Browsing: Science & Technology

A Brief History On May 29, 1945, the Consolidated B-32 Dominator, an American heavy bomber, made its first combat flight.  First flown in 1942 and on active duty in January of 1945, the B-32 was an alternative to the Boeing B-29 Superfortress in case the B-29 did not work. Digging Deeper A development based on the B-24 Liberator, the B-32 used the same engines as the B-29 and had retractable gun turrets bristling with 10 .50 caliber machine guns for defense.  Also proposed were rear facing 20 mm cannons in the engine nacelles.  The pressurized cabin never worked, a major…

A Brief History On May 28, 2016, animal lovers were subjected to the horror of a zoo worker from the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden shooting a beloved adult male gorilla named Harambe to death.  A three year old boy had climbed into the gorilla exhibit and was scooped up by the big ape, causing fear that the boy would be harmed. Digging Deeper The mother of the subject child was at the zoo with perhaps four children and lost track of the boy who climbed into the gorilla exhibit.  Her inattention led numerous people to accuse her of causing…

A Brief History On May 27, 1975, a bus carrying 45 elderly women crashed in North Yorkshire, England at Dibble’s Bridge, resulting in the driver and 32 passengers killed and the other 13 occupants injured.  The accident was the worst motor vehicle accident in British history by number of fatalities. Digging Deeper The bus, called a coach in England, was a 1967 Bedford VAM5 taking the ladies on a day trip.  The driver was a substitute, and apparently the recently changed brakes had an issue that resulted in the bus being unable to slow down going downhill, causing the vehicle…

A Brief History On May 26, 2002, Interstate highway I-40 in Oklahoma was the scene of a disaster when barges towed on the Arkansas River struck a support pier on a bridge, crashing it to the water and killing 14 people.  Another 11 people were injured in the wreck. Digging Deeper The captain of the towboat pulling the barges suffered a fainting spell, leading to the accident.  Eight passenger cars and three semi-trucks fell into the water.  Some other major Interstate highway disasters include: A church bus on I-71 in Kentucky was struck head on by a drunk driver in…

A Brief History On May 25, 2001, American mountain climber, adventurer, author, and speaker, Erik Weihenmayer, became the first blind person to reach the top of Mt. Everest in Nepal.  A year later, he added to his collection of fantastic feats by becoming the 150th person to scale each of the “Seven Summits,” the tallest mountain on each of the continents. Digging Deeper Weihenmayer suffered from a degenerative eye disease as a child, resulting in his vision loss by his teen years.  A high school wrestler, he also began rock climbing, graduated from Boston College, and became a teacher while…