Dark Earth Timeline Discussion

[Simon Darkshade]

Coming up in June 1976:

- The first 'handover' meeting of British Prime Ministers occurs, with some immediate impacts on policy decisions and long term planning
- Underground railways in Adelaide
- The Teton Dam gets a bit wobbly, but is secured thanks to a really super guy
- New York's blue laws remain in place, whilst Missouri rescinds the 'Extermination Order' of Mormons
- Germany and Austria-Hungary play out a thriller in the UEFA Euro soccer final
- A 13 year old boy named Brian Robeson survives the crash of a light plane in the wilds of Northern Canada and has to try to survive with naught but the clothes on his back and a hatchet
- Some wicked witch or wizard steals the Boston Garden stadium
- Return of Orion
- The USN adds its part to the Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force
- The Democratic primaries come to a climax
- Release of 'The Three Amigos', an action film starring Chuck Norris, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Charles Bronson as three war veterans investigating a mystery in a small Mexican town involving bandits, Indians, Aztec treasure and a nearby mountain with a great secret...
- News on the British economy and industrial developments
- A Soviet freighter rescues a stranded U.S. balloonist
- The Red Air Force plans and makes some decisions in response to recent Western aircraft developments
- Arrival of tall ships for the U.S. Bicentennial begins, along with a very special great charter
- Beginning of what will be seen as the historic Test series between England and the West Indies, one of the highlights of a warm yet comfortable summer that will live long in the memories of young and old alike in Britain
- Reverend Elvis Presley saves Kentucky Fried Chicken!
- German special forces take on the Baader-Meinhof Gang and some significant Teutonic defence developments take place on land, in the air and beneath the waves
- A British equivalent to the High Mobility Combat Vehicle is unveiled; this HMCV is an earlier vehicle than the historical HMMWV, a bit narrower and with a body manufactured from some very strong materials plus integrated armour protection

(And some of the events that frazzled Simon was supposed to slot into May, but forgot due to a combination of being chewed to death and puppy transport/valet duties)

[MFOM]

Three amigos, visions of Charles Bronson and chuck Norris singing my little buttercup while Arnold plays piano

[Simon Darkshade]

Unfortunately for the sake of hilarity, this is an example of the use of a film or television show title for something very different, such as Threads, Come and See and The War Game.

Here, ‘The Three Amigos’ is very much a 1970s Norris action film, with plenty of quips and a high body count.

[Simon Darkshade]

A sneaky sneak preview of June 1976:

June 2: A Parliamentary delegation arrives in Washington DC on an RAF Concord to deliver a copy of the Magna Carta into the care of the Speaker of the House Hale Boggs and a supporting group of Representatives and Senators. The copy is to be loaned for a year and a day for the celebration of the USA's Bicentennial, with Foreign Secretary Lord Wooster describing the events of two centuries ago as 'a victory not just for the British Empire, but for the entire English-speaking world!' A Foreign Office spokesman, a Mr. Jeeves, later provides clarification for the Foreign Secretary's remarks, explaining that they meant that the tradition of compromise and reconciliation had come to the fore in the aftermath of 1776, and that this represented a figurative victory for England as well as America.

June 3: The Boston Garden stadium disappears the day prior to the much anticipated fifth game of the NBA finals series between Boston and Phoenix, with even the foundations being uprooted in what Boston P.D. detectives and the FBI label a clear case of malicious dark wizardry. Suspicions immediately turn to the 1973 theft of USS Constitution and large teams of investigators descend upon Des Moines, before the Garden is located in the late afternoon in the middle of the Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island in Maine, shrunk down to one tenth its ordinary size but otherwise intact. The basketball game is hastily relocated to Boston Arena, which can hold a crowd only a third of the size of the Garden, with the change resulting in a 148-120 victory to the Celtics; police investigations subsequently centre upon a number of large bets made on June 2 on the game being a blow-out. After several days of careful surveying, the Garden is lifted in a joint operation by USAF skyships and the Department of Magic and very, very carefully transported back to its original location.

June 7: The West Indies win the First Test against England at Trent Bridge by 152 runs, dismissing England for 248 late on the fourth day. Geoff Boycott was the final man dismissed in the English second innings for 70, with the next highest score being promising youngsters Graham Gooch and Ian Botham with 33 apiece. The West Indian victory was based around a superb 254 from Viv Richards in the first innings, where he was ably supported by Alvin Kallicharan with 109, and then a whirlwind 102* by Richards in the second innings, this time off only 87 balls; the bowling combination of Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner and Colin Croft proved unplayable at times.

June 10: Release of 'The Three Amigos', an action film directed by John Ford, written by John Milius and starring Chuck Norris, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Charles Bronson as three war veterans investigating an ancient mystery in a small Mexican town involving bandits, Indians, Aztec treasure and a nearby mountain with a great secret. The picture also stars Clark Gable as General McClellan, Gary Cooper as Marshall Will Kane, Royal Dano as President Lincoln, Franco Nero as the mysterious Django, Audie Murphy as Lieutenant John Dunbar, Roy Rogers as General Lee, Slim Pickens, Jackie Gleason as a corrupt Sheriff, Simon Ward as Major Garnet Wolseley and Errol Flynn as the Earl of Cardigan. It will be hailed for its combination of a modern 'buddy picture' with the tradition elements of a great Western, and features awe-inspiring aerial footage of the chase sequence and final battle featuring Mexican, American, Indian and British forces.

June 11: A 13 year old American boy named Brian Robeson survives the crash of a de Havilland Beaver light plane in a lake in the rugged wilds of Northern Canada whilst travelling to visit his father in the oilfields of the Yukon and has to try to survive with naught but the clothes on his back and a hatchet. Despite the odds and the inquisitive local wildlife, and through the use his Scoutcraft, he manages to last 24 days before a storm brings the plane's tail to the shore, and he is able to activate the emergency transmitter; he is rescued three days later by Indian scouts attached to a Canadian Ranger patrol. Master Robeson is commended for his initiative and fortitude and presented with a special gold Wilderness Survival merit badge.

June 15: An idiotic gang of would-be communist terrorists is arrested in a joint operation by the NIS and FBI for conspiracy to hijack the recently decommissioned Montana class battleship USS New Hampshire whilst she steamed from Pearl Harbor to Long Beach with a reduced crew for removal of remaining weapons and inactivation. The report submitted by the NIS team leader states that the hapless hooligans 'had a criminal past, but no criminal future', as their plan did not account for the battleship being escorted by destroyers as per standard operating procedure; an additional Marine detail being aboard to provide security for the remaining defensive nuclear weapons (again, as per standard operating procedure); New Hampshire's five mess chiefs all being former Navy SEALs or Naval Infantrymen, as per standard operating procedure; and that all visitors to a commissioned warship at sea are heavily scanned and vetted by the ship's wizardly detachment before their leaving the helicopter deck... as per standard operating procedure. It notes that they further had no notion of how to keep the ship's engines running without the 240 strong engineering department, no clue how to operate the navigation systems and, in general, not much clue at all. The dastardly dozen are clapped in irons in the battleship's brig and transferred ashore by Rotodyne when the vessel nears California; the incident is subsequently described as a training exercise and classified.

June 25: Governor Christopher Bond of Missouri signs an executive order officially rescinding Executive Order 44, or what was colloquially known as the 'Mormon Extermination Order' of 1838, where then Governor Lilburn Boggs authorised the state militia to forcibly deport Mormons found within the borders of Missouri, and, should they resist, to 'exterminate them', on account of 'their outrages beyond description'. The order had been in effective abeyance since 1839, and had long been regarded as a bizarre and thoroughly unconstitutional vestige of the past, before being largely forgotten, until bought to the attention of Governor Bond in the lead up to his keynote address at a Mormon conference in Far West, MO.

June 29: An alleged attempt upon the life of Argentine Premier Rodriguez apparently leaves him slightly scarred and deformed, but with unbowed resolve, according to a statement from his office. Details of the incident, which occurred during his morning walk at his summer estate outside Buenos Aires, are scarce, with the official report describing a dastardly plot by communist rebels to assassinate Rodriguez with a possessed bird of prey; other accounts report that he sustained an unsightly gash after being struck on the forehead by a deceased Norwegian Blue parrot that had fallen from a balcony overlooking his garden, having come to its ultimate surcease either through being tormented by his ghastly child or simply pining for the fjords.

[jemhouston]

Roy Rogers as General Lee threw me for a loop.

If they make a movie of the attempting Hi-jacking of USS New Hampshire would make a good action comedy

[Simon Darkshade]

It is meant to be an odd combination; it may yet change, given that I was originally toying with some other options for John Ford’s final great Western. Given Rogers’ positions regarding film scripts between 1959 and 1975 and them being too violent, it might be a bit too far of a stretch.

In any event, the scenes with the generals and Lincoln come at the beginning of the picture, before Bronson, Norris and Schwarzenegger leave the U.S.Army in search of fortune and action in Old Mexico; I envisage the story as being set in Sonora, allowing for the threeway border with America, Mexico and the British colony of New Avalon in Baja California.

As for the New Hampshire, that won’t get an ‘in universe’ movie treatment. As I wrote elsewhere:

“The motivation of William Strannix/Tommy Lee Jones’ renegade former CIA officer in the film was revenge in the form of trying to precipitate a Third World War through the sale of nuclear warheads to an unnamed rogue state or states. That doesn’t really work for the 1970s in general, and in particular for Dark Earth.

The backstory for this ‘version’ then is a bit different, building both on some of Strannix’s lines about ‘missing out on the 60s’, ‘revolution’, and ‘the movement’, even if they were red herrings in the picture. That type of deranged extreme radicalism, in the spirit of the Baader-Meinhofs, Weathermen, Red Brigades and the Angry Brigade was something a bit more ‘fitting’ to the 1970s, as well as channelling a bit of Bruce Dern’s role in 1977’s Black Sunday.

One characteristic of the radical terrorist groups of the 1970s is that they had extreme delusions of their adequacy, and did not have a good track record when up against military forces rather than unsuspecting civilians on the street or in an airliner.

Here, the implication is that they have been baited into trying a ridiculous operation, possibly through COINTELPRO or a variant. It is like a lot of other events that I have ‘seeded’ as potential future short stories, either for myself or if I can eventually entice other people to play in DE.”

[Belushi TD]

The Three Amigos sounds wonderful. Love the cast. Who is Slim Pickens playing? Love all the various characters you've pulled from elsewhere, particularly Gleason as the corrupt Sherriff. Will he, perhaps, have a son along, who he instructs to remind him to "punch yo' momma in the mouth"?

I feel like there's more to the Brian Robeson story that I should be familiar with. Also, the way it currently reads, I thought he had spent 24 days floating in the tail of the plane until it reached shore. I have no advice as to how to make it clearer/better, and therefore suspect its my own brain being wonky, rather than a flaw in the writing.

The criminals who attempted the USS New Hampshire hijacking seem very much to me like a dog who chases cars. One you get one, what the hell do you do now?

If you go and read the really early executive orders in pretty much any state or the US in @, some of the are REALLY wild.

Good stuff!

Belushi TD

[Simon Darkshade]

Thank you kindly, good master.

1.) It is one of the little film ideas that I sketch out; give it a few more years, or months even, and it could be used for an AI prompt! It started as an idea for a breakthrough Chuck Norris role, then grew from there to be something very different, with the John Ford angle, followed by the idea of working in a British component from across the border that is semi-inspired by 1951's The Last Outpost, which starred Ronald Reagan. The 1970s were not a great time for traditional Westerns, as compared to Spaghetti ones, or the various Revisionist stuff, and having a good old fashioned barnstormer, replete with a great big cavalry charge at the end, is one way of illustrating the cultural difference that is going on.

Consider our 1976 and some of the most popular pictures at the box office:

i.) Dog Day Afternoon
ii.) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
iii.) Taxi Driver
iv.) All the President's Men
v.) The Bad News Bears
vi.) Midway
vii.) The Omen
viii.) Marathon Man
ix.) Two Minute Warning
x.) Carrie
xi.) King Kong

- The first four are absolute non-starters, due to their content, themes, base material, and numerous features that cross the line of the (modified) Hays Code, which is still in effect. There hasn't been the loss of faith in government that occurred through the 1960s and then Watergate, so that there is still a Kennedy era level of trust.

Previous expansions on exactly what the Code entails:

"A report by the Director of the Motion Picture Association of America's Production Code Administration recommends a tightening up of standards regarding borderline profanity, whilst noting that adherence to the other 11 central precepts of 'The Code' (covering sexual activity, adult content, licentious nudity, drug use, black magic, promotion of communism, actual depictions of childbirth, ridicule of the clergy, sedition, willful offense to nations and creeds and overt promotion of crime and its means) remains gratifyingly strong."

"The US Motion Picture Production Code remains very strong; some of its aspects are slightly different. In effect, this means a lack of swearing in mainstream/legal pictures, less adult content and rude bits, but gradually relaxed approaches to some aspects of violence and war (even outside of newsreels)" (2024)

- The Bad News Bears would still be made, with some adjustments to language, with the various rude words replaced with more appropriate bowdlerized versions or minced oaths. Historically, the first s-word was only used in a picture in 1967's In Cold Blood, followed by "BS" in 1968's Bullitt and the f-word in MASH. However did audiences, directors, writers and actors cope for so long without having films rattling off over 150 f-words in 90 odd minutes, such as in a purported picture about and aimed at highschool freshmen?

- Midway absolutely gets made, and is even more impressive and expansive, given the capacity to use arcanely augmented special effects illusions; it also has a distinctly more triumphant ending, reflecting the US mood post Vietnam.

- Absolutely no chance that something dealing with diabolical themes like The Omen gets made. Ditto Carrie

- Marathon Man would have some of the torture scenes implied and shot in such a way as to not see it actually occurring

- King Kong is the type of picture that is made very frequently - pulpy, escapist and nothing controversial

- Two Minute Warning would absolutely, definitely, categorically not be made, as the NFL has enough troubles on their hands what with the curse and all, so that they would not want to tempt fate and inspire a darned sniper to have a go!

1b.) Slim Pickens plays Sheriff Sam Newfield, which won't mean much to most people, but is the name of his character from the 1981 film The Howling.

1c.) Gleason is indeed the founder of a long, long running bloodline, although his progeny does drift back east to more salubrious climes.

2.) The event and story is largely based on the 1987 children's novel Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatchet_(novel)

The chief difference here is the rapid nature of the search and rescue response after the emergency beacon is activated. In the novel, and in the polished version of this event, he will spend the days ashore engaged in the tasks of survival, before the tail of the plane resurfaces following a storm, allowing him to access the goodies therein.

3.) They absolutely had no hope of doing anything, and the very strong hint that I'll try and get across in the final version is that they were baited into doing this Very Silly Thing, and won't even get the publicity or public trial for the attempt. So farcical was the process that the cover story that it was a training exercise works very, very well indeed. It is a teensy bit of a critique of Under Siege, which is a silly popcorn flick which allows suspension of disbelief, but its central idea is at its heart a bit silly. In language that even Steven Seagal might understand, Ship no go forward just with button; no one in Big Engine Department make war canoe not move.

4.) I know. The past is a gold mine for the weirdest and wildest of things which people never believe actually happened.

[jemhouston]

Two ideas to reuse the titles

i.) Dog Day Afternoon Rescue of trapped dog off a cliff

iv.) All the President's Men Setting a Presidential Speech with spotlight being on all the people it takes, everyone from Secret Service to the running the crafts table supply drinks and snacks.

[Simon Darkshade]

Perfect ideas for both! I’ll add more in due course.

[Simon Darkshade]

In addition to Dog Day Afternoon and All the President's Men, we have a few that have been and a few to come:

Grease: An uplifting musical film about a young tearaway who comes good, knuckles down to complete his mechanical apprenticeship and is finally seen as suitable to court the young lady he took a shine to over the summer.

The Godfather: A heart-warming tale of a long time family friend who mentors and shepherds his godson through a rough time while his father is away fighting in Vietnam, teaching him the value of friendship.

Saturday Night Fever: John Travolta and Dustin Hoffman are dedicated emergency room doctors in Metropolis who have to cope with a strange rash of febrile patients, and then cooperate with an unlikely ally in gruff policeman (Clint Eastwood) to discover the cause of the infectious outbreak.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: A shy ornithologist who has given up on love and settling down (Jack Nicholson) falls for an aloof nurse (Louise Fletcher), who works in the Oregon State Asylum and who shares his love of rare birds and walks in the woods. A quiet, reflective and colourful romance film that concludes with an iconic sequence of birds engaging in a mating dance after Nicholson's character finally plucks up his courage and proposes to Nurse Ratched, with the birds serving as an image of the positive reply.

M*A*S*H: The humourous hijinks of a group of US Army surgeons in the Korean War provides a loving tribute to the men and women who served in that long and bitter victory, with the final act of the picture showing the field hospital packing up to follow the great Allied offensive north after the bitter fighting of 1951 and 1952.

The Deer Hunter: The experiences of a group of friends from Pennsylvania whilst fighting in Vietnam and their difficult in readjusting to civilian life on their return home provides for a dramatic insight into life in America in the mid 1970s. After considerable difficulties and issues, the trio of Nick, Steve and Mike finally reconcile and end the film as it began, with a deer hunt; this time, in an act of symbolism, the men spare the deer and walk off together into the sunset.

Up in Smoke: Two Californian firefighters (Richard Marin and Tommy Chong) forge an unlikely friendship through the travails of their dangerous work, and cooperate to find and corner a firebug during their time off.

Enter the Dragon: A controversial historical thriller about the entry of Imperial China into the Korean War, starring Gregory Peck as Douglas MacArthur, Ed Flanders as President Truman, Christopher Lee as Fu Manchu and Bruce Lee as a double agent desperately trying to deliver proof of the planned Chinese offensive to the West.

Fritz the Cat: The rascally family friendly adventures of a talking cat with a heart of gold who gets lost downtown after taking the wrong bus home from the cat library.

Airport, King Kong, The Towering Inferno, Love Story, Jeremiah Johnson, The Sting and The Poseidon Adventure are broadly similar to their Earthly counterparts, whilst Jaws and Star Wars are a little different, and Conan the Barbarian considerably more so.

[jemhouston]

Perfect ideas for both! I’ll add more in due course.

Thank you

[Simon Darkshade]

You’re welcome.

Someone elsewhere commented ‘A very different Hollywood from a very different world. I’d imagine that the small c conservative culture may be quite frustrating to the more ‘avant garde’ folk’

My response was

“It certainly would be/is. It does depend on exactly how ‘avant- garde’ said theoretical audience may be.

- If they cannot cope with pictures not featuring a lot of bottoms, breasts and other tricky bits or graphic sex scenes (not that mainstream Hollywood at this time had really made a huge amount of progress as a generalisation), then they will be disappointed
- If they desire films where actors swear like a drunken sailor, then they will also likely be d______ disappointed
- If their desires encompass some of the other areas of The Code, they may not be as disappointed. The Exorcist and The Omen aren’t made, but a slightly modified version of The Devil Rides Out was; there is, as a general rule, a lot of capacity to bend, but some very clear red lines
- There is even a reasonable bit of room for interpretation of what different articles of the code mean; a simple scene of skinny dipping such as in 1973’s Tom Sawyer would not be regarded as licentious nudity, but the stuff in 1976’s Logan’s Run would
- For every daring New Hollywood picture of our mid 70s, there were 5 or 6 quite anodyne and quite conventional films that made up the bulk of content

(The Cuckoo’s Nest difference is a reasonably rare example of where my own taste or opinions come to the fore. As a teenager, I saw it conventionally, as an anti-authoritarian masterwork, and RPM as a heroic figure, as Forman intended.

Now, it hasn’t aged too well in many respects. McMurphy is in jail for the statutory rape of a 15 year old girl, and is quite proud and unrepentant of his actions. He disrupts the treatment and care of many Chronics and Voluntaries alike, directly causes the unnecessary death of Billy Bibbitt, commits an attempted murder, gets multiple men sacked, and sets in train events that see the Chief escape, when said Chief has extremely disturbing delusions and needs a lot of help.

Ratched may have treated the Voluntaries mean, but they were all safe and alive and provided with an orderly, predictable environment for treatment.

I think the change must be the differing perspectives of the young and old, among others.)

[Simon Darkshade]

June 1976
June 1: After extensive talks since the general election, the Liberal Party enter a partial coalition with the Conservatives to guarantee confidence, supply and support on a range of areas in return for a number of cabinet seats, with Jeremy Thorpe given the portfolio of Health, Pensions and Social Welfare, Sir Richard Harcourt Munitions and Supply, Robert Cobden Communications, George Thomson Town and Country Planning, James Hacker Administrative Affairs, Sir William Gladstone Finance, David Owen the Arts, Culture and Sport, and Sir Arthur Chamberlain the Environment. Later in the morning, new Prime Minister Sir Enoch Powell has the first formal handover meeting in British history with his predecessor Stanley Barton, providing the new head of Her Majesty’s Government with a full overview of British strategic and conventional force development, certain secret programmes and other highly classified information in order to streamline his entry into office. Coming as it does in concert with the immediately previous top secret briefing by the Executive Group of the Committee for Imperial Defence, it provides the new PM with the most fulsome introduction to Britain’s situation in at least 36 years. As a result, Powell invites Barton to continue to sit on the CID in reflection of the current Parliamentary balance; orders preparation of a secret supplementary defence budget for the second half of 1976 and cancels plans for a small reduction in the strength of RAF Fighter Command; and issues instructions for renewed vetting of a number of the Conservatives' new coalition partners.

June 2: A Parliamentary delegation arrives in Washington DC on an RAF Concord to deliver a copy of the Magna Carta into the care of the Speaker of the House Hale Boggs and a supporting group of Representatives and Senators. The copy is to be loaned for a year and a day for the celebration of the USA's Bicentennial, with Foreign Secretary Lord Wooster describing the events of two centuries ago as 'a victory not just for the British Empire, but for the entire English-speaking world!' A Foreign Office spokesman, a Mr. Jeeves, later provides clarification for the Foreign Secretary's remarks, explaining that they meant that the tradition of compromise and reconciliation had come to the fore in the aftermath of 1776, and that this represented a figurative victory for England as well as America.

June 3: The Boston Garden stadium disappears the day prior to the much anticipated fifth game of the NBA finals series between Boston and Phoenix, with even the foundations being uprooted in what Boston P.D. detectives and the FBI label a clear case of malicious dark wizardry. Suspicions immediately turn to the 1973 theft of USS Constitution and large teams of investigators descend upon Des Moines, before the Garden is located in the late afternoon in the middle of the Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island in Maine, shrunk down to one tenth its ordinary size but otherwise intact. The basketball game is hastily relocated to Boston Arena, which can hold a crowd only a third of the size of the Garden, with the change resulting in a 148-120 victory to the Celtics; police investigations subsequently centre upon a number of large bets made on June 2 on the game being a blow-out. After several days of careful surveying, the Garden is lifted in a joint operation by USAF skyships and the Department of Magic and very, very carefully transported back to its original location.

June 4: The Teton Dam in southeastern Idaho comes perilously close to a disastrous collapse, as accelerated leaking spreads despite all measures taken to arrest it, until the dam seems on the point of imminent collapse, whereupon the timely intervention of a flying caped and costumed super-hero saves the day, and the dam, in the nick of time. Arcane engineers from the US Army’s Corps of Engineers indicate that considerable repairs will be required to restore the dam to full structural integrity, with is seen as absolutely necessary to protect the buildings and citizens of nearby towns and the city of Rexburg from massive flooding or worse. A report analysing the reasons for the arrested collapse is prepared for the Department of the Interior, with a view towards implementing any recommendations on a much broader basis.

June 5: Completion of the second stage of the underground railway network in the City of Adelaide, with the underground lines under the four boundary terraces now joined by crosstown connections to Victoria Square under King William Street and Grote and Wakefield Streets, with the final stage to see deep lines under Morphett Street and Pulteney Street provide coverage of the city's other squares. The City Underground Rail project is expected to serve commerce, industry and the burgeoning population of the City of Adelaide's 'square mile', which has now surpassed 90,000 after a temporary dip in the 1960s as the outer suburbs experienced growth. The consistent population of the City provides for a steady base of players and support for the Adelaide Football Club, one of twelve clubs in the South Australian National Football League along with Port Adelaide, Glenelg, West Torrens, Woodville, West Adelaide, South Adelaide, Sturt, Norwood, North Adelaide, Modbury and Central Districts. With the construction of the expanded levels of Football Park complete, taking its capacity to 125,000, and the historically sensitive modernisation of Adelaide Oval, which will see the replacement of the John Creswell Stand with an expanded three tier Sir Donald Bradman Stand and the erection of counterpart grandstands on the eastern side of the oval to mirror the Mostyn Evans, George Giffen and Sir Edwin Smith Stands, which will be arcanely raised, Adelaide's sporting facilities are seemingly being prepared for a bid for the 1988 Olympics.

June 6: The usually peaceful Swiss town of Seween is struck by horror when the murdered bodies of five family members are discovered in their house by a relative, with all of the victims having been shot with a Winchester rifle. Although initially stymied in their inquiries, the assistance of a holidaying Oxford City Police detective and a shambling, rumpled LAPD detective, also on vacation, leads to them arresting a loner living in Basel, and imprisoning him in Küssnacht Castle whilst further evidence is prepared.

June 7: The West Indies win the First Test against England at Trent Bridge by 152 runs, dismissing England for 248 late on the fourth day. Geoff Boycott was the final man dismissed in the English second innings for 70, with the next highest score being promising youngsters Graham Gooch and Ian Botham with 33 apiece. The West Indian victory was based around a superb 254 from Viv Richards in the first innings, where he was ably supported by Alvin Kallicharan with 109, and then a whirlwind 102* by Richards in the second innings, this time off only 87 balls; the bowling combination of Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner and Colin Croft proved unplayable at times.

June 8: Senator Robert F. Kennedy wins the Ohioand California primaries in a canter, securing the Democratic nomination for President with their considerable swag of delegates, whilst Governor James Carter of Georgia demonstrates the strength of his appeal across the South with a narrow victory over Kennedy in Maryland. The results lead some Democratic strategists to conclude that a Kennedy/Carter ticket may well be their best option to try and secure the very narrow path to victory over the popular President Ronald Reagan in November, given that Reagan's very broad base of support built around the West, the South, the traditionally Republican New England and the industrial Midwest manufacturing belt.

June 9: Sales of consumer electronic devices in Britain continue to boom, with substantive growth of over 5% in every month since the end of the 1973 Recession in May of that year. Devices such as VCRs, portable televisions, BEI portable radio/tape players, English Electric Watchmen, and digital domestic appliances as well as the more expensive home terminals, personal computing engines, videophonic watches, mobile telephones and 'home robots' are selling significantly at home and abroad; significant challenges are forecast as coming from the strong Japanese and American hi-tech electronic sectors, with the former having a special team under Dr. Machibuse Ōnishi, Dr. Hiroshi Ochanomizu and the renowned Professor Umatarō Tenma reportedly working on the long term development of an experimental 'cybernetic organism' at the Okishima Facility.

June 10: Release of The Three Amigos, an action film directed by John Ford, written by John Milius and starring Chuck Norris, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Charles Bronson as three war veterans investigating an ancient mystery in a small Mexican town in the years after the U.S. Civil War. The 204 minute film features bandits, Indians, Aztec treasure and a nearby mountain with a great secret. The picture also stars Clark Gable as General McClellan, Gary Cooper as Marshall Will Kane, Royal Dano as President Lincoln, Franco Nero as the mysterious Django, Audie Murphy as Lieutenant John Dunbar, Rod Steiger as General Lee, Slim Pickens as Sheriff Sam Newfield, Jackie Gleason as a corrupt Sheriff, Simon Ward as Major Garnet Wolseley, Errol Flynn as the Earl of Cardigan and John Wayne as President Grant. It will be hailed for its combination of a modern 'buddy picture' with the tradition elements of a great Western, and features awe-inspiring aerial footage of the chase sequence and final battle featuring Mexican, American, Indian and British forces.

June 11: A 13 year old American boy named Brian Robeson survives the crash of a de Havilland Beaver light plane in a lake in the rugged wilds of Northern Canada whilst travelling to visit his father in the oilfields of the Yukon and has to try to survive with naught but the clothes on his back and a hatchet. Despite the odds and the inquisitive local wildlife, and through the use his Scoutcraft, he manages to last 24 days before a storm brings the plane's tail to the shore, and he is able to activate the emergency transmitter; he is rescued three days later by Indian scouts attached to a Canadian Ranger patrol. Master Robeson is commended for his initiative and fortitude and presented with a special gold Wilderness Survival merit badge.

June 12: German special forces commandos of the GSG-9 team ambush a terrorist cell of the Baader-Meinhof Gang in Munich as the would-be urban guerillas attempt to leave their hideout to launch an attack on the newly opening Flughafen München. Four terrorists are immediately gunned down at close range, with the remaining two retreating back inside their fortified apartment. After a two hour siege, the walls are breached by a specially adapted urban warfare Marder fighting vehicle, and, as per new non-lethal suppression options, thousands of enraged Japanese giant hornets are pumped inside to resolve the standoff without fatalities, although certainly not peacefully; the two terrorists, suffering from more than the usual sting of defeat, are taken into custody by Munich Police.

June 13: The United States completes the first phase of its launch of a network of maritime communications, navigation and oceanic surveillance satellites, which are intended to have a dual role in facilitiating safer civilian commerce and intercourse across the seas and providing for more extensive naval surveillance, particularly over the vastness of the Pacific. The incomplete MARISAT network has already seen use in the recent Exercise Pineapple Junction, which saw USN and USAF fighters and patrol planes operating out of the Hawaiian Islands and Midway successfully locate Carrier Division 18, consisting of Constellation and Franklin D. Roosevelt, on two separate occasions; the carriers are working up for deployment to the Indian Ocean as part of the United States Navy's contribution to the embryonic Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force.

June 14: Maiden broadcast of what will turn out to be three long-running television series in Britain, with Open All Hours commencing on the BBC, showcasing the comedic travails of a Doncaster grocer and his circle of customers and acquaintances, The Famous Five beginning on ITV, Ripping Yarns debuting on Thames, showcasing many of the finest stories from picture papers such as Eagle. With the imminent arrival of fifth and sixth television channels to join the BBC, ITV, Thames and Associated TeleVision in the form of Granada and ASTV in the second half of the year, recent regulations regarding children's content blocks on afternoons and Saturday mornings and the burgeoning market for videogram cassettes drawn from the complete voluminous and lovingly restored and colourised archives of the BBC and the newer channels, 1976 is sometimes subsequently considered by some media historians as a landmark year in the 'Golden Age of British children's television'.

June 15: An idiotic gang of would-be communist terrorists is arrested in a joint operation by the NIS and FBI for conspiracy to hijack the recently decommissioned Montana class battleship USS New Hampshire whilst she steamed from Pearl Harbor to Long Beach with a reduced crew for removal of remaining weapons and inactivation. The report submitted by the NIS team leader states that the hapless hooligans 'had a criminal past, but no criminal future', as their plan did not account for the battleship being escorted by destroyers as per standard operating procedure; an additional Marine detail being aboard to provide security for the remaining defensive nuclear weapons (again, as per standard operating procedure); New Hampshire's five mess chiefs all being former Navy SEALs or Naval Infantrymen, as per standard operating procedure; and that all visitors to a commissioned warship at sea are heavily scanned and vetted by the ship's wizardly detachment before their leaving the helicopter deck... as per standard operating procedure. It notes that they further had no notion of how to keep the ship's engines running without the 240 strong engineering department, no clue how to operate the navigation systems and, in general, not much clue at all. The dastardly dozen are clapped in irons in the battleship's brig and transferred ashore by Rotodyne when the vessel nears California; the incident is subsequently described as a training exercise and classified.

June 16: A number of new British motor vehicles are unveiled at the Royal Automotive Exhibition at Earls Court, ranging from the high end Rover SD5, Triumph 5000, Daimler Dynasty and Vauxhall Sigmar to the middle range Morris Magnum, Saxon Pulsar, Holden Commodore, Vauxhall Crecy, Ford Falcon and Austin Arion and the newest of the small 'hatched-back' Austin Mini 2, Wolseley Jubilee, Riley Delta and Standard Corona urban cars. Pride of place goes to the AEC Spectre, the projected British equivalent to the U.S. High Mobility Combat Vehicle under development that is to augment the new variants of Land Rover, Champions and Leyland Rangers in Army service; like the US HMCV, the base chassis of the Spectre is made from new, ultra-strong materials along with integrated armour, an option for further armour suites for particular missions, and features innovative mine resistant undercarriage protection.

June 17: The New York Court of Appeals upholds the state's 'blue laws' in a 4-3 decision, continuing to officially prohibiting the sale of most goods on a Sunday, particularly those of an alcoholic nature. The ruling states that, despite them being historically rooted in a Christian religious tradition, the length of their application had seen them grow and evolve beyond their original basis into a system that was now largely socio-cultural in its basis, and that any incidences of non-enforcement no more rendered the statute constitutionally defective than those sections of state code covering jaywalking, littering, speeding or strong language, stating that 'Much more is needed to invalidate a law than even frequent examples of it breach. In the last year, there were 425 murders in New York City, and no court would ever entertain an argument that the law in that case was invalid on that account.' It is noted that there are already pathways for valid exceptions available under current legislation, rendering the argument on the urgency of the proposed measures as unpersuasive. The majority opinion further goes on to state that the courts should not be seen as an avenue to bring about considerable social change on such questions unless the legislative avenue, with its associated democratic validation, has already been exhausted.

June 18: The Red Air Force begins initial production of the Mikoyan MiG-29 advanced frontline fighter, one of six tactical aircraft that sit at the centre of its plans for the 1980s and beyond, with the others being the Su-27, which is in final operational testing; the Yakovlev Yak-90 battlefield fighter-bomber; the Su-25 close air support attack fighter; the MiG-27 strike fighter and the Polikarpov I-329 fighter-interceptor. Whilst the distinct qualitative edge between the East and West seems to be distinctly growing in regard to aircraft complexity and capability, the Soviet 'Big 6' aim to ameliorate this trend insofar as Frontal Aviation is concerned. The MiG-29 in particular is considered to be a capable match for the American F-16s, F-17s and F-18s and the British Hurricanes and production orders for over 800 airframes have already been made.

June 19: Launch of Orion 10 from Lunar orbit on her two and a half year voyage to further explore the moons of Saturn, commanded by Rear-Admiral Alan Shepard and his deputy Commander Roger Chaffee. Of the earlier Orions, Orion 6 under General Edwin Aldrin is currently on track to reach the orbit of Mars by August, allowing the spacecraft to slingshot home towards Earth substantially faster, Orion 7 under the command of Brigadier-General Edward White is on track to reach Orcus in September 1978, Orion 8 under Commander Elliott See is on the final leg of its Asteroid Belt mission around Vesta and Commander Owen Garriott's Orion 9 should reach the Jovian system by the end of this year. Orion 11, an enlarged spacecraft with additional engines and supplies is currently being prepared for the launch window for 'The Grand Tour of the Solar System' next year, carrying 160 scientist astronauts and USSF personnel under the command of General Charles Yeager.

June 20: Germany defeat Austria-Hungary 5-4 in the final of the UEFA European Football Championship in Belgrade in front of an enthusiastic crowd of over 96,000. Germany took the early lead through champion midfielder Franz Beckenbauer before Austria-Hungary forged ahead through rapid goals to Lajos Ku, Hans Krankl and Norbert Hof before Gerd Müller struck just on the half-time whistle. In the second half, Müller equalised in the 54th minute before Wilhelm Kreuz replied with a penalty in the 62nd to take back the lead, and an enthralling contest proceeded until Joachim Streich broke through to tie things up for Germany in the 87th minute. Müller provided a fairytale finish, scoring from long range with a fast break out of the midfield in the 90th minute, mere seconds before the referee blew his whistle. The victory is hailed as one of the best games of the decade, if not longer, and cements Germany's reputation as one of the titans of modern day football.

June 21: Arrival of the second major contingent of Arab League peacekeepers in Beirut, with further tranches forecast to replace the 100,000 American, French, British, Italian, German, Spanish and Canadian troops of the Multinational Force, whose presence has been extremely successful in stabilising the Lebanese capital, and in turn reducing tensions across the crucial Levantine principality. Outbreaks of violence since January have declined from the sporadic to the extremely rare, as the presence of US, French and British tanks and armoured vehicles has acted to curb the 'enthusiasm' of the disparate factions, and this breathing space has allowed Lebanese law enforcement and military forces to begin to address many of the underlying issues behind this latest unrest.

June 22: The West Indies win the Second Test against England at Lords by 1 wicket in a thriller for the ages in front of a packed crowd. England's first innings of 320 was dominated by a bold and brilliant maiden century by 20 year old allrounder Ian Botham, with finished with 124, whilst Andy Roberts took 5/69. The West Indies first innings got off to a disastrous start and did not significantly improve, with only Gordon Greenidge's 98, Clive Lloyd's obdurate 56 and a flashy 42 from Ronald Headley preventing utter disaster, with the team all out for 248, courtesy of 5/39 from Derek Underwood and 4/57 from Botham. England's reply, built around David Steele's rock solid 64 and Tony Greig's chanceless 49, was curtailed by Roberts and Holding, who finished with 5/76 and 3/65 respectively to bowl the home team out for 267. Needing 339 to win, Roy Fredericks lead the way early with 138, followed by Viv Richards with 89 and Headley with 56 in what seemed a match-winning partnership, before Botham ripped the heart out of the Windies lower middle order with a superb spell of express bowling; Derryck Murray's steady hand and 23* saw the West Indies scamper through a single at two minutes to 5. Botham was awarded Man of the Match for his century and 10 wickets, taking 6/75 in the second innings.

June 23: An oil barge runs aground in the St Lawrence Seaway near Alexandria Bay, New York, resulting in the spillage of over 250,000 gallons of oil into the water. Authorities move quickly to prevent the worst effects of the oil spill from spreading, putting in place arcane barriers in the water and allowing specialist petroleumaturgists to sorcerously siphon off the oil into shore based tanker trucks. The successful operation takes but 72 hours and, at the cost of some $12 million, prevents damage to the seaway, surrounding waters, private property and the natural environment estimated at just over six times that cost, resulting in industry-wide recommendations for contingency planning.

June 24: The Polish Government announces a 6% increase in food prices, most notably of meat and dairy products, and general reduction in rationing of certain luxury goods, leading to further general discontent at the seeming failure of Communism to address the problem of scarcity. Radio Free Europe broadcasts contrast the bitter Polish experience with comparative examples of falling prices across the West as well as relaying Soviet reports of increased meat consumption in the Soviet Union. The tactic is seen as a propaganda masterstroke, at least until the Soviet response of July.

June 25: Governor Christopher Bond of Missouri signs an executive order officially rescinding Executive Order 44, or what was colloquially known as the 'Mormon Extermination Order' of 1838, where then Governor Lilburn Boggs authorised the state militia to forcibly deport Mormons found within the borders of Missouri, and, should they resist, to 'exterminate them', on account of 'their outrages beyond description'. The order had been in effective abeyance since 1839, and had long been regarded as a bizarre and thoroughly unconstitutional vestige of the past, before being largely forgotten, until bought to the attention of Governor Bond in the lead up to his keynote address at a Mormon conference in Far West, MO.

June 26: The first groups of tall ships begin to arrive in New York City in preparation for the Grand Parade of Sailing Ships, lead by the venerable HMS Warrior, the redoubtable HMS Union and the mighty clipper Britain, followed by France, Danmark, the Italian Amerigo Vespucci, the Spanish Juan Sebastián de Elcano, the Australian Endeavour, the Argentine Libertad and the Japanese Nippon Maru. The second and larger formation lead by Eagle, USS Constitution, USS Independence and the great USS Pennsylvania is to follow on June 29.

June 27: The Economist carries a cover story on the state of the British economy, with most indicators pointing towards the strongest economic conditions and growth in the 20th century, based on domestic household consumption up 12.7% over the last financial year; industrial productivity continuing to rise due to increasing use of new technology and computer systems; the participation rate increasing through noticeable rises in general female employment in new industries; the ‘New Agricultural Revolution’; and the cumulative effect of investment in infrastructure since the war. It argues that the primary threat faced by the economy is that of overheating, and that the proposed economic policies of the new Conservative government, which advocate a measured approach of small tax cuts, general sensible restraint to keep interest rates and inflation under control and maintenance of the postwar consensus of full employment, look well placed to prevent such occurrence.

June 28: The Imperial German Army issues a requirement for a new service rifle and general purpose machine gun to equip its infantryment in the 1980s, and for several new armoured vehicles, including a Schützenpanzer IFV, a general purpose APC and two separate types of Waffenträgers, whilst the Luftverteidigungskräfte outlines an ambitious plan for a range of new gun and missile based defensive system. In the afternoon, the first of the latest class of atomic powered submarine of the Kaiserliche Deutsches Marine, U-1000 is launched in Hamburg, representing the largest and most capable U-Boat ever operated by Germany.

June 29: An alleged attempt upon the life of Argentine Premier Rodriguez apparently leaves him slightly scarred and deformed, but with unbowed resolve, according to a statement from his office. Details of the incident, which occurred during his morning walk at his summer estate outside Buenos Aires, are scarce, with the official report describing a dastardly plot by communist rebels to assassinate Rodriguez with a possessed bird of prey; other accounts report that he sustained an unsightly gash after being struck on the forehead by a deceased Norwegian Blue parrot that had fallen from a balcony overlooking his garden, having come to its ultimate surcease either through being tormented by his ghastly child or simply pining for the fjords.

June 30: American adventurer and balloonist Karl Thomas is rescued by Soviet freighter Dekabrist after his planned trans-Atlantic flight in his Spirit of '76 balloon went disastrously awry through a freak storm, forcing Thomas to throw his liferaft from the gondola into the seas two hundred feet below his falling balloon, and then to attempt to jump. Thomas, having suffered six broken bones and extensive internal bleeding, had been adrift for three days before being picked up and treated by the Soviets, who were on route from New York to Rotterdam. The rescue is failed by the greatest feat of Soviet-American cooperation in the Western Atlantic since the Red October of 1917.

[Simon Darkshade]

There’s a fair whack of stuff in June, and I’ll follow up with some notes in due course. As a little amuse bouche for the mind, some ruminations on aircraft:

- There are perhaps three 1st rate/A1/A+ rated air forces in the form of the USSR, USA and Britain, followed by an A3/A- level one in France, then Japan, Canada and China at B1/B+ level, then Germany, Italy, Australia, Sweden and Israel in that rough order
- The differentiation comes from a combination of size/mass, capability, range, technical capacity/degree of advancement and being able to bring the whole package together
- The Big 3 have the full range of bombers, tactical fighters, attack planes, very decent tactical and strategic airlift, beaucoup tankers and, significantly, the type of extra EW/AEW/ISTAR planes that turn good into great, as it were
- The last category is where the French are trying to catch up
- Some of the others simply don’t need a full spectrum force; there isn’t a need for every state to have long range bombers quite so much

- In terms of categories, there are a few familiar ones and a couple of different ones:
Fighter/Interceptor
Air Superiority Fighter
Fighter-Bomber
Strike Fighter
Multirole Fighter
Ground Attack Fighter

Battle Fighter/Battlefield Fighter: Cheaper single engine planes for operations over a contested battlefield, tasked with some air to ground, hitting AAA, hunting helicopters and other muddy jobs. Filled by the F-5 (and now the F-17), older MiGs (and now the Yak-90), and used to be filled by the Hunter and Wasp for the Brits. In many ways, a DE cousin of the Light Fighter
Strategic Fighter: VLR defence, penetration and escort roles

Heavy Bomber
Medium Bomber
Light Bomber/Strike Bomber/Interdictor/Tactical Bomber
Attack Bomber
Penetrator
Maritime Patrol Bombers

Tactical Airlift/Troop Carrier: The British and Americans are realising they may have been a bit hasty to wave goodbye to their serviceable turboprop tactical troop carriers
Medium Transports: The jets that replaced the above (C-15 and HS.681)
Heavy Transports/Airlift: The C-141s, Belfasts and Il-76s
Strategic Transports: C-150 Galaxies, C-240s, A-W Atlases, Vickers VC25 Victorias and the (earlier) An-124

[Rocket J Squrriel]

Did anyone try the Belfast with C-141 wings concept?

[Simon Darkshade]

Yes, the equivalent of that has been in place since it entered service in the early 60s, on account of greater affluence/national wealth, more advanced jet technology and the basic needs of a world 1.6x the size.

Atlas is a 6 engine/turbofan VLR heavy transport, like the heavy 6 engine and earlier C-5. A lot of the overall approach comes from the lessons of the 1956 War and the mobilisation during the 1960 Crisis.