Heroes and Landmarks of British Aviation tells the dramatic story of a world leading aviation industry, from the sweat and grease of the workshop, to the board rooms and government nationalisations that ultimately fashioned its destiny.The heroes are Britains most innovative aviation pioneers and their aircraft, the men and women who persevered to be the first into the air, to fly the fastest, the highest and the furthest. This broad and highly accessible books ranges from the first man to fly across the English Channel from England to France to the development of the Spitfire and from the disastrous R101 airship to the development of the jet engine and ultimately the worlds first supersonic airliner.Each chapter looks at a different aviation pioneer and the flying machines that they designed, their engineering landmarks, their triumphs in the air and on occasion their disasters too. The book explores the great air races that were won and lost, the government contracts and political short-sightedness that cut short the development of leading aircraft designs and many of the dramatic air raids and sea battles from the First World War to the Falklands and the Middle East.Many of the industrys most prominent names are profiled, including Ernest Willows, the Short brothers, Geoffrey de Havilland, Vincent Richmond, George White, Thomas Sopwith, Harry Hawker, RJ Mitchell, Herbert Smith, Charles Rolls, Henry Royce, Reginald Pierson, Alliott Verdon-Roe, Frederick Handley Page, Robert Watson-Watt, Robert Blackburn and Frank Whittle.Behind the personal stories are the histories of the aircraft companies that these pioneers created, from those that went bankrupt to those that lasted the test of time and have become indivisible from British aviation folklore, such names as Sopwith, Handley Page, Avro, Supermarine, Blackburn, Bristol, Fairey and Rolls-Royce. The book covers the mergers and acquisitions that led to the creation of two major aircraft manufacturers, Hawker Siddeley Group and the British Aircraft Corporation, and how barely two decades later, before the century was out, they were nationalised to form British Aerospace.

What links the Bristol Aeroplane Company, Armstrong Whitworth, AVRO, Short Brothers PLC, Handley Page Ltd and Vickers Aviation? The Hercules engine.

A complete history of Bomber Command, including its crucial role in WWII and later nuclear role in the Cold War.

First ever narrative history of the famous aero engine that powered the Spitfire, Hurricane, Lancaster, Mosquito and Mustang, the aircraft that made the difference between victory and defeat at critical moments in the Second World War - the Battle of Britain and the allied aerial offensive against Germany.

Vols. 10- include the Union's Annual report, 9th, 11th, 16th-18th, 1929, 1936,

When it comes to Q&A trivia, Doug Lennox has no peer. Sir Isaac Brock, Tecumseh, Laura Secord, Norman Bethune, Terry Fox, and Roberta Bondar are all Canadian icons we’ve come to cherish. Doug gives the dope on all those famous heroes and many more, but you’ll also discover the amazing courage, pluck, and accomplishments of Upper Canada Rebellion heroine Elizabeth Barnett, privateer Joseph Barss, the Angel of Long Point Abigail Becker, the First Lady of Labrador Mina Hubbard, and Second World War pilot Charley Fox - genuine heroes all! Who was the "musketeer in petticoats"? Who was the "Laura Secord of Gananoque"? What War of 1812 privateer was the founder of a major Canadian bank? How did an aristocratic French girl become a Canadian Robinson Crusoe? Who was the first Canadian firefighter to die in the line of duty? How did Tom Longboat astound the world in 1907? Who was the first Black woman electedt o Canada’s Parliament? How did a dog named Gander become a Canadian war hero?

Between 1939 and 1946 BOAC (the British Overseas Airways Corporation) was the nationalised airline of Great Britain - and between 1946 and 1974 as such it exclusively operated all long-haul British flights. With its iconic 'Speedbird' logo and its central role in the glamorous 'jet age' of the 1950s and 1960s, BOAC achieved a near cult-status with admirers around the globe. Yet, to date there has been no comprehensive history of the organisation, covering its structure, fleet and the role it played in the critical events of the age - from World War II to the end of empire, a period when BOAC played a pivotal part in projecting British political power, even as that power was waning. During World War II, BOAC operated a limited wartime service and prepared for the return of commercial flight in the postwar era. But it was in the service of Britain's colonies - and latterly the process of decolonisation - that BOAC achieved its most pivotal role. The development of flight technology enabled much faster connections between Britain and her imperial possessions - as the colonies prepared for independence BOAC ferried diplomats, politicians and colonial administrators between London and the far-flung corners of Africa and Asia in much faster times than had previously been possible. In this book, acclaimed historian Robin Higham presents a unique comprehensive study of BOAC from the early jet travel of the de Havilland Comet and the Vickers VC10 to the dawn of supersonic passenger aviation. Highly illustrated and meticulously researched using previously unseen sources, this book will be essential reading for all aviation enthusiasts and anyone interested in the history of modern Britain.

Presenting four books in the popular and exhaustive trivia series. In these Doug Lennox’s brain-teasers focus on famous figures, both real and mythological, dealing with kings and queens, villains, Canada’s heroes, and dastardly pirates. Questions answered include: What is the difference between a pirate and a privateer? What royal family in the world today has ruled the longest? How did Tom Longboat astound the world in 1907? What caused Moses to break the tablets of the Ten Commandments? and hundreds more. Includes Now You Know Pirates Now You Know Royalty Now You Know Canada’s Heroes Now You Know the Bible

Air empire is a fresh study of civil aviation as a tool of late British imperialism. The first pioneering flights across the British empire in 1919-20 were flag-waving adventures that recreated an era of plucky British maritime exploration and conquest. Britain’s development of international air routes and services was approved, organised and celebrated largely in London; there was some resistance in and beyond the subordinate colonies and dominions. Negotiating the financing and geopolitics of regular commercial air service delayed its inception until the 1930s. Technological, managerial and logistical problems also meant that Britain was slow into the air and slow in the air. Propaganda concealed underperformance and criticism. The study uses archival sources, biographies, industry magazines and newspapers to chronicle the disputed progress toward air empire. The rhetoric behind imperial air service offers a glimpse of late imperial hopes, fears, attitudes and style. Empire air service had emotional appeal and symbolic value, but disappointed in practice.

The Battle of Britain has held an enchanted place in British popular history and memory throughout the modern era. Its transition from history to heritage since 1965 confirms that the 1940 narrative shaped by the State has been sustained by historians, the media, popular culture, and through non-governmental heritage sites, often with financing from the National Lottery Heritage Lottery Fund. Garry Campion evaluates the Battle’s revered place in British society and its influence on national identity, considering its historiography and revisionism; the postwar lives of the Few, their leaders and memorialization; its depictions on screen and in commercial products; the RAF Museum’s Battle of Britain Hall; third-sector heritage attractions; and finally, fighter airfields, including RAF Hawkinge as a case study. A follow-up to Campion’s The Battle of Britain, 1945–1965 (Palgrave, 2015), this book offers an engaging, accessible study of the Battle’s afterlives in scholarship, memorialization, and popular culture.