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James D Kightly @jdkightly.bsky.social · 1d

I'll be there - after all, I co-organised it. But it you're interested in aviation history, how it's created, researched and examined, the maybe you should be too.

After all we've made it free, online, and accessible, because we think it should be. See you there!

Aviation Cultures Conference @avculturesconf.bsky.social · 1d

Reminder! Only 2 days to the free online Logbooks & AvDocs.

Did Guy Gibson 'fudge' his logbook? And one of our experts' 'smoking gun' document: "...reminding audiences that you can’t always trust the people you think you should be able to trust."

Join us! -JDK

aviationcultures.org/spotlights/l...

A sharp dressed man smiles at the camera, while holding a magnifying glass and looking at a document. It's Dr Peter Hobbins, who'll be presenting ‘Legal eagles: using legal sources to cross-examine aviation history.’

A 1940s bathing beauty sits in the lap of a pilot in this cartoon. Her ribbon reads 'Miss Anoxia'. Via Ester Aube, who will present on: ‘Aircraft Technical Documentation: Military Organizational Systems & Their Development During WWII.‘ Maybe the content won't be as dry as the title might suggest?

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James D Kightly @jdkightly.bsky.social · 1d

Cleared that up.

Archivists. Be nice, they know where the bodies are buried.

Buckinghamshire Archives @bucksarchives.bsky.social · 2d

Hoping this helps our colleagues across the industry

A meme of 'Is this an archive?' showing a grid with various classifications of things that might be archives based on their content and structure.

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James D Kightly @jdkightly.bsky.social · 3d

Incidentally, the article's from last year...

James D Kightly @jdkightly.bsky.social · 3d

Not just you, the internet's worse.

NB: You aren't powerless, you can adapt and overcome. Your actions are important. As elsewhere, making thoughtful smart choices is work, but make a crucial difference.

(Bonus dog on the internet New Yorker cartoon too...)

theconversation.com/the-internet...

The internet is worse than it used to be. How did we get here, and can we go back?

In the early days the internet was a free, egalitarian space for anyone to surf. Now, commercial interests rule – but users do still have some control.

theconversation.com

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James D Kightly @jdkightly.bsky.social · 4d

Very proud of what @avculturesconf.bsky.social team have achieved. It's 2 sessions this weekend, but packed in there are world class experts ready to share their expertise AND answer YOUR questions, free.

I can't quite believe what we've got! Full details on the website, shares & visits v welcome!

Aviation Cultures Conference @avculturesconf.bsky.social · 4d

Engaged in aviation history research? We've got a VERY useful, FREE, online Spotlight this weekend. In-depth WWII British Commonwealth insight in Sess 1, many wider insights inc legal docs & getting your P-51 papers in Tech Order: Sess 2. Join us! -JDK.

Details: aviationcultures.org/spotlights/l...

Two men grinning for the camera in front of a bookshelf. Text '8 November 2025 Online on Zoom Aviation Cultures Spotlight Logbooks & AvDocs'.

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James D Kightly @jdkightly.bsky.social · Oct 7

Well, I’m hanging for the proof of the breadth of BlueSky’s reach when someone pops up and says ‘yes’!

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Reposted by James D Kightly

Aviation Cultures Conference @avculturesconf.bsky.social · Oct 7

* And extra points if you can tell us about something YOU put in a logbook. (Or better still, left out!)

You can DM us in confidence, this account isn’t monitored by any retro aviation authorities (probably). -JDK

a man in a military uniform is sitting in a classroom with other men and says `` it 's classified . ''

Alt: I’ma just gonna leave the auto descriptor there: “a man in a military uniform is sitting in a classroom with other men and says `` it 's classified . ''

media.tenor.com

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Reposted by James D Kightly

Aviation Cultures Conference @avculturesconf.bsky.social · Oct 7

Logbook oddities? We’re interested. What’s the strangest, funniest or most unexpected thing that you’ve found* in an aviation logbook?

We’ll be talking ‘Logbooks & Avdocs’ in our next Spotlight event, free, online, in just over a month. Can you tease us with an odd fact first? -JDK

Poster for the Logbooks & AvDocs free online Spotlight event at Aviation Cultures on 8 November.

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James D Kightly @jdkightly.bsky.social · Oct 7

The ‘dress’ has been worn by almost every surviving Spitfire decades longer than the re-production of two seat conversion revival.

The casual watcher of warbirds is getting a brief intro. Not an accurate history lesson - on multiple counts.

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James D Kightly @jdkightly.bsky.social · Oct 7

Nice! A Tiger Moth with manners!

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James D Kightly @jdkightly.bsky.social · Oct 7

There’s a lot of interesting developmental elements to the D-520 story.

But in 1944, they were still using the standard model. And it was not capable as an air superiority fighter by then.

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James D Kightly @jdkightly.bsky.social · Oct 3

Essentially, yes. Long range over water to return to a MOVED base seemed to justify a dedicated navigator.

(There's also a forgotten belief that bombers were going to be hard to down, and fighters, thus less useful - so adding other roles to fighters didn't seem as a big compromise as it became.)

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James D Kightly @jdkightly.bsky.social · Oct 1

Monday Movie Magic: "...you're wanted for murder on every front page in America. Don't be so modest."
-
"I told you. It's a nice face."

A man in a suit is about to remove his sunglasses, sitting at a train dining table facing a blonde woman and holding a cocktail. He's Cary Grant playing Roger Thornhill.

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James D Kightly @jdkightly.bsky.social · Oct 1

That level of thinking is next level, literally!

Great model and idea, too.

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James D Kightly @jdkightly.bsky.social · Oct 1

Ha! *If* I get there (fingers crossed) this will be the largest model I've completed in decades. That said, if you can avoid messing around and/or trying to be clever (like me!) it's a pretty simple kit that mostly looks like it fits well, so there's that...

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James D Kightly @jdkightly.bsky.social · Sep 29

A bit of progress on #HeaviesGB #histscalemodels Fw 200. ‘Busying up’ the cockpit which, as well as being very empty, bears little resemblance to the real thing. And the seats are nothing like those provided. Meanwhile the mystery boxes and 1:1 screws have come good in V2 of the plan. Details anon.

Photo of the main cockpit structure with one fuselage side and chairs laid out separately.

Blocks of wood in the fuselage with two threaded bolts running into them.

A cockpit shot of the real Fw 200 civil cockpit.

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Reposted by James D Kightly

Zac Yates @zacyates.bsky.social · Sep 27

The three 1/72 Sea Furies are done! A big “Thank You!” to @jdkightly.bsky.social for his generous assistance with decals, without which these would be back in the stash waiting. I still shudder that Airfix released this kit given its limitations, even compared to Hornby Era designs. #histscalemodels

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James D Kightly @jdkightly.bsky.social · Sep 26

Blocked Tom a while back (on Twitter) as it became increasingly evident No One Was Ever As Right As Tom About Anything.

He also stopped listening a long time ago.

Of the fascism point, the current US is ticks all the criteria of the definition. You know, Tom, FACTS.

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Reposted by James D Kightly

Ben Miller @benwritesthings.bsky.social · Sep 25

The Met Opera’s season ad shows people being transfixed by gorgeous singing in different places in New York. This commenter is very angry: what if the wrong sort of people show up? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Reposted by James D Kightly

Aviation Cultures Conference @avculturesconf.bsky.social · Sep 25

Going to be worth your time! @danellin.bsky.social shares great research.

Dan Ellin @danellin.bsky.social · Sep 25

I'm giving a talk "Penguins and Chop Girls: Remembering RAF Bomber Command ground personnel 1939-45" Monday 6th October 2025 at 6.15pm, @uolhumanities.bsky.social Brayford campus (room TBC). #WW2 #History @nmtdambusters.bsky.social cityoflincolnbranchha.wordpress.com/.../branch.../

Historical Association Lincoln Branch
‘Penguins and Chop Girls: Remembering RAF Bomber Command ground personnel 1939 -1945’
For every member of aircrew who flew a bomber aircraft in RAF Bomber Command there were up to ten men and women who served in supporting roles. Their diverse trades included aircraft fitters and mechanics, WAAF clerks, parachute packers and drivers, and the lowly AC2 who emptied the latrines and drove the sanitary truck. ‘Penguins’, as flightless ground personnel were sometimes called, were marginalised in the RAF, and the women of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), were frequently reduced to sexual objects. Women who had dated an airman who failed to return were shunned as bad omens or ‘chop girls.’ However, without the effort of all these personnel, the bombing campaigns would not have got off the ground. Using published and unpublished testimonies including oral histories recorded for the IBCC Digital Archive, Dan examines the lives of ground personnel on operational bomber stations.
Monday 6th October 2025 at 6.15pm, University of Lincoln’s Brayford campus (room TBC). Refreshments before and questions afterwards.
QR code and images of WAAFs

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James D Kightly @jdkightly.bsky.social · Sep 25

It was a good airshow! So in my #HeaviesGB #histscalemodels Fw 200 build, I decided the failure of my special bit was just a blip.

In the 'conventional modelling' element of the build, I created an inner frame structure and the inner side of the passenger door. This Fw 200's cabin was stripped out.

The two fuselage halves showing the ribs and stringer framework created with nearly 40 year old drafting tape. Also masked up with blue masking tape.

Same again with the cabin spray painted silver. Looks good!

A detail shot showing the crude door frame structure. It doesn't need to be great, because it'll only just be visible through the windows.

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James D Kightly @jdkightly.bsky.social · Sep 25

The Royal Australian Air Force base, RAAF Point Cook, in Victoria, has a rare (possibly unique) pre-WWII aircraft gun butt building.

The modern image was taken on a base tour while the great period shot shows one of the RAAF's Hawker Demon fighters using it.

Any other pre-WWII aircraft gun butts?

A Hawker Demon fighter firing its fuselage guns into the sand of the gun but in the later 1930s. RAAF Museum Archive image, via post author.

A modern (20 year old!) photo of the same gun butt building. While there are a number of WWII era gun butts on military airfields, I'm not aware of any like this. Anyone? Photo copyright James Kightly, Vintage Aero Writer.

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James D Kightly @jdkightly.bsky.social · Sep 24

Oh, indeed! This one it was that everything from focus to framing was fine from the camera. Nice.

a man in a striped shirt is smiling and waving at the camera with the word nice .

Alt: The 'Nice' jazz compare. A man in a striped shirt is smiling and waving at the camera with the word "nice".

media.tenor.com

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James D Kightly @jdkightly.bsky.social · Sep 23

I certainly thought so, and Sree Nair could provide data in terms of relative performance, and what I also think is interesting, it's one of those aspects of history that won't have been documented, and thus easily missed.

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James D Kightly @jdkightly.bsky.social · Sep 23

Talking to an Indian Air Force historian about their WWII early days, he suggested they achieved a (documented) higher level of aircraft serviceability and performance because they worked harder, smarter and longer to pre-empt British racial judgement. Be twice as good to get the same credit?

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