The FReeper Foxhole Remembers Donald Blakeslee and Battle of Germany (1944) - Jul. 7th, 2004

www.elknet.pl ^ | Thomas McKelvey Cleaver

[SAMWolf]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.

...................................................................................... ...........................................

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Donald J.M. Blakeslee
and
the 4th Fighter Group

To understand the Fourth Fighter Group , how it went from a middling-successful unit with a reputation bigger than its accomplishment, to the top-scoring American fighter group of history; from a score of 150 on January 1, 1944 to a score of 650 on May 1, 1944, is to confront the phonomenon that was Donald James Matthew Blakeslee, called by one who knew him, "George S. Patton Jr. in a P-51."

Donald James Matthew Blakeslee

Don Blakeslee was born in 1918 in Fairport Harbor, Ohio, to a family who were among the original pioneers of the Ohio River Territory in the late 18th Century. As a teenager, he went wild over airplanes at the National Air Races held every year in Cleveland. In 1939 he and a friend bought a Piper Cub, which the friend then crashed. Blakeslee went to Canada in 1940 and joined the RCAF. He relieved his mother's anxiety by telling her he would always be an instructor, and maintained the illusion even after he had shot down his first German plane.


Eagles Prey
American volunteers of the RAF Eagle squadrons circle above a downed 109 in Northern France.

Blakeslee arrived in England 15 May 1941, where he was assigned to a squadron at Biggin Hill. By the summer of 1942, he was a flight leader who had completed his first tour of 200 hours with 3 victories. When told he would become the instructor he had promised his mother, he finally volunteered to be sent to 133 Eagle Squadron, which was the only way he could stay on combat status. Blakeslee had studiously avoided being part of the Eagles, claiming "they played sister in making their claims." When the Eagles transferred to the USAAF, Peterson, Daymond and others with less combat experience than Blakeslee were commissioned as Majors, while he was commissioned a Captain, an event that soured him even more on the unit.


"Blakeslee's Spitfire"
Squadron Leader Don Blakeslee of No. 133 Eagle Squadron used this Spitfire Mk V to shoot down a Do-217 while covering the Dieppe Raid on August 19, 1942. Blakeslee also was awarded two damaaged claims and a probable in encounters with Fw 190s on this date. He also used this airplane to shoot down an Fw 190 on August 18, and damage a Ju-88 on June 27, of 1942. The three Eagle Squadrons were turned over to the USAAF in October of 1942 and renamed the 4th Fighter Group. Blakeslee eventually went on to command the Group which destroyed over 1,000 German planes during the course of the war.

In his autobiography, "Tumult In The Clouds," James A. Goodson, the top-scoring ace of the 4th Fighter Group, remembered Don Blakeslee: "While no one questioned his talent in the air, many in the top command had less confidence in his behavior on the ground. He had established his reputation at the time of transfer, by choosing the very night before General Hunter's visit to entertain two female WAAF officers in his barrack room. The General started his tour early the next morning. Warned of the approaching danger, the two WAAFs just had time to cover some of their embarassment and scramble out the barracks window right into the path of the General and his staff. Told that Blakeslee would be demoted and transferred, General Hunter remarked, 'For one, maybe; but for two! He should be promoted!'"


336th FS
VF

Blakeslee would eventually be recognized as one of the two finest combat fighter commanders in the history of the United States Air Force, the other being Col. Hubert "Hub" Zemke, Commanding Officer of the 56th Fighter Group, "The Wolfpack." The two were as different as night and day. Blakeslee was the great exponent of the P-51 Mustang, while Zemke was the man who tamed the P-47 Thunderbolt. Pilots saw one or the other as greater according to which one he had flown with, which makes it a case of honor for all. Zemke died in 1994, but to this day the two men are the center of awe, respect and affection among those still alive who flew with them out of England over Germany during the great daylight air battles in 1943 and 1944 that determined whether the Allies would be able to mount the cross-Channel invasion that led to the liberation of Nazi-occupied Europe.


Col. Hubert "Hub" Zemke

Both Zemke and Blakeslee were aces themselves, but they commanded men with higher scores. Zemke was stiff as a pilot, Blakeslee couldn't hit the broad side of a barn from 50 feet with a full burst from his P-51's six 50-caliber machine guns. He used to laugh at the other aces that, "you dead-eye shots take all the fun out of it. When a guy like me is motoring along and has to start hosing them down to see where the bullets are going, that's when it's fun." Both shared the uncommon knack of leadership in combat. Blakeslee was the only fighter leader who could actually maintain control of the unit once a melee began. He might not have been a good shot, but he was capable of playing championship three-dimensional chess at speeds of 400 m.p.h. He was rapacious, explosive, easy to drink and jest with, but difficult to understand. Where Zemke was a student of tactics, Blakeslee played by ear.



As much as Zemke loved the Thunderbolt, Blakeslee hated it, despite being the first American fighter pilot to score a victory while flying the P-47, when he shot down a FW-190 off the coast of France on April 15, 1943. Blakeslee dove on three Focke-Wulfs, catching one which tried to outdive him, only to explode under the combined impacts of 8 50-caliber machine guns 500 feet over Ostend, Belgium. When he was congratulated for proving that the Thunderbolt could out-dive the Focke-Wulf, Blakeslee replied, "By God it ought to dive, it certainly won't climb!"

Thanks to my partner Snippy for suggesting this thread

[SAMWolf]

The normal tour for a fighter pilot in the ETO was 250 combat hours. No one really knows how many hours Blakeslee finally totalled, because he would log the time when he led another group on their initial combat operations as "training," and would "forget" to enter missions in his logbook where nothing happened. The best estimate is that between his first operation on 15 May 1941 and his last combat flight on 11 October 1944, Don Blakeslee flew approximately 1,200 combat hours, the American record.



Most fighter pilots played to the crowd, crushing their hats in the "50 mission look," putting their girl's name on the nose of their plane beneath their scores. Blakeslee did none of this. His hat was "G.I.," and so were his airplanes, none of which ever wore a personal name or carried a "victory" cross under the cockpit. His official score is 15, but those who flew with him think it should be doubled.


SIX ACES BLAKESLEE COMMANDED. (Clockwise from lower left) Lt. Col. Duane Beeson, CO, 334th FS; Capt. Nick "Cowboy" Megura; 1st Lt. John T. Godfrey; Maj. James A. Goodson, CO, 336th FS; (center) Capt. Don Gentile. Between them, they scored over 100 victories.

In recent years, many aviation artists have done paintings of a particular ace's "finest moment," usually something having to do with air combat. The only painting Don Blakeslee has ever officially approved is one that shows him standing in front of his P-51 pointing to his watch as he speaks to a Russian officer. The moment commemorates June 21, 1944, the day Don Blakeslee led the Fourth Fighter Group from Debden, England, to Poltava, Ukraine, flying across Germany and Eastern Europe by dead-reckoning, using only his watch and a map on his knee, to land at exactly his ETA. This story tells all one needs to know of the kind of man Don Blakeslee is.


In June 1944 Colonel Don Blakeslee, leader of the famed Fourth Fighter Group, finally learned that his P-51 Mustangs were to escort B-17 Flying Fortresses from Debden, England, across Europe to the Soviet Union. The bombers would then fly to Italy, bombing an oil refinery on the way. They would be accompanied by Blakeslee's fighters as far as the Yugoslav coast where P-51's from the Fifteenth Air Force, based in Italy, would take over. Again escorted by the Fourth, the B-17's would make their way home to England, bombing railroad yards in France en route. The operational diary of Blakeslee's Group shows that the entire Shuttle mission covered 6000 miles, 10 countries and 29 1/4 hours of operational flying for 10 destroyed and 7 lost. After briefing his fighter pilots, Blakeslee said: "This whole thing is for show." Indeed, it showed a lot: it showed that no target in Germany was safe from air attack; that Allied air supremacy was complete; that the end of the war in Europe was in sight!

Blakeslee found his Bucephalus the day he led the 354th Fighter Group on their first mission, a sweep over Northern France, in early December 1943. The 354th, a unit assigned to the tactical Ninth Air Force, was the first fighter group to take the Merlin-powered P-51B Mustang into combat. Blakeslee led the group on two more "practice" missions, and became convinced he had found the plane the Fourth had sought since being turned out of their Spitfires a year previous. On January 1, 1944, two months shy of his 26th birthday, Blakeslee took command of the Fourth and made it his job to get them the Mustang at the first opportunity.


On the way to Russia. Col. Blakeslee, in his P-51 WD-C (left) leads 4th Fighter Group shuttle mission to Russia, June 21, 1944.

By February, 1944, the 8th Air Force had enough bomber groups that it was ready to make the large-scale sustained raids necessary to confront the Luftwaffe and create air superiority over Continental Europe. Famed aviation pioneer James A. "Jimmy" Doolittle had assumed command of the 8th AF in January, with the directive that he was to initiate "Operation Pointblank," the destruction of the Luftwaffe through bombing of aircraft factories and destruction of German aircraft in combat in the air and on the ground.


RETURN FROM RUSSIA. Gen. William Kepner, CO 8th Fighter Command weclomes Col. Blakeslee on his return to Debden from the Russia shuttle mission. July 1944.

The Luftwaffe had badly bloodied the Eighth during the unescorted deep penetration daylight raids of 1943, to the point the USAAF had been forced to call off further raids following "Bloody Thursday," the Schweinfurt Raid of October 14, 1943, in which 60 of 290 bombers were shot down by defending German fighters, while so many were damaged that the Americans were left with fewer than 100 bombers able to take to the air the next morning.


334th FS
QP

The magnitude of this defeat has never been publicly admitted by the American Air Force, inasmuch as they were "saved" by the weather over Germany, which prevented large-scale deep-penetration raids until December 17, 1943, by which time the first group of Mustangs was ready to support the bombers over the target.


THE COST. A B-17 Goes Down Over Germany. None of the 10 Crewmen Got Out.

The maximum-effort raids of February 1944 are known to history as "The Big Week," though in fact they stretched over every clear day during the month. With the P-47s now equipped with two drop tanks instead of one - effectively doubling their range - and with the 357th Fighter Group transferred with its Mustangs from 9th to 8th Air Force, and more groups ready to convert to the P-51 from the P-47, the Americans began the battle of attrition over Germany that would result in not one serious German air attack on the beaches of Normandy four months later. In this series of air battles, the Luftwaffe began to hemorrhage the "old hares" - the experienced veterans - as they suffered more pilot losses in this month than in the entire of the daylight raids of 1943 combined.


THE BRASS VISIT DEBDEN. (l.to r.)Gen. Eisenhower; Gen. Carl Spaatz; Gen. Jimmy Doolittle, CO 8th Air Force; Gen. William Kepner, CO, 8th AF Fighter Command, Col. Don Blakeslee.

The Fourth put in such a good performance during "Big Week" that Blakeslee was able to argue that the group should be given higher priority for re-equipment with the Mustang, inasmuch as his ex-RAF pilots had so much experience with Merlin-powered Spitfires. "I'll have them operational in 24 hours," he promised General Kepner. On February 24, the first four Mustangs arrived at Debden, with the 46 others arriving over the next 48 hours. When the group flew its first mission 24 hours later, the pilots had on average one hour and ten minutes' familiarization time in their aircraft.

[SAMWolf]

BRIEFING FOR A MISSION. Blakeslee Briefs His Pilots Leading Group Ace James A. Goodson is lower left.

The P-51B of this period was not the Mustang that has come down in history. It was not fully-developed and was mechanically unreliable. Most important, the four guns were set in the wings at an acute angle, which made them prone to jamming under any level of g-force in maneuvering; often a pilot was reduced to only one weapon within moments of opening fire. Additionally, the extreme cold at high altitude froze the oil in the weapons. So far as the Merlin engine was concerned, the U.S.-produced version - the Packard-Merlin - had problems operating with the poor-quality British aviation gasoline until the groups managed to scrounge British spark plugs. In fact, during the great battles of March and April, 1944, more P-51s were lost to mechanical failure than to enemy action. Despite this, the Mustang changed the tide of the air battle. Luftwaffe commander Hermann Goering, interviewed after the war, related that when he looked up on March 6, 1944, and saw Mustangs escorting the B-17s and B-24s in the first daylight raid on Berlin, "I knew the jig was up."


335th FS
WD

The Fourth Fighter Group began "Big Week" with a score of 150, which included 100 victories gained when the squadrons were in the RAF. By mid-March, 1944, the group had scored its 400th victory, and by the end of March, its 500th. In mid-April, 1944, Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower came to Debden to award Col. Don Blakeslee and Capt. Don S. Gentile the Distinguished Flying Cross for their efforts in what was now seen as "The Battle of Germany."


EISENHOWER VISITS DEBDEN. (l. to r.)General Eisenhower, C.G., SHAEF Capt. Don Gentile, Col. Don Blakeslee. Award of the Distinguished Flying Cross, April 1944.

For Blakeslee, Eisenhower's visit and the award were bittersweet. 8th AF, in an ttempt to gain publicity for the "Little Friends," had instituted an "ace race" to see which fighter pilot in the ETO would be the first to equal Captain Eddie Rickenbacker's score. The emphasis on individual acheivement was detrimental to the team spirit Blakeslee believed in. Don Gentile became the leading contender, then controversy surrounded his score because of "ground kills" recognized only by 8th AF. When Gentile buzzed Debden on his last mission and crashed, he violated Blakeslee's one standing order: "He who prangs his kite goes home." The Brass weren't going to send their leading ace home in disgrace, and Blakeslee lost the first of many political battles he would lose in a 30 year career.


GENTILE'S LAST BUZZ JOB.

By mid-April, the Fourth was closing on 600 ground and air victories. This achievement did not come without a price. Of the men who sat in the pilots' briefing room to hear Blakeslee on the first morning of "Big Week," half would be dead or Prisoners of War in Germany within six weeks, including two-thirds of the group's aces. The majority of these losses came in ground strafing missions against German airfields, after the Luftwaffe stopped coming up in force to oppose the raids following catastrophic losses in the series of Berlin raids and others in March. At one point, losses in the group were so heavy that replacement pilots at a depot refused orders to report to Debden.


GROUND CREW. Don Gentile's Crew Chief, Sgt. Tony Cardella note acute angle of machine guns.

By September, 1944, the Allies had achieved air superiority over Germany, and were on their way to achieving air supremacy. With its fuel supplies hit hard by the bombers, and with its experienced core either dead or so badly wounded they could never fly again, the Luftwaffe could not meet the American fighters head-on in the daily raids. Blakeslee's days were numbered. On September 30, 1944, Hub Zemke was lost over Germany in bad weather and became a POW. On October 11, Blakeslee led the Fouth on an uneventful escort. General Kepner, C.O. of 8th Air Force Fighter Command, was waiting when Blakeslee returned to Debden. Blakeslee couldn't believe it when he heard Kepner say, "You're grounded. I can't afford to lose both of you."


BLAKESLEE IN REPOSE. Even in a quiet moment, a coiled spring.

A few days later, Blakeslee went flying, alone. He returned to the field, his mind obviously elsewhere, and landed gear-up. The man whose only rule for his pilots was, "He who prangs his kite goes home!" followed his own order, though it was actually a promotion to the Fighter Command staff.


"Mustang Mayhem"
P-51 Mustangs of the 4th Fighter Group in action over Gablingen airfield, Bavaria, 1945.

Don Blakeslee remained on active duty and spent thirty years in the U.S. Air Force. He never rose above the rank of Colonel, not being the kind of officer who could play "politics." He led the 27th Fighter Wing and took the F-84 Thunderjet to Korea and served in the Vietnam War before he retired to Florida in 1972, where he has lived since in self-ordained obscurity.

Additional Sources:

www.web-birds.com
www.leisuregalleries.com
www.fourthfightergroup.com
www.stenbergaa.com
www.brooksart.com

[SAMWolf]

4th Fighter Group

'The Fourth Fighter Group is going to be the top Fighter Group in the Eighth Air Force. We are here to fight. To those who don't believe me I would suggest transferring to another group. I'm going to fly the arse off each one of you. Those who keep up with me, good; those who don't, I don't want them anyway.'

-- Don Blakeslee,
upon assuming command January 1, 1944.

[SAMWolf]

Veterans for Constitution Restoration is a non-profit, non-partisan educational and grassroots activist organization. The primary area of concern to all VetsCoR members is that our national and local educational systems fall short in teaching students and all American citizens the history and underlying principles on which our Constitutional republic-based system of self-government was founded. VetsCoR members are also very concerned that the Federal government long ago over-stepped its limited authority as clearly specified in the United States Constitution, as well as the Founding Fathers' supporting letters, essays, and other public documents.

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Iraq Homecoming Tips

~ Thanks to our Veterans still serving, at home and abroad. ~ Freepmail to Ragtime Cowgirl | 2/09/04 | FRiend in the USAF

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PDN members and fans. We hope you will consider this simple act of patriotism worth passing on or taking up as a project in your own back yard. In summary:

Who They Are: Operation: Stitches Of Love was started by the Mothers of two United States Marines stationed in Iraq.

What They Are Doing: We are gathering 12.5"x12.5" quilt squares from across the country and assembling the largest quilt ever produced. When completed we will take the quilt from state to state and gather even more squares.

Why They Are Doing This: We are building this quilt to rally support for the Coalition Forces in Iraq and to show the service members that they are not forgotten. We want the world to know Nothing will ever break the stitches that bind us together as a country.

Ideas to start a local project:

Obtain enough Red, White and Blue material (cloth) for a 12.5 x 12.5 quilt square.
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Locate an elementary school with an after school program in your neighborhood or locate an after school program in your neighborhood not attached to a school and ask if you could volunteer one or two afternoons and create some squares with the kids.

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UPDATED THROUGH APRIL 2004



The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul

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[snippy_about_it]

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[snippy_about_it]

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Good Wednesday Morning Everyone



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[Aeronaut]

Good morning Snippy.

[alfa6]

IIRC, after Blakeslee talked Gen. Kepner out of the P-51s for the 4th, Blakeslee told his pilots that they could learn to fly the Mustangs on the way to the target.

BTW, a P-51C crashed last month at an air show up in Wisconsin, I believe. It was painted up in the colors of the Tuskeege Airman Squadron. Prayers for the pilot as he died from injuries suffered in the crash.

Off to work I go, dang nab it!!!!

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

[E.G.C.]

Good morning, snippy and everyone at the Freeper Foxhole.

Be sure to update your anti-virus software.

[CholeraJoe]

Airpower - Iron on target at any price.

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning everyone!

[Professional Engineer]

Good morning ladies. Flag-o-gram.

This naval flag, used 1775 to 1776, combined two American symbols of liberty--stripes and the rattlesnake.

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on July 07:
1752 Joseph-Marie Jacquard invented programmable loom
1813 William Scott Ketchum, Bvt Major General (Union Army), died in 1871
1816 Isaac Fitzgerald Shepard, Gen (Union volunteers), died in 1889
1824 Alfred Pleasonton, Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1897 Chocolate Day
1827 James Murrell Shackelford, Brig General (Union volunteers)
1827 William Montague Browne, Brig General (Confederate Army)
1860 Gustav Mahler Kalischat Bohemia Austria, composer/conductor (Titan)
1887 Marc Chagall Vitebsk Russia, artist (I & The Village)
1899 George Cukor producer/director (Adam's Rib, Philadelphia Story)
1906 Satchel Paige baseball pitcher, never look back
1907 Robert A Heinlein sci-fi author (Stranger in a Strange Land)
1911 Gian Carlo Menotti Italy, composer (Amahl & Night Visitors)
1919 Jon Pertwee, English comic/actor (Dr Who, Worzel Gummidge)
1919 William Kunstler (radical)defense attorney (Chicago 8)
1921 Ezzard Charles world heavyweight boxing champion (1950-51)
1922 Pierre Cardin Paris France, fashion designer (Unisex)
1923 Jean Kerr Scranton Pa, novelist (Please Don't Eat the Daisies)
1927 Alan Dixon (Sen-D-Ill)
1927 Carl (Doc) Severinson Arlington Or, bandleader/trumpeter (Tonight)
1927 Charlie Louvin Rainsville Ala, country singer (Louvin Brothers) Chocolate Day
1928 Vincent Edwards actor (Dr Ben Casey, Death Stalk, Firehouse)
1932 Ted Cassidy, actor (Lurch-Addams Family)
1940 Ringo Starr Beatles' drummer/actor (Magic Christian)
1946 Joe Spano SF Calif, actor (Henry Goldblume-Hill St Blues)
1949 Shelley Duvall Houston Tx, actress (Popeye, Faery Tale Theater)
1959 Jessica Hahn evangelist rape victim/model (playboy)/actress
1968 Chuck Knoblauch, Houston TX, shortstop (NY Yankees, Minn Twins)
1980 Michele Kwan, Torrance Calif, figure skater (Oly-94, Oly-silver-98)

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Deaths which occurred on July 07:
1129 Shirakawa, emperor of Japan (1072-86)/budhist monk, dies at 76
1304 Benedict XI, [Niccol• Boccasini], Pope (1303-04), dies [poisoned?]
1307 Edward I, King of England (1272-1307), dies at 68
1572 - Sigismund II August, last Jagellonen king of Poland, dies at 51
1647 Thomas Hooker clergyman, father of American democracy, dies Chocolate Day
1799 William Curtis, English botanist (Botanical Magazine), dies at 53
1865 Mary Surratt, and 3 other Lincoln conspirators, hanged
1930 Arthur Conan Doyle, British writer (Sherlock Holmes), dies at 71
1967 Vivian Leigh Scarlet in Gone with the Wind, dies at 53
1970 Louise Harrison mother of Beatle George, dies
1973 Veronica Lake actress, dies at 58
1983 Herman Kahn, US futurist/nuclear strategist, dies at 71
1990 Bill Cullen game show host (Price is Right), dies at 70 of cancer

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Reported: MISSING in ACTION
1965 WILLIAMSON DON I.---LOUISVILLE KY.
[POSS DEAD / HANOI PRESS AND PHOTOS, REMAINS RETURNED 7/25/89]
1966 PHARRIS WILLIAM V.---LAKE CHARLES LA.
1967 BITTENBENDER DAVID F.---NIAGARA FALLS NY.
[MID AIR COLL]
1967 BLANKENSHIP CHARLES H.---SUITLAND MD.
[MID AIR COLL. REMAINS RETURNED 05/02/97]
1967 CRUMM WILLIAM J.---SCARSDALE NY.
[MID AIR COLL]
1967 JONES GEORGE E.---ABERDEEN MS.
[MID AIR COLL REMAINS RETURNED O5/02/97]
1967 MC LAUGHLIN OLEN B.---TAMPA FL.
[MID AIR COLL REMAINS RETURNED 04/30/97]
1967 TRITT JAMES FRANCIS---MONACA PA.
[LOST OVERBOARD]
1970 BEALS CHARLES E.---FRENCH LICK IN.
1970 HOWARD LEWIS J.---MACON GA.
1972 KROBOTH ALAN J.---ANTHONY KS.
[03/27/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE IN 98]
1972 ROBERTSON LEONARD---NORTH PORT NY.
[VC TOLD KROBOTH ROBERTSON DEAD]

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

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On this day...
1124 Tyrus surrenders to Crusaders
1456 Though she had already been executed, Joan of Arc is acquitted
1607 "God Save the King" is 1st sung
1647 People's uprising against high prices and Spanish rule in Naples
1668 Isaac Newton receives MA from Trinity College, Cambridge Chocolate Day
1713 1st performance of Georg F Handel's "To Deum" and "Jubilate"
1753 English parliament grants Jewish English citizenship
1754 Kings College in NYC opens (renamed Columbia College)
1838 Central American federation is dissolved
1846 US annexs California
1862 Land Grant Act endows state colleges with federal land
1863 Orders barring Jews from serving under US Grant are revoked
1863 1st military draft by US (exemptions cost $100)
1865 4 Lincoln assassination conspirators, including Mary Surratt, hanged
1867 C H F Peters discovers asteroid #92 Undina
1875 Jesse James robs train in Otterville Missouri
1891 Travelers cheque patented
1898 Pres McKinley signs resolution of annexation of Hawaiian Is Chocolate Day
1898 US annexes Hawaii
1904 A Charlois discovers asteroid #537 Pauly
1905 127ø F (53ø C), Parker Ariz (state record)
1908 Great White Fleet leaves SF Bay
1923 University of Delaware invents the "junior year abroad" (at Sorbonne)
1924 E Hertzsprung discovers asteroid #1702 Kalahari
1928 Edward Hamm of the US, sets then long jump record at 25' 11"
1930 Construction begins on Boulder (Hoover) Dam
1937 Japanese & Chinese troops clash, which will become WW II
1941 Nazis executed 5,000 Jews in Kovono Lithuania
1941 US forces land in Iceland to forestall Nazi invasion
1943 3rd day of battle at Kursk: Germans occupy Dubrova
1943 Erich Hartmann shoots 7 Russian aircraft at Kursk
1943 Liberator bombers sinks U-517
1946 Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini canonized as 1st American saint
1948 6 female reservists become 1st women sworn into regular US Navy
1948 Cleveland Indians sign Leroy "Satchel" Paige
1949 "Dragnet" premiers on NBC radio; also a TV series in 1951 & 1967 Chocolate Day
1954 T.A.N.U. party founded in Tanzania
1958 Pres Eisenhower signs Alaska statehood bill
1960 USSR shoots down a US aircraft over Barents sea
1961 James R Hoffa elected chairman of Teamsters
1965 Otis Redding records "Respect"
1967 Beatles' "All You Need is Love" is released
1969 Canada's House of Commons approves equality of French-English language
1972 1st women FBI members sworn in (Susan Lynn Roley and Joanne E Pierce)
1976 Viking 2 goes into orbit around Mars
1980 Az Judge Sandra Day O'Connor 1st female nominated to Supreme Court
1980 Jim King completes riding Miracle Strip Roller coaster 368 hours
1981 1st solar-powered aircraft, Solar Challenger, crosses English Channel
1983 11 year old Samantha Smith of Manchester, Maine, leaves for USSR
1986 Jordan government shuts al-Fatah offices
1986 IBM-PC DOS Version 3.2 (updated) released
1986 Supreme Court struck down Gramm-Rudman deficit-reduction law
1987 Kiwanis Clubs end men-only tradition, vote to admit women
1987 Lt Col Oliver North began public testimony at Iran-Contra hearing
1990 Greg Lemond wins his 3rd Tour de France (90:43:20 avg 23.3 mph)

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Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Bhutan : Guru Rinbochy
Equatorial Guinea : P.U.N.T. Anniversary
Japan : Star Festival/Tanabata
Pamplona, Spain : Fiesta de San Fermin-running of the Bulls
Tanzania : Saba-Saba Day-founding of TANU party (1954)
National Canned Luncheon Meat Week (Day 4)
Be Nice to New Jersey Week (Day 4)
Nude Recreation Week (Day 3)
Chocolate Day (Cover that girl with Chocolate sypup and boogie till the cows come home)
National Tennis Month

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Religious Observances
Orth : Nativity of St John the Forerunner (6/24 OS)
Old Catholoic : Comm of St Methodius (Cyril), converted Slavs, devise Cyrillic alphabet

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Religious History
1586 Birth of Thomas Hooker, colonial American pastor and an originator of the earliestsystem of federal government in America.
1851 Birth of Charles A. Tindley, African-American Methodist preacher and songwriter.His most enduring gospel hymns include 'Stand By Me,' 'Nothing Between,' 'Leave It There'and 'By and By.'
1946 Italian-American educator, Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini (1850-1917) became thefirst American citizen to be made a saint in the Catholic Church. She arrived in the U.S.in 1889, and was naturalized in 1909.
1952 Six churches met to form the Southern Baptist Association of Colorado, the firstorganization of this denomination in the state.
1959 English apologist C.S. Lewis wrote in a letter: 'I "believed" theoretically inthe divine forgiveness for years before it really came home to me. It is a wonderful thingwhen it does.'

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

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Thought for the day :
"Bachelor's wives and spinster's children are always perfect."

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Things To Do If You Ever Became An Evil Overlord...
If it becomes necessary to escape, DO NOT stop to pose dramatically and toss off a one-liner

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The World's Shortest Books...
Easy UNIX

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Dumb Laws...
Chico California:
Bowling on the sidewalk is illegal

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Top Ten Things That sound Dirty In Golf..But Aren't...
6. Keep your head down and spread your legs a bit more.

[The Mayor]

July 7, 2004

Make A Difference

Read: Luke 3:1-20

While Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. —Luke 3:2

Bible In One Year: Job 34-35; Acts 15:1-21

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Seven men are mentioned in Luke 3, who had political, economic, and religious control over Israel: Roman Emperor Tiberias Caesar, Governor Pontius Pilate, the tetrarchs Herod, Philip, and Lysanias, along with high priests Annas and Caiaphas. While they were in power,“The word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins”(vv.2-3).

What possible difference could it make for a person with no money and power to respond to God’s word when it seemed that others were so firmly in control? How could the actions of one insignificant person change anything? The answer is revealed in John the Baptist’s message of repentance, his announcement of the coming Messiah (vv.16-17), and his bold confronting of Herod (v.19). John’s role was to prepare the way for Jesus the Messiah, and the world was blessed by his obedience.

Today our task as Christians is to reflect the crucified and risen Savior in everything we do, and to tell others about Him. God calls each of us to live according to His instructions in the Bible. And our response will make all the difference in the world. —David McCasland

The laws of God are true and right;
They stand as firm today
As when He put them in His Word
And told us to obey. —Fasick

Obedience to God is the key to a lasting influence.

[HiJinx]

P-51 Mustangs of the 4th Fighter Group in action over Gablingen airfield, Bavaria, 1945.

I may be wrong but today, I believe the Elephant Cage (AN/FLR-9) at Gab is gone, the HF mission no longer exists. I was stationed there with the U.S. Intelligence and Security Command from 1984 to '88.

[Darksheare]

I'm baaaaaaaa-aaack..

[HiJinx]

We're a team. :-)

Good morning, Ms. Snippy. You two certainly are a team. Great idea for a thread today. Col. Blakeslee's was without a doubt one of a small handful of men who shaped America's fighter forces during that time period; I include both the European and Pacific theaters in that assessment.

Zemke, R. Johnson, Gabreski, Scott, Bong, Foss, and Boyington are names that rate up there with Blakeslee.

[Soaring Feather]

Morning PE, nice Flag-o-gram today as usual. Thank You. Always a bit of history which makes it very nice. How's the sweet family doing these days?

[Colonel_Flagg]

Good morning, all!

Snippy, thanks for a great look at the Mighty Eighth! How have you been? :)

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning Colonel. I've been very busy going around in circles. And you, my friend have been missed.