An airminded surprise
While walking home tonight I saw something unexpected.
Aircraft, Australia, Pictures
1900s, Before 1900, Blogging, tweeting and podcasting, Words
Zeroth World Wars
[Cross-posted at Cliopatria.] A couple of interesting posts at The Russian Front suggest that the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-5 should be thought of as a World War Zero, or alternatively that the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-8 should be. It’s often useful to play around with the names we give to historical events and phenomena, because
Blogging, tweeting and podcasting
Your target for tonight …
… is a new blog written by Jakob, a frequent commenter around these parts. He’s just finishing up a Master’s on engine development at the interwar RAE, and then will roll into a PhD on Metrovicks and the gas turbine. This is pleasing for a number of reasons, not least because I’ve finally got enough
Before 1900, Books, Periodicals
The first air bomb: Venice, 15 July 1849
On 22 August 1849, the Republic of San Marco surrendered to Austria. The Republic was formed after a revolt in Venice against Austrian rule in March 1848. The Austrians eventually besieged Venice, leading to starvation and outbreaks of cholera in the city. During this siege, they launched the first air raids in history, by unmanned
1940s, Books, Counterfactuals, Nuclear, biological, chemical
The third atomic bomb: Tokyo, 19 August 1945
On this day in 1945, the third atomic bomb was dropped on Tokyo. Or, rather, might have been had not Japan surrendered on 15 August. For a long time, I’ve believed that the two bombs used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the only ones which would be available for a month or two. But a
1930s, Books, Periodicals
The fire in Llŷn
The fire at Penyberth, in the Llŷn peninsula, is an important part of the history of the Welsh nationalist movement. In the early hours of 8 September 1936, three men, Saunders Lewis, Lewis Valentine and D. J. Williams, entered an aerodrome which was being built for the RAF as a bombing school and deliberately set
Blogging, tweeting and podcasting
I, twit
Twitter is the most jumped-upon bandwagon on the net right now. And so I’ve jumped on too. You can follow me there or by way of the sidebar.
Travel 2009
Things to see in London, late September 2009
A mix of things I missed and things which weren’t there last time: The Guernica tapestry at the Whitechapel Gallery. Moctezuma: Aztec Ruler at the British Museum. Outbreak 1939 at the Imperial War Museum. As You Like It at Shakespeare’s Globe. IWM Duxford. HMS Belfast. Museum in Docklands. Victoria and Albert Museum. Tower of London.
Books, Periodicals, Tools and methods
Airpower: a bibliography of British aviation history
One quite inadequate response to the paywalling of bibliographies is to set up your own, which I’ve made a start at here. It’s a little narrower in focus than the RHS bibliography, being limited to works relating to the history of British aviation up to 1941 which I looked at in the course of my