Walter Brookins became the first person to fly an airplane to an altitude of more than one mile.
He lived until age 63, in 1953, which was an achievement in its own right for an early aviator.
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Ostensibly exploring the practice of law before the internet. Heck, before good highways for that matter.
Walter Brookins became the first person to fly an airplane to an altitude of more than one mile.
He lived until age 63, in 1953, which was an achievement in its own right for an early aviator.
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The Japanese carried out the Kalagong massacre, killing villagers in the area after they failed to provide any information about guerrillas in the area.
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.
Heloísa Pinheiro (Helô Pinheiro), who inspired The Girl from Ipanema, was born.
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South African forces under Louis Botha defeated German colonial forces at the Battle of Otavi in German South West Africa with assistance from Canada, Great Britain, Portugal and Portuguese Angola.
The Battle of Gully Ravine started at Gallipoli. Two Victoria Cross awards would occur due to today's actions.
German fighter pilot Kurt Wintgens became the first person to shoot down a plane using a machine gun equipped with synchronization gear, starting the "Fokker Scourge".
Of the event, he wrote:
Dear Karl:
Unfortunately I gave you the wrong address last time, for during my voyage to Mühlhausen I got a different destination and for the time being I am with the Bavarian (unit) Abteilung 6b. Up to now nothing of real interest happened. In Mannheim I had tested the machine and then from Strasbourg by air to the Front, where lately a (Morane) Parasol fighter monoplane à la Garros had made its presence felt.
I had flown to the Front a couple of times without seeing an opponent, until yesterday evening when the big moment came. Time: 6:00 o'clock. Place: east of Lunéville. Altitude: between 2,000 and 2,500 m. Suddenly I notice a monoplane in front of me, about 300 m higher. And at the same moment he had already dived in front of me, fiercely firing his machine gun decently. But as I, at once, dived in an opposite direction under him, he missed wildly. After four attacks I reached his altitude in a large turn, and now my machine gun did some talking. I attacked at such a close distance that we looked each other into the face.
After my third attack he did the most stupid thing that he could do – he fled. I turned the crate on the spot and had him at once, beautifully, in my (gun)sight. Rapid fire for about four seconds, and down went his nose. I could follow him until 500 meters, then, unfortunately, I was fired upon from the ground too hotly; the fight (now) being far over the French lines. Hopefully, I'll soon meet a biplane.
Cordial greetings and so long,
Your friend,
— Kurt"
He'd be killed in action in September, 1916.
The US Navy started the Office of Naval Aeronautics.
The United States Forest Service combined the Jemez National Forest and Pecos National Forest in northern New Mexico to establish the Santa Fe National Forest, which luckily for us today was not hacked up to be sold by Sen. Mike Lee.
The Moapa National Forest was absorbed into the Toiyabe National Forest in Nevada, which fortunately Mike Lee has to keep his hands off of for the time being.
New York City established in the Child Welfare Board.
Blues great Willie Dixon was born.
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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.
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Czar Nicholas II signed legislation "concerning the procedure to be complied with issuing laws and decrees of all-Empire significance for Finland", bringing the Grand Duchy of Finland and the Finnish people under direct Russian rule.
Glenn H. Curtiss demonstrated the practicality of aerial bombardment by dropping 20 mock explosives from a biplane over Lake Keuka in New York.
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It was a forest overflight.
British colonial forces captured Ngaundere in Cameroon.
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While 23,000 Japanese troops remained in the field, in isolated areas, MacArthur announced that operations on Luzon were complete.
They weren't, really. The 8th Army and the Filipinos would remain to mop the remainder up.
The Soviet backed Provisional Government of National Unity in Poland, made up of the PPR: 7 ministers, Socialist Party: 6 ministers, People's Party: 3 ministers, PSL: 3 ministers and Democratic Party: 2 ministers, was formed.
The Polish Government in Exile did not recognize it, although several of its members were from the Government in Exile.
The last B-24 to be produced at Ford's Michigan Willow Run plant was completed.
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The longest British Parliament since the Cavalier Parliament of 1661–1679 was dissolved ahead of the July 5 elections. Parliament had been in session since 1935, as elections during the war had been suspended.
The Battle of Bessang Pass in the Philippines came to an end in an Allied victory.
It was the first flight of the XP-82, the Twin Mustang.
Coming too late for its intended role as an escort for B-29s in World War Two, it would see action during the Korean War before it was retired in 1953.
Today In Wyoming's History: June 15: 1945 Governor Leslie Hunt proclaimed to day Infantry Day.
Conflict, starring Humphrey Bogart, Alexis Smith and Sydney Greenstreet was released.
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The Amundsen Polar Expedition team of six explorers, stranded since May 22 near the North Pole, was able to depart on Amundsen's Dornier Wal N-25 seaplane. A second seaplane was left behind.
The Philadelphia Athletics tied the record for greatest comeback in a major league baseball game. Trailing 14 to 2, after six innings, the Athletics scored 13 runs in the eighth inning to win, 17 to 15, tying the record set on June 18, 1911 by the Detroit Tigers against the Chicago White Sox.
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Lex Anteinternet: The Aerodrome: Air Force One.: The Aerodrome: Air Force One. : Air Force One. Air Force One has been in the news a lot recently, and it started before the Qatari proposa...
So the US has in fact accepted the Qatari 747.
Simply embarrassing.
Air Force One has been in the news a lot recently, and it started before the Qatari proposal to give the United States, or Donald Trump (it isn't clear which) a luxury outfitted Boeing 747.
Technically "Air Force One" is a call sign, and merely denotes an airplane the Chief Executive is a passenger in. If a President rode in an Air Force Cessna, that would be Air Force One. But everyone knows that it refers to one of two Boeing VC-25s, militarized 747s, that are designated for the Presidents use.
Interestingly, the first aircraft designated for Presidential use was a Navy airplane, an amphibious Douglas Dolphin RD-2 that was luxury outfitted for use by President Roosevelt. It was used from 1933 to 1939, and obviously not for transglobal flight. The President didn't really do extensive travel until World War Two.
In spite of concerns over commercial aviation being used to carry the President during the war, it was in fact used and it wasn 't until 1945 that a new designated Presidential aircraft was acquired, that being a Secret Service reconfigured a Douglas C-54 Skymaster (VC-54C) which was named the Sacred Cow. It contained a sleeping area, radiotelephone, and retractable battery-powered elevator to lift Roosevelt in his wheelchair. It's only use by Roosevelt was to fly the then dying President to Yalta. Truman used it thereafter, but it was replaced by military DC-6 (VC-118) thereafter.
President Eisenhower, who of course knew planes well, to Lockheed C-121 Constellations, Columbine II and Columbine III. The Constellation was a very popular airplane at the time, and Douglas MacArthur also had one, that one spending many years after its service at the Natrona County International Airport on an abandoned runway.
Columbine II was the first Presidential aircraft to receive the designation Air Force One.
At the end of Eisenhower's Presidency Boeing 707s came in, in part because the Soviets were using a jet to transport their Premier. 707s remained through the Nixon era, giving good service in this role.
747s, as VC-25s, entered specialized manufacture for use as Air Force One during Reagan's administration, although the first one would enter service after that. They've been used ever since.
These aren't normal 747s. They are packed with communications and electronic warfare equipment in order to have combat survivability.
Replacing the current two aircraft that are used as Air Force One is a topic that the Air Force started looking at quite a few years ago. The 747 variant which the VC-25 isn't made anymore. Production of 747s stopped in 2023 in favor of more modern aircraft. Still, the airframe remains useful in this role, and after the Air Force started to look into options, updating a 747-8 appeared to be the best option. Only Boeing was interested in the project anyway, and it will take a massive financial loss to do it.
The aircraft that are being retrofitted for this role was built, originally, as a commercial airliner. The projected is a massive one, and the delivery date will be in 2027.
Enter Qatar.
Qatar has offered to give the US (I guess) a luxury Boeing 747-8 for use as Air Force One until the other 747-8s are complete. But here's the thing. Boeing has been working on the complicated task fo converting the two existing 747-8s for this use for several years. After all, it's basically a combat aircraft. All accepting the plane would do is give Boeing a third one to convert, which wouldn't be ready for years.
Trump is being childish about this, as he is about a lot of things. He doesn't seem to grasp the nature of the aircraft, and likely a lot of other people don't as well. In his case, this is inexcusable. It's a combat airplane.
Frankly, it's a Cold War combat airplane.
Which gets to this.
The 747 was a big massive airliner in an era in which it was the queen of the sky. That era is over and airlines have moved on to more modern aircraft. The world in which Ronald Reagan ordered 747s is gone as well. It's still useful to have an aircraft that can be used in a global thermonuclear war, which is what it is, but that's not going to happen and it makes no sense to use it to go on weekend golfing trips to Florida.
But that's what Trump tends to use it for.
That raises an entire series of other questions, many of which have little to do with aircraft, but some of which do. It's notable that other Presidents have used lighter aircraft for more mundane trips. In November 1999, President Bill Clinton flew from Ankara, Turkey, to Cengiz Topel Naval Air Station outside Izmit, Turkey, aboard a marked C-20C. In 2000, President Clinton flew to Pakistan aboard an unmarked Gulfstream III. In 2003, President George W. Bush flew in the co-pilot seat of a Sea Control Squadron Thirty-Five (VS-35) S-3B Viking from Naval Air Station North Island, California to the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, with that latter obviously being an exception. Barack Obama used a Gulfstream C-37 variant on a personal trip in 2009.
Trump can use something else than a 747 for what he uses Air Force One for in almost every single instance.
Indeed, the entire topic brings up a lot of things about the risks of having an airplane like this, a luxury airliner inside, which is really a combat aircraft. It makes it easy to forget what it really is, and it makes a President feel like an Emperor, which he is not.
The Aerodrome: This Day In Aviation, May 2, 1925. The Douglas C-1: This Day In Aviation, May 2, 1925.
The East Prussian Offensive and the Samland Offensive ended in Soviet victories.
Today In Wyoming's History: April 25: 1945 Last Boeing B-17 attack against Germany.
Hanna Reitsch flew Luftwaffe General Robert Ritter von Greim from Munich to Berlin by Hanna Reitsch for a meeting with Hitler in which he was given command of the Luftwaffe and promoted to Field Marshall. Anti aircraft fire resulted in Greim being injured during the flight.
Reitsch lived until 1979 when she died at age 67. There's some speculation that she may have committed suicide with a cyanide capsule she was given at the bunker, but this is speculation based in part on a cryptic letter she sent to former British test pilot and Royal Navy officer Eric Brown. She remained an unrepentant Nazi until her death in some ways, but lived for a time in Ghana where she recanted racist views on Africans. She was a fantastic pilot and remains a fascinating figure, being a woman who succeeded in a male field in the 30s and 40s and in an environment that was hostile to working women. Additionally, she excelled in flying even after the war.
The Luftwaffe's last air victories in World War Two occurred when five Allied bombers were shot down over Aussig.
Italian partisan Miotero Geninetti, age 40, Italian partisan leader, was executed.
Walter Gross, age 40, racist German physician and Nazi politician committed suicide.
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The last Pan Am flight out of South Vietnam occured.
Episode 4: Evacuation of Saigon, Wings of Freedom Mission
Six terrorists of the Baader-Meinhof Gang (the "Red Army Faction") seized the West German embassy in Sweden. They took eleven hostages and demanded the release of Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof, which the German government refused. They after killed two of the hostages before a bomb they took in the embassy accidentally exploded, allowing the hostages to escape and fatally injuring two of the terrorists.
The Swedish army took the rest prisoner.
The change in policy on negotiations with terrorists marked the beginning of the decline of domestic terrorism directed at West Germany.
Colorado Attorney General Joyce Murdoch invalidated all six marriage licenses for same-sex marriages that had been issued by Boulder County Clerk Clela Rorex.
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The Zhukov-Konev Race to Berlin began.
The British 11th Armored Division liberated Bergen-Belsen under an April 12 agreement to allow the Germans to surrender the camp without resistance.
The 1st Canadian Army captured Arnhem.
A Japanese air raid destroyed many US aircraft on the ground on Okinawa.
Task Force 58 launched fighter sweeps over Kyushu, shooting down 29 Japanese aircraft and destroying 59 on the ground.
Franklin Roosevelt was interred at Hyde Park.
The F-82 Twin Mustang had its first flight.
The U-285, U-1063 and U-1235 were sunk by Allied warships in the North Atlantic.
Joachim Albrecht Eggeling,age 60, German Nazi Gauleiter committed suicide, something that was becoming something of an epidemic amongst Nazi officials.
Gen. Friedrich von Rabenau, age 60, former German officer and Lutheran pastor was executed at Flossenbürg concentration camp for his minor role in the July 20 plot. He had been retired due to his Christian beliefs in 1942.
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