19th Century
Holography, Part One
Introduction To the Looking-Glass world it was Alice that said, “I’ve a sceptre in hand, I’ve a crown on my head. Let the Looking-Glass creatures, whatever they be Come dine with the Red Queen, the [more…]
Engineering
Engineering
Review: Kärcher WD2 Wet and Dry Vacuum
I’m not someone who usually suffers from FOMO but having purchased a new wet & dry vacuum recently and seeing as it is de rigueur to post reviews of vacuum cleaners on GP I thought [more…]
America
Apollo Thirteen
The big issue of today appears to be the climate emergency, have I got that right? Well, what is causing the problem? Carbon Dioxide, yup, got that. 400 parts per million atmospheric CO2, definitely a [more…]
20th Century
The Spitfire, of course, Part 4
Musings on the development of the Miles M20 prototype Firstly, a reminder of where we started back in part one, I suggested in the first article in this series that the Spitfire was not an [more…]
Arts
My Apprenticeship, Part Two
Part one went through the first two years of my drawing office apprenticeship with Babcock and Wilcox Ltd. During the second year, Babcock and Wilcox Ltd became Babcock and Wilcox (Operations) Limited. The first of [more…]
20th Century
An early airman’s tragic adventure
Early 1930: It had been a depressing English winter – cold, dark and wet for weeks on end. In West Wickham, a young man who had left Australia five years earlier and settled here in [more…]
Arts
My Apprenticeship, Part One
I hated school, but I enjoyed technical drawing. One reason was that I got it from the very first day. For some reason, I could visualise in 3D those flat drawings. I guess my brain [more…]
Engineering
Le Château de Guédelon
Introduction I suppose it is only natural when confronted by an ancient architectural marvel such as a Roman aqueduct or a mediæval cathedral to stare in wonder and to ask oneself, ‘How on earth did [more…]
20th Century
The Spitfire, of course, Part 3
A look at the Miles M20, the “Emergency Fighter” Design and build us a cheap fighter, knock it up out of wood, shove in this night fighter engine, loads of fuel, plenty of ammo and [more…]