...the last image by Fernand Cuville...of the French anti-aircraft gunners......

...I expect they were trying to shoot down Manfred von Richthofen...the "Red Baron" and his cohorts...

...as was this devilishly handsome chap.......




Reginald Theodore Carlos Hoidge MC & Bar.........born 28 July 1894...died 1 March 1963.....my Great Grandfather's Brother!!!!

"Reggie" as he was known was born in Toronto..Canada and joined the Royal Flying Corps...which would eventually become part of the RAF.... for training in SE5's......which he would fly throughout the war

He became an "Ace" after a baptism of fire on 24 May 1917 after downing Seven German aircraft and by the end of the war would have amassed around 28 "kills".

His most memorable dogfight was one where...on 23 September 1917...he joined James McCudden... Arthur Rhys-Davids... Richard Maybery... Geoffrey Hilton Bowman and Keith Muspratt in what would be the legendary Werner Voss's ...he had at that time accounted for around 48 Allied aircraft.......last stand and eventual demise....

In the aftermath...the leader of the squadron...James McCudden would go on to pay tribute to Voss...

"His flying was wonderful, his courage magnificent and in my opinion he was the bravest German airman whom it has been my privilege to see fight."

..(full story here.....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Voss  ......from "Last Stand" onwards for anyone interested)

Not long after this engagement Reggie Hoidge would have his portrait painted by William Orpen....which can still be seen in the Imperial War Museum to this day.

Orpen said of his subject....

"Hoidge had also brought down a lot of Germans. His face was wonderfully fitted for a man-bird. His eyes were bird's eyes. A good lad was Hoidge, and I became very fond of him afterwards"

On 18 July 1917 he was awarded the Military Cross...the citation of which read as follows..

"For conspicuous gallantry and devotion. On many occasions he has attacked and destroyed or driven down hostile machines, and has taken part in twenty-four offensive patrols. In all combats his bravery and skill have been most marked"

..and on 18 march 1918 he received a Bar to said MC which read...

"For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in shooting down fourteen enemy aircraft in three and a half months. After attacking a large formation of enemy aircraft, owing to engine trouble he was driven down to six hundred feet at least five miles from our lines, but managed to recross the lines at a height of five hundred feet, and so saved his machine"

Reggie did a couple of years as a flight instructor and then returned home.......he died on 1 March 1963 in New York.

So.......Reginald Hoidge ended up with 28 "kills"....

"Kills"....a cold expression that seems to belong more suited to a modern day video game....but of course this was all too real....

...for every kill....on both sides.....there was of course pain and anguish for both the victim and their loved ones...and perhaps also for those doing the killing even if they could not admit it at the time.

Anyway...Reggie was in the mix...and at that time at least.. had been seen to do his "duty"....

It would have been great to chat with him about those harrowing times but unfortunately our generations didn't overlap enough...and anyway...I think those of Reggie's generation were far more reticent about discussing what they had seen and done in such times.

A fascinating.....and I'm sure at times terrifying part of his life....

Tally Ho Reggie....Chocs awayyyyyy!!!!

....from a portrait of a family descendant....to an image we can all relate to...

....because although we cannot remember....we have all been there..!!!!

....(at least I think we have all been there!!!)



"Spaceman, 13 weeks" 1965 taken by Lennart Nilsson.

An image of the development of a foetus after 13 weeks......

This was part of a set of images taken by Swedish photojournalist Nilsson for a book.... "A Child is Born"... that was published in 1965 and contained some of the first images of the human embryo and foetus from conception to birth.

The project had been a long time in the making and to coincide with the books publication the famous American magazine "Life" published a selection of the photographs on 30 April 1965 with this as its introduction......

"“Ten years ago, a Swedish photographer named Lennart Nilsson told us that he was going to photograph in color the stages of human reproduction from fertilization to just before birth. It was impossible for us not to express a degree of skepticism about his chances of success, but this was lost on Nilsson. He simply said, ‘When I’ve finished the story, I’ll bring it to you.’ Lennart kept his promise. He flew into New York from Stockholm and brought us the strangely beautiful and scientifically unique color essay in this issue.”

During those ten years...Nilsson began experimenting with new photographic techniques to enable extreme close ups and this combined with the advent of more sophisticated endoscopes would eventually lead to the breakthroughs that would see his project come to fruition.

The wait proved to be worthwhile...to say the least!!

The impact of the images was so great that the entire initial print run of that edition of Life magazine....8 million copies..... sold out in 4 days!!!!....and the book has gone on to become the best selling illustrated book ever published.

Some more of the images.......




Four weeks.




Six weeks.




Seven weeks. The rapidly growing embryo is well protected in the foetal sac.




10 weeks. The eyelids are semi-shut, they will close completely in a few days.




20 weeks. Woolly hair called "lanugo" covers the entire head.




20 weeks.

Of course with such emotive subject matter the images further intensified and polarised the debate on abortion.....

The pro life camp appropriated the images for their arguments as proof that a foetus has human characteristics even in the very first few weeks and months after conception......

The pro choice camp also put a positive spin on the images for their argument....that these kind of images could detect abnormalities early in pregnancy...giving parents better information on which to base a decision to abort the pregnancy.

As for the taker of the images....Nilsson didn't want to get involved in the debate between the two parties..... and wouldn't be drawn on the question of where life "begins".......simply saying he was a photojournalist.

Except......a complication......rather than images of a living foetus....many of the foetus that Nilsson photographed were aborted ones obtained from women who terminated their pregnancies under Swedish law......working with dead embryos allowed Nilsson to experiment with lighting.....background and positions...... such as placing the thumb into the foetus mouth.....

.....this was initially made clear to readers in the Life magazine spread....but the pro life camp rarely mentioned for obvious reasons....some of their critics thought it ironic to say the least that they were appropriating the images to further a pro life argument when many of the images were made using aborted foetus!!!

Anyway...we are left with ground breaking....thought provoking and stunning images......of a process....that although we cannot remember.....
we have all experienced......and whose effect on the human psyche cannot be underestimated.

The title of the first image "Spaceman" proved to be quite prophetic.....some of the images are indeed acting like spaceman....

..they were considered so iconic and representative of human kind that some were placed in both the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft..

..and so are flying through the cosmos right now!!!!!

..what does it look like HM??

...for the first day of a New Year........some inspiration....




Theodore Roosevelt...26th President of the United States...leaving La Sorbonne, Paris on 23 April 1910.

He had just delivered his seminal "Citizenship in a Republic" speech......

The full text of the speech can be found here and is worth a look if you have ten minutes....

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Citizenship_in_a_Republic


.....here is the passage prior to the often quoted "Man in the arena" passage.....

"It is well if a large proportion of the leaders in any republic, in any democracy, are, as a matter of course, drawn from the classes represented in this audience to-day but only provided that those classes possess the gifts of sympathy with plain people and of devotion to great ideals.

You and those like you have received special advantages.... you have all of you had the opportunity for mental training... many of you have had leisure..... most of you have had a chance for enjoyment of life far greater than comes to the majority of your fellows.

To you and your kind much has been given, and from you much should be expected.

Yet there are certain failings against which it is especially incumbent that both men of trained and cultivated intellect, and men of inherited wealth and position should especially guard themselves, because to these failings they are especially liable; and if yielded to, their... your... chances of useful service are at an end.

Let the man of learning, the man of lettered leisure, beware of that **** and cheap temptation to pose to himself and to others as a cynic, as the man who has outgrown emotions and beliefs, the man to whom good and evil are as one.

The poorest way to face life is to face it with a sneer.

There are many men who feel a kind of twister pride in cynicism; there are many who confine themselves to criticism of the way others do what they themselves dare not even attempt.

There is no more unhealthy being, no man less worthy of respect, than he who either really holds, or feigns to hold, an attitude of sneering disbelief toward all that is great and lofty, whether in achievement or in that noble effort which, even if it fails, comes to second achievement.

A cynical habit of thought and speech, a readiness to criticise work which the critic himself never tries to perform, an intellectual aloofness which will not accept contact with life's realities... all these are marks, not as the possessor would fain to think, of superiority but of weakness.

They mark the men unfit to bear their part painfully in the stern strife of living, who seek, in the affection of contempt for the achievements of others, to hide from others and from themselves in their own weakness.

The role is easy.... there is none easier, save only the role of the man who sneers alike at both criticism and performance."


....and here is the "Man in the Arena" passage itself.....

"It is not the critic who counts.......not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better....

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood....who strives valiantly.... who errs... who comes short again and again...... because there is no effort without error and shortcoming.....

But who does actually strive to do the deeds.... who knows great enthusiasms.... the great devotions...... who spends himself in a worthy cause.....

Who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement.... and who at the worst.... if he fails.... at least fails while daring greatly.... so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat"


...great stuff...thanks Theo

could be anyone behind those masks, probably batman and spiderman imo.

..very good polybot

Some excellent pictures here.Far too many to post.

Strange Transportation

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http://jimspages.com/Strange_Transportation.htm

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Christmas presents in Glasgow

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Hitler,on the right,during his military service some time between 1916 - 1919


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Sad clown,Emmett Kelly,in his performer's makeup,carrying a bucket of water in the aftermath of the Hartford circus fire of July 6,1944,in which at least 167 people were killed.The tragedy is often called "the day the clown cried" due to this photo.

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Soviet flag on the Reichstag,Berlin.May 1945



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The recording of the MGM Lion,1929



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The "Great Manta" that was captured by Captain A.L.Kahn on August 26, 1933





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Marilyn Monroe with Ella Fitzgerald at the Mocambo a popular Hollywood night club at the time that would not book Ella because of segregation.Marilyn told the manager that she would reserve a front row table every night Ella performed there.Ella performed a week later.1955

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Germans testing a Messerschmitt Bf 109,1935


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Women protesting the forced Hijab in Iran days after the 1979 revolution.



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Railway gun prepares for the invasion of Poland September 1939



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Some of the luckiest bomber crewmen of the entire war!

Returning from a Nickeling mission over Warsaw the night of October 15th-16th, 1939, the AW Whitley “L-Love” of 77 Squadron was running low on fuel and, thinking they had reached the French border, put down in a field. Although an AA gun had fired a single shot at them, turning on their navigation lights and putting the wheels down had ended further fire, and they assumed nothing was amiss.

Exiting the plane and walking out, they were greeted by a group of curious villagers who, after a stilted conversation in some poor quality French, informed them they were actually in Germany. Realizing their mistake, the crew bolted for the plane some 200 yards behind them, and had the engines started before the German military patrol reached them and opened fire. There was enough fuel left to make it the remaining dozen miles to France.

(Imperial War Museum)

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Women boxing on a roof,circa 1930s


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The german embassy in Sweden flying the flag at half mast april 30th 1945,the day Hitler died.


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White House under reconstruction 1948-52


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"A variety of dolls run over by toy testers at the Ideal Toy company in 1955"

Some amazing pics on this thread! I can't compete with this lot, but here is a pic of my wonderful grandad during WW2. India circa 1942. He is the guy on the right

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Union soldiers pose with Confederate flags that they captured in battle, each of whom were awarded a Medal of Honor for the capture, 1865.


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This haunting photograph, which graced every Caribou briefing room, was a grim reminder that the Viet Cong and the NVA were not the only problem for pilots in Vietnam.  This incident occurred in August of 1967 when the Caribou (tail number 62-4161) flew into the line of fire of a 155mm howitzer.  This was early in the transition of the Caribou from the Army to the Air Force and highlighted the need for far better coordination amongst the services.
A U.S. twin-engine transport Caribou crashes after being hit by American artillery near Duc Pho on August 3, 1967.  U.S. artillery accidentally shot down the ammunition-laden plane, which crossed a firing zone while trying to land at the U.S. Special Forces camp.  All three crewman died in the crash.


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The Hague, South Holland, the Netherlands, 1932


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January 19th, 1903: First regular transatlantic (between the U.S. and England) radio broadcast.

Paris in Colour from the early 1900's

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/09/color-photos-of-paris-in-_n_2653184.html

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Gary Cooper from the 1930 movie “The Texan”



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April 11th, 1909: About 100 people participate in a lottery to equally divide a 12-acre plot of sand dunes they’ve purchased, that would later become the city of Tel Aviv, Israel.


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The Duke Of Wellington

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Steam powered robot 1868

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The Darby steam digger 1879

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Chang the Chinese Giant, said to be over 8ft tall, toured the world then retired to Bournemouth and opened a tea shop.


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Tower Bridge 1892