On a crisp afternoon, 1 April 1948, the future of naval aviation was changed forever. Standing near the hangar that once housed the Hindenburg, Captain Clayton Marcy read the orders that established the first two fleet-operational helicopter squadrons. Lakehurst, New Jersey, became the home of Helicopter Utility Squadron Two (HU-2) and for the next 20 years, operating from icebreakers, cruisers and aircraft carriers, they moved thousands of tons of cargo, provided support for scientific research missions and completed over 2,000 at-sea rescues. This is the story of their missions, from the mundane to the heroic saving of lives. Dispersed throughout is some of the quirky humor that got them through many difficult and dangerous times. It is an insight into the aviation pioneers known as The Fleet Angels of Lakehurst.
Birdville School opened in 1922 on the corner of two dirt roads at the edge of a fallow farm. Over the next 67 school years it witnessed, and influenced, the unfolding story of the town that grew up around it, amid flood, brushfire, blizzard, tornado, and earthquake; poverty and prosperity; war, peace, and cold war; and even the collapse of the earth beneath its foundations. Its auditorium and cafeteria hosted PTA meetings, plays, movies, concerts, basketball tournaments, holiday parties, Girl Scout and Boy Scout meetings, polio vaccination clinics, and war-time rationing registrations and scrap-collection drives. Local sand-lot softball, baseball, and football teams competed in the same surrounding fields that swarmed with gleeful children at recess, and that echoed with the roar of low-flying aircrafts snagging mailbags on their tail hooks. Among its staff were thespians, musicians, firemen, outdoorsmen, and athletes, including a singer who performed in the Coolidge White House, a candidate for the state legislature, an army medic, and a ball player who faced off against the Homestead Grays and the Pittsburgh Pirates. By the time classes concluded for the last time in 1989, thousands of children - including the author - had benefitted from the care, instruction, and example of the Birdville School family. This book is a feeble tribute to those who made us who we are.
Naval aviation historian William F. Trimble provides a clear and detailed portrait of the man who took on the challenge of forming an aeronautical bureau within the U.S. Navy in 1921 and then nurtured the early development of naval aviation. Describing Admiral William A. Moffett as one of the first high-ranking naval officers to appreciate the importance of the airplane and the effect it would have on the fleet, the author contends that the admiral's strong background as a surface officer gave him a credibility and trust with his superiors that others could not match. The author attributes Moffett's desire to keep aviation as part of the fleet, along with his diplomacy, tenacity, and political and military savvy, to the success of the infant air arm during its formative years. In striking contrast to the tactics of Army Gen. Billy Mitchell, Moffett's handling of the loyalty issue and other politically sensitive topics saved the Navy's air arm, according to Trimble. The book is equally candid about the admiral's shortcomings, including his heavy-handed support for airships, a technological dead end that squandered millions and led to Moffett's death in 1933 when he went down with the airship Akron during a storm.
This is the first-ever publication detailing the Navy’s role in manned spacecraft recovery from 1961 to 1975, from Alan Shepherd’s initial suborbital mission to the Apollo-Soyuz flight, which inaugurated the first space collaboration between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Splashdown: NASA, the Navy, and Space Flight Recovery takes the reader through a detailed explanation of how recovery forces on land, sea, and in the air were deployed across the globe to be trained for any and all emergencies and eventualities. This book gives concise histories of all prime recovery ships as well as back-up ships in both manned and unmanned missions, with every ship’s history followed by a retelling of their space missions.
Pop culture is the heart and soul of America, a unifying bridge across time bringing together generations of diverse backgrounds. Whether looking at the bright lights of the Jazz Age in the 1920s, the sexual and the rock-n-roll revolution of the 1960s, or the thriving social networking websites of today, each period in America's cultural history develops its own unique take on the qualities define our lives.American Pop: Popular Culture Decade by Decade is the most comprehensive reference on American popular culture by decade ever assembled, beginning with the 1900s up through today. The four-volume set examines the fascinating trends across decades and eras by shedding light on the experiences of Americans young and old, rich and poor, along with the influences of arts, entertainment, sports, and other cultural forces. Whether a pop culture aficionado or a student new to the topic, American Pop provides readers with an engaging look at American culture broken down into discrete segments, as well as analysis that gives insight into societal movements, trends, fads, and events that propelled the era and the nation. In-depth chapters trace the evolution of pop culture in 11 key categories: Key Events in American Life, Advertising, Architecture, Books, Newspapers, Magazines, and Comics, Entertainment, Fashion, Food, Music, Sports and Leisure Activities, Travel, and Visual Arts. Coverage includes: How Others See Us, Controversies and scandals, Social and cultural movements, Trends and fads, Key icons, and Classroom resources. Designed to meet the high demand for resources that help students study American history and culture by the decade, this one-stop reference provides readers with a broad and interdisciplinary overview of the numerous aspects of popular culture in our country. Thoughtful examination of our rich and often tumultuous popular history, illustrated with hundreds of historical and contemporary photos, makes this the ideal source to turn to for ready reference or research.
