Emmanuel

@emmanuelmpeg.bsky.social

482 Followers 641 Following

Scientist. (Aviation) History nerd. Belgian. https://flying-guns.com

Panel from “Alone”, a comic by Gazzotti & Vehlmann. A girl on crutches asks — “Is it me, or did religious tensions increase since our death?” Her companion replies — “Yes, it is disquieting. Fortunately Diane defuses the conflicts.”
The title translates to “When the wolf devours the wolf”. It could be described as a murder mystery set in renaissance Italy, but that would simplify it a lot. The Lapo Mosca stories are bleak, but charming.
The cover of “The Maginot Line - A new history of the fall of France”, by Kevin Passmore. (What’s in a name.) Yale University Press, 2025.
A French aircraft that looked clumsy and awkward thanks to the three engines mounted high above the wing, but otherwise not unreasonable.
A type of air brake used on the German Do 217 bomber, equivalent to sticking an umbrella at the tail end and opening it.
The map of the town of Baarle-Hertog (Belgian) and Baarle-Nassau (Dutch), which is a crazy collection of little enclaves, reflecting medieval traditions of land ownership.
Image from the (in)famous comic “Let’s kill all the Belgians.” It shows a zombie-like Belgian about to eat a hamburger with a puppy in it. The accompanying text says “If the Belgians came over to America, they would eat your puppy. If you don't have a puppy, they would buy you one and then eat it. That's how the Belgians roll.” As a Belgian, I appreciate the sentiment.
The Etrich Taube II coming in the land in Vienna in 1910. Picture from the massive volume on Austro-Hungarian Aircraft of WWI by Grosz, Haddow and Schiemer.
The triumphal arch of Orange in France. Exact date of building uncertain, but generally thought to date back to the reigns of the Roman emperors Augustus or Tiberius.
The tower of Sint Rombouts (St Rumbold’s) cathedral in Mechelen. The fact that at 97m it is somewhat short of its designed 167m only adds to its expression of massiveness.
A street in the town of Nîmes in the French Provence. A waterway runs along its length, with a little waterfall half way down the picture. Trees grow along its sides, creating a canopy of green over the water, which is dappled with spits of light.
Potez 25 A2 with Lorraine engine
A HA-1109 at Madrid Cuatro Vientos. The type was a Bf 109 with a Hispano-Souza 12Z engine.
Barrier at a construction site in Brussels. The text on it reads “If Rome was built in a day, we would have used the same contractor.”
Japanese “Navy Type Hansa” seaplane in a good side view.
A gold and silver relic shrine showing a kneeling Charles the Bold with a saint standing behind him, doffing his helmet. Of course the saint looks like Charles, because Charles.
The Liberator spaceship of Blake’s 7, a series famous for sharp dialogue and wobbly decor
The famous picture of George W Bush being told about the attack on the Twin Towers on 9/11. Looking somewhat bemused, as one does when intelligence fails.
The cover of a German book on Flying Boats, Amphibians and Floatplanes, by Hans-Jürgen Becker.
Bart De Wever, prime minister of Belgium, in one of his characteristic suits, conservative and modernist at the same time.
The mysterious dodecahedron of Tongeren — a twelve-sided object with in each side a circular hole of a different size, and little projection drops on each corner. Nobody knows what (if any) purpose these objects had.
On a grassy field with strewn with small flowers, several people are gathered around something which looks too impractical to use as a tent, and therefore must be an aircraft.
The cover of “Aeroplani Caproni”, Gianni Caproni and his aircraft, 1910-1983.
Painting of the creature nicknamed Pierson’s Puppeteer in Larry Niven’s science-fiction works — a colourful three-legged, two-headed creature.
The cover of “Interceptor” by James Goulding features a photograph of a Lightning and a line drawing of a Spitfire. Because.
The cover of “China Today: Aviation industry.” Which for some unfathomable reason features a large picture of the Great Wall, and a small picture of a fighter aircraft.
The cover of “Thief: The dark project” is mostly, like, dark. From the shadows a hooded figure emerges with a drawn bow. The tip of the arrow is lit.
Daniel Craig surrounded by the cast of a Glass Onion movie, all managing the “bored but suspicious” look.
Target Kite, Mark 1. A simple kite of now smudged fabric, with the silhouette of an A6M “Zero” painted on it. The label says it was manufactured by A.S. Spalding & Bros.
The gold-plated, jewel-encrusted Naderi throne, one of the historical Crown Jewels of Iran.
Yes, it is a boat (two, to be precise) in a huge tray of water that is running on tracks. You, at least, have not gone mad.
The Latecoère XIV — the massive wing (27% t/c ratio at the root) suggests a lack of confidence.
Japanese admiral Yamamoto Isoroku studying a map aboard his flagship.
Something blurry, pixelated and compressed, from which only Geordi LaForge could make a perfectly identifiable aircraft.
tSNE map of Bluesky users by following connections, with my handle somewhere in a low density zone. In reducing a high-dimensional space to a low-dimensional space, tSNE tries to model and retain a concept of points being “neighbours” but it is very flexible in measuring distance.
The gloriously named Gloster Gnatsnapper, a small biplane fighter.
A museum label drily revealing that in 1905, a French company developed motorised roller skates (invented in Belgium) with a top speed of 66 km/h. They did not go in production.
The indestructible Adrian Carton de Wiart, who somehow managed to be shot in every possible limb and organ, and survive it all.
The Handley Page Heyford, a biplane heavy bomber that can be considered a glorious beauty of art déco, or a hideous frightening monstrosity. De gustibus non est disputandum.
The Russian warship Novgorod, a late 19th century design that tried to minimise draught and area exposed to enemy fire — by having a nearly perfectly round hull.
Arthur Conan Doyle. And fairies.
A beautiful French interwar aircraft. Yes, they exist.
The cover of Luigi Caliaro’s book “Fiat Fighters”, listing in its subtitle the CR.32, CR.42, G.50 and G.55.
German money from 1924: a 100,000,000,000,000 mark banknote.
The LTV XC-142, an experimental tilt-wing VTOL aircraft with four T64 turboprop engines.
The Moraine-Saulnier MS.1500 Epervier, a COIN aircraft prototype of the late 1950s.