Browsing: May

A Brief History On May 31, 2003, Air France retired their Concorde supersonic jet airliners after a career that started in 1976.  Air France had a fleet of seven of the fast jets, while British Airways also fielded a fleet of seven.  An additional six of the so called SSTs were made for non-commercial users. Digging Deeper The first supersonic airliner, the Concorde was costly to operate and to fly on. The only competition ever created was the Russian Tu-144, jokingly called the “Concordski.”  The Russian version of supersonic airliner lasted from 1975 to 1978, although cargo versions remained in…

A Brief History On May 30, 1972, a British far left terrorist group went on trial for conducting 25 bombings over the previous two years.  The soi-disant “Angry Brigade” saw eight of their members tried for the bombings, but only four of them were convicted.  In any case, the trial was the end of the cleverly named group. Digging Deeper Targets of the Angry Brigade included banks, embassies, conservative politicians, and even a beauty contest.  Luckily, no one was killed in the bombings, although one person was injured.  At least two people were the subject of assassination attempts by the…

A Brief History On May 29, 1945, the Consolidated B-32 Dominator, an American heavy bomber, made its first combat flight.  First flown in 1942 and on active duty in January of 1945, the B-32 was an alternative to the Boeing B-29 Superfortress in case the B-29 did not work. Digging Deeper A development based on the B-24 Liberator, the B-32 used the same engines as the B-29 and had retractable gun turrets bristling with 10 .50 caliber machine guns for defense.  Also proposed were rear facing 20 mm cannons in the engine nacelles.  The pressurized cabin never worked, a major…

A Brief History On May 28, 2016, animal lovers were subjected to the horror of a zoo worker from the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden shooting a beloved adult male gorilla named Harambe to death.  A three year old boy had climbed into the gorilla exhibit and was scooped up by the big ape, causing fear that the boy would be harmed. Digging Deeper The mother of the subject child was at the zoo with perhaps four children and lost track of the boy who climbed into the gorilla exhibit.  Her inattention led numerous people to accuse her of causing…

A Brief History On May 27, 1975, a bus carrying 45 elderly women crashed in North Yorkshire, England at Dibble’s Bridge, resulting in the driver and 32 passengers killed and the other 13 occupants injured.  The accident was the worst motor vehicle accident in British history by number of fatalities. Digging Deeper The bus, called a coach in England, was a 1967 Bedford VAM5 taking the ladies on a day trip.  The driver was a substitute, and apparently the recently changed brakes had an issue that resulted in the bus being unable to slow down going downhill, causing the vehicle…