A Brief History On March 11, 1916, the United States Navy commissioned its first “Super-Dreadnaught” modern battleship, the USS Nevada BB-36. Named after the State of Nevada, the USS Nevada was the first of a 2 ship class, the other ship being the USS Oklahoma BB-37. Digging Deeper By 1911, the navies of the world had progressed past the “Dreadnaught” state of battleship construction (1906) to the “Super-Dreadnaught” evolutionary stage with the advent of the British Orion class battleships. The US immediately countered with the New York class battleship, with 14 inch main guns to match those of Japan and…
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A Brief History On March 10, 1978, the Dassault Mirage 2000 fighter bomber made its first flight. This lightweight, multi-role, single engine jet fighter would go on to serve as the backbone of the French Air Force fighters and also with 8 other countries. Digging Deeper Produced from 1978 to 2007, just over 600 of these jets were built at a cost of about $23 million each. The Mirage 2000 is an evolutionary heir to the Mirage III, and the basis for development of the larger, heavier, twin engine Mirage 4000. The Mirage 2000 is more or less the French…
A Brief History On March 9, 1961, the Soviet space agency launched Korabl-Sputnik 9, a space craft containing Ivan Ivanovich and his pets, into space and into low Earth orbit. Digging Deeper Not ready to try their space capsule with a real person, Ivan the Cosmonaut was actually a mannequin, though his “pets,” a guinea pig, some mice, and a dog named Chemushka, were real living critters. Launched atop a Vostok-K rocket from the Baikonor Cosmodrome, the Sputnik made only 1 orbit (which was the plan) before it was intentionally brought back into reentry. During reentry, Ivan Ivanovich was ejected…
A Brief History On March 6, 1899, the German chemical and pharmaceutical firm, Bayer AG, (the people that brought us “Heroin”) trademarked perhaps their greatest product, and perhaps the greatest medicine ever invented, Aspirin. Digging Deeper Founded by Friedrich Bayer and Johann Weskott in 1863, the big breakthrough for the company was the production of acetylsalicylic acid, the refinement of an age old remedy made from the bark of willow trees. Salicylic acid and various salicylate compounds from willow and other plants had been used for millennia to treat fever and other illnesses. Frenchman Charles Gerhardt had invented aspirin in…
A Brief History On March 5, 1936, the fighter airplane that has been called the most beautiful plane of all time made its first flight. The Supermarine Spitfire British single engine single seat fighter would go on to be refined in time for World War II where constant updates allowed it to reign supreme, as quite possibly the finest fighter plane of World War II. Digging Deeper Introduced into active service in 1938, Spitfires served until 1961 with the Irish Air Corps, after having served not only the British RAF, but also 35 other air forces, including the United States…