British QF 3-inch 20 cwt anti aircraft gun. National Museum of Military Vehicles.

This is a British QF 3-inch 20 cwt anti aircraft gun. Entering service in 1914, they remained in service in various uses, including naval, until 1947.

 Last edition:

Japanese Type 95 Ha-Go light tank. National Museum of Military Vehicles.

Labels: 1930s, 1940s, Armor, Imperial Japanese Army, National Museum of Military Vehicles, World War Two, Wyoming (Dubois)

Wednesday, March 21, 1945. Ohka.

The first attempted use of the the Yokosuka MXYZ Ohka suicide jet failed when the flight of Betty bombers carrying them towards their target, the US fleet off of Okinawa, was intercepted and all the bombers shot down.

The Battle of West Henan–North Hubei (豫西鄂北會戰) between the Chinese National Revolutionary Army and Imperial Japanese Army began.

The RAF hit Gestapo headquarters in Copenhagen, which also resulted in 125 civilian deaths.

The Royal Air Force hit Venice harbor from the air.

Last edition:

Tuesday, March 20, 1945. Hitler's last appearance in public.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Adolf Hitler, Arnsberg Forest Massacre, Australian Army, Blog Mirror, boats and ships, Commandos, German Army, Heroes, Hitler Youth, Kamikaze, Okinawa, Operation Platypus, War Crimes, World War Two

Monday, March 2, 1925. Delta Air Lines. . .

Huff Daland Dusters Inc., a crop dusting company, which would ultimately become Delta Airlines, was founded.

The United States and Estonia signed an agreement for mutual most-favored-nation treatment in customs.

Last edition:

Monday, March 1, 1915. Locusts.

Labels: 1910s, 1915, Aircraft, Dardanelles, Imperial Russian Navy, Ottoman Empire, Palestine

Sunday, February 25, 1945. Smoke in the village.

"Clouds of black smoke pour from a German oil refinery in Wehrden, Germany, after an attack by American P-47 planes turned it into a roaring holocaust. 25 February, 1945. Ludeweiler, Germany,  101st Cavalry Reconnaissance Group.:

American forces captured Düren.

GI's  ponder graffitti in Belgium celebrating the Red Army.  February 25, 1945.

The Marines experience heavy losses on Iwo Jima.

Radio Canada International was launched.

Last edition:

Saturday, February 24, 1945.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Armor, Army, boats and ships, Egypt, Indian Army, Red Army, World War Two

Thursday, February 12, 1925. Arbitration and Execution.

President Coolidge signed the Federal Arbitration Act into law, allowing contractual facilitation of resolving private disputes through arbitration.

For some reason, I don't see the GOP supporting that today.

Imperial Russia's last Prime Minister Nikolai Golitsyn was arrested by the Soviets.  He'd be tried and, of course, executed.

German miners in Dortmund stopped work in sympathy with the victims of the Stein mine explosion and a protest against dangerous mining conditions.

The Belgian airline SABENA (Societé anonyme belge d'Exploitation de la Navigation aérienne) started the air travel between Europe and Central Africa, the first airline to do so.  

Last edition:

Tuesday, February 10, 1925. A concordat.

Labels: 1920s, 1925, Canada, Catholic, Diplomacy, fishing, Poland, United States

Monday, February 2, 1915. Serum run concludes.

The serum run ended in success with Balto and Kassen, and team, coming in at 5:30 a.m.

President Coolidge signed the Air Mail Act of 1925 turning over air mail to private contractors, which in turn was a boon for US civil aviation.

Up to then mail order entity Sears, Roebuck, & Co. opened its first department store at 8:30 a.m. in the morning at its its headquarters at Homan Avenue and Arthington Street in Chicago. 

Actress Elaine Stritch was born in Detroit.

I don't think there's any thrill in the world like doing work you're good at.

Elaine Stritch

M'eh.

Last edition:

Sunday, February 1, 1925. Balto, the future King Zog, wild party in Laramie.

Labels: 1920s, 1925, 1925 Serum Run, Agriculture, Alaska, Albania, Crime, Disease, Food, Ireland, Irish Free State, j, Laramie Wyoming, Personalities, Women, Wyoming (Laramie)

Equipment of the Vietnam War, National Museum of Military Vehicles, Dubois Wyoming.

A reader might feel that today must be Vietnam War Day here on this blog, and not without good reason.

For one thing, we've started what will undoubtedly be a series of posts of the closing months of the Vietnam War, with this daily entry:

Monday, January 6, 1975. The Vietnam War resumes in earnest.

For another, I bumped up this old item, or reran it:

Today In Wyoming's History: Sidebar: The Vietnam War In Wyoming

And now, of course, the following from my visit to the National Museum of Military Vehilces.

UH-1 "Huey", a helicopter synonymous with the Vietnam War.

Hueys came into use in a major way during the war, and remained in use for many years thereafter. They were still the predominant helicopter when I was a National Guardsmen in the 1980s, and even now I'll occasionally see an Air Force example in Cheyenne in operation.

They remain one of the greatest helicopters of all time.

I wasn't even aware of the M-422's existence as a actual service item.  I've seen them on a television series from the 60s and assumed they were just a studio item substituting for a real Jeep.  Offhand, I think that was from The Lieutenant which only had one run, that being in 1963.

Gun trucks, depicted here, were a Vietnam War thing adn were produced in theater.  

The "Gamma Goat", an incredibly unstable vehicle.  One of the guys I was in basic training with was latter killed in a Gamma Goat roll over.

The M151 Jeep.  Also very unstable, but long serving.  It was the last 1/4 general purpose truck of the US Army used on a widescale basis.

M109 howitzer.  I trained on one of these at Ft. Sill, where I had the "No 1" position on the gun.  A much updated version is still in service.

Last edition: 

Korean War Display, National Museum of Military Vehicles

Labels: 1950s, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 4x4, Artillery, Korean War, National Museum of Military Vehicles, Tracked vehicles, Weapons, Wyoming (Dubois), Wyoming Army National Guard