Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
October 4, 2008 In India’s western peninsular region, an upgraded version of a domestic airport serving the city of Nanded in the state of Maharashtra was formally inaugurated. This airport is named after Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708), who was born in present-day Patna City in the state of Bihar in eastern India. He succeeded his... Continue Reading →
September 25, 2009 In the northernmost region of Norway, a terminal at the airport serving the town and municipality of Alta was officially inaugurated. This dedication ceremony took place a little over a month after the terminal had first been opened for public use. Alta Airport first went into service on May 4, 1963, with... Continue Reading →
September 21, 1969 In the southeast corner of Minnesota, a public use airport in Houston County was officially dedicated. Houston County Airport is located three miles (five kilometers) south of the central business district of the city of Caledonia, which serves as that county’s seat. The public officials attending the dedication ceremony for the airport... Continue Reading →
As a soldier in the Massachusetts National Guard (the Bay State’s component of the U.S. Army National Guard), Marisol A. Chalas achieved an aviation milestone by becoming the first Latina in the entire National Guard to pilot a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. (That longtime four-blade, twin-engine utility helicopter is manufactured for the Army by the... Continue Reading →
September 5, 1862 English meteorologists James Glaisher (1809-1903) and Henry Tracey Coxwell (1819-1900) set a new record in altitude for human flights when they soared in a balloon far above Stafford Road Gasworks in the then-borough of Wolverhampton, England. The intent of that flight was to examine what happened to water vapor as it rose into... Continue Reading →
August 29, 1931 New Haven Municipal Airport in south-central Connecticut was formally opened to great fanfare. This public airport is three miles (4.8 kilometers) southeast east of the downtown section of the city of New Haven. Groundbreaking ceremonies for this airport had taken place on November 11, 1929. The Hartford Courant featured a front-page article... Continue Reading →
August 16, 1974 In the Republic of South Africa, Lanseria International Airport in the province of Gauteng was officially opened. This airport is located to the northwest of Johannesburg, the largest city in South Africa. Those taking part in the inauguration of Lanseria International Airport included Hannes Rall, the county’s minister of transport at that... Continue Reading →
August 2, 1889 Charles Terres Weymann, who earned international fame for his achievements involving two modes of transportation, was born in Haiti’s capital city of Port-au-Prince. He was the son of a Haitian mother and American father. Just a few years after the Wright Brothers’ pioneering flight at Kitty Hawk, Weymann learned how to operate... Continue Reading →
July 28, 2006 In the Republic of Ecuador, the inaugural flight at a terminal for an international airport took place. This airport is located three miles (five kilometers) north of the central part of Guayaquil, which is second only to the Ecuadorian capital of Quito as the country’s largest city. (Guayaquil also has the distinction... Continue Reading →
July 17, 1962 A new aviation record was set when U.S. Air Force (USAF) Major Robert M. White piloted a rocket-powered North American X-15 aircraft to an altitude of 59.6 miles (95.9 kilometers) above Earth. White’s trek up that far into the sky began with a bomber dropping his aircraft over Nevada. By subsequently zooming as... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 