A Brief History On February 25, 1836, Samuel Colt of Hartford Connecticut made good on the “All men are created equal” theme by making sure they stayed that way. Colt did this by patenting his famous revolving cylinder pistol. Digging Deeper The revolving pistol was not a new concept, and previous efforts using flint lock pistols were attempted with uneven results. The loose powder in the pan of a flintlock made “chain firing” all too possible and keeping the powder in the pan as the cylinder rotated was also difficult at best. Once the percussion cap was invented and reached…
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A Brief History On February 23, 2008, a US Air Force B-2 “Spirit” bomber crashed while attempting a take-off on the runway at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. The stealth jet bomber was totally destroyed, but the 2 man crew safely ejected. The B-2 bomber is far and away the most expensive airplane ever built, costing somewhere between $1 billion and $2.1 billion apiece, depending on how you account for the price per aircraft. Digging Deeper The most modern bomber in the world, and the only large “stealth” aircraft, the Northrup Grumman B-2 is not all that new, having…
A Brief History On February 21, 1945, while supporting the US invasion of Iwo Jima in the Pacific, the US aircraft carrier USS Saratoga (CV-3) was struck by 3 Japanese suicide planes known as Kamikaze. Not only did Saratoga survive those devastating hits, she was also hit by 5 aerial bombs, and suffered extensive damage, 123 men dead and 192 wounded. Thirty-six of her 70 aircraft were destroyed, and the battle was not yet over! Digging Deeper Only 2 hours later, the Japanese returned for another attack on the stricken ship, and Saratoga was hit again, and again refused to go…
A Brief History On February 18, 2001, a nation of racing car fans was stunned when the biggest current star of NASCAR stock car racing, Dale Earnhardt, died in a high speed crash into a wall at the Daytona 500, the premier race of NASCAR. Digging Deeper Known as “The Intimidator” for his aggressive racing style, Earnhardt was born Ralph Dale Earnhardt (later Sr.) in 1951. Winner of the 1998 Daytona 500 and tied with Richard Petty with a record 7 Winston Cup Championships in 1994 (later tied in 2016). Dale Sr. also added 4 IROC Championships to his list…
A Brief History On February 16, 1937, Wallace Carothers, chemist for DuPont, patented the synthetic polymer based plastic known to us as Nylon. Used as a fiber in clothing, tents, parachutes, stockings and every conceivable application, it is also used as a solid plastic as in bristles for toothbrushes (the original product), hairbrushes, car parts, household items, musical instrument strings, bullet jackets, flak jacket armor cloth, small and large gears, tire cord, Velcro tape, carpet, rope, gun stocks, fishing line and on ad infinitum! Nylon fiber is also often used to reinforce natural fibers in cloth. Digging Deeper Ranking with…