I’ve been looking recently for references to the legendary WW2 pilot Douglas Bader in and around the Pas de Calais where he was shot down and captured in August 1941. (For some time, I’ve been encouraging the local tourism office in St. Omer to put together a...
RAF Cosford is still an operational airbase and most importantly, it’s the home of the Defence College of Aeronautical Engineering (DCAE), which sets the tone & style for the museum and gives it a unique atmosphere. It’s not that in Hangar 1, for example, you’ll find loads...
The National Army Museum will be opening its doors to the public on Thursday (30 March) after a £23.75m redevelopment that sees the building transformed from what the Director General, Janice Murray, described to me as a gloomy warren “rather like a car park”, to a bright...
Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) have announced an agreement with the Italian shipbuilder, Fincantieri S.p.A., to build their next generation ships. Four 140,000 gross ton cruise ships, each carrying around 3,300 guests, are on order for delivery in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, with an option for two...
This audio detection set, now in the Swedish Army Museum in Stockholm, is billed as a Listening Device M/1928 manufactured by a British company, Barr & Stroud Ltd. Sweden bought a number of these ‘ear trumpet’ devices in the 1920s to detect and pinpoint aircraft. Barr &...
This looks like an interesting project, if it ever gets off the ground – see what I did there? This is a new concept ducted-fan vertical take-off (VTOL) aircraft that could be commonplace if it works as billed. The six-seat XTI TriFan 600, say the designers, “will...
It’s not a spectacular building. In fact it’s what it always used to be – a college. But this nondescript building next to the station in Reims is historic. This is where World War II ended in Europe. This is where the Germans signed their (first) unconditional...
The build-up to the 100th anniversary of the end of The Great War continues to grow and so do the associated memorials, museums and interpretation centres in Belgium & France. In the French Ardennes, the War & Peace Museum is due to re-open on 11th November 2017...
If you are a 'foodie' - you like your food and you're interested how it's made/processed - then this is for you.
The National Railway Museum in York is just one of those key landmark museums in the UK, like the Science Museum in London, or IWM Duxford, that you have to see… and you don’t have to sacrifice any ‘me time’ away from your family or partner to...
Last May, London Gatwick Airport opened its new ‘Pier 1’ at the South Terminal, replacing the old Pier 1 originally opened by the Queen in 1958. The new pier, costing £186 million, has 5 efficient dual-boarding gates with state-of-the-art passenger gate rooms and a premium lounge with...
I had heard of the Japanese WW2 balloon bomb campaign, but until I was reading David Hambling’s new book, Swarm Troopers – How small drones will conquer the world *, I hadn’t been aware that there had been civilian casualties. In fact these were the only deaths...
I suspect that for many enthusiastic, nomadic and/or professional travellers, online gaming is something of a guilty secret. For example, it is not a subject that comes up often in travel writing/blogging circles, and if it does, the underlying theme is often “why would I be interested...
There are a number* of popular and academic explanations for the invention of the “Jolly Roger” flag with its skull & crossed bones motif. However this isn’t usually included among them. The 14th century (originally) church of St. Nicholas in the parish of Deptford on the south...
This is a niche blog about technically-minded travel. It reflects my own interests in the mechanical, technical, historical, engineering, transport and military world.
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