1910s

1900s, 1910s

Out of (West) Africa

Here’s a minor curiosity. Many of the leading figures in the RFC/RAF (at least, many of the ones that interest me) had earlier served in West Africa. (They all served in the Boer War too, but that wouldn’t have been uncommon for their cohort.) This is the list: Hugh Trenchard: Southern Nigeria Regiment, 1903-10 Frederick

1910s, Ephemera, Pictures

Be aware of archives!

As mentioned at Early Modern Notes, it’s Archive Awareness … something … in the UK. Lots of events showcasing different archives and themes. There’s even a nice aviation-related image on their front page (though it’s not obvious what archive it’s from, the RAF Museum perhaps). It’s an advertisement for the first official British air mail

1910s, Aircraft, Pictures

Jet aircraft of the Belle Époque

This is a real oddity, and I still can’t wrap my head around it. In 1910, a Romanian named Henri Coandă built and flew the world’s first jet aircraft. Yes, 1910! That’s two whole decades before Frank Whittle. And less than a decade after the Wright brothers!

1910s, 1920s, 1930s, Books

Strategy Without Slide-Rule

Barry D. Powers. Strategy Without Slide-Rule: British Air Strategy 1914-1939. London: Croom Helm, 1976. NB. The subtitle is inaccurate; the period covered is really more like 1914-1931! Powers has two objects in mind: firstly, to show that air policy should be ‘seen as a complicated interaction of the factors involved — popular conceptions, press campaigns,

1910s, Links, Pictures

Pictures!

Check out Rosebud’s WWI and Early Aviation Image Archive for thousands of wonderful contemporary images of pre-1920 aircraft. Here are a couple, particularly relevant to my interests. According to the caption, these are the Zeppelins “L 13, L 12, and L 10 on a bombing mission” – clearly taken from a fourth Zeppelin. If this

1910s, 1930s, Books

England and the Aeroplane

David Edgerton. England and the Aeroplane: An Essay on a Militant and Technological Nation. Basingstoke and London: Macmillan Academic and Professional, 1991. This is a very short book, only some 108 pages long – as the subtitle says, an essay rather a fully researched monograph. The overall point of the book is to argue that

1910s, 1920s, Aircraft, Contemporary

Across the Atlantic by Vimy

This happened a week ago, but it’s rather cool – a re-enactment of the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic by the British airmen Alcock and Brown in June 1919. They used a modified Vickers Vimy, a two-engined aircraft designed for bombing German cities. The Vimy was never used in this role, but a flight

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