Always hit ‘publish’

Keen readers will note that my last blog entry dates from mid-November but has only just been posted a month later.  Having previewed the entry I foolishly forgot to hit ‘Publish’, and so my polished thoughts have remained in the draft folder for over three weeks.  There’s a lesson there of course, namely always check.  Fairey research in the intervening period has entailed a productive visit to the RAF Museum at Colindale and a return to Yeovilton to identify the next tranche of papers for transfer to Southampton from the Fleet Air Arm Museum.  The latter covers the period immediately following the First World War and the 1920s, and the papers examined in the RAF archive also went beyond my initial period of research and writing.  TheYeovilton material was brought prematurely to the Hartley Library’s special collections so that archivist Barbara Gilbert could collect the first tranche and not make two journeys.  Barbara’s assistance is invaluable, and she is also proving a good listener, whether in the Cobham Hall archives opposite the FAA Museum or while drinking recuperative coffee in the University’s social club.   Just prior to bending her ear in Yeovilton I read Alan Ransom’s biography of Sir Thomas Sopwith, Fairey’s friend, foil, and eventual neighbour.  When I expressed my freshly acquired admiration for Tommy Sopwith Barbara asked me for one aspect of his life and work superior to CRF’s, and I came up with his keen sense of the aesthetic – compare the Camel, Hart, Hurricane, and Hunter with classic Fairey aircraft, and you can see my point.  A key psychological moment in any project is when you first get something down on paper, and as of today I can boast 5000 words on pioneer flying on Sheppey prior to the outbreak of war, with the mercurial J.W. Dunne at the heart of my account.  The Short Brothers and the fledgling RNAS await, and hopefully this first draft will be all over by Christmas.  Now, hit ‘Publish’…