This day in history - August 12

[seamusTX]

1851 - Isaac Singer was granted a patent on his sewing machine.

In case anyone wonders why I mention inventions like the sewing machine and cotton gin: If these things did not exist, a T-shirt might cost $100 today. They were as big a transition as replacing a stage coach with an automobile.

1867 - President Andrew Johnson tried to fire Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, triggering Congress's attempt to impeach Johnson.

1944 - Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., the eldest son of Joseph and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, died in an aerial explosion during World War II.

This was the beginning of the "tragic legend" of the Kennedys, which we have not yet seen the end of.

1955 - The minimum wage was raised from 75¢ to $1 an hour. The death of free-market capitalism was predicted.

1960 - The U.S. launched Echo 1, its first successful satellite.

1965 - Rioting broke out in Chicago.

1977 - The space shuttle Enterprise landed by itself after being carried aloft by its Boeing 747 carrier.

1981 - IBM introduced the pathetically lame, overpriced, and ugly PC, which nevertheless transformed the personal-computer revolution by making it acceptable to three-piece-suit business.

- Jim

[LarryH]

Some additional information on three of the items:

Joe Kennedy, Jr., was the son that Joe, Sr., was originally aiming for the presidency. When he died, Jack was "next choice". Joe, Jr., was involved in the "dam buster" effort, and the explosion occurred during one of the test flights.

1977 -- First shuttle ALT free flight.

With Gordon Fullerton and Fred Haise at the Enterprise (OV-101) controls, the first of five shuttle Approach and Landing Test (ALT) free flights occurred at Edwards with a landing on Runway 17. Flight duration: 5 minutes, 21 seconds.

The tests were conducted to verify orbiter aerodynamics and handling characteristics in preparation for orbital flights with the Space Shuttle Columbia beginning in April 1981. A tail cone over the main engine area of Enterprise smoothed out turbulent air flow during the first three flights. The tailcone then removed on the final two free flights to accurately check approach and landing characteristics.

Today the Enterprise is on display in the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center nearby Dulles International Airport.

1981 -- IBM introduces the PC and PC-DOS version 1.0.
Initial costs of IBM PCs (in ‘81 $’s) were $1565 to $4500.

[seamusTX]

1981 - IBM introduced the pathetically lame, overpriced, and ugly PC, which nevertheless transformed the personal-computer revolution by making it acceptable to three-piece-suit business.

30 years.

- Jim

[longtooth]

1955 - The minimum wage was raised from 75¢ to $1 an hour. The death of free-market capitalism was predicted.

- Jim

& it appears they my have been seeing 55 yrs in the future.

[The Annoyed Man]

Joe Kennedy, Jr., was the son that Joe, Sr., was originally aiming for the presidency. When he died, Jack was "next choice". Joe, Jr., was involved in the "dam buster" effort, and the explosion occurred during one of the test flights.

That turns out to be only party true. Joe Jr was actually involved in operation Aphrodite, a program of launching unmanned B17s and other heavy bombers filled to the gills with high explosives, usually Torpex, at German targets and then crashing the aircraft into their target via radio controlled guidance from an accompanying bomber. The two pilots who got the plain airborne were supposed to jump out and parachute to the ground before the plane got to the target, and then the other plane would take over guidance of the explosive plane.

Kennedy and his copilot were killed when the Torpex in the B24 they were flying exploded prematurely in mid-air, practically vaporizing the aircraft and entirely vaporizing the two pilots. The accident occurred while they were still above England. A De Havilland Mosquito, carrying Colonel Elliott Roosevelt, son of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was flying 300 aft of Kennedy's B24, filming the mission when Kennedy's aircraft blew up. The explosion damaged Roosevelt's Mosquito, but it was able to limp home.

The cause of the premature detonation was initially thought to be pilot error, but it was ultimately determined that a stray jamming or other electronic signal. An electronics officer had warned Kennedy of the possibility just the day before he was killed.

Info on Joe Kennedy Jr.'s death: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_P._ ... _Aphrodite

Info on Operation Aphrodite: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Aphrodite

Aphrodite and Anvil were the World War II code names of United States Army Air Forces and United States Navy operations to use B-17 and PB4Y bombers as precision-guided munitions against bunkers such as those of Operation Crossbow.[1]

The plan called for B-17 aircraft which had been taken out of operational service (various nicknames existed such as 'robot', 'baby', 'drone' or 'weary Willy')[2] to be loaded to capacity with explosives, and flown by radio control into bomb-resistant fortifications such as German U-boat pens and V-weapon sites. It was hoped that this would match the British success with Tallboy and Grand Slam supersonic ground penetration bombs but the project was dangerous, expensive and unsuccessful.

{snip}

Mission theory

Old B-17 Flying Fortress bombers were stripped of all normal combat armament and all other non-essential gear (armor, guns, bomb racks, transceiver, seats, etc.), relieving about 12,000 lb (5,400 kg) of weight. To allow easier exit when the pilot and co-pilot were to parachute out, the canopy was removed. Azon[6] radio remote-control equipment was added, with two television cameras fitted in the cockpit to allow a view of both the ground and the main instrumentation panel to be transmitted back to an accompanying CQ-17 'mothership'. The drone was loaded with more than twice a B-17's normal bomb payload. British Torpex, 50% more powerful than TNT, was the explosive used.