Last year Alun Salt pointed out to me a proposal for a collection of essays on the theme of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and history, and asked if I’d thought about sending in something on ideas about airpower and the dragon Smaug. I hadn’t, but immediately saw what he was on about! I […]
A recent post at Ptak Science Books alerted me to the existence of page 363 of the Illustrated London News for 6 September 1913. Not that I was surprised by this in general terms, but I was unaware of what was on it: an artist’s impression of a both a flying aircraft carrier — which
TRAVELLING OF THE FUTURE: THE BRITISH AERIAL TERMINUS OF THE WHITE MOON LINE — The old order is passing. Already glimpses of the future of aerial transport, with all its mighty possibilities, are becoming visible. When the stricken nations return to a state of prosperity, great things are in store. As to what economic and
Thanks to JDK for forwarding this interesting image. It’s the front cover of Bomber Command: The Air Ministry’s Account of Bomber Command’s Offensive against the Axis, September, 1939-July, 1941 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1941) (written by Hilary Saunders). So it was part of the same series of propaganda pamphlets as the more famous The
I’ve previously posted some of Gorden Cullen’s artwork for the Tecton Group’s 1939 book Planned A.R.P.. Here are some more of his cute drawings dealing with an awful subject. In this case, he is illustrating the ‘general agreement among experts’ on the threat posed by the bomber. (a) The range, speed, and carrying capacity of
Saturday’s bombing of London isn’t quite as prominent on the front page of the Daily Mail as one might expect. There are a few small items about it (e.g. a panorama of London ablaze, taken from the top of Northcliffe House; a report from Italian radio that Londoners are ‘absolutely terrified’ by the raids) but
This whimsical illustration, showing Father Neptune beset by all manner of aerial pests, appeared in Murray F. Sueter’s Airmen or Noahs: Fair Play for our Airmen; The Great ‘Neon’ Air Myth Exposed (London: Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1928), opposite 410. Sueter had been a technically-minded naval officer (torpedoes, airships, armoured cars, tanks and of course
This illustration, by A. C. Michael, is from T. Donovan Bayley’s ‘When the sea failed her’ which appeared in Pall Mall Magazine in May 1909. It’s subtitled ‘The story of a war between England and the allies, and the terrible way it ended’. It’s that terrible ending which makes this story stand out for me.
In the summer of 1940, strange patterns like these began to appear in the sky over southern England. Today they wouldn’t be thought so unusual (except that they are on the twisty side), for contrails are a common sight now, especially over London. Seventy years ago, however, they were a little mysterious, even to those
It is officially too darn hot today: 43° C. So naturally my thoughts turn to a colder time: the 1950s. The above image (which I found as part of x-ray delta one’s wonderful Flickr stream; he also has a suitably breathless blog, ATOMIC-ANNIHILATION) would seem to be part of a public relations exercise from Convair,
