Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
As a longtime businessman and civic leader in the city of Portland in Oregon, Bill Naito became a strong champion of public transportation initiatives in that part of the world. He was born in Portland on September 16, 1925, to Hide and Fukiye Naito, who had immigrated to the United States from Japan in 1912.... Continue Reading →
May 16, 1961 Automotive manufacturer Richard J. Corbitt died in Henderson, North Carolina, at the age of 88. Corbitt had first established residence in that community in 1894, and he entered the transportation business five years later with the launch of the Corbitt Buggy Company. For several years, this company built horse-drawn buggies for hauling agricultural... Continue Reading →
August 16, 1928 San Diego Municipal Airport-Lindbergh Field was dedicated. The construction of this California-based airport, made possible by a bond issue passed by the city government of San Diego, had been inspired in large part by Charles Lindbergh’s historic solo transatlantic flight the previous year. The site of the new facility was near the airstrip... Continue Reading →
July 21, 1941 The basic infrastructure for a U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) airfield in southern California was completed as part of a rapid-construction project. This infrastructure included runways, airplane hangars, and a control tower for the recently designated airfield, which was located nine miles (14.5 kilometers) southeast of the city of Taft. This construction... Continue Reading →
April 19, 1919 The longest non-stop flight up to that time was made by Captain Earl French White of the U.S. Army Air Service (USAAS) when he piloted a plane between Chicago and Long Island. The aircraft used for the flight was a Dayton-Wright DH-4 biplane. White was accompanied on this record-setting journey by a... Continue Reading →
Francisco D. Mercado, Jr., who served in the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) during World War II, was born in East Los Angeles, California, in 1920. As a Hispanic American, he experienced one of his most egregious encounters with prejudice after graduating from high school in 1939. Having shown both a strong aptitude and interest... Continue Reading →
September 27, 1899 Aviation pioneer Dean Cullen Smith was born at his grandparents’ home in the city of Cove, Oregon. After graduating from high school in the Beaver State, he attended Principia College in St. Louis, Missouri, for two years. The origins of Smith’s strong interest and involvement in flight activities can be traced to... Continue Reading →
August 3, 1921 The one-time German ship SS George Washington embarked on her first voyage as an American ocean liner. This reconditioned ship left Hoboken, New Jersey, just before two o’clock in the afternoon for European destinations that included Plymouth, England; Cherbourg, France; and Bremen, Germany. That transatlantic trip took place a little over two-and-a-half years after... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 