Free Republic

A fifteen-year-old student pilot apparently trying to recreate the 9/11 kamikaze attack on the World Trade Center slammed a stolen Cessna 172 private airplane Saturday into Tampa, Florida's Bank of America building, the city's tallest structure. Charles J. Bishop, a 15-year-old flight student from Great Britain, stole the small aircraft from Albert Whitted Municipal Airport in nearby St. Petersburg at about 5 p.m., law enforcement sources said. Bishop was killed as the Cessna carrying 56 gallons of fuel slammed into the Bank of America tower, leaving the tail section of the plane dangling precariously from its side. The fuel did ...

Part of article from St. Pete Times after Sept 11. "Robert C. Cooper, president of National Aviation Flight School and Aviation Rentals, stressed that the extra security cannot be done at the expense of those of Middle Eastern descent. "I don't want to get involved in profiling," he said. "I have faith in my government. I have to work on the belief that my government has basis to allow them into the country and show them proper respect." end of article. Cooper is head of National Aviation Holdings that owned A/C. Many Florida flight schools train Arab students. Wonder if ...

The wreck of a ship thought to have taken part in a failed Mongol invasion of Japan has been found off the Japanese coast. A team of researchers uncovered a 12-metre (36ft) section of keel buried in deep sand off Nagasaki prefecture. They said it was the first time such a large piece of hull had been recovered from the Mongol invasion fleets. The 13th Century attacks on Japan were a rare setback for the Mongols at the height of their powers. Experts expressed surprise that the wreck was so well preserved after so many centuries on the seabed. The...

RADICAL anti-whaling operation Sea Shepherd is promising dramatic attacks against Japanese whalers in coming months, with volunteers warning they're prepared to die for the cause. The group has announced "Operation Divine Wind" against the Japanese whalers, who plan to begin their annual hunt in the Southern Ocean in December. Sea Shepherd leader Paul Watson promised on the group's Facebook page a "very dramatic and adventurous three months beginning in December". The Sea Shepherd has become increasingly successful in recent years at disrupting the Japanese fleet. Angered by the campaign, which reduced the catch, the Japanese government has injected $US27 million...

The death toll from attacks in Norway has risen to 91 with police also confirming they have arrested a suspect whom they described as a 'right-wing Christian fundamentalist'. In a press conference police said that they had arrested Anders Behring Breivik, 32, on suspicion of carrying out the Oslo bombing and the youth-camp shooting rampage. Norwegian Breivik, did not appear to be linked to Islamist terrorism. The suspect appeared to have acted alone and police said "it seems like that this is not linked to any international terrorist organisations at all". Internet postings "suggest that he has some political traits...

Suicidal Swiss man crashes plane into mother's house A Swiss man rang his mother from the cockpit of a rented plane to say he was about to 'drop in' – then crashed the aircraft into her house. 6:16PM BST 18 Jul 2011 Suicidal Konrad Schmidt, 47, launched the kamikaze attack on estranged mother Rosemary after terrifying neighbours with three low-altitude fly-pasts. He then flew the twin-engined light aircraft directly through her first floor bedroom window. Mrs Schmidt, 69, miraculously survived because she was in the basement of her home in the village of Oberhallau at the time on Sunday afternoon....

Kamikaze - a Japanese word meaning "divine wind" - was a last-ditch effort by the Japanese to stop the Allied advance in the Pacific during World War 2. Pilots, mostly young students, gladly volunteered for suicide missions out of a strong sense of duty to their Emperor. Most of us know of the kamikaze through documentaries or old videos. But the suicide attacks were very real for Grove Schoolcraft, 85, of Sandpoint, Idaho. In fact, the ship he served on as a signalman, the USS PC-1603, was struck twice at the Battle of Okinawa, and scuttled on May 26, 1945....

The USS Emmons served the United States proudly through World War II, right up until April 6, 1945, when it was attacked by five kamikaze pilots off the coast of Okinawa. One day later, the U.S. Navy sank the destroyer to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Japanese.

The main argument against building the Park51 (Ground Zero) mosque adjacent to Ground Zero has been that its placement would be a lasting affront to the memory of the Americans who died at the hands of Muslim terrorists. And that argument is certainly sufficient by itself. But it is not the most important argument against a mosque in that location. To understand what is, we must remember what happened the last time we fought against suicide bombers, who, like their contemporary Muslim counterparts, were inspired by what they felt to be a divine mission. In the Second World War, Japanese...

"I am not going on this mission for the Emperor or for the Empire...I am going because I was ordered to." These words were spoken by one of Japan's first kamikaze pilots, Lieutenant Yukio Seki, after being compelled to volunteer for a suicide mission. Though apprehensive, the pilot maintained the insight to comprehend that "Japan's future was pale if it was forced to kill one of its best pilots." So it is in Washington, D.C. as a "divine wind" blows through the nation's capital. Although in the majority, Democrats are experiencing decreased capacity to successfully wage political war. Disregarding plummeting...

CHIRAN, Japan -- Lt. Uchida faced a terrifying mission - crash his plane into a U.S. warship. But the young kamikaze's final letter was full of bravado. "Now I'll go and get rid of those devils," vowing to "bring back the neck" of President Roosevelt. But for an increasingly bold cadre of conservatives, Uchida's words symbolize just the kind of guts and commitment Japanese youth need. The suicidal flyers are glorified in a film by Tokyo's governor, a well-known nationalist. A museum about kamikazes gets 500,000 visitors a year. The hero-worship of the kamikazes coincides with a trend seeing the...

The district attorney of New York County, Robert Morgenthau, called the other day to say that he'd appreciated the editorial about the Copperheads. It wasn't just the substance of the editorial that had caught his eye, he said, but the historical tone, and he suggested we take a similar look at the battle of Okinawa. We perked up because Mr. Morgenthau is an old salt himself, having had a destroyer* torpedoed out from under him and sunk in the Mediterranean and then, in the Pacific, had another destroyer ** torpedoed, but not sunk, and later, when he was still on...

London - British fighter pilots were asked by a military chief to consider flying suicide missions as a last resort to stop terrorists, the defence ministry acknowledged on Tuesday. Air Vice-Marshal David Walker told crews to consider the scenario at a training conference, Britain's The Sun tabloid newspaper reported. Walker asked pilots what they would do if they suffered weapons failure as they pursued terrorists attempting to fly an aircraft into a British city, or as they chased ground vehicles carrying militants to a target. "Would you think it unreasonable if I ordered you to fly your aircraft into the...

Tancredo fires back at Fla. guv Colo. congressman accuses Jeb Bush of 'happy talk' By Tillie Fong, Rocky Mountain News November 30, 2006 U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo on Wednesday accused Florida Gov. Jeb Bush of spouting "politically correct happy talk" in a war of words touched off by the congressman's swipe at the city of Miami as resembling a "Third World country." In a letter responding to a blast from Bush, Tancredo said the governor did not recognize illegal immigration as a problem in Miami. "I certainly understand and appreciate your need and desire to create the illusion of Miami...

Akihiro Hirao, a visiting pilot from Japan, towed out from the Minden-Tahoe airport in an ASG-29 (one of the hottest new German sailplanes, a similar one is pictured at the right). A few hours later, he collided with a Hawker XP800 (a fast business jet) around 15,000 feet (different reports have published numbers between 13,000 and 16,000) that was descending to land at the Reno after a brief flight up from San Diego. The impact was dramatic. The Hawker was traveling at roughly 300 knots (well over 300 miles per hour) and it completely destroyed one wing of the glider...

A mid-air collision between a private jet and a glider on Monday afternoon leaves the pilot and crew safe but the glider and its occupant(s) missing. Authorities say the jet was travel ling at 300 knots when it collided with the glider over Douglas County about 3 PM Monday afternoon They say the pilot and his crew had to make an emergency landing without landing gear at the Carson Airport. They had just received clearance from the tower to descend to 12,000 feet. The plan has received major damage to the nose of the aircraft, and it is not known...

Before the jumbo jets crashing into the World Trade Center, Pentagon, and field near Shanksville on September 11, 2001, there was another psychopath who wanted to hijack an airplane and crash it into the White House in 1974. His name is Samuel Byck. He was a man struggling and a ticking time bomb. He sent weird taped messages to people like Jonas Salk and Leonard Bernstein. He saw the political system as corrupt and started venting his anger at President Ricard Nixon. He threatened him starting in 1972. He even protested in front of the White House on Christmas Eve...

Americans in Iraq quickly discover that they are in a different culture. It's a violent culture, where the public order we take for granted in the U.S. does not exist in many parts of the country. What is going on here? Don't the Iraqis appreciate our efforts to liberate them from Saddam Hussein's cruel rule? Well, most Iraqis do, but a sizable number want to bring back the good old days (for them), and are taking advantage of some aspects of Arab culture to make it so. Understand this, and you understand what is going on in Iraq.  Iraq has been a violent...

One evening 60 years ago this past week, two friends and I got drunk. This was the day the official surrender of the Japanese Empire was broadcast. Now, crowds in London might have cheered the end of war in Europe, and maybe they were celebrating the fall of Japan on Broadway. Where we were, I do not remember anybody cheering. It had been a long war, and we were tired. I was then platoon sergeant of a roughhouse, special 72-man separate platoon. "(Sep)" in our designation meant we could operate independently. We were over strength and carried two officers. I...

I have always despised authors who write books outing dead people who can’t defend themselves. I feel the same way about the books that come out every August castigating President Truman for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Once again, let’s review some facts. Truman was facing intelligence estimates that an invasion of Japan would cost a million American and many more than a million Japanese casualties. These estimates were based on known plans of Japanese defenders and the bloody results of the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Okinawa, a home island of Japan, resulted in more than...