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Battle of Britain Tour
BATTLE of BRITAIN TOUR 2018 PHOTOBOOK explores historic sites and museums associated with the 1940 Battle of Britain and also sites associated with the 1944 invasion of Normandy, located in London, Dover, Uxbridge, Bletchley Park, Cambridge, Duxford, and Portsmouth. The PDF (10Mb) features 164 full-color photos on 22 pages sized 11 x 8.5. OPEN the document.
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Omaha Beach-Normandy, France-June 6, 1944
Memorial Day Special: On June 6, 1944–76 years ago—the Allies landed at Normandy, France against entrenched German forces. The deadliest real estate was Omaha Beach, an American landing zone. Free for viewing and downloading is this full-color 26x16 inch highly detailed map of the beach, suitable for printing as a wall poster. Let’s not forget the ultimate sacrifice made by this fine, young Americans!
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The Largest Gunpowder Plant in the World
The world’s largest GUNPOWDER plant was built in a matter of months at Hadley’s Bend near Nashville during World War I, designed to produce nearly a million pounds of smokeless gunpowder per day. A highly detailed map of the site, produced from original blueprints, is available for viewing and downloading. The map is a PDF poster measuring 25x15 inches and zoomable to see a lot of detail. Also available is a six-page illustrated PDF article about the building of the site and its subsequent history. Original photos can also be viewed at high resolution. Photo One. Photo Two. Photo Three. Photo Four. Photo Five. Photo Six. Photo Seven. Photo Eight.
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The Court Houses of Middle Tennessee
The county court house historically has served as the central focus of legal and governmenal affairs in all of Tennessee’s 95 counties. The 41 court houses in Middle Tennessee, several dating back to antebellum years (the oldest, in Charlotte, built in 1833) and many listed on the National Register of Historic Places, comprise a remarkable variety of styles—from the simple structure in Clay County built in 1873 to the intricate Italianate building in Coffee County, also built in 1873, to the 1930s Art Deco style in Nashville, to the majestic domed edifice in Giles County, the beautiful mountain-stone exterior of Pickett County, the Second-Empire style of Smith County, all the way to the stark modernistic design of Wayne County. Most were originally built in the town square of the county seat, although some have been relocated elsewhere. A few of the buildings are not really remarkable at all, at least visually. All have interesting histories.
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"Damn the Torpedoes! Full Speed Ahead!
The hero of the Battle of Mobile Bay and the first naval officer to hold the rank of full Admiral was born a landlubber in Tennessee. A memorial in Farragut, Tenn. honors his accomplishments.
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National D-Day Memorial at Bedford
The National D-Day Memorial near Bedford, Va., commemorates the landing of the Allies on the Normandy, France beaches on June 6, 1944, the beginning of the massive campaign to wrest Europe from the Nazis. The strike was labeled Operation Overlord. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, chief of the Allied forces, told the troops they were embarking on a great crusade with the eyes of the world upon them. “We will accept nothing less than full victory!”
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The strange, weird NFL football game that wasn’t supposed to be necessary, played under brutal conditions, and decided in overtime predicated on a kick that will forever be debated.
Aloft in a World War Two Heavy Bomber
Take a ride up in the Consolidated B-24 Liberator "Diamond Lil" as we cruise over Chattanooga, Tennessee. Ten video links included.
George Rogers Clark National Monument
The most impressive monument you’ve never seen, located in an historic town you haven’t visited, honoring an American hero you’ve never heard of.
Traveling to exotic locales and tromping up mountains, sloshing through lowlands, slashing through impenetrable thickets on an epic quest to ... examine piles of dirt?
On May 20, 1927 at 7:52 a.m., Charles Lindbergh in his Spirit of St. Louis airplane took off at Roosevelt Field on Long Island in an attempt to fly across the Atlantic Ocean to Paris, France. What does the runway look like today?
The Korean War Veterans Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. pays homage to the 1.8 million Americans who served and the 36,913 American soldiers who died during the Korean War.
One of the most magnificent and least appreciated examples of realistic wartime sculpture is that of General Ulysses S. Grant in front of the U.S. Capitol. The sculptor worked 20 years to perfect his masterpiece but died two weeks before the formal dedication.
National Naval Aviation Museum
View 70 examples of naval aircraft housed at the national museum in Pensacola, Florida, including the F-16 Tomcat, Douglas Skytrain, Consolidated PBY Catalina, Lockheed Neptune, Grumman A-6 Intruder, McDonnell F-4 Phantom II, a Soviet MiG-15, and many more, including pre-war aircraft.
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On June 2, 2016, Marine Captain Jeff Kuss lost his life in a tragic accident while flying Blue Angel No. 6 in practice for the Great Tennessee Airshow in Smyrna.
Illustrated report of the symposium on the effects of the War of 1812 and the Creek War upon their bicentennial, plus a driving tour of related historic sites in Tennessee.