This month is the tenth anniversary of the axing of Joint Force Harrier. How time flies. As you can tell from FAA Boys (recently reviewed), the political unhappiness cotinues to rumble on.

Its farewell at RAF Cottesemore was a sad day, not lessened by rubbish weather.

It's that time of year again.

My books of the year - the ones I have most enjoyed, and would most wish to have written, are:

A Schoolmaster's War, and

War in the Shadows.

Read the reviews, and buy them, here and here.

One of the most talismanic pilots of his age has taken his final flight. Chuck Yeager died yesterday aged 97. The first pilot to fly supersonic. (It so easily could have been a British pilot in a British aircraft). His autobiography is very readable. Buy it below.

Happy Birthday to my heroine. Mildred Mary Petre was born on this day in 1895. It took her less than 15 years to develop a thirst for speed: she worked up from 1 Pony Power to 1 Horse Power, and thence to more than 100 h.p..

If she was with us today, and in good health, she would no doubt be hankering to get to the International Space Station!

Fleet Air Arm Boys - by Steve Bond from the house of Grub Street. Plenty of 'dits' as those weird dark blue aviators would say. Review here.