June Update: Upcoming videos and perk changes

Record breaking temperatures, long evenings, everyone under the sun running off to the beaches… welp, that must mean summer is here. Hopefully all is good with you as we are about half-way through 2022. Now, what’s new with the channel.

A lot of things actually, but while I am excited to talk about it, I can’t really share that much information *just* yet. Unlike a certain Teutonic government right now, I don’t like making announcements before everything is confirmed after all. However, there are a few things I can share and that will give you a good idea of where things are headed.

• Interview with Michael Claringbould

I recorded two interviews with Michael Claringbould, author over at Avonmore books, on the South Pacific theater and Japanese aviation up to end of 1943. These videos will trickle into the channel over the coming months and I think a lot of you will enjoy them. Michael, who can read Japanese, is a notable historian who has done a lot of work in this field. His books have helped to shed light on the more poorly understood elements of Japanese aviation during this time and have definitely helped to move beyond the ‘western’ centric analysis of the theater (as sadly also preciously few Japanese historians have texts translated into English).

• Interview with F-35 pilot

It was recorded a week ago and I asked a bunch of your questions as well! This interview will most likely be published after the main ‘Stealth’ aircraft video coming ETA July (ups, was I supposed to mention that one…?). Thank you for submitting questions, we had a hard stop and some questions couldn’t be answered but I know that it will be a fun talk to listen to.

• Changes to Patreon perks

As the community grows with the channel, I felt that reshuffling the perks would do us some good to make sure that we have more opportunities to connect. As such, the current perks are being changed in a way that is to everyone’s advantage. In sum this means:

- AvGeek level: Gain the regular voice-meet up on Discord.

- Enthusiast level: Gains Discord access (make sure to link Discord to Patreon, see the how to guide here: https://support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles/212052266-How-do-I-connect-Discord-to-Patreon-Patron-).

- Supporter level: Gains Early Access

These changes are being made now and if you are an AvGeek OR Enthusiast and have already linked Discord to Patreon before, you might have noticed that you are already on the server.

• PhD update

Sometimes I get questions from you about the status of my PhD. I don’t often talk about it but as a quick update, I am on the final stretch now (though I am still, by protocol, +1 year to completion) and do have to invest significant time into it. It is tough and I just want to be done with it already. A lot of the time I’d like to invest in the channel is currently flowing into the PhD (hence the slightly less frequent updates and videos) but it will be worth it in the end. Now it’s just a question of prepping for turbulence and push it into afterburner!

Picture: DoD - JTACs in Adazi (Latvia) by Staff Sgt. Jimmie Pike