On 03 January 1944, Commander Frank Erickson, United States Coast Guard, flew his Sikorsky HNS-1 Hoverfly helicopter in history’s first mercy flight. After an explosion sank the destroyer USS Turner, DD-648, Commander Erickson delivered over 40 units of blood plasma to a hospital at Sandy Hook, New Jersey. He had launched amid snow squalls from [...]
On 19 December 1962, an E-2A Hawkeye, flown by naval aviator Lieutenant Commander Lee Ramsey was catapulted from the flightdeck of the USS Enterprise (CVAN-65) during the first at sea test of a nose-tow gear designed to replace the catapult bridle system and reduce the time required between aircraft launches on aircraft carriers. This gear [...]
The McDonnell F-4 Phantom (eventually became McDonnell-Douglas and then bought by Boeing) was a tandem-seat fighter-bomber designed to fill the U.S. Navy’s fleet defense fighter role. The advent of Soviet jet bombers with long range anti-ship missiles dictated that the U. S. Navy acquire a fighter that could quickly climb and accelerate to intercept the [...]
On 13 December 1960 an A-3J Vigilante crewed by naval aviator Commander Leroy Heath and bombardier-navigator Lieutenant Henry Monroe ascended to an altitude of 91,450.8 feet with a payload of 1,000 kilograms (2,402.62 pounds). The setting was overhead Edwards Air Force base in California and the official world record broke the previous record by the [...]
The Town of Mount Pleasant Recreation Department and Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum’s Institute of History and Science are partnering to host an exciting new day camp for local children during the holiday season. Oscar’s Oceanography Holiday Institute is designed for students ages 6-12. As part of the program, campers will follow Oscar, a [...]
One day after the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Governor Rick Perry of Texas came aboard USS Yorktown in his fight to gain the Republican nomination for President. Governor Perry talked mainly on defense issues in Hangar Bay III of the famous aircraft carrier and was surrounded by a crowd of mainly [...]
Today seventy years ago, the keel of the USS Yorktown was laid at Newport News Shipbuilding, not far from the battle site of Yorktown, Virginia. The mighty Fighting Lady (nickname given by her crew in World War II) is now a museum ship fighting the ravages of time instead of the Imperial Japanese Navy, and [...]
Next Wednesday marks the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor and the entrance of the United States into World War II. Just recently, historian Craig Shirley in his new book, December 1941, noted that President Franklin Roosevelt and his war cabinet had considered declaring war against Japan, Germany and Italy on the night [...]
In 1928, Edsel Ford donated a Ford Tri-Motor airplane to Commander Richard E. Byrd, polar explorer and naval aviator, which would be used to attempt the first flight over the South Pole. Ford had previously assisted Byrd with an aircraft for his flight over the North Pole in 1927. Byrd would name the Ford Tri-Motor [...]
On 28 November 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Premier Joseph Stalin and Prime Minister Winston Churchill met for a series of talks at the Soviet Embassy in Tehran, Iran. The Tehran Conference was held to plan final strategy in the war against Hitler’s Germany and its allies, and the primary discussion centered on opening a [...]
