An incredible bit of aviation history I was unaware of.

[Loose rivets]

I was drawn to posts in Quora by Adrian Snook and David Mason. The former was the heart-rending story of a start to the science of Black Boxes, and the determination of a young man left without a father.

The resistance to the idea is incredible - almost as though there was a hidden agenda. David Mason talks of filming on an RAF flight deck so perhaps the word was spreading around the world's opportunists.

I'm not usually one to paste and leave, but this is rather special.

https://www.quora.com/Why-was-the-black-box-invented/answer/Adrian-Snook

[radar101]

Can anyone give us a resume? I'm not giving my details to yet another site.

[India Four Two]

radar101,

I wouldn't worry, Big Brother is already watching you! :)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Warren_%28inventor%29

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_recorder#Flight_data_recorder

[rolling20]

IIRC, I read in one of my childhood comics, it may have been The Victor, that before WW2, the Luftwaffe experimented with a crude data device.
As an aircraft was about to crash, the pilot was supposed to make a mark in a panel to indicate what the problem was, engine, flight controls etc.
This mark was made into a fire proof brick or something similar.
The idea being it would be available for investigators looking for the cause.
How a pilot was meant to do this, as he fought for his survival, I am not sure,
but if the comic is to be believed, it did exist.