#509th

[nocternalrandomness]

B-2 Operations Display - Whiteman AFB - Missouri

[softplumbs]

Vivienne isn't having the.. easiest time getting along with her new friends.

[historyofguns]

The article "Convair B-36 Peacemaker" by Peter Suciu, published on "The Armory Life” on October 19, 2024, explores the significance of the B-36 Peacemaker, an imposing strategic bomber that played a vital role during the Cold War. Developed for long-range nuclear missions without refueling, it was the largest mass-produced piston-engined aircraft with a significant wingspan and length. Originally conceived to bomb Nazi Germany, its development pivoted towards counteracting the Soviet Union after World War II. Although seen as controversial due to concerns over its practicality in the modern military landscape and causing friction with naval aviation interests, it was a crucial asset in the Strategic Air Command (SAC), capable of carrying massive hydrogen bombs. Despite never being used in combat, the B-36 served as a deterrent to the USSR during its operational years, bridging the transition from propeller-driven bombers to the jet-powered age, until being replaced by the B-52 Stratofortress. Today, only four B-36 Peacemakers survive, including one at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, underlining its historical legacy as a deterrent rather than a combatant.

[cherrycolouredpunk]

AM I A MASOCHIST RESISTING URGES TO PUNCH YOU IN THE TEETH CALL YOU A BITCH AND LEAVE DID I COME HERE TO SIT AND WATCH YOU STARE AT YOUR FEET WAS THAT THE PLAN ABSOLVE YOU OF YOUR GUILT ANd SHAKE HANDS

[captain-price-unofficially]

Paratrooper Harry Lorenzo of the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion clutches his Thompson submachine gun and his puppy “Kaput” near Katharinenberg, Germany. April 1945

[rockyp77mk3]

In April of 1945, paratrooper Harry Lorenzo of the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion clutches his Thompson submachine gun and his puppy “Kaput” near Katharinenberg, Germany.

[unteriors]

509th Avenue, Talihina, Oklahoma.

[usafphantom2]

Tonight’s Strike Mission against the Houthis in Western Yemen was carried out by B-2As with the 13th Bomb Squadron of the 509th Bomb Wing stationed at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, as well as several B-2As with the 131st Bomb Wing of the Missouri Air National Guard. Each Bomber was equipped with a Loadout of “Mark-84” 2,000lb Bombs equipped with Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) Kits.

@Sentdefender via X

[statecryptids]

ROSWELL ALIENS- NEW MEXICO

Finally finished all 50 State Cryptids! Time to start putting them together into a book!

I always have a bit of a quandary whenever I showcase an alien as a “State Cryptid”. For many people the term “cryptid” typically refers to unknown Earthly animals. But over time this blog has evolved into more of an overall tour of speculative creatures in American pop culture and folklore where the lines between “natural animal”, “supernatural entity”, and “extraterrestrial” become very blurry. I’m also much more interested in the history behind these sightings than the classification of each creature, or even whether it plausibly exists at all. Plus I’ve already featured several extraterrestrials already such as the Pascagoula creatures, the North Dakota Meccano-Mummy, and the Grays that allegedly abducted Barney and Betty Hill.

June 14, 1947- Rancher W.W. “Mac” Brazel and his son were driving on their property 80 miles outside of Roswell, New Mexico when they came upon “a large area of bright wreckage made up of rubber strips, tinfoil, and rather tough paper, and sticks.” What was it? They had no idea.

 Initially unsure about what to do with the strange find, Brazel collected some of the debris a few days later and drove it into Roswell to give to Sheriff George Wilcox. The sheriff, equally perplexed, contacted the nearby Roswell Army Airfield’s 509th Composite Group. They sent a team out to the desert to collect the remaining debris and ascertain what it was. A few days later Major Jesse Marcel made a statement to the local paper about the incident. Though he didn’t explain exactly what the object was, headlines claimed the army had captured a “flying saucer”.

Flying saucers were in the news a lot that year. On June 24th, 1947 amateur pilot Kenneth Arnold reported seeing an airborne, disk-shaped vehicle near Mt. Rainier in Washington. Later, Navy seaman Harold Dahl claimed he had seen a whole group of the strange objects on June 21st near Puget Sound. Soon people were sighting flying saucers everywhere. Much of this hysteria was fueled by fears of the growing power of the Soviet Union and worries about what secret experiments they might be conducting. Paranoia about unknown Russian flying vehicles soon turned upwards beyond the boundaries of Earth as people began to speculate that flying saucers actually came from other worlds. These mysterious objects were labeled UFOs- Unidentified Flying Objects- by the US military and the term quickly caught on in popular culture. Though UFO originally just meant an unknown aerial object, with no indication of origin, it became synonymous with extraterrestrial spacecraft.

Eventually the army explained that the debris found near Roswell had come from a downed weather balloon. But such a prosaic explanation did not stick with the public. The idea that creatures from outer space had crashed on Earth had firmly taken hold, and a good number of people believed that this “weather balloon” story was just a flimsy cover-up. It certainly didn’t help that the government was tight-lipped about many of its programs out of fear that the Soviets might get wind of them.

 It turns out, though, that the weather balloon story was actually close to the truth. In the late 1940s the government began Project MOGUL, in which massive balloons equipped with sensitive detection instrument were launched high into the ionosphere to look for signs that Russia was testing nuclear weapons. One of these balloons had fallen out of the sky, crashed on Brazel’s ranch. Not wanting to reveal their secret project, military officials had felt it was better to let the “alien spacecraft” idea percolate in the popular imagination instead.

A decade later In the 1950s rumors cropped up that people had seen government agents collecting alien bodies in the New Mexico desert. These stories were soon conflated with the Roswell crash legend, leading to conspiracy theories about frozen alien corpses preserved in secret government hangers. For many years any secretive government sight was rumored to have “aliens in the freezers”. Eventually accusations settled on Area 51, a classified military base in the Nevada desert.

 These reports too had a more down-to-Earth explanation, though. Investigations revealed that the “alien bodies” had actually been special crash dummies fitted with sensors and dropped from airplanes by the Airforce to test the effects of high-altitude parachute drops. Like Project MOGUL, these tests had been hidden behind a thick veil of secrecy which did little to dispel the rumors.

As for Area 51, though the government denied its existence for decades despite clear evidence that it existed, it was officially confirmed in 2013 as a base for testing experimental aircraft such as the U2 spy plane, the Archangel-12, the SR-71 Blackbird, and others. No word on frozen alien corpses, though. By the way, the name “Area 51” is more of a pop culture term. The base is typically just called “Groom Lake”, “Homey Airport”, or simply the “Nevada Test and training Range” by the CIA.

The Roswell Aliens story gained a major surge in popularity in the 90s with shows like “The X-Files” and “Dark Skies”, movies like “The Arrival” and “Independence Day”, and comic books like “Roswell, Little Green Man�� by Bill Morrison. There was even a 1995 psuedo-documentary called “Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction” produced by the Fox Network and hosted by Star Trek actor Jonathon Frakes. It allegedly showed vintage footage of the dissection of an alien corpse from the Roswell crash.  This video was eventually revealed to be a hoax, with the corpse actually a rubber dummy stuffed with jam and animal organs from a butcher.

For my depiction of the Roswell aliens, I wanted to get away from the typical images of corpses lying on dissection tables or floating in preservative-filled tubes. I also wanted to avoid the trope of aliens as malicious, terrifying invaders like in Independence Day or any number of B horror movies.

Instead, I chose to portray them as normal beings adapting to a new life on Earth.   Here we see one of the aliens recovered from their crash with the help of a wheelchair and prosthetics. I’ve imagined them setting up a new life for themselves in New Mexico, just trying to keep to themselves. They’ve taken a keen interest in their new home, evident in their collection of local plants like ocotillo and yucca. They’ve also made friends with many locals, including Indigenous communities, evident here in the “Singing Mother” figure on the table. These figures were first created in 1964 by artist Helen Cordero of the Pueblo de Cochiti, a community of the Keres Pueblo peoples.

As immigrants themselves, the Roswell Aliens also feel a kinship with the many other people that have moved to New Mexico from other countries. This is reflected in the alebrije they got from a Oaxacan-born artist.

REFERENCES

The Roswell UFO Festival!

A Smithsonian article on the crashed MOGUL balloon

An article from History.com about the Roswell incident

An article from the Chicago tribune about the high-altitude dummies that were mistaken for alien bodies.

A Space.com article about Area 51

An article about the infamous "Alien Autopsy" pseudo-documentary

Another article about the "Alien Autopsy" film

[todaysdocument]

General Carl Spaatz Attends Crew Interrogation Of The 509Th Composite Group Who Participated In The First Atomic Bombing Of Hiroshima On 6 August 1945. Tinian Island, Marianas Islands.

Record Group 342: Records of U.S. Air Force Commands, Activities, and OrganizationsSeries: Photographs of Activities, Facilities and Personnel

Black and white photograph showing a group of about twenty military men sitting and standing around a large table in a building with curved walls (like a quonset hut).

War Theatre #22 (Tinian, Marianas Islands) 4x5 print rec'd 9 February 1945 from Air OPERATIONS Force Public Relations. Copied 11 February 1949 (over) [Handwritten vertically in left margin: "Operations - Interrogation" and "Personnel" and "509th Unit" INDEXED [Handwritten: 342-FH-3A-39971-69052 AC] [Handwritten vertically in right margin: "A39971"]

[ms-yuuki-daily-pokemon]

This is the 509th drawing for this project.

[anumberofhobbies]

Captain Lefforge said that during the mission, he and Captain Bruger concentrated their attention on the details of their flight plan and transporting the heart. "It was Valentine’s Day. We had this heart; we were going to save someone’s life," Captain Lefforge said in an interview after the flight. "After we figured out what it all meant, it was pretty sobering." "I was sitting there with it (the heart) in my lap," Captain Bruger added. "We just kind of looked at each other. I know I’ll remember this for a long time." Captain Bruger carried the container holding the heart on his lap because it was the only place in the cockpit where the heart could fit. It had to be transported in the cabin of the aircraft because this is the only area which is pressurized. The FB-111 landed at Bradley Air National Guard Base, East Granby, Conn., at approximately 5 a.m. A helicopter was standing by to transport the heart to Hartford Hospital. From the time the donor heart was removed until it was transplanted, 3 hours, 59 minutes had elapsed. "We were fortunate," said Col. Thad A. Wolfe, 509th Bombardment Wing vice commander. "First, we were fortunate to have crews and aircraft prepared to launch on their routine training mission, and second that we had aircraft capable of meeting the tight time requirements involved. The wing is extremely proud of the crews’ effort and of those people who facilitated a quick decision to get us involved."

...

POSTSCRIPT Mr. Reinhardt was 48 years old with a wife and two children and was a letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service. He began suffering heart problems around the age of 43. On Jan. 16th, 1986, he was admitted to the hospital and placed on the heart waiting list. On Friday, March 21st, 1986, Mr. Reinhardt was able to shake hands with Capt.'s Bruger and Lefforge at the Hartford Hospital, and the following day he was sent home, five weeks after the surgery. Mr. Reinhardt spent years taking medication to prevent rejection of his heart, and one of the side effects was an increased risk of cataracts. By 1989, he had already had one cataract surgery and was expecting to have it done on his other eye. Despite the issues following his surgery, Mr. Reinhardt lived 23 years with his transplant heart. He passed away on April 19th, 2009, survived by his wife, two children and four grandchildren. EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been republished from a story originally published in 1986. It has been edited for spelling and grammar and to ensure compliance with current Associated Press style. The postscript was added to the story later based on research by 509th Bomb Wing Historian Dee Gullickson.

[casbooks]

Books of 2023

Book 48 of 2023

Title: Gone Native Authors: Alan G. Cornett ISBN: 9780804116374 Tags: A-1 Skyraider, AC-47 Spooky, B-52 Stratofortress, FAC, FRA France, GER Bad Tolz, GER Flint Kaserne, GER Germany, GER Mainz, GER Munich, GER Schweinfurt, GER USA 1SG Academy - Munich, GER USA ARSOFE Army Special Operations Force Europe, JPN Okinawa, KHM Cambodia, KHM Cambodian Civil War (1967-1975), KHM FANK Khmer Army / Forces Armees Nationals Khmeres (1970-1975) (Cambodian Civil War), KOR Battle of Bayonet Hill / Hill 180 (1951) (Korean War), KOR Korean War (1950-1953), KOR Naktong River, KOR Pusan, KOR ROK 9th White Horse Division, KOR ROK Republic of Korea Army, Military Police, Nungs, PHL Hukbalahap, PHL Philippines, THA Bangkok, THA Thailand, US CIA Central Intelligence Agency, US CIA William Colby, US Court Martial Hearing, US MOH Medal of Honor, US USA 101st Airborne Division - 1st Brigade, US USA 101st Airborne Division - 1st Brigade - LRRP Det, US USA 101st Airborne Division - Screaming Eagles, US USA 173rd Airborne Brigade - Sky Soldiers, US USA 1st Cavalry Division, US USA 24th ID, US USA 25th ID, US USA 27th Infantry Regiment, US USA 27th Infantry Regiment - E Co, US USA 2nd Philippine Scouts, US USA 327th Infantry Regiment, US USA 327th Infantry Regiment - 1/327, US USA 327th Infantry Regiment - 1/327 - Tiger Force Recon, US USA 327th Infantry Regiment - 2/327, US USA 327th Infantry Regiment - 2/327 - Hawk Recon, US USA 34th Infantry Regiment, US USA 34th Infantry Regiment - K Co, US USA 502nd Infantry Regiment, US USA 502nd Infantry Regiment - 2/502, US USA 502nd Infantry Regiment - 2/502 - Recondos, US USA 509th Infantry Bn, US USA 58th Infantry Regiment, US USA 58th Infantry Regiment - F Co (LRP), US USA 5th Army, US USA 5th Army - Inspector General, US USA 75th Rangers, US USA 75th Rangers - A Co, US USA 82nd Airborne Division - All American, US USA 8th ID, US USA 90th ID, US USA ANG Army National Guard, US USA Army Reserve, US USA Camp Frank D. Merrill GA - Mountain Phase Ranger School, US USA Capt Joe Hooper (MOH) (Vietnam War), US USA Col Lewis Lee Millet Sr (MOH) (Korean War), US USA Fort Benning GA, US USA Fort Benning GA - Airborne School, US USA Fort Benning GA - IOBC Infantry Officers Basic Course, US USA Fort Benning GA - Ranger School, US USA Fort Benning GA - Victory Pond, US USA Fort Bragg NC, US USA Fort Bragg NC - Advanced Medical Lab, US USA Fort Bragg NC - JFK Special Warfare Center / School, US USA Fort Carson CO, US USA Fort Gordon GA, US USA Fort Jackson SC, US USA Fort Jackson SC - Moncleaf Hospital, US USA Fort Leavenworth KS, US USA Fort Leavenworth KS - USDB United States Disciplinary Barracks, US USA Fort Riley KS, US USA Fort Riley KS - Irwin Army Hospital, US USA Fort Riley KS - USARB United States Army Retraining Brigade, US USA Fort Sam Houston TX, US USA General Olinto Barsanti, US USA General William J. Donovan, US USA General William Westmoreland, US USA James Walker (101st LRRP), US USA LRRP Team (Vietnam War), US USA Reynel Martinez (101st LRRP), US USA SSG David C. (Mad Dog) Dolby (MOH) (Vietnam War), US USA United States Army, US USA USSF 10th SFG, US USA USSF 1st SFG, US USA USSF 5th SFG, US USA USSF 77th SFG, US USA USSF Green Berets, US USA USSF Special Forces, US USA USSF Team ODB-52, US USAF Eglin Air Force Base FL, US USAF General John F Flanagan, US USAF United States Air Force, US USMC 1SG Jimmie E Howard (MOH) (Vietnam War), US USMC 1st MarDiv, US USMC 1st MarDiv - 1st Recon Bn, US USMC 1st MarDiv - 1st Recon Bn - C Co, US USMC United States Marine Corps, VNM 1968 Tet Offensive (1968) (Vietnam War), VNM Ban Me Thuot, VNM Bien Hoa, VNM Buon Dham, VNM Buon Ma, VNM Buon Ya, VNM Cam Le, VNM Central Highlands, VNM Chu Lai, VNM CIA Air America (1950-1976) (Vietnam War), VNM CIA Phung Hoang / Phoenix Program (1965-1972) (Vietnam War), VNM Command and Control North/FOB-3 (Vietnam War), VNM Con Son Island, VNM Da Lat, VNM Dar Lac Province, VNM Di An, VNM Don Duong, VNM DRV NVA 1st Division, VNM DRV NVA North Vietnamese Army, VNM DRV NVA Work Site 1, VNM DRV VC 816 Main Force Co, VNM DRV VC Viet Cong, VNM Duc My, VNM Duc Pho, VNM Gia Dinh Province, VNM Hill 163 (Nui Cau), VNM Hill 488 (Nui Vu), VNM Hmong Meo Tribesmen, VNM I Corps (Vietnam War), VNM II Corps (Vietnam War), VNM Khe Sanh, VNM Lac Thien, VNM LBJ Long Binh Jail - USARVIS US Army Vietnam Installation Stockade (Vietnam War), VNM LBJ Long Binh Jail (Vietnam War), VNM Long Binh Post - Graves Registration (Vietnam War), VNM Long Binh Post (Vietnam War), VNM Montagnards, VNM Montagnards - Rhade, VNM Nha Trang, VNM Nha Trang - 5th SFG Recondo School (Vietnam War), VNM Nha Trang - Nautique, VNM Nui Dang, VNM Operation Arc Light (1965-1973) (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Cattle Drive (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Crazy Horse (1966) (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Leaping Lena (1964) (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Wheeler (1967) (Vietnam War), VNM Phan Rang Air Base, VNM Phan Thiet, VNM Phu Bai, VNM RVN ARVN 91st Airborne Ranger Bn., VNM RVN ARVN Airborne Division, VNM RVN ARVN Army of the Republic of Vietnam, VNM RVN ARVN CIDG Civilian Irregular Defense Group, VNM RVN ARVN LLDB Luc Luong Dac Biet Special Forces, VNM RVN ARVN National Training Center - Duc My, VNM RVN ARVN Ranger Training Center - Duc My, VNM RVN ARVN RF/PF 302nd RF Co (Vietnam War), VNM RVN ARVN RF/PF Regional Forces/Popular Forces (Vietnam War), VNM RVN ARVN Vietnamese Rangers - Biet Dong Quan, VNM RVN Chieu Hoi Program/Force 66 - Luc Luong 66 (Vietnam War), VNM RVN KHM Cambodian Training Center - Duc My, VNM RVN RVNP Can Sat National Police, VNM RVN RVNP CSDB Can Sat Dac Biet Special Branch Police, VNM RVN RVNP CSDB PRU Provincial Reconnaissance Units (Vietnam War), VNM RVN SVNAF South Vietnamese Air Force, VNM Saigon, VNM Saigon - Camp Goodman, VNM Song Be, VNM Song Pha, VNM Song Ve, VNM Song Ve Valley, VNM Tan Son Nhut Air Base, VNM Tan Son Nhut Air Base - Camp Alpha (Vietnam War), VNM US MACV Advisory School - Di An (Vietnam War), VNM US MACV Advisory Team 25 (Vietnam War), VNM US MACV Advisory Teams (Vietnam War), VNM US MACV CORDS Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support (1967-1975) (Vietnam War), VNM US MACV Military Assistance Command Vietnam (Vietnam War), VNM US MACVSOG (1964-1972) (Vietnam War), VNM US MACVSOG Hatchet Force Teams (Vietnam War), VNM US Project Delta - Det B-52 (Vietnam War), VNM US Project Delta - Roadrunner Teams (Vietnam War), VNM US Project Delta - RT Viper (Vietnam War), VNM US USA 6th Convalescent Hospital - Cam Ranh Bay, VNM US USMC KSCB Khe Sanh Combat Base (Vietnam War), VNM US USMC/USA Phu Bai Combat Base (Vietnam War), VNM US USSF 5th SFOB Special Forces Operation Base - Nha Trang, VNM US USSF Mobile Strike Force - Nha Trang MIKE Force (Vietnam War), VNM US USSF Mobile Strike Force (MIKE) (Vietnam War), VNM Vietnam, VNM Vietnam War (1955-1975), WW2 World War 2 (1939-1945), WWII US OSS Office of Strategic Services Rating: ★★★★ (4 Stars) Subject: Books.Military.20th-21st Century.Asia.Vietnam War.ARVN.PRU, Books.Military.20th-21st Century.Asia.Vietnam War.ARVN.RF/PF, Books.Military.20th-21st Century.Asia.Vietnam War.Specops.Green Berets, Books.Military.20th-21st Century.Asia.Vietnam War.Specops.Green Berets.Project Delta, Books.Military.20th-21st Century.Asia.Vietnam War.Specops.LRRPs, Books.Military.20th-21st Century.Asia.Vietnam War.US Army.Advisor, Books.Military.20th-21st Century.Asia.Vietnam War.US Army.Infantry, Books.Military.20th-21st Century.Asia.Vietnam War.US Army.Medic, Books.Military.20th-21st Century.US.US Army.Infantry Year Read: 48 of 2023 Price: 8.99 Month Read: 08

Description: On his first combat assignment, Cornett accompanied the Vietnamese Rangers on a search-and-destroy mission near Khe Sang. There he gained entree into a culture that he would ultimately respect greatly and admire deeply. Cornett's most challenging military duty began when he joined the Phoenix Program. As part of AK squad, he dressed in enemy uniform and roamed the deadly Central Highlands, capturing high-ranking VC officers in hot firefights and ambushes. It was there, deep in enemy territory, where the smallest mistake meant sudden death, that the Vietnamese fighting men earned his utmost respect.While offering rare glimpses of an aspect of the war most of the military and media never saw, Cornett tells the full, gut-wrenching story of his Vietnam. He also gives an unsparing view of himself - telling a no-holds-barred story of an American soldier who made sacrifices far beyond the call of duty . . . a soldier who, in defiance of the U.S. government, refused to turn his back on the Vietnamese. From the Paperback edition.

Review: This is a book that is great in some places, less so in others. I was actually tempted to stop reading it part way through because of how the story ends, and there will be spoilers in this review.

This book is a lot about failure, and overcoming failure, and then more and more failure. So much failure. This is a dude who... fails. He also succeeds but where the heart of the story is, well it's in his failures. He manages to end up in the famed Green Berets as a medic and assigned to Project Delta/B-52 but is basically kicked out for being a liability. He ends up in the 101st with their brigade LRRP team where he finds his first home. For those of you who read a lot about the VN war, you'll recognize a lot of the cast of characters in this section, with a majority of the focus being on his relationship with Rey Martinez. He then bounces around a bit, a little time in Germany, some time training medical stuff at replacement centers, and eventually as an Advisor in a few different areas. Throughout all of this he falls in love, fucks up the relationships, gets into a fucked up relationship, does a lot of drugs, gets drunk a lot, gets in trouble a lot, and eventually marries a VN woman who he later drifts apart from even though staying close to his brother in law who he fought with. At one point he tries to kill his XO and is court-martialed for it, but somehow manages to serve his time and rejoin the army for a very long career - totally unheard of but true! The problem with the book is that it is uneven, which keeps it from being a 5 star book... his coverage of certain battles is super finely detailed whereas his court martial and time in jail is barely a wisp of text. He tells more about using drugs and drinking than he does talking about his role as a medic and the training. Overall a good book and fills in some more stories from the 101st and the 302nd RF Co. He does a great job with the other cast of characters, and their stories and it's worth it just for that.

[bl-astoise]

ok finally decided to read svsss instead of rereading tgcf for the 509th time

[captain-price-unofficially]

U.S. Army paratroopers from 3rd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 11th Airborne Division, jump from C-17 onto Donnelly Training Area, Alaska. 8 Feb 2024