On This Day in 1978: KAL Flight 902 Contributor: Barry Fetzer Sources: History.com, Wikipedia.com We Americans tend—at least as far as our borders’ air defense is concerned—to ask questions first and then shoot if necessary. Not so the Russians, who seem to shoot first and then ask questions, the latest example being Malaysia Airlines…
Thursday Twofer: Tokyo and Beirut Contributor: Barry Fetzer Sources: History.com, Wikipedia.com America was already at war with the Empire of Japan and it took four months to plan and execute the Pearl Harbor “revenge attack”, an audacious, risky, and uniquely American “suicide mission” requiring only volunteers (of which there were none lacking), all of…
On This Day in Aviation History: April 14, 1918 Contributor: Barry Fetzer Sources: History.com The last edition of the Tideland News and the Carteret News Times…(out of Swansboro and Morehead City, NC…yes, we still take that paper as we did for 20+ years while living in eastern NC. Today, though, living now in the…
This Day in Aviation Friday Evening Twofer. April 12th. Contributor: Barry Fetzer Sources: History.com This evening it’s all space, all the time for our aviation history vignettes and it’s a twofer to boot. And what a twofer it is and a what a day April 12th was in the annuls of aviation history! Two…
This Day in Aviation History: Flight Hardships and First Flight Around the World Contributor: Barry Fetzer Sources: History.com It’s hard to imagine and nearly impossible to remember given that to actually remember, we’d have to have been born at least 105 or 106 years ago (to be past the age of childhood amnesia) and…
This Day in Aviation: April 4th, 1933 Contributor: Barry Fetzer Sources: History.com Balloons are fun! Even the big ones…the gargantuan ones. Even their names are fun. Dirigible. Airship. Zeppelin. Blimp. Seeing one of these gigantic machines lazily (apparently lazily…but not really…as there’s much work in designing, building, and flying them) floating by. And while…
Aviation History Twofer: Okinawa and the Royal Air Force Contributor: Barry Fetzer Sources: History.com While most of us are probably too “mature” to put salt in the sugar bowl, cigar loads in dad’s cigar, or tell your spouse with a straight face that you’ve decided to sell everything and become a Tibetan Monk…and then…
On This Day in Aviation History: Iwo Jima Contributor: Barry Fetzer Sources: History.com When we think about Iwo Jima, we typically (and rightfully) think about the USMC infantry that slogged their way through horrific battle conditions to wrest the island from the hands of its Japanese defenders, with tragic consequences for those killed and…