Saturday, February 10, 2024

Lex Anteinternet: Thursday, February 10, 1944. Offloading Piper at Saidor, Wellingtons in action, Inaugurating flights to the Keys, and a disaster.

Lex Anteinternet: Thursday, February 10, 1944. Victory at Saidor

Thursday, February 10, 1944. Victory at Saidor

The landing at Saidor concluded on January 2, Operation Michaelmas, resulted in an Allied victory on this date.  The Australians and the Americans had linked up, and the Huon Peninsula was mostly occupied.

Offloading of Piper Cub used in Operation Michaelmas.

The Minekaze was sunk off of Formosa by the USS Pogy. 

The Red Army took Shepetovka, Ukraine.

The U-545 was scuttled after being crippled west of the Hebrides by a Vickers Wellington.  T he U-666 disappeared in the North Atlantic.


On the same day, American Airlines Flight 2 crashed into the Mississippi River. All twenty-four passengers and crew were killed.  The cause of the crash was never determined.

Saturday, February 3, 2024

Ah foo. . .

Plasmas (ionized gasses) according to an article coming out in Modern Physics.

Plasmas are attracted to electromagnetic activity and have been widely observed being attracted to spacecraft, although they're not limited to that at all.

Monday, January 29, 2024

Lex Anteinternet: Tuesday, February 29, 1924. Air assisted victory.

Lex Anteinternet: Tuesday, February 29, 1924. Air assisted victory.:

Tuesday, February 29, 1924. Air assisted victory.


Mexican Federal forces took Esperanza in Puebla in a hard fought battle.

The counter-attack featured strafing runs by Mexican-born American pilot, Ralph O'Neill.


O'Neill had distinguished service with the US Army as a pilot in World War One and held three Distinguished Service Cross citations.  He lived until 1980, dying at age 83 in California.

Saturday, January 20, 2024

Lex Anteinternet: Sunday, January 20, 1974. First flight of the F-16.

Lex Anteinternet: Sunday, January 20, 1974. First flight of the F-16.

Sunday, January 20, 1974. First flight of the F-16.

First flight of the F-16.

YF-16, the aircraft before official adoption, and YF-17, a Northrup aircraft that did not gain acceptance.

It was an accident.  During high speed ground test a horizontal stabilizer was damaged and the test pilot took the aircraft off due to the severe oscillations it was experiencing. 

One of the greatest fighter aircraft of all time, it remains in production, although not for the U.S.

Sunday, January 7, 2024

Lex Anteinternet: Friday, January 7, 1944. Adoption of the P59 announced.

Lex Anteinternet: Friday, January 7, 1944. Lou Henry Hoover passes ...:


Friday, January 7, 1944. Lou Henry Hoover passes away.



"Interested natives look on as armorers place 50 cal. machine guns in the nose of a North American B-25G, Mullinnix Airfield, Tarawa, Gilbert Islands. 7 January 1944. (NARA)"

A British Mosquito is shot down with its Oboe navigational aid intact, allowing the Germans to develop countermeasures.


The United States Army Air Force announced the production of the Bell P-59 Airacomet.  The first US jet fighter aircraft, it would prove to be a disappointment and provided no real advantage over existing piston engined aircraft.

Thursday, January 7, 1909. Those early licenses.

The first pilot's licenses were issued in France on this day in 1909. The issuing entity was the Aero-Club de France and the recipients were Orville Wright, Wilbur Wright, Albert Santos-Dumont, Louis Blériot, Robert Esnault-Pelterie, Léon Delagrange, Henri Farman and Captain Ferdinand Ferber.

John Evershed discovered, on the same day, that gas radiates over the surface of sunspots, from the inner border to the outer edge.

Wednesday, January 3, 2024

Lex Anteinternet: Monday January 3, 1944. The Turner Explosion.

Lex Anteinternet: Monday January 3, 1944. The Turner Explosion.

Monday January 3, 1944. The Turner Explosion.

George C. Marshall was Time's Man Of The Year.


The USS Turner suffered a series of internal explosions while in harbor off of the Ambrose Light in New York.  138 of the 256-man crew died during the incident.  A Coast Guard Sikorsky HNS-1 flown by Lieutenant Commander Frank A. Erickson flew two cases of blood plasma, lashed to the helicopter's floats, from New York to Sandy Hook, saving many of the injured crewman, and providing the first incident of a helicopter used in that fashion.

Commander Frank A. Erickson, USCG and Dr. Igor Sikorsky, Sikorsky Helicopter HNS-1.  The HNS-1 had been in service for slightly under a year at this time.

Gregory "Pappy" Boyington was shot down and became a Prisoner of War of the Japanese.