C130Hs at Natrona County International Airport (poorly focused).

 

C-130Hs of the 153d Airlift Wing, Wyoming Air National Guard. Natrona County International Air Port

 

Lex Anteinternet: February 21, 1941. Frederick Banting killed in accident.

Lex Anteinternet: February 21, 1941. Frederick Banting killed in ac...: 

February 21, 1941. Frederick Banting killed in accident.

On this day in 1941 Nobel laurate and medical scientist, the Canadian Frederick Banting, died in an airplane crash.  He was the co discoverer of insulin.

He was, in a way, a victim of the Second World War in that he was serving in the Canadian Army at the time, and was a passenger on a Lockheed Hudson that developed mechanical trouble. The bomber was being ferried to the UK but went down in Newfoundland.

It was the last day of the Swansea Blitz, that event in which the Germans bombarded that city for three nights.

It was strategically ineffective. Swansea had significant military targets, including oil facilities, but they were not damages in the three day raid.

More on both of these events can be read about here:

Today in World War II History—February 21, 1941

The British disembarked 1300 men on Malta.

21 February 1941: Reinforcements for Malta – 1300 Troops Disembark

Lex Anteinternet: February 18, 1921. Œhmichen helicopter no 1,

Lex Anteinternet: February 18, 1921. Œhmichen helicopter no 1, ship...: 

February 18, 1921. Œhmichen helicopter no 1, ships, Egyptian self rule, and Argentine arms.

The early history of the helicopter is complicated, and therefore capable of dispute.  Most early flights weren't that, but hops.  

This is the first "lift" of an Œhmichen helicopter. The gas bags were for stabilization.  Obviously, this would have been a completely useless design but it was pioneering, and the inventor went on to some significant developments in helicopter features.  Etienne Œhmichen was a biologist by training and employment.

 

Air Force Goes Low And Slow With XCub (Corrected)

British Petition: Treat recreation flying as a form of allowable exercise during the lockdown.

Interesting petition related to the Coronavirus Pandemic measures form the UK.  I'm not opining on it, merely noting it.

PetitionTreat recreation flying as a form of allowable exercise during the lockdown.

The 2020 Wyoming Department of Transportation Aviation Economic Impact Study.

 Well, worth reading in its many subparts.

2020 Aviation Economic Impact Study

Lex Anteinternet: February 10, 1941. Threats from the sky.

Lex Anteinternet: February 10, 1941. Threats from the sky.: 

February 10, 1941. Threats from the sky.

Short Stirlings, bombed Rotterdam, their first combat use. The four engine bomber first flew in 1939.

The British, on this day, engaged in their first airborne commando type raid, dropping paratroopers in Calabria, Italy, to destroy on aqueduct.  I learned that here:

Today in World War II History—February 10, 1941

All 35 paratroopers were captured.

The operation was called Operation Colossus.

The men of the unit had all been drawn from No. 2 Commando of the Special Air Service and were in fact commandos, so they were not a conventional paratrooper unit.

More on the raid:

First British Airborne Raid

The RAF raided Rotterdam.  The Luftwaffe raided Iceland.

Green Aviation

Boeing announced that it's aircraft will be 100% capable of flying on biofuel by the end of the decade. For reasons that I don't grasp, biofuel would reduce aviation's carbon emissions.

This follows Airbus announcing some months ago that it intends to be 100% emission free by 2035, with hydrogen as the eyed fuel.

Lex Anteinternet: Subsidiarity Economics. The times more or less locally

Lex Anteinternet: Subsidiarity Economics. The times more or less lo...:   

Subsidiarity Economics. The times more or less locally.

 

Recent scene in Laramie Wyoming during the Mullen Fire.

* * *

January 17, 2021

Flights from the Natrona County International Airport are down 50% compared to a year ago.

Lex Anteinternet: January 5, 1941. The death of Amy Johnson.

Lex Anteinternet: January 5, 1941. The death of Amy Johnson.:   

January 5, 1941. The death of Amy Johnson.

 

Amy Johnson.

Pioneering aviatrix Amy Johnson died on this day in the service of the British Transport Auxiliary, the British air ferrying service that was created in order to allow civilian pilots, including women, preform this service during war time.

She was flying an Airspeed Oxford in poor weather when it went off course and is generally believed to have run out of fuel.  She bailed out over the Thames Estuary and was sighted descending by vessels of the Royal Navy, which went to help.  She was sighted in the water in heavy seas and the commander of one of the vessels, Lt. Cmdr Walter Fletcher went over the side to rescue her but was unable to, soon becoming unconscious himself.  He died a few days later.  Her body was not recovered.  

Her loss remains controversial in the UK.  In 1999 a crewman of a wartime anti aircraft batter claimed his gun had shot her down when she had failed to reply to an identification signal and that the crew had believed they had shot down an enemy aircraft until they read of her death the following day, at which time an officer ordered them not to speak of the event.  That's possible, but in my view unlikely as the claim of a hit would have been made at the time and likely records of it might still remain.

And a crewman of the ship that was nearest to her claimed many years later that she was sucked into the ship's screw which killed her, although the crewman did not witness it.  Given the way that ships generally work and the depth of the screws, that's also quite unlikely.

In any event, two heroes, Johnson and Fletcher, who lost their lives that day.

More on events of this day including the Commonwealth victory in Bardia.

Today in World War II History—January 5, 1941

Day 493 January 5, 1941