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A WORD ABOUT OUR LITTLE FRIENDS

The pilots who flew the Republic P-47 “Jug” in WW II think their airplane has had a bad rap. Saddled with the reputation of being all brawn and no brains, Thunderbolts were often portrayed as a big dumb jock that got through the war on the equivalent of a football scholarship. The real American fighter of WW Two as most of the revisionist historians explain, was North American’s P-5 1 Mustang.< /sarcasm>

Lockheed P-38 Lightning

When the P-38 entered service in late summer 1941, it's twin-engined, twin-boom design and tricyle landing gear were considered somewhat radical. The Lightning combined long range performance with heavy armament. Just over 10,000 were built.

Speed: 414 mph
Service Ceiling: 44,000 ft
Range: 450 mi
Armament: 1x20mm cannon and 4x50cal MGs
Plus 3,200 lbs of bombs

Republic P-47 Thunderbolt

Unofficially known as the "Jug," the P-47 entered service in late 1942. Unable to match the agility and climb rate of it's German opposition, it nonetheless excelled in the dive and possesed good high altitude performance and the ability to absorb damage. Over 15,000 of this type were produced.

Speed: 433 mph
Service Ceiling: 42,000 ft
Range: 480 mi
Armament: 8x50cal MGs
Plus 500 lbs of bombs

North American P-51 Mustang

Considered by many to be the best all-around fighter to emerge from WWII, the P-51 was actually built in response to a British requirement. Ultimately equipped with the British Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, the Mustang proved to be the ideal long-range fighter escort. Nearly 15,000 examples were built and the P-51D model went on to see service in Korea.

Speed: 437 mph
Service Ceiling: 40,000 ft
Range: 1,650 mi
Armament: 6x50cal MGs
Plus 2,000 lbs of bombs

The P-51 "Little Friends" in Action, April 8, 1944
The 4th Fighter Group Sets a Record

On April 8, 1944, the Eighth Air Force dispatched 664 B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator heavy bombers to bomb ten targets in Germany. Another 780 P-38 Lightnings, P-47 Thunderbolts, and P-51 Mustangs were assigned escort duties for the bombers that day. Among the escorts were the red-nosed P-51s of the 4th Fighter Group, including several American Eagle pilots who had flown with the RAF. Their assignment was to link up with some 200 B-24s targeting German aircraft manufacturing facilities at Brunswick.

The 4th was led by Colonel Don Blakeslee, who had become a P-51 devotee while serving with the 354th Group. Blakeslee was a legend in his time. An Ohio native, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in order to fly. He was sent to England, but was booted from his squadron for refusing to march his men to church. The Eagle (133) Squadron was his next military home, but entertaining women after hours in his quarters got him reassigned to the U.S.A.A.F. By that time, he already was credited with two kills and one probable, and became an ace flying P-47s in May 1943.

Blakeslee used all his influence to ensure that every unit in his command would be equipped with the Mustang fighter. He was successful. In February they replaced their P-47s with the hot new fighters. In the month between February 28 and March 30, the 4th chalked up 120 Luftwaffe kills, firmly demonstrating the prowess of their nimble warbird.

Captain Don Gentile

The 4th Fighter Group rendezvoused with the B-24s near Ruhrberg just as the Luftwaffe appeared. Blakeslee radioed his unit, "Horseback to Horseback aircraft. One-hundred-plus approaching at 11 o’clock." Immediately, the P-51s set up for action, dropping their auxiliary fuel tanks and heading straight for the German swarm.

Among the pilots in the 4th was Captain Don Gentile, who had 27 enemy planes to his credit that morning. Gentile was leading Shirtblue squadron and had been flying on the right side of the bombers. The Germans opted for a head-on attack against the Liberators and six of the mighty bombers fell nearly at once. As the enemy fighters finished their pass and tried to re-form, Gentile and his 336th Fighter Squadron swept down upon them, breaking up the attack.

Gentile reported that some of the Germans began a dogfight and, as he closed in to tangle with one enemy fighter, he was bounced by several Focke-Wulf Fw-190s. He broke away, selected another 190 and scored several hits from up to 300 yards. The German began to smoke and spiraled down from 16,000 feet.

Gentile spotted another 190 attacking a P-51, but before he could help, the Mustang went down. It was one of four that were to be lost that day. Gentile engaged the Focke-Wulf at 22,000 feet and they fought each other down to 8,000 feet. The 190 tried to break for altitude but Gentile was ready for him: he nailed the enemy plane with a deflection shot from his .50 caliber machine guns and forced the German to bail out.

Gentile selected yet another Fw-190. This one turned into his P-51 and made several passes, guns blazing. Their dogfight lasted ten grueling minutes before the American pilot finally got the advantageous position behind the German plane and drew smoke. The plane crashed. Gentile’s three victories that day raised his total to 30 enemy planes destroyed.

Major Louis "Red Dog" Norley

Gentile had a counterpart in the 4th Fighter Group that April 8: "Red Dog" Norley (nick-named for his fondness for the poker game) already had proved himself to be a threat to German aircraft. He was a hot fighter pilot with two kills in his belt. No sooner had Gentile’s Mustang entered the fray than Norley spotted a Fw-190 beneath his own plane. Their battle began at 3,000 feet and the German pilot tried mightily to elude the P-51 on his tail. The German tried to dive even lower, but Norley nailed the plane with two short bursts and the pilot bailed out.

Climbing away, Norley spotted another 190, chased it for a mile, blasted it with a short burst, and witnessed another bail out. Turning away, the P-51 pilot went after a third 190 about a half-mile away. The dogfight was brief, the German downed, and "Red Dog" had a total of five kills for the day and ace status.

Captain Willard W. "Millie" Millikan

Iowan "Millie" Millikan flew with the 4th Fighter Group for a year, and a total of 52 missions, before ever scoring a kill. Then, flying P-47s, Millikan scored three enemy aircraft downed in the next five months before switching to the Mustang. Two more kills in the P-51 and he was an ace, heading for the rendezvous with the Brunswick-bound B-24s the morning of April 8, 1944.

Like Gentile, Milliken joined the battle as the German fighters were re-grouping from their frontal pass that downed six Liberators. He tucked beneath a gaggle of Bf-109s climbing for another attack and shot down the last plane in the formation with a deflection shot. Spotting another Mustang trying to evade a German attacker, Milliken fired a spray of .50 slugs, perforating the enemy’s fuselage from engine to tail. The Messerschmitt flamed and dropped like a rock into the forest below.

A third Bf-109 caught his eye as it skillfully evaded several other Mustangs doing battle with it. The German came at Milliken’s red-nosed P-51, but the American dove and turned away. Milliken came around for a deflection shot as the German spun out of a flaps-down turn. The P-51 scored hits from 150 yards. The German pilot bailed out at 800 feet and the fighter crashed. "Millie" Milliken joined "Red Dog" Norley and Don Gentile in the triple-kill category on what began as a routine escort mission.

Counting the Toll

Four Mustangs were lost from the 4th Fighter Group that day, but the Luftwaffe counted 31 planes missing after the battle. The 190 B-24s that got through to Brunswick laid about 623 tons of high explosive on the aircraft factories.

The 4th Fighter Group set a new record for fighter engagements in the European Theater of Operations. The day’s achievements underscored the growing might of the Eighth Air Force, thanks to the long-range protection afforded by the P-51 Mustang. The war had indeed come home to the German Fatherland.

On This Day In history

Birthdates which occurred on December 11:
1475 Leo X [Giovanni de' Medici] Italy, Pope (1513-21)
1566 Manuel Cardoso composer
1676 Johann Georg Weichenberger composer
1712 Francesco Algarotti Italian earl/encyclopedic (Viaggio in Russia)
1757 Charles Wesley composer
1758 Carl Friedrich Zelter composer
1781 Sir David Brewster Scotland, physicist/inventor (kaleidoscope)
1783 Max von Schenkendorf German poet
1793 Pietro Coppola composer
1797 Hiram Paulding rear-admiral (Union Navy), died in 1878
1801 Grabbe writer
1803 Hector Lou Berlioz Côte-Saint-André Isère France, composer (Manqué)
1810 Alfred de Musset Paris France, writer (Un Caprice, Bettine)
1823 Yury Nikolayevich Golitsin composer
1835 Adolf Stoecker German anti semite/PM
1836 Jan Boissevain Dutch politician/ship owner
1838 Emil Rathenau German industrialist (AEG)
1838 Whitney Eugene Thayer composer
1840 Kemal Bey Turkey, poet/author (Fatherland-1872)
1843 Robert Koch German bacteriologist (TB, cholera, Nobel 1905)
1849 Ellen Key Swedendish theory/author/feminist (Courageous Woman)
1855 Julian Edwards composer
1856 Georgi V Plechanov Russian revolutionary theorist
1863 Annie Jump Cannon US, stellar spectroscopist (Harvard-classification)
1868 Ernst Henrik Ellberg composer
1874 Paul Wegener German actor/director (Student of Prag)
1876 Mieczyslaw Karlowicz composer
1882 Fiorello La Guardia (Mayor-R-NY, 1933-45)
1882 Max Born Germany, physicist (quantum mechanics, Nobel 1954)
1889 Paul Kornfeld writer
1892 Leo Ornstein Kremenchug Russia, composer (Bio in Sonata Form)
1894 Eddie Dowling Woonsocket RI, composer (Anywhere USA)
1896 Georgi K Zjukov Russian minister of Defense (WWII)
1898 Nils J E Ferlin Swedendish poet (Barfotabarn)
1899 Vera von der Heydt psychoanalyst
1904 Joe Coral bookmaker
1905 Eugen Fink German philosopher
1905 Gilbert Roland [Luis Alonso] Juarez México, actor (Juarez, Barbarosa)
1905 Koos van de Griend composer
1906 Birago Diop Senegalees writer/ambassador (Leurres et Lueurs)
1907 Norbert Rosseau composer
1908 Elliott Cook Carter Jr New York NY, composer (Tom & Lily)
1910 Robert Grieve civil servant
1911 Nagib Machfus Egyptian writer (Nobel 1988)
1911 Vincent Henry Kemp poet
1913 Jean Marais Cherbourgh France, actor (Eternal Return, Beauty & the Beast, The Storm Within, Donkey Skin, Orpheus, Stealing Beauty - 1996)
1913 Carlo Ponti Milan Italy, married to Sophia Loren/director (2 Women)
1915 Anna van Beers [Graeve] actress (A Woman like Eve)
1918 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Russia, writer (Cancer Ward, Nobel 1970)
1920 Eddy Firestone San Francisco CA, actor (Eddy-Mixed Doubles)
1922 Grace Paley writer (1970 Arts & Letters Award)
1922 Peter Birch Bronx, choreographer (Jane Froman's USA Canteen)
1923 Betsy Blair actress (Marty)
1924 Marie Windsor [Emily Marie Bertelson] Utah, actress (Double Deal)
1926 Big Mama Thornton blues singer (Ball & Chain, Stronger than Dirt)
1927 Stein Eriksen Norway, giant slalom (Olympics-gold-1952)
1928 Tomas Gutierrez Alea filmmaker
1929 S P "Fergie" Gupte cricketer (brilliant Indian leg-spinner)
1930 Jean-Louis Trintignant France, actor/director (Man & a Woman, Z)
1930 Leonard Friedman violinist
1931 Rita Moreno [Rosa Dolores Alverio] Humacao Puerto Rico, (West Side Story)
1931 Richard Devon Glendale CA, actor (Battle of Blood Island)
1932 Wynn Irwin New York NY, actor (Lotsa Luck, Sugar Time)
1932 Aldár Kovácsi Hungary, pentathlete (Olympics-gold-1952)
1932 Anne Heywood [Violet Pretty] Handsworth England, Miss Great Britain (1949)/actress (Midas Run, I Want What I Want, Good Luck Miss Wyckoff)
1933 Earnest P van Altena author/interpreter (Chansons van Earnest)
1934 Ron Carey Newark NJ, actor (Barney Miller, Montefuscos, High Anxiety)
1934 Salim Durani cricketer (successful Indian batsman of 60's)
1935 Femke Boersma Dutch actress (Verjaring, Pastorale 1943)
1936 Tom Fuccello Newark NJ, actor (Dave-Dallas)
1936 Hans van den Broek Dutch foreign minister (-1992)
1937 Adrian J Vlok South African NP-minister of Law & Order (1986- )
1939 Thomas McGuane US, writer (Cold Feet, Tom Horn, Missouri Breaks)
1939 Tom Hayden 60's activist/Mr Jane Fonda/(Representative-D-CA)
1940 Patrick Tovatt Garrett Ridge CO, actor (Cal-As the World Turns)
1940 David Gates Tulsa OK, musician (Bread-If, Everything I Own)
1941 Max Baucus (Senator-D-MT)
1941 Rogier van Otterloo Dutch composer/conductor
1942 Karen Susman tennis pro (Wimbledon 1962)
1943 Donna Mills Chicago IL, actress (Knots Landing, Incident)
1944 Lynda Day George San Marcos TX, actress (Casey-Mission Impossible)
1944 Booker T Jones US organist (Booker T & MGs-Green Onions) [or Nov 12]
1944 Brenda Lee [Brenda Mae Tarpley] Lithonia GA, singer (I'm Sorry)
1944 David Ashley White composer
1945 Robert Pickett rocker
1946 Teri Garr Lakewood OH, actress (Mr Mom, Young Frankenstein)
1946 Rick McCosker cricketer (fine Australian opener 1975-80)
1947 Tom Fuccello Newark NJ, actor (Dave-Dallas)
1948 Elizabeth Baur Los Angeles CA, actress (Fran-Ironside, Teresa-Lancer)
195- Isabella Hoffmann actress (Kate-Dear John)
1950 Christine Onassis [Andreadis] New York NY, Aristotle's daughter
1951 Robert Cochran Claremont VT, skier (Olympics-1972)
1952 Susan Seidelman director (Desperately Seeking Susan)
1953 Bess Armstrong Baltimore MD, actress (Julia-On Our Own, 4 Seasons, Jaws)
1953 Ken Wahl actor (Wanderers, Wise Guys)
1953 Peter Isacksen Dover NH, actor (CPO Sharkey, Jessie)
1954 Jermaine Jackson Gary IN, singer (Jackson 5-ABC)
1954 Bradley Dub Bryant Amarillo TX, PGA golfer (1995 Walt Disney)
1954 Sylvester Clarke cricketer (West Indian fast bowler & brick-thrower)
1955 Stu Jackson Reading PA, NBA coach (New York Knicks (1989-90)
1958 Nicki Sixx San Jose CA, rock guitarist (Mötley Crüe-Girls Girls Girls)
1958 Regina Marsikova Czechoslovakia, tennis star
1959 Tina Gayle Frankfurt German Federal Republic, Cowboy cheerleader/actress (Kathy-Chips)
1959 David Iwasaki-Smith Warragul Victoria, Australasia golfer
1959 Jean-Louis Lamarre La Prairie Que, golfer (Québec PGA-1982, 85)
1960 Danny Mijovic Belgrade Yugo, Canadian Tour golfer (1984 Mexican)
1960 Mary Beth Zimmerman Mount Vernon IL, LPGA golfer (1987 Henredon Classic)
1961 Mike Henneman St Charles MO, pitcher (Texas Rangers)
1962 Kim Linehan swimmer (1979 1500 meter World record)
1962 Curtis Williams rocker
1962 Ejo Elburg Dutch soccer player (Pax, NEC)
1963 Mark Alalmo actor (Avenging Force)
1963 Claudia Kohde-Kilsch German Federal Republic, tennis star
1963 John Lammers Dutch soccer player (NAC)
1963 Mark Greatbatch cricketer (big-hitting New Zealand opener)
1964 Dave Gagner Chatham, NHL center (Toronto Maple Leafs)
1964 Justin Currie Scottish rock vocalist/bassist (Del Amitri)
1964 Thomas Howard Middletown OH, outfielder (Cincinnati Reds)
1965 Laurie Carr Dallas TX, playmate (December 1986)
1965 Jay Bell Eglin AFB FL, infielder (Pittsburgh Pirates)
1966 Terry Sharpe rocker (The Adventures, Starjets-Starjets)
1967 Davidson Matyczuk Thunder Bay Ontario, golfer (Thunder Bay-1986, 87)
1967 Jackie Gallagher-Smith LPGA golfer
1967 Katy Steding Lake Oswego OR, basketball forward (Olympics-gold-96)
1967 Richard Stemp cricketer (Yorkshire & England A left-arm spinner)
1968 Derek Bell Tampa FL, outfielder (Houston Astros)
1968 Mark Dailey Parma OH, 1.5k runner
1970 Danan Hughes NFL wide receiver (Kansas City Chiefs)
1970 Doug Nussmeier NFL quarterback (New Orleans Saints)
1970 Errict Rhett NFL running back (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
1970 Victoria Fuller Santa Barbara CA, playmate (January 1996)
1971 Cedric Ihalauw soccer player (Roda JC)
1971 Willie McGinest NFL outside linebacker (New England Patriots)
1972 Daniel Alfredsson Grums Sweden, NHL right wing (Ottawa Senators)
1972 Francisco Rodriguez Brooklyn NY, pitcher (Minnesota Twins)
1972 Robert Robinson CFL defensive linebacker (Winnipeg Blue Bombers)
1973 Erin Moorad Chicago IL, pairs skater (& Richard Gillam)
1973 Luke Casserly Australian soccer defender (Olyroos, Olympics-96)
1973 Ralph Intranuovo East York, NHL center (Edmonton Oilers)
1974 Kevin Devine cornerback/kick returner (Jacksonville Jaguars)
1976 Shareef AbdurRahim NBA forward (Vancouver Grizzlies)
1980 Rider Strong San Francisco CA, actor (Shawn Hunter-Boy Meets World)

Deaths which occurred on December 11:
0711 Justitianus II emperor of Byzantium, dies at about 42
1282 Llywelyn ab Gruffydd monarch of North Wales (1246-77), dies
1282 Michael VIII Paleologus, Byzantine emperor (1259-82), dies
1524 Henry Van Zutphen Dutch protestant martyr, burned at stake
1573 Alardus/Eilard de Waterlant duke of Alva, hanged
1582 Fernando Alvarez de Toledo marquis of Soria, dies at about 75
1595 Philip III van Croij prince of Chimay/general, dies at 69
1610 Adam Elsheimer German painter/cartoonist/etcher, buried at 32
1610 Forges Dimitri #2 czar of Russia, murdered
1686 Louis II Condé duke of Bourbon, dies at 65
1718 Charles XII King of Sweden (1697-1718), shot dead
1748 Ewald G von Kleist German lawyer/inventor of condensator, dies at 55
1756 Theodor A Freiherr von Neuhoff German adventurer/king, dies
1817 Max von Schenkendorf German poet, dies at 34
1831 John George Schetky composer, dies at 55
1847 Moritz Grave von Strachwitz German poet, dies at 25
1857 François Henri Joseph Castil-Blaze composer, dies at 73
1891 Johan C J van Schagen Dutch poet/writer (Narrenwijsheid), dies
1899 Andrew "Andy" Wauchope British general-major, dies in battle
1899 Lord Winchester British marquis/major, dies in battle
1902 Matthias Hohner German manufacturer (harmonica), dies at 68
1903 Patrick McShane cricket player/umpire (1884-85 Ashes series), dies
1911 Thomas Ball US sculptor/painter/singer, dies at 92
1918 Ivan Cankar Slavic author (Hlapec Jernej), dies at 42
1930 Friedrich von Bernhardi German war theorist/historian, dies at 81
1933 Emile C Wauters Belgian painter (Van der Goes Klooster), dies at 87
1955 Franz Adolf Syberg composer, dies at 51
1955 Johan C Altorf sculptor (October 3 Monument), dies at 79
1964 Percy Kilbride actor (Ma & Pa Kettle), dies at 76
1964 Sam Cooke US, singer (You Send Me, Sad Moon), slain at a motel at 33
1967 Howard Freeman actor (Double Dynamite), dies after illness in New York NY
1967 Richard Stohr composer, dies at 93
1967 Victor De Sabata composer, dies at 75
1968 Nadine Riga dies of cerebral hemorrhage at 59
1972 John Mills cricketer (7 Tests for New Zealand in early 1930's, 241 runs), dies
1972 Semjon I Kirsanov Ukrainian poet (Zolushka), dies at 66
1974 Reed Hadley actor (Racket Squad, Public Defender), dies at 63
1979 Claire Carleton New York NY, actress (Alice-Cimarron City), dies at 66
1983 Szymon Laks composer, dies at 82
1984 George Waggner director/writer, dies at 90
1986 Paul Keenan actor (Summer Fantasy), dies at 30
1990 Fernand J Collin Belgian economist/banker, dies at 92
1991 Headman Tshabala musician (Ladysmith Black Mambazo), slain at 44
1991 Artur Lundkvist Swedish writer/professor (Swedish Academy), dies
1991 Daniel Simon Scott dies of Alzheimer's disease at 71
1991 Robert Q Lewis US comic/TV panel member (RQL Show), dies at 70
1992 Michael Robbins actor (Lunch Hour, On the Buses), dies at 62
1992 Vilma Banky silent film actress (Eagle, Rebel), dies at about 90
1993 Ales Gartner Slavic ski trainer of Norway, dies at 45
1993 Eliva "Elvire" Popesco Romanian/French actress (Le roi), dies at 99
1994 Stanislaw Maczek Polish/British general-major (WWII), dies at 102
1994 Yao Yilin Vice PM of China (1979), dies
1995 Arthur Mullard comedian, dies at 82
1995 John Heawood actor singer/choreographer (Pleasure Garden), dies at 75
1995 Robert Shelton (Shapiro) journalist, dies at 69
1996 Herbert Sally Frankel economist, dies at 93
1996 Robert Bromston Thesiger Daniell soldier, dies at 95
1996 W G G Duncan-Smith fighter pilot, dies at 82
1996 William George Rushton actor (TW3)/author/cartoonist, dies at 59
1997 Kenneth William Gatland aerospace scientist, dies at 73

On this day...
0384 St Damasus I ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1419 Heretic Nicolaas Serrurier exiled from Florence
1477 Duchess Maria van Bourgondie ends Great Privilegie
1572 Spanish troops begin siege of Haarlem
1618 Russia & Poland signs Peace treaty of Dailino
1620 103 Mayflower pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock
1665 "Messiah" Sjabtai Tswi festival in Smyrna
1688 King James II arrested
1710 Battle of Villa Viciosa (France beat Habsburgers)
1718 Battle at Frederikshall Norway
1719 1st recorded display of Aurora Borealis in US (New England)
1730 Voltaire's "Brutus" premieres in Paris
1792 France's King Louis XVI went on trial, accused of treason
1812 1st newspaper on Curaçao (Curaçao Gazette & Commercial Advertiser)
1816 Citizens of Geneva thwarted Savoyard invaders
1816 Indiana becomes 19th state
1844 1st dental use of nitrous oxide, Hartford CT
1866 1st yacht race across the Atlantic Ocean
1872 1st black US Governor took office, Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback (Louisiana)
1882 Boston's Bijou Theatre, 1st American playhouse lit exclusively by electricity, 1st performance, Gilbert & Sullivan's "Iolanthe"
1882 Victorien Sardous "Fedora", with Sarah Bernhardt, premieres in Paris
1888 French Panama Canal company fails
1893 11 fishing ships wash up at Wadden Sea, 22 killed
1899 2nd defeat of "Black Week" - Battle of Magersfontein - Boer leader Cronjé vs General Methuen
1901 Marconi sends 1st transatlantic radio signal, Cornwall to Newfoundland
1903 British forces under MacDonald & Young march into Tibet
1905 120º F (49º C), Rivadavia, Argentina (South American record)
1905 British government of Campbell-Bannerman forms
1906 US President Roosevelt attacks abuses in the Congo
1908 Frederick Delius' "In a Summer Garden" premieres
1909 Colored moving pictures demonstrated at Madison Square Garden, New York NY
1909 Canadian Football exhibition game played in Van Cortlandt Park in Bronx, Hamilton Tigers beat Ottawa Rough Riders, 11-6 before 15,000
1914 Stockton Street Tunnel (San Francisco) completed
1916 David Lloyd George forms British war government
1917 13 black soldiers hanged for alleged participation in Houston riot
1917 German-occupied Lithuania proclaims independence from Russia
1919 Boll weevil monument dedicated in Enterprise AL
1925 Pope Pius XI publishes encyclical Quas Primas
1926 Josephine Baker performs in Amsterdam
1926 Queensland win their 1st Sheffield Shield cricket match, vs New South Wales
1928 Buenos Aires police thwart an attempt on President-elect Herbert Hoover
1928 National League President John Heydler proposes designated hitter for pitchers
1930 Bank of the United States opens in New York NY
1931 British Statute of Westminster gives complete legislative independence to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, Newfoundland
1931 Japan leaves the Golden Standard
1932 San Francisco's coldest day (27ºF) - snow falls
1934 1st Toronto Maple Leaf penalty shot, Conacher unsuccessful vs Rangers
1934 Ford C Frick becomes president of baseball's National League
1934 1935 All-Star Game is assigned to Cleveland
1934 National League votes to permit night baseball (up to 7 games per home team)
1936 King Edward VIII abdicates throne to marry Mrs Wallis Simpson; Duke of York becomes King George VI
1937 Italy withdraws from League of Nations
1937 25th CFL Grey Cup: Toronto Argonauts defeats Winnipeg Blue Bombers, 30-7
1938 New York Giants win NFL championship
1939 New anti Jewish measurements in Poland, proclaimed
1940 Russian General Zhukov warns of German assault
1941 Germany & Italy declare war on US
1941 Japanese occupy Guam
1941 Dutch government in London declares war on Italy
1941 Giants acquire Johnny Mize from Cardinals for 3 players & $50,000
1941 Japanese attack Wake Island (only failed WWII-landing)
1942 Australian/Dutch guerrilla troops evacuated to Timor near Australia
1944 Surprise attack on House of Keeping Axe, 29 prisoners freed
1945 Het Parool publishes 1st Captain Rob-strip
1946 UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) established (Nobel 1965)
1946 Hank Williams begins to record on Sterling label
1946 Spain suspended from UN
1947 Pacific Coast League application for major league status rejected
1947 Bob Hilliard/Carl Sigman's musical "Angel in the Wings" premieres at Coronet Theater NYC for 308 performances
1948 WHEN (now WTVH) TV channel 5 in Syracuse NY (CBS) begins broadcasting
1948 WMC TV channel 5 in Memphis TN (NBC) begins broadcasting
1949 Chicago Bear Johnny Lujack passes for 6 touchdowns vs Chicago Cardinals (52-29)
1949 Cleveland Browns beat San Francisco '49ers 21-7 in final AAFC championship game
1949 WOAI (now KMOL) TV channel 4 in San Antonio TX (NBC) 1st broadcast
1950 Baseball owners vote 9-7 not to renew Commissioner Chandler's contract
1950 Hindemiths Concerto for clarinet, premieres
1951 Joe Dimaggio announces his baseball retirement
1953 KTVA TV channel 11 in Anchorage (CBS) becomes Alaska's 1st TV station
1954 USS Forrestal christened in Newport News VA
1954 Phillies purchase Connie Mack Stadium
1956 Anti-Russian demonstrates in Stettin & Wroclaw Poland
1957 Jerry Lee Lewis weds Myra
1958 Upper Volta (now Bourkina Fasso) gains autonomy from France
1958 4th (last) Dutch government of Drees falls
1958 Archibald MacLeish's "JB" premieres in New York NY
1959 Yankees trade Marv Thronberry, Don Larsen, Hank Bauer & Norm Seibern for Roger Maris, Kent Hadley & Joe Deaestri
1960 Black Sunday - Riot in Algiers, 114 die
1960 Cleveland's Bernie Parrish sets club record for longest interception return with a 92 yard run
1960 Coleman/Leigh's musical "Wildcat" with Lucille Ball premieres in New York NY
1961 Adolf Eichmann is found guilty of war crimes, in Israel
1961 Elvis Presley's "Blue Hawaii" album goes to #1 & stays #1 for 20 weeks
1961 JFK provides US military helicopters & crews to South Vietnam
1961 "Please, Mr. Postman" by Marvelettes, released
1965 "Anya" closes at Ziegfeld Theater NYC after 16 performances
1965 "Yearling" closes at Alvin Theater NYC after 3 performances
1966 Al Nelson sets NFL record returning missed field goal, 100 yards
1967 Beatles' Apple Music signs its 1st group-Grapefruit
1967 SST prototype "Concorde" 1st shown (France)
1967 6.5 earthquake in West India, 170 killed
1967 People's front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) established
1968 US Soccer Football Association refuses to let NASL disband
1968 KECC (now KECY) TV channel 9 in El Centro CA (CBS) 1st broadcast
1969 Libya adopts constitution
1970 Start of the 1st Test match at the WACA, vs England
1970 Test Cricket debut of Gregory Stephen Chappell
1972 Astronauts Cernan & Harrison become 11th & 12th on the Moon
1972 Jet's Don Maynard becomes all time pro reception leader (632)
1973 Houston Astro Caesar Cedino jailed in death of 19 year old woman
1973 NA Soccer League awards Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle & Vancouver franchises
1973 Ron Santo becomes 1st to invoke no-trade clause of 10-year-1-club vet
1973 West German chancellor Willy Brandt normalizes trade with Czechoslovakia
1975 1st class postage rises from 10¢ to 13¢
1975 Great Yankee trade getting Willie Randolph, Dock Ellis & Ken Brett from Pirates for George "Doc" Medich
1977 Billboard Awards
1978 6 masked men bound 10 employees at Lufthansa cargo area at New York Kennedy Airport & made off with $5.8 million in cash & jewelry
1979 Geoff Boycott scores cricket century in a limited-over international
1979 Great Britain grants independence to Zimbabwe (Rhodesia)
1980 Dirk Wellham scores 100 on 1st-class debut, New South Wales vs Victoria
1981 Muhammad Ali's 61st & last fight, losing to Trevor Berbick
1981 Spacelab I arrives at Kennedy Space Center
1981 UN Security Council chose Javier Perez de Cuellar of Peru as 5th Secretary-General
1981 Washington Capitals biggest margin of victory (9) beating Toronto 11-2
1981 Argentine President/General Roberto Viola flees
1983 1st visit to Lutheran church by a pope (John Paul II in Rome)
1983 72nd Australian Men's Tennis: Mats Wilander beats Ivan Lendl (61 64 64)
1983 Jan Stephens/Fred Couples win LPGA J C Penney Golf Classic
1984 "Doug Henning & His World..." opens at Lunt-Fontanne NYC for 60 performances
1984 Mauretania military coup under Colonel Maawiya Ould Sid'ahmed Taya
1985 Edmonton Oilers (36) & Chicago Black Hawks (26) score NHL record 62 points
1985 General Electric acquires RCA Corp & its subsidiary, NBC
1985 NHL Record 62 points scored, Edmonton (36) beats Chicago (17) 12-9 & ties record of 21 goals
1985 Computer store owner in Sacramento CA killed by package bomb
1985 Dow Jones closes above 1,500 for 1st time (1,511.70)
1986 A Bartlett Giamatti becomes president of baseball's National League
1986 South Africa censors press
1987 Test debut of Carl Hooper, West Indies vs India at Bombay
1989 Mark Davis signs record $3.25 million per year Kansas City Royals contract
1989 "City of Angels" opens at Virginia Theater NYC for 878 performances
1990 13 die in 83 vehicle accident in Chattanooga TN (I-75), due to fog
1990 US 69th manned space mission STS 35 (Columbia 11) returns from space
1991 William Kennedy Smith found not guilty of rape
1992 Nor'easter storm hits New York, doing $650 million+ worth of damage
1992 WNEW AM radio on 1130 in NYC ends transmitting after 58 years
1993 59th Heisman Trophy Award: Charlie Ward, Florida State (QB)
1993 Eduardo Frei elected President of Chile
1994 Kelly Robbins & Tammie Green win LPGA Diner's Club Golf Matches
1994 Russian troops pull inside Tsjetsjenië
1995 Thomas O Hicks buys NHL Dallas Stars for $84 million
1997 "Sunshine Boys" opens at Lyceum Theater NYC
1997 Federal judge orders Microsoft not to bundle IE4 in Windows

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

Geneva Switzerland : Scaling Day/Escalade (1602, 1816)
Indiana : Admission Day (1816)
Upper Volta : Republic Day (1958)

Religious Observances
Roman Catholic : Memorial of St Damascus I, pope (366-384) (optional)
Lutheran : Commemoration of Lars Skrefsrud, missionary to India

Religious History
1518 Swiss Reformer Ulrich Zwingli, 34, was elected People's Preacher at the Old Minster Church in Zurich, where he continued as pastor for the remaining 13 years of his life.
1640 English Puritans introduced the "Root and Branch" petition to the Long Parliament in London. It demanded the English episcopacy, "with all its dependencies, roots and branches, be abolished." (The imagery comes from Malachi 4:1.)
1792 Birth of Joseph Mohr, the Austrian Roman Catholic vicar who, along with the Oberndorf Church organist Franz Gruber, on Christmas Eve of 1818, authored the enduring Christmas hymn, "Stille Nacht" ("Silent Night").
1962 American missionary and apologist Francis Schaeffer wrote in a letter: 'Our trusting the Lord does not mean that there are not times of tears. I think it is a mistake as Christians to act as though trusting the Lord and tears are not compatible.'
1975 The Central American Mission changed its name to CAM Intentional, after expanding its missionary efforts into Latin America. (This evangelical mission group was founded in 1890 by C.I. Scofield, editor of the Scofield Bible.)

Thought for the day :
" When in doubt, make it sound convincing. "

Oh, this is wonderful. BUMP!

The Tuskegee Airmen

Clinton bombed innocent people in countries around the world to avert attention from political problems. He eliminated the military budget which in turn delayed progress in weapons development. Soldiers vacated their positions for many reasons leaving America in a laughable comparison to where we were prior to 1992.

How do today's veterans compare America's military focus to that of 40 years ago?
How has it changed over the last year?
How many of our previous administration's mistakes are/were recognized by the general public?
How do you feel about the manner in which the Leftists are defending Iraq's rights and how do you think the nation is reacting?
How did the nation, media, congress react 40 years ago?

Great thread. Reminds me of the story told by one 8th AF pilot who didn't like the P47 at first, having flown other planes, inlcuding the Mustang. That all changed one day when a 20mm shell hit right into his cowling - lodging there - killing 2 cylinders but the darn engine kept on flying. He made it back to his base in France. From that day forward the "Jug" was his only plane.

My father was the youngest of four brothers: Charlie (22), Melvin (20), Wendell (18) and Richard (15) on Pearl Harbor Day. The three oldest ones drove straight to the recruiting station and signed up. That was before the five Sullivan brothers died on the USS Juneau, so the policy was, if a family signs up together, it serves together.

All three became B-24 pilots. A B-24 was a lot like a B-17: ten-man crew, four engines, bristling with machine guns. We built almost three times as many B-24s. They had less armor but they flew farther.

Wendell was hit by an 88mm shell fragment in the left shoulder and it severed a nerve, much like Bob Dole's wound in Italy at the end of the war. His left arm was nearly useless but unlike Dole, Wendell wore it in a sling rather than letting it hang. He came home, sat on the front porch and told war stories. If it were a cartoon, there would have been smoke coming out of Dad's ears. He was still too young.

Later on, due to manpower shortages and Wendell's proven talents in this area, he was called back into service as an Operations Officer. When they were planning a raid, they would call all the pilots, co-pilots, navigators and bombardiers into an auditorium. The front wall was one huge aerial photograph of the target area.

Wendell had a pointer in his right hand and said, "This building here is the 16th century cathedral. Don't you dare break one stained glass window. These buildings over here are a school and an apartment complex full of women and children. This building complex in between here is the factory where they assemble the engines for the Focke Wulf fighter planes that shot your buddies down yesterday. Drop all of your bombs right there."

Charlie and Melvin kept flying, mission after mission. Charlie had all the good luck. God was looking out for him. His plane missed one mission because a shell fragment hit one of the engines. His bombardier missed another mission because the docs had to dig a tiny shell fragment out of his big toe, so Charlie flew with a replacement bombardier on that mission.

Melvin made up for it. He had all the bad luck. Time after time, his B-24 came limping home with one engine dead, another engine sputtering, and three or four dead men on board. Ground crewmen swarmed all over it. They patched it up, hosed out the blood, gave him replacement crewmen and sent him back out on the next run. Gradually, it wore on his nerves.

Then one day in January 1944, he just didn't come back. By that time Charlie was the squadron commander and he wrote Grandma a letter. Out of ten men, there were four parachutes. That was all they knew. As you're aware, the Nazis were too barbaric to pass along the names of POWs.

The truth was that there were five parachutes, sort of. Four men got out in a tight group. Then, several seconds later a fifth man came out of the wrecked plane. He was on fire and his chute was partially open. He plunged past the other four screaming. In his letter, Charlie didn't want to tell Grandma about that part. The word was that the pilot was always the last to jump.

When the four survivors landed, one of them snapped his ankle. There was snow on the ground and more falling. They were quickly rounded up by the Volksturm, a sort of National Guard. Fifty-year-old men with World War I rifles and uniforms. The Volksturm shared some sausage, bread and wine with them. It would be their last decent meal for a long, long time.

Along came an SS patrol. The man with the broken ankle was instantly bayonetted, because the SS Gruppenfuehrer didn't want to be slowed down. One of the other three spoke a little German and had the nerve to protest.

Then the Gruppenfuehrer told them to drop their pants. One of the three men had been circumcised. The Gruppenfuehrer looked at his dogtags, which said, "Goldstein." Another bayonet. Again the American who spoke a bit of German had the nerve to protest. This time, half of his teeth were knocked out with a rifle butt.

Then the two survivors were marched to a POW camp, which was loaded with Russian POWs. The Russians had formed into several gangs, much like the gangs that run our prisons today. The two American aviators were supposed to be sent to a Luftstalag, but that never happened. The Russians kept stealing their food.

The two Americans came up with a strategy. The little one (Murphy from Brooklyn) was the tail gunner. He would steal a guard's cap and go running around the courtyard laughing. The guards would stampede out of their barracks to chase him down. Then the big, quiet American would slip in the back door of the empty guards' barracks and steal every scrap of food he could find. Murphy would spend 24 hours in solitary, but when he got out, he had food waiting for him.

Finally, the big guy came down with typhoid fever like the Russians. He could barely move. There was no medicine and Murphy decided he had to make something happen. He went in the back door of the guards' barracks. The guards were sitting there in their underwear, cleaning their rifles and polishing their boots. He grabbed a medical kit which had a bottle of Bayer aspirin and a bottle of antibiotics. Then he grabbed the only food in sight: a big bag of onions.

Murphy ran out the back door and the guards chased after him in their underwear. He ran into the prisoners' barracks and dropped everything on the big guy's bunk. He raced out the back door and was instantly shot in the back of the head.

The Russians started to gather around the big guy's bunk and he pulled out a hidden knife that he had made out of a spoon. With the last scrap of his strength, he sat up in his bed and snarled at them in German: "The first man close enough gets his throat cut! Which one of you is brave enough to die, so that his friends can eat an onion?" The Russians backed off.

Two weeks later, American GIs liberated the POW camp. Uncle Melvin was calmly eating the last of his onions. He was surrounded by Russians who had died in their bunks of typhoid fever. He was liberated in March 1945. The war ended in Europe in May, and in the Pacific in September. But he didn't come home until Thanksgiving, because he insisted on being able to walk up the front steps by himself. He was 6'5" and when he signed up, he weighed 250 pounds. When he was liberated, they weighed him in at 113.

From the article,

The Eighth's fighter pilots forced Luftwaffe commanders to transfer desperately needed day fighter units from the Eastern and Mediterranean fronts. This had a detrimental effect, especially on the Eastern Front, where Luftwaffe fighter pilots were out numbered two to one at the Battle of Kursk in early July 1943. History records the engagement at Kursk as the largest tank battle of the Second World War, but fails to mention it marked the decline of the Luftwaffe fighter strength on the Eastern Front. Eighth fighter pilots were not deterred by the increased strength of Luftwaffe day figher units in Germany and the Western Front in 1943. In stead, they threw themselves at the enemy, and not only won air superiority, but achieved air supremacy.

This conforms to the theory of "Keeping Pressure on Schwab" from the great movie, "O.C. & Stiggs," a National Lampoon creation.

Everything we do in life in some small way changes the world. Cumulatively, these changes add up to massive interaction, conflict, and change. This is why regulated economies don't work, for when behavior is channeled into similar patterns there is less pressure on contradictory paths, and thus less creativity. In Stiggs’ terminology, less pressure on Schwab. Schwab no longer has to worry about someone stealing his lobsters or skinny dipping in his pool. He can focus better on running his insurance company which can thereby get away with canceling the policy on O.C.’s grandfather, and O.C. will then have to move to Arkansas and live with an uncle who has twelve cars in the front yard. By keeping pressure on Schwab, Schwab is less able to operate as he wants. When the world is predictable our behavior becomes less dynamic. Regularity limits action and negates counteraction and diversion. Stagnation results, and Schwab gets away with it.

The War on Terrorism is case in point. We are attacking from every angle, warfare, diplomacy, surveillance, finance... we're going at them from above, below, and behind their backs. Previously, the pressure on the terrorists was channeled. Now it is unleashed.

When Grant took over as Major General in the Civil War, he was able to fully employ Gen. Scott's "Anaconda" strategy, the stranglehold on the South. This was keeping pressure on Schwab on a massive scale, from every possible direction, in every possible place. Grant was the first Northern general to pull it off with the armies (Lincoln’s Navy did a fine job on their end). Grant was magnificent at keeping pressure on Schwab. Vicksburg is a great example: he waged not a battle, he waged a campaign. A battle is retail. A campaign is wholesale. To get to Vicksburg, Grant tried nine different ways, and he failed in them all. The tenth worked. It only worked because of the other nine failures. Another example is the infamous "Crater" attack at Petersburg, the underground bomb that was to blow a hole through the Confederate lines. Unto itself, it was a fiasco. As part of the general campaign it kept the pressure on the enemy -- they could never know what to expect from the maniacs across the lines.

Keeping Pressure on Schwab is applied chaos. The European theater WWII air war, wonderfully described in this article, was exactly that. Every allied raid, whether successful or not, meant a slight, even the slightest, German weakening somewhere else. Commutatively, and over several years, it broke the Germans. We waged a total war, Grant's innovation.

Other cultures tend to seek massive, concentrated organization. They prefer to focus their energy rather than disperse it. We'll have to go back to Alexis de Tocqueville for this, but suffice it to say this is because those cultures do not empower the individual. They do not believe in the individual. American culture seeks the individual. It upholds him. That's why the fighter pilots compelled the factories to change the gun sights, as described. While the engineers wanted manufacturing and design uniformity, the pilots wanted to live. Their interest prevailed. It probably would not have prevailed in other cultures that do not perceive the individual.

Keeping Pressure on Schwab means unleashing everything at one's disposal. It means experiment and failure. It has no limits. It brings innovation. It brings failure. By doing so, it brings success. It is only possible with a democracy.

Thanks, Sam, for this article. I really enjoyed it.

My beloved Uncle was a navigator on a B-24 in WWII. He is gone now, but I read all the letters he wrote to my Grandma. Of course he couldn't tell the family what he was doing, but I could tell from his letters that he was very home sick and that he was scared. Dad told me later what he did during the war and that he flew missions over Germany. I am sure he appreciated these 'little friends'.

"NO ...WEAPON IN THE ARSENALS OF THE WORLD IS SO FORMIDABLE AS THE WILL AND MORAL COURAGE OF FREE MEN AND WOMEN"

Ronald Reagan

(thanks for the ping)

Bump for Little shark friends....the P-40's

The Curtis P-40 is famed for her action in the Pacific with the Japanese and with the allies in North Africa.
Assessed as to slow....she became Americas main export fighter to the allies...P-40's were still being built in 1945.
To the Brits and Aussies she was the Tomahawk...Kittyhawk and Warhawk....to Rommel and the Germans....she was a real nuisance.
Slower than her German and Japanese counterparts...a P-40 could be very leathal when handled by a skilled pilot.
By 1944 Curtis allowed some P-40's to be tweaked...knowing the aircraft was limited in comparison to the P-47 and P-51...they experimented with things...eventually a P-40 rolled out with some mods and a 4 blade prop and did a smart 422 MPH...climbing to test altitude quite rapidly.

The dangerous skies over Europe