeing DB-47B-35-BW Stratojet, 51-2177A, of the 447th Bomb Squadron, 321st Bomb Wing, taking part in a practice demonstration at Pinecastle Air Force Base suffers wing-failure during the annual Strategic Air Command Bombing Navigation and Reconnaissance Competition. The aircraft comes down north of downtown Orlando killing pilot Colonel Michael N. W. McCoy, commander of the 321st Bombardment Wing, Group Captain John Woodroffe of the Royal Air Force, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Joyce, and Major Vernon Stuff. Pinecastle AFB is renamed McCoy Air Force Base in McCoy's honor on 7 May 1958. Details of the accident remained classified for five decades, presumably because they would reveal flaws in the aircraft, but an FOIA request resulted in the release that showed that the investigation laid the blame on pilot McCoy.

1962 – Test pilot John McKay flew the X-15 to 39,685 meters (130,206 feet) and Mach 5.46.

1967 - Second (of five) Ling-Temco-Vought XC-142As, 62-5922, suffers major landing gear and fuselage damage during STOL landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California, following a 28-minute functional check flight after incorporation of modified control system components. Crew uninjured. This was the 488th test flight of the XC-142 program, and it turns out to be the last one before the program is cancelled. Airframe not repaired.

1969 - A U.S. Air Force Boeing B-52F Stratofortress, 57-0172, of the 329th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 93d Bombardment Wing (Heavy) crashes about 1,000 feet beyond end of runway while doing night time touch-and-goes at Castle AFB, California. The plane exploded on impact, killing the six man crew.

1991 - Four members of a Sikorsky SH-3H Sea King crew operating from the Norfolk, Virginia-based USS America (CV-66) were presumed lost after the aircraft crashed during a training mission near Bermuda, the Navy said Friday. The helicopter was assigned to the Anti-Submarine Squadron 11 at the Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida. The crewmen were identified as: Lt. Richard D. Calderon, 26, of Jacksonville, Florida; Lt. Cmdr. Karl J. Wiegand, 35, of Orange Park, Florida; aviation anti-submarine warfare operator Karl J. Wicklund, 23, of Clear Lake, Minnesota; and aviation anti-submarine warfare operator Vincent W. Bostwick, 20, of Orange Park, Florida.

1999 – The last flight of the SR-71 Blackbird (AF Ser. No. 61-7980/NASA 844).

2002 – Former USS Towers (DDG-9) was sunk by USS Sides (FFG-14) in a Sink Ex off the coast of California.

 

[mhansen2]

10 October

680 – Imam Hussein, grandson of prophet Mohammed, was beheaded. He was killed by rival Muslim forces on the Karbala plain in modern day Iraq. He then became a saint to Shiite Muslims. Traditionalists and radical guerrillas alike commemorate his martyrdom as the ceremony of Ashura. The 10-day mourning period during the holy month of Muharram commemorates the deaths of Caliph Ali’s male relatives by Sunnis from Iraq.

732 – At Tours, France, Charles Martel killed Abd el-Rahman and halted the Muslim invasion of Europe. Islam’s westward spread was stopped by the Franks at Poitiers.

1845 – In Annapolis, Maryland, the Naval School (later renamed the United States Naval Academy) opens with 50 midshipman students and seven professors.

1864 – “Leighton” was a Union sailing bark that capsized in Rio de Janeiro harbor during a hurricane.

1919 - On third day of the transcontinental reliability and endurance test (see above), an east-bound DH-4B, piloted by Maj. Albert Sneed, almost out of gas, makes fast landing at Buffalo, New York. Passenger Sgt. Worth C. McClure undoes his seatbelt and slides onto the rear fuselage to weight down the tail for a quicker stop. Plane bounces on landing, smashes nose-first into the ground, and McClure is thrown off and killed.

1923 – First American-built rigid airship, Shenandoah (ZR-1), is christened.

1924 - U.S. Army blimp TC-2 explodes over Newport News, Virginia, when a bomb it is carrying detonates. Two of five crew killed.
"WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 - Lieutenant Bruce Martin of San Francisco was seriously injured with four other army men when the army blimp TC-2 was forced to the ground by the explosion of one of its bombs at Langley Field, Virginia."
"NEWPORT NEWS, Va., Oct. 10 - Lieutenant Bruce H. Martin died at midnight as a result of injuries sustained at Langley Field this morning when a bomb carried by the U. S. Army blimp TC2 prematurely exploded, wrecking the craft and injuring the five members of its crew."

1924 - The rear section of USS Shenandoah (ZR-1) is damaged while making a landing in windy conditions at Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego, California, after completing the second leg of a cross-country flight from Fort Worth, Texas. "Slight damage was done to the Shenandoah when the airship was brought to the ground last night. Officers at North Island this morning stated that one of the rear gondolas struck the ground slightly, but with sufficient force to strain two of the girders in the aft portion. The damage, it was said, is not serious, but on account of the mountains to be flown over on the flight to Camp Lewis, it was deemed best to make thorough tests to avoid any possibility of accident. The work of repairing the strained girders continued all day yesterday (13 October)."

1933 - Fokker Y1O-27, 31-602, '3', of 30th Bombardment Squadron, Rockwell Field, California, en route from Burbank, California to Crissy Field, California, lands at Crissy with landing gear retracted. Both light and buzzer in cockpit that are supposed to activate when the throttles are retarded fail to function. Only serious damage is to the propellers but airframe is surveyed and dropped from inventory with 115 hours, 15 minutes flying time. Pilot 2nd Lt. Theodore B. Anderson uninjured.

1944 - First Fisher P-75A-GC Eagle, 44-44549, crashes on flight test out of Eglin Field, Florida, when propellers apparently run out of oil, pilot Maj. Harold Bolster attempts dead-stick landing but crashes short on approach, dies.

1947 – Test pilot Chuck Yeager flew the X-1 to Mach 0.997 in a stability and control test.

1950 - USS Pledge (AM-227) was sunk by a mine off Wonsan, Korea.

1953 – A Mutual Defense Treaty Between the United States and the Republic of Korea is concluded in Washington, D.C.

1956 - A United States Navy Douglas R6D-1 Liftmaster, BuNo 131588, c/n 43691/321, of Air Transport Squadron 6 (VR-6), assigned to the Military Air Transport Service, disappears over the Atlantic Ocean about 150 miles (240 km) north of the Azores. All 59 aboard – 50 U.S. Air Force passengers from Lincoln Air Force Base and the crew of nine U.S. Navy personnel – died. Another source cites 11 October: as crash date.

1956 - Two U.S. Air Force F-86 Sabres collided over Lake Michigan. The Lake freighter S/S Ernest T. Weir, Captain Ray R. Redecker, rescued one of the pilots (Lt. Kenneth R. Hughes) after he spent three hours in the water. Several other ships in the area participated in an unsuccessful attempt to locate the second pilot.

1958 - Thunderbirds support aircraft, Fairchild C-123B Provider, 55-4521, en route from Hill AFB, Utah to McChord AFB, Washington, with five flight crew and 14 maintenance personnel, flies through a flock of birds, crashes into a hillside six miles (10 km) E of Payette, Idaho, just before 1830 hrs., killing all on board.

1961 – Former USS Guardfish (SS-217) was sunk as a target off Block Island, Rhode Island.

1967 – Former USS Harveson (DER-316) was sunk as a target off the California coast.

1967 – The Outer Space Treaty, signed on January 27 by more than sixty nations, comes into force. The Outer Space Treaty, formally the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, is a treaty that forms the basis of international space law.

1968 - Lockheed SR-71A, 61-7977, Article 2028, lost at end of runway, Beale Air Force Base, California after tire explosion and runway abort. Pilot Maj. Gabriel A. Kardong rode airframe to a standstill. RSO James A. Kogler ejected safely. Both survived.

1972 - Douglas A-3B Skywarrior, BuNo 138968, of VAQ-33, crashes 1.6 statute miles NW of Holland, Virginia on old Highway 58 in Nansemond (Suffolk, Virginia), off Glen Haven Drive. The crew is killed.

1973 – Vice President of the United States Spiro Agnew resigns after being charged with evasion of federal income tax.

1980 – Former USS Mindanao (ARG-3) was scuttled as an artificial reef off Daytona Beach, Florida.

1984 - The first of three Northrop F-20 Tigersharks, 82-0062, c/n GG1001, N4416T, during a world sales tour, crashes at Suwon Air Base, South Korea, killing Northrop chief test pilot Darrell Cornell. During the last manoeuvre of the final demonstration flight at Suwon, the aircraft stalled at the top of an erratic vertical climb and dove into the ground from 1,800 feet. High-G pilot incapacitation was suspected as the cause, as the investigation found no evidence of airframe failure.

1985 – F-14s from USS Saratoga (CV-60) forced an Egyptian plane carrying the hijackers of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro to land in Italy, where the gunmen were taken into custody.

2002 – The US Congress gave Pres. Bush authorization to use armed forces against Iraq. The House voted 296-133 in favor.

2009 – United States President Barack Obama announces he will end the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy against homosexuals serving in the U.S. military.

 

[mhansen2]

11 October

1776 – USS Philadelphia was a gunboat sunk during the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain. The wreck was raised in 1935 and is now on display at the National Museum of American History, in Washington, D.C.

1776 - USS Royal Savage was a British built two-masted schooner sunk and then raised by colonial soldiers. During the Battle of Valcour Island, she ran aground and had to be abandoned. The ship was ultimately set afire by a British boarding party.

1861 – “Martha Washington” was a Confederate schooner that was burned at Dumfries, Virginia by steamers USS Rescue, USS Resolute and USS Satellite.

1862 – “Manchester” was a Union sailing ship of 1,062 tons carrying a cargo of grain from New York City for Liverpool, England. She was captured and burned by commerce raider CSS Alabama SE of Nova Scotia, Canada.

1863 – “Douro” was a Confederate iron screw steamer of 180 tons. While carrying a cargo of 20 tierces of tobacco, 279 boxes of tobacco, 550 cotton bales, turpentine, and rosin, she was chased aground by sidewheel steamer USS Nansemond, above Fort Fisher, North Carolina. Douro was boarded by Union sailors who captured two officers, two crewmen, and one passenger. With little of the cargo salvaged, she was subsequently burned.

1910 – Former President Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first U.S. president to fly in an airplane. He flew for four minutes with Arch Hoxsey in a plane built by the Wright brothers at Kinloch Field (Lambert–St. Louis International Airport), St. Louis, Missouri.

1924 - "PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 11 - Flying in excess of 150 miles an hour, the United States navy racing seaplane FTW fell 100 feet into the Delaware river [sic] today and was completely wrecked. The pilot, badly injured, extricated himself."

This was actually the Wright F2W-2, A7644, which suffered from poor handling characteristics, the tremendous torque of its huge Wright T-3 Tornado liquid-cooled engine flipping the racer onto its back on landing during its first and only flight.

1939 – The famous Einstein – Szilard letter to FDR about the scientific feasibility of atomic weapons was delivered. This ultimately led to the creation of the Manhattan Project.

1942 - Consolidated B-24D-1-CO Liberator, 41-23647, c/n 442, the eighth block 1 airframe, of the 469th Bomb Squadron, 333d Bomb Group, based at Topeka Army Airfield, Kansas, piloted by Ralph M. Dienst, suffers engine failure and crashes into a hillside three miles W of the base, killing eight and critically injuring one. "The plane was on a routine flight, army officers reported. Lt. H. R. Rubin of the Topeka base said the dead included: Lieut. Ralph M. Dienst, 26, Pasadena, California; Second Lieut. James H. Edwards, 24, Berkeley, California, and Second Lieut. James L. Holmes, 24, Fort Bragg, California."

1953 - U.S. Air Force spokesmen at Hamilton AFB, California, report that an Air Force Reserve pilot, 1st Lt. Frederick H. Reed, 32, Berkeley, California, was killed when his F-51 Mustang crashed into San Pablo Bay, a half mile from the base.

1957 - On takeoff shortly after 0000 hrs. from Homestead AFB, Florida, a Boeing B-47B-35-BW Stratojet, 51-2139, c/n 450192, of the 379th Bomb Wing, participating in exercise Dark Night, suffers port-rear wheel casing failure at 30 kts. The bomber's tail hits the runway and a fuel tank ruptures, crashing in an uninhabited area approximately 3,800 feet from the end of the runway, four crew KWF. The aircraft burns for seven hours after the firecrew evacuates the area, ten minutes after the crash.

The aircraft was carrying an unarmed nuclear weapon in the bomb bay and fuel capsule in a carrying case in the cabin. "Two low order detonations occurred during the burning." The nuclear capsule and its carrying case were recovered intact and only slightly damaged by heat. Approximately one-half of the weapon remained. All major components were damaged but were identifiable and accounted for.

1961 – Test pilot Robert White flew the X-15 to 66,142 meters (217,012 feet) and Mach 5.21.

1968 - Fifth prototype U.S. Navy Grumman F-111B, BuNo 151974, c/n A2-05, crash landed at Point Mugu, California. Scrapped. Both houses of Congress refuse to fund production order in May 1968 and Navy abandons the F-111B program completely.

1988 - Boeing KC-135A-BN refueling tanker, 60-0317, c/n 18092, crashes on landing at Wurtsmith AFB, Michigan; aircraft is destroyed and six of 17 on board are killed.

1991 - The crash of a Beechcraft T-34C Turbo-Mentor in Baldwin County, Alabama, kills Navy Cmdr. Duane S. Cutter, 44, from Newfield, New York, and his student, Marine 2nd Lt. Thomas J. Gaffney, 24, of West Chester, Pennsylvania, while on a routine training mission out of NAS Whiting Field, Florida, said Lt. Cmdr. Diane Hooker, a Navy spokeswoman at Whiting Field. Hooker couldn't immediately say what techniques the two were practicing when the T-34 went down.

 

[mhansen2]

12 October

1492 – Christopher Columbus sited land, an island of the Bahamas which he named San Salvador, but which was called Guanahani by the local Taino people.

1776 – Gunboat USS Providence took part in the battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain. She retreated with the rest of the American squadron to Crown Point. Pursued by the British and damaged, Providence was stranded and burned by her crew at Schuyler Island.

1776 – Gunboat USS Spitfire suffered the same fate as USS Providence (see above).

1863 – “Columbia” was a Confederate schooner, used for smuggling and raiding. She was burned by a Union small boat expedition at Ape's Hole near the head of Pocomoke Sound, Maryland

1863 – “Jane” was a British schooner, on voyage from New Providence, Bahamas that was destroyed by her crew to prevent capture by side wheel steamer USS Tennessee off the Brazos River, Texas.

1863 - USS Madgie was a Union wooden screw steamer of 218 tons, built in 1858 at Philadelphia. While being towed by the USS Fahkee, she took on water and sank in 18 fathoms, 12 miles southeast of Frying Pan Shoals, North Carolina.

1914 – USS Jupiter (AC-3) is first Navy ship to complete transit of Panama Canal from west to east.

1917 – The 1st Marine Aviation Squadron and 1st Marine Aeronautic Company formed at Philadelphia.

1933 - USCG CG-256 ran aground in Spanish Bay, California during a gale

1942 – During World War II, Attorney General Francis Biddle announced that Italian nationals in the United States would no longer be considered enemy aliens.

1942 - "Los Angeles, Oct. 12. - Four barrage balloons of the army's coastal defense system broke from their moorings today, one falling in flames after its metal trailing cable struck a high-tension wire. Two were later recaptured and the fourth continued to soar."

1945 - USAAF Curtiss C-46F-1-CU Commando, 44-78591, was on approach to Nanyuan Airport, China, en-route from Hankou when it struck a radio antenna and crashed near Beijing, killing all 59 passengers and crew on board. The crash is the worst-ever involving the C-46.

1950 - USS Pirate (AM-275) was sunk by a mine off Pusan, Korea.

1954 - USAF North American F-100A-1-NA Super Sabre, 52-5764, c/n 192–9, crashes at Edwards Air Force Base, California, at 1100 hrs., killing North American test-pilot Lt. George Welch, a veteran of the Japanese Navy attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. During terminal velocity dive test from 45,000 feet (14,000 m), aircraft yaws to starboard, then begins roll. Airframe breaks up under 8 G strain, pilot falls clear, chute opens, but he sustains fatal injuries, dying shortly after reaching the ground.

1954 - A US Navy Lockheed P2V Neptune undergoing test cycles by the Air Force Operational Test Center at Eglin AFB suffers a structural failure on landing at Auxiliary Field Number 8 which causes the starboard engine to break loose and burn in a Tuesday morning accident. The crew of two escape injury.

1965 – Test pilot Pete Knight flew the X-15 to 28,773 meters (94,404 feet) and Mach 4.62.

1966 - Two North American F-100 Super Sabres of the USAF Thunderbirds demonstration team collide during practice for a show at Sheppard AFB, Texas, at Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary Field, Nevada, killing two of the three pilots. The jets were performing opposing half Cuban Eights when witnesses said that the two jets scraped each other at the top of a loop. The pilot of the F-100F, Capt. Robert H. Morgan, 32, of Pendleton, South Carolina, ejected but his chute did not have time to deploy and he died when he struck the ground still strapped to his seat, while team member, Maj. Frank E. Liethen, Jr., 36, Appleton, Wisconsin, riding in the second seat, died when the Super Sabre struck the desert floor. The fighter impact left a crater almost twelve feet deep. "Liethen, executive officer of the Thunderbirds, was riding with Morgan on an orientation flight. He had been with the group since last December, but ordinarily did not take part in formation flying. However, he had been scheduled to take over soon as commander and would have flown at the head of the group's diamond formation." Capt. Robert D. Beckel, 29, of Walla Walla, Washington, was able to land his F-100D at Nellis AFB, Nevada.

"The Air Force said it was a 'tribute to his flying skill' that Beckel was able to land his plane, damaged in a wing. The red, white and blue jets cost a reported $650,000." Both Liethan and Morgan leave a widow and four children. "A Thunderbird spokesman said a show Saturday in Wichita Falls, Tex., would go on despite the crash – but maybe with five planes instead of six because there was no one trained to replace Morgan."

1966 - Lockheed C-130E-LM Hercules, 63-7886, c/n 3957, of the 516th Troop Carrier Wing, Dyess AFB, Texas, flies into ground at night circa 30 kilometers north-northwest of Aspermont, Texas. It impacts in a brushy pasture on the 6666 Ranch, 75 miles NW of Abilene near U.S. 83. Only one of the crew of six survives, a loadmaster, who is pulled from the wreckage by a passing truck driver, Carroll Brezee. He was in critical condition. The fuselage and tail section lay near the center of a burned area about 50 X 200 yards, with parts scattered along a half mile stretch. Sheriff E. W. Hollar, of Guthrie, nine miles N of the crash site, said that persons first reaching the scene found two bodies. A ground party from Dyess AFB found the other three in a search through heavy mesquite brush. Authorities said that these were the first fatalities in the 516th Troop Carrier Wing since it was formed at Dyess in December 1958.

1972 – Forty six sailors are injured in a race riot involving more than 100 sailors aboard USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) en-route to her station in the Gulf of Tonkin off Vietnam.

1979 – Former USS Alfred A. Cunningham (DD-752) was sunk as a target, being struck by five laser guided bombs off Southern California.

1986 – The superpower meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland, ended in stalemate, with President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev unable to agree on arms control or a date for a full-fledged summit in the United States.

2000 – USS Cole (DDG-67), refueling in Yemen suffered an enormous explosion in a terrorist attack killing 17 sailors, injuring 39 others, and damaging the ship.

 

[mhansen2]

13 October

1775 – Navy founded. The Continental Congress voted to fit out two sailing vessels, armed with ten carriage guns, as well as swivel guns, and manned by crews of eighty, and to send them out on a cruise of three months to intercept transports carrying munitions and stores to the British army in America. This was the original legislation out of which the Continental Navy grew and as such constitutes the birth certificate of the Navy.

1776 – The following US Navy ships participated in the battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain. Forced to retreat, they were in danger of being overtaken by British forces, so were burned.
Gunboat USS Boston
Gunboat USS Connecticut
Gunboat USS New Haven
Row galley USS Congress

1860 – The 1st US aerial photo was taken from a balloon over Boston.

1884 – Greenwich was established as universal time meridian of longitude.

1914 – Garrett Morgan invented and patented the gas mask.

1922 – Pilot Billy Mitchell sets a world speed record of 222.88 MPH (358.836 KPH) in a Curtiss R6 racer at Detroit.

1933 - Douglas B-7, 32-310, c/n 1110[200] of the 11th Bombardment Squadron, departs March Field, California, piloted by Lt. Kenneth P. Gardner. A few minutes into the flight, a gasoline fire begins in the port engine carburetor and as it spreads, Lt. Gardner orders Sgt. James E. Carter and Pvt. D. Russell to bail out. The pilot attempts to stay with the plane to keep it from crashing into a populous area but when the blaze spreads, he, too, takes to his parachute. The burning bomber comes down at Azusa, California, and is destroyed. Carter is slightly bruised upon landing but the other two are unhurt.

1943 – During World War II, Italy declared war on Germany, its one-time Axis partner.

1953 - Boeing B-47B-30-BW Stratojet, 51-2096, of the 33d Bomb Squadron, 22d Bomb Wing crashes and explodes at 1925 hrs., shortly after takeoff from March Air Force Base, California, during a touch-and-go, killing three crew. The crash scatters wreckage over five acres of open brushland near Alessandro Boulevard and Highway 395 in the Moreno Valley, two miles W of the base. Aircraft commander was Capt. Byron M. Steel. Two other victims were Capt. Charles W. Brosius, of the 33d BS, 22d BW, and Capt. Earl F. Poytress, Headquarters, 12th Air Division. This was the first loss of a March B-47 since they arrived at the base on 30 January 1953.

1955 - Boeing B-47B-40-BW Stratojet, 51-2231, of the 320th Bombardment Wing, crashes while taking off from March Air Force Base, California, coming down in what is now the Sycamore Canyon Wilderness Park, NW of the base. Capt. Edward Anthony O'Brien Jr., pilot, Capt. David James Clare, co-pilot, Major Thomas Francis Mulligan, navigator, and Capt. Joseph M. Graeber, chaplain, are all killed. Crew chief Albert Meyer, of Westchester, California, was not flying with his aircraft that day because he had already exceeded his flight hours.

1987 – The US Navy made the 1st military use of trained dolphins in the Persian Gulf.

1999 – The US Senate rejected the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban treaty 51-48.

 

[mhansen2]

14 October

1863 – “Lady Jackson” was a Union stern wheel paddle steamer of 207 tons built in 1860 at Cincinnati. She ran aground and was wrecked on the White River in Arkansas.

1912 – Theodore Roosevelt, former president and the Bull Moose Party candidate, was shot at close range by anarchist William Schrenk while greeting the public in front of the Hotel Gilpatrick in Milwaukee while campaigning for the presidency. He was saved by the papers in his breast pocket and still managed to give a 90 minute address in Milwaukee after requesting his audience to be quiet because “there is a bullet in my body.” Schrenk was captured and uttered the now famous words “any man looking for a third term ought to be shot.”

1917 - USS Rehoboth (SP-384) was a fishing vessel requisitioned by the U.S. Navy and used as a patrol craft during the war. While escorting a convoy off the coast of France, she suffered an uncontrollable leak and the crew had to abandon the ship, which was sunk by gunfire from light cruiser HMS Castor.

1918 – Naval Aviators of Marine Day Squadron 9 make first raid-in-force for the Northern Bombing Group in World War I when they bombed German railroad at Thielt Rivy, Belgium.

1922 - The Navy-Wright NW-1, BuNo A-6543, a racer designed and built in a mere three months, flew for the first time on 11 October 1922, just days before it was entered in the 14 October 1922 Pulitzer air race at Selfridge Field, Michigan. Entered at the last minute, the press dubbed the new entry, the Mystery Racer. Assigned to the second of three heats, and wearing race number 9, the close-fitting cowling over the Wright T-2 engine retained heat and caused the oil temperature to exceed its operating limit. Streaming smoke around the race course, the pilot was over Lake St. Clair, near Detroit when the red-hot engine failed. "The extreme low position of the lower wing was not conducive to ditching and the "Mystery Racer" flipped over and sank in the mud. The aircraft was written-off but the pilot emerged unscathed."

1931 – Former USS Essex (IX-10) was an armed naval sloop built between 1874 and 1876 at East Boston, Mass. The ship was finally sold for scrap in Nov. 1930 and taken to the beach outside Duluth harbor where the ship was burned to the waterline. The remains of U.S.S. Essex were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.

1942 - The apparent mid-air explosion and crash of Beechcraft AT-11 Kansan, 41-27447, of the 383d School Squadron, out of Kirtland Field, four miles W of Belen, New Mexico, kills three crew. "The dead, as released by the Albuquerque air base: Second Lieut. Boyd C. Knetsar, the pilot, of Houston, Texas, and Aviation Cadets John Joseph Fischer, Detroit, and Earl William Ferris, St. Louis."

1947 – Test pilot Chuck Yeager flew the X-1 to 13,115 meters (43,030 feet) and Mach 1.06, becoming the first man to officially exceed the speed of sound.

1950 – Nine Chinese armies, totaling over 300,000 men, began to cross the Yalu River. By traveling at night and hiding during the day, the largely foot-mobile Communist Chinese Forces avoided detection by U.N. aerial surveillance.

1953 - Second of two Bell X-5 swing-wing testbeds, 50-1839, gets into irrecoverable spin condition at Edwards AFB, California during aggravated stall test, crashes in desert, killing test pilot Maj. Raymond Popson on his first flight in the type. On the same date, the nose gear of the XF-92 collapses, ending use by NACA.

1955 - A Strategic Air Command Boeing B-47E-90-BW Stratojet, 52–500, crashes while attempting landing on 3,400-foot (1,000 m) runway 27 at NAS Atlanta, Georgia, shearing off tail and coming to rest beside runway. This facility is now DeKalb-Peachtree Airport.

1962 – A U.S. Air Force U-2 reconnaissance plane and its pilot fly over the island of Cuba and take photographs of Soviet missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads being installed and erected in Cuba. Major Richard Heyser took 928 pictures on a path selected by DIA analysts, capturing images of what turned out to be an SS-4 construction site at San Cristóbal, Pinar del Río Province (now in Artemisa Province), in western Cuba.

1964 - Boeing KB-50K Superfortress, 48-065, of the 421st Air Refueling Squadron, Takhli RTAFB, crashed in Thailand shortly after takeoff on training mission while supporting Yankee missions over Laos. Corrosion found in wreckage led to early retirement of the KB-50 fleet and its replacement with Boeing KC-135s.

1965 – Test pilot Joseph Engle flew the X-15 to 81,229 meters (266,512 feet) and Mach 5.08.

1969 – Former USS Madison (DD-425) was sunk as a target off Southeastern Florida.

1975 - USAF McDonnell Douglas F-15A Eagle, 73-0088, of the 555th TFTS, 58th TFTW, crashes W of Minersville, Utah, due to electrical smoke/fire from generator failure; pilot ejects safely. This was the first F-15 crash.

1987 - Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk, 83-815, of the 4450th Tactical Group, piloted by Maj. Michael C. Stewart, callsign BURNR ("burner") 54, crashes at 2033 hrs., ~100 miles N of Nellis AFB, just E of Tonopah. Stewart was just 40 minutes into a routine single-ship sortie when his aircraft crashed into the gently sloping terrain 60 miles E of Alamo, Nevada, pilot KWF. Cause is thought to be spatial disorientation – pilot made no attempt to eject.

2012 – Felix Baumgartner set a world speed record of 844 MPH (1,358 KPH) for the fastest unpowered descent of a human when he jumped from a helium filled balloon at 39,045 meters (128,100 feet).

 

[mhansen2]

15 October

1862 – “Lamplighter” was a Union Bark of 365 tons carrying a cargo of tobacco and on route from New York City for Gibraltar. She was captured and burned by screw sloop-of-war CSS Alabama off the coast of Nova Scotia.

1862 – “Lone Star” was a Confederate schooner that was burned by boats from wooden schooner USS Rachel Seaman and steamship USS Kensington in Taylor's Bayou, Texas.

1862 – “Stonewall” was a Confederate schooner that suffered the same fate as “Lone Star” (see above).

1863 – For the second time, the Confederate submarine H L Hunley sank during a practice dive in Charleston Harbor, S.C, this time drowning its inventor along with seven crew members.

1892 – US government convinced the Crow Indians to give up 1.8 million acres of their reservation (in the mountainous area of western Montana) for 50 cents per acre. Presidential proclamation opened this land to settlers.

1917 – USS Cassin (DD-43) torpedoed by German submarine U-61 off coast of Ireland. In trying to save the ship, Gunner’s Mate Osmond Kelly Ingram becomes first American sailor killed in World War I and later is awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism. He becomes the first enlisted man to have a ship named for him, USS Osmond Ingram (DD-255/AVD–9/APD-35).

1919 - Two more fatalities are recorded in the transcontinental endurance test when 2nd Lts. French Kirby and Stanley C. Miller die in an emergency landing in their DH-4 near the Wyoming–Utah border when they suffer engine failure near Evanston, Wyoming. During the two-week test, 54 accidents wreck or damage planes. Twenty-nine result from motor trouble, 16 from bad landings, 5 from poor weather, 2 when pilots lose their way, 1 in take-off, and 1 by fire. In 42 cases the accident meant the end of the race for the pilot. Seven fatalities occur during the race, one in a de Havilland DH-4B, the others in DH-4s. Lt. John Owen Donaldson was awarded the Mackay Gold Medal for taking first place in the Army's only transcontinental air race. Donaldson Air Force Base, South Carolina, would be eventually named for the Great War ace (eight credited victories).

1929 - Martin XT5M-1 dive bomber, BuNo A-8051, during terminal dive test at 350 IAS at 8,000 feet, lower starboard wing caves in, ripping extensive hole. NACA test pilot Bill H. McAvoy staggers aircraft back to the Martin field north of Baltimore, Maryland, landing at 110 mph with full-left stick input. Aircraft will go into production as the Martin BM-1.

1942 - Douglas C-49E-DO Skytrain, 42-43619, DST-114, c/n 1494, ex-American Airlines Douglas Sleeper Transport NC14988, A115 "Texas", first flown as X14988 on 17 December 1935; sold to TWA, 14 March 1942, as line number 361; commandeered by USAAF, 31 March 1942; assigned to the 24th Troop Carrier Squadron, crashed this date in bad weather at Knob Noster, Missouri. Another source gives crash location as 2.5 mi SW of Chicago Municipal Airport, Illinois. An Associated Press item states that the transport crashed and burned on a prairie about two miles W of the municipal airport on Chicago's southwest side, the public relations office for the Sixth Service Command announced. The two crew and seven passengers were all killed.

1942 - Nine men are killed when Boeing B-17E-BO Flying Fortress, 41-9161, of the 459th Bomb Squadron, 330th Bombardment Group, Alamagordo, New Mexico, piloted by John R. Pratt, crashes into Magdalena Peak, 6 miles SE of Magdalena, New Mexico.

1943 - USCG Dow (W-353) foundered in a gale, near Puerto Rico. Crew abandoned ship & and 30 were rescued by USCGC Marion (WSC-145). Another source says 14 October.

1946 – Nazi war criminal Hermann Goering poisoned himself hours before he was to have been executed.

1948 – First women officers on active duty sworn in as commissioned officers in regular Navy under Women’s Service Integration Act of June 1948 by Secretary of the Navy John L. Sullivan: CAPT Joy B. Hancock, USN; LCDR Winifred R. Quick, USN; LCDR Anne King, USN; LCDR Frances L. Willoughby, MC, USN; LT Ellen Ford, SC, USN; LT Doris Cranmore, MSC, USN; LTJG Doris A. Defenderfer, USN; and LTJG Betty Rae Tennant, USN.

1951 - Convair B-36D-35-CF Peacemaker, 49-2664, c/n 127, '664', triangle 'J' tail markings, of the 436th Bomb Squadron, 7th Bomb Wing, Carswell AFB, Texas, experiences main gear extension failure, pilot Maj. Leslie W. Brockwell bellies it in at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, with just the nose gear extended, doing such a deft job that this is the only B-36 ever crash landed that was returned to flight.

1952 - A B-47 photo reconnaissance flight, authorized by President Truman and staged out of Eielson AFB, was flown over the Chukotsky Peninsula. It confirmed that the Soviets were developing Arctic staging bases on the peninsula from which their bombers could easily reach targets on the North American continent.

1955 - A Lockheed T-33A-1-LO Shooting Star trainer, 51-9227, crashes into Santa Monica Bay. Pilot Richard Martin Theiler, 28, and copilot Paul Dale Smith departed Los Angeles International Airport at 0215 PST aboard the T-33A, bound for Yuma, Arizona. This was an IFR departure, with instructions to report 2,000 feet (610 m) on top of overcast. The Los Angeles weather at the time was 1,200 feet (370 m) overcast, 4 miles (6.4 km) visibility, in haze and smoke. After they were given clearance for takeoff they were never seen nor heard from again. Plane was found in 2009 by aviation archaeologist G. Pat Macha and a group of volunteers, in 100 feet of water.

1958 - A USAF Fairchild C-123B-6-FA Provider, 54-0614, c/n 20063, en route from Dobbins AFB, Georgia, to Mitchel Field, Long Island, New York, runs out of fuel, comes down on the Southern State Parkway on Long Island while attempting emergency landing at Zahn's Airport at North Amityville, one-half mile short, injuring five, and killing one motorist. The transport skids several hundred feet, passes through an underpass, and strikes three cars. Harold J. Schneider, West Islip, New York, dies of head injuries shortly after the accident. Three Air Force men and two women motorists suffer minor injuries. They are identified as Mrs. Mary Rehm, Islip Terrace, and Mrs. Frank Calabrese, West Islip. The injured Air Force men are identified as Capt. John Florio, Sgt. Wallett A. Carman and Sgt. Edgar H. Williamson. The pilot was Lt. Gary L. Moolson. The aircraft, with a 119 foot wingspan, passed through a 50-foot wide underpass, shearing both outer wings, the port engine, and the vertical fin, before coming to a stop on fire.

1959 - USAF Boeing B-52F Stratofortress, 57-036, collides with Boeing KC-135A Stratotanker, 57-1513, over Hardinsberg, Kentucky, crashes with two nuclear weapons on board, killing four of eight on the bomber and all four tanker crew. One bomb partially burned in fire, but both are recovered intact. Bombs moved to the AEC's Clarksville, Tennessee storage site for inspection and dismantlement. Both aircraft deployed from Columbus AFB, Mississippi.

1960 – USS Patrick Henry (SSBN-599) begins successful firing of four Polaris test vehicles under operational rather than test conditions. Tests are completed on 18 October.

1962 - Eighty two days after the failure of the Bluegill Prime test in Operation Fishbowl, under Operation Dominic, a third attempt is made, Bluegill Double Prime. Launched from rebuilt facilities on Johnston Island, damaged in the last attempt, at ~2330 hrs., local time (16 October UTC), the SM-75 Thor missile, 58-2267, vehicle number 156, malfunctions and begins tumbling out of control about 85 seconds after liftoff, and the range safety officer orders the destruction of the missile and its nuclear warhead about 95 seconds after launch. Although, by definition, this qualifies as a Broken Arrow incident, this test is rarely included in lists of such mishaps.

1964 – Test pilot John McKay flew the X-15 to 25,878 meters (84,906 feet) and Mach 4.56.

1976 – Former USS George K. MacKenzie (DD-836) was sunk as a target off California.

1989 - U.S. Air Force General Dynamics F-16D Block 32F Fighting Falcon, 87-0369, c/n 5D-63, from Luke AFB, Arizona, crashed in the middle of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress parking ramp at Carswell AFB, Texas, during a simulated airfield attack for an Operational Readiness Inspection for the 301st Tactical Fighter Wing (AFRES). The two pilots aboard the F-16D were both killed. Three B-52H aircraft parked nearby suffered minor damage.

2000 – Former USS Ashtabula (AO-51) was sunk as a target by British, French and American Navies 200 nautical miles southwest of San Diego CA. In all, Ashtabula was subjected to eight Harpoon missiles, two standard (SM-2) missiles, three Sea Skua missiles, four bombs from S-3 Vikings, and over 100 rounds of gunfire from 3", 100mm, and 5" guns.

2009 - United States Air Force Lockheed Martin F-16C Fighting Falcon, 91-0365, is lost while flying on a routine night flying exercise from the 77th Fighter Squadron, 20th Fighter Wing, based at the Shaw Air Force Base, Sumter, South Carolina when it collides mid-air with F-16C 91-0364. The two aircraft from the 20th Fighter Wing were training with night vision equipment and practicing combat tactics when the accident occurred 40 miles (64 km) east of Folly Beach, South Carolina at ~2030 hrs. The United States Coast Guard commenced a search for a missing aircraft in the North Atlantic of the coast of South Carolina while the second aircraft, piloted by Capt. Lee Bryant, despite damage was able to land at Charleston Air Force Base. On 16 October, Coast Guard searchers found crash debris in the Atlantic Ocean believed to belong to the missing F-16. "The Coast Guard has found some debris in the ocean that is apparently from our missing F-16", said Robert Sexton, the Shaw Air Force Base Public Affairs chief in Sumter, South Carolina. The other pilot, Capt. Nicholas Giglio, is missing. "They have not yet found any sign of the pilot and the search continues", Mr. Sexton said. No one witnessed what happened to Captain Giglio after the collision.

 

[mhansen2]

17 October

1781 – Cornwallis was defeated at Yorktown. Cornwallis’ options had been running out. He had even tried sending blacks infected with smallpox over enemy lines in an attempt to infect the American and French troops. After a futile counterattack, Cornwallis offered to surrender.

1862 – “Economy” was a Union stern-wheel steamer of 200 tons, built in 1857 at Shousetown, Pa lost this date. No details available.

1922 – LCDR Virgil C. Griffin in Vought VE-7SF makes first takeoff from USS Langley (CV-1) anchored in York River, Virginia.

1922 - U.S. Army's largest blimp, C-2, catches fire shortly after being removed from its hangar at Brooks Field, San Antonio, Texas for a flight. Seven of eight crew aboard are injured, mostly in jumping from the craft. This accident was made the occasion for official announcement by the Army and the Navy that the use of hydrogen would be abandoned "as speedily as possible." On 14 September 1922, the C-2 had made the first transcontinental airship flight, from Langley Field, Virginia, to Ross Field, Arcadia, California, under the command of Maj H. A. Strauss. The ship arrived at Ross Field on 23 September.

1933 – Due to rising anti-Semitism and anti-intellectualism in Hitler’s Germany, Albert Einstein immigrated to the United States. He made his new home in Princeton, N.J.

1941 – USS Kearney (DD-432) was damaged by a torpedo from U-568 off Iceland; 11 crewmen were killed.

1941 – General Hideki Tojo (1885-1948) became Premier and Minister of War in Japan. There no longer was a chance of avoiding war with Britain and the United States.

1943 – The last operational German auxiliary cruiser, Michel, is sunk by USS Tarpon (SS-175) off the Japanese coast. The German raider has sunk 17 ships during its cruise.

1945 – Iva Toguri D’Aquino, a Japanese-American suspected of being wartime radio propagandist “Tokyo Rose,” was arrested by 3 CIC officers in her Tokyo apartment.

1953 - Richart R. Galt, pilot of a Republic F-84F-1-RE Thunderstreak, 51-1354, is killed in an accident at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.

1959 – Test pilot Scott Crossfield flew the X-15 on its third powered flight to 18,831 meters (61,784 feet) and Mach 2.15.

1961 – Test pilot Joe Walker flew the X-15 to 33,101 meters (108,604 feet) and Mach 5.74.

1966 - Lockheed U-2D, 56-6951, Article 391, first airframe of the USAF supplementary production, and assigned to the 4080th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, Laughlin AFB, Texas, crashes this date at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, in a non-fatal accident. Pilot was Maj. Leslie White, who stalled on approach on his first flight. "The pilot survived, but the airplane was washed out," noted Kelly Johnson.

1967 – Test pilot Pete Knight flew the X-15 to 85,496 meters (280,051 feet) and Mach 5.53.

1997 – The US Army used a Miracl (medium infra-red advanced chemical laser developed by TRW) laser beam to hit the MISTI-3 satellite in orbit. The laser test was prohibited by Congress in 1985, but the ban expired in 1995. The test failed to be recorded by sensors on the satellite.

2000 - Two Russian aircraft, a Su-24 Fencer and a Su-27 Flanker overflew USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) at about 200 feet of altitude. At the time, the Kitty Hawk was in the midst of an underway replenishment in the northern Sea of Japan, between the island of Hokkaido and the Russian mainland. Following the overflight, the Russian pilots e-mailed pictures of their overflight to the Kitty Hawk's web site. Russian aircraft also overflew the Kitty Hawk on October 12th and November 9th.

2009 - A United States Marine Corps McDonnell Douglas F/A-18D Hornet (164729) from the Marine All Weather Fighter Attack Squadron No. 224 VMFA(AW)-224 based at the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, Beaufort, South Carolina experiences a heavy landing at Jacksonville International Airport, Duval County, Florida. The aircraft with two other Marine F/A-18 Hornet aircraft were landing at Jacksonville Airport in preparation for a flyover at the nearby NFL Jacksonville Jaguars game when the aircraft experiences an airborne technical fault and the port landing-gear collapses causing the aircraft to land only on the nose-wheel, starboard undercarriage and the exposed port-side external fuel-tank. The F/A-18 Hornet skidded down the runway with most damage occurring to the grounded external fuel-tank and the 2 Marine crew were uninjured.

 

[mhansen2]

18 October

1775 – The Burning of Falmouth (now Portland, Maine) prompts the Continental Congress to establish the Continental Navy.

1812 – Sloop of war USS Wasp captures brig HMS Frolic.

1859 – U.S. Marines reach Harper’s Ferry, VA and assault the arsenal seized by John Brown and his followers. Colonel Robert E. Lee has Lieutenant JEB Stuart carry a note to Brown demanding his surrender. Brown refuses and closes and bars the doors of the Engine House. Stuart waves his hat up and down as a signal to begin the assault. The Marines attack the doors with sledgehammers, but to no effect. They find a heavy ladder and use that as a battering ram. In two blows, they create a small opening in the right hand door which is split, and they storm into the building. Lieutenant Israel Green, who leads the assault, attacks Brown with the dress sword he brought by mistake from Washington. The sword, which was never meant for combat, bends on Brown’s leather belt. Green grasps the sword by the ruined blade and hits Brown over the head with it, knocking him unconscious. The raid is over.

1861 – Sailing vessel “Frolic” was a Union tender that started taking on water and drifted aground at Southwest Pass in the Mississippi River delta after losing her sails. She was stripped and burned by screw steamer gunboat USS South Carolina.

1862 – “General Taylor” was a Union screw steamer of 462 tons, built in 1848 at Buffalo, N.Y. She stranded at Sleeping Bear Point, Michigan.

1867 – United States takes possession of Alaska after purchasing it from Russia for $7.2 million. Celebrated annually in the state as Alaska Day.

1922 – Pilot Billy Mitchell bested his own world speed record of 13 October by attaining 224.28 MPH (360.93 KPH) in a Curtiss R6 racer.

1939 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt banned foreign war submarines from U.S. ports and waters.

1940 - First Bell YP-39 Airacobra, 40-027, crashes near Buffalo, New York on eighth flight when only one main landing gear extends. Bell test pilot Bob Stanley bails out at 7,000 feet (2,100 m) rather than try a wheels-up landing, suffering only minor injuries when he lands in a tree. Examination of the wreckage shows that universal joints attached to the torque tubes driving the main gear struts had failed, as had limit switches placed in the retraction mechanism to shut off the electric motors.

1944 - A United States Army Air Forces Consolidated B-24H-20-CF Liberator, 42-50347, broke up in mid-air over the town of Birkenhead, England. The aircraft was on a flight from New York to Liverpool and the accident killed all 24 airmen on board the aircraft.

1945 – The first German War Crimes Trial began.

1945 – The USSR’s nuclear program receives plans for the United States plutonium bomb from Klaus Fuchs at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

1947 – The Soviet Union conducted its first test flight of a captured V-2 rocket. The vehicle disintegrated upon reentry.

1948 - A USAF Douglas C-54D-10-DC Skymaster, 42-72688, c/n 10793, participating in the Berlin Airlift, crashes near Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany, killing three crew, Capt. James A. Vaughn, 1st Lt. Eugene Erickson and Sgt. Richard Winter.

1953 - U.S. Navy Lockheed P2V Neptune, BuNo 124901, of VP-18, crashes into the sea nine miles off Iceland with nine crew aboard. Hours later the Icelandic Life Saving Association says that only bits of wreckage floated at the site. A search, which continues through at least 19 October involves American planes and surface ships, a Royal Navy vessel, and Iceland Coast Guard vessels.

1956 - A Lockheed P2V-2N Neptune, of Squadron VX-6, crashes in a storm at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, during Operation Deep Freeze II. Captain Rayburn Hudman, USMC; Lieutenant David W. Carey, USNR; Aviation Electronics Technician 1 Charles S. Miller, USN; and Aviation Machinist’s Mate 1 Marian O. Marze, USN, are KWF.

1958 - NAVY SQUADRON AEWRON FIFTEEN (VW-15) AIRCRAFT: Lockheed WV-2 Warning Star, BuNo 141294, LOCATION: NAS Argentia, Newfoundland. EVENT: Crashed into Placentia Bay 1000 feet short of runway during CGA landing trying to get under weather; flight from Pax to Arg. U.S. Naval Aviation Safety Center, Accident Brief No. 10, May 1960: "The ceiling was reported indefinite 200 feet, visibility 2 miles in drizzle and fog. A precision approach was commenced to the duty runway. The approach was within tolerances and normal until after passing through GCA minimums, at which time the aircraft went below glide path and the pilot was instructed to take a waveoff. The waveoff was not executed until after the aircraft had actually made contact with the runway.

After climbout, GCA was contacted and a second approach was requested to commence with no delay. The pilot advised GCA that the runway was in sight just before GCA gave him a waveoff on the first approach. The second approach was again normal until the final controller gave the instructions, "Approaching GCA minimums." The aircraft immediately commenced dropping below glide path. An emergency pullup was given, but the aircraft collided with the water [Placentia Bay] and came to rest 2050 feet east of the approach end of the runway. It sank in 26 feet of water and 11 persons lost their lives." LOSS: 11 of 29-man crew & passengers killed: CREW: LT Donald A. Becker, PPC, CDR Raymond L. Klassy, VW-13, ENS Donald E. Mulligan, Lyle W. Foster, American Red Cross, A. S. Corrado, Robert N. Elliot, AN, R. J. Emerson, Clarence J. Shea, J. E. Strange, William Jerome Taylor, AD3 (body never recovered), and D. D. Wilson.

1978 – Former USS Mackerel (SST-1) was sunk as a target off Puerto Rico.

1997 – A $21.5 million memorial to honor the military service of US women was dedicated at entrance to Arlington National Cemetery.

2002 - Two Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornets collide during air combat maneuvering off the Southern California coast and crash into Pacific 80 mi SW of Monterey, California. All four crew (two Pilots and two WSOs) are killed while flying (KWF).

2005 – Saddam Hussein’s trial begins.

 

[mhansen2]

19 October

1739 – England declared war on Spain over borderlines in Florida. The War is known as the War of Jenkins’ Ear because a Member of Parliament waved a dried ear and demanded revenge for alleged mistreatment of British sailors. British seaman Robert Jenkins had his ear amputated following a 1731 barroom brawl with a Spanish Customs guard in Havana and saved the ear in his sea chest.

1781 – Major General Lord Charles Cornwallis, surrounded at Yorktown, Va., by American and French regiments numbering 17,600 men, surrendered to George Washington and Count de Rochambeau.

1818 – US and Chickasaw Indians signed a treaty. Andrew Jackson and Isaac Shelby represented American interests. The Chickasaws ceded their claims to lands in Tennessee.

1861 – “Harvey Birch” was a Union Clipper ship of 1,482 tons in ballast and on route from Le Havre, France for New York City when she was captured and burned by brig-rigged, side-paddle-wheel passenger steamer CSS Nashville in the Atlantic Ocean.

1864 – The northernmost action of the American Civil War took place in the Vermont town of St. Albans. Some 25 escaped Confederate POWs led by Kentuckian Bennett Young (21) raided the town near the Canadian border with the intent of robbing three banks and burning the town. While they managed to leave town and hide out in Canada with more than $200,000, their attempts to burn down the town failed. Most of the raiders were captured and imprisoned in Canada and later released after a court ruled the robberies in St. Albans were acts of war.

1915 – Establishment of Submarine Base at New London, Connecticut. In 1868, Connecticut gave the Navy land and, in 1872, two brick buildings and a “T” shaped pier were built and officially declared a Navy Yard.

1926 – John C. Garand patented a semi-automatic rifle. Civil Service employee John Garand was in a class all by himself, much like the weapons he created. Garand was Chief Civilian Engineer at the Springfield Armory in Massachusetts. Garand invented a semiautomatic .30 caliber rifle, known as the M-1 or “the Garand,” US Rifle, Caliber .30 M1.

1931 – The sole Lockheed-Detroit YP-24, 32–320, crashes during tests at Wright Field, Ohio. During evaluation flight, landing gear extension system fails with gear only partly deployed when in-cockpit crank handle breaks off. Through a series of violent maneuvers, test pilot Lt. Harrison Crocker managed to get the gear retracted and was planning to attempt a belly-landing, but upon orders from the ground, sent aloft written on the sides of Boeing P-12D And Douglas O-25C aircraft, he bails out. Four Y1P-24 pre-production models cancelled due to Detroit Aircraft's shaky financial situation. Two will be built as Consolidated Y1P-25s after Detroit's chief designer Robert Wood joins that firm. Second Y1P-25 completed with a supercharger as Y1A-11.

1933 - Fokker Y1O-27, 31-601, '22', of the 32d Bombardment Squadron, Rockwell Field, California, during ferry flight from Rockwell to Brooks Field, Texas, pilot Capt. Albert F. Hegenberger, on leg between Tucson, Arizona and Midland, Texas, loses Prestone coolant out of starboard engine, engine temperature rises so he shuts it down. Forced down five miles short of Midland Airport, pilot does not get the landing gear completely locked down, collapses on touch down. Aircraft repaired.

1944 - En route to the Gulf of Paria, off Trinidad, Ensign T. J. Connors, A-V(N), USNR, of VF-67, crashes in a Grumman F6F Hellcat, astern of USS Bennington (CV-20), while making a strafing run on a towed target sled. "Search results were negative." This was the Bennington's shakedown cruise.

1944 - Two Grumman F6F-5N Hellcats, of the Night Fighter Training Unit, depart Naval Auxiliary Air Station Charlestown, Rhode Island, for a night pursuit training mission, piloted by Ensign George K. Kraus, 22, of Wisconsin and Ensign Merle H. Longnecker, 20, of North Dakota. "Longnecker was the pursuing plane, and sent the radio message 'Splash,' indicating he was close enough to Kraus' plane for an attack. That was the last message heard, as the planes apparently collided over the Laurel Hill section of Norwich and crashed about a quarter mile apart in the woods of the Norwich State Hospital property. Fire and rescue crews raced to the scene, where the crash sparked a small forest fire. The archaeologists' report said this was the third accident in a week's time in night fighter training exercises out of Charlestown, indicating the dangerous nature of the drills.

1944 – The Navy announced that black women would be allowed into Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES).

1948 - A US Navy plane crashed near Tsingtao China. Two crew members are held prisoner by the Communists for 19 months.

1950 – The People’s Republic of China joins the Korean War by sending thousands of troops across the Yalu River to fight United Nations forces.

1953 - "HAMILTON, Bermuda (AP) - A U.S. Navy two-engined patrol bomber from Quonset Point, R.I., with ten crewmen aboard crashed with a terrific explosion in St. Georges Harbor [sic] Monday night. The Navy said six of the crewmen were rescued and taken to a hospital at the U.S. Air Force's Kindley Field. The plane was on a training flight and intended to remain over night at Kindley Field before proceeding to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Eyewitnesses said the plane passed over Kindley with its right engine ablaze. They said the pilot pulled up and was apparently trying to gain altitude when the plane stalled and crashed tail first."

1954 - First flying prototype Grumman XF9F-9 Tiger, BuNo 138604, suffers flame-out, the pilot, Lt. Cdr. W. H. Livingston, was able to put it down on the edge of a wood near the Grumman company runway at Bethpage, Long Island, New York, escaping with minor injuries. Airframe written-off. Production models will be redesignated F11F.

1965 - Second (of five) Ling-Temco-Vought XC-142As, 62-5922, suffers second accident when the number one main propeller pitch actuator suffers a hydraulic fluid blow-by problem just prior to touchdown at the Vought facility at NAS Dallas, Texas. A ground loop results with substantial damage to the landing gear and wing. In 1966 the damaged wing is replaced with an undamaged unit from XC-142A No. 3, 62–5923, out-of-service since its own landing accident on 3 January 1966. 62-5922 returns to flight status on 23 July 1966.

1968 – Former USS Archerfish (SS-311) was sunk by USS Snook (SSN-592). Archerfish survived the first two torpedoes until sunk by a WWII-era Mk 14-5.

1971 - Grumman E-2B Hawkeye BuNo 151721, c/n 41, 'NF 013', of VAW-115, and LTV A-7B-4-CV Corsair II, BuNo 154539, c/n B-179, both from USS Midway (CVA-41) collide over the Sea of Japan while both were preparing to land aboard, with E-2 crashing near the stern of the carrier, all five crew lost. A-7 pilot ejected safely, picked up by helicopter from MCAS Iwakuni in good condition.

1972 - A USAF Convair F-106B-55-CO Delta Dart, 57-2538, c/n 8-27-32, of the Air Defense Weapons Center, Tyndall AFB, Florida, is lost in a crash, pilot KWF.

1978 - A USAF Boeing B-52D Stratofortress, 56-0594, of the 22d Bomb Wing, crashes at 0730 hrs. in light fog in a plowed field ~2.5 miles SE of March AFB, near the rural community of Sunnymead, California, shortly after take-off. Five crew killed, but one is able to escape the burning wreckage and was reported in stable condition at the base hospital.

2007 – Four United States Air Force officers are relieved of command following an investigation of an incident where live nuclear warheads were carried on a B-52 bomber from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.

 

[mhansen2]

20 October

1786 – Harvard University organized the 1st astronomical expedition in US.

1803 – The US Senate voted to ratify Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase.

1818 – The Convention of 1818 signed between the United States and the United Kingdom which, among other things, settles the Canada–United States border on the 49th parallel for most of its length.

1820 – Spain sold a part of Florida to US for $5 million.

1824 – U.S. Schooner Porpoise captures four pirate ships off Cuba.

1863 - The blockade-runner “Mars” ran aground on the northern coast of North Carolina.

1903 – The Joint Commission, set up on January 24 by Great Britain and the United States to arbitrate the disputed Alaskan boundary, ruled in favor of the United States. The deciding vote was Britain’s, which embittered Canada. The United States gained ports on the panhandle coast of Alaska.

1939 – The German government warns that neutral merchant ships joining Allied convoys will be sunk without warning.

1942 – The United States Congress passes the largest tax bill in the country’s history. It will raise $6,881,000,000 in tax revenue.

1944 - Lockheed YP-80A-LO Shooting Star, 44-83025, c/n 080-1004, crashes at Burbank, California, coming down one mile W of the Lockheed terminal, after main fuel pump failure, killing Lockheed test pilot Milo Burcham.

1947 – The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) of the U.S. Congress opens its investigation into communist infiltration of the American movie industry.

1947 – The Soviet Union conducted a second launch of its captured V-2 rockets. The vehicle flew the full distance but missed its target by 181 kilometers (112 miles).

1952 – USS Lewis (DE-535) was hit by shore fire off the West Coast of Korea. Seven sailors were killed and one wounded.

1953 - Northrop YF-89D Scorpion, 49-2463, crashes at Edwards AFB, California, killing Northrop test pilot Walter P. Jones and Northrop radar operator Jack Collingsworth.

1960 – Test pilot Forest Peterson flew the X-15 to 16,398 meters (53,801 feet) and Mach 1.94.

1973 – Arab oil-producing nations banned oil exports to the United States, following the outbreak of Arab-Israeli war.

1973 – “Saturday Night Massacre”: United States President Richard Nixon fires U.S. Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus after they refuse to fire Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox, who is finally fired by Robert Bork.

1978 – USCG Cuyahoga (WIX-157) sank after colliding with MV Santa Cruz II near the mouth of the Potomac River, killing 11 crewmen. She was raised on 29 October, then sunk off the coast of Virginia as an artificial reef on 26 November.

1988 - USAF LTV A-7D-4-CV Corsair II, 69-6207, of the 4450th Tactical Group, Nellis AFB, Nevada, loses all power 15 miles S of Indianapolis, Indiana, at 31,000 feet while en-route from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Tinker AFB, Oklahoma. Pilot tries to dead-stick into Indianapolis International Airport but receives poor direction from air traffic controllers and crashes at ~0915 hrs. during late turn after aiming aircraft at a baseball field but fighter veers, striking bank branch roof and hitting center of Ramada Inn across the street, killing nine employees, injuring five others (one of whom died later as a result of the injuries sustained). Pilot Maj. Bruce L. Teagarden, 35, ejected, suffering bruises and muscle strain. He lands in parking lot of Ace Supply Company, four blocks from the hotel. Air Force pays out $50,427 in property claims damages, according to The New York Times on 26 October. This A-7D was part of the unit then secretly operating Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk stealth aircraft but this was successfully kept out of the media for several years.

 

[mhansen2]

21 October

1774 - First display of the word “Liberty” on a flag, raised by colonists in Taunton, Massachusetts in defiance of British rule in Colonial America. The Sons of Liberty were in the habit of meeting under a large tree (most village greens had one), which was called the “Liberty Tree”.

1797 - The 44-gun 204-foot U.S. Navy frigate USS Constitution, also known as Old Ironsides, was launched in Boston’s harbor. It was never defeated in 42 battles. 216 crew members set sail again in 1997 for its 200th birthday.

1837 – Under a flag of truce during peace talks, U.S. troops sieged the Indian Seminole Chief Osceola in Florida. Osceola, who was sick with malaria, knew the Indians could fight no more. He went to the General’s fort at St. Augustine with a white flag. When Osceola went to General Jesup the General had his men surround Osceola. They threw the white flag to the ground and put chains on his hands and feet. The Seminoles were so angry with Osceola’s capture that they continued to fight for the next five years.

1862 – “Pilot” was a Confederate schooner that was captured and burned by steamer gunboat USS E. B. Hale of the coast of Florida.

1864 – “Emma L. Hall” was a Union bark of 492 tons. While carrying a cargo of sugar and molasses from Cardenas, Cuba to New York City, she was captured and burned by blockade runner CSS Chickamauga within 50 miles of New York City.

1867 – Many leaders of the Kiowa, Comanche and Kiowa-Apache signed peace treaties at Medicine Lodge, Kan. Comanche Chief Quanah Parker refused to accept the treaty terms. The Medicine Lodge Treaty is the overall name for three treaties signed between the United States government and southern Plains Indian tribes, intended to bring peace to the area by relocating the Native Americans to reservations in Indian Territory and away from European-American settlement.

1916 – US Army formed Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC).

1918 - Burgess-built Hispano-Suiza-powered Curtiss N-9, A2468, is written off ("crashed to complete wreck") in Pensacola Bay, Florida, but with no injuries.

1942 - Boeing B-17D Flying Fortress, 40-3089, of the 5th Bomb Group/11th Bombardment Group Heavy (H), with Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, America's top-scoring World War I ace (26 kills), aboard on a secret mission, is lost at sea in the central Pacific Ocean when the bomber goes off-course. After 24 days afloat, Rickenbackker and surviving crew are rescued by the U.S. Navy after having been given up for lost and discovered by a Vought-Sikorsky OS2U Kingfisher crew.

1943 - USS Murphy (DD-603) is cut in two when she is accidentally rammed by U.S. tanker Bulkoil, 265 miles east-southeast of Ambrose Lightship, New York. Murphy's forward section sinks.

1947 – First flight of the Northrop YB-49 Flying Wing.

1958 – Former USS Chittenden County (LST-561) was sunk as a target off Diamond Head, Oahu, Hawaii by USS Sargo (SSN-583).

1959 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an executive order transferring Wernher von Braun and other German scientists from the United States Army to NASA. By the late 1960s their rockets were taking men to the moon.

1961 - Vought F8U-1 Crusader, BuNo 145357, of VF-11, arrestor hook and right landing gear broke during heavy landing on USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVA-42), with aircraft catching alight and going over port side. A series of nine photographs taken by Photographer's Mate L.J. Cera showed the crash sequence with pilot Lt. J.G Kryway ejecting in Martin-Baker Mk. F-5 seat just as the fighter leaves the deck. These images were widely distributed in the Navy to assure pilots that the seat could save them. Kryway escapes with minor injuries, being picked up by helicopter ten minutes later. Joe Baugher notes that date of 21 August 1961 has also been reported.

1967 - During a Laughlin AFB, Texas, airshow, USAF Thunderbirds No. 6, a North American F-100D-20-NA Super Sabre, 55-3520, piloted by Capt. Merrill A. "Tony" McPeak, crashes, but he succeeds in ejecting as the plane broke up. As McPeak pulls up to begin a series of vertical rolls, the wing center box fails at ~6.5 Gs, and the engine catches fire as the center fuel tank ruptures, dumping fuel into the engine bay. Pilot ejects and lands near to the crowd. This crash limited flying on all USAF Super Sabres to 4G. This was the first Thunderbird crash during a performance.

1970 - A US Air Force U-8 was lost over the USSR (Armenia). The crew of 4 were all rescued.

1972 – US Sec. of State Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho of North Vietnam reached a cease-fire agreement. It was signed Jan 27, 1973.

1983 – The United States sent a ten-ship task force to Grenada, one of the smallest independent nations in the Western Hemisphere and one of the southernmost Caribbean islands in the Windward chain.

1994 – United States and North Korea signed an agreement requiring the communist nation to halt its nuclear program and agree to inspections.

 

[mhansen2]

23 October

4004 BC– According to 17th century divine James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh, and Dr. John Lightfoot of Cambridge, the world was created on this day, a Sunday, at 9 a.m. (Is that GMT?)

1775 – Continental Congress approved a resolution barring blacks from army.

1783 – Virginia emancipated slaves who fought for independence during the Revolutionary War.

1861 – President Abraham Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus in Washington, D.C. for all military-related cases.

1862 – “Lafayette” was a Union bark of 945 tons carrying a cargo of corn, wheat, pipe staves and lard and was on route from New York City for Belfast, Ireland when she was captured and burned by screw sloop-of-war CSS Alabama.

1918 – President Wilson felt satisfied that the Germans were accepting his armistice terms and agreed to transmit their request for an armistice to the Allies. The Germans had agreed to suspend submarine warfare, cease inhumane practices such as the use of poison gas, and withdraw troops back into Germany.

1921 – Four unknown soldiers from the cemeteries of Asine-Marne, Meuse-Argonne, Somme, and St. Mihiel were brought to the Hotel de Ville in France for final selection to commemorate the sacrifice of the 77,000 American servicemen who died during World War I. the US military selected bodies of unknown soldiers who died in France. One was chosen to be brought to Arlington National Cemetery. The chosen soldier would represent just one of many who would never be identified. The military service record describes the selection of the first unknown soldier out of a group of four: “The original records showing the internment of these bodies were searched and the four bodies selected represented the remains of soldiers of which there was absolutely no indication as to name, rank, organization or date of death.”

1939 – North of Murmansk, a German prize crew steers the US ship City of Flint into Kola Bay. The steamer was seized as contraband by a German cruiser. SS City of Flint, a freighter of the United States Merchant Marine, was the first American ship captured by the Germans during World War II. Under the command of Captain Joseph H. Gainard, City of Flint first became involved in the war when she rescued 200 survivors of the torpedoed British passenger liner SS Athenia in early September 1939. On October 9, City of Flint was carrying 4000 tons of lubricating oil from New York to Great Britain. (Panzerschiff) Deutschland seized her some 1200 miles out from New York, declaring her cargo to be contraband and the ship a prize of war. A German prize crew painted out all US insignia and hoisted the German ensign.

1942 - Mid-air collision at 9,000 feet (2,700 m) altitude between American Airlines Douglas DC-3, NC16017, "Flagship Connecticut", flying out of Lockheed Air Terminal (now Burbank Airport) en route to Phoenix, Arizona and New York City, and USAAF Lockheed B-34 Ventura II bomber, 41-38116, on a ferry flight from Long Beach Army Air Base to Palm Springs Army Air Field. Pilot of B-34, Lt. William N. Wilson and copilot Staff Sergeant Robert Leicht, were able to make emergency landing at Palm Springs, but DC-3, carrying nine passengers and a crew of three, its tail splintered and its rudder shorn off by B-34's right engine, went into a flat spin, clipped a rocky ledge in Chino Canyon, California below San Jacinto Peak, and exploded in desert, killing all on board. Among the passengers killed was Academy Award-winning Hollywood composer Ralph Rainger, 41, who had written or collaborated on such hit songs as "Louise", "Love in Bloom" (comedian Jack Benny's theme song), "Faithful Forever", "June in January", "Blue Hawaii" and "Thanks for the Memory", which entertainer Bob Hope adopted as his signature song. Initial report by Ventura crew was that they had lost sight of the airliner due to smoke from a forest fire, but closed-door Congressional investigation revealed that bomber pilot knew the first officer on the DC-3, Louis Frederick Reppert, and had attempted to wave to him in mid-air rendezvous. However, Wilson misjudged the distance between the two aircraft and triggered the fatal collision when, in pulling his B-34 up and away from the DC-3, its right propeller sliced through the airliner's tail. The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) placed the blame directly on the "reckless and irresponsible conduct of Lieutenant William N. Wilson in deliberately maneuvering a bomber in dangerous proximity to an airliner in an unjustifiable attempt to attract the attention of the first officer (copilot) of the latter plane." Lt. Wilson subsequently faced manslaughter charges by the U.S. Army but about a month after the accident a court martial trial board acquitted him of blame. In a separate legal development, a lawsuit seeking $227,637 was filed against American Airlines on behalf of crash victim Ralph Rainger's wife, Elizabeth, who was left widowed with three small children. In June 1943 a jury awarded her $77,637. The Ventura, repaired, and eventually modified to a RB-34A-4 target-tug, would crash at Wolf Hill near Smithfield, Rhode Island after engine failure on 5 August 1943, killing all three crew.

1944 – In the Philippines the Battle of Leyte Gulf began.

1946 – The United Nations General Assembly convened in New York for the first time, at an auditorium in Flushing Meadow.

1950 – Communist troops massacred 68 American POWs in the Sunchon tunnel. A 1st Cavalry Division force under the command of Brigadier General Frank A. Allen rescued 21 survivors.

1954 – In Paris, an agreement was signed providing for West German sovereignty and permitting West Germany to rearm and enter NATO and the Western European Union. Britain, England, France and USSR agreed to end occupation of Germany.

1962 – Test pilot Robert Rushworth flew the X-15 to 40,996 meters (134,508 feet) and Mach 5.47.

1962 - A U.S. Air Force Boeing C-135B Stratolifter, AF Ser. No. 62-4136, of the Military Air Transport Service, delivering a load of ammunition from McGuire AFB, New Jersey, to Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as part of the military response to the Cuban Missile Crisis, stalls and crashes short of the runway, killing all seven crew. This was the first cargo C-135 hull loss.

1983 – A truck filled with explosives, driven by a Moslem suicide terrorist, crashed into the U.S. Marine barracks near the Beirut International Airport in Lebanon. The bomb killed 241 Marines and sailors and injured 80. Almost simultaneously, a similar incident occurred at French military headquarters, where 58 died and 15 were injured.

1983 – Operation Urgent Fury (Grenada, West Indies) begins. The State Department sent Ambassador Francis J. McNeill to meet with representatives of the OECS, Jamaica, and Barbados in Bridgetown, Barbados, and assess their countries’ willingness to join peacekeeping operations. Admiral McDonald flew to Washington late in the evening to brief the JCS on the plan. Titled “Evacuation of US Citizens from Grenada,” it reflected the missions added to the estimate: restoration of a democratic government in concert with the OECS, Jamaica, and Barbados; logistical support for US allies; and deterrence of Cuban intervention.

1992 – President Bush announced that Vietnam had agreed to turn over all materials in its possession related to U.S. personnel in the Vietnam War.

 

[mhansen2]

24 October

1861 – West Virginia seceded from Virginia. Residents of thirty-nine counties in western Virginia approved the formation of a new Unionist state. The accuracy of these election results have been questioned, since Union troops were stationed at many of the polls to prevent Confederate sympathizers from voting.

1915 – The Marine Corps Recruit Depot was moved from Norfolk and established at Parris Island, South Carolina.

1929 – Black Thursday—the first day of the stock market crash which began the Great Depression. Dow Jones was down 12.8%. Stock values collapsed and 13 million shares changed hands as small investors frantically tried to sell off their holdings, a new record; 4 million was the average of the day.

1932 - "PENSACOLA, Fla., - Lieut. John Wehle, marine corps student flier and son-in-law of Major-Gen. Smedley D. Butler, joined the 'caterpillar club' today by leaping safely in a parachute after his airplane went out of control. Wehle, who was practicing barrel rolling when he lost control, landed in a bayou. The plane crashed on the edge of Pensacola bay [sic]."

1943 - Curtiss SB2C Helldiver, of VB-8, coded '8-B-24', suffers major damage in a barrier crash aboard USS Intrepid (CV-11) during shakedown cruise in the Caribbean, engine breaking loose from mounts and dropping down towards the deck adjacent to the island.

1944 - Crew of U.S. Navy Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer, BuNo 59394, of VPB-106, out of NAAS Camp Kearney, California, on a long-range training mission, becomes lost in bad weather, runs out of fuel, and ditches in the Gulf of California, eleven crew, two female Marines, and the squadron canine mascot all evacuating the bomber as it rapidly sinks.
"SAN DIEGO, Oct. 30 (AP) - How two women marines and 11 crew members of a Navy Liberator bomber which crashed at sea existed for four days in Robinson Crusoe style on a deserted island near the eastern coast of Baja California before being rescued by Mexican fishermen was disclosed today by the Navy. The bomber sank almost immediately after making a crash landing late Tuesday night, but the crew was able to salvage a small six-man life raft. So crowded was the raft that some of the men were forced to swim to give more room for the two women - Pfc. Helen L. Breckel, 21, Cincinnati, and Pfc. Edna H. Shaughnessy, 28, Manchester, N. H. The party existed on clams and raw fish while on the island, 330 miles southeast of here. A fishing boat sighted them Saturday and took them to Bahia de Los Angeles and a Coast Guard plane returned them here yesterday."

1944 – Navy “Ace of Aces” Commander David McCampbell (1910-1996) shoots down nine Japanese planes and his wingman Ensign Roy Rushing shoots down another seven.

1946 – A camera on board the V-2 No. 13 rocket takes the first photograph of earth from outer space. Launched from the White Sands Missile Range in White Sands, New Mexico, the rocket reached a maximum altitude of 107.5 miles (173 km), well above the commonly accepted boundary of space at 100 kilometres.
The first photograph of Earth taken from space | Cosmos

1951 – Dr. Albert W. Bellamy, chief of Radiological Services for the California State Civil Defense, held a press conference to assure state residents that there would be no ill effects from the atomic test explosions near Las Vegas.

1951 – The largest air battle of the Korean War occurs at 150 MiGs attack a formation of B-29s escorted by 55 F-84 Thunderjets. Four of the bombers were destroyed and three others seriously damaged and one F-84 was lost. Eight MiGs were destroyed (an additional two probably destroyed) and 10 others heavily damaged.

1955 - Eleventh of 13 North American X-10s, GM-52-4, c/n 11, on Navaho X-10 flight number 17, out of Cape Canaveral, Florida, an engine problem results in a mission abort. After auto-landing, the nose wheel develops a shimmy, the vehicle runs off the skid strip, catches fire, and is destroyed.

1956 - Midair collision involving USAF T-33A and civil Cessna 170 occurred over Midland, Tx. Seven fatalities. Accident occurred over a Southwest Midland neighborhood, one house burned, seven others damaged. No fatalities or injuries on ground. Dead included 2 USAF aircrew, 5 civilian- all from 1 family. One aircrewman ejected from the USAF trainer, based out of Webb AFB, Texas, but his parachute failed to open.

1957 – The USAF starts the X-20 Dyna-Soar program to develop a spaceplane that could be used for a variety of military missions, including reconnaissance, bombing, space rescue, satellite maintenance, and sabotage of enemy satellites. The program ran to 10 December 1963, cost US$660 million ($5.08 billion today), and was cancelled just after spacecraft construction had begun.

1962 – Former USS Amesbury (DE-66) was being towed by Alexander Marine Salvage off Key West to be sunk as an artificial reef when she grounded. Before she could be refloated a storm broke up her hull. Locally known as Alexander’s Wreck.

1962 – The U.S. blockade of Cuba during the missile crisis officially began under a proclamation signed by President Kennedy. Atlantic Fleet begins quarantine operations to force Soviet Union to agree to remove ballistic missiles and long-range bombers from Cuba.

1968 – Test pilot Bill Dana flew the X-15 on its 199th and last mission to 77,742 meters (255,012 feet) and Mach 5.38.

1972 – Henry Kissinger in secret unauthorized talks in Paris proposed to end the war in Vietnam by this date, but was urged by Pres. Nixon to stretch the timing a few months so as to insure re-election in Nov. The peace agreement allowed North Vietnam to keep its army in the South.

1988 – The crew of USS Vincennes (CG-49) received an emotional homecoming in San Diego, nearly four months after the cruiser downed an Iranian jetliner in the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.

1994 - US Navy Grumman F-14A Tomcat, BuNo 160390, 'NH 103', of VF-213, crashed on approach to the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), operating 40 miles (65 km.) off the Southern California coast, killing Lt. Kara Hultgreen, the first female Tomcat-qualified pilot in the Navy. The RIO, Lieutenant Matthew Klemish, initiated ejection as it became apparent that the flight envelope was being exceeded, his seat firing first. He was rescued. Due to low-speed rolling turn, the ejections were on the edge of the seat capabilities, and Hultgreen's, firing 0.4 seconds later, did not have time to fully sequence as the airframe had rolled past 90 degrees and she was ejected downward into the water, killing her instantly. Her body was recovered by a Navy salvage team on 12 November, still strapped into her seat, less than 100 yards (90 m.) from her F-14 on the seabed. The aircraft involved was used to shoot down a Libyan Air Force Su-22 Fitter during the 1981 Gulf of Sidra incident.

 

[mhansen2]

25 October

1812 – U.S. frigate United States captured British vessel Macedonian during the War of 1812.

1825 – Erie Canal opened, linking Great Lakes and Atlantic Ocean.

1923 – The Teapot Dome scandal came to public attention as Senator Thomas J. Walsh of Montana, subcommittee chairman, revealed the findings of the past 18 months of investigation. His case would result in the conviction of Harry F. Sinclair of Mammoth Oil, and later Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall, the first cabinet member in American history to go to jail. The scandal, named for the Teapot Dome oil reserves in Wyoming, involved Fall secretly leasing naval oil reserve lands to private companies.

1924 – Airship, USS Shenandoah (ZR-1), completes round trip transcontinental cruise that began on 7 October.

1936 - Major Charles H. Howard, winner of the 1932 Mackay Trophy, and Sgt. Edward Gibson are killed in the crash of their Martin B-10B, 34–83, just outside Bryans Mill, Texas.

1943 - Four Consolidated B-24H Liberators of the 724th Bomb Squadron (Heavy), 451st Bomb Group (Heavy), from Fairmont Army Air Field, Nebraska, were flying in a diamond formation. At ~1600 hrs. CWT, one bomber broke formation and the pilot of a second, as trained, moved toward the vacated position. When the first bomber returned to its position, the two planes collided. At an altitude of 20,000 feet, this was the highest fatal World War II training accident in Nebraska. One bomber crashed in the adjoining farm fields of Frank Hromadka Sr. and Anna Matejka, 2 miles N and ½ mile E of Milligan, Nebraska. The other crashed in the farmyard of Mike and Fred Stech, 3 miles N and 2 miles E of Milligan. Killed were 2d Lt. James H. Williams, 2d Lt. William E. Herzog, 2d Lt. Kenneth S. Ordway, 2d Lt. Charles L. Brown, 2d Lt. Clyde H. Frye, Sgt. James H. Bobbitt, Sgt. William D. Watkins, Sgt. William G. Williams, Sgt. Wilbur H. Chamberlin, Sgt. Edward O. Boucher, Sgt. Ursulo Galindo Jr., Sgt. William C. Wilson, Sgt. Albert R. Mogavero, Sgt. Arthur O. Doria, Sgt. Eugene A. Hubbell, F/O Achille P. Augelli, and Pfc. Andrew G. Bivona. All eight crew died aboard B-24H-1-FO, 42-7657, piloted by 2d Lt. Brown, while the sole survivor of ten on B-24H-1-FO, 42-7673, flown by 2d Lt. Williams, was 2d Lt. Melvin Klein, who was thrown free of the wreckage and managed to deploy his parachute. A Nebraska historical marker was erected about the accident in 2010 by the Milligan Memorial Committee for the World War II Fatal Air Crashes near Milligan, Nebraska.

1944 – USS Tang (SS-306) under Richard O’Kane (the top American submarine captain of World War II) is sunk by the ship’s own malfunctioning torpedo. Some sources say 24 October.

1950 – U.N. forces approached to within 34 miles of the Yalu River, the Chinese Manchurian border, as the Chinese Communist Forces launched their First Phase Offensive around this date. UNC intelligence agencies remained ignorant of Chinese intentions and the extent of their commitment to intervening in the war.

1955 – Test pilot Frank Everest flew the X-2 on what was to be its first powered flight. A nitrogen leak developed and the mission was completed as a glide flight.

1955 - Boeing WB-29A-35-BN Superfortress, 44-61600, c/n 11077, of the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, out of RAF Burtonwood, experiences multiple problems including failed fuel feed pump, head winds, while returning from "Falcon" mission to polar region; pilot orders bail out of crew shortly before midnight as fuel exhaustion becomes critical, all eleven survive, with only one minor injury. Aircraft comes down near Kirkby Lonsdale, Lancashire, England, burns, only rear fuselage and tail remaining intact.

1956 - First (of two) Bell XV-3s, 54–147, first flown 11 August 1955, crashes this date when pilot Dick Stansbury blacks out due to extremely high cockpit vibrations when the rotor shafts are moved 17 degrees forward from vertical. Pilot is seriously injured and airframe is damaged beyond repair. Cause was dynamic instability, also known as air resonance. Design was initially designated XH-33.

1962 – U.S. ambassador Adlai E. Stevenson presented photographic evidence of Soviet missile bases in Cuba to the U.N. Security Council.

1969 - Two United States Air Force Academy faculty members are killed when their Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star crashes and burned in a meadow near the main runway while landing at Peterson Field, Colorado. Pilot was Maj. Donald J. Usry, 32, of the academy faculty, and back-seater was Capt. Martin Bezyack, of the academy's athletic department.

1976 - Lockheed SR-71A, 61-7965, Article 2016, lost near Lovelock, Nevada during night training sortie following INS platform failure. Pilot St. Martin and RSO Carnochan eject safely.

1982 – Former USS Savage (DE-386) was sunk as a target off the California coast.

1985 – CGC Polar Sea arrived home to Seattle after a voyage through the Northwest Passage by way of the Panama Canal, the east coast, and then Greenland, sparking an international incident with Canada by navigating the Northwest Passage from Greenland to Alaska without authorization from the Canadian government. She completed the first solo circumnavigation of the North American continent by a U.S. vessel and the first trip by a Polar-Class icebreaker. She also captured the record for the fastest transit of the historic northern route. She had departed Seattle to begin the voyage on 6 June 1985.

2002 – Two F-16s collide over Utah.
F-16C Block 40E, 89-2006, “Destroyed in a mid-air collision with F-16C (#89-2111). Capt. David Rosmann, ejected safely. The mishap was caused by the failure of both pilots to properly deconflict their flight paths during a tactical turn. Other contributing factors included: loss of situational awareness, misinterpretation of closure and visual cues, task misprioritization and channelization, and expectancy.”

F-16C Block 40G, 89-2111, “Destroyed in a mid-air collision with F-16C (89-2006). First Lieutenant, Jorma D. Huhtala, was killed in the mid-air. The mishap was caused by the failure of both pilots to properly deconflict their flight paths during a tactical turn. Other contributing factors included: loss of situational awareness, misinterpretation of closure and visual cues, task misprioritization and channelization, and expectancy."

2011 – The last of the United States’ nine-megaton B53 warheads, formerly the most powerful nuclear weapons in the country’s nuclear arsenal, is disassembled near Amarillo, Texas, having been in service since 1962.

 

[mhansen2]

26 October

1775 – King George III of Great Britain went before Parliament to declare the American colonies in rebellion and authorized a military response to quell the American Revolution.

1776 – Benjamin Franklin departs from America for France on a mission to seek French support for the American Revolution.

1795 – Pinckney’s Treaty (Treaty of San Lorenzo) between Spain and US was signed. Spain recognized U.S. borders at the Mississippi and the 31st parallel (the northern border of Florida, a Spanish possession) and granted Americans the right to deposit goods for transshipment at New Orleans.

1861 – The Pony Express ended after 18 months of operation. Financially, the owners spent $700,000 on the Pony Express and had a $200,000 deficit. The company failed to get the million dollar government contract because of political pressures and the outbreak of the Civil War. Improved communication between east and west. Proved the central route could be traveled all winter. Supported the central route for the transcontinental railroad. Kept communication open to California at the beginning of the Civil War. Provided the fastest communication between east and west until the telegraph. Captured the hearts and the imagination of people all over the world.

1862 – “Crenshaw” was a Union schooner of 279 tons carrying a cargo of grain from New York City for Glasgow. She was captured and burned by sloop-of-war CSS Alabama.

1864 – “Kenosha” was a Union screw steamer of 645 tons built in 1856 at Cleveland, Ohio. She was burned at Sarnia, Ontario.

1864 – “Sophie McLane” (Sophie McLean) was a Union side wheel paddle steamer built in 1858 or 1859 at San Francisco. At Suisan Bay Wharf the boiler expoded leaving 13 dead. The vessel was later salvaged.

1921 – In first successful test, a compressed air, turntable catapult, launches an N-9 seaplane. This type of catapult was later installed on battleships, replacing turret-mounted platforms for launching aircraft.

1922 – LCDR Godfrey deC. Chevalier makes first landing aboard a carrier (USS Langley) while underway off Cape Henry, Virginia.

1940 – The P-51 Mustang makes its maiden flight.

1944 - WASP pilot Gertrude Tompkins Silver of the 601st Ferrying Squadron, 5th Ferrying Group, Love Field, Dallas, Texas, departs Mines Field, Los Angeles, California, in North American P-51D-15-NA Mustang, 44-15669, at 1600 hrs PWT, headed for the East Coast. She took off into the wind, into an offshore fog bank, and was expected that night at Palm Springs. She never arrived. Due to a paperwork foul-up, a search did not get under way for several days, and while the eventual search of land and sea was massive, it failed to find a trace of Silver or her plane. She is the only missing WASP pilot.

1952 - Boeing WB-29 Superfortress, 44-69770, "Typhoon Goon II", (built as B-29-60-BW), of the 54th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, Guam, is lost during a low-level penetration of Typhoon Wilma, a Category 5 storm, ~300 miles E of Leyte, Philippines, 10 crew killed. Lost are: Maj. Sterling L. Harrell, Capt. Donald M. Baird, Capt. Frank J. Pollack, 1st Lt. William D. Burchell, 1st Lt. Clifton R. Knickmeyer, M/Sgt. Edward H. Fontaine, A1C. Alton B. Brewton, A1C. William Colgan, A1C. Anthony J. Fasullo, and A3C. Rodney E. Verrill. No wreckage is found.

1953 - A Douglas B-26 Invader target-towing plane on a gunnery training mission crashes at Indian Springs AFB, Nevada, killing the pilot and two crewmen. The Invader was based at Nellis AFB, Nevada. The victim’s names were withheld pending notification of next of kin.

1956 - A USAF Fairchild C-119G-FA Flying Boxcar, 51-8026A, c/n 10769, of the 61st Troop Carrier Squadron, 314th Troop Carrier Wing, Tactical Air Command, Sewart Air Force Base, Tennessee, on a cargo airlift mission to Olmsted Air Force Base, Pennsylvania, crashes 7 miles N of Newport, Perry County, Pennsylvania at ~1515 hrs. ET, killing four crew. The weather at Olmsted was fluctuating rapidly with rain and fog, and at 1400 hrs. the pilot reported a missed approach to the field. After being cleared to altitude over the Lancaster beacon the conditions at Olmsted improved to above minimums and the pilot requested another approach. At 1506 ET, he was cleared for a straight-in approach from New Kingston Fan Marker to Olmsted. At 1509 he reported leaving the New Kingston Fan Marker inbound and at 1511 he reported leaving 3,000 feet. The aircraft crashed in mountainous terrain 22.5 nm W of the Kingston Fan Marker. KWF are 1st Lt. Robert Siegfried Hantsch, pilot, Walter Beverly Gordon, Jr., co-pilot, T/Sgt. Marvin W. Seigler, engineer, and 1st Lt. Gracye E. Young, of the 4457th USAF Hospital, Sewart AFB. The Perry County Times reported that the aircraft struck the side of the mountain in Toboyne Township in the Three Square Hollow of the Tuscarora State Forest, "one of the most desolate in Central Pennsylvania." Some 150 rescuers had to battle heavy underbrush as well as fog and rain to get to the crash site and did not reach the scene until about 2100 hrs. In 2006, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources erected a plaque near the site in memory of those killed.

1958 - North American F-86L Sabre, 53-0569, of the 330th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, Stewart AFB, New York, crashes W of that base while on approach in a snow storm, killing pilot Lt. Gary W. Crane.

1962 – At the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, second-in-command Vasilli Arkhipov of the Soviet submarine B-59 refused to agree with his Captain’s order to launch nuclear torpedos against US warships and setting off what might well have been a terminal superpower nuclear war. The US had been dropping depth charges near the submarine in an attempt to force it to surface, unaware it was carrying nuclear arms. The Soviet officers, who had lost radio contact with Moscow, concluded that World War 3 had begun, and 2 of the officers agreed to ‘blast the warships out of the water’. Arkhipov refused to agree – unanimous consent of 3 officers was required – and thanks to him, we are here to talk about it.

1966 – A fire in a flare locker in Hangar Bay One of USS Oriskany (CVA-34) beginning at 0728 hrs. spreads through the hangar deck and to the flight deck. Before the fires are extinguished two Kaman SH-2 Seasprite helicopters are lost, Douglas A-4E Skyhawk, BuNo 151075, is destroyed, and three others are damaged, as are Hangar Bays One and Two, the forward officer quarters and catapults, and 44 crew are killed.

1978 - A USAF LTV A-7D Corsair II, 69-6240, of the 355th TFW, on a flight from Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, crashes on approach to its home station, Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, coming down on Highland Avenue between a University of Arizona athletic practice field and Mansfield Junior High School in Tucson. Two University of Arizona students, Leticia Felix Humphrey, 21, a business education major, and her sister, Clarissa Felix, 20, majoring in early education, were driving down Highland in Leticia's car when the plane hit and engulfed it in flames. Leticia died there at the scene of the crash and Clarissa died shortly after. At least five other civilians were less seriously injured. The pilot, Capt. Frederick Ashler, 28, ejected safely after aiming his jet at the practice field. His ejection resulted in the plane veering tragically to the right and striking the road and car.

2016 - USMC F/A-18C crashed near 29 Palms. The pilot ejects and survives.

 

[mhansen2]

27 October

1682 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is founded.

1838 – Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs issues the Extermination Order, which orders all Mormons to leave the state or be exterminated.

1864 – LT William Cushing, USN, sinks Confederate ram Albemarle with a spar torpedo attached to the bow of his launch.

1873 – Farmer Joseph F. Glidden applied for a patent on barbed wire.

1922 – Navy League of U.S. sponsors first annual celebration of Navy Day to focus public attention on the importance of the U.S. Navy. That date was selected because it was Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday.

1930 – Ratifications exchanged in London for the first London Naval Treaty, signed in April modifying the 1925 Washington Naval Treaty and the arms limitation treaty’s modified provisions, go into effect immediately, further limiting the expensive naval arms race among its five signatories.

1932 - "SAN DIEGO, Oct. 27 - A stirring and unique air drama was played out in an impenetrable fog here tonight after 22 navy airplanes had been stranded with dwindling gasoline supplies in the sky, and at its conclusion every aviator involved was safe. As a result of the long series of emergencies which developed as the fuel ran dangerously low in the planes, one at a time, one plane was demolished, another was badly damaged, one caught fire and several others turned over and were slightly damaged. At 8 o'clock only two planes remained aloft, and they circled aimlessly about over the city watching for a break in the fog. They carried no radios and could not be told that the navy's call upon the citizens of San Diego for assistance had sent scores of motorists rushing to Camp Kearny mesa to light up with the headlights of their cars an unused airport there. The United Airlines night mail plane, piloted by C. F. Sullivan, was en route from Los Angeles to San Diego. It carried a radio-telephone. At the request of the navy, Sullivan was asked to fly around above the fog, locate the two planes and lead them to Camp Kearny. He circled the town several times, picked up the first one and then the other of the planes and by flashing three dots and a dash with his cabin light informed them they were to follow him. The three in this strange cavalcade reached the abandoned army camp and landed there in safety amidst cheers of several hundreds of persons."

1943 – First women Marines report for duty at Camp Pendleton, California.

1950 - North American AJ-1 Savage, BuNo 124163, of VC-5, fails to climb out on launch from the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVB-42) and goes into the water directly off the bow, reportedly off Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Plane Commander was LCDR Dave Purdon, the B/N was LTJG Ed Decker, and the Third Crewman was Chief Edward R. Barrett. Only Decker escapes from the wreckage with minor injuries to be rescued by the plane guard helicopter. Cause was possibly accidental engagement of the flight control gust locks.

1954 – Pres. Eisenhower offered aid to S. Vietnam Pres. Ngo Dinh Diem.

1959 - Convair YB-58 Hustler, 55-0669, crashes 7 miles (11 km) W of Hattiesburg, Mississippi; Convair pilot Everett L. Wheeler, and Convair flight engineer Michael F. Keller survive; Convair flight engineer Harry N. Blosser killed. Accident cause was loss of control during normal flight.

1962 – Negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union finally result in a plan to end the two-week-old Cuban Missile Crisis.

1962 – Major Rudolf Anderson, a Greenville, South Carolina native and 1948 graduate from Clemson University's cadet corps and pilot with the 4080th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing is tasked with an overflight of Cuba on mission 3128, in a CIA Lockheed U-2F spyplane, remarked with U.S. Air Force insignia, to take photos of the Soviet SS-N-4 medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBMs) and SS-N-5 intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBMs) build-ups. Anderson had first qualified on the U-2 type on 3 September 1957. This would be his sixth Cuban overflight. He departed McCoy AFB, Florida at 0909 hrs ET. Contrary to Moscow orders to not engage reconnaissance flights, a single Soviet-manned SA-2 missile battery at Banes fired at Anderson's high-flying U-2F, AF Ser. No. 56-6676, (Article 343), at 1021 hrs, Havana time (1121 hrs. ET). Although not a direct hit, several pieces of shrapnel punctured the canopy and the pilot's partial pressure suit and helmet, resulting in Anderson's immediate death. A censored Central Intelligence Agency document dated 28 October 1962, 0200 hours, states "The loss of the U-2 over Banes was probably caused by intercept by an SA-2 from the Banes site, or pilot hypoxia, with the former appearing more likely on the basis of present information." Actually, it was both.

1962 - A U.S. Air Force Boeing RB-47H Stratojet, AF Ser No. 53-6248, of the 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, experienced loss of thrust and crashed at Kindley AFB, Bermuda, killing all four crew: aircraft commander Major William A. Britton, copilot 1st Lieutenant Holt J. Rasmussen, navigator Captain Robert A. Constable, and observer Captain Robert C. Dennis. Cause was contaminated water-alcohol. This aircraft had spotted the Soviet freighter Grozny with missiles bound for Cuba on its deck on 26 September.

1965 – Test pilot John McKay flew the X-15 to 72,207 meters (236,911 feet) and Mach 5.06.

1970 – Former USS Parle (DE-708) was sunk as a target off Florida.

1976 - General Dynamics F-111E, 67-0116, c/n A1-161 / E-2, of the 3246th Test Wing, Armament Development and Test Center, one of two assigned to the base, crashed at Eglin AFB, Florida, upon return from a test mission. Crew, pilot Capt. Douglas A. Joyce, and Capt. Richard Mullane, deployed crew escape module safely and were uninjured.


1988 – President Reagan decides to tear down the new U.S. Embassy in Moscow because of Soviet listening devices in the building structure.

1999 – Former USS Mesopelea (ATF-158) was an Abnaki Class Fleet Ocean Tug, sunk as a target 250nm East of Norfolk, Virginia.

 

[mhansen2]

28 October

1492 – Christopher Columbus discovered Cuba on his first voyage to the New World.

1824 - Schooner USS Wildcat lost with all hands in a gale while sailing between Cuba and Thompson´s Island, West Indies. Approximately 31 drowned.

1862 – “Lauraetta” was a Union bark carrying a cargo of 1,424 barrels of flour, pipe staves, 225 kegs of nails and 290 boxes of herrings. She was captured and burned by sloop-of-war CSS Alabama south of Halifax at St. Georges Bank.

1918 - USS Tarantula (SP-124) sank in a collision with the Royal Holland Lloyd Line SS Frisia, eight miles from the Fire Island light vessel. There was no loss of life.

1942 – The Alaska Highway (Alcan Highway) is completed through Canada to Fairbanks, Alaska.

1944 – The first B-29 Superfortress bomber mission flew from the airfields in the Mariana Islands in a strike against the Japanese base at Truk.

1960 – John McKay flew the X-15 to 15,453 meters (50,701 feet) and Mach 2.02.

1985 – The leader of the so-called “Walker family spy ring,” John Walker, pleaded guilty to giving U-S Navy secrets to the Soviet Union.

1999 – Blue Angels pilot Lt. Cmdr. Kieron O'Connor, flying in the front seat of a two-seat Hornet, and recently selected demonstration pilot Lt. Kevin Colling (in the back seat) struck the ground during circle and arrival maneuvers in Valdosta, Georgia. Neither pilot survived.

2007 – USS Porter (DDG-78) opened fire on pirates who had captured a freighter and with other vessels blockaded a port the pirates attempted to take refuge in.

 

[mhansen2]

29 October

1814 – Launching of the first American steam powered warship, at New York City. The ship was designed by Robert Fulton. While never formally named, Fulton referred to it as Demologos.

1862 - The American wooden bark Alleghanian (Alleghany), on voyage from Baltimore to London with guano, was captured by Confederates and set on fire, 5 to 2 miles outside of the mouth of the Rappahannock River in Virginia off Gwun's Island (Gwynn Island?) in 30 fathoms.

1864 – “Mazeppa” was a Union stern-wheel steamer transport of 184 tons, built in 1864 at Cincinnati. While towing two barges with 700 tons of freight, including flour, shoes, blankets, arms, hardtack, clothing, and other goods, Mazeppa was shelled by Lt. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest's batteries at Paris Landing, upstream from Fort Heiman, Ky., on the Tennessee River.

The damaged ship was abandoned on the west bank of the river and most of the guns and ammunition were removed and taken away in wagons.

When Union gunboats approached that night, the Mazeppa and the barges were burned, 2 miles above and across from Fort Henry.

1870 - USS Saginaw was a side wheel steamer, the first vessel built at Mare Island naval ship yard and the first warship built on the West Coast.

Her final cruise involved supporting an attempt to develop a coal depot at Midway Island, which had been claimed by the U.S. in 1867. The Saginaw was transporting the team of Boston hardhat divers from Midway back to San Francisco following a six-month effort the clear a channel into the lagoon. She wrecked at Kure Atoll. Survivors spent two months on Ocean (Green) Island, while five volunteers made a perilous open boat voyage to the main Hawaiian Islands for rescue. After a month at sea and their provisions all spoiled, the small crew was virtually incapacitated by the time they reached the main Hawaiian Islands some 1,200 miles to the southeast.

Four died in the rough surf landing on Kauai. The fifth, coxswain William Halford, made his way to Honolulu and the Hawaiian steamer Kilauea soon brought the crew back from the distant atoll.

1910 – In New York City, pilot Alfred Leblanc set a new air speed record in his Bleriot XI of 68.171 MPH (109.756 KPH).

1940 – The first draftees are selected by lottery from the Selective Service registrations. In New York, the first person chosen is Yuen Chong Chan. Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson drew the first number.

1953 – At the Salton Sea, California, test pilot Frank Everest flew a F-100A Super Saber to set a world’s air speed record of 755.1 MPH (1,215.3 KPH).

1954 - Boeing RB-47E-30-BW Stratojet, 52–770, of the 90th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing based at Forbes AFB, Kansas, goes out of control at ~10,000 feet and plunges vertically to the ground SW of Olathe, Kansas, killing three of four crew. The pilot, Capt. Norman Palmer, 32, of Rochester, Indiana, ejected and survived, although with injuries. He suffered fractures of the right arm and shoulder after parachuting from low altitude. "A witness, Dr. Jack Flickinger of Baldwin, Kansas, said the burning craft went into a vertical dive at 1,000 to 2,000 feet and plunged straight into the ground." He said that a hole 40 feet deep was blasted on impact with wreckage thrown 500 yards in all directions. Dead were Capt. Hassel O. Green, 32, instructor-pilot, of Newsite, Mississippi; Capt. George H. Miller, 33, co-pilot, of Burbank, California; and Capt. Arthur F. Bouton, Jr., 31, observer, of Little Rock, Arkansas. Lt. Allen Oppegard, Air Information Services officer at the Naval Air Station Olathe, said the pilot told medical personnel from the base that the plane went out of control at about 10,000 feet but that he did not know why. The pilot said he did not recall how he got out of the aircraft.

1956 – Israeli armed forces push into Egypt toward the Suez Canal, initiating the Suez Crisis. They would soon be joined by French and British forces, creating a serious Cold War problem in the Middle East. The catalyst for the joint Israeli-British-French attack on Egypt was the nationalization of the Suez Canal by Egyptian leader General Gamal Abdel Nasser in July 1956.

1957 - Boeing KC-97G-27-BO Stratofreighter, 52-2711, c/n 16742, of the 509th Bomb Wing, out of Walker AFB, New Mexico, crashes 35 miles north of Flagstaff, Arizona, while on nine-hour low-level survey flight to determine minimum altitude restrictions for B-47 training routes. Aircraft was seen over Gray Mountain, Arizona, at altitude of 60 feet shortly after 0830 hrs., and then heard striking a cloud shrouded cliff face, killing 16 crew and strewing wreckage for 200 yards along mountainside.

1966 - A burning North American F-86H Sabre fighter of the 174th Tactical Fighter Group, New York Air National Guard, based at Syracuse, New York, crashes into two house trailers in a trailer park next to Route 28, Poland, New York, NE of Utica, critically burning Mrs. Alberta Eaton, a 19-year-old pregnant woman, in one dwelling, who is blown 15 feet from the structure by the impact blast. She is transported to hospital with first and second-degree burns, state police reported. The second trailer was unoccupied at the time of the crash. The Sabre pilot, Capt. William R. Kershlis, Jr., 34, of Ithaca, who ejected safely, landing NE of Poland, telephoned his base at Syracuse to report that he seemed to be alright.

1970 - The crash of U.S. Army Beechcraft U-8F Seminole, 62-3865, c/n LF.63, at Tri-State Airport, Kenova, West Virginia, kills General Edwin H. Burba, two warrant officers, and seriously injures Burba's aide. Burba was en route to Morehead, Kentucky, and Morehead State University, to participate in ceremonies honoring that institution's Army Reserve Officer Training Corps Program and to present the Outstanding Service Civilian Award, the Army's highest civilian award, to his friend and the school's president, Dr. Adron Doran. Traffic controllers at the southwestern West Virginia airport, located near the Ohio and Kentucky borders, said that one of the co-pilots radioed that they had an engine out and were attempting to land on instruments. Moments later the twin-engined aircraft crashed into trees in heavy rain and fog, coming down three-quarters of a mile west of the airport's main runway. Burba, 58, died in the accident as did CW2 Paul R. Burt and CW3 Maynard R. Reisinger. Aide Capt. James B. Bickerton was listed in critical condition in hospital where he was admitted to surgery. "General Burba became deputy commander of the First Army in 1968. He served in Africa and Europe during World War II and was wounded in Tunisia in 1943. He served twice in Korea. His medals include the Silver Star, Bronze Star with oak leaf cluster, Legion of Merit with three oak leaf clusters, and the Purple Heart." Kelly Pool at Fort George Meade, Maryland, was renamed Burba Lake in his honor during a dedication ceremony on Memorial Day, 31 May 1971. Crash cause was determined to be due to a fatal design flaw in the fuel cross-feed system.

1971 - A U.S. Air Force Lockheed T-33A Shooting Star crashes near Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, both crew ejecting before the airframe impacted in a sugar cane field; one seriously injured, one with minor injuries.

1980 - A USAF Lockheed YMC-130H Hercules, 74-1683, c/n 4658, outfitted with experimental JATO rockets for Operation Credible Sport, a planned second attempt to rescue American hostages held by Iran, is destroyed when the rockets misfire during a test landing at Wagner Field, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, USA. All crew members survive, but the rescue operation is deemed excessively risky and is cancelled.

1981 - United States Navy Grumman EA-6B Prowler, BuNo 159582, 'AC-604', of VAQ-138, from NAS Whidbey Island, Washington, crashes at 0850 hrs. in a rural field near Virginia Beach, Virginia, killing three crew. Wreckage sprayed onto nearby houses, a barn and a stable with 35 horses, but no fires were sparked and there were no ground injuries. The Prowler had departed NAS Norfolk with three other aircraft at 0832 hrs., bound for the USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67), off the Virginia coast before crashing three miles from NAS Oceana. Navy officials said they did not know if the pilot was trying for Oceana.

1985 - USMC Douglas A-4M Skyhawk, BuNo 160242, of VMA-223, one of three en route from NAS Memphis, Tennessee, to MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina, crashed S of Boiling Springs, South Carolina, 10 miles N of Spartanburg, at ~1800 hrs., leaving a crater estimated to be 15 feet deep and 35 to 45 feet across. The pilot, 1st Lt. Robin Franklin Helton, (13 September 1955 – 29 October 1985) was not immediately found and it was thought that he may have ejected. He did not and died in the crash. "Official reports after the crash pointed to a failure in the plane's oxygen and communications system as a possible cause." On 29 October 2010, "Helton's family, including his widow Connie Helton Mastrangelo, daughter Robyn Helton (who was just 7 months old when her father died), parents Don and Kathryn Helton, and others also returned [to Boiling Springs] for a short memorial and to unveil a new monument that will alert all passers-by to the ultimate sacrifice by a young Marine, husband and father."

1989 - U.S. Navy North American T-2C Buckeye, BuNo 158876, of VT-19, crashes into Vultures' Row on the island of training carrier USS Lexington (CVT-16) during a wave-off approach, operating in the Gulf of Mexico 22 miles S of NAS Pensacola, Florida, killing five and injuring 20. Killed were the student pilot, three seamen, and a civilian employee of the Navy. This was the last aviation accident on the Lady Lex before her retirement to a museum ship at Corpus Christi, Texas. Killed in the crash were the pilot, Ensign Steven E. Pontell, 23, Columbia, Maryland, who was alone in the two-seat trainer; Lexington crewmen Petty Officer 3rd Class Burnett Kilgore Jr., 19, Holly Springs, Mississippi; Petty Officer 3rd Class Timmy L. Garroutte, 30, Memphis, Tennessee; Airman Lisa L. Mayo, 25, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and a civilian employee of DynCorp who had the contract to maintain Navy aircraft, Byron Gervis Courvelle, 32, Meridian, Mississippi.


1992 - A United States Air Force Sikorsky MH-60G Pave Hawk crashed near Antelope Island, Utah, killing five US Army Rangers and seven Air Force Special Operations Airmen. Only the commanding pilot survived.

1998 – The shuttle Discovery (STS-95) blasted off with 6 crew mates including John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962. At 77 years of age, Glenn was the oldest human ever to travel in space. During the nine-day mission, he served as part of a NASA study on health problems associated with aging.

2009 - A United States Coast Guard Lockheed HC-130H-7 Hercules, USCG 1705, from Coast Guard Air Station Sacramento, California, collides with a United States Marine Corps Bell AH-1W SuperCobra Attack Helicopter, BuNo 164596, of HMLA-469, 15 miles (24 km) E of San Clemente Island, off of the coast of Southern California, killing all seven Coast Guard aircrew and both Marine aircrew.

 

[mhansen2]

30 October

1775 – Congress authorizes four, by adding two to the pair authorized on 13 October, vessels for the defense of the United Colonies one to carry twenty guns, the other thirty-six, and increasing the membership of the Marine Committee to eleven.

1861 – “Daniel Trowbridge” was a Union packet schooner carrying a cargo of provisions, including lobster, beef, pork, hams, bread, crackers, cheese, flour, milk, fruit and preserved meats. She was on route from New Haven, Conn. for Demerara, British Guinea when she was captured by screw steam cruiser CSS Sumter and burned. The provisions were welcomed by the crew of Sumter.

1862 – Dr. Richard Gatling patented a machine gun. The Gatling Gun consisted of six barrels mounted in a revolving frame. A later version with ten barrels, fired 320 rounds a minute. The United States Army purchased these guns in 1865 and over the next few years most major armies in Europe purchased the gun.

1964 – “Alina” was a Union bark of 574 tons carrying a cargo of railroad iron. She was on her maiden voyage and was out of Searsport, Maine when she was captured and scuttled by auxiliary steam powered, sailing ship CSS Shenandoah due south of the Azores and west of Dakar, Africa.

1864 – “Anna” was a Union side-wheel steamer of 110 tons, built in 1860 at Cincinnati. She was shelled and sunk by Lt. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest's batteries at Paris Landing on the Tennessee River, before reaching Paducah, Ky.

1864 – “Mark L. Potter” was a Union bark of 389 tons with a crew of 13 persons carrying a cargo of lime bricks and lumber out of Bangor, Maine for Key West, Fl. She was captured and burned by screw steamer CSS Chickamauga north of Wilmington, North Carolina.

1935 - Prototype Boeing Model 299, NX13372, 'X13372', c/n 1963, the future Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, crashes on take-off from Wright Field, Ohio, due to locked control surfaces, killing early military aviator and test pilot Maj. Ployer Peter Hill. Other engineers taken to hospital with injuries. Boeing test pilot and observer Les Tower died later. Ogden Air Depot, Utah, renamed Hill Field, (later Hill Air Force Base), on 1 December 1939. As the prototype was owned by Boeing, it had no USAAC serial.

1941 – President Roosevelt, determined to keep the United States out of the war while helping those allies already mired in it, approves $1 billion in Lend-Lease loans to the Soviet Union.

1943 - U.S. Navy Goodyear ZNP-K airship K-94, BuNo 33486, probably assigned at NAS Richmond, Florida, on a ferry trip from Guantanamo, Cuba, to San Juan, Puerto Rico, is lost. After the 13th hourly position report at 2200, nothing more is heard from the flight and it disappears abruptly from the shore radar-tracking screen. Eyewitnesses on surface craft report seeing a small flaming object similar to a flare dropping from the airship. Almost immediately afterward, a bright colored flame was noticed, increasing in size until the entire airship was engulfed in flames on its descent into the Caribbean Sea. Eight crew lost.

A B-25G-10 Mitchell, 42-65118, of the 417th Bomb Squadron, 25th Bomb Group, piloted by Jaspar J. Kraynick, searching for survivors of K-94, also disappears ~3.5 hours later at approximately the same position, 15 miles NW of Borinquen Field.

1953 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally approves National Security Council Paper No. 162/2 (NSC 162/2). The top secret document made clear that America’s nuclear arsenal must be maintained and expanded to meet the communist threat.

1954 – US Armed Forces ended segregation of races. The Truman desegregation order of 1948 is finally, fully implemented.

1961 – The most powerful nuclear weapon the world has seen was detonated by the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Weapons Program - The Tsar Bomba

1964 – Test pilot Milton Thompson flew the X-15 to 25,786 meters (84,604 feet) and Mach 4.66.

1981 - A United States Air Force Boeing B-52D Stratofortress, 55-078, of the 22d Bomb Wing, March AFB, California, crashes on the eastern Colorado prairie near La Junta at 0630 hrs. while on a low-level (400 foot altitude) training mission, killing all eight crew. No weapons were on board.