Monday, June 3, 2024

Lex Anteinternet: June 3, 1909. Dreadnoughts and Flyers.

Lex Anteinternet: June 3, 1909. Dreadnoughts and Flyers.

June 3, 1909. Dreadnoughts and Flyers.

The Imperial Russian Navy, down to four ships following the Russo Japanese War, began a program of rebuilding, laying down keels for four dreadnoughts.


The Wright Brothers returned to Ft. Myer, Virginian, with an improved Wright Military Flyer.  The prior version had killed Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge.

Last prior edition:

Tuesday, June 1, 1909. Pathfinder Dam completed.

Friday, May 17, 2024

Lex Anteinternet: Saturday, May 17, 1924. U.S. Flyers reach Paramashiru.

Lex Anteinternet: Saturday, May 17, 1924. U.S. Flyers reach Paramash...

Saturday, May 17, 1924. U.S. Flyers reach Paramashiru.

Notre Dame students clashed with Ku Klux Klan members arriving in South Bend.

By Vallee - Made with freely available DEM data using QGIS and AerialOD, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=144444385

Three U.S. Army airplanes flew from Attu to Paramashiru in the Kurils, the longest and most dangerous leg of their transglobal flight.


The route allowed the effort to avoid Soviet airspace.  The US had not yet recognized the USSR.

Attu has been discussed here several times before, Paramushir (Russian: Парамушир, Japanese: 幌筵島, Ainu: パラムシㇼ) has not.  It is a volcanic island in the northern portion of the Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okhotsk in the northwest Pacific Ocean. The Kurils have been mentioned on this blog only once previously. 


Paramushir derives from  Ainu and means “broad island” or “populous island”.   Now a Russian possession, it was a Japanese one at the time.

Monday, May 6, 2024

Lex Anteinternet: Saturday, May 6, 1944. Normandy Reconnaisance and the A7M.

Lex Anteinternet: Saturday, May 6, 1944. Shelling Sevastapol.

Saturday, May 6, 1944. Shelling Sevastapol.

Reconnaissance photograph, Normandy.  Taken by a F5, the reconnaisnace version of the P-38.


The first flight of the Mitsubishi A7M, the intended replacement for the famous A6M "Zero", occured.  Only seven of the carrier planes would be built before the end of the war.

Friday, May 3, 2024

Lex Anteinternet: Saturday, May 3, 1924. Zinaida Kokorina.

Lex Anteinternet: Saturday, May 3, 1924. Foundings.

Zinaida Kokorina, against the odds and through the intervention of the Soviet head of state, became the first female military pilot on this day in 1924.



She wanted to become a fighter pilot, but was persuaded to remain a flight instructor, which she did through World War Two.  She later became headmistress of a village school at Cholpon-Ata in Kyrgyzstan before retiring to Moscow.

Tuesday, April 16, 2024

Lex Anteinternet: Sunday, April 16, 1944. Black Sunday.

Lex Anteinternet: Sunday, April 16, 1944. Black Sunday.

Sunday, April 16, 1944. Black Sunday.

The RAF hit Romania for the first time. On the same day, the Soviet Air Forces hit Galatz. 

A large air raid was staged on Hollandia, Indonesia.  The mission was successful with no losses, but the aircraft ran into a severe weather front on the return and 46 of the 170 aircraft in the raid went down.  The day acquired the name "Black Sunday" as a result.

The attacking force was made up of  B-24s, B-25s and A-20s, escorted by P-38s