The National WW II Museum in New Orleans is home to about 250,000 artifacts, including more than 100,000 photographs ranging from battlefield pictures captured by military and press photographers to individual albums full of wartime snapshots donated by veterans and their families. [Read more…] about Mechanicville’s WWII & Korean War Veterans Photo Collection
Air Force History
How West Point Academy Terrorized Its First Black Cadets
In its first 133 years of existence (1802–1935), over 10,000 cadets graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, only three were African Americans.
West Point Academy was founded in 1802 with the passage of the Military Peace Establishment Act, signed into law by President Thomas Jefferson. It was designed to educate and train future Army officers. Jefferson claimed that West Point would be established under democratic ideals — a meritocracy that would admit cadets based on their character and abilities rather than their wealth and family connections. However, these democratic ideals only applied to white men. [Read more…] about How West Point Academy Terrorized Its First Black Cadets
The Hawkeye Plant: Kodak’s Enigmatic Landmark Languishes
Kodak’s role in global photography is legendary. The name Hawkeye is a key part of the company’s legacy and the 759,000-square-foot “Hawkeye Plant” a totem pole of Kodak’s storied past. [Read more…] about The Hawkeye Plant: Kodak’s Enigmatic Landmark Languishes
1955: The Day A UFO Buzzed Lake George
It was September 12, 1955. Dwight D. Eisenhower was president, the Cold War raged, Elvis Presley had recently made his first American television appearance, and the front-page headline of Albany‘s Knickerbocker News read: “U.S. Planes Hunt ‘Mystery Object’ Sighted Over Lake George Area.”
What was even stranger was that Lake George was not alone with UFO (Unidentified Flying Object) sightings. Around the country, other celestial phenomena had been spotted that day, too. [Read more…] about 1955: The Day A UFO Buzzed Lake George
Johnny Mancini’s Grotto: A Saratoga County Man Lost Near Guadalcanal
A grotto shrine is built into and/or made from rocks. Grotto shrines can be natural or man-made. The story of a small grotto in Ballston Lake in Upstate New York is a complicated one – it’s the story of a boy’s sickly childhood, a compassionate priest, a grateful man, and a tragic death. [Read more…] about Johnny Mancini’s Grotto: A Saratoga County Man Lost Near Guadalcanal
New York City During World War Two
As Nazi Germany began its domination of Europe, America was woefully unprepared for fighting. Our military was small, poorly supplied and without the prospect of a robust manufacturing sector that might have provided the arms, planes, ships, tanks and other equipment it would have needed.
And then, on December 7, 1941 the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. [Read more…] about New York City During World War Two
The Finger Lakes During World War Two
The bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, pushed a reluctant United States into the Second World War. Factories across the country, including those in Central New York, answered President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s call for American manufacturers to shift production towards military preparedness.
Before the outbreak of the war, factories located in Syracuse and Onondaga County, NY, made shoes, typewriters, air conditioners, washing machines, and many other civilian products. Between 1941 and 1945 however, Syracuse industries manufactured antiaircraft gun mounts, antitank landmines, rifles, machine guns, radar systems, and airplane and ship signaling lights. [Read more…] about The Finger Lakes During World War Two
Exploring Records Related to Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs)
![Scientific Study of UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) [image cropped] National Archives Identifier 295136808](https://www.newyorkalmanack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Scientific-Study-of-UFOs-Unidentified-Flying-Objects-image-cropped-National-Archives-Identifier-295136808.jpg)
The American cultural phenomena of “flying saucers” started in 1947 when a civilian aircraft pilot saw several objects from his plane that he claimed were traveling at supersonic speeds. Reports of more flying saucers soon proliferated throughout the country and the term “unidentified flying object” was coined by the military in 1952.
When a rancher found unidentified debris including rubber, tape, and tinfoil near Roswell, NM, the most enduring UFO legend was born. [Read more…] about Exploring Records Related to Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs)
Michael Anderson: Plattsburgh’s Native Astronaut
History is often treated as an old thing, of events before anyone’s living memory, of days gone by. And yet history is happening all around us, all the time, right now, if we only choose to recognize it.
Clinton County made that choice in 2020 — in a big, bold way — a choice to mark the remarkable life of one of its own, Lt. Col. Michael P. Anderson. [Read more…] about Michael Anderson: Plattsburgh’s Native Astronaut
Harlem’s ‘French’ Hero: The Multi-Talented Eugene Bullard
What has gone down in history as the Peekskill Riot was an attack in 1949 by a horde of white supremacists on African-Americans attending a Civil Rights benefit concert in Peekskill, Westchester County, NY. The show, scheduled for August 27th, was headlined by bass-baritone Paul Robeson, the left-wing campaigner and advocate of racial equality. [Read more…] about Harlem’s ‘French’ Hero: The Multi-Talented Eugene Bullard
The Plattsburgh Old Base’s Memorial Chapel: Some History
During the War of 1812, the Plattsburgh Cantonment was established in Clinton County, NY. A garrison for American armies it was briefly abandoned by the U.S. Army after World War Two, before being acquired and expanded by the U.S. Air Force in 1953 which operated the facility, now known as the “Old Base” until 1995. The Plattsburgh Memorial Chapel is described by many as the most beautiful building on the Old Base. [Read more…] about The Plattsburgh Old Base’s Memorial Chapel: Some History
Fighting Zeros: New York Made Aircraft in World War Two
This week on The Historians Podcast, Patrick Chaisson discusses his multi-media presentation “Wings of Victory: Aircraft Production in New York State during WWII.” Chaisson is a retired (after 26-years) US Army and National Guard Lieutenant Colonel from Scotia. [Read more…] about Fighting Zeros: New York Made Aircraft in World War Two
NY’s Air National Guard in the Vietnam War
The Air National Guard began flights regularly in 1966 to support Military Airlift Command operations to Japan and South Vietnam during the Vietnam War.
Other Air Guard elements supported aeromedical evacuation flights across the country to free up active duty Air Force resources for similar missions in Southeast Asia between 1965 and 1969. [Read more…] about NY’s Air National Guard in the Vietnam War
A New Book On The 1962 B-47 Crash At Wright Peak
This week on The Historians Podcast the guest is Alan Maddaus, author of Wright Peak Elegy: A Story of Cold War, Nuclear Deterrence and Ultimate Sacrifice (Epigraph, 2022).
The book tells the story of a US Air Force B-47 jet bomber that crashed into Wright Peak in New York’s Adirondack Mountains in January 1962. [Read more…] about A New Book On The 1962 B-47 Crash At Wright Peak
Verdelle Louis Payne: Ithaca’s Tuskegee Airman
In the latest episode of A New York Minute In History, Devin Lander and Lauren Roberts tell the story of Verdelle Louis Payne from Ithaca in Tompkins County, who joined the Army Air Forces during the Second World War and became a pilot.
During the war, Payne served in the 99th Fighter Squadron, which became part of the legendary Tuskegee Airmen, an all-Black group of pilots serving in the then still-segregated U.S. Army. [Read more…] about Verdelle Louis Payne: Ithaca’s Tuskegee Airman
A World War Two Bomber’s Final Flight
Residents of an alpine valley in Northern Italy still hail as heroes two American pilots of a crippled U.S. plane who crashed into the side of a mountain rather than release their bombs onto the villages below during a World War II mission.
Both pilots died, but they bought enough time for the five other crew members aboard their crippled B-25 Mitchell bomber to bail out. One of them, 1st Lt. Franklin Lloyd Darrell Jr., the bombardier-navigator, lived for a time during and after the war in Saratoga County, as did his parents. [Read more…] about A World War Two Bomber’s Final Flight
B-52s Were Ready to Fly in Central New York
This week on The Historians Podcast Jim Coulthart, an amateur aviation historian, tells airplane tales based on a collection of aircraft incidents, and accidents dating back to the Second World War with ties to Central New York.
Coulthart spent a year and a half curating family accounts, newspaper clippings, online resources, and official reports to develop a program on local aviation history. Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome, NY, was in use from 1942 until 1995 when the federal government closed the base. At one point B 52 bombers were assigned to Griffiss which is now the Griffiss Business and Technology Park. [Read more…] about B-52s Were Ready to Fly in Central New York
Griffiss Air Force Base Subject of Video Series
On January 18th, 2022 Rome Historical Society (RHS) announced a new video series called The Griffiss Experience. Throughout 2022 RHS will release four videos on YouTube, featuring members of the community and their memories of Griffiss Air Force Base. [Read more…] about Griffiss Air Force Base Subject of Video Series
Sampson State Park’s Remarkable Military, Education & Public Health History
The site of the present Sampson State Park in Romulus, Seneca County, NY was formerly the site of the Sampson Navy Base. As the United States found itself at war following the attack on Pearl Harbor in late 1941, the U.S. Navy had an immediate need for sailors. Basic training bases, or boot camps, were constructed across the country to meet this emergency requirement. [Read more…] about Sampson State Park’s Remarkable Military, Education & Public Health History