Periodicals

Junkers A.35b
1930s, Aerial theatre, Books, Civil defence, Disarmament, Periodicals, Phantom airships, mystery aeroplanes, and other panics

The phantom phantom air raid — II

So if there were no mystery aeroplanes over Berlin on 23 June 1933, and nobody who even saw any mystery aeroplanes, why did the German government and press say otherwise? There are three-ish reasons, that I can see. The first is the most obvious. It was strongly implied in the original English-language reports that the […]

1930s, Nuclear, biological, chemical, Periodicals, Phantom airships, mystery aeroplanes, and other panics

The phantom phantom air raid — I

On the evening of 23 June 1933, Berlin was raided by mysterious aeroplanes of unknown origin: A number of aeroplanes, which were described as being of unidentified foreign origin, are reported to have flown over the working-class areas of the city yesterday evening, and dropped leaflets and pamphlets, in which the Government was attacked. Upon

Brindejonc des Moulinais, Hendon, May 1913
1910s, Aerial theatre, Books, Periodicals, Phantom airships, mystery aeroplanes, and other panics

The airship non-panic of Whitsun 1914

According to David Oliver’s Hendon Aerodrome, International tension remained high during the Whitsun weekend [30-31 May] of 1914, when the country was plunged into a Zeppelin scare that resulted in severe civil flying restrictions.1 As I’ve never come across this mystery aircraft panic before — a not unknown occurrence! — I naturally got very excited,

Longmont Daily Times, 4 December 1926, p. 4
1900s, 1910s, 1920s, Before 1900, Film, Periodicals, Pictures

Gospel airships, heroic hearts and holy scriptures

Proselytisers are famously early adopters of communications technology (see: the Gutenberg Bible). It shouldn’t be surprising that missionaries were intrigued by the development of aviation: a Baptist minister, Reverend F. W. Boreham, even claimed that It was with a view to winging the Gospel to the uttermost ends of the eaxth that the first airman

Popular Mechanics, October 1922
1900s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, After 1950, Aircraft, Art, Australia, Before 1900, Civil aviation, Periodicals, Pictures, Words

The never-arriving aerial train

John Ptak asks of this cover from the October 1922 issue Popular Mechanics: ‘why?’ It’s a good question. The accompanying article doesn’t really help: Consider yourself aboard a giant airplane whose whirring propellers rapidly drive from view faint objects on the earth far below. As towns and hamlets recede in the distance you realize that

Big Ben
1940s, Books, Periodicals, Pictures, Radio, Rumours

A tall tale of Big Ben

As part of a discussion about the worldwide syncronisation of time, Yuval Noah Harari writes: During World War Two, BBC News was broadcast to Nazi-occupied Europe. Each news programme opened with a live broadcast of Big Ben tolling the hour — the magical sound of freedom. Ingenious German physicists found a way to determine the

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