One of Life's Mile Posts

On this day in 1955, North American Aviation production test pilot George F. Smith took off from Los Angeles Airport (known today as LAX) for a test flight of the new F-100A Super Sabre. Climbing to 35,000' over the Pacific Ocean it quickly became apparent something was seriously wrong. The flight controls were heavy, and then there was a hydraulic system failure that caused the Super Sabre to pitch down into a dive. Smith was unable to regain control of the F-100. As he ejected, the force of the windblast knocked him unconscious. Estimates are that he was subjected to a 40 G deceleration. Being the professional he was, he read the instruments: the Machmeter indicated Mach 1.05 (785 miles per hour) and the altitude was 6,500 feet. Smith was unconscious for six days, then awakened to blindness in both eyes. After four surgeries and seven months in the hospital, he recovered and returned to flight status.

Kelly Conquers Chicago

 

The Kelly-Springfield Tire Company was founded in Springfield, Ohio by Edwin Kelly and Arthur Grant in 1894. It is the oldest tire company in the United States,  manufacturing tires for motor vehicles in Akron, and Wooster, Ohio. It was acquired in 1935 by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, which maintained it as a subsidiary until 1999 when it was integrated into Goodyear North America. It remains a major brand under Goodyear.

Flight by American. Home by Hertz.

 

The Hertz Corporation, originally known as Rent-a-Car Inc., was founded by Chicago, Illinois native Walter L. Jacobs in 1918. Within five years, his fleet generated annual revenues of approximately $1 million. John D. Hertz, owner of Yellow Truck and Coach Manufacturing Company, developed an interest in the brand, purchasing the company in 1923. It was then renamed Hertz Drive-Ur-Self System. 

After three years of ownership, John Hertz sold the rental car brand to General Motors Corporation. Under their ownership, the company opened its first rental car location at Chicago's Midway Airport in 1932, introducing the first one-way rental plan in 1933. Hertz repurchased the brand from General Motors in 1953 through his other company, The Omnibus Corporation, which he renamed The Hertz Corporation.

The 1955 illustration is by cartoonist and illustrator, Austin Briggs (1908-1973).

The Honolulu to Honolulu Flight

 

On this day in 1989, a United Airlines Boeing 747-100, flight 811, took off from Honolulu International Airport en route to Auckland International Airport then onward to Sydney, Australia. 16 minutes after takeoff, about 60 miles south of Honolulu, the 747's cargo door exploded outward with decompression blowing a huge hole in the fuselage and carrying away ten seats and nine passengers. Every flight attendant suffered some injury. Further plane damage resulted in the loss of some controls yet the plane landed safely back in Honolulu. The cause of the cargo door failure was determined to be a faulty design, combined with a short in the 747’s electrical system.

New Market Place of The World

 

Completed in 1932, the Niagara Mohawk Building is an art deco classic building in Syracuse, New York and the former headquarters for the Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation, at the time the nation's largest electric utility company. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Niagara Hudson Building in 2010. Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation is a New York State utility company, whose name was adopted in 1950 from fifty-nine former companies known as Niagara Hudson Power Corporation. The St. Lawrence Seaway was an integral part of their future. The Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation designation was retired after the acquisition by the UK-based National Grid. They provide electricity to 3.5 million customers in Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island.

The Jonas Salk Vaccine Is a Success

On this day in 1954, the Jonas Salk vaccine mass inoculation took place at Arsenal Elementary School in Pittsburgh. Dr. Salk performed every shot personally in the school’s gymnasium, a process that took two hours. The boys and girls were in the first through third grades at the school. The children largely took their vaccines without drama, partly due to the variety of distractions presented before them. By 1962, the number of new cases had dropped to fewer than 1,000. And by the time of Salk’s death, polio was virtually extinct in the U.S. and dwindling worldwide.

Richard Kimble's Brief Encounters

 

Kurt Russell tries to capture Kimball in two appearances as different characters on The Fugitive. In Nemesis (1964) he plays Philip Gerard Jr. His dad gets a phone call that Kimble is nearby, cutting their vacation short. Junior escapes the safety of a sheriff's cabin then encounters Kimble. The boy does everything he can to lead his dad to the fugitive. In a Plain Paper Wrapper (1966) Russell starred as Eddie, who pitches in to buy a mail-order rifle in order to bring Kimball to justice. Russell's dad, Bing, plays a police officer.

Take a Greyhound to California

 

On this day in 1920, a mechanical lure, described in the press as the "automatic rabbit" was first used in greyhound racing. The modern greyhound racing industry emerged in its recognizable form---circular or oval tracks---with the invention of the mechanical, or artificial, hare in 1912 by American, Owen Patrick Smith. Smith had altruistic aims for the industry to stop the killing of the jackrabbits and see "greyhound racing as we see horse racing". In 1919, Smith opened the first professional dog-racing track with stands in Emeryville, California. This arena was torn down to make way for a modern racetrack.

A Boeing 747SP Pulling 4.8Gs is Not Normal

 

On this day in 1985, China Airlines’ Boeing 747SP, N4522V was cruising at 41,000 feet, 300 nautical miles northwest of San Francisco, California when the number 4 engine quit and would not respond. Due to pilot error, the plane rolled over and vertically dived, losing 30,000 feet of altitude before the crew was able to recover. However, the airplane was severely damaged, with bent wings, a damaged left aileron, lost parts of its elevators and horizontal stabilizers, and damaged landing gear doors. It had experienced acceleration forces as high as 4.8 Gs as it descended. Fortunately, of the 287 persons onboard only 24 were injured and two were seriously hurt. The flight diverted to San Francisco. The 747SP was substantially damaged. It was nearly two years before repairs completed. The captain had not slept during his previous rest period and his tiredness was considered a factor in this incident.

Boeing built 45 747SPs (Special Performance), a very long-range variant of the 747-100 series airliners. It has a shorter fuselage and a larger tail surface than the standard model. The weight savings allowed it to carry more fuel for longer flights at a faster speed. 

Lee's Post-War Planning

 

After World War Two, winning at home was a priority for Lee Tire and Rubber Corporation of Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, and their Republic Rubber division in Youngstown, Ohio on puncture-proof pneumatic tires for trucks and passenger cars.

J. Ellwood Lee opened his first factory in 1887 selling medical supplies. In 1905 Lee believed automobiles would become popular and merged his medical supply company with Johnson & Johnson, leading to the creation of the Lee Tire and Rubber Company which opened in 1914. The company fell on hard times in the 1960s and was taken over by a New York firm before being sold in 1965 to Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. The sale helped delay the company’s demise until 1980. The main building of the Lee Tire and Rubber Company, now known as Lee Park, is a historic factory complex built in 1909 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. 

Timken Keeps America Going

 

"Roller Freight" rolls out the red carpet for goods the way the 20th Century rolls it out for people in this 1954 advertisement. The Timken Company, an American manufacturer of bearings and related components and assemblies, was incorporated in 1899 as The Timken Roller Bearing Axle Company by Henry Timken after he obtained a patent for an improved tapered roller bearing. By 1901 the company moved to Canton, Ohio, as the automobile industry began to overtake the carriage industry. Production increased dramatically during the 1940s to keep up with wartime demand. Jeep alone used 24 Timken bearings. Timken expanded into new global markets throughout the 1970s and 1980s, establishing a sales operation in Japan in 1974 and opening sales offices in Italy, Korea, Singapore and Venezuela in 1988. By the late 1990s, Timken also had a sales presence in Spain, Hong Kong, China and Singapore. Engineered bearing products continue to be core to their business and reflect a long-standing innovative power in moving global industries forward. 

Tarzan the Olympian

 

On this day in 1924, American swimmer Johnny Weissmuller set a 100-meter world freestyle record of 57.4 at Miami, Florida. He went on to win multiple Gold medals in two Olympic games, 1924 and 1928. The United States swept the medals for the second consecutive Games, winning its fourth consecutive gold medal. Weissmuller beat two-time defending champion Duke Kahanamoku in the final. In total, setting sixty-seven world records. Perhaps not surprisingly, the 6' 3" Weissmuller later became an underwear model which led to a skimpy loin cloth in 1932, beginning his twelve Tarzan films and an overnight sensation. His business ventures enabled him to lead a prosperous life. He also set a near record pace with five marriages, equaling his five Olympic gold medals.

Gibson Refrigerator Company

 

Gibson has been a pioneer in the refrigeration industry. Some of their innovations are a frost-proof feature, built-in ice and water dispenser on the refrigerator door and adjustable or removable shelving units. A brand synonymous with durability, quality and long-lasting performance. The above illustration is from 1949.

Founded in 1877 in Belding, Michigan by Joshua Hall, the Belding-Hall Company sold wood chests made by skilled Danish craftsmen to house blocks of ice as "ice-boxes." The company was purchased by Frank Gibson, a competing manufacturer of "ice refrigerators" at the turn of the Twentieth Century, and it became the largest in the industry. By 1931 the company began making electric refrigerators and eventually moving its headquarters to Greenville, Michigan. In 1956, Hupp Corporation acquired Gibson. In 1967 Hupp merged with White Consolidated Industries. Gibson is now owned by Electrolux Group and marketed today under the familiar Frigidaire brand.

This is Jim Rockford

 

Caller with a robotic monotone: 

Hello, Jim Rockford's machine. This is Larry Doheny's machine. Will you please have your master call my master at his convenience? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you...

The Rockford Files Message: The Great Blue Lake and 

Land Development Company, 1975

Richard B. Shull guest stars

Bullish and Bearish

 

On this day in 1903, the first Teddy Bear went on sale in America, named after President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt, and made by Russian immigrants Morris and Rose Michtom. A year earlier, the teddy bear name was spawned by a political cartoon in The Washington Post. Morris saw the drawing and was inspired to create a teddy bear. He created a tiny soft bear cub and sent one to Roosevelt and received permission to use his nickname. The Michtom's then placed one in the shop window with a sign "Teddy's Bear." The cuddly toy was an immediate success, celebrated in story, song, and film. Michtom went on to found the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company, the largest doll-making manufacturer at the time in the United States.

Zenith During its Imaginary High Point

 

In the 1950s, Zenith produced a line of record players using their own unique record changers called the “Cobra-Matic.” It was unique in that they allowed a variable speed adjustment by simply sliding a lever on the front allowing the unit to accept any sized records. By moving the speed control the operator could set the speed to the standard 16, 33, 45, or 78 rpm by positioning the speed shift lever at the appropriate mark on the scale.

Zenith was co-founded in 1918 by Ralph Matthews and Karl Hassel in Chicago, Illinois, as Chicago Radio Labs, a small producer of amateur radio equipment. The name "Zenith" came from ZN'th, a contraction of its founders' ham radio call sign, 9ZN. They were joined in 1921 by Eugene F. McDonald, and Zenith Radio Company was formally incorporated in 1923. Zenith reached its zenith in the 1990s and was fully taken over by LG Electronics, its parent company today.

The Royal Gorge Bridge (1929)

 

The Royal Gorge Bridge and Park is a tourist attraction near Cañon City, Colorado that spans the gorge 956' above the Arkansas River. It held the record of the highest bridge in the world from 1929 until 2001. It remains the highest bridge in the United States. The 1,260-foot long bridge is primarily for foot traffic but service vehicles, and in special circumstances, automobiles and motorcycles are allowed. A walk across the bridge can be a bit unsettling as construction allows it to sway.

The project was financed by Lon P. Piper, president of the Royal Gorge Bridge and Amusement Company of San Antonio, Texas. It was built in six months at a cost of $350,000, over 20 million in today's dollars. An Incline Railway was added in 1931 to reach the bottom of the gorge. Most of the park structures on both sides of the gorge were destroyed by a wildfire in 2013. The bridge only needed minor repair and the park's buildings were rebuilt and reopened in a little over a year.

The Speed Demon: Convair 880

 

On this day in 1960, Delta Air Lines’ Superintendant of Flight Operations, Captain Thomas Prioleau Ball, Jr., made the delivery flight of Delta’s first Convair 880 jet airliner, Ship 902, named Delta Queen, from San Diego, California, to Miami, Florida. The plane set a new United States National Record for Speed Over a Commercial Airline Route with an average speed of slightly more than 641 mph cutting 27 minutes off the time of an Eastern Air Lines Douglas DC-8B over the same route the previous month.

The Convair 880 was so-named because its designed top speed was 880 feet per second (600 mph) faster than the Boeing 707 or Douglas DC-8. It was the fastest airliner until the Concord. The Convair Division of General Dynamics built 65 Convair 880 airliners at San Diego between 1959 and 1962. Delta Air Lines retired its last one in January 1974. Its improved version, the 990 also faced a similar short career. Though impressive performers, both airliners were considered a failure in part due to construction delays, limited seating, and high fuel consumption. The shorter hops within Europe proved more fitting for its design.

1948 Polaroid Land Camera

 

Edwin Herbert Land (1909-91) was an American scientist, inventor, and true visionary seeing things differently from other people. He is best known as the co-founder of the Polaroid Corporation whose "Land Camera" went on sale in late 1948 making it possible for a picture to be taken and developed in 60 seconds or less. He also invented inexpensive filters for polarizing and the retinex theory of color vision, among other pioneering discoveries. The brilliant, driven man played a major role in the development of photographic reconnaissance and intelligence gathering efforts in the early Cold War years.

Reel Character Series

 

Starting out with many uncredited roles in the Thirties and Forties, Jay Novello (1904-1982) soon would be spotted in the background of several major motion pictures. But it was the advent of television that Novello hit pay dirt appearing on popular anthology series as Chevron Theatre, Four Star Playhouse or Fireside Theater. Born in Chicago as Michael Romano,  Novello specialized in playing ethnic types, whether Spanish, Greek or Mexican. But usually Italians. He soon had recurring roles on Disney's Zorro with multiple appearances on Maverick, The Naked City and 77 Sunset Strip. Adept at playing anything from a shady scoundrel to a Foreign dignitary, he was a natural in comedic roles. He had a recurring role on McHale's Navy, and he frequented The Lucy Show and The Andy Griffith Show among others.

International Geophysical Year of 1957-58

 

The Scripto Satellite was a $1.95 ballpoint pen that wrote up to two years without a refill. Truly atomic! The pens were designed to help celebrate the International Geophysical Year, 1957-58. Scripto's other "firsts"  included Fluidlead in 1955, a pencil that wrote like a pen using liquid graphite. Soon, Parker Pens developed a similar product called Liquid Lead. The two companies agreed to share their formulas rather than go to court. 

Scripto is an American company that was founded in Atlanta, Georgia in 1923 by Monie A. Ferst. Originally known as the M.A. Ferst Company, the name was changed to Scripto, Latin for "I write." At one time the largest producer of writing instruments in the world, they now produce butane lighters. Through the typical maze of corporate takeovers, the name was again changed to Scripto, USA in 2006.

Last Ride of The Valkyrie

 

On this day in 1969, the North American Aviation XB-70A-1-NA Valkyrie, 62-0001, made its very last flight from Edwards AFB, California, to Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. NASA Research Test Pilot Fitzhugh L. Fulton, Jr., Lieutenant Colonel, USAF (Retired), and Lieutenant Colonel Emil Sturmthal, USAF, were the flight crew for the flight. On arrival at Wright-Patterson, Fulton closed out the logbook on the massive research plane and handed it over to the curator of the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

A second Mach 3+ prototype strategic bomber, XB-70A-2-NA 62-0207, was destroyed when it crashed during a mid-air collision with a Lockheed F-104N Starfighter flown by NASA Chief Research Test Pilot Joseph A. Walker, in 1966. The multi-aircraft photo shoot ended in tragedy when both Walker and the B-70’s co-pilot, Major Carl S. Cross, USAF, were killed.

School Bus Closeup

 

Originally called National School Bus Chrome, the yellow used on school buses was specifically formulated for use in North America in 1939 by Dr. Frank W. Cyr, a professor at Teachers College, Columbia University in New York. His conference established national school bus construction standards for the US including the standardized yellow color. Yellow was chosen because it attracts attention and is noticed quickly in peripheral vision, faster than any other color according to scientific research at the time. National School Bus Glossy Yellow is the current official designation.

House in a Utopian Future

If you spotted the flat screen television and the countertop "notebook" then congratulations are in order. Dad looking trendy in his "cargoless" shorts and over-the-calf stockings is a bonus. The 1956 futurism illustration was by Fred McNabb for Disneyland. McNabb did a series of similar illustrations for New Departures Ball Bearings under the headline, "New Departures of Tomorrow." Most of his illustrations included at least one accurate prediction.

A Noted Television Theme

 

The Return of The Saint was a popular but short-lived reboot of the original with Roger Moore. This time out, Ian Ogilvy starred in the British action-adventure series airing from 1978-79 in the UK on ITV and also broadcast on CBS [late-night Fridays] in the US. Simon Templar drove a Jaguar XJ-S with plate number "ST 1". The producers made the iconic stick man graphic a major component during the opening title sequence, having it run and jump within live-action scenes. The cool theme was written by Brian Dee and Irving Martin with John Scott composing the overall series music. 

Watching drummer, Clive Jenner, from Ealing Drum Studios, post his "track-of-the-month" series is always stellar on YouTube.

Synopsis: Thrust Into Television

 

Patricia Blair (Patsy Lou Blake 1933-2013) commonly played a second female in the 1950s for Warner Brothers and later MGM studios. From there it was City of Fear (1959) and Cage of Evil (1960) playing a devoted girlfriend and temptress, respectively. She was a one-season love interest on television's The Rifleman and a main cast member as the wife of Daniel Boone in Fess Parker's series. Blair had a brief recurring role in the series Yancy Derringer. After retirement, the business-savvy actress produced industrial trade shows.