Lord_k's Article – January 2011 Archive (23)

Retrofuturist movie stuff? Not at all!

(by 30mog @ Flickr)

This splendid coach was built by Thomas Harrington & Sons of Hove, East Sussex, in 1950. A decidedly 'prewar' streamline design on a loyal AEC Regal III platform.…

The Tupolev ANT-20 Maxim Gorky was a Soviet eight-engine aircraft, the largest in the 1930s.

The ANT-20 was designed by Andrei Tupolev and constructed between July 4, 1933 and April 3, 1934. It was one of two aircraft of its kind ever built by the Soviets. The aircraft was named after Maxim Gorky…

Today, a steam loco that imitated its diesel brethren.

In 1937 West Burlington installed a stainless steel shroud and roller bearings on CB&Q 3002 4-6-4 in order to use it for substitute power on the Zephyrs. It was renumbered 4000 and named Aeolus (Greek God of the Winds).…

Edmond Thieffry (1892–1929) was a Belgian First World War air ace and aviation pioneer.

Thieffry was born in Etterbeek, a municipality of Brussels, and went on to study law in Leuven (hence his nickname "The Flying Judge"). After qualifying he was conscripted into the Belgian Army, joining the 10th Regiment in 1913. At the start of the First World War he saw service as a staff attaché to General Leman, but was captured by the Germans. He escaped on a stolen…

Today, the Hispano Friday!

Of course, these noble automobiles have been already featured here. But a true Dieselpunk never can have enough Hispano pictures or Hispano info. So, some photographs to share, as well as an article brought to us by…

Small and harmless devices can be no less exciting than giant war machines.

Today I invite you to have a look at Curvex watches - a masterpiece of design produced by Gruen company. Let's open a page of the excellent Gruen story by Paul Schliesser:

"By the early 1930s, men's wristwatches had overtaken pocket watches in popularity, although wristwatches were not yet considered…

Dieselpunks present: the Weimar Republic's largest housing project:

During the critical housing shortage that existed in in Germany following WWI, various co-op housing societies and associations, public housing associations and trades unions housing groups were formed to build economical housing in Berlin. One of the largest of these associations,Gehag (public utility homes, savings and construction company), was founded in 1919 to build housing for its members.…

A monitor was a class of relatively small warship which was neither fast nor strongly armoured but carried disproportionately large guns.

During World War I, the Royal Navy developed several classes of ships which were designed to give close support to troops ashore. Termed 'monitors', they owed little to the monitors of the 19th century, though they shared the characteristics of poor seaworthiness, shallow draft and heavy armament in turrets.…

I'm sure you're fed up with pre-war designs and steam propulsion. Let's try something different this Sunday.

This photograph of a very unusual train built by American Car & Foundry (ACF) was taken by Al Fenn in Pennsylvania in April 1949. What's so unusual about the train? Well, it's articulated (and you know that the concept of articulated train, so popular in the States around 1934, was rejected for various reasons by 1937). It's built…

The most successful Allied bomber of the Great War had a rather ungainly appearance:

It is overshadowed by Russian pioneering multi-engine heavies, by German Gothas and giant Staaken bombers, by British…

Step back over seventy-five years into the future of Arthur Ross (1913 –1981).

As a Creative Designer for Buick, Chief Designer of Cadillac, and Chief Designer of Oldsmobile during his twenty-four year career with renowned styling pioneer Harley Earl at General Motors Styling Division, he lived his life in futures now long past.…

March 26, 1935: Paramount announces its "proteges":

From left, Grace Bradley and Ann Sheridan, top; Gail Patrick and Katherine DeMille, center; Gertrude Michael and Wendy Barrie, bottom.

Source:…

A short essay on French flying boats of the Interbellum, brought to us by the Stringbags and Rattleboxes blog.

Latécoère 521

The Latécoère 521, Lieutenant de Vaisseau Paris,…

In 1928, Metropolis became real.

The Gosprom or Derzhprom building is a constructivist structure located in Freedom Square, Kharkiv, Ukraine. Its name is an abbreviation of two words that, taken together, mean State Industry. In English the structure is known as the State Industry Building or the Palace of Industry.…

Ironically, they were much more important than steam locos and diesel units. As a matter of fact, the Deutsche Reichsbahn Gesellschaft (German State Railroad Company) preferred electric motive power more and more for express passenger service. In 1937, 2 each…

I'm sure many of you heard about Sir Douglas Bader and Alexey Maresyev - two WWII aces who continued to fly and fight after losing their legs. But they were not the first…

One-off car, ignored for decades, has recently earned a somewhat inflated reputation:

"It was designed by Fred Bergholt who had a life-long interest in mechanical devices. " - writes an anonymous author @…

Three cruisers / aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy were probably the most Dieselpunk ships ever built, although powered by steam turbines.

Together with the M-class submarine monitors they belong to "Fisher follies", invented by Admiral John "Jacky" Fisher, the First Sea Lord. With the start of the Great War he found a way to to obtain another three fast, lightly armoured ships which…

Meet Lieutenant Bubi Marmaladov, the live Mascot of one of His Majesty's Air Troops flying squadrons.

Bulgaria's role in the First Balkan War and WWI has been already covered here. Today, let us proceed further to the Interbellum and WWII.…

Majestic domes... Heavy arches... Dozens of vertical lines making the enormous structure taller and taller...

And tall it was. Or rather, was supposed to be - the tallest building on Earth. Eternal Littorian Tower, proposed not for New York or Chicago but for Rome, the Eternal City, not so long before…