Deutsche Luft Hansa (DLH), the predecessor of Lufthansa, was formed.
It ceased operations in April, 1945, but it's personnel later reformed the company as Lufthansa in 1955.
Last edition:
Showing posts with label Aircraft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aircraft. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 6, 2026
Tuesday, December 23, 2025
The ghosts of Billy Mitchell and António de Oliveira Salazar visit Donald Trump.
Donald Trump, graduate of the Wharton School of Business, has no grasp of mathematics or history. He's become the poster boy for questioning the intellectual value of an Ivy League education.
And very clearly, one of the things he doesn't understand is shipbuilding and naval warfare.
Fantasy class warship, probably in the cruiser class, maybe, which the Trump administration plans on building as part of a "Gold Fleet", some naval marketing genius' terms for a vanity suck up project that will never get built, but which appeals to Trump's edge of death vanity. The artwork heavily resembles a Revell model box for one of their cheaper modells from the 1970s.
2025 is the 100th anniversary of the court marital of Billy Mitchell. Mitchell, a World War One aviator, accused the Navy Department and the War Department (which was more or less the Army Department) of “incompetency, criminal negligence and almost treasonable administration of the National Defense.” He had more than one point, but his big point was that the biggest ship could be sunk by aircraft. The battleship Navy was horrified.
The British attack on the Italian port of Taranto in 1940 proved Mitchell quite right. Pearl Harbor proved him right beyond a shadow of a doubt. Mitchell was convicted in his court martial and went on to retirement the following year, but by 1941 he had been proven so right that he was lauded as a hero and the U.S. Army Air Corps named a bomber after him, the B-25 Mitchell.
Mitchell is still right, there's only one thing that's really changed. Aircraft have evolved.
They've evolved from mannered bombers and fighters to a new class of aircraft, the unmanned drone. This event has been anticipated since late World War Two, and by the 1950s the British already assumed that the day of unmanned aircraft was about to arrive. The predictions on the speed of the evolution of such craft were wildly off, but the Russo Ukrainian War proves the day is now here, and not just in the air, but on the sea. The Ukrainians have sunk or damaged about 24 Russian ships through the use of drones during the war and pretty much rendered Russia's Black Sea Fleet a nullity.
For decades now military theorist have wondered if the pride of the US Navy, the supercarrier, is actually obsolete. The speculation began as early as the 1970s when really good long range air to surface and surface to surface anti shipping missiles appeared on the scene. The viability of such missiles was proven during the Falklands War when Exocet missiles in Argentine hands sank the HMS Sheffield and the cargo ship Atlantic Conveyor and severely damaged the HMS Glamorgan. The Exocet went into production in 1975, and while still around, it's undoubtedly the case that it's improved over the last 50 years and there are other missiles around that are just as good or better. The U.S. Navy started worrying about such missiles just as soon as they were produced, but the Navy's large supercarriers have never had to encounter them.
That is, in part, because we have not fought a peer to peer conflict since World War Two. In spite of that, it's worth noting that the U.S. military has not exactly shown itself invincible in wars less than that. The North Koreans and Chinese, the former of which only had an army from around 1946 or so, and the latter of which had just come out of a largescale civil war and which chose to deploy, to no small degree, troops who were conscripted out of the losing side of that war, fought us and our UN allies to a standstill in Korea. Starting about a decade later we fought and ultimately were defeated by an Army that was quite primitive in comparison to our own, although a lot of that defeat was a morale issue. Since that time we've fought and beat Iraq twice, but we were never able to prevail in Afghanistan, in no small part due to a major strategic miscalculation by Donald Rumsfeld, and our current Oval Office occupant ended up surrendering to the Taliban.
Now, of course, there's been very little naval action in anything that I've mentioned, but that shouldn't really give us any comfort. What naval action that has occured since 1945 shows that long distance anti ship warfare had improved remarkably since 1945. The Argentines, not wanting to be exposed to it, didn't evey deploy an aircraft carrier it had during the Falklands War.
Now, of course, people are pointing out that the awkwardly named Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has the most combat ships in the world, although its not regarded as the most powerful. That would be the U.S. Navy. The U.S. Navy, with its supercarriers, holds that title, and it should. But it can't be ignored that Ukraine has proven that sinking ships is now pretty possible with air and sea drones.
That's where the future of naval warfare is, not with vanity "battleships".
Indeed, that was proven in 1941.
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The Navy knows that, but senior military officers right now know that if they want to keep their jobs they have to feed the demented monkey in Trump's brain. And that brain isn't pegging out on the smarts meter by any means. Statements by Donald Trump show him to be in the full grasp of dementia and raise questions on whether he was every very sharp.
He's also incredibly vain.
And more than a little scared.
Being vain and scared, he's quite easy to manipulate. Given the chance to name something after himself, and believe that it will be around after his body is rotting in its grave, which will be quite soon, he'll take the bait. And hence the Trump Class of "battleship".
It'll never happen.
It takes at least two year to design a warship, and often multiples of that. And then it takes another two to five years to build it. Trump no doubt plans on being living at age 90, but he won't be, and his demented brain will be reduced to complete mush should he live that long. The Navy knows that, but the Navy likes to have money and ship projects bring in money. Every since World War Two the U.S. military has engaged in acquisitions of things it didn't need for one reason or another, and the Army has proven that even a simple project like designing an assault rifle can take so long that a person who entered the overall task early in his career can retire before its done.
And hence António de Oliveira Salazar.
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Salazar was the Portuguese dictator who came into power in 1932 and who fell into ill health and suffered a stroke in 1968. The Portuguese government replaced him and he died 1970. But they never told him. He was simply given glowing reports on how well everything was going and assured he was still running the show.
I'm pretty convinced that's more or less what's going on with Trump right now.
The Navy is simply going to slow roll this project. Glowing reports are going to be given to the Demented Dear Leader. The entire project will go swimmingly. Meanwhile, others will report the same on the White House Ballroom. Neither will ever be built.
Indeed, already the palace intrigue is on. J.D. Vance is gathering allies. Mike Pence is scooping up Heritage Foundation defectors. Congressmen and Senators who are too tainted with the stench of MAGA, or who don't want to be there when Trump falls and takes MAGA out with it, are abandoning their offices to go on to new pursuits, readying themselves to reemerge cleansed from the inevitable bunker scenes that are already beginning to happen.
Thursday, December 11, 2025
Tuesday, December 11, 1945. Steel Workers announce strike.
The United Steelworkers voted to go on strike on January 14. They were seeking an additional $2.00/day.
A B-29 set a new coast to coast speed record, flying from Burbank, California to Brooklyn, New York in 5 hours, 27 minutes and 6 seconds.
Last edition:
Friday, December 7, 1945. Command Responsibility.
Labels: 1940s, 1945, Commentary, Displaced Persons, Ethnicities, Germany, Imperial Japanese Army, It was because of World War Two, law, United States, War Crimes
Saturday, December 6, 2025
Friday, December 5, 2025
Wednesday, December 5, 1945. Flight 19.
The legendary aviation mystery of Flight 19 occurred when five Grumman TBFs disappeared in a training flight between Florida and Bermuda, together with a PBM Mariner that was sent to look for the missing aircraft.
The PBM is believed to have exploded.
No doubt because none of the aircraft have ever been found, the mystery remains an enduring and popular one, and it is part of the Bermuda Triangle set of myths.
The French government nationalized five banks.
Last edition:
Monday, December 3, 1945. A Walk In The Sun.
Wednesday, December 3, 2025
Monday, December 3, 1945. A Walk In The Sun.
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A Walk In The Sun was released. I'm personally not a great fan of the movie, but many regard it as one of the greatest World War Two, and indeed war, films ever.
3 December 1945
3 December 1945: The first landing and takeoff aboard an aircraft carrier by a jet-powered aircraft were made by Lieutenant-Commander Eric Melrose Brown, M.B.E., D.S.C., R.N.V.R., Chief Naval Test Pilot at RAE Farnborough, while flying a de Havilland DH.100 Sea Vampire Mk.10, LZ551/G. The ship was the Royal Navy Colossus-class light aircraft carrier, HMS Ocean (R68), under the command of Captain Casper John, R.N.
The Arab League voted to boycott all goods from Jewish Palestine.
The U.S. Supreme Court decided International Shoe Co. v. Washington holding that held that a party may be subject to the jurisdiction of a state court if it has "minimum contacts" with that state.
This ad appeared in Sheridan's newspaper:
Last edition:
Friday, November 30, 1945. Executing Germans for ordering the killing of civilian sailors and for directly killing downed airmen.
Saturday, November 22, 2025
The Golden Age of Travel Starts with You
The Secretary of Transportation has taken a lot of flak for this, and I'm not fan of the Trump Administration, but you know, I don't think the message here is wrong by any means.
And, fwiw, I hate seeing people in pajamas in public, whether its on an airplane, or Walmart.
Sunday, October 26, 2025
Monday, October 26, 1925. Doolittle wins the Schneider Trophy.
The Schneider Cup seaplane race was held in the US for the first time Lt. Jimmy Doolittle won, flying a Curtiss R3C.
This uniformed gentleman posted for a photograph.
Last edition:
Saturday, October 24, 1925.
Thursday, October 2, 2025
Tuesday, October 2, 1945. Patton relieved.
Gen. Eisenhower was relieved of command of the Third Army and put in head of a military history detail due to his remarks about denazification.
United States Marshal Fred A. Canfil sent a gift to his friend Harry S. Truman of a painted glass sign mounted on a walnut base with the phrase "The Buck Stops Here".
Admiral William Sample, age 47, was on a flight which disappeared near Wakayama, Japan.
Korea was removed from Japan's political and administrative control..
Last edition
Monday, October 1, 1945. The OSS disbanded.
Friday, September 26, 2025
Saturday, September 26, 1925. No divorce.
It was a Saturday.
A real glimpse into how things have changed was provided by the denial of divorce story on the cover of the Tribune.
Both sides asked for a divorce, but the judge said no.
No fault divorce, as we've noted here before, did not exist at the time.
It shouldn't exist now.
The Saturday journals were out. Women seemed to be the theme.
Marty Robbins (Martin Robinson) was born in Arizona. He learned how to play the guitar while serving in the Navy during World War Two.
Alejandro Velasco Astete, the first aviator to fly over the Andes, died in a plane crash while landing. He was attempting to avoid a crowd of spectators that had gathered to watch him land at Puno, Peru. He was 28.
Spanish Olympic fencer Miguel Zabalza was killed in action in the Rif War. He was 29 years old.
Last edition:
Sunday, August 31, 2025
Monday, August 31, 1925. Bombing Ajdir.
French and Spanish ships and planes bombarded Ajdir, the Moroccan town on the Mediterranean that served as the capital of the Rif Republic.
Peruvian aviator Alejandro Velasco Astete became the first person to fly over the Andes.
The Navy was attempting to break a speed record.
Last edition:
Thursday, August 27, 1925. The Hat Revolution.
Tuesday, August 19, 2025
Wednesday, August 19, 1945. Bataan I and Bataan 2.
Japanese officials arrived in Manila to conclude the surrender there. They flew in two Mitsubishi G6M1- with green crosses rather than Japanese roundels.
Bataan 1 and Bataan 2 on Ie Shima., where they stopped for refueling.
The planes were assigned the flight names Bataan 1 and Bataan 2.
The Red Army kept on with its war against Japan, landing at Maoka on South Sakhalin.
Chiang Kai-shek forbid Japanese forces from surrendering to the Red Chinese forces and demanded of the Communists that they not advance.
The Chinese Communist prevailed at Yongjiazhen. 1300 Warlord/Nationalist and twentyone Japanese troops were killed on the Nationalist side.. Ninety-eight Nationalist troops and twenty-one Japanese troops were captured.
The Red Army took Tsitsihar in the Manchurian Plain and linked up with Chinese Communist forces in the region.
Last edition:
Saturday, August 18, 1945. The last American KIA of World War Two. Anthony J. Marchione.
Thursday, August 7, 2025
Tuesday, August 7, 1945. Fallout.
The news of the Atomic Bomb, including that it was just that, was now in the headlines.
Radio Tokyo reported the attack on Hiroshima, but without specificity.
Late in the day Japan's central commend stated that a new type of bomb was used, presuming that more than one was dropped.
U.S. radio read Truman's August 6 statement about the use of the atomic bomb. This caused the Japanese government to meet and confer.
The Air Force carried out raids on Yahata, Tokyo and Kukuyama.
The Nakajima Kikka, the Japanese ME262 inspired jet fighter, made its first flight.
Staff officers of the U.S. 1st Army met on Luzon to plan the invasion of Japan.
Tito refused to let King Peter II back into Yugoslavia.
The British revealed the existence of the wartime development Radar.
Last edition:
Monday, August 6, 1945. The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima.
Thursday, July 24, 2025
Tuesday, July 24, 1945. An unsurprised Stalin.
Truman told Stalin that the US had a new and very powerful weapon that was going to be deployed against Japan, but did not provide the specifics.
Stalin, thanks to deep penetration of the US government by Soviet intelligence, already knew about the Manhattan Project and what it was about, so this was not that much of a surprise. Stalin had actually known about the Manhattan Project three years prior to Truman knowing about it.
The Navy began to bombard Kure, Japan.
Japanese freighter hit from carrier-based aircraft near Tsugaru-Kaikyo, east of Hokkaido, Japan.
North American P-51C-11-NT of the 311th FG, 14th AF, escorting C-47s over China on July 24, 1945.
Last edition:
Monday, July 7, 2025
Saturday, July 7, 1945. Japanese killings.
The Japanese carried out the Kalagong massacre, killing villagers in the area after they failed to provide any information about guerrillas in the area.
Peter to Rot.
The Japanese also murdered Peter To Rot, a Catholic from New Guinea, in a bizarre incidence demonstrating the severe Japanese anti Western view and, frankly, the Japanese debasement of the period, which not only reflected itself in murder, but in a chattel slavery view of women and sex. He was executed for defending a woman whom another planned to kidnap and force into a plural marriage, with the Japanese supporting plural marriages in New Guinea (they were not legal in Japan). He was arrested and then later murdered on this day. He will be canonized this October.
Japanese rocket propelled fighter the Mitsubishi J8M made its first flight under it's own power. The test flight was not really a success as the engine stalled. The pilot, Lieutenant Commander Toyohiko Inuzuka, was able to glide the power into a landing, but the plane hit a building. He died the following day.
The plane was intended as a licensed copy of the ME 163. Only seven were built.
"First American Red Cross workers to leave Europe for duty in the Pacific are these girls shown waiting to board their transport: L-R: Brownie Thain, Waukomis, Okla.; Jean Fiegel, 7021 Hollywood Bvd., Hollywood, Cal., and Mildred Blandford, 1735 Chichester St., Louisville, Kentucky. Marseille, France. 7 July, 1945. Photographer: Cpl. Becker."
Heloísa Pinheiro (Helô Pinheiro), who inspired The Girl from Ipanema, was born.
Last edition:
Friday, July 6, 1945. Norway declares war, a parade in Berlin, an award for King Michael, the US establishes an award, Operation Overcast, Nicaragua ratifies, Chennault resigns, and the mystery of Madelen Mason.
Monday, June 30, 2025
Monday, June 30, 1975. Changes in the Service.
Women could no longer be involuntarily discharged from the United States Armed Forces as a result of pregnancy, by orders of the U.S. Secretary of Defense.
30 June 1975: The last operational Douglas C-47 Skytrain transport in service with the United States Air Force, 43-49507, was retired and flown to the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
This Day In Aviation.
Last edition:
June 28, 1975. Death of Rod Serling.
Labels: 1970s, 1975, Health, In Memoriam, Paratroopers, Personalities, Smoking, television, The written word, tobacco, World War Two
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