Aircraft

[xoxoxoBruce]

Yes, but the war was over and we had to show the world how peace loving we are. A gentle giant, the Mother Teresa of nations.



Besides, some people with friends in high places could make a fortune with that scrap aluminum.

And the military-industrial complex would make a fortune selling bigger badder bombers.

[Carruthers]

A British aircraft belonging to Imperial Airways is refuelled at Semakh, Palestine (now Israel) in October, 1931 during British rule. Transformed from a black and white original, the photo has been brought up to date by a skilled teenager working out of his bedroom. American student Jared Enos (18) from Rhode Island confessed he never had an interest in art, but found a connection with "colourisation" and the reviving of old black and white photographs.

It's quite astonishing how aviation has developed in less than a century.
From flights several taking days with stops at rough desert airstrips to flights that can whisk you to another continent in the space of a few hours.

For a high definition version of the above image, go to Wikipedia and click on the fourth image down. Handley Page H.P.42

[Carruthers]

One modern day intercontinental flight that took somewhat longer than a few hours.



http://www.birdinabiplane.com/

[xoxoxoBruce]

The colorized photographs make a huge difference in the feel, and make the details pop out that just disappear in the originals.

A century... 100 years. That's a very long time, or a very short time, depending on your perspective.

100 years ago;
The average life expectancy in the United States was 47.
Only 14 % of homes in the United States had a bathtub.
Only 8 % of homes had a phone.
There were only 8,000 cars in the US and only 144 miles of paved roads.
The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.
More than 95 percent of all births in the US took place at home.
Ninety percent of all U.S. physicians had no college education.
Canada passed a law prohibiting poor people from entering the country for any reason.
1 in 10 U.S. adults couldn't read or write. Only 6% had graduated from high school.
18% of US households had at least one full-time servant or domestic.

I imagine Old Blighty has had similar changes.

[Carruthers]

A century... 100 years. That's a very long time, or a very short time, depending on your perspective.

I was using my Dad's life span as a comparison.
He was six years old when that photo was taken.
In an admittedly long life, he's seen all manner of world records set for speed, endurance and altitude.
Commercial aviation has progressed from a sealing wax and string operation for the wealthy, to a safe mass transportation system.
Commercial aircraft are now such a common part of global infrastructure that they go largely unnoticed.
They might just as well be buses or trains for all the attention they attract.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Definitely, we usually gage events by our own lifetime, or someone we know. But 100 years is peanuts in "the big picture". That's why I was pointing out 100 years ago, when these people were imitating birds, how incredulous it must have seemed to people who were watching motor cars whizzing by at 10 mph.

I was born in '44, my Dad in '18 and my Grandfather in 1880. I often ponder the changes each of us saw... or read about in the paper, or heard at the general store. I also wonder if the progress, is really progress, or just change? Maybe it's picked up speed because it's downhill.