Beyond the Palewall (6)

[Beyond the palewall is the title of this series because beyond the paywall is taken. Information for which you are not willing to pay, along with information you may not wish to know, is presented in abbreviated form without charge. What has caught my eye may sometimes feel like a poke in yours and, in that sense, be beyond the pale. Items will appear weekly, or perhaps monthly, or maybe semi-annually, if I can get started and the weather is bleak.]

Atmospheric Rivers
   Two years ago we experienced one in British Columbia and I had considered them a west coast phenomena. That is not the case:
"How a Category 5 Atmospheric River Supercharged Deadly East Coast Storm: Every State From Florida to Maine Saw at Least 4 Inches of Rain: Here is What Was Behind the Storm," Matthew Cappucci, Washington Post, Dec. 21, 2023.

   Atmospheric rivers — jets of intense precipitation that curl around powerful ocean storms — are generally considered a West Coast phenomenon. But it turns out a top tier atmospheric river — rated Category 5 on scale of 1 to 5 — was part of the East Coast storm that killed at least five people and cut power to more than 800,000 customers this week.

The storm unleashed at least 4 inches of rain and wind gusts over 50 mph in every Eastern Seaboard state from Florida to Maine. Along the coast, the storm’s wind shoved ashore an ocean surge of at least 2 to 4 feet, inundating low-lying roads.

   Boosted by the atmospheric river, the storm generated exceptional rainfall that caused creeks, streams and rivers to overflow. The river in the sky drew record-setting warmth from the tropics northward, melting snow in the mountains of the Northeast, which made the flooding even worse.

…..

Are atmospheric rivers normal on the East Coast?

An atmospheric river is a long, narrow ribbon of deep, tropical moisture that is pulled into the mid-latitudes by a storm. In the Northern Hemisphere, storms can tug these narrow moisture plumes and stretch them over thousands of miles to the north and east. An atmospheric river that hits California sometimes has extended from as far west Hawaii, and the phenomenon has thus earned the moniker the “Pineapple Express.”

Atmospheric rivers affect the East Coast just as much as the West Coast, if not more frequently. But they’re seldom talked about.

Serious Betting
   I recently posted about the increase in gambling. This piece shows what is required:
"The Over-the-Top Home Offices of Full-time Sports Bettors," Danny Funt, Washington Post, Dec. 21, 2023.

   It was a gamble in its own right for Kenneth Huber to try to mount a 165-inch TV in his basement office. It’s actually a three-by-three grid of 55-inch 4k computer monitors, and the first time Huber tried to install them on a $1,500 stand in his suburban Philadelphia home, all nine of the heavy screens cracked. Fortunately, the retailer sent him replacements, and this time he hedged his bet by supplementing the stand with large spacer brackets.....
   A specialist in “live” betting during games — bets on the next play, drive or score of games that have already started — Huber depends on following the action with as little delay as possible. All nine screens on his monitor grid have hard-wired connections, and next to the grid is a curved 65-inch Samsung TV that receives broadcasts through an HD antenna on Huber’s roof. Over-the-air broadcasts often have lower latency than cable or satellite, he explained, and are far quicker than YouTube TV’s sluggish Sunday Ticket feed.

Tall Tales From High Above and Long Ago
   Don't try this at home. This fantastic flying feat is from the obituary of Bob Pardo who invented the "Pardo Push." 
"Bob Pardo, Pilot in Daring Rescue in Vietnam War, Dies at 89: In An Extraordinary Act of Ariel Ballet, He Helped a Fellow Pilot Whose Plane Had Become Compromised Until They Could Be Safely Rescued," Trip Gabriel, New York Times, Dec. 21, 2023.

   Bob Pardo, a fighter pilot who during the Vietnam War kept a wingman’s damaged plane aloft in a daring feat of aviation that became known as the Pardo Push, died on Dec. 5 in a hospital near his home in College Station, Texas. He was 89.

   In March 1967, Captain Pardo was on a mission over North Vietnam in an F-4 Phantom when antiaircraft fire hit his plane, inflicting damage, while more badly ripping into the fuel tank of another fighter in the strike force. Both jets pulled away to head home. But the second plane had lost too much fuel to make it to safety. Captain Pardo realized that its two-man crew would be forced to eject over enemy territory and face capture or worse.

   Flying beneath the compromised plane, Captain Pardo told its pilot, Capt. Earl Aman, to lower his tailhook — a metal pole at the rear of a fighter used to arrest its landing. At 300 miles per hour, Captain Pardo nudged his plane’s glass windshield against the tip of the pole. For almost 90 miles, he pushed the other plane as both jets hemorrhaged fuel, until they crossed the border with Laos. Both crews ejected by parachute and all four men were rescued.

….Captain Pardo knew Captain Aman’s plane would not be able to make it out of North Vietnam to rendezvous with a flying refueling tanker. At first, he tried to push Captain Aman’s plane by sticking the nose of his own jet into a rear port, but there was too much turbulence. Next he tried to maneuver directly under the other jet and give it a piggyback ride, which also failed.

   Then he conceived of pushing Captain Aman’s tail hook. A tail hook pole was used by the Navy’s version of the F-4 Phantom to land on aircraft carriers. The Air Force used it for emergency runway landings, when the hook snags a cable stretched across tarmac.

   Captain Pardo told his wingman to shut down his engines and carefully made contact with the tail hook using his own plane’s windshield.

   “If he so much as bumped the windshield, he would have had that tail hook in his face,” Mr. Houghton, who was in the rear seat of the injured plane, recalled in a 1996 interview. “We’re talking about glass here. It was phenomenal flying, nothing less.”

   Mr. Pardo recalled, “I can’t remember how many times the tailhook slipped off the windshield, and I had to fight to get it back in place.”

   After one of Captain Pardo’s own engines caught fire and he shut it down, the two planes began rapidly losing altitude, sinking 2,000 feet per minute. They crossed the border with Laos at an altitude of only 6,000 feet, leaving them just two more minutes of flying time. Both crews bailed out soon after, floating down to the jungle by parachute. They were rescued by U.S. helicopters.

For this he was almost punished! (for putting his plane at risk.)
The Bonus:
   For additional aviation derring-do, see this post about "Senator John McCain" and others who flew off carriers during the Viet Nam war. 

  For a Canadian example of fine flying see: "James Francis Edwards - Canadian Fighter Pilot."

James Francis Edwards - Canadian Fighter Pilot

 

   That picture caught my attention when I saw it in an obituary in the Washington Post. The handsome fellow is the Canadian 'Stocky' Edwards who just died out on Vancouver Island in the Comox area. He would have been 101 on June 5. Here is a bit from the long obit:

With the rank of wing commander, Mr. Edwards shot down a confirmed 19 Luftwaffe fighter planes and scored many more “probables,” the aircraft he put out of action but did not see hit the ground. He also destroyed at least 12 more enemy warplanes at their desert bases before they could take to the air…..

In all, he flew 373 combat missions during World War II, mostly over North Africa but also to provide air support for the Allied landings in Italy in 1943 and 1944 and in Normandy on D-Day — June 6, 1944 — a rare “triple” among Allied pilots….

In addition to the Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded by the United Kingdom during the war, Mr. Edwards was named to the Order of Canada, one of that nation’s highest awards, in 2004. He was inducted into Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame in 2013 and the following year was appointed to France’s Legion of Honor by President François Hollande for his services to France during the war.

   More death notices are found in a number of Canadian newspapers in mid-May of this year and there is a good Wikipedia entry for him, so I need not go on.  I just thought it worth noting the passing of this real, Canadian  "Top Gun" since the newspapers are also full of stories about the new summer "blockbuster" at the movies, Top Gun: Maverick, which is about an unreal American one. 

   Apart from the sources I will provide below, there are two books about 'Stocky'.  One is a memoir authored by Michel Lavigne and Edwards. Here is a summary of,  Kittyhawk Pilot: Wing Commander J.F. (Stocky) Edwards:

"This is the true inspirational story of James “Stocky” Edwards, Canada’s top living fighter pilot. The story begins in Battleford, Saskatchewan where Stocky grew up. During his childhood, shooting partridge, and working hard, Stocky learned the lessons that would serve him well during the Desert War. The story progresses through Stocky's training and then his posting over seas to the Desert War where he flew the P-40 Kittyhawk. This is the incredible story of a young Canadian who goes to war and becomes a superior pilot and leader of men."

   

  The second book is: Kittyhawks over the Sands: the Canadians and RCAF Americans, also by Lavigne and Edwards.  I will provide portions of a review below.

  The books are not readily available, so it is good that "Stocky" has finally gained some recognition. A copy of Kittyhawk Pilot, which came out in 1983, is found in the Western Libraries, but not in many other Ontario universities. A few of them have purchased the more recent Kittyhawks Over the Sands..., but Western does not have a copy. Neither book is available in the London Public Library System. Limited copies of both books are found on used books sites, but they are very expensive.

Sources:
   The Washington Post article: " "Stocky Edwards, Canadian Flying Ace in World War II, Dies at 100: He Was Heralded His Nation's "Top Gun" Over the North American Desert in 1942 and 1943," Phil Davison, May 21, 2022.
   The London Free Press contains an obituary on May 20 which originated in the Comox Valley Record, a newspaper that provides other good material about Edwards. See: "World War II Flying Ace Stocky Edwards Laid to Rest," Mike Chouinard, May 20, 2022; "Comox War Hero Dies at Age 100," Scott Stanfield, May 16, 2022 and "Comox Centenarian Stocky Edwards Reflects on Years," Erin Haluschak, June 4, 2021. 
   For a good biographical profile see the website of  Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame: "James Francis Edwards."
   For a review of Kittyhawks Over the Sands... see this one by Rob Tate: Air & Space Power Journal, Vol. 17, No.4, Winter, 2003. A portion follows:

Canadian author Michel Lavigne has again teamed with the exceptional Canadian ace James "Stocky" Edwards, a retired wing commander, to produce their second book. (In 1983 they joined forces to write Kittyhawk Pilot, Edwards's biography.) Lavigne's latest work, the fourth book he has coauthored, gives historians a superb account of this fascinating subject. Readers should note, however, that Kittyhawks over the Sands is by no means an easy read and not the type of book that lends itself to casual reading; rather, the sheer volume of material makes it a reference work...

"Unlike Fighter's over the Desert, which steps through the North African campaign in a day-by-day format, Kittyhawks over the Sands focuses on Canadian pilots who flew for the Royal Air Force (RAF), Canadian and American pilots who flew for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), and squadrons that flew the American-built P-40. Thus, the book deals with the 94, 260, 112, and 250 Squadrons of the RAF and 450 Squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF)-specifically, their battles with the Italians and the German Luftwaffe in North Africa. Lavigne and Edwards present a staggering amount of information about each squadron, including unit histories, casualties, and claims. For example, the data on casualties includes the date, type of aircraft flown, pilot's name and fate, source of shootdown, and location of the battle. For claims, they include date, time, name and nationality of the victorious pilot, type of aircraft shot down, and battle location. Throughout the book, readers will find pilot profiles, anecdotes, and 350 black-and-white photographs as well as 16 color pages of aircraft and pilots. In addition to historical information about the squadrons, the book offers appendices covering the combat records of P-40 units, P-40 aces, Canadian and American RCAF casualties, and claims made by Canadian and American RCAF pilots....
Perhaps what I like the most about Kittyhawks over the Sands are the pilot accounts and stories of aerial combat, ground attack, and pilot losses from both sides. Lavigne and Edwards intriguingly piece together air combats, including photographs of men who shot each other down and of aircraft destroyed later in the campaign. I also admire their brutally honest treatment concerning instances of over claiming by the RAF, RCAF, RAAF, and Luftwaffe. For example, on the one hand, although RAF 112 Squadron claimed 211 aircraft destroyed between June 1940 and May 1943, the authors' research corroborates only 100 to 110. On the other hand, the claim of 65.5 victories by 260 Squadron (Edwards's unit) from June 1941 to May 1943 is almost completely verifiable, demonstrating the book's historical objectivity and desire to present the most accurate and unbiased information possible."

The Bonus:
   In another review of Kittyhawks.... one learns this:

"War writer Michel Lavigne of Victoriaville, Que., in his 2002 book Kittyhawks over the Sands - The Canadians and the RCAF Americans, makes a valiant effort to have these men and their desert air war remembered....
They flew Kittyhawk fighters and decorated the noses with painted-on sharks teeth.
They were the first to do that, but the American Flying Tigers of the Pacific war are best remembered for airplane teeth, thanks to the American style of focusing on heroes.
Factoid: Of the 367 Medal of Honor winners buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, nine are Canadians. The award was struck during the American Civil War and since then some 3,475 have been awarded - 61 of them to Canadians." (rev. by Dan Brown in the Ottawa Citizen, Sep. 12, 2011.)

For local readers it should be noted that 'Stocky' was stationed for a bit at RCAF Station Centralia which closed in 1967. I attended a party not long after it closed that was hosted by a member of the military whose family was housed at the former base.
Also, those interested in the subject of aviation history will find in the Archives and Special Collections up at Western the, Beatrice Hitchins Memorial Collection of Aviation History.  I could not find much information about it, but some background is likely found in: Catalogue of The Beatrice Hitchins Memorial Collection of Aviation History: Presented by the Family of Fred H. Hitchins. The Catalogue, was created by Marvin Hopkinson, whose position I assumed in the Western Libraries.
  I did find this useful information at Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame, under the entry for Fred Harvey Hitchins. 

"Fred Harvey Hitchins, CD.**, B.A., M.A., Ph.D, was born on July 10, 1904 in London, Ontario. He attended the University of Western Ontario, London, earning his BA in 1923 and MA in 1925. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1928 with a Ph.D in history. He then joined the faculty of New York University in 1928 where he taught European history. His deep interest in aeronautical history, particularly the Canadian operations of World War I, led him to publish articles on the subject as early as 1931....

He died in London, Ontario on November 3, 1972. The importance of his work has not diminished: his papers and books were donated by his family to the University of Western Ontario as the Beatrice Hitchins Memorial Collection of Aviation History, available for generations of aviation historians to follow."

For another post related to air warfare (in Vietnam) see the one about Senator John McCain which includes a review of a book about pilots who flew from aircraft carriers during the war in Vietnam.