1
00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,800
Speaker 1: Hey there, history fans, We're taking the day off, but

2
00:00:02,880 --> 00:00:05,760
Speaker 1: don't worry. We've got plenty of classic shows to tide

3
00:00:05,800 --> 00:00:09,560
Speaker 1: you over. Please enjoy these flashback episodes from the TDI

4
00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:18,640
Speaker 1: HC Vault. Hello, and welcome to This Day in History Class,

5
00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:21,520
Speaker 1: a show that shines a light on the ups and

6
00:00:21,720 --> 00:00:27,000
Speaker 1: downs of everyday history. I'm Gabe Luzier, and in this episode,

7
00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:30,320
Speaker 1: we're looking at an early disaster in New Orleans history

8
00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:34,320
Speaker 1: that left a lasting impression on both the city's infrastructure

9
00:00:34,680 --> 00:00:44,720
Speaker 1: and its character. The day was March twenty first, seventeen

10
00:00:44,960 --> 00:00:48,280
Speaker 1: eighty eight, of fire sparked in the home of a

11
00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:53,280
Speaker 1: Spanish military treasurer consumed roughly eighty percent of the city

12
00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:58,080
Speaker 1: of New Orleans in just five short hours. The blaze

13
00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:02,440
Speaker 1: destroyed eight hundred and fifty six out of approximately eleven

14
00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:06,600
Speaker 1: hundred standing structures. In the wake of the disaster, the

15
00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:10,640
Speaker 1: city's oldest neighborhood, known today as the French Quarter, was

16
00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:15,840
Speaker 1: rebuilt with a decidedly more Spanish look. New Orleans was

17
00:01:15,880 --> 00:01:20,080
Speaker 1: founded in seventeen eighteen by the French governor of Louisiana,

18
00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:24,160
Speaker 1: a man named Jean Baptiste le Moyne, and was named

19
00:01:24,200 --> 00:01:26,840
Speaker 1: for the French head of state at the time, Philippe

20
00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:31,240
Speaker 1: de Orleans. As the city took shape under French rule,

21
00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:35,600
Speaker 1: it gradually organized into a rectangular community built on the

22
00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:39,600
Speaker 1: highest patch of dry land in the otherwise swampy area.

23
00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:43,960
Speaker 1: This original site, which was still only ten to fifteen

24
00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:47,280
Speaker 1: feet above sea level, later became what we call the

25
00:01:47,319 --> 00:01:51,040
Speaker 1: French Quarter. So not only was that famous neighborhood there

26
00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:55,240
Speaker 1: from the beginning, at one point it constituted the entire city.

27
00:01:56,120 --> 00:01:59,600
Speaker 1: But France wasn't the only European power to ever hold

28
00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:04,560
Speaker 1: sway in New Orleans. Following the Revolutionary War, France actually

29
00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:08,519
Speaker 1: gave the Louisiana territory to Spain, mostly as a way

30
00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:11,839
Speaker 1: to keep England from taking control of it at any rate.

31
00:02:12,120 --> 00:02:15,920
Speaker 1: Spain took possession of New Orleans in seventeen sixty two

32
00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:20,160
Speaker 1: and held on to it for just under fifty years. Eventually,

33
00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:24,120
Speaker 1: in eighteen oh one, a different treaty placed Louisiana back

34
00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:28,280
Speaker 1: under French rule until two years later, when Napoleon sold

35
00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:30,799
Speaker 1: the whole thing to the United States as part of

36
00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:35,480
Speaker 1: the Louisiana Purchase. Nearly all of the original French colonial

37
00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:39,480
Speaker 1: buildings in New Orleans were destroyed during Spain's rule in

38
00:02:39,520 --> 00:02:43,400
Speaker 1: the late seventeen hundreds, but the change wasn't made due

39
00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:47,280
Speaker 1: to national pride. The buildings weren't knocked down on purpose

40
00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:52,240
Speaker 1: or anything like that. Instead, two massive fires laid waste

41
00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:55,800
Speaker 1: to the French built city. The first took place on

42
00:02:55,919 --> 00:03:00,040
Speaker 1: March twenty first, seventeen eighty eight. The fire began in

43
00:02:59,880 --> 00:03:04,400
Speaker 1: the Charles Street home of Don Vicente Jose Nunez, the

44
00:03:04,440 --> 00:03:09,040
Speaker 1: treasurer and paymaster of the Spanish Army. The exact cause

45
00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:12,000
Speaker 1: is a matter of debate, but the prevailing theory is

46
00:03:12,040 --> 00:03:15,280
Speaker 1: that an unattended candle caught the drapes on fire in

47
00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:19,160
Speaker 1: Nunez's home, and because a strong dry wind was blowing

48
00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:22,000
Speaker 1: in from the south, the flames quickly spread to the

49
00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:25,920
Speaker 1: adjoining homes. It didn't help that most of the city's

50
00:03:25,919 --> 00:03:29,640
Speaker 1: buildings were made of wood, complete with cross timbered walls

51
00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:33,840
Speaker 1: and double pitched roofs. Even then, the damage might not

52
00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:37,000
Speaker 1: have been so bad, except that the fire happened to

53
00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:40,880
Speaker 1: occur on Good Friday. The city had switched from French

54
00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:43,840
Speaker 1: to Spanish rule twenty years earlier, but most of his

55
00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:48,320
Speaker 1: residents were still devout Catholics. In fact, The candle that's

56
00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:51,040
Speaker 1: thought to have started the fire was likely a votive

57
00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:55,880
Speaker 1: lit by Nunez as a way to mark the religious holiday. However,

58
00:03:56,280 --> 00:03:59,560
Speaker 1: it turned out to be a very bad Friday that year.

59
00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:03,160
Speaker 1: The city's priests would not allow the church bells to

60
00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:06,119
Speaker 1: be rung as fire alarms on such a sacred day.

61
00:04:06,880 --> 00:04:09,200
Speaker 1: Without the bells to alert the rest of the city

62
00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:12,440
Speaker 1: to the growing blaze, it was next to impossible to

63
00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:16,800
Speaker 1: organize help amidst the chaos. As a result, the fire

64
00:04:16,880 --> 00:04:21,440
Speaker 1: burned unchecked, and within five hours it had leveled practically

65
00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:25,680
Speaker 1: the entire city, including hundreds of homes and businesses, the

66
00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:30,520
Speaker 1: town hospital, the jail, and the military armory. The Saint

67
00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:34,200
Speaker 1: Louis Cathedral, the church that wouldn't allow the bells to

68
00:04:34,200 --> 00:04:38,520
Speaker 1: be rung, was also destroyed in the fire. Many people

69
00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:41,720
Speaker 1: died in the blaze, including a number of prisoners who

70
00:04:41,720 --> 00:04:45,520
Speaker 1: were left to burn with no attempt at rescue. Countless

71
00:04:45,520 --> 00:04:49,839
Speaker 1: others were left homeless, prompting Governor Esteban Miro to set

72
00:04:49,920 --> 00:04:53,279
Speaker 1: up tents and hand out food to the survivors. The

73
00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:57,919
Speaker 1: governor later recounted that grave day, writing quote, if the

74
00:04:57,960 --> 00:05:01,920
Speaker 1: imagination could describe what our senses enable us to feel

75
00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:06,320
Speaker 1: from sight and touch, reason itself would recoil in horror.

76
00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:09,440
Speaker 1: And it is no easy matter to say whether the

77
00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:13,000
Speaker 1: sight of an entire city in flames was more horrible

78
00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:16,720
Speaker 1: to behold than the suffering and pitiable condition in which

79
00:05:16,760 --> 00:05:21,760
Speaker 1: everyone was involved. The tears, the heartbreaking sobs, and the

80
00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:26,080
Speaker 1: pallid faces of these wretched people mirrored the dire fatality

81
00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:30,680
Speaker 1: that had overcome a city now in ruins transformed within

82
00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:35,240
Speaker 1: the space of five hours into an arid and fearful desert.

83
00:05:36,120 --> 00:05:38,720
Speaker 1: But even in the midst of that suffering, there were

84
00:05:38,760 --> 00:05:42,440
Speaker 1: early signs of the resiliency and generosity that would later

85
00:05:42,520 --> 00:05:46,520
Speaker 1: come to characterize the city. The governor described one man

86
00:05:46,600 --> 00:05:49,400
Speaker 1: who sold his stores of rice and tobacco to the

87
00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:52,760
Speaker 1: army at market price, so that they could be distributed

88
00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:56,920
Speaker 1: to the survivors. He also remarked on how lucky citizens

89
00:05:56,920 --> 00:06:00,320
Speaker 1: who were spared from the flames quickly opened their homeomes

90
00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:04,200
Speaker 1: to those less fortunate. As he put it quote, many

91
00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:07,799
Speaker 1: have taken temporary lodgings with families that were so fortunate

92
00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:11,120
Speaker 1: as to escape unscathed, and to such an extent, have

93
00:06:11,240 --> 00:06:14,440
Speaker 1: the compassionate feelings of the latter shown forth that on

94
00:06:14,480 --> 00:06:17,719
Speaker 1: the following day there was not a single human being

95
00:06:18,040 --> 00:06:23,279
Speaker 1: without shelter. Tragically, though, this dark chapter in the city's

96
00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:27,320
Speaker 1: history would be repeated just a few years later. After

97
00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:31,200
Speaker 1: six years of rebuilding, a second great fire broke out

98
00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:35,800
Speaker 1: in seventeen ninety four. Thankfully, that one didn't occur on

99
00:06:35,880 --> 00:06:39,279
Speaker 1: Good Friday and was therefore able to be extinguished before

100
00:06:39,320 --> 00:06:42,520
Speaker 1: it did too much damage. There were still some two

101
00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:45,800
Speaker 1: hundred and twelve buildings that burned that day, to say

102
00:06:45,839 --> 00:06:48,599
Speaker 1: nothing of all the people killed or left homeless, But

103
00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:51,680
Speaker 1: compared to the fire of eighty eight, New Orleans fared

104
00:06:51,760 --> 00:06:56,200
Speaker 1: much better the second time around. After the second fire,

105
00:06:56,520 --> 00:07:00,080
Speaker 1: the Spanish government started handing out loans for citizens to

106
00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:03,520
Speaker 1: rebuild their houses. The only catch was that in order

107
00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:05,880
Speaker 1: to get the money, you had to agree to build

108
00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:10,240
Speaker 1: according to the government's newly developed guidelines. These included all

109
00:07:10,320 --> 00:07:13,480
Speaker 1: kinds of rules aimed at making the city more fireproof,

110
00:07:13,720 --> 00:07:17,120
Speaker 1: including the switch to brick and plaster town homes instead

111
00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:20,040
Speaker 1: of the wooden cottages that had characterized the city under

112
00:07:20,080 --> 00:07:23,280
Speaker 1: French rule. And as you may have guessed, this is

113
00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:27,040
Speaker 1: when the French quarter started to look decidedly more Spanish,

114
00:07:27,360 --> 00:07:30,559
Speaker 1: even if the streets themselves were still named for French

115
00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:35,080
Speaker 1: royals and nobles. This transformation proved to be a real

116
00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:39,480
Speaker 1: turning point in New Orleans history. As author Lyle Saxon

117
00:07:39,560 --> 00:07:43,720
Speaker 1: explained in his book Fabulous New Orleans, quote, the city

118
00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:47,440
Speaker 1: that fell before the flames was a congested French community

119
00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:52,760
Speaker 1: of wooden houses, badly arranged and irregular. A stately Spanish

120
00:07:52,760 --> 00:07:57,080
Speaker 1: city rose in its stead. Large fan shaped windows looked

121
00:07:57,080 --> 00:08:00,640
Speaker 1: down into courtyards which held banana trees and old leanders,

122
00:08:00,920 --> 00:08:05,080
Speaker 1: and balconies railed with delicate wrought iron overhung the streets.

123
00:08:06,200 --> 00:08:09,840
Speaker 1: From the fires of seventeen eighty eight and seventeen ninety

124
00:08:09,840 --> 00:08:14,280
Speaker 1: four to Hurricane Katrina and beyond, New Orleans is a

125
00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:17,760
Speaker 1: city that's no stranger to tragedy, but it's also a

126
00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:21,840
Speaker 1: place of continuous renewal, a city where people respond to

127
00:08:21,920 --> 00:08:26,680
Speaker 1: the worst disasters imaginable by pulling together, picking up the pieces,

128
00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:31,160
Speaker 1: and moving forward, ready to face whatever life throws at

129
00:08:31,160 --> 00:08:37,240
Speaker 1: them next. I'm Gabeluesier, and hopefully you now know a

130
00:08:37,320 --> 00:08:41,920
Speaker 1: little more about history today than you did yesterday. If

131
00:08:41,920 --> 00:08:45,800
Speaker 1: you enjoy today's show, consider following us on Twitter, Facebook,

132
00:08:45,840 --> 00:08:50,720
Speaker 1: and Instagram. At TDI HC show, and if you have

133
00:08:50,760 --> 00:08:53,720
Speaker 1: any comments or suggestions, you can send them my way

134
00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:58,520
Speaker 1: at this Day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to Chandler

135
00:08:58,559 --> 00:09:01,600
Speaker 1: Mays for producing the show, and thanks to you for listening.

136
00:09:02,040 --> 00:09:05,160
Speaker 1: I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another Day

137
00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:27,640
Speaker 1: in History Class. Hello and welcome to This Day in

138
00:09:27,800 --> 00:09:31,800
Speaker 1: History Class, a show that tallies the gains and losses

139
00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:36,479
Speaker 1: of everyday history. I'm Gabe Lucier, and in this episode,

140
00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:40,079
Speaker 1: we're talking about the supersonic ejection tests of the US

141
00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:44,120
Speaker 1: Air Force and the unlikely test pilots it compelled into service.

142
00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:48,880
Speaker 1: As a warning, today's episode includes descriptions of government sanctioned

143
00:09:48,920 --> 00:09:58,800
Speaker 1: animal abuse and may be upsetting for some listeners. The

144
00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:03,920
Speaker 1: day was March twenty first, nineteen sixty two. A black

145
00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:07,920
Speaker 1: bear named Yogi was ejected from a supersonic bomber during

146
00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:11,520
Speaker 1: a test of the plane's escape capsule. She was ejected

147
00:10:11,600 --> 00:10:14,840
Speaker 1: at thirty five thousand feet from a US Air Force

148
00:10:14,960 --> 00:10:18,760
Speaker 1: B fifty eight Hustler flying at the supersonic speed of

149
00:10:18,840 --> 00:10:23,840
Speaker 1: eight hundred and seventy miles per hour. Thankfully, the experimental

150
00:10:23,880 --> 00:10:28,680
Speaker 1: ejection capsule functioned properly and Yogi survived the test She

151
00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:32,520
Speaker 1: landed unharmed about eight minutes later, but didn't stay that

152
00:10:32,600 --> 00:10:36,760
Speaker 1: way for long. Prior to the nineteen forties, the pilot

153
00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:40,520
Speaker 1: of a damaged plane only had one real option, jump

154
00:10:40,559 --> 00:10:45,240
Speaker 1: out and hope their parachute opened. But as aerial warfare intensified,

155
00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:48,360
Speaker 1: engineers began looking for a way to launch the pilot

156
00:10:48,480 --> 00:10:52,559
Speaker 1: out of harm's way before their choote deployed. Early ejection

157
00:10:52,720 --> 00:10:56,400
Speaker 1: seat prototypes used compressed air to propel the pilot's seat

158
00:10:56,520 --> 00:10:58,880
Speaker 1: up and out of the cockpit, but most of the

159
00:10:58,920 --> 00:11:04,000
Speaker 1: final designs us use small explosive cartridges instead. The first

160
00:11:04,080 --> 00:11:07,800
Speaker 1: operational ejection seats were developed in Germany near the end

161
00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:11,000
Speaker 1: of World War II. They were used at least four

162
00:11:11,040 --> 00:11:15,080
Speaker 1: times during service, but not a great effect. Two of

163
00:11:15,120 --> 00:11:18,840
Speaker 1: the four pilots died in the attempts. Still, the idea

164
00:11:18,920 --> 00:11:22,000
Speaker 1: behind the project was a sound one, and many countries

165
00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:25,559
Speaker 1: militaries began developing their own versions After the war had ended.

166
00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:30,440
Speaker 1: A few years later, the first supersonic aircraft were introduced,

167
00:11:30,720 --> 00:11:34,880
Speaker 1: and ejection seats became a necessity. That's because simply jumping

168
00:11:34,920 --> 00:11:37,640
Speaker 1: out of the cockpit isn't an option when you're traveling

169
00:11:37,720 --> 00:11:42,280
Speaker 1: faster than sound. In the nineteen fifties, rocket powered ejection

170
00:11:42,440 --> 00:11:46,480
Speaker 1: seats became a standard feature in most military jets. Several

171
00:11:46,480 --> 00:11:49,480
Speaker 1: different models were used, but they all worked in roughly

172
00:11:49,520 --> 00:11:52,840
Speaker 1: the same way. When the pilot pulled the ejection handle,

173
00:11:52,960 --> 00:11:57,400
Speaker 1: a chain reaction was triggered. First, the cockpit canopy would

174
00:11:57,400 --> 00:12:00,840
Speaker 1: be blown off by a set of explosive charges. Then

175
00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:04,600
Speaker 1: the pilot's body, harness and leg straps would titan, pulling

176
00:12:04,600 --> 00:12:08,880
Speaker 1: them close against the seat. Next, the catapult system beneath

177
00:12:08,920 --> 00:12:11,719
Speaker 1: the seat would activate, guiding it up along a set

178
00:12:11,800 --> 00:12:14,960
Speaker 1: of rails until the rocket motor is ignited and launched

179
00:12:14,960 --> 00:12:18,720
Speaker 1: the seat and the pilot clear of the cockpit. Lastly,

180
00:12:19,120 --> 00:12:23,040
Speaker 1: small stabilizing rockets built into the seat would fire to

181
00:12:23,080 --> 00:12:27,120
Speaker 1: help keep it level, and the pilot's parachute would deploy. Hopefully,

182
00:12:27,880 --> 00:12:30,439
Speaker 1: All of that would happen over the course of about

183
00:12:30,480 --> 00:12:34,600
Speaker 1: four seconds, a harrowing experience for a human pilot, but

184
00:12:34,679 --> 00:12:38,800
Speaker 1: in many cases a life saving one. The technology did

185
00:12:38,800 --> 00:12:43,040
Speaker 1: have a downside, though. Most dejections put between fifteen to

186
00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:46,320
Speaker 1: twenty g's of force on the pilot, often resulting in

187
00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:50,320
Speaker 1: spinal injuries, and when moving as supersonic speeds, the risk

188
00:12:50,400 --> 00:12:54,400
Speaker 1: of serious injury or death was compounded. The issue came

189
00:12:54,440 --> 00:12:57,280
Speaker 1: to the forefront during the development of the Conveyor B

190
00:12:57,440 --> 00:13:01,120
Speaker 1: fifty eight Hustler, a high speed, new clear bomb carrying

191
00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:04,600
Speaker 1: plane built in the nineteen fifties. It was the first

192
00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:09,120
Speaker 1: operational bomber capable of Mock II flight, meaning it could

193
00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:12,760
Speaker 1: travel twice the speed of sound, or roughly fifteen hundred

194
00:13:12,840 --> 00:13:17,359
Speaker 1: miles per hour. Standard ejection seats were deemed too dangerous

195
00:13:17,400 --> 00:13:20,760
Speaker 1: when moving at such speeds, so engineers at the Stanley

196
00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:25,200
Speaker 1: Aviation Company designed a new kind of ejection system. The

197
00:13:25,240 --> 00:13:28,280
Speaker 1: B fifty eight was operated by a crew of three,

198
00:13:28,840 --> 00:13:32,880
Speaker 1: the pilot, the radar navigator, and the defense systems operator.

199
00:13:33,640 --> 00:13:36,800
Speaker 1: They were each seated in a separate cockpit arranged one

200
00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:39,960
Speaker 1: behind the other, and each cockpit was equipped with its

201
00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:44,320
Speaker 1: own escape device. But instead of rocket powered seats, the

202
00:13:44,360 --> 00:13:48,920
Speaker 1: B fifty eight used fully enclosed escape capsules. The air

203
00:13:49,040 --> 00:13:52,920
Speaker 1: tight pods included their own oxygen supply, allowing them to

204
00:13:52,960 --> 00:13:55,760
Speaker 1: be ejected safely at an altitude of up to seventy

205
00:13:55,840 --> 00:13:59,640
Speaker 1: thousand feet and its speeds up to Mock two. The

206
00:13:59,720 --> 00:14:03,520
Speaker 1: cap were also designed to function as life rafts. They

207
00:14:03,520 --> 00:14:07,200
Speaker 1: were stocked with food, water and other survival supplies, and

208
00:14:07,240 --> 00:14:09,400
Speaker 1: were buoyant enough to serve as a boat in the

209
00:14:09,400 --> 00:14:13,079
Speaker 1: event of a water landing. In the early nineteen sixties,

210
00:14:13,240 --> 00:14:16,480
Speaker 1: the US Air Force began testing this new ejection system

211
00:14:16,559 --> 00:14:21,400
Speaker 1: on the ground using rocket powered acceleration sleds. The initial

212
00:14:21,400 --> 00:14:25,120
Speaker 1: ground tests used human dummies fitted with sensors, as well

213
00:14:25,120 --> 00:14:30,359
Speaker 1: as private citizens recruited from unemployment lines. Later on, researchers

214
00:14:30,400 --> 00:14:35,120
Speaker 1: turned to animal test subjects, including chimpanzees, Himalayan brown bears,

215
00:14:35,280 --> 00:14:39,400
Speaker 1: and American black bears. The chimps provided some useful data,

216
00:14:39,640 --> 00:14:42,680
Speaker 1: but the bears were a better approximation of the mass,

217
00:14:42,800 --> 00:14:46,240
Speaker 1: body shape, and organ arrangement of a human, and so

218
00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:49,920
Speaker 1: when it came time for in flight trials, the bears

219
00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:54,080
Speaker 1: were the obvious choice. The first of those ejection tests

220
00:14:54,120 --> 00:14:58,200
Speaker 1: took place on March twenty first, nineteen sixty two. A

221
00:14:58,240 --> 00:15:01,840
Speaker 1: two year old female black bear named Yogi was sedated

222
00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:04,960
Speaker 1: and strapped into one of the B fifty eight sejection pods.

223
00:15:05,680 --> 00:15:08,520
Speaker 1: Then a human pilot flew the jet to thirty five

224
00:15:08,600 --> 00:15:12,120
Speaker 1: thousand feet and ejected the bear over the Texas Desert.

225
00:15:12,840 --> 00:15:16,680
Speaker 1: Yogi landed safely roughly eight minutes later, having endured what

226
00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:20,120
Speaker 1: must have been the most confusing and frightening experience of

227
00:15:20,120 --> 00:15:24,080
Speaker 1: her life. The Air Force was satisfied with the outcome

228
00:15:24,320 --> 00:15:26,960
Speaker 1: and went on to eject five more bears from the

229
00:15:26,960 --> 00:15:30,960
Speaker 1: B fifty eight Hustler, some at even higher speeds and

230
00:15:31,040 --> 00:15:35,640
Speaker 1: altitudes than Yogi. Two of those bears had much rougher trips,

231
00:15:35,880 --> 00:15:40,720
Speaker 1: sustaining fractures, broken bones, and bruising during their landings. There

232
00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:44,160
Speaker 1: was also one fatality among the group, a bear who

233
00:15:44,240 --> 00:15:47,080
Speaker 1: had a brain condition that was not identified before the

234
00:15:47,120 --> 00:15:50,640
Speaker 1: flight and was unable to withstand the physical strain of ejection.

235
00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:55,360
Speaker 1: The test phase was completed in August of nineteen sixty two,

236
00:15:55,840 --> 00:15:58,360
Speaker 1: and a few months later the Air Force released a

237
00:15:58,400 --> 00:16:02,640
Speaker 1: short film detailing the excess of the project. The program

238
00:16:02,760 --> 00:16:06,000
Speaker 1: pointed out that several design flaws in the capsule had

239
00:16:06,040 --> 00:16:09,920
Speaker 1: been revealed through the tests. For example, the bear's fractured

240
00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:12,800
Speaker 1: pelvic bones highlighted the need for a seat that wouldn't

241
00:16:12,840 --> 00:16:16,800
Speaker 1: shake so much during ejection. That and other faults would

242
00:16:16,800 --> 00:16:20,520
Speaker 1: be corrected in future models, and, once perfected, the capsules

243
00:16:20,520 --> 00:16:24,840
Speaker 1: would be installed in all operational B fifty eights. The

244
00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:29,120
Speaker 1: video didn't linger on the bear's injuries or trauma, but

245
00:16:29,160 --> 00:16:32,040
Speaker 1: made sure to include footage of one being hand fed

246
00:16:32,080 --> 00:16:35,320
Speaker 1: some fruit by a woman in a white dress. As

247
00:16:35,360 --> 00:16:39,400
Speaker 1: for the bear occupant, the narrator proclaims she was kept

248
00:16:39,480 --> 00:16:43,920
Speaker 1: under clinical observation for several days after her flight, following

249
00:16:43,960 --> 00:16:49,480
Speaker 1: which the customary detailed medical examination was performed. No injuries

250
00:16:49,520 --> 00:16:53,240
Speaker 1: of any kind were revealed, and the animal's overall condition

251
00:16:53,680 --> 00:16:58,240
Speaker 1: was found to be excellent. What the narrator conveniently omitted

252
00:16:58,600 --> 00:17:03,240
Speaker 1: is that the detailed medical examination was an autopsy. The

253
00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:07,160
Speaker 1: five bears who had survived their supersonic ejections were later

254
00:17:07,240 --> 00:17:10,960
Speaker 1: euthanized so that doctors could examine their internal organs for

255
00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:15,840
Speaker 1: hidden injuries. The short film concluded by declaring that quote

256
00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:19,560
Speaker 1: the closely knit Air Force industry team can look back

257
00:17:19,600 --> 00:17:24,280
Speaker 1: on their joint labors with justifiable pride. It's a nice

258
00:17:24,320 --> 00:17:27,360
Speaker 1: sentiment to end on. But if all they felt was pride,

259
00:17:27,680 --> 00:17:30,600
Speaker 1: then why hide the true fate of the animal test pilots?

260
00:17:31,080 --> 00:17:34,639
Speaker 1: Why say the animal's condition was excellent when in reality

261
00:17:34,800 --> 00:17:37,320
Speaker 1: it was only their organs that were in good shape,

262
00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:42,080
Speaker 1: while the bears themselves were dead. The escape Capsule program

263
00:17:42,280 --> 00:17:46,600
Speaker 1: was called ambitious and pioneering, and from an engineering perspective,

264
00:17:46,720 --> 00:17:51,399
Speaker 1: it absolutely was. Likewise, the capsule itself was heralded as

265
00:17:51,440 --> 00:17:55,320
Speaker 1: a major advance in aeronautic safety, and that was true too,

266
00:17:56,080 --> 00:17:59,239
Speaker 1: But as with so many other human achievements, it's a

267
00:17:59,280 --> 00:18:02,840
Speaker 1: lot less impressive when you find out exactly what was

268
00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:08,919
Speaker 1: done to achieve it. I'm Gabe Lucier and hopefully you

269
00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:11,960
Speaker 1: now know a little more about history today than you

270
00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:15,200
Speaker 1: did yesterday. If you'd like to keep up with the show,

271
00:18:15,520 --> 00:18:18,840
Speaker 1: you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at

272
00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:23,760
Speaker 1: TDI HC Show, and if you have any comments or suggestions,

273
00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:26,159
Speaker 1: you can always send them my way by writing to

274
00:18:26,240 --> 00:18:30,760
Speaker 1: This Day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays

275
00:18:30,840 --> 00:18:33,280
Speaker 1: for producing the show, and thanks to you for listening.

276
00:18:33,640 --> 00:18:36,560
Speaker 1: I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another Day

277
00:18:36,920 --> 00:18:49,520
Speaker 1: in History class