Fun On this date in history...

This is a few hours off sorry
May 9th 1800
John Brown is born

 

10 May 1911: Second Lieutenant George Edward Maurice Kelly, 30th Infantry Regiment, United States Army, was killed during his primary pilot qualification flight at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
Kelly had been sent to San Diego, California, in January 1911 as one of three U.S. Army officers to attend Glenn H. Curtiss’ Curtiss School of Aviation, newly established on North Island. After three months of training he was sent to Texas where the Army had set up its own training field.
Lieutenant Kelly was flying the Army’s second airplane, S.C. No. 2, a Curtiss Model D Type IV. The airplane had been accepted just two weeks earlier.
Second Lieutenant George Edward Maurice Kelly was the second U.S. Army aviator killed in an airplane accident, however he was the first pilot killed while flying the airplane. His remains were interred at the San Antonio National Cemetery, San Antonio, Texas.
In 1916, the Army replaced the air field at Fort San Antonio with a new field on the opposite side of the city. The new airfield was initially named Camp Kelly, then Kelly Field. In 1948, it was renamed Kelly Air Force Base.

10 May 1927: At 3:55 p.m., PST, Charles A. Lindbergh and his Spirit of St. Louis lifted off from Rockwell Field on North Island, San Diego, California, for their record-setting overnight flight to St. Louis, Missouri. The new Ryan NYP, N-X-211, had been ready and all the flight tests complete since 4 May. Lindbergh had completed the navigational planning for both the transcontinental flight to New York City, and then, the transoceanic flight to Paris. He had been in daily consultation with Dean Blake, chief of the Weather Bureau in San Diego. A system over the Rockies had been holding up his departure for days, but now everything was ready.
“At 3:40 I crawl into my flying suit. It’s uncomfortably hot in the California sun. . . It’s a few minutes early, but why wait any longer in this heat? I wave good-by, taxi into position, and ease the throttle open. As I pick up speed, I hold the tail low to put as much load as possible on the wings and reduce strain on the landing gear.
“The Spirit of St. Louis is in the air soon after its wheels start clattering over the hummocky portion of the field. The take-off wasn’t as difficult as I expected. It’s 3:55 Pacific. I make a mental note of the time, check instruments, pull the throttle back slightly, and begin a wide climbing turn to the left. Two army observation planes and a Ryan monoplane have taken off with me as an escort. Colonel Graham, the Commanding Officer at Rockwell Field, is in one of the observation planes. Hall, Bowlus, Harrigan, and A.J. Edwards are in the Ryan. We circle North Island, the factory, and the city of San Diego. Then, leaving the ocean and the bay behind, I set my compass heading for St. Louis.”
— The Spirit of St. Louis, by Charles A. Lindbergh, Charles Scribners’ Sons, 1953

10 May 1946: The first successful launch of a captured V-2 ballistic missile in the United States took place at the White Sands Proving Ground in the Tularosa Basin of southern New Mexico. With a burn time of 59 seconds, the rocket reached an altitude of 70.9 miles (114.1 kilometers) and traveled 31 miles (49.9 kilometers) down range.
On 15 March 1946, a static test firing of a V-2 rocket had taken place at White Sands, and then on 16 April, a rocket was launched. One of the stabilizing fins failed, and then radio contact was lost at 19.5 seconds. The rocket reached a peak altitude of only 3.4 miles (5.5 kilometers) before crashing a short distance from the launch site. (A 9-minute video of the preparations and launch can be seen at: Notice the extremely casual attitude toward personnel safety displayed throughout the film.)
The V2, or Vergeltungswaffen 2 (also known as the A4, or Aggregat 4) was a ballistic missile with an empty weight of approximately 10,000 pounds (4,536 kilograms) and weighing 28,000 pounds (12,700 kilograms), fully loaded. It carried a 738 kilogram (1,627 pound) (sources vary) explosive warhead of amatol, a mixture of TNT and ammonium nitrate. The propellant was a 75/25 mixture of ethanol and water with liquid oxygen as an oxidizer.
When launched, the rocket engine burned for 65 seconds, accelerating the rocket to 3,580 miles per hour (5,760 kilometers per hour) on a ballistic trajectory. The maximum range of the rocket was 200 miles (320 kilometers) with a peak altitude between 88 and 128 miles (142–206 kilometers), depending on the desired range. On impact, the rocket was falling at 1,790 miles per hour (2,880 kilometers per hour), about Mach 2.35, so its approach would have been completely silent in the target area.
The V-2 could only hit a general area and was not militarily effective. Germany used it against England, France, The Netherlands and Belgium as a terror weapon. More than 3,200 V-2 rockets were launched against these countries.
As World War II came to and end, the Allies captured many partially-completed missiles, as well as components and parts. Sufficient parts and materiel and been transferred from Germany to construct more than one hundred V-2 rockets for testing at White Sands. No missiles were received in flyable condition. Over a five year period, there were 67 successful launches, but it is considered that as much knowledge was gained from failures as successes.
Along with the rockets, many German engineers and scientists surrendered or were captured by the Allies. Under Operation Paperclip, Wernher von Braun and many other scientists, engineers and technicians were brought to the United States to work with the U.S. Army’s ballistic missile program at Fort Bliss, Texas, White Sands Proving Grounds, New Mexico, and the Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Alabama.
Tests of the V-2 rockets led to the development of U.S. rockets for the military and NASA’s space program.

In 1930, aviation pioneer Louis Charles Joseph Blériot established the Blériot Trophy, to be awarded to an aviator who demonstrated flight at a speed of 2,000 kilometers per hour (1,242.742 miles per hour) for 30 minutes. The technology to accomplish this was three decades in the future.
On 10 May 1961, a U.S. Air Force/Convair B-58A-10-CF Hustler, serial number 59-2451, The Firefly, did just that. Flown by a crew consisting of Aircraft Commander, Major Elmer E. Murphy, Navigator, Major Eugene Moses, and Defensive Systems Officer, First Lieutenant David F. Dickerson, the Mach 2+ Strategic Air Command bomber flew 669.4 miles (1,077.3 kilometers) in 30 minutes, 43 seconds. Their average speed was 1,302.07 miles per hour (2,095 kilometers per hour).
The black and white marble trophy was presented to the B-58 crew by Alice Védères Blériot, widow of Louis Blériot, at Paris, France, 27 May 1961. It is on permanent display at the McDermott Library of the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado.
On 26 May 1961, The Firefly, flown by a different aircrew, set a speed record by flying New York to Paris, while en route to the Paris Air Show, a distance of 3,626.46 miles in 3 hours, 19 minutes, 58 seconds, for an average of 1,089.36 mph. In comparison, Charles Lindbergh took 33 1/2 hours to fly the same route in 1927.
On 3 June 1961, the Blériot Trophy-winning crew of Murphy, Moses and Dickerson departed Le Bourget Airport aboard 59-2451 for the return trip to America. The B-58 crashed five miles from the airport. All three men were killed and the aircraft totally destroyed.
A 1961 Air Force film covering the event and the presentation of the Blériot Trophy can be seen on You Tube at

10 May 1961: At approximately 1:12 a.m. local time (23:12, 9 May, UTC) Air France Flight 406, a Lockheed L-1649 Starliner was cruising at 20,500 feet (6,248 meters) on a flight from Fort Lamy Airport (NDJ), Chad, and Marseille-Marignane Airport (MRS), in France. For unknown reasons, the airliner’s tail section failed, and it crashed in the Great Eastern Sand Sea of the Sahara Desert, between “the walled Sahara oasis and caravan town” of Ghadamès, Libya, and Zarzaïtane, Algeria. All 78 persons on board were killed.
An Air France pilot who flew over the crash site said it looked as if the plane caught fire in the air. Lt. Ferdinand Pecollo said he was told that frontier guards had seen a great ball of fire tumbling from the sky.
—Chicago Tribune, Volume CXX—No. 112, Thursday, 11 May 1961
The last radio contact was at 23:10 UTC, reporting that the flight was normal. The cause of the crash is unknown, but The Sydney Morning Herald reported rumors that the airliner had been bombed in an assassination of several Central African Republic government officials.

 

If I may...

ALSO ON MAY 10th:

In 1508, Michelangelo was formally hired by Pope Julius II to paint the Sistene Chapel ceiling.

In 1773, the Parliament of Great Britain passed the Tea Act, designed to save the British East India Company by granting it a monopoly on the North American tea trade.

In 1775, Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys, along with Col. Benedict Arnold, captured the British-held fortress at Ticonderoga, NY.

Also in 1775, representatives from the Thirteen Colonies began the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, PA.

In 1863, during the Civil War, Confederate Lt. Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson died of pneumonia, a complication resulting from being hit by friendly fire eight days earlier during the Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia.

In 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis was captured by Union forces in Irwinville, GA.

In 1869, a golden spike was driven in Promontory, UT, marking the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States.

In 1876, the Centennial Exposition was opened in Philadelphia, PA by U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant and Brazilian Emperor Dom Pedro II.

In 1888, composer Max Steiner, best-known for his film music, was born in Vienna, Austria.

In 1894, composer/conductor Dimitri Tiomkin was born in Kremenchuk in what is now Ukraine.

In 1899, actor/singer/dancer Fred Astaire was born in Omaha, NE.

In 1924, J. Edgar Hoover was named acting director of the Bureau of Investigation (later known as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, or FBI).

In 1933, the Nazis staged massive public book burnings in Germany.

In 1935, writer/script editor Terrance Dicks was born in East Ham, Essex, England. He’s best-known for his work on “Doctor Who”, particularly the many, many episode novelizations he wrote.

In 1937, playwright/screenwriter Jonathan Hales was born in London. He’s best-known for his work with Lucasfilm, including co-writing the screenplay for “Star Wars: Episode II- Attack of the Clones”.

In 1940, during World War II, German forces began invading the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium and France.

Also in 1940, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigned, and Winston Churchill formed a new government.

In 1941, Rudolf Hess parachuted into Scotland to try to negotiate a peace deal between the United Kingdom and Nazi Germany. He was taken prisoner the next day.

In 1943, actor David Clennon was born in Waukegan, IL. Among his many roles is the less-sneering, more ambitious version of Adm. Motti in the “Star Wars” radio adaptation.

In 1960, the nuclear-powered submarine USS Triton completed its submerged navigation of the globe.

In 1962, Marvel Comics published the first issue of “The Incredible Hulk”.

In 1963, the Rolling Stones began their first recording session in London for Decca Records. The band recorded the Chuck Berry song "Come On" and Willie Dixon's "I Want to Be Loved."

In 1969, The National and American Football Leagues announced their plans to merge for the 1970-71 season.

In 1975, Sony began selling its Betamax home videocassette recorder in Japan.

In 1984, the International Court of Justice said the United States should halt any actions to blockade Nicaragua's ports (the U.S. had already said it would not recognize World Court jurisdiction on this issue).

In 1994, Nelson Mandela took the oath of office in Pretoria to become South Africa's first black president.

Also in 1994, the state of Illinois executed serial killer John Wayne Gacy for the murders of 33 young men and boys.

In 1995, 104 miners were killed in an elevator accident in Orkney, South Africa.

Also in 1995, former President George H.W. Bush's office released his letter of resignation from the National Rifle Association in which Bush expressed outrage over an NRA fund-raising letter's reference to federal agents as "jack-booted thugs." (NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre apologized a week later.)

In 2000, the science fiction movie “Battlefield Earth”, starring John Travolta and based on L. Ron Hubbard’s novel, premiered in the U.S.

In 2002, FBI agent Robert Hanssen was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for selling United States secrets to Russia for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds.

In 2005, a hand grenade landed about 65 feet from President George W. Bush while he was giving a speech to a crowd in Tbilisi, Georgia, but it malfunctioned and didn’t detonate.

In 2012, The Damascus bombings were carried out using a pair of car bombs detonated by suicide bombers outside of a military intelligence complex in Damascus, Syria, killing 55 people and injuring 400 others.

In 2013, One World Trade Center in Manhattan became the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.

In 2018, the prequel/anthology movie “Solo: A ‘Star Wars’ Story” premiered in Los Angeles.

 

10 May 1972: Chief test pilot Howard W. (“Sam”) Nelson made the first flight of the prototype Fairchild Republic YA-10A Thunderbolt II, 71-1369, at Edwards Air Force Base in the high desert of southern California.
The A-10 was designed and built around its hydraulically-operated General Electric GAU-8 Avenger 30 mm Gatling-type autocannon. The gun has 7 rotating barrels and is capable of firing at a rate of 4,300 rounds per minute. The Thunderbolt II can carry a maximum of 1,350 rounds of high explosive-incendiary or armor piercing-incendiary ammunition.
Howard Verner Nelson was born on New Year’s Eve, 31 December 1924, at Hartford Connecticut. He was the second son of Gustaf B. Nelson, a clerk, and Signe Ottilia Nelson.
Nelson entered the United States Army Air Forces on 20 November 1944, and remained on active duty in the U.S. Air Force until 28 May 1957, when he transferred to the Air Force Reserve. He rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He flew 105 combat missions during the Korean War.
“Sam” Nelson joined the Republic Aviation Corporation in 1960. He was assigned Republic’s chief test pilot for the F-105 Thunderchief supersonic fighter bomber. In October 1976, Nelson was promoted to Director of Flight Operations.
Nelson was killed at the Paris Air Show 3 June 1977 while demonstrating an A-10A Thunderbolt II.
Lieutenant Colonel Nelson’s remains were buried at the Arlington National Cemetery.

 

11 May 1927: At 8:20 a.m., Central time, Charles A. Lindbergh and the Spirit of St. Louis touched down at Lambert Field, St. Louis, Missouri, and taxied to the National Guard hangars where he shut down the Wright J-5C Whirlwind engine. The overnight flight from Rockwell Field on North Island, San Diego, California, took 14 hours, 25 minutes, a new speed record.
It is just eighty days since Lindbergh left St. Louis by train to meet with Ryan Airlines Company to discuss designing and building an airplane that would become the Ryan NYP, N-X-211, the Spirit of St. Louis.
Though the members of the syndicate that is funding his New York-to-Paris flight have planned celebrations, Lindbergh is anxious to continue on to New York City.

 

May 11, 1942: President Roosevelt orders the Air Medal to be established for any military person who accomplishes meritorious achievement in aerial flight. It is awarded for single acts of heroism or meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight.
Description: A Bronze compass rose 111⁄16 inches circumscribing diameter and charged with an eagle volant carrying two lightning flashes in its talons. A fleur-de-lis at the top point holds the suspension ring. The points of the compass rose on the reverse are modeled with the central portion plain for engraving the name of the recipient.
Some notable recipients include Buzz Aldrin, Richard Bong, George HW Bush, Jimmy Doolittle, Clark Gable, John Glenn, Bob Hoover, Chappie James, Curtis LeMay, Jim Lovell, John McCain, Ed McMahon, Robin Olds, Colin Powell, Chesty Puller, Gene Roddenberry, Andy Rooney, Norman Schwarzkopf, James Stewart, James Stockdale, Oliver Stone, Paul Tibbets, Ted Williams, Chuck Yeager, and myself.


11 May 1964: At Air Force Plant 42 near Palmdale, a small city in the high desert of southern California, the first prototype North American Aviation XB-70A-1-NA Valkyrie, 62-0001, was rolled out. More than 5,000 people were there to watch.
In August 1960, the U.S. Air Force had contracted for one XB-70 prototype and 11 pre-production YB-70 development aircraft. By 1964, however, the program had been scaled back to two XB-70As and one XB-70B. Only two were actually completed.
The B-70 was designed as a Mach 3+ strategic bomber capable of flying higher than 70,000 feet (21,336 meters). Like its contemporaries, the Lockheed Blackbirds, the Valkerie was so advanced that it was beyond the state of the art. New materials and processes had to be developed, and new industrial machinery designed and built.
The B-70 was designed to “surf” on its own supersonic shock wave (this was called “compression lift”). The outer 20 feet (6.096 meters) of each wing could be lowered to a 25° or 65° angle for high speed flight. Although this did provide additional directional stability, it actually helped increase the compression lift, which supported up to 35% of the airplane’s weight in flight.
XB-70A-1 62-0001 first flew 21 September 1964, and exceeded Mach 3 for the first time on its 17th flight, 14 October 1965. Its final flight was 4 February 1969.
The second prototype, XB-70A-2-NA 62-0207, was destroyed in a midair collision. The third Valkyrie, XB-70B-NA 62-0208, was cancelled before completion.
62-0001 is in the collection of the National Museum of the United States Air Force. It has made 83 flights with just 160 hours, 16 minutes, total flight time.

 

12 May 1902: Aeronaut Augusto Severo de Albuquerque Maranhão and engineer Georges Saché lifted off aboard the semi-rigid airship Pax, which Severo had designed, at Vaugirard, Paris.
This was Severo’s second airship. He had designed and built a larger craft, Bartolomeu de Gusmão, eight years earlier in Brazil. It had been destroyed by gusty winds. After raising enough money to build a new ship, he went to Paris, France.
Very early on the morning of 12 May 1902, Augusto Severo took his new airship on its first flight. It soon reached approximately 1,200 feet (365 meters). It then exploded, caught fire and fell to the ground near Monteparnasse Cemetery. The descent took approximately 8 seconds. Both men were killed.
All this time the Pax was gradually soaring higher and higher, until, just as the balloon was over the Montparasse cemetery, at the height of probably 2000ft, a sheet of flame was seen to shoot up from one of the motors, and instantly the immense silk envelope, containing 9000 cubic feet of hydrogen gas, was enveloped in leaping tongues of fire.
The aeronauts were distinctly seen to be gesticulating despairingly, but no mortal aid could reach them.
As soon as the flames came in contact with the gas, a tremendous explosion followed, an din an instant all that was left of the beautiful airship fell with lightning swiftness to the earth.
“I cannot tell you how very sorry I feel at what has happened, ” says M. Santos Dumont, “but I am not greatly surprised. M. Severo did not know anything about airships. He had only been up once or twice in his balloon, and was quite incapable of managing it. The fact that he commenced throwing out ballast when the balloon was going up showed how little he knew.
“Then his escape-valve was only about three yards from the motor, and my opinion is that, as in going up the balloon dilates and the gas must escape through the valve, in so escaping it came in contact with the motor, which was far too near the balloon, and that caused the explosion. Or if the valve did not work, the balloon may have burst and the gas immediately took fire; but a balloon must be built very stupidly to catch fire.
“From the construction of the Pax, however, it seems to me as if it had been made on purpose to kill somebody.”
— The Star, Christchurch, New Zealand, Monday 30 June 1902

12 May 1938: Three Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress four-engine heavy bombers of the 49th Bombardment Squadron, 2nd Bombardment Group, departed Mitchel Field, Long Island, New York, in heavy rain and headed eastward over the Atlantic Ocean. Their mission, assigned by Major General Frank M. Andrews, commanding General Headquarters, U.S. Army Air Corps, was to locate and photograph the Italian passenger liner, S.S. Rex, then on a transatlantic voyage to New York City. The purpose was to demonstrate the capabilities and effectiveness of long-range bombers.
The flight was led by Major Caleb Vance Haynes, commanding officer of the 49th Bombardment Squadron, flying B-17 number 80. The 2nd Bomb Group commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Olds, was aboard Haynes’ B-17, along with an NBC radio crew to broadcast news of the interception live across the country. Reporters from the New York Times and the New York Herald Tribune were aboard the other airplanes.
The planning of the interception and in-flight navigation was performed by First Lieutenant Curtis E. LeMay. Position reports from S.S. Rex were obtained and forwarded to LeMay as the aircraft were taxiing for takeoff.
The flight departed Mitchel Field at 8:45 a.m. They encountered heavy rain, hail, high winds and poor visibility, but at 12:23 p.m., the Flying Fortresses broke out of a squall line and the passenger liner was seen directly ahead. They flew alongside the ship at 12:25 p.m., 620 nautical miles (1,148.24 kilometers) east of Sandy Hook, New York. They were exactly on the time calculated by Lieutenant LeMay.
The B-17s made several passes for still and motion picture photography while NBC broadcast the event on radio.
Colonel Olds would rise to the rank of Major General and command 2nd Air Force during World War II. He was the father of legendary fighter pilot Brigadier General Robin Olds. Major Hayes served in various combat commands and retired at the rank of Major General in 1953.
Curtis LeMay would be a major in command of the 305th Bombardment Group, a B-17 unit, at the beginning of World War II. He personally led many combat missions over Europe, and would command the 4th Bombardment Wing, then the 3rd Air Division. By the end of the war, he was in command of XXI Bomber Command based in the Marianas Islands. From 1948 to 1957, General LeMay commanded the Strategic Air Command. He served as Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force., 1957–1961. General LeMay was Chief of Staff, United States Air Force, from 1961 to 1965.
At the time of the interception of the Rex, there were only 12 B-17s in the Air Corps inventory: the original Y1B-17 service development airplanes. By the end of production in 1945, 12,731 B-17 Flying Fortress bombers had been built by three aircraft manufacturers.

12 May 1953: A Boeing B-50A-5-BO Superfortress, 46-011, modified to carry a Bell X-2 supersonic research rocketplane, was engaged in a captive test flight at 30,000 feet (9,144 meters) over Lake Ontario, between Canada and the United States. The number two X-2, 46-675, was in the bomb bay.
The bomber was equipped with a system to keep the X-2’s liquid oxygen tank filled as the cryogenic oxidizer boiled off. With Bell’s Chief of Flight Research, test pilot Jean Leroy (“Skip”) Ziegler, in the bomb bay above the X-2, the system operation was being tested.
There was an explosion. The X-2 fell from the bomber and dropped into Lake Ontario, between Trenton, Ontario, Canada, and Rochester, New York, U.S.A. Skip Ziegler and an engineer aboard the bomber, Frank Wolko, were both lost. A technician, Robert F. Walters, who was in the aft section of the B-50 with Wolko, was badly burned and suffered an injured eye.
The B-50’s pilots, William J. Leyshon and David Howe, made an emergency landing at the Bell Aircraft Corporation factory airport at Wheatfield, New York (now, the Niagara Falls International Airport, IAG). The bomber was so heavily damaged that it never flew again.
Heavy fog over the lake hampered search efforts. Neither the bodies of Ziegler and Wolko or the wreckage of the X-2 were found.
After a series of explosions of early rocketplanes, the X-1A, X-1-3, X-1D and the X-2, investigators discovered that leather gaskets which were used in the fuel system had been treated with tricresyl phosphate (TCP). When this was exposed to liquid oxygen an explosion could result. The leather gaskets were removed from the other rocketplanes and the explosions stopped.

At 1:00 p.m., 17 March 1964, Joan Merriam Smith departed Oakland International Airport, on California’s San Francisco Bay, on what would be the first leg of an around-the world flight. Her first stop would be Tucson, Arizona, approximately 650 nautical miles (1,200 kilometers) to the east-southeast.
Mrs. Smith intended to follow the easterly route of Amelia Earhart, who had departed from Oakland on both of her attempts at the around-the-world flight. The first try, 17 March 1937, was a westerly route, with a first stop at Hawaii. The second try, 2 June 1937, was an eastbound route.
The two routes were planned to take advantage of seasonal weather patterns.
Mrs. Smith wanted to follow Earhart’s eastbound route, but by leaving in mid-March, she put herself at a disadvantage with respect to the weather she would encounter as she traveled around the Earth.
Unlike Earhart, who had two of the world’s foremost navigators in her flight crew, Mrs. Smith would fly alone, her only companion a small teddy bear. She would navigate by pilotage and ded reckoning, and by using radio aids such as non-directional beacons (NDBs) and VHF omnidirectional ranges (VORs).
A detailed story of Joan Merriam Smith’s flight is told in Fate on a Folded Wing, written by Tiffany Ann Brown. Her route followed Earhart’s eastward across the United States; south over the Caribbean Sea to South America; then across the South Atlantic Ocean; Africa, Asia, and finally, to the Pacific Ocean, where Mrs. Smith’s route diverged from Earhart’s.
Mrs. Smith’s flight was troubled by adverse weather, leaking fuel tanks, out-of-calibration radio equipment, a recalcitrant autopilot, problems with the hydraulic and electrical systems, and a heater that would not work. And weather. . .
She arrived back at Oakland International at 9:12 a.m., on 12 May 1964, having flown approximately 27,750 miles (44,659 kilometers). The total duration of her journey was 55 days, 20 hours, 12 minutes. She had flown 35 legs on 23 days. Mrs. Smith wrote that the circumnavigation had taken a total of 170 flight hours, with 47 hours on instruments and 26 hours of night time.
Joan Merriam Smith is credited with having made the first solo circumnavigation of the Earth by the Equatorial route, and the longest solo flight.
Joan Ann Merriam was born 3 August 1936 at Oceanside, Long Island, New York, U.S.A. She was the daughter of Arthur Ray Merriam, Jr., a railroad office stenographer, and Ann Marie Lofgren Merriam. The family relocated to Wayne, Michigan, where Joan attended Jefferson Junior High School and Wayne High School.
Joan’s father died at the age of 43, New Year’s Day, 1952. She and her mother then moved to Miami, Florida. Flying from Detroit to Miami aboard a Lockheed Constellation, Joan was allowed to visit the flight deck and speak to the crew.
The airline flight sparked an interest in aviation. She began taking lessons at the age of 15. Joan learned to fly at the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Institute, then located at at Tamiami Airport. She first soloed an airplane at the age of 16 years. On 7 November 1953, shortly after her 17th birthday, she was issued private pilot certificate. Special permission was obtained from the FAA for her to take the written exams for commercial pilot before she turned 18.
In 1960, Miss Merriam was living in Panama City, Florida, where she was employed as a pilot for West Florida Natural Gas Company, one of very few women who flew as corporate pilots at the time. (Contemporary newspapers reported that she was “one of three women corporation pilots in the country.”) Reflecting the sexist attitudes of the time, news features often described her as a “blue-eyed platinum blonde,” and made mention of “her personal aerodynamic attributes.” In an interview, Miss Merriam said that a major reason preventing more women from executive flying were, “executive’s wives, and executive’s secretaries.”
In February 1965, Joan Merriam Smith was flying for Rajay Industries out of Long Beach, California. (Rajay was a turbocharger manufacturer which had supplied the turbos for Mrs. Smith’s Apache.) She had been conducting functional and reliability tests on a modified Cessna 182C Skylane, N8784T. The airplane was owned by the V. E. Kuster Co., of Long Beach, a supplier of oil field equipment.
The flight test plan for 17 February 1965 called for the Cessna to be flown at altitudes between 5,000 and 23,000 feet (1,524–7,010 meters). Mrs. Smith was flying. Also on board was her biographer, Beatrice Ann (“Trixie”) Schubert.
Smith was flying across the San Gabriel Mountains, which divide southern California’s coastal plain from the high desert. The highest peak in the range, Mount San Antonio, which was not far east of her course, rises to 10,046 feet (3,062 meters).
Witnesses said that the airplane had been flying normally, estimated at between 1,000 and 2,000 feet (305–610 meters) above the mountainous terrain, when the right wing folded back along the fuselage. The airplane, with the engine revving, went into a dive and crashed into the north slope of Blue Ridge, a few miles west of Wrightwood, California, 10–12 seconds later. There was an explosion and fire.
Joan Merriam Smith and Trixie Ann Schubert were killed.
The Civil Aeronautics Board reported the Probable Cause: “The pilot entered an area of light to moderate turbulence at high speed, during which aerodynamic forces exceeding the structural strength of the aircraft caused in-flight structural failure.” According to the CAB, the Cessna 182 had an airspeed in excess of 190 miles per hour (306 kilometers per hour) when it entered the area of turbulence.
Her remains were interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Cypress, California.

 

If I may...

ALSO ON MAY 11th:

In 330, Byzantium was renamed Nova Roma during a dedication ceremony, but it would be more popularly referred to as Constantinople.

In 1647, Peter Stuyvesant arrived in New Amsterdam to become governor of New Netherland.

In 1659, the Massachusetts General Court banned the observance of Christmas under penalty of stiff fines. The law stood for over twenty years.

In 1812, Prime Minister Spencer Perceval was assassinated by John Bellingham in the lobby of the British House of Commons.

In 1816, the American Bible Society was formed.

In 1846, President James K. Polk asked for and received a Declaration of War against Mexico, starting the Mexican-American War

In 1858, Minnesota became the 32nd state of the Union.

In 1862, during the Civil War, the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia was scuttled by its crew off Craney Island, VA, to prevent it from falling into Union hands.

In 1888, composer/lyricist Irving Berlin was born in Tyumen, Russian Empire.

In 1894, four thousand Pullman Palace Car Company workers went on a wildcat strike in Illinois.

In 1911, actor/comedian Phil Silvers was born in Brooklyn. It would be years before he’d earn his stripes, or go looking for the Big W.

In 1927, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was founded during a banquet at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles.

In 1931, the thriller “M”, directed by Fritz Lang and starring Peter Lorre, premiered in Berlin.

In 1935, the Rural Electrification Administration was created as one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs.

Also in 1935, actor Doug McClure was born in Glendale, CA. He should not be confused with Troy McClure.

In 1943, “Yankee Doodle Mouse”, the first of eight Tom & Jerry cartoons to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Subject was released in the U.S .

In 1944, during World War II, Allied forces launched a major offensive against Axis lines in Italy.

In 1945, the aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill was attacked and severely damaged by two kamikaze aircraft off Okinawa; according to the U.S. Navy's official website, 346 men were killed, 43 were left missing, and 264 were wounded.

In 1949, Israel joined the United Nations.

Also in 1949, President Harry Truman signed Public Law 60, establishing the Joint Long Range Proving Ground at Cape Canaveral. It would eventually evolve into Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and be popularly linked with nearby Kennedy Space Center.

In 1953, a tornado devastated Waco, TX, claiming 114 lives.

In 1955, the horror movie “Bride of the Monster”, starring Bela Lugosi and directed by Ed Wood, premiered in Hollywood.

That’s right, Arthur. In 1957, Buddy Holly and the Crickets auditioned for “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts”, but were rejected.

In 1960, Israeli agents captured Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

In 1963, the Warner Brothers cartoon “Woolen Under Where” was released in the U.S. It was the last cartoon short to feature Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog. It was also the only cartoon in the series not directed by Chuck Jones, who was fired by WB during production.

In 1973, the espionage trial of Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo in the "Pentagon Papers" case came to an end as Judge William M. Byrne dismissed all charges, citing government misconduct.

In 1985, 56 people died when a flash fire swept a jam-packed soccer stadium in Bradford, England.

In 1987, Klaus Barbie went on trial in Lyon for war crimes committed during World War II.

In 1993, Joel Hodgson announced that he was leaving as host of “Mystery Science Theater 3000”.

In 1996, an Atlanta-bound ValuJet DC-9 caught fire shortly after takeoff from Miami and crashed into the Florida Everglades, killing all 110 people on board.

In 1997, Deep Blue, a chess-playing supercomputer, defeated Garry Kasparov in the last game of the rematch, becoming the first computer to beat a world-champion chess player in a classic match format.

In 2001, author/screenwriter/script editor Douglas Adams died in Santa Barbara, CA at age 49.

In 2010, Conservative leader David Cameron, at age 43, became Britain's youngest prime minister in almost 200 years after Gordon Brown stepped down and ended 13 years of Labour government.

 

If I may...

ALSO ON MAY 12th:

In 1780, during the Revolutionary War, the besieged city of Charleston, SC surrendered to British forces.

In 1870, an act creating the Canadian province of Manitoba was given royal assent, to take effect in July.

In 1907, author Leslie Charteris, creator of The Saint, was born in Singapore.

In 1922, a 20-ton meteor crashed near Blackstone, Virginia.

In 1925, baseball player/manager/coach Yogi Berra was born in St. Louis, MO.

In 1928, composer/singer/songwriter/producer Burt Bacharach was born in Kasas City, MO.

In 1932, the body of Charles Lindbergh Jr., the kidnapped son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh, was found in a wooded area near Hopewell, New Jersey.

In 1936, journalist/TV host Tom Snyder, best-known for his NBC-TV program “Tomorrow”, was born in Milwaukee, WI.

In 1937, Britain's King George VI was crowned at Westminster Abbey; his wife, Elizabeth, was crowned as queen consort.

Also in 1937, comedian/actor George Carlin was born in Manhattan. Board policy prohibits me from posting his “Seven Words You Can’t Say on Television” routine.

In 1946, author L. Neil Smith was born in Denver, CO. “Star Wars” fans should remember him for his series of Lando Calrissian novels.

In 1949, the Soviet Union lifted the Berlin Blockade, which the Western powers had succeeded in circumventing with their Berlin Airlift.

In 1950, actor Bruce Boxleitner was born in Elgin, IL. He’s well-known for playing John “Nuke ‘em Johnny” Sheridan on “Babylon 5”, and both Alan Bradley and his program alter-ego, Tron.

In 1955, Manhattan's last elevated rail line, the Third Avenue El, ceased operation.

In 1956, actor Montgomery Clift was seriously injured in a car accident near the home of his friend, Elizabeth Taylor.

In 1961, actor/comedian/writer/director/Kid in the Hall Bruce McCulloch was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

In 1963, Bob Dylan refused to appear on the "Ed Sullivan Show" because CBS would not allow him to sing "Talking John Birch Society Blues."

In 1965, West Germany and Israel exchanged letters establishing diplomatic relations.

Also in 1965, The Rolling Stones recorded the final version of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" at RCA Studios in Hollywood.

In 1968, actress/writer Catherine Tate, well-known to Whovians for playing Donna Noble, was born in Bloomsbury, London, England.

In 1975, the White House announced the new Cambodian government had seized an American merchant ship, the Mayaguez, in international waters. (U.S. Marines gained control of the ship three days after its seizure, not knowing the 39 civilian members of the crew had already been released by Cambodia.)

In 1982, in Fatima, Portugal, security guards overpowered a Spanish priest armed with a bayonet who attacked Pope John Paul II. (In 2008, the pope's longtime private secretary revealed that the pontiff was slightly wounded in the assault.)

In 1983, the novelization of “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi” by James Kahn was published by Del Rey.

Also in 1983, actor Domhnall Gleeson was born in Dublin, Ireland. His rivalry with Kylo Ren would come later.

In 1985, Amy Eilberg was ordained in New York as the first woman rabbi in the Conservative Jewish movement.

In 2013, the DVD box set “Doctor Who: The Complete Series Seven” was released in Region 1 early, nearly a week before the broadcast of “The Name of the Doctor”, the final episode of that series. This caused a major scandal which the BBC addressed the next day.

In 2015, a 7.3-magnitude earthquake and six major aftershocks hit Nepal, killing over 200 people.

Also in 2015, the derailment of an Amtrak train in Philadelphia killed eight people and injures more than 200.

In 2017, a ransomware attack affected over 400 thousand computers worldwide, targeting computers of the UK's National Health Services and Telefonica computers.

In 2018, in Paris, a man armed with a knife was fatally shot by police after killing one pedestrian and injuring eight others.

 

12–13 May 1930: In an effort to connect the North African and South American air mail routes, Jean Mermoz, the chief pilot of Compagnie générale aéropostale, along with co-pilot and navigator Jean Dabry, and radio navigator Léopold Martial Émile Gimié, departed Saint-Louis, on the western coast of Senegal, French West Africa, enroute to Natal, Brazil.
Their airplane, F-AJNQ, a pontoon-equipped Latécoère 28-3, was carrying 122 kilograms (269 pounds) of mail and fuel for 30 hours of flight. The crew had named the airplane Comte de la Vaulx, after an early French aeronaut and the founder of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale.
This was the first non-stop flight to cross the South Atlantic.
Antoine Saint Exupéry, a fellow Aéropostale pilot, described a portion of Mermoz’s transatlantic flight in Wind, Sand and Stars:
Thus, when Mermoz first crossed the South Atlantic in a hydroplane, as day was dying he ran foul of the Black Hole region, off Africa. Straight ahead of him were the tails of tornadoes rising minute by minute gradually higher, rising as a wall is built; and then night came down upon these preliminaries and swallowed them up; and when, and hour later, he slipped under the clouds, he came out into a fantastic kingdom.
Great black waterspouts had reared themselves seemingly in the immobility of temple pillars. Swollen at their tops, they were supporting the squat and lowering arch of the tempest, but through the rifts in the arch there fell slabs of light and the full moon sent her radiant beams between the pillars down upon the frozen tiles of the sea. Through these uninhabited ruins Mermoz made his way, gliding slantwise from one channel of light to the next, circling round those giant pillars in which there must have rumbled the upsurge of the sea, flying for four hours through these corridors of moonlight toward the exit from the temple. And this spectacle was so overwhelming that only after he had got through the Black Hole did Mermoz awaken to the fact that he had not been afraid.
F-AJNQ departed Natal on 8 June for the return flight to Africa. After about 14 hours, the engine developed a serious oil leak. Mermoz made a forced landing near the despatch boat Phocée, approximately 900 kilometers (560 miles) from their destination. The three crew members and the mail were transferred from F-AJNQ to the Phocée. The airplane was set adrift.

Friday, 13 May 1949: At Warton Aerodrome, Lancashire, Chief Test Pilot Roland Prosper Beamont, C.B.E., D..S.O and Bar, D.F.C. and Bar, made the first test flight of the English Electric A.1 prototype, VN799, a very high altitude light bomber powered by two turbojet engines.
British bombers have traditionally been named for cities. Canberra, capitol of Australia, was selected as the new airplane’s name in January 1950.
The Canberra was produced in bomber, intruder, photo reconnaissance, electronic countermeasures and trainer variants by English Electric, Handley Page, A.V. Roe and Short and Harland. In the United States, a licensed version, the B-57A Canberra, was built by the Glenn L. Martin Company. The various versions were operated by nearly 20 nations. The Canberra was the United Kingdom’s only jet-powered bomber for four years. The last one in RAF service, a Canberra PR.9, made its final flight on 28 July 2008.
Colonel Chuck Yeager flew his last combat mission over Vietnam in a Canberra.

30 April–13 May 1963: Betty Miller, a 37-year-old flight instructor from Santa Monica, California, became the first woman to complete a solo Trans-Pacific flight. She was also the first pilot to make a Trans-Pacific flight without a navigator.
Betty Miller was delivering a twin-engine Piper PA-23-160 Apache H, N4315Y, from the United States to its owner in Australia, Fred Margison. An auxiliary fuel tank was placed in the passenger compartment.
Mrs. Miller began her flight from Oakland, California, at 6:35 a.m., Pacific Standard Time. The first leg was approximately 2,400 miles (3,682 kilometers) to Honolulu on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, flown in 17 hours, 3 minutes. She was delayed there for 4 days while a radio was repaired.
With delays for rest and waiting for good weather, Miller’s flight took nearly two weeks. She took off from Nadi Airport, Viti Levu, Fiji, at 4:47 a.m., local, and finally arrived at Eagle Farm Airport, Brisbane, Queensland, at 10:20 p.m., Australian Eastern Standard Time, after crossing 7,400 miles (11,909 kilometers) of ocean, in a total of 51 hours, 38 minutes in the air.
Contemporary newspapers called Miller “the flying housewife,” which demeaned her actual qualifications. At the time of her Trans-Pacific flight, she was a commercial pilot and flight instructor, rated in single- and multi-engine airplanes and helicopters. She owned and operated a flight school and charter company based at Santa Monica Airport on the Southern California coast. In fourteen years as a pilot, Betty Miller had logged more than 6,500 hours of flight time.
President John F. Kennedy awarded Mrs. Miller the Federal Aviation Administration Gold Medal for Exceptional Service. On 14 September 1964, President Lyndon Johnson presented her with the Harmon International Trophy. (Also receiving the Harmon at the ceremony were Astronaut Gordon Cooper and test pilot Fitzhugh Fulton.)
Two years later, Mrs. Miller flew across the Atlantic Ocean.
Finally, in another first, the photograph of Betty Miller arriving at Brisbane was the very first to be transmitted by a new wire-photo process.
N4315Y was re-registered VH-IMB, 22 May 1963, after its arrival in Australia. The airplane remains operational.
Mrs. Miller was a member of the Ninety-Nines, the Whirly-Girls, and was chair of the FAA Women’s Advisory Committee.
Betty Jean Verret Miller died 21 February 2018 at Bountiful, Utah, at the age of 91 years.

 

14 May 1908: Charles William Furnas, a mechanic for the Wright Company, was the first passenger to fly aboard an airplane.
At the Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Furnas rode aboard the Wright Flyer III with Wilbur Wright as pilot. The flight covered approximately 600 meters (656 yards) and lasted for 29 seconds. Later the same day, Orville Wright flew the airplane, again with Charley Furnas aboard, this time covering 2.125 miles (3.42 kilometers) in 4 minutes, 2 seconds.

11–14 May 1926: The famed Norwegian arctic explorer, Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen, departed Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, Norway, aboard the semi-rigid airship Norge.
According to an article in the 20 March 1924 edition of Flight, the airship was 106 meters (347 feet, 8 inches) in length, 26 meters (85 feet, 3 inches) in height, with a maximum diameter of 19.5 meters (64 feet). Buoyancy was provided by 19,000 cubic meters (670,700 cubic feet) of hydrogen. The airship had a useful load of 10,850 kilograms (10.5 tons). Its maximum speed was 100 kilometers per hour (62 miles per hour).
With a 16-man expedition and Umberto Nobile as pilot, Amundsen departed Ny-Ålesund at 9:55 a.m., en route to Nome, Alaska, via the North Pole. Norge arrived at the Pole at 1:25 a.m. GMT, 12 May, and descending to an altitude of 300 feet (91 meters), dropped three flags, Norwegian, Italian and American, then proceeded south to Alaska. The explorers arrived at Teller at 3:30 a.m., 14 May, and due to adverse weather conditions, ended their flight at that location. Norge had covered 3,393 miles (5,460.5 kilometers).
Amundsen’s flight began just two days after that of Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennett aboard their Fokker F.VII/3m, Josephine Ford. Byrd’s flight has been the subject of some controversy as to whether they actually had arrived at the North Pole. The flight of Norge is undisputed.

14 May 1954: The Boeing Model 367-80 prototype, N70700, was rolled out at the Boeing plant at Renton Field, south of Seattle, Washington. Boeing’s founder, William Edward Boeing (1881–1956) was present. The prototype made its first flight 15 July 1954 with Boeing test pilots Alvin M. “Tex” Johnston and Richard L. “Dix” Loesch. Later, Tex Johnston famously performed a barrel roll during a demonstration flight of the prototype with reporters on board. When Boeing's execs asked him what he thought he was doing, he replied, "Selling airplanes." They sold.

14 May 1973: At 12:30:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, America’s first orbital space station, Skylab, was launched by a Saturn V Launch Vehicle, SA-513, from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida. First motion was detected at T + 000:00:00.22.
After first stage separation, the S-IC/S-II interstage connector failed to separate from the second stage. because of this, orbital insertion occurred at T + 000:09:59.0; 0.64 seconds later than planned, and 0.6 meters per second faster than predicted. The S-II stage followed the Skylab into Earth orbit. Skylab’s orbit was almost perfectly circular, with an apogee of 234.2 nautical miles (433.7 kilometers), and perigee of 233.0 nautical miles (431.5 kilometers). The orbital period was 93.23 minutes, with a velocity of 17,111 miles per hour (27,537 kilometers per hour).
Skylab was unmanned at launch. Three 3-man crews were carried to the station aboard Apollo command/service modules launched by the smaller Saturn IB rocket.
Skylab’s mission was to demonstrate that humans could live and work in orbit for extended periods of time, and that they could also perform useful work and research. The first crew had to make repairs in orbit to extend a damaged solar array and to use a spare solar panel as a shade to prevent sunlight from overheating the station. This was the first orbital repair mission. Astronauts occupied Skylab for 171 days, 13 hours and conducted over 300 scientific projects.
The unmanned space station’s orbit decayed and it reentered on 11 July 1979. It broke up and parts landed in the Indian Ocean and near Perth, Australia.

14 May 2005: Test pilot Didier Delsalle landed a Eurocopter AS 350 B3 Ecureuil, c/n 3934, registration F-WQEX, at the summit of Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth, at 8,848 meters (29,029 feet).
The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale required that the helicopter remain on the summit for at least two 2 minutes for the landing to be considered official. Delsalle actually landed on the summit twice, staying four minutes each time. The flight set two world records for the highest take-off.
Delsalle also rescued two Japanese climbers at 16,000 feet (4,877 meters).

 

If I may...

ALSO ON MAY 13th:

In 1607, English colonists arrived by ship at the site of what became the Jamestown settlement in Virginia (the colonists went ashore the next day).

In 1862, the USS Planter, a steamer and gunship, stole through Confederate lines and was passed to the Union, by a southern slave, Robert Smalls, who later was officially appointed as captain, becoming the first black man to command a United States ship.

In 1865, in far south Texas, more than a month after Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s surrender, the last land battle of the Civil War, the Battle of Palmito Ranch, ended with a Confederate victory.

In 1880, in Menlo Park, NJ, Thomas Edison performed the first test of his electric railway system.

In 1912, the Royal Flying Corps, the forerunner of the Royal Air Force, was established in the United Kingdom.

In 1914, boxer Joe Louis, the World Heavyweight Champion from 1937-1949, was born in Lafayette, AL.

In 1918, the first U.S. airmail stamps, featuring a picture of a Curtiss JN-4 biplane, were issued to the public. (On a few of the stamps, the biplane was inadvertently printed upside-down, making the "Inverted Jenny" collector's items.)

In 1939, the first commercial FM radio station in the United States was launched in Bloomfield, CT. The station later became WDRC-FM.

In 1940, Germany’s conquest of France began as the German army crossed the Meuse.

Also in 1940, in his first speech as British prime minister, Winston Churchill told Parliament, "I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this government: I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat."

In 1950, director/producer/VFX artist Joe Johnston was born in Austin, TX. He’s known for both his work on the original “Star Wars” trilogy, and his later work on a number of big budget movies.

Also in 1950, musician/singer/songwriter/producer Stevie Wonder was born in Saginaw, MI.

In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Act.

Also in 1954, the musical "The Pajama Game" opened on Broadway at the St. James Theater.

In 1958, Vice President Richard Nixon and his wife, Pat, were spat upon and their limousine battered by rocks thrown by anti-U.S. demonstrators in Caracas, Venezuela.

In 1967, on “Doctor Who”, part six of “The Faceless Ones” was broadcast on BBC 1. It featured the last regular appearance of Michael Craze as Ben Jackson, and Anneke Wills as Polly.

In 1970, the Western “The Ballad of Cable Hogue”, starring Jason Robards and directed by Sam Peckinpah, was released in the U.S.

Also in 1970, the Beatles documentary “Let It Be” premiered in New York City. It has since become rarely-seen and highly sought-after.

In 1973, in tennis' first so-called "Battle of the Sexes," Bobby Riggs defeated Margaret Court 6-2, 6-1 in Ramona, California.

In 1978, on “Columbo”, the episode “The Conspirators” was broadcast on NBC-TV. It was the last episode of the original series.

In 1981, Pope John Paul II was shot and seriously wounded in St. Peter's Square by Turkish assailant Mehmet Ali Agca.

In 1985, a confrontation between Philadelphia authorities and the radical group MOVE ended as police dropped a bomb onto the group's row house; 11 people died in the resulting fire that destroyed 61 homes.

In 1994, Johnny Carson made his last television appearance on “The Late Show with David Letterman”.

In 2005, “These are the Voyages…”, the last episode of “Star Trek: Enterprise”, was broadcast on UPN. It provoked considerable controversy among Trekkers.

In 2006, on “Doctor Who”, the episode “Rise of the Cybermen” was broadcast on BBC 1. It marked the first appearance of the Cybermen (barring a brief reference in “Dalek”) in the revived series.

In 2013, Kermit Gosnell, a physician and abortion provider, was found guilty in Philadelphia, PA of three counts of murder of newborn infants, one count of involuntary manslaughter, and various other charges. (As part of a plea bargain, he was sentenced to three terms of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.)

Also in 2013, after some Americans received their copies of the “Doctor Who: The Complete Series Seven” DVD set before the broadcast of the series finale (“The Name of the Doctor”), the BBC urged those fans "not to divulge information or post content publicly so that fellow fans who have yet to see the episodes do not have their viewing pleasure ruined" on their “Doctor Who” Facebook page. Reportedly, the fans complied.

In 2018, a least 13 people were killed and more than 40 others wounded after a series of suicide bombings at three churches in Surabaya, Indonesia.

Also in 2018, actress/activist Margot Kidder died in Livingston, MT at age 69.

In 2019, singer/actress/activist Doris Day died in Carmel Valley, CA at age 97.

 

If I may...

ALSO ON MAY 14th:

In 1607, Jamestown, VA was settled as an English colony.

In 1787, In Philadelphia, delegates convened a Constitutional Convention to write a new Constitution for the United States; George Washington presided.

In 1796, English physician Edward Jenner inoculated 8-year-old James Phipps against smallpox by using cowpox matter.

In 1804, the Lewis and Clark expedition to explore the Louisiana Territory as well as the Pacific Northwest left camp near present-day Hartford, Illinois.

In 1897, John Philip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever”, the U.S. National March, was first performed. It took place at Willow Grove Park, near Philadelphia, PA.

In 1900, the Games of the 2nd Olympiad opened in Paris as part of the 1900 World's Fair.

In 1913, the Rockefeller Foundation was founded in New York.

In 1933, actress Sian Phillips, best-known for playing Livia in the BBC drama “I, Claudius”, was born in Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, West Glamorgan, Wales.

In 1940, the Netherlands surrendered to invading German forces during World War II.

In 1944, filmmaker George Lucas was born in Modesto, CA. He’s had a somewhat successful career, particularly regarding a space opera he directed a while back.

In 1948, the independent state of Israel was proclaimed in Tel Aviv. The same day, the United States, at the direction of President Harry Truman, officially recognized the state.

In 1955, representatives from eight Communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, signed the Warsaw Pact in Poland.

In 1961, Freedom Riders were attacked by violent mobs in Anniston and Birmingham, Alabama.

In 1962, the drama film “The Intruder”, directed by Roger Corman and starring William Shatner, premiered in New York City.

In 1970, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young announced their breakup. They have since regrouped several times, both with and without Neil Young.

In 1971, actress/filmmaker Sofia Coppola was born in New York City.

In 1973, the National Right to Life Committee was incorporated.

In 1988, 27 people, mostly teens, were killed when their church bus collided with a pickup truck going the wrong direction on a highway near Carrollton, KY. (Truck driver Larry Mahoney served 9 1/2 years in prison for manslaughter.)

In 1996, the TV-Movie “Doctor Who”, introducing Paul McGann as the Doctor, premiered in the U.S. on the Fox Network.

In 1998, actor/singer/Chairman of the Board Frank Sinatra died in Los Angeles hospital at age 82.

Also in 1998, the final episode of the sit-com "Seinfeld" was broadcast on NBC-TV. It is still the subject of much debate among fans.

In 2001, principal photography began on “Broken Bow”, the pilot episode of “Star Trek: Enterprise”.

In 2003, actor/TV host Robert Stack died in Beverly Hills at age 84.

In 2005, on “Doctor Who”, the episode “Father’s Day” was broadcast on BBC 1. It featured the first appearance of Shaun Dingwall as Pete Tyler.

In 2010, NBC confirmed it had canceled the crime drama "Law and Order” after 20 seasons on the air.

In 2015, musician/singer/songwriter/producer B.B. King died in Las Vegas at age 89.

In 2018, the U.S. opened a new embassy in Jerusalem.

Also in 2018, 58 people were reportedly killed during Palenstinian protests on the border of Gaza. Following reports of explosives being used by protestors, the Israeli Defense Force responded with gunfire and tear gas.

In 2019, actor/comedian/writer Tim Conway died in Los Angeles at age 85.

 

15 May 1918: The United States Post Office Department began regularly-scheduled transportation of the mail by air. After a short delay the first flight departed from Potomac Park Polo Field, near Washington, D.C., at approximately 11:45 a.m., heading to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the first leg of a relay to New York City, New York. Among many spectators and government officials, there to observe was Thomas Woodrow Wilson, the 28th President of the United States of America.
The weather was described as “fair,” with the air temperature at 70 °F. (21 °C.). The first airplane scheduled to depart was a Curtiss JN-4HM “Jenny,” Signal Corps serial number S.C. 38262. Its pilot was Second Lieutenant George Leroy Boyle, Aviation Section, Signal Officer’s Reserve Corps, United States Army.
On the morning of 15 May, Major Reuben H. Fleet flew S.C. 38262 to Washington, D.C., arriving there at 10:35 a.m. Major Fleet met with Lieutenant Boyle to discuss the actual mail flight and assist him with charts for the route. With all the hurried activity, refueling the Jenny was overlooked. When it was time, Boyle was unable to start the airplane’s engine. There was no gasoline available at the polo fields, so some was siphoned from the other airplanes.
Lieutenant Boyle was finally airborne at approximately 11:45 with his load of U.S. Mail.
After taking off, though, Lieutenant Boyle turned toward the south—the wrong direction for Philadelphia.
Boyle soon realized that something was wrong and he landed to try to orient himself. he took off again, but once again recognized that he was lost and landed again, this time, near Waldorf, Maryland. Landing in a soft field, S.C. 38262 nosed over and the propeller was damaged.
Coincidentally, a house near Boyle’s landing site was the home of Assistant Postmaster General Otto Praeger, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Washington. Boyle was able to call Washington and report in. He and the mail were driven back to Potomac Park.
Major Fleet wanted to replace Boyle, but was overruled by Post Office officials.
S.C. 38262 was repaired, and on 17 May, Lieutenant Boyle and his load of mail, all of which had been stamped to indicate the first day of air mail service, once again took off on schedule at 11:35 a.m., for Philadelphia. This time, though, Boyle was escorted as far as Baltimore, Maryland, by another pilot. (Sources vary. Some say it was Major Fleet, while others say it was Lieutenant James Edgerton, flying S.C. 38274.) From that point, Boyle had been told, he was to simply follow the shoreline of Chesapeake Bay to Philadelphia.
But, once again, Lieutenant Boyle turned the wrong way. At about 2:45 p.m., low on fuel, he landed near Cape Charles, Virginia, about 125 miles (201 kilometers) to the south of Washington, D.C. Boyle was able to borrow gasoline from a farmer and at 4:15 p.m., was airborne once again.
Darkness approached and Boyle’s fuel was running low. Uncertain of his position, at 7:05 p.m., he landed at the Philadelphia Country Club, which was about 15 miles (24 kilometers) short of his actual destination at Bustelton Field. The airplane struck an obstacle and Lieutenant Boyle was thrown from the cockpit, though he suffered only minor injuries. The Jenny, though, was in worse shape. Its left lower wing was torn off, and its upper wing damaged. The airplane would be repaired, but did not return to service until 10 July 1918.
A member of the club drove Boyle and his load of mail to Bustleton Field, where it was loaded on a train for New York City.
Postal Department officials wanted Lieutenant Boyle to continue flying the mail, but Major Fleet refused. This time, rather than being overruled, he was supported in his decision by Secretary of War Newton Diehl Baker Jr.
The Post Office Department issued a new 24-cent postage stamp for air mail. The stamp was issued on 10 May 1918. Due to an error in printing, the blue portion of the image, the airplane was printed inverted in reference to the red portion. Only about 100 stamps are known to have been printed this way. Known as the “Inverted Jenny,” this is one of the most famous and valuable postage stamp errors known.
The airplane on the stamp, a Curtiss Jenny, is marked with the serial number 38262—Lieutenant Boyle’s airplane.
An example of this stamp sold at auction in 2016 for $1,351,250 (including buyer’s premium).

15 May 1930: Ellen Church became the first airline stewardess, now more commonly titled Flight Attendant, on a Boeing Air Transport flight from Oakland, California, to Chicago, Illinois.
A registered nurse and licensed airplane pilot, Miss Church had approached Steve Simpson at Boeing Air Transport (later, United Air Lines) to inquire about being hired as a pilot. Simpson turned her down.
When her request was denied, she suggested that the airline put registered nurses aboard BAT’s airplanes to care for the passengers. She was hired to recruit and train seven additional women as stewardesses. Because of the cabin size and weight-carrying limitations of those early airliners, they were limited to a height of 5 feet, 4 inches (1.63 meters) and maximum weight of 115 pounds (52.2 kilograms). They were required to be registered nurses, but could not to be more than 25 years old. Their salary was $125.00 per month (approximately $1,755 in 2017 dollars).
Miss Church worked for BAT for about 18 months until she was injured in a car accident. After recovering, she then returned to her career in nursing.
Ellen E. Church enlisted in the United States Army, 5 December 1942, entering service at Louisville, Kentucky, the location of the U.S. Army Air Force School of Air Evacuations. She trained as a Flight Nurse and was commissioned as a Lieutenant, Nurse Corps, United States Army Air Forces. She also was responsible for training nurses.
Lieutenant Church was deployed to North Africa on 8 February 1943, caring for soldiers evacuated by air from North Africa and the Mediterranean areas. She served in the combat zones of Tunisia, Sicily, Italy, the invasion of Normandy and the Rhineland. She was promoted to the rank of Captain.
For her military service, Captain Church was awarded the Air Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with seven campaign stars, and the World War II Victory Medal.
Ellen Church Field (FAA Location identifier CJJ), an uncontrolled airport 1 mile southwest of her hometown of Cresco, Iowa, was named in her honor.

15 May 1942: The first Ford-built B-24 Liberator long range heavy bomber came off the assembly line at the Willow Run Airplane Plant, just 160 days after the United States entered World War II. 6,971 B-24s more would follow, along with assembly kits for another 1,893, before production came to an end, 28 June 1945.

15 May 1963: At 8:04:13.106 a.m., Eastern Standard Time, Mercury-Atlas 9, carrying NASA astronaut, L. Gordon Cooper aboard Faith 7, lifted off from Launch Complex 14, Cape Canaveral Air Force Base, Florida. Cooper reported, “The liftoff was smooth, but very definite, the acceleration was very pleasant. The booster had a very good feel to it and it felt like we were real on the go, there.” The maximum acceleration experienced during launch was 7.6 gs.
MA-9 was the final flight of Project Mercury. Gordon Cooper flew 22.5 orbits. Due to electrical system problems that began on the 21st orbit, he had to fly a manual reentry which resulted in the most accurate landing of the Mercury program.
The spacecraft’s three retrorockets fired 5 second intervals beginning at T+33:59:30. 34 hours, 19 minutes, 49 seconds after lift off, Faith 7 “splashed down” approximately 70 miles (112.7 kilometers) southeast of Midway Atoll in the North Pacific Ocean, just 4.4 miles (7.1 kilometers) from the primary recovery ship, the United States Navy Ticonderoga-class aircraft carrier USS Kearsarge (CV-33).
Faith 7 is displayed at the Space Center Houston, the visitor center for the Johnson Space Flight Center, Houston, Texas.

MAJOR CHARLES SEYMOUR KETTLES
FIELD ARTILLERY, UNITED STATES ARMY
CITATION: The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Major (Field Artillery) Charles S. Kettles (ASN: 0-1938018), United States Army, for acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty while serving with the 176th Aviation Company (Airmobile) (Light), 14th Combat Aviation Battalion, Americal Division. On 15 May 1967, Major Kettles, upon learning that an airborne infantry unit had suffered casualties during an intense firefight with the enemy, immediately volunteered to lead a flight of six UH-1D helicopters to carry reinforcements to the embattled force and to evacuate wounded personnel. Enemy small arms, automatic weapons, and mortar fire raked the landing zone, inflicting heavy damage to the helicopters; however, Major Kettles refused to depart until all helicopters were loaded to capacity. He then returned to the battlefield, with full knowledge of the intense enemy fire awaiting his arrival, to bring more reinforcements, landing in the midst of enemy mortar and automatic weapons fire that seriously wounded his gunner and severely damaged his aircraft. Upon departing, Major Kettles was advised by another helicopter crew that he had fuel streaming out of his aircraft. Despite the risk posed by the leaking fuel, he nursed the damaged aircraft back to base. Later that day, the Infantry Battalion Commander requested immediate, emergency extraction of the remaining 40 troops, including four members of Major Kettles’ unit who were stranded when their helicopter was destroyed by enemy fire. With only one flyable UH-1 helicopter remaining, Major Kettles volunteered to return to the deadly landing zone for a third time, leading a flight of six evacuation helicopters, five of which were from the 161st Aviation Company. During the extraction, Major Kettles was informed by the last helicopter that all personnel were onboard, and departed the landing zone accordingly. Army gunships supporting the evacuation also departed the area. Once airborne, Major Kettles was advised that eight troops had been unable to reach the evacuation helicopters due to the intense enemy fire. With complete disregard for his own safety, Major Kettles passed the lead to another helicopter and returned to the landing zone to rescue the remaining troops. Without gunship, artillery, or tactical aircraft support, the enemy concentrated all firepower on his lone aircraft, which was immediately damaged by a mortar round that shattered both front windshields and the chin bubble and was further raked by small arms and machine gun fire. Despite the intense enemy fire, Major Kettles maintained control of the aircraft and situation, allowing time for the remaining eight soldiers to board the aircraft. In spite of the severe damage to his helicopter, Major Kettles once more skillfully guided his heavily damaged aircraft to safety. Without his courageous actions and superior flying skills, the last group of soldiers and his crew would never have made it off the battlefield. Major Kettles’ selfless acts of repeated valor and determination are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Army.
On 14 May 1967, the day prior to the Medal of Honor action, Major Kettles took part in the rescue of a six-man Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol which was surrounded by enemy soldiers, and was in the target zone for an imminent B-52 “Arc Light” strike. For his actions, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Lieutenant Colonel Kettles retired from the United States Army in 1978. In addition to the Distinguished Service Cross and Distinguished Flying Cross, he had been awarded the Legion of Merit; the Bronze Star with one oak leaf cluster (two awards); and twenty-seven Air Medals.
Beginning in 2012, efforts began to upgrade Colonel Kettles’ Distinguished Service Cross to the Medal of Honor. A bill, S.2250, was passed in the first session of the 114th Congress authorizing the award, which was also approved by Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter.
In a ceremony held at The White House, 18 July 2016, the Medal of Honor was presented to Lieutenant Colonel Charles Seymour Kettles, United States Army (Retired), by Barrack Obama, 44th President of the United States of America.
Charles Seymour Kettles died in his home town of Ypsilanti, Michigan, 21 January 2019. He was buried at the Highland Cemetery.

 

16 May 1923: The National Aeronautic Association of the United States of America grants pilot’s license No. 6017 to Miss Amelia Mary Earhart.
The airman’s certificate is on display at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, on loan from the 99’s Museum of Women Pilots, Oklahoma City, OK.

16 May 1929: In a ceremony at the Hotel Roosevelt in Hollywood, California, U.S.A., “Wings,” a Paramount Pictures silent motion picture released in 1927 and directed by William A. Wellman, won the first Academy Award for Best Picture. It also won an award for Best Engineering Effects.
The silent movie about combat pilots of World War I, was filmed on location at Kelly Field, Texas, at a cost of $2,000.000. More than 300 pilots were involved, and 3,500 extras in the land battle scenes.
The leading actors in the film were Clara Bow, Charles (“Buddy”) Rogers, Richard Arlen, with a small part for Gary Cooper. The leading men learned to fly so that they could be filmed flying airplanes for the movies; there was no trick photography or models for this film.
William A. Wellman, the film’s director, was himself a combat pilot during World War I, credited with three “kills” and five probables (perhaps as many as 9 enemy aircraft destroyed). He was awarded the Croix de Guerre with two palms.

16–17 May 1943: Nineteen modified Avro Lancaster B.III Special long-range heavy bombers of No. 617 Squadron, Royal Air Force, carried out Operation Chastise, a low-level night attack against four hydroelectric dams in the Ruhr Valley.
The purpose of the attack was to disrupt German steel production. It was estimated that 8 tons of water were required to produce 1 ton of steel. Breaching the dams would reduce the available water and hydroelectric power, disrupt transportation of materials on the rivers, and flood iron ore and coal mines and power plants. If the dams were destroyed, it was believed that the effects would be the same as attacks against 26 categories of industrial targets further down the Ruhr Valley.
Led by 24-year-old Wing Commander Guy Penrose Gibson, D.S.O. and Bar, D.F.C. and Bar, a veteran of 172 combat missions, the aircrews of No. 617 Squadron dropped a spinning cylindrical bomb, code-named “Upkeep,” from a height of just 60 feet (18.3 meters) over the reservoirs behind the dams, while flying at precisely 240 miles per hour (386.2 kilometers per hour).
The 9,250-pound (4,195.8 kilogram) Vickers Type 464 bomb was designed to skip along the surface and to strike the dam, and then sink to the bottom. There, a pressure detonator exploded the 6,600 pound (2,994 kilogram) Torpex charge directly against the wall with the water pressure directing the energy through the wall.
Nineteen Lancasters took off from RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire, England, beginning at 9:28 p.m. on the 16th, and flew across the North Sea at only 100 feet (30.5 meters) to avoid being detected by enemy radar. The bombers succeeded in destroying the Möhne and Eder dams and damaging the Sorpe. A fourth dam, the Ennepe, was attacked but not damaged. The last surviving bomber returned to base at 6:15 a.m. on the 17th.
Of the nineteen Lancasters launched, two were damaged and turned back before reaching the targets. Six were shot down and two more collided with power lines during the low-level night flight. Of 133 airmen participating in the attack, 53 were killed.
For his planning, training and execution of the raid, Wing Commander Gibson was awarded the Victoria Cross by King George VI. An additional 33 survivors were also decorated. 617 Squadron became known as “The Dambusters.” A book, The Dam Busters, was written about the raid by Paul Brickhill, who also wrote The Great Escape. A 1955 movie starred Richard Todd, O.B.E., as Wing Commander Gibson. There have been reports that a new movie is planned.
Some of the dialog and visuals from the movie are instantly familiar to Star Wars fans; George Lucas borrowed freely from those air combat scenes.
7,377 Avro Lancasters were built. Only two remain in airworthy condition.


16 May 1958: At Edwards Air Force Base, in the high desert of southern California, Captain Walter W. Irwin, U.S. Air Force, set a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Record for Speed Over a 15/25 Kilometer Straight Course when he flew a Lockheed F-104A Starfighter, serial number 55-2969, to 2,259.538 kilometers per hour (1,404.012 miles per hour).
Walter Wayne Irwin was born 21 August 1924 in Washington. He was the son of John Harvey Irwin, a shoe store clerk, and Stella Mildred Barron. He enlisted as a private in the Air Corps, United States Army, at Seattle, Washington, 6 January 1942. Trained as a fighter pilot, Lieutenant Irwin flew 87 combat missions with the Ninth Air Force in Europe during World War II.
In addition to the Collier Trophy, Major Irwin won the Thompson Trophy for his F-104 speed record.
Walter Irwin retired from the Air Force with the rank of colonel following thirty years of service. In retirement, he was owner of a realty company in Sebastopol, California.
On 17 April 1978, Colonel Irwin was flying a rented Piper PA-28-161 Cherokee Warrior near Occidental, California. Witnesses saw the airplane maneuvering at low altitude. A wing clipped an oak tree. The airplane crashed and caught fire. Walter Wayne Irwin was killed. His ashes were spread at sea.
In 1964 55-2969 was again returned to Lockheed for conversion to a QF-104A remote-controlled target drone. It was damaged by a AIM-9 Sidewinder missile on 28 September 1968, but was recovered, repaired and returned to service. On its 25th drone mission, 26 January 1971, Queenie was shot down by an experimental XAIM-4H Falcon air-to-air missile fired by an F-4E Phantom II.

16 May 1977: At approximately 5:32 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, New York Airways Flight 971, a Sikorsky S-61L helicopter, landed at the Pan Am Building rooftop heliport (JPB) in New York City. Flight 971 had originated at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and carried 20 passengers and a crew of three. The helipad was 855.23 feet (260.67 meters) above Sea Level.
2 minutes, 21 seconds after touch down, at approximately 5:35 p.m., the right main landing gear of the helicopter failed and the S-61 rolled over to the right. All main rotor blades struck the concrete helipad. Four passengers who were waiting to board were struck by the blades and killed. One of the blades, 28 feet, 10 inches (8.787 meters) long and weighing 209.3 pounds (94.9 kilograms) flew out over the building’s railing and fell alongside the building before crashing through an office window on the 36th floor. The main rotor blade broke into two segments, one of which fell to the street below, striking a pedestrian and killing him. Additional pieces of the main rotor blades were found up to four blocks north of the Pan Am Building.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation determined that the probable cause of the accident was: “. . . the fatigue failure of the upper right forward fitting of the right main landing gear tube assembly. Fatigue originated from a small surface pit of undetermined source. All fatalities were caused by the operating rotor blades as a result of the collapse of the landing gear.”
The NTSB determined that the flight crew had performed correctly, and that the aircraft was properly certified, maintained and operated. The Board speculated that the four boarding passengers would have been killed by the helicopter rolling over, even if the engines had been shut down and rotors stopped.
A similar accident had occurred when a Los Angeles Helicopters Sikorsky S-61L suffered a fatigue fracture of its right landing gear and rolled over at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in 1963. This accident had resulted in a change in the material used to manufacture the parts.
Between 1958 and 1980, Sikorsky built 794 S-61 series helicopters. 13 were S-61Ls. As of May 2017, two remained in service.

16 May 1986: The Paramount Pictures motion picture, “Top Gun,” directed by Tony Scott, was released in 1,028 theaters in the United States.
“Top Gun” was widely praised for its flight sequences, although the movie’s plot was fairly juvenile. In TDiA’s opinion, the opening sequence showing activity on an aircraft carrier flight deck, accompanied by Kenny Loggins’ song, “Danger Zone,” is exceptional. Another song from the movie, “Take My Breath Away” performed by Berlin, won an Academy Award for Best Original Song.
Art Scholl, a famed aerial cinematographer and legendary aerobatic pilot, was killed during the production of the movie.
The film is credited with a striking increase in enlistments in the United States Navy.
“Top Gun” was released on the 57th anniversary of another Paramount Pictures movie, “Wings,” winning of the first Academy Award for Best Picture.

 

17 May 1942: After a 761 mile (1,224.7 kilometer) flight over five days, test pilot Charles Lester (“Les”) Morris and Igor Sikorsky arrived at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, to deliver the U.S. Army’s first helicopter, the Vought-Sikorsky XR-4. Morris hovered directly up to the base administration building and landed there. He and Sikorsky were greeted by a large group of people which included Lieutenant Colonel Hollingsworth Franklin (“Frank”) Gregory, the Army’s designated rotorcraft expert, and pioneer aviator Orville Wright.
From the Sikorsky factory at Stratford, Connecticut, to Wright Field, Ohio, was 761 miles (1,224.7 kilometers), direct. Because of the XR-4’s low speed and short range (weight limitations restricted the quantity of gasoline it could carry) the distance was covered in sixteen separate flights with a total flight time of 16 hours, 10 minutes. The longest single flight lasted 1 hour, 50 minutes, a new world’s record for helicopter flight endurance. Igor Sikorsky joined Les Morris for the final leg of the flight.
The XR-4 was redesignated XR-4C. This would be the world’s first production helicopter. It is at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

17 May 1943: The flight crew of the B-17 Memphis Belle completed their combat tour of 25 bombing missions over Western Europe with an attack on the massive Kéroman Submarine Base at Lorient, France. The bomber was a U.S. Army Air Force Boeing B-17F-10-BO Flying Fortress, serial number 41-24485, assigned to the 324th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 91st Bombardment Group (Heavy), VIII Bomber Command, based at Air Force Station 121 (RAF Bassingbourne, Cambridgeshire, England). The aircraft commander was Captain Robert Knight Morgan, Air Corps, United States Army.
The daylight bombing campaign of Nazi-occupied Europe was extremely dangerous with high losses in both airmen and aircraft. For an Amereican bomber crew, 25 combat missions was a complete tour, and then they were sent back to the United States for rest and retraining before going on to other assignments. Memphis Belle was only the second B-17 to survive 25 missions, so it was withdrawn from combat and sent back to the United States for a publicity tour.
The B-17′s name was a reference to Captain Morgan’s girlfriend, Miss Margaret Polk, who lived in Memphis, Tennessee. The artwork painted on the airplane’s nose was a “Petty Girl,” based on the work of pin-up artist George Petty of Esquire magazine.
(Morgan named his next airplane—a B-29 Superfortress—Dauntless Dotty, after his wife, Dorothy Grace Johnson Morgan. With it, he led the first B-29 bombing mission against Tokyo, Japan, in 1944. It was also decorated with a Petty Girl.)
Memphis Belle and her crew were the subject of a 45-minute documentary, “Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress,” directed by William Wyler and released in April 1944. It was filmed in combat aboard Memphis Belle and several other B-17s. The United States Library of Congress named it for preservation as a culturally significant film.
After the war, Memphis Belle was put on display in the city of Memphis. For decades it suffered from time, weather and neglect. The Air Force finally took the bomber back and placed it in the permanent collection of the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio, where it underwent a total restoration.
The B-17 Flying Fortress was in production from 1936 to 1945. 12,731 B-17s were built by Boeing, Douglas Aircraft Company and Lockheed-Vega.
Only three B-17F Flying Fortresses, including Memphis Belle, remain in existence. The completely restored bomber went on public display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force on 17 May 2018.

 

If I may...

ALSO ON MAY 15th:

In 1718, James Puckle, an English inventor/lawyer/author, patented the world's first machine gun.

In 1776, Virginia endorsed American independence from Britain.

In 1800, King George III of the UK survived an assassination attempt by James Hadfield, who was later acquitted by reason of insanity.

In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed an act establishing the Department of Agriculture.

In 1869, in New York, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton formed the National Woman Suffrage Association.

In 1905, Las Vegas was founded when 110 acres (0.45 km2), in what later would become downtown, were auctioned off.

In 1911, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Standard Oil Co. was a monopoly in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act, and ordered its breakup.

In 1928, the silent cartoon “Plane Crazy” premiered in a test screening. The first cartoon featuring Mickey and Minnie Mouse, it would be officially released, with sound, in 1929.

In 1940, DuPont began selling its nylon stockings nationally.

Also in 1940, the original McDonald's restaurant was opened in San Bernardino, CA by Richard and Maurice McDonald.

In 1941, the Gloster E.28/39, the first British and Allied jet aircraft, had its first flight.

In 1942, in the United States, a bill creating the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) was signed into law.

In 1948, the day after the state of Israel was established, it was attacked by the neighboring Arab states, triggering the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

In 1955, the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain and France signed the Austrian State Treaty, which re-established Austria's independence.

In 1968, John Lennon and Paul McCartney appeared on NBC-TV's "The Tonight Show." Joe Garagiola was sitting in for Johnny Carson. During the show the establishment of the Apple record label was announced.

In 1970, just after midnight, Phillip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green, two black students at Jackson State College in Mississippi, were killed as police opened fire during student protests.

In 1972, Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace was shot and left paralyzed by Arthur H. Bremer while campaigning for president in Laurel, Maryland. (Bremer served 35 years for attempted murder.)

In 1974, terrorists attacked and took hostages at an Israeli school; a total of 31 people were killed, including 22 schoolchildren.

In 1987, the comedy “Ishtar”, starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman, was released in the U.S. It would become notorious for its failure at the box office.

In 1988, the Soviet Union began the process of withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan, more than eight years after Soviet forces had entered the country.

In 1991, Edith Cresson was appointed by French President Francois Mitterrand to be France's first female prime minister.

In 2004, Arsenal F.C. became the first team in English First Division history to go an entire league campaign unbeaten.

In 2005, “Star Wars: Episode III- Revenge of the Sith” had its official premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, following several showings at charity events.

In 2015, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was sentenced to death for his role in the bombings at the 2013 Boston Marathon.

In 2018, a line of severe storms caused serious damage in areas of the Northeast, including New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and northeastern Pennsylvania. High winds, heavy rain, hail and tornadoes were reported, as well as at least five storm-related deaths.

In 2019, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed the controversial Human Life Protection Act into law, banning all abortions in the state except when "abortion is necessary in order to prevent a serious health risk" to the woman, according to the bill's text.

 

If I may...

ALSO ON MAY 16th:

In 1763, the English lexicographer, author and wit Samuel Johnson first met his future biographer, James Boswell.

In 1770, Marie Antoinette, age 14, married the future King Louis XVI of France, who was 15.

In 1868, the U.S. Senate failed by one vote to convict President Andrew Johnson as it took its first ballot on the eleven articles of impeachment against him.

In 1905, actor Henry Fonda was born in Grand Island, NE.

In 1906, writer/illustrator Margaret Rey, co-creator of Curious George, was born in Hamburg, Germany.

In 1918, the Sedition Act of 1918 was passed by the U.S. Congress, making criticism of the government during wartime an imprisonable offense. (It was repealed less than two years later.)

In 1919, a naval Curtiss NC-4 aircraft commanded by Albert Cushing Read left Trepassey, Newfoundland, for Lisbon via the Azores on the first transatlantic flight.

In 1920, Joan of Arc was canonized by Pope Benedict XV.

In 1929, the first Academy Awards were presented at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. "Wings" won "best production," while Emil Jannings and Janet Gaynor were named best actor and best actress.

In 1937, actress/dancer Yvonne Craig, best-known for playing Batgirl in the “Batman” TV series, was born in Taylorville, IL.

In 1939, the federal government began its first food stamp program in Rochester, NY.

In 1943, the nearly month-long Warsaw Ghetto Uprising came to an end as German forces crushed the Jewish resistance and blew up the Great Synagogue.

In 1946, the musical "Annie Get Your Gun," featuring songs by Irving Berlin, opened on Broadway at the Imperial Theater. Ethel Merman starred in the show.

In 1948, CBS News correspondent George Polk, who'd been covering the Greek civil war between communist and nationalist forces, was found slain in Salonika Harbor.

In 1953, actor Pierce Brosnan was born in Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland. Years later, he nearly replaced Roger Moore and later actually did replace Timothy Dalton, both times for the same role.

In 1961, actor/writer/Kid in the Hall Kevin McDonald was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

In 1966, the thriller “Seconds”, starring Rock Hudson and directed by John Frankenheimer, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. (It would be released in the U.S. the following October.)

In 1966, the Beach Boys released their groundbreaking album, "Pet Sounds."

In 1973, the thriller “The Day of the Jackal”, based on the Frederick Forsyth novel and starring Edward Fox, premiered in New York City.

In 1974, Josip Broz Tito was elected president for life of Yugoslavia.

In 1975, Japanese climber Junko Tabei became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

In 1980, the World War II drama “The Big Red One”, starring Lee Marvin and Mark Hamill, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. It was written & directed by Samuel Fuller, and was based on his wartime experiences.

In 1988, a report by Surgeon General C. Everett Koop stated that the addictive properties of nicotine were similar to those of heroin and cocaine.

In 1990, entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. died in Los Angeles at age 64.

Also in 1990, producer/director/actor/Muppeteer Jim Henson died in New York at age 53.

In 1991, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom addressed a joint session of the U.S. Congress. She was the first British monarch to address the U.S. Congress.

In 1999, charity premieres for “Star Wars: Episode I- The Phantom Menace” were held in 12 cities.

In 2002, “Star Wars: Episode II- Attack of the Clones” was released in 40 countries, including the U.S and the U.K.

In 2009, the Pixar animated movie “Up” had its U.S. premiere in Hollywood, CA.

In 2011, STS-134 launched from the Kennedy Space Center on the 25th and final flight for Space Shuttle Endeavour.

In 2014, production began on “Star Wars: Episode VII- The Force Awakens” at Pinewood Studios in London.

 

If I may...

ALSO ON MAY 17th:

In 1875, the first Kentucky Derby was run; the winner was Aristides, ridden by Oliver Lewis.

In 1792, the New York Stock Exchange had its origins as a group of brokers met under a tree on Wall Street.

In 1814, Norway's constitution was signed, providing for a limited monarchy.

In 1886, inventor/entrepreneur John Deere died in Moline, IL at age 82.

In 1912, the Socialist Party of America nominated Eugene V. Debs for president at its convention in Indianapolis.

In 1939, Britain's King George VI and his wife, Queen Elizabeth, arrived in Quebec on the first visit to Canada by a reigning British monarch.

Also in 1939, the Columbia Lions and the Princeton Tigers played in the United States' first televised sporting event, a college baseball game in New York City.

In 1940, the Nazis occupied Brussels, Belgium, during World War II.

In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, unanimously struck down racially segregated public schools.

In 1955, actor/director Bill Paxton was born in Ft. Worth, TX. In his later career, his characters wouldn’t fare well against Aliens, a Terminator, or a Predator, but would have better luck with the Apollo program and the RMS Titanic.

In 1961, Cuban leader Fidel Castro offered to release prisoners captured in the Bay of Pigs invasion in exchange for 500 bulldozers. (The prisoners were eventually freed in exchange for medical supplies.)

In 1973, a special committee convened by the U.S. Senate began its televised hearings into the Watergate scandal.

In 1974, thirty-three civilians were killed and 300 injured when the Ulster Volunteer Force detonated four car bombs in Dublin and Monaghan, Republic of Ireland. It was the deadliest terrorist attack in the Republic's history.

In 1975, Elton John was awarded a platinum record for sales of a million copies of his album, "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy." It was the first album to sell a million copies on its first day of release.

In 1980, rioting that claimed 18 lives erupted in Miami's Liberty City after an all-white jury in Tampa acquitted four former Miami police officers of fatally beating black insurance executive Arthur McDuffie.

Also in 1980, the sequel “Star Wars: Episode V- The Empire Strikes Back” premiered in Washington, D.C. It would be released in the U.S. on May 21st.

In 1985, on “Dallas”, the episode “Swan Song” was broadcast on CBS-TV. It concluded with the death of Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy), but it didn’t take.

In 1987, 37 American sailors were killed when an Iraqi warplane attacked the U.S. Navy frigate Stark in the Persian Gulf. (Iraq apologized for the attack, calling it a mistake, and paid more than $27 million in compensation.)

In 1995, Jacques Chirac was sworn in as president of France, ending the 14-year tenure of Socialist Francois Mitterrand.

In 2004, Massachusetts became the first state to allow legal same-sex marriages.

Also in 2004, actor/producer/director Tony Randall died in New York City at age 84.

In 2015, at least nine people were killed and 18 injured, some by law enforcement and others in gunfire exchanges, in a shootout between rival biker gangs in Waco, TX.

In 2018, during the ongoing volcanic event on the island of Hawaii, the summit at the Kilauea volcano erupted, sending a plume of ash and smoke 30,000 feet into the air.

 

18 May 1953: At Edwards Air Force Base, California, Jacqueline Cochran flew the 100th Canadair Sabre—a Sabre Mk.3, serial number 19200—over a 100 kilometer closed circuit and set two Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Speed Record at 1,050.18 kilometers per hour (652.55 miles per hour).
Jackie Cochran talked about it in her autobiography:
“. . . In those days you were clocked around pylons, with a judge and a timer at each pylon to clock you with special electronic devices and to make sure you stayed just outside the black smoke markers that rose into the sky. We’d throw a couple of tires on top of each other and then, when all was ready, start a smoky fire in the middle. Twelve towers of smoke marked the 100 kilometer for instance.
“The 100 kilometer course would take in about 63 miles. I’d have to fly only 300 feet off the ground in order for the photographic equipment to catch and record me. But there were hills to one side so I’d be skimming a little up and over them. I’d get two chances—just two—to set my record because that’s all the fuel the plane could carry. If all went well, I’d have a margin of two minutes of fuel after two complete passes. But could I hold that plane in a banked position of 30 degrees for a 63-mile circular flight and beat Colonel Ascani’s mark of 635 mph? Edwards pilots weren’t so sure. Opinions varied. And what about taking the ‘G’s I’d be experiencing in those sharp turns? One ‘G’ is the force of gravity, and the turns would offer me more than one.
“None of those record runs entail easy flying—100 kilometer, 15, or 3. They’re possible when you’ve been taught by the best.”
—Jackie Cochran: An Autobiography, by Jacqueline Cochran and Maryann Bucknum Brinley, Bantam Books, New York 1987
Part of the speed run was in excess of Mach 1. Jackie Cochran was the first woman to break the sound barrier.
Over the next two weeks, she would set three more world speed records and an altitude record with the Canadair Sabre Mk.3. She was awarded the Harmon Trophy for 1953, her fourth.
According to the U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission, during her aviation career, Jackie Cochran set more speed and distance records than any other pilot.

18 May 1953: On his last day of combat, Captain Joseph C. McConnell, Jr., a fighter pilot with the 39th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 51st Fighter-Interceptor Wing, United States Air Force, flew two sorties in which he shot down three enemy Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 fighters, bringing his total to 16 aerial victories. He was credited with damaging 5 more enemy aircraft. McConnell was the leading American ace of the Korean War. He had scored all of his victories between 14 January and 18 May, 1953.
For his actions on this date, Captain McConnell was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross:
The President of the United States of America, under the provisions of the Act of Congress approved July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Captain Joseph McConnell, Jr., United States Air Force, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy of the United Nations while serving as a Pilot with the 39th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 51st Fighter-Interceptor Wing, FIFTH Air Force, in action against enemy forces in the Republic of Korea on 18 May 1953. Leading two F-86s on an air superiority mission over North Korea, he sighted a formation of twenty-eight MIG-15 type aircraft. Determined to accomplish his mission and with complete disregard for the numerical odds against him, he immediately attacked. Although under fire himself, he pressed his attack to such extent that he completely disorganized the enemy formation, destroying one of the MIGs and damaging another. Several enemy aircraft were then firing at him but, seeing that the other Sabre in his flight was also being fired upon, he completely ignored enemy cannon fire directed at himself and destroyed the MIG that was pursuing his wingman. These victories, in spite of counterattacks by such superior numbers, completely unnerved the enemy to the extent that they withdrew across the Yalu before further attacks could be made. Through his courage, keen flying ability and devotion to duty, Captain McConnell reflected great credit upon himself, the Far East Air Forces, and the United States Air Force.
Of air combat, Captain McConnell said, “It’s the teamwork out here that counts. The lone wolf stuff is out. Your life always depends on your wingman and his life on you. I may get credit for a MiG, but it’s the team that does it, not myself alone.”

18 May 1961: Operation SAGE BURNER, one of a series of record-setting flights intended to commemorate the 50th anniversary of United States Naval Aviation, ended tragically when a McDonnell F4H-1F Phantom II, Bu. No. 145316, crashed during a low-altitude supersonic speed run at the White Sands Missile Range near Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico.
Commander Jack Lee Felsman and Ensign Raymond Maxwell Hite, Jr., were killed and their Phantom was destroyed when a pitch damper failed, which resulted in Pilot Induced Oscillation. The uncontrolled oscillations became so severe that the Phantom’s airframe was subjected to 12 gs, causing it to break apart in flight. Both engines were torn from the airframe and the airplane’s fuel exploded.


18 May 1966: Sheila Scott (née Sheila Christine Hopkins) departed London Heathrow Airport, London, England, on the first solo around-the-world flight by a British subject, the longest-distance solo flight, and only the third around-the-world flight by a woman. Her airplane was a 1966 Piper PA-24-260 Comanche B, registration G-ATOY, which she had named Myth Too.
The flight covered approximately 28,658 miles (46,121 kilometers) and took 189 actual flight hours over 33 days.
In a 1969 interview, Ms. Scott said:
“. . . This must be why I enjoy being in the air alone. But in fact I never feel alone in the air because one has to work so hard and experience such extremes of emotion. The senses, for example, are all highly intensified. The sense of sight. . .when you look down, a pale pink becomes a deep rose; the seas really do look as though they have turquoise gashes in them. . . The sense of smell: . . .up there you can smell everything individually. The people of each country soon learned this on my world flight. It started at Damascus where they filled the plane full of jasmine. . . .”
—The Guardian, Saturday, 22 October 1988

18 May 1969: At 16:49:00 UTC, Apollo 10 Saturn V AS-505 lifted off from Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a full dress rehearsal for the landing on the Moon that would follow with Apollo 11, two months later. On board were Colonel Thomas P. Stafford, U.S. Air Force, Mission Commander, on his third space flight; Commander John W. Young, U.S. Navy, Command Module Pilot, also on his third mission; and Commander Eugene A. Cernan, U.S. Navy, Lunar Module Pilot, on his second space flight. This was the first Apollo mission in which all three flight crew members had previous space flight experience.
During the Apollo 10 mission, everything except an actual landing was done. The Lunar Module separated from the Command Service Module in lunar orbit and descended to within 47,400 feet (14,447.5 meters) of the surface. The CSM and LM were in lunar orbit for 2 days, 13 hours, 37 minutes, 23 seconds before returning to Earth. During the return, the CSM reached a maximum speed of 24,791 miles per hour (39,897 kilometers per hour).
At T+192:03:23 (16:52:25 UTC, 26 May) the Apollo capsule and the three astronauts splashed down in the Pacific Ocean 400 miles (643.7 kilometers) east of American Samoa. The duration of the mission was 8 days, 3 minutes, 23 seconds.