July 2011 Articles (57)

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 week's trip to the cinema is Tod Browning's 1932 horror classic, Freaks, on request by James from Pennsylvania.  The genesis of MGM's Freaks was a magazine piece by Ted Robbins titled Spurs. The story involved a…

Fast transatlantic mail and diesel engine... Do they go together? You bet!

From the foundation of the company in 1933 until World War II, the most important aircraft built by Blohm und Voss was the Ha 139, two of which - the Nordmeer and Nordwind - were delivered to Deutsche Luft Hansa in 1937. Today, the Saturday Air Mail is proud to present the…

A rare and extremely beautiful body style which has much in common with a boat. Actually, it is a boat on wheels but not an amphibian.

Skiff bodies with their high-quality finish rivaling with that of the yachts are closely associated with the name of one of the finest French coachbuilders. As early as 1858, Jean-Baptiste Labourdette started making horse drawn carriages and by 1907 his grandson Jean-Henri had taken the company to the next level. In 1912, Labourdette…

Hungarian Jewish adventurer Ignatius Trebitsch-Lincoln (4 April 1879 - 4 October 1943) lived many lives. He had the ability to talk himself into virtually any situation, and into any company. No surprise that some call him the greatest impostor of…

When the United States entered the Soviet war with Afghanistan, they did so from the shadows. They helped arm and fund the Mujahadin fighters that would ultimately expel the Soviet bear. One of the more important arrow in the quiver of the Afghan fighters was the American supplied Stinger, surface to air missile. The man-portable SAM was a key piece in knocking down low…

A great photographic exhibition just started in the Albertina in Vienna, Austria. Presenting about 260 outstanding examples of Austrian photography dating from before 1945, the exhibition in the Albertina sheds light on both the range and quality of the pictures produced by the Photographic Society’s members. Exhibits from the fields of art, science, and innovative applications of commercial photography convey a fascinating impression of the paths leading into today’s flood of…

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.…

So what to do with all those old airplane instruments you have laying around.  Because everybody needs a quality time piece, how about build a clock:

You can read more about this fine chronograph…

IDW Publishing recently announced HP Lovecraft's The Dunwich Horror, a comic series with a modern take on Lovecraft's timeless short story of terror.

Starting in October, author Joe R. Lansdale and artist Peter Bergting bring to the 21st century audience classic horrors that influenced many prominent authors, most notably Stephen King, who…

Today, beautiful streamliners of the Reading Company:

The Reading inaugurated the Crusader on December 13, 1937 - a five-car trainset. Budd cars were built from stainless steel, with with a round-end observation car at each end of the streamliner. The Crusader operated between Jersey City and Philadelphia on a twice-daily round trip schedule.…

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 week is the classic 1932 Bela Lugosi horror film White Zombie.  Bringing voodoo mysticism to the American public, this movie was the first to introduce zombies into Hollywood's horror repertoire.  After being shown in the early 1930s, the movie…

October 1934. MacRobertson Air Race.

Flight Lieutenant Charles William Anderson Scott pointing out the finer points of one of Comet G-ACSS Gipsy Six engines and Ratier propellers to Edward Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) on 19th October 1934, the day before the 1934 MacRobertson Air Race started (Flight Image Archive)

The race was organised by the Royal Aero…

Probably the best steam-powered car ever. Luxurious. Fast. Fuel-efficient. Terribly expensive. Extremely rare.

The Doble steamers of the 1920's were almost miracles of precision, workmanship, performance, reliability and power. They simply ran away from the best of the competition -- Cadillac's, Lincoln's, Packard's, Piercs-Arrows, Rolls Royce, or what have you.

As for durability and…

A victory for the G-men.

The notorious Midwest bank robber John "Jackrabbit" Dillinger was shot and killed by federal agents outside the Biograph Theater in Chicago, Illinois on July 22, 1934.…

David Mark Brown's debut novel, Fistful of Reefer, is the first in his Reeferpunk series.  Part spaghetti-Western, part dieselpunk, Fistful of Reefer refries history and explores the ramifications of an industrial revolution sans cheap oil.

Set along the Texas/Mexico border during the waning years of the Mexican revolution, Fistful of Reefer focuses on a group…

When machine guns were first mounted to aircraft at the dawn of aviation, tacticians quickly realized that in order to score kills any weapon needed to get the maximum number of rounds on target as fast as possible. High rates of fire were the natural solution, but they also proved to be bullet hogs.

One German designer, however, found a different approach to…

With my vacation starting tomorrow I thought I share some traditional posters with you, all of so-called “Strandbäder”, a lido or literally a “beach pool”. The term refers to the sand in which you could relax even if the actual beaches of the Mediterranean were hundreds of miles away. The Strandbad tradition really started with the beginning of the 20^th century and was popular across Europe.

I wish everyone fantastic holidays!

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This piece is commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor Attack.



It is a stylized rendering of Nakajima bombers over the harbor during the attack.



The attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese Imperial Navy of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl…

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.…

Originally posted on my Steampunk blog: Nicholas L.…