Lex Anteinternet: Wars and Rumors of War, 2023, Part 2. The United States shoots down a Chinese spy balloon.

Lex Anteinternet: Wars and Rumors of War, 2023, Part 2. The Gatherin...: 

Feb 4, cont.

China v. US.

Perhaps for the first time since World War One, a US aircraft has shot down a balloon.

First Jump. October 20, 1922

Lt. Harold R. Harris bailed out of a Leoning PW-2A over Dayton, Ohio, being the first U.S. military pilot to make an emergency parachute exist from an aircraft.  The aircraft crashed at 403 Valley Street without injuring anyone.

Harris.  He wasn't the first man saved by parachute, contrary to what this caption states.  Balloon crews had used them during World War One and passengers in disabled aircraft had used them before this day in 1922 as well.  He was the first aircraft pilot to use one.

Harris was a test pilot, and unlike many in that field, he lived a long life, serving in the military twice as well as having a role in commercial aviation.  He died at age 92 in 1988.

The crash site.

Indeed Crimean pilot Pavel Argeyev, who had served in the French and Imperial Russian militaries, died this day in an aircraft accident in Czechoslovakia, which he was flying as a test pilot.

Lex Anteinternet: Tuesday, September 1, 1942. Casper Air Base gets the thumbs up.

Lex Anteinternet: Tuesday, September 1, 1942. Miscarriages of Justice.: According to the Wyoming State Historical Association, on this day in 1942 official approval was given to commence use of the Casper Air Base, which had been constructed in an incredibly small amount of time.  The existing county airport was Wardwell Field, the Casper area's second airport (the first was in what is now Evansville).  Today, what was Casper Air Base is the Natrona County International Airport, which actually uses at least one fewer runway than was constructed by the Army in 1942.  Wardwell Field's runways, in contrast, are city streets in the Town of Bar Nunn.

Lex Anteinternet: Kabul airport

Lex Anteinternet: Kabul airport:  Kabul airport.

First "Crop Dusting". August 3, 1921.

On this day in 1921, crop dusting, spraying pesticides by air, was performed for the first time in an experiment involving the U.S. Army and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

First crop dusting being conducted.

The first flight featured Army Air Corps pilot John A. Macready and aircraft engineer Etienne Dormoy who performed the test with a Curtiss JN4 over a field outside of Troy, Ohio.  Lead arsenate was sprayed to attack caterpillars.

Dormay left, Macready right.

Macready would complete an Army career prior to World War Two, leaving the service in 1926, but was recalled to serve in the Second World War.  He retired from the Army Air Force in 1948.  He was a legendary pilot at the time and had many firsts while in the service, including being the first Air Corps pilot to parachute from a stricken aircraft at night.

June 20, 1941. The Army Air Corps becomes the Army Air Forces.

On this day in 1941, expressing its growing significance and the need to increase its autonomy, the United States Army Air Corps became the United States Army Air Forces.

The date I learned here:

Today in World War II History—June 20, 1941

The evolution had been occurring for some time so the increased degree of separation from the rest of the Army was not surprising.  None the less, it stopped short of full separation, as Air Force would not become a separate branch of service until 1947.

May 28, 1921. An early disaster.

Showing both the rapid advance of air travel, as more people were able to fly, and in more comfort, than before, and that aircraft remained very much an unknown in some ways, the deadliest air accident up to that time occurred when a Curtiss Eagle of the U.S. Army's Air Service crashed in a severe thunderstorm at Morgantown, Maryland.

Curtis Eagle.

All seven occupants were killed.  The plane was serving as an air ambulance.

March 29, 1921. Standing by the biplane.

A photograph taken on this day in 1921.  I believe the airplane is a Curtis Jenny.

 

Lex Anteinternet: March 19, 1941. Training, threatening, and planning.

Lex Anteinternet: March 19, 1941. Training, threatening, and planning.:  

March 19, 1941. Training, threatening, and planning.

 Camp Beauregard, Louisiana.  March 19, 1941.

The British government formed a Battle of the Atlantic Committee on this day.   The German, and as we recently saw Italian, U-boot campaign against shipping was the single greatest threat to the British war effort at the time, and the Battle of the Atlantic was the longest battle of the war.

The Germans gave Yugoslavia an ultimatum to join the Axis, or face war with it.  

An interesting aspect of the German war effort was that at this point it was tied up trying to save the Italians in North Africa and massing troops in Bulgaria, which it has muscled into an alliance, in preparation for invading Greece to save the Italians there. The British, in the meantime were outfighting Italy everywhere, except in the North Atlantic, and had landed troops in Greece to assist that country.  In spite of this, however, the Germans were preparing to invade the Soviet Union.  Logic, or at least caution, would have dictated rethinking that.

While here seems to be some confusion as to the date (it was either today, or the 22nd), this date is frequently attributed as being the activation date for the 99th Pursuit Squadron.  It was activated without men assigned to it, which was common.  It soon had them however, and this was notable as it was an all black pilot unit.  The unit went on to become the famous Tuskegee Airmen.

First 99th class in 1941.   The trainers are Vultee BT-13s.  Note the B-3 flight jackets which are frequently, but in accurately, principally associated with bomber crews.

Lex Anteinternet: Some controversial topics for a new Biden Administion.

Lex Anteinternet: Some controversial topics for a new Biden Administ...: 

Some controversial topics for a new Biden Administration. The Space Force is stupid and ought to go.

Joe Biden will not, I'm sure, take advice from me.  I've offered him some already, but I doubt he's one of the 200 to 800 people who stop in here on any particular day.

Still, if he is. . . 

Star Trekesque emblem of the U.S. Space Force.

If you want to read an enthusiastic view of the Space Force read the Smithsonian's Air & Space magazine.  It's an excellent publication anyway and it loves the space force. The last issue had an article on the "black hat squadron" of the now one year old Space Force and what it does.

My view?

M'eh.

The Space Force was basically the Air Force's Space Command and it should revert to it.  The Space Force can't and won't be doing any real mission that Space Command was not, but it will have its own budget, its own seat at the Joint Chiefs, and its own bloated budget.  Given the habit of the current U.S. military, it won't share anything that it could in terms of obviously common items with the other services, and will have to have its own unique everything.

The Space Force/Space Command really has a mission that's simply auxiliary to the Air Forces and therefore the creation of what essentially is a branch of the military that does nothing other than to deal with menacing Russian satellites and the potential militarization of space is really grossly overweighting that mission and massively trespassing on something the Air Force already does and does well.  The Air Force has been in space, frankly, in a militarized way since the launch of the first ballistic missiles that excited the atmosphere and so they've been at this a long, long time. If the Space Force having a seat at the Joint Chiefs makes sense, and its own very special budget, giving the Civil Air Patrol a seat there does as well.

Moreover both balkanization and mission inflation is a problem in the U.S. military as it is.  The Air Force itself was once, and rightly, part of the Army but has been busy trying to forget its ground support role ever since it became a separate service, which was a massive military mistake in the first place.  Double balkanization of a role that should have just remained with the Army is not help.

Moreover, this recalls the example of the Marine Corps, which I have another thread in the hopper on.  I'm not opposed to the Marine Corps by any means and I worry about its current direction towards a new role, but its hard not to recall that the Marine Corps is properly part of the Department of the Navy but since the Second World War its freakishly expanded into its own service in a way.  And its one that has developed the habit of never using anything, right down to boots, that other branches of the service do.

All these services, moreover, get a chair with the Joint Chiefs of Staff which now is starting to look as large as a high school graduating class.  The Army, Air Force, Space Force, Marine Corps, and the Navy all have seats at the Joint Chiefs and the National Guard gets its own as well.   

This is now way overdone.   The Marines ought to really revert fully to being part of the Department of the Navy.  If they can't do that, they're really just a second Army in disguise.  The Air Force ought to revert to being part of the Department of the Army.  I'm so so about the National Guard having a seat at the table, but I'd leave that alone for the time being.

At a bare minimum, the Space Force ought to go and on day one of the Biden Administration.  If I were he, I'd not only sign an executive order doing away with it immediately on day one, but I'd frankly reduce any officer in grade by one grade if they were foolish enough to go along with this silliness and I'd shift those enlisted men who volunteered for this transfer (and not all of them did) over to the Army rather than the Air Force.  They'd have their same jobs, but if they want to be playing musical services they can be in one that might, perhaps, have to call on them to be a "guardian" in the old fashioned way.

Lex Anteinternet: October 20, 1920. Trips and Monarchs

Lex Anteinternet: October 20, 1920. Trips and Monarchs:   

October 20, 1920. Trips and Monarchs

 

Nicholas Longworth and his wife Alice, daughter of President Theodore Roosevelt with President Warren G. Harding. Also in the photographs is Frank B. Willis, a candidate for senator for Ohio.  October 20, 1920.

On this day in 1920 Yugoslavia's government voted to become a monarchy with the Serbian  Karađorđević dynastic family as its monarchs.  A king would not be installed for a year.

British Columbia rejected national prohibition of alcohol, an option available to Canadian provinces.  It was the first to do so, but it wouldn't be the last.

Joseph Sadi-Lecointe sets a World Aviation Speed Record flying a Nieuport-Delâge 29V 302.53 kilometers per hour.  He's go on to become an aviation official in the French government, resigning that post after the defeat of France in 1940 as he would not serve the Vichy government.  He was active in the resistance and arrested by the Gestapo in 1944.  He was released after being held for two months, but died as a result of injuries received from torture while a prisoner.

On the same day the Army's Black Wolf Squadron returned to Mitchell Field in New York after having flown all the way to Ft. Davis at Nome Alaska and back.

The F15 is back in production and so is the Mig 31.

The F15 is the F15EX variant, a brand new version of the old F15, which first went into production in 1976.  The planes history dates back to tests that go as far back as 1972.

The enormous Mig 31 first went into production in 1981 and has a history that goes back to 1975.

Why are they back? 

Missiles.

The F15EX can carry a seven foot long missiles that can reach deep into China, should the need arise, and its external hard points can carry more missiles than the F35.

The Mig 31, which might simply be getting an overhaul rather than new editions, can carry missiles that can reach into low orbit and hit satellites.

And so the Cold War sort of returns, in a way.

Lex Anteinternet: Friday Farming. Farming Airman.

Lex Anteinternet: Friday Farming. Farming Airman.:

Friday Farming. Farming Airman.

United States Air Force photograph, Airman 1st Class Jonathan Whitely photographer)

Oberg Pass.

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Which occurred as part of the 1919 Air Derby.

This crash, discussed elsewhere, is usually referenced as occurring "west of Cheyenne".  It is west of Cheyenne, but the pilot was following the Union Pacific Railroad and a much better description would have been north west of Laramie, or even south of Medicine Bow.

Blog Mirror: Small planes, big mountains: Retracing the 1919 ‘Air derby’

Small planes, big mountains: Retracing the 1919 ‘Air derby’

Lex Anteinternet: October 8, 1919 The Sox Take Another, Aviators Take Off. And Wool.

Lex Anteinternet: October 8, 1919 The Sox Take Another, Aviators Tak...:

October 8, 1919 The Sox Take Another, Aviators Take Off. And Wool.

On this day, the Sox won again, and with Cicotte pitching.

This caused real concern among the gamblers.  Prior to the series commencing the common thought that the Sox could win two Series games back to back simply by willing to do so, and now it appeared that was true. The Sox were back in the game and it looked like they might take the series.



As a result, Lefty Williams was visited by an enforcer of the gambler's that night and his family was threatened.  The order was that the Sox were to lose the next game.

While the Sox appeared to be rallying, news of the giant air race, with varied accounts as to the number of aircraft in it, started taking pride of place in the headlines.  The race had already been marred, however, by early loss of life.

Cities on the Lincoln Highway that had only recently hosted the Army Transcontinental Convoy now were getting set to look up and watch the air race.

And there was news of a woolen mill coming to the state, something that would well suit a state that, at that time, had millions of sheep.



The Gasoline Alley gang went golfing.

Lt. Austin's attempted flight from the Canal Zone to Washington D. C., October 6, 1919.

Civil Air Patrol Cessna 182T, Natrona County International Airport

This is a Cessna 182T that belongs to the Civil Air Patrol at the Natrona County International Airport.

To date, there's one other post on this blog about the Civil Air Patrol, featuring its aircraft from the 1940s, and noting:

The Civil Air Patrol is the official auxiliary of the United States Air Force.  Created during World War Two, it's original purpose was to harness the nations large fleet of small private aircraft for use in near shore anti submarine patrols.  The light aircraft, repainted in bright colors to allow for them to be easily spotted by other American aircraft, basically flew the Atlantic in patterns to look for surfaced submarines.  As submarines of that era operated on the surface routinely, this proved to be fairly effective and was greatly disruptive to the German naval effort off of the American coast. 

The CAP also flew some patrols along the Mexican border during the same period, although I've forgotten what the exact purpose of them was. Early in the war, there was quite a bit of concern about Mexico, given its problematic history during World War One, and given that the Mexican government was both radical and occasionally hostile to the United States. These fears abated fairly rapidly. 

The CAP still exists, with its post war mission having changed to search and rescue.  It also has a cadet branch that somewhat mirrors JrROTC.  Like JrROTC it has become considerably less martial over time, reflecting the views of boomer parents, who have generally wished, over time, to convert youthful organizations that were organized on military or quasi military lines into ones focusing on "citizenship" and "leadership"..

I didn't note in that earlier entry that eons ago, at the dawn of flight, I was a Civil Air Patrol cadet.  I did post a bit more about that here, on our companion blog:

I was in the Civil Air Patrol in the 1970s and at that time it was in fact very much like Air Force JrROTC.  Drill and Ceremony was a big deal with it, for example.  We wore Air Force uniforms and normally the fatigue version of that.  We focused on aircraft, of course, and on the CAP's mission of search and rescue.  Looking back it seems like I was in it for a long time, but in reality that simply reflects the concept of time possessed by youth.  I was in it while I was in junior high, three years. 

Looking back, and I can recall it only dimly, I probably thought when I joined it in 7th Grade, after learning about it at the junior high, of staying in it until I was in high school and could join JrROTC.  However, I enjoyed it in its own right.  For reasons I can't really recall, once I was of high school age I dropped my membership entirely.  Once I walked in the door of NCHS, I didn't walk back in the door of the CAP Wing's building here.  I couldn't tell you why, I just didn't. 

CAP still has a youth wing but I don't know anything about it.  It appears to be focused on aircraft still, of course, but also on "leadership", something a lot of youth organizations focus on.  If it resembles the old organization much, I wouldn't know.  It's still around, but how popular it is I don't know.  I don't know of any kids that I know being in it, but here the opposite is true as compared to the Scouts.  I'm often quite surprised by how many people I'll run into that were in the CAP as teens.  I know that two of my best friends were in it when was first in it, although they dropped out (just getting there was an ordeal for one who lived out in the country) and I know adults here and there that were.  Just the other day the Byzantine Catholic priest from the Catholic Stuff You Should Know podcast mentioned having been a CAP cadet.

One thing I'd note is, at least appearance wise, the CAP Cessna here is a much nicer looking aircraft that anything the CAP had locally when I was in it as a kid.  Indeed, for the most part the CAP simply relied upon the private aircraft the adult members had. 

Lex Anteinternet: Changing times. The centennial of the 94th Aero Squadron. August 20, 1917-2017

Lex Anteinternet: Changing times. The centennial of the 94th Aero Squadron. August 20, 1917-2017.

Pilots of the 94th, including 1LT Reed Chambers, Capt James Meissner, 1LT Eddie Rickenbacker, 1LT T C Taylor and 1LT J H Eastman, in France with a Spad XVIII.

While this blog, now that the Punitive Expedition has concluded, no longer does that many daily anniversaries (save for photographs) here's one worth noting.

On this date, in 1917, the 94th Aero Squadron, the Hat In The Ring Squadron, was formed at Kelly Airfield in San Antonio, Texas.  The squadron, now the 94th Fighter Squadron, is the second oldest formation in the United States Air Force.   The unit chose a red, white and blue top hat going through a ring as its symbol, signifying the Uncle Sam throwing his "hat in the ring" of World War One. That is, the unit symbol commemorated the United States' decision to enter the war.

The way it was at first, Curtis Jennys being used in training at Kelly Air Field.

The unit being formed might not seem particularly remarkable, but the U.S. Army. . . and all aircraft were in the Army at the time (prior to the war they were in the Signal Corps and the official establishment of a separate Air Force was decades and one major war away) had only had one single squadron, all equipped with the already obsolescent JN4, just months prior to that. As we've seen on this site before, that unit, the 1st Aero Squadron, would cut its teeth and prove its worth in Punitive Expedition of 1916, at which those Jennys constantly operated at the upper limit of their service ceiling, showing just how inadequate they really were.  Now, the Army was rapidly expanding its air arm.

The 94th in fact would make the crossing to France in October and November.  In France training continued and the unit was equipped with
Nieuport 28s.  

Eddie Rickenbacker, a pre war automobile racer, with a Nieuport 28.  Rickenbacker transferred into the unit in France.  He actually got into  the unit by making a deal with a commanding officer for whom he was a  driver, concerning an on the spot emergency repair of an automobile.

It would first see action on April 14, 1918.  It would go on from there to have a famous combat record and, of course, served to give the US some  of its first pilot heroes.  While in France it would under go a degree  of consolidation with the 103th Aero Squadron, although that unit would  remain a a separate unit throughout the war.

Pilots of the 94th, November, 1918.

The unit continued to serve in post war Europe up until the spring of 1919, and then was returned to the United States and demobilized in June 1919 but the unit shortly continued on as a regular Army aviation unit,  changing its designation to the 94th Pursuit Squadron in July 1923.  At  that time, the 103d was folded into it so that the ongoing 94th would  retain both units' lineages.  The unit received constant aircraft  upgrades prior to World War Two, which was a feature of all air forces  at the time as aviation was progressing at a blistering pace.  Prior to  World War Two the unit was equipped with P-38 Lightnings.

 German aircraft shot down by Capt. E. Rickenbackerand Lt. Reed Chambers, 94th Aero Squadron, Oct. 2. 1918.

As with all other fighter squadrons in the United States Army Air Corps,  the unit was re designated as a fighter squadron in 1942, during which  time it served in North Africa and then later in the Mediterranean and Southern Europe, flying out of Italy.  The unit was one of the very  first to receive what would become P80s, actually receiving the jets in  April, 1945, and flying two missions (without encountering German  aircraft) with them prior to the war's end.

It continues on in its existence to this very day, making it one of the  oldest formations in the United States Air Force.  It's currently  equipped with F22 Raptors.

F22s of the 94th Fighter Squadron.