Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
May 8, 1913 Two U.S. Navy aviators undertook a record-setting plane flight that began in Washington, D.C. These men were 28-year-old Lieutenant John Henry Towers, chief of the fledgling Naval Aviation Corps that was based at a camp near the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland; and 24-year-old Ensign Godfrey de Courcelles Chevalier, a student... Continue Reading →
April 27, 1952 The airborne ambulance service known today as Rega -- and also called Swiss Air-Rescue -- was established during the ninth annual meeting of the Swiss Rescue Association (SRA). The SRA delegates in attendance at that meeting, which took place in the municipality of Twann in west-central Switzerland, formally approved creating the Swiss... Continue Reading →
August 5, 1939 In the Canadian province of British Columbia, a regional airport built six miles (nine kilometers) northwest of the city of Kamloops was officially opened. Kamloops Airport was widely seen at the time as a facility that would become a pivotal link in the province’s airways network. “Kamloops Becomes Aerial Crossroads,” stated a... Continue Reading →
June 17, 1928 Aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart was among those departing on a plane from Trepassey Harbor at Newfoundland for what would be a pioneering flight across the Atlantic Ocean. Wilmer Stultz was the pilot of that plane, a Fokker F.VIIb/3m aircraft known as the Friendship, and Lou Gordon was on board as the co-pilot... Continue Reading →
January 10, 1910 The first major airshow in the United States -- as well as one of the earliest airshows worldwide -- made its debut at Dominguez Field in Los Angeles County, California. Approximately 254,000 spectators turned out for the 10-day extravaganza, which was characterized by the Los Angeles Times as “one of the greatest public... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 