Tag Archives: history

U.S.

Bombing Range Bats: Endangered bat nest found on U.S. Air Force base

Video

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the discovery of the first natural Florida Bonneted Bat roost since 1979, on a U.S. Air Force (USAF) base!

Aline Morrow, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Biologist, happy to be in charge of researching the Bombing Range Bats. U.S. Air Force photo by Technical Sergeant Perry Aston, 19APR2019.

The Florida Bonneted Bat is considered one of the most endangered bats on the North American continent.  The bat nest was found on Avon Park Air Force Bombing Range in 2014 (not even a year after the bat was officially declared endangered), yet its discovery has been kept relatively quiet since then.

Video interview, Aline Morrow explains the discovery:

Deuce-n-a-half truck used for gunnery practice. USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Perry Aston, 19APR2019.

USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Perry Aston, 18APR2019.

Parts of Avon Park Range are also home to cattle allowed to graze as part of agreements with local ranchers.  Along with intentional field burns, the grazing is hoped to reduce the chance of wildfires.

USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Perry Aston, 19APR2019.

Expended practice bombs are collected and recycled.

USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Perry Aston, 19APR2019.

This is what it looks like inside a steel Connex container after being hit with a small practice bomb.

USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Perry Aston, 18APR2019.

According to USAF claims, the skeleton of the F-4 Phantom-2 is now intentionally missed by pilots dropping bombs, because they want what’s left to remain.

USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Perry Aston, 18APR2019.

Besides being a bombing range, grazing land and animal preserve, Avon Park is on the verge of becoming a National Historic Place.

USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Perry Aston, 18APR2019.

Archaeologists have been busy finding ‘ancient’ remains.  Already a small storehouse of boxes of artifacts could qualify the range for the National Register of Historic Places.

NEW JERSEY NATIONAL GUARD SAVING PETS IN QATAR!

TO SAVE THE ANIMALS, U.S. MILITARY DEPLOYED TO GEORGIA!

Idaho, Kit Bashing, U.S.

Kit Bashing & Education Reform: Idaho Students Building Model Kits

Buhl Middle School, in Buhl, Idaho, is using model car kits to help students with reading and researching.

6th graders are not just putting together models, they’re spending time doing historical research about the cars they’re building.  They’re also learning about different styles of customizing cars.

The building of model kits has made some huge progress in the past 4 decades.  Many builders don’t just slap the kits together; they spend lots of time researching their subjects to create the most accurate representations they can.  If you want to compete in the big time model contests it’s a necessity that you’re historically literate.

When it comes to the history of cars, it’s not just the technical history that kids can learn, it’s also the cultural history, especially when it comes the “fads” of car customizing trends.  So don’t think of model kits as “toys” (especially when you realize how expensive they’ve gotten over the decades), think of them as “educational tools”.