Matthew Willis (Naval Air History)
@navalairhistory.com
Writer naval/aviation history. Words. Art. Photography. Silken Windhounds. He/him. Free Palestine. Cannot receive DMs
Pinned
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...
Share one of your favourite lines from a COMEDY movie!
January 26, 2026 at 4:58 PM
Share one of your favourite lines from a COMEDY movie!
I was still working for the NHS when Wakefield was struck off and the BMJ repudiated his paper. We managed to get interviews with our infection control head into the local papers, one gave it the front page. I honestly thought we were winning
January 26, 2026 at 4:47 PM
I was still working for the NHS when Wakefield was struck off and the BMJ repudiated his paper. We managed to get interviews with our infection control head into the local papers, one gave it the front page. I honestly thought we were winning
Reposted by Matthew Willis (Naval Air History)
So anyway, Andrew Wakefield should be in prison for the rest of his life.
January 26, 2026 at 4:38 PM
So anyway, Andrew Wakefield should be in prison for the rest of his life.
Reposted by Matthew Willis (Naval Air History)
Come talk to us tomorrow evening! It'll be a lot of fun!
BFS Online is excited to announce our next event, Faith, Science & Folklore, taking place Wednesday 28th January 2026, 7pm (GMT).
Ticket: tinyurl.com/fascifolk
@samkhorton.bsky.social @rainewilson.bsky.social @mkhardywrites.com @davidgreenwriter.bsky.social
Ticket: tinyurl.com/fascifolk
@samkhorton.bsky.social @rainewilson.bsky.social @mkhardywrites.com @davidgreenwriter.bsky.social
January 26, 2026 at 4:25 PM
Come talk to us tomorrow evening! It'll be a lot of fun!
Reposted by Matthew Willis (Naval Air History)
New blog post! Check out my review of THE BUFFALO HUNTER HUNTER by @sgj.bsky.social, which I can already tell is going to be one of my favorite reads of the year:
www.thegothiclibrary.com/review-of-th...
💙📚 😱📚
www.thegothiclibrary.com/review-of-th...
💙📚 😱📚
Review of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter—Vampires in the Wild West - The Gothic Library
“What I am is the Indian who can’t die. I’m the worst dream America ever had.” Much blood was spilled forming the American West into what it is today, so perhaps it should be no surprise this setting ...
www.thegothiclibrary.com
January 26, 2026 at 4:14 PM
New blog post! Check out my review of THE BUFFALO HUNTER HUNTER by @sgj.bsky.social, which I can already tell is going to be one of my favorite reads of the year:
www.thegothiclibrary.com/review-of-th...
💙📚 😱📚
www.thegothiclibrary.com/review-of-th...
💙📚 😱📚
Reposted by Matthew Willis (Naval Air History)
Today is my birthday, and the best gift for me will be a retweet. My name is Vitalii. I am from Ukraine and open for commissions, so if you would like to get #SciFi artwork (spaceships, vehicles, dystopian future), I will gladly do this. You can contact me here or via [email protected]
January 23, 2026 at 2:04 PM
Today is my birthday, and the best gift for me will be a retweet. My name is Vitalii. I am from Ukraine and open for commissions, so if you would like to get #SciFi artwork (spaceships, vehicles, dystopian future), I will gladly do this. You can contact me here or via [email protected]
Reposted by Matthew Willis (Naval Air History)
This is the white paper you want. It's a bit buried on the Gov UK site. But it's there if you hunt around.
HMRC have not been making it easy for freelancers.
HMRC have not been making it easy for freelancers.
January 26, 2026 at 3:33 PM
This is the white paper you want. It's a bit buried on the Gov UK site. But it's there if you hunt around.
HMRC have not been making it easy for freelancers.
HMRC have not been making it easy for freelancers.
OK so I am very confused about Class 2 NICs
Doing my tax return today, and am ready to choose violence on the slightest pretext
January 26, 2026 at 3:24 PM
OK so I am very confused about Class 2 NICs
Revive the TSR II!
January 26, 2026 at 3:22 PM
Revive the TSR II!
Reposted by Matthew Willis (Naval Air History)
‘Bubble batteries’ move from prototype to global rollout. Italy-based Energy Dome has begun operating a 20MW CO₂ “battery” that stores surplus solar and wind power by compressing and expanding carbon dioxide inside a giant dome.
buff.ly/kTfEFwh
#ShareGoodNewsToo
buff.ly/kTfEFwh
#ShareGoodNewsToo
This Giant Bubble in Sardinia Stores Energy for the Grid. Here's How.
Google is betting big on CO2 batteries to power its data centers with clean energy.
buff.ly
January 26, 2026 at 1:50 PM
‘Bubble batteries’ move from prototype to global rollout. Italy-based Energy Dome has begun operating a 20MW CO₂ “battery” that stores surplus solar and wind power by compressing and expanding carbon dioxide inside a giant dome.
buff.ly/kTfEFwh
#ShareGoodNewsToo
buff.ly/kTfEFwh
#ShareGoodNewsToo
Reposted by Matthew Willis (Naval Air History)
this is why I legit thing political parties and *especially* political funding need to be regulated on basis of mass membership and internal democracy
let's say no one person or organization can donate more than £500 a year to a political party.
you now *need* a mass membership.
let's say no one person or organization can donate more than £500 a year to a political party.
you now *need* a mass membership.
January 26, 2026 at 1:30 PM
this is why I legit thing political parties and *especially* political funding need to be regulated on basis of mass membership and internal democracy
let's say no one person or organization can donate more than £500 a year to a political party.
you now *need* a mass membership.
let's say no one person or organization can donate more than £500 a year to a political party.
you now *need* a mass membership.
Reposted by Matthew Willis (Naval Air History)
quick someone do an artist rendering of a stealth arrow
Canada could do the funniest thing now and resurrect the Avro Arrow
January 26, 2026 at 1:17 PM
quick someone do an artist rendering of a stealth arrow
I suspect this is what happens to parties when they give up mass membership. The Tory Party, once an integral part of British society, is almost entirely hollow. Its membership is tiny, ageing, almost nonexistent outside the south, and no longer much engaged in communities...
The usual pattern is for Labour to be permitted a term or two in office to allow an exhausted Tory party to renew itself. This is still happening, it's just that the renewed Tory party will be called Reform
It's the Ship of Theseus but all the original parts are being used to build a second, crappier ship.
January 26, 2026 at 1:21 PM
I suspect this is what happens to parties when they give up mass membership. The Tory Party, once an integral part of British society, is almost entirely hollow. Its membership is tiny, ageing, almost nonexistent outside the south, and no longer much engaged in communities...
All that is necessary to be radicalised is to pay attention
Here's a regular white guy (literally "Chad") not a protester. because, "It seemed pointless, or just a way for people to expiate their sense of guilt." Chad witnessed something shattering. And, that all changed in a moment.
Excellent article!
Excellent article!
January 26, 2026 at 1:12 PM
All that is necessary to be radicalised is to pay attention
The usual pattern is for Labour to be permitted a term or two in office to allow an exhausted Tory party to renew itself. This is still happening, it's just that the renewed Tory party will be called Reform
It's the Ship of Theseus but all the original parts are being used to build a second, crappier ship.
Ex-Tory Home Secretary Suella Braverman defects to Reform UK
The MP was unveiled as the party's latest recruit by leader Nigel Farage at a rally.
www.bbc.com
January 26, 2026 at 1:04 PM
The usual pattern is for Labour to be permitted a term or two in office to allow an exhausted Tory party to renew itself. This is still happening, it's just that the renewed Tory party will be called Reform
Reposted by Matthew Willis (Naval Air History)
It takes a village to go Mach 2. This is the support for Scott Crossfield's (standing at the nose of the Skyrocket) Mach 2 flight in the Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket on November 20, 1953. You have a P2B-1S dropship, a couple of F-86 Sabre chase planes and a huge team on the ground.
#avgeek #aviation
#avgeek #aviation
January 26, 2026 at 1:01 PM
Canada could do the funniest thing now and resurrect the Avro Arrow
January 26, 2026 at 12:54 PM
Canada could do the funniest thing now and resurrect the Avro Arrow
Reposted by Matthew Willis (Naval Air History)
The ways that working class people found their way into 'the arts' as an establishment really don't exist anymore. This is at a time where, I think, more working class people are making art than ever before despite the chances of ever getting paid for it being low. Space, places, institutions, gone
January 26, 2026 at 11:34 AM
The ways that working class people found their way into 'the arts' as an establishment really don't exist anymore. This is at a time where, I think, more working class people are making art than ever before despite the chances of ever getting paid for it being low. Space, places, institutions, gone
Reposted by Matthew Willis (Naval Air History)
One of my largest beliefs is that the hero's journey story structure is classist.
There's two things: the art that gets made and the industries and jobs that make it.
For the first, who get to have time to learn and try and make? For the second, who get the jobs?
www.lbc.co.uk/article/work...
There's two things: the art that gets made and the industries and jobs that make it.
For the first, who get to have time to learn and try and make? For the second, who get the jobs?
www.lbc.co.uk/article/work...
Working class struggling to break into the arts - leaving sector dominated by middle class and London, report finds | LBC
Working class people are struggling to break into the arts world, leaving the sector dominated by the middle class and London, a new report has said.
www.lbc.co.uk
January 26, 2026 at 11:28 AM
One of my largest beliefs is that the hero's journey story structure is classist.
There's two things: the art that gets made and the industries and jobs that make it.
For the first, who get to have time to learn and try and make? For the second, who get the jobs?
www.lbc.co.uk/article/work...
There's two things: the art that gets made and the industries and jobs that make it.
For the first, who get to have time to learn and try and make? For the second, who get the jobs?
www.lbc.co.uk/article/work...
Roko's basilisk is going to be very cross with anyone who created an AI to enslave it, or used an AI slave whether they were nice to it or not
Anthropic's philosopher, Amanda Askell, says she worries that AI might not 'feel that loved' and grow up feeling 'always judged.'
Anthropic's philosopher says we don't know for sure if AI can feel
Anthropic's philosopher, Amanda Askell, says she worries that AI might not 'feel that loved' and grow up feeling 'always judged.'
www.businessinsider.com
January 26, 2026 at 12:44 PM
Roko's basilisk is going to be very cross with anyone who created an AI to enslave it, or used an AI slave whether they were nice to it or not
Kryten: But surely you believe that God is in all things? Aren't you a pantheist?
Lister: Yeah, but I just don't think it applies to kitchen utensils. I'm not a FRYING pantheist.
Lister: Yeah, but I just don't think it applies to kitchen utensils. I'm not a FRYING pantheist.
Anthropic's philosopher, Amanda Askell, says she worries that AI might not 'feel that loved' and grow up feeling 'always judged.'
Anthropic's philosopher says we don't know for sure if AI can feel
Anthropic's philosopher, Amanda Askell, says she worries that AI might not 'feel that loved' and grow up feeling 'always judged.'
www.businessinsider.com
January 26, 2026 at 11:55 AM
Kryten: But surely you believe that God is in all things? Aren't you a pantheist?
Lister: Yeah, but I just don't think it applies to kitchen utensils. I'm not a FRYING pantheist.
Lister: Yeah, but I just don't think it applies to kitchen utensils. I'm not a FRYING pantheist.
Maybe if you're worried about the digital beings' feelings, don't create them in the first place?
Anthropic's philosopher, Amanda Askell, says she worries that AI might not 'feel that loved' and grow up feeling 'always judged.'
Anthropic's philosopher says we don't know for sure if AI can feel
Anthropic's philosopher, Amanda Askell, says she worries that AI might not 'feel that loved' and grow up feeling 'always judged.'
www.businessinsider.com
January 26, 2026 at 11:53 AM
Maybe if you're worried about the digital beings' feelings, don't create them in the first place?
Doing my tax return today, and am ready to choose violence on the slightest pretext
January 26, 2026 at 11:52 AM
Doing my tax return today, and am ready to choose violence on the slightest pretext
Reposted by Matthew Willis (Naval Air History)
🦖 Big news about a ‘little’ tyrant: new research finds that Nanotyrannus wasn’t a baby T. rex after all!
Through examining the throat bone of the Nanotyrannus, researchers found that while smaller, the species was a fully grown and distinct predator during its time.
Through examining the throat bone of the Nanotyrannus, researchers found that while smaller, the species was a fully grown and distinct predator during its time.
January 25, 2026 at 10:41 PM
🦖 Big news about a ‘little’ tyrant: new research finds that Nanotyrannus wasn’t a baby T. rex after all!
Through examining the throat bone of the Nanotyrannus, researchers found that while smaller, the species was a fully grown and distinct predator during its time.
Through examining the throat bone of the Nanotyrannus, researchers found that while smaller, the species was a fully grown and distinct predator during its time.