In August 1963, one of the best-selling aircraft of British civil aviation, the BAC One-Eleven, took to the skies for the first time. With an order book for sixty aircraft, more than half were from the United States, which was an unprecedented situation for a British civil aircraft. The first project for the newly formed British Aircraft Corporation, the One-Eleven was wholly designed and built by BAC, and remained in production throughout the entire seventeen-year history of the organisation, performing strongly even when profits were at a low. After flying commercially in Europe for the last time in March 2002, here the One-Eleven is celebrated in style.

In August 1963, one of the best-selling aircraft of British civil aviation, the BAC One-Eleven, took to the skies for the first time. With an order book for sixty aircraft, more than half were from the United States, which was an unprecedented situation for a British civil aircraft. The first project for the newly formed British Aircraft Corporation, the One-Eleven was wholly designed and built by BAC, and remained in production throughout the entire seventeen-year history of the organisation, performing strongly even when profits were at a low. After flying commercially in Europe for the last time in March 2002, here the One-Eleven is celebrated in style fifty years after its maiden flight. In this revised edition, Stephen Skinner combines original research with fascinating black-and-white and colour images, as well as detailed appendices, to consider what transpired in those five decades and the place the One-Eleven holds in British aviation history.

BEA was formed in 1946 and took over most UK domestic and European routes under the British government's nationalisation policy. It began operations with a fleet of outdated and hopelessly uneconomic passenger aircraft that were derivatives of wartime types such as the DC-3, Avro Viking and Rapide. By the end of 1955 the airline had re-equipped with more modern types such as the jet-prop Viscount and moved into a profit for the first time. From 1960 onwards the airline introduced larger jets such as the Comet, Trident and BAC 1-11. BEA merged with the British Overseas Airways Corporation in 1974 to form British Airways. This book looks at BEA's predecessors, its formation and early operation from Croydon and Northolt and the move to the newly-opened London Heathrow. The evolving structure is explained with chapters covering engineering bases, terminals, European and domestic services, cargo services and helicopter operations. The aircraft flown are all described in detail and the book includes anecdotes from former crew and ground-staff, a full fleet list and is highly illustrated throughout.

“A thoughtful, well-organized overview from the beginning to the twilight days of this iconic airliner” by the highly regarded aviation historian (Large Scale Planes). In April 1972, after six grueling years of design and development, the then Lockheed California Company (now Lockheed Martin) delivered the most technologically advanced commercial jet of its era, the L-1011 TriStar, to its first client, Eastern Airlines. To mark the moment, Lockheed decided to make an impressive statement about the capabilities of its new medium-to-long-range, wide-body trijet airliner. It did so in spectacular fashion. Overseen by two test pilots, a total of 115 crew members, VIPs, Lockheed employees, and selected reporters boarded a TriStar at Lockheed’s Palmdale plant in California. The subsequent 4-hour, 13-minute flight to Washington Dulles Airport was achieved with virtually no input from the two pilots in the cockpit, the TriStar’s Automatic Flight Control System being “engaged from takeoff roll to landing.” It was, Lockheed proudly claimed, “the first cross-country flight without the need for human hands on the controls.” On the way to the L-1011’s inaugural flight, Lockheed battled through design challenges, financial difficulties, and even international allegations of bribery, with the result that the TriStar, famed for its large, curved nose, low-set wings, and graceful swept tail, remained in production until 1984, by when 250 examples had been built. The toll on Lockheed, however, was too great and after the TriStar it withdrew from the commercial aircraft business. In this revealing insight into the L-1011, the renowned aviation historian Graham M. Simons reveals the full story of this airliner’s design, development and service over the decades since 1970.

This gem of a gift book focuses on the first in the British Airways fleet to fly commerically, and is told through quotes from staff and passengers.

This in-depth study of British airliner prototypes from 1945 to the present gives a unique overview of post-war British airliner development. This is the first time that a detailed study has been produced in one volume on the prolific developmental output of British post-war civil aviation design. The author provides a detailed history for each of the many prototypes with both color and black and white photographs, many of which have never been published before. With the recent end of airliner manufacture in the UK by indigenous firms, this is a timely look at how the great story of airliner building in Britain developed post war and grew with great success over many years, and how now, at the beginning of the 21st century, British-built airliners are a thing of the past.

The rainy season, terrain, and financial hardships have made the construction of highways and railroads nearly impossible in many parts of Africa. This lack of modern infrastructure has been overcome in some part by the development of air transportation. Hundreds of carriers--both small and large, government owned and private--have connected all parts of the continent. Together, they have had a tremendous impact on the African economy and the people. Country-by-country, this comprehensive reference work provides brief histories of over 700 airlines in 54 African nations. Each entry has the years of operation of the carrier, along with information on its origin, growth, and route structure. Aircraft usage, including registration numbers and nicknames, is covered in many cases. Any crashes involving aircraft in the carrier's fleet are also noted. An appendix gives the location of all major African airports.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • More than one million copies sold! A “brilliant” (Lupita Nyong’o, Time), “poignant” (Entertainment Weekly), “soul-nourishing” (USA Today) memoir about coming of age during the twilight of apartheid “Noah’s childhood stories are told with all the hilarity and intellect that characterizes his comedy, while illuminating a dark and brutal period in South Africa’s history that must never be forgotten.”—Esquire Winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor and an NAACP Image Award • Named one of the best books of the year by The New York Time, USA Today, San Francisco Chronicle, NPR, Esquire, Newsday, and Booklist Trevor Noah’s unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. Living proof of his parents’ indiscretion, Trevor was kept mostly indoors for the earliest years of his life, bound by the extreme and often absurd measures his mother took to hide him from a government that could, at any moment, steal him away. Finally liberated by the end of South Africa’s tyrannical white rule, Trevor and his mother set forth on a grand adventure, living openly and freely and embracing the opportunities won by a centuries-long struggle. Born a Crime is the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist. It is also the story of that young man’s relationship with his fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother—his teammate, a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life. The stories collected here are by turns hilarious, dramatic, and deeply affecting. Whether subsisting on caterpillars for dinner during hard times, being thrown from a moving car during an attempted kidnapping, or just trying to survive the life-and-death pitfalls of dating in high school, Trevor illuminates his curious world with an incisive wit and unflinching honesty. His stories weave together to form a moving and searingly funny portrait of a boy making his way through a damaged world in a dangerous time, armed only with a keen sense of humor and a mother’s unconventional, unconditional love.

In December 1970 the British government decided not to provide launch aid for the BACThree-Eleven, a 245-seat wide-body twinjet airliner. This occurred shortly after the government had also withdrawn from the European Airbus. This book argues that the Three-Eleven's cancellation was the turning point for the subsequent decline and marginalisation of Britain's civil aircraft industry. Using compelling evidence, Graziano Freschi reflects on the effects the decision has had to this day, provides a detailed history of the aircraft and sets the relevant events into an historical context, whilst suggesting that the lessons learned might benefit future industrial policy decisions in High Tech manufacturing. Book jacket.

The essential history of Britain's failed aircraft designs. The years after 1945 were ones of triumph and tragedy for the British aviation industry. From the triumphs of the world's first jet airliner, world speed and altitude records to the tragedy of the rapid decline of a major industry and closure of many manufacturers, the last sixty years have overall been disastrous for Britain's aviation industry. For the first time, Richard Payne looks at the failures of the past sixty years. For whatever reason none of these aircraft went into production. The designs showed promise but were often under-developed by cash-strapped companies without the wherewithal to produce them. A tragic tale of Britain's industrial decline.