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Today in US military history: a WWII drone strike, Pyongyang captured, and Cornwallis surrenders
Unto the Breach ^ | Oct. 19, 2017 | Chris Carter

Posted on 10/19/2017 3:10:31 PM PDT by fugazi

1781: British Gen. Charles Cornwallis formally surrenders 7,087 officers and men, 900 seamen, 144 cannons, 15 galleys, a frigate, and 30 transport ships to an American and French force at Yorktown, Va., effectively ending the American Revolution.

1944: Two Interstate TDR assault drones are launched against Japanese gun emplacements on Ballale Island - one drone missing its target and another delivering two of its four 100-lb. bombs on the target. The TDR was a two-engine, unmanned airplane remotely controlled by a Grumman TBF "Avenger" via a television camera feed.

1950: Troopers with the 5th Cavalry Regiment enter Pyongyang, capturing the North Korean capitol. The following day, the 187th Regimental Combat Team will conduct two parachute drops north of the capitol to cut off retreating North Korean forces. The Communists will recapture Pyongyang on Dec. 5, after China joins the war.

1965: Two regiments of North Vietnamese soldiers begin a week-long siege on the Special Forces camp at Plei Me in South Vietnam's central highlands. The outnumbered defenders repelled repeated attacks and eventually drove off the NVA forces. Following the battle, Gen. William Westmoreland ordered the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) to find and defeat the forces that attacked Plei Me, resulting in the bloody Battle of Ia Drang.

1987: Following an Iranian missile attack on a merchant vessel, U.S. warships attack and destroy two Iranian oil platforms being used by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps to attack shipping in the Persian Gulf.

2001: 200 Army Rangers parachute into

(Excerpt) Read more at victoryinstitute.net ...


TOPICS: History; Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: militaryhistory
It's hard to imagine that during World War II, the Navy was operating drone aircraft remotely piloted with a TV camera feed. All this was before computers - just incredibly smart men with slide rules.
1 posted on 10/19/2017 3:10:31 PM PDT by fugazi
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To: fugazi

Gen. Washington’s diary entry for Oct 19, 1781:
19th. In the Morning early I had them copied and sent word to Lord Cornwallis that I expected to have them signed at 11 Oclock and that the Garrison would March out at two O’clock—both of which were accordingly done.1 Two redoubts on the Enemys left being possessed (the one by a detachment of French Grenadiers, & the other by American Infantry) with orders to prevent all intercourse between the army & Country and the Town—while Officers in the several departments were employed in taking acct. of the public Stores &ca.


2 posted on 10/19/2017 3:19:37 PM PDT by KingLudd
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To: fugazi

A German remote controlled drone sank a U.S. troop ship in the Mediterranean during WWII. We kept the results secret until the end of the war, maybe even longer.


3 posted on 10/19/2017 3:30:47 PM PDT by yarddog (Romans 8:38-39, For I am persuaded.)
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To: fugazi
IIRC, the Germans had remote controllable bombs that sank a number of ships before the Allies figured out how to jam them.

Also, the US would take worn out B-24s, fit them with remote control flying equipment, fill them with explosives, and have a crew of two pilots fly them near the target, engage the r/c from a shadowing aircraft, and bail out.

The flying bomb would then be flown into a hardened target.

4 posted on 10/19/2017 3:31:31 PM PDT by Calvin Locke
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To: fugazi

The battle of Cedar Creek on this date is not an event in American Military History?


5 posted on 10/19/2017 3:36:34 PM PDT by Bull Snipe
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To: fugazi

The battle of Cedar Creek, on this date, is not an event in American Military History?


6 posted on 10/19/2017 3:41:10 PM PDT by Bull Snipe
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To: Bull Snipe

It is indeed and was my first thought as well seeing this list. good list though.


7 posted on 10/19/2017 3:41:37 PM PDT by CJ Wolf (It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World)
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To: fugazi

The Germans used this type of weapon first.


8 posted on 10/19/2017 3:42:30 PM PDT by GingisK
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To: fugazi

The battle of Cedar Creek, on this date, is not an event in American Military History?


9 posted on 10/19/2017 3:44:01 PM PDT by Bull Snipe
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To: fugazi

It is also odd that “spread spectrum” radio transmission was invented in WWII by the beautiful movie actress Heady Lamar. She was secretly an electronics engineer. The Navy did not use her invention until long after the war.


10 posted on 10/19/2017 3:45:10 PM PDT by GingisK
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To: fugazi

Yorktown did not ‘effectively’ end the American Revolution. British troops did not evacuate several cities until 1783. Frontier forts, like Detroit, remained occupied until after ratification of the Constitution.


11 posted on 10/19/2017 3:47:55 PM PDT by Jacquerie (ArticleVBlog.com)
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To: GingisK

Are you sure it wasn’t Hedley Lamarr? They’re often mistaken for each other.


12 posted on 10/19/2017 3:50:48 PM PDT by GMMC0987
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To: Calvin Locke

“engage the r/c from a shadowing aircraft, and bail out.”

Unless it blew up first. Which is why JFK was president instead of his brother.


13 posted on 10/19/2017 4:24:23 PM PDT by TalonDJ
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To: fugazi

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glide_bomb


14 posted on 10/19/2017 4:27:38 PM PDT by packrat35 (Pelosi is only on loan to the world from Satan. Hopefully he will soon want his baby killer back)
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To: CJ Wolf

Thanks


15 posted on 10/19/2017 4:35:47 PM PDT by Bull Snipe
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To: Bull Snipe

Wrote the post from the hospital, so I was lucky to have anything up today. It’s hard to track down all the events and I definitely miss some here and there as well as botch details, of which the history buffs at FR have been helpful at catching. Cedar Creek will definitely make the list next year!


16 posted on 10/19/2017 4:37:00 PM PDT by fugazi
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To: TalonDJ

The remotely piloted project - I believe it was an OSS Operation - was fascinating. And yes, JFK’s brother was among a handful of pilots that lost their lives on the secret project, whose target in that instance was the Nazi sub pens on the French coast that had cost a lot of American pilots’ lives without putting a dent in the target.


17 posted on 10/19/2017 4:39:34 PM PDT by fugazi
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To: fugazi

* Meant to say remotely piloted B-17 project *


18 posted on 10/19/2017 4:41:00 PM PDT by fugazi
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To: TalonDJ
Yeah, well, how far did he get? Half mile or so after takeoff?

Lightning? Static? Exposed wiring from the previous mission shorting? Poorly installed R/C? Smoking?

19 posted on 10/19/2017 4:47:45 PM PDT by Calvin Locke
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To: GMMC0987

Oh, there are those who can spell. Thank you for the correction.


20 posted on 10/19/2017 5:29:49 PM PDT by GingisK
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