Glamorous Glennis Contributor: Barry Fetzer Sources: History.com Breaking the speed of sound was a real milestone—and a risky one too. If you ever watched the Twilight Zone TV show, several episodes dealt with the fear of what could happen should humans continue to achieve such speeds, including disappearing for a while, perhaps in alien…
The R-101 Airship Crashes Contributor: Barry Fetzer Sources: History.com I just finished reading a book about airships, focused on the conception, development, and ultimate demise of one of the biggest aircraft ever to grace the skies: the British airship R-101. The book by S.C. Gwynne is entitled His Majesty’s Airship—The Life and Tragic Death…
This Day in Aviation History: The V2 Contributor: Barry Fetzer Sources: Wikipedia, History.com Could it be that what was designed, implemented, and used to deadly affect as a weapon of mass destruction could ultimately be our earthly savior? In the animated 2008 Pixar movie “WALL-E” (according to Wikipedia), “The film follows a solitary robot…
PSA Flight 182 Contributor: Barry Fetzer Sources: Wikipedia, History.com When I was stationed overseas, about this same time thirty years ago, we were blessed to take a trip from Okinawa to China. While in China, we flew on regional Chinese airlines to several different locations in China. We were just a couple of the…
B-29 History Twofer Contributor: Barry Fetzer Sources: Wikipedia, History.com, warfarehistorynetwork.com With this edition of “This day in aviation history” we’re bookending today with a two-events “twofer”, one historical event that occurred yesterday and one history-making event that will occur this weekend. Happy History! In a nod to the success and valiant achievements of…
Sharing the glory of winning the space race Contributor: Barry Fetzer Sources: History.com Life’s events often provide indelible memories. The recent anniversary of 9-11 is one for those of us older than 6 or 7 in 2001. For me, a child of the early 50’s, President Kennedy’s election and assassination are others. I remember…
Battle of Britai Contributor: Barry Fetzer Sources: History.com, Getty Images, Wikipedia, Time&Life Time has a way of erasing bad memories. The old adage, “time cures all ills” tells that story. Imagine yourself in England in September of 1940, 15 months before Japan attacked Pearl Harbor thrusting America into WWII, Europe being crushed under the…
Space Twofer Contributor: Barry Fetzer Sources: Wikipedia, Encyclopedia Britannica Now that we’re past Labor Day and the unofficial end of summer, we’re all looking forward to lower temperatures and being bombarded by pumpkin spice fragrances this, and pumpkin spice flavors that… …well, maybe not the pumpkin spice. I personally have never had pumpkin spice…