Latest news with #P-38
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Voices of Veterans: Colonel John Zink shares his story of service in the United States Air Force, Army Air Corps
May 2—AUSTIN — Texas Land Commissioner and Veterans Land Board (VLB) Chairwoman Dr. Dawn Buckingham announced the next installment of the series highlighting the VLB's Voices of Veterans oral history program May 2. This week, they highlight the service of Colonel John Zink who served in the U.S. Army Air Corps and U.S. Air Force. Zink, the son of a World War I Veteran, decided to join the military after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and the United States entered World War II. He went into the service in June 1942 while attending flight school. Even though Zink had never ridden in an airplane before flight school, his love of aircraft began as a young child. "Well, as far back as I can remember, I was always interested in airplanes. One of the car dealers in my county had a Stenson Reliant. He used to land it in my neighbor's pasture field, and every time he did, I'd run down there and drool over the airplane — I guess that's the right term — and I always wanted to fly." Like his peers, Zink felt that joining the military at this pivotal moment for America was the "right thing to do." He also recognized that the emergency circumstances created by Pearl Harbor's bombing would allow him to fly in the military without attending college. When discussing his first flight, Zink said he had two feelings. "Number one was I'm gonna do it, and the other one was, I'm sort of scared to do it. And I guess the joy overtook the other one." Zink graduated with the rank of second lieutenant and was extremely pleased to go on to fly fighter aircraft, specifically the Lockheed P-38 Lighting. Zink described this historic fighter, saying, "A P-38 was a twin-engine fighter plane built by Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. It was designed in the late 1930s by Kelly Johnson and his engineering staff. Kelly was the head of engineering at Lockheed in those days. And first flew in late 1940 [...] The first ones were probably delivered to the Air Force in mid-1941 in very small quantities. And then, when the war broke out, the contracts were increased." At an Air Force base in Rabaul, near the Solomon Islands, Zink recalled that the Japanese had six airfields with over 400 planes. He was a part of the 13th Air Force, and they were to cover 24 Douglass SBD Dauntless dive bombers and 24 Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers on a dive-bombing mission. "We had 16 P-38s on the mission, and as they started the dive-bombing run why, the Japanese fighters attacked from above. We don't know exactly how high they were, but we were about 16,000, so they were probably 20,000. There was a thin deck of cloud above us, and we couldn't see 'em. And so, we followed the dive bombers down, and as we went down, I saw several P-38s crash in the water." Zink also described the dangers of compressibility that afflicted the P-38 and how one pilot was rescued after being shot down during that mission. "As you gain speed in a P-38, the lift point would move back on the wing, and if it got to a certain point, it would actually blank out the elevator, and you couldn't pull out of the dive. Whether these airplanes got into compressibility or actually were shot down, we'll never know for sure, but we did see three of 'em go down in real tight formation and hit the water [...] there were 16 P-38s — 8 of them shot down or lost. We picked up one pilot seven days later, and, by the way, he's 90 some years old and still living. We escorted the bombers back out off the target, and then we headed home." Zink spoke about the difficulty of losing friends and people he had attended flying school with and how combat was a rough experience as they fought the numerous Japanese forces. However, as they learned, Zink said, "We became more mature [and] gained experience from the mistakes that we made. We stopped losing airplanes, losing our fighters to the Japanese fighters. One of the things we've always been very proud of is that we never lost a bomber we were escorting to the Japanese fighters." The P-38 pilots flew several bombing missions themselves, and Zink recalled being proud of the accuracy of their bombing with relatively little experience. He flew missions near northwest New Guinea, the Celebes, the East Indies, and Borneo for nine months. Zink recalled participating in long-range missions that cover over a 700-mile radius. He flew an incredible 157 missions over the Pacific Ocean while being deployed for 20 months. Though he was discharged and needed rest due to combat fatigue, Zink's military career did not end after his service during World War II. He would also make an impact during the Korean War as a top-notch pilot. Click here to listen to Colonel John Zink tell his story.
CBC
20-02-2025
- CBC
Quebec City police should have acted faster on court order ahead of fatal stabbing, coroner says
Social Sharing Quebec City police failed to act quickly enough on a court order to hospitalize a man during a psychotic episode, a delay that may have cost his neighbour, 65-year-old Jacques Côté, his life, according to a report by coroner Géhane Kamel. Côté was fatally stabbed on the street after trying to calm 30-year-old Kim Lebel, who was experiencing an episode of schizoaffective disorder in Lac-Saint-Charles, Que., on April 6, 2022. That day, the Service de police de la Ville de Québec (SPVQ) had a court-ordered committal signed by a judge in hand. It was requested by Lebel's mother and it would have allowed them to force Lebel to be hospitalized. "Considering the danger criterion required to obtain a temporary committal from a Quebec Court judge, I find it difficult to understand why these situations aren't treated as urgent by the SPVQ," the report, released Thursday, says. In her report, Kamel says there was a long delay between the call to the SPVQ and the arrival of officers. "Shouldn't the extraordinary use of this type of order call for an urgent response and therefore a priority 1 status? If the committal order had been executed more quickly, the outcome might have been different," the coroner wrote. At the time, the order's execution was classified as priority 3. She also points to the limitations of Quebec's P-38 law, which governs police intervention when dealing with a person in distress. The individual's mental state must pose a serious and immediate danger to themselves or others. "Police, therefore, unfortunately, have to wait for the danger to materialize before intervening, despite the well-founded fears of loved ones," the coroner concludes. Similar coroner reports cited Kamel's report says three coroner's investigations in less than two years have highlighted difficulties in caring for individuals with mental health issues. "The same findings were raised in each case," she wrote. "When Mr. Lebel's parents decided to turn to the police and then to the courts, they did so with only one goal: to get help." She asks the question: "How many more Jacques Côtés will have to die before we realize we've reached a turning point for action?" Kamel makes recommendations to the Ministry of Health, the SPVQ and the CIUSSS de la Capitale-Nationale, but also calls on the public and those who interact with people facing mental health challenges. "The whole community has a role to play. We can't simply turn a blind eye to what's happening around us, telling ourselves it's none of our business or that it's up to institutions to take charge," the report says. "Each of us needs to care about that other person, who is sometimes a colleague, a friend or even a neighbour." The coroner urges judicial reform in mental health care that would help loved ones contribute. "Loved ones want to fulfil their role as caregivers, but they also want to have the tools to be heard when expressing their fears and concerns," she wrote. "Reforms must be supported by close collaboration between our decision-makers, health professionals, the justice system, families, users and community organizations to offer a more supportive, humane and effective system for everyone." Lebel's parents accused police of inaction In June 2023, Lebel was declared not criminally responsible in Côté's death. Lebel suffered from mental illness most of his life, the court was told, in a report written by psychiatrist Dr. Sylvain Faucher. In that 2023 report, Faucher said Lebel was going through a psychotic episode and was unable to understand the nature of his actions. Soon after the incident in 2022, Lucie Drouin and Daniel Lebel, Kim Lebel's parents, told a news conference they had repeatedly called police since April 4 to seek help for their son who was experiencing a mental health crisis at the time. Police spent 20 minutes with Lebel two days before the incident before deciding they didn't need to intervene, despite his parents' insistence they were afraid of what their son might do, Drouin said. "We told them that we had needed their help since Monday. They didn't take us seriously," Drouin said at the time.
USA Today
30-01-2025
- General
- USA Today
DC plane crash has striking similarities to a 1949 tragedy
A passenger plane near Washington, D.C. An unexpected military aircraft. And a fatal mid-air collision. Wednesday's deadly collision between an American Airlines flight and an Army Black Hawk helicopter at Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) shares striking similarities to a crash that happened in the same airspace on Nov. 1, 1949. In that crash, a military Lockheed P-38 Lightning having engine trouble slammed into an Eastern Air Lines Douglas DC-4, according to the Arlington Historical Society. Fifty-five people died in the crash, all of them from Eastern Air Lines Flight 537. At the time it was the deadliest airliner incident in American history, the historical society said. Wednesday's crash killed 67 people, 64 aboard the American Air Lines flight and three aboard the Black Hawk. In that crash, experts said the American flight was on final approach to land at DCA when it collided with the low-flying helicopter on a "proficiency training flight" when it crashed, according to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. In the 1949 crash, the pilot of the P-38 was with the Bolivian Air Force and was testing out the plane as part of a sale from the United States to Bolivia. "Glen Tigner, 21, an air traffic controller on duty at the National Airport Tower on Nov. 1, 1949, sounded the crash alarm," the historical society says in describing the crash. "'Turn left! Turn left!' Tigner had radioed moments earlier as a Bolivian Air Force fighter on a practice run veered toward a commercial flight on approach to the airport from the south." News reports at the time captured the grim recovery of bodies from the Potomac, victims still strapped to their seats. Flight 53 had taken off from Boston, stopped in New York City, and was headed south to New Orleans. According to a 2005 Arlington Fire Journal report, retired firefighter Frank Higgins recalled finding body parts amidst the debris, which landed in waist-deep mud. The P-38 pilot was recovered, injured, by a rescue boat launched from Bollin Air Force Base, the Journal reported. The Bolivian ambassador later told reporters the pilot hadn't heard Tigner's warnings because he was managing engine problems aboard the single-seat turbocharged twin-engine fighter, the Journal reported. There have been other crashes near DCA as well: On Jan. 13, 1982, Air Florida Flight 90 crashed into the 14th Street Bridge and sank in the river shortly after takeoff, killing more than 80 people. In that case, authorities blamed a winter storm for lowering visibility and causing ice to accumulate on the 737's wings, hampering its ability to climb. Contributing: Cybele Mayes-Osterman
