1.
LGM-30 Minuteman
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The LGM-30 Minuteman is a U. S. land-based intercontinental ballistic missile, in service with the Air Force Global Strike Command. As of 2016, the LGM-30G Minuteman III version is the only land-based ICBM in service in the United States, development of the Minuteman began in the mid-1950s as the outgrowth of basic research into solid fuel rocket motors which indicated an ICBM based on solids was possible. Such a missile could stand ready for extended periods of time with little maintenance, in comparison, existing U. S. missile designs using liquid fuels required a lengthy fueling process immediately before launch, which left them open to the possibility of surprise attack. This potential for immediate launch gave the missile its name, like the Revolutionary Wars Minutemen, Minuteman entered service in 1962 as a weapon tasked primarily with the deterrence role, threatening Soviet cities with a counterattack if the U. S. was attacked. However, with the development of the U. S, the Minuteman-II entered service in 1965 with a host of upgrades to improve its accuracy and survivability in the face of an anti-ballistic missile system the Soviets were known to be developing. Minuteman-III was the first multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle ICBM to be deployed, each missile can carry up to three nuclear warheads, which have a yield in the range of 300 to 500 kilotons. By February 2018 this will be reduced to 400 armed missiles, with 50 unarmed missiles in reserve, the Air Force plans to keep the missile in service until at least 2030. It is one component of the U. S. nuclear triad—the other two parts of the triad being the Trident submarine-launched ballistic missile, and nuclear weapons carried by long-range strategic bombers, Minuteman owes its existence largely to the efforts of then Air Force Colonel Edward N. Hall. Solid fuels were already used in rockets, but strictly for short-range uses. But Hall was convinced that they could be used for a true ICBM with 5,500 nautical miles range, to achieve the required energy, that year Hall began funding research at Boeing and Thiokol into the use of ammonium perchlorate composite propellant. Adapting a concept developed in the UK, they cast the fuel into large cylinders with a hole running along the inner axis. This allowed the fuel to burn along the length of the cylinder, rather than just the end as in earlier designs. The increased burn rate meant increased thrust, in comparison, older designs burned primarily from one end to the other, meaning that at any instant one small section of the fuselage was being subject to extreme loads and temperatures. Guidance of an ICBM is based not only on the direction the missile is travelling, too much thrust and the warhead will overshoot its target, too little and it will fall short. This appeared at first to be a problem, but in the end was solved in almost trivial fashion. A series of ports were added inside the nozzle that were opened when the guidance systems called for engine cut-off. The reduction in pressure was so abrupt that the last burning fuel ejected itself, the first to make use of these developments was not the Air Force, but the Navy. They had been involved in a joint program with the US Army to develop the liquid-fueled Jupiter missile and they felt that liquid fuels were too dangerous to use onboard ships, and especially submarines
2.
Vandenberg Air Force Base
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Vandenberg Air Force Base is a United States Air Force Base 9.2 miles northwest of Lompoc, California. It is under the jurisdiction of the 30th Space Wing, Air Force Space Command, Vandenberg AFB is a Department of Defense space and missile testing base, with a mission of placing satellites into polar orbit from the West Coast using expendable boosters. Wing personnel also support the Services LGM-30G Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Force Development Evaluation program, in addition to its military mission, the base also leases launch pad facilities to SpaceX, as well as 100 acres leased to the California Spaceport in 1995. Established in 1941, the base is named in honor of former Air Force Chief of Staff General Hoyt Vandenberg, the host unit at Vandenberg AFB is the 30th Space Wing. The 30th SW is home to the Western Range, manages Department of Defense space and missile testing, Wing personnel also support the Air Forces Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Force Development Test and Evaluation program. The Western Range begins at the boundaries of Vandenberg and extends westward from the California coast to the Western Pacific. Operations involve dozens of federal and commercial interests, the wing is organized into operations, launch, mission support and medical groups, along with several directly assigned staff agencies. 30th Launch Group The 30th Launch Group is responsible for booster and satellite technical oversight and launch processing activities to launch, integration. The group consists of a military, civilian and contractor team with more than 250 personnel directly supporting operations from the Western Range. 1st Air and Space Test Squadron 4th Space Launch Squadron 30th Operations Group The 30th Operations Group provides the capability for West Coast spacelift. Operations professionals are responsible for operating and maintaining the Western Range for spacelift, missile test launch, aeronautical, 30th Mission Support Group The 30th Mission Support Group supports the third largest Air Force Base in the United States. It is also responsible for quality-of-life needs, housing, personnel, services, civil engineering, contracting, 30th Medical Group The 30th Medical Group provides medical, dental, bio-environmental and public health services for people assigned to Vandenberg Air Force Base, their families and retirees. It is Vandenbergs only National Historic Landmark that is open for scheduled tours through the 30th Space Wings Public Affairs office. The current display area is made up of two exhibits, the Chronology of the Cold War and the Evolution of Technology, there are plans to evolve the center in stages from the current exhibit areas as restorations of additional facilities are completed. In 1941 the United States Army sought more and better training centers for the development of its armored. In March 1941, the Army acquired approximately 86,000 acres of open ranch lands along the Central Coast of California between Lompoc and Santa Maria, most of the land was purchased. Smaller parcels were obtained either by lease, license, or as easements, with its flat plateau, surrounding hills, numerous canyons, and relative remoteness from populated areas, the Army was convinced it had found the ideal training location. Construction of the Army camp began in September 1941, although its completion was still months away, the Army activated the camp on 5 October, and named it Camp Cooke in honor of Major General Phillip St. George Cooke
3.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
4.
Intercontinental ballistic missile
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An intercontinental ballistic missile is a guided ballistic missile with a minimum range of 5,500 kilometres primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery. Similarly, conventional, chemical, and biological weapons can also be delivered with varying effectiveness, most modern designs support multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles, allowing a single missile to carry several warheads, each of which can strike a different target. Early ICBMs had limited precision that allowed them to be used only against the largest targets such as cities and they were seen as a safe basing option, one that would keep the deterrent force close to home where it would be difficult to attack. Attacks against military targets, if desired, still demanded the use of a more precise manned bomber, the result is that the power of a nuclear explosion to rupture hardened structures is greatly decreased by the distance from the impact point of the nuclear weapon. So a near-direct hit is generally necessary, as only diminishing returns are gained by increasing bomb yield, second- and third-generation designs dramatically improved accuracy to the point where even the smallest point targets can be successfully attacked. Short and medium-range ballistic missiles are known collectively as theatre ballistic missiles, the ICBM A9/A10 rocket initially was intended to be guided by radio, but was changed to be a piloted craft after the failure of Operation Elster. The second stage of the A9/A10 rocket was tested a few times in January and February 1945, the progenitor of the A9/A10 was the German V-2 rocket, also designed by von Braun and widely used at the end of World War II to bomb British and Belgian cities. All of these rockets used liquid propellants, in the immediate post-war era, the US and USSR both started rocket research programs based on the German wartime designs, especially the V-2. In the US, each branch of the military started its own programs, in the USSR, rocket research was centrally organized, although several teams worked on different designs. Early designs from both countries were short-range missiles, like the V-2, but improvements quickly followed, in the USSR early development was focused on missiles able to attack European targets. This changed in 1953 when Sergei Korolyov was directed to development of a true ICBM able to deliver newly developed hydrogen bombs. Given steady funding throughout, the R-7 developed with some speed, the first launch took place on 15 May 1957 and led to an unintended crash 400 km from the site. The first successful test followed on 21 August 1957, the R-7 flew over 6,000 km, the first strategic-missile unit became operational on 9 February 1959 at Plesetsk in north-west Russia. It was the same R-7 launch vehicle that placed the first artificial satellite in space, Sputnik, the first human spaceflight in history was accomplished on a derivative of R-7, Vostok, on 12 April 1961, by Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. The U. S. initiated ICBM research in 1946 with the RTV-A-2 Hiroc project and this was a three-stage effort with the ICBM development not starting until the third stage. However, funding was cut after only three successful launches in 1948 of the second stage design, used to test variations on the V-2 design. With overwhelming air superiority and truly intercontinental bombers, the newly forming US Air Force did not take the problem of ICBM development seriously. Things changed in 1953 with the Soviet testing of their first thermonuclear weapon, the Atlas A first flew on 11 June 1957, the flight lasted only about 24 seconds before the rocket blew up
5.
Malmstrom Air Force Base
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Malmstrom Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place in Great Falls, Cascade County, Montana, United States. It was named in honor of World War II POW Colonel Einar Axel Malmstrom and it is the home of the 341st Missile Wing of the Air Force Global Strike Command. As a census-designated place, it had a population of 3,472 at the 2010 census, Malmstrom AFB is one of three US Air Force Bases that maintains and operates the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile. The 341st Missile Wing reports directly to Twentieth Air Force at F. E. Warren Air Force Base and it is part of Global Strike Command headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. However, helicopter operations at Malmstrom continue in support of the missile mission. Originally named Great Falls Army Air Base, later Great Falls Air Force Base, Colonel Malmstrom, shot down on his 58th combat fighter mission in World War II, became the US commander of Luftwaffe Stalag Luft 1 South Compound, at Barth, Germany. After his release and return to active Air Force service, he died in the crash of a T-33 Shooting Star trainer on 21 August 1954 near Great Falls Air Force Base. In the short period of his tenure as wing commander. Saddened by the loss, the people of Great Falls began a drive to rename the base after him, Malmstrom Air Force Base traces its beginnings back to 1939 when World War II broke out in Europe. In addition, appeals were made to the Secretary of War, in 1941, the Civil Aeronautics Authority provided the money for the development of the Great Falls Municipal Airport. In May 1942, construction began on an Army Air Corps base six miles east of Great Falls, the base was known as East Base. In November 1942, a survey team evaluated an area near the Green Mill Dance Club, Great Falls, along with ten other northern tier sparsely populated sites, was considered for a heavy bomber training base. Construction began on Great Falls Army Air Base on 8 June 1942, the base was informally known as East Base since the 7th Ferrying Group was stationed at Great Falls Municipal Airport on Gore Hill. Great Falls AAB was assigned to II Bomber Command, Second Air Force and its initial base operating unit was the 352d Base HQ and Air Base Squadron. Airfield operations began on 30 November 1942 when the first B-17 Flying Fortress landed at the new base, four Bombardment Groups, the 2nd, 385th, 390th, and 401st, trained at Great Falls AAB from November 1942 to October 1943 under Army Air Force Training Command. Group Headquarters and one of the Groups four squadrons were stationed in Great Falls with the squadrons stationed on sub-bases at Cut Bank, Glasgow. Aircraft would take off at a time, form up in squadron formation over their respective location. These bombardment groups went on to participate in raids over Germany as part of Eighth Air Force opening the door for Allied daylight precision bombing
6.
Langley Air Force Base
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Langley Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located adjacent to Hampton and Newport News, Virginia. It was one of thirty-two Air Service training camps established after the entry of the United States into World War I in April 1917, on 1 October 2010, Langley Air Force Base was joined with Fort Eustis to become Joint Base Langley–Eustis. The base was established in accordance with congressional legislation implementing the recommendations of the 2005 Base Realignment, the Air Force mission at Langley is to sustain the ability for fast global deployment and air superiority for the United States or allied armed forces. It was used during World War I as a field, balloon station, observers’ school, photography school, experimental engineering department. It is situated on 3,152 acres of land between the cities of Hampton, NASA LaRC, and the northwest and southwest branches of the Back River, airPower over Hampton Roads is a recurring airshow held at Langley in the spring. Many demonstrations take place, including the F-22 Raptor Demonstration, Aerobatics, and parachute demos. The Wing is composed of the units worldwide, 480th ISR Group, Fort Gordon, Ga. 497th ISR Group, Joint Base Langley–Eustis, Va. 548th ISR Group, Beale Air Force Base. Langley also hosts the Global Cyberspace Integration Center field operating agency, Langley is also home to the F-22 Raptor Demo Team. This team, who travel all over the world performing different maneuvers used in air combat, is used to recruit for the United States Air Force. Performing at airshows and other events, the squadron is the only demonstration team to use the F-22 Raptor. Langley Field was named after Samuel Pierpont Langley, an aerodynamic pioneer, Langley began aerodynamic experiments in 1887 and formed a basis for practical pioneer aviation. He built and saw the first steam model airplane in 1896, both planes were believed to be capable of flight. He also built the first man-carrying gasoline airplane in 1903, which failed to fly on its first attempt and broke apart and crashed on its second. It was, after major modification eleven years later, flown successfully by Glenn Curtiss for a little over 3 seconds, traveling 150 feet through the air in 1914. Langley Field was the first Air Service base built especially for air power, is the oldest continually active air base in the world. In 1916, the National Advisory Council for Aeronautics, predecessor to NASA, established the need for a joint airfield and proving ground for Army, Navy and NACA aircraft. NACA determined that the site must be near water for over-water flying, be flat and relatively clear for expansion and the landing and take-off of aircraft, the Army appointed a board of officers who searched for a location. The officers sometimes posed as hunters and fishermen to avoid land speculation which would arise if the governments interest in purchasing land was revealed
7.
25th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing
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The 25th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing is an inactive United States Air Force wing. Its last duty assignment was at Chambley-Bussieres Air Base, France, on 9 August 1944, the 802 RG was redesignated as the 25th BG. Upon activation, the wing absorbed the 19th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, the squadrons were transferred from Toul-Rosieres AB, where they operated as a detachment of the 10th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, based at RAF Alconbury, UK. The 25th flew variants of the B-66 Destroyers on photo reconnaissance, the 42d flew RB-66Cs that had a seven-man crew. Both squadrons flew its aircraft with an aluminum finish, the differences being that the 19th carried a red band on the engine nacelle. The 19th operated 20 aircraft, the 42d operated 12, having been reassigned from other wings, both the 19th and 42d were familiar with their missions and aircraft. But the wing was kept busy training newly assigned support personnel to operate, one major drawback of the B-66 was pilot training. It was always a problem because the B-66 was a single pilot aircraft, a large B-66 analog electronic flight-crew simulator built by Curtis Wright was very useful for checkout of the flight deck crew, pilot, navigator/camera operator, and gunner. Training the RB-66C ECM operators was more difficult since the USAF had not purchased a comparable electronic warfare simulator for their ground training, thorough training in the RB-66B camera system was critical to accomplish the mission. Later electronic warfare jamming transmitters were added to the RB-66s, increasing the mission workload, day and night photographic training was hindered by the 1965 ruling made by the French government that prohibited aerial photography over their country. This forced photo missions to West Germany and Great Britain, night photography was limited since suitable ranges for dropping the M-120, and M-122 photo flash bombs were not available after the close of the USAFE Moroccan air bases. The escalation of the conflict in Southeast Asia prompted the establishment of Detachment 1 of the 42d Electronic Countermeasures Squadron at Takhli RTAFB during February 1966,6 of its B-66s were deployed on Temporary Duty to Thailand from Chambley to this new theater of operations. On 7 March 1966, French President Charles De Gaulle announced that France would withdraw from NATOs integrated military structure, the United States was informed that it must remove its military forces from France by 1 April 1967. A few of the EB-66 aircraft were flown to Douglas Aircrafts Tulsa, Oklahoma plant for additional ECM equipment and camouflage painting before going to Southeast Asia. About 1 August 1966 the 19th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron was ordered to move its twenty RB-66Bs to Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina, and was assigned to the 363d Tactical Reconnaissance Wing. It flew its RB-66Bs from Chambley to Moron AB, Spain, then after refueling, officially the 19th TRS was to become another of USAFEs dual-based units. Actually the squadron and its RB-66Bs were needed to train aircrews for the combat operations over the skies of Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. On 15 October 1966 USAFE inactivated the 25th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing at Chambley as part of the USAF pullout from France, active Air Force wings as of 1 October 1995, USAF active flying, space, and missile squadrons as of 1 October 1995
8.
Douglas B-18 Bolo
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The Douglas B-18 Bolo is an American medium bomber which served with the United States Army Air Corps and the Royal Canadian Air Force during the late 1930s and early 1940s. The Bolo was built by the Douglas Aircraft Company, based on its DC-2, by 1940, it was considered to be underpowered, to have inadequate defensive armament and to carry too small a bomb load. Many were destroyed during the attacks on Pearl Harbor and the Philippines in December 1941, in 1942, the B-18 survivors were relegated to antisubmarine, transport duty, and training. A B-18 was one of the first American aircraft to sink a German U-boat, U-654 on 22 August 1942 in the Caribbean. In 1934, the United States Army Air Corps put out a request for a bomber with double the load and range of the Martin B-10. In the evaluation at Wright Field the following year, Douglas showed its DB-1 and it competed with the Boeing Model 299 and Martin Model 146. While the Boeing design was superior, the crash of the B-17 prototype removed it from consideration. During the depths of the Great Depression, the price of the DB-1 also counted in its favor. The Douglas design was ordered into production in January 1936 as the B-18. The DB-1 design was essentially that of the DC-2, with several modifications, the wingspan was 4.5 ft greater. The fuselage was deeper, to better accommodate bombs and the six-member crew, added armament included nose, dorsal, and ventral gun turrets. Preston Tuckers firm received a contract to supply a remote controlled gun turret for the aircraft, the initial contract called for 133 B-18s, using Wright R-1820 radial engines. The last B-18 of the run, designated DB-2 by the company, had a nose turret. This design did not become standard, additional contracts in 1937 and 1938 were for the B-18A, which had the bombardiers position further forward over the nose-gunners station. The B-18A also used more powerful engines, deliveries to operational groups began in late 1937, the first being the 7th Bombardment Group at Hamilton Field, California. Production B-18s, with military equipment fitted, had a maximum speed of 217 mph, cruising speed of 167 mph. By 1940, most USAAC bomber squadrons were equipped with B-18s or B-18As, however, the deficiencies in the B-18/B-18A bomber were becoming readily apparent to almost everyone. To send crews out in such a plane against a well-armed, determined foe would have been nothing short of suicidal
9.
Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands
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Saint Croix is an island in the Caribbean Sea, and a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands, an unincorporated territory of the United States. With its 84 square miles, St. Croix is the largest of the islands in the territory, however, the territorys capital, Charlotte Amalie, is located on Saint Thomas. As of the 2010 United States Census, St. Croixs population was 50,600, its highest point is Mount Eagle, Dutch and English settlers occupied the island in 1625 along with some French refugees from St. Kitts. However, the English expelled the French and Dutch, before they in turn were expelled by a Spanish invasion in Aug.1650, the Spanish occupation was short lived as the French invaded with 166 men. By 1651, France had established a colony of 300 on St. Croix, from 1651 until 1664, the Knights of Malta ruled the island in the name of Louis XIV. The island then came under the rule of the French West India Company, however, the colony was evacuated in 1695 to San Domingo, while Louis fought the English and Dutch in the War of the Grand Alliance. The island then lay uninhabited and abandoned, in 1725, St. Thomas Governor Frederick Moth encouraged the companys directors to consider purchasing Ste. On 15 June 1733, France and Denmark-Norway concluded a treaty in Copenhagen in which the Danish West India Company bought St. Croix for 750,000 livres. Louis XV ratified the treaty on 28 June, and received half the payment in French coin, on 16 Nov.1733, Moth was named the first governor of St. Croix. The 1742 census listed 120 sugar plantations,122 cotton plantations, by 1754, the number of slaves had increased to 7566. That same year, King Frederick took direct control of the island from the company, in some of the first years of Alexander Hamiltons life, he and his brother lived with their mother Rachel, Faucette, on St. Croix after she returned to the island in 1765. They lived in the floor of a house located at 34 Company Street. The lower floor was used by Rachel as a shop carrying food items for the local population, within two years, Alexander lost his father, James Hamilton, through abandonment and saw the death of his mother. Official documents from the island, a 1768 probate court testimony from his uncle, by 1769, Alexanders cousin guardian, aunt, uncle, and grandmother had also died. His brother James became a carpenter, while Alexander became the ward of Thomas Stevens. Alexander was soon clerking in the business of Beekman and Cruger, located at the intersection of King. In 1772, local businessmen funded Alexanders further education in New York, the first British invasion and occupation of the Danish West Indies occurred at the end of March 1801 when a British fleet arrived at St Thomas. Denmark-Norway accepted the Articles of Capitulation the British proposed and the British occupied the islands without a shot being fired, the British occupation lasted until April 1802, when the British returned the islands to Denmark-Norway
10.
Saint Nicholas
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Saint Nicholas, also called Nikolaos of Myra, was a historic 4th-century Christian saint and Greek Bishop of Myra, in Asia Minor. Because of the miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nikolaos the Wonderworker. The historical Saint Nicholas is commemorated and revered among Anglican, Catholic, Lutheran, in addition, some Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, and other Reformed churches have been named in honor of Saint Nicholas. Saint Nicholas is the saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, children, brewers, pawnbrokers. The historical Saint Nicholas, as known from history, He was born at Patara. In his youth he made a pilgrimage to Egypt and the Palestine area, shortly after his return he became Bishop of Myra and was later cast into prison during the persecution of Diocletian. He was released after the accession of Constantine and was present at the Council of Nicaea, in 1087, Italian merchants took his body from Myra, bringing it to Bari in Italy. Nicholas was born in Asia Minor in the Roman Empire, to a Greek family during the century in the city of Patara. He lived in Myra, Lycia, at a time when the region was Greek in its heritage, culture and he was the only son of wealthy Christian parents named Epiphanius and Johanna according to some accounts and Theophanes and Nonna according to others. He was very religious from an age and according to legend. His wealthy parents died in an epidemic while Nicholas was still young and he tonsured the young Nicholas as a reader and later ordained him a presbyter. In the year AD305, several monks from Anatolia in Asia Minor came to the Holy Land to Beit Jala, Judea and this was before St. Sava’s Monastery was founded in the desert east of Bethlehem on the Kidron Gorge near the Dead Sea. These monks lived on the mountain overlooking Bethlehem in a few caves, in the years 312–315, St. Nicholas lived there and came as a pilgrim to visit the Holy Sepulchre, Golgotha, Bethlehem, and many other sites in the Holy Land. The Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church is located on the site of his cave in Beit Jala where today there are stories about Nicholas still handed down from generation to generation. A text written in his own hand is still in the care of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, in 317 he returned to Asia Minor and was soon thereafter consecrated bishop in Myra. In 325, he was one of many bishops to answer the request of Constantine and appear at the First Council of Nicaea, there, Nicholas was a staunch anti-Arian, defender of the Orthodox Christian position, and one of the bishops who signed the Nicene Creed. Tradition has it that he became so angry with the heretic Arius during the Council that he struck him in the face. The modern city of Demre, Turkey is built near the ruins of the home town of ancient Myra
11.
Attack on Pearl Harbor
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The attack, also known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor, led to the United States entry into World War II. The Japanese military leadership referred to the attack as the Hawaii Operation and Operation AI, Japan intended the attack as a preventive action to keep the U. S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions they planned in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States. Over the next seven hours there were coordinated Japanese attacks on the U. S. -held Philippines, Guam and Wake Island and on the British Empire in Malaya, Singapore, the attack commenced at 7,48 a. m. The base was attacked by 353 Imperial Japanese fighter planes, bombers, all eight U. S. Navy battleships were damaged, with four sunk. All but the USS Arizona were later raised, and six were returned to service, the Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer. 188 U. S. aircraft were destroyed,2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 others were wounded. Important base installations such as the station, shipyard, maintenance. Japanese losses were light,29 aircraft and five midget submarines lost, one Japanese sailor, Kazuo Sakamaki, was captured. The surprise attack came as a shock to the American people. The following day, December 8, the United States declared war on Japan, the U. S. responded with a declaration of war against Germany and Italy. Domestic support for non-interventionism, which had been fading since the Fall of France in 1940, Roosevelt to proclaim December 7,1941, a date which will live in infamy. Because the attack happened without a declaration of war and without explicit warning, over the next decade, Japan continued to expand into China, leading to all-out war between those countries in 1937. Japan spent considerable effort trying to isolate China and achieve sufficient resource independence to attain victory on the mainland, from December 1937, events such as the Japanese attack on USS Panay, the Allison incident, and the Nanking Massacre swung public opinion in the West sharply against Japan. Fearing Japanese expansion, the United States, the United Kingdom, in 1940, Japan invaded French Indochina in an effort to control supplies reaching China. The United States halted shipments of airplanes, parts, machine tools, and aviation gasoline to Japan, an invasion of the Philippines was also considered necessary by Japanese war planners. War Plan Orange had envisioned defending the Philippines with a 40 and this was opposed by Douglas MacArthur, who felt that he would need a force ten times that size, and was never implemented. By 1941, U. S. planners anticipated abandonment of the Philippines at the outbreak of war and orders to that effect were given in late 1941 to Admiral Thomas Hart, commander of the Asiatic Fleet
12.
Radar
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Radar is an object-detection system that uses radio waves to determine the range, angle, or velocity of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, Radio waves from the transmitter reflect off the object and return to the receiver, giving information about the objects location and speed. Radar was developed secretly for military use by several nations in the period before, the term RADAR was coined in 1940 by the United States Navy as an acronym for RAdio Detection And Ranging or RAdio Direction And Ranging. The term radar has since entered English and other languages as a common noun, high tech radar systems are associated with digital signal processing, machine learning and are capable of extracting useful information from very high noise levels. Other systems similar to make use of other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. One example is lidar, which uses ultraviolet, visible, or near infrared light from lasers rather than radio waves, as early as 1886, German physicist Heinrich Hertz showed that radio waves could be reflected from solid objects. In 1895, Alexander Popov, an instructor at the Imperial Russian Navy school in Kronstadt. The next year, he added a spark-gap transmitter, in 1897, while testing this equipment for communicating between two ships in the Baltic Sea, he took note of an interference beat caused by the passage of a third vessel. In his report, Popov wrote that this phenomenon might be used for detecting objects, the German inventor Christian Hülsmeyer was the first to use radio waves to detect the presence of distant metallic objects. In 1904, he demonstrated the feasibility of detecting a ship in dense fog and he obtained a patent for his detection device in April 1904 and later a patent for a related amendment for estimating the distance to the ship. He also got a British patent on September 23,1904 for a radar system. It operated on a 50 cm wavelength and the radar signal was created via a spark-gap. In 1915, Robert Watson-Watt used radio technology to advance warning to airmen. Watson-Watt became an expert on the use of direction finding as part of his lightning experiments. As part of ongoing experiments, he asked the new boy, Arnold Frederic Wilkins, Wilkins made an extensive study of available units before selecting a receiver model from the General Post Office. Its instruction manual noted that there was fading when aircraft flew by, in 1922, A. Hoyt Taylor and Leo C. Taylor submitted a report, suggesting that this might be used to detect the presence of ships in low visibility, eight years later, Lawrence A. Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa followed prewar Great Britain, and Hungary had similar developments during the war. Hugon, began developing a radio apparatus, a part of which was installed on the liner Normandie in 1935
United States
United States Air Force
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This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.
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