Phallic symbol envy
Source: Review of Reviews for Australasia, May 1913, 248 (link; presumably originally from a British publication).
1910s, Aircraft, Art, Australia, Periodicals, Pictures
Art
1940s, Art, Periodicals, Pictures
Our friends the enemy
An impression by “J.P.” of the R.A.F. attack by Whitleys on the snow-covered Skoda armament works at Plzen in Czechoslovakia on the night of October 27 [1940]. Source: Flight, 29 December 1940, 536 (link). Perhaps I’m just cynical, but I’m guessing that this night raid on the Skoda works was not nearly as accurate as
1900s, Aircraft, Art, Ephemera, Phantom airships, mystery aeroplanes, and other panics, Pictures
A phantom airship?
The short answer is, almost certainly not, but more of that in a moment. One of the nice things about blogging is that people send me emails on topics which they think may interest me. Recently I received scans of a photograph from Peter Edwards, who has the original glass plates. They’re from a box
1930s, Art, Books, Civil defence, Maps, Pictures
Architects of preservation
A bomb plunges through the floors of an office building: its denizens look on in astonishment, cower in terror or fall through the holes left in its wake. This is an illustration from a book published in March 1939 by the Tecton group of architects, Planned A.R.P., which described their plan for bomb-proofing the London
1900s, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, Air defence, Aircraft, Art, Books, Civil defence, Conferences and talks, Disarmament, Film, International air force, Maps, Nuclear, biological, chemical, Phantom airships, mystery aeroplanes, and other panics, Pictures, Plots and tables, Thesis, Videos
Facing Armageddon
This is the talk I gave at Earth Sciences back in May. It’s long and picture heavy and much of it will be be familiar to regular readers, but some people expressed some interest in it so here it is. I’ve lightly edited it, mainly to correct typos in my written copy. I’ve put in
1900s, 1910s, Art, Before 1900, Phantom airships, mystery aeroplanes, and other panics, Pictures, Rumours
Mowing devils, old hags, and phantom airships
[Cross-posted at Revise and Dissent.] Nick at Mercurius Politicus has an excellent post up on the The Mowing-devil, an English pamphlet from 1678 which is famous among forteans because it contains an illustration of something that looks a lot like a crop circle, three centuries before the term was coined. If it is an account
1900s, 1910s, 1930s, Archives, Art, Ephemera, Pictures
Keep that shadow from them
A poster from the 1935 general election, showing, quite literally, the shadow of the bomber. The National Government was a coalition comprising the Conservatives and two splinter parties, National Labour and the Liberal Nationals. With Stanley Baldwin at its head, the National Government went to the people on a platform of peace and prosperity. The
1910s, Aircraft, Art, Books, Pictures
The raiders
THE RAIDERS. A FLIGHT OF SEAPLANES SETTING OFF FOR A NIGHT BOMBING RAID. This one’s got me stumped. It shows a flight of RNAS twin-engined seaplane bombers, but I haven’t been able to find anything with the same profile. Any ideas? Image source: Harry Golding, ed., The Wonder Book of Aircraft for Boys and Girls
1910s, Aircraft, Art, Books, Pictures
A giant of the air
A GIANT OF THE AIR. A HANDLEY-PAGE FOUR-ENGINED BIPLANE. A Handley Page V/1500, the Kabul bomber. Below is (I think) a S.E.5a. Image source: Harry Golding, ed., The Wonder Book of Aircraft for Boys and Girls (London: Ward, Lock & Co, 1919), frontispiece. Painting by Geoffrey Watson.
1900s, 1910s, Archives, Art, Biographies, Pictures
The spirit of grief
I’ve finally gotten around to adding Montagu of Beaulieu (pronounced ‘Bewley’, apparently) to my irregular series of biographies of airpower propagandists. He’s an important, but somewhat neglected figure, some of whose papers I’ve examined (those held at King’s College London). He helped found the Air League of the British Empire in 1909, and devised the