Ian Kikuchi
@curatorian.bsky.social
Historian & curator - history of war, conflict and IWM collections, with digressions into #judo and #videogames. 日本語を勉強している。Posts are personal views.
Pinned
Ian Kikuchi
@curatorian.bsky.social
· Nov 6
Starting a thread (or possibly a thread of threads) to capture things I post from time to time.
Still find it absolutely wild that the US Navy named some of its warships after victories by traitors.
"A port bow view of the guided missile cruiser USS CHANCELLORSVILLE (CG-62) firing an SM-1 vertical launch missile" Circa 1989
📷📑 catalog.archives.gov/id/6450522
📷📑 catalog.archives.gov/id/6450522
November 25, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Still find it absolutely wild that the US Navy named some of its warships after victories by traitors.
From the pasty tax to the latte levy, perhaps. ☕💷
November 25, 2025 at 11:16 AM
From the pasty tax to the latte levy, perhaps. ☕💷
The first of these featured in a show at IWM in 2014. I remember it had an absolutely mesmerising sense of movement which was incredibly disconcerting.
Visited Tate Britain on Sunday to see the excellent Lee Miller exhibition and spotted some First World War paintings in another gallery by official war artists.
November 25, 2025 at 9:51 AM
The first of these featured in a show at IWM in 2014. I remember it had an absolutely mesmerising sense of movement which was incredibly disconcerting.
Recently digitised - October 1940; at Shoeburyness Barracks in Essex, new soldiers are trained to drive a lorry while towing a 6-inch howitzer. Filmed by F K Carver for the War Office Film Unit. #history #ww2 #filmcataloguing
Full film: IWM AYY 43 / www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
Full film: IWM AYY 43 / www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
November 25, 2025 at 8:02 AM
Recently digitised - October 1940; at Shoeburyness Barracks in Essex, new soldiers are trained to drive a lorry while towing a 6-inch howitzer. Filmed by F K Carver for the War Office Film Unit. #history #ww2 #filmcataloguing
Full film: IWM AYY 43 / www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
Full film: IWM AYY 43 / www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
Reminds me of a joke in Ted Lasso: 'I've finally come to realise that air conditioning is a privilege, not a right'.
This map shows the share of homes across the US with at least one air conditioner.
November 24, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Reminds me of a joke in Ted Lasso: 'I've finally come to realise that air conditioning is a privilege, not a right'.
Another good aircraft thread by Jamie. In this film clip light glints off a captured German Ju-88 A5 bomber, wearing British markings and flown by No.1426 Enemy Aircraft Flight RAF. #AvHist #AvGeek
Full film: IWM ARY 7-28 / www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
Full film: IWM ARY 7-28 / www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
November 24, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Another good aircraft thread by Jamie. In this film clip light glints off a captured German Ju-88 A5 bomber, wearing British markings and flown by No.1426 Enemy Aircraft Flight RAF. #AvHist #AvGeek
Full film: IWM ARY 7-28 / www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
Full film: IWM ARY 7-28 / www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
Recently digitised - Sept 1940; at Blandford Camp in Dorset, troops of 4th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers mount a motorcycle demonstration. Filmed by Walter Tennyson d'Eyncourt for the War Office Film Unit #history #ww2 #filmcataloguing
Full film: IWM AYY 40 / www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
Full film: IWM AYY 40 / www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
November 24, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Recently digitised - Sept 1940; at Blandford Camp in Dorset, troops of 4th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers mount a motorcycle demonstration. Filmed by Walter Tennyson d'Eyncourt for the War Office Film Unit #history #ww2 #filmcataloguing
Full film: IWM AYY 40 / www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
Full film: IWM AYY 40 / www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
Reposted by Ian Kikuchi
Home Alone makes changes to the Die Hard formula that render it hard for me to enjoy. The McClain character should feel overawed. And in theory having Kevin be a child versus adults achieves that. But the thing is: Kevin is a god. It's not just Tom & Jerry. This is some random punks versus Anansi.
November 23, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Home Alone makes changes to the Die Hard formula that render it hard for me to enjoy. The McClain character should feel overawed. And in theory having Kevin be a child versus adults achieves that. But the thing is: Kevin is a god. It's not just Tom & Jerry. This is some random punks versus Anansi.
Rainy day trip to #IWMDuxford yesterday with Kikuchi Jr. The new Cold War/contemporary conflict layout of the Airspace hangar is coming along.
November 23, 2025 at 11:37 AM
Rainy day trip to #IWMDuxford yesterday with Kikuchi Jr. The new Cold War/contemporary conflict layout of the Airspace hangar is coming along.
Recently digitised - May 1945; when Indian Army cameraman S V Abbas's jeep gets bogged down in wet ground near Nyaungkashe in Burma, a Stuart light tank is on hand with a friendly shove. #history #ww2 #filmcataloguing
Full film: IWM JIN 68 / www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
Full film: IWM JIN 68 / www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
November 23, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Recently digitised - May 1945; when Indian Army cameraman S V Abbas's jeep gets bogged down in wet ground near Nyaungkashe in Burma, a Stuart light tank is on hand with a friendly shove. #history #ww2 #filmcataloguing
Full film: IWM JIN 68 / www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
Full film: IWM JIN 68 / www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
Replaying a bit of the single player campaign of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019). I'm a CIA agent in a not-Syria and now the game's given me, of all things, a German MG-34 from the Second World War. Hmm.
November 22, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Replaying a bit of the single player campaign of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019). I'm a CIA agent in a not-Syria and now the game's given me, of all things, a German MG-34 from the Second World War. Hmm.
Recently digitised - March 1945; Indian infantry mount up on Sherman tanks of 255th Indian Tank Brigade, during 17th Indian Division's advance towards Meiktila in central Burma. Shot by the Indian Army PR Film Unit #history #ww2 #filmcataloguing
Full film: IWM JIN 13 www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
Full film: IWM JIN 13 www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
November 22, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Recently digitised - March 1945; Indian infantry mount up on Sherman tanks of 255th Indian Tank Brigade, during 17th Indian Division's advance towards Meiktila in central Burma. Shot by the Indian Army PR Film Unit #history #ww2 #filmcataloguing
Full film: IWM JIN 13 www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
Full film: IWM JIN 13 www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
I hope this peace proposal is treated with the 黙殺 it deserves.
»Some of the phrases in the US’s “peace proposal” for Ukraine appear to have been originally written in Russian. In several places the language would work in Russian but seems distinctly odd in English.« (aus: www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...)
November 22, 2025 at 7:55 AM
I hope this peace proposal is treated with the 黙殺 it deserves.
If a future archaeologist ever digs up a teenage skeleton buried with a Sony Discman they'll never figure this stuff out.
November 21, 2025 at 10:38 PM
If a future archaeologist ever digs up a teenage skeleton buried with a Sony Discman they'll never figure this stuff out.
Star Spangled Banner now officially fake news.
Fort McHenry shuts down after crews unearth historic explosive device
Fort McHenry shuts down after crews unearth historic explosive device
Crews renovating Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine dug up an old explosive device, possibly from over a century ago, police said.
buff.ly
November 21, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Star Spangled Banner now officially fake news.
Reposted by Ian Kikuchi
Pioneers on a Frozen Road at Kapelle near Goes, Zeeland, by Thomas Barclay Hennell.
IWM (Art.IWM ART LD 4919
IWM (Art.IWM ART LD 4919
November 20, 2025 at 7:30 AM
Pioneers on a Frozen Road at Kapelle near Goes, Zeeland, by Thomas Barclay Hennell.
IWM (Art.IWM ART LD 4919
IWM (Art.IWM ART LD 4919
Reposted by Ian Kikuchi
A Battery Position in an Orchard of Young Fruit Trees in the Snow, by Edward Ardizzone.
IWM (Art.IWM ART LD 4931)
IWM (Art.IWM ART LD 4931)
November 21, 2025 at 7:45 AM
A Battery Position in an Orchard of Young Fruit Trees in the Snow, by Edward Ardizzone.
IWM (Art.IWM ART LD 4931)
IWM (Art.IWM ART LD 4931)
Reposted by Ian Kikuchi
Looking through some old footage of Farnborough 1952, and there is this short clip of the majestic and out of time Saunders-Roe Princess flying boat. She could carry 102 passengers in rather more comfort than the 100-odd plus you can squeeze into an A220.
Footage: IWM COI 335
#aviation #avgeek
Footage: IWM COI 335
#aviation #avgeek
November 21, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Recently digitised - February 1945; near Ru Ywa in the Arakan region of Burma, Royal Indian Army Service Corps troops operate Alligator amphibious vehicles, during ops by XV Indian Corps against the Japanese. #filmcataloguing #ww2 #history
Full film: IWM JIN 35 / www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
Full film: IWM JIN 35 / www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
November 21, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Recently digitised - February 1945; near Ru Ywa in the Arakan region of Burma, Royal Indian Army Service Corps troops operate Alligator amphibious vehicles, during ops by XV Indian Corps against the Japanese. #filmcataloguing #ww2 #history
Full film: IWM JIN 35 / www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
Full film: IWM JIN 35 / www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
Recently digitised - at Thabutkon troops of 17th Indian Division are flown in on Dakota transport aircraft, during the division's advance on Meiktila in central Burma. Shot by A Salem.
#filmcataloguing #ww2 #history #AvHist
Full film: IWM JIN 12 / www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
#filmcataloguing #ww2 #history #AvHist
Full film: IWM JIN 12 / www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
November 21, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Recently digitised - at Thabutkon troops of 17th Indian Division are flown in on Dakota transport aircraft, during the division's advance on Meiktila in central Burma. Shot by A Salem.
#filmcataloguing #ww2 #history #AvHist
Full film: IWM JIN 12 / www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
#filmcataloguing #ww2 #history #AvHist
Full film: IWM JIN 12 / www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
Not one to post this sort of thing normally, but this video 'A letter to my son' from the Prime Minister's instagram crossed my timeline, and my eye was caught by this shot early on - black & white, w/a fake film frame border & a film projector sound effect. 1/2
www.instagram.com/reel/DROtAhw...
www.instagram.com/reel/DROtAhw...
November 20, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Not one to post this sort of thing normally, but this video 'A letter to my son' from the Prime Minister's instagram crossed my timeline, and my eye was caught by this shot early on - black & white, w/a fake film frame border & a film projector sound effect. 1/2
www.instagram.com/reel/DROtAhw...
www.instagram.com/reel/DROtAhw...
More filming today, and in a very cool spot. #HMSBelfast
November 19, 2025 at 8:21 AM
More filming today, and in a very cool spot. #HMSBelfast
Squeezing a plastic milk bottle before throwing it into the recycling bin.
Shoot the bottle cap in my face.
Shoot the bottle cap in my face.
November 18, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Squeezing a plastic milk bottle before throwing it into the recycling bin.
Shoot the bottle cap in my face.
Shoot the bottle cap in my face.
Since people seem to have appreciated this, a closer look at this painting.
IWM ART LD 1514 / www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
IWM ART LD 1514 / www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
November 18, 2025 at 10:33 AM
Since people seem to have appreciated this, a closer look at this painting.
IWM ART LD 1514 / www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
IWM ART LD 1514 / www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...