The FReeper Foxhole Profiles Admiral John H. Towers - Feb. 16th, 2004

www.nationalaviation.org ^

[SAMWolf]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
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FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.

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U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues

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Admiral John Henry Towers
1885-1955

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A native of Rome, Georgia, born on January 30, 1885, Towers was graduated by the United States Naval Academy in 1906 and then went to sea, serving with distinction aboard the battleship Kentucky.

John Towers in early biplane

He became interested in aviation and after numerous requests for aviation duty he was finally granted his wish and assigned to the Curtiss Flying School on June 27, 1911. There he became the Navy's third aviator following Theodore Gordon Ellyson and John Rodgers. He learned to fly the Navy's first airplane, a Curtiss seaplane called the A-1.

It was soon afterward that he and Ellyson made a record distance flight down the Chesapeake Bay from Annapolis to Old Point Comfort, Virginia, in the A-1. Later, he took over the training of the other young Navy pilots. One of the highlights of 1912 occurred in October when he rigged extra gasoline tanks to a Curtiss seaplane for an endurance flight. Taking off from the Severn River at Annapolis early in the morning, he climbed up over the Chesapeake Bay and remained aloft over 6 hours, setting a world's endurance record the first official record flight made by a Naval pilot.


Curtiss A-1, 1st Navy Aircraft

Early in December he completed tests which demonstrated the ability to spot submarines from the air, even in the muddy waters of the Chesapeake Bay. In 1913 he was in charge of the aviation unit which began its first operations with the Fleet off Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He and his follow Navy pilots explored all the potential of their planes to serve the Navy aerial reconnaissance, bombing, aerial photography, and wireless communications. In the ocean waters off Cuba they were able to spot submarines at depths of 30 to 40 feet.

One day in June, 1913, he was a passenger in the Wright seaplane being piloted by Ensign William Billingsley. Suddenly, 1,600 feet above Chesapeake Bay, they hit severe turbulence. Without warnings Billingsley was hurled out of the seat and fell to his death on the water far below. The first Navy pilot to make the supreme sacrifice. Unbelievably, Towers managed to catch and cling to a wing strut and ride the plummeting unpiloted plane down, miraculously surviving the crash. After that incident, he ordered safety belts for all the Navy planes.


Flying Boat of the Pacific Fleet, Landing with Load of mail. Probably a Curtiss H-16

In January 1914 he set up the first training Naval Air Station in an abandoned Navy yard at Pensacola, Florida. It was from here that he led his unit in the first Naval air operations during the Mexican crisis. It was after World War I that he participated in one of the greatest exploits in aviation history. It was in 1919 that he led the Navy's attempted trans-Atlantic flight of Curtiss NC flying boats. All four planes were ready in April for the departure from Rockaway Naval Air Station, but a severe storm scratched the NC-2 from the flight. When they took off on May 8th on the historic flight, he was in command of the flight and of the Flagship W-3. Patrick Bellinger commanded the NC-1 and Albert C. Read the NC-4.

The first leg of the flight was to Halifax, but the NC-4, suffering severe engine troubles was forced to land at sea. The NC-1 and NC-3 proceeded from Halifax on to Trepassay, New Foundland, and awaited there until the NC-4 arrived after being repaired. On May 16 all three planes were ready and took off from Trepassey's harbor. Out over the sea, as the planes climbed to 1,000 feet, an occasional iceberg glinted in the light of the setting sun. It was planned to fly in formation but both his NC-3 and Bellinger's NC-1 fell behind Read's NC-4 as night fell. By early morning they encountered heavy weather. Churning through rain squalls and fog, his NC-3 became hopelessly lost and he had to set her down on the storm-tossed ocean. Unable to take off again because of buckled wing struts, he turned to his experience as a seaman. Rigging a canvas bucket for a sea anchor he used the plane's rudder to drift sail toward Sao Miguel Island, 200 miles away. It was an almost impossible task for an experienced seaman with a reliable ship, but fifty-two grueling hours later he and his crew triumphantly taxied their battered ship into harbor in the Azores an the crowd lining the shore went wild with their joyous welcome. Nine days later the NC-4 flew on to Lisbon to complete the historic first trans-Atlantic flight. It was a triumph of planning and skillful flying by the Naval aviators.


Admiral Rodman Capt. Mustin, Commander J. H. Towers and Lieut. Commander C. P. Mason

But perhaps his greatest contribution was his vision in 1921, when he began training of Navy pilots in land planes, in his anticipation of the requirements of the Navy's aircraft carriers yet to come. In 1922 the Navy converted a Collier into the Langley, the first aircraft carriers and the practical problems of operating aircraft from it were gradually solved. Arresting gear and barricades were developed to provide safety in landings. The carriers Lexington and Saratoga were also authorized and these three ships eventually became the nucleus of our pre-war carrier fleet. He served as Executive Officer and later Commander of the Langley and also later of the Saratoga.

Finally, in June, 1939, he became Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics, with the rank of Admiral, becoming the first pioneer Naval aviator to achieve flag rank, and was responsible for expanding Naval aviation in these days of ever-changing criteria.



When the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor, Naval aviation was just 30 years old and the Navy faced the greatest task in its history for many of its warships and airplanes lay in the mud of Pearl Harbor. But dedicated pioneer Naval aviators such as he were the Navy's greatest asset, for they had lived and breathed flying ever since our first carriers were launched. They were able to pass their lessons on to the thousands of Naval aviators to be trained. He directed Naval aviation's expansion during World War II and helped develop the strategy for winning the war in the Pacific.

By 1943 a tremendous change was wrought in the Pacific as the "Flat-Top" became "Queen" of the fleet and its aircraft led the fleet toward victory an the world's greatest sea-borne Air Force.



At the end of the war, he commanded the second Carrier Task Force, Task Force 38, and the Fifth Fleet. He then served as the Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet and finally as Chief of the Navy's General Board. In 1947 he ended a long and distinguished 41-year career in Naval aviation and he passed on in 1955.

[SAMWolf]

John Henry Towers graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1906 and requested to be assigned to aviation duty. He was taught to fly by the first Naval Aviator, Lt. Theodore Ellyson, and qualified as Naval Aviator Number 3 in September 1911.


Lieut J. H. Towers, 1911

At the Navy’s first aviation camp in San Diego, Lt. Towers conducted the first testing associated with development of the original Curtiss seaplanes. On October 12, 1912, at Annapolis, Maryland, he established a world endurance record, when he remained airborne in the Curtiss A-1 for 6 hours 10 minutes 35 seconds.

In every chapter in the development of Naval Aviation, John Towers was there. He commanded the first aviation station, the Pensacola Base that became the flight training school for Navy pilots. He commanded the Navy's aviation forces during the occupation of Vera Cruz in 1914. He had also developed the Naval Aviators badge, which has been worn so gallantly by so many. As senior aviator in the office of the Chief of Naval Operations during World War I, his astute planning and leadership guided U.S. Naval Air Forces.

MAP SHOWING LIEUT. TOWER'S FLIGHT

In 1919, he was able to return to a plan he first conceived in 1914: to organize, train, and lead the first transatlantic air crossing. Although his own ship was forced down at sea, he accomplished the unique feat of sailing the aircraft several hundred miles to the Azores. One aircraft of the flight, the NC-4, completed the mission to Europe.



Between the wars, John Tower’s career paralleled the growing strength of Naval Aviation and he became the first Naval Aviator to achieve flag rank as Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics in 1939. He organized the expansion of the Navy from 2,000 to nearly 10,000 aircraft and directed Naval Aviation in the opening period of World War II.


Navy Curtiss NC-1 in her original configuarion

Insistence on leading a combat command resulted in his appointment as Commander Naval Air Forces Pacific Fleet where he directed the expansion of the carrier forces and led the air arm of the largest fleet ever assembled in history. His contributions were in large measure responsible for the victory in the Pacific. On December 1,1947, after 45 years of dedicated service to his country Admiral John H. Towers retired from active service.


USS Saratoga (CV3)

His career was dogged battle to win acceptance for airplane from a Navy that, during most of his years of service, dominated by battleship admirals. One of the most spectacular incidents of his career was 1919 flight of three NC Navy planes that took off from Newfoundland and sought to cross Atlantic. Then-Commander Towers, forced to land his plane in rough seas, taxied craft 205 miles to Azores. A second crew also was forced down. But the NC-4 reached the Azores and then flew on to Portugal and England to become first plane to cross Atlantic. The expedition, for which he had been instrumental, proved a signal triumph for Navy's air-minded minority.

[SAMWolf]

Solo Fright
By Admiral John H Towers

In 1911 the Navy assigned me to Hammondsport to learn flying at the Curtiss School. I expected that Glenn would be the instructor, but instead, Lieutenant Ellyson, Navy pilot #1, was assigned the task. Training procedure on the single-seaters was to have the student taxi across the field with the throttle's foot-pedal limited so the airplane could not take off.



After many trips over the course, the pedal limit was removed and the student could then get up enough speed to become airborne. Ellyson put on a few demonstrations of this ground flying and then had me take over for my first lesson, "Don't worry," he said. "I have a wedge jammed under the pedal, and you can push it all the way down without getting enough power to take off."


USS Towers DDG-9

I climbed in the seat — the first time I ever sat in an airplane. The engine was started and, with my foot pressing down on the pedal, the plane bumped across the field like a scared rabbit. Before I realized it, I found myself about 30' high, then remembered I wasn't supposed to be there. Hastily pushing forward on the control wheel, I headed for the ground at a steep angle and hit with a splintering crash. The plane was badly damaged, but I was lucky to be only slightly injured.



We figured later that Ellyson weighed about 25 pounds more than I did, and that difference in our weights was overlooked when I took his place. Power that was insufficient to get him off the ground was more than I needed to get into the air. In those days we learned flying the hard way, but it was mighty embarrassing to wreck a plane on my first flight.



Additional Sources:

www.earlyaviators.com
www.arlingtoncemetery.net
www.history.navy.mil
www.aerofiles.com
www.allstar.fiu.edu
www.spruso.com
www.geocities.com/glupscherle
www.grunts.net
www.wardocuments.com www.charlesfadams.com/crests
navysite.de

[SAMWolf]

Military Strategist

John Towers quickly learned the importance of his extensive Navy sea training when bad weather forced him and his Curtiss NC flying boat to make an emergency landing in the Atlantic Ocean. Unable to take off again because of buckled wing struts, the plane was basically at the mercy of the waves. Towers refused to be beaten however, and used his seafaring skills to fashion a canvas bucket into an anchor. He then used the plane’s rudder to sail toward an island nearly 200 miles away. Fifty-two hours later, Towers and his crew taxied the dilapidated ship into the Harbor of San Miguel Island.

• In 1913 he was in charge of the aviation unit which began its first operations with the Fleet off Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where they explored the potential of the planes in aerial reconnaissance, bombing, aerial photography, and wireless communications.
• In 1914, Towers took part in activating the first Naval Air Station at Pensacola and led the air unit’s first action in the Mexican crises.
• In 1919, Towers led the Navy’s attempt to fly the Atlantic in the NC-3 flying boat.
• Towers commanded the USS Langley, the Navy’s first aircraft carrier.
• June, 1939, he became the first pioneer naval aviator to achieve flag rank, and was responsible for expanding naval aviation.
• During World War II he helped develop the strategy that won the war in the Pacific Theater.
• He commanded the second carrier task force, Task Force 38 the 5th Fleet. Following World War II he was commander in chief of the Pacific fleet.
  
  "As Chief of the bureau of Aeronautics he organized the Navy's mass production program for all types of planes, increasing the total naval aircraft from 2,000 to more than 39,000 during is tenure of office. He was responsible for the pilot training program, which began with rigorous athletic conditioning and admitted no compromise with quality even in urgent wartime expansion. He pushed forward a program for training a large corps of reserve specialists to provide capable ground officers without taking time for flight training. In the training program, started during his administration, total personnel assigned to Naval Aviation reached approximately three quarters of a million."
  
  He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal "For exceptionally meritorious service to the Government of the United States....from February 1944 to July 1945. An able administrator, (he) demonstrated outstanding professional ability, sound judgment and an unusual knowledge of the complex details of military and naval operations in the discharge of his heavy responsibility for the provision of personnel, equipment, supplies, shipping and the general logistic support of the combatant units in all services during the fiercely fought campaigns resulting in the capture and development of bases in the Marshalls, Marianas, Carolines, Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and the Pacific Fleet operations which decisively supported the recapture of the Philippines...."

[SAMWolf]

Veterans for Constitution Restoration is a non-profit, non-partisan educational and grassroots activist organization. The primary area of concern to all VetsCoR members is that our national and local educational systems fall short in teaching students and all American citizens the history and underlying principles on which our Constitutional republic-based system of self-government was founded. VetsCoR members are also very concerned that the Federal government long ago over-stepped its limited authority as clearly specified in the United States Constitution, as well as the Founding Fathers' supporting letters, essays, and other public documents.

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Tribute to a Generation - The memorial will be dedicated on Saturday, May 29, 2004.

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Actively seeking volunteers to provide this valuable service to Veterans and their families.

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Iraq Homecoming Tips

~ Thanks to our Veterans still serving, at home and abroad. ~ Freepmail to Ragtime Cowgirl | 2/09/04 | FRiend in the USAF

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[radu]

Good morning to all at the Foxhole!

To all our military men and women, past and present,
THANK YOU for serving the USA!

[snippy_about_it]

FALL IN to the FReeper Foxhole!



Good Monday Morning Everyone

If you would like added to our ping list let us know.

[Aeronaut]

Good morning Snippy.

Convair F-102

[The Mayor]

Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. —Proverbs 27:6

He has the right to criticize who has the heart to help. —Abraham Lincoln

[snippy_about_it]

Wow. Towers certainly led an exciting life.

I think this is a case of someone who was meant to be what he became. He was a very lucky man. You'd think we could find a picture of him smiling. LOL.

Seriously though, America and our Navy should be thankful for his contributions and 45 years of service.

Thanks Sam for bringing us his biography.

[E.G.C.]

Good morning Snippy and everyone at the Foxhole.

It's a bit foggy this morning. It should burn off later this morning. All of the snow is melting off as I type.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning radu.

[snippy_about_it]

Delta Dagger! Good morning Aeronaut.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning Mayor. I feel your pain. LOL. It is only 11 degrees here. The sun is out though!

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning EGC. Melting snow, lucky you. We have sunshine and 11 degrees at 8 am. brrrrrr.

[The Mayor]

That's a plus, we haven't seen the sun in a while..

[Professional Engineer]

Unable to take off again because of buckled wing struts, he turned to his experience as a seaman. Rigging a canvas bucket for a sea anchor he used the plane's rudder to drift sail toward Sao Miguel Island, 200 miles away. It was an almost impossible task for an experienced seaman with a reliable ship, but fifty-two grueling hours later he and his crew triumphantly taxied their battered ship into harbor in the Azores

He's Popeye the Aviator.

Wow 205 miles. I've read an account from WW2 of a Grumman Duck, attached to Air Sea Rescue, taxiing 20 some miles with something like 19 guys hanging on it.

[Professional Engineer]

Howdy ma'am

[snippy_about_it]

Good Mornin' PE.

He's Popeye the Aviator.

ROTFLOL!!!

[Professional Engineer]

What's with Valin this morning. I'm never in before he is?

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on February 16:
1075 Ordericus Vitalis French monk/historian/poet
1497 Philipp Melanchthon Germany, Protestant reformer (Augsburgse Confessie)
1519 Gaspard de Coligny Huguenot leader/French Admiral
1620 Frederick William Great Elector, founder of Brandenburg-Prussia
1698 Pierre Bouguer French mathematician (heliometer)
1788 Juan van Halen Dutch/Spanish officer/adventurer
1807 Lysander Cutler Brevet Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1866
1812 Henry Wilson (R) 18th Vice-President (1873-75)
1813 Joseph Reid Anderson Brigadier General (Confederate Army) died in 1892
1822 James Patton Anderson Major General (Confederate Army), died in 1872
1823 Brigadier General John D Imboden organized 1st Virginia Partisan Rangers
1832 Camille Armand Jules Marie de Polignac Major General (Confederate Army)
1852 Charles Taze Russell founded Jehovah's Witnesses
1866 Johann Strauss Austria, composer (Waltz King)
1884 Robert Flaherty Michigan, father of documentary film (Nanook of the North)
1903 Edgar Bergen Chicago IL, ventriloquist (Charlie McCarthy)
1904 George F Kennan Milwaukee WI, US ambassador (to Moscow)
1912 Machito "Frank Grillo" Florida, bandleader (created salsa music)
1926 John Schlesinger London England, film director (Midnight Cowboy, Darling)
1932 Otis Blackwell composer/singer
1934 Austin "Ted" Taylor US gospel/R&B-singer (Be Ever Wonderful)
1935 Sonny Bono Detroit MI, singer (Sonny & Cher, Mayor-R-Palm Springs CA)
1942 Kim Chong-Il [Yura], President of North-Korea (1994- )
1957 LeVar Burton Landstuhl Germany, (Roots, Star Trek Next Generation)
1959 John P McEnroe tennis player (US Open 1979-81, 84 Wimbledon 1981, 83, 84)
1998 Mr Jefferson Virginia, 1st cloned calf
2335 Geordi La Forge character on Star Trek Next Generation

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Deaths which occurred on February 16:
0309 Pamphilus van Caesarea Palestinian scholar/martyr, beheaded
0923 Abu Dja'far Mohammed Djarir al-Tabari Islamic historian, dies at 83
1391 Johannes V Palaeologus Emperor of Byzantium (1341-91), dies
1779 William Boyce English organist/composer (Cathedral Music), dies
1857 Elisha Kent Kane Arctic explorer (Kane Basin), dies at 37
1967 Smiley Burnette cowboy (Charlie-Petticoat Junction), dies at 55
1986 Howard Da Silva Cleveland OH, actor (Ben Franklin-1776), dies at 76
1996 Brownie McGhee blues guitarist, dies at 81
1996 Edmund G "Pat" Brown politician, dies at 90

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Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1968 VOLLMER VALENTINE B.---CLINTONVILLE WI
[08/74 REMAINS RECOVERED]
1969 MOORE JERRY L.---CLEVELAND NC.
1969 WOGAN WILLIAM M.---GLEN OAKS NY.
1971 HOSKINS CHARLES L.---SHAWNEE MISSION KS.
1971 PATTILLO RALPH N.---HARTSELLE AL.
1972 GALATI RALPH W.---CHESTER PA.
[03/28/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE IN 98]
1972 LEE ALBERT EUGENE---GALLIPOLIS OH.
1972 SCHWERTFEGER WILLIAM R.---ENID OK
[03/28/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

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On this day...
0374 9th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
0600 Pope Gregory the Great decrees saying "God bless You" is the correct response to a sneeze
1349 Jews are expelled from Burgsdorf Switzerland
1559 Pope Paul IV calls for deposition of sovereigns supporting heresy
1659 1st known check (£400) (on display at Westminster Abbey)
1742 Earl of Wilmington becomes British premier
1771 Messier presents his original list of 45 M-objects to French Academy
1804 Lieutenant Stephen Decatur raids Tripoli Harbor & burns Navy frigate "Philadelphia" after pirates seized it
1838 Kentucky passes law permitting women to attend school under conditions
1840 American Charles Wilkes discovers Shackleton Ice Shelf, Antarctica
1857 Gallaudet College (National Deaf Mute college) forms (Washington DC)
1862 Ft Donelson captured by General Grant (1,400 confederates surrender)
1864 Battle of Mobile, AL - operations by Union Army
1868 Benevolent & Protective Order of the Elks founded in New York
1878 Silver dollar became US legal tender
1880 American Society of Mechanical Engineers founded, New York NY
1883 "Ladies Home Journal" begins publication
1903 -59º F (-51º C), Pokegama Dam MN (state record)
1905 1st US Esperanto club organizes in Boston
1909 1st subway car with side doors goes into service (New York NY)
1909 Serbia mobilizes against Austria-Hungary
1917 1st synagogue in 425 years opens in Madrid
1927 US restores diplomatic relations with Turkey
1932 1st patent issued for a tree, to James Markham for a peach tree
1933 Catholic newspaper Germania warns against Nazis/communists
1937 DuPont Corp patents nylon, developed by employee Wallace H Carothers
1943 -32º F (-36º C), Falls Village CT (state record)
1943 Red army conquers Kharkov
1945 US forces land on Corregidor, complete conquest on March 3
1945 Venezuela declares war on Nazi-Germany(and that's why Germamy lost)
1946 1st commercially designed helicopter tested, Bridgeport CT
1950 Longest-running prime-time game show, "What's My Line" begins on CBS
1950 Writers fail to elect anyone to Baseball's Hall of Fame
1951 NYC passes bill prohibiting racism in city-assisted housing
1956 Britain abolishes the death penalty
1959 Fidel Castro named himself Cuba's premier after overthrowing Batista
1960 US nuclear submarine USS Triton set off on underwater round-world trip
1961 1st all-solid-propellant rocket put in orbit, Wallops Island VA
1961 China uses it's 1st nuclear reactor
1963 1st round-trip swim of Strait of Messina, Italy (Mary Revell of US)
1963 Beatles top British rock charts with "Please, Please Me"
1968 Country's 1st 911 phone system went into service in Haleyville AL
1968 Elvis Presley receives gold record for "How Great Thou Art"
1970 Joe Frazier KOs Jimmy Ellis in 5 for undisputed heavyweight boxing crown
1972 Wilt Chamberlain hit 30,000 point mark during a game with Phoenix Suns
1978 1st Computer Bulletin Board System (Ward & Randy's CBBS, Chicago)
1980 Continuous traffic jam extends 176 km north of Lyons, France
1984 Bill Johnson becomes 1st American to win Olympics downhill skiing gold
1985 Livingston Bramble defeats Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini to win WBA champion
1986 Mário Soares (Socialist) elected Portugal's 1st civilian president
1987 John Demjanjuk, accused of being "Ivan the Terrible" trial begins
1988 1st documented combat action by US military advisors in El Salvador
1997 At age 25, Jeff Gordon is youngest winner in Daytona 500 history
2000 Lucy Edwards, a former Bank of New York executive, and her husband, Peter Berlin, pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan to laundering billions of dollars from Russian bankers in one of the biggest such schemes in U.S. history.

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Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Lithuania : Independence Day (1918)
US : Presidents' Day (formerly Washington's Birthday)-legal holiday (Monday)
US : Pancake Week (Day 2)
Do A Grouch A Favor Day

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Religious Observances
Christian : Feast of St Elias
Christian : Feast of St Juliana of Nicomedia
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Gregory X, pope (1271-76)

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Religious History
1741 English revivalist George Whitefield advised in a letter: 'Use the world, but let it be as though you used it not.'
1801 In Baltimore, the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion Church officially separated from its parent, the Methodist Episcopal Church. The denomination later became part of the AME Church, reconstituted in 1816 under Richard Allen. It held its first national conference in 1821.
1865 English clergyman Sabine Baring-Gould, 31, first published the hymn, "Now the Day is Over." It was based on the text of Prov 3:24: 'When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid...and thy sleep shall be sweet.'
1911 William P. Merrill, 44, first published his hymn, "Rise Up, O Men of God," in the Presbyterian periodical, "The Continent."
1916 Under the leadership of Henrietta Szold, 52, the Hadassah Study Circle at New York's Temple Emanuel reconstituted itself. Szold afterward made this sisterhood of U.S. Jewish women a nationwide Zionist organization. Szold herself headed the group until 1926.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

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Thought for the day :
"Vegetarianism is harmless enough, though it's apt to give a person wind and self-righteousness."

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Question of the day...
Why is there an expiration date on my sour cream container?

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Murphys Law of the day...(Levy's Laws of the Disillusionment of the True Liberal)
That segment of the community with which one has the greatest sympathy as a liberal inevitably turns out to be one of the most narrow-minded and bigoted segments of the community.

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Amazing Fact #76,987...
Until 1965, driving was done on the left-hand side on roads in Sweden. The conversion to right-hand
was done on a weekday at 5pm. All traffic stopped as people switched sides. This time and day were chosen to prevent accidents where drivers would have gotten up in the morning and been too sleepy to realize *this* was the day of the changeover.