This Thursday, our hero is a pilot who hadn't much luck fighting enemy planes but scored a respectable number of victories downing enemy lighter-than-air aircraft.

Willy Coppens (1892 - 1986) was Belgium's highest-scoring fighter pilot during the First World War, scoring 37 victories by the war's close.

Coppens, who was born on 6 July 1892 in Watermaal-Bosvoorde,…

The sight of a massive bomber gliding into a bridge or ship is terrifying, whether disabled or on a suicide mission. What if you could create a bomber -sized aircraft that was in fact a giant bomb. That is the concept that piqued the interest of Luftwaffe engineers and led to the creation of the…

Welcome to Two Fisted Tuesdays, Dieselpunks' weekly beat on the mean streets.

Starring Gerald Mohr and starting with the famous lines, "Get this and get it straight! Crime is a sucker's road and those who travel it wind up in the gutter, the prison or the grave." The Adventures of Philip Marlowe runs about 25 minutes without commercials. You can listen to this blast from the past in MP3 format for free at the link below.…

Possibly the most successful British tank of World War I, the Whippet was responsible for more German casualties than any other British tank of the war.

Its big brothers, Mark I-VI tanks, are far more famous - and deadly slow. Of course, they were initially thought of as weapons of breakthrough only, but some experts started talking about using tanks for exploitation as well, working together with the cavalry*. This, however, required a faster tank. The result was…

 I found a movie on you tube called Transatlantic Tunnel. It was made in England in 1935 and is set in the future of about 1955. They're building a tunnel from England to America from both ends with the new Radium Drill. The special effects are borrowed from Things To Come which was made at about the same time. They use a Tatra 77 as a typical car of the future. I hope someone can get pleasure from this.

JEFFREY WHITE…

What's it - someone created computer icons with Dieselpunk flavor?

No, the pictures are 80 years old. They are very much alike modern pictograms, the ones we see everywhere. Office buildings and shopping malls, schools and stadiums, bus terminals and airports are full of these pictures, and there are millions of them on the Web.

Just recently I discovered the genesis of the pictogram and learned about the main proponent of the genre - Gerd Arntz (1900…

I'd like to make all my Dieselpunk and Steampunk friends aware of some major additions to Pilsner's Picks. I don't add anything to the "permanent wing" folders of my virtual sound museum very often, so it's time to get it going again. There are 20 new (?!) tracks, which can be kind of confusing, but this is a good place to start on your steam railroad journey with side trips to Harlem and Memphis and New Orleans. Enjoy, and don't forget to change the steel needle after playing both sides of…

In the Streamline Race of 1930s, Italy was a powerful entrant full of ambitions.

The ATR 100 class of three-car diesel-motor units built by FIAT in Turin, should be seen as flagships of new streamline fleet - scores of modern, fast lightweight trains. Nine ATRs were ordered by F.S., Italian state-owned railways. The first unit, ATR 101 was ready in 1936. It entered…

On Saturday Matinee, we showcase full-length films from or about the diesel era. If you have any favorites you would love to see on the next Saturday Matinee, shoot me a message or comment in the box below.

This weekend, we're showing Non-Stop New York from 1937.  In this strange bird of a film, a young chorus girl tries to free an innocent man from death row while being pursued by the gangsters. Her actions find her neck deep in trouble as she becomes the…

Sorry, Amelia. Beg your pardon, Elly. For me, Amy always was Number One.

I'm sure her name rings a bell to everyone here - probably you don't know much about Amy Johnson, the first woman to make a solo flight from England to Australia, but it's impossible to enter the community and leave the Icons Album unnoticed.…

'Rocketeer' 20th Anniversary Reunion Causes a Stir in Hollywood

A little-known Streamline Saga chapter is the story of this little German car:

It was introduced by DKW in 1934 - several months later than the Chrysler Airflow. And, just as its American contemporary, it wasn't a great success. By the way, the very name of the make is true…

Thursday Edition is back - with Australia's highest scoring ace of the Great War.

Robert Little was to become Australia’s top fighter pilot in the First World War, an Ace pilot who claimed 47 confirmed kills before being killed in action.  Robert Little was born on 19th July 1895 in Melbourne, at Hawthorn, son of James Little a seller of medical and surgical books. He was well educated at Scotch College and entered the family business as a traveling…

After a century, an automatic rifle that has long remained in the small-arms shadows has reemerged. The Madsen Light Machinegun, fielded in 1902, has battled from the tundra of winter Norway in the 20th century to the steamy ramshackles of…

Hello, there's a postcard to let you know: "This is more than a pleasure trip - it is a voyage into new world!"

The poster is published by Intourist, a very special company established by the Soviet government in 1929. It was responsible for managing the great majority of foreigners' access to, and travel within, the Soviet Union. Intourist grew into one of the largest…

 As may of you know, a Goodyear Blimp pilot named Michael Merandzic recently died after safely grounding the journalist passengers (click here for the news story). I felt his passing deserved the recognition of the Dieselpunk community- these are my inadequate efforts to immortalize this heroic knight of the air

The Ballad of Michael Nerandzic, or Newtonian physics…

Welcome to Two Fisted Tuesdays, Dieselpunks' weekly beat on the mean streets.

Starring Gerald Mohr and starting with the famous lines, "Get this and get it straight! Crime is a sucker's road and those who travel it wind up in the gutter, the prison or the grave." The Adventures of Philip Marlowe runs about 25 minutes without commercials. You can listen to this blast from the past in MP3 format for free at the link below.…

Alternate universes and parallel words are full of weird warships. But reality is sometimes even more weird than fantasy.

One of the most popular althistoric concepts is the big-gun aircraft carrier. Such ships look good on paper or forum board: big enough to carry a heavy gun battery and substantial air wing, well-protected against enemy shelling and torpedo attacks, fast and…

A lot has been said about the illusionist Jasper Maskelyne and his role in helping the British during WWII.  Like any good magician, the reality of Mr. Maskelyne's life is stretched to tell the most entertaining story.  The most recent incarnation will be HBO's new series "Hobgoblin," directed by Darren Aronofsky (best known for Black Swan).  Hobgoblin will focus on a motley team of con men and magicians who use their deceptive skills to help bring down Hitler during World War…

Lights out, everybody.

On Miskatonic Mondays, we celebrate the "weird" fiction of HP Lovecraft and the genre of otherworldly horror that it spawned.

I know many of you are still mourning the death of the "Mountains of Madness" blockbuster Hollywood movie.  Hopefully, this full-length motion comic by Cthulhu films will help heal your need for eldrich horror.  To turn on the English subtitles, click the little CC button at the bottom of the…