"Top Gun," a triumphant all-American pre-"woke" Hollywood
movie classic, was released on this day in history, May 16,
1986.

MovieWeb.com wrote in a 2022 retrospective of the silver-
screen sensation … "When ‘Top Gun’ hit the box office in
1986, it quickly rose to the top of the charts, drawing a
great deal of attention to the film and the cast."

"The film became an instant classic thanks to the award-
winning soundtrack and some of the best aerial scenes
to ever hit the big screen."

A map of the Atlantic Ocean, showing the southeast U.S.,
Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and Puerto
Rico, with the Bermuda Triangle highlighted.

An Australian scientist says he has uncovered the mystery behind
the notorious Bermuda Triangle, known for its urban legends and
tales of puzzling ship and plane disappearances in the western
North Atlantic.

Situated between Florida, Bermuda and Puerto Rico, this stretch
of sea is prone to quickly changing weather patterns, varying sea
levels and complicated navigational realities that have given it an ominous alternative name — the Devil’s Triangle. (FOX NEWS)

U.S. Navy Avenger planes, torpedo-bombers that helped
in the Pacific, circa 1943. These are the same type of
aircraft that disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle.

Torpedo Bomber #28, the lead plane of Flight 19, which
vanished Dec. 5, 1945.

The USS Cyclops ship, the first reported ship carrying a
radio lost in the Bermuda Triangle in 1918.

Karl Sven Woytek Sas Konkovitch Matthew Kruszelnicki
often referred to as "Dr Karl". He is an Australian science communicator.

On May 3, 1942, during World War II, the first modern naval
engagement in history, the Battle of the Coral Sea, began. A
Japanese invasion force succeeds in occupying Tulagi of
the Solomon Islands in an expansion of Japan’s defensive
perimeter.

The United States, having broken Japan’s secret war code
and forewarned of an impending invasion of Tulagi and Port
Moresby, attempted to intercept the Japanese armada. Four
days of battles between Japanese and American aircraft
carriers resulted in 70 Japanese and 66 American warplanes
destroyed.

GLENDALE, Ariz. (TND) — This year’s Super Bowl will be history-
making between the national anthem and kickoff. For the first
time ever, the pregame flyover will be piloted by an all-female
crew.

The team will be commemorating 50 years of women flying in the
U.S. Navy.

It was back in 1973 — in Pensacola, Fla. — that the first eight
women began flight school. A year later, six of them, nicknamed
“The First Six,” earned their Wings of Gold.

Sunday’s flyover in Arizona will be comprised of two F/A-18F
Super Hornets from the “Flying Eagles” of Strike Fighter
Squadron (VFA) 122, an F-35C Lightning II from the “Argonauts”
of VFA-147, and an EA-18G Growler from the “Vikings” of
Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 129.

The U.S. State Department angrily accused the Soviet Union of
shooting down an unarmed T-39 Sabreliner aircraft of the United
States Air Force (similar to above) while on a training mission
over Erfurt, East Germany, by a MiG-19 jet fighter of the Soviet
Air Force. Three U.S. officers aboard the plane were killed in the
incident.

According to the U.S. military, the jet became disoriented by a
violent storm that led the plane to veer nearly 100 miles off
course.

The Soviet attack on the plane provoked angry protests from
the Department of State and various congressional leaders,
including Senator Hubert H. Humphrey, who charged that the
Soviets had intentionally downed the plane “to gain the
offensive” in the aggressive Cold War maneuvering.

For their part, the Soviets refused to accept U.S. protests and
responded that they had “all grounds to believe that this was
not an error or mistake…It was a clear intrusion.”

Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr.
(May 27, 1911 – January 13, 1978)