Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
Trailblazing airline pilot Linda Pauwels was born Linda Pfeiffer in San Pedro, a city in Argentina’s Province of Buenos Aires, in 1963. She was the daughter of Mabel Gaspard Pfeiffer, a native Argentinian who worked as a schoolteacher; and Jerzy “Jorge” Pfeiffer, a Polish-born naturalized Argentine citizen. Pauwels was only six years old when her... Continue Reading →
September 16, 1946 In the aftermath of World War II, the airline Aerolinee Italiane Internazionali was formally instituted in Rome. “British European Airways and the Italian Institute for Industrial Reconstruction signed an agreement today establishing a new British-Italian airline to be called the ‘Italian International Airlines,’” reported the Associated Press. “At the start the line... Continue Reading →
April 16, 2003 In Argentina, a major portion of the east-west road known as National Route 7 was opened to traffic in the province of San Luis. San Luis is located near that South American country’s geographical center, and the portion of National Route 7 that was built within the province is 137 miles (221... Continue Reading →
December 19, 1918 Construction began on a lighthouse within the region of Tierra del Fuego that is part of Argentina. Les Eclaireurs Lighthouse was specifically built on an islet in the Beagle Channel as a navigational aid for vessels sailing to and from Ushuaia, which is one of the world’s southernmost cities. The islet where... Continue Reading →
August 15, 1889 Argentine aviation pioneer Carolina (Carola) Elena Lorenzini was born in Buenos Aires. She became a tremendously gifted athlete whose wide range of pursuits included rowing, cycling, tennis, hockey, horseback riding, and track and field. It was flying, though, that ultimately became Lorenzini’s greatest passion. In 1933, Lorenzini began taking flight lessons at... Continue Reading →
The Argentine Navy ship ARA Buenos Aires was launched. The vessel, which Marine Engineer magazine characterized at the time as “a very remarkable cruiser,” was built by British manufacturer Armstrong, Mitchell & Co. Ltd. The launch of the Buenos Aires took place at the company’s shipyard in the city of Newcastle in northeastern England. “She... Continue Reading →
After more than a half-century of service with the Argentine Navy, the vessel ARA Almirante Brown (Admiral Brown) was decommissioned. ARA Almirante Brown had been built by the British shipbuilding firm Samuda Brothers and launched in 1880. Maria Josefa Martinez de Hoz, whose husband Carlos Casares was a prominent rancher and politician who had recently... Continue Reading →
A new viaduct was completed in northwestern Argentina’s Salta Province as a key part of the Salta-Antofagasta Railway (also known as the Huaytiquina Railway). La Polvorilla Viaduct, which measures about 70 meters (229 feet) in height, took two years to build near the city of Salta and became the tallest of the railway’s 11 viaducts.... Continue Reading →
The cargo ship ARA Canal Beagle was launched in Buenos Aires. She was named after the Beagle Channel, a strait in Tierra del Fuego (an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland). Canal Beagle was the first of three Costa Sur-class cargo ships built for the Argentine Navy to replace increasingly obsolete... Continue Reading →
The Buenos Aires Western Railway was inaugurated in what was then the State of Buenos Aires. This railway was the first one to be built anywhere in present-day Argentina and helped set the stage over the next several decades for an extensive public transit network in that part of the world. (The republic known as... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 