The global operation of feeding the Navy
BookPick: The British Navy, Economy and Society in the Seven Years War
by BigJules
William Thompson, a former foreman cooper in the Victualling Board, wrote in a work published in 1761:
The author is now in his nineties and this is a new edition published by Fighting High, but originally published in 1956. This new edition is valuable because it speaks for the many aircrew POWs who appear mainly as crowd actors in the tales of the escapers who were an important but minority of Allied POWs held in Germany during WWII.
The author has combined writing with running a Charitable Trust. A number of other books by this author have been published, including a novel “Less than Angel”, a history, “Ireland’s Civil War, A State of Division” and a biography “Arthur Griffith”. In this account of his experiences as aircrew and POW, Younger provides an engaging account with humour and a selection of sketches and cartoons of his own creation, combined with a section of previously unpublished photographs.
At Victory’s bow
Trafalgar Panorama
HMS Victory
by BigJules
There’ve been many famous ships in Britain’s proud history – Mary Rose, Golden Hinde, Cutty Sark, Trincomalee, Great Britain, Discovery … but one ship stands head and shoulders above the rest – HMS Victory, now currently undergoing major restoration in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard to ensure her preservation for future generations.
This is an exhaustive review of its subject. The author may have missed some aircraft but it is not apparent. There is extensive illustration with b&w photographs and drawings. One surprise may be the diversity of British private aviation after WWII. Another surprise may be the number of autogiros developed or used during the period.
In some respects this is a very sad story. After 1945 British aircraft designers and manufacturers continued to innovate but eventually lost out to US and French companies. In part, the British aviation industry was suffering from lack of funding and support during the political process of managed decline, where politicians from the three old failed Parties saw they job as dismantling Britain as rapidly as possible. As with most industrial activity, Britain moved from a world leader, to a minor player, to a country dependent on the service industry and tourism. The economy was in effect hollowed out. Some designers and engineers struggled on, but many moved to other countries and what remained of British aviation was sold off or given away.
The author demonstrates careful research and a logical approach to presenting the results of that research. He has begun with Arado and worked through the alphabet of German fighter manufacturers’ advanced aircraft. It is an impressive work and is a valuable contribution to published knowledge of the subject.
Equally impressive is the range of innovation within the German aircraft industry. The results of their work can be seen in many aircraft designed and built in Europe, Russia, and the US during the last sixty years. Many of the proposed designs, prototype aircraft and series production models covered in this new book are not well known, some of them having received no exposure before. This is an excellent book that should appeal to a wide readership with aviation interests.
The crews of Bomber Command were deliberately snubbed by politicians after 1945 although their courage and endurance in the face of horrific casualty levels and their achievements in aerial bombardment deserved the highest praise. Where the Battle of Britain was responsible for stopping the retreat and giving the Germans a bloody nose, the bombing campaign in Europe certainly shortened the war by years, may have enabled victory and certainly avoided a defeat that might have been achieved by the Germans through their rocket program, had Bomber Command seriously disrupted rocket development and driven the Nazis underground in the Hartz Mountains where their development and production of advanced weapons was seriously slowed down.
This series contains rare photographs and specially commissioned colour artwork. The text packs in a great deal of information, including data that has not appeared anywhere else. The full colour artwork is aimed particularly at the model maker, providing schemes to vary the traditional themes provided by model kit manufacturers.
This is a very valuable book for anyone who wants to take up scanning, but it is also essential reading from anyone who uses any type of radio equipment, including mobile phones, that are vulnerable to attacks by those who choose to use scanning and other techniques as a form of attack. Many people gain enjoyment for monitoring radio traffic and do no harm to anyone else. However, a small, but growing, number of hackers and phreakers are causing a great deal of harm by using the same techniques, adding specialist techniques and deliberately seeking to harm others
In British politics, this is one of the most important books ever to be written. It sets out some fundamental facts about the British Constitution that are frequently denied, or deliberately distorted, by British politicians. On one hand, the facts are there, have always been there, and were once used in formal oaths and taught to students and lawyers. There should have been no reason for this book to have been published, but it is necessary to set aside a series of falsehoods that are being used to deceive the British about one of the greatest democratic elements in their proud heritage.