1948 - Transportation

Transportation

British railroads are nationalized January 1.

President Truman orders the army to operate the railroads beginning May 10 to abort a threatened nationwide strike. Trains will run under U.S. Army control until 1952.

New York City transit fares advance to 10¢ March 30, having remained at 5¢ since the subway opened its first line in 1904 (Fifth Avenue buses have charged 10¢ for years, and fares in most other U.S. cities have been 10¢ for some time). Irish-born Transport Workers Union president Michael J. Quill, 42, has made a deal with Mayor O'Dwyer's labor relations assistant Theodore W. Kheel, 33, to support the 10¢ fare in return for a generous labor contract (see 1953).

Aviation pioneer Orville Wright dies of a heart attack at his native Dayton, Ohio, January 30 at age 76.

Air India begins weekly Constellation service from Bombay (Mumbai) to London via Cairo and Geneva June 8 (see 1946). It will become a state corporation in 1953, will be serving Nairobi, Hong Kong, and Tokyo by 1955, and by 1960 will be flying to Djakarta, Darwin, Sydney, Tashkent, Moscow, Prague, Frankfurt, and New York.

The first jet aircraft to fly the Atlantic arrive in Labrador July 12. Six RAF de Havilland Vampires complete the crossing from Britain (see 1952; 1958).

The Vickers Viscount flown July 16 is the first British turboprop airliner.

The Soviet Air Force adopts the IL-28 jet bomber designed by S. V. Ilyushin (see 1942). The new aircraft will be the backbone of Soviet airpower for 15 years.

The Canadian Pacific adds an airline to its railway and shipping line. The CP acquires routes that will link Canada's major cities to much of the world.

President Truman dedicates New York's Idlewild International Airport July 31 (see La Guardia, 1939). The world's largest commercial airport relieves some of the pressure from the city's 9-year-old La Guardia but is much farther from midtown Manhattan (see JFK, 1963).

El Al has its beginnings September 30 in an Israeli Air Force DC-4 arrives from Geneva with Chaim Weizman, who is to be sworn in as the nation's first president; the plane has been freshly repainted and re-registered as a commercial aircraft and bears the Hebrew term for "upward." El Al is legally incorporated November 15 and will make its first scheduled airline flight to Paris next July.

The Land-Rover is introduced at the Amsterdam Motor Show April 30 by the Rover Co. of Solihull, Warwickshire (see 1906). The Jeep-like vehicle is designed for civilian use (see Universal Jeep, 1945; Leyland, 1966).

The first Porsche sports car is introduced by Volkswagen designer Ferdinand Porsche, now 73, who enters his machine in races and shows competitors his dust.

The first Saab motorcar is introduced by a Swedish aircraft maker (see Saab-Scania, 1949).

The Citroën 2CV unveiled at the Paris auto show in June will go on sale beginning next year. Designed before the war (prototypes were built in 1939), the "Deux Chevaux" has a two-cylinder, 375-cubic- centimeter, nine-horsepower engine that produces the equivalent of two units of chevaux vapeur (steam horsepower); its top speed is 34 miles per hour, and it can go 60 miles per gallon of gasoline; it comes at first only in gray, its seats can be unlatched and removed to serve as picnic chairs, and its canvas roof rolls back. A plant at Levallois-Perret will be producing 1,500 2CVs per week by 1953, more colors will become available, and by 1961 the CV2 will have a 13.5-horsepower engine and a top speed of 53 miles per hour (see 1962; DS-19, 1955).

Michelin Cie. introduces the world's first radial tires.

The first automobile air conditioner goes on the market. The crude affair is designed to be installed under the dashboard; within 25 years most new cars will have factory-installed air conditioning.

The 1949 Ford four-door sedan introduced in the fall sells for $1,333 to $3,563 and revitalizes Ford Motor Company, which has fallen behind General Motors and Chrysler. Developed from a job applicant's design, it has clean, sleek lines and will remain in production with only minor changes through the 1951 model year (production for its first year will exceed 1.1 million cars).

The Honda motorcycle is introduced by Japanese mechanic and former racecar driver Soichiro Honda, 38, who 2 years ago began fitting bicycles with surplus army two-stroke engines and now incorporates the Honda Motor Co. with 34 employees and the equivalent of $2,777 in capital. Production will exceed 3,500 units by 1950 and by 1958 Honda will be the world's leading motorbike producer (see 1958). The first Honda motorcar will appear in 1963.

The Liberian Maritime Law adopted by the Liberian Legislature in December will make ships flying the Liberian "flag of convenience" the largest merchant fleet in the world. The "flag of convenience" system began in 1940 to permit the United States to send aid to Britain while preserving technical neutrality, and it has been exploited by former secretary of state Edward R. Stettinius Jr., now 47, to permit major shipping (and oil) companies to operate more cheaply and profitably, avoiding use of U.S. crews and shipyards that would be required by U.S. registry, freeing themselves from certain inspection requirements, and taking advantage of Liberian tax laws to conceal income.