Jakob Whitfield

Text wrangler, academic skills trainer, PhD historian of sci & tech; Londoner-in-exile, dad to twins. History, aeroplanes, beer; books, baking, & bicycles.

[Jakob Whitfield @thrustvector]

@PreachyPreach @OU_Williams @yorksranter (As my posting history may suggest, I've been away from this hellsite for quite a while; clearly this is what it took to - however temporarily - draw me back...)

[Jakob Whitfield @thrustvector]

We live in an age of miracles and wonders... does this mean Strachan's volume 2 might also one day appear?

@PreachyPreach @OU_Williams @yorksranter et al.

[Jakob Whitfield @thrustvector]

@NLi10 @Bozzers It was a crying shame - it was a real community hub. From what I gathered it was the landlords calling in the COVID rent arrears at short notice; of course it's now just another empty unit...

[Jakob Whitfield @thrustvector]

@OU_Williams @CalumDouglas1 @HarksenNiels Technology and Culture indexes would bring up some interesting work. But again I can't think of anything general and overarching - either specific and smaller-scale like T&C papers, or subsumed in economic historians' broader arguments (e.g. Tooze).

[Jakob Whitfield @thrustvector]

@OU_Williams @CalumDouglas1 @HarksenNiels AIUI economic historians have been particularly interested in machine tools, I guess because they're a good proxy for infrastructure capitalisation? But also a fair bit of HistTech; Charles Sabel and Jonathan Zeitlin spring to mind? Sure a search through the+

[Jakob Whitfield @thrustvector]

@Airminded Probably not a #longread, mind...

[Jakob Whitfield @thrustvector]

@AeroPaleo @penandpaper1989 Having dealt with TV before, that's a big if, but if it does, you're on!

[Jakob Whitfield @thrustvector]

@AeroPaleo @penandpaper1989 Ha! To modify the old joke, if it's a device for turning hydrocarbons into noise, vibration, and a bit of power, I'm interested...

[Jakob Whitfield @thrustvector]

@AeroPaleo (cont.) strategy at the time, it would have made sense for them to have encouraged this, as they wanted to ensure a smooth transfer of MV's jet projects to an existing aero-engine maker. Plus IIRC at the time the F.9 had a higher design thrust than the AJ65/Avon.

[Jakob Whitfield @thrustvector]

@AeroPaleo I don't actually know - I never looked at the A-S papers in detail, and none of the refs I have to hand give that detail. A Key Aero piece on the Victor I found suggests the Nov 1947 MoS contract for the HP.80 specified MV F.9 engines; given what I know about the MoS industrial+

[Jakob Whitfield @thrustvector]

@PreachyPreach @Chris_A_W "Because this isn't like my usual Osprey/Schiffer/Stackpole habit"?

(This is obvs from a place of love/self-recognition...)

[Jakob Whitfield @thrustvector]

@Chris_A_W @PreachyPreach In some ways the blog was better than the usual enthusiast press; e.g. I was hoping there might be an Amber Butchart fashion article in there. Or a Fiona Banner interview (volume 2, hint, hint?)

[Jakob Whitfield @thrustvector]

@PreachyPreach @Chris_A_W Entertaining going through the list of supporters at the back and spotting people I know either IRL or online.

[Jakob Whitfield @thrustvector]

@PreachyPreach @Chris_A_W It came!

[Jakob Whitfield @thrustvector]

@PreachyPreach @Chris_A_W I've just had my dispatch notification for the hardcopy...

[Jakob Whitfield @thrustvector]

@TACJ From (very, as in < 1hr) recent experience; be careful drinking beer on the Chiltern line out of Marylebone; the crappy shaking bit before Bicester meant opening the second can was a... foamy experience.

[Jakob Whitfield @thrustvector]

@Chris_A_W I thought (as per Hennessy's sub book) that the Yanks could jark the system in a 6-12(?) month timeframe by refusing to provide servicing, but that they couldn't turn it off at a moment's notice?

[Jakob Whitfield @thrustvector]

@HPS_Vanessa Ah, ok - most of the answers I get are related to the Motor City thing, which, fair dos, but even that's been improved in recent years.

[Jakob Whitfield @thrustvector]

@HPS_Vanessa (Oops, hadn't kept up with today's news - thought this was someone who was complaining about the city to you personally. Yeah, 'places that actually vote for us' feels like it's doing a lot of work there...)

[Jakob Whitfield @thrustvector]

@HPS_Vanessa I've thankfully not had that - more often it's based on an outdated picture. Brum had strong shithole vibes when I first visited, but that was over a decade ago. A lot of the best bits are IMO out of the centre; if you're staying inside the inner ring, then you're missing out.