Lex Anteinternet: Monday, July 8, 1946. Hughes crashes the XF-11

Lex Anteinternet: Monday, July 8, 1946. Germans ordered to go home.: The Soviet military government of Austria began deporting Germans who had moved to the country after 1938.  54,000 would be repatriated to a...

Monday, July 8, 1946. Germans ordered to go home.

The Soviet military government of Austria began deporting Germans who had moved to the country after 1938.  54,000 would be repatriated to a Germany.

The News reported about a Hughes' accident.

Lex Anteinternet: Monday, May 20, 1946. Air disaster in Manhattan.

Lex Anteinternet: Monday, May 20, 1946. Air disaster in Manhattan, W...: The House of Commons voted to nationalize the British coal industry.  The House of Lords would follow and Royal Assent would be received on ...

Monday, May 20, 1946. Air disaster in Manhattan, War in Iran, Nationalization of Coal in the UK.

The House of Commons voted to nationalize the British coal industry.  The House of Lords would follow and Royal Assent would be received on July l2.

C-45.  By LanceBarber at English Wikipedia - Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by Liftarn using CommonsHelper., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12001474

A C-45 crashed into the 58th floor of the Bank of Manhattan building killing all five passengers but nobody else, given that it occurred at 8:00 p.m.

Lex Anteinternet: Wednesday, March 20, 1946. Crashes.

Lex Anteinternet: Wednesday, March 20, 1946. Tule Lake closes but i...: The final adjudication of the cases of Japanese internees who had renounced their citizenship during World War Two concluded, resulting in t...

Wednesday, March 20, 1946. Tule Lake closes but its residents struggles continue.

The final adjudication of the cases of Japanese internees who had renounced their citizenship during World War Two concluded, resulting in the closure of Tule Lake War Relocation Center.  The litigation reversed their loss of citizenship, but the Justice Department would reverse that.  It would take until the 1960s for their citizenship to be restored.

Almost all of those who had renounced their citizenship had recanted, and for that matter not all of the renunciations were genuine.

There were two air disasters in the news:

26 DIE IN C-47 CRASH; AB-29 FALLS WITH 7; Army Plane Explodes in Sierras, Lost 'Superfort' Is Found South of San Francisco

Last edition:

Saturday, March 16, 1946. Route 66. George Mikan turns pro.

Labels: 1920s, 1926, 1940s, 1946, 1960s, 1970s, basketball, Cartoons, Highways, J.R. Williams, Music, Personalities, Post War United States (and Canada), Swing Music, television, Transportation

Lex Anteinternet: Thursday, January 31, 1946. United Flight 14 crashed into Elk Mountain.

Lex Anteinternet: Thursday, January 31, 1946. United Flight 14 cras...: United Airlines Flight 14, flying from Boise to Denver, crashed into Elk Mountain, Wyoming, killing all 21 persons on board. The plane is ap...

Thursday, January 31, 1946. United Flight 14 crashed into Elk Mountain.

United Airlines Flight 14, flying from Boise to Denver, crashed into Elk Mountain, Wyoming, killing all 21 persons on board.

The plane is apparently the last one to have crashed into Elk Mountain, and was also apparently the fifth to do so.

The distant Elk Mountain from Shirley Basin.

Last edition:

Tuesday, January 22, 1946. Central Intelligence Group formed.

Labels: 1940s, 1946, 1947, actors and actresses, Central Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence Group, Iran, Kurds, Office of Strategic Services, Post War United States (and Canada), USSR, Women

Lex Anteinternet: Monday, November 7, 1910. Dawn of commercial avia...

Lex Anteinternet: Monday, November 7, 1910. Dawn of commercial avia...: The first commercial airplane flight took place when Wright Company pilot Philip Parmalee transported two bolts of silk (worth $1,000) from ...

Monday, November 7, 1910. Dawn of commercial aviation.

The first commercial airplane flight took place when Wright Company pilot Philip Parmalee transported two bolts of silk (worth $1,000) from Dayton, Ohio, to Columbus, for delivery to the Morehouse-Martens Department Store in Columbus.

Predictably, Parmalee died two years later in an airplane crash.

Philip Parmalee

Oddly enough, showing the dangers of an earlier age, his mother had been killed when he was a child by a runaway horse.

The HMCS Rainbow arrived at Esquimault, British Columbia, to begin her service patrolling the Pacific coast.  She was the Royal Canadian Navy's second ship.

Shameful.

Absolutely shameful

January 31, 2025

This one is shameful beyond all measure:

This is, frankly, shameful in the extreme:

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION THE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION

SUBJECT:       Immediate Assessment of Aviation Safety

On January 29, 2025, a commercial aircraft and a military helicopter horrifically collided near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.  American families today woke up without their loved ones after what should have been a routine trip, and the entire Nation mourns the loss of the victims.

This shocking event follows problematic and likely illegal decisions during the Obama and Biden Administrations that minimized merit and competence in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).  The Obama Administration implemented a biographical questionnaire at the FAA to shift the hiring focus away from objective aptitude.  During my first term, my Administration raised standards to achieve the highest standards of safety and excellence.  But the Biden Administration egregiously rejected merit-based hiring, requiring all executive departments and agencies to implement dangerous “diversity equity and inclusion” tactics, and specifically recruiting individuals with “severe intellectual” disabilities in the FAA.   

On my second day in office, I ordered an immediate return to merit-based recruitment, hiring, and promotion, elevating safety and ability as the paramount standard.  Yesterday’s devastating accident tragically underscores the need to elevate safety and competence as the priority of the FAA. 

Consistent with the Presidential Memorandum of January 21, 2025 (Keeping Americans Safe in Aviation), I am further ordering the Secretary of Transportation (Secretary) and the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (Administrator) to review all hiring decisions and changes to safety protocols made during the prior 4 years, and to take such corrective action as necessary to achieve uncompromised aviation safety, including the replacement of any individuals who do not meet qualification standards.  This review shall include a systematic assessment of any deterioration in hiring standards and aviation safety standards and protocols during the Biden Administration.

Consistent with the Presidential Memorandum of January 21, 2025, the Secretary and the Administrator shall take all actions necessary to reverse concerning safety and personnel trends during the prior 4 years, instill an unwavering commitment to aviation safety, and ensure that all Americans fly with peace of mind.

Shameful.

Trump is pitting people against each other on racist grounds.  He's an embarrassment to the country.

Midair Collision over the Potomac.

I don't usually deal with national politics here, but here's this: Lex Anteinternet: The Madness of King Donald. The 25th Amendment Wa...: 

January 30, 2024

A helicopter/aircraft collision occurred last night near Washington D.C.  The helicopter was a Blackhawk, and therefore a military helicopter.

Trump took to social media:

Let's face it.  Trump is simply stupid.  The nation has elected a wealthy, dimwitted, vengeful, ignoramus.

WTF is wrong with Donald Trump?  The question is serious.

He has no business commenting on an air disaster in this fashion.

"[L]ooks like it should have been prevented".  D'uh.  It was under your watch, even though I'm not saying its your fault, Don.  Are you saying that your administration should have prevented it?

The relative speed of aircraft taking off and helicopters in flight doesn't lead to a "gosh, why couldn't people see this?

Shameful.

Lex Anteinternet: Thursday, October 26, 1944. Gertrude Tompkins Silver.

Lex Anteinternet: Thursday, October 26, 1944. End of the Battle of ...: 

Thursday, October 26, 1944. End of the Battle of Leyte Gulf and the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Gertrude Tompkins Silver and the P-51D she was flying disappeared in a delivery flight from Los Angeles to Newark, NJ.

She was 33 years old and had jointed the WASPs after a boyfriend died fighting in the RAF.  She was the only WASP pilot to be classified as missing during the Second World War.

Crash in Campbell County.

A Pilatus PC-12/47E carrying three out of four members of the Grammy nominated and Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame Gospel music quartet the Nelons crashed north of Gillette.  All seven passengers on board were killed.

Wednesday, July 26, 1944. The Merriam Bomber Crash of 1944

Lex Anteinternet: Wednesday, July 26, 1944. Cobra advances.: 

The Merriam Bomber Crash of 1944

Blog Mirror: Watch: Plane Narrowly Avoids Crashing into Colorado Mountainside

 

Watch: Plane Narrowly Avoids Crashing into Colorado Mountainside

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.

Blog Mirror: Has Amelia Earhart’s Long-Lost Plane Been Found in the Pacific?

 

Has Amelia Earhart’s Long-Lost Plane Been Found in the Pacific?

Lex Anteinternet: Friday, June 25, 1943. Murder in Ukraine, tragedy in Nova Scotia, race riot in UK.

Lex Anteinternet: Friday, June 25, 1943. Murder in Ukraine, tragedy...: 

Friday, June 25, 1943. Murder in Ukraine, tragedy in Nova Scotia, race riot in UK.

The Germans completed the eradication of the Jewish population of Stanislav (Ivano-Frankivsk) in Ukraine.

The "Battle of Bamber Bridge" occurred in the UK when white Military Police intervened in a pub which had stretched out drinking hours for black US troops and then attempted to cite one for improper uniform.  Shots were ultimately fired and one of the soldiers was killed.

The Smith-Connoally Act was passed, which allowed the government to seize industries threated by strikes.  It went into law over President Roosevelt's veto.

 No. 21 Squadron RAF Ventura attacking IJmuiden, February 1943.

A Ventura AJ186 crashed in Summerville, Nova Scotia, killing P/O John C. Loucks, air gunner, Bracebridge, Ont., P/O George W. Cowie, pilot, Wellington, New Zealand., P/O Clifford A. Griffiths, navigator, Auckland, New Zealand., Sgt. Arthur Cornelius Mulcahy, wireless air gunner, Sydney, Australia.

The men were undergoing training.  A memorial service will be held for them today in Summerville.

Classified as a medium bomber, the Ventura is one of the numerous Allied warbirds that are now basically forgotten, in spite of having received widespread use.  It was an adaptation of a civilian airliner.

Sarah Sundin notes, on her blog:

Today in World War II History—June 25, 1943: 80 Years Ago—June 25, 1943: Bob Hope begins his first major USO tour; he will spend 11 weeks touring England, North Africa, and Sicily.

Lex Anteinternet: Wednesday, June 24, 1943. Heroic jump.

Lex Anteinternet: Wednesday, June 24, 1943. Heroic jump.: 

Wednesday, June 24, 1943. Heroic jump.

Col. W. Randolph Lovelace, M.D. bailed out of a B-17 at 40,200 feet in a medical experiment which would lead to flight crews being instructed to delay opening parachutes until they reached a lower altitude, so as to not pass out from the shock of the parachute's opening at high altitude.

Dr. Lovelace at age 52, showing how, really, this generation took on the appearance of aging much more rapidly than current ones do.

Dr. Lovelace and his wife died in a December 1965 private plan crash near Aspen, Colorado.  The pilot, 27 year old Milton Brown, also died of injuries at the site, but not before he placed their bodies next to each other and covered them with a coat.

Lex Anteinternet: Monday, May 3, 1943. The crash of Hot Stuff claims the life of Gen. Andrews.

Lex Anteinternet: Monday, May 3, 1943. The crash of Hot Stuff claim...: 

Monday, May 3, 1943. The crash of Hot Stuff claims the life of Gen. Andrews.

Lt. Gen. Frank Maxwell Andrews, for whom Andrews Air Force Base is named, died in the crash of the B-24 Hot Stuff in Iceland, when it went down in bad weather.

He had been on an inspection tour in the United Kingdom.

Only the plane's tail gunner, SSgt George A. Eisel, survived the crash.  Eisel had survived a previous B-24 crash in North Africa.  He'd live until 1964 when he died at age 64.  Married prior to the war, he and his wife never had any children.

Hot Stuff was the first B-24D to complete 25 missions, well before, it might be noted, the B-17 Memphis Belle did the same.  Hardly anyone recalls Hot Stuff, as the Army went on to emphasize the Memphis Belle following the crash of Hot Stuff and the death of all but one of its crew.  Of note, Hot Suff, predictably, had a much more salacious example of nose art than Memphis Belle, and it's interesting to speculate how the Army would have handled that had the plane been popularized.  At any rate, the story that Memphis Belle was the first US bomber to complete 25 missions is a complete myth.

Andrews was the CO of the ETO at the time of this death.  A West Point Graduate from the class of 1906, he had been in the cavalry branch from 1906 to 1917, when he was assigned to aviation over the objection of his commander.  A prior objection had prevented his reassignment in 1914.

Lex Anteinternet: Sunday, April 4, 1943. Airborne tragedies.

Lex Anteinternet: Sunday, April 4, 1943. Airborne tragedies.: 

Sunday, April 4, 1943. Airborne tragedies.

Today in World War II History—April 4, 1943: Mrs. Thomas Sullivan christens destroyer USS The Sullivans in honor of her five sons killed in the sinking of light cruiser USS Juneau in November 1942.

So reports Sarah Sundin, who also notes that the US II Corps took Hill 369 near El Guettar and that POWs escaped from the Japanese penal colony on Davoa point.  Their escape would break the news of the Bataan Death March, particularly through POW William Dyess.

William Dyess.

Dyess was returned to flying status but would suffer a mechanically stricken aircraft over California, while taking off, that following December and chose to ride the plane down as it was over a populated area.  He died in the crash.

On the tragic aircraft loss theme, I guess, a B-25 went down over Lake Murray, South Carolina on this day, but the entire crew survived.  The nearly intact B-25 was raised in 2005 in excellent condition.

1Lt. W.J. Hatton, pilot; 2Lt. R.F. Toner, copilot; 2Lt. D.P. Hays, navigator; 2Lt. J.S. Woravka, bombardier; TSgt. H.J. Ripslinger, engineer; TSgt. R.E. LaMotte, radio operator; SSgt. G.E. Shelly, gunner; SSgt. V.L. Moore, gunner; and SSgt. S.E. Adams, gunner.  Crew of the Lady Be Good.

Not so fortunate was the crew of Lady Be Good, a B-24.  It disappeared on its return from a bombing raid on Italy, having taken off from an airbase in Libya, which is interesting to consider as North Africa was still subject to fighting on the ground.

The plane grossly overshot its base and was found in 1958 by a British Petroleum crew some 400 plus miles inland.  The bodies were recovered, save for one, two years later after a search.  The crew clearly bailed out once they realized, far too late, they were deeply lost and that the plane would go down. They appear to have survived the parachute descent but died in the desert. The one remaining crewman was likely found by a British patrol over the borderline with Libya in 1953, but was unaware of whom the crewman was, as the plane had been thought to have crashed over the Mediterranean.

A minor incident, it's recalled simply because of the mystery of what occurred to the crew.  Worth recalling as part of that, and contrary to how this is often portrayed in film, many American aircrews were extremely green early on in the war, as in fact this crew was.  This contributed to an extremely high accident rate.

German radio announced that Former Prime Ministers Édouard Daladier and Léon Blum, and former French Army commander in chief, General Maurice Gamelin, had turned over to the Germans by French authorities.  They would spend the rest of the war in Buchewald.

Sunday, January 21, 1943 (and 1973). Lost flights

Lex Anteinternet: Sunday, January 21, 1943 (and 1973). Lost flights: 

Sunday, January 21, 1943 (and 1973). Lost flights

Today in World War II History—January 21, 1943: 80 Years Ago—Jan. 21, 1943: Stalingrad airlift ends when Soviets take Gumrak Airfield, the last Luftwaffe field in the city.

On Sarah Sundin's blog.

Obviously, by this point, the German 6th Army, or what was left of it, was doomed.   

FWIW, other sources report this as occurring on January 22.

Pan Am Flight 1104 crashed into a hillside in Mendocino County, California, due to bad weather and low visibility, killing all on board, including Rear Admiral Robert H. English, the commander of the the US submarine fleet in the Pacific.  The clipper had been en route from Hawaii.

The Civil Aeronautics Board determined:

Failure of the captain to determine his position accurately before descending to a dangerously low altitude under extremely poor weather conditions during the hours of darkness.

It took ten days to find the wreckage.

On this day in 1973, Aeroflot Flight 6263, crashed at Perm, killing four in the impact. Thirty-five survivors would freeze to death awaiting rescue.

Areoflot ranks number 1 in airline fatalities, with the rankings as of mid summer 2023 being as follows:

Areoflot - 11,270 fatalities

Air France - 1,756 fatalities

Pan Am - 1,652

American Airlines - 1,453 fatalities

United Airlines - 1,217 fatalities

Avianca - 992 fatalitie

Tragedy. P63 hits B-17 at Dallas Airshow. (Graphic)

I'm sorry, it's hard to see how this could happen.

Lex Anteinternet: Sunday June 5, 1921. An accident claims the life of barnstormer, Laura Bromwell

Lex Anteinternet: Sunday June 5, 1921. An accident claims the life ...: 

Sunday June 5, 1921. An accident claims the life of female barnstormer, Laura Bromwell.

Laura Bromwell, a stunt pilot, became the first woman in that occupation to be killed in an areal demonstration.  The engine of her airplane stopped during a stunt over Mitchel Field, Long Island.

Czechoslovakia and Romania signed a treaty aimed at Hungary, which they feared  may seek to redraw its borders at their expensive.