Sunday, June 30, 2013

The Cloud


The Saunders-Roe (Saro) A.19 Cloud amphibious flying-boat was produced in two forms: as a civil eight-seater and as a military trainer. In the latter role the RAF received 16 from 1933. The large cabin provided accommodation for eight pupils; six pupils and wireless and electrical equipment, navigation instruments and signalling apparatus; or four.pupils and the above equipment for navigational training. Alternatively, the Cloud could be used for flying training, to simulate the conditions to be met with a larger service type of flying-boat. Power was provided by two 253kW Armstrong Siddeley Double Mongoose engines.

Photos: via amphalon @ Flickr

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Need Gas?

Airship pumping station at Komendantsky airfield near Leningrad
Used during Graf Zeppelin's Arctic Flight
1931

Friday, June 28, 2013

New Power

General Motors EMD ad
featuring Milwaukee road diesel-electric loco
1945

via x-ray delta one @ Flickr


Thursday, June 27, 2013

Believe, Obey, Fight!

Casa Littoria in Sampierdarena, Italy
Named after Arnaldo Mussolini, Duce's brother (d. 1931)
Inaugurated on October 28, 1933

Monday, June 24, 2013

Saturday, June 22, 2013

East and West

Norddeutscher Lloyd Far East Express and Transatlantic Service, 1930s
Across the ocean in 4½ days!
World's fastest service

Friday, June 21, 2013

Across the Channel

The almost annual guide, one of a series issued by the Southern Railway of England covering many continental destinations, to Normandy & Brittany in France. This rather abstract cover is by P Irwin Brown - Pieter Irwin Brown, the Dutch artist.

Image and text: mikeyashworth @ Flickr

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Advertising on a Tram

Millions read it every day
Cost-efficient. Rational.

Dmitry Bulanov
1926

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Friday, June 14, 2013

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Weihe Means 'Harrier'

The Weihe was first flown in 1935 as an advanced training, light transport and communications aircraft for the Luftwaffe, powered by two 179kW Argus As.10G engines. However before the outbreak of World War II Deutsche Luft-Hansa received eight as six-passenger commercial transports.
Armament in the military training version comprised a gunner's turret in the nose (which could be replaced by a metal cone for blind-flying instruction) and an aft gun position. The turret had space for an instructor and pupil for machine-gun and bomb-aiming training.
Two seats side-by-side were provided in the cockpit for flying training, while a bomb trap with sights in a further compartment was provided for bombing instruction.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Monday, June 10, 2013

Streamlined and Diesel-Powered

Burlington Zephyr luggage label

The Zephyr was a diesel-powered articulated train, built by the Budd Company in 1934 for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. The train featured extensive use of stainless steel, and was meant as a promotional tool to advertise passenger rail service in the United States. The construction included innovations such as shotwelding (a specialized type of spot welding) to join the stainless steel, and articulation to reduce its weight.

On May 26, 1934, it set a speed record for travel between Denver, Colorado, and Chicago, Illinois, when it made a 1,015-mile (1,633 km) non-stop "Dawn-to-Dusk" dash in 13 hours 5 minutes at an average speed of 77 mph (124 km/h). For one section of the run it reached a speed of 112.5 mph (181 km/h), just short of the then US land speed record of 115 mph (185 km/h). The historic dash inspired a 1934 film and the train's nickname, "The Silver Streak".

Info: Wikipedia

Saturday, June 8, 2013

People's Glider

The Zögling was a German high-wing, cable-braced, single seat primary glider designed by Alexander Lippisch (later of the tailless jet planes fame) in 1926 and produced by a variety of manufacturers including Piero Magni (Italy).

Image source: Delcampe

Friday, June 7, 2013

Some Clocks

Vacheron & Constantin / Verger Freres sapphire travel clock retailed by Tiffany c. 1935

Zenith Onyx Boule Desk Clock 1935

Leon Hatot Electric Clock, 1930s

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Diesel-Pneumatic

This 4-6-4 diesel-pneumatic loco was designed to solve the problem of power transmission between a diesel engine and the wheels. Time has shown that diesel-electric is the way to go, but in earlier years it was by no means obvious that dragging around a heavy generator and lots of electric motors and associated control equipment was a good idea.


The diesel-pneumatic locomotive was planned in 1924, an order being placed on the 18th September 1924 in response to a quotation made on the 11th April 1924. Construction took five years rather than the planned single year, which indicates some pretty serious technical difficulties had to be overcome.


Completed in 1929, V3201 was the first high-performance Diesel loco on the Deutsch ReichsBahn. It used the MAN Lo6 Vu 45/42 engine, originally developed for use in U-boats. (surprise, surprise) It was a six-cylinder 1000/1200hp engine direct-coupled to a MAN 2-cylinder double-acting single-stage air compressor. Air was delivered at 7 Bar. (102 psi) The design speed was 70 km/hr and the weight in operating condition 70 tons; the maximum axle loading was 18 tons.

Source: LOCOLOCO

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Green Coach

Foden Streamliner of Whieldon Green Coaches Company
1934

Photo via Ronnie Cameron, on Flickr

Monday, June 3, 2013

Aerohydrodynamics

TsAGI (Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute) building
Radio Street, Moscow

Architects: A. Kuznetsov, V. Movchan, G. Movchan, L. Meylman
1925-1934

A 1970s photograph via oldmos.ru

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Open for Business

Built by Vega, the Lockheed Ventura was a replacement for the Hudson bomber

Image scanned and restored by Paul Malon @ Flickr

Saturday, June 1, 2013