A Brief History On January 30, 1959, the Danish ocean liner, MS Hans Hedtoft, was on the return leg of its maiden voyage when it struck an iceberg off the coast of Greenland and sunk, the only trace of the ship ever being found was a single lifebelt that washed ashore. Digging Deeper In an eerie coincidence, like the RMS Titanic of 1912, the Hans Hedtoft was considered extremely safe, with a double hull, armored bow for ice breaking, and 7 watertight compartments. Designed for service on the Denmark-Greenland run, she was built for hard duty in dangerous seas. She…
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A Brief History On January 18, 2005, Airbus, the European maker of jetliners, unveiled its flagship jetliner, the A380, the largest passenger plane ever built. How big is it? The A380 has over 40% more available floor space than a Boeing 747! Digging Deeper After the big jet’s unveiling at Toulouse, France, it made its first flight in April of 2005. By October 25, 2007, the A380 entered active service with Singapore Airlines and is currently used by Singapore, Lufthansa, Emirates, Air France, British Airways, Thai Airways, Korean Air, Asiana Airlines, China Southern Airways, Etihad Airways, Malaysia, and Qantas Airways. …
A Brief History On January 14, 1950, the MiG-17 Soviet jet fighter made its first flight, a plane that would go on to become the 3rd most produced jet fighter in aviation history. (With 11,060 built, only the MiG-15 and MiG-21 outnumbered it.) Digging Deeper A single engine high subsonic fighter, the MiG-17 was known by its NATO designation Fresco. It was basically an upgraded MiG-15, simple, rugged, reliable, and packing a punch of 2 X 23 mm cannons and 1 X 37 mm cannon, heavier armament than the 6 X .50 caliber machine guns typically found on early US…
A Brief History On January 13, 1942, automobile pioneer and magnate Henry Ford of the Ford Motor Company patented the plastic automobile. This innovative car was built mostly of soybean derived plastics around a tubular metal frame, and for good measure ran on ethanol instead of gasoline! Digging Deeper Ford’s futuristic car was not built for production, but later cars would be made of fiberglass and plastic bodies (notably Corvette, Saturn, Lotus and Studebaker Avanti), and today we are seeing increased use of carbon fiber in auto construction. Henry Ford did not invent the automobile, but his innovations and aggressive…
A Brief History On January 8, 2004, the largest passenger ocean liner ever built was christened the RMS Queen Mary 2. Christened by the granddaughter of Queen Mary (of Teck, consort of King George V), the current Queen Elizabeth II, the ship is named “2” after the first RMS Queen Mary (1936-1967) that served the White Star Line and then the Cunard Line before becoming a tourist attraction in Long Beach, California. Digging Deeper Owned by Carnival Cruise Lines and operated by Cunard Lines, the massive vessel stretches 1132 feet long and has a beam of 135 feet (waterline). Towering…