Comments on: The great air race http://airminded.org/2009/10/23/the-great-air-race/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-great-air-race Airpower and British society, 1908-1941 Fri, 25 May 2012 16:07:37 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Airminded · Shuttleworth Collection http://airminded.org/2009/10/23/the-great-air-race/comment-page-1/#comment-130519 Airminded · Shuttleworth Collection Thu, 18 Feb 2010 11:21:07 +0000 http://airminded.org/?p=2721#comment-130519 [...] significant aircraft in the collection, the de Havilland DH.88 Comet Grosvenor House which won the 1934 London-Melbourne air race. Say what you like about its almost-variable-pitch propellers, it’s a gorgeous [...] [...] significant aircraft in the collection, the de Havilland DH.88 Comet Grosvenor House which won the 1934 London-Melbourne air race. Say what you like about its almost-variable-pitch propellers, it’s a gorgeous [...]

]]> By: Brett Holman http://airminded.org/2009/10/23/the-great-air-race/comment-page-1/#comment-118764 Brett Holman Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:28:41 +0000 http://airminded.org/?p=2721#comment-118764 Sorry, I have no information about him, but perhaps someone will come along with some. Sorry, I have no information about him, but perhaps someone will come along with some.

]]> By: Dianne http://airminded.org/2009/10/23/the-great-air-race/comment-page-1/#comment-118455 Dianne Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:36:13 +0000 http://airminded.org/?p=2721#comment-118455 Does anyone recall Joe Gilmore, Irish mechanic on The Irish Swoop Bellanca Model 28-70 EI-AAZ Does anyone recall Joe Gilmore, Irish mechanic on The Irish Swoop Bellanca Model 28-70 EI-AAZ

]]> By: Brett Holman http://airminded.org/2009/10/23/the-great-air-race/comment-page-1/#comment-116940 Brett Holman Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:13:15 +0000 http://airminded.org/?p=2721#comment-116940 Because panic <em>was</em> the dominant discourse at the time, not apologetics. I'd guess that far more people read a single issue of the <em>Daily Mail</em> than ever even looked at a copy of the Air Estimates. Outside of the specialist press, there were few outlets for a sunny view of the aviation industry. One big exception was the <em>Daily Express</em>, where you can find headlines like 'Air trails Britain is blazing. Foreigners buy our speed machines', and which liked to rubbish the knock-out blow fears of the Rothermere press. And admittedly the <em>Daily Express</em> was the biggest-selling newspaper for much of the 1930s. But it's atypical, I would argue. Today I've been looking through the <em>Observer</em>, and it keeps lining up people like PRC Groves, FH Sykes, Norman Macmillan to tell its readers how their civil aviation is falling behind, their planes are too slow, we must emulate the Americans, and so on. It's less in extreme in the rest of the press, but tending in the same direction. So it's one thing to argue that this perception was wrong, but it <em>was</em> the perception. Because panic was the dominant discourse at the time, not apologetics. I'd guess that far more people read a single issue of the Daily Mail than ever even looked at a copy of the Air Estimates. Outside of the specialist press, there were few outlets for a sunny view of the aviation industry. One big exception was the Daily Express, where you can find headlines like 'Air trails Britain is blazing. Foreigners buy our speed machines', and which liked to rubbish the knock-out blow fears of the Rothermere press. And admittedly the Daily Express was the biggest-selling newspaper for much of the 1930s. But it's atypical, I would argue. Today I've been looking through the Observer, and it keeps lining up people like PRC Groves, FH Sykes, Norman Macmillan to tell its readers how their civil aviation is falling behind, their planes are too slow, we must emulate the Americans, and so on. It's less in extreme in the rest of the press, but tending in the same direction. So it's one thing to argue that this perception was wrong, but it was the perception.

]]> By: Erik Lund http://airminded.org/2009/10/23/the-great-air-race/comment-page-1/#comment-116889 Erik Lund Sat, 24 Oct 2009 19:10:43 +0000 http://airminded.org/?p=2721#comment-116889 1933? 1934? I am otherwise totally eccurate. We have a pretty complex metanarrative by now, though, don't we? Read _Flight_ and _The Engineer_ and get one, read _Aeroplane_ and _Engineering_ and get another: apologetics versus panic. Plus we have a dialogue between now and then. So if the historiography goes back to the well, why does it pick out the panic instead of the apologetics? Why have generations of serious historians of interwar aviation neglected something as basic as the Air Office Estimates in favour of _Daily Mail_ alarmism? (And skewed right and left as prophecy or warmongering, to taste?) Even as I ask, it occurs to me that maybe I have a theory of social criticism as nagging. There is no correlation between car accidents and clean underwear, but you should always put on clean underwear in case you are in an accident. 1933? 1934? I am otherwise totally eccurate.
We have a pretty complex metanarrative by now, though, don't we? Read _Flight_ and _The Engineer_ and get one, read _Aeroplane_ and _Engineering_ and get another: apologetics versus panic. Plus we have a dialogue between now and then.
So if the historiography goes back to the well, why does it pick out the panic instead of the apologetics? Why have generations of serious historians of interwar aviation neglected something as basic as the Air Office Estimates in favour of _Daily Mail_ alarmism? (And skewed right and left as prophecy or warmongering, to taste?) Even as I ask, it occurs to me that maybe I have a theory of social criticism as nagging. There is no correlation between car accidents and clean underwear, but you should always put on clean underwear in case you are in an accident.

]]> By: JDK http://airminded.org/2009/10/23/the-great-air-race/comment-page-1/#comment-116821 JDK Sat, 24 Oct 2009 06:24:21 +0000 http://airminded.org/?p=2721#comment-116821 Dear Brett, Thank you very much for the references. Can I now claim to be 'writer by appointment to an historian living in Melbourne, Australia'? :D The other links on ABC Albury radio station (the current incarnation of what was, in 1934, the 2CO radio station, which was vital to saving the aircraft...) are worth exploring; there is a very entertaining radioplay 'Flight of the Uiver' there, which is a good forty minute entertainment when you need to cluster the family around the radiogram. See: http://www.abc.net.au/goulburnmurray/features/uiver/ Better still you don't have to listen to me answering questions before the play! I will be returning to the McRobertson Air Race on my blog, having stood on the airfield and racecourse at both ends of the race (and on Albury's racecourse!) and written on and examined several of the aircraft that flew in it, I find that it is one of those stories that actually has more to it than even the myth, at times. Regards Dear Brett,
Thank you very much for the references. Can I now claim to be 'writer by appointment to an historian living in Melbourne, Australia'? :D

The other links on ABC Albury radio station (the current incarnation of what was, in 1934, the 2CO radio station, which was vital to saving the aircraft...) are worth exploring; there is a very entertaining radioplay 'Flight of the Uiver' there, which is a good forty minute entertainment when you need to cluster the family around the radiogram. See: http://www.abc.net.au/goulburnmurray/features/uiver/ Better still you don't have to listen to me answering questions before the play!

I will be returning to the McRobertson Air Race on my blog, having stood on the airfield and racecourse at both ends of the race (and on Albury's racecourse!) and written on and examined several of the aircraft that flew in it, I find that it is one of those stories that actually has more to it than even the myth, at times.

Regards

]]> By: Brett Holman http://airminded.org/2009/10/23/the-great-air-race/comment-page-1/#comment-116808 Brett Holman Sat, 24 Oct 2009 02:58:55 +0000 http://airminded.org/?p=2721#comment-116808 Fair enough. I'm usually more interested in perceptions of reality than reality itself, however. And if "woe is [British aviation]" is not necessarily wrong for late 1934, well, that's the period we're talking about; so any statements made along those lines can't necessarily be read as being for or against any particular metanarrative :) Fair enough. I'm usually more interested in perceptions of reality than reality itself, however. And if "woe is [British aviation]" is not necessarily wrong for late 1934, well, that's the period we're talking about; so any statements made along those lines can't necessarily be read as being for or against any particular metanarrative :)

]]> By: Erik Lund http://airminded.org/2009/10/23/the-great-air-race/comment-page-1/#comment-116760 Erik Lund Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:50:01 +0000 http://airminded.org/?p=2721#comment-116760 Let me just say here that the DC-2 was a great plane, Parmentier a great pilot, etc. It's the "woe is us/America teh roxxors!!1!" stuff that gets me. It's not necessarily wrong for the fall of 1933 specifically, when you have to look to the effects of the 1928/9 American aviation investment bubble, but it has demonstrably distorted technical history* and threatened (modern) science policy. *Notably in minimising the importance of early aviation plastics and reduction gearing. Let me just say here that the DC-2 was a great plane, Parmentier a great pilot, etc. It's the "woe is us/America teh roxxors!!1!" stuff that gets me. It's not necessarily wrong for the fall of 1933 specifically, when you have to look to the effects of the 1928/9 American aviation investment bubble, but it has demonstrably distorted technical history* and threatened (modern) science policy.

*Notably in minimising the importance of early aviation plastics and reduction gearing.

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