EAA AirVenture Nears Wrap Up For 2019

Tomorrow is the final day of this year's Experimental Aircraft Association AirVemture, a spectacular aviation gathering that most enthusiasts know simply by its location,  "Oshkosh." What started almost seventy years ago as a small "fly-in" now attracts 7000 or more general aviation pilots - along with families and friends -  who fly to Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh. Many of them come year after year to renew friendships and enjoy 2500 aircraft exhibits, 800 commercial exhibitors, daily world-class airshows, and mingle with over 600,000 other folks who love flying. 

Wittman Field during AirVenture. For scale the runway at the top is 8000 feet long.

I had the privilege of staffing the Federal Pavilion at five AirVentures beginning in 1999. Some may interpret that as overkill, but I left each one thrilled at the thought of returning for the next event. And you may ask why the National Park Service and the Department of the Interior would send up to a dozen employees and volunteers to work an airplane show. First, the agency has around forty out of 419 units with a significant link to an aviation theme. In addition, the Service maintains a fleet of fixed and rotary wing aircraft contributing over 20,000 hours of flight time annually in support of park operations, maintenance, and resource management. Add to that the interagency cooperation as well as airspace regulation over the parks and I think you can see the point. Regardless, it's a demanding and grand  opportunity to distribute information and talk face-to-face with thousands of guests.

If any readers have the slightest interest in an aviation theme, EAA's AirVenture needs to be in your travel plans. If you can't be there tomorrow, the event maintains a comprehensive website with several webcams, live coverage, and a host of other links.

A Lunar Landing 50 Years Ago Today

On this day 50 years ago the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle landed on the moon. Millions watched at 10:56 PM, EDT, as Neil Armstrong, the commander of the Apollo 11 mission, descended the Eagle's ladder and made what he called a "giant leap for mankind" with his final step onto the powdery lunar surface. Learn more about the Apollo 11 mission here on Wikipedia where you can find scores of links to more National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) reports and multimedia.

Lunar Module Eagle in landing configuration July 20, 1969

Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, the module pilot, spent almost 22 hours on the moon including their 150 minute walk where they erected an American flag, collected soil and rock samples, and deployed experiments. On their return to Earth much of the material they collected was eventually archived and displayed at the Smithsonian Institution. Some rocks entered our culture in some fascinating ways, including this one at the Washington National Cathedral, where one was embedded at the center of a red planet in what has become known as the Space Window.

Time is catching up with those first attempts at exploring our nearest celestial neighbor. Neil Armstrong passed away in 2012 at the age of 82. Buzz Aldrin turned 89 earlier this year. There are new rumbling of a manned mission to the moon as early as 2024. And the United States Space Force has become a reality in our national defense initiative. Regardless of what the future holds those early years, including the mission we commemorate today, were an exciting and almost magical time for science, exploration, and discovery of the frontier "out there."

Sources

Photos and Illustrations:
atlasobscura.com, Space Window detail
nasa.gov, Space Window, full photo

Text:
wikipedia.com

The Nancy Hanks: A Horse Of A Different Color

When I moved to Savannah in 1977 people were still talking about "The Nancy." It was the familiar name for "The Nancy Hanks II." a daily Central of Georgia train that ran round trip from Savannah to Atlanta. Abraham Lincoln's mother seemed like an odd choice as a name for anything in the South until I quickly learned that Nancy Hanks was also a record breaking trotting mare at the turn of the 20th century.

Nancy Hanks in 1892 shortly after her record breaking run

In fact, the Central of Georgia Railroad is best remembered for two trains named after famous race horses, the other being the much better known, Man o' War (1917-1947). That train made two 117 mile runs a day from Atlanta to Columbus. But it is The Nancy that gained fame among Georgians. The name was first used on a short-lived train in 1892-93. It was revived in 1947 and remained in use until 1971 when railroad across the nation ended virtually all of their passenger service. The train featured reserved-seat deluxe coaches, a grille and lounge car, a dome car in its later years, and maid service. The color scheme was a mix of blue and gray inside and out with a logo on each car.

The Nancy Hanks at Wadley, Georgia, in 1948

At 7:00 a.m. every day "The Nancy" pulled out of the Central of Georgia Depot and Train Shed in Savannah for its 294 mile, five hour and forty minute run to Atlanta. For twenty years the train was popular with a wide variety of travelers ranging from businessmen to children on school field trips to families visiting relatives and friends to shoppers - the famous Rich's flagship store was across the street from the Atlanta Terminal. Day-trippers had about four hours of useful time before they had to return to the terminal for the 6:00 p.m. departure and return to Savannah. By the late '60's improved highways, government regulations, labor issues, taxes, and subsidized competition spelled the end of privately-owned passenger rail service across the country, a service that had rarely made a profit for railroads for decades. So it was with The Nancy Hanks II. She made her last run on April 30, 1971 just one day before the creation of Amtrak, a publicly funded rail passenger service. 

Twenty-four years earlier, on July 17, 1947, The Nancy Hanks II made her first run from the Georgia coast across the blistering midland to the state capital. Today, people still talk fondly about that trip. Some would be thrilled at the prospect of taking it again. Should a ride on The Nancy Hanks III become a reality I hope to be among them on their journey across Georgia.

Add caption

Atlanta's Terminal Station in 1955. Demolished 1972.

Sources

Photos and illustrations:
Kentuckiana Digital Library
rebelrails.com
carrtracks.com
railga.com
georgiaencyclopedia.org


Text:
wikipedia
georgiaencyclopedia.org
chsgeorgia.org
railga.com
cofga.org
american-rails.com

The Trinity Test: Standing On The Dwarf Of Ignorance

Today marks the 74th anniversary of the Trinity Test, the world's first experimental nuclear explosion and the beginning of the Atomic Age. Expectation among the scientists that morning in the New Mexico desert ranged from a dud bomb to a world-devouring atmospheric explosion. Luckily, the result was reasonable and the success allowed the United States to pursue a quick and definitive ending to war with Japan. I am sure the debate on using nuclear weapons against civilian targets in Japan will be an endless one. Also, I am sure that President Harry Truman's decision to use those weapons saved Japan and the United States and its allies millions of additional casualties. Regardless of your position on this question and the Atomic Age, the greater reality is simply that our world has been transformed by this new power. As a leader of the free world, we have a huge responsibility regarding the use of nuclear power for creation and destruction as well as its proliferation. The events of July 16, 1945 and in the month that followed showed us the awesome power of the atom. Seventy years of nuclear history has only focused us even more on being careful to choose wisely in such matters..

The Department of Energy has a fine mixed media post on the Trinity Testand its context within the Manhattan Project. The Wikipedia entry for Trinity provides additional information, including several illustrations, and many interesting external links. Access Wikipedia:Trinity here.

Trinity Site explosion at 0.016 second after ignition on July 16, 1945

The title of this post refers to a quote - "now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds" -taken from the Bhagavad Gita and spoken by J. Robert Oppenheimer on the realization of what he and his fellow scientists accomplished in the Trinity Test. In the Gita, the speaker is Vishnu, a supreme god in the Hindu tradition. Perhaps Oppenheimer's pessimism and quote were justified. I like to recall that Vishnu, as supreme god, had many avatars or incarnations. One of them is Shiva, also known as the Lord of the Cosmic Dance. As such, the Dancer is the creator, sustainer, and destroyer of the world as he stands on the Dwarf of Ignorance. 

I wasn't at Trinity that morning. Didn't see the flash or feel the heat or wind from the blast. Still, I have no doubt it was quite a dance for all who witnessed this historic event.

Le Fete Nationale De La France 2019

Today is the 230th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille, a 14th century fort and political prison, by a crowd of 1000 Parisian laborers. The historic event marked the beginning of the French Revolution and the symbolic end of absolute monarchy in France. What followed was eight decades of political and social unrest as France and Europe as a whole struggled with the concept of nationalism. In France, the holiday is known as National Day. In the English-speaking world it is known as Bastille Day. 

La Prise De La Bastille                  Jean-Pierre Houel (1735-1813)

For more information about the event, the revolution it spawned, and its significance in national and world politics, visit this site The Ohio State University. 

For an expression of the patriotism this day represents, there is but one song and image:

Jefferson Airplane In Formation

On this day in 1965 singer-songwriter, Marty Balin, watched a frustrated hootenanny try-out walk off the stage of The Drinking Gourd in disgust over his performance. Balin liked what little he heard and was impressed by the man's ambition. He went backstage and asked him, Paul Kantner, if he would join a band he was forming for his new Haight-Ashbury club called The Matrix. Kantner agreed. He didn't know it at the time, but he and Balin had just formed a band that would become Jefferson Airplane.

In a matter of days, another Drinking Gourd singer, Signe Toly Anderson, would join. Kantner recruited his downstairs neighbor, Jorma Kaukonen, as another guitarist. A local drummer and bass guitarist filled out the group. Kaukonen would convince Jack Casady to become their new bass later in the year.

Six weeks after Balin and Kantner had their backstage chat, Jefferson Airplane debuted as the house band at The Matrix on August 13, 1965. The band was an instant success and went on to release their first album, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, a year later. Signe Toly Anderson (vocals) and Skip Spence (drummer) soon left and were replaced by Grace Slickand Spencer Dryden. The group's next album, Surrealistic Pillow, launched them to international success.

Sources

Wikipedia.com, Jefferson Airplane
classicbands.com, Rock and Roll History
youtube.com, Signe Toly Anderson interview, KGON Portland, 2011
youtube.com. Mart Balin: Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, Joe Vertino, producer, martybalin.net, 2009

Independence Day 2019

The Avenue in the Rain Childe Hassam, 1917

I can think of no better way to reflect on our experience today than to read and reflect on the Declaration of Independence, signed on this day in 1776:

In Congress, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, 

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Sources

Photos and Illustrations:
public domain photo, "The Avenue in the Rain," oil on canvas, by the American painter Childe Hassam. 42 in. x 22.25 in. Courtesy of The White House Collection, The White House, Washington, D. C. Image courtesy of The Athenaeum.

Text:
National Archives and Records Administration

The Dog Days Of 2019

Tonight is the dark night of July's New Moon, actually a night without a visible moon. Here in Atlanta it coincides with what climatologists tell us are the average warmest days of the year. Climate averages aside I can say that today was much warmer than those averages derived from 130 years of observations. The excess was not uncomfortable given the usual pop-up thunderstorms that not only brought rain but also an early cloud curtain that shielded the area from afternoon sunshine. At an elevation of around 1000 feet Atlanta is a reasonable place - the coast is by far the best - to enjoy a hot summer in Georgia. South of the Fall Line running from Augusta through Macon to Columbus the heat can be a serious challenge. There's no better illustration of this than the one-hour drive south from Atlanta to Macon. In that brief time you will drop 550 feet over several ancient river terraces until you arrive five degrees hotter and fully saturated at the Ocmulgee River swamps on the city's east side. It is a place where summer's hottest days are best described in terms of months.

With that said it's time to envision sitting comfortably on the screen porch where a big ceiling fan quietly generates a steady breeze and your sweating, sweet iced tea feels good even to the touch. The forest across the lawn and garden is a still landscape interrupted by an occasional bird or squirrel and accompanied by countless cicadas and their song of summer.

If you stay there long you witness the yellowing light of day giving way to a blazing sunset, the twilight, the lightning bugs, the katydids, and a chorus of north Georgia tree frogs. I love all of those twilight sounds but I love the katydids most because they remind me of long summer vacations in the mountains of West Virginia and drifting to sleep in my bed serenaded by insects and washed in a cool breeze through a cottage window. 

Also happening outside my window was the rising of the “dog,” the event behind the “Dog Days” of my summer. Having lived most of my life deep in woods or in brightly lit cities, I never made note of the brightest star rising to its highest elevation in the summer sky. Before turning thirty I enjoyed the sky in terms of weather and events including Earth’s moon, meteor showers, comets, and favorite constellations. After eleven years living on a small island at the edge of the ocean things changed. I observed, perhaps literally merged with, the actors on this infinite stage and their cycle of days, hours, tides, seasons, years, and more. No question the experience enticed me. In time I came to know well the dog and his comings and going.

Sirius, the Dog Star, actually a double star

Now when that brightest star rises in the eastern sky, it’s name is Sirius. Twenty-five hundred years ago the Greeks knew the star as Sirius, Sothis, and the Dog Star, the bringer of heat and drought to their rocky hills and islands. A thousand years earlier the Egyptians worshiped the object as the star goddess, Sodpet, whose appearance brought flood waters and new crops to the valley of the Nile River. 

It is a far cry from the beaches of Pelopennese to my humble porch in the woods here in the Atlanta suburbs. And the cloud remnants of scattered thundershowers may likely obscure the Dog’s rise on my horizon tonight. With certainty, I will not be awake for the Dog’s zenith, its highest elevation in the sky. No worry though, for the music of the spheres will perform as expected, God willing. Tybee’s beaches, the Back River, and the beautiful salt marshes east of Savannah will be refreshed with a very high tide. My katydids here and in West Virginia will chatter long into the night. The Dog Days will stay with Atlantans for forty days and Macon will swelter long after Labor Day.

Crosby, Stills & Nash: A Sound Is Born

Music flows like water coursing through shoals, eddy lines, and pools in an ever-changing pattern. One could say those who make the music follow similar and often bumpy routes that leave little time for thought about destinations. By 1968 that was the case with three young musicians. The Byrds had already fired David Crosby, Buffalo Springfield broke up leaving Stephen Stills without work, and Graham Nash felt far too restrained working with the Hollies. They knew each other through the music scene in Los Angeles and networks that develop naturally among like-minded folks. Crosby and Stills had already been jamming in Florida and elsewhere. Both knew Crosby through his American tours.

CSN's first album, released in May 1969

The fourth name in our post today is singer-songwriter, Joni Mitchell, the catalyst in our story. She shared Laurel Canyon, a neighborhood just north of Hollywood, with many other music industry notables and up-and-comers. Mitchell's home was described (Mark Volman) as "a little different...not so much maternal but about holding court in terms of songwriters who could find themselves there on any given night...and present their music to a kind of inner circle of people." On July 3, 1968, circumstances brought Crosby, Stills, and Nash together at the house. "Nash asked Stills and Crosby to repeat their performance of a new song by Stills, “You Don't Have To Cry”, with Nash improvising a third part harmony." In a Daily Mail interview, Nash recalled, "That night, while Joni listened, the three of us sang together for the first time. I heard the future in the power of those voices. And I knew my life would never be the same."

Neither would music for millions around the world. Crosby, Stills, Nash, and later, Neil Young, would go on to phenomenal success and influence in folk rock and popular music, a force very much with us today.

A postscript: Among the principals, there is disagreement about the location of this monumental event; however, Mitchell, Crosby, and close friend, Elliot Roberts, insist it was at Mitchell's home. The official CSN biography by Dave Zimmer and Henry Diltz concurs.

Sources:

wikipedia.org, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young
vanityfair.com, "An Oral History of Laurel Canyon, the 60s and 70s Music Mecca"," March 2115

Quotes:

"You Don't Have To Cry" quote is from Dave Zimmer and Henry Diltz, Crosby, Stills & Nash: The Biography, Da Capo Press, 2008
Nash quote, dailymail.co.uk
Volman quote: Hotel California: The True Adventures of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, Barney Hoskins. Wiley, 2007

Gettysburg And Defining Moments In History

Today marks the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, fought July 1-3, 1863, and the beginning of the end for the Confederate States of America. A year later in August 1864 the Union unconditionally controlled the Mississippi River and relentlessly pressed Confederate forces in Virginia. In the Deep South, General Sherman's army devastated Atlanta. Six months later, he would be in Savannah and poised to destroy the remains of the Confederacy as he moved north through the Carolinas.

The American Civil War is a perennial but fading topic in our history. Indeed, it did preserve the Union as President Abraham Lincoln intended and left us with any number of both good and bad consequences in our national experience. Regarding those consequences, we should not expect otherwise as that is the way events unfold in the great wheel of history. And so it is with our great wheels of personal experience.

Now in my seventh decade immersed in all of this I'm a bit surprised and certainly privileged to have experienced Gettysburg at 100 and 150. The place is a personal holy ground because three people cared.

The Old Ranger and his dad at Gettysburg National Military Park in 1954

First of all. my parents always loved being in nature and its historical overlay. Living in the Potomac River watershed afforded our family many opportunities to enjoy any number of places of national significance. As is often the case, first impressions become lasting ones. I was seven years old when we spent a long weekend exploring almost every foot of Gettysburg National Military Park. It was a fascinating experience and I still have the souvenirs to prove it.

The Old Ranger and his mom at Gettysburg National Military Park in 1954

About six years later I met George Landis, the third person in this story. Landis taught middle school history and social studies on the eve of the Civil War Centennial in 1959. A Pennsylvanian with a love of history and basketball he devoted almost an entire school year to the study of the Civil War. He was a superb teacher, highly animated and far ahead of his time. He focused on learning that took his students beyond lectures into the world of role-playing, performance, critical thinking and more. I recall fondly seeing every blackboard in his classroom filled with detailed maps of battles, each carefully drawn and labelled with colored chalk. A little more than a decade after my year with Landis, I began a long and rewarding career immersed in experiential learning in the sacred places and histories preserved in our national parks.

There will be tens of thousands of people visiting Gettysburg this week as well as many thousands of volunteers recreating and commemorating the events that took place there. There will be lasting impressions made this week about the sacrifices, the consequences, and the wheels of history both national and personal. Somewhere in the crowd there will be a seven year-old with a new enthusiasm for this defining moment in our national experience. It is reassuring to know the commemorative landscape at Gettysburg, with the pride and serenity of an old veteran, will be waiting there to welcome him on his return visit in 2063 to recall the battle in it's bicentennial year.