The Postcard
A postcard that was published by A. & C. Black Ltd. of 4, 5, and 6 Soho Square, London W1. The artwork was by Edgar H. Fisher, and the card was printed in Great Britain. On the back of the card they state:
'From Jennison's "Natural
History - Animals" Price 7/6d.'
Edgar H. Fisher
Edgar H. Fisher was a British Impressionist and Modern painter. His work has been offered at auction multiple times, with realized prices ranging from 155 USD to 1,221 USD, depending on the size and medium of the artwork.
The card was posted in Leiston, Suffolk using a 2d. stamp on Wednesday the 6th. October 1948 to:
Miss S. P. Freese,
Room 36,
Churchman Nursery Ward,
Ipswich Hospital,
Anglesea Road,
Ipswich.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"Chapel Cottage.
My Darling,
We were near you
yesterday afternoon in
Ipswich. What a pity we
couldn't see you.
Uncle Reg is off tomorrow
to spend a few days with
a friend in Bournemouth
but will be back soon to
come and get you when
you are well enough to
come home.
Fondest love, Darling, and
I hope you feel much
better.
Love from Aunt Iris
xxxxxxxxx"
The Mountain Zebra
The mountain zebra (Equus zebra) is native to southwestern Africa. There are two subspecies, the Cape mountain zebra (E. z. zebra) found in South Africa, and Hartmann's mountain zebra (E. z. hartmannae) found in south-western Angola and Namibia.
The mountain zebra has a dewlap, which is more conspicuous in E. z. zebra than in E. z. hartmannae. Mountain zebras are boldly striped in black or dark brown, and no two individuals look exactly alike. The whole body is striped except for the belly. In the Cape mountain zebra, the ground colour is effectively white, but the ground colour in Hartmann's zebra is slightly buff.
Adult mountain zebras have a head-and-body length of 2.1 to 2.6 m (6 ft 11 in to 8 ft 6 in) and a tail of 40 to 55 cm (16 to 22 in) long. They weigh from 204 to 372 kg (450 to 820 lb).
Mountain zebras are found on mountain slopes, open grasslands, woodlands, and areas with sufficient vegetation, but their preferred habitat is mountainous terrain, especially escarpment with a diversity of grass species.
Mountain zebras live in hot, dry, rocky, mountainous and hilly habitats. They prefer slopes and plateaus as high as 2,000 m (6,600 ft) above sea level, although they do migrate lower during winter. Their preferred diet is tufted grass, but in times of shortage, they browse, eating bark, twigs, leaves, buds, fruit, and roots.
They drink every day. When no surface water is available due to drought, they commonly dig for ground water in dry river beds.
The Cape mountain zebra and Hartmann's mountain zebra are now allopatric, meaning that their present ranges do not overlap, which prevents them from crossbreeding.
Historically, mountain zebras could be found across the entire length of the escarpments along the west coast of southern Africa and in the fold mountain region in the south. However, they generally inhabited poorly productive land, and were not numerous in comparison to those species of zebras or antelope that inhabited the plains.
Mountain zebras do not aggregate into large herds like plains zebras; they form small family groups consisting of a single stallion and one to five mares, together with their recent offspring. Bachelor males live in separate groups, and mature bachelors attempt to capture young mares to establish a harem. In this they are opposed by the dominant stallion of the group.
Mares give birth to one foal at a time. Cape mountain zebra foals generally move away from their maternal herds sometime between the ages of 13 and 37 months. However, with Hartmann's mountain zebra, mares try to expel their foals when they are aged around 14 to 16 months.
Young males may wander alone for a while before joining a bachelor group, while females are either taken into another breeding herd, or are joined by a bachelor male to form a new breeding herd.
The main threats to the species are the loss of habitat to agriculture, hunting, and persecution. Poaching for food (for example, during guerrilla fighting) has decreased their numbers.
The species is listed as vulnerable under the IUCN Red List, and both sub-species are included in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. The Cape mountain zebra was hunted to near extinction. In the 1930's, their population was reduced to about 100 individuals.
However, consistent and vigorous conservation measures have succeeded in reversing the decline, and in 1998, the population of the Cape mountain zebra was estimated to have increased to some 1200, with about 540 in national parks, 490 in provincial nature reserves, and 165 in other reserves.
Gerry Adams
So what else happened on the day that Aunt Iris posted the card?
Well, the 6th. October 1948 marked the birth in Belfast, Northern Ireland of Gerry Adams, leader of the Sinn Féin political party.
'Summer and Smoke'
Also on that day, the Tennessee Williams play Summer and Smoke had its Broadway premiere at the Music Box Theatre.
A Deadly Aircraft Crash
The 6th. October 1948 also marked the crash of a USAF Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber. The aircraft crashed in Waycross, Georgia after an engine fire broke out.
The plane was from the 3150th. Electronics Squadron. The crash occurred during a climb to altitude from Robins Air Force Base, and killed nine of the thirteen men aboard, including three RCA engineers. Four men parachuted to safety.
Because the flight was a test of the "sunseeker” (a heat-seeking device later used in the AIM-9 Sidewinder missile), the federal government asserted the state secrets privilege to avoid having to provide the Air Force's accident report in a subsequent suit for damages by victims of the crash and their heirs. This was despite the device playing no role in the crash itself, and not being referred to in the report.
United States v. Reynolds
A $225,000 summary judgment against the Government and in favor of the contractor's widows was directed when the Government claimed that the accident report, as well as surviving crewmember statements, could not be furnished "without seriously hampering national security".
However, the Supreme Court overturned the judgment under state secrets privilege. Nevertheless, the Air Force agreed to pay an out-of-court settlement of $170,000.
Decades later the declassified accident report indicated the cause to have been a fire and drop in manifold pressure in the number 1 engine, as well as an inadvertent feathering of the number 4 engine, which was not successfully un-feathered prior to the crash.
The report indicated that the cause of the fire in engine no. 1 could not be positively determined, but was likely to have been the result of breaks in the right exhaust collector ring. The report further stated that:
"The fire may have been aggravated by
non-compliance with Technical Orders
01-20EJ-117 and 01-20EJ-178."
The report concluded that:
"The aircraft was not considered safe
for flight due to non-compliance with
these orders."
A consequent lawsuit to reopen the case claimed that the report's information about the cause was not secret and alleged a government coverup, but the case was not reopened.