Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
February 7, 1996 British Airways (BA) supersonic airliner Concorde G-BOAD took only two hours, 52 minutes, and 59 seconds to fly between the United States and England. “British Concorde Sets Atlantic Speed Mark,” announced a headline in the Tampa Bay Times a couple of days later. This trip continues to hold the record as the... Continue Reading →
July 13, 1919 The first two-way air crossing of the Atlantic Ocean was completed by Major George Herbert Scott of the British Royal Air Force. The aircraft used for this crossing was the military airship R34, which had been built by the British engineering conglomerate William Beardmore and Company. On July 2, Scott -- along... 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 8, 2004 Queen Elizabeth II christened the transatlantic ocean liner RMS Queen Mary 2 in Southampton, England. Queen Mary 2 was the first major ocean liner built since Queen Elizabeth 2 in 1969, and she succeeded that earlier vessel as the Cunard Line’s flagship. “A steel-hulled behemoth, the Queen Mary 2 is the largest... 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 →
Katie Spotz completed a solo rowing crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, arriving at Guyana on South America’s northern mainland more than four months after departing from Senegal on the West African coast. In completing this ambitious journey of 2,817 nautical miles (5,217.1 kilometers), 22-year-old Spotz became the youngest person to row across an ocean solo.... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 