Free massive open online course on WW1 aviation starts 20 Oct

I am a bit of a lurker on this forum. I enjoy reading many of the threads, but as I do not have anything useful to add I do not generally get involved.

Thanks to this thread I have signed up to this course and am looking forward to find out how it develops.

It’s very rewarding to read the hundreds of posts from others on the course, from all over the world. Aviation nuts like ourselves, and many with family connections to World War 1 aviation. Plenty of historians, pilots, ground crew, air traffic, engineers, and more. The videos stimulate discussion on the topics, the first of which is Tennyson’s prediction of war in the air.

I have registered and have viewed the first week of the course. The introductory video shows us around the RAF museum in general while talking about the course. The others I have viewed concentrated on early flight and up to WW1.
While some of the content is well known, I think that the videos are too short to convey the details of that period.
We shall see how the following two weeks go.
mmitch.

For a course about WW1 aviation I don’t want to see the Mosquito used as an example or pictures of an F-35

A little more detail of this MOOC

A little more meat for those still curious…a welcoming email with an indication for what’s in store for participants.

“Hello Seafuryfan

The course has now started and I hope you are looking forward to it as much as we are. With ‘real’ events going on in the middle-east we can be sure that air power will remain centre stage for some months to come. Our course comes at a great time to look back at the origins of military aviation and to search for enduring themes.

You can access your course here:
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/ww1-aviation/todo/1165

In Week 1, we’ll use BBC archival interviews with some of the earliest aviation pioneers, to find out how they took to the air, teaching themselves to fly – from scratch – in their own inventions! We’ll also look at the earliest literature on flight and the potential of wreaking havoc from the air.

In Week 2, we’ll move through World War 1, examining how aviation played an increasingly important role – the days of air-to-air combat had begun in earnest.

In the final week, we’ll look at the years after the war and examine how pilots, engineers and entrepreneurs continued to develop aircraft and how – as World War 2 approached – untold devastation from the air grew ever more likely.

During the course, you can discuss your ideas in the discussions with me, and Drs James Pugh and Matthew Powell – my colleagues from the University of Birmingham’s Centre for War Studies, who bring a wealth of knowledge of air power and military history. We do hope you will engage in the debate concentrating mainly on the course content, but with a taste of more current events where they link back.

There’s still time to invite friends and colleagues to join the course and take part alongside you. Having the support of people you know can really enrich the experience of studying online. As a reminder, the course page where they can enrol can be found here:
http://www.futurelearn.com/courses/ww1-aviation

There’ll be plenty of opportunity to interact with other learners once the course begins, if you wish. In the meantime, feel free to use the hashtag #FLaviation for any discussions in social networks.”

BBC article and link to course:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29612707

Thanks for posting, looks interesting.

Thanks, copied the link ok but for some reason would not paste into thread text box. Beaten by technology again!

For iPad , If you wish to get a link to paste, press finger on the box at top centre, this will show whole url which can then be selected, copied and pasted
So link for above course is:
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/ww1-aviation

This was written on my iPad