The birth of the Irish Republic that we know today began in 1916. The leadership and members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (forerunners of the Irish Republican Army) decided that the British parliament had delayed Irish home rule long enough. It was time for action. On Easter weekend in 1916 a group of approximately 1,600 armed rebels seized key locations in Dublin and proclaimed separation from Britain and established the Irish Republic. From the steps of the General Post Office a proclamation was read that announced the birth of a sovereign, self-determined Irish Republic. The proclamation established a legislature, a government, a court system, and a police force. At the same time, the Irish Volunteers, a military organization established in 1913 by Irish nationalists, became known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA). For the next three years the IRA targeted the British forces in Ireland with deadly guerrilla strikes.

First, I owe an apology to you and to Dragon for my delay in building and reviewing the “…best dive bomber the Navy ever flew but also the last.” That final assessment came after a difficult start in replacing the Dauntless, “one of the most popular aircraft ever to fly.” In fact, when the first squadrons conducted trials aboard the Essex CV-9, “…the ship departed for the war zone with SBD Dauntlesses instead.” In trials aboard the second assigned carrier, the second Yorktown CV-10, “…the results were so disastrous that the ship’s Commanding Officer, Captain J.J. ‘Jocko’ Clark, stated that the aircraft’s only value was as an anchor.” Though the Helldiver could carry a heavier payload and was faster than the Dauntless, and ongoing improvements ironed out its shortcomings, it became a great aircraft with the moniker the Big Tailed Beast or simply, the Beast. The Helldiver’s combat debut was on November 11, 1943, when VB-17 attacked the Japanese island fortress at Rabaul.