Comments on: Panic! http://airminded.org/2007/06/01/panic/ Airpower and British society, 1908-1941 Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:11:31 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Airminded · The Germans are coming! http://airminded.org/2007/06/01/panic/#comment-74060 Airminded · The Germans are coming! Mon, 12 May 2008 15:51:06 +0000 http://airminded.org/2007/06/01/panic/#comment-74060 [...] Via Museum of Hoaxes, the Nazi air marker hoax — though it seems to me that it was not a hoax in the sense of a deliberate attempt to deceive, but rather an honest misinterpretation. And taking into account the role of the press in the story’s rise and fall, it looks a lot like what I’d call a defence panic. [...] [...] Via Museum of Hoaxes, the Nazi air marker hoax — though it seems to me that it was not a hoax in the sense of a deliberate attempt to deceive, but rather an honest misinterpretation. And taking into account the role of the press in the story’s rise and fall, it looks a lot like what I’d call a defence panic. [...]

]]> By: Brett Holman http://airminded.org/2007/06/01/panic/#comment-50965 Brett Holman Tue, 05 Jun 2007 17:22:48 +0000 http://airminded.org/2007/06/01/panic/#comment-50965 Very interesting! I'm always looking for precursors and analogues, so I may have to look into that at some stage. Sounds a lot like the "Great Fear" during the French Revolution, when townsfolk feared a completely imaginary alliance between foreign invaders, brigands and the nobility. The dust raised from herds of sheep being driven to market would be interpreted as armies on the march, and so on. <blockquote>I suppose there’s nothing new about panics in general, but air panics seem to be different because fear of new technology plays a big part.</blockquote> Actually that part's not new, since the 1840s (at least) technology was a major driver of defence panics (see <a href="http://airminded.org/2006/03/19/q-when-is-an-island-not-an-island/" rel="nofollow">these quotes</a>, for example). Not too surprising, I guess, it's an industrial revolution thing. So I'd argue in part that the coming of flight just changed the form which the panics took. But only in part :) Very interesting! I’m always looking for precursors and analogues, so I may have to look into that at some stage. Sounds a lot like the “Great Fear” during the French Revolution, when townsfolk feared a completely imaginary alliance between foreign invaders, brigands and the nobility. The dust raised from herds of sheep being driven to market would be interpreted as armies on the march, and so on.

I suppose there’s nothing new about panics in general, but air panics seem to be different because fear of new technology plays a big part.

Actually that part’s not new, since the 1840s (at least) technology was a major driver of defence panics (see these quotes, for example). Not too surprising, I guess, it’s an industrial revolution thing. So I’d argue in part that the coming of flight just changed the form which the panics took. But only in part :)

]]> By: Gavin Robinson http://airminded.org/2007/06/01/panic/#comment-50941 Gavin Robinson Tue, 05 Jun 2007 13:53:13 +0000 http://airminded.org/2007/06/01/panic/#comment-50941 The press did have a lot to do with it. There was a big explosion of newspapers in the early 1640s because censorship broke down. They tended to print wildly exaggerated or made-up stories of all the terrible things the Irish rebels were doing. Oral rumours also played a role: refugees were mistaken for bloodthirsty invaders (some things never change!) and people ran off in terror spreading the word that "the Irish are coming". I suppose there's nothing new about panics in general, but air panics seem to be different because fear of new technology plays a big part. The press did have a lot to do with it. There was a big explosion of newspapers in the early 1640s because censorship broke down. They tended to print wildly exaggerated or made-up stories of all the terrible things the Irish rebels were doing. Oral rumours also played a role: refugees were mistaken for bloodthirsty invaders (some things never change!) and people ran off in terror spreading the word that “the Irish are coming”.

I suppose there’s nothing new about panics in general, but air panics seem to be different because fear of new technology plays a big part.

]]> By: Brett Holman http://airminded.org/2007/06/01/panic/#comment-50907 Brett Holman Tue, 05 Jun 2007 07:07:40 +0000 http://airminded.org/2007/06/01/panic/#comment-50907 Sounds like a ripping yarn! Sounds like a ripping yarn!

]]> By: Alex http://airminded.org/2007/06/01/panic/#comment-50844 Alex Mon, 04 Jun 2007 13:53:05 +0000 http://airminded.org/2007/06/01/panic/#comment-50844 I just noticed that someone googled for "air pirates of the Congo" and hit my blog. Curiously, though, far from the sort of stuff that would fit that description on my blog, the closest match seems to be a 1935 childrens' book of the same title by one "G. Gibbard Jackson". I just noticed that someone googled for “air pirates of the Congo” and hit my blog.

Curiously, though, far from the sort of stuff that would fit that description on my blog, the closest match seems to be a 1935 childrens’ book of the same title by one “G. Gibbard Jackson”.

]]> By: Brett Holman http://airminded.org/2007/06/01/panic/#comment-50696 Brett Holman Sat, 02 Jun 2007 14:26:01 +0000 http://airminded.org/2007/06/01/panic/#comment-50696 Jess: Sexton Blake, LOL. I do look at some of the anarchist-type stuff like <em>Hartmann the Anarchist</em> and <em>Outlaws of the Air</em> but don't have the space to get into them very deeply. Good clean fun, though. Chris: Yes, of course. As I said, there were plenty of panics to go around: 1848, 1852, 1852-3, 1854, 1859, 1871, 1881-2, 1884, 1888, 1900. Napoleon III was just one of many! Gavin: Thanks, definitely out of my area! Would be interesting to know how the scare developed. The press is crucial in my period for that process; I suppose newspapers were just starting to flourish around the 17th century. Jess:

Sexton Blake, LOL. I do look at some of the anarchist-type stuff like Hartmann the Anarchist and Outlaws of the Air but don’t have the space to get into them very deeply. Good clean fun, though.

Chris:

Yes, of course. As I said, there were plenty of panics to go around: 1848, 1852, 1852-3, 1854, 1859, 1871, 1881-2, 1884, 1888, 1900. Napoleon III was just one of many!

Gavin:

Thanks, definitely out of my area! Would be interesting to know how the scare developed. The press is crucial in my period for that process; I suppose newspapers were just starting to flourish around the 17th century.

]]> By: Gavin Robinson http://airminded.org/2007/06/01/panic/#comment-50682 Gavin Robinson Sat, 02 Jun 2007 11:07:22 +0000 http://airminded.org/2007/06/01/panic/#comment-50682 And if you want to go back even further, you could include anti-catholic hysteria in the 16th and 17th centuries, especially the Irish rebellion in 1641: that resulted in widespread beliefs that the Irish were going to invade England, or even that they already had! And if you want to go back even further, you could include anti-catholic hysteria in the 16th and 17th centuries, especially the Irish rebellion in 1641: that resulted in widespread beliefs that the Irish were going to invade England, or even that they already had!

]]> By: Chris Williams http://airminded.org/2007/06/01/panic/#comment-50625 Chris Williams Fri, 01 Jun 2007 18:54:09 +0000 http://airminded.org/2007/06/01/panic/#comment-50625 What about the mid-century Napoleon III panic? I always thought that this had a number of visible effects, some of them still visible from orbit, in fact. What about the mid-century Napoleon III panic? I always thought that this had a number of visible effects, some of them still visible from orbit, in fact.

]]> By: Jess Nevins http://airminded.org/2007/06/01/panic/#comment-50617 Jess Nevins Fri, 01 Jun 2007 15:24:31 +0000 http://airminded.org/2007/06/01/panic/#comment-50617 Hey, thank you for posting about it, and for the blog! I'm enjoying it. There weren't any real defense panics in Britain before 1909, but through the 1890s and 1900s British popular fiction magazines printed a number of stories--many openly science fictional, others using realistic/contemporary technology--about Britain's vulnerability to air attacks. During the 1890s the common theme was "anarchists use high-tech zeppelins to attack England/overthrow the European order," while by 1905 it was something like "Continental thieves plunder English banks, and only Sexton Blake, in his advanced Moth monoplane, can stop them." But unlike Chesney/"Dorking" these stories didn't have a real-life effect. Hey, thank you for posting about it, and for the blog! I’m enjoying it.

There weren’t any real defense panics in Britain before 1909, but through the 1890s and 1900s British popular fiction magazines printed a number of stories–many openly science fictional, others using realistic/contemporary technology–about Britain’s vulnerability to air attacks. During the 1890s the common theme was “anarchists use high-tech zeppelins to attack England/overthrow the European order,” while by 1905 it was something like “Continental thieves plunder English banks, and only Sexton Blake, in his advanced Moth monoplane, can stop them.” But unlike Chesney/”Dorking” these stories didn’t have a real-life effect.

]]> By: Brett Holman http://airminded.org/2007/06/01/panic/#comment-50557 Brett Holman Thu, 31 May 2007 18:42:52 +0000 http://airminded.org/2007/06/01/panic/#comment-50557 Oh, and thanks for helping to get the word out about <em>Zeppelin v. Pterodactyl</em>! It's a story that needs to be told. Oh, and thanks for helping to get the word out about Zeppelin v. Pterodactyl! It’s a story that needs to be told.

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