Hobby meets work! I recently edited a book on the Guadalcanal campaign and handwrote a list of names featured to keep track of them (spelling, ranks, commands, etc.) to ensure consistency within and between chapters. That ended up being three A4 sides and at least 200 names (American and Japanese).

A good few days for Halibags. A series of anecdotes from squadron mates collected and arranged into roles (pilots, etc). There's sketches scattered throughout, along with newspaper clippings, poetry, memorials and the like. A nicely done anthology of a unit that doesn't get a lot of coverage.

I really should put the recently arrived pile away (there are some older interlopers discovered during a recent 'tidy up' of other piles). I'd say this is getting out of hand, but that horse bolted quite a while ago, so I'll continue to revel in it!

This followed me home yesterday. Haven't had time to have a play, but it certainly takes up less room than the Olivetti and Halda standard machines I acquired last week! Never seen a red one before. Already have the more-common grey Good Companion 4, though.

Finally got 'Fire and Fortitude' to complete my John McManus trilogy of the U.S. Army in the Pacific. Now I have no excuse to not read them ...

Affordable paperbacks, particularly with the penguin on it apparently, appear to be one of several Achilles' heels for me. I've been indulging in 'other fascinations' recently and rediscovering my love of reading. An odd thing to say, but it's my day job and sometimes you can't look at another word!

Day 11 of 365 items to celebrate 250 years of the U.S. Navy.* On 17 January 1977, more than 100 sailors and marines boarded a liberty boat to return to USS Guam (LPH-9) following leave in Barcelona. They collided with a merchant ship in the harbour, throwing passengers and crew into the water. 1/2

Day 10 of posting 365 items from my collection to celebrate 250 years of the US Navy. Every now and then a response would include surprise items; the parcel from the (then) soon-to-be-decommissioned ... 1/2

Day 9 of celebrating 250 years of the U.S. Navy. While my letters had a 50% response rate, about 1/3 of those included signed 10x8s. This image of the Whidbey Island-class USS Germantown (LSD-42) was the first 10x8 I received. The scanner is still in its box, so apologies again for image quality.

Days 6, 7 and 8 of posting 365 things to celebrate 250s of the US Navy. You probably didn't notice, but I missed the two previous days due to a late finish at work (and not being bothered) and forgetting last night before I passed out. Anyway, here's three items from USS Sand Lance (SSN-660). 1/2

Day 5 of my U.S. Navy 250th anniversary effort. Another souvenir to collect is the ubiquitous sticker, and this 1 has a cool story (to me, anyway). USS Asheville, an improved Los Angeles-class nuclear-powered attack submarine, visited Garden Island, the RAN base south of Perth in mid-1994.

Day 4 of my U.S. Navy 250th anniversary posting. Of course, when touring a visiting naval vessel, the ultimate item to acquire, for me anyway, was a ball cap. Happily, most ships usually had a table of memorabilia in the hangar or out on the flight deck. ...

Day 3 of my U.S. Navy 250th anniversary posts. Often sent to me was a list of items available from the ship's store. I managed a rare purchase on occasion, usually from a ship soon to decommission or, in the case of nuclear-powered vessels, be inactivated.

Day 2 of commemorating the U.S. Navy's 250th year. At the height of my collecting, I wrote to active ships, hoping to trade postcards from Perth/Fremantle, a popular USN port visit, for a 'Welcome Aboard' brochure and/or a 10x8. I think I had a 50% hit rate. This was the 2nd response I received.

Crikey, day one of my U.S. Navy 250th anniversary thing and I almost forgot to post (somewhat regetting my decision making, but here we are). This is a tile inside a wooden plaque showcasing the ship's crest of USS Peleliu (LHA-5), the last of the five Tarawa-class amphibious assault ships ...

With the U.S. Navy's 250th anniversary year being 2025, I thought I might share a daily post featuring items from my collection. Whether I have 365 things I can share remains to be seen. It will also be subjects from the 20th century and early 21st as that's what I collected. Fingers crossed.

How is the Christmas book pile shaping up, folks, or is there still some mystery to it? Image for some colour (and a decent one to add to your list; the calibre of the contributing authors is off the hook).

Completely agree with Matt's assessment of this book being the aviation title of the year. Can't wait to get stuck into the second volume.

Until 18 December, use the code 'aircrewbooks' to get 25% off at @grubstreetuk.bsky.social, the publisher that continues to produce some of the finest aviation memoirs and anthologies on the market. grubstreet.co.uk/product-cate...

Red-letter day last week with 4 review titles arriving for the TBR wing of the house. Australians in Burma, women in Australia's air force, an anthology of B-29 crews (and saving their stories), and Vol 2 of a rabbit hole I really need to avoid, but can't - Helion's US Air Power 45-90 tech series.

This releases next week and is launched at the Queensland Air Museum at the end of the month. I commend it to you; it is the biography Don Bennett has always deserved. Volume 2 won't be released until 2026 at the earliest but, if you're in the UK, the author will be doing a speaking tour in May.

Had a ball doing this. Probably should have had more notes for more of the books we covered, but that would have meant less silly faces and an easier editing job for Matt. Can't have that! Very much looking forward to the next one in a month or so, but need to get reading.

Had an RAAF splurge and it would appear I am in my blue period. L-R, 30 Squadron novel written by a son using his dad's records, etc.; the only 459 Sqdn memoir I can think of at present, he ended up in Stalag Luft III; and a less-than-60 page account of a 30 Sqdn wireless/air gunner.

Avonmore has released 'Admiral VAT Smith'. Glorious. Some of the greats of the FAA feature – 'they have their exits and their entrances'; VAT 'in his time plays many parts'. Aircrew book of 2024. Australia: avonmorebooks.com.au?page=3&id=196 Northern Hemisphere: pen-and-sword.co.uk/Admiral-VAT-...

Photos taken before boxing! This is an investigation into the loss of the Liberator carrying Gen. Sikorski. Besides being a typical Grub Street HB, it peels away the layers to look at components and assemblies to consider theories and failures. Seriously impressive during a thumb through.