The Chimney Lift at London’s Battersea Power Station (BPS) has reopened with a new interactive experience area designed to engage and inform visitors about the huge and historic former electricity generating plant. What is the Chimney Lift? It’s a glass enclosed lift that rises up through one...
Designed in 1943 by Austrian aeronautical engineer, Raoul Hafner, for the British Airborne Forces Experimental Establishment (AFEE), the Hafner Rotabuggy was a standard Willey’s Jeep converted into an autogyro*. What is an autogyro? Well, like a helicopter it has rotor blades, but unlike a helicopter they are...
The potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) accelerates by leaps and bounds, in all aspects including creativity. This is not really “cornerstone Mechtraveller” in that it hardly meets the ‘extraordinary engineering, history, industrial heritage, technology… and where you can see it criteria’ for a Mechtraveller post. Nor is...
REGENT Craft, the developer and manufacturer of all-electric Seaglider vessels, and DHL Express have signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore the use of electric Seaglider vessels for short haul, coastal, and island logistics, at this week’s Dubai Airshow. The Seaglider Ground Effect Vessel (GEV),...
The German National Tourist Office (GNTB) and Nuremberg Municipal Museums are turning their minds to apps in a bid to reach younger audiences. The GNTB has recently entered two of its latest digital projects, the game app Grimm’s Quest and the mixed reality app UNESCO World Heritage...
A Chinese company’s combination multi-rotor, 2-seat eVTOL aircraft and state-of-the-art transporter vehicle, is already taking orders, especially in the Middle East where it has recently completed its first global public manned flight. In the UK, hardly anyone has heard of XPENG but it is one of China’s...
The 255 silhouette Falklands Tribute remembrance art installation by Standing with Giants will be open to the public during November at Nothe Fort in Weymouth, Dorset. The charity artwork comprises 255 life-size figures representing Seafarers, Royal Marines, Army, and Airmen and 3 civilians who lost their lives during...
The Airborne Museum at Sainte-Mère-Église is considered a ‘must see’ for those touring Normandy, and it’s usually one of the first or last stops on a tour of the Normandy beaches because it’s out there on the western flank, which is exactly why the US airborne forces...
The five bridges over the river Dives marked for destruction by Allied airborne forces on the night of 6 June 1944 are rarely visited these days, but they were crucial to securing the eastern flank of the D-Day landings. So it’s definitely worth exploring the area to...
Yesterday, the French shipping company Neoline held a naming ceremony in its registration port of Nantes for its first sail-powered Roll-on Roll-off (RoRo) cargo ship. As I write, Neoliner Origin, is heading down the Loire estuary* passing the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard at St. Nazaire where she...
The Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge towers 625 metres over the Beipan River in China’s Guizhou province, which is known for its dramatic mountains. After three years of construction, the massive 2,890-meter-long* suspension bridge was finally opened to traffic on Sunday (28 Sep), dramatically cutting the 2 hours...
I love this quirky little French 6-wheeler from 1939. It’s a Laffly V15T with 4-wheel drive, plus an extra two wheels to get it over lumps & bumps! It had a top speed of 58 kph and was used primary by the French cavalry as an artillery...
The Marmon Herrington Mk4 SARC (South African Reconnaissance Car) was introduced to Allied forces in 1943 after wheeled vehicles had proved very useful in the first engagements with the Afrika Korps. The SARC was a speedy (85 km/h, 53 mph) reconnaissance vehicle, lightly armoured (12mm – 30mm)...
The Caldwell Collection at Mustang Field, will be opening to the public in October at the El Reno Regional Airport just west of Oklahoma City. The museum will have approximately two dozen historic aircraft on display from the pioneering years of aviation in the 1920s & 30s....
This is a niche blog about technically-minded travel. It reflects my own interests in the mechanical, technical, historical, engineering, transport and military world.
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