Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
May 6, 1994 The Channel Tunnel, running beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover and linking the port town of Folkestone in southeastern England with the commune of Coquelles in northern France, was officially opened. (“England and France, Now a Train Trip,” proclaimed a headline in the New York Times.) The 31.35-mile (50.45-kilometer)-long tunnel,... Continue Reading →
November 29, 1882 Aviation pioneer Henri Fabre was born in the French city of Marseille. Fabre’s advanced knowledge of science early on in life helped foster his powerful interest in human flight. With unmatched intensity, he studied and developed designs for planes and propellers. The result of Fabre’s efforts was his creation of the first... Continue Reading →
October 18, 1909 The aristocrat known as Charles, Count de Lambert became the first person to fly over the French capital city of Paris in a plane. He quickly gained worldwide attention for this achievement. “Great Record in Air,” proclaimed a headline in the next day’s edition of the New York-based Buffalo Express. De Lambert,... Continue Reading →
June 28, 1939 Ushering in a new age of scheduled transatlantic passenger airplane service, the Dixie Clipper “flying boat” made its first run along Pan Am Airways’ newly established route between New York and Marseilles, France, via the South Atlantic Ocean. This long-range aircraft was one of several produced by the Boeing Airplane Company between... Continue Reading →
Aviation pioneer Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly across the English Channel. The Michigan-born pilot departed Dover, England, for Calais, France, in a monoplane that she had never flown before and with a compass she had just recently learned to use. Quimby, despite those challenges as well as thick fog that limited visibility... Continue Reading →
The salvage tugboat Abeille Bourbon was launched at the city of Brest on the western edge of France. Abeille Bourbon is owned by Les Abeilles International, a unit of the shipping company Groupe Bourbon, and was chartered to the French Navy for use as a deep-sea emergency tow vessel. The yacht-like Abeille Bourbon was designed... Continue Reading →
French civil engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, who achieved international renown for creating the landmark tower bearing his name but also carved out a substantive legacy in transportation, died in Paris at the age of 91. He was listening to Beethoven’s 5th Symphony at the time. “Although Eiffel was known to America principally for the tower... Continue Reading →
In southeast France, Emil Jellinek took delivery of a pioneering type of automobile at a railway station in the city of Nice. The German-born Jellinek was a longtime Vienna native who first lived in Nice as an Austrian diplomat. After his diplomatic career came to an end, Jellinek continued to spend a great deal of... Continue Reading →
A new pedestrian-and-bicycle bridge crossing the river Rhône and representing intercultural harmony was completed in Lyon, France. The Passerelle de la Paix (Peace Bridge) had been commissioned by the Urban Community of Lyon (also known as Grand Lyon) – a government subdivision within east-central France that was reorganized as the Metropolis of Lyon in 2015... Continue Reading →
A French crew of 14 sailors on board the vessel Banque Populaire V began an ambitious round-the-world voyage. The voyage was undertaken to win the Jules Verne Trophy for the fastest circumnavigation of the globe by a yacht. Starting in 1993, the Jules Verne Trophy – named for the acclaimed French writer whose works included... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 