The Association has been updating its use of modern technology in recent years. The impetus came at the time of the Covid pandemic when David Priddy enabled us to use Zoom for our monthly meetings which would otherwise have ceased. When we were able to meet together at Kingston again, we started ‘hybrid’ meetings whereby members who lived far away from Kingston could join those ‘on site’. The effect of the acoustics in the hall and the variability of the Wi-Fi signal took us a while to understand, but we now have a much-improved system in place. The Association has purchased its own laptop which has also enhanced our abilities.
Alongside the work on Zoom we are also developing a more resilient method of sharing information within the committee using cloud-based storage. This has aided distribution of emails and electronic copies of newsletters. It is important that we all update Diana Dean with any changes of email address in order to continue to receive electronic communications.
Issue 47 of The Aviation Historian is another superb cornucopia of fascinating articles from military to civil, and fixed to rotary wing. ‘Deal of the Century’ by Professor Keith Hayward outlines the political origins of the controversial Al-Yamamah sales programmes that became Britain’s largest ever arms deal. The Hawk was a large part of the two deals, amounting to 50 Mk65 and Mk65As. ‘Collision Course’ relates the cockpit voice-recorder argument in the early 1970s where lawyers battled with aviators over the imposition of recording equipment as industry standard. ‘America’s Whirlybird Airlines’ concludes the two-part series about the rise and fall of the 1960s aspirations for this form of public transport.
There are to be only 3 more TAH journals published on a quarterly basis. This series will end with TAH50 in January 2025. Instead a single larger TAH Annual will be published along with special issues and books. As a set the 50 issues will take pride of place on every self-respecting aviation history bookshelf, only to be 100% complete when the index is downloaded from the TAH website and saved on paper or digitally.