A modern complaint is that people do NOT know their history anymore.
In all of the media coverage today of the tragedies in New York, Washington
and PA, I have not seen one single mention of the MILITARY planes that
crashed into the Empire State Building - over half a century ago.
Here are some links to the airplane crashes into the Empire State Building
back in 1945.
http://www.mcn.net/~jimloy/empire.html
http://www.elevator-world.com/magazine/archive01/9603-002.htm
The first one was a B-25 Mitchell bomber (28 July 1945) which hit the 79th
floor in the fog. One engine went right through the building and out the
other side. Another engine fell down an elevator shaft.
The other plane crash into the Empire State Building was another military
plane that hit the 58th floor on May 20, 1946. I do not know what type of
aircraft it was.
Also, when the Transat airliner ran out of fuel over the middle of the
Atlantic Ocean recently (apparently due to an incorrect fuel pump being
installed etc.), some reporters thought this was the first time an airliner
had ever run out of fuel in mid-air and had to glide in to a landing. In
that case the Transat airliner managed a landing on an island airstrip!
A well known example occurred in Canada in 1983. An airliner ran out of fuel
(a mix-up due to Canada switching to the Metric system - litres instead of
gallons) and the pilot (who luckily was an experienced glider/sailplane
pilot) glided the big airliner in to land at an abandoned WWII air base at
Gimli, Manitoba.
http://www2.ics.org/MemOnly/senn/s3_04/FEATURE.html Scroll down to "Gimli
Glider incident"
http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/10.13.html#subj6
In reference to my message early this morning at 7:11 PST, as we now know,
the attack of 2001 September 11 08:45 EST etc. is now CONFIRMED as a
terrorist attack. We still do not know WHO planned it although there are
suspicions. There were suspicions as well for the Oklahoma City bombing, but
they proved to be wrong. We shall have to wait and see what the
investigators determine. Time will tell. Then the CIA, US Special Forces,
Stealth Bombers etc. will act.
MILITARY VEHICLES
The US-CDN border is semi-closed out here in the west. If our MV club were
to want to take historic military vehicles down to Oregon for the big MV
swap-meet this weekend, we would probably cause a big commotion and be
turned back. Every vehicle is being searched today. At the moment the US
border guards are allowing only US citizens back into the USA, and people
who have legitimate business there. Casual border crossers (Canadians going
shopping or going to buy gas) are being turned back.
My comments this morning about leaving MVs at home referred to the problems
they might cause for security forces (police, military etc.) who are on a
high alert and might be confused (and dangerously so) by such quasi-military
vehicles. If you chose to drive your ex-Soviet T-72 tank up to the Pentagon
right now, you probably would learn that the Pentagon is indeed well
protected from "normal" threats.
The time for patriotic parades, with flags flying, may come - after the
clean-up.
My sympathies to all those who have suffered losses today and in the long
days to come. My Great-Grandfather became an American citizen in New York,
and my Grandfather was born in Brooklyn. Many readers will have friends and
relatives who were directly affected. We are all affected in some way. So
far there is one confirmed Canadian killed and there will likely be more. At
work here on Canada's west coast we had two stories today of people we knew
locally who had relatives who had near misses in New York today. One who
thought the first plane crash was an earthquake and so he evacuated from the
World Trade Center building, and the other was due to go to a meeting there,
but was still enroute when the crashes happened. Sad as this day is, one of
the saddest things to me is the image of a bunch of Palestinians actually
celebrating the attack today. One report said that they were saying "God is
great" and handing out candy. It does not speak well for World Peace - or
religion.
COLIN STEVENS
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Oct 08 2001 - 10:58:58 PDT