100 years ago

At Grimsby, a skipper named George Lamming was charged at the instance of the naval authorities with taking his vessel into the Humber without a pilot.

Dr Jackson, of Hull, who prosecuted, said that although the Admiralty did not press for a heavy penalty, the case should be regarded as a warning that a severe penalty would be asked for in the event of any further offence.

The defendant, instead of waiting for a pilot, had actually taken his vessel through the minefield. Lamming, who pleaded guilty, said there was no pilot when he arrived and he was anxious to catch the Christmas Day fish market. The Stipendiary imposed a penalty of three guineas.

 

50 years ago

It had been a bonanza year for the airlines. Nineteen sixty-four was, in fact, the best year in their history - and that was official: the International Civil Aviation Organisation said so.

The scheduled airlines of the organisation’s 107 member states carried 156m passengers, a 16 per cent increase on 1963. The statistics wizards had had a wonderful time, too, thinking of outlandish comparisons. For example: “In 1964, all the airline aircraft of ICAO’s member states spent a total of 8,300,000 hours in the air, an increase of six per cent over 1963 and flew a total distance of 2280m miles, eight per cent further than a 1963, the equivalent of more than 12 round trips between the earth and the sun or of 4800 round trips between the earth and the moon.

The year’s traffic increase was the highest for a decade; and cargo carried also increased notably - by 20 per cent compared with 12 per cent in 1963. Things looked rosy for this year, too. So rosy, that even Sir William Hildred, Director-General of the International Air Transport Association, had cautiously said: “It just seems possible that the industry will succeed in making a positive net profit in 1965 for the first time in its life.”

 

25 years ago

A top-level Navy inquiry was underway into how details of a secret laser gun were uncovered by a Spanish journalist.

The existence of the weapon was disclosed after the journalist went on board the frigate HMS Coventry during a NATO exercise in the Mediterranean. The gun temporarily blinded pilots of attacking aircraft with rays of dazzling light. They were designed to act as a warning so that enemy aircraft could be fought off without bloodshed.

Some defence experts believed the lasers could permanently blind pilots if they flew too close. It was understood that although the gun was under canvas at the time, it was left uncovered as the ship entered harbour - an error which had led to the article appearing in the magazine Tiempo.