History’s Strangest Questions: Who Was the Last Survivor of the Crimean War?

From The Hump to Saigon - The Story of CAT, Air America and Air Asia (Part Two)

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2232617/fan_mail/new] What happened to the legendary pilots of The Hump after the Second World War ended? The answer is one of the most extraordinary and least known stories in aviation history. From the battlefields of China to the jungles of Laos and Vietnam, the men who once flew supplies across the Himalayas followed General Claire Chennault into a new and secret war. Under the banners of CAT, Air America and Air Asia, they evacuated a nation, helped build another, flew refugees to safety, supplied isolated outposts, rescued downed airmen and carried out missions that governments often preferred not to acknowledge. This is the story of the largest covert airline operation in history. A story of courage, ingenuity, espionage and sacrifice that stretched from the final days of the Chinese Civil War to the fall of Saigon in 1975. Featuring daring rescues, secret missions, Cold War intrigue, Dien Bien Phu, Laos, Taiwan, Allen Pope, the CIA and the remarkable pilots who lived in the shadows so that others could operate in the light, this is a chapter of history that deserves to be remembered. Because from The Hump to Saigon, these men were never far from the centre of history. Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2232617/support] For books written and published by Keith Hocton www.entrepotpublishing.com [https://www.entrepotpublishing.com/]

The Flying Tigers - The Hump Crews (Part One)

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2232617/fan_mail/new] The Flying Tigers became legends. The shark mouths. The dogfights. The mythology of fearless American pilots diving through the skies above China and Burma. But behind the glamour lay another war almost nobody remembers. This is the story of The Hump crews, the exhausted transport pilots, navigators, mechanics, and bomber crews who flew through Himalayan storms carrying fuel, bombs, medicine, and hope into a collapsing China. Men vanished into cloud wrapped mountains so often the pilots gave the route a grim nickname, Aluminium Alley. And when the Second World War ended, many of those same men did not come home. They flew straight into the secret wars of the Cold War, helping build Civil Air Transport and eventually Air America, the CIA’s shadow airline across Asia. This is not simply a story about war. It is a story about exhaustion, survival, forgotten courage, and the men history almost allowed to disappear. Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2232617/support] For books written and published by Keith Hocton www.entrepotpublishing.com [https://www.entrepotpublishing.com/]

History’s Strangest Questions: Was The Great Stink of 1858 Real?

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2232617/fan_mail/new] In the boiling summer of 1858 London nearly collapsed under the weight of its own filth. The Thames became an open sewer, Parliament could barely function through the stench, and thousands had already died from cholera.  Out of this nightmare came one of the greatest engineering triumphs in history. This is the story of The Great Stink, the crisis that transformed London forever and gave birth to the modern sewer system beneath the city today. Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2232617/support] For books written and published by Keith Hocton www.entrepotpublishing.com [https://www.entrepotpublishing.com/]

Who Owns The Koh-i-Noor Diamond?

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2232617/fan_mail/new] The Koh i Noor is not just a diamond. It is a trail of blood stretching across centuries. Murder, betrayal, empire, conquest, assassinations, collapsing kingdoms, and one tiny stone that still has the power to ignite arguments across half the world. From the massacres of Mughal Delhi to the Sikh Empire, from Afghanistan to Queen Victoria and the Tower of London, the “Mountain of Light” has left chaos almost everywhere it travelled. But who actually owns it? India? Pakistan? Afghanistan? The British Crown? Or has the Koh i Noor become something far larger than a jewel, a symbol of empire itself and the unresolved wounds of colonial history? And perhaps the greatest mystery of all is this: after hundreds of years of violence and obsession, why can nobody let it go? The extraordinary and deeply controversial story of the Koh i Noor diamond. Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2232617/support] For books written and published by Keith Hocton www.entrepotpublishing.com [https://www.entrepotpublishing.com/]

History’s Strangest Questions: Who Was the Last Survivor of the Crimean War?

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2232617/fan_mail/new] Can a war last more than a century by accident? Why do some of history’s strangest stories sound completely impossible, yet turn out to be true? And how do forgotten laws, bizarre misunderstandings, and tiny historical footnotes sometimes become more fascinating than the great battles themselves? In this new mini series from Rearview Mirror Chronicles, Keith Hockton explores the curious, darkly amusing, and utterly unexpected corners of the past. These are the historical questions that sound ridiculous at first… until you discover the astonishing truth behind them. Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2232617/support] For books written and published by Keith Hocton www.entrepotpublishing.com [https://www.entrepotpublishing.com/]