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Truman's Diary Entry, 25 Jul 1945

C. Peter Chen — Wed, 16 May 2012 08:00:00

We met at 11 A.M. today. That is Stalin, Churchill and the U.S. President. But I had a most important session with Lord Mountbatten & General Marshall before that. We have discovered the most terrible bomb in the history of the world. It may be the fire distruction [sic] prophesied in the Euphra...

BM-13/8/31 Katyusha

C. Peter Chen — Tue, 15 May 2012 08:00:00

In Jun 1938, the Soviet Jet Propulsion Research Institute (RNII) in Leningrad, Russia began developing a multiple rocket launcher, arriving at the BM-13 design in Aug 1939, although the BM-13 name would not be listed in documents until 1942 due to the weapon design's secrecy. These self-propelle...

YO-50

C. Peter Chen — Mon, 14 May 2012 08:00:00

In response to the 1938 United States Army request for a new observation aircraft, the firm AviaBellanca Aircraft developed the YO-50. Three prototypes were made and sold to the US Army for evaluation, and the first took flight in 1940. Ultimately, the US Army chose O-49 (later L-1) Vigilant ai...

Mark 2 'KA-BAR'

C. Peter Chen — Sun, 13 May 2012 08:00:00

After the Pacific War had began, the United States Army and the United states Marine Corps were both still using the same fighting knives as they had in WW1; both branches viewed this as an inadequacy. The US Marine Corps authorized a limited production run of the Marine Raider Stiletto (patterned ...

Fogg in the Cockpit

C. Peter Chen — Fri, 11 May 2012 08:00:00

Full Title: Fogg in the Cockpit: Howard Fogg-Master Railroad Artist, World War II Fighter Pilot

When Howard Fogg graduated from an Ivy League college in 1938 and then an art school in 1939, he, with professional interest in art and a hobby in locomotives, probably did not th...

Hobart's Funnies

C. Peter Chen — Thu, 10 May 2012 08:00:00

The formidable and extensive defences built by the Germans in France on the English Channel coast presented a serious challenge to any attempt by the Western Allies to open a second front. In March 1943 the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, General Alan Brooke, decided that what would be need...

Truman's Diary Entry, 18 Jul 1945

C. Peter Chen — Wed, 09 May 2012 08:00:00

July 18, 45

Ate breakfast with nephew Harry, a sergeant in the Field Artillery. He is a good soldier and a nice boy. They took him off Queen Elizabeth at Glasco and flew him here. Sending him home Friday. Went to lunch with P.M at 1:30 walked around to British Hqrs. Met at t...

Aleksandr Vasilevsky

C. Peter Chen — Tue, 08 May 2012 08:00:00

Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Vasilevsky was born in Novaya Golchikha, Kineshma Uyezd, Russia as the fourth of eight children of priest Mikhail Vasilevsky and Nadezhda Sokolova. In 1897, the poor Vasilevsky family moved to Novopokrovskoye, Russia, where Aleksandr Vasilevsky would later attend the schoo...

L-1 Vigilant

C. Peter Chen — Mon, 07 May 2012 08:00:00

The Vigilant aircraft was designed in response to the 1938 United States Air Corps request for a new two-seat light observation aircraft design. The prototype aircraft, which took flight on 15 Jul 1940, was designated YO-49 during the evaluation period and O-49 upon acceptance. During the war, ...

Kampfmesser 42

C. Peter Chen — Sun, 06 May 2012 08:00:00

The Kampfmesser 42 blades were used by both German Army and German Waffen-SS troops during WW2. They were designed so that they could be used both as fighting knives as well as rifle-mounted bayonets. Source: Wikipedia...

Langley (Independence-class)

C. Peter Chen — Fri, 04 May 2012 08:00:00

Named after the first United States Navy carrier which was sunk near the start of the Pacific War, the second USS Langley, CVL-27, was commissioned into service in Aug 1943. She had originally been ordered as a light cruiser, but she was reordered as a light carrier in Mar 1942 and was renamed L...

Malta Conference

C. Peter Chen — Thu, 03 May 2012 08:00:00

Prior to President Franklin Roosevelt of the United States and Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom's trip to Yalta in southern Ukraine to meet with Joseph Stalin, the two Western Allies leaders met on the island of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea. Roosevelt's top civilian and m...

Message from H. V. Schoepflin to Harry Truman

C. Peter Chen — Wed, 02 May 2012 08:00:00

1951 APR 11 PM 1 24 GWA215PD TDNK MONTCLAIR NJER APR 11 1951 855A THE PRESIDENT THE WHITE HOUSE MAY GOD HAVE MERCY ON YOUR SOUL FOR SELLING YOUR COUNTRY DOWN THE RIVER MRS H V SCHOEPFLIN 23 OXFORD ST MONTCLAIR....

Dingwen Jiang

C. Peter Chen — Tue, 01 May 2012 08:00:00

Jiang Dingwen was born to a farmer in Zhuji, Zhejiang Province, China during the Qing Dynasty. In Oct 1911, as he heard of the Chinese revolution, he quit school to join the revolutionary military in Hangzhou, China. In 1912, he was enrolled in a military academy in Zhejiang. Upon graduation i...

P-66 Vanguard

C. Peter Chen — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 08:00:00

During the late 1930s, Richard Palmer of the Vultee Aircraft Division of the Aviation Manufacturing Corporation conceived the original idea of designing four types of aircraft for different military roles, all using the same basic tooling and featuring common wings , aft fuselage and tail assembl...