Do you remember what you where doing 50 years ago?

[Catherine Blair]

Dad had joined the air force two days prior.

[Marc Montgomery]

happened in the afternoon. very young but a special announcement made over school speakers .. I was a bit too young to understand the significance but remember that such a mid-afternoon announcement over the speakers (tannoy for Brits) was really unusual and that there was strange atmosphere in the school for the rest of the afternoon.

Interesting shows on TV recently including ballistics tests of that type of rifle and the somewhate unusual full jacket bullets.. (long, round nose , vs more typical pointy nose)

Ballistics and simulated tests showed one bullet could indeed have passed through Kennedy into the governor and through him.

also head shot recoiling backwards explained. and skull fractures show bullet came from behind. (recreations used human skull filled with ballistic gel- results very similar to kennedy autopsy results)

somewhat mysterious third bullet recreated showing timing etc, and as such it hit an overhead street sign and deflected.. the sign/traffic light, long since replaced along with the evidence.

Shell casings resting place noted, recreated showing that as Oswald moved to adjust shot, the ejected casings would end up in similar locations.

verdict...one shooter.

[John McGillivray]

A recent show on Discovery Network has a different conclusion about the third bullet.
http://jfkthesmokinggun.ca/

[maple_leaf_eh]

I was a toddler.

[Lang]

I love the theories about the shooting.

The most significant feature was if it was Oswald alone, he was an absolutely outstanding marksmen to get away 3? shots, unpracticed, at a moving target with such accuracy.

Numerous recreations have been done but a recent one from the same spot with lasers at a moving car and passengers using top trained snipers with the same type of rifle resulted in failure from people who knew what was going to happen and under no pressure. Actually I think I recall they said one sniper did get the shots off on target after his 3rd practice go.

The street sign theory is a beauty as are the cartridge positions on the floor. Microscopic measurements from a sign that no one saw hit and is no longer there and a cartridge that could have bounced or been kicked by the shooter (or someone else) are far from conclusive evidence. Every investigation so far is supported somewhere by a zero evidence "fact" and is basically underwritten by the premise that "If the queen had balls she would be king".

We have a program gap - what say we do another show on a Kennedy assassination theory?

[Jon Skagfeld]

I was 22 years old, working at Litton Systems Limited (a Canadian subsidiary of the American defense contractor).

I was crossing from one building to another when a company driver, who had been listening to the truck's radio, stopped me and told me that JFK was shot. It was just about bang on 1230 hrs.

Being closely tied to the parent entity in LA, it felt a bit more "personal" to us.

There was not much work done for the rest of the day.

[gordon]

... watching Doctor Who

I do remember discussing JFK on the way to the Scouts that evening too

[John McGillivray]

Originally Posted by Lang

I love the theories about the shooting.

Actually I think I recall they said one sniper did get the shots off on target after his 3rd practice go.

This was Howard Donahue. I think that the trials were arranged by CBS back in 1968. Although Donahue was able to get off three shots in 6 seconds with an Italian 6.5mm Mannlicher Carcano rifle on his third attempt, he concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald could not have done it. Donahue is the person who came to the conclusion that the third shot was from an AR-15 rifle with .223 (5.56mm) high velocity, soft-point or hollow point, frangible bullets, and that the shot was a result of an accidental discharge by Secret Service agent George Hickey.

[Lang]

John,

I think among the numerous recreations the Donohue is the best known but done on simulated targets. The one I was referring to was done recently, from a cherry-picker in front of the library window, with a laser sight fitted to the rifle so the strike point could be seen on the people sitting in the moving car acting the Kennedy etc parts.

Both the early recreation and the new laser recreation concluded that the most highly trained snipers would have found it not impossible, but almost, to do what Oswald is credited with.

The new experiment is also a great exponent of the Secret Service accidental? discharge. There, I have gone and done it! By putting in that question mark we now have fuel for further investigations into Secret Service real involvement in the shooting.