Edward Willett

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Things I Found in My Mother-in-Law’s House (but I actually put there myself): The Army Song Book

OK, this is a rather odd entry in this series because, although it dates from 1941 (pretty much the same time as the paperbacks I blogged about previously), this book was not actually found in my mother-in-law's house: it was actually found in my mother's house, because it belonged to my father, James Willett (whose signature appears on the front). It's the official US Army Song Book from the Second World War. It begins, as you'd expect, with the Star Spangled Banner (three verses!), but the complete contents is eclectic, to say the least: The Star Spangled Banner Alma ...
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Posted by Edward Willett at 19:55, June 10th, 2010 under Blog | 1 Comment »

Lest We Forget: Remembrance Day resources on the Web

This week's CBC Web column...****Most flowers are dead this time of year, but there’s one that only blooms in November: the poppy of Remembrance Day.King George V created Remembrance Day in 1919 in memory of members of the armed forces who were killed during war. But it’s hard to remember a war and the soldiers who fought in it if you weren’t alive then...unless you make the effort to educate yourself about it.I’ve recently become particularly interested in the First World War, through marriage. On my side of the family, I had some uncles who fought in the Second World War, but I rarely saw them and never talked to them about it. My father was too young to be ...
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Posted by Edward Willett at 5:32, November 9th, 2007 under Blog | Comment now »

Tired of computer flight sims?

Now you can build your own Spitfire...from a kit.The importer of the packs, Kieran Padden, says that business is booming - and for many reasons. "It is so easy to fly," he claims of the plane that costs a tenth of the original to buy. "Even old Spitfire pilots I have spoken to say it flies just like the original. It's lighter but has the same performance, so it's much more agile."The V6 engine means that the completed plane will travel at 222 mph and can fly up to 18,000 feet. "The manufacturers have even recreated the sound," says Mr Padden. "Every time I hear it, the hairs on the back of my neck stand ...
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Posted by Edward Willett at 22:28, July 13th, 2007 under Blog | Comment now »

Wartime rationing and making do

In today's war against environmental degradation, there is an oft-repeated slogan: "Reduce, Re-use, Recycle." Fifty years ago there was a very different kind of war going on, but there was a very similar slogan: "Use it Up, Wear it Out, Make it Do and Do Without." Every country involved in the Second World War had some kind of rationing program. Various items were in short supply because they were needed by the military, because of the disruption of trade or because the factories that made them had been turned to military production. In Canada, the Wartime Prices and Trade Board introduced food rationing on January 24, 1942, and gasoline rationing in April of that year. ...
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Posted by Edward Willett at 4:54, May 8th, 1995 under Blog, Columns, Science Columns | Comment now »

Hobart’s Funnies

Necessity is the mother of invention, as the old saying goes; and in warfare, necessities can be urgent indeed. As a result, many technological innovations occur during wartime. The First World War brought us huge advances in aircraft design; the Second World War brought us atomic energy. But on a less grandiose scale, technical innovations occurred all the time in response to the immediate needs of the opposing forces..An article by Phil Llewellin in the June issue of Automobile Magazine recently brought some technical innovations that may not always have received their due to my attention: "Hobart's Funnies." Today, of course, is the 50th anniversary of D-Day: the greatest amphibious operation in history. General Eisenhower's ...
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Posted by Edward Willett at 4:20, June 6th, 1994 under Blog, Columns, Science Columns | Comment now »