October 4, 1941

10/4/41 Willie Gillis debuted

  Norman Rockwell made his contribution to the World War Two "War Bond Effort" with a series of paintings for the cover of Saturday Evening Post.  Mr. Rockwell's efforts paid off handsomely for the effort through the sale of posters. 
  Willie Gillis was an "invented" character, who was an everyman portrayed by Rockwell, the name came from the Wee Willie Winkie children's book.  Mr. Rockwell commonly used live models for his paintings.
  From 1916 to the December 16, 1963 cover Kennedy Memorial, Norman Rockwell did 321 cover images for the Saturday Evening Post, at the time the most popular magazine in print.
  Illustrations from Wikipedia

Willie Gillis "Home on Leave"

"Four Freedoms", a set of four covers

Rosie the Riveter

It's an odd sight

Northeast of Beale Air Force Base, Marysville, California-click to enlarge

  When I was flying as a crewmember in Fleet Tactical Support Squadron Thirty from the Naval Air Station in Alameda, California there were a few times, mostly on training flights, that we would use Beale AFB to do instrument approaches, or come close to landing, go up higher and approach again, repeat about 20 times.  It's boring for an observer up there (most of the time) watching for other aircraft.  I was always fascinated by the "mine tailing's" you can see in the upper middle (left) to top (right) in that satellite image up there from Google Maps.  From that high up you can see the pattern of the dredge as it went back and forth.  Tailing's are the rocks left over after the ore is separated (gold in this case), they're just left there.  These particular piles have covered two whole "temporary" towns, Marigold and Hammondon, that were developed for miners and their families.
  This particular dredge worked the Yuba and Feather Rivers for quite a few years, there are now museums, and a dredge in Marysville for people to check out.  I was never "on the ground" there but it would be interesting to see from eye level.  Ah!  The joys of flying!  I even got paid for sightseeing, what a deal.

A dredge at work, see the rock piles, they're all around it.

A photo from www.appealdemocrat.com, shows a boy picking over rocks, the dredge is still there,
in Marysville.  The Appeal-Democrat is the newspaper for Yuba and Sutter Counties, California

Blockhead!

The first strip 10-2-1950

  October 2, 1950 - That's the date "Peanuts" debuted in eight newspapers, in the end the characters looked a little different, the story lines increased and most of knew the "Peanuts gang".
  Charles Schulz, we know now, had great success with the strip which grew into TV specials and merchandise.  It started as something simple and caught on quickly, in 1952 the first "Sunday comic" appeared.  The strip ran until January of 2000 when Mr. Schulz died, and continues to this day in re-runs, a huge success.
  Each of the characters had some special quality or behavior that people would identify with and I think that's the reason for the wide impact of this simple comic, it's almost believable that a dog could play hockey!
  Illustrations from Wikipedia.

Charles Schulz at work in 1956

February 13, 2000 - the last original strip

The Peanuts Gang

October 1, 1891

Leland Stanford

  That's the date Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford established Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.  The school and the Leland Stanford, Jr. Museum are named in honor of their son, Leland Stanford, Jr., who at age 15 died in Florence, Italy of Typhoid Fever.
  Mr. Stanford, Senior was an attorney who was one of the co-founders of the Pacific Central Railroad, he was a former Governor of California and later would be a U S Senator who represented California.
  At it's inception Stanford was unique in that men and women were given equal opportunity - not a run of the mill thing at that time.
  Later on Herbert Hoover became President of the University, the house of the University President was designed by President Hoovers wife, Lou Henry.  As workmen were constructing the house and left off some detail (for technical reasons), and they told Mrs. Hoover, she would reply "well, I guess you'd better finish it then!".

The Lou Henry Hoover house.

The Main Entrance to Stanford U

An aerial photo of the campus - click to enlarge

Oh! I know.

I am fully aware of what happened to the Red Sox, I'm biting my tongue!

An original Boeing 747, the first commercially sold, dedicated by Pat Nixon- click to enlarge

  On September 30, 1968 Boeing announced that it would build the first commercial "wide body" passenger plane - the 747.
  The design was based on a prototype developed for the U S Air Force.  In competition with other aircraft companies Boeing had entered this plane in competition with Northrup-Grumman and Lockheed for a "large transport" - the contract went to Lockheed for the C5 because it had the front end rise up for easier access to load cargo.
  The 747 is built in Everett, Washington, north of Seattle, the factory is the worlds largest building, it covers 399,480 acres, we'll see inside in a minute.  The plant also builds the 767, 777, and final assembly of the brand new 787.

the 16 wheeled main landing gear - want to change a tire?=click to enlarge

The factory in 2002 - please click to enlarge.

Air Force One flies over Mount Rushmore,
Air Force One (there are two) is based on the 747 (picked by Pres. Reagan)-click to enlarge

Vrrrooommm!

First generation

  September 29, 1966:  General Motors announces the "newest" car in it's lineup for 1967, the Chevrolet Camaro.  Ford had introduced the Mustang the year before, that car was selling in large volume and GM wanted to compete for market share.  This started a chain reaction, which before it was over, also made for the creation of the Plymouth Barracuda ("I can't even say Back-a-ruda") and the American Motors Marlin.  Dodge and Pontiac had their own versions of the Barracuda and Camaro.  The age of the factory made hot rod were here.
  Over the years improvements have been made, the horsepower has been lowered and fuel efficiency has improved, although a V8 engine is still available on the two remaining "Pony Cars", the Camaro and Mustang; there are no more Plymouths, Pontiacs or American Motors cars made anymore of any model, as they have joined the likes of Studebaker, Essex and Hudson (too bad).

1970: Generation two.

1983: Generation 3

1993 gave us generation four

2010: GenFive the re-introduced Camaro

Revolution!

An artist rendition

  September 28, 1781 was the last battle and the last day of the American Revolution.  Aren't you glad?  George Washington and Comte de Rochambeau, the French General had outwitted Lord Cornwallis, the United States was free.
  Britain had tried, and failed, to enlist Spain in the was and were rebuffed.  They had no other choice than to surrender, and let their "territory" leave the Empire.
  Today Yorktown, Virginia is home to many people, but does retain it's historical sites so that we can all go and see where this battle and surrender, and battles of the American Civil War took place.
  If you get a chance you might want to visit, and also visit nearby Williamsburg.

The Surrender of Lord Cornwallis

This 1931 postage stamp helped celebrate 150 years of history

The "Historic Yorktown" as it is now.

And,,number four it is!

1930

  On September 27, 1930 Bobby Jones completed the Grand Slam of golf, at that time the Grand Slam consisted of The U S Amateur, British Open, British Amateur and U S Open - a feat that as of now has not been repeated.
  Robert Tyre Jones was the most successful amateur ever to compete in Golf, an Attorney by profession he did spend most of his time on golf.
  Bobby Jones was one of the founders of The Masters in 1934, he retired from golf at age 28 because of poor health, but he did take a part in The Masters until 1948.
  One more thing he gave to the world of golf:  He joined with A G Spauldling Company to design the first set of matched clubs, something that is now very common.

At age 14

At the 1927 British Open

Bobby Jones grave - notice that it is a putting green, and the
'tokens' of appreciation placed by golfing fans.

Wishes for a Happy Birthday

A 1972 postcard

  John Chapman was born September 26, 1774 in Leominster, Massachusetts.  He was an expert gardener, a nurseyman, and a New Church (Swedenborg) missionary.  The mission in his life, he decided, was to carry his message and his skills to the, then, frontier.  We now know him by his other name Johnny Appleseed.
  He didn't plant seeds as he was depicted in film, as a nurseryman he plant small trees, fenced them in, and contracted with someone nearby to care for them, as those trees grew he would return and graft more trees and take them further down the trail.  Most of the early apples in Ohio and Indiana were from a part of Mr. Chapmans stock.
  Some parts of the films are true, he did wear a metal pot on his head it was for protection from the rain as well as his cooking pot.  Mr. Chapman loved every living thing; he was once observed like this:  He was cooking at a campfire and noticed a swam of mosquitoes were being burned by the flames; he put out the fire to save them.  He is quoted as saying "God forbid that I should build a fire for my comfort, that should be the means of destroying any of His creatures.”.  In another instance he had built a fire at the end of a hollow log, in which he intended to spend the night.  He soon discovered the log was already occupied by a bear and her two cubs.  Johnny moved his "camp" to the other end of the log and slept in the snow - so as not to bother the bears.
  So, today we can say "Happy Birthday" to Johnny Appleseed, part of the American story.

As depicted by Disney Studios

A childrens book

He planted trees in the shaded (red) area, quite a trip back then.