A Brief History On September 26, 2008, Yves Rossy, a Swiss former military pilot and aviation inventor, completed an aviation first by flying a jet powered wing across the English Channel. Digging Deeper A fighter pilot for the Swiss Air Force and then an airliner pilot of 747 Jumbo Jets, Rossy later invented and experimented with a variety of man portable flying machines, basically jet pack type rigs and developing carbon fiber wings mounted on his own body. Rossy’s “jet wingpack” consists of a special suit that incorporates a carbon wing of 7.9 feet and four tiny jet engines for…
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A Brief History On September 24, 1929, American hero, James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle made aviation history by becoming the first pilot to take off, fly and land an airplane with no visual contact with the outside, proving that flying “blind” with instruments only was possible. Digging Deeper You may be aware of Doolittle’s most famous exploit, his leading a raid of 16 B-25 bombers off the carrier USS Hornet to bomb Japan in 1942, which earned him the Medal of Honor. Doolittle became an Army pilot during World War I, and between the wars he became a test pilot and…
A Brief History On September 19, 1982, Professor Scott Fahlman at Carnegie Mellon University, posted on the school’s bulletin board the first documented emoticons, the simple use of a colon, a dash and either a right or left facing curved bracket, indicating a “Happy Face” or a “Sad Face.” Digging Deeper Born in Medina, Ohio back in 1948, Fahlman is now a Professor Emeritus at Carnegie Mellon and has a long career in academia and in the private sector developing computer languages and software. His studies at MIT included Artificial Intelligence, pioneering work in the field. The idea of “emoticons”…
A Brief History On September 18, 1928, Spanish engineer and pilot Juan de la Cierva made a bit of obscure aviation history by becoming the first person to fly an autogyro successfully across the English Channel. Digging Deeper The humble autogyro is one of the oddest flying machines still being used, with an unpowered rotating rotor on top making it look deceptively like a helicopter and a pusher propeller located in the back to provide forward thrust. As the autogiro moves forward, the top rotor turns and supplies lift. Not surprisingly, de la Cierva was the inventor of this wild…
A Brief History On September 13, 1899, New Yorker Henry Bliss, age 69, stepped off a trolley car near Central Park and was promptly struck by an electric automobile, a taxicab in fact, leading to the death of Bliss the following day. Bliss became the first pedestrian traffic fatality in the United States, and of course, the first person killed by an electric automobile. Digging Deeper The driver of the cab was acquitted of manslaughter in court. An odd connection to this tragedy is the stepdaughter of Bliss was later tried and acquitted for the murder of Bliss’s ex-wife by…