Friday

                     Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“Happiness is not a matter of events; it depends on the tides of the mind.”

                                      Alice Meynell

Here is some things to consider:

How does aircraft pilots tell how high they are? It is done with an altimeter. This devise is set at the atmospheric pressure on the surface. The aircraft has a “rate of climb indicator” that changes the altimeter reading accordingly until reach a prescribed altitude. When they reach 18,500 feet and above then they set their altimeter to 29.92. This means that all aircraft above 18,500 have the same altimeter setting. Not only that, all airspace above 18,500 in the continental US, Canada and Alaska is a PCA or Positive Controlled Airspace. This means if you are flying above 18,500 you will be required to be at an assigned altitude and route of flight designated or cleared by an air traffic control facility and in radio contact at all times. If not, you will be paid a visit by fighters from the Air Defense Command. I do not believe there is anywhere above the continental US that is not under radar coverage.

What about flights that cover several time zones? Do they have to keep changing their clocks? To avoid all of this confusion every clock in every long range commercial, private and military aircraft and all air traffic control facilities worldwide have the same time on their clocks. It is known as Greenwich Mean Time or as it is known in the business “Zulu time”. Greenwich Mean Time is based on the zero meridian which runs through Greenwich, England...and now you have the rest of the story. This is the way it was when I was in the business...perhaps there is a change or two by now.

1563  On this day the wife of the king of England, Anne Boleyn, was beheaded by order of her husband Henry VIII. The supposed reality of the situation was that Henry wanted a divorce from Anne but the Catholic Church disallowed it. Henry then accused Anne of adultery and sentenced her to death by beheading with the broad ax. A few women later Henry wanted another divorce and the church disallowed it again so Henry told the Catholic Church to take a hike and formed his own church, thus the end of the divorce issues.

1066  This is the day that William of Normandy, later to be known as William the Conqueror, with his infantry and cavalry engaged the army of King Harold of England. A few days before Harold had been in northern England defeating to the point of annihilation an army of Vikings led by the king of Denmark and William’s brother Tostic. Harold found out that William and company had arrived at Pevensy in southern England. He began a forced march for the intervening 225 miles gathering volunteers along the way and made the trip in nine days. On May 19 he arrived in southern England and established a defensive position near the town of Hastings and awaited William’s attack. William did not disappoint. What happened after this is worthy of a history lesson and will follow at a later time. By the way, William was a French speaking Viking.

This Date in History May 20

1873  Earlier Loeb Strauss emigrated with his family from Bavaria to the United States. In 1847 his father died and he changed his first name to Levi and took control of his father’s dry goods business in New York. In 1853 Levi was drawn west by the gold rush and settled in San Francisco and established his own dry goods business. He primarily dealt in imported dry goods. One of his customers was Jacob Davis who manufactured work pants in Reno for the nearby miners. The only difference here was that Davis made his “waist overalls” out of denim and put brass rivets at all the stress points including the bottom of the fly. Davis was one of Strauss’ customers and on one particular visit Davis showed a pair of his work pants to Strauss. Davis made his work pants virtually one at a time and did not have the money to expand. Davis suggested to Strauss that they get together and manufacture the work pants on a much larger scale with Strauss providing the capital. Strauss agreed and moved Davis to San Francisco and they set up business and the Levi’s 501 jeans were born. On this date both Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis were awarded a patent for the now famous jeans. According to nearly every worldwide poll ever taken in the last 50 years, Levis is the most recognized brand name in the world beside Coca-Cola.

1927  On this date at 7:52A a monoplane departed Roosevelt field on Long island headed for Paris, France. The difference here was that there was only one person aboard and the trip was going to be non-stop. The airplane almost did not clear the telegraph lines at the end of the runway it was so loaded with fuel. As you know by now the pilot was Charles Lindberg and the plane was named “The Spirit of Saint Louis” because the Saint Louis Chamber of Commerce sponsored him. Lindberg’s trip was as a result of a contest of who could make a solo airplane trip from New York to Paris non-stop with the prize being $25,000. Lindberg designed the aircraft himself using every spare square inch of space for fuel. In fact there was no windshield that space was taken by a fuel tank. Lindberg got what information he needed from a small side window. The biggest problem that he would have is trying to stay awake but 33 ½ hours and 3,610 miles later he landed at Le Bourget airport in Paris. The success of this trip instilled a confidence in people world-wide for travel by air and the race was on and continues to this day.

1969  After 10 bloody days and 10 even more bloody assaults on Hill 937 in Vietnam the United States and South Vietnam forces finally capture the crest. The soldiers that took the hill renamed it “Hamburger Hill” because it was such a meat grinder. On the same day, US Senator Edward Kennedy raised hell with the Nixon military policies in Nam and Hamburger Hill in particular saying that the American loss of life was unnecessary. Hill 937 was only 1 mile from the Laotian border and appeared to be necessary for watching the legendary Ho Chi Minh trail but after two days, the US army ordered the hill abandoned, saying it was just a diversion. It appears that Edward Kennedy was right after all. The next day the North Vietnamese soldiers moved back into their original position on hill 937 in a hell known as Vietnam and American soldiers were sent home in body bags.

1778  On this date the Battle of Barren Hill, Pennsylvania occurs. Barren Hill is known today as Lafayette Hill just northwest of Philadelphia. Earlier George Washington had tasked the Marquis de Lafayette and 2,200 Continental soldiers to keep watch on the English occupation of Philadelphia. The Marquis recruited 50 Oneida Indians to help him on this expedition. The Oneida much preferred the French over the English so it was easy for this Frenchman to recruit them. The down side was that the English found out about the observation post and sent 7,000 to 8,000 troops to surround and capture the Continentals. By superior maneuvering Lafayette put the Oneidas as a rear guard with several cannon and began crossing the Continentals back across the Schuylkill River to safety. The Oneida rear guard action was successful and all the Continental soldiers made it safely across followed by the Oneidas in their canoes. Lafayette and the soldiers he trained this coming winter emerged from Valley Forge a damn fine fighting machine that was instrumental in the success of this pursuit of freedom and independence.

Born today:

1919 US comic George Gobel. He said I have never been drunk, but I have damn sure been over served.” Me too.

        Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow