Going… going… gone!
From the climactic set-piece at the 1927 RAF Display at Hendon, the destruction of an ‘Eastern village’ by Fairey Foxes — in GIF form:
1920s, Aerial theatre, Conferences and talks, Tools and methods, Videos
1910s, Aerial theatre, Australia, Periodicals, Pictures
Call of the clouds
Tim Sherratt pointed out this remarkable image, PRG 280/1/24/108 in the State Library of South Australia’s collection. The description reads: A large crowd of spectators packed into stands around a show ring looking up into the sky as they watch for the arrival of the local aviator Harry Butler’s aircraft. The date is given as
1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, Aerial theatre, After 1950, Archives, Australia, Civil aviation, Ephemera, International air force, Pictures, Tools and methods
AIR in the AJCP
This is the cover of a leaflet produced in 1916 by the Australian Air Squadrons Fund, the Australian arm of the Imperial Air Flotilla which raised funds around the British Empire for presentation ‘battle-planes’ for the Royal Flying Corps. My interest in it is not so much for its own sake, though I am struck
1930s, Art, Periodicals, Pictures
Miss Earhart’s Arrival
Walter Sickert, Miss Earhart’s Arrival (1932). A fascinating image. The occasion is Amelia Earhart’s arrival at Hanworth aerodrome on 22 May 1932, after her solo flight across the Atlantic, the first by a woman and in record time. She was already well-known as an aviator, but this feat made her a celebrity. You can see
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
1910s, 1920s, 1940s, Blogging, tweeting and podcasting, Periodicals, Pictures, Words
Perfectly ordinary banter, 1944
Since this thread received absolutely no love over on Twitter, some lazyblogging of a 1944 article entitled ‘Jargon of the skies’ by James E. Wellard on RAF and US Army slang, published in the Toronto Star Weekly (via the Perth Sunday Times): — Brett Holman (@Airminded) April 30, 2019
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,
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
1900s, Books, Pictures, Words
No longer an island? — III
A quick followup to my previous posts about the origins of the phrase ‘England is no longer an island’, supposedly uttered by Lord Northcliffe in 1906 in reference to Alberto Santos-Dumont taking to the air (above). I’ve tried to run down a primary source for this, but haven’t quite managed it. Here’s what I have