Although he wanted to get into some aspect of aviation, he found that the industry was not really ready for him. He believed in its future and made speeches forecasting its unlimited potential. His second career choice was automobile manufacturing. With three well-known automobile executives from the EMF Company--Barney Everitt, William Metzger and Walter E. Flanders--as backers, Rickenbacker became vice president and director of sales for the Rickenbacker Motor Company. The initial Rickenbacker designs, the first cars to have four-wheel brakes, rolled off the assembly line in Detroit in 1922.
A Rickenbacker Super Coupe. Placed in production in 1922, the Rickenbackers had advanced features such as four-wheel brakes, but the company went bankrupt in 1927.
He traveled around the country in a German Junkers, attempting to set up nationwide dealerships. However, a recession in 1925 and vicious competition led to the company's downfall. Rickenbacker resigned, thinking that might help the company, but it went bankrupt two years later. Now 35, Rickenbacker found himself a quarter of a million dollars in debt but refused to declare personal bankruptcy. He vowed to pay off every penny of debt--and did eventually, "through hard work and some fortunate business deals."
In November 1927 Rickenbacker was offered financing by a friend to buy the majority of the common stock of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He served as the speedway's president until after World War II, a job that was not time-consuming and allowed him to look for other means of income to repay his debts. He started a comic strip called Ace Drummond that ran in 135 newspapers and published a book titled Fighting the Flying Circus, both based on his World War I experiences.
All this was not enough activity or income for the hyperactive Rickenbacker, however, and he was also appointed head of sales by General Motors for La Salle and Cadillac autos. Meanwhile, he continued to give speeches promoting aviation and was involved in several crashes as a passenger during his flights around the country, miraculously escaping each time without injury. On one occasion the plane he was in hit a house, and the end of a two-by-four missed his head by two inches.
Rickenbacker was still so well-known that he always attracted crowds as a speaker. He is credited with helping to persuade the city fathers of 25 cities to develop airports, including one in the nation's capital.
Rickenbacker in 1918
In 1926 he got his first experience in commercial aviation when he and several associates formed Florida Airways. When that venture folded, Rickenbacker was appointed vice president of General Aviation Corporation (formerly Fokker), followed in 1933 by vice president of North American Aviation and general manager of its subsidiary, Eastern Air Transport.
Rickenbacker made national headlines again when President Franklin D. Roosevelt canceled the commercial airlines' air mail contracts in February 1934 and announced that the Army Air Corps would take over those routes. To show that the airlines were better qualified to fly the mail, Rickenbacker--with Jack Frye, vice president of TWA, and a contingent of journalists--flew coast-to-coast in the one and only Douglas DC-1, granddaddy of all "Gooney Birds," in 13 hours and two minutes, a transcontinental record for commercial planes. It was a public protest against what Rickenbacker bitterly denounced as "legalized murder," since three Army pilots had died trying to get to their assigned stations.
Eddie Rickenbacker received the Medal of Honor for his flying exploits during World War I.
The Air Mail Act of 1934 was passed after several more Army pilots were killed because they were untrained in instrument flying and their aircraft were inadequately equipped. The legislation changed the structure of U.S. civil aviation, establishing the Civil Aviation Authority, which was granted control over airports, air navigation aids, air mail and radio communications. Under the terms of the act, General Motors had to divest itself of most of its aviation holdings, but it was permitted to retain General Aviation Corporation and a reorganized Eastern Air Transport, with its name changed to Eastern Air Lines.
When Rickenbacker was named Eastern's general manager, he wanted to make the airline independent of government subsidy. He began to build the airline by improving salaries, working conditions, maintenance and passenger service, and making stock options available to employees. A modest profit ($38,000) in 1935 proved the worth of the changes he had instituted. Ten new 14-passenger DC-2s, the beginning of "The Great Silver Fleet," were ordered to replace Stinsons, Condors, Curtiss Kingbirds and Pitcairn Mailwings. Rickenbacker co-piloted the first DC-2, Florida Flyer, on a record-setting flight from Los Angeles to Miami on November 8, 1934.
Rickenbacker as driver for General Pershing in Northern France - WWI
Eastern at the end of 1934 was setting the pace for air transportation by flying passengers, mail and express on eight-hour nighttime schedules between New York and Miami and nine-hour schedules between Chicago and Miami to make connections with Pan American's system to South America and the Caribbean. In April 1938, Rickenbacker and several associates bought the airline for $3.5 million and he became its president and general manager. He promptly sat down and wrote a paper titled "My Constitution," which outlined 12 personal and business principles that would guide him in leading the airline. One of them was indicative of his work ethic: "I will always keep in mind that I am in the greatest business in the world, as well as working for the greatest company in the world, and I can serve humanity more completely in my line of endeavor than in any other."
A weather reporting and analysis system was inaugurated, and radio communications were improved. A reduction in fares brought an immediate increase in passenger traffic. The company became a bonded carrier, the first airline in the world to take such an action. It meant that goods entering the U.S. by air or surface craft could be transported by Eastern under bond for delivery to any city having a custom house. As Rickenbacker saw it, Eastern was the first airline to operate as a free-enterprise company--without government subsidy; for many years, it was the only one. In 1937, it was also the first airline to receive an award from the National Safety Council, after having operated for seven consecutive years (19301936) and flying more than 141 million passenger miles without a passenger fatality. However, that record ended in August 1937 with a fatal DC-2 crash at Daytona Beach.
Eddie Rickenbacker at Medal of Honor ceremony, 11-6-1930
On February 26, 1941, Rickenbacker's personal luck nearly ran out. He was aboard a DC-3 equipped as a sleeper that smashed into trees on an approach to Atlanta; 11 passengers and the two pilots died. For days Rickenbacker, badly injured, hovered between life and death, and it took nearly a year before he could get back to work. Some said that it was only Rickenbacker's cantankerous nature that pulled him through a difficult recovery. Afterward he slumped a little and walked with a slight limp.
In the journey from fighter ace to airline president, Rickenbacker's personality turned away some would-be admirers who found it hard to accept his brusqueness and caustic way of "chewing out" subordinates--in private or before several hundred people. Rickenbacker could never get used to the idea of women working for an airline, especially as stewardesses. He preferred to hire male stewards because he believed they were less likely to leave the company soon after being trained. He worked a seven-day week himself, demanded that his employees work on Saturdays, and was a fanatic about punctuality and a penny-pincher when it came to company expenses. (He had to personally approve any expenditure over $50.)
Rickenbacker at ceremony retiring last open-cockpit mailwing, 1935
But many of his associates thought his toughness was a sham and tried not to take his scathing comments too much to heart. He was always able to make instant, no-nonsense decisions, and he was fair and loyal to his employees, despite his acidic manner. Most important, he got results. He set his own annual salary at $50,000 in 1938, and it never changed over the next 25 years--despite the fact that he built the airline into one of the nation's four largest carriers during that time.
Rickenbacker continually expounded on the old-fashioned values, especially thrift. (He always put out the lights in unoccupied offices he found in his frequent prowlings around the airline's headquarters.) He started a company newspaper--Great Silver Fleet News--which carried his personal advice about living and working. One issue had this wise counsel under the heading, "Captain Eddie Says": "If you cannot afford it, do without it. If you cannot pay cash for it, wait until you can; but do not in any circumstances permit yourself to mortgage your future and that of your family through time payment plans or other devices." Subsequent editions sermonized: "You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift," and "None of us here is doing so much work that he cannot do more."
Rickenbacker at Eastern Air Lines Picnic, 1940
By the end of 1941, Eastern was serving 40 cities with 40 DC-3s. There were also three Stinson Reliants used for instrument training and a Kellett autogiro that flew the mail on an experimental basis from Philadelphia's main post office to the Camden, N.J., airport.
The advent of World War II drastically changed all the commercial airlines. Eastern had to give up half its fleet to the military services and took on the task of military cargo airlift, flying Curtiss C-46s to South America and across the South Atlantic to Africa. With the government dictating what the airlines did, Rickenbacker was only able to stand by and see that Eastern held up its end.
In September 1942 Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson asked Rickenbacker to visit England as a non-military observer, to evaluate equipment and personnel because of his "clear and sympathetic understanding of human problems in military aviation." Rick asked for a salary of only a dollar a year and paid his own expenses. He was offered a commission as a brigadier general but refused it. The offer was upped to major general and again he refused. He wanted to be able to criticize whatever he found wrong without restraint.
Eddie Rickenbacker after rescue the Pacific, 1942
When Rickenbacker returned to the States that October, Stimson immediately sent him to the Pacific on a similar inspection mission, which included taking a memorized, verbal message to General Douglas MacArthur from President Roosevelt. He was en route in a Boeing B-17 from Honolulu to Canton Island when the pilot got lost and had to ditch after running out of fuel. One of the eight men aboard was seriously injured during the ditching. The men retrieved three rafts, some survival rations and fishing kits from the sinking bomber, then roped rafts together to provide a larger target for search planes.
The next 22 days became a classic survival saga. Rickenbacker, dressed in his trademark gray fedora hat and business suit, took command of the situation, although a civilian. Such a strong-willed, independent thinker would not let military rank prevent him from stating what he thought and what decisions should be made.
Eddie Rickenbacker with family, 12-19-42 [return from Pacific rescue]
No one knew where to look for them when they were overdue at Canton Island. They nearly starved and had only a few oranges for liquid until they caught some rainwater during squalls. Rickenbacker took charge of doling out the oranges and water in equal shares each day. Rickenbacker's felt hat was used to catch the water, which was wrung out into a bucket from soaked articles of clothing.
The salt water quickly corroded the weapons that several had carried from the plane, so they would not fire when a few birds appeared overhead. Fish lines netted a shark, which tasted so bad no one could keep it down. But they also managed to catch smaller fish, which they divided into equal portions. Sharks were their constant companions, continually scraping against the bottom of the rafts. Sunburn was another serious threat.
Eddie Rickenbacker after rescue pointing to head where seagull lit.
As the days dragged monotonously on and no search planes appeared, Rickenbacker cajoled, insulted and angered everyone in an attempt to keep their hopes alive. One man tried to commit suicide to make room for the others, but Rickenbacker, accusing him of being a coward, hauled him back in. When all seemed hopeless, a sea swallow (similar to a sea gull) landed on Rick's hat and he caught it. He twisted its neck, de-feathered it and cut the body into equal shares; the intestines were used for bait. As far as Rickenbacker was concerned, the incident was proof that they would soon be rescued and should not lose faith. He was convinced that God had a purpose in keeping them alive and insisted that prayers be said each night.
One man did die, however, and his body was allowed to float away from the raft as the others recited the Lord's Prayer. They all steadily weakened as time went on, and bitter arguments ensued with Rickenbacker as the focus of harsh remarks. But the airline executive believed that he must not admit defeat, and he used sarcasm and ridicule to keep the others from giving up. He later learned that several of the other survivors had sworn an oath that they would continue living just for the pleasure of burying him at sea.
Rickenbacker World Circling Tour, 1943
After the second week afloat, there were several frustrating days when search planes flew nearby but failed to see them. It was decided after some wrangling that the three rafts would be allowed to drift apart--in the hope that at least one might be seen. After three weeks, a search plane saw one of the rafts and the men were promptly picked up; another raft drifted to an uninhabited island, where the occupants were found by a missionary who had a radio. Rickenbacker's raft was located by a Navy Catalina flying boat, and once more Captain Eddie became front-page news. He had lost 60 pounds, had a bad sunburn and salt water ulcers, and was barely alive, but the famous Rickenbacker luck had held. The Boston Globe captioned his picture as "The Great Indestructible."
Although he was weakened by the ordeal and could have come home immediately to a hero's welcome, Rickenbacker continued on his mission to see General MacArthur and visit some bases in the war zone. Upon his return, he briefed Secretary Stimson and made extensive recommendations about survival equipment that should be adopted on a priority basis. Among them was a rubber sheet to protect raft occupants from the sun, as well as catch water. Another was the development of small seawater distilling kits. Both items eventually became standard equipment aboard lifeboats and aircraft life rafts.
Edward Rickenbacker on the steps of an Eastern Airlines plane.
Rickenbacker continued to serve the war effort by speaking at bond rallies and touring defense plants, and in mid-1943 was sent on a three-month, 55,000-mile trip to Russia and China via American war bases in Africa "and any other areas he may deem necessary for such purposes as he will explain in person." The mission included checking what the Russians were doing with American equipment under the Lend-Lease agreement. He was allowed a rare view of Russian ground and air equipment and returned with valuable intelligence information.
Meanwhile, a wave of affection for Captain Eddie had led to his being touted by some as a candidate for president against Roosevelt, with whom he had strongly disagreed on many occasions. He was honored, he said, but "I couldn't possibly win. I'm too controversial."
When it appeared that victory in World War II was on the horizon in late 1944, the airlines began to return to normal operations. Rickenbacker encouraged Eastern's expansion and placed orders for Lockheed Constellations and Douglas DC-4s. Those were followed by Martin 404s and Lockheed Electras. The Cold War began with the Berlin Airlift, followed by the Korean War, which forced more changes upon the airlines.
The introduction of jets to airline operations in the late 1950s caused serious adjustment problems. Rickenbacker resisted the changeover to some extent. He later recalled, "To keep up with the Joneses, we had to replace perfectly good piston-powered and turboprop airliners with the expensive new jets." He preferred that the other airlines be first to take the risk of breaking them in.
Rickenbacker did not like the way the government interfered with private enterprise and believed it leaned toward more and more bureaucracy and control. He battled the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) about routes and fares and resisted what the competition was making him adopt against his better judgment. For example, he thought the other airlines were wrong in serving hot meals and labeling them "free." Since the CAB was subsidizing his competitors, he reasoned, the costs came from the taxpayers. He predicted that passengers would eventually have to pay for liquor, which they do today. And Eastern finally had to give in and hire female flight attendants.
In 1953, Rickenbacker moved up to chairman of the board but remained general manager. In his memoirs, he proudly stated that in his 25 years as head of Eastern" "We were never in red ink, we always showed a profit, we never took a nickel of the taxpayers' money in subsidy, and we paid our stockholders reasonable dividends over the years, the first domestic airline to do so. During the postwar years, when all the other lines were in red ink and were running to the Civil Aeronautics Board for more routes and more of the taxpayers' money in subsidies, the Board would point to Eastern Air Lines as a profitable company and suggest that the other airlines emulate our example."
When a new Eastern president was appointed, Rickenbacker found it difficult to let go of the reins. The company began a slow downhill slide as competition got tougher and Rickenbacker refused to give up the power in the company he had held for so many years. One of the noteworthy innovations during this period, however, was the Eastern Air-Shuttle between Washington and New York. It began on April 30, 1961, with Lockheed Constellations and operated 20 round trips per day, flying empty or full, with no reservations required.
Rickenbacker reluctantly retired from Eastern on the last day of 1963 at age 73. He bought a small ranch near Hunt, Texas, but it proved to be too remote, especially for his wife, Adelaide. After five years, they donated the ranch to the Boy Scouts, lived in New York City for a while, and then moved to Coral Gables, Fla. Rickenbacker suffered a stroke in October 1972, but his famous luck held once more, and he recovered enough to visit Switzerland. He died there of pneumonia on July 23, 1973.
Captain Eddie's eulogy was delivered in Miami by General James H. "Jimmy" Doolittle; his ashes were buried beside his mother in the Columbus, Ohio, family plot. Four jet fighters flew overhead during the ceremony. One turned on its afterburners and zoomed up and out of sight in the traditional Air Force "missing man" salute to a brother pilot.
In an obituary published in a national magazine, William F. Rickenbacker, one of Captain Eddie's two sons, wrote: "Among his robust certainties were his faith in God, his unswerving patriotism, his acceptance of life's hazards and pains, and his trust in persistent hard work. No scorn could match the scorn he had for men who settled for half-measures, uttered half-truths, straddled the issues, or admitted the idea of failure or defeat. If he had a motto, it must have been the phrase I've heard a thousand times: 'I'll fight like a wildcat!'"
Additional Sources: www.lib.auburn.edu
home.wanadoo.nl
>>> Young Rickenbacker was admittedly a bad boy who smoked at age 5 and headed a group of mischievous youngsters known as the Horsehead Gang, but he was imbued with family values by frequent applications of a switch to his posterior by his strict father
He quit school at 12 when his father died in a construction accident, and he became the major family breadwinner <<<
Heavens Were was Child protection services His self-esteem will be hurt. SS needs to get them on SSI, FS, WF Now!
Arrest the parents, And get him to school too.
On This Day In History
Birthdates which occurred on April 05:
1588 Thomas Hobbes England, philosopher (Leviathan)
1725 Giacomo Casanova Italian writer/philanderer/adventurer (uncertain)
1752 Sébastien Erard piano/harp manufacturer
1795 Sir Henry Havelock British soldier (War in Afghánistán 1838-39)
1818 Lewis Baldwin Parsons Brevet Major General (Union volunteers)
1822 James Nagle Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1866
1825 David Rumph "Neighbor" Jones Major General (Confederate Army)
1827 Joseph Lister England, physician (founded aseptic surgery)
1838 Alpheus Hyatt US, invertebrate paleontologist
1839 Robert Smalls Beaufort SC, black congressman 1875-87 (Representative-SC)
1900 Spencer Tracy Milwaukee WI, actor (Father's Little Dividend, Adam's Rib)
1901 Chester Bowles Massachusetts, ambassador/writer (Conscience of a Liberal)
1901 Melvyn Douglas [Hesselberg] Macon GA, actor (Hud, Ghost Story)
1905 Bill Raisch one armed actor (Fred Johnson-Fugitive)
1908 Bette Davis Lowell MA, famous eyes (Of Human Bondage, Jezebel)
1916 Gregory Peck La Jolla CA, actor (To Kill a Mockingbird, MacArthur)
1917 Robert [Albert] Bloch US, sci-fi author (Hugo, Psycho)
1922 Gale Storm Bloomington TX, actress (My Little Margie, Gale Storm Show)
1926 Roger Corman Detroit MI, producer/director (Little Shop of Horrors)
1926 Milton O Thompson astronaut (Dynasoar, X-15)
1928 Peter Moore Principal (London Business School)
1934 Frank Gorshin Pittsburgh PA, impressionist/actor (Riddler-Batman)
1934 Stanley Turrentine jazz saxophonist (Wonderland)
1937 Colin Powell Bronx NY, General/advisor to President George Bush (Nat Security Affairs)/Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989-93)/Secretary of State (2001- )
1941 David LaFlamme New Britain CT, electric violinist (It's a Beautiful Day)
1941 Michael Moriarty Detroit MI, actor (Ben Stone-Law & Order, Bang the Drum Slowly, Q, Stuff)
1941 Eric Burdon England, rocker (Animals-House of the Rising Sun)
1944 Peter T King (Representative-Republican-NY)
1949 Dr Judith Arlene Resnik Akron OH, astronaut (STS 41D, 51L-Chal disaster)
1950 Franklin R Chang-Diaz Costa Rica, PhD/astronaut (STS 61C, 34,46,60,75)
1951 Roosevelt Ferguson Arkansas, murderer (FBI Most Wanted List)
1955 Renate Bruemmer astronaut/cosmonaut
1957 Vince Gill Norman OK, country singer (When I Call Your Name)
1958 Cammie Lusko Los Angeles CA, Guinness' World Strongest Woman
1977 Sevilay Ozturk Miss Turkey-Universe (1996)
2173 Harcourt Fenton "Harry" Mudd New Amsterdam, Arcturus
Deaths which occurred on April 05:
0828 Nicephorus patriarch of Constantinopel (806-15), dies at about 77
1258 Julian of Cornillon/Liege Flemish visionary/saint, dies
1270 Ramban Nachmanides Talmudic scholar (Hiddushei Ha-Ramden), dies
1531 Richard Roose boiled to death for trying to poison an archbishop
1649 John Winthrop 1st Governor Massachusetts Bay Colony, dies at 61
1794 Georges-Jacques Danton French revolutionary leader, guillotined at 34
1869 Daniel Bakeman last surviving veteran of the Revolutionary War, dies at 109
1918 Paul Vidal de la Blanche French geographer, dies at 73
1928 Jane Ellen Harrison scholar/archaeologist, dies
1958 Jozef Brems Flemish apostole vicar of Denmark, dies at 87
1964 Douglas MacArthur US General (Pacific theater-WWII), dies at 84
1972 Brian Donlevy actor (Steve-Dangerous Assignment), dies at 73
1975 Chiang Kai-shek Nationalist Chinese leader, dies from a heart attack at 87
1976 Howard Hughes reclusive billionaire, dies at 72
1981 Bob "Bear" Hite rocker (Canned Heat), dies of a heart attack at 36
1982 Abe Fortas Supreme court justice, dies at 71
1984 Arthur Travors Harris marshal of British RAF, dies
1986 Manly Wade Wellman sci-fi author (Devil's Planet), dies at 82
1991 John Tower (Senator-Republican-TX), dies in a plane crash at 65
1991 Manley Lanier "Sonny" Carter Jr USN/astronaut (STS 33), dies at 43
1992 Sam Walton Billionaire CEO (Wal-Mart), dies of cancer at 74
1997 Allen Ginsberg beat poet, dies at 80
Reported: MISSING in ACTION
1966 BROWN JAMES WILLIAM---MAUD TX.
1967 PARKER THOMAS A.---OXFORD IN.
1968 MATOCHA DONALD JOHN---SMITHVILLE TX.
1970 CROPPER CURTIS H.---PASO ROBLES CA.
1970 CARON GILLES---FRANCE
1970 HANNOTEAUX GUY---FRANCE
1970 VISOT MICHEL--- FRANCE
1972 SPENGLER---HENRY M. II---ALEXANDRIA VA.
[REMAINS RETURNED 08/22/89]
1972 WINDELER CHARLES C. JR.---SAVANNAH GA.
[REMAINS RETURNED 08/22/89]
POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.
On this day...
2348 -BC- Noah's ark grounded, Mount Ararat (calculated date)
1058 Bishop John "Minchio",elected as Pope Benedictus X
1242 Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod defeats Teutonic Knights
1242 Battle on the More of Pskov Estonia
1603 New English king James I departs Edinburgh for London
1614 2nd parliament of King James I begins session (no enactments)
1614 Indian princess Pocahontas marries English colonist John Rolfe
1621 Mayflower sails from Plymouth on a return trip to England
1751 Adolf Frederik of Holstein-Gottorp crowns himself king of Sweden
1768 1st US Chamber of Commerce forms (New York NY)
1792 George Washington casts 1st presidential veto
1803 1st performance of Beethoven's 2nd Symphony in D
1806 Isaac Quintard patents apple cider
1861 Federals abandon Fort Quitman TX
1862 Siege of Yorktown VA
1865 Battle at Amelia Springs/Jetersville VA (Appomattox Campaign)
1874 Johann Strauss Sr's opera "Die Fledermaus", premieres in Vienna
1881 Transvaal regains independence under British suzerainty
1894 11 strikers killed in riot at Connellsville PA
1895 Oscar Wilde loses libel case against Marquess of Queensberry, who accused him of homosexual practices
1900 Attempted assassination of Prince of Wales in Brussels, fails
1906 St Pius X encyclical "On the Mariavites or Mystic Priests of Poland"
1911 Waldorf W Aster acquires the Daily Observer
1915 Jess Willard defeats Jack Johnson in 26 for heavyweight boxing title
1915 French begin Woëvre-offensive
1919 Eamon de Valera becomes president of Dail Eireann
1919 Polish Army executes 35 young Jews
1923 Firestone Company puts their inflatable tires into production
1927 Johnny Weissmuller set records in the 100 & 200 meter freestyle
1936 Tupelo MS virtually annihilated by a tornado, 216 die
1938 Anti-Jewish riots break out in Dabrowa Poland
1939 Membership in Hitler Youth becomes obligatory
1941 In San Francisco, Castro & Fillmore streetcars replaced by buses
1943 Poon Lim found after being adrift 133 days
1945 Kuniaki Koiso resigns as PM of Japan; replaced by Kantaro Suzuki
1949 60 year old St Anthony's Hospital burns, kills 77 (Effingham IL)
1950 Prague espionage trial against bishops & priests begins
1951 Julius & Ethel Rosenberg, atomic spies, sentenced to death
1954 Elvis Presley records his debut single, "That's All Right"
1955 Winston Churchill resigns as British PM, Anthony Eden succeeds him
1961 Barbra Streisand appears on "The Jack Paar Show"
1962 NASA civilian pilot Neil A Armstrong takes X-15 to an altitude of 54,600 meters
1962 St Bernard Tunnel finished-Swiss/Italians workers shake hands
1963 Beatles receive their 1st silver disc (Please Please Me)
1963 Susuga Malietoa Tanumafili II becomes chief of Western Samoa
1964 1st driverless trains run on the London Underground
1965 Lava Lamp Day celebrated
1971 Fran Phipps is 1st woman to reach North Pole
1971 US Lieutenant Wiliam Calley (My Lai Massacre) sentenced to life
1973 NFL adopts jersey numbering system (ie quarterbacks, 1-19)
1973 Pioneer 11 launched to Jupiter
1974 Then tallest building, World Trade Center opens in NYC (110 stories)
1976 Harold Wilson resigns as James Callaghan becomes PM of England
1976 Tom Stoppard's "Dirty Linen", premieres in London
1979 Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver wins his 1,000th game as a skipper
1979 Ex-premier Pol Jar flees out of Cambodia
1981 Philadelphia Flyers amass a record 2,621 penalty minutes
1982 Lord Carrington, British foreign secretary resigns due to Falkland Islands war
1983 France throws out 47 Soviet diplomats
1984 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar breaks Wilt Chamberlain's all-time career scoring record of 31,419 points (31,421)
1986 Record for a throw-and-return boomerang toss is set (121 meters)
1986 2 US soldiers & Turkish woman killed in West Berlin discotheque bombing
1987 Fox TV network premieres showing Married With Children & Tracey Ullman
1989 Orel Hershiser ends his 59 consecutive scoreless pitched inning streak
1989 Solidarity granted legal status in Poland
1990 Paul Newman wins a court victory over Julius Gold, to keep giving all profits from Newman foods to charity
1991 US begins air drops to Kurdish refugees in Northern Iraq
1992 Peru's President Alberto Fujimori suspend constitution & dissolved Congress
1992 Thailand General Suchinda Kraprayoon installed as president
1992 Wrestlemania VIII, 62,167 at Hoosier Dome Randy "Macho Man" Savage beats Ric Flair for title, Hulk Hogan disqualifies Sid Justice
1993 Construction begins on Cleveland's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
1993 Florida Marlins 1st game - beat Los Angeles Dodgers 6-3
1994 "Jackie Mason Politically Incorrect" opens at Golden NYC for 347 performances
1996 John Bobbitt is put under house arrest in Las Vegas for 120 days
1996 Marlon Brando makes anti-semitic remarks about hollywood on Larry King
1997 Galileo, 3rd Ganymede Flyby (Orbit 7)
1999 Libya handed over for trial two suspects in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. The men were to be
tried in the Netherlands under Scottish law.
2001 Dutch driver Perry Wacker was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 14 years in prison in the deaths of 58 Chinese immigrants who suffocated in his truck in Dover, England.
2063 Earth's 1st contact by extra-terrestrials (Vulcan)
Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
Iceland : 1st Day of Summer (or 0418)
South Korea : Arbor Day
Taiwan : Death of Chiang Kai-shek/Tomb Sweeping Day (1975)
US : Lady Luck Day
US : National Laugh Week (Day 5)
US : National Publicity Stunt Week (Day 5)
US : National Reading a Road Map Week (Day 2)
Religious Observances
Christian : Feast of St Albert of Montecorvino
Christian : Feast of St DerfelGadarn
Christian : Feast of St Ethelburga of Lyminge
Christian : Feast of St Gerard of Suave-Majeure
Orthodox : Earliest possible Orthodox Easter (3/23 OS)
Roman Catholic : Memorial of St Vincent Ferrer, confessor/priest CE (optional)
International Guitar Month
Religious History
1784 Birth of Louis Spohr, German violin virtuoso and composer. He is best remembered today for composing the hymn tunes GERALD ("I Want a Principle Within") and SPOHR ("All Things Bright and Beautiful").
1802 Pioneer Methodist bishop Francis Asbury wrote in his journal: 'I am often drawn out in thankfulness to God, who hath saved a mother of mine and, I trust, a father also, who are already in glory, where I hope to meet them both."
1811 Death of Robert Raikes, 76, the English philanthropist regarded by many as the founder (in 1780) of the modern Sunday School movement.
1953 In Washington, D.C., President Dwight Eisenhower inaugurated the Presidential Prayer Breakfast. (Its name was later changed to the Annual National Prayer Breakfast.)
1969 Pope Paul VI abolished the galero (red hat) and red shoes and buckles customarily worn by Roman Catholic cardinals.
Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Thought for the day :
"Everyone complains of his memory, no one of his judgment."
New Words for 2004...
SALMON DAY: The experience of spending an entire day swimming upstream only to get screwed and die in the end.
New State Slogans...
Michigan:
#@?@* mosquitoes.
Male Language Patterns...
"I'm not lost. I know exactly where we are," REALLY MEANS,
"No one will ever see us alive again."
Female Language Patterns...
Hang the picture there REALLLY MEANS,
NO, I mean hang it there!
As I recollect, Nieuport 28s shed the upper wing top fabric in a dive when airspeed got too high. Always fatal
OK safty tip! Always try to keep your wings in the same shape when yoy land as they were in when you took off.
And now back too your regularly scheduled thread.
Morning aeronaut. The early planes always remind me of bicycles with wings.
Morning quiettolong.
Amazing how we survived as kids without all the alphabet soup government agencies isn't it?
Morning Iris7.
Sometimes I wonder if we still have as many good men as we once did or if we just don't hear about them anymore. It seems that America finds it's "heroes" in Hollywood and sports nowadays.
