Irvine Ranch Conservancy: C-135 crash site

(Continued from 11-28-08...) The second leg of our Irvine Ranch Conservancy tour took us to the site of Orange County’s worst air disaster.
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At 1:35 a.m. on June 25, 1965, under fog and light drizzle, an Air Force C-135A transport jet, (see contemporary photo above), took off from MCAS El Toro. (The C-135 is the military equivalent of a Boeing 707.) The plane was en route from McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey to Okinawa, with another scheduled stop at Hickam AFB in Hawaii. Aboard were 71 Marines on their way to Vietnam, along with 12 U.S. Air Force crew members.
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At 1:46 a.m., about 4 miles from the control tower, the jet disappeared from radar. For reasons unknown, the pilot did not (or could not) make a planned left hand turn and flew directly into Loma Ridge. The plane was destroyed, killing all 83 people on board.
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Navy sailor Steve Bedunah was scheduled to take the flight as far as Hawaii. However, a family emergency waylayed him. He arrived at El Toro just in time to see the plane heading down the runway. Seconds later, he saw a huge orange fireball. "I was supposed to be on that plane," he said in a 2005 O.C. Weekly interview, "I've spent 40 years trying to live that down."
Here you see Greg from KOCE-TV filming Mike Bornia, Chris Epting, and Maria Hall-Brown at the crash site. It was fitting (although unplanned) that we visited this site on Veteran’s Day. A group called Project Remembrance is planning to put a stone memorial here in the near future.

The jet was about 1,150 feet up and traveling at 300 mph when it impacted the hill, scattering wreckage and bodies across at least a mile. The bodies and all the large plane parts were recovered after the crash, but small bits of the jet are still strewn everywhere. Although mangled in the crash, many metal parts are still in remarkably good condition after 43 years of exposure to the elements. Just last year, a readable set of dog tags were found in the brush.
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It turned out that our traveling companion Jim had once been part of a search/clean-up crew after a different MCAS El Toro crash on the Irvine Ranch. He had some very sobering tales to tell that I won't relate here.
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(To be continued...)

Jennifer Ellison At Some Axe The Beer Tax event

Irvine Ranch Conservancy: The Hanging Tree

On the 11th of this month (Veteran's Day 2008), the Irvine Ranch Conservancy graciously showed me and some other lucky folks historic sites that are normally inaccessible to the public. Over the next week or so, I'll be sharing some of the sites we visited, starting with today's entry on the Hanging Tree in Precitas Canyon. I've already provided information about the Hanging Tree in earlier posts, which you can read here:

• Searching for the Hanging Tree (June 2008)
• Hanging Tree history and old photos (June 2008)
• Mike Bornia at the Hanging Tree (Sept. 2008)

Today's first photo (above) shows me standing under the tree. Although fires have swept through the area in recent years, the tree is only a little scorched and seems pretty healthy. You might be able to see the tree from the right lane of the southbound 241 Toll Road, if you knew exactly where to look, and were on the passenger side of a high-profile vehicle. Our trip came about when author Chris Epting read my blog entries about the tree, and wanted to do a segment about it with Maria Hall-Brown for KOCE-TV. Mike Bornia of the Irvine Ranch Conservancy organized the trek and added some other sites of interest to the itinerary. When Epting asked if I wanted to come along, I immediately answered "Yes!," followed by, "and can I bring two other people?"
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The other two were Orange County historians Jim Sleeper and Phil Brigandi who have both wanted to see this site again for many years. In the photo above, Jim stands under the tree and shows Phil and Mike Boeck photos of the area that he took in the 1960s.
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Mike is a docent for the Conservancy and was one of our drivers for the day. He really knows the back country and was as enthusiastic as we were.
This last photo shows (left to right) Dave Raetz (also from the Conservancy), me, Jim and Phil, in front of the tree's historical marker. It reads, "Under this tree General Andres Pico hung two banditos of the Juan Flores gang in 1857." Below that, in smaller print, it reads, "Dedicated El Viaje de Portola Ride, April 1967." The annual El Viaje de Portola equestrian ride used to follow the trail of Gaspar de Portola's expedition through much of Orange County. Today, however, very little of that land is accessible to the public.
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(To be continued...)

Turkey Day in La Palma

La Palma/Dairyland historians Ron and Elfreide MacIver sent me this cartoon with the note, "Happy Thanksgiving from La Palma, where even the turkeys say 'Moo!'"

Neha Dhupia In A White Tshirt At President is Coming Premiere

Deepika Padukone at Launch of MTV Roadies 6

Model of the Month - Corina

Name Corina

Nationality Romanian

Age 21

Gender Female

Height 177 cm

Haircolor Brown

Eyes Brown

Shoe size US(7) EU(38)

Dress size US(8) EU (38)

City Mecidiyekoy

Country Turkey

Thanks to.. www.fibre2fashion.com

Watch Twilight full! ^___^

Hey there long time no see...i wanna apologize on behalf of my cousin and I because we haven't posted for so long...but we are like soooo busy now...I promise u though i'll try to make it up this weekend..and catch up with all the news of our boys..until then i couldn't manage to help myself not post this....I m sure there are many Twilight fans around here too so i thought u would like to watch the full movie here without no interuptions[megavideo]...so enjoy^_^
and don't forget comments are love!


WHEN U CAN LIVE FOREVER...WHAT DO YOU LIVE FOR...?

official movie site here!

Just a brief summary :- TWILIGHT is an action-packed, modern-day love story between a teen girl and a vampire. Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) has always been a bit different, never fitting in with the girls at her school. When Bella is sent to live with her father in the rainy little town of Forks, Washington, she doesn't expect much to change. Then she meets the mysterious and dazzlingly beautiful Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), a boy unlike any she's ever met.

Edward is a vampire, but he doesn't have fangs and his family is unique in that they choose not to drink human blood. Edward has been waiting 90 years for a soul mate, which he finds in Bella. They are soon swept up in a passionate and unorthodox romance. Edward must struggle to resist the primal pull of her scent, which could send him into an uncontrollable frenzy. But what will they do when a clan of new vampires - James (Cam Gigandet), Laurent (Edi Gathegi) and Victoria (Rachelle Lefevre) - come to town and threaten to disrupt their way of life?

credits:to upzilla and whoever uploaded the video and to me cause i thought about the twilight fans too kekeke^_^

Happy Thanksgiving

Today's first photo (top) shows Thanksgiving dinner at William Webb Sr.'s house, 146 S. Rose St., Anaheim, around 1906. The group includes William P. Webb, Sr., William Jr., Lamont Roe Webb, Nellie Webb, Darroll Dewey Webb and Estella Webb Ramm.

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The second photo shows Santa Ana's Thanksgiving-themed float in the 1950 Rose Parade.

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Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving.

A giant turkey, Disneyland, Vanishing O.C., etc.

Today's images are from 1975. The first (top) is a design for the giant turkey that appeared in America On Parade, Disneyland's Bicentennial cavalcade, which debuted that year. (Illustration courtesy Atomic Treehouse.) The second image comes from my family's collection and shows me meeting Pluto for the first time in April 1975. You can see a little of the park's entrance gate in the background.
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Today's Register features an article about Chris Epting's new book, Vanishing Orange County. He will sign the book at California Greetings, 301 Main St., Huntington Beach on Dec. 7, Noon-3pm. You can also see some of the images from the book in this YouTube video. Many of the images came from the Orange County Archives.

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In case you haven't seen it before, KOCE-TV's "Historical Snapshot" of the 1933 Earthquake is now posted on YouTube.

Kashmira Shah On Ramp For Masala Weddings

Hot Neha Dhupia at Fashion Store Re-Launch

OCIR, Orange, El Toro and a Victorian Christmas

By special request, today's photo is from the opening of the Orange County International Raceway (OCIR) in Aug. 1967. This drag racing "super track" was located in Irvine, between the I-5 Freeway and MCAS El Toro. The OCIR closed to make way for more development on Oct. 30, 1983.
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Phil Brigandi will hold a signing for his latest book, Images of America: Orange, on Dec. 12, 6-8pm at the Barnes & Noble, 791 S. Main St., in Orange. Phil writes, "This is my ninth book on the history of Orange, and features more that 200 pre-1950 images of the community and its residents."
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Heritage Hill Historical Park in El Toro has a number of public holiday events on tap next month. First they'll host a Victorian Christmas , Dec. 6, 11am-3pm, which will include live entertainment, children’s crafts, living history demonstrations, historical exhibits, Santa Claus, and tours through decorated historic buildings. This will be followed by Candlelight Tours, on Dec. 13 & 14, 5:30-8:30pm. These evening events will include luminaria lit paths, historic buildings aglow with holiday lights and decorated with period décor. Also expect Victorian carolers, storytellers, and visits with Santa. Admission is $4.

Megan Fox in a hot Tight Black Dress

Aishwarya Rai At The Launch Of Admiral Collection