66 years since the first hurricane reconnaissance by a plane

[HURAKAN]

The "Surprise Hurricane" Makes Landfall, Col. Joe Duckworth Makes History... --On this day in 1943, a relatively weak hurricane made landfall near Galveston, Texas, with sustained winds around 86 mph. What made this event more noteworthy was the fact that for the first time an airplane was intentionally flown into a hurricane -- though it was on a bet, not for reconnaissance purposes. British pilots were being trained in the field of "instrument" flying at Bryan Field, and having received news of a possible evacuation of the aircraft as the storm approached, many pilots began ribbing their flight instructor, Colonel Joe Duckworth, on the frailty of their trainer aircraft. Needless to say, Duckworth had heard enough of this and decided to prove his aircraft's' worth. Knowing that official approval was unlikely, Duckworth and his navigator for the event, Lieutenant Ralph O'Hair, made the flight as the hurricane was coming ashore. Ironically enough, after flying in conditions like that of "being tossed about like a stick in a dog's mouth," Duckworth guided his AT-6 "Texan" into the eye of the storm. O'Hair described the shape of the center like that of a leaning cone and after flying back through the squalls to Bryan Field, O'Hair hoped out -- his first and last flight into a hurricane -- and the weather officer, Lieutenant William Jones-Burdick made the second pass into the storm. Nothing was ever said about the sturdiness of the AT-6 again.

Link: http://www.accuweather.com/news-summary.asp



An image of an AT-6.

[HURAKAN]

Hurricane 1, 1943:

[Ed Mahmoud]

Per Wiki, 19 died, partly because of war time restrictions and censorship of storm advisories.

Censorship
News of this storm was heavily censored. The U.S. Weather Bureau destroyed their barometric readings, as well as many other measurements. News that the storm even existed was censored outside of Texas and Louisiana. The storm destroyed the cooling towers at the Shell Oil Refinery in Deer Park and the Humble Oil Refinery in Baytown, shutting the two facilities down. As these were the primary refineries producing aviation fuel for World War II, it was decided that news about this loss of production should be censored.

Censorship in relation to hurricane advisories has been called the most tragic aspect of this hurricane. Advisories had to be cleared through the Weather Bureau office in New Orleans, causing them to be hours late; moreover the advisories contained no forecast information, which would have allowed for preparation before the storm hit. After the loss of life in this storm, U.S. hurricane advisories have never been censored again.

[Cookie]

great read and really intresting