Tag: aviation

The Demise of a Fokker D.VII

GERMAN PLANE FALLS.  Fokker D-7 A German fighting airplane which “nose-dived” to destruction near a zeppelin shed at Namur.

From History of The Fokker D.VII

The Fokker D.VII is the only aircraft mentioned by name in the Armistice demands of November, 1918. Germany was ordered to surrender “1,700 airplanes (fighters, bombers – firstly, all of the D 7’S and all the night bombing machines)” (number of aircraft to surrender are not always the same).

armisitice1

In the end, not all D.VII’s were handed over. Some were flown back to Germany by their pilots and hidden in sheds. From the ones that were flown to the collection points of the Inter-Allied Control Commission, some were wrecked during landings or taxiing. After the war, some were sold abroad. Anthony Fokker flew from Germany and smuggled six trains with sixty wagons each full of aeroplanes and tools to Holland. Among these were 120 D.VII’s.

[Photos and more  here.]

Ellen Church 15 May 1930

Ellen Church Stewardess 1930

“Okay you idiots, get in, sit down, strap in, have a beer.
We’re goin’ to Chicago and it’ll only take 20 hours.
Now STFD and STFU.”

First female Flight Attendant Ellen Church 1930.

Church became the first stewardess to fly (though not the first flight attendant, as German Heinrich Kubis had preceded her in 1912). On May 15, 1930, she embarked on a Boeing 80A for a 20-hour flight from Oakland/San Francisco to Chicago with 13 stops and 14 passengers.

That works out to a potty break about every 90 minutes en-route. In those days, synchronization was everything.

[Found here.]

Oh Hi Space Shuttle! Nice To See You!

Space Shuttle Endeavor’s last journey through the streets of Los Angeles 15 October 2012.  Cool time-lapse video of the roadtrip here.

[Image found here.]

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