HOWARD THE DUCK is even embarrassing in paperback

 I don't know why I feel I must say right up front that I did NOT buy this book. It was free, an item someone was tossing. I have never seen more than a few minutes of this movie, but do remember the reviews. Thus I worry that when I die and someone is sorting through my stuff they'll find this book and say, "Really? She read this?"





No, I have not read it. I grabbed it only because it was a movie tie-in book. I also have one for Rambo that also makes me cringe. I gave Stallone my time for Rocky I and II then never looked back. Even the cover of the Rambo book creeps me out. With this very creepy duck I simply said, "Nope. Not goin' there." I would prefer to watch the Aflac duck for two hours.

Howard the Duck is a 1986 American science fiction comedy film directed by Willard Huyck and produced by George Lucas. It is loosely based on the Marvel comic book of the same name, created by Steve Gerber and quoting scripts by Bill Mantlo, the film focuses on Howard, an alien from a planet inhabited by anthropomorphic ducks, who is transported to Earth, where he meets Beverly, a struggling singer. As Howard attempts to find a way to return to his planet, he helps Beverly with her career, develops a romance with her, and finds himself having to save humanity from an evil alien monster. The film stars Lea Thompson, Jeffrey Jones, Tim Robbins, the voice of Chip Zien as Howard and multiple actors in the physical role.

Lucas proposed adapting the comic book following the production of American Graffiti, and began production on the film after stepping down as the president of Lucasfilm to focus on producing. Huyck and producer Gloria Katz's adaptation altered the personality of the character, and placed less emphasis on satirical storytelling in order to highlight the special effects work of Industrial Light & Magic. Following multiple production difficulties and mixed response to test screenings, Howard the Duck was released on August 1, 1986. The film received extremely negative reviews and was a box office failure. Observers criticized the decision to shoot the film in live action rather than as an animated film and the unconvincing appearance of Howard. The film frequently ranks among the worst films of all time. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

You can read reviews here at Rotten Tomatoes.

Yes, it's true that I will stoop very low to grab a movie tie-in book. I'm not proud of it. It is part of my dark side.

To see other vintage movie tie-in books simply click on the label "movie tie-in book" below.

JAMES AT 15. Lance at 49.

In 1977 NBC premiered a made for tv movie called James at 15. Until I went searching through a stack of my movie tie-in books I’d completely forgotten about the series and the young actor Lance Kerwin.






Click on image to see it larger.

I found this book on a book exchange table years ago at my post office. It contains the old style library check-out pocket on the inside cover along with the stamped check-out card. I’m far more excited to see that than the book.

As I recall I liked the movie and the one season series that followed. James was a high school student with a vivid Walter Mitty imagination who loved photography, which is also how I would probably define myself in high school in the mid-1960s.

James at 15 (subsequently changed to James at 16) is an American drama series that aired on NBC during the 1977-1978 season. The series was preceded by the 1977 made-for-TV movie James at 15, which aired on Monday September 5, 1977 and was intended as a pilot for the series. Both were written by Dan Wakefield, a journalist and fiction writer whose novel Going All the Way, a tale of coming of age in the 1950s….

Protagonist James Hunter (Lance Kerwin) was the son of a college professor (Linden Chiles) who moved his family across the country to take a teaching job, transplanting James from Oregon to Boston, Massachusetts. James, who had Walter Mitty-like dreams and dabbled in photography, had a hard time fitting into his new surroundings. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

Basically a forgotten show with a forgotten actor. That pretty much describes an awful lot of people in Hollywood. That town will eat its young alive if there’s a buck to be made. I could tell you such stories about the people at the Hollywood Post Office there to collect their checks that would make you cringe.

I found the pilot movie online and as soon as I heard the theme song bits and pieces of the show started to fall into place. Check the bottom of this post to watch the episode.

So what became of the young actor, Lance Kerwin, who starred in the show? Go ahead and guess. Put the pieces together yourself: Hollywood, child star, drugs. It’s too predictable.

In July of 2010 he was convicted of theft and placed on five years probation in Hawaii. Turns out Lance, now age 49 and a pastor at the Calvary Chapel Kapaa and a U-Turn for Christ program leader, attempted to obtain state medical assistance and food stamps by falsifying documents. Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t all that destitute because he owned three properties on the mainland. He also has a past history of drug use, including crack.

It’s all pretty sad because along with his starring role in the tv series, his fall from grace will always be part of his online bio. Thanks to the internet your past and present are virtually the same. Think twice before wanting to be famous whether in showbiz or on Facebook.

Beans and bacon IN THE VOTING BOOTH

Generally I post only vintage ephemera, choosing to not deal with current printed material that at some point might be considered worthy of collecting. And then I saw this and realized that only now would it make sense; 10 years from now it will be irrelevant.

This ad was in the February 26th Parade supplement to the newspaper. Perhaps it’s just me, but is Campbell's Soup showing their political leanings? Was this a conscious decision to use this photo of a man who rather resembles someone running for president, including the gray streaks, with this caption below? And for a bean and bacon (ham) soup?

I’ll let you vote on it. I personally find the whole thing pretty odd and funny.

DEFENDERS OF AMERICA from National Biscuit Company: U. S. ARMY EXPLORER I IN ORBIT

This is the final trading card I own from the Defenders of America series produced by the National Biscuit Company. Perhaps somewhere down the line someone who owns the full collection will upload them to a site. If they do, and provide me with a link, I will happily link to their site.

Click on either image to see it larger.

Seems appropriate to end with this item which depicts the first U. S. missile to send a satellite into space. In other words, I’m out of here.

Explorer 1 (1958 Alpha 1) was the first Earth satellite of the United States, launched as part of its participation in the International Geophysical Year. The mission followed the first two Earth satellites the previous year, the Soviet Union's Sputnik 1 and 2, beginning the Cold War Space Race between the two nations.

Explorer 1 was launched on January 31, 1958 at 22:48 Eastern Time (equal to February 1, 03:48 UTC) atop the first Juno booster from LC-26 at the Cape Canaveral Missile Annex, Florida. It was the first spacecraft to detect the Van Allen radiation belt, returning data until its batteries were exhausted after nearly four months. It remained in orbit until 1970, and has been followed by more than 90 scientific spacecraft in the Explorer series. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

From NASA:

Explorer 1 was the first satellite launched by the United States when it was sent into space on January 31, 1958. Following the launch of the Soviet Union's Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957, the U.S. Army Ballistic Missile Agency was directed to launch a satellite using its Jupiter C rocket developed under the direction of Dr. Wernher von Braun. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory received the assignment to design, build and operate the artificial satellite that would serve as the rocket's payload. JPL completed this job in less than three months.

The primary science instrument on Explorer 1 was a cosmic ray detector designed to measure the radiation environment in Earth orbit. Once in space this experiment, provided by Dr. James Van Allen of the University of Iowa, revealed a much lower cosmic ray count than expected. Van Allen theorized that the instrument may have been saturated by very strong radiation from a belt of charged particles trapped in space by Earth's magnetic field. The existence of these radiation belts was confirmed by another U.S. satellite launched two months later, and they became known as the Van Allen Belts in honor of their discoverer.

Explorer 1 revolved around Earth in a looping orbit that took it as close as 354 kilometers (220 miles) to Earth and as far as 2,515 kilometers (1,563 miles). It made one orbit every 114.8 minutes, or a total of 12.54 orbits per day. The satellite itself was 203 centimeters (80 inches) long and 15.9 centimeters (6.25 inches) in diameter. Explorer 1 made its final transmission on May 23, 1958. It entered Earth's atmosphere and burned up on March 31, 1970, after more than 58,000 orbits. The satellite weighed 14 kilograms (30.8 pounds).

A launch attempt of a similar satellite, Explorer 2, was made on March 5, 1958, but the fourth stage of the Jupiter-C rocket failed to ignite. Explorer 3 was successfully launched on March 26, 1958, and operated until June 16 of that year. Explorer 4 was launched July 26, 1958, and operated until October 6 of that year. Launch of Explorer 5 on August 24, 1958, failed when the rocket's booster collided with its second stage after separation, causing the firing angle of the upper stage to be incorrect. (SOURCE: NASA)

And for those old enough to remember watching the night sky in search of the early satellites, or for those who just remember the excitement of space exploration, I give you a truly bizarre hit song from 1962 performed by a British band known as The Tornados. Nod if you remember this. Then go hit your head against the wall if you remember listening to this on a transistor radio hidden under your pillow when you were supposed to be asleep.

DEFENDERS OF AMERICA from National Biscuit Company: U. S. ARMY HAWK MISSILE

By now, if you’ve been checking in to see what weapon of mass destruction I’m featuring, you know I generally give a little bit of information from Wikipedia regarding the history of the weapon/ship/plane. This time I’ll let you look here to read all about the U. S. Army Hawk Missile.




Click on either image to see it larger.

Instead, I offer the following which may give you pause:

In 1965, it acquired Amana Refrigeration, Inc., a manufacturer of refrigerators and air conditioners. Using the Amana brand name and its distribution channels, Raytheon began selling the first countertop household microwave oven in 1967 and became a dominant manufacturer in the microwave oven business. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

Wouldn't you have liked to see the salesman's catalogue?

"Well, if I can't interest you in one of our modern microwaves, would you be interested in one of our refurbished missiles? I could give you an excellent price if you buy a dozen."

Next time, the final nod to the military industrial complex…U. S. ARMY EXPLORER I IN ORBIT

DEFENDERS OF AMERICA from National Biscuit Company: U. S. ARMY MOHAWK TURBO-PROP AIRPLANE

This is card number 23 in the National Biscuit Company's (Nabisco) 1959 trading card series, Defenders of America. As I've said before, I do not have the complete series, just a few random cards.




Click on either image to see it larger.

The Grumman OV-1 Mohawk is an armed military observation and attack aircraft, designed for battlefield surveillance and light strike capabilities. It is of twin turboprop configuration, and carried two crew members with side by side seating. The Mohawk was intended to operate from short, unimproved runways in support of United States Army maneuver forces

Development

The Mohawk began as a joint Army-Marine program through the then-Navy Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer), for an observation/attack plane that would outperform the Cessna L-19 Bird Dog. In June 1956, the Army issued Type Specificationn TS145, which called for the development and procurement of a two-seat, twin turboprop aircraft designed to operate from small, unimproved fields under all weather conditions. It would be faster, with greater firepower, and heavier armour than the Bird Dog, which had proved vulnerable during the Korean War. The Mohawk's mission would include observation, artillery spotting, air control, emergency resupply, naval target spotting, liaison, and radiological monitoring. The Navy specified that the aircraft must be capable of operating from small "jeep" escort class carriers (CVEs). The DoD selected Grumman Aircraft Corporation's G-134 design as the winner of the competition in 1957. Marine requirements contributed an unusual feature to the design. As originally proposed, the OF-1 could be fitted with water skis that would allow the aircraft to land at sea and taxi to island beaches at 20 kts. Since the Marines were authorized to operate fixed wing aircraft in the close air support (CAS) role, the mockup also featured underwing pylons for rockets, bombs, and other stores.

The Air Force did not like the armament capability of the Mohawk and tried to get it removed. The Marines did not want the sophisticated sensors the Army wanted, so when their Navy sponsors opted to buy a fleet oil tanker, they dropped from the program. The Army continued with armed Mohawks and developed cargo pods that could be dropped from underwing hard points to resupply troops in emergencies.

The radar imaging capability of the Mohawk was to prove a significant advance in both peace and war. The SLAR could look through foliage and map terrain, presenting the observer with a film image of the earth below only minutes after the area was scanned. In military operations, the image was split in two parts, one showing fixed terrain features, the other spotting moving targets.

The prototype (YAO-1AF) first flew on April 14, 1959. The OV-1 entered production in October 1959.

General characteristics

• Crew: Two: pilot, observer

• Length: 41 ft 0 in (12.50 m)

• Wingspan: 48 ft 0 in (14.63 m)

• Height: 12 ft 8 in (3.86 m)

• Wing area: 360 ft² (33.45 m²)

• Empty weight: 12,054 lb (5,467 kg)

• Loaded weight: 15,544 lb (7,051 kg) (Normal take-off weight, IR mission)

• Max. takeoff weight: 18,109 lb (8,214 kg) (SLAR mission)

• Powerplant: 2 × Lycoming T53-L-701 turboprops, 1,400 shp (1,044 kW) each

Performance

• Never exceed speed: 450 mph (390 knots, 724 km/h)

• Maximum speed: 305 mph (265 knots, 491 km/h) at 10,000 ft (3,050 m) (IR mission)

• Cruise speed: 207 mph (180 knots, 334 km/h) (econ cruise)

• Stall speed: 84 mph (73 knots, 135 km/h)

• Range: 944 mi (820 nmi, 1,520 km) (SLAR mission)

• Service ceiling:
25,000 ft (7,620 m)

• Rate of climb:
3,450 ft/min (17.5 m/s)

(SOURCE: Wikipedia)



Next time...U. S. Army Hawk Missile

DEFENDERS OF AMERICA from National Biscuit Company: X-15 ROCKET POWERED RESEARCH PLANE

Before you read about the X-15 I wanted to let you know you can see several vintage snapshots my father took of seaplanes in the late 1940s and early 50s by visiting my other site, Tattered and Lost Photographs.

And now...the X-15, courtesy of the National Biscuit Company late 1950s trading cards.




Click on either image to see it larger.

The North American X-15 was a rocket-powered aircraft operated by the United States Air Force and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the X-plane series of experimental aircraft. The X-15 set speed and altitude records in the early 1960s, reaching the edge of outer space and returning with valuable data used in aircraft and spacecraft design. As of 2012, the X-15 holds the official world record for the fastest speed ever reached by a manned rocket-powered aircraft.
During the X-15 program, 13 different flights by eight pilots met the USAF spaceflight criteria by exceeding the altitude of 50 miles (80 km) thus qualifying the pilots for astronaut status. The USAF pilots qualified for USAF astronaut wings, while the civilian pilots were awarded NASA astronaut wings in 2005, 35 years after the last X-15 flight.
Of all the X-15 missions, two flights (by the same pilot) qualified as space flights per the international (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale) definition of a spaceflight by exceeding 100 kilometers (62.1 mi, 328,084 ft) in altitude.

General Characteristic

• Crew: one

• Length: 50 ft 9 in (15.45 m)

• Wingspan: 22 ft 4 in (6.8 m)

• Height: 13 ft 6 in (4.12 m)

• Wing area: 200 ft2 (18.6 m2)

• Empty weight: 14,600 lb (6,620 kg)

• Loaded weight: 34,000 lb (15,420 kg)

• Max. takeoff weight: 34,000 lb (15,420 kg)

• Powerplant: 1 × Thiokol XLR99-RM-2 liquid-fuel rocket engine, 70,400 lbf at 30 km (313 kN)

Performance

• Maximum speed: Mach 6.72 (4,520 mph, 7,274 km/h)

• Range: 280 mi (450 km)

• Service ceiling: 67 mi (108 km, 354,330 ft)

• Rate of climb: 60,000 ft/min (18,288 m/min)

• Wing loading: 170 lb/ft2 (829 kg/m2)

• Thrust/weight: 2.07

(SOURCE: Wikipedia)

Next time...U. S. Army Mohawk Turbo-Prop Airplane

DEFENDERS OF AMERICA from National Biscuit Company: USAF TM-61 MATADOR

Another in the series of the Military Industrial Complex of the 1950s brought to you by the National Biscuit Company. Would a company today put trading cards about weapons in cereal boxes? I'm sure if they thought it would earn them an extra buck they would.

It's frightening to think of the power that the defense companies have today. Most of the public isn't even aware of their power, nor do they care.

Let's face it, if less money had gone to build weapons and more spent on education we'd have a society better capable of understanding exactly what is going on. First and foremost should always be education.

I will now get off my political soapbox.

I give you the TM-61 Matador.




Click on either image to see it larger.

The Martin MGM-1 Matador was the first operational surface-to-surface cruise missile built by the United States. It was similar in concept to the German V-1, but the Matador included a radio link that allowed in-flight course corrections. This allowed accuracy to be maintained over greatly extended ranges of just under 1000 km. To allow these ranges, the Matador was powered by a small turbojet engine in place of the V-1's much less efficient pulsejet.

When originally introduced, the Air Force referred to them as bombers, and assigned them the B-61 designation. It was later re-designated "TM-61", for "tactical missile", and finally "'MGM-1" when the US Department of Defence introduced the Joint Designation System in 1963. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

The only President I have ever seen in person was Dwight D. Eisenhower in a parade in Hawaii. He rode in a black convertible with the crowds standing very close.

A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction...

This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals so that security and liberty may prosper together.

—President of the United States (and former General of the Army) Dwight D. Eisenhower, Farewell Address to the Nation on January 17, 1961

To see other cards in this trading card series click on the "Defenders of America" label below the post.

Next time...X-15 Rocket Powered Research Plane

DEFENDERS OF AMERICA from National Biscuit Company: USAF IM-99 BOMARC

This is number 10 in the 1959 series of trading cards National Biscuit Company gave away in boxes of cereal. However, I have another number 10 that is either older or you know...younger. I have no idea.




Click on either image to see it larger.

Origins and Development of the BOMARC Missile

In 1946, Boeing started to study surface-to-air guided missiles under the United States Army Air Forces project MX-606. By 1950, Boeing had launched more than 100 test rockets in various configurations, all under the designator XSAM-A-1 GAPA (Ground-to-Air Pilotless Aircraft). Because these tests were very promising, Boeing received a USAF contract in 1949 to develop a pilotless interceptor (a term then used by the USAF for air-defense guided missiles) under project MX-1599. The MX-1599 missile was to be a ramjet-powered, nuclear-armed long-range surface-to-air missile to defend the Continental United States from high-flying bombers. The Michigan Aerospace Research Center (MARC) was added to the project soon afterward, and this gave the new missile its name Bomarc (for Boeing and MARC). In 1951, the USAF decided to emphasize its point of view that missiles were nothing else than pilotless aircraft by assigning aircraft designators to its missile projects, and anti-aircraft missiles received F-for-Fighter designations. The Bomarc became the F-99.

Test flights of XF-99 test vehicles began in September 1952 and continued through early 1955. The XF-99 tested only the liquid-fueled booster rocket, which would accelerate the missile to ramjet ignition speed. In February 1955, tests of the XF-99A propulsion test vehicles began. These included live ramjets, but still had no guidance system or warhead. The designation YF-99A had been reserved for the operational test vehicles. In August 1955, the USAF discontinued the use of aircraft-like type designators for missiles, and the XF-99A and YF-99A became XIM-99A and YIM-99A, respectively. Originally the USAF had allocated the designation IM-69, but this was changed (possibly at Boeing's request to keep number 99) to IM-99 in October 1955. In October 1957, the first YIM-99A production-representative prototype flew with full guidance, and succeeded to pass the target within destructive range. In late 1957, Boeing received the production contract for the IM-99A Bomarc A interceptor missile, and in September 1959, the first IM-99A squadron became operational. 

The IM-99A had an operational radius of 200 miles (~320 km) and was designed to fly at Mach 2.5–2.8 at a cruising altitude of 60,000 feet (18.3 km). It was 46.6 ft (14.2 m) long and weighed 15,500 lb (7,020 kg). Its armament was either a 1,000 pound (455 kg) conventional warhead or a W40 nuclear warhead (7–10 kiloton yield). A liquid fuelled rocket engine boosted the Bomarc to Mach 2, when its Marquardt RJ43-MA-3 ramjet engines, fueled by 80-octane gasoline, would take over for the remainder of the flight.

Operational Service and Retirement

Within a year of becoming operational, a Bomarc-A with a nuclear warhead caught fire at McGuire AFB on 7 June 1960 following the explosive rupture of its onboard helium tank. While the missile's explosives didn't detonate, the heat melted the warhead, releasing plutonium which the fire crews then spread around. The Air Force and the Atomic Energy Commission cleaned up the site and covered it with concrete; fortunately, this was the only major incident involving the weapons system. The site remained in operation for several years following the fire, but after its closure in 1972, the accident resulted in that area remaining off limits to the present day, primarily due to low levels of plutonium contamination. In 2002, the concrete at the site was removed and transported to Lakehurst Naval Air Station for railheading to a site for proper disposal.

In 1962 the Air Force started using modified A-models as drones; following the October 1962 tri-service redesignation of aircraft and weapons systems they became CQM-10As. Otherwise the air defense missile squadrons maintained alert while making regular trips to Santa Rosa Island for training and firing practice. After the inactivation of the 4751st ADW(M) on 1 July 1962 and transfer of Hurlburt to Tactical Air Command for air commando operations the 4751st Air Defense Squadron (Missile) remained at Hurlburt and Santa Rosa Island for training purposes.

In 1964, the liquid-fueled Bomarc-A sites and squadrons began to be deactivated. The sites at Dow and Suffolk County closed first. The remainder soldiered on for several more years while the government started dismantling the air defense missile network. Niagara Falls was the first BOMARC B installation to close, in December 1969; the others remained on alert through 1972. In April 1972, the last Bomarc B in USAF service was retired at McGuire and the 46th ADMS inactivated.

The Bomarc, designed to intercept relatively slow manned bombers, had become a useless asset in the era of the intercontinental ballistic missile. The remaining Bomarc missiles were used by all armed services as high-speed target drones for tests of other air-defense missiles. The Bomarc A and Bomarc B targets were designated as CQM-10A and CQM-10B, respectively.

Notably, due to the accident the McGuire complex has never been sold or converted to other uses and remains in Air Force ownership, making it the most intact site of the eight in the United States. It has been nominated to the National Register of Historic Sites. Although a number of IM-99/CIM-10 Bomarcs have been placed on public display, concerns about the possible environmental hazards of the thoriated magnesium structure of the airframe have resulted in several being removed from public view.
(SOURCE: Wikipedia)

To see other cards in this trading card series click on the "Defenders of America" label below the post.

Next time...USAF TM-61 Matador

DEFENDERS OF AMERICA from National Biscuit Company: GUIDED MISSLE SUBMARINE POLARIS SSG(N)

Today's card is number 4 in the series of Defenders of America trading cards published by the National Biscuit Company in the late 1950s.

The first US Navy submarine capable of firing a strategic ballistic Polaris missile was the George Washington, a nuclear sub. Earlier submarines had carried strategic missiles, but the boats had been diesel powered, and the missiles required the boat to surface in order to fire. The missiles were also cruise missiles, which were vulnerable to the defenses of the day in a way that ballistic missiles were not.

George Washington's missiles could be fired while the boat was submerged, meaning that it was far less likely to be detected before firing. The nuclear power of the boat also meant that, like Nautilus, George Washington's patrol length was limited only by the amount of food the boat could carry. Ballistic missile submarines, carrying Polaris missiles, eventually superseded all other strategic nuclear systems in the USN. Deterrent patrols continue to this day, although now with Ohio-class submarines and Trident II missiles. (SOURCE: Wikiepdia)

Click on either image to see it larger.

To see other cards in this trading card series click on the "Defenders of America" label below the post.

Next time...USAF IM-99 Bomarc Missile

DEFENDERS OF AMERICA from National Biscuit Company: USS TRITON

I have eight trading cards called Defenders of America that were issued by the National Biscuit Company (changed to Nabisco in 1971) in the late 1950s. I have no idea where I got them. Most likely my best friend gave them to me.

The cards were given away inside boxes of Nabisco cereal. I found these two images of the package advertising online at The Imaginary World site.

There were twenty-four cards in the series. Over the next few posts I'll show you the eight I have.

This is card number 3 in the series.




Click on either image to see it larger.

USS Triton (SSRN/SSN-586), a United States Navy nuclear-powered radar picket submarine, was the first vessel to execute a submerged circumnavigation of the Earth (Operation Sandblast), doing so in early 1960. Triton accomplished this objective during her shakedown cruise while under the command of Captain Edward L. "Ned" Beach, Jr. The only member of her class, she also had the distinction of being the only Western submarine powered by two nuclear reactors. 

Triton was the second submarine and the fifth ship of the United States Navy to be named for the Greek god Triton. At the time of her commissioning in 1959, Triton was the largest, most powerful, and most expensive submarine ever built, at $109 million excluding the cost of nuclear fuel and reactors.

After operating for only two years in her designed role, Triton's role as a radar picket submarine was made obsolete by the introduction of the carrier-based Grumman WF-2 Tracer airborne early warning aircraft. Converted to an attack submarine in 1962, she became the flagship for the Commander Submarine Forces U.S. Atlantic Fleet (COMSUBLANT) in 1964. She was decommissioned in 1969, the first U.S. nuclear submarine to be taken out of service.

Triton's hull was moored at the St. Julien's Creek Annex of Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia as part of the reserve fleet until 1993, though she was struck from the Naval Vessel Register in 1986. In 1993, she was towed to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard to await the Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program. The former Triton landed on the keel resting blocks in the drydock basin on 1 October 2007 to begin this recycling process which was completed effective 30 November 2009. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

To read more about the design, construction and operational history click here.

Next time...U. S. Navy Guided Missile Submarine Polaris.

AMAZE FRIENDS! Speak French fluently!

J'ai l'habitude de ne pas avoir des attentes élevées pour un magasin d'aubaines. Sij'ai de la chance je pourrais trouver un livre de poche vintage avec une grande couverture ou d'un album ancien record. Ces jours-ci je trouve de plus en plus que les choses vraiment bonne est vendu en ligne par certains de ces magasins. Donc, généralement, j'évite la plupart des magasins d'aubaines. Mais alors un écart d'acquisition a ouvert ses portes à beaucoup de fanfare. Pas plus d'une sorte de magasin grungy, c'est un endroit très bien organisé qui donne même des rabaissupérieurs un jour par semaine. J'ai trouvé ce livre, Fractured français, la semaine dernière.

Maintenant, si tout cela semble être le français fracturées ne me blâmez pas. J'ai utilisé de traduction de Google pour créer le français. 

If the above appears to be very bad French, dare I say fractured French, don't blame me. I don't speak French so I let Google do the translating for me. Now if I did speak French it would most likely be as it appears in the book I'm featuring today.

I usually don’t hold high expectations for a thrift store. If I’m lucky I might find a vintage paperback with a great cover or an old record album. These days I’m finding more and more that the really good stuff is being sold online by these stores. So generally I avoid most thrift stores. But then a new Goodwill opened up to much fanfare. No longer a grungy sort of store, this is a very well organized place that even gives senior discounts one day a week. I found this book, Fractured French, last week.

The book, Fractured French, was originally published by Doubleday in 1950. The author was Fredrick S. Pearson with illustrations by Richard Dennison Taylor. The edition shown here was published in 1951 in Britain by Putnam.























I'm finding little biographical information about the author, Fredrick S. Pearson, other than he was the son and grandson of engineering financiers and he graduated from Yale in 1934.

I have found a bit more about the illustrator, Richard Dennison Taylor.

Richard Dennison Taylor (1902-1970) was born in Fort William, Ontario, Canada. He studied art at the Royal Canadian Academy of Art, Central Technical School in Toronto, and the Ontario School of Art and Design. A comic strip entitled Mystery Man was his first published art appearing in the Toronto Evening Telegram.

In the 1930s his work began to appear in the New Yorker. Eventually he sold work to Collier’s and the Saturday Evening Post. His work also ran in Playboy.

He moved from Canada to Bethel, Connecticut where he met his future wife, Maxine McTavish, the daughter of Canadian Magazine art cirtic and editor Newton McTavish.

In 1947, the artist authored and illustrated a “how-to” book entitled Introduction to Cartooning, which was published by Watson-Guptill, Inc. He stressed the necessity of honing skills in composition and life drawing before tackling a professional career. Taylor went on to illustrate and publish many of his own humor books including The Better Taylors (1940), One for the Road (1949), Fractured French (1950), Compound Fractured French (1951), Fall of the Sparrow (1951), By the Dawn’s Ugly Light: A Pictorial Study of the Hangover (1952), and Butchered Baseball (1952).

To see more about Taylor visit Ask Art. To read a brief column in the December 30, 1950 New Yorker click here.

By the way, the new Blogger is buggier than a muggy moonless July evening in Florida stuck out in a swamp. I'm not happy.

1960 Boy Scout Handbook ADVERTISEMENTS: Part 6

Give a Boy Scout a fishing pole and he can feed himself for life.

Give him a Harley and you can kiss that Eagle Scout goodbye.

Click on image to see it larger.

Now just imagine you could go 100 miles on a gallon of gas on one of these little beauties. Let's say gas cost 15 to 20 cents a gallon when this ad was run. Do you want to even imagine how far you could go on what you currently pay to fill your tank each week?

As to this Cushman scooter ad..."road-ability" is a word? What dictionary were they using?

Click on image to see it larger.

And I'm not quite sure they've explained how a scout would make extra money if they bought one of these, but from what I read at Wikipedia I'm guessing parking meter attendant or ice cream sales might be possible.

The Cushman company started in 1903 in Lincoln, Nebraska, by Everett and Clinton Cushman. The company incorporated as Cushman Motor Works in 1913.[1] Until 1936 it produced engines for farm equipment, pumps, lawn mowers and boats. From 1936 until 1965 Cushman produced motor scooters, widely used by the US military in World War II and as alternative to automobiles before and after the war. One famous Cushman was the model 53, a military model from the WWII era. Designed to be dropped by parachute with Army Airborne troops, it became known as the Cushman Airborne. Other models were used on military bases for messenger service. The most successful model of Cushman scooter, the Eagle, was in production approximately 16 years. It resembled a motorcycle with its exposed engine and top tank. Other Cushman models used a step-through design common for scooters. The step-through design and ease of operation made it popular with men and women alike. Some late 50s Cushmans, designated Road King and Pacemaker, had jet-age body styling. Sears sold a version of these models under the Allstate brand. Cushman scooters featured an automatic centrifugal clutch, which allowed the rider to twist the right grip to accelerate. Oddly, the throttle twisted forward during acceleration, opposite the usual pattern in most other motorcycles and scooters. Cushman claimed 75 miles per gallon, and advertised penny-a-mile operating cost. Cushman scooters usually weighed about 250 to 335 pounds and had as much as 9 horsepower (6.7 kW). Scooter production ended in 1965, but some remaining Eagles were sold as 1966 models. After scooter production ceased, Cushman manufactured golf carts, industrial vehicles and turf maintenance equipment.

Cushman Trucksters were produced from 1958 to 2002. Small and light duty, they have been used for ice cream sales, mall and stadium maintenance, and by police for parking patrol. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

Click on the "Boy Scout" label below to see previous scouting posts.