This Day in History on Vehicles - History and Headlines

October 25, 1999: Rich or Poor, People Find Wacky Ways to Die

By Major Dan on October 25, 2018 October 25, Sports, Travel, Vehicles

A Brief History On October 25, 1999, American golfing professional Payne Stewart was on a Learjet chartered to fly from Florida to Texas, when the jet apparently lost pressurization (air rapidly leaked out of the plane) causing all on board, including the pilots, to pass out. Or the jet failed to ever properly pressurize in the first place. The pilot-less jet continued on a 1500 mile flight with no one on board regaining consciousness. When the jet ran out of fuel over South Dakota, it fell uncontrolled out of the sky and crashed. All aboard the Learjet were dead, probably…

September 29, 1990: First Flight of the YF-22 Raptor, A Step in the Life of a Troubled Aircraft

By Major Dan on September 29, 2018 Military, September 29, Vehicles

A Brief History On September 29, 1990, the prototype jet fighter plane designated YF-22 Raptor, built by a powerful consortium of American airplane manufacturers, Lockheed, Boeing and General Dynamics, made its maiden flight. The F-22 stealth fighter program was designed to give our Air Force the finest and stealthiest fighter jet ever built, and of course, this complexity came at a price both in time and money. At the time of its first flight, the YF-22 was still known as the “Lightning II” in memory of the World War II workhorse, the Lockheed P-38 Lightning. Its name was officially changed…

August 15, 1914: What Was the First Ship Through the Panama Canal?

By Major Dan on August 15, 2018 August 15, Inventions, Travel, Vehicles

A Brief History On August 15, 1914, the Panama Canal was opened for traffic, with the SS Ancon making the first transit of the great canal. Constructed from 1904 to 1914 by the United States, a previous French attempt at building the canal from 1881 to 1894 failed miserably, with thousands of workers killed by disease and venomous snakes, a rate of fatalities that reached 200 per month. Despite an asking price of $100 million dollars, the US was able to purchase the rights to the canal project for only $40 million. Completion of the canal became a great source…

August 7, 1679: What Was the First Real Ship to Sail the Great Lakes?

By Major Dan on August 7, 2018 August 7, Travel, Vehicles

A Brief History On August 7, 1679, a small ship named Le Griffon (The Griffon) that had been built under the direction of famous explorer of the New World René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, was towed to a point on the Niagara River from which it became the first European sailing vessel worthy of the designation “ship” to ever sail the Great Lakes. As the Great Lakes Region Native Americans did not build sailing vessels, Le Griffon was by default the first ship of any origin to sail the Upper Great Lakes. European explorers had brought sail technology to…

August 5, 1620: The Ship that Did Not Become Famous

By Major Dan on August 5, 2018 August 5, Religion, Travel, Vehicles

A Brief History On August 5, 1620, 2 small English sailing ships left Southampton Water in England on a trip to the New World, carrying a group of Puritans seeking a land where they could practice their brand of religion without interference. The larger of the 2 ships, the Mayflower, has gone down in history as one of the most famous ships in the English speaking world, while the other, the Speedwell, became an historical afterthought. On July 22, 1620, the pinnace Speedwell left Delfshaven, now part of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, with a cargo of English Pilgrims bound for…

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