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Operation A-Go — Part 3 of 3
Published on June 27, 2013 by Thomas C. Van Hare As the day ended, Vice-Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa left the stricken aircraft carrier Taiho for the Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Wakatsuki. From there, he intended to continue the battle. He found, however, that the radios on the destroyer could not support the level of communications required [...]
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Operation A-Go — Part 2 of 3
Published on June 25, 2013 By Thomas C. Van Hare By dawn on June 19, 1944, the two opposing carrier groups were positioned with the Japanese to the west and the Americans to the east. To the south of the American carrier group were the Marianas Islands where the Japanese had hundreds of land-based planes. [...]
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Operation A-Go — Part 1 of 3
Published on June 19, 2013 By Thomas C. Van Hare Vice Admiral Ozawa Jisaburo had gathered his forces in secret, creating the largest naval fleet Japan had yet assembled in the war. Two years after the 1942 losses in the Battle of Midway, Japan was ready again to go on the offensive. A rapid build-up [...]
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First Arc Light
Published on June 18, 2013 By Thomas C. Van Hare By 1965, the Vietnam War was rapidly expanding. US Military and South Vietnamese forces were deeply involved in a mix of counter-insurgency and open conflict with regular North Vietnamese units. Meanwhile, the US had dominated the airspace over much of the region and, despite losses [...]
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Intercepted!
Published on June 16, 2013 By Thomas C. Van Hare The day had begun normally with a morning preflight of the Martin P4M-1Q Mercator aircraft. The mission was a standard one for the US Navy’s Fleet Air Reconaissance Squadron ONE (VQ-1), known as the “Batmen” — they were a signals intelligence specialist unit based in [...]
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The Kaleva Shootdown
Published on June 14, 2013 By Thomas C. Van Hare In the early stages of World War II, before the United States entered the conflict, Nazi Germany was on the march for world domination. Czechoslovakia fell, then Poland, which was shared with the Soviet Union through the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. In September 1939, Britain and France [...]
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The Great Aeroplane Raid
Published on June 13, 2013 By Thomas C. Van Hare During daylight hours on June 13, 1917, at the height of the Great War and 96 years ago today in aviation history, the German air service made a daring raid on London with just 14 Gotha IV bombers. Despite the best efforts of British defenses, [...]
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Black Buck 7
Published on June 12, 2013 by Thomas C. Van Hare Operation Black Buck 7 was the last of the series flown. Each of the flights had been extraordinarily difficult, logistically nightmarish and only marginally effective. The targets were all Argentinian forces and the missions were flown at the height of the Falklands/Malvinas War. Each of [...]
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Operation CORKSCREW
Published on June 11, 2013 In 1943, at the height of World War II, the Allies embarked on a new offensive plan to pressure the Axis powers of Italy and Germany from the south. The invasion of Sicily was planned for that summer and, from there, it was planned that the next step would be [...]
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Sucked Out!
Published on June 10, 2013 By Thomas C. Van Hare It was supposed to have been a beautiful day on June 10, 1990 (today in aviation history). Vacationers filed onto a regular morning British Airways flight to Spain. Flight attendant Nigel Ogden, along with the others on the flight crew of British Airways Flight 5390, had [...]
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The Little Tub
This Week’s Hints to help you along: Displayed at Harrod’s at the end of the Great War. An early “ultralight”, in a class of its own. No fixed tail — and thus it didn’t fly apparently. A two-seater, with side-by-side seating. Those windshields look like British racing car glass. So do you know what this [...]
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De la Cierva
Published on June 9, 2013 By Thomas C. Van Hare Juan de la Cierva was the son of a wealthy Spaniard who, by age 17 in 1912, was already designing aircraft in Spain. He continued on in school and earned a degree in civil engineering, though his first love remained airplanes. By 1919, he had [...]
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Missile Mail
Published on June 8, 2013 By Thomas C. Van Hare Have you ever heard of “Missile Mail”? Yes, our Government in Washington had the rather harebrained idea of loading US Mail onto submarine-launched nuclear cruise missiles (thankfully without the warheads) and firing them off for fast international delivery. It might work, as the saying goes, [...]
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Fortitude South
Published on June 6, 2013 By Thomas Van Hare In the early morning hours of D-Day, on June 6, 1944, a huge Allied invasion force was moving toward Normandy Beach on the northern coast of France. The fortifications of the Atlantic Wall, erected by the Germans, were massive and provided a huge advantage in the [...]
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The Flying Keys — Part 2 of 2
Published on June 5, 2013 When Al and Fred Key took off in their Curtiss Robin “Ole Miss” on June 4, 1935, they were supported by a committed, if small team of other aviators and ground crew. Their flight hoped to break the endurance record of 23 days in the air without landing. It was [...]
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The Flying Keys — Part 1 of 2
Published on June 4, 2013 In 1935, after two failed attempts. two brothers took off on a third try, hoping to set a record and save their local airport. Their airplane was a diminutive Curtiss Robin, a favored plane for 1930s era record attempts. Even though they had no backing from any major aviation firms, [...]
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The Pommery Cup — Part 2 of 2
Published on June 1, 2013 Pierre Daucourt’s flight from Paris to Berlin, having spanned 895 kilometers in a single day from sunrise to sunset, was the leading candidate for the Spring 1913 Pommery Cup prize, the fifth of six such awards, each carrying a sizable monetary award. Daucourt rested and waited, enjoying the moment as [...]
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