SAUNDERS-ROE PRINCESS
HISTORY HAS been known to repeat itself in a disconcertingly short interval. Two British aircraft, the Bristol Brabazon and Saunders-Roe Princess, had similarly ambitious plans—and were both failures, albeit brilliant … Continue reading
BRISTOL BRABAZON
TWO BRITISH might-have-beens made aviation history 60 years ago. Each was the largest aircraft of its type in the world. Each extended the state of the art in design, fabrication … Continue reading
NICK SLONIMSKY
“MUSICOLOGIST” CONJURES up the image of a musty academic muttering something or other about a dominant-seventh chord in Sixteenth Century works for the shawm. But then there was Nicolas Slonimsky, … Continue reading
MY FAVORITE FERRARI
I’VE DRIVEN a goodly number of Ferraris in my life. Several of the memorable ones were classics by the time I got behind the wheel. The 212 Export Touring Barchetta … Continue reading
HOLMES AND ANTHRACITE
IT’S ONLY rarely that I offer first-hand knowledge of a Sherlockian locale as described by his friend and colleague, Dr. John H. Watson. True, occasionally travels have taken me to … Continue reading
VINTAGE PARIS, BERLIN & HOLLYWOOD
WHAT WONDERFUL times they must have been: the vintage years of Paris, Berlin and Hollywood. Following World War I and even into the Great Depression of the 1930s, these three … Continue reading
IDENTIFYING NEAR-EARTH OBJECTS
A GOAL of the B612 Foundation is to save the world. Named for asteroid B-612 in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s 1943 book The Little Prince, the B612 Foundation plans to do … Continue reading
MERCEDES-BENZ W196 EX-FANGIO
A FABULOUS car, the 1954 Ex-Juan Manuel Fangio Mercedes-Benz W196 Grand Prix machine, recently changed hands for a fabulous price—$29.7 million. This Bonhams sale, at Goodwood Festival of Speed on … Continue reading
ENGLISH MAGIC
BETTY WALKER, wife of motorsports great Rob Walker, rest both their souls, taught wife Dottie and me about ancient Glastonbury, a revered site in southwestern England that’s been inhabited since … Continue reading
MASSON’S MEXICAN MELEE
FRENCH AVIATOR Didier Masson competed in the Dominguez Air Meet, held January 10 to 20, 1910, near Los Angeles and the first international flying competition in the U.S. What with … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 