Events

1099 – First Crusade: 15,000 starving Christian soldiers march in a religious procession around Jerusalem as its Muslim defenders look on.

1283 – War of the Sicilian Vespers: the naval Battle of Malta between the Aragonese and the Neapolitan fleets is fought.

1497 – Vasco da Gama sets sail on the first direct European voyage to India.

1579 – ''Our Lady of Kazan'', a holy icon of the Russian Orthodox Church, is discovered underground in the city of Kazan, Tatarstan.

1663 – Charles II of England grants John Clarke a Royal Charter to Rhode Island.

1709 – Great Northern War: Battle of Poltava – Peter I of Russia defeats Charles XII of Sweden at Poltava thus effectively ending Sweden's role as a major power in Europe.

1716 – Great Northern War: the naval Battle of Dynekilen takes place.

1758 – French forces hold Fort Carillon against the British at Ticonderoga, New York.

1760 – French and Indian War: Battle of Restigouche – British forces defeat French forces in last naval battle in New France.

1775 – The Olive Branch Petition is signed by the Continental Congress of the Thirteen Colonies.

1808 – Joseph Bonaparte approves the Bayonne Statute, a royal charter intended as the basis for his rule as king of Spain.

1822 – Chippewas turn over a huge tract of land in Ontario to the United Kingdom.

1859 – King Charles XV & IV accedes to the throne of Sweden-Norway.

1864 – Ikedaya Jiken: the Choshu Han shishi's planned Shinsengumi sabotage on Kyoto, Japan at Ikedaya.

1874 – The Mounties begin their March West.

1876 – White supremacists kill five Black Republicans in Hamburg, SC.

1879 – Sailing ship USS Jeannette (1878) departs San Francisco carrying an ill-fated expedition to the North Pole.

1889 – The first issue of the ''Wall Street Journal'' is published.

1892 – St. John's, Newfoundland is devastated in the Great Fire of 1892.

1896 – William Jennings Bryan delivers his Cross of Gold speech advocating bimetalism at the 1896 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

1898 – The death of crime boss Soapy Smith (who is shot) releases Skagway, Alaska from his iron grip.

1907 – Florenz Ziegfeld staged his first Follies on the roof of the New York Theater in New York City.

1912 – Henrique Mitchell de Paiva Couceiro leads an unsuccessful royalist attack against the Portuguese First Republic in Chaves.

1932 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level of the Great Depression, bottoming out at 41.22.

1937 – Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan sign the Treaty of Saadabad.

1947 – Reports are broadcast that a UFO crash landed in Roswell, New Mexico.

1948 – The United States Air Force accepts its first female recruits into a program called Women in the Air Force (WAF).

1960 – Francis Gary Powers is charged with espionage resulting from his flight over the Soviet Union.

1962 – Ne Win besieges and dynamites the Rangoon University Student Union building to crash the Student Movement.

1966 – King Mwambutsa IV Bangiriceng of Burundi is deposed by his son Prince Charles Ndizi.

1970 – Richard Nixon delivers a special congressional message enunciating Native American Self-Determination as official US Indian policy, leading to the Indian Self-Determination Act.

1982 – Assassination attempt against Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in Dujail.

1988 – The Island Express train travelling from Bangalore to Kanyakumari derails on the Peruman bridge and falls into Ashtamudi Lake, killing 105 passengers and injuring over 200 more.

1994 – Kim Jong-il begins to assume supreme leadership of North Korea upon the death of his father, Kim Il-sung.

2011 – Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched in the final mission of the U.S. Space Shuttle program.

Births

1490 – Albert, Duke of Prussia (d.1568)

1528 – Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy (d. 1580)

1545 – Carlos, Prince of Asturias (d. 1568)

1593 – Artemisia Gentileschi, Italian painter (d. 1653)

1621 – Jean de la Fontaine, French writer (d. 1695)

1760 – Christian Kramp, French mathematician (d. 1826)

1766 – Dominique Jean Larrey, French surgeon (d. 1842)

1792 – Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen, Queen of Bavaria (d. 1854)

1819 – Francis Leopold McClintock, British naval officer and explorer (d. 1907)

1830 – Frederick William Seward, 6th and 11th United States Assistant Secretary of State (d. 1915)

1830 – Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Altenburg, German-born wife of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia (d. 1911)

1831 – John Stith Pemberton, American druggist and inventor of Coca-Cola (d. 1888)

1836 – Joseph Chamberlain, British politician (d. 1914)

1838 – Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German inventor (d. 1917)

1839 – John D. Rockefeller, American industrialist and philanthropist (d. 1937)

1851 – Arthur Evans, English archaeologist (d. 1941)

1857 – Alfred Binet, French psychologist (d. 1911)

1867 – Käthe Kollwitz, German painter, printmaker and sculptor (d. 1945)

1878 – Jimmy Quinn, Scottish footballer (d. 1945)

1882 – Percy Grainger, Australian composer (d. 1961)

1885 – Ernst Bloch, German philosopher (d. 1977)

1892 – Richard Aldington, English poet (d. 1962)

1892 – Pavel Korin, Russian painter (d. 1967)

1895 – Igor Tamm, Russian physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1971)

1898 – Melville Ruick, American actor (d. 1972)

1904 – Henri Cartan, French mathematician (d. 2008)

1905 – Leonid Amalrik, Russian animator (d. 1997)

1906 – Philip Johnson, American architect (d. 2005)

1907 – George W. Romney, American businessman and politician (d. 1995)

1908 – Louis Jordan, American saxophonist (d. 1975)

1908 – Nelson A. Rockefeller, 41st Vice President of the United States (d. 1979)

1914 – Jyoti Basu, Indian politician (d. 2010)

1914 – Billy Eckstine, American jazz singer (d. 1993)

1917 – Faye Emerson, American actress (d. 1983)

1918 – Craig Stevens, American actor (d. 2000)

1918 – Paul B. Fay, American businessman and cabinet member in the Kennedy administration (d. 2009)

1919 – Walter Scheel, German politician

1920 – Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, Danish industrialist (Lego Group) (d. 1995)

1923 – Harrison Dillard, American sprinter and hurdler

1924 – Johnnie Johnson, American blues pianist (d. 2005)

1926 – Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Swiss-born psychiatrist (d. 2004)

1927 – Maurice Hayes, Irish politician

1928 – Mladen Kerstner, Croatian journalist, author and humorist (d. 1991)

1931 – Roone Arledge, American sports broadcaster (d. 2002)

1932 – Jerry Vale, American singer

1933 – Antonio Lamer, French Canadian lawyer and chief justice (d. 2007)

1934 – Marty Feldman, English comedian and actor (d. 1982)

1934 – Ed Lumley, Canadian corporate executive and politician

1935 – Steve Lawrence, American entertainer and singer

1935 – Vitali Sevastyanov, Russian cosmonaut

1940 – Ben Chapman, English politician and civil servant

1941 – Dario Gradi, Italian-born English football manager

1942 – Phil Gramm, American politician

1942 – Janice Pennington, American game show model

1944 – Jai Johanny Johanson, American drummer and percussionist (The Allman Brothers Band)

1944 – Jeffrey Tambor, American actor

1945 – Micheline Calmy-Rey, Swiss politician

1947 – Kim Darby, American actress

1947 – Luis Fernando Figari, Peruvian founder of Sodalitium Christianae Vitae

1948 – Raffi, Egyptian born Canadian children's entertainer

1949 – Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Indian politician, the 14th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh (d. 2009)

1949 – Frank Delima, American comedian

1949 – Dale Hoganson, Canadian ice hockey player

1949 – Wolfgang Puck, Austrian-born celebrity chef

1951 – Anjelica Huston, American actress

1952 – Jack Lambert, American football player

1952 – Anna Quindlen, American newspaper columnist

1952 – Marianne Williamson, American spiritual activist and founder of the Peace Alliance

1955 – Monty Don, TV presenter, gardener

1955 – Alison Fraser, American actress

1955 – Mihaela Mitrache, Romanian actress (d. 2008)

1956 – Terry Puhl, Canadian baseball player

1957 – Aleksandr Gurnov, Russian television personality

1957 – Carlos Cavazo, Mexican-born American guitarist (Quiet Riot, Ratt)

1958 – Kevin Bacon, American actor

1958 – Andreas Carlgren, Swedish politician

1958 – Tzipi Livni, Israeli politician

1958 – Neetu Singh, Indian actress

1959 – Robert Knepper, American actor

1959 – Pauline Quirke, British actress

1960 – Mal Meninga, Australian rugby league footballer

1961 – Toby Keith, American country music singer-songwriter

1961 – Andrew Fletcher, English vocalist and synth and bass player (Depeche Mode)

1962 – Joan Osborne, American singer and songwriter

1962 – Carmen Nicole Moelders American atmospheric scientist

1963 – Mark Christopher, American film director

1964 – Linda de Mol, Dutch actress and host

1964 – Alexei Gusarov, Russian ice hockey player

1965 – Lee Tergesen, American actor

1966 – Ralf Altmeyer, German virologist

1966 – Shadlog Bernicke, Nauruan politician

1967 – Jordan Chan, Hong Kong actor and singer

1968 – Billy Crudup, American actor

1968 – Thom Fitzgerald, American-Canadian film director

1968 – Shane Howarth, New Zealand rugby player (also capped by Wales)

1968 – Akio Suyama, Japanese seiyu

1968 – Michael Weatherly, American actor

1969 – Sugizo Japanese guitarist and singer (Luna Sea)

1970 – Beck, American singer

1971 – Neil Jenkins, Welsh rugby player

1971 – John Juanda, Indonesian poker player

1971 – Amanda Peterson, American actress

1972 – Karl Dykhuis, Canadian ice hockey player

1972 – Sourav Ganguly, Indian cricketer

1972 – Shōsuke Tanihara, Japanese actor

1973 – Kathleen Robertson, Canadian actress

1974 – Tami Erin, American actress and model

1974 – Zhanna Friske, Russian actress and singer

1975 – Elias Viljanen, Finnish guitarist (Sonata Arctica)

1976 – Talal El Karkouri, Moroccan footballer

1976 – David Kennedy, American guitarist (Angels & Airwaves)

1977 – Paolo Tiralongo, Italian cyclist

1977 – Milo Ventimiglia, American actor

1977 – Wang Zhizhi, Chinese basketball player

1978 – Rachael Lillis, American actress

1978 – Eve Myles, Welsh actress

1979 – Mat McBriar, American football player

1979 – André, Armenian singer

1980 – Robbie Keane, Irish footballer

1981 – Iyari Limon, American actress

1981 – Anastasia Myskina, Russian tennis player

1982 – Hakim Warrick, American basketball player

1982 – Joshua Alba, American actor

1982 – Sophia Bush, American actress

1983 – Jaroslav Janiš, Czech racing car driver

1983 – John Bowker, American baseball player

1983 – Daniel Navarro García, Spanish cyclist

1984 – Alexis Dziena, American actress

1985 – Jamie Cook, British guitarist (Arctic Monkeys)

1986 – Renata Costa (Kóki), Brazilian footballer

1986 – Jake McDorman, American actor

1987 – Vlada Roslyakova, Russian model

1988 – Jesse Sergent, New Zealand cyclist

1988 – Dave Taylor, Australian rugby league player

1992 – Sky Ferreira, American singer

1992 – Benjamin Grosvenor, British pianist

1998 – Jaden Smith, American actor

2000 – Sophie Nyweide, American actress

2001 – Yang Peiyi, Chinese singer

Deaths

810 – King Pepin of Italy, son of Charlemagne (b. 773)

901 – Grimbald, Benedectine monk and Saint (b. 827)

975 – Edgar the Peaceful, King of England (b. 943)

1153 – Pope Eugene III (b. c. 1087)

1538 – Diego de Almagro, Spanish explorer (b. 1475)

1623 – Pope Gregory XV (b. 1554)

1689 – Edward Wooster, English-born Connecticut pioneer (b. 1622)

1695 – Christiaan Huygens, Dutch mathematician, astronomer, physicist and horologist (b. 1629)

1716 – Robert South, English churchman (b. 1634)

1721 – Elihu Yale, American benefactor of Yale University (b. 1649)

1726 – John Ker, Scottish spy (b. 1673)

1784 – Torbern Bergman, Swedish chemist (b. 1735)

1822 – Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet (b. 1792)

1826 – Luther Martin, American statesman (b. 1748)

1850 – Prince Adolphus, 1st Duke of Cambridge (b. 1774)

1855 – Sir William Edward Parry, English Arctic explorer (b. 1790)

1859 – King Oscar I of Sweden and Norway (b. 1799)

1887 – Ben Holladay, American businessman and founder of the Overland Stagecoach Company (b. 1819)

1895 – Johann Josef Loschmidt, Austrian chemist and physicist (b. 1821)

1898 – Soapy Smith, American con artist and gangster (b. 1860)

1905 – Walter Kittredge, American violinist and abolitionist (b. 1834)

1913 – Louis Hémon, French-born Canadian writer (b. 1880)

1917 – Tom Thomson, Canadian painter (b. 1877)

1930 – Sir Joseph Ward, 17th Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1856)

1933 – Anthony Hope, British author (b. 1863)

1934 – Benjamin Baillaud, French astronomer (b. 1848)

1939 – Havelock Ellis, British physician (b. 1859)

1941 – Moses Schorr, Polish rabbi, senator, historian and orientalist (b. 1874)

1943 – Jean Moulin, French Resistance leader (b. 1899)

1950 – Othmar Spann, Austrian philosopher (b. 1878)

1956 – Giovanni Papini, Italian essayist (b. 1881)

1957 – Grace Coolidge, First Lady of the United States (b. 1879)

1961 – Konstantinos Logothetopoulos, Greek medical doctor and politician, the 2nd Prime Minister of the collaborationist Hellenic State (b. 1878)

1962 – Georges Bataille, French writer and philosopher (b. 1897)

1967 – Fatima Jinnah, Pakistani political figure (b. 1893)

1971 – Charlie Shavers, American jazz trumpet player (b. 1920)

1973 – Ben-Zion Dinur, Russian-born Israeli educator, historian and politician (b. 1884)

1973 – Wilfred Rhodes, English cricketer (b. 1877)

1979 – Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, Japanese physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1906)

1979 – Robert Burns Woodward, American chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1917)

1979 – Michael Wilding, English actor (b. 1912)

1981 – Wild Bill Hallahan, American baseball player (b. 1902)

1986 – Skeeter Webb, American baseball player (b. 1909)

1987 – Gerardo Diego, Spanish poet (b. 1896)

1987 – Lionel Chevrier, Canadian politician (b. 1903)

1988 – Ray Barbuti, American middle distance runner and football player (b. 1905)

1990 – Howard Duff, American actor (b. 1913)

1991 – James Franciscus, American actor (b. 1934)

1994 – Christian-Jaque, French film director and screenwriter (b. 1904)

1994 – Kim Il-sung, North Korean leader (b. 1912)

1994 – Lars-Eric Lindblad, Swedish-born American entrepreneur and explorer (b. 1927)

1994 – Dick Sargent, American actor (b. 1930)

1999 – Pete Conrad, American astronaut (b. 1930)

2001 – John O'Shea, New Zealand film director (b. 1920)

2002 – Ward Kimball, American animator (b. 1914)

2004 – Paula Danziger, American author (b. 1944)

2004 – Jean Lefebvre, French actor (b. 1922)

2006 – June Allyson, American actress (b. 1917)

2006 – Peter Hawkins, British actor and voice actor (b. 1924)

2008 – John Templeton, British businessman and philanthropist (b. 1912)

2011 – Roberts Blossom, American actor and poet (b. 1924)

2011 – Mary Fenech Adami, First Lady of Malta (b. 1933)

2011 – Betty Ford, First Lady of the United States (b. 1918)

Holidays and observances

Christian Feast Day:

* Abda and Sabas

* Auspicius of Trier

* Grimbald

* Kilian, Totnan, and Colman

* Procopius of Scythopolis

* Sunniva and companions

* Theobald of Marly

* July 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

External links

BBC: On This Day

On This Day in Canada

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Category:Days of the year Category:July

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:''This article is about the pinball and video game designer. For the U.S. Air Force officer, see R. Stephen Ritchie.''

Coordinates	6°7′55″N1°13′22″N
name	Steve Ritchie
birth date	February 13, 1950
birth place	San Francisco, CA
death date
resting place coordinates
known for	''Flash'', ''Firepower'', ''High Speed''
employer	Stern Pinball, Steve Ritchie Productions
occupation	Pinball designer
website	Steve Ritchie Productions

Steven Scott Ritchie (born February 13, 1950) is an acclaimed pinball and video game designer. He has been called "The Master of Flow" by pinball aficionados due to the emphasis in his designs on ball speed, loops, and the like.

Ritchie recently left Incredible Technologies for Raw Thrills, a video game production house headed by former WMS employee Eugene Jarvis. He currently suffers from tinnitus and predicts that he will be deaf by 2013. Steve is the older brother of fellow pinball designer Mark Ritchie.

The Atari Years

After serving a stint in Vietnam and Alaska in the United States Coast Guard from 1968-1972, Ritchie joined Atari and first worked on the assembly line as an electro-mechanical technician. Two years later, he was promoted to work at their fledgling pinball division, where he worked on his first game, ''Airborne Avenger''. Ritchie earned the license to make a ''Superman''-pinball based on the Superman comic book, but in the final stages of production of the table, he received an offer from Williams Electronics, a major pinball company, that Ritchie couldn't refuse.

The Williams Years

Ritchie moved to Chicago, Illinois, the home of Williams' headquarters. His first game for the company, ''Flash'' (released in 1979), was noted for its revolutionary figure-8 design and the first pinball game to feature bright Flash Lamps. It would go on to be his best-selling pinball game, having sold 19,505 units. 1980 would be the year for Ritchie, when he designed ''Firepower'' (the first electronic pinball to feature multi-ball, as well as Lane Change), and eight months later, he designed ''Black Knight'', which was noted for having the first two-level playfield and the patented "Magna-Save" feature (in which magnets help prevent outlane drains).

After 1981's ''Hyperball'', Steve took a break from designing pinball games to design a video games at his newly-formed company, King Video Design. "Devastator" was the first 68000 microprocessor video game and it was a spectacular 3D flying-shooting game with remarkable graphics. Steve pioneered automated conversion of video-taped color images into objects in the video game system. After that, he returned to pinball with 1986's ''High Speed'', which was based on a true story about him being chased by the police in his Porsche. ''High Speed'''s bill of materials was higher than other games, and some rival Williams designers nicknamed it "High Cost". The cost increase was minimal, and the game sold 17,080 units. It was the major title that revitalized the entire pinball market. After that, he released ''F-14 Tomcat'' in 1987, and in 1989, he released the sequel to 1980's ''Black Knight'', ''Black Knight 2000'', which was acclaimed for having perhaps one of the best musical soundtracks ever for a pinball game (composed by himself, Brian Schmidt, and Dan Forden). It was also one of the first games to feature a "Wizard Mode", called "The King's Ransom".

Next up was ''Rollergames'' (based on the TV show of the same name which was cancelled well before game production), it was a game with a loud and rowdy soundtrack and the first solid state game to feature mainstream advertising. Ritchie designed ''Terminator 2: Judgment Day'', which featured the voice and likeness of Arnold Schwarzenegger. T2 was the first game by Williams to use a dot-matrix display (although Bally's ''Gilligan's Island'' beat it to the market, because T2 had a longer production schedule, and management at Williams felt that other games needed it first.) After T2, he designed ''The Getaway: High Speed II'' in 1992, a sequel to 1986's ''High Speed.'' In 1993, Ritchie released a widebody game, ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'', which many pinball fans consider to be Ritchie's best game. For the game, Ritchie enlisted the entire cast of TNG, including Patrick Stewart, Michael Dorn, and Jonathan Frakes to reprise their roles. The game would sell 11,728 units. It was the last pinball machine to sell in the 5-digits. After he was finished with 1995's ''No Fear: Dangerous Sports'', Ritchie left Williams, feeling that he could better serve Williams/Bally/Midway by producing video games at the newly-acquired Atari Games. 1996 was the beginning of the decline of pinball with gradually diminishing sales, eventually leading to the extinction of all pinball manufacturers except Stern Pinball.

Video games and other contributions

Steve Ritchie returned to Atari Games in 1996 as a Senior Staff Producer. There, he would design and produce the racing game, ''California Speed'', which sold 7,856 units for total sales of about $40 million, on a budget of $2 million, with a crew of 16 video programmers and artists.

Ritchie is also known to be an avid fan of pc games, motocross racing, and a dedicated dirt and street motorcyclist as well.

He is a voice actor for many of his own games, as well as Williams and Midway's video games. He is best known for playing the voice of Shao Kahn in the Mortal Kombat series (''MKII'', ''MK3'', ''UMK3'', ''MKT'', ''MK:SM''). In an interview for the Australian publication Arcade and Flipper Pinball Review (December 2001 & March 2002 issues) he stated that he was the announcer in ''MK'' and ''MKII'', along with coming up with the name of Mortal Kombat, which was just called 'Mortal' before his suggestion. Ritchie was also the voice of the Black Knight in both Black Knight and Black Knight 2000, the "Demon" in No Fear, the announcer in Midway's High Impact Football, the monotoned voice of Firepower, and other small parts in many Williams, Midway, and Stern games.

Ritchie Returns: The Stern Years

After designing and selling a few redemption games, he formed Steve Ritchie Productions (SRP) in 2002, and returned to pinball design contracting with Stern Pinball to distribute his games. For his first game for Stern, ''Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines'', he once again enlisted Arnold Schwarzenegger to lend his voice and likeness to the game, and also re-assembled the same team who worked with him on the T2 pinball, including software programmer Dwight Sullivan and music composer Chris Granner. After T3, Ritchie released ''Elvis'', which was released in time for the 50th anniversary of Elvis Presley's first song recording. Ritchie's third game for Stern was ''World Poker Tour''. ''World Poker Tour'' was the first game to use Stern's new hardware, S.A.M., which is the successor to their older Whitestar platform. He has recently revealed in an interview that he was forced by Gary Stern to design the game . Currently, Ritchie has just completed his fourth game for Stern, ''Spider-Man'', using characters licensed from all three movies. ''Spider-Man'' was a great success and is still available for purchase.

After completing "24", a pinball machine based on the TV series of the same name, Ritchie was laid off from Stern along with most of the company's other pinball designers. A March 3, 2011 Press Release from Stern reported that Steve had returned to Stern to design the next generation of pinball machines. .

Steve Ritchie's games

Atari

Airborne Avenger (1977)

Superman (1979)

California Speed (1996)

Williams

Flash (1979)

Stellar Wars (1979)

Firepower (1980)

Black Knight (1980)

Hyperball (1981)

High Speed (1986)

F-14 Tomcat (1987)

Black Knight 2000 (1989)

Rollergames (1990)

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

The Getaway: High Speed II (1992)

Star Trek: The Next Generation (1993; part of WMS' ''SuperPin'' series)

No Fear: Dangerous Sports (1995)

Midway (Bally)

Elvira and the Party Monsters (1989; co-designed with Dennis Nordman and Jim Patla)

*''Ritchie did parts of the game, after original designer Dennis Nordman was severely injured in an off-road motorcycle accident.''

Stern / Steve Ritchie Productions

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)

Elvis (2004)

World Poker Tour (2006)

Spider-Man (2007)

"24", based on 24(2009)

References

External links

Steve Ritchie Productions

Category:1950 births Category:Living people Category:Designers from California Category:People from Chicago, Illinois Category:Pinball game designers

Coordinates	6°7′55″N1°13′22″N
Name	Roger Clinton Locher
Birth date	September 13, 1946
Birth place	Sabetha, Kansas
Allegiance
Branch	United States Air Force
Rank	Captain
Battles	Vietnam War
Laterwork	}}

Roger Clinton Locher (born September 13, 1946) is a former F-4D Phantom weapons officer and pilot who during the Vietnam War and Operation Linebacker was shot down only from Hanoi, North Vietnam. The 23 days Locher spent behind enemy lines evading capture was a record for downed airmen during the war. USAF General Vogt "shut down the war" and sent 119 aircraft to recover him. His rescue was the deepest inside North Vietnam during the entire War.

When his aircraft was shot down by a Shenyang J-6 on May 10, 1972, he was on his third combat tour and had over 407 combat missions. He was one of the leading MIG killers in Vietnam with three kills. No one saw him eject or his parachute open, and it was unknown whether he had died or been captured. Over the next two weeks, U.S. air crews in the area tried to raise him on the radio without success. The North Vietnamese did not add his name to the roster of captured airmen, which gave the Americans some hope. Traveling only at dusk and dawn, over three weeks Locher traveled about , evading farmers and living off the land.

On June 1, Locher was finally able to successfully contact a flight of F-4 aircraft overhead. General John Vogt, commanding general of the Seventh Air Force, committed to rescue him and canceled the scheduled attack on Hanoi, diverting all of the available aircraft to assist in his rescue. Despite the proximity of the Yên Bái MiG airfield only away and its well-developed anti-aircraft defenses, there were no losses during his rescue.

Recruitment and training

Locher participated in ROTC and joined the Air Force in 1969. He completed navigator training and was assigned to the F-4 Phantom II. He received transition training at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona, and was then sent to the "Triple Nickel" 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 432d Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, Udorn, Thailand.

MiGCAP patrol

On February 21, 1972, Locher took part in the first U.S. Air Force aerial victory in four years at night over northeast Laos, about southwest of Hanoi. Maj. Robert A. Lodge was pilot and Locher was the weapon systems officer in an F-4D flying combat air patrol to interdict North Vietnamese MiGs (MIGCAP). The two men were the most experienced crew in Southeast Asia. ''Red Crown'', the call sign for the radar-equipped USS Long Beach stationed in the northern part of the Gulf of Tonkin, "called out bandits (MIGs) at our 060° position and proceeded to vector us on an intercept,” recalls Maj. Lodge. During the air battle, they shot down a MiG-21.

Operation Linebacker

thumb|300px|Collings Foundation F-4D Phantom II marked as 555th TFS 66-7463, the same type of aircraft flown by Locher the day he was shot down. On May 10, 1972, the first major day of air combat in Operation Linebacker, Locher's group was one of two flights of the F-4D MiGCap for the morning strike force. Oyster Flight, composed of four F-4s from the 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron, had three of its Phantoms equipped with the top secret Combat Tree IFF interrogators. The APX-80 electronic set could read the IFF signals of the transponders built into the MiGs so that North Vietnamese radar would not shoot down their own aircraft. Displayed on a scope in the WSO's cockpit, Combat Tree gave the Phantoms the ability to identify and locate MiGs when they were still beyond visual range.

On May 8, 1972, Major Robert Lodge and Locher responded to a request for assistance from ''Red Crown'' from fighters who were engaging MiGs near Yên Bái. Their element leader was Stephen Ritchie and Charles B. DeBellevue in Oyster 03.

They scored their third MiG kill, placing them in the lead of all USAF crews then flying in Southeast Asia.

Two days later, on May 10, at 9:23 a.m., Oyster Flight was warned by EC-121 ''Disco'' over Laos, and then by the US Navy radar picket ship ''Red Crown'', of four MiGs headed towards them. These were from the 921st Fighter Wing. Four J-9s were also flying CAP to protect the Thac Ba hydroelectric power station. The Americans engaged an equal number of MiG-21s head-on, scattering them. Lodge and Locher identified two hostile contacts miles south of Yên Bái. They attacked in a modified fluid-four formation and accelerated to 1.4 mach. At 9:48 they fired two AIM-7 Sidewinder missiles, and the second destroyed one of the MiGs.

Oyster Flight shot down two more MiGs. The second MIG-21 was downed by Lodge’s wingman, 1st Lt. John D. Markle, and his WSO, Capt. Stephen D. Eaves. A few minutes later Capt. Richard S. “Steve” Ritchie and Capt. Charles B. DeBellevue, his weapon systems officer, shot down a third MiG. Lodge and Locher nearly got the fourth MiG-21, but fell victim to a MiG tactic dubbed "Kuban tactics" after those of the Soviet WWII ace Alexander Pokryshkin, in which a GCI-controlled flight of four Shenyang J-6s were launched after the MiG-21s so that they could be steered behind the American fighters maneuvering to attack the MiG-21s. Pilot Nguyen Manh Tung of No. 2 Flight came up from below in his J-6 and hit Lodge and Locher's F-4D Phantom, serial 65-0784, with his three large, 30-mm cannons as they were lining up a second shot on another MiG-21.

Ejection and evasion

Lodge and Locher thought for a few seconds their aircraft was still flyable, but then figured out that the right engine showed zero compression, and the aircraft yawed to the left. Lodge tried the stick and it was dead; the aircraft's hydraulic system was knocked out. Lodge tried the autopilot but it didn't respond. The rear of the jet was on fire, and as the plane yawed the slipstream pushed the flames up over Locher's canopy. Locher later recalled, "We immediately went out of control, flopping from side to side. Then fire started coming in the back of the cockpit. It seared my canopy with bubbles and I couldn’t see out any more. The airplane slowed down and we went into a flat spin." Locher told Lodge that it was getting too hot and he'd better get out. Lodge looked over his right shoulder at Locher and said, "Well, you better eject then."

Lodge had about three weeks previously told fellow squadron members, as he had done several times before, that he would not allow himself to be captured because of his extensive knowledge of classified and sensitive information. Locher successfully ejected at about but because the remaining planes were busy with the other MiGs, and due to smoke, no one saw his parachute canopy. A MiG-21 buzzed Locher as he descended, so he knew the enemy was aware he had survived. He estimated it took about 30 seconds for the jet to impact the ground, but never saw Lodge's chute.

Locher was afraid to use his URC-64 rescue radio as he parachuted because it was difficult to remove from the zippered pocket of his survival vest and he was not sure he could get it back in. He figured out his rough location and managed to steer his chute about away from the plane burning below him and towards a nearby mountain side. After he landed, he couldn't hide his parachute because it was stuck in the trees overhead.

He removed a couple of essential items from his survival pack and left the remainder behind. His survival vest contained a 9mm pistol, two pints of water, a first aid kit, insect repellent, mosquito netting, and a knife. He knew from prior briefings that he could not expect SAR this deep in North Vietnam, north of the Red River. Once on the ground and under the trees, he could not hear any jets overhead. He also knew his radio could not penetrate the dense jungle canopy overhead.

Locher listened to hear if a search party was looking for him. He camouflaged his trail for about and then climbed the eastern side of the mountain to its peak. He got his bearings and then hid in bushes on the west slope. For three days, Locher listened as a search party of local farmers beat the bushes up and down the east side of the mountain, searching for him. He hid in a brush pile and at one point over the next three days, a boy came within of his hiding place. In the evening he returned to the peak. On the second day he picked up radio traffic from American aircraft almost to his south, but they did not hear his radio beeper or voice.

He decided his best chance for rescue was to cross the forested, hilly terrain and get to the heavily cultivated Red River Valley, swim the river, and work his way to the sparsely inhabited mountains to the south. He figured it would take him 45 days. He traveled only at first light and at dusk, avoiding the local farmers, and living off the land.

He was able to find plenty of water but only occasionally fruit and berries to eat. He evaded capture and covered over , gradually losing and his strength. On the 10th day he came within of being discovered. Following a well-used trail early one morning, he suddenly had to evade local farmers. He hid in a nearby field where there was little concealment, but pulled leaves and debris over himself. He lay there all day as children from a village he discovered a short distance away played in his vicinity. At one point a water buffalo nearly stepped on him, and a boy came to fetch the animal, only a few feet from Locher. That evening he spotted a hill near the village alongside the Red River, the last hill before the wide open fields of the Red River basin. He was about from Yen Bai Airfield.

He hid on the hill for the next 13 days and watched for American aircraft. On June 1, 1972, he was finally able to contact a flight of American jets overhead, calling, "Any U.S. aircraft, if you read Oyster 1 Bravo, come up on Guard". Steve Ritchie, in one of the F-4 aircraft overhead and who had witnessed Locher's jet fall out of the sky, remembered Locher's call sign and answered his call. Locher calmly responded, "Guys I've been down here a long time, any chance of picking me up?" Ritchie replied, "You bet!" Locher's transmissions left some Americans who did not hear his call in doubt about the authenticity of his message, and they believed that the NVA may have manipulated a POW into impersonating him, setting a trap for the would-be rescuers.

Search and rescue

A SAR mission of several A-1E and two HH-53 with F-4 and F- 105 fighters providing air protection was launched that same day but was driven off by heavy anti-aircraft fire and MiGs. The A-1 Skyraider and HH-53C pilots came under attack from a MiG but eluded the enemy fighter in a narrow canyon. The rescue force then dodged missiles, another MiG and gunfire, but failed to get through to Locher that day.

On June 2, 1972, General John Vogt, commander of the 7th Air Force, consulted with Army MACV commander General Frederick C. Weyand. Vogt canceled the entire strike mission set for Hanoi that day. He dedicated all the available resources, over 150 aircraft, to rescuing Locher. The direct task force of 119 aircraft included two HH-53 rescue helicopters, bombers, and an array of F-4 escorts, EB-66s, A-1Es, F105G Weasels, and KC135 tankers. Vogt said,

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The Yên Bái MiG airfield, about northwest of Hanoi, was one of the most important and well-defended Vietnamese People's Air Force airbases in North Vietnam. The aircraft bombed and strafed around Yên Bái Airfield for two hours, reducing enemy opposition so that the helicopters could get in. Fortunately for the Americans, during the second half of May 1972 their increasingly fierce attacks on Yen Bai had forced elements of the VPAF 925th Fighter Regiment to relocate to Gia Lam Airfield. Capt. Ronald E. Smith in an A-1E guided Capt. Dale Stovall, piloting a HH-53 from the 40th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron, to Locher's position. Only when Locher rose out of the jungle canopy riding the jungle penetrator were all of the Americans sure it was him. Despite their proximity to Yen Bai airfield, no aircraft were lost during Locher's rescue. "We shut down the war to go get Roger Locher," Stovall later said.

Locher was flown back to Udorn. The first person to greet him was General Vogt, who had flown up from Saigon in a T-39. Capt. Locher had successfully evaded capture for 23 days, a record for the Vietnam War. The evening of his return, he was greeted at the Officers Club by hundreds of individuals with an ovation lasting 20 minutes.

Recognition

Capt. Stovall had twice flown his HH-53 Jolly Green Giant helicopter further into North Vietnam than had ever been done before. For their efforts in rescuing Locher, both Capt. Ronald Smith and Stovall were awarded the Air Force Cross. Stovall's citation described how "he willingly returned to this high threat area, braving intense ground fire, to recover the downed airman from deep in North Vietnam.". Stovall was also recognized with the 1973 Jabara Award for Airmanship.

Post war

After his return to the States, he attended pilot training and was assigned to the Phantom—this time in the front seat. Roger flew the F-4 in New Mexico, Alaska, and Florida before transitioning to the F-16 and serving in instructor and flight commander positions. He later played a key role in the early days of the super-secret "black program" that produced the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter. He retired in Sabetha, Kansas, where he resided as of April, 2010.

In popular culture

The TV series Dogfights on the History Channel depicted the dogfight of May 10, 1972 in Season 2, Episode 10, ''The Bloodiest Day'' shown on December 3, 2007.

Notes

References

Category:Living people Category:1946 births Category:United States Air Force officers Category:American military personnel of the Vietnam War

Coordinates	6°7′55″N1°13′22″N
name	Vlada Roslyakova
birth name	Elena Vladimirovna Roslyakova
birth date	July 08, 1987
birth place	Omsk (Siberia), Russian SFSR
height
haircolor	Blonde
eyecolor	Blue
measurements	31.5-23-34 (US), 80-58-86 (EU)
weight	108
dress size	8 (US), 38 (EU)
shoesize	7 (US), 38 (EU)
agency	Women Management ( New York, Milan, Paris) Models 1 Agency (London) }}

Vlada Roslyakova (Russian: ; born Elena Vladimirovna Roslyakova on July 8, 1987 in Omsk, Russia) is a Russian model.

Early life and modeling

When she began modeling, Roslyakova changed her name from Elena to Vlada in order to distinguish herself from a model named Elena Rosenkova. Roslyakova began modeling in Russia, then moved to Tokyo. When she arrived in New York City, she began modeling for well-known designers. She is known for her distinctive walk and doll-like looks, along with models Jessica Stam, Lisa Cant, Heather Marks, and Gemma Ward. Her advertisement campaigns include Nina Ricci, Moschino Cheap & Chic, D&G;, Vera Wang Bridal, Burberry Blue Label, Hermès, Miss Sixty, MaxMara, Christian Lacroix, Christian Lacroix Fragrance , Dolce & Gabbana, Jill Stuart Beauty, Jill Stuart Fragrance, Derercuny, DKNY, Daks Japan, Karl Lagerfeld, and Lacoste.

Her runway credits including top fashion designers like Alberta Ferretti, Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Blumarine, Bottega Veneta, Burberry Prorsum, Calvin Klein, Céline, Chanel, Chloé, Christian Dior, Comme des Garçons, Dolce & Gabbana, Dsquared², Emanuel Ungaro, Emilio Pucci, Etro, Fendi, Gianfranco Ferrè, Giorgio Armani, Givenchy, Gucci, Hermès, Jean Paul Gaultier, Jil Sander, Kenzo, Lanvin, Loewe, Louis Vuitton, MaxMara, Missoni, Miu Miu, Moschino, Nina Ricci, Prada, Roberto Cavalli, Salvatore Ferragamo, Sonia Rykiel, Stella McCartney, Thierry Mugler, Valentino, Versace, Viktor & Rolf, Yohji Yamamoto and Yves Saint Laurent.

She has appeared in various fashion magazines, including ''Vogue'', ''Numéro'', ''W'', ''V'', ''Dazed & Confused'', ''Harper's Bazaar'', ''Marie Claire'', ''Elle'', ''L'Officiel'' and ''i-D''.

She has also appeared on many magazine covers, such as ''Vogue'', ''Harper's Bazaar'', ''Elle'' and so on.

Her agencies include Women Management, Eskimo Model Management, Models 1 Agency, UNIQUE DENMARK, View Management, MD Management, Donna Models, Bohemia Model Management and Just Models Management.

''Vogue Paris'' declared her one of the top 30 models of the 2000s.

In 2011, she became the face of Swarovski.

References

External links

Vlada Roslyakova on style.com

Vlada Roslyakova Hong Kong Fans Club

Category:1987 births Category:Living people Category:Russian female models Category:People from Omsk

es:Vlada Roslyakova fr:Vlada Roslyakova it:Vlada Rosljakova ja:ヴラダ・ロスリャコヴァ ru:Рослякова, Влада sk:Vlada Rosľakova sv:Vlada Rosljakova tr:Vlada Roslyakova zh:弗拉達·洛絲亞珂娃 pl:Vlada Roslyakova