Dr Michael Molkentin

School of Humanities and Social Sciences
M.Molkentin@adfa.edu.au
  • ABOUT
  • PUBLICATIONS

Michael Molkentin holds a B.Arts (Honours) from the University of Wollongong and a PhD in History from the University of New South Wales. He researches the history of armed conflict, especially where it concerns Australia and the other British settler societies, and the impact that air power has had on warfare. Michael is also an experienced secondary school History teacher.

Michael is the author of three books, all dealing with Australia's early aviation history. His first, Fire in the Sky: The Australian Flying Corps in the First World War (Allen & Unwin, 2010) was highly commended for the Fellowship of Writers Sid Harta Literary Award and is currently in its second edition. Commissioned by the National Library of Australia, Flying the Southern Cross: Aviators Charles Ulm and Charles Kingsford Smith (NLA, 2012) examines the 1928 trans-Pacific flight predominantly from the perspective of Charles Ulm, whose role in organising and publicising this pioneering flight has been overshadowed by Kingsford Smith. Michael's latest book is Australia and the War in the Air, volume 2 of Oxford University Press' 'Centenary History of Australia and the Great War' series. Based on his doctoral thesis, it is an operational and institutional-level study of Australia's contribution to the Great War in the air.

Michael's research interests continue to focus on aspects of civil and military aviation in the British dominions before the Second World War.

Books

Molkentin MW, 2017, History Extension Resource Book, History Teachers' Association of NSW Inc., Annandale, NSW

Molkentin M, 2014, Australia and the War in the Air, Oxford University Press, USA

Molkentin M, 2012, Flying the Southern Cross Aviators Charles Ulm and Charles Kingsford Smith, National Library Australia

Molkentin M, 2010, Fire in the Sky The Australian Flying Corps in the First World War, Allen & Unwin Australia

Book Chapters

Molkentin MW, 2016, 'Over the Western Front: Air Power and the AIF', in The AIF in Battle How the Australian Imperial Force Fought, 1914-1918, Melbourne Univ. Publishing

Molkentin MW, 2015, 'Total war and the Australian home front: 1943-45', in Australia: 1944-45: victory in the Pacific, Cambridge University Press, Port Melbourne, pp. 98 - 118

Journal articles

Molkentin M, 2018, 'The dominion of the air: the imperial dimension of Britain’s war in the air, 1914-1918', British Journal of Military History, vol. 4, pp. 70 - 90, https://bjmh.org.uk/index.php/bjmh/issue/view/11

Molkentin MW, 2015, 'Mustangs over Korea', Wartime

Molkentin MW, 2014, 'Gallipoli on the home front', Gallipoli 100

Molkentin MW, 2013, 'The training of Australian airmen during the Great War', Over the front, vol. 28

Molkentin MW, 2010, 'Fall of the falcon: The Australian Flying Corps and the death of Manfred von Richthofen', Teaching History

Molkentin MW, 2010, 'To catch old Jerry eating his sauerkraut', Wartime

Molkentin MW, 2010, 'Nine miles of dead', Flightpath

Molkentin MW, 2009, 'This artificial hell’: Frank Hurley’s photographs of Ypres, 1917', Teaching History

Molkentin MW, 2008, 'Like cats in the night', Wartime

Molkentin MW, 2007, 'Bitten and held: the Battle of Messines, June 1917', Wartime

Molkentin MW, 2007, 'The most authentic witness: landscape, archaeology and the study of historical conflict', Teaching History

Molkentin MW, 2007, '“Unconscious of any distinction”? Social and vocational quality in the Australian Flying Corps, 1914–1918', Journal of the Australian War Memorial, https://www.awm.gov.au/journal/j40/molkentin/

Molkentin MW, 2006, 'Trench warfare 101: training at the Bustard trenches', Wartime

Molkentin MW, 2006, 'Fire-eater', Wartime

Molkentin MW, 2006, 'The black ANZAC raid', Wartime

Molkentin MW, 2005, '"That dreadful flying corps": responses to life and death in the Australian Flying Corps, 1914-1918', Cross and Cockade International, vol. 35

Conference Papers

Molkentin MW, 2012, '‘”Quite the right type”: recruiting and reinforcing Australia’s effort in the air, 1914-1918′', in By the seat of their pants: Australian airmen and their machines, 1915-1918, By the seat of their pants: Australian airmen and their machines, 1915-1918, Point Cook, Victoria, presented at By the seat of their pants: Australian airmen and their machines, 1915-1918, Point Cook, Victoria, 12 November 2012 - 12 November 2012, http://www.mhhv.org.au/?p=3517

Molkentin MW, 2011, '‘The Australian Flying Corps’ legacy to the RAAF’', in Brent K (ed.), RAAF History Conference 2011: 90 Years of the RAAF, RAAF History Conference 2011: 90 Years of the RAAF, Canberra, presented at RAAF History Conference 2011: 90 Years of the RAAF, Canberra, 04 November 2011 - 04 November 2011