Free Republic

While off the Japanese island of Chichijima on this day in history on Sept. 2, 1944, then-future President George H.W. Bush was the only survivor after his aircraft was shot down by enemy fire, according to the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana. At the time, Lt. Junior Grade George Bush was a pilot with Torpedo Squadron Fifty-One (VT-51) aboard the aircraft carrier USS San Jacinto (CVL-30), a light carrier that was deployed in the North Pacific, according to U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command. Bush’s squadron was conducting a bombing mission when it encountered heavy anti-aircraft fire, according...

Unit reporting: VT-51, USS San Jacinto Takeoff Time: 0715, Time Over Target: 0825 - 0830 Aircraft: TBM-1C carrying 4 - 500# General Purpose Bombs Aircraft Lost: TBM-1C, Engine Hit by Heavy and Medium A/A Personnel Casualties: Lt. W.G. White, USNR; J.L. Delaney ARM 2/o, USNR, both MIA, presumed dead The pilot Lt. G.H.W. Bush parachuted to water and was picked up by rescue submarine. Lt. Bush was piloting the third plane over the target. Bush's plane was hit in the engine shortly after final push over at 8,000 ft. In spite of this hit which caused his engine to smoke...

"Flyboys" is the latest example of how easy it is to be ambushed by mainstream popular culture. This book may have hit best-seller lists, but its popularity is no guarantee of the benign. Think of all the budding book lovers who raced out to read "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," only to be regaled with a gruesome showdown at the end of the story. Think of the audiences who briefly made the hyper-gory "Kill Bill: Vol. 1" the nation's hottest movie, only to discover that it had all the wit of a falling brick. And now look...