A Brief History On June 25, 1923, Lt. John Richter and Capt. Lowell Smith of the US Army performed the first aerial refueling of an airplane in flight in their DH-4B. Here we list 10 groundbreaking (pun intended) aviation firsts, not necessarily the most important, but hopefully interesting ones. Digging Deeper 10. Sophie Blanchard, 1st Woman Aviation Fatality, 1819. Putting on an exhibition at the Tivoli Gardens in Paris, Blanchard was flying a Balloon and shooting fireworks, which predictably ignited the gas (hydrogen) in the balloon causing it to crash, killing Sophie. Blanchard was also the first woman balloonist and…
Browsing: Society
Read More
A Brief History On June 25, 1976, the Governor of Missouri, Christopher Bond, signed an executive order rescinding Executive Order 44, better known as “The Extermination Order.” Executive Order 44 had been issued by then Governor Lilburn Boggs (“Lilburn”???) ordering that a force of 400 mounted men be raised to “exterminate or be driven from the state” all Mormons (Latter Day Saints). Digging Deeper Governor Boggs (and many other Missourians) believed the Mormon religion and practices to be an abomination and them to be in open defiance of state laws. He further ordered the amount of men detailed to exterminate the Mormons…
A Brief History On Thursday, June 23, 2016, the voters in the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland) voted to leave the European Union, throwing the economies of the UK, Europe, Asia, and the United States into a tail spin. Voters were warned of grave consequences (travel inconvenience and economic) if they voted to leave, but the movement calling itself “Brexit” (Britain-Exit) successfully won the referendum to ditch Britain’s part in the EU. Digging Deeper US stocks fell sharply with the news, over 600 points off the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Other markets around the world suffered more…
A Brief History On June 23, 1973, British serial arsonist and murderer, Bruce George Peter Lee started a fire that killed a 6 year old boy, his first known victim. The fire, like the next 10 that followed was ruled accidental after investigations, and was not found to be arson and murder until Lee confessed after being caught for an 11th fire. Digging Deeper Born Peter Dinsdale in 1960, he had changed his name to Lee in honor of martial arts actor Bruce Lee. The son of a prostitute, Lee was born with a birth defect that left him lame…
A Brief History On June 22, 1893, the British battleship HMS Camperdown accidentally collided with the British battleship HMS Victoria off the coast of Lebanon. Digging Deeper Victoria was the flagship of the British Mediterranean fleet, the most powerful fleet in that sea and as such carried Vice Admiral Sir George Tryon. These 2 ships were 2 of the most powerful ships in the world, launched in 1885 and 1887 respectively. They were engaged in maneuvers and using the tactics of using an absolute minimum amount of signaling between ships. Remember, back then there was no radio, so ships used signal flags, semaphore or blinking…