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© 2011 Daily News of Kingsport, Inc.
Dedicated to the service of God, country and reader.
By Pete Dykes
Pete Dykes, President and Founder of the Daily News in Kingsport, has written several books about the history and folklore of Upper East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. His books include the popular PUG POTTER SERIES, which includes the complete Kinnie Wagner Story and the story of how and why Eastman came to Kingsport.
Pete Dykes
Events that Grabbed Our Attention
Now that the Axis powers had collapsed and World War II was finally finished, at least in so far as actual fighting was concerned. Americans were able to turn their attention to many other things.
But events taking place in the world were to have long lasting consequences, reaching even into the distant future and having a bearing on days to come a half century and more later.
The British government September 8, 1947, with what may have been the very best of intentions, loaded a ship called "Exodus" with fugitives from the Nazis brutality and sent them afloat, seeking a new homeland.
In late November of that year, the United Nations General Assembly partitioned Palestine between Arabs and Jews to give the refugees a homeland of their own after many long years.
But one day later, a Arab terrorist campaign opened in Palestine and the Jewish settlements were attacked.
Three months later, four days after Christmas on December 29, the ship was turned away from Palestine by armed soldiers, signaling decades of trouble to come.
In Columbus, Ohio, the very first 4 engine jet propelled fighter plane was tested on September 15, an inovation that would bring rapid changes in aircrafts.
On land, John Cobb set a new world speed record of 394.2 miles per hour on September 16.
The U.S. Department of Defense was formed on September 17, with the National Security Act passing the following day and the creation of the United States Air Force as a separated branch of military services on the same day.
On October first, Helicopter air mail and express service began.
Sports fans were captivated by the World Series pitting the New York Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers. Yankee Yogi Berra, as a pinch hitter, scored a homer and the Yankees won the series 4 to 3 games.
Later that month, The first telephone conversation between a moving car and an airplane was successfully achieved.
Then Chuck Yeager, in Bell X1, made the first supersonic flight, reaching a speed of Mach 1.015.
The World was rapidly changing.
More Changes
In October 1947, a series of forest fires in the New England States resulted in the loss of thirty million dollars worth of timber.
Usually such drastic fires occurred in the Northern and Western states, but the raging inferno made it clear that no place is exempt.
On a lighter note, comedian Groucho Marx began a television program called "You Bet Your Life" quickly becoming a favorite of viewers.
Eccentric millionaire and world famed aviator Howard Hughes revealed a secret project he had developed for the war effort, a huge plywood troop carrier plane, the largest aircraft the world had ever seen.
"That thing will never fly!" the experts said, ridiculing the monster-sized wooden plane.
Hughes had kept the project secret, during its construction and development in an over-sized aircraft hanger.
The big plane was developed to carry troops rapidly to any place they were needed.
Critics called it "The Spruce Goose" and declared that the oversized craft would never be able to be airborne.
The following day, November 2, 1947, Howard Hughes himself climbed into the cockpit of the big wooden plane and started the engines.
He flew the big machine out of the hanger and around the bay, proving that it would fly, and then had it stored away back in its hanger to be never flown again or even shown as a tourist attraction.
The eccentric Hughes, who had achieved several world records for flying, later became involved in movie production and ultimately became a recluse with a abnormal fear of germs. But he proved that his "Spruce Goose " would fly.
Now that the Axis powers had collapsed and World War II was finally finished, at least in so far as actual fighting was concerned. Americans were able to turn their attention to many other things.
But events taking place in the world were to have long lasting consequences, reaching even into the distant future and having a bearing on days to come a half century and more later.
The British government September 8, 1947, with what may have been the very best of intentions, loaded a ship called "Exodus" with fugitives from the Nazis brutality and sent them afloat, seeking a new homeland.
In late November of that year, the United Nations General Assembly partitioned Palestine between Arabs and Jews to give the refugees a homeland of their own after many long years.
But one day later, a Arab terrorist campaign opened in Palestine and the Jewish settlements were attacked.
Three months later, four days after Christmas on December 29, the ship was turned away from Palestine by armed soldiers, signaling decades of trouble to come.
In Columbus, Ohio, the very first 4 engine jet propelled fighter plane was tested on September 15, an inovation that would bring rapid changes in aircrafts.
On land, John Cobb set a new world speed record of 394.2 miles per hour on September 16.
The U.S. Department of Defense was formed on September 17, with the National Security Act passing the following day and the creation of the United States Air Force as a separated branch of military services on the same day.
On October first, Helicopter air mail and express service began.
Sports fans were captivated by the World Series pitting the New York Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers. Yankee Yogi Berra, as a pinch hitter, scored a homer and the Yankees won the series 4 to 3 games.
Later that month, The first telephone conversation between a moving car and an airplane was successfully achieved.
Then Chuck Yeager, in Bell X1, made the first supersonic flight, reaching a speed of Mach 1.015.
The World was rapidly changing.
More Changes
In October 1947, a series of forest fires in the New England States resulted in the loss of thirty million dollars worth of timber.
Usually such drastic fires occurred in the Northern and Western states, but the raging inferno made it clear that no place is exempt.
On a lighter note, comedian Groucho Marx began a television program called "You Bet Your Life" quickly becoming a favorite of viewers.
Eccentric millionaire and world famed aviator Howard Hughes revealed a secret project he had developed for the war effort, a huge plywood troop carrier plane, the largest aircraft the world had ever seen.
"That thing will never fly!" the experts said, ridiculing the monster-sized wooden plane.
Hughes had kept the project secret, during its construction and development in an over-sized aircraft hanger.
The big plane was developed to carry troops rapidly to any place they were needed.
Critics called it "The Spruce Goose" and declared that the oversized craft would never be able to be airborne.
The following day, November 2, 1947, Howard Hughes himself climbed into the cockpit of the big wooden plane and started the engines.
He flew the big machine out of the hanger and around the bay, proving that it would fly, and then had it stored away back in its hanger to be never flown again or even shown as a tourist attraction.
The eccentric Hughes, who had achieved several world records for flying, later became involved in movie production and ultimately became a recluse with a abnormal fear of germs. But he proved that his "Spruce Goose " would fly.