In July 1989 historian and Auburn University professor James R. Hansen published an article that quickly became an instant classic for historians of technology and, more specifically, historians of aviation. Titled, “Aviation History in the Wider View” and appearing in the leading scholarly journal Technology and Culture, Hansen’s article served as a much-needed critique of the way in which the history of aviation was practiced in the United States.

According to Hansen, the emphasis placed by very large numbers of amateur writers and aviation buffs on the airplane as an artifact had produced an excessively antiquarian edge in the writing of aviation history in the United States. With only a few notable exceptions, books about aviation history tended to adopt a near sacred reverence for the machine itself in which facts, figures, data, and diagrams dominated historical writing to the exclusion of analysis and interpretation. The result was a plethora of books containing reference information and technical minutiae, but little guidance that might help readers understand the broad and complex roles that machine-powered flight had played in shaping modern culture and society (and vice versa).

In the years that have passed since the publication of Hansen’s article, the subfield of aviation history has grown considerably. A number of major new works have appeared which fulfill quite well Hansen’s call for flight historians to adopt a “wider view.” Although much still remains to be done before the history of flight technology will be as squarely situated in the professional “mainstream” as, say, military, diplomatic, or political history, aviation (and aerospace) history is, today, in much better shape than at any time in the past.

As such, it might now be “safe” to say a few things about the continuing important role played by amateur historians and aviation buffs to the field. At least, that’s what I increasingly came to think this past week as I undertook work on a class that I’ll be teaching in the spring of 2008 (”History of Flight Culture”).

One of the key challenges that I am facing in preparing the class involves the time-consuming process of tracking down the visual records that I will need to enable students to see for themselves the personalities, planes, and events that shaped the “aviation imagination” in the twentieth century. Here, I have found the ubiquitous presence of aviation enthusiasts on the internet to be an overwhelmingly positive and immensely helpful thing.

One case in point is the UK-based website “Those Magnificent Men.” Devoted to the history of European aviation between 1910 and 1914, the site contains a terrific collection of historic images as well as handy information summaries about the planes (and some major early events) that were so crucial to shaping the “dawn of aviation.”

The site’s proprietor, Tom Brearley, is a private pilot, airplane buff, and amateur historian who clearly knows well and enjoys the subject. I’m looking forward to including his site in the list of internet resources that I’ll be recommending students visit next spring.

In the end, I think that James Hansen was absolutely correct in calling for a “wider view” in the study of the aeronautical past that moved beyond the antiquarian tendencies of many aviation enthusiasts. Even so, professional scholars should not overlook the contributions that continue to be made by amateur historians and airplane buffs. Few other subfields can boast of so large a group that so frequently provides helpful resources and handy information.

ScP