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.

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: Wednesday, May 2, 1923. Beginning of a historic and perilous flight.

Lex Anteinternet: Wednesday, May 2, 1923. Beginning of a historic a...: 

Wednesday, May 2, 1923. Beginning of a historic and perilous flight.

U.S. Army Air Service pilots Lt. John A. Macready and Lt. Oakley G. Kelly commenced the first nonstop North American transcontinental flight on this day in 1923.  Their flight in a Fokker T-2 took them from Roosevelt Field, Long Island to Rockwell Field, San Diego in 27 hours with much of the nighttime flight through storms in uncertain territory.

Fokker T 2 (F.IV).

McCready, who had joined the Army in 1917, held a string of early aviation records but left the service in 1926 and became the head of the Aviation department of Shell Oil.  He reentered the Air Force in 1942 and held several combat commands, leaving again in 1948.  He died in 1969 at age 91, an accomplishment in and of itself given that he was an early record-breaking aviator.

He is the only three time recipient of the Mackay Trophy.

Oalkey G. Kelley had a long flying career as well.  He also retired in 1948, passing away at age 74 in 1966.  Both men retired to California, although McCready was from there.

First Jump. October 20, 1922

Lt. Harold R. Harris bailed out of a Leoning PW-2A over Dayton, Ohio, being the first U.S. military pilot to make an emergency parachute exist from an aircraft.  The aircraft crashed at 403 Valley Street without injuring anyone.

Harris.  He wasn't the first man saved by parachute, contrary to what this caption states.  Balloon crews had used them during World War One and passengers in disabled aircraft had used them before this day in 1922 as well.  He was the first aircraft pilot to use one.

Harris was a test pilot, and unlike many in that field, he lived a long life, serving in the military twice as well as having a role in commercial aviation.  He died at age 92 in 1988.

The crash site.

Indeed Crimean pilot Pavel Argeyev, who had served in the French and Imperial Russian militaries, died this day in an aircraft accident in Czechoslovakia, which he was flying as a test pilot.

Lex Anteinternet: Tuesday, September 1, 1942. Casper Air Base gets the thumbs up.

Lex Anteinternet: Tuesday, September 1, 1942. Miscarriages of Justice.: According to the Wyoming State Historical Association, on this day in 1942 official approval was given to commence use of the Casper Air Base, which had been constructed in an incredibly small amount of time.  The existing county airport was Wardwell Field, the Casper area's second airport (the first was in what is now Evansville).  Today, what was Casper Air Base is the Natrona County International Airport, which actually uses at least one fewer runway than was constructed by the Army in 1942.  Wardwell Field's runways, in contrast, are city streets in the Town of Bar Nunn.

Bell UH-1 with Nose Mount

This is a UH-1, a "Huey", in Casper, Wyoming painted in old Vietnam War era camouflage.  It's fitted with a nose mount, which can house cameras and electronic devices.  Nose mounts were fitted to UH-1s during the Vietnam War, and they continue to be offered for commercial UH-1s.

The odd thing about this helicopter is that even though it retains the USAF or US Army Vietnam era camouflage scheme, it lacks national markings, which most surplus aircraft which retain military paint schemes do.  Additionally, I could not see a registration number on it anywhere.  That may be because I took this photograph from a distance, with an iPhone, and it could be painted in black on the dark green aft of the helicopter.  It obviously should have this painted on it.

When I happened to arrive at the airport on the day this photo was taken, a crew was standing by it as the refueling truck was getting ready, and they were having their photograph taken.  I thought they were a military crew, but I wasn't paying much attention.  UH-1s are no longer in common US use, but the UH-1N is still used by the USAF in connection with nuclear missiles and missile silos, and that variant does in fact often have the nose mount fitting, although it should have USAF markings and this old camouflage scheme would be a surprise.

First "Crop Dusting". August 3, 1921.

On this day in 1921, crop dusting, spraying pesticides by air, was performed for the first time in an experiment involving the U.S. Army and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

First crop dusting being conducted.

The first flight featured Army Air Corps pilot John A. Macready and aircraft engineer Etienne Dormoy who performed the test with a Curtiss JN4 over a field outside of Troy, Ohio.  Lead arsenate was sprayed to attack caterpillars.

Dormay left, Macready right.

Macready would complete an Army career prior to World War Two, leaving the service in 1926, but was recalled to serve in the Second World War.  He retired from the Army Air Force in 1948.  He was a legendary pilot at the time and had many firsts while in the service, including being the first Air Corps pilot to parachute from a stricken aircraft at night.

June 20, 1941. The Army Air Corps becomes the Army Air Forces.

On this day in 1941, expressing its growing significance and the need to increase its autonomy, the United States Army Air Corps became the United States Army Air Forces.

The date I learned here:

Today in World War II History—June 20, 1941

The evolution had been occurring for some time so the increased degree of separation from the rest of the Army was not surprising.  None the less, it stopped short of full separation, as Air Force would not become a separate branch of service until 1947.

May 28, 1921. An early disaster.

Showing both the rapid advance of air travel, as more people were able to fly, and in more comfort, than before, and that aircraft remained very much an unknown in some ways, the deadliest air accident up to that time occurred when a Curtiss Eagle of the U.S. Army's Air Service crashed in a severe thunderstorm at Morgantown, Maryland.

Curtis Eagle.

All seven occupants were killed.  The plane was serving as an air ambulance.

Lex Anteinternet: March 19, 1941. Training, threatening, and planning.

Lex Anteinternet: March 19, 1941. Training, threatening, and planning.:  

March 19, 1941. Training, threatening, and planning.

 Camp Beauregard, Louisiana.  March 19, 1941.

The British government formed a Battle of the Atlantic Committee on this day.   The German, and as we recently saw Italian, U-boot campaign against shipping was the single greatest threat to the British war effort at the time, and the Battle of the Atlantic was the longest battle of the war.

The Germans gave Yugoslavia an ultimatum to join the Axis, or face war with it.  

An interesting aspect of the German war effort was that at this point it was tied up trying to save the Italians in North Africa and massing troops in Bulgaria, which it has muscled into an alliance, in preparation for invading Greece to save the Italians there. The British, in the meantime were outfighting Italy everywhere, except in the North Atlantic, and had landed troops in Greece to assist that country.  In spite of this, however, the Germans were preparing to invade the Soviet Union.  Logic, or at least caution, would have dictated rethinking that.

While here seems to be some confusion as to the date (it was either today, or the 22nd), this date is frequently attributed as being the activation date for the 99th Pursuit Squadron.  It was activated without men assigned to it, which was common.  It soon had them however, and this was notable as it was an all black pilot unit.  The unit went on to become the famous Tuskegee Airmen.

First 99th class in 1941.   The trainers are Vultee BT-13s.  Note the B-3 flight jackets which are frequently, but in accurately, principally associated with bomber crews.

Potomac Park including Hains Point, as well as the Naval Air Station Anacostia (upper left) and the Army Air Service's Bolling Field. October 9, 1920.

 

Lex Anteinternet: November 9, 1919. Edgar S. Paxson died. (Air Mail Item)

Lex Anteinternet: November 9, 1919. Edgar S. Paxson died.:

November 9, 1919. Edgar S. Paxson died.

And the Army Air Corps, which was responsible for air mail, had acquired a new twin engine aircraft for that purpose, shown here at Bolling Field outside of Washington, D. C.

Curtiss JN-4D, Denver International Airport

I have passed underneath this Curtis Jenny hundreds of times, but I never fail to take note of it.  Surprisingly, for one reason or another, I apparently never took a photograph of it until just the other day, even though I have photographed another biplane that's hanging from the ceiling at the Denver International Airport.

Jennies were surprisingly large, as this photo demonstrated.  Obsolescent at the time of hteir introduction, they none the less formed the backbone of the early American military airborne fleet and saw service in the Border War, as it came to be known to the Army, which of course wasn't a full war but threatened to become one. 

After World War One JN-4s were sold off and they became a common barn stormer aircraft.  There are a surprisingly large number of them left around today, a few of which still fly on rare occasion.

Oberg Pass.

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Which occurred as part of the 1919 Air Derby.

This crash, discussed elsewhere, is usually referenced as occurring "west of Cheyenne".  It is west of Cheyenne, but the pilot was following the Union Pacific Railroad and a much better description would have been north west of Laramie, or even south of Medicine Bow.

Blog Mirror: Small planes, big mountains: Retracing the 1919 ‘Air derby’

Small planes, big mountains: Retracing the 1919 ‘Air derby’

Lex Anteinternet: October 8, 1919 The Sox Take Another, Aviators Take Off. And Wool.

Lex Anteinternet: October 8, 1919 The Sox Take Another, Aviators Tak...:

October 8, 1919 The Sox Take Another, Aviators Take Off. And Wool.

On this day, the Sox won again, and with Cicotte pitching.

This caused real concern among the gamblers.  Prior to the series commencing the common thought that the Sox could win two Series games back to back simply by willing to do so, and now it appeared that was true. The Sox were back in the game and it looked like they might take the series.



As a result, Lefty Williams was visited by an enforcer of the gambler's that night and his family was threatened.  The order was that the Sox were to lose the next game.

While the Sox appeared to be rallying, news of the giant air race, with varied accounts as to the number of aircraft in it, started taking pride of place in the headlines.  The race had already been marred, however, by early loss of life.

Cities on the Lincoln Highway that had only recently hosted the Army Transcontinental Convoy now were getting set to look up and watch the air race.

And there was news of a woolen mill coming to the state, something that would well suit a state that, at that time, had millions of sheep.



The Gasoline Alley gang went golfing.

Lt. Austin's attempted flight from the Canal Zone to Washington D. C., October 6, 1919.

Lex Anteinternet: Changing times. The centennial of the 94th Aero Squadron. August 20, 1917-2017

Lex Anteinternet: Changing times. The centennial of the 94th Aero Squadron. August 20, 1917-2017.

Pilots of the 94th, including 1LT Reed Chambers, Capt James Meissner, 1LT Eddie Rickenbacker, 1LT T C Taylor and 1LT J H Eastman, in France with a Spad XVIII.

While this blog, now that the Punitive Expedition has concluded, no longer does that many daily anniversaries (save for photographs) here's one worth noting.

On this date, in 1917, the 94th Aero Squadron, the Hat In The Ring Squadron, was formed at Kelly Airfield in San Antonio, Texas.  The squadron, now the 94th Fighter Squadron, is the second oldest formation in the United States Air Force.   The unit chose a red, white and blue top hat going through a ring as its symbol, signifying the Uncle Sam throwing his "hat in the ring" of World War One. That is, the unit symbol commemorated the United States' decision to enter the war.

The way it was at first, Curtis Jennys being used in training at Kelly Air Field.

The unit being formed might not seem particularly remarkable, but the U.S. Army. . . and all aircraft were in the Army at the time (prior to the war they were in the Signal Corps and the official establishment of a separate Air Force was decades and one major war away) had only had one single squadron, all equipped with the already obsolescent JN4, just months prior to that. As we've seen on this site before, that unit, the 1st Aero Squadron, would cut its teeth and prove its worth in Punitive Expedition of 1916, at which those Jennys constantly operated at the upper limit of their service ceiling, showing just how inadequate they really were.  Now, the Army was rapidly expanding its air arm.

The 94th in fact would make the crossing to France in October and November.  In France training continued and the unit was equipped with
Nieuport 28s.  

Eddie Rickenbacker, a pre war automobile racer, with a Nieuport 28.  Rickenbacker transferred into the unit in France.  He actually got into  the unit by making a deal with a commanding officer for whom he was a  driver, concerning an on the spot emergency repair of an automobile.

It would first see action on April 14, 1918.  It would go on from there to have a famous combat record and, of course, served to give the US some  of its first pilot heroes.  While in France it would under go a degree  of consolidation with the 103th Aero Squadron, although that unit would  remain a a separate unit throughout the war.

Pilots of the 94th, November, 1918.

The unit continued to serve in post war Europe up until the spring of 1919, and then was returned to the United States and demobilized in June 1919 but the unit shortly continued on as a regular Army aviation unit,  changing its designation to the 94th Pursuit Squadron in July 1923.  At  that time, the 103d was folded into it so that the ongoing 94th would  retain both units' lineages.  The unit received constant aircraft  upgrades prior to World War Two, which was a feature of all air forces  at the time as aviation was progressing at a blistering pace.  Prior to  World War Two the unit was equipped with P-38 Lightnings.

 German aircraft shot down by Capt. E. Rickenbackerand Lt. Reed Chambers, 94th Aero Squadron, Oct. 2. 1918.

As with all other fighter squadrons in the United States Army Air Corps,  the unit was re designated as a fighter squadron in 1942, during which  time it served in North Africa and then later in the Mediterranean and Southern Europe, flying out of Italy.  The unit was one of the very  first to receive what would become P80s, actually receiving the jets in  April, 1945, and flying two missions (without encountering German  aircraft) with them prior to the war's end.

It continues on in its existence to this very day, making it one of the  oldest formations in the United States Air Force.  It's currently  equipped with F22 Raptors.

F22s of the 94th Fighter Squadron.

Eurocopter UH-72

 

This is a Eurocopter UH-72 of the Wyoming Army National Guard.  The UH-72 Lakota is made Airbus and is a general utility helicopter.