Air Force History

The Finger Lakes During World War Two

October 20, 2023 by Guest Contributor 1 Comment

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)

September 24, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

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

September 14, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

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

August 29, 2023 by Jaap Harskamp 1 Comment

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.

Just before the singer’s arrival in Peekskill, concertgoers were brutally attacked by some three hundred troublemakers, many of them carrying baseball bats. As the local police did not intervene, thirteen people were wounded in the mayhem. The concert was cancelled and postponed until September 4th. With local labor unions providing security, the event proceeded that night before an audience of 20,000 people. Robeson was joined on stage by folk singers Pete Seeger, Hope Foye and others. [Read more…] about Harlem’s ‘French’ Hero: The Multi-Talented Eugene Bullard

The Plattsburgh Old Base’s Memorial Chapel: Some History

June 19, 2023 by Helen Allen Nerska 1 Comment

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

April 28, 2023 by Bob Cudmore Leave a Comment

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

April 16, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

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

February 17, 2023 by Bob Cudmore 2 Comments

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

December 2, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

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

August 31, 2022 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

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