Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
September 21, 2007 The multi-purpose, single-engine helicopter Alouette III was formally retired from service with the Irish Air Corps. Over the course of more than four decades, a total of eight of these helicopters had been used by the Irish Air Corps for various high-priority tasks. The Irish Air Corps, which traces its origins to... Continue Reading →
September 20, 1909 A lighthouse on Pengjia Islet, a volcanic island that is about 38 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of the northern tip of Taiwan, first went into service. The Pengjia Lighthouse was built in response to a large number of shipwrecks in that region of the Pacific Ocean at the time and the consequent... Continue Reading →
September 19, 1783 The Montgolfier brothers launched a duck, a sheep, and a rooster up into the air . . . While this might seem to be either something straight out of a Mother Goose tale or the setup for a bad joke, that is exactly what happened when aviation pioneers Joseph-Michel Montgolfier and Jacques-... Continue Reading →
September 16, 1956 A newly built lighthouse first went into service in the Tuscany region of central Italy. This lighthouse is located at the south entrance of the port of the city of Livorno, which is on the coast of the Ligurian Sea (an arm of the Mediterranean Sea). The Port of Livorno is the... Continue Reading →
During a career in the U.S. Navy that spanned nearly four decades, Mery-Angela Sanbria Katson firmly established herself as a trailblazer in that military branch. Katson had been born in Colombia’s capital city of Bogota. In 1970, Katson immigrated with her family to the United States. They ended up residing in the city of New... Continue Reading →
September 14, 2010 On southwestern India’s Malabar Coast, the first segment of a road in the seaport city of Kollam in the state of Kerala was formally dedicated. This road in Kollam’s neighborhood of Asramam was developed to help reduce traffic congestion in the nearby section of Chinnakada. One of the busiest parts of Kerala,... Continue Reading →
September 13, 1964 In southeastern Australia, a regional airport in the state of New South Wales (NSW) was opened to the public. This airport is located 2.3 miles (3.7 kilometers) northeast of the NSW city of Albury, which is on NSW’s border with the neighboring state of Victoria. Albury Airport serves not only its namesake... Continue Reading →
September 12, 1889 George T. McCoy, whose legacy includes service as both a state highway engineer of California and the 42nd president of AASHO (now known as AASHTO), was born at a stock ranch in Milton, Oregon. Along with helping to herd cattle and horses on that ranch during his youth, McCoy also found time... Continue Reading →
September 9, 1966 President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law both the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act and the Highway Safety Act during a ceremony in the Rose Garden at the White House. Approximately 200 people were on hand for the ceremony, which began at around 1:00 p.m. These attendees included Ralph Nader,... Continue Reading →
September 8, 1955 After four years of construction, a steel tied-arch bridge in the city of Wheeling in West Virginia’s Northern Panhandle was officially opened. This four-lane bridge crosses a section of the Ohio River between Wheeling Island (within that city’s boundaries) and downtown Wheeling. (This city – the fifth largest in West Virginia –... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 