--------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 196 AVIATION Ref: F3I00003 Date: 03/12/98 From: JIM SANDERS Time: 03:08pm \/To: JIM DAWSON (Read 0 times) Subj: Re: news-023 JIM, In a message dated 03-11-98 you wrote ... > Lowry is getting a place for the bums (homeless) too. A recent foto of > the recovered items at the Lowry Range include a lot of 20 lb practice > bombs and 20mm projectiles plus some 50 caliber MG rounds. I heard > something recently about redevelopment at Mather but I forget what it > was. That range should be covered with "Blue Whistler" 100 pound M-38A2 case... That was the most famous practice bomb... and also made many cigarette ash trays... I almost cry when I read about "Mother Field" of the navigators.. -=* Jim Sanders *=- === * MsgView V1.13 [R028] * Tennessee State Drink. Lynchburg Lemonade! --- DB 1.39/004487 * Origin: Volunteer BBS (423) 694-0791 V34+/VFC (1:218/1001.1) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 196 AVIATION Ref: F3I00004 Date: 03/12/98 From: JIM SANDERS Time: 03:16pm \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: Aviation history 13 Part 13 November 10, 1944. Thirty-six B-25s of Fifth Air Force attack a Japanese convoy near Ormoc Bay, Leyte, sinking three ships. December 15, 1944. Bound for France, famed bandleader Maj. Glenn Miller and two others take off from England in a Noorduyn C-64 Norse- man and are never heard from again. Several possible causes for the disappearance have been formulated, but none is ever proven. December 15, 1944. President Roosevelt signs legislation creat- ing the five-star ranks of General of the Army and Admiral of the Fleet. December 17, 1944. The 509th Composite Group, assembled to carry out atomic bomb operations, is established at Wendover, Utah. December 17, 1944. On the forty-first anniversary of the Wright brothers' historic first flight, Maj. Richard I. Bong, America's leading ace of all time, records his fortieth and final aerial victory. December 21, 1944. Gen. H.H. Arnold becomes General of the Army- -the first airman to hold five-star rank. December 26, 1944. Maj. Thomas B. McGuire, Jr., records four aerial victories in a single mission in the southwest Pacific. These kills bring Major McGuire's victory total to thirty-eight, making him the second leading American ace of all time. Major McGuire, a Medal of Honor recipient, is killed in combat twelve days later. January 20, 1945. Army Air Forces Maj. Gen. Curtis E. LeMay suc- ceeds Brig. Gen. Haywood "Possum" Hansell as commander of XXI Bomber Command in the Mariana Islands. February 3, 1945. A total of 959 B-17 crews carry out the largest raid to date against Berlin by American bombers. February 19, 1945. The Marine V Amphibious Corps, with air and sea support, lands on Iwo Jima. The capture of this small spit of volcanic rock has important considerations for the Army Air Forces, as the island's three airfields will be used as emergency landing fields for Marianas-based B-29s and as a base for fighter operations. By March 26, the island will be secured, at a cost of more than 19,000 Japanese and 6,520 American lives. February 20, 1945. Secretary of War Henry Stimson approves plans to establish a rocket proving ground near White Sands, N.M. February 25, 1945. B-29 crews begin night incendiary raids on Japan; 334 aircraft drop 1,667 tons of firebombs and destroy fifteen square miles of Tokyo. March 9, 1945. In a change of tactics in order to double bomb loads, Twentieth Air Force sends more than 300 B-29s from the Mari- anas against Tokyo in a low-altitude, incendiary night raid, destroying about one-fourth of the city. March 11, 1945. The greatest weight of bombs dropped in a USAAF strategic raid on a single target in Europe falls on Essen, Germany, as 1,079 bomber crews release 4,738 tons of bombs. March 14, 1945. The first Grand Slam (22,000-pound) bomb is dropped from an Avro Lancaster flown by Royal Air Force Squadron Leader C.C. Calder. Two spans of the Bielefeld railway viaduct in Germany are destroyed. March 18, 1945. Some 1,250 US bombers, escorted by 670 fighters, deal Berlin its heaviest daylight blow--3,000 tons of bombs on transportation and industrial areas. March 27, 1945. B-29 crews begin night mining missions around Japan, eventually establishing a complete blockade. April 9, 1945. The last B-17 rolls off the line at Boeing's Seattle, Wash., plant. April 10, 1945. The last Luftwaffe wartime sortie over Britain is made by an Arado Ar-234B pilot on a reconnaissance mission out of Norway. April 10, 1945. Thirty of fifty German Me-262 jet fighters are shot down by US bombers and their P-51 escorts. The German fighters shoot down ten bombers--the largest loss of the war in a single mission to jets. April 17, 1945. Flak Bait, a Martin B-26B Marauder, completes a record 200th bombing mission. The aircraft, which has now flown more missions over Europe than any other Allied aircraft in World War II, will go on to complete two more missions. April 23, 1945. Flying Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateers, Navy crews from VPB-109 launch two Bat missiles against Japanese ships in Balikpapan Harbor, Borneo. This is the first known use of automatic homing missiles during World War II. May 8, 1945. V-E Day. The war ends in Europe. June 22, 1945. Okinawa is declared captured by US forces. The price paid to capture this island--16,000 men, thirty-six ships, and 800 aircraft--is a key consideration in the decision to use the atomic bombs on Japan. June 26, 1945. B-29 crews begin nighttime raids on Japanese oil refineries. July 16, 1945. The world's first atomic bomb is successfully detonated at Trinity Site, a desert location near Alamagordo, N.M. The weapon (referred to as "the gadget") is the prototype of the "Fat Man" plutonium bomb and has an explosive yield of nineteen kilotons. August 6, 1945. The "Little Boy" (uranium) atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima from the B-29 Enola Gay, commanded by Col. Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. August 6, 1945. Maj. Richard I. Bong, America's all-time leading ace, is killed in a P-80 accident. He had forty confirmed victories. August 9, 1945. The "Fat Man" atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki from the B-29 Bockscar, commanded by Maj. Charles W. Sweeney. August 14, 1945. Lt. Robert W. Clyde (pilot) and Lt. Bruce K. Leford (radar operator) record the last aerial victory of World War II. Flying a Northrop P-61 nicknamed Lady in the Dark, the crew gets behind a Nakajima Oscar, and, in an attempt to escape from its pur- suer, the Japanese fighter crashes into the Pacific without a shot being fired. --- DB 1.39/004487 * Origin: Volunteer BBS (423) 694-0791 V34+/VFC (1:218/1001.1) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 196 AVIATION Ref: F3I00005 Date: 03/13/98 From: JIM SANDERS Time: 01:58am \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: News-084 Radar unit shut down after Air Force One incident WASHINGTON - March 12, 1998 12:24 p.m. EST -- A radar unit that failed to display complete tracking information about Air Force One this week has been taken off line for unrelated repairs. The shutdown slowed flights between Boston and Philadelphia, which had to be tracked on two backup systems Wednesday. When the aircraft descended below 8,000 feet, they were controlled using non- radar procedures such as voice commands. The long-range radar unit in question, based in Gibbsboro, N.J., was the same one in use last October when a Swissair Boeing 747 was forced to make a steep dive over New Jersey after the radar failed to spot a single-engine plane 400 feet away from the jumbo jet. Officials at the Federal Aviation Administration said that was the result of a radar coverage problem that had since been corrected, but air traffic controllers said they have been having daily data "dropouts" since the unit was put back into service on Feb. 15. Randy Schwitz, executive vice president of the National Air Traffic Controllers' Association, said the problems have included "missing targets, jumping targets and multiple targets." The controllers' union joined the FAA in saying that the presi- dent was never in danger. After a daylong investigation, the FAA said Wednesday it had determined that the Gibbsboro ARSR-4 unit displayed incomplete in- formation on two of three consecutive sweeps Tuesday, as Air Force One flew past New York City en route to Connecticut. The incident occurred at 8:34 a.m. as the plane was descending from 22,000 feet about 10 miles southeast of Kennedy Airport. On the first 12-second sweep, an air traffic controller on Long Island saw Air Force One's identification label and airspeed indica- tor, but not an altitude indicator or a dash symbol that normally represents an airplane, FAA spokesman Eliot Brenner said. On the second sweep, all four data elements appeared, but on the third sweep, the altitude information again disappeared from the controller's screen. The controller never lost radio contact with the plane during the 36-second span, and no other aircraft were in the area. "There was never any kind of safety question about the presi- dent's aircraft and there was never any loss of contact with it," Brenner said. He said the problem may have resulted from computer confusion as the aircraft traveled between radar boundary areas or as its radar signature mirrored that of another plane traveling in the same direction. The radar was taken out of service Wednesday, but only to repair a cracked strut on its antenna support. Forty-four of the $8 million digital radar units are in use across the country. Brenner said the FAA would consider a unit problematic if it did not display data for three consecutive sweeps, but it has no report on any such extended blackout. The incident off Long Island is the latest in a string involving the president's plane, which is always referred to as Air Force One whether it's the Boeing 747 in use Tuesday or any number of smaller aircraft in the VIP fleet at Andrews Air Force Base. On Jan. 28, Air Force One passed a Delta jet outside Washington slightly inside the normal three-mile separation buffer. Later that same day, as the plane was preparing to leave Champaign, Ill., it ran off a narrow taxiway and got mired in mud. A backup aircraft had to be used to complete the trip. On May 27, air controllers ordered Air Force One to turn and gain altitude after it came close to a United Parcel Service plane off the coast of Ireland. The two planes were never closer than 1000 feet in altitude and three miles in distance. === --- DB 1.39/004487 * Origin: Volunteer BBS (423) 694-0791 V34+/VFC (1:218/1001.1) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 196 AVIATION Ref: F3I00006 Date: 03/13/98 From: JIM SANDERS Time: 07:08am \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: News-085 Lockheed official optimistic on contracts By Frank Munger, News-Sentinel Oak Ridge bureau OAK RIDGE -- Robert J. Stevens, the Lockheed Martin executive in charge of work for the U.S. Department of Energy, said Thursday he believes there's still a chance the corporation's Oak Ridge contracts will be extended without competition. Stevens said he formed that impression based on talks with officials at DOE headquarters in Washington, although he declined to say who he talked to or give details of what was said. Lockheed Martin holds two major DOE contracts in Oak Ridge, one for management of Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the other for operating the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant. Both of the contracts are due to expire in 2000, and DOE is on record as saying it plans to put the contracts up for competitive bids. In 1996, then-Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary gave Lockheed Martin two-year extensions on each of the Oak Ridge contracts, but vowed to seek bids after that as part the contract reform initiative. DOE has said nothing publicly to indicate its position has changed, although Lockheed Martin officials have hinted for months that another contract renewal is possible. Stevens, who visited Oak Ridge for the first time Thursday since getting his job in January, said DOE had indicated to him that an open contract competition was not "mandatory" in Oak Ridge. But he also said he had not held any direct negotiations regarding Lockheed Martin's contracts and did not know what it would take to get DOE officials to renew the contracts beyond 2000. Lockheed Martin Corp. is engaged in a heated contract dispute at a DOE laboratory in Idaho regarding the company's cleanup of a radioactive site known as Pit 9. The project is far over cost and behind schedule, drawing the ire of environmental regulators. Asked if Lockheed Martin's work on Pit 9 might hamper the company's contract situation in Oak Ridge, Stevens said, "I would hope not. ... It is an anomaly." Knoxville News Sentinel 13 March 1998 This show the wide scope of Aviation Industry involvement. Jim === --- DB 1.39/004487 * Origin: Volunteer BBS (423) 694-0791 V34+/VFC (1:218/1001.1) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 196 AVIATION Ref: F3J00000 Date: 03/13/98 From: HAL HANIG Time: 03:10pm \/To: JACK KINNEY (Read 0 times) Subj: *** VIRGIN EXPRESS PI *** Answering a msg posted in area ECHO_PM0 (GEcho PM for Hal Hanig). 10 Mar 98 10:11, Jack Kinney wrote to Hal Hanig: JK> Hal, HH>> 06 Mar 98 09:44, Jack Kinney wrote to Elvis Hargrove: HH>.H>>> Distinctly! Just so I don't have to learn to read Russian in my HH>.H>>> old age........ HH>JK>> And find out that the Wright Brothers were Wrightski's... HH>> Cousins of Sikorski, by any chance? *>> JK> Ja, Mayhaps... And all this while I thought you were fluent in Russian! But we Russian-speaking Americanskis will forgive you this time---we know that you really meant to say "Da. Mayhapski." *>> Dasvedanya,tovarich. Hal --- GoldED/386 2.50+ * Origin: ** The Wind Tunnel * Topsail Beach, NC ** (1:379/41.1) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 196 AVIATION Ref: F3J00001 Date: 03/13/98 From: HAL HANIG Time: 03:16pm \/To: JAY HANIG (Read 0 times) Subj: EDINBURGH TATTOO *** Answering a msg posted in area ECHO_PM0 (GEcho PM for Hal Hanig). 12 Mar 98 16:27, Jay Hanig wrote to Hal Hanig: JH> 11 Mar 98 23:44, Hal Hanig wrote to Nigel Bell: HH>> In answer to your specific question, we are seriously considering HH>> going at whatever is the correct time, and have commenced planning for HH>> it. Any advice or suggestions you might have would be most welcome. JH> I would advise taking out LOTS of flight insurance. And if you need any JH> help packing your bags, your loving son stands ready to lend a hand. As long as you leave your primacord at home, you're always welcome to come and help! *>> Hal --- GoldED/386 2.50+ * Origin: ** The Wind Tunnel * Topsail Beach, NC ** (1:379/41.1) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 196 AVIATION Ref: F3J00002 Date: 03/13/98 From: JIM SANDERS Time: 11:25am \/To: ELVIS HARGROVE (Read 0 times) Subj: Re: news-077 ELVIS, In a message dated 03-12-98 you wrote ... > -> I am only putting in 100 lines each day.. At that rate, I > -> think I have enough for about a month left... :) I got this from the > -> Air Force Association and have to chop it up into parts this small... > > Well, I'm really enjoying it! But seriously, stuff like this should be > remembered and I suffer from information overload when the chunks are > too big. Besides, I can enjoy it for TWO months! > > ^..^ > --- FidoPCB v1.5 beta-'j' When I finish with all, I will reattach all of the files in order and send them to anyone that desires. If they have E-mail, I will send as attached file. If not, I will mail a disk. I do not know how long the total history is. It is available from the Air Force Association.. I am glad you like it. It has items that I had forgotten or never known... Save to your HD. It does not TAKE UP that much space.. -=* Jim Sanders *=- === * MsgView V1.13 [R028] * Schizophrenia beats dining alone. --- DB 1.39/004487 * Origin: Volunteer BBS (423) 694-0791 V34+/VFC (1:218/1001.1) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 196 AVIATION Ref: F3J00003 Date: 03/13/98 From: JIM SANDERS Time: 11:25am \/To: JAY HANIG (Read 0 times) Subj: Re: settle a bet? JAY, In a message dated 03-12-98 you wrote ... > 10 Mar 98 17:27, Jim Sanders wrote to Jay Hanig: > > >> Whadaya say? > > JS> My handiest archive has him listed as RICHARD I. BONG so the > JS> I as middle initial could be IRA. Got to the Congressional > JS> Medal of Honor winners on line and it may give his middle > JS> name... > > Some help you are. Now he's gonna hound me until the day I die for that > lousy dollar. > > Better I should owe him all my life than do him out of it (old family > motto). If a dollar is going to cause a family feud, I will gladly send each of you one of these 5 Cent Dollars.. :) -=* Jim Sanders *=- === * MsgView V1.13 [R028] * Trust in Allah, but tie your camel! --- DB 1.39/004487 * Origin: Volunteer BBS (423) 694-0791 V34+/VFC (1:218/1001.1) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 196 AVIATION Ref: F3J00004 Date: 03/13/98 From: JIM SANDERS Time: 11:46am \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: Aviation history 14 September 2, 1945. V-J Day. On board USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu and Chief of Staff Gen. Yoshijiro Umezu sign instruments of surrender. [NOTE: Alternatively, V-J Day is regarded by some to be August 15, the date upon which Emperor Hirohito broadcast his radio message, the Imperial Rescript of Surrender, touching off the celebrations normally associated with V-J Day in allied nations.] November 6, 1945. The first landing of a jet-powered aircraft on a carrier is made by Ens. Jake C. West in the Ryan FR-1 Fireball, a fighter propelled by both a turbojet and a reciprocating engine. The landing on USS Wake Island (CVE-65) is inadvertent; the plane's piston engine fails, and Ensign West comes in powered only by the turbojet. November 7, 1945. Royal Air Force Group Capt. Hugh Wilson sets the first post-war recognized absolute speed record and breaks the 600 mph barrier at the same time, as he flies a Gloster Meteor F.4 to a speed of 606.26 mph at Herne Bay, England. Group Captain Wilson was our senior Allied officer in the North Compound of Stalag Luft III. Jim February 4, 1946. The Air Force Association is incorporated. February 9, 1946. Gen. Carl A. Spaatz is designated Commanding General, Army Air Forces, succeeding Gen. H.H. Arnold. February 15, 1946. Thirty-five movie stars, studio executives, and reporters board a Lockheed Constellation piloted by Howard Hughes for the inauguration of TWA daily nonstop service between Los Angles, Calif., and New York, N.Y. Among the stars are Paulette Goddard, Veronica Lake, and Edward G. Robinson. February 28, 1946. Maj. William Lien makes the first flight of the Republic XP-84 at Muroc Dry Lake, Calif. The Thunderjet is the Air Force's first post-war fighter and will be used extensively for ground attack missions in the Korean War. Later designated F-84, the Thunderjet is the first fighter to carry a tactical nuclear weapon. March 12, 1946. The Army Air Force School is redesignated as Air University with headquarters at Maxwell Field, Ala. March 21, 1946. Strategic Air Command, Tactical Air Command, and Air Defense Command are activated. April 24, 1946. The first flights of the Soviet-designed and built Yak-15 and MiG-9 prototypes are made. May 4-16, 1946. Five separate recognized class records for alti- tude with payload in piston engined aircraft are set by five dif- ferent USAAF crews flying Boeing B-29A Superfortresses at Harmon Field, Guam. Col. J. B. Warren also sets a separate record for great- est load carried to 2,000 meters. These records are still standing. May 17 and 19, 1946. Eight separate recognized class records for speed over a closed course (1,000 and 2,000 kilometers) with payload in piston engined aircraft are set by two different USAAF crews fly- ing Boeing B-29A Superfortresses at Dayton, Ohio. These records are still standing. June 21 and 28, 1946. Six separate recognized class records for speed over a closed course (5,000 kilometers) with payload in piston engined aircraft are set by two different USAAF crews flying Boeing B-29A Superfortresses at Dayton, Ohio. These records are still standing. June 26, 1946. "Knot" and "nautical mile" are adopted by the Army Air Forces and the Navy as standard aeronautical units of speed and distance. July 21, 1946. Navy Lt. Cmdr. James Davidson makes the first successful takeoff and landing of a jet-powered aircraft from an aircraft carrier. He is flying a McDonnell FH-1 Phantom from the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVB-42). July 1946. Air Force Magazine becomes the official journal of the Air Force Association. August 2, 1946. The National Air Museum is established under the Smithsonian Institution. August 8, 1946. Almost five years after the prototype was order- ed, company test pilots Beryl A. Erickson and G.S. "Gus" Green and a crew of seven make the first flight of the mammoth Convair XB-36 prototype at Fort Worth, Tex. August 15, 1947. US Air Forces in Europe is established as a major command. August 31, 1946. Famed Hollywood stunt pilot Paul Mantz wins the first post-war Bendix Trophy transcontinental race from Los Angeles, Calif., to Cleveland, Ohio, in a North American P-51 Mustang with an average speed of 435.501 mph. Total flying time is four hours, forty-two minutes. Col. Leon Gray wins the first Bendix Trophy Jet Division race, flying a Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star over the same course with an average speed of 494.779 mph. Total flying time is four hours, eight minutes. September 18, 1946. Company pilot Sam Shannon makes the first official flight of the Convair XF-92 at Muroc Dry Lake, Calif. (A short "hop" had been made on June 9.) The first true delta-winged aircraft, the XF-92 will prove invaluable as a test-bed for delta- wing research. December 9, 1946. Company pilot Chalmers "Slick" Goodlin makes the first powered flight of the Bell X-1 supersonic research air- craft. He reaches Mach .75 and an altitude of 35,000 feet after being released from a Boeing B-29 "mother ship." March 16, 1947. Company pilots Sam Shannon and Russell R. Rogers make the first flight of the Convair 240 airliner prototype at San Diego, Calif. Versions of the 240 would be used by the Air Force as the T-29 navigator trainer and as the C-131 Samaritan medical evac- uation/transport aircraft. One aircraft, the NC-131 variable sta- bility test-bed, was still flying into the 1990s. June 19, 1947. Col. Albert Boyd sets the recognized absolute speed record, as he flies the Lockheed P-80R to a speed of 623.608 mph at Muroc Dry Lake, Calif. End of Part-14 === --- DB 1.39/004487 * Origin: Volunteer BBS (423) 694-0791 V34+/VFC (1:218/1001.1) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 196 AVIATION Ref: F3J00005 Date: 03/13/98 From: JIM SANDERS Time: 06:29pm \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: News-086 Airline bans Oasis member HONG KONG -Cathay Pacific Airways says it has banned Liam Gallagher because the Oasis rocker threatened to stab a pilot. The airhne received oomplaints last month that members of the band and its 30 member entourage behaved badly on a flight from Hong Kong to Austrailia during a tour. The entourage "caused a lot of nuisances and (Gallagber) has made public threats to our crew. Our priority is to proect the safety of our passengers and our staff," said airline C.F. Kwan on Thursday. Knoxville News Sentinel 13 March 1998