100th Anniversary of the First Powered Flight in Scotland

Today, July 28th 2009,  marks the 100th Anniversary of the first powered flight in Scotland, by Frank and Harold Barnwell. Frank Barnwell graduated from Glasgow University in 1905 with a BSc in Naval Architecture and Engineering. Although it was Harold (not related to Glasgow University) who actually flew the biplane 80 yards in 1909, let’s give Frank half the credit and call this a University of Glasgow achievement, ok?

This one caught me off guard and I figured it’s important enough to change my preplanned posting order, but, unfortunately I don’t have a single photograph related to Glasgow University and Flight/Planes/Frank Barnwell/etc in my archives, so I decided to mix two similar subjects in one.

So, um, why the Moon?
Well, yeah, I used a photo of the Moon, as it’s the only celestial or flight related object around the University that I had a photo of, but it is related to Glasgow University as the ornament in the way is the top part of one of the spires of the Main Building of the University.

The link between the Moon and Glasgow University is calendar-wise July 20th 1969, the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon (which was last week), and a 2006 project at Glasgow University to study the maths and feasibility of using a kind of a slingshot to fling materials and supplies to the Moon. No, seriously.

You can read the entire press release about this 100th anniversary of the first powered flight in Scotland from the Glasgow University website.

[Poll #2: What is your connection to Glasgow University?]
Click on the photo above for a larger version.
© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com