Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
June 4, 1910 Christopher Cockerell, who would achieve fame as the inventor of the hovercraft, was born in the city of Cambridge, England. He studied mechanical engineering at Peterhouse, a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Cockerell later pursued studies in both radio and electronics at the University of Cambridge. In 1935, Cockerell began... Continue Reading →
June 3, 2011 A major bus station in Osijek, one of the largest cities in the Republic of Croatia, made its public debut. Construction on Osijek bus station began in 2007. This station was officially opened by Vladimir Šeks (born in 1943), who was serving at the time as deputy speaker of the Croatian Parliament... Continue Reading →
June 1, 1982 A little over two months before the Helsinki Metro was officially inaugurated, Hakaniemi station became one of a few stations of that rapid transit system to be opened to the public for test drives of trains during the morning and afternoon rush hours. Hakaniemi station is named for an area within the... Continue Reading →
May 19, 1988 A box girder bridge off the western coast of France was officially opened. This 9,601-foot (2,926.5-meter) structure serves as a pivotal link between Ȋle de Ré, a French island in the Atlantic Ocean; and La Rocehelle, a city on France’s mainland. The Ȋle de Ré Bridge was designed by structural engineer Michel... Continue Reading →
May 18, 2007 The Puch Bridge in northeastern Slovenia was officially opened for traffic. This structure crosses the Drava River in the town of Ptuj. The bridge was named after Johann Puch (1862-1914), a Slovene inventor and mechanic who established himself as a prolific and even pacesetting manufacturer of bicycles, motorcycles, automobiles, buses, and trucks.... Continue Reading →
May 12, 1937 Beryl Burton, who became a prominent racing cyclist, was born Beryl Charnock in the Halton district of the English city of Leeds. She would spend most of her life in Morley, a market town and civil parish within Leeds. It was her husband Charles Burton who introduced her to the world of... Continue Reading →
May 5, 1991 In northern Italy’s administrative region of Emilia-Romagna, an airport located a mile-and-a-half (2.4 kilometers) from the city of Parma was officially opened. This civil airport was built on the site of an airfield that had existed there as far back as 1923. Regularly scheduled flights at the airport began on the same... Continue Reading →
May 4, 1724 In central France, an arch bridge in the present-day prefecture and commune of Blois was formally opened. The structure, which spans the Loire river, was built to replace a stone bridge that dated back to the 11th century and destroyed by massive ice floes in February 1716. Construction on the replacement bridge... Continue Reading →
April 28, 1978 Operations began for Adenauerplatz station, a part of the line that is designated as U7 and within the rapid transit system known as the Berlin U.Bahn. This station was built in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorft, a borough of what was then West Berlin. West Berlin was a political enclave in the western area of the... Continue Reading →
April 27, 1922 Sheila Scott, who would break more than 100 aviation records, was born in the cathedral city of Worcester in central England. Prior to her pursuit of flying, she worked in such varied fields as nursing and acting. Scott learned how to fly in 1958. After nine months of training, she began to... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 