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>
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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>
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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>
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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>
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