Regular readers of this blog have probably figured out that I love a good spy story.
Have you ever heard of Lionel Crabb? I had, because the story was in a collection of great spy stories I have floating around somewhere.
Lt. Commander Crabb was a British frogman. On April 19, 1956, LTC Crabb disappeared while on a mission for MI6: he was exploring Ordzhonikidze, a Soviet cruiser that was visiting Britain on a diplomatic mission (with Nikita Khrushchev on board.)
His body turned up 14 months later. Maybe.
Bonus, combining spy stories with another of my loves: “The Secret Listeners”, a 1979 BBC documentary about radio intelligence during WWI and WWII.
Our movie for New Year’s Eve (before we set off fireworks) was “The Starfighters“. (Specifically the MST3K version with “B-1” Bob Dornan, though I’m not sure there is a non-MST3K version available on home video.)
Personally, I feel that it could have used more refueling and flight scenes, and less romance and character development. But that’s just me.
The F-104 is an interesting aircraft, especially in terms of its operational history.
Why was the German accident rate so high? Lots of reasons.
“Why Germany had so many accidents with the F-104 Starfighter”.
Bonus #1: “F-104 Starfighter Walkaround”.
Bonus #2: I hope you like Starfighters, as this is basically “The Starfighters” without bots, Mike, skits, or all that annoying character development stuff.
It is the stated policy of this blog that, if you were a Bond girl, you get an obit.
Tanya Roberts has died at the age of 65. She was, of course, “Sheena: Queen of the Jungle”, Donna’s mother on “That ’70s Show”, and one of Charlie’s Angels (for the final season). She was also the Bond girl, Stacey Sutton, in “A View to a Kill”, the movie that caused me to punch out of the Bond franchise.
Edited to add: Lawrence sent me a link from TMZ that claims Ms. Roberts is still alive. However, I don’t trust TMZ any further than I can sling a piano, and THR has not retracted their story yet. I will try to keep an eye on this one.
I’ve mentioned Theodore von Kármán in passing previously, but only in the context of his influence on other folks. He was a hugely important scientist in his own right, though: he did massively important work on fluid flow (including air flow) and turbulence, especially in the supersonic realm.
This is a lecture from 2012 about von Kármán’s life and work.
Bonus: A discussion with Roger Penrose on “What is time?”
The other day, I was at Half-Price Books, and found a first edition first printing of One Ranger (affiliate link) signed by both authors for $10, which is a heck of a find. I’ve written before about this book, and I won’t repeat myself here.
But it did get me thinking about the Texas Rangers.
I still have not seen “The Highwaymen”. It isn’t out yet on DVD or blu-ray, I refuse to subscribe to NetFlix, and I haven’t gotten up enough motivation to hoist the black flag.
But I do love this scene, both for the obvious reason and because there’s a limited amount of Woody Harrelson.
No, that wasn’t today’s video.
“Doing Justice to Pancho Hamer” part 1:
Part 2:
“Captain Frank Hamer and his go to firearms.”
This guy says that Frank Hamer did not use the Remington Model 8 to dispatch Bonnie and Clyde (they were used in the ambush, just not by Ranger Hamer):
A photo of the posse’s weapons taken shortly after the shooting that shows one BAR. (I do not believe Boessenecker reproduced that photo in his book.)
A footnote in which Boessenecker attacks Guinn’s scolarship and sources, but does not offer any sources of his own.
Boessenecker claims that the Monitor in the Ranger’s museum did belong to Hamer but there is “no evidence” it was used in the ambush. But he also admits that Hamer’s rifle in the museum could not have been used in the ambush. (It is a Remington Model 81, a successor to the Model 8, that wasn’t manufactured until 1940.)
History doesn’t work on the basis of “which writer we like better”. But given Boessenecker’s (in my opinion) weak sourcing, his tendency to take pot shots at other writers, and the moralizing he inserted into his book…unless somebody shows me a better reliable source, I’m taking Guinn’s side in this dispute.
(It looks to me, watching clips on YouTube, that “The Highwaymen” takes the Boessenecker side.)
For those unfamiliar with the Monitor (which is probably a lot of folks) it was basically a cut-down version of the BAR. Here’s a video from Brownells showing both.
And one last video for the road, from TFB TV: “John Moses Browning’s Amazing Remington Model 8 Semi-Auto Rifle”.
(Remember, JMB’s birthday is coming up January 23rd. I’ll probably do a thematically appropriate post that day: in the meantime, I encourage you to pick up something designed by JMB if you don’t already have one of his guns. A .45 would be nice if you fall into that category, but an Auto-5/Remington Model 11, a Hi-Power, or a Winchester Model 1894 would be fine choices as well.)
Happy New Year! And happy Travel Thursday on Friday!
I thought we’d go someplace exotic today. Namely, “The Land Called New Jersey”, a 1960s promo film from Humble Oil.
Bonus: I may be fudging the definition of “travel” a little bit, but this popped up and I couldn’t resist for two reasons. “Come Fly With Me”, a documentary (about one hour long) about the history of Pan Am. Reason #1 being: Pan Am.
(Speaking of Ms. Blackman, we actually did watch “Cockneys Vs. Zombies” (affiliate link). And…it’s not bad. I don’t think it is one of the great zombie films, but for $8 it gives you about 90 minutes of solid fun entertainment. And both Ms. Blackman and Alan “Brick Top” Ford are quite good.)