6-7 APRIL 1945 “FLOATING CHRYSANTHEMUMS” The Japanese plan for defense of Okinawa was known by the language characters “Ten-Go.” While defenders on land waged a battle of attrition, Japanese air and naval forces would engage the American invasion fleet. But the Read More
17-18 FEBRUARY 1944 OPERATION “HAILSTORM” Truk (now Chuuk) along with Yap, Pohnpei, and Korsae, comprise the Federated States of Micronesia in the South Pacific. An encircling reef forms Chuuk’s outer perimeter, creating a large, sheltered lagoon 40 miles in diameter that Read More
13 FEBRUARY 1917 SOMEONE HAD TO BE FIRST The seaplane was essential to our Navy and Marine Corps in the earliest days of military aviation. With the aircraft carrier years away from reality, planes operating from ships at sea needed to Read More
27 OCTOBER 1948 THE BERLIN AIRLIFT After the surrender of the Axis, the major Allied powers occupied Germany’s territory under a divided arrangement. Then shortly, France, England, the US, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg began working to rebuild the tattered German Read More
9 SEPTEMBER 1965 STOCKDALE SHOOT-DOWN The cockpit clock in his A-4 Skyhawk read 1210 as he pushed over toward a line of railroad cars at 400 knots. Bad weather over Vinh, North Vietnam, had forced a diversion to this familiar secondary Read More
3 JULY 1951 KOELSCH AND NEAL John K. Koelsch was English, born in London and educated at the Choate School. In 1940 he joined the Royal Air Force and fought in the Blitz. He came to the United States in 1942 Read More
12 MAY 1944 ADVENTURES OF A NAVY BLIMP The years between the World Wars saw the development of lighter-than-air zeppelins and blimps, initially useful in the civilian common carrier industry by virtue of their sustained cruising capabilities. These same cruising and Read More
3-4 APRIL 1933 ADMIRAL MOFFETT AND AKRON RADM William A. Moffett was one of our most energetic and determined Naval aviators, whose particular interest was the rigid-framed lighter-than-air (LTA) ship. Moffett faced an uphill battle however, as zeppelins were widely thought Read More
27 JANUARY-3 FEBRUARY 1943 DAISY CHAIN RESCUE In 1941, months before Pearl Harbor, American freighters crossing the North Atlantic were being torpedoed by German U-boats as Hitler tried to starve England into submission. By May, President Franklin Roosevelt declared an “Unlimited Read More