Posted on 05/26/2017 6:35:39 AM PDT by fugazi
1917: U.S. Army Gen. John Joseph “Black Jack” Pershing is named commander-in-chief of the American Expeditionary Force, which is destined for European combat the following year.
1942: The Northrop P-61 “Black Widow” night fighter makes its first flight. The twin-boom P-61 is the first aircraft to carry radar and the U.S. military’s first night fighter. The warplane saw service in both the Atlantic and Pacific Theaters, and is widely believed to be credited with the last “kill” of an enemy aircraft in World War II, when a Japanese “Tojo” fighter pilot flies into the water while attempting to evade a Black Widow. Another P-61 flew over the Cabanatuan prison camp, with the pilot performing acrobatic maneuvers to distract the guards while Rangers infiltrated the camp and rescued 500 American prisoners of war.
1958: Navy Hospital Corpsman 1st Class William R. Charette selects which remains of unidentifiable service members from World War II will be interred at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from four identical caskets in a ceremony on the deck of the cruiser USS Canberra (CAG-2). Charette is the only enlisted sailor and recipient of the Medal of Honor still on active service. The “unknowns” were disinterred from cemeteries in Europe, Africa, Hawaii, and the Philippines.
1961: An Air Force B-58 “Hustler” bomber – the first...
(Excerpt) Read more at victoryinstitute.net ...
“....1st flight of the Black Widow”...
I can hear it know how “racists” that flight would have been labeled if were today.
Before he was a vary strict and very unpopular instructor at West Point he commanded a unit of the 10th Cavalry, the Buffalo Soldiers. The nickname coined by his West Point students did not include the word "Black". The press changed it when he was appointed to command the AEF.
That yellow aircraft must be from Australia.
It was called the Boomarang.......
The yellow aircraft in the foreground is the Northrup N1M.
https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/northrop-n1m
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.