As it happened, just a few minutes after my Post on Louis Blériot I came across this epic adventure including a leg of over 4,000 km across the Pacific Ocean. It really does put the last one hundred years into contrast!
By Paul Handover
Category: History
Just one hundred years on …
On this day, 100 years ago, the Frenchman, Louis Blériot, became the first man to fly across the English Channel!
By Paul Handover
Walter Cronkite, the most trusted man in America.
These days, commenting on something that happened longer than 24 hours ago is probably passé. The last few days have been a bit busy but one couldn’t possibly not comment about this sad news.
Nice piece from the BBC and, thanks to technology, his voice lives on.
By Paul Handover
Moon landing exactly 40 years ago today!
At exactly 20:17 UTC/GMT today on July 20th 1969 mankind started a journey to outer space when Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the Moon.
That time translates to:
- 14.17 Pacific Time
- 16:17 Eastern Daylight Time
- 20:17 GMT/UTC
- 21:17 British Summer Time
NASA’s 40th Anniversary Web Site has all the details including the link to a replay of ‘real time’ audio of the event.
By Paul Handover
Concorde – the aviation icon, that is.
Health warning. If aircraft and flying don’t give you a buzz then give this post a miss!
There’s a Forum in the UK that is subscribed to mainly by private pilots but also has a decent share of members from all walks of aviation including pro pilots and Air Traffic Controllers. Love of iconic events in flying is often talked about.
Recently there has been a thread about the last flights of the Concorde including links to radio calls between aircraft and London Controllers.
The Moon, 40 years on.
Probably one of the highlights in my life was watching the Apollo 11 flight to the moon and back. I took a week off from my job at ICI in Sydney, rented a TV and hardly slept during the whole event.
For those who shared those feelings of excitement as man reached out beyond his home planet, NASA has some wonderful archives including the Apollo 11 audio in real time.
America and mankind at its best.
By Paul Handover
Learning from Dogs 