#TDIH

[taraross-1787]

This Day in History: Memphis Belle

On this day in 1943, a B-17 Flying Fortress completes its 25th combat mission without losing a member of its crew. Memphis Belle would return to the United States, embark on a war bond tour, and become one of the most famous bombers to emerge from World War II.

She was nearly sold for scrap metal after the war, but Memphis mayor Walter Chandler saved her for $350. Today, she’s been refurbished and sits at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.

Memphis Belle’s survival was no small feat.

The story continues here: https://www.taraross.com/post/tdih-memphis-belle

[canuckus]

On today's date in 1969, Concorde flew for the first time. I took this photo at Heathrow in 1978. Sadly, I never got to fly on Concorde.

[sfc-paulchambers]

🇺🇸 During this week in 1944, American soldiers were fighting one last German push during the Battle of the Bulge. One of these, Pfc. Melvin Biddle, was a normally soft-spoken man. He later even admitted to being scared during combat. “But I lost a lot of fear because I was out there and couldn’t let the troops down,” he said. On December 23, he was fighting near Hotton, Belgium. Our soldiers were trying to rescue another company that had been surrounded. Biddle was lead scout. You’d never know that Biddle was soft-spoken—or scared—in the hours that followed. He “aggressively penetrated a densely wooded area” and advanced within yards of at least five enemy positions. He threw hand grenades into machine gun nests, & he took out German snipers. Biddle described one of these encounters. “There’s underbrush and #cold, #snowy,” Biddle said. “I came up—this small German outpost with the three guys....I shot the first one and then the second one tried to shoot me and I had to shoot him. The third one ran from me and I shot him in the shoulder and he kept going….And then all hell broke loose.” Biddle wasn’t done yet. He scouted enemy positions—alone—for hours. He was freezing & his hands were so cold, he later said, “I wasn't sure I would be able to fire my rifle.” But the young private returned with critical intelligence. The next morning, Christmas Eve, he was dispatched as lead scout again. Would you believe that Biddle was uninjured after two days of fighting? “I’m not a hero, not at all,” he said in 1999. His country begged to differ. “We call them the Greatest Generation for a reason,” the #Indiana Governor said when Biddle passed away in 2010, “and in Melvin Biddle we have just lost one of the greatest of the great. Every #Hoosier is proud that our state produced such a man.” FULL STORY: TaraRoss.com #TDIH #history #WWII #MedalMonday #sharethehistory Posted @withrepost • @taraross1787 https://www.instagram.com/p/CoFoncOOylQ/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[liberalsarecool]

TDIH. Now you know why Florida and Ron DeathSentence want to never talk about black experiences and negate black history. #CRT

The 'I don't want my kids to feel shame' crowd are some horrible parents and would kill a modern community to hide their shame.

#Rosewood

[usafphantom2]

On #TDIH in 1946, TWA's first regular transatlantic service began when the Lockheed Constellation "Star of Paris" arrived in Paris, France.

📷: Constellation in flight, courtesy of Lockheed Martin

@airandspace via X

[nerdylilpeebee]

I never knew that the United Kingdom worked to end the slave trade. I mean, I could have sworn that they wanted to collect spices all across the world through imperialism.

I'm sure they did, but they eventually did work to end the trans Atlantic slave trade with their fleet. They banned the buying and selling of humans in all of their colonies, which basically meant the main people the Spanish were bringing them to (the American colonies) were now illegal to bring them to. Without that main "buyer" so to speak, the trans Atlantic slave trade unraveled.

https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/britain-slavery-abolition-act/#:~:text=On%20August%201%2C%201834%2C%20Britain,inspiration%20and%20hope%20for%20abolitionists.

[mankabrosstudios]

This Date In Manka Bros. History - December 29, 1992

‘Flion: King of the Kitchen’ (half-fly/half-lion) makes his first ‘Animaltered’ appearance as a challenger to Chimpanzebra’s unofficial leadership role.

#TDIH#hollywoodstudios#hollywoodhistory#hollywood#animation#lions#kidstv#TodayInHistory#satire#comedy#parody

[coolcarsntrucksngunsnusa]

On this day in 1945, the world’s first atomic bomb is detonated in New Mexico. The top-secret Manhattan Project had succeeded.

Researchers had been working for decades to understand the nature of the atom. But that research took a new tone in the late 1930s, when radiochemists in Nazi Germany made a startling discovery: The nucleus of a uranium atom could be divided in such a way that it released energy. Some physicists began to worry that Germany would be the first to turn this knowledge into the development of a new, more powerful bomb.

You’ll recognize the name of one man who was worried: Albert Einstein wrote a letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, urging the President to “speed up the experimental work” for atomic energy through government support. FDR was cautious in his approach to the issue at first, but he got more serious after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Within a matter of weeks, FDR had tentatively authorized Vannevar Bush, head of the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development, to pursue atomic research. The Manhattan Project was soon established under the Army Corps of Engineers.

Can you believe that 120,000 Americans were employed on the project—in secrecy? Most of these employees had no idea what they were really working on. Even Vice President Harry Truman did not know about the project . . . until he unexpectedly became President.

Can you imagine? Truman had to decide whether to use an atomic bomb within months of learning about it.

Scientists pursued two sources of power for the atomic bomb: plutonium and uranium. At first, no one was quite sure which would be better, but by July 1945, the plutonium bomb was ready for a test. A remote site in New Mexico was chosen as a detonation site.

No one was quite sure what would happen. Would it work? How strong would the explosion be?

The test device, “Gadget,” was detonated at 5:30 a.m. on July 16. Not only did it work, but the explosion was even bigger than expected.

Brigadier General Thomas F. Farrell watched the explosion from a nearby control shelter, and he described the “tremendous burst of light followed shortly thereafter by the deep growling roar of the explosion.” One nuclear physicist said that he was “enveloped with a warm brilliant yellow white light—from darkness to brilliant sunshine in an instant . . . . there was a gigantic ball of fire rising rapidly from the earth—at first brilliant as the sun, growing less brilliant as it grew boiling and swirling into the heavens.”

The blinding light could be seen for nearly 200 miles. A mushroom cloud appeared on the horizon. A shockwave blew out some windows in houses 100 miles away. When the explosion came to an end, it left a crater half a mile wide.

Farrell spoke of the mood as the explosion came to an end: “[All] felt their profound responsibility to help in guiding into right channels the tremendous forces which had been unlocked for the first time in history. As to the present war, there was a feeling that no matter what else might happen, we now had the means to insure its speedy conclusion and save thousands of American lives.”

One surprising result of this test? Even though a plutonium bomb was tested in New Mexico, a different type of bomb was dropped on Hiroshima a few weeks later. “Little Boy” was a uranium bomb. No one had wanted to test it, in part because uranium was harder to come by. Three days later, a plutonium bomb, “Fat Man,” was dropped on Nagasaki.

The Japanese emperor would soon surrender, bringing World War II to an end.

-----------------------------------

History posts are copyright © 2013-2024 by Tara Ross.

Permalink: http://www.taraross.com/2019/07/tdih-trinity-test

[taraross-1787]

TDIH: Greenwich Tea Party

On this day in 1774, New Jersey colonists set fire to a shipment of tea. Their action came about one year after a group of Boston colonists famously threw tea into their own harbor.

The Boston Tea Party wasn’t the only protest against the Tea Act of 1773, you see.

As “No taxation without representation” became a rallying cry in the American colonies, Philadelphia forced a ship carrying tea to turn back. Likewise, Annapolis ensured that a ship carrying tea would be lit afire. Places like New York and Charleston revolted in their own ways, too.

Colonists in Greenwich, New Jersey, soon joined the protest. Their “Tea Party” (really a tea burning) would be the last of these types of protests before the opening shots of the American Revolution.

The story continues here: https://www.taraross.com/post/tdih-greenwich-tea-party

[canuckus]

On December 15, 2009 at precisely 10:27 a.m. Pacific , the 787-8 Dreamliner took to the skies for the first time and launched a new era of aviation

[sfc-paulchambers]

On January 24th in 1781, Patriots prepare to raid #Georgetown, #SouthCarolina. That raid should have been a quick in-and-out affair, but it instead took a funny turn. The British soldiers, as it would turn out, were perfectly happy to lose their commander when he was captured. Those soldiers had been on the verge of mutiny anyway. Lt. Col. Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee (Continental #Army) & Brig. Gen. Francis “Swamp Fox” Marion (militia) had been asked to work together in the South. Georgetown was an obvious target. It was close to the Pee Dee River, lightly defended by 200 to 300 British soldiers under the command of Lt. Col. George Campbell. Better yet, the town was a major producer of salt. Marion & Lee put their plan into motion on January 23. Ninety of Lee’s infantry, under the command of Captains Patrick Carnes & John Rudulph, were to travel down the Pee Dee towards Georgetown, with a handful of Marion’s men leading the way. Once there, they would hide in nearby rice fields & wait for the second prong of the attack: Lee’s cavalry & the rest of Marion’s men followed on horseback the next day. Unfortunately, muddy roads bogged them down & delayed their arrival. Thus, Lee’s infantry began the attack before Lee & Marion arrived. Americans quickly captured the British commander, still in his bed. They expected other British soldiers to emerge & run for the fort: They would then take those soldiers. To their astonishment, those soldiers simply barricaded themselves wherever they were. Not a single soldier, it appears, had any interest in defending Campbell. When Lee & Marion finally arrived, it was too late. They’d wanted a quick, bold operation under cover of darkness. Instead, they were faced with daylight. They withdrew. Naturally, Americans would try again later—and succeed. FULL STORY: #thisdayinsouthcarolinahistory TaraRoss.com #TDIH #history #liberty #freedom #throwback #sharethehistory Posted @withregram • @taraross1787 (at Columbia, Tennessee) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cnzvu4fOX_o/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[foxyola]

Hello. I don't know if you two still work on it, but I wanted to thank you both for making, "The Death in His Smile".

Hello, thanks for your message! It's nice to know that even though we haven't worked a lot with tdihs for a long time, people still enjoy it :)))

The fic is currently on an indefinite hiatus due to both of us having a lot of irl stuff. I'm specifically graduating from uni this year.

I can't say that we abandoned this fic, it's our baby and we love it. But we don't know when we come back. But it's a pleasure to know that someone is still waiting :))) I hope you gonna stay with us until we start to post again

[usafphantom2]

On #TDIH in 1960, a USAF C-119J recovered the Discoverer 14 film capsule, which contained top-secret spy photos of the Soviet Union. It was the first midair recovery of a capsule returning from orbit.

@airandspace via X

[roma-sha]

Hello. I don't know if you two still work on it, but I wanted to thank you both for making, "The Death in His Smile".

Hello, thank you for the message! "The Death in His Smile" is on the indefinite hiatus due to both of us being very busy with life, especially during the last couple of months. My life specifically has been kind of a mess during all of 2023 due to irl events which were more crucial to me rather than a silly cube men story. Besides, personally for me it's been more difficult to write as I went along, and because my language level and writing skills have been improving drastically (I'm not a native speaker) it always felt like I had to do better each chapter, and my anxiety just took the best of me.

If we come back to writing in near future, I will probably try and rework at least the first several chapters and fiddle with the way I've written certain characters, so tdihs could be a bit farther away than we wished. However for now I don't want to make any promises, understandably. Still, I'm happy you enjoyed what we had managed to put out, it's been quite a journey, and I hope you'll stay for the ride if we ever come back.

[bbg100]

This day in history: This day in 1972, 'Bloody Sunday' happened in Derry, N Ireland. Killed 13, wounded 17.

Me: oh damn that's unfortunate

TDIH: Also, in 1933 Hitler was named chancellor

Me: uh

TDIH: 1948 gandhi was assassinated. Bye!

Me: did nobody eat a good bagel today? Nobody had a good day?

[mankabrosstudios]

This Date In Manka Bros. History - December 9, 1999:

Fresh off the global success of ‘Titanic,’ Manka Bros. Animation produced an animated retelling of ‘The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald’ which… failed to excite holiday audiences.

mankabros.com

#Hollywood #Animation #Titanic #TDIH #Shipwreck