Matthew Willis (Naval Air History)
@navalairhistory.com
Writer naval/aviation history. Words. Art. Photography. Silken Windhounds. He/him. Free Palestine. Cannot receive DMs
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Mustang: The Untold Story
Mustang: The Untold Story The North American Mustang is one of the most well-studied aircraft. However, much of what is commonly understood about it, particularly its early, Allison-powered variants, ...
shop.keypublishing.com
For those who are interested, my book on the P-51 Mustang is now for sale for a frankly silly £3.99 in the rather nice hardback edition. Get 'em while they last shop.keypublishing.com/products/mus...
Reposted by Matthew Willis (Naval Air History)
January 27, 2026 at 6:03 PM
There's going to come a point on this when I just have to stop rather than finish
Plenty to do on the background still but I'm going to end up going in circles with the face
Plenty to do on the background still but I'm going to end up going in circles with the face
January 27, 2026 at 4:56 PM
There's going to come a point on this when I just have to stop rather than finish
Plenty to do on the background still but I'm going to end up going in circles with the face
Plenty to do on the background still but I'm going to end up going in circles with the face
Reposted by Matthew Willis (Naval Air History)
Here’s how stupid it is….
If a trans woman, with a GRC, were to get married, at the ceremony she would be legally female in the eyes of the law.
At the reception afterwards, if she needed to use the toilet, and according to the EHRC ‘guidance’, she would have to use the men’s.
If a trans woman, with a GRC, were to get married, at the ceremony she would be legally female in the eyes of the law.
At the reception afterwards, if she needed to use the toilet, and according to the EHRC ‘guidance’, she would have to use the men’s.
January 27, 2026 at 3:18 PM
Here’s how stupid it is….
If a trans woman, with a GRC, were to get married, at the ceremony she would be legally female in the eyes of the law.
At the reception afterwards, if she needed to use the toilet, and according to the EHRC ‘guidance’, she would have to use the men’s.
If a trans woman, with a GRC, were to get married, at the ceremony she would be legally female in the eyes of the law.
At the reception afterwards, if she needed to use the toilet, and according to the EHRC ‘guidance’, she would have to use the men’s.
Reposted by Matthew Willis (Naval Air History)
“I mean, I’m proud to serve the White Hand,” said Ugluk the Uruk Hai, “The pay’s good and we get double rations of hafling tenderloin on Fridays, but nobody said anything about doing contract work for Sauron.”
Palantir employees are pressing company leadership over its work for ICE in internal company Slacks obtained by @wired.com
"In my opinion ICE are the bad guys. I am not proud that the company I enjoy so much working for is part of this."
Scoop from @makenakelly.bsky.social
"In my opinion ICE are the bad guys. I am not proud that the company I enjoy so much working for is part of this."
Scoop from @makenakelly.bsky.social
Palantir Defends Work With ICE to Staff Following Killing of Alex Pretti
“In my opinion ICE are the bad guys. I am not proud that the company I enjoy so much working for is part of this,” one worker wrote on Slack.
www.wired.com
January 27, 2026 at 8:49 AM
“I mean, I’m proud to serve the White Hand,” said Ugluk the Uruk Hai, “The pay’s good and we get double rations of hafling tenderloin on Fridays, but nobody said anything about doing contract work for Sauron.”
Reposted by Matthew Willis (Naval Air History)
Colchester has just been named one of Britain’s most beautiful Roman towns and cities.
From the Temple of Claudius beneath Colchester Castle to the Roman circus and Balkerne Gate, the town’s Roman story is still written into its streets, walls and underground spaces.
From the Temple of Claudius beneath Colchester Castle to the Roman circus and Balkerne Gate, the town’s Roman story is still written into its streets, walls and underground spaces.
January 27, 2026 at 12:03 PM
Colchester has just been named one of Britain’s most beautiful Roman towns and cities.
From the Temple of Claudius beneath Colchester Castle to the Roman circus and Balkerne Gate, the town’s Roman story is still written into its streets, walls and underground spaces.
From the Temple of Claudius beneath Colchester Castle to the Roman circus and Balkerne Gate, the town’s Roman story is still written into its streets, walls and underground spaces.
Reposted by Matthew Willis (Naval Air History)
The world would be a considerably better place if more people spent time reading books, and my world would be a considerably better place if those books were mine 😉
January 27, 2026 at 11:50 AM
The world would be a considerably better place if more people spent time reading books, and my world would be a considerably better place if those books were mine 😉
Reposted by Matthew Willis (Naval Air History)
Sajid Javid personally orchestrated the virtually halt of timely asylum processing in the late 2010s, that directly led to the "asylum hotel crisis", and he did it for no reason except to cause a crisis.
This interview made me dislike him even more, because he used the second chance that he was given at life to make his political career a monument to cruelty. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
‘It could be a shoe or a stick’: Sajid Javid on being beaten by his father, petty crime – and turning his life around
As a young teenager, Javid and his brother were caught stealing from slot machines, arrested and held in a cell. His future hung in the balance. How did he get from there to the top of UK politics?
www.theguardian.com
January 27, 2026 at 10:45 AM
Sajid Javid personally orchestrated the virtually halt of timely asylum processing in the late 2010s, that directly led to the "asylum hotel crisis", and he did it for no reason except to cause a crisis.
Paul Mescal in a romantic drama with a ghost, called Paranormal People, is this anything?
January 27, 2026 at 11:39 AM
Paul Mescal in a romantic drama with a ghost, called Paranormal People, is this anything?
Reposted by Matthew Willis (Naval Air History)
Good morning from Magpie HQ. Today I thought I'd do a thread on backronyms. These are words which have evolved as words in their own right, but which humans have come up with (often very pleasing, sometimes trite) things that they supposedly stand for.
Strong language ahead in a couple of examples.
Strong language ahead in a couple of examples.
January 27, 2026 at 11:18 AM
Good morning from Magpie HQ. Today I thought I'd do a thread on backronyms. These are words which have evolved as words in their own right, but which humans have come up with (often very pleasing, sometimes trite) things that they supposedly stand for.
Strong language ahead in a couple of examples.
Strong language ahead in a couple of examples.
Reposted by Matthew Willis (Naval Air History)
Guys has it occurred to you that there's a very simple solution to this problem
Toyota and Ferrari have admitted they are facing a disadvantage in terms of tire understanding to their FIA World Endurance Championship rivals that also have IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship programs heading into the new season.
Toyota, Ferrari Concerned About Lack of New Tire Running
Lack of running on Michelin Pilot Sport Endurance tire could leave Toyota, Ferrari on the back foot...
sportscar365.com
January 27, 2026 at 11:28 AM
Guys has it occurred to you that there's a very simple solution to this problem
Reposted by Matthew Willis (Naval Air History)
Holocaust Memorial Day event: The Genocide of Europe’s Roma (Eve Rosenhaft).
us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: UCU Holocaust Memorial Day 2026 - Lunchtime webinar . After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.
The Genocide of Europe’s Roma
Between the 1930s and 1945, Romani people across Europe faced internment, forced labour, sterilisation, deportation, and mass murder under Nazi rule—violence rooted in lo...
us02web.zoom.us
January 27, 2026 at 11:28 AM
Holocaust Memorial Day event: The Genocide of Europe’s Roma (Eve Rosenhaft).
us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Reposted by Matthew Willis (Naval Air History)
Today we remember the millions murdered under the Nazi regime during the Holocaust, and in the genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.
This year’s theme, Bridging Generations, is a call to action to listen, learn and carry those lessons forward.
Join us at 1pm today for a UCU webinar.
This year’s theme, Bridging Generations, is a call to action to listen, learn and carry those lessons forward.
Join us at 1pm today for a UCU webinar.
January 27, 2026 at 11:27 AM
Today we remember the millions murdered under the Nazi regime during the Holocaust, and in the genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.
This year’s theme, Bridging Generations, is a call to action to listen, learn and carry those lessons forward.
Join us at 1pm today for a UCU webinar.
This year’s theme, Bridging Generations, is a call to action to listen, learn and carry those lessons forward.
Join us at 1pm today for a UCU webinar.
Reposted by Matthew Willis (Naval Air History)
A friend of mine is a paranormal investigator. He investigates normal crimes but he died a year ago this very day.
January 27, 2026 at 11:22 AM
A friend of mine is a paranormal investigator. He investigates normal crimes but he died a year ago this very day.
Reposted by Matthew Willis (Naval Air History)
The history books covering this period of American history are going to be FASCINATING.
“The very first rubber dick to touch government-issued leather boots triggered a full-blown chemical weapons response.”
THE DILDO DISTRIBUTION DELEGATION
The revolution did not arrive with speeches, pamphlets, or a carefully moderated Zoom call about optics.
www.closertotheedge.net
January 27, 2026 at 11:02 AM
The history books covering this period of American history are going to be FASCINATING.
Anyone interested in #LandscapeArt should not miss the National Gallery of Art’s page on John Singer Sargent’s 1911 painting of the Simplon Pass. The zoomable image of the painting is at such high resolution that you can see Sargent’s every mark in crystal clarity www.nga.gov/artworks/166...
Simplon Pass by John Singer Sargent
The demands placed on John Singer Sargent by his unparalleled success as a painter of Gilded Age portraits on both sides of the Atlantic began to tire him soon after the turn of the 20th century. In 1...
www.nga.gov
January 27, 2026 at 11:20 AM
Anyone interested in #LandscapeArt should not miss the National Gallery of Art’s page on John Singer Sargent’s 1911 painting of the Simplon Pass. The zoomable image of the painting is at such high resolution that you can see Sargent’s every mark in crystal clarity www.nga.gov/artworks/166...
Reposted by Matthew Willis (Naval Air History)
Don't forget that this evening at 6pm GMT I will be chatting to @ww2research about the Liberation of Auschwitz. If you miss the livestream then don't worry as it will be available to view later.
www.youtube.com/live/jCvgGkv...
#History #NeverForget
www.youtube.com/live/jCvgGkv...
#History #NeverForget
January 27, 2026 at 11:07 AM
Don't forget that this evening at 6pm GMT I will be chatting to @ww2research about the Liberation of Auschwitz. If you miss the livestream then don't worry as it will be available to view later.
www.youtube.com/live/jCvgGkv...
#History #NeverForget
www.youtube.com/live/jCvgGkv...
#History #NeverForget
Reposted by Matthew Willis (Naval Air History)
Reminder that British journalists have a weird fetish for Harry Potter because it's a fantasy world where nobody mentions how fucking weird it is that everybody was privately educated in just five schools
January 27, 2026 at 9:36 AM
Reminder that British journalists have a weird fetish for Harry Potter because it's a fantasy world where nobody mentions how fucking weird it is that everybody was privately educated in just five schools
Reposted by Matthew Willis (Naval Air History)
Reposted by Matthew Willis (Naval Air History)
Back in the beforetimes of 2021, over on the other place, I set out to answer the age old question "is my wankpanzer bigger than a tank". Here are those findings for the Bluesky record.
Q1. Is my Ford Ranger bigger than a tank?
A. Not quite but getting there.
Q1. Is my Ford Ranger bigger than a tank?
A. Not quite but getting there.
January 27, 2026 at 9:30 AM
Back in the beforetimes of 2021, over on the other place, I set out to answer the age old question "is my wankpanzer bigger than a tank". Here are those findings for the Bluesky record.
Q1. Is my Ford Ranger bigger than a tank?
A. Not quite but getting there.
Q1. Is my Ford Ranger bigger than a tank?
A. Not quite but getting there.
Proof that god has a sense of humour
That reminds me, did you know the mammalian clitoris also has a bone? It's called the baubellum, but we only know them from contemporary mammals. Presumably the baubellum does fossilise, but (this is not a joke) palaeontologists have never been able to find one.
January 27, 2026 at 10:25 AM
Proof that god has a sense of humour
Reposted by Matthew Willis (Naval Air History)
This could have been written this morning. How exact and how applicable every word is. "Stealing the livery of the court of heaven to serve the devil in." No better description exists of the blasphemous, murderous, corrupt America of Trump and of ICE.
January 26, 2026 at 11:44 AM
This could have been written this morning. How exact and how applicable every word is. "Stealing the livery of the court of heaven to serve the devil in." No better description exists of the blasphemous, murderous, corrupt America of Trump and of ICE.
For those outside the UK who may not have seen, we had a reckoning on media regulation 15 years ago, and the media won a decisive victory against meaningful regulation. TL;DR, they were caught hacking the phone of a murdered child, there was an enquiry, but they avoided all the recommendations…
The fundamental problem is that we have no effective regulation of the media here, our public service broadcaster is just very obviously regime media and our major privately run news publications are all owned by billionaires with editorial agendas that distort reality and degrade human rights.
Reading about the rise of Reform while living in the self-immolating US feels like an out of body experience. That anyone outside the US could look at a country collapsing in on itself and say, “Yes, some of that for us please!” is just surreal.
January 27, 2026 at 9:33 AM
For those outside the UK who may not have seen, we had a reckoning on media regulation 15 years ago, and the media won a decisive victory against meaningful regulation. TL;DR, they were caught hacking the phone of a murdered child, there was an enquiry, but they avoided all the recommendations…
Reposted by Matthew Willis (Naval Air History)
Lucyna Wlazło #Polish glider #pilot & instructor. 1947 learned to fly glider thru Polish Scouting & Guiding Association. 1951 appeared in film teaching glider pilots to loop de loop. Set 6 world records & 11 national records in 1950/60s. d. #OTD 26 Jan 2007 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucyna_...
January 26, 2026 at 10:41 PM
Lucyna Wlazło #Polish glider #pilot & instructor. 1947 learned to fly glider thru Polish Scouting & Guiding Association. 1951 appeared in film teaching glider pilots to loop de loop. Set 6 world records & 11 national records in 1950/60s. d. #OTD 26 Jan 2007 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucyna_...
Reposted by Matthew Willis (Naval Air History)
I've been sent video from the end of the ICE raid at the Zipps on 32nd and Shea.
It shows protesters -- on the sidewalk, impeding no one -- getting drive-by maced by an ICE agent from a truck as it rolls away down the road.
Hard to see how such tactics are justifiable.
It shows protesters -- on the sidewalk, impeding no one -- getting drive-by maced by an ICE agent from a truck as it rolls away down the road.
Hard to see how such tactics are justifiable.
January 27, 2026 at 6:07 AM
I've been sent video from the end of the ICE raid at the Zipps on 32nd and Shea.
It shows protesters -- on the sidewalk, impeding no one -- getting drive-by maced by an ICE agent from a truck as it rolls away down the road.
Hard to see how such tactics are justifiable.
It shows protesters -- on the sidewalk, impeding no one -- getting drive-by maced by an ICE agent from a truck as it rolls away down the road.
Hard to see how such tactics are justifiable.
Reposted by Matthew Willis (Naval Air History)
Imagine a paramilitary gang kills 2 observers over 2 weeks, then shows up at your home to say, "You, observer, we know where you live."
That's a death threat.
If it happened to me or a colleague when I was a human rights observer in N. Ireland, we would've lodged complaints with three govts.
That's a death threat.
If it happened to me or a colleague when I was a human rights observer in N. Ireland, we would've lodged complaints with three govts.
One human rights observer in Maine said agents followed her home, blocked off her street, and came to her door to say they know where she lives. Her children are now staying elsewhere, to keep them safe.
Now in Maine: ICE watchers say federal agents are coming to their house to threaten and intimidate them.
www.pressherald.com/2026/01/23/i...
www.pressherald.com/2026/01/23/i...
January 27, 2026 at 5:38 AM
Imagine a paramilitary gang kills 2 observers over 2 weeks, then shows up at your home to say, "You, observer, we know where you live."
That's a death threat.
If it happened to me or a colleague when I was a human rights observer in N. Ireland, we would've lodged complaints with three govts.
That's a death threat.
If it happened to me or a colleague when I was a human rights observer in N. Ireland, we would've lodged complaints with three govts.