'Connie' spy plane leaves Camarillo Airport for new home →

Photo by Chuck Kirman from the Ventura County Star article.

Sorry to see her go.

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Frontpiece from The Art of Angling, Richard Brookes, 7th Edition, 1790.

xplanes:

Keystone-Loening K-84 “Commuter”, circa 1930 (via)

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Zeppelins over Los Angeles again? Yep, according to this story. In 2014, Goodyear will replace its fleet of blimps with larger rigid-structure airships from the German Zeppelin company. Not quite as big as the USS Los Angeles above, but cool none the less.

From a Photographic History of Santa Monica Airport (12.3MB PDF) by Robert Trimborn (with the related narrative here). Aside from the soloar panels, this ought to look familiar to any McBreen.

The Great Gildersleeve on iTunes →

What does a boy do when he’s grounded from television as a kid? Why, discover old time radio! I’m delighted to see The Great Gildersleeve available as a free podcast (iTunes). Fans can also find the Jack Benny Show and Fibber McGee & Molly nearby.

Reading: The Story of the Malakand Field Force by Winston Churchill →

The story of a young Winston Churchill in 1897 fighting fanatical tribal warriors in modern day Pakistan—see his chilling description of what we hear all too often in today’s news:

Every influence, every motive, that provokes the spirit of murder among men, impels these mountaineers to deeds of treachery and violence. The strong aboriginal propensity to kill, inherent in all human beings, has in these valleys been preserved in unexampled strength and vigour. That religion, which above all others was founded and propagated by the sword—the tenets and principles of which are instinct with incentives to slaughter and which in three continents has produced fighting breeds of men—stimulates a wild and merciless fanaticism.
Wikipedia 

I haven’t read this book yet, but came across of a reference to it in my current team read at the office (The Mission, The Men and Me, more about that in a future post) and was delighted to find the free Kindle edition of the eBook on Project Gutenberg. I believe this is the hardcover edition depicted by the cover image above.

Howard Hughes Camarillo Airport Connection

Came across this little gem in the Wikipedia article about Oxnard Air Force Base, or what is today Camarillo Airport:

Oxnard Airport was opened in 1934 by the County of Ventura and consisted of a 3,500 foot dirt runway … During the thirties Howard Hughes erected a tent on the airport to shelter his H-1 racer, which he tested from the Oxnard Airport.

All the more interesting considering that I always suspected the scene in The Aviator when Hughes crashes the H-1 into a beet field was filmed in Oxnard. Locals may recognize some of the nearby features in these shots (ignoring the simulated bipack color Scorsese annoyed us with), better to just watched on the DVD at 46:35:

Which pretty confidently puts the shooting location about here. The real event took place near Santa Ana, CA captured in this National Geographic photo.

Review: HBO’s The Pacific

Today I watched the last installment of HBO’s The Pacific, culminating 10 hours of intense television that I had been anticipating for months. As with Band of Brothers before it, The Pacific was more than just education—it brought amazing perspective on the tragedy and violence of war and reenforced how small my own problems seem in comparison.

The Pacific was about as different from Band of Brothers as the Pacific Theatre was from the European during the war. As Eugene Sledge points out in this talk, the German soldier was a very competent killer, but in the end, wanted to get back to his family after the war. The Imperial Japanese soldier, however, had no higher honor than to die for the emperor. That led to a very different kind of brutality and a raw volume of killing thoroughly depicted in the series.

On balance, I felt Band of Brothers to be the better of the two—primarily due to the fact you are following one cohort through the war and get to know the soldiers, and their amazing leader Dick Winters, quite well over the 10 hours. The Pacific bounced around between different key Marines and only touched on some of the incredible leadership stories (Chesty Puller getting the most attention).

One of the most compelling stories, that of Captain Andrew “Ack-Ack” Haldane, deserved more attention. He represented the best America had to offer, a natural leader: captain of the football and baseball teams, president of the student council, beloved by his men and respected by his superiors. As you can read in this profile, and this news story, his impact is still felt.

Even as an American history buff, I did not know the whole story of John Basilone and intentionally did not read more about him beforehand so as to experience his story unfold in the series. That resulted in the second kick in the stomach of the series for me, the first being Haldane. After reading the citations for his Medal of Honor and Navy Cross, I couldn’t help but feel the depiction of both events in the series was lacking.

As with Band of Brothers, the series brought an amazing perspective to the “problems” I have in my “intense” and “stressful” corporate job. Since we don’t have cable at home, I bribed a history buff friend of mine to subscribe to HBO (thanks Scott!) so we could watch each episode over lunch at his house. The contrast couldn’t be more stark, going from my “hectic” office, to view (or rather experience) each episode in the dark of his living room, then emerge an hour later to a sunny afternoon in his bucolic suburban neighborhood. Each time I returned to the office, things seemed a little less dire at work.

Overall, I salute Hanks and the producers for putting this historic piece out there. It will educate countless viewers about what those men went through, and maybe make you think a little bit differently about Trumen’s decision to use the nuclear bomb to ultimately save lives. While I didn’t enjoy it as much as Band of Brothers, it is an important contribution to our historic memory and a superb tribute to those Marines.

A talk by Eugene B. Sledge, who appears in HBO’s The Pacific, based on his book The Old Breed.

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US Marine Raiders on Bougainville in 1944 (source).

Despite living without TV for years now, I’m eagerly awaiting HBO’s The Pacific. I find that studying history, and being reminded of what these men went through, can really bring perspective to the “problems” of daily life.

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“Top Secret - Bigot” maps from the D-Day invasion available for sale and in high resolution for download. The term “Bigot” denoted a special, compartmentalized clearance for the Normandy operation. Those with this clearance were “bigoted”.

I’m still on the lookout for the Bigot map depicting the overall plan, similar to this one.

US Geological Survey map of northern Los Angeles and Ventura County from 1881. Thanks to the David Rumsey Collection, you can download this and other maps at very high resolution—makes for endless browsing.

Locals will note the curious reference to Old Bony Peak and Conejo Peak, among the hundreds of interesting observations this map yields. Enjoy!

Normandy 1944 - Then and Now →