May 2009

Acquisitions, Books

Acquisitions

Oliver Stewart. Air Power and the Expanding Community. London: George Newnes, 1944. Thanks to Chris for pointing this one out to me. Looks forward to the post-war period and argues that the airpower (both military and civil) will be fundamental to the power blocs which will emerge, and that armed forces should combine all three […]

1900s, Periodicals, Phantom airships, mystery aeroplanes, and other panics, Pictures, Poetry, Post-blogging the 1909 scareships, Rumours

Friday, 21 May 1909

After yesterday’s excitement, today is something of an anticlimax as far as scareships are concerned. In fact, it’s more like a backlash. There are some new sighting reports, from Wales again and from Birmingham. The Manchester Guardian reports (p. 7) that Oliver L. Jones, a Monmouth auctioneer (of Messrs. Nelmes, Poole, Jackson and Jones), his

1900s, Before 1900, Periodicals, Phantom airships, mystery aeroplanes, and other panics, Pictures, Post-blogging the 1909 scareships

Thursday, 20 May 1909

The Globe has a slew of new reports from last night (p. 7), from Norwich, Wroxham, Sprowston, Catton and Tesburgh in East Anglia, Pontypool in Wales (by workers at a forge, an architect and two postal workers), and Kingstown (now DĂșn Laoghaire) in Ireland. Some saw searchlights, some heard a ‘whizzing’ sound, some saw a

1900s, Periodicals, Phantom airships, mystery aeroplanes, and other panics, Post-blogging the 1909 scareships

Tuesday, 18 May 1909

The phantom airship stories are starting to spread politically and geographically. So far only conservative newspapers have taken much interest in the ‘fly-by-night’, and so far it has only been seen in Norfolk and nearby areas. Both of these limitations make some sense: national defence is a particular concern of conservatives, and a single airship

1900s, Periodicals, Phantom airships, mystery aeroplanes, and other panics, Plays, Post-blogging the 1909 scareships, Rumours

Saturday, 15 May 1909

The Standard again has an article (p. 8) on the ‘mysterious airship’, though this time the information is taken from today’s Daily Express. The Berlin correspondent of that paper has been making inquiries there, and reports that German expert opinion is unanimous in believing that the airship ascends from some German warship in the North

1900s, Periodicals, Phantom airships, mystery aeroplanes, and other panics, Post-blogging the 1909 scareships

Friday, 14 May 1909

On page 9 of the London Standard today is a short article entitled ‘ELUSIVE AIRSHIP’. Evidently the story is not quite new, for it begins: The mystery of the elusive airship still continues to attract attention, and the belief is gaining ground that there is some foundation to the various reports. Obviously something has been

1900s, Blogging, tweeting and podcasting, Periodicals, Phantom airships, mystery aeroplanes, and other panics, Post-blogging the 1909 scareships

Post-blogging the 1909 scareships

Starting tomorrow, I’m going to try some more post-blogging. It’s 100 years since the phantom airship wave of 1909, when mysterious aerial visitors appeared in the night skies over Britain. Or at least, stories about mysterious aerial visitors filled the newspapers of Britain. It’s hard to tell from this distance: the only evidence we have

Scroll to Top