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• Houdini over Australia

  18 March 2010 in 1900s, 1910s, Aircraft, Australia, Periodicals, Videos

  Harry Houdini is still famous as a magician and escapologist, but he was also a pioneer aviator. One hundred years ago today, on 18 March 1910, he carried out the first powered, controlled flight in Australia, at Diggers Rest, near Melbourne. This testimonial from witnesses appeared in the Melbourne Argus, 19 March 1910, 18:
  To [...]

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• England and Wales

  18 March 2010 in Pictures, Travel 2009

  This post relates to my trip to England and Wales in September 2009.

  I’ve finally run out of photos from last year’s trip to the UK — well, almost! Here are some miscellaneous shots which didn’t make it into the previous posts.

  One of the reasons I went to Cornwall was because that’s where my family [...]

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• Self-help in an air raid

  15 March 2010 in 1910s, 1930s, Civil defence, Periodicals

  The following letter appeared in the Evening News, 13 March 1935, 6:
  On the brick wall at the side of our street door can still be seen faintly two large letters, “P. P.,” which stood for Poplar Patrol. Every Friday night it was my job to collect 3d. from each house-hold that belonged to the “P.P.” [...]

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• Something like a railway carriage

  13 March 2010 in 1910s, Books, Phantom airships and other panics

  On the last night of January 1916, a large force of seven Zeppelins crossed over the Wash into Norfolk, heading for the industrial cities of the Midlands. Unsure of their location, most of them instead dropped their bombs on relatively unimportant targets. But at least they got home okay. The defending aircraft of the RFC [...]

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• 61-67 Warrington Crescent, 8 March 1918

  7 March 2010 in 1910s, 1930s, Maps, Pictures

  This is Warrington Crescent, Maida Vale, on the morning of 8 March 1918, after it had been hit by a 1-ton bomb dropped by a Giant bomber the night before — one of the largest to fall on London during the First World War and the most materially destructive. Twelve people were killed (including Lena [...]

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