“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 377

April 12th, 2021

I thought today, for Military History Monday, I’d do a couple of videos at the intersection of survival and military history. For reasons.

Short-ish: Have you ever asked yourself, “Self, how do I escape from a sinking submarine?”

If so:

  1. You’re weird. (Unless you served on subs in the Navy.)
  2. I want to hang out with you.

“Submarine Escape” from 1953.

Long: there are actually two versions of this on the ‘Tube. I’m picking the longer one because the shorter one seems to be cut off. The longer one seems to be a little chopped as well, but not as dramatically.

“Survival in the Arctic Tundra”. In which the crew of a C-119 bails out and has to survive…in the Arctic tundra.

The Saturday Night Movie Group recently watched “Island in the Sky“, one of William Wellman’s two great John Wayne aviation films. (The other is “The High and the Mighty“.) “Island” is in large part about the crew of a downed aircraft trying to survive in the Arctic, and in equally large part about the interpersonal relationships between transport pilots, and how everyone unites when a crew is in trouble.

Both movies get my thumbs-up seal of approval.

Also, I kind of like the C-119.

Posted in Boats, History, Movies, Planes | Comments Closed

Random thought.

April 12th, 2021

In the previous post, valued commenter “Jimmy McNulty” made the observation:

Tourniquets are simple, not dangerous!

This is absolutely true, and I have no argument with Mr. McNulty.

But it did get me thinking.

It has been (mumble mumble) years (soon to be mumble mumble plus one) since I was a Boy Scout. But my recollection of Boy Scout first aid training at the time (as well as the Red Cross first aid training I went through) was that: you should never ever ever use a tourniquet to stop bleeding.

Am I misremembering? Is there anyone else who was a Boy Scout back in the day, or took Red Cross first aid training, and remembers being told tourniquet = bad?

I know medical knowledge grows and changes. I remember the wisdom on snakebite treatment has changed over time as well. I’m just wondering when and why this changed.

This might be one of those discussions I need to have with some authority like Ambulance Driver over a couple-three beers if we’re ever in the same place at the same time.

Posted in History, Safety | 7 Comments »

Obit watch: April 11, 2021.

April 11th, 2021

John Clabburn, television director in Australia. He was 52.

I note this here to make a point: not a political one, but a safety one.

Stop. The. Bleed.

Clabburn was trimming hedges with a new power saw at his home when he cut his hand. He fell ten feet from his ladder and was soon discovered by his wife. He had just bought the chain saw that day.
His death was attributed to cardiac arrest from the blood loss from his slashed hand.
“When I went out to the back garden, he was crawling on the ground on his stomach, said Clabburn’s wife, Melissa, speaking to the Daily Telegraph. “There was so much blood, he was clutching his torso.
“I kept getting towels to stem the flow, but the blood wouldn’t stop.”
“All he said was, ‘Call an ambulance now,’” she said. “One minute we were admiring how straight the hedge was looking and what a great job he had done — he was so meticulous, he had a great eye for detail — the next, John was in an ambulance. He kept it together for me, but I know he would have been in incredible pain.”

Stop the Bleed Australia.

Real Response.

Posted in Obits, Safety, TV | 1 Comment »

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 376

April 11th, 2021

Science Sunday!

I’ve got another NASA film lined up today, but this isn’t space science.

“Flight to Tomorrow” is a 1967 film about NASA’s supersonic aircraft research, including the SST, hypersonic transports, and noise abatement.

Bonus #1: I thought it might be interesting to post this: “The M2-F2 Crash” from the Dark Footage folks.

Why? Well, some of you may recognize the M2-F2. Some more of you may recognize some of the footage in this documentary. Otherwise, stay to the end, when all will be revealed.

Bonus #2 and #3: The history of the M2-F2 and the NASA lifting bodies led me to this.

“Today, Tomorrow and Titan III”, part one of “Man In Space”. I know I’m sort of fudging here, but I really do view lifting bodies and supersonic/hypersonic transport as being a different category of science than the manned space missions.

Part 2: This also covers Bill Dana and the X-15.

Bonus #4: Just one more, because it is short. The Martin Marietta X-24B lifting body.

Posted in 1970s, Geek, History, Planes, TV | Comments Closed

Obit watch: April 10, 2021.

April 10th, 2021

James Hampton. He was “Hannibal Dobbs”, the bugler on “F-Troop” and knocked around movies and TV quite a bit: “The Rockford Files”, “Sling Blade”, “The Longest Yard” (the original)…

…and, yes, “Mannix”. (“Hardball”, season 8, episode 24, the very last episode.)

Ramsey Clark, attorney general under LBJ.

He went beyond lawyering. In 1972, with the war in Vietnam dragging on, Mr. Clark met with Communist officials in Hanoi, the capital of North Vietnam, and publicly criticized American conduct of the war. That began a pattern: In 1980, months after Iranian revolutionaries had attacked the United States Embassy in Tehran and taken Americans hostage, he went to that city with nine other Americans, in violation of a travel ban, to help resolve the crisis and participate in a conference in which he criticized the United States for having supported Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi before he was deposed.
Six years later he met with Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi in Libya and denounced United States airstrikes against that country.
In November 1990, as the United States prepared for the Persian Gulf war, Mr. Clark, who had criticized the American deployment of forces in the gulf, consulted with Saddam Hussein in Iraq. The next year he filed a complaint with the International War Crimes Tribunal accusing President George Bush of war crimes.
In 2011, he condemned NATO’s bombing campaign against Qaddafi’s government. In 2013, he said Iran had no intention of building a nuclear bomb and denounced sanctions against that country. Later, he protested lethal attacks by unmanned American drone aircraft on other nations.

Martina Batan, NYC contemporary art dealer. But there’s a bit more to the story than that.

Her brother was murdered at 14. His death devastated Ms. Batan: the case has never been solved.

When she was 53, Ms. Batan decided to kick up the dust of her past and hired a private detective to look into the 1978 murder case. The events that transpired were documented in “Missing People,” directed by David Shapiro, who followed Ms. Batan for four years. The investigation uncovered vital new information about the murder, but it also added to her despair.

Posted in 1970s, Law, Mannix, Movies, Obits, TV | Comments Closed

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 375

April 10th, 2021

Does anybody remember “Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?” George Segal? Jacqueline Bisset? Death by duck press?

“Diego Masciaga of Waterside Inn Restaurant Prepares Canard a la Presse”.

(Wow. Ted Kotcheff, the same guy who directed “Chefs” also directed “First Blood”. And “Weekend at Bernie’s”.)

Bonus #1: Made from the best stuff on Earth.

No, not Snapple. Scrapple. “Old fashioned scrapple making! A Pennsylvania Dutch specialty!”

Bonus #2: Okay, you were turned off by the scrapple, and you weren’t wild about the duck. How about “Beef en Croute with Sauce Bearnaise”?

Posted in Food, History, Movies | 2 Comments »

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 374

April 9th, 2021

Time for some more true crime. Or “crime” in this first case.

At the end of WWII, some of Hitler’s SS men made off with an estimated $130 million in Nazi gold.

“SS Bank Heist – Berlin 1945”.

Bonus #1: Well, this is interesting. Somebody posted a full episode of the series “FBI: The Unheard Music The Untold Stories” (with Pernell Roberts) to the ‘Tube.

“The Hijacking of TWA Flight 541”. I picked up on this because it is one part of a story I find kind of interesting. Back in 1978, a 17-year-old girl named Robin Oswald hijacked a plane. Why? She was trying to get her mother’s boyfriend, Garrett Brock Trapnell, out of the Federal prison in Marion.

Why didn’t her mom do it? Because her mom was dead: Barbara Ann Oswald tried to break Trapnell out of Marion by hijacking a helicopter. When the chopper landed in the prison yard, the pilot grabbed the gun and killed Ms. Oswald.

The whole Garrett Trapnell story is really kind of crazy. Beyond the helicopter escape, he was a bank robber, con man, aircraft hijacker…and bigamist. There’s a book about him that I’d love to find: The Fox Is Crazy, Too (no affiliate link, because Amazon prices are insane).

(And for those of you concerned about me exploiting a 17-year-old: she was tried as a juvenile and did minimal time. Robin Oswald actually appears briefly in shadow talking about Trapnell’s hold over her, and how she was a dumb kid at the time: Roberts mentions that she’d led a “productive life” since then.)

I miss this series. It was tight and informative: I find “The FBI Files” to sometimes be a little on the long side. Somebody needs to release this series on DVD, or get streaming rights.

Bonus #2: I miss the series so much, how about another episode? This one is about one of those product tampering scares from the 1980s. But there’s a twist…

Posted in Helicopters, History, Law, Nazis | Comments Closed

Obit watch: April 9, 2021.

April 9th, 2021

For the historical record: Prince Philip. BBC.

Anne Beatts, one of the early SNL writers.

Ms. Beatts often wrote the parodies of TV commercials that the show used at the time, and sometimes she appeared in them. Mr. Zweibel especially remembered an absurdly overachieving housewife she played in one fake ad — the woman’s secret was a product called Speed.

Not embedded here because it is in the obit.

Posted in 1970s, Obits, TV | Comments Closed

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 373

April 8th, 2021

Travel Thursday!

How about South America?

“Invitation to South America”. According to Periscope Films, this was co-sponsored by Pan Am and American Express, though it isn’t in the “Wings To…” series.

This travelogue visits Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil and the rest of South America is highlighted as a beautiful destination to visit.

Bonus: I don’t think we’ve done Florida in our tour of the United States, so let us fix that.

“Fun, Sun, Sand And Sea”. This is an episode of the old “America!” TV series.

Posted in History, Travel | Comments Closed

Obit watch: April 8, 2021.

April 8th, 2021

Sgt. Charles H. Coolidge (US Army – ret.), Amercian badass. He was 99.

Leading a section of heavy machineguns supported by 1 platoon of Company K, he took a position near Hill 623, east of Belmont sur Buttant, France, on 24 October 1944, with the mission of covering the right flank of the 3d Battalion and supporting its action. T/Sergeant. Coolidge went forward with a sergeant of Company K to reconnoiter positions for coordinating the fires of the light and heavy machineguns. They ran into an enemy force in the woods estimated to be an infantry company. T/Sergeant. Coolidge, attempting to bluff the Germans by a show of assurance and boldness called upon them to surrender, whereupon the enemy opened fire. With his carbine, T/Sergeant. Coolidge wounded 2 of them. There being no officer present with the force, T/Sergeant. Coolidge at once assumed command. Many of the men were replacements recently arrived; this was their first experience under fire. T/Sergeant. Coolidge, unmindful of the enemy fire delivered at close range, walked along the position, calming and encouraging his men and directing their fire. The attack was thrown back. Through 25 and 26 October the enemy launched repeated attacks against the position of this combat group but each was repulsed due to T/Sergeant. Coolidge’s able leadership. On 27 October, German infantry, supported by 2 tanks, made a determined attack on the position. The area was swept by enemy small arms, machinegun, and tank fire. T/Sergeant. Coolidge armed himself with a bazooka and advanced to within 25 yards of the tanks. His bazooka failed to function and he threw it aside. Securing all the hand grenades he could carry, he crawled forward and inflicted heavy casualties on the advancing enemy. Finally it became apparent that the enemy, in greatly superior force, supported by tanks, would overrun the position. T/Sergeant. Coolidge, displaying great coolness and courage, directed and conducted an orderly withdrawal, being himself the last to leave the position. As a result of T/Sergeant. Coolidge’s heroic and superior leadership, the mission of this combat group was accomplished throughout 4 days of continuous fighting against numerically superior enemy troops in rain and cold and amid dense woods.

Sgt. Coolidge was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions. He was the oldest living MoH recipient. (The current oldest is now Hershel W. Williams, who is 97.)

NYT obit for Alcee Hastings.

Edited to add: throwing some backlinks Lawrence’s way.

Posted in History, Obits, Politics | 3 Comments »

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 372

April 7th, 2021

I’m just feeling very random today.

“Vintage Tiny Home on Wheels – 1976 GMC Motorhome Tour”.

I really like that form factor in a RV. I also like the fact that it has an internal shower and toilet. They don’t make these any more, but I think if i was going to adopt the RV lifestyle, I’d look for something similar to this.

Random related crankery: the GMC motorhome was also the basis for Mack Bolan’s “War Wagon” in the “Executioner” books.

Bonus #1: We did “Worker and Parasite” earlier. How about the American response?

“It’s Everybody’s Business”, a 1954 film from the US Chamber of Commerce.

Bonus #2: trolling, trolling, trolling, got to keep on trolling…

“Flugzeuge am Haken” from 1969, featuring the favorite plane of Lawrence, RoadRich, and WCD. (Yes, it is dangerously close to military history, and in German. But it’s less than three minutes long.)

Bonus #3: I swear that early in the life of this blog, I posted someone’s blog entry about their purchase of a fire truck, and what to look for when you’re buying a used fire truck. But I can’t find that post now.

“I BOUGHT A Legit FIRETRUCK From The Fire Department”.

You know, $3,000 is almost in my price range, if I wanted to mess around in a used fire truck. Then again, my local gun shop has a nice Colt Combat Commander modified by Clark Custom for $2,500, and I wouldn’t have to worry about parking the .45.

Posted in Books, History, Planes | 3 Comments »

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 371

April 6th, 2021

Car talk!

Great and good FotB RoadRich sent this one over: “Master Hands”, a 1936 documentary about the Chevrolet manufacturing line: “from foundry to finished vehicles”.

Not only is this another fine piece of work from the Jam Handy folks, it is also on the Library of Congress National Film Registry.

Bonus #1: “Rare 1970 Plymouth Superbird unrestored”. I was out driving to an appointment a while back, and drove past one of the local auto repair shops. This one has some interesting and exotic stuff from time to time: that day, they had a Superbird in this exact color scheme (but seemingly restored) parked out front. I don’t think it was there for repair or restoration: I think someone was showing it off, and I nearly stopped to ask permission to take a photo. But I was running behind schedule…

As I’ve said before, I’m not a Mopar guy, but there’s something about the Superbird that grabs me.

Bonus #2: I’ve done Plymouth/Chrysler. I’ve done Chevy. How about Ford?

“The Hunt for Little Red”.

Posted in Cars, History | Comments Closed

Obit watch: April 6, 2021.

April 6th, 2021

Breaking news, by way of Lawrence, and only from two sources at the moment: Alcee Hastings. Miami Herald in readable form.

Gloria Henry, most famous as the mother on the “Dennis the Menace” TV series.

Paul Ritter.

Ritter was best known in the U.K. in recent years for playing the family patriarch in long-running Channel 4 comedy Friday Night Dinner, but was a recognizable face across numerous films, TV shows and stage plays, landing both Olivier and Tony nominations.
After his debut performance on famed police procedural drama The Bill in 1992, Ritter starred in films such as Son of Rambow, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Quantum of Solace. Ritter was recently seen in the Sky/HBO mini-series Chernobyl portraying Anatoly Dyatlov, the supervisor who was blamed for not following safety protocols leading to the nuclear disaster, and is set to appear in upcoming WWII drama Operation Mincemeat.

Arthur Kopit, playwright. Noted here because of his most famous work: “Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma’s Hung You in the Closet and I’m Feelin’ So Sad”. Among his many other works: the book for “Nine”.

Malcolm Cecil, synthesizer guy.

Posted in Movies, Music, Obits, Politics, Theatre, TV | Comments Closed

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 370

April 5th, 2021

Military History Monday strikes again! And today I’ve got two kind of odd ones for you.

“The Small Boat Navy”, a 1968 Navy propaganda film about shallow water Navy ops in Vietnam. The odd part? This is narrated by Steve Martin Perry Mason Chief Ironside Raymond Burr.

Bonus: this is a little on the short side, and just has overlaid background music, but I wanted to include it for the odd factor. Video of test flights of the prototype two seat Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II trainer jet aircraft from the 1970s.

What’s odd about this? Two things: this is the only one of these aircraft ever built.

It was originally intended as a prototype for an A-10 trainer / all weather and night attack expansion of the A-10A Warthog, but no money was allocated for further production of the variant so it remained a one-off. Today this aircraft is on display at Edwards AFB.

Thing #2: The guy flying in the second seat is…Barry Goldwater. Yes, the Senator from Arizona.

Goldwater remained in the Arizona Air National Guard until 1967, retiring as a Command Pilot with the rank of major general. By that time, he had flown 165 different types of aircraft. As an Air Force Reserve major general, he continued piloting aircraft, to include the B-52 Stratofortress, until late in his military career.

Posted in 1970s, History, Planes, Politics, TV | 2 Comments »

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 369

April 4th, 2021

Science Sunday!

I’m thinking a little bit of space science today.

First up, a nice little historical video direct from NASA about the Mercury Control Center.

That covers Mercury. How about Gemini?

“The 12 Gemini”.

Apollo? Well, would you settle for a vintage Rocketdyne promo video on “Large Liquid Propellant Rocket Engines”, like the F1 engine used in the Saturn V?

Last one, and it is a long one. But today is Sunday. “Engineering Space: The Mighty Saturn V”.

Posted in Geek, History | Comments Closed

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