On January 13, 1982, an Air Florida Boeing 737-222 plunged into
the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., killing 78 people. The
crash, caused by bad weather, took place only two miles from
the White House.

The Air Florida flight took off from Washington National Airport
in Arlington, Virginia, with 74 passengers and 5 crew members
on board. The plane had flown into Washington from Miami in
the early afternoon and was supposed to return to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, after a short stop.

However, snow in Washington temporarily closed the airport and
when it reopened, the plane was de-iced with chemical anti-freeze,
but the plane still had difficulty moving away from the gate due to
the ice. When it eventually made it to the airport’s only usable
runway, it was forced to wait 45 minutes for clearance to take
off.

Not wanting to further delay the flight, the pilot, Larry Wheaton,
did not return for more de-icing, and worse, failed to turn on the
plane’s own de-icing system.

Henry Ford, standing, and Barney Oldfield in 1902, with the
“999” racing automobile.

On January 12, 1904, Henry Ford set a land-speed record of 91.37
mph on the frozen surface of Michigan’s Lake St. Clair. He was
driving a four-wheel vehicle, dubbed the “999,” with a wooden
chassis but no body or hood. Ford’s record was broken within
a month at Ormond Beach, Florida, by a driver named William K. Vanderbilt; even so, the publicity surrounding Ford’s achievement
was valuable to the auto pioneer, who in June of the previous year
had incorporated the Ford Motor Company, which would eventually
go on to become one of America’s Big Three automakers.

 
Henry Ford (1863-1947)    Berna Eli "Barney" Oldfield |
                                            (1878-1946)

The 999 today at The Henry Ford Museum.

FOX NEWS

From left: British Prime Minister Lloyd George, Italian
Council President Vittorio Orlando, French Council
President Georges Clemenceau and President
Woodrow Wilson attending the opening day of
the Conference for Peace in Paris.

The day after British Prime Minister David Lloyd George’s
arrival in Paris, he meets with representatives from the other
Big Four nations—Prime Ministers Georges Clemenceau of
France and Vittorio Orlando of Italy and President Woodrow
Wilson of the United States—at the French Foreign Ministry
on the Quai d’Orsay, for the first of what will be more than
100 meetings.

Clemenceau (left) and President Wilson (center).