I couldn’t do any of this without some use of a bibliography. I am a Librarian and Historian after all. I spent a considerable portion of 2014 writing a humongous annotated bibliography while finishing my Master’s thesis. I met my thesis advisor in the supermarket the other day and she pointed out that there are punctuation errors through my citations. How quickly we forget. Please let me know if I’ve mauled something too badly.
As if you couldn’t guess already I make considerable use of Wikipedia, the text content of which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
Carvair (November – December 2014)
Aussie Airliners, “VH-INY” http://www.aussieairliners.org/dc-4/vh-iny/vhiny.html (accessed November 9, 2014).
“The home of an incredible collection of aircraft images and the only web site in the world that presents in-depth histories of Australian registered airliners.”
This particular page gives a potted history of N83FA’s career and identities, particularly during its time in Australia as VH-INY.
More on VH-INY during HM Queen Elizabeth’s tour of Australia in 1954 courtesy of the State library of Tasmania.
- http://catalogue.statelibrary.tas.gov.au/item/?id=AB713-1-2859
Photograph – Royal Visit, Western Junction, Queen waves from plane - http://catalogue.statelibrary.tas.gov.au/item/?id=AB713-1-2860
Photograph – Royal Visit, Western Junction, Queen at the window of “Skymaster” - http://catalogue.statelibrary.tas.gov.au/item/?id=AB713-1-2861
Photograph – Royal Visit, Western Junction, royal aircraft moves off - http://catalogue.statelibrary.tas.gov.au/item/?id=AB713-1-2862
Photograph – Royal Visit, Western Junction, royal aircraft takes off
Researchers into things Australian should never ignore Trove – the online catalogue of the National Library of Australia http://trove.nla.gov.au/
Baugher, Joe. “USASC-USAAS-USAAC-USAAF-USAF Aircraft Serial Numbers 1908 to Present” http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/usafserials.html (accessed 9th November 2014)
Joe Baugher’s site ought to be the first stop for anyone researching US Military Aircraft serial numbers. A Search engine for this site , which allows users to search for a serial number or for a particular aircraft type was created by Jeremy Kuris. “Aircraft Serial Number Search” http://users.rcn.com/jeremy.k/serialSearch.html
Dean, William Patrick. The ATL-98 Carvair: A Comprehensive History of the Aircraft and All 21 Airframes. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2008.
Gann, Ernest Kellogg. Fate Is the Hunter. New York : Simon and Schuster, 1961
“Ernest K. Gann’s classic memoir is an up-close and thrilling account of the treacherous early days of commercial aviation.” (worldcat.org) Gann may have flown the subject C-54 c/n 10365 N58003 while serving with Matson Airlines in the late 40s, before it became VH-INY and much later, “Carvair Five” and N83FA.
Le Carré, John. The Honourable Schoolboy. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1977.
The book that gave birth to this blog. Worth reading for the literary style alone, but also vital if you want to bridge the gap between Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley’s People, especially as the proposed BBC dramatization was cancelled.
Wikipedia, “Aviation Traders Carvair,” – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviation_Traders_Carvair (accessed November 7, 2014).
Air Freight (8th November 2014)
Bilstein, Roger E. “Putting Aircraft to Work: The First Air Freight,” Ohio History Journal 76, No. 4 (Autumn, 1967): 247-258, 277-9.
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, “Commercial Aviation” http://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/wright-brothers/online/age/1910/commercial.cfm (accessed November 7, 2014).
Wikipedia. “Philip Orin Parmelee,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Orin_Parmelee (accessed November 7, 2014).
BEA Viking G-AIVL – May 1950 (9th November 2014)
“Awarded the George Medal – Captain Ian Richard Harvey, DFC, Pilot, British European Airways Corporation (Pinner, Middlesex)” Third Supplement to the London Gazette, Friday 12th May 1950, Tuesday 16th May 1950. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/38913/supplement/2429/data.htm (accessed 9th November, 2014).
Barker, Ralph Hammond. Great Mysteries of the Air. [With plates and maps.]. London: Chatto & Windus, 1966.
Daily Telegraph “Obituary – Captain Ian Harvey” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1467912/Captain-Ian-Harvey.html (accessed 9th November 2014).
Great Britain. Civil Aircraft Accident, Report on the Accident to Viking 1B G-AIVL Which Occurred on 13th April, 1950, in Flight About 30 Miles South-East of Hastings. London: H.M.S.O, 1950.
Significant Sounds 1 and 2 (14th November 2014)
“Nightingales/Bombs/Beethoven” Notes and Queries by David Herkt http://publicaddress.net/im:8577/nightingales-bombs-beethoven/ (accessed 14th November, 2014).
“Capturing the song of the Nightingale, the first ever live outdoor radio broadcast” – National Media Museum Blog, http://blog.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/2013/01/08/from-nightingale-to-narcissus/ (accessed 15th November 2014).
Jake Moellendick and Wichita – The Air Capital (24th November 2014)
Experimental Aircraft Association Airventure Museum. “Brief Swallow Company History.”
http://airventure.air.museum/collection/aircraft/5Swallow%20Manufacturing%20Co%20History.asp (accessed 24th November 2014).
Harris, Richard. “The Air Capital Story: Early General Aviation & Its Manufacturers.”
http://home.iwichita.com/rh1/hold/av/avhist/wichita/aircap_x.htm (accessed 24th November 2014).
Rowe, Frank Joseph, and H. Craig Miner. Borne on the South Wind: A Century of Aviation in Kansas. Wichita, KS: Wichita Eagle and Beacon Pub. Co, 1994.
This is a wonderful book which documents the first century of Kansas aviation. Some of the very early schemes are worthy of Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines. Recommended.
RAF Bomber Command Stories (December 16th, 2014)
- Charlwood, Donald. No Moon Tonight. London: Angus & Robertson, 1956.
- Tripp, Miles. The Eighth Passenger. London: Heinemann, 1969.
- Yates, Harry. Luck and a Lancaster. Shrewsbury: Airlife, 1999.
“Aircraft Q failed to return.” (http://rafww2butler.wordpress.com/) This site is dedicated to the memory of Sgt. Cecil Arthur “Butch” Butler (1913-1945), Flight Engineer on Lancaster ME334 “TL-Q” of 35 Squadron. Butler and the rest of the Johnson crew were killed on their 31st operation on 4th February, 1945 when their Lancaster was shot down on the outskirts of Bonn.
218 Squadron http://218squadron.wordpress.com/
Meopham Air Disaster – July 1930 (February 11th 2015)
Wikipedia ,”Meopham Air Disaster” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meopham_air_disaster (Accessed March 1, 2015)
Technical Report by the Accidents Investigation Sub-Committee on the Accident to the Aeroplane G-AAZK at Meopham, Kent, on 21st July, 1930. Air Ministry. Aeronautical Research Committee. Reports and memoranda, No. 1360. 1931.
I think I have traced three copies of this book. Two are in Germany, (Berlin and Dresden) traced through WorldCat, and one in the Linda Hall Library of Science and Technology, Kansas City, Missouri, which I have seen myself.
Harriet Quimby (16th April 2015)
“In 1911 Quimby authored seven screenplays or scenarios that were made into silent film shorts by Biograph Studios. All seven were directed by director D. W. Griffith.” (Wikipedia). I might like to look into this sometime as I spend a few hours each semester talking about Birth of a Nation
- Harriet Quimby’s Wikipedia Page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Quimby - Air and Space magazine. Did Harriet Quimby’s Bleriot end up in New York?
http://www.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/did-harriet-quimbys-bleriot-end-up-in-new-york-22770842/ - Cradle of Aviation Museum (Garden City, NY) Bleriot Type XI The Hempstead Plains Gallery, 1904-1913
http://www.cradleofaviation.org/history/permanent_exhibits/the_hempstead_plains/bleriot.htm
Battle of Britain (July 2015, August – September 2016, and probably more)
This might be a place to list a lot of my Battle of Britain book collection, if I have the will to do it.
- Mason, Francis K. Battle Over Britain: A History of the German Air Assaults on Great Britain, 1917-18 and July-December 1940, and of the Development Af Britain’s Air Defences between the World Wars. Bourne End: Aston Publications, 1990.
This is in my opinion one of the best chronological accounts of the Battle OF Britain and also the first raids on England in the First World War. The research is very thorough although once or twice I( have noticed Mason’s notes on casualties differ from some of the more recent histories. - Price, Alfred. The Hardest Day: Battle of Britain, 18 August 1940. London: Arms and Armour Press, 1988.
- Wellum, Geoffrey. First Light. London: Viking, 2002.
- Wood, Derek, and Derek Dempster. The Narrow Margin: The Battle of Britain and the Rise of Air Power 1930 – 40. London: Arrow, 1967.
Originally published in 1961, this is the book which in part was used in the making of the 1969 movie Battle of Britain Not as detailed as Battle over Britain but worth seeking out, nevertheless. - Winston Churchill’s “Their Finest Hour” Speech – 18th June 1940 http://www.winstonchurchill.org/resources/speeches/1940-the-finest-hour/their-finest-hour (Still there on October 10th 2016)
Flight 19, The Bermuda Triangle (December 2015)
- Berlitz, Charles. The Bermuda Triangle. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1974.
- Wikipedia – Flight 19 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_19
- Barker, Ralph. Great Mysteries of the Air. London: Pan Books, 1968.
What can we say about Charles Berlitz’ book that hasn’t been said. It’s a fascinating read forty-odd years later even if much of it is pretty specious when read with the eye of 21st Century scholarship.
Ralph Barker was a fairly prolific British aviation writer who turned out a good few titles in his career including Verdict on a Lost Flyer: the Story of Bill Lancaster (My copy is London: Harrap, 1969) – extracts from which are featured in Great Mysteries of the Air – it’s an interesting book, and describes several well known and less familiar aviation mysteries including the 1927 disappearance of Ray Hinchliffe and Elsie Mackay as they attempted to fly the Atlantic from West to East, the disappearance in 1943 and rediscovery in 1958 of the B-24 Lady be Good and the disappearance of BSAA Avro Tudor G-AHNP Star Tiger in January 1948. Worth seeking out.
Forty Years of the Foxbat – and Firefox (September 2016)
Barron, John. MIG Pilot: The Final Escape of Lieutenant Belenko. New York: Avon, 1980.
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160905-the-pilot-who-stole-a-secret-soviet-fighter-jet
The BBC news article which inspired the blog article.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Belenko. The Wikipedia page about Viktor Belenko.
Thomas, Craig: Firefox. London: Michael Joseph, 1977.
Craig Thomas’ debut novel about the theft of the fictitious MiG-31 “Firefox” which may owe some of its origins to the high-speed cold war between the USA and UK. Much better than the film, although Clint Eastwood’s performance is memorable.
Glenn Miller (December 2017)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Miller
Wikipedia – Glenn Miller
http://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-devon-42361353/glenn-miller-mystery-notebook-sheds-light-on-death
The BBC News story which started my interest on the anniversary of miller’s disappearance.
http://swingandbeyond.com/2017/09/01/reads-and-re-reads-glenn-miller-declassified-jeep-jockey-jump-1944-glenn-miller-army-air-force-band/
Mike Zirpolo’s site, an account of the Spragg book, and a restored version of “Jeep Jockey Jump”
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-glenn-miller-tv-review-20140708-column.html
Chicago Tribune article reviewing the PBVS History Detectives episode about Miller.
http://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/31/arts/raf-bombs-may-have-downed-glenn-miller-plane.html
1985 New York Times Article which advanced the theory that RAF Lancasters jettisoning their bombs may have brought down Miller’s Norseman
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/29/glenn-miller-book-clears-raf-killing-band-leader
Review of Spragg’s book in The Guardian discounts the RAF bomb theory.
Nesbit, Roy Conyers. Missing: Believed Killed: Amelia Earhart, Amy Johnson, Glenn Miller and the Duke of Kent. Barnsley: Pen and Sword, 2010.
Detailed proposal of the “Lancaster” theory that Miller’s Norseman was struck in the Southern Jettison Area by bombs from Lancasters of 149 Squadron, RAF, recalled from a raid on Siegen, Germany.
https://www.amazon.com/Glenn-Miller-Declassified-Dennis-Spragg/dp/1612348955
Glenn Miller Declassified on Amazon.
Rambles in the Air 
Hi Robert,
I’m doing a piece for BBC News next week about the anniversary of the Meopham Air Crash. I came across your blog and would love to interview you on Skype if at all possible.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Sam
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