Robert T. Smith
Robert Tharp (R.T.) Smith (February 23, 1918 – August 21, 1995) was an American World War II fighter pilot and ace, credited with 8.7, 8.9 or 9 Japanese aircraft while fighting with the American Volunteer Group (Flying Tigers). Early life He was born in York, Nebraska. His family moved to Red Cloud from Hooper, Nebraska in 1927 when his father, Earl W. Smith, was hired as Superintendent of Schools. He graduated Red Cloud High School in 1935. Smith attended the University of Nebraska before joining the United States Army Air Corps in 1939, midway through his senior year. Prior to the time he enrolled in the Air Corps, he worked for the ''Nebraska State Journal'' as a proof reader. Flight training He received his primary flight training at the Allan Hancock College of Aeronautics at Santa Maria, California. During his training, he was given a couple of check rides with Robert L. Scott, who on May 17, 1942 flew as Smith's wingman on Scott's first combat mission in China. Smith ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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York, Nebraska
York is a city in and the county seat of York County, Nebraska, United States. At the 2010 census, the city population was 7,766. It is the home of York College and the Nebraska Correctional Center for Women. History York was platted in 1869. The city took its name from York County. In 1920, the Nebraska legislature established the State Reformatory for Women in York. The facility was expanded over the years; as of 2017, it operated as the Nebraska Correctional Center for Women, with a rated capacity of 275 beds. Geography York is located in (40.867295, -97.588869). The city sits at the crossroads of Interstate 80, a major east–west highway, and U.S. Route 81, a major north–south highway. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. Demographics 2010 census As of the census of 2010, there were 7,766 people, 3,253 households, and 1,992 families living in the city. The population density was . There wer ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Trans World Airlines
Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with Ford Trimotors. With American Airlines, American, United Airlines, United, and Eastern Air Lines, Eastern, it was one of the "Legacy carrier#Defunct legacy carriers, Big Four" domestic airlines in the United States formed by the Air Mail scandal, Spoils Conference of 1930. Howard Hughes acquired control of TWA in 1939, and after World War II led the expansion of the airline to serve Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, making TWA a second unofficial flag carrier of the United States after Pan American World Airways, Pan Am. Hughes gave up control in the 1960s, and the new management of TWA acquired Hilton Worldwide, Hilton International and Century 21 Real Estate, Century 21 in an attempt to diversify the company's business. As the Airline D ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Claire Lee Chennault
Claire Lee Chennault (September 6, 1893 – July 27, 1958) was an American military aviator best known for his leadership of the "Flying Tigers" and the Chinese Air Force in World War II. Chennault was a fierce advocate of "pursuit" or fighter-interceptor aircraft during the 1930s when the United States Army Air Corps was focused primarily on high-altitude bombardment. Chennault retired from the United States Army in 1937, and went to work as an aviation adviser and trainer in China. Starting in early 1941, Chennault commanded the 1st American Volunteer Group (nicknamed ''Flying Tigers''). He headed both the volunteer group and the uniformed U.S. Army Air Forces units that replaced it in 1942. He feuded constantly with General Joseph Stilwell, the U.S. Army commander in China, and helped China's Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek to convince President Roosevelt to remove Stilwell in 1944. The China-Burma-India theater was strategically essential in order to fix many vital elements ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Brooks City-Base
Brooks is a mixed-use development that was founded on the former Brooks Air Force Base when the United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ... closed the facility in 2002. Following the 1995 BRAC, when Brooks AFB was removed from the Base Realignment and Closure list, city, state, military, and community planners began several years of hard work to develop a plan to privatize approved the gradual transition in ownership of Brooks AFB from the Air Force to the Brooks Development Authority. This transition came into full effect on Jul. 22, 2002, when the Brooks Development Authority assumed control of the newly named Brooks City-Base. In 2005, Brooks City-Base was once again placed on the BRAC list. Air Force operations ceased on Sep. 15, 2011. In 2017, "Ci ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Randolph Air Force Base
Randolph Air Force Base was an United States Air Force base located at Universal City, Texas ( east-northeast of Downtown San Antonio). Opened in 1931, Randolph has been a flying training facility for the United States Army Air Corps, the United States Army Air Forces, and the Air Force during its entire existence. On 1 October 2010, Randolph AFB merged with Lackland Air Force Base and the US Army's Fort Sam Houston to form Joint Base San Antonio. Naming Randolph AFB was named after Captain William Millican Randolph, a native of Austin, who was on the base naming committee at the time of his death in a crash. The base served as headquarters of the Air Education and Training Command (AETC) as well as the Air Force Personnel Center (AFPC) and was known as "the Showplace of the Air Force" because of the Spanish Colonial Revival Style architecture in which all structures including hangars were constructed. The symbol of the base was a large water tower atop Building 100, ho ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Robert Lee Scott, Jr
Robert Lee Scott Jr. (12 April 1908 – 27 February 2006) was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force and a flying ace of World War II, credited with shooting down 13 Japanese aircraft. Scott is best known for his memoir, ''God is My Co-Pilot'' (1943), about his exploits in World War II with the Flying Tigers and the United States Army Air Forces in China and Burma. The book was adapted as a film of the same name, which was released in 1945. Early years Scott was born in Waynesboro, near Augusta, Georgia, the oldest of three children born to Ola and Robert Scott. As a youth, Scott was educated in Macon and became an Eagle Scout, earning the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award.Townley 2006, pp. 20–30. "Distinguished Eagle Scouts." ''Scouting.org.'' Retrieved: 4 November 2010. At the age of five, he witnessed the fatal aircraft cr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Santa Maria, California
Santa Maria (Spanish language, Spanish for "Mary, mother of Jesus, St. Mary") is a city near the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California in northern Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara County. It is approximately northwest of Santa Barbara, California, Santa Barbara and northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Its population was 109,707 at the 2020 census, making it the most populous city in the county and the Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA Metro Area. The city is notable for its wine industry and Santa Maria-style barbecue. History The Santa Maria Valley, stretching from the Santa Lucia Mountains toward the Pacific Ocean, was the homeland of the Chumash people for several thousand years. The Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans made their homes on the slopes of the surrounding hills among the Quercus agrifolia, oaks, on the banks of the Santa Maria River among the Platanus racemosa, sycamores, and along the coast. They had unique pla ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hancock Field (California)
Hancock Field is a former airport and military airfield about south-southeast of Santa Maria, California. Also known as Santa Maria Municipal Airport, the airport was closed about 1959 and today is the site of Allan Hancock College. History Hancock Field was founded in 1927 by Captain Allan Hancock and became the community's airport the following year. The Hancock Foundation College of Aeronautics was established in 1928. Ten-week classes were offered prospective pilot candidates, with successful individuals becoming licensed pilots. The first students graduated in 1929. During World War II the United States Army Air Forces contracted with the Hancock Foundation College of Aeronautics to provide basic flight (level 1) instruction to aviation cadets beginning on 14 September 1940. Known sub-bases and auxiliaries: * Santa Maria Auxiliary Field * La Brea Auxiliary Field * Mckinnon Auxiliary Field (Undetermined) * Souza Auxiliary Field * Waller-Franklin Auxilia ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lincoln Journal Star
The ''Lincoln Journal Star'' is an American daily newspaper that serves Lincoln, Nebraska, the state capital and home of the University of Nebraska. It is the most widely read newspaper in Lincoln and has the second-largest circulation in Nebraska (after the ''Omaha World-Herald''). The paper also operates a commercial printing unit. History The ''Lincoln Journal Star'' is the result of a 1995 merger between the city's two historic newspapers. The ''Lincoln Star'', established in 1905, was Lincoln's morning newspaper while the ''Lincoln Journal'' was distributed in the evenings. The ''Journal'' was itself the conglomeration of several previous Lincoln newspapers. ''The Lincoln Journal'' On September 7, 1867, Charles Henry Gere founded the ''Nebraska Commonwealth''. A member of the prominent Gere family, Gere was a New York native and Civil War veteran. As an attorney who had studied law in Baltimore, Gere quickly became an important figure in Nebraska, serving as the priv ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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United States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical rift developed between more traditional ground-based army personnel and those who felt that aircraft were being underutilized and that air operations were being stifled for political reasons unrelated to their effectiveness. The USAAC was renamed from the earlier United States Army Air Service on 2 July 1926, and was part of the larger United States Army. The Air Corps became the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) on 20 June 1941, giving it greater autonomy from the Army's middle-level command structure. During World War II, although not an administrative echelon, the Air Corps (AC) remained as one of the combat arms of the Army until 1947, when it was legally abolished by legislation establishing the Department of the Air Force. The Air ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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University Of Nebraska-Lincoln
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the designation is reserved for colleges that have a graduate school. The word ''university'' is derived from the Latin ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". The first universities were created in Europe by Catholic Church monks. The University of Bologna (''Università di Bologna''), founded in 1088, is the first university in the sense of: *Being a high degree-awarding institute. *Having independence from the ecclesiastic schools, although conducted by both clergy and non-clergy. *Using the word ''universitas'' (which was coined at its foundation). *Issuing secular and non-secular degrees: grammar, rhetoric, logic, theology, canon law, notarial law.Hunt Janin: "The university ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hooper, Nebraska
Hooper is a city in Dodge County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 830 at the 2010 census. History Hooper got its start in the year 1871, following construction of the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad through the territory. It was named for Samuel Hooper, a US congressman from Massachusetts. By the mid-1970s, the future of railroad service came into question. The Chicago & North Western (C&NW) (successor to the FE&MV RR) tracks were experiencing mildly declining freight traffic levels. In spring of 1982, flooding from the Elkhorn River & nearby Pebble Creek damaged the track. With the declining freight traffic levels & flooding damage, the C&NW promptly filed a request with the Interstate Commerce Commission to abandon the line. Permission was granted later that year, leaving the tracks with a dismal future. In 1986, railroad service was revived by the newly formed Fremont & Elkhorn Valley Railroad (FEVR), which took ownership of the abandoned C&N ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |