Military history

The Lockheed U-2, which often goes by the name “Dragon Lady” is among the most legendary U.S. military aircraft. The development of the high altitude reconnaissance plane was a technological triumph of the era, and sightings of the mysterious craft being tested around locations like “Area 51” in Nevada undoubtedly informed crackpot theories about flying […]

The acronym “UFO” has lost a fair amount of its meaning over the years. Once intended as a descriptive placeholder for something spotted in the sky that has yet to be identified, it now evokes images of little green (or grey) men from another planet, solar system, or even galaxy. Like our collective inclination to […]

On a hot August day in 1928, numerous politicians and diplomats from across the world congregated in the sunny rooms of the Quai d’Orsay, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in Paris. Their intent was to forever end all wars. Noble? For sure. Naïve? Absolutely. The Kellogg-Briand Pact, named after U.S. Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg and French […]

On October 25, 1415 — England was at war with France during the latter part of the 100 years war, and King Henry V had led his men into France after negotiations broke down following a relative peace between the two countries. It was in this battle that several important observations could be made about […]

The acronym “UFO” has lost a fair amount of its meaning over the years. Once intended as a descriptive placeholder for something spotted in the sky that has yet to be identified, it now evokes images of little green (or grey) men from another planet, solar system, or even galaxy. Like our collective inclination to […]

In December of 1941, the United States was thrust into the fighting of World War II by way of the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, and by the summer of 1942, the U.S. Army Air Force (the Air Force wouldn’t be established for another five years) set about hopping a variety of aircraft from […]

So, technically the offensive weapons systems have all been stripped from this British Army anti-tank Alvis Striker, but that won’t stop you from making on hell of an entrance at your high school reunion for less than the price of a new pickup. The Alvis FV102 Striker saw use in the British military as an […]

On or around June 14, 1947, something fell from the skies above New Mexico, strewing wreckage and debris across land belonging to a foreman named William Brazel. He gathered up the strange metallic materials (just what exactly he gathered varies depending on who you believe) and eventually made his way to a nearby town some […]

June 27, 1950 — Only two days before, thousands of North Korean soldiers had crossed into the South Korea, under the cover of artillery barrages over the 38th parallel. They were already on their way to Seoul by the 27th, and the world was watching closely. On this day in history, U.S. President Harry Truman […]

This January I made a big change: I left sunny (and financially ruined) Greece to live in the U.K., specifically, the city of Cambridge. The city is beautiful and very different to what I’ve been use to. Nature surrounds you here: ten minutes outside of the city center and you see foxes and deer. In the […]

May 5, 1961 — Former WWII combat veteran and Naval pilot Alan Shepard was strapped tight into his seat as he blasted upward out of the earth’s atmosphere. The Mercury-Redstone 3 rocket barreled through the sky, subjecting Shepard to 6.3g forces as he entered space and the engines shut off. The “tower,” or the main body of […]

April 25, 1915 — Allied forces in WWI land on six beaches on the Gallipoli peninsula of the Ottoman Empire, including troops from France, Britain, Australia and New Zealand. There, Turkish forces lay in wait and set up a fierce resistance to the landing parties. The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) were located […]