iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

We've come a long way since the Turbot War of 1995!

Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Vimy and history remain relevant today! The Vimy colony to nation idea is a myth but works with the PM’s statement. He draws on our history to make his point (! !) but his use of the myth is couched in equivocal language that makes it clear he understands the problems of that view. Well done, sir!

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

The Bank of Canada unveiled our new $20 bill today. The CBC is highlighting that it's the first bill to feature King Charles, but for me the really great part is that Vimy Monument is on the back!

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

Cue the batshit crazy response in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ....

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

This looks very promising! Brendan Fraser as Ike and Damien Lewis as Monty to tell the story of James Stagg, the RAF meteorologist who had to provide the weather report for Ike's D-Day go/no go decision. youtu.be/zdM4tdLQBg0?...

youtu.be

PRESSURE - Official Trailer [HD] - Only In Theaters May 29

YouTube video by Focus Features

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

So it seems that the owners of the Ambassador Bridge have just made a sizeable “political” contribution.

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Symbolism matters. After his epic speech at Davos that earned a standing ovation, PM Carney is hosting a Cabinet planning retreat at the Québec Citadelle, a fortification built to defend against an American attack that never came. He's playing 3D chess when others can't figure out checkers.

Photo credit: https://www.quebec-cite.com/en/businesses/citadelle-de-quebec

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

The Avro Arrow is a topic that continues to delight and inflame enthusiasts and scholars of Canada's Cold War Air Force. There is much scholarship on this topic out there, much bad, but one of the best historians on the topic is Russell Isinger. Highly recommended. www.crowdcast.io/c/vl-2026-is...

crowdcast.io

Virtual Lecture: “I shot an Arrow in the air:” Canada’s Cold War Fighter Procurement Experiment

Register now for Virtual Lecture: “I shot an Arrow in the air:” Canada’s Cold War Fighter Procurement Experiment on crowdcast, scheduled to go live on January 8, 2026, 06:00 PM GMT.

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

Congratulations to Paul Johnston on the publication of The RCAF in History and Memory: A Survey of the Historiography, 1909-2025! This is a really useful overview of all the important works that have been published on the various iterations of the RCAF. publications.gc.ca/site/eng/9.9...

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The Aviation Show @theaviation.show · 15/11/2025

The @usni.org Press is running a sale right now, and if you use the code HOLIDAY at checkout, you will get 50% off! What better time than now to get your mitts on Airpower and the Normandy Campaign, edited by @mike-bechthold.bsky.social. The other contributors are ace. www.usni.org/press/books/...

usni.org

Airpower and the Normandy Campaign

The U.S. Naval Institute provides an independent forum for those who seek to advance and strengthen the naval profession.

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

This Saturday, the Guelph Museums is hosting a Liberation and Remembrance Symposium to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the War and the liberation of Europe. I'm speaking on the RCAF and other speakers include Roger Sarty, Geoff Hayes, and Alex Souchen. guelphmuseums.ca/event/libera...

guelphmuseums.ca

Liberation and Remembrance Symposium - Guelph Museums

This year marks 80 years since the end of the Second World War and the liberation of Europe. Eight decades later we reflect on Canada’s contributions to the war effort,…

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

Excellent article on the current air war in Ukraine, Russia, and Western Europe by Peter Caddick-Adams. Provides essential context linking the Ukranainian drones strikes on Russia to the Transportation and Oil Plans of the Second World War. thecritic.co.uk/nato-must-st...

thecritic.co.uk

NATO must stand firm against Russian provocation | Peter Caddick-Adams | The Critic Magazine

Today an aerial war is being fought across Europe. It is reliant on cutting edge technology, the full potential of which has yet to be realised. This undeclared war is most obviously witnessed in…

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 06/09/2025

RIP Ken Dryden 💔 One of my favourite players of all time.

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

This Saturday I'm speaking at the Military Heritage Day at the Chatham Kent Municipal Airport about Canada and the Liberation of the Netherlands. Also lots of warbirds, military vehicles, and other displays. Hope to see you there!

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Alex Brown 🇵🇸 (they/them) @bookjockeyalex.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

I refuse to give the NYT my eyeballs, so I can't speak to the specifics of this article. But any historians attempting to use AI for either writing or research should be run out of the field. AI is inherently unable to do anything we need it to do to understand and communicate history.

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Mark Urban @markurban.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

I've blogged about how the Israeli air force has reshaped the Middle East and what others might learn from them markurban.substack.com/p/israels-sl...

markurban.substack.com

Israel's Sledgehammer

How their air force re-shapes the Middle East

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Walter Olson @walterolson.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

Chair of history department at U.S. Naval Academy resigns after order to remove paper from symposium “for reasons having nothing to do with scholarship.” [James Matheson, Baltimore Sun]

baltimoresun.com

Naval Academy history chair resigns over ordered removal of symposium paper

Tom McCarthy cited the removal of a paper on grounds beyond its academic standard.

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Alan Allport @alanallport.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

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Max B 💙 🔶 🇺🇦 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 @maxbrockbank.com · 11/06/2025

Trump on WW1: "Recently other countries celebrated the victory of World War I, France was celebrating, really. The only one that doesn't celebrate is the USA. And we're the ones that won the war. Without us, you'd all be speaking German right now. Maybe a little Japanese thrown in." Ignorant c*nt.

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Mark Carney @mark-carney.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

Canada will achieve NATO’s 2% target this year — half a decade ahead of schedule. In an increasingly dangerous world, we will be ready to protect our people, our sovereignty, and our Allies.

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

The most remarkable film shot on one of the most remarkable days in history. It captures the North Shore Regiment on JUNO Beach near St. Aubin-sur-Mer on D-Day. For me, the most touching moment comes at the end of the clip when a soldier pats his comrade on the shoulder to say, "it will be ok." 🧵1/4

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Eddie Valentin @evalentin25.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

I think the Chancellor’s response generally reflects collective memory among Germans. “Nazis are bad, and I’m glad they lost the war.” It’s such a stark contrast to how so many white Americans remember the Civil War and mythologize the Confederacy.

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Norma Graham @normagraham.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

This was released today - appropriate listening, as 81 years ago right now, those guys were landing in Normandy. youtu.be/ku7GZPQTD7Y?...

youtu.be

"Hell & High Water" : 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, D-Day Assault 1944 - With Norma Graham

YouTube video by Ham and Jam - The WW2 British Airborne Podcast

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

Leadership, D-Day, & General Eisenhower. We know that D-Day was an overwhelming success but 81 years ago today, victory was not a foregone conclusion. Failure was a real possibility. Eisenhower wrote this note to be released if the landings failed. The last line really hits home. #responsibility 🧵

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

Sad to hear about the passing of Marc Garneau. He was the first Canadian to go into space and flew on three space shuttle missions. RIP.

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

Why are historians important? Check out this post. Pure hyperbole and completely wrong. The RAF Thousand plane raid on Cologne dropped over 1478 tonnes (3.3 million lbs) of bombs on the night of 30–31 May 1942. The USAAF dropped over 3000 tonnes (6.6 million lbs) of bombs on Berlin on 18 March 1945.

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

Tasha wanted to bask in the sunbeam but the curtains were closed!

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Mike Bechthold 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @mike-bechthold.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

KAPUT! Gunners of the 12th Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery with the Victory issue of the Maple Leaf newspaper, Aurich, Germany, 20 May 1945.

PA-150931: Credit: Lieut. Donald I. Grant / Canada. Dept. of National Defence / Library and Archives Canada. Gunners of the 12th Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery (R.C.A.), with the Victory issue of the Maple Leaf newspaper, Aurich, Germany, 20 May 1945.

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