April 8, 1933: For those who have visited London and wondered how they know their double-decker buses won’t fall over, this is apparently how they find out. Per police regulation, employees of the London General Omnibus Company put their 60-person bus to a “tilt test,” putting it on a 28-degree angle. Photo: The New York Times
Aug. 30, 1931: “A new turn in the history of diving” at a pool in Los Angeles, where Georgia Coleman — in preparation for the 1932 Summer Olympics there, where she won two medals — practiced “a complicated fancy dive.” Photo: The New York Times
Aug. 12, 1934: From the Mid-Week Pictorial, a squadron of bombers took part in a simulated air raid on London, “proving that the metropolitan area could not be defended from an attack by aircraft.” Photo: The New York Times
June 9, 1932: The Zeppelin railway coach, or “Lightning Express,” could carry 40 passengers at 100 miles per hour in tests near Hanover, Germany. The caption notes, however, “its ability to take curves remains to be tested.” Photo: The New York Times
Nov. 26, 1939: Oil transported by tank cars. Though oil had been shipped in the United States since the 1860s, dozens of commodities made their way around using tank cars in the 1930s. During World War II, tank cars almost exclusively shipped oil as part of the war effort. Photo: Wood Aerial Surveys
Aug. 30, 1930: From the Mid-Week Pictorial, the Westward, a vessel competing in the Royal Southampton Regatta off the Isle of Wight, battles stormy seas to defeat King George V’s racing yacht. When the king died in 1936, he asked that his beloved boat follow him to the grave, and it was sunk. Photo: The New York Times
Jan. 3, 1937: Rookie firefighters doing calisthenics. The year began with a new three-platoon system of firefighting, and recruits were required to fill out the ranks. A few days before, on New Year’s Eve, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia issued a few admonishments: “Liquor and fire do not mix,” he said. “Your job is not a sissy’s job,” he said. Also, for their benefit: “The bucket brigade is gone. Firefighting is a science.” Photo: William Eckenberg/The New York Times
Jan. 3, 1937: Firefighter recruits in training maneuvers, explained in a caption that includes a 68-word sentence that would surely not pass muster from a copy editor today: “Some of the most breath-taking exploits, Chief Oliver explains, are used ‘just to take the fear out of the men,’ but the future firemen must learn to be careful at the same time that they learn to be fearless, so that they can move about nimbly on high places, with the aid of ropes and ladders, and never make the mistake — almost certain to be fatal — of falling.” Photo: Wiiliam Eckenberg/The New York Times
From the Mid-Week Pictorial, Feb. 20, 1930: Sgt. Frank York — cousin of Alvin C. York, the famous former doughboy — in a “hazardous human hurdle” to demonstrate his confidence in his mount, Apple Jack. Photo: The New York Times
March 5, 1935: Ed Newell, chairman of the National Ski Club and the Olympic tryout committee, demonstrating a stunt on the slopes at Mount Rainier, in Washington State. “It’s just too bad for all concerned if he doesn’t make it.” Photo: The New York Times
