This image is from a new book of recolourised photographs from the early 1900s. What a fascinating period to have experienced.

I feel we’re going through a similar period of rapid evolution in aerospace at the moment, with a wide variety of highly inventive, visionary and ambitious upstarts like Vertical Aerospace, Lilium, Boom Supersonic, AERALIS, Jetson, Reaction Engines… and so on… rediscovering and redefining what ‘flight’ means for us all.

Impressive that one name from the era of this photograph still exists today, and is still at the forefront of flight technology – Rolls-Royce was founded just three years before this image was captured.

I’ve always said that ‘disruption’ is only defined in hindsight, but the frenzied activity in aerospace/space at the moment is seismic. You can feel it in your bones.

So, from this unabashed aerospace nerd to all of you making this new period of discovery happen, I salute you.

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