On This Day in History
Birthdates which occurred on June 15:
1330 Edward the black prince, prince of Wales (1343-1376)
1767 Rachel Donelson Robards Jackson 1st lady
1843 Edvard Grieg Bergen Norway, composer (Peer Gynt Suites)
1894 Robert Russell Bennett Kansas City, composer/arranger (Oklahoma!)
1902 Erik H Erickson psychologist (Existentionalist)
1910 David Rose London England, orch leader (Red Skelton Show, Stripper)
1914 Saul Steinberg Romania, cartoonist, illustrator (New Yorker)
1922 Morris K Udall (Rep-D-Az)
1932 Mario Cuomo (Gov-D-NY)
1937 Waylon Jennings singer of innumerable country songs (Ramblin' Man)
1941 Harry Nilsson [Johnny Niles],singer/songwriter
1942 Xaveria Hollander [DeVries], Surabaya Indonesia, auth (Happy Hooker)
1945 Rod Argent England, keyboardist (The Zombies-She's Not There)
1946 Jim Varney Lexington KY, "Hey Vern", actor (Ernest Goes to Jail)
1947 Lee Purcell NC, actor (Big Wednesday, Mr Majestyk)
1954 Jim Belushi Chicago Ill, comedian (Sat Night Live, Trading Places)
1956 Polly Draper Palo Alto Calif, actress (Ellyn-30 Something, Hooters)
1958 Wade Boggs Nebraska, Red Sox 3rd baseman (AL bat champ 1985-88)
1964 Courtney Cox Birmingham Ala, actress (Family Ties, Cocoon II)
Deaths which occurred on June 15:
1381 Wat Tyler leader of English Peasants' Revolt, beheaded in London
1467 Philip the Good Duke of Burgundy, dies at 76
1849 James Knox Polk the 11th US Pres, dies in Nashville, Tenn
1968 West Montgomery jazz guitarist dies of a heart attack at 48
1984 Meredith Willson composer (The Music Man), dies at 82
1989 Victor French actor (Highway to Heaven), dies at 54 of cancer
Reported: MISSING in ACTION
1966 KOPFMAN THEODORE F.---KENT OH.
[02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE IN 98]
1967 SWANSON JOHN WILLARD---ARLINGTON IL.
POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.
On this day...
763 -BC- Assyrians record total solar eclipse event on clay tablet
1215 King John signs Magna Carta at Runnymede, England (or else)
1381 Wat Tyler, leader of English Peasants' Revolt, beheaded in London
1389 Battle of Kossovo; Turks defeat Serbs, Bosnians
1520 Pope threatens to excommunicate Luther out of Catholic Church
1567 Jews are expelled from Genoa Italy
1590 Pope Leo X threatens to excommunicate Martin Luther
1664 NJ established
1752 Benjamin Franklin, in a dangerous experiment, demonstrated the relationship between lightning and electricity by flying a kite during a storm in Philadelphia. An iron key suspended from the string attracted a lightning bolt.
1775 George Washington appointed commander-in-chief of American Army
1779 General Anthony Wayne captures Stony Point, Bronx
1785 2 French balloonists die in world's 1st fatal aviation accident
1804 12th amendment ratified; deals with manner of choosing president
1836 Arkansas becomes 25th state
1844 Goodyear patents vulcanization of rubber
1846 Oregon Treaty signed, setting US-British boundary at 49ø N
1851 Jacob Fussell, Baltimore dairyman, sets up 1st ice-cream factory
1860 1st White settlement in Idaho (Franklin)
1862 Gen JEB Stuart completes his "ride around McClellan"
1864 Battle for Petersburg begins as Gen Grant assaults Confederate line
1864 Robert E Lee's home area (Arlington, VA) becomes a miltary cemetery
1866 C H F Peters discovers asteroid #88 Thisbe
1866 Prussia attacks Austria
1869 Celluloid patented by John Wesley Hyatt, Albany, NY
1869 Mike McCoole (US) defeats Tom Allen (England) in bare-knuckle bout
1871 Phoebe Couzins is 1st woman graduate of a US collegiate law school
1876 Sara Spencer (R) is 1st woman to address a US presidential cconvention
1877 Henry O Flipper becomes 1st black graduate at West Point
1878 1st attempt at motion pictures (used 12 cameras, each taking 1 picture) done to see if all 4 of a horse's hooves leave the ground [Eadweard Muybridge]
1887 NY Giants beat Phila Phillies 29-1
1896 Tsunami strikes Shinto festival on beach at Sanriku Japan 27,000 are killed, 9,000 injured, with 13,000 houses destroyed
1902 Canada's Maritime Provinces switch from Eastern to Atlantic time
1902 Justin Clark of Corsicana, Tx minors hits 8 home runs in 1 game
1904 Side-wheeler "General Slocum" burns in NY's East River (1,031 die)
1907 44 nations meet in 2nd Hague Peace Conference
1915 US government mints 1st $50 gold pieces, for Panama Pacific Expo
1918 1" of snow falls in Northern Pennsylvania (more proof of global warming)
1919 1st nonstop Atlantic flight (Alcock & Brown) lands in Ireland
1924 Ford Motor Company manufactures its 10 millionth automobile
1924 Native Americans are proclaimed US citizens
1925 B Jekhovsky discovers asteroid #1093 Freda
1929 1st time NY curb stock exchange transacts more business than NY Exch
1933 C Jackson discovers asteroids #1278 Kenya & #1279 Uganda
1934 C Jackson discovers asteroid #1324 Knysna
1934 Great Smokey Mountains National Park dedicated
1934 K Reinmuth discovers asteroid #1322 Coppernicus
1938 1st night game at Bkln Ebbets Field (Reds 6, Dodgers 0) as Cin Red Johnny Vander Meer hurls unprecident 2nd consecutive no-hitter
1939 C Jackson discovers asteroid #1676 Kariba
1940 French fortress of Verdun captured by Germans
1944 US forces begin invasion of Saipan in Pacific
1950 Itzigsohn discover asteroid 1581 Abanderada, 1582 Martir & 1779 Parana
1951 1st coml electronic computer dedicated Phila
1951 Joe Louis scored his last knock out victory
1956 John Lennon (15) & Paul McCartney (13) meet for the 1st time as Lennon's rock group The Quarrymen perform at a church dinner
1957 42.01 cm (16.54") of rainfall, East St Louis, Ill (state record)
1960 Argentina complains to UN about Israeli illicit transfer of Eichman (Boo Hoo)
1965 Bob Dylan recorded "Like a Rolling Stone" in his first "electric session" at Columbia Studios in New York.
1969 "Hee Haw" with Roy Clark & Buck Owens premiers on CBS TV
1971 Vernon E Jordan Jr, appointed exec director of National Urban League
1973 "American Graffiti" opens in NYC (where were you in 62?)
1977 Spain's 1st free elections since 1936
1978 Jordan's King Hussein marries Elizabeth Halaby, 26-yr-old American
1978 Soyuz 29 carries 2 cosmonauts to Salyut 6; they stay 139 days
1979 1st space shuttle SRB qualification test firing; 122 seconds
1982 Riots in Argentina after Falklands/Malvinas defeat
1983 Supreme Court struck down state & local restrictions on abortion
1984 Thomas Hearns KOs Roberto Duran
1985 En route to Halley's Comet, USSR's Vega 2 drops lander on Venus
1986 Pravda announces high-level Chernobyl staff fired for stupidity
1989 Balt Orioles pull their 9th triple play (vs Yankees)
1989 Ronald Reagan is knighted by Queen Elizabeth
1991 Philippines volcano Mount Pinatubo errupts
1994 Israel and the Vatican established full diplomatic relations.
1995 During his trial, O.J. Simpson
1995 Sinead O'Connor attacked two Israeli photographers who'd been following her as she did some sightseeing in Jerusalem.
1996 A truck bomb blew up in a retail district of Manchester, England, injuring more than 200 people in an attack claimed by the Irish Republican Army.
1999 South Korean ships sink a North Korean torpedo boat.
2000 Al Gore named Commerce Secretary William Daley to take over his presidential campaign, replacing Tony Coelho, who had abruptly resigned, citing "health problems".
Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
Arkansas : Admission Day (1836)
Denmark : Flag Day/Valdemar Day (1219)
Idaho : Pioneer Day (1910)
Korea : Farmer's Day-day to transplant rice seeds
Oregon : Treaty Day (1846)
Paraguay : Chaco Peace Day (1935)(Sunday)
US : Father's Day (Sunday)
National Little League Baseball Week (Day 2)
National Dog Bite Prevention Week (Day 2)(bite em first)
World : Sauntering Day
Surimi Seafood Month
Religious Observances
RC : Commemoration of SS Modestus, Crescentia, martyrs
RC : Commemoration of St Vitus, martyr, protector of epileptics
Feast of St. Bernard of Menthon.
Religious History
1520 Leo X issued the papal encyclical 'Exsurge Domine,' which condemned German Reformer Martin Luther as a heretic on 41 counts and branded him an enemy of the Roman Catholic Church.
1649 Margaret Jones of Charlestown became the first person tried and executed for witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts.
1686 In Boston, the King's Chapel was organized. It was the first Anglican church established in colonial New England.
1950 American missionary martyr Jim Elliot wrote in his journal: 'A man without Christ has his roots only in his own times, and his fruits as well.'
1979 Greater Europe Mission moved its headquarters from Chicago to Wheaton, Illinois. Founded in 1949, GEM is an evangelical missionary agency involved in church planting and evangelism in over a dozen European countries.
Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Thought for the day :
"It is much easier to become a father than to be one."
Things To Do If You Ever Became An Evil Overlord...
When you've captured your adversary and he says, "Look, before you kill me, will you at least tell me what this is all about?" Just say, "No." and shoot him. No, on second thought shoot him then say "No."
The World's Shortest Books...
Al Gore: The Wild Years
Dumb Laws...
Minneapolis Minnesota:
Red cars may not drive down Lake Street.
TOP 10 SIGNS YOUR FAMILY IS STRESSED...
Conversations often begin with "Put the gun down, and then we can talk".
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Air Power
North American F-86 "Sabre"
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Early in WWII, American aircraft researchers were confronted with the problem of "shock waves" building up at the frontal surfaces of aircraft particularly wing and tail surfaces when the aircraft was flown at high speeds. These shock waves could and did cause complete destruction of some aircraft, notably several Lockheed P-38 "Lightnings". The North American P-86 Sabre was the first American aircraft to take advantage of flight research data seized from the German Luftwaffe at the end of the war.
Utilizing data gleaned from Luftwaffe experiments, the wings and the horizontal and vertical stabilizers of the Sabre were swept back at an angle of 35º in order to delay the onset of shock waves, thus allowing higher speeds.
What would become a spectacular career as a combat aircraft began on May 14, 1945 when the US Army Air Corps ordered 3 copies of the North American model NA-140 experimental aircraft. The XP-86 was first flown at Muroc Dry Lake, California on October 1, 1947. It was equipped with a 4,000 pound thrust J-35-C-3 jet engine built by Chevrolet. The highest speed was attained at 14,000 feet where it clocked 618.33 miles per hour. It had a ceiling of around 41,300 feet and its initial climb rate was 4,000 fpm. This was fantastic performance when compared to any prop-driven plane the US had produced up to the end of the war. Even North American’s own prop-driven P-51 paled by comparison. Test pilots were ecstatic over the Sabre, with comments such as "...rock-steady gun platform." and "...so easy to fly you can almost control it with your thoughts".
The third production F-86A-1 (by this time the "P" for "Pursuit" had been superseded by "F" for "Fighter") equipped with a new J47-GE-13 engine of 5,200 pounds thrust, set a world’s speed record of 670.98 mph on September 1, 1948. The Sabre was armed with six .50-caliber M-3 machine guns in the nose, just aft of the jet intake. Target acquisition was aided by a new radar assisted gunsight. It required the pilot hold the cross hairs on his target for just one second. From then till the target was obliterated, the pilot was free of the complicated problem of adjusting for the target’s range during the heat of combat.
The F-86B (later redesignated F-86A-5), with its top speed of 679 mph, and initial climb rate of 7,470 fpm it represented a marked improvement over the A-1. A Wing of F-86A-5 aircraft arrived in Korea on December 13, 1950 making it the first Sabre sent to Korea. On December 17 they went into action against the awesome and hitherto invincible MiG-15. Within two weeks, the Sabres had established a "kill ratio" of better than 8:1 over the MIG.
Admittedly, the superior training and tactics of the US pilots brought about a large part of this success, for the A-5 Sabre had inferior performance when compared to the MIG-15. It was slower and unable maneuver as well as the MIG above 25,000 feet. Its service ceiling of 48,000 feet was much lower than the MIG. Nevertheless, the appearance of the Sabre was the beginning of the end for the MiG-15 in Korea.
The Sabre was continuously improved throughout its 10-year production run. Each model performed better than the last. There were two major variations of the craft. The F-86C was redesignated "YF-93" and was intended to be a "penetration fighter". However, it eventually came to a dead end.
The second variation was known as the F-95 until July 1950, when it was redesignated the F-86D. It was labeled an "all weather interceptor". Some experts are of the opinion the "D" was so different from the basic model it should have retained it’s F-95 designation. For one thing the J47-GE-17 engine was equipped with an afterburner which delivered a total of 7,500 pounds thrust for take-off, giving the "D" an initial climb rate of 12,150 fpm! The nose was shaped like a shark snout with an open mouth for an air intake. Above the mouth and projecting forward was the shark’s nose, which housed a radar antenna for the Hughes E-4 automatic fire control system. More than anything, the F-86D resembled a shark right down to the fins, and should have been named so. But the Air Force Brass was reluctant to pick a name with such a nautical connotation.
It was the first USAF night fighter to carry only one airman and have only one engine. The fire control system was so automatic, a second airman was considered unnecessary. A pod containing twenty-four 2.75 "Mighty Mouse" air-to-air rockets was located in the belly. The pod was lowered into the airstream in order to fire the rockets, then quickly retracted so as not to affect the speed or handling characteristics any more than necessary. The pilot had to take great care to insure each rocket had cleared its tube when fired. If a rocket was hanging halfway out the tube and the pod were retracted, the rocket would explode. If the pilot wasn’t absolutely sure of the position of the rocket, he landed the Sabre with the pod extended. The author observed just this sort of incident in 1957 at Wheelus Field, Libya. In this case, the instant the Sabre touched down, the rocket fired and blasted a 15-foot hole in a rock security fence nearly a mile and a half away!
The "E" was very similar to the "A" with the same J47-GE-13 engine. It was designed to carry a bit heavier combat load.
The "F" was furnished with the J47-GE-27 engine with about 700 additional pounds of thrust (no afterburner), which increased its top speed about 15 mph to 695 mph. Combat range was increased from 660 miles to 923miles. The F was the first Sabre to haul a 1,200 lb. nuclear bomb, which was carried under the port wing. In order to safely deliver this weapon, the aircraft was also furnished with a LABS (Low Altitude Bombing System) which allowed the craft to escape the blast.
The "G" designation was temporarily given to the F-86D with J47-GE-33 engines. The plane was produced as the F-86D.
The F-86H was the final model and was specifically designed as a fighter-bomber. It had the much more powerful J73-GE-30 Engine of 8,920 lbs thrust with afterburner. Its combat range was extended to 1,038 miles. Later editions of the "H" had the wing slats removed and the leading edges extended. The wing tips were also extended to provide better maneuverability at high altitude. The H-5 and H-10 had the six .50 caliber machine guns removed and replaced with four 20 mm M-39’s for greater hitting power.
Altogether there were about 6,200 F-86 Sabres built in the US before production ceased in December 1956. A couple thousand more were built in 25 other countries around the world. Even our old enemies the Germans flew them, and Mitsubishi (builders of the famous World War Two "Zero") assembled 300 for the Japanese.
Specifications:
Contractor: North American
Primary Function: Fighter
Crew: One
Unit Cost: $178,000
Powerplant: Single J47-GE-27 (no afterburner) rated @ 5,910 lbs (2,708 kg) thrust
Dimensions:
Length: 37 ft. 6 in.
Wingspan: 37 ft. 1 in.
Height: 14 ft. 8 in.
Empty Weight: 10,815 lb
Maximum Takeoff Weight: 13,791 lb. (loaded)
Performance:
Cruising Speed: 513 mph (826 km/h)
Max Speed: 685 mph
Ceiling: 49,000 ft
Normal Range: 463 miles (745 km)
Maximum Range: 1,317 miles (2,120 km)
Armaments:
Six .50-cal. machine guns
Eight 5 in. rockets or 2,000 lbs. of bombs
All photos Copyright the following websites:
Global Aircraft.Org
Wright Patterson Air Force Museum
Mig-Sabre Dogfight Group
