April 2010

Acquisitions, Books

Acquisitions

Patrick Bishop. Bomber Boys: Fighting Back 1940-1945. London: Harper Perennial, 2008. I liked his Fighter Boys and have been meaning to pick this up; Martin Francis in The Flyer (which is also v.g.) gave them both big props and so that was a sufficient reminder. H. G. Hartnett. Over the Top: A Digger’s Story of […]

1930s, Books, Ephemera, Pictures

The Londonderry Herr

In the later 1930s, the 7th Marquess of Londonderry acquired the somewhat unkind nickname of the ‘Londonderry Herr’, a pun on the Londonderry Air (the tune to which ‘Danny Boy’ is usually set). This came about because he was thought to be rather too enthusiastic about the prospect of Anglo-German reconciliation. My impression is that

1930s, 1940s, Australia, Pictures

Australia forgets

[Cross-posted at Cliopatria.] It’s Anzac Day once again. On Anzac Day, Australia remembers some things but forgets others. We remember the sacrifices of the original Anzacs at Gallipoli, but forget that it wasn’t only Australians who suffered. We remember the many thousands of young Australians who have fought in foreign wars since then, but forget

1930s, Air control, Interviews, Television, Videos

Wings over Waziristan

This is a BBC interview with Group Captain Robert Lister, recorded in 1980, about his experiences as a junior officer in 20 Squadron on the North-West Frontier. He transferred there in 1935, and flew Audaxes in air control operations against Waziri tribespeople, sometimes in support of the Army, sometimes independently. He candidly notes that the

1900s, After 1950, Aircraft, Before 1900, Books, Periodicals, Phantom airships, mystery aeroplanes, and other panics, Pictures

The Boer War in airpower history

The Boer War of 1899-1902 doesn’t often appear in airpower history. This may have something to do with the fact that it took place before the invention of the aeroplane, which I suppose is reasonable. But there are still interesting and even important connections and influences to be traced. Here are a baker’s half-dozen.

Acquisitions, Books

Acquisitions

Garry Campion. The Good Fight: Battle of Britain Propaganda and the Few. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. Looking forward to reading this book, which looks at looks at how the Battle of Britain and The Few were portrayed in the press, in official propaganda, plays, film, overseas, from the ground, etc. It even

Acquisitions, Books

Acquisitions

Juliet Gardiner. The Thirties: An Intimate History. London: Harper Press, 2010. In similar vein to her Wartime, portrays British society from a wide variety of angles using a wide variety of sources. But are the 1930s really ‘Britain’s forgotten decade’, as the front cover has it?

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