But... but...

[sid]

I don't DO historical AUs!

But it's funny what comes into one's head during a six hour drive (including a miserable hour going virtually nowhere.)

I've got this whole post-WWI road trip idea that would just take WAY too much research... but I do like research. *g*

Jack's driving to Denver for a job and picks up a hitchhiker, who's also headed for Denver.

Yeah, I'll have to do a little research just to see if my ideas are feasible, or if my dates are off.

I mean, what year would it have to be for a teenage boy to build a crystal radio set and wow everybody with the spiffy new technology.  What could he pick up on it?

What kind of beat up old car would Jack be driving in that year, and what would the roads be like?  How much other automobile traffic?  I'm pretty sure there were already auto clubs and maybe they gave out road maps?

Did Americans really fly with the Royal Air Corps before 1917, or am I imagining that part?

Dammit.  *g*

Comments

[write-light.livejournal.com]

Yes, we don't do them -- until we do them (AUs that is). I never considered writing one until my muse suggested it, and the BAM! I was researching the net and came across a real historical photo album coincidentally from a woman with the name as a key character in my fic, who had lived in the town where I'd decided to set the story! You never know what you'll find when you start researching!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_radio Popular in 1920s, "crystal radio set" to "wow" people sounds 1950s.

Terminology: Army Air Corps vs Royal Air Corps vs. Royal Flying Corps (pre 1918) The British Army first took to the sky during the 19th century with the use of observation balloons. In 1911 the Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers was the first heavier-than-air British military aviation unit. The following year, the Battalion was expanded into the Military Wing of the Royal Flying Corps which saw action throughout most of the First World War until 1 April 1918 when it was merged with the Royal Naval Air Service to form the Royal Air Force.

[sid]

The crystal set "wow" factor will come from the fact that people listening to it are hearing radio for the very first time. I think the story would be set right around 1920.

Royal Flying Corps - yep. I knew it wasn't the RAF yet, and I remembered the "Corps" part! Turns out Americans did serve as pilots for both England and France (France I already was sure about: Lafayette Escadrille.) But I failed to note in my reading last night that the merger and subsequent RAF name change happened before the end of the war. Thank you.

Jack probably went to Canada to enlist in the RFC and train, and then got sent overseas... and either finished the war in the RAF or joined up with an American unit in 1917. Well, if I ever decide to write the darn thing I'll decide then, I guess. *g*