That WW2 Airplane Crash, Election History, and Meme Fact or Fiction

What happened in Dallas with those WWII aircraft? Have elections always been this divisive? And don't always believe the meme.

About that Dallas airshow

You may have heard about the tragic aircraft collision that happened in Dallas at an airshow on November 12th. The two aircraft were a Word War II era B-17 Flying Fortress and a P-63 Kingcobra.

Both aircraft were used during WW2 but the B-17 bomber was used extensively by the allies against Germany and the P-63 Kingcobra was primarily used in combat by the Soviet Air Force.

Paul Martin, a member of the Army Air Forces Historical Association, said that to have either aircraft in flying condition was a rare occurrence, he said. He said he was aware of only about nine B-17’s in flying condition and only one P-63 Kingcobra — before Saturday’s crash.

If you are curious to learn more about these aircraft check out these well done videos:

Other links of interest:

• CNN on the tragedy

• Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

• NY Times coverage

Yes, even history says elections got nasty

Just in time for Thanksgiving, here are some election history facts that you can hold in reserve as that one Uncle starts to talk politics at the dinner table.

You've heard of the Hamilton / Burr duel that resulted in Hamilton's death?

Yeah...a big piece of that was largely driven by how nasty things got in the 1800 during the Presidential Election runoff between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr.

Burr and Jefferson had each received 73 electoral votes...sending the decision to the House of Representatives. We all know how that went...(spoiler - Burr lost).

Burr felt cheated, and blamed his loss chiefly on Alexander Hamilton, because Hamilton had persuaded Federalists from Maryland and Vermont to abstain, giving those states to Jefferson. Their feud culminated in a duel and Hamilton’s death in 1804.

An engraved illustration of the Burr-Hamilton duel on 11 July 1804. (Photo by Kean Collection/Getty Images)

At least politicians aren't shooting each other any more.

This video is just plain interesting...

Other links of interest:

• 6 most disputed presidential elections in American history

• Video playlist on all the US presidential elections...ever

With all the recent election coverage...you should probably go check out Mr. Beat on YouTube. One of the things he is known best for is making videos that give a historic overview of every single US presidential election. 🎥

Did you know JFK was not the first pick of the Democratic Party?

This podcast on the "fake" autobiography of Howard Hughes was too good not to share. Give this a listen as you drive to visit family this Thanksgiving...great conversation piece. 😁🎙

Don't believe the meme

I'll be honest...I saw this meme about "the whole nine yards" and instantly thought:

I fell for this hook line and sinker.

I decided I would look this up for the newsletter and found out that this particular phrase is used as the case study of how you should not believe these memes at face value.

Also...you know...use logic. Don't believe everything you read on the internet...do your research.

Which is just what NPR did:

Other links of interest:

• 'The Whole Nine Yards' Of What?

• The Whole Nine Yards About a Phrases Origin

Thank you for reading this first edition of #Historic. Please forward to anyone you think that may find this as interesting as you do and help us grow.