William J. “Wild Bill” Guarnere (born 28 April 1922) is a veteran sergeant of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) attached to the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army during the Second World War. He was portrayed in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers by Frank John Hughes.
This great video clip shows Wild Bill Guarnere speaking at the American Veterans Center Conference which was held in Washington DC on November 9-11,2006. You will never think of Apples the same way again!
From time to time I find something in my web browsing that strikes me as interesting, well done or poignant. I found this video set to one fo my favorite songs by Nickelback and honoring Capt. Lewis Nixon of Band of Brothers fame. As this would be Capt. Nixon’s birthday, I thought today a fitting day to share the video with all of you.
Capt. Lewis Nixon served with the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Infantry Division during World War Two. He was one of the few men to complete three combat jumps by participating in the D-Day invasion of Normandy, Operation Market-Garden and Operation Varsity as well as his involvement at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge. During the war and until his death in 1995 he was best friends with Major Richard “Dick” Winters.
Flightline Fabrications offers a wide variety of original productsrelated to the 506th PIR, 101st Airbrone, D-Day, Battle of the Bulge and World War II in general.
While there incredible discipline and training is an awe inspiring sight, those who serve as Sentinels at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery are not mere window dressing. Members of the 3d US Infantry Regiment “The Old Guard” these soldiers are unwavering protectors of their hallowed charges - three American soldiers, known but to God.
In this brief video a civilian tourist crosses the railing and is immediately confronted by the alert sentinel.
I first saw this video in IMAX at the National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles Airport in Virginia. The documentary follows one pilot who participates in Red Flag; an advanced aerial combat training exercise, hosted by Nellis Air Force Base. The training includes participants from the United States military as well as allied foreign militaries.
The video is about 48 1/2 minutes long and very entertaining if you are like me and love to watch planes and pilots do their thing.
On June 18, 1940, in a speech made before the British House of Common, Prime Minister Winston Churchill stated “The Battle of France is over. I expect the Battle of Britain is about to begin...”. On this day, August 13, 1940 that suspicion became a reality as German Luftwaffe bombers and fighters begin a systematic attack of British Royal Air Force airbases and radar installations.
The proposed German invasion of the British home islands, code-named ”Operation Sealion” scheduled for mid-September 1940, required total air superiority to have any chance of success. This necessitated the destruction of the RAF as well as the radar early warning stations.
Bryan found this video and we want to share it with all of you. The model aircraft is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress, the World War II era bomber used exptensively in the Pacific Theatre of Operations and made famous for having dropped the atomic bombs on Hirochima and Nagasaki, Japan. I have to say it is quite impressive and I am sure that the stories behind the aircraft’s design, construction and flight are good ones. I believe this is actually the world’s largest remote control (RC) plane.
Anyhow, without further comment, here is the video of this amazing plane in flight.
July 19, 1963 - American test pilot and USAF Atronaut Joseph Albert “Joe” Walker flies the North American X-15 to an altitude of 347,800 feet (106,010 meters or 65.8 Miles) setting a new record. As this flight exceeded 100km, it qualified as “human spaceflight” under both the United States Air Force and Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) rules. This and one subsequent flight of the X-15, also flown by Joe Walker, were the only two powered spaceplane flights to exceed the 100km threshhold until SpaceShipOne did in 2004. Joe Walker was the first human to enter space twice.
A brief video about the North American X-15 Rocket Plane
Whew, I apologize for the long break between posts. I’m sure you’ll agree, life gets interesting at times and even the best laid plans are subject to change. Life’s little adventures aside, I’m back and ready to rattle on about history and aviation on a regular basis once again.
Today is one of those dates when it appears not a whole lot happened within the era and subject area I cover here so instead of the usual blurb about what happened on July 13, 19xx I’m just going to share a video I found.
I am in the middle of an outstanding book titled “D-Day with the Screaming Eagles” by George Koskimaki (book review to come soon) and I understandably got interested in watching footage of the book’s topic. I found a great short video on YouTube I feal worthy of sharing; it is about 10 minutes long and is made up of actual WWII footage mixed with some from the HBO series “Band of Brothers“.
A quick posting today. I thought I would add the video below to let you know of one fo my favorite museums which just happens to be within about 3 miles of the Flightline Fabrications Virginia office: The National Museum of the Marine Corps. Among their many impressive and inspiring displays covering the entire rich history of the Marine Corps is what I found the mosst awe inspiring - the two flags flown over Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima.
Another great video find, this 1942 newsreel showcases the men and machines of the American Volunteer Group, a collection of pilots who flew Curtiss P-40B Tomahawk II’s (commonly mistaken for the later P-40 Warhawk) in the defense of China prior to America’s entrance into World War II.
These brave men were led by legendary General Claire Lee Chennault and included such notable pilots as David “Tex” Hill, Gregory “Pappy” Boyington and many others. They would forever be known by the nickname given them by the Chinese they protected - Fei Hu - Flying Tigers.
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