...e Japanese civilian experience whilst under aerial attack in WWII. See the site at: http://www.japanairraids.org/ Brett Holman Pops: Thanks for those links. Japan Air Raids is a really excellent resource, particularly with all the primary source documents they've uploaded. Something similar for Europe would be nice! JDK Hi Pops, Many thanks for that, it certainly adds to the concepts under discussion. Not to detract from the good reasons behind su...
...n in the First World War, published, according to Amazon, on 1 May. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zeppelin-Nights-London-First-World/dp/1847921655 That review is behind a paywall: http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/culture/books/non_fiction/article1405291.ece but here's a Guardian review too: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/23/zeppelin-nights-london-first-world-war-jerry-white-review Brett Holman Thanks, I was intrigued by the title but didn'...
...the NAA site. You've probably also seen his Embarkation Roll entry on our site, but it is here if you've not seen it: http://www.awm.gov.au/cms_images/awm8/10_14_4/pdf/0454.pdf I checked elsewhere in our biographic databases and he doesn't appear on the Red Cross files or in Honours and Awards. We will be recognising the ICC in the exhibition, primarily in relation to Magdhaba in late 1916. Most of the focus of the exhibition itself is however, a...
...be bothered reading them all. (The covers are on the main page.) The main site, www.wejohns.com, gives the same treatment to all the other creations of Captain W.E. Johns,It turns out he wasn't a captain after all, but only a lowly flying officer. Must all one's childhood illusions be shattered? not excluding Biggles' feminine counterpart Worrals of the WAAF. I had no idea he wrote so many - he even tried his hand at science fiction. Perhaps I'm...
...he other side. About all that remains is just one section of curtain wall (dating to the 14th century) plus the gatehouse. Despite it only being about 20% of a castle, I was pretty excited to wander around it, as it's the first castle I've ever seen. (Unless you count Kryal Castle, seat of King Keith I. And you really shouldn't.) Why is it ruined? In the Civil War, it was a Royalist stronghold. It was besieged three times, in 1643, 1644 and 1645-6...
...nted on the Wokingham Whale. Above is a photograph of this unlikely beast, dating from 1910 or so. All I know about it is from the Globe and this site, which has several other photos as well. The Whale was not an airship, although that word was used to describe it. Despite the shape, that's not a gasbag but a fuselage. A 80hp engine was to drive a 1200rpm 'rotoscope' (presumably meaning a propeller, which Patrick Alexander apparently designed). Th...
...mere spectacles but training for war. Although Hendon itself was a pre-war site of aerial spectacle, that was a private enterprise and had nothing to do with the RFC (which probably would have been hard pressed to compete in qualitative terms anyway). So it was only after 1918 that it got into the game. The Navy held its first review in ten years in July 1924, shortly after the fifth Hendon, but as before the opportunities for creativity were limi...
..., from here, here, and here, of a YMCA air raid shelter on the Strand, all dating from January or May 1918. The location, as can be here, is on the corner of Melbourne Place, so just across from (the then brand-new) Australia House. It turns out that this shelter was just one corner of the YMCA's Aldwych Hut, which was a club for Australian servicemen -- logically enough, given the location. Two women, with many mugs; the sign is missing from the...
...four blogs: In the Middle (best group blog), Religion in American History (best new blog), Zoom (best series of posts, which have featured here before), and Steamboats are Ruining Everything (best writing). They join Cliopatria (best post, by Timothy Burke) and Civil War Memory (best individual blog), both already there. I'm very pleased about that last one -- even though Airminded was also nominated in that category -- because Kevin's passion for...
