This Day in History (1979): Paint Job Protects, Beautifies

From the July 18, 1979, edition of The Arabian Sun

Aramco's Ras Tanura Refinery is taking on a bright, shiny, "just-like-new" look now that a program to paint the refinery is well under way.

Here, a painter puts the finishing touches on Plant 488. The painting program was begun in 1978, not only to improve appearance of the refinery but also to protect the plants from corrosion.

Among plants already painted in the program, scheduled to run through 1979, are Crude Unit Nos. 1 and 2, Crude Topping Unit 11, Utilities Plant 30, and LPG Plants 10, 410, and 490.

At present, the work is proceeding at eight other plants.

Also on this date

2018 — American radio personality Adrian Cronauer, who was the inspiration for the film "Good Morning Vietnam," dies at the age of 79 in a Troutville, Virginia, nursing home

2013 — Detroit, with up to $20 billion in debt, files for bankruptcy, the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history

1995 — The Soufriere Hills volcano on the Caribbean island of Montserrat erupts, and over the next several years, devastates the island, destroying the capital and forcing most of the population to flee

1992 — A picture of Les Horribles Cernettes is taken, which becomes the first photo posted to the World Wide Web

1976 — Nadia Comaneci becomes the first person in Olympic Games history to score a perfect 10 in gymnastics at the 1976 Summer Olympics

1968 — Intel is founded in Mountain View, California

1947 — American publishing executive and politician Malcom Stevenson Forbes Jr., better known as Steve Forbes, is born in Morristown New Jersey

1914 — The U.S. Congress forms the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps, giving official status to aircraft in the U.S. Army for the first time

1872 — The Ballot Act 1872 in the U.K. requires that parliamentary and local government elections be held by secret ballot

1841 — Coronation of Emperor Pedro II of Brazil