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…
Browsing: Vehicles
Read More
A Brief History On May 26, 2002, Interstate highway I-40 in Oklahoma was the scene of a disaster when barges towed on the Arkansas River struck a support pier on a bridge, crashing it to the water and killing 14 people. Another 11 people were injured in the wreck. Digging Deeper The captain of the towboat pulling the barges suffered a fainting spell, leading to the accident. Eight passenger cars and three semi-trucks fell into the water. Some other major Interstate highway disasters include: A church bus on I-71 in Kentucky was struck head on by a drunk driver in…
A Brief History On May 23, 1939, the submarine USS Squalus demonstrated the dangers faced by submarine sailors even in peacetime. Squalus was commissioned in March of 1939, with a length of 310 feet and a normal crew of five officers and 54 enlisted men. Digging Deeper With four bow torpedo tubes and four more aft, Squalus was a formidable warrior, boasting a 3-inch gun and four machine guns. After completing a series of test dives, Squalus once again dove on May 23, 1939, and suffered the catastrophic failure of her fresh air intake valve, partly flooding the sub, drowning 26 men…
A Brief History On May 21, 2005, Six Flags Great Adventure became home to the tallest roller coaster in the world. Called Kingda Ka, the 456 foot tall steel ride eclipsed Ohio’s Cedar Point’s Top Thrill Dragster for the height crown, and boasted a top speed of 128 miles per hour to boot! Digging Deeper The world of roller coasters is not stagnant, and the title of the fastest coaster today is held by Formula Rossa in Abu Dhabi, with a top speed of 149 MPH! At 1.29 miles, Formula Rossa is the second longest coaster, beaten by Steel Dragon’s…
A Brief History On May 20, 1927, Charles Lindbergh took off on his non-stop, solo trans-Atlantic flight, a flight into aviation history. Five years later, in 1932, Amelia Earhart took off on her flight as the first female pilot to fly non-stop solo across the Atlantic. Digging Deeper Numerous great aviation milestones have been achieved, including around the world flights, solar powered flights, altitude and speed records, and other great feats of aviation skill and technology. We wonder what the next great aviation milestones are going to be, or even should be, and we nominate a few of those here:…