|
Louis Edward Curdes
Louis Edward "Lou" Curdes (2 November 1919 – 5 February 1995) was an American flying ace of the United States Army Air Forces during World War II who held the unusual distinction of scoring an official air-to-air kill against another American Aircraft. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross twice and a Purple Heart. He flew a North American P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft with the nickname "Bad Angel". Curdes was one of only three American pilots to shoot down aircraft belonging to the German, the Italian and Japanese air forces. He was also involved in an incident where he intentionally shot down an American cargo plane. In total, Curdes shot down seven German Messerschmitt Bf 109s, an Italian Macchi C.202 fighter, a Japanese Mitsubishi Ki-46 reconnaissance aircraft and an American Douglas C-47 Skytrain. Early life Louis Curdes was born on 2 November 1919, to Esther (nee Kover) and Walter Curdes, he grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and enrolled at Purdue University. Afte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laoag
Laoag, officially the City of Laoag ( ilo, Siudad ti Laoag; fil, Lungsod ng Laoag), is a 1st class Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, component city and capital of the Provinces of the Philippines, province of Ilocos Norte, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 111,651 people. It is the province's political, commercial, and industrial hub and the location of the Ilocos Region's busiest Laoag International Airport, commercial airport. The municipalities of San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte, San Nicolas, Paoay, Ilocos Norte, Paoay, Sarrat, Ilocos Norte, Sarrat, Vintar, Ilocos Norte, Vintar, and Bacarra, Ilocos Norte, Bacarra form its boundaries. The foothills of the Cordillera Central (Luzon), Cordillera Central mountain range to the east, and the South China Sea to the west are its physical boundaries. Laoag experiences the prevailing monsoon climate of Northern Luzon, characterized by a dry season from November to April and a wet season from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Luzon
The Battle of Luzon ( tl, Labanan sa Luzon; ja, ルソン島の戦い; es, Batalla de Luzón) was a land battle of the Pacific Theater of Operations of World War II by the Allied forces of the U.S., its colony the Philippines, and allies against forces of the Empire of Japan. The battle resulted in a U.S. and Filipino victory. The Allies had taken control of all strategically and economically important locations of Luzon by March 1945, although pockets of Japanese resistance held out in the mountains until the unconditional surrender of Japan. While not the highest in U.S. casualties, it is the highest net casualty battle U.S. forces fought in World War II, with 192,000 to 217,000 Japanese combatants dead (mostly from starvation and disease), 8,000 American combatants killed, and over 150,000 Filipinos, overwhelmingly civilians who were murdered by Japanese forces, mainly during the Manila massacre of February 1945. Background The Philippines was considered to be of great st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Imperial Japanese Army Air Service
The Imperial Japanese Army Air Service (IJAAS) or Imperial Japanese Army Air Force (IJAAF; ja, 大日本帝國陸軍航空部隊, Dainippon Teikoku Rikugun Kōkūbutai, lit=Greater Japan Empire Army Air Corps) was the aviation force of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). Just as the IJA in general was modeled mainly on the German Army, the IJAAS initially developed along similar lines to the Imperial German Army Aviation; its primary mission was to provide tactical close air support for ground forces, as well as a limited air interdiction capability. The IJAAS also provided aerial reconnaissance to other branches of the IJA. While the IJAAS engaged in strategic bombing of cities such as Shanghai, Nanking, Canton, Chongqing, Rangoon, and Mandalay, this was not the primary mission of the IJAAS, and it lacked a heavy bomber force. It did not usually control artillery spotter/observer aircraft; artillery battalions controlled the light aircraft and balloons that operated in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Regia Aeronautica
The Italian Royal Air Force (''Regia Aeronautica Italiana'') was the name of the air force of the Kingdom of Italy. It was established as a service independent of the Royal Italian Army from 1923 until 1946. In 1946, the monarchy was abolished and the Kingdom of Italy became the Italian Republic, whereupon the name of the air force changed to Aeronautica Militare. History Beginnings At the beginning of the twentieth century, Italy was at the forefront of aerial warfare: during the colonization of Libya in 1911, it made the first reconnaissance flight in history on 23 October, and the first ever bombing raid on 1 November. During World War I, the Italian ''Corpo Aeronautico Militare'', then still part of the ''Regio Esercito'' (Royal Army), operated a mix of French fighters and locally built bombers, notably the gigantic Caproni aircraft. The ''Regia Marina'' (Royal Navy) had its own air arm, operating locally built flying boats. Founding of the ''Regia Aeronautica'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabteilung'' of the Imperial Navy, had been disbanded in May 1920 in accordance with the terms of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles which banned Germany from having any air force. During the interwar period, German pilots were trained secretly in violation of the treaty at Lipetsk Air Base in the Soviet Union. With the rise of the Nazi Party and the repudiation of the Versailles Treaty, the ''Luftwaffe''s existence was publicly acknowledged on 26 February 1935, just over two weeks before open defiance of the Versailles Treaty through German rearmament and conscription would be announced on 16 March. The Condor Legion, a ''Luftwaffe'' detachment sent to aid Nationalist forces in the Spanish Civil War, provided the force with a valuable testing grou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North American P-51 Mustang
The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter aircraft, fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in April 1940 by a team headed by James H. Kindelberger of North American Aviation (NAA) in response to a requirement of the British Purchasing Commission. The Purchasing Commission approached North American Aviation to build Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, Curtiss P-40 fighters under license for the Royal Air Force (RAF). Rather than build an old design from another company, North American Aviation proposed the design and production of a more modern fighter. The prototype NA-73X airframe was rolled out on 9 September 1940, 102 days after the contract was signed, and first flew on 26 October. The Mustang was designed to use the Allison V-1710 engine, which had limited high-altitude performance in its earlier variants. The aircraft was first flown operationally by the RAF a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flying Ace
A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace is varied, but is usually considered to be five or more. The concept of the "ace" emerged in 1915 during World War I, at the same time as aerial dogfighting. It was a propaganda term intended to provide the home front with a cult of the hero in what was otherwise a war of attrition. The individual actions of aces were widely reported and the image was disseminated of the ace as a chivalrous knight reminiscent of a bygone era. For a brief early period when air-to-air combat was just being invented, the exceptionally skilled pilot could shape the battle in the skies. For most of the war, however, the image of the ace had little to do with the reality of air warfare, in which fighters fought in formation and air superiority depended heavily on the relative availability ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Air And Space Longevity Service Award
The Air and Space Longevity Service Award (ASLSA) is a military award of the United States Air Force and United States Space Force established as the Air Force Longevity Service Award by Air Force General Order 60, on 25 November 1957 by General Thomas D. White, Air Force Chief of Staff. The award was primarily created as an air force equivalent to the service stripes used by other branches of the United States military to denote years of military service. The award is retroactive to the establishment of the U.S. Air Force as an independent service in September 1947. The ribbon is also retroactive for any service with the U.S. Army Air Forces, U.S. Army Air Corps, or U.S. Army Air Service prior to the creation of the U.S. Air Force as a separate service as long as the serviceman was on active duty on or after 18 September 1947. On 16 November 2020, the Air Force Longevity Service Award was renamed to the Air and Space Longevity Service Award by the Secretary of the Air Force. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Longevity Service Award USAF
The word "longevity" is sometimes used as a synonym for "life expectancy" in demography. However, the term ''longevity'' is sometimes meant to refer only to especially long-lived members of a population, whereas ''life expectancy'' is always defined statistically as the average number of years remaining at a given age. For example, a population's life expectancy at birth is the same as the average age at death for all people born in the same year (in the case of cohorts). Longevity is best thought of as a term for general audiences meaning 'typical length of life' and specific statistical definitions should be clarified when necessary. Reflections on longevity have usually gone beyond acknowledging the brevity of human life and have included thinking about methods to extend life. Longevity has been a topic not only for the scientific community but also for writers of travel, science fiction, and utopian novels. In fact the legendary fountain of youth appeared in the work of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prisoner Of War Medal
The Prisoner of War Medal is a military award of the United States Armed Forces which was authorized by Congress and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan on 8 November 1985. The United States Code citation for the POW Medal statute is . The Prisoner of War Medal may be awarded to any person who was a prisoner of war after April 5, 1917 (the date of the United States' entry into World War I was April 6). It is awarded to any person who was taken prisoner or held captive while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States; while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing Armed Force; or while serving with friendly forces engaged in armed conflict against an opposing Armed Force in which the United States is not a belligerent party. As of an amendment to Title 10 of the United States Code in 2013, the medal is also awarded for captivity under circumstances "which the Secretary concerned finds were comparable to those circumstances under which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prisoner Of War Medal Ribbon
A prisoner (also known as an inmate or detainee) is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement, captivity, or forcible restraint. The term applies particularly to serving a prison sentence in a prison. English law "Prisoner" is a legal term for a person who is imprisoned. In section 1 of the Prison Security Act 1992, the word "prisoner" means any person for the time being in a prison as a result of any requirement imposed by a court or otherwise that he be detained in legal custody. "Prisoner" was a legal term for a person prosecuted for felony. It was not applicable to a person prosecuted for misdemeanour. The abolition of the distinction between felony and misdemeanour by section 1 of the Criminal Law Act 1967 has rendered this distinction obsolete. Glanville Williams described as "invidious" the practice of using the term "prisoner" in reference to a person who had not been convicted. History The earliest evidence of the existen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Purple Heart
The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, which took the form of a heart made of purple cloth, the Purple Heart is the oldest military award still given to U.S. military members. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor is located in New Windsor, New York. History The original Purple Heart, designated as the Badge of Military Merit, was established by George Washington – then the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army – by order from his Newburgh, New York headquarters on 7 August 1782. The Badge of Military Merit was only awarded to three Revolutionary War soldiers by Washington himself. Washington authorized his subordinate officers to issue Badges of Merit as appropriate. Although never abolished, the award of the badge was not proposed again officially until ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.svg "Click for more on -> Imperial Japanese Army Air Service")
