While drinking, a Pilot bet he could land outside the bar, 2 hours later he touched down in central New York in a stolen aircraft. Years later he repeated the stunt because someone wouldn't believe him.
In September 1956 after drinking heavily at a bar in New York City, Thomas Fitzpatrick made an intoxicated barroom bet that he could travel from New Jersey to New York City in 15 minutes.
At 3 a.m. he stole a single-engine plane from the Teterboro and flew without any lights or radio before landing on St. Nicholas Avenue near 191st Street in front of the bar where the bet was made.
The New York Times called it a "fine landing" and a "feat of aeronautics". For his illegal flight, he was fined $100 after the plane's owner refused to press charges.
In October 1958 just before 1 a.m., Fitzpatrick again stole another plane from the same airfield and landed on Amsterdam and 187th after another bar patron disbelieved his first feat.
For his second stolen flight, judge John A. Mullen sentenced him to six months in prison. When asked why did had undertaken the 2nd flight Fitzpatrick told the police "he had pulled off the second flight after a bar patron refused to believe he had done the first one"
Fitzpatrick was a Marine during the Korean War and received a Purple Heart. He has three sons and was married to his wife, Helen, for 51 years working as a steamfitter. He died in 2009 at the age of 79.
Fitzpatrick has a mixed drink named after him for his feat called the "Late Night Flight"
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
At 4:31 AM, an unauthorized photo taken of Stalin inside of the Kremlin shows the very moment he was informed that Germany had began their invasion of the Soviet Union.
It was taken by Komsomolskaya Pravda, editor in chief. He was ordered to destroy it, but instead saved it. June 22, 1941.
Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. It was the largest land offensive in human history, with over 10 million combatants taking part.
"Sharon was so amazingly down to earth. Her ethereal beauty seemed to captivate all those around her, but she seemed oblivious to it and the effect she had on strangers. She would sometimes flirt a bit, but it was well known around Hollywood that Sharon was a one-man girl…
and she kept true to herself and never slept around. A rare thing in young actresses trying to get their "big break", I can tell you. There was something very special about her and we were very protective of her too." Kirk Douglas, quoted in Debra Tate's 2014 book, "Sharon Tate… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Lynda Carter is a woman of many powers - she's an actress, singer, pageant queen and mother, to name a few. It's safe to say this beauty can pretty much do it all. But we shouldn't be surprised; she is Wonder Woman.
Her father is of English and Scots-Irish ancestry, and her mother, whose family hailed from Mexico, is of Mexican, Spanish, and French descent.
A wooden object found at a Roman fort on Hadrian's Wall in the UK is speculated to be a 2nd Century sex toy.
Experts first thought the 6.2in (16cm) object may have been a sewing tool, but now think it may be the earliest example of a wooden phallus found anywhere in the ex-Roman empire.
When they analyzed it they found both ends were noticeably smoother, indicating repeated use over time - suggesting it might have had a more intimate use.
In 1922, a group of scientists went to the Toronto General Hospital where diabetic children were kept in wards. Most of them were comatose & dying from diabetic keto-acidosis. Others were being placed on extremely strict diets, which inevitably led to starvation.
These children were essentially in their death beds, awaiting what was at the time, certain death. The scientists moved swiftly and proceeded to inject the children with a new purified extract of insulin.
As they began to inject the last comatose child, the first one to be injected began to wake up. Then one by one, all the children awoke from their diabetic comas. A room that was full of death and gloom, suddenly became a place of joy and hope.
A picture of a blind Japanese girl who lost her sight due to witnessing the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945. The blast killed 66,000 people. Despite the atomic bombs forcing a Japanese surrender, the USA has been heavily criticized over the years for the… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
However, if the bombs were not dropped, an invasion of Japan would have prolonged the war, and at least 2,000,000 US troops would have died, according to calculations, as well as millions of the Japanese, allied fighters, and other sources of soldiers.