deputydog | vintage

airmarks: road-signs for planes

By deputydog ⋅ 26 / 03 / 2008 ⋅ 16 comments

in the late 1920s, early 1930s, before radio navigation was widely used, pilots of small planes were forced to use familiar landmarks on the ground as a way to find the runway they would hopefully land safely on. there was even a campaign started by the 99s in the early 1930s, the objective being to paint directions to the nearest airport on buildings and structures across the u.s., the result being thousands of enormous ‘road-signs’ for pilots scattered across the nation.

the grand shaft - amazing military engineering

By deputydog ⋅ 04 / 02 / 2008 ⋅ 24 comments

here’s an incredible piece of wartime engineering - the grand shaft in dover. built between 1806 and 1809 during the napoleonic wars, this triple spiral staircase was used as a rapid route for soldiers making their way from the clifftop barracks to the town of dover and it’s harbour below. without it the troops had to navigate badly maintained winding roads from top to bottom.

hamburg’s unique elevator tunnel

By deputydog ⋅ 03 / 02 / 2008 ⋅ 32 comments

running under the river elbe in hamburg is a beautiful tunnel like no other. this 1/2 kilometre ‘technical marvel’, known as the ‘old river elbe tunnel’, was built in 1911, sits 24 metres below the river and connects central hamburg with the shipyard island of steinwerder. what makes the tunnel unique are the entry points on each side of the river: rather than just driving straight into the tunnel, vehicles enter a freight elevator which slowly descends to the tunnel below, the tunnel then taking traffic to a similar elevator on the opposite side which lifts them back to ground level.

the forgotten sound mirrors

By deputydog ⋅ 29 / 12 / 2007 ⋅ 32 comments

from 1915 onwards these huge eerie concrete structures started popping up along the uk coast, all built with one purpose: to provide the military with an early warning system in relation to incoming aircraft. their construction was pretty much limited to the uk and arrived just before radar technology as we know it became widespread.

the old world’s tallest buildings, 1884

By deputydog ⋅ 02 / 12 / 2007 ⋅ 48 comments

(click on pic for mightier version or go here for mightiest version)
this is incredible.
published in 1884, the diagram above shows the 77 tallest buildings of the old world (europe, asia and africa) at that time. strangely, the 78th and tallest structure shown is from the new world: the washington monument. it stood/stands at 555ft and […]

12 stunning lighthouses

By deputydog ⋅ 15 / 11 / 2007 ⋅ 35 comments

i’ve been meaning to finish this for quite some time but the huge amount of lighthouses on earth made it a slow process. the examples below have been chosen for different reasons (e.g. design, location, history) and, as always, they’re what i consider to be the best in the world. if you disagree, let me […]

weird & wonderful tv remote controls

By deputydog ⋅ 12 / 11 / 2007 ⋅ 16 comments

without tv remote controls the world would probably be less than perfect. imagine having to get up off the couch every time you wanted to rapidly skip between 2 equally decent programmes that have been broadcast at exactly the same time - watching 2 channels at once would quickly become painful and stressful.
in order to […]

vintage