Dianna Vaccarella

Thursday Twofer: Tokyo and Beirut

Good morning fellow ECAHF’ers.  America was already at war with the Empire of Japan and it took four months to plan and execute the Pearl Harbor “revenge attack”, an audacious, risky, and uniquely American “suicide mission” requiring only volunteers (of which there were none lacking), all of whom wanted to—and believed, as most young people […]

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Aviation History Twofer: Okinawa and the Royal Air Force

Good morning fellow ECAHF’ers, while most of us are probably too “mature” to put salt in the sugar bowl, cigar loads in dad’s cigar, or tell your spouse with a straight face that you’ve decided to sell everything and become a Tibetan Monk…and then exclaim “April Fool’s Day! (I’ve done all three…and more…and am not

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Amelia Earhart: Hawaii to California

On January 11th in 1935, according to History.com, “In the first flight of its kind, American aviatrix Amelia Earhart departed Wheeler Field in Honolulu, Hawaii, on a solo flight to North America. Hawaiian commercial interests offered a $10,000 award to whoever accomplished the flight first. The next day, after traveling 2,400 miles in 18 hours,

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Celebrating a Trailblazer in Aviation: Admiral Richard Byrd

On November 29, 1929, American explorer and US Navy Admiral Richard Byrd makes an epic flight to the South Pole.  “He, along with his three companions”, according to History.com, “made the first flight (of a human being—feathered “Byrds”…or birds—don’t count) over the South Pole, flying from their base on the Ross Ice Shelf to the

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