As discussed above, the top Google search results page for “southern cross aircraft” is the Wikipedia page about the airplane. Review that page and youll learn that it was the very first aircraft to be flown from the United States to Australia.

Based on the lists of American vehicle manufacturers and what we understand about Lyon, Ford is the most common guess as it was the most popular brand in the United States at the time and is still in the forefront of Americans minds today when they think of auto makers. Now its a matter of comparing photos of automobiles produced by those makers during the 1910s and early 1920s.

A search for “1920s cars” or “1910s vehicles” is a beginning location. Compare the images closely to those of the picture of Lyon sitting in his vehicle and youll start to discover that the shape of the door in his cars and truck doesnt match those of Ford and Studebaker (theyre not as rounded at the bottom). Disclosure: I invested at least 10 hours comparing images of cars and trucks to the one of Lyon sitting in his automobile. To confirm my info about the cars and truck I enlisted the assistance of one the top antique vehicle preservationists in the country, Jeff Orwig.

By zooming in on the image you can look at some essential details consisting of the shape of the front door on the car, the shape of the front of the vehicle, and a little badge on the front of the vehicle.

Step 1: Identify the plane and its historical significance.The image itself offers us a big tip. Do a fast Google search for “southern cross airplane” and the top outcome will be a Wikipedia page about the aircraft. Its crucial to include “airplane” in the search due to the fact that browsing Google for just “southern cross” will put a music video of the Crosby, Stills, and Nash song Southern Cross at the top of the outcomes. Further down the search engine result page for “southern cross” youll find links to articles about the constellation of the same name, links to an energy business, and links to a Brazilian award for chivalry. You wont see any recommendation to an aircraft in the first 10 pages of Google search results when browsing “southern cross.” Furthermore, “southern cross airplane” isnt even a term that Google recommends when you enter “southern cross.”.

There are a couple of ways to get to the answers. What Ive described listed below is the most direct way to get to the answers. (Thanks once again to Daniel Russells.
Delight of Search for inspiring the development of search difficulties like this one).

Now that weve thought about the points above we can start guessing at the maker of the production and the automobile year. Noting that cars and trucks didnt considerably change from one design year to the next at this time, if they did at all, were guessing the year according to decade or half-decade is a feasible approach to this difficulty. At this point, relying on Google Image search is our next step. A look for “1920s automobiles” or “1910s cars and trucks” is a starting place. However, those results normally feature examples of high-end cars and trucks of the time. Were searching for cars and trucks that could have been owned by middle to upper-middle class individuals of the time. At this point at the same time its useful to have a list of American automobile makers of the 1910s and 1920s. Again, we might turn to Wikipedia for such a list or to any number of antique automobile sites for such a list.

Use Google Images to discover images of Ford, Studebaker, and Dodge vehicles produced in those years. Compare the pictures closely to those of the image of Lyon being in his vehicle and youll start to notice that the shape of the door in his cars and truck doesnt match those of Ford and Studebaker (theyre not as rounded at the bottom). The front of Lyons lorry is likewise more rounded than that of the Fords and Studebakers made at the very same time. A last information is on the hood of the vehicle when we look at the radiator caps of the vehicles. In all 3 cases, the Dodge examples are consistent with what we see in the picture of Lyon in his car. The final answer is a Dodge Touring car produced around 1919 (give or take a year) that was customized in the back.

Disclosure: I invested a minimum of 10 hours comparing pictures of cars and trucks to the one of Lyon sitting in his automobile. To confirm my details about the car I employed the help of one the top antique cars and truck preservationists in the nation, Jeff Orwig. Jeff is a friend of mine and the manager of Bob Bahres charming cars and truck collection housed on Paris Hill in Paris, Maine. You can learn more about the collection here..

On Tuesday I shared
If you desired the responses to the questions in the challenge, a search obstacle and wrote that you might email me. I got
Yesterday early morning I spent time writing out the process of discovering the answers to Tuesdays search challenge. If you missed out on the difficulty, you can
find it here. The option is detailed below..

You could have followed the tip about using the Maine Memory Networks website then headed there to do a search within the site for references to Harry Lyon.

At this moment the process becomes a little bit of uncertainty followed by a process of comparison and removal. There are some points to think about before rating what kind of cars and truck remains in the image. Heres a list of those points to consider:.
First, the image was taken in 1927, a year before the flight of the Southern Cross.
From reading about him, we understand that Lyon was not a guy of extraordinary wealth, but most likely middle to upper-middle class.
Based upon Lyons monetary standing along with looking at the information of the car we can most likely get rid of luxury brand names from our uncertainty.
When we zoom-in on the vehicle we can see that it has some flaws as the result of driving and or post-manufacturing adjustment. Noteworthy, there are what seems 2 wooden bench seats behind the chauffeurs seat. The back half of the body seems wood too.

Step 4: Find the referral to a cars and truck. At the very bottom of this Maine Memory Network page about Harry Lyon youll see a photo of Lyon being in a car in his driveway in 1927. (The image is copyrighted so youll have to view it there)..

Action 2: Identify who flew on the plane.
On that very same Wikipedia page youll learn that the four members of the flight crew were Charles Kingsford Smith, Charles Ulm, Harry Lyon, and James Warner.

Once youve recognized who the members of the flight team were, the next step is to figure out which one had a connection to Maine. Lyons page consists of “Maine” as part of a link to the Maine Memory Networks website which is pointed out in the hints for this difficulty.

Action 3: Find the recommendation to Paris Hill. If you follow the link to the Maine Memory Network from the Wikipedia page about Harry Lyon, youll find a fairly long short article about Lyon and his life including that his parents bought a home on Paris Hill and Lyon later lived there.

To do this youll desire to expand the picture found on the Maine Memory Networks short article about Lyon. By zooming in on the image you can look at some important details including the shape of the front door on the cars and truck, the shape of the front of the cars and truck, and a little badge on the front of the cars and truck.