Was 1940 like this?

Image via 'Their Finest Hour' See the post's endnote for details.

As one might expect the commemorative juggernaut of the Battle of Britain 70th anniversary rolls on in an entirely predictable and unsurprising manner. Good, perhaps to introduce those who know little or nothing of the history and events (such as Britain's Prime Minister) but otherwise lacking in news to anyone knowledgeable in their aviation or British history.

So far only a few items have seemed worth commentary. Firstly I've noticed a tendency for the medium to overwhelm the message. In a somewhat desperate attempt to engage children and people who can only think like children, numerous organisations have gone overboard with Twitter feeds, blogs (yes, like this) YouTube and other new media methods to engage what they'd call 'a wider audience' and my cynical devil calls 'the illiterate with short attention sp..' What, I've lost you?

There's a great merit in original material (either from the period or modern, thoughtful new stuff) being made available through these methods, and a a few examples will appear here. However the downside seems to be a need to chop about the historical reality for the demands of the modern media; something that Marshall McLuhan would probably feel was OK.

One bizarre example is the Twitter feed (spotted by 'Bob') from 1940Chronicle.com which has a fictitious pilot 'Tweet':

Exhausted this morning after night with @1940Jane. Glad I'm not on dawn patrol today! 10:30 PM Jul 26th via CoTweet

As Flying Officer Molesworth would perhaps say; 'Hem hem'. You'll all be glad to note that Jane is, of course, his wife, so some propriety has been maintained (while some of us will have a flashbacks to a certain 1960s film moment between a Squadron Leader and his WAAF wife). The 1940Chronicle was brought to our attention by a new poster who popped up to announce it on both the Key and Plane Talk forums, under the heading 'Was 1940 like this?'

The answer, is of course, 'No'.

Image via 'Their Finest Hour'.

Much of the rest of the content on the 1940Chronicle looks accurate at a glance (with a number of detail and technical errors, such as jobs, ranks and aircraft types) but the idea that the sample audience will take away the idea that Battle of Britain pilots Tweeted their sexual achievements as a genuine period aspect is somewhat disconcerting.

The explosion of the Boy's Own style clean-cut hero versions of the Battle by Derek Robinson's Piece of Cake novel was an important but accurate reviewing of the unacknowledged and obscured elements of the 'real' Battle. However, introducing anachronism and prurience is another thing entirely.

The sexual mores of the 1960s or 2010 are very different to those of 1940. The past is another country, and there are many things - some unwritten - that they do differently there.

James

Image via 'Their Finest Hour'.

And a post-script, explaining the illustrations to this post. Another oddity is the 'Spitfire' and 'Messerschmitt' Smart Cars, from 'Their Finest Hour' and the photos, by photographer Dave Hammond. Obviously both the name Spitfire has already been used for a sports car, and Messerschmitt went on to produce bubble cars under their own name, but these are certainly something you'll either love or hate. It would be hard to find a vehicle less fighter shaped to start with, however.