Browsing: Vehicles

A Brief History On December 3, 2005, Dick Rutan, record breaking aviator, became the first man to pilot a rocket powered airplane to deliver US Mail when he flew an XCOR Aerospace E-Z Rocket from Mojave, California to California City (both cities in the County of Kern). Digging Deeper Various forms of “email” have been around since the 1960’s, but when email joined forces with the Internet old fashioned paper letters became “snail mail.” Actually, the term snail mail was first used as far back as 1942 and numerous times since, usually as a derisive complaint about how long it…

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A Brief History On November 14, 1941, British Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal sunk after being torpedoed by a German U-boat (submarine) the day before. The Aircraft carrier would replace the battleship as the capital ship of each fleet during World War II, but the little submarine, with a crew of only a few dozen compared to the 1500-2500 men on a battleship or aircraft carrier could sink either of those monstrous and monstrously expensive ships. Digging Deeper When we think of World War II submarine warfare, we usually think in terms of German U-boats sweeping the Atlantic…

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A Brief History On November 5, 1895, an unlikely candidate from Rochester, New York became the first American to patent an automobile. George Selden was actually an attorney that loved to dabble in his workshop. The son of an attorney that represented suffragist Susan B. Anthony, Selden’s attorney work included representing George Eastman (the Kodak camera guy) in patent matters. Selden also patented a typewriter and a hoop making machine. Digging Deeper Selden was intrigued by the internal combustion engine displayed at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia (built by George Brayton… Is everyone in this story named George???) The…

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A Brief History On November 1, 1944, the first of what would end up to be thousands of missions by the famous Boeing B-29 Superfortress flew over Tokyo, Japan on a reconnaissance mission, the first allied aircraft over Tokyo since the 1942 Doolittle Raid.   The aircraft was a special photo-reconnaissance version of the big bomber, equipped with 3 powerful cameras. Unlike many other warplanes fitted for reconnaissance, the F-13 and F-13A versions of the B-29 retained their defensive guns and bombing equipment. The 118 F-13 and F-13A Superfortresses were later re-designated RB-29 and RB-29A in 1948. Digging Deeper Although military…

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A Brief History On October 23, 1911, during the Italo-Turkish War, history saw the first use of airplanes for warfare purposes when an Italian airplane flew over Turkish positions as the first aerial reconnaissance mission by an airplane in history. Only 9 days later, on November 1, 1911, an Italian airplane dropped a bomb on Turkish troops, the first aerial bombardment in history. During this same conflict Italian pilots fired the first shots in anger from these planes, but only from pistols. All three of these milestones occurred in what is now Libya. Digging Deeper The aircraft involved was an…

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