Mark Carlson

Feb 22, 2024 | warfarehistorynetwork.com | Mark Carlson

By Mark CarlsonFor thousands of Allied airmen the most terrifying sight they ever beheld was a Mitsubishi A6M Zero bearing down on them—burnished black cowling over a snarling Sakae engine, staccato bursts flashing from two machine guns and two cannon—often the last thing they ever saw. No fighter in history has been the subject of more debate than the Zero.

Jan 23, 2024 | historynet.com | Jon Bock |Mark Carlson

History has long since established FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover abused his position, gathering defamatory information on elected officials, using his agents to intimidate and harass and beat suspects, and condoning flagrant abuses of civil rights. Hoover never forgot nor forgave anyone who made the FBI and himself look bad. He made inordinate efforts to destroy reputations and careers of men and women on his famous blacklist.

Jan 16, 2024 | historynet.com | Brian Walker |Mark Carlson

Lieutenant Commander Lawrence Randall “Dan” Daspit, captain of the U.S. submarine USS Tinosa (SS-283), was astounded at his luck. Framed in the periscope eyepiece was a 19,250-ton Japanese tanker, and it had no escort. The Tonan Maru No. 3 was making only 10 knots. It was a sitting duck. Tinosa was on its second war patrol, having departed from Midway on July 7, 1943, to prowl the Japanese sea lanes between Truk and Borneo.

Jun 12, 2023 | warfarehistorynetwork.com | Mark Carlson

By Mark CarlsonOne of the most remarkable events in modern naval aviation was kept a secret for almost half a century. On the morning of November 18, 1952, U.S. Navy pilot Lieutenant E. Royce Williams was on combat air patrol with three other F9F-5 Panthers around the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany in the Sea of Japan off the coast of North Korea. Their 90-minute patrol was soon interrupted by orders to intercept incoming bogies.

Mar 10, 2023 | historynet.com | Mark Carlson

In the 1976 war filmShout at the Devil, based on the best-selling 1968 novel by Wilbur Smith and starring Lee Marvin and Roger Moore, a pair of ivory poachers are induced to wage guerrilla warfare in German East Africa during World War I. The climax of the film comes when Marvin and Moore board the German cruiser Blücher—hidden far up the Rufiji River while its crew repairs battle damage—and place a time bomb in the forward magazine, blowing up the ship.