Great Moments in Travel History – April 2016
The Fairmont Hotel San Francisco was all set for opening day when, on April 18, 1906, the city suffered a devastating earthquake. Fires from the quake consumed much of the property, and the hotel had to be largely rebuilt before reopening exactly one year later. The property is still in operation today, and is a member of the Historic Hotels of America.
On April 24, 1909, Wilbur Wright brought along a photojournalist on a flight near Rome, Italy. The motion pictures taken in-flight were the first movies filmed on board an airplane aloft.
The Saint Paul Hotel, dubbed “St. Paul’s Million-Dollar Hotel,” opened on April 18, 1910, in St. Paul, Minnesota. The hotel is still in operation today and over the years has hosted such notable guests as James J. Hill (the builder of the Great Northern Railway), Charles Lindbergh, Gene Autry, and John F. Kennedy.
The Loughead brothers flew their F-1 seaplane from Santa Barbara, California to San Diego on April 12, 1918. The brothers would later go on to found Lockheed.
On April 7, 1922, the first mid-air collision of airliners in history occurred near Picardie, France. A Havilland DH.18A, operated by Daimler Hire Ltd, collided with a Farman F.60 Goliath, operated by Compagnie des Grandes Express Aériens, resulting in the death of all seven occupants on board both aircraft.
On April 6, 1924, four Douglas World Cruisers (flying under the names Boston, Chicago, New Orleans, and Seattle) began the first successful flight around the world, departing from Sand Point near Seattle, Washington. The Seattle crashed in Alaska on April 30, and the Boston was irreparably damaged while crossing the Atlantic Ocean. The New Orleans and Chicago successfully completed the journey, arriving in Seattle on September 28, 1924.
Henry Ford started the first commercial flights to operate on a regular schedule on April 13, 1925, transporting airmail between Detroit and Chicago. Earlier that year, he formed the Ford Air Transport Service and was awarded the Chicago-Detroit and Cleveland-Detroit airmail routes.
Varney Air Lines, the predecessor of United Airlines, launched operations as an air mail carrier on April 6, 1926. Varney operated the first-ever scheduled airline flight in the United States that day, linking Pasco, Washington and Elkia, Nevada via Boise, the capital of Idaho.
On April 12, 1928, Hermann Köhl, Gunther von Hunefeld, and James Fitzmaurice successfully completed the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic from East to West in a Junkers W33. The trio flew from Baldonnel, Ireland to Greenly Island, Canada, a journey completed in approximately 36 hours.
The Sakuragichō train fire occurred on April 24, 1951, in Yokohama, Japan when a train hit a loose overhead wire on its approach to Sakuragichō Station. The accident resulted in a fire that caused 92 injuries and the death of 106 people.
Click here to continue to Page 2 – Boeing 737 First Flight, Death of A Legend, and Airport Fires
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