Aviation Saftey Digest
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This is probably the best crew for the job - Home - Trove
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We have the Digests and a scanner at the Airways Museum, Essendon Airport, if anybody has the time to commit to scanning them.
This is probably the best crew for the job - Home - Trove
.
Talking about finding a good home where long hoarded material can be donated this has been on my mind for a long time. I'd give my full set of ASDs tomorrow as long as continued access was possible. The drawback with digitalised copies is that are often inadequately indexed and lacking the detailed cross referencing that a researcher relies on. So for the time being there is no substitute to having the material open and laid out on a table or tables.
When you go on line and download back copies of FLIGHT and FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL it is a bugger of a job to sort and to follow logically a line of research. The quality of the scanning is also often not the best either.
Maybe that is part of the reason why single copies of FLIGHT or THE AEROPLANE from the twenties and thirties fetch anything from ten to twenty dollars.
The co-author of FLIGHTPAST Trevor Boughton would be a good man to hear on this. Trevor has been doing his own cutting service from all Australian periodicals and papers for fifty years or more. When I first visited his home in Mosman, Sydney in 1963 every room, every spare cubic foot of space was taken up with the archive. Not many know that he has for years edited and published his journal MAN AND AERIAL MACHINES (MAAM) from his home and pursued lines of research with a rigour not to be found elsewhere in any work done to preserve our aviation heritage, at least in respect to the written record.
When you go on line and download back copies of FLIGHT and FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL it is a bugger of a job to sort and to follow logically a line of research. The quality of the scanning is also often not the best either.
Maybe that is part of the reason why single copies of FLIGHT or THE AEROPLANE from the twenties and thirties fetch anything from ten to twenty dollars.
The co-author of FLIGHTPAST Trevor Boughton would be a good man to hear on this. Trevor has been doing his own cutting service from all Australian periodicals and papers for fifty years or more. When I first visited his home in Mosman, Sydney in 1963 every room, every spare cubic foot of space was taken up with the archive. Not many know that he has for years edited and published his journal MAN AND AERIAL MACHINES (MAAM) from his home and pursued lines of research with a rigour not to be found elsewhere in any work done to preserve our aviation heritage, at least in respect to the written record.
Last edited by Fantome; 8th Dec 2012 at 05:21.
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Slight Thread drift - but a few years back I bought from the Australian War museum at Canberra the complete set of the wartime RAF Flight Safety booklets called "Tee Emm" which is short for Technical Memoranda. Along with Aviation Safety Digests, Tee Emm occupies pride of place in my study. The RAAF received Tee Emm as well and many RAAF aircrew crew rooms had Tee Emm's. That's where I first read about the village idiot Pilot Officer Prune. Not Pprune but P/O Prune and his girlfriend Leading Aircraft Women Winsome. Each Tee Emm had a safety message as well as good gen.
A typical example was the heading 'Wear your Helmet and your Goggles" which describes a pilot's battle report in which he wrote: "As I broke away from attacking an enemy aircraft, a .303 and .5 bullet shattered the perspex, which entered my eyes and my face. I continued to dive to ground level, clearing blood out of my eyes...." That pilot might have been blinded or even killed, might have been shot down while incapacitated, or might have crashed. All through not wearing goggles.
It was P/O Prune, who after inadvertently landing wheels up in his Hawker Hurricane, was the first recipient of the Most Highly Derogatory Order of the Irremovable Finger. The medal has the motto Dieu et Mon Doigt.
A good job well done well done entitled the recipient to wear the The Most Commendable Order of the Vacated Orifice.
A typical example was the heading 'Wear your Helmet and your Goggles" which describes a pilot's battle report in which he wrote: "As I broke away from attacking an enemy aircraft, a .303 and .5 bullet shattered the perspex, which entered my eyes and my face. I continued to dive to ground level, clearing blood out of my eyes...." That pilot might have been blinded or even killed, might have been shot down while incapacitated, or might have crashed. All through not wearing goggles.
It was P/O Prune, who after inadvertently landing wheels up in his Hawker Hurricane, was the first recipient of the Most Highly Derogatory Order of the Irremovable Finger. The medal has the motto Dieu et Mon Doigt.
A good job well done well done entitled the recipient to wear the The Most Commendable Order of the Vacated Orifice.
Last edited by Tee Emm; 8th Dec 2012 at 06:38.
I miss the Digest. Not the toilet paper that replaced it. I've occasionally wondered if a complete set from #1 to the last could be constructed from the ones kept by various PPRuNers.
It would be fabulous for it to be digitised. Perhaps Google would do it as part of their massive scanning project? Copyright would be a problem, I expect.
It would be fabulous for it to be digitised. Perhaps Google would do it as part of their massive scanning project? Copyright would be a problem, I expect.
Last edited by Tinstaafl; 9th Dec 2012 at 03:59.
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We have a little project on the go. End result probably a small set of CDs. Opportunity basis for time but hopefully be done in the next six months.
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John
I applaud you for doing this.
It will be a valuable resource for all, and cement your place as a fine and respected contributor to Australian aviation.
If it doesn't end up going ahead (heaven forbid), can you post here so someone/others can be alerted that the need for this is not being met?
John
I applaud you for doing this.
It will be a valuable resource for all, and cement your place as a fine and respected contributor to Australian aviation.
If it doesn't end up going ahead (heaven forbid), can you post here so someone/others can be alerted that the need for this is not being met?
John
Last edited by rjtjrt; 9th Dec 2012 at 22:15.
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The plan is not for anything gaudy - rather fairly pedestrian along the lines of a simple set of pdfs at reasonable resolution. Have played with some preliminary scans and it should work out OK.
Having access to a fast high end scanner helps.
Having access to a fast high end scanner helps.
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Full set
I have a full set from No 1 which I recall was around 1953 (?). They will only move when I know they will have a good home. Wonderful idea to scan, but a big job. You need one of those new flash copiers that scan and pdf docs in 20 seconds! To do that you have to photo copy each page first, that will take the time!
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ah, you have a slow machine, I see. Ours will colour scan the double sheet at a reasonable res and at a pace which suits my page turning speed.
The scanning exercise is boring but simple.
Post scan tidy up to get rid of any out of square and other displeasing defects will take a little time, I fear, but, based on some test runs, the end result is not too much of a pita.
Actually, it's an exercise in selfishness ... I'm missing a few of the full set and want a scanned library for my own use. Like most others here, I've always held the ASD to be a good publication and learnt a lot from it during my early (and more stupid, testosterone-filled) years ... I number myself within the ranks of those whose stupidity didn't quite result in fatality ..
The scanning exercise is boring but simple.
Post scan tidy up to get rid of any out of square and other displeasing defects will take a little time, I fear, but, based on some test runs, the end result is not too much of a pita.
Actually, it's an exercise in selfishness ... I'm missing a few of the full set and want a scanned library for my own use. Like most others here, I've always held the ASD to be a good publication and learnt a lot from it during my early (and more stupid, testosterone-filled) years ... I number myself within the ranks of those whose stupidity didn't quite result in fatality ..
