'Ten thousand lads with shining eyes are dreaming and their dreams are wings': Affect, airmindedness and the birth of the aerial subject

Cultural Geographies

Volumn 18, Issue 1, 2011, Pages 63-89

  Adey, Peter ^a  

^a KEELE UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Affect; Airmindedness; Aviation; Mobility; National identity

Indexed keywords

MOBILITY; NATIONAL IDENTITY;

EID: 78651244963     PISSN: 14744740     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/1474474010377670     Document Type: Article

References (185)

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7. See more general examinations of mobility in Urry, J., Mobilities Beyond Societies (London: Routledge, 2000).
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18. Massumi, B., Parables for the Virtual: Movement, Affect, Sensation (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2002).
19. On a theory of affect see Anderson, B., 'Becoming and Being Hopeful: Towards a Theory of Affect', Environment and Planning D-Society & Space, 24, 2006, pp. 733-52; And on the engineering of affective capacities.
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28. McCormack, D.P., 'Aerostatic Spacing: On Things being Lighter than Air', Cultural Geographies, 34, 2009, pp. 25-41.
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35. Pascoe, D., Airspaces (London: Reaktion, 2001).
36. Fritzsche, P. A Nation of Fliers: German Aviation and the Popular Imagination (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992).
37. Adey, P., 'Airports and Air-mindedness: Spacing, Timing and Using Liverpool Airport 1929-39', Social and Cultural Geography, 7, 2006, pp. 343-63.
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39. This is of course in mind of the various discourse surrounding performativity, following the work of Judith Butler (1999), for whom subjectivity is a repetitive accomplishment.
40. Massumi, B., Parables, p. 2.
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42. De Landa, M., War in the Age of Intelligent Machines (New York: Zone books, 1991).
43. See commentaries on the classic work by Sylvan Tomkins: Tomkins, S.S. and Demos, E.V., Exploring Affect: The Selected Writings of Silvan S. Tomkins (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995).
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45. On the relation between affects and childhood see, Kraftl, P., 'Young People, Hope and Childhood-Hope', Space and Culture, 11, 2008, pp. 81-92.
46. Horton, J. and Kraftl, P., 'What Else? Some More Ways of Thinking About and Doing Children's Geographies', Children's Geographies, 4, 2006, pp. 69-95.
47. Similar to Matless the sequencing of operations or processes in order to transform these subjects will continue through the examples examined in this text. Matless, D., Landscape and Englishness (London: Reaktion, 1999).
48. Air Scouting: General Scheme (1941) The Scout Association Archive, hereafter (SAA).
49. Air Scouting: General Scheme.
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51. Pisano, D., To Fill the Sky with Pilots: The Civilian Pilot Training Program, 1939-1949 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993).
52. Palmer, S.W., Dictatorship.
53. Fritzsche, P., A Nation of Fliers, p. 203.
54. 'The Early History of Air Scouting' http://www.scouting.milestones.btinternet.co.uk/airscouts.htm.
55. Powell's interest in aviation continued as he was to later become chairman of the Royal Aeronautical Society. He flew with the Wright brothers and developed his own plans for a military aircraft which he tried to sell to the War Office.
56. 1925, The Air League Bulletin, 3(53), BL.
57. 1925, The Air League Bulletin, pp. 32-3.
58. 1926, The Air League Bulletin, 4(56), BL.
59. 1935, 'Air League Young Pilots Fund', Press Release. Royal Air Force Museum (hereafter AFM).
60. 2 January 1935, Letter from Chamier to Lord Brabazon. AFM.
61. 19 November 1937, Letter from Chamier to the Air Ministry. AIR 2/2716 The National Archives (hereafter TNA).
62. 21 December 1937, Letter from Chamier to the Air Ministry. AIR 2/2716 TNA.
63. 44 4 May 1939, The Times.
64. 'Air Cadets in L.C.C. Schools Education Committee's Refusal', The Times, 4 May 1939, p. 10.
65. Wohl, R., A Passion, p. 204.
66. Wohl, R., A Passion, p. 282.
67. Haley, B., The Healthy Body and Victorian Culture (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978).
68. Hall, D.E., Muscular Christianity: Embodying the Victorian Age (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994).
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71. Bradstock, A., Masculinity and Spirituality in Victorian Culture (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2000).
72. Dowling, A., Manliness and the Male Novelist in Victorian Literature (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2001).
73. Griffen, C. and Carnes, M.C., Meanings for Manhood: Constructions of Masculinity in Victorian America (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990).
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76. Tosh, J., A Man's Place: Masculinity and the Middle-Class Home in Victorian England (New Haven, CO; London: University Press, 1999).
77. Waters, K.V., The Perfect Gentleman: Masculine Control in Victorian Men's Fiction, 1870-1901 (New York: P. Lang, 1997).
78. Wiener, M.J., Men of Blood: Violence, Manliness and Criminal Justice in Victorian England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004).
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80. Knowles, M. and Malmkjær, K., Language and Control, p. 89.
81. Cunningham, British, pp. 162-3. Similarly, Sidney and Beatrice Webb's social imperialism put forward that nationalistic citizens were needed to ensure the Empire's survival. Such ideas impacted politicians and public figures such as Baden-Powell, who encouraged all to rush out and obtain of a copy of Mills's work.
82. For the late Victorians, it associated action and physical duress with the properties of morality and spiritual wellbeing. For the Edwardians, imperialistic and nationalistic meanings were given to bodily health and action. The result was that it saw the imperatives of morality, national efficiency and imperialistic ambition become conflated with bodily aesthetics. In this vein, it became apparent that it was not necessarily what bodies could do that was important, but what they looked like.
83. Westerman, J.F.C., Menace from the Air (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1938); Miles, M.E., The Sea-Plane Base. An Adventure in the Hebrides (London: A. & C. Black, 1936).
84. Paris, M., 'The Rise of the Airmen - the Origins of Air Force Elitism, c.1890-1918', Journal of Contemporary History, 28, 1998, p. 129.
85. 'The Wrights - A Personal Impression', Flight Magazine, 8 May 1909, p. 262.
86. Fritzsche, A Nation of Fliers, p. 158.
87. Captain W.E. Johns, 'Handsome is as Handsome Does', Air Training Corps Gazette, I(II), 1942, p. 9, BL.
88. Captain W.E. Johns, 'Handsome is as Handsome Does', p. 9.
89. Captain W.E. Johns, 'Handsome is as Handsome Does', p. 10.
90. Joseph, N. and Alex, N., 'The Uniform: A Sociological Perspective', American Journal of Sociology, 77, 1972, pp. 719-30.
91. Kuper, H., 'Costume and Identity', Comparative Studies in Society and History, 15, 1973, pp. 348-67.
92. Rafaeli, A. and Pratt, M.G., 'Tailored Meanings: On the Meaning and Impact of Organizational Dress', Academy of Management Review, 18, 1993, pp. 32-55.
93. 27 June 1938, Letter from the Air League to the Air Ministry, TNA.
94. Sillitoe, A., Life without Armour (London: HarperCollins, 1995).
95. Mechling, J., 'Patois and Paradox in a Boy-Scout Treasure-Hunt and Folkloristic Examination of the Role of a Game in American-Culture', Journal of American Folklore, 97, 1984, pp. 24-42.
96. Mechling, J., 'Dress Right, Dress, the Boy-Scout Uniform as a Folk Costume', Semiotica, 64, 1987, pp. 319-33.
97. 'Airmans Course for Scouts' (1912) The Headquarters Gazette, June, p. 132. The Scout Association Archive (hereafter SSA).
98. 'Airmans Course for Scouts', p. 132; A special issue of the magazine The Scout the following month also gave many details of how to build darts and kites, and information about aeroplanes and airships. The Scout, July 1912, SSA.
99. A.T.C. pamphlet 1941. ED 136/326, TNA.
100. Kearns, G., 'Closed Space and Political Practice: Fredrick Jackson Turner and Halford Mackinder', Environment and Planning D-Society & Space, 21, 1984, pp. 23-34.
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103. Gilcraft, Wide Games (London: Pearson, 1934).
104. Matless, D., Landscape and Englishness.
105. MacDonald, R.H., Sons of the Empire: The Frontier and the Boy Scout Movement, 1890-1918 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993), pp. 143-4.
106. Letter from the Air Ministry to the Gliding Association, 2 September 1949. T 225/1282, TNA.
107. Air Training Corps and Womens Junior Air Corps (Code B, 10): A.T.C. and Civil flying clubs: air experience 1943-1950 AIR 2/5699, TNA
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114. AIR 2/100, TNA, p. 4.
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117. Sillitoe in Daniels, S. and Rycroft, S., 'Mapping the Modern City: Alan Sillitoe's Nottingham Novels', Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 18, 1993, pp. 464-5.
118. 'The Romance of the Air', The Air Training Corps Gazette, 1(3), pp. 33-4, BL.
119. For those who were frightened about 'going up', it was suggested that the leaders should allow the youth to get used to their experience with the aeroplane. The Air Patrol Handbook for Scouts advised: 'tactfully leave him out and encourage him to get used to the idea by taking him in the hangar and letting him sit in the cockpit', 'Air Patrols: How to Form and Run a Patrol in your Troop' (1936), SAA.
120. There are resonances here with the 'geographer citizens' Matless discusses.
121. MacMillan, N., 'Geography Matters', Air Training Corps Gazette, 1(12), 1941, pp. 6-7, BL.
122. MacMillan, N., 'Geography Matters', p. 7.
123. Thrift, N. and Dewsbury, J.D., 'Dead Geographies - and How to Make them Live', Environment and Planning D-Society & Space, 18, 2000, pp. 411-32.
124. 'On Cranwell', Air League Bulletin, 4(67), 1926, p. 15, BL.
125. Barksdale Maynard, W., '"An Ideal Life in the Woods for Boys": Architecture and Culture in the Earliest Summer Camps', Winterthur Portfolio, 34, 1999, p. 27.
126. Bissell, D., 'Passenger Mobilities: Affective Atmospheres and the Sociality of Public Transport', Environment and Planning D-Society & Space, 28, 2010, pp. 270-89.
127. 'The Spice of Life', The Air Training Corps Gazette, 2(4), p. 31, BL.
128. 'The Spice of Life', p. 31.
129. 'An Impression', RAF Cadet College Magazine, 1(1), 1920, pp. 20-21, BL.
130. 'An Impression', RAF Cadet College Magazine, p. 20.
131. Board of Education, Recreation and Physical Fitness for Youths and Men (London: TSO, 1937), BPA.
132. 'The Challenge of Youth', Board of Education Circular 1516, 27 June 1956, BPA.
133. 'Youth Service Corps', Board of Education Circular 1543, 12 March 1941, BPA.
134. Gagen, E., 'Making America Flesh'.
135. Adey, P., Aerial Life: Spaces, Mobilities, Affects (London: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010).
136. 'Hints on Athletic Training', RAF Cadet College Gazette, 1(1), 1925, p. 34, BL.
137. 'The New Physiology', The Times, 30 May 1928, p. 15.
138. Reid, J., The Biopolitics of the War on Terror (London: Palgrave, 2006).
139. Air Defence Cadet Corps Training Manual, p. 21, BL.
140. Wakefield, C., 'Sport as Training for War', Air Training Corps Gazette, 2(10), 1942, p. 2, BL.
141. Chamier, C., 'Commandant Inspection: An Impression', Air Training Corps Gazette, 2(2), 1942, p. 29, BL.
142. Chamier, C., 'Commandant Inspection', p. 29.
143. 'Hints on Athletic Training', RAF Cadet College Gazette, p. 37.
144. Air League of the British Empire, A Drill Book for the Air Training Corps (London: TSO, 1943), BL.
145. 'Hyde Park Rally of Youth', The Times, 27 September 1942, p. 6.
146. 'Youth on Parade', The Times, 10 November, 1942, p. 2.
147. McNeill, D., Keeping Together.
148. Adey, P., Mobility (London: Routledge, 2009).
149. Air League of the British Empire, A Drill Book.
150. In the context of air raid precautions see Adey, P., 'Holding Still: The Private Life of an Air Raid', M/C Journal, 12(1), 2009 http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/.
151. Adey, P., 'Holding Still'.
152. Air League of the British Empire, Rules and Regulations of the Air Defence Cadet Corps (London: TSO, 1938), p. 42, BL.
153. The Scout's Pathfinder Annual (London: The Scout Association, 1966), SAA.
154. Lewis, C.A., Sagittarius Rising (London: Peter Davies, 1936).
155. Paris, M., From the Wright Brothers to Top Gun: Aviation, Nationalism, and Popular Cinema (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1995), p. 48.
156. Goldstein, L., The Flying Machine and Modern Literature (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996).
157. Pendo, S., Aviation in the Cinema (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1985).
158. Morrow, J.H., 'Brave Men Flying: The Wright Brothers and Military Aviation in World War One', in R.D. Launius and J.R.D. Bednarek (eds) Reconsidering a Century of Flight (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2003), p. 176.
159. As Rex Walford has traced the use of role-playing and simulations in the teaching practices of Geography in the 1960's, these airminded simulations used similar techniques as they attempted to teach youths through performance.
160. 'Cranwell: Another Point of View', RAF Cadet College Magazine, 1(1), 1920, p. 28, BL.
161. 'Rifle Shooting at Bisley', RAF Cadet College Magazine, 4(2), 1924, p. 82, BL.
162. 'The Joys of Hunting', RAF Cadet College Magazine, 2(2), 1921, p. 85, BL.
163. 'Hawking', RAF Cadet College Magazine, 1(2), 1921, p. 92, BL.
164. 'The Young Airman', The Times, 26 September 1918, p. 3.
165. The Times, 27 September 1918, p. 4.
166. The Times, 1 October 1918, p. 5.
167. Mangan, J.A., 'Specimens of Manhood: Schoolboy Literature and the Creation of a Colonial Chivalric Code' in Richards, J. (ed.) Imperialism and Juvenile Literature (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1989), p. 191.
168. 'Sport as Training for War', p. 2.
169. 'Formation Swimming Seen as Good Training', The Air Training Corps Gazette, 1(4), 1941, p. 36, BL.
170. E. Boehmer, 'Introduction'
171. R. Baden-Powell, Scouting for Boys (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005).
172. Air Scouting, pamphlet 1944, SAA.
173. Air Scouting, pamphlet 1944, p. 12.
174. Air Scouting, pamphlet 1944, p. 16.
175. 'Practice Theory and Practice', The Air Training Corps Gazette, 1(5), p. 5, BL.
176. Ploszajska, T., 'Constructing the Subject: Geographical Models in English Schools, 1870-1944', Journal of Historical Geography, 22, 1996, pp. 388-98.
177. Buhler, C., 'The Child and its Activity with Practical Material British', Journal of Educational Psychology, 3, 1933, pp. 27-41.
178. Taylor, S., Clay Modelling for Schools (London, 1922).
179. James, M.B., Practical Suggestions in Paper Modelling (London, 1931).
180. 'Model Flying', The Air League Bulletin, July 1926, p. 16, BL.
181. 'Editorial', SKYBIRDS Magazine, 1(1), 1933, p. 1, BL.
182. 'Editorial', SKYBIRDS Magazine, p. 13.
183. 'Model Aeroplanes', in M.R. Knight, Empire Air Day, 1935 brochure, p. 88, BL.
184. 'Editorial', SKYBIRDS Magazine, p. 2, BL.
185. 'Photography of Models', SKYBIRDS Magazine, 2(7), 1935, p. 27, BL.