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Most folks know that Chicago’s O’Hare Airport (KORD) is named for US Navy Commander Edward “Butch” O’Hare, holder of the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions in defending the USS Lexington from an attack by nine Mitsubishi G4M “Betty” bombers on 20 February, 1942.

O’Hare would later be killed during a night interception in 1943.  And eventually Chicago’s Orchard Depot Airport would be renamed in his honor.

A couple weeks ago, friend of the blog Craig Swain posted an interesting question- what was the first airfield named after O’Hare? I had to admit, I didn’t know off the top of my head, and had to cheat a little and use Google.

By the closing months of 1943, the brutal campaign for Guadalcanal had been completed, and sufficient Army and Marine forces for the remainder of the Solomons campaign meant that the 2nd Marine Division would be available to begin a campaign in the Central Pacific. It was this campaign the USS Enterprise was supporting when CDR O’Hare was killed, on 26 November, 1943.

Most people know of the prime thrust of the Gilberts campaign, the bloody Battle of Tarawa. But another island in the chain was seized against only token resistance.  Marines landed on Abemama on 24 November, 1943, and by the 26th, construction of an airfield began.  The airfield would be needed to support operations against the next chain in the Central Pacific, the Marshalls. The US Army Air Forces 7th Air Force would use the base at Abemama for B-25 Mitchell and B-24 Liberator bombers. So, the Marines seized the island. And the airfield would be Army. But it was the US Navy Seabees who were building the field. And since they were building it, they got to name it. And upon learning of the loss of CDR O’Hare, the field was, indeed, christened O’Hare Field.

By mid December, 1943, the field was  ready, and the field became home to the 30th Bomb Group. Improvements to the field continued, with the runway being lengthened, In those days before environmentalism was even a word, runways were made by the simple expedient of crushing coral, grading it, and rolling it smooth. Unlike sand or dirt, crushed corral runways needed no Marston matting, and were firm and drained well. Taxiways and hardstands were similarly constructed for the 100 or so aircraft based there.

The pace of operations in 1944 meant that by May, 1944, O’Hare Field was a backwater, used for maintenance mostly. The 30th Bomb Group moved on to new airfields closer to the heart of the Japanese Empire. By the fall of 1944, the formerly bustling O’Hare field was decommissioned.

Today, Abemama, part of the Republic of Kiribati, still uses the wartime expedient airfield, with three Air Kiribati flights a week to Tarawa.

Iran has deployed the Russian-supplied S-300 surface-to-air missile defence system around its Fordow underground uranium enrichment facility, Iranian state media reported on Monday.

Iranian state TV on Sunday aired footage of deployment of the recently delivered missile system to the nuclear site in the central Iran.

"Our main priority is to protect Iran's nuclear facilities under any circumstances," Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' (IRGC) air defense force told state TV.

Iran and the six major powers reached a landmark nuclear deal in 2015 aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for lifting nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Tehran over its disputed nuclear work.

via www.reuters.com

If it's not being used to enrich uranium, why do they need S-300 to protect it?

Seriously, is there any bit of foreign policy that hasn't been anti-American to come out of the almost 8 years of the Obama administration?

We first spotted Ashley several years ago, and had to wait for her to mature a bit. She’s gone from cute, if awkward teenager to lovely young lady.

OK, the armored train is interesting. But the bridging exercise is impressive.

Of course, this is taking place near Ukraine, probably as an attempt to discourage Ukraine’s neighbors from any more support.

In the summer of 1961 the New York Times ran a front page story entitled: ADMIRAL RICKOVER SAYS REDS LEARNED SECRETS FROM TOY SUB.  In that story the father of the US Navy’s nuclear submarine program claimed that the hobby company Revell’s model of the USS George Washington nuclear-powered Polaris missile submarine had given away classified information to the Soviet Union. “If I were a Russian,” declared Rickover, “I would be most grateful to the United States for its generosity in supplying such information for $2.98.”

via belatednerd.com

I remember building this model back in the late 70s.

This isn’t the first time the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment has conducted urban training operations over a major US city. I think the last time they did it was over Houston.

Night operations over an urban area are incredibly challenging, and so require regular practice. Building a raining range isn’t exactly practical, so they simply fly over US cities. One presumes they have conducted reasonable liaison not just with the local police, but also the FAA and air traffic control facilities in the area.