istoryworld
Events relating to technology
The Golden Gate Bridge, linking San Francisco and Marin County, is the world's longest suspension bridge with a main span of 4200 feet (1280m)
Rocket engineer Wernher von Braun is appointed director of Germany's weapon research centre at Peenemünde
The Du Pont Corporation begins manufacture of a new synthetic silk yarn, subsequently known as nylon
Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-shek) builds the Burma Road as a supply route
Lord Nuffield donates to Commonwealth hospitals 'iron lungs', built at his Morris Oxford factory,
US designer Igor Sikorsky tests the first practical helicopter, using a rotor on a long tail boom to counter torque
British racing driver Malcolm Campbell sets a new water speed record of 141 mph
Helped by the results of Polish cryptographers, Bletchley Park begins to gain invaluable access to German military secrets
The He-178, designed by Hans von Ohain, becomes the first jet engine to fly, with a test flight lasting five minutes
The de Havilland Mosquito, a multi-purpose wooden aeroplane widely used by the RAF in World War II, makes its first flight
The US army invests in a significant new vehicle, placing an order for 16,000 jeeps
A Gloster E.28/39 air frame becomes the first craft to fly with a Whittle jet engine
Enigma is now being decoded fast enough at Bletchley to give the Allies advance warning of German plans
British engineer Barnes Wallis designs a bouncing and rotating bomb for use against German dams
The German V-2 rocket is successfully tested by Wernher von Braun and his team at Peenemünde
The RAF's first jet, the Gloster Meteor, flies with a Whittle engine
The Messerschmitt Me 262 fighter-bomber flies into combat, introducing the jet era in aerial warfare
Wernher von Braun and his team of scientists are taken to the USA to develop the German V-2 rocket into an intercontinental ballistic missile
ENIAC is the world's first general-purpose electronic calculator
US scientist Edwin Land demonstrates a new device, the Polaroid camera, to the Optical Society of America
Hungarian-born British engineer Dennis Gabor creates the first three-dimensional image from reflected light, subsequently known as a hologram
The Morris Minor is launched, designed by Alec Issigonis, and becomes one of Britain's best-selling cars
Prime minister Ben Chifley sees Australia's first mass-produced car, the Holden, roll off the production line
The world's first commercial jet airliner, the Comet, designed by de Havilland, goes into service with BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation)
The German firm NSU builds the first working example of the rotary engine invented in 1924 by Felix Wankel
