Lex Anteinternet: Tuesday, October 20, 1925. Coolidge orders Billy Mitchell Court Martialed.

Lex Anteinternet: Tuesday, October 20, 1925. Coolidge orders Billy ...: 

Tuesday, October 20, 1925. Coolidge orders Billy Mitchell Court Martialed.

President Coolidge directed the Department of War (the real one, not the one that "War Secretary" Pete Hegseth claims to run, to court marital Col. Billy Mitchell for insubordination.

Frankly, Mitchel was clearly insubordinate, albeit correct in his view.

It's admirable, though, that Mitchell was willing to go down for his views.  I wonder how many senior officers in the service today would be willing to do so?

Coolidge issued this statement, on this day:

I have several questions here relating to an Arms Conference, rather a Limitation of Arms Conference. These are hypothetical questions and I don’t want to undertake to commit the Government in any way in advance of specific questions. I think I can repeat what I said at the last conference – that it was exceedingly gratifying to have the European nations make the agreements which they made at Locarno. The Department was expecting to receive the text today – I think they are published. I have conferred with Secretary Kellogg about them and he will make, or have made, a careful analysis and study of them in the Department. At the time the Dawes plan was entered into it was thought necessary to secure the active cooperation of American citizens in order to reach an agreement, but the great outstanding fact there was that an agreement was finally made. This Locarno agreement is a step in advance of that, and aside from the details of the agreement it seems to me that the great outstanding and satisfying fact is that it is a very clear indication that public opinion in Europe has become sufficiently settled that the suspicions and hatreds that were generated by the war have been sufficiently dissipated so that the actual political representatives of the governments were able to get together and make an important agreement of this kind. I should perhaps have said when I was speaking of the Dawes agreement that one of the fundamental things about that was that it was not made by the political representatives of the governments at that time, but was made by experts that were called in that didn’t have any political considerations at stake. It seems to me the present agreement is exceedingly encouraging on account of that feature. Of course I regard it also as encouraging on account of what it has done. It has been well said that it is perhaps the most important action taken in Europe since the signing of the Armistice. Now, I had been waiting for something of that kind before taking any active steps about considering the calling of a Disarmament Conference at Washington. I think I told the newspaper conference some time ago that a very large part of the considerations that have come before a Disarmament Conference relate peculiarly and almost entirely to Europe. That would be so in relation to any land disarmament. We have reduced our land forces so that that isn’t an American question, and while I would like to have an Arms Conference here because it could include both land and naval forces, yet I wouldn’t want to take any step that would be construed or in effect embarrass the European nations in solving their own problems of land disarmament. I wouldn’ t want to make the slightest criticism of any action they were taking that pointed in that direction, or have our Government say or do anything that would in the slightest way embarrass the bringing of that proposal to a successful conclusion. Now that is about the only attitude I can express at the present time. It is possible for the European nations to hold a Disarmament Conference that to my mind would be exceedingly useful, and which might make agreements that would be of great benefit not only to the European nations but to all the world. If they can do that I hope very much that they will. If the question of naval limitations is to be considered, then I suppose it would be necessary to include America, and it was for that special reason that I thought there would be greater hope of reaching a successful conclusion if an Arms Conference was held in this country. But I can’t answer those questions in advance of whether we are going to have a conference here, whether we would attend a conference abroad, until specific proposals have been made. When they are made, why then we will see whether it is best to accept them. Nor can I say whether we should want to call a conference here until there has been a preliminary sounding out of nations it would be proposed to invite, in order to find out whether such a proposal was agreeable to them. I might restate too the well known and what I hope is becoming the historic attitude of our Government, of desiring to do everything that we can, without jeopardizing our own interests, to help the European situation. We have realized all along that it would be useless to have any thought over there that there must be a constant reliance on us. I think I have stated in some of my addresses that we couldn’t help people very much until they showed a disposition to help themselves. I think that disposition is becoming more and more apparent abroad every day, and it is a rising of a condition that is exceedingly gratifying to those that want to help and those that want to see the European situation progressively developed.

I haven’t any information about any proposed action by the War Department in relation to Colonel Mitchell, and any information that is to be given out about that would come from them.

I haven’t made any statement or taken any action relative to a further extension of leave to General Butler. I think you are all familiar with the letter that I sent to the Mayor about a year ago and its contents. I don’t feel called on to make any statement about it or take any further action until the Mayor has acted.

These inquiries seem to be pretty much all in relation to the situation abroad which I have discussed, and the leave of General Butler which I think I have covered. If you want to have any more information about that why consult my letter which was made public about a year ago.

Last edition:

Friday, October 16, 1925. The Locarno conference ended with several agreements in place and an atmosphere of optimism.

Labels: 1920s, 1925, Diplomacy, Europe, Locarno Conference

Lex Anteinternet: Friday, October 15, 1915. The Wright Company sold.

Lex Anteinternet: Friday, October 15, 1915. The Wright Company sold.: 

Friday, October 15, 1915. The Wright Company sold.

Orville Wright in 1928.

Orville Wright sold the Wright Company and basically went into retirement at an early age.

The Wright siblings are interesting.  Neither aircraft brother married.  Wilbur was already dead by this time, but Orville would lead a long life.  At this point in time he was still living with his father and sister Katherine.  His father, Milton, was a clergyman and would die in 1917.  Another brother, Reuchlin Wright, was also living at this time, but was married and somewhat estranged from the family.  Yet another brother, Lorin, was also living and was also married. His sister Katherine continued to live with Orville following their father's death, but married in 1926 at which time she was 40 years old.  Orville regarded her marriage as a horrible act of betrayal, and did not speak to her again until he was near death in 1948 at age 76.

Orville Wright, Bishop Milton Wright, Katharine Wright, Earl N. Findley, nephew Horace Wright, John R. McMahon, and Pliny Williamson, all seated on the lawn of Orville's home, Hawthorn Hill; Dayton, Ohio.

Two siblings, twins, had died in their childhood.

The dynamics of the family are unusual. They were all well educated, and obviously highly intelligent.  For some reason the three younger Wrights had a very close bond with their father and were seemingly dedicated to him, and each other, relatively uniquely.  Remaining unmarried for life, as Orville did, was quite unusual at the time, and there's every indication that Wilbur, Orville and Katherine up until her marriage, were celibate and chaste.  There's no indication at all of same sex attraction, as such conditions always are speculated upon in our current day and age.  Orville commented at one point that he didn't have time for a wife and an airplane, which perhaps was correct, but most men do find time for a wife.  

Posthumous modern psychoanalysis has pondered if the two younger Wrights had Asperger's Syndrome, which if possible is impossible to know.  It could be that they fit into that rare category of humans who are simply not very interested in sex or family life, something current people have a very hard time grasping.

Lex Anteinternet: Tuesday, October 11, 1910. TR takes a flight.

Lex Anteinternet: Tuesday, October 11, 1910. TR takes a flight.:   

Tuesday, October 11, 1910. TR takes a flight.

 

This Day in History: Teddy Roosevelt, first President to fly

SURF-A

Honeywell is testing a new surface-alert system, SURF-A, designing to provide pilots with audible and visual warnings when hazards are present on a runway at the Natrona County Airport.

 

Casper airport announces highest number of September passengers in 40 years

Big Horn County Auction.

Wow, this is quite the auction:

Current Auctions for Big Horn County WY

Blog Mirror: Congress just created a new reason to worry about air travel Yet another concern for air safety: the understaffed employees who will work without pay.

 

Congress just created a new reason to worry about air travel

Yet another concern for air safety: the understaffed employees who will work without pay.

Casper air travel should continue during federal shutdown, but ripple effects loom

 

Casper air travel should continue during federal shutdown, but ripple effects loom

Pilot Hurt When Acrobatic Plane Crashes During Emergency Landing Near Torrington

 

Pilot Hurt When Acrobatic Plane Crashes During Emergency Landing Near Torrington

Lex Anteinternet: So Trump is demanding all files on Amelia Earhart ...

Lex Anteinternet: So Trump is demanding all files on Amelia Earhart ...: 

So Trump is demanding all files on Amelia Earhart be released, but not the Epstein files?

That's um, odd.

Big Horn County Is Selling 16 Vintage Aircraft In Online Auction, And Bids Start At $25

 

Big Horn County Is Selling 16 Vintage Aircraft In Online Auction, And Bids Start At $25

The auction webiste: https://www.publicsurplus.com/sms/bighornco,wy/list/current?orgid=948930

Missing Wyoming WWII Vet’s B-17 Bomber Discovered In New Guinea Jungle

 

Missing Wyoming WWII Vet’s B-17 Bomber Discovered In New Guinea Jungle

Space Force HQ to move to Alabama.

The United States Space Force, the most junior, least needed, and most stupid branch of the American military, is moving to Huntsville, Alabama, in part because Donald Trump is demented vengeful twit.

Trump is responsible for the Space Farce in the first place, creating a new branch of the military for no sensible reason, by taking the Air Force Strategic Command, which did make sense, and making it its own branch of the military.  At least initially, it's enlisted members were reassigned from the Air Force to the Farce.  Officers may have been as well, but those officers in this role above the very senior level would have had little choice in any event.

The relocation from Colorado Springs will be expensive and may impair the ability of the Farce to perform its mission for a time.

President Biden really missed his chance and should have reassigned the Space Farce to the Air Force.  Frankly, if I was President, at this point I'd reassign it to the Coast Guard and put the Coast Guard back in the Department of the Treasury, where it belongs.  After commissioned Space Cadets resigned I might move it back to the Air Force.

Above the plains, under the clouds

Above the plains, under the clouds: A reporter and his pilot friend flew over southeastern Wyoming, above landmarks and empty quarters.

13-Year-Old Girl Dead, Three Hurt In Bighorn National Forest Plane Crash

 

13-Year-Old Girl Dead, Three Hurt In Bighorn National Forest Plane Crash

UFO's and Military Disinformation. You heard it here first.

Last year, the Defense Department released a report of its investigation of decades of claims that Washington was hiding what it knew about extraterrestrial life. The report found allegations of a coverup to be baseless.⁠

In fact, a Wall Street Journal investigation reveals, the report itself amounted to a coverup—but not in the way the UFO conspiracy industry would have people believe.⁠

The public disclosure left out the truth behind some of the foundational myths about UFOs: The Pentagon itself sometimes deliberately fanned the flames, in what amounted to the U.S. government targeting its own citizens with disinformation.⁠

Wall Street Journal.

My guess is a that large majority of the recent reports fit into this category.

⁠

Lex Anteinternet: Saturday, August 18, 1945. The last American KIA ...

Lex Anteinternet: Saturday, August 18, 1945. The last American KIA ...: 

Saturday, August 18, 1945. The last American KIA of World War Two. Anthony J. Marchione.

Sukarno became the first President of Indonesia.

A B-32, an obscure bomber that was a competitor of the B-29.

B-32 crewman Anthony J. Marchione became the last American to die in WWII when the B-32 he was flying in over Tokyo in a photography mission was attacked by Japanese fighter aircraft in spite of the Japanese surrender.  The attack on the two B-32s followed an attack the prior day on B-32s in the same locality, which the bombers were investigating.  Staff Sergeant Joseph Lacharite was severely wounded and would take years to recover from his injuries.

The plane he was on was named "Hobo Queen"

The Consolidated B-32 Dominator is an almost forgotten World War Two aircraft. A competitor with the B-29, it was produced as a fallback to the B-29, and plans to replace B-17s and B-24s with the Dominator were cancelled due to production delays.  118 were built.

Indian nationalist, who sided with the Japanese during the war, died at age 48 in an airplane crash in Formosa.

The Soviets invaded the Kuril Islands, which was certainly a questionable act given the Japanese having announced their surrender.  The resulting Battle of Shumshu was the last battle of the Second World War.

On the other hand, Japanese forces on the Asian mainland continued to resist Soviet advances there, albeit ineffectively.

The Japanese government was clearly having trouble getting some forces to stand down.

Last edition:

Friday, August 17, 1945. The long trip of the U-977.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Dutch East Indies, Dutch Empire, German Kriegsmarine, Hirohito, Indonesia, Indonesian National Revolution, It was because of World War Two, Nationalist Chinese Army, The written word, World War Two

The Aerodrome: Union reps defy order, flights cancelled.

The Aerodrome: The Aerodrome: Canadian government intervenes in A...: The Aerodrome: Air Canada cancels flights (August 15) due to labo... : Air Canada is facing a flight attendants strike and is basically star...

Strike back on. 

The Aerodrome: Canadian government intervenes in Air Canada strike.

The Aerodrome: Air Canada cancels flights (August 15) due to labo...: Air Canada is facing a flight attendants strike and is basically starting to shut down.

The Canadian government forced the parties back to work. 

Air Canada cancels flights (August 15) due to labor trouble.

Air Canada is facing a flight attendants strike and is basically starting to shut down.

Missile-equipped farm plane spotted in Ukraine

 Missile-equipped farm plane spotted in Ukraine

Lex Anteinternet: Sunday, August 5, 1945. Enola Gay and Necessary Evil

Lex Anteinternet: Sunday, August 5, 1945. Enola Gay and Necessary E...: 

Sunday, August 5, 1945. Enola Gay and Necessary Evil.

The 20th Air Force dropped 720,000 leaflets over twelve Japanese cities.  Conventional bombing raids continued.

Gen. LeMay officially confirmed the atomic mission for the next day.

Paul Tibbets named the lead plane in the Hiroshima bombing mission the Enola Gay, after his mother.  This was done over the objection of the planes normal designated pilot, Robert Lewis, who wanted to name the plane  "The Pearl Harbor," "The Avenger," or "The USS Indianapolis".  Lewis also wasn't happy about being moved to the co-pilot's seat for the mission.

Lewis would return to civilian life after the war, and died in 1983 at age 65.

The B-29 that would take photos on the mission would be named Necessary Evil.  It featured, as many plans did, a buxom woman, albeit one clothed in a bikini, as nose art.

The Chinese 13th Army captured the town of Tanchuk. The Chinese 58th Division took Hsinning (Changchun).

Paul Ferdonet, the "Radio Traitor" of Stuttgart, was executed in France.

His pro Nazi broadcast had actually dwindled after 1942.

Oddly enough, today would have been Loni Anderson' birthday.  She passed away yesterday.

Last edition:

Saturday, August 4, 1945. Tibbets briefs his crew.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, British Army, Burma, Espionage, Imperial Japanese Army, Music, Operation Silverplate, Railroads, Swing Music, U.S. Air Force, USSR, War Crimes, Weapons, World War Two

Lex Anteinternet: Sunday, August 1, 1915. Max Immelmann shot down h...

Lex Anteinternet: Sunday, August 1, 1915. Max Immelmann shot down h...: 

Sunday, August 1, 1915. Max Immelmann shot down his first aircraft.

Max Immelmann shot down his first aircraft.

Like most of the famous aces, he didn't survive the war.

Irish nationalist Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa was buried at Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin.  Patrick Pearse delivered a graveside speech including the phrase "Ireland unfree shall never be at peace".

The Endurance broke up.

Last edition:

Saturday, July 31, 1915. The Russians.

Labels: 1910s, 1915, Art, Battle of Jastków, Battle of Kara Kilisse, Central Powers, Imperial Russian Army, Ottoman Empire, Polish Legion, Russia, World War One

Roads to the Great War: Our Favorite World War One Aviation Novels

Roads to the Great War: Our Favorite World War One Aviation Novels: From the Staff and Contributors of  Roads to the Great War Order *  HERE Order *  Here Order *  HERE Order HERE Order HERE Order HERE Order ...

Lex Anteinternet: Thursday, July 1, 1915. Synchronization Gear.

Lex Anteinternet: Thursday, July 1, 1915. Synchronization Gear.: 

Thursday, July 1, 1915. Synchronization Gear.

South African forces under Louis Botha defeated German colonial forces at the Battle of Otavi in German South West Africa with assistance from Canada, Great Britain, Portugal and Portuguese Angola. 

The Battle of Gully Ravine started at Gallipoli.  Two Victoria Cross awards would occur due to today's actions.

German fighter pilot Kurt Wintgens became the first person to shoot down a plane using a machine gun equipped with synchronization gear, starting the "Fokker Scourge".

Of the event, he wrote:

Dear Karl:

Unfortunately I gave you the wrong address last time, for during my voyage to Mühlhausen I got a different destination and for the time being I am with the Bavarian (unit) Abteilung 6b. Up to now nothing of real interest happened. In Mannheim I had tested the machine and then from Strasbourg by air to the Front, where lately a (Morane) Parasol fighter monoplane à la Garros had made its presence felt.

I had flown to the Front a couple of times without seeing an opponent, until yesterday evening when the big moment came. Time: 6:00 o'clock. Place: east of Lunéville. Altitude: between 2,000 and 2,500 m. Suddenly I notice a monoplane in front of me, about 300 m higher. And at the same moment he had already dived in front of me, fiercely firing his machine gun decently. But as I, at once, dived in an opposite direction under him, he missed wildly. After four attacks I reached his altitude in a large turn, and now my machine gun did some talking. I attacked at such a close distance that we looked each other into the face.

After my third attack he did the most stupid thing that he could do – he fled. I turned the crate on the spot and had him at once, beautifully, in my (gun)sight. Rapid fire for about four seconds, and down went his nose. I could follow him until 500 meters, then, unfortunately, I was fired upon from the ground too hotly; the fight (now) being far over the French lines. Hopefully, I'll soon meet a biplane.

Cordial greetings and so long,

Your friend,

— Kurt"

He'd be killed in action in September, 1916.

The US Navy started the Office of Naval Aeronautics.

The United States Forest Service combined the Jemez National Forest and Pecos National Forest in northern New Mexico to establish the Santa Fe National Forest, which luckily for us today was not hacked up to be sold by Sen. Mike Lee.

The Moapa National Forest was absorbed into the Toiyabe National Forest in Nevada, which fortunately Mike Lee has to keep his hands off of for the time being.

New York City established in the Child Welfare Board.

Blues great Willie Dixon was born.

Last edition:

Wednesday, June 30, 1915. Armenian massacre.

Labels: Armenia, Armenian Genocide, boats and ships, French Army, Gallipoli, Mexican Revolution, Ottoman Army, Ottoman Empire, Shabin-Karahisar uprising, Texas (El Paso), Victoriano Huerta

Lex Anteinternet: Monday, June 30, 1975. Changes in the Service.

Lex Anteinternet: Monday, June 30, 1975. Changes in the Service.: 

Monday, June 30, 1975. Changes in the Service.

Women could no longer be involuntarily discharged from the United States Armed Forces as a result of pregnancy, by orders of the U.S. Secretary of Defense.

30 June 1975: The last operational Douglas C-47 Skytrain transport in service with the United States Air Force, 43-49507, was retired and flown to the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

This Day In Aviation.

Last edition:

June 28, 1975. Death of Rod Serling.

Labels: 1970s, 1975, Health, In Memoriam, Paratroopers, Personalities, Smoking, television, The written word, tobacco, World War Two

WSGS Releases Public Information Circular on Airborne Geophysics in Wyoming

 

Wyoming State Geological Survey

June 26, 2025

******FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE******

Media Contact:

Bryce Tugwell, Media and Communications Manager

bryce.tugwell@wyo.gov
Wyoming State Geological Survey

Office: (307) 745-2236

Cell: (307) 703-0761

http://wsgs.wyo.gov 

 

WSGS Releases Public Information Circular on Airborne Geophysics in Wyoming

LARAMIE, Wyo. — A new publication from the Wyoming State Geological Survey (WSGS) discusses recent acquisition of airborne magnetic, radiometric, and electromagnetic surveys in Wyoming. Geophysical surveys are key tools for geological mapping, mineral exploration, evaluating geological hazards, and better understanding the distribution of groundwater in the subsurface.

“I can’t emphasize enough the importance of these baseline, high-quality, publicly available geophysical data,” says WSGS Director and State Geologist Dr. Erin Campbell. “With the completion of these surveys, approximately 20 percent of Wyoming will be covered by Rank 1 data that will allow for interpretation of the framework geology, furthering our understanding of the geologic structure and mineralogic composition of Wyoming.”

The majority of the recent geophysical surveys in Wyoming involve the simultaneous collection of magnetic and radiometric data. These magnetic and radiometric datasets are particularly useful for locating certain types of critical mineral deposits. The airborne geophysical surveys discussed in this publication are either completed, currently being flown, or will be flown in the near future.

“Collection of these data has been a productive collaboration between the USGS and the WSGS,” added Campbell. “Our geoscientists are working together to identify the highest-priority areas in Wyoming in need of Rank 1 geophysical data. We are pleased to see that the mineral industry is already using the datasets for exploration.”

Airborne geophysical surveys measure physical properties of the earth using instruments mounted in aircraft that fly over a predetermined survey area. Airborne magnetic surveys measure the total magnetic field intensity as the aircraft flies in evenly spaced lines over the ground surface. These surveys can detect magnetic signals emanating from deep within the earth’s crust. Magnetic surveys can effectively map otherwise hidden geological variation, along with locating deposits rich in magnetic minerals, commonly associated with critical mineral deposits. Radiometric surveys measure gamma radiation released through the radioactive decay of potassium, thorium, and uranium within the top few centimeters of the ground surface. This type of survey can be used to constrain surficial geologic processes, along with mapping exposures of certain types of mineral deposits.

Public Information Circular 49, Airborne Geophysics in Wyoming: Methods for Exploring Subsurface Geology, provides an update on the current status and geographic distribution of airborne geophysical surveys in Wyoming. The circular also provides a broad overview of how these geophysical data are collected, and what the various types of data represent. Lastly, the publication discusses geophysical data from completed and published geophysical surveys that cover the South Pass–Granite Mountains region and the Medicine Bow Mountains.

This circular is available for free download from the Wyoming State Geological Survey website. The published geophysical data discussed in this publication can be downloaded from the U.S. Geological Survey’s website (South Pass–Granite Mountains, Medicine Bow Mountains).

 

Cover of Airborne Geophysics in Wyoming: Methods for Exploring Subsurface Geology