Podcasts

Never Mind The Dambusters Podcast: October 2024

“Host Jane Gulliford Lowes engages with American historian Abby Whitlock to explore the portrayal of the bombing campaigns during World War II in the series Masters of the Air. They discuss Abby's personal journey into military aviation history, the cultural perceptions of RAF and USAAF crews, the representation of German civilians, and the themes of chivalry and heroism. The conversation also delves into the psychological toll of combat and the differences in how these narratives are portrayed in American and British media.

The infamous (well in the UK anyway!) pub scene in MOTA ep.2 ( the fight between the US and RAF aircrews) is debated, and Abby and Jane also mull over the legacy of Band of Brothers and The Pacific .” (Audio)

The Damcasters Podcast: January 2024

“The First World War Ace on Film with Abby Whitlock”: How has the portrayal of the fighter pilot on film reflected and refined the image of the pilot we know today? A look at some of the earliest flying films Wings (1927), Howard Hughes’ Hell’s Angels (1930) both Dawn Patrols (1930 and 1938) and Aces High (1976) to see how the First World War in the air shaped the image of the fighter pilot down to Top Gun and Blackadder. (Audio | Video)

Talks and Lectures

 “‘Perfect Health, Mechanical Mind”, European Social Science History Conference (March 2025).

“The Flying Ace on the Silver Screen: Film Portrayals as an Illustration of the Evolving Masculine Ideal and the Reality of the First World War” — Royal Air Force Museum Conference (September 2022)

Upcoming Talks

  • Legacies of Exploitation: Neo-Victorian Manga and the Violence of Victorian Childhood” — Workshop: “1885 and its long shadow: sexual offences in historical context”, The Open University Legal Histories Research Cluster and the British Sociological Association Global Histories and Sociology Study Group (July 2025).

Past Talks and Lectures

  •  “‘Perfect Health, Mechanical Mind’: Morale, Mental Health, and Judgments of Character in the Royal Flying Corps, 1914-1918” — European Social Science History Conference (March 2025).

  •  “‘This is the Argosy of Friends’: Royal Flying Corps Pilot Perceptions of Friendship, Comradeship, and Loneliness” — Great War Aviation Society (January 15, 2025).

  •  “‘Unfolding an Archive’: The Index of American Design Collection at the National Gallery of Art” — Colonial Williamsburg Symposium on Historical Dress: Collections, Collectors and Collaborations (November 2024. Co-presented with Matthew Westerby, Digital Research Officer, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts).

  •  “Cataloguing Americana: Virginian Artists in the Index of American Design Collection at the National Gallery of Art” — Virginia Museum of History and Culture, 2024 Conrad M. Hall Symposium for Virginia History (September 2024)

  •  ““The Super-cultural USO”: Wartime Amenities, Morale, and American Identity at the National Gallery of Art” — Society for Military History 2024 Conference  (April 2024)

  •  “‘Perfect Health, Mechanical Mind’: Morale, Mental Health, and Judgments of Character in the Royal Flying Corps, 1914-1918” —Military Welfare History Network/Open University Online Symposium (February 1, 2024) 

  •  “‘It’s a rum life’: Physical Space and Morale Amongst Royal Flying Corps Scout Pilots”— Royal Air Force Museum Research Lecture Series (April 14, 2023)

  •  “The Flying Ace on the Silver Screen: Film Portrayals as an Illustration of the Evolving Masculine Ideal and the Reality of the First World War” — Royal Air Force Museum Conference "Meaning, Memory, and the (Mis)Remembered Past" (September 2022)

  •  “Against the 'Mischievous Device': The Berlin Blockade as a case for collective defence in the Western Bloc” —Royal Air Force Museum Conference "The RAF in a World Transformed, 1945–49" (September 2020)

  •  “A Return to Camelot?: British Identity, The Masculine Ideal, and the Romanticization of the Royal Flying Corps Image” — International Society for First World War Studies Twitter Conference (#LegaciesFWW2019) (September 2019)