Helicopter 66 (US Navy bureau no. 152711) was a Sikorsky Sea King used for the water recovery of many of NASA's Apollo astronauts, including those returning from the first manned moon landing in 1969. Space historian Dwayne A. Day has called it "one of the most famous, or at least most iconic, helicopters in history". Delivered to the navy in 1967, Helicopter 66 was in the inventory of U.S. Navy Helicopter Anti- Submarine Squadron Four for the duration of its active life. One of its pilots, Donald S. Jones, went on to command the United States Third Fleet. It transported the Shah of Iran during his 1973 visit to the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk. Later re-numbered Helicopter 740, it crashed in the Pacific Ocean in 1975 during a training exercise, having logged more than 3,200 hours of service. It was the subject of a 1969 song by Manuela and was made into a die-cast model by Dinky Toys. Replicas of "Old 66" are on display at the USS Hornet Museum and the USS Midway Museum.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicopter_66
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1945:
World War II: USAAF bomber Bockscar dropped a "Fat Man" atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan (pictured). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_Man
1956:
An estimated 20,000 women marched on Pretoria, South Africa, to protest the introduction of the Apartheid pass laws for black women in 1952. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_March_%28South_Africa%29
1988:
Wayne Gretzky was traded from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings in one of the most controversial player transactions in ice hockey history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Gretzky
2001:
A suicide bomber attacked a Sbarro pizza restaurant in Jerusalem, killing 15 people and wounding 130 others. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sbarro_restaurant_suicide_bombing
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
ang moh: (Singapore, Malaysia, informal, possibly mildly derogatory) A white person, especially one perceived as a foreigner rather than a local inhabitant. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ang_moh
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
I dreamed I was an animal In a human world Now when I hear big sounds I cry like a little girl I'm talking about connections Between here and there All things exist at once Seems more than we can bear. --Happy Rhodes https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Happy_Rhodes