The first purpose-built fighter plane came from the Germans, and made the name “Fokker” a part of aviation history.
Fokker Eindekker E-4
The Wreck of the “Edmund Fitzgerald”
The sinking of the Great Lakes bulk ore carrier Edmund Fitzgerald, in November 1975, may well be the second most-famous shipwreck in history—because of a 1976 ballad by Canadian folk singer Gordon Lightfoot.
“Edmund Fitzgerald” wreckage, Museum of the Great Lakes, Toledo OH
The Kansas City Massacre
In June 1933, a shootout took place at the Union Station train depot in Kansas City MO, as gangsters with machine guns tried to free a prisoner being transported by FBI agents. It became known as the “Kansas City Massacre”.
Union Station, Kansas City MO
Icons of Aviation: Morane-Saulnier N
The first military “fighter plane” was a crude and improvised affair, cobbled together quickly to meet the challenge of the First World War trenches.
Morane-Saulnier N
Icons of Aviation: Wright Flyer
On a December day in 1903, the Wrights changed the world with a 12-second flight.
Wright Flyer
The Battle of Chickamauga
In August 1863, the Army of the Cumberland, under the Union General William Rosecrans, was poised to take the important Confederate railroad center of Chattanooga TN, which was defended by the Army of Tennessee under the Confederate General Braxton Bragg. In a deft move, Rosecrans swung his army through the Tennessee mountains and cut off the city’s supply lines, forcing Bragg to abandon it. Bragg made immediate plans to take it back by seizing the Union supply route at Lafayette Road.
Chickamauga Battlefield
Icons of Aviation: The Wright 1902 Glider
By the closing years of the 19th century, balloons and airships had become fairly commonplace, and attention turned to the possibility of flight using machines that did not depend upon buoyancy for their lifting ability.
Replica 1902 Wright Glider, Wright Cycle Company Museum, Dayton OH
