2016 has been a terrible year in many respects, but finally there is some good news for everyone! Well, for everyone who wants to buy a copy of my book, anyway; because in January 2017 The Next War in the Air will be republished in a much cheaper (if not quite cheap) paperpack edition. To […]
Robin Archer, Joy Damousi, Murray Goot and Sean Scalmer, eds. The Conscription Conflict and the Great War. Clayton: Monash University Publishing, 2016. A solid set of essays covering the Australian conscription debate from its political and philosophical origins to the way it has been remembered. The selling point for me was the comparative section, with
Yesterday there was quite a bit of activity on Twitter in response to the following tweet: This passage made me laugh loudly. Such a burn. #rekt #deception pic.twitter.com/toycYnNFRV — Kate Pearce (@secvalve) November 20, 2016 Yes, it’s our old friends, the wooden bombs! A number of people linked either to me or to one of
Airminded has been very quiet lately, as I was working to a deadline (thankfully met). I didn’t even have time to note the books I’ve been buying, so here they are. Bourke, Joanna. Wounding the World: How Military Violence and War-Play Invades Our Lives. London: Virago, 2014. The argument is there in the title, the
Erik Larson. Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania. Brunswick and London: Scribe, 2015. Over 200 successful transatlantic crossings, but get sunk just one time and nobody remembers that. Mainly a narrative history but there’s nothing wrong with that from time to time. Also, like the next book, it was free (thanks, Richard!) Lynn
F. G. Brown. Air Navigation Based on Principles and Methods applicable also to Sea Navigation. Sydney and London: Angus & Robertson, 1940. Teaches the same methods successfully used by P. G. Taylor over the Indian Ocean in June 1939! A useful reminder for the non-pilot (i.e. me) of just how much maths is involved in
Earlier this week I had my first article published in The Conversation, on the actual original context for the Keep Calm And Carry On poster, as opposed to the assumed original context. The Conversation is a great platform for academics to get their work and ideas out to the public, and to provide expert analysis
Michael North and Davy Burnaby. ‘Lords Of The Air’. Sydney: D. Davis & Co., 1939. Thanks, Bart! Frank H. Shaw. Outlaws of the Air. Glasgow: The Children’s Press, 1927. Thanks again, Bart! Shaw was a former naval officer who was also a prolific writer of war stories and science fiction aimed primarily at boys. This
People are nice. At the AHA today, I bumped into Bart Ziino, who gave me a present: the sheet music for a 1939 ballad called ‘Lords Of The Air’. I’d not heard of it before, though I’ve probably heard it before as it was played in several episodes of Dad’s Army. You can listen to
Garry Campion. The Battle of Britain, 1945-1965: The Air Ministry and the Few. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. The Battle as propaganda during the war (most of the book) and memory afterwards. Includes such topics as the ‘battle of the barges’ and Churchill’s ‘The Few’ speech (Campion still thinks The Few referred to Fighter Command but
