2010, ISBN: 83963cc9d05f6835debe69da1b082be2

[SC: 11.96], [PU: Faber & Faber, London], In 1945 Britain inherited the title of the World's Pioneer and Leading Builder of jet aircraft. - And how extraordinary these aircraft were over … Mehr…

[SC: 11.96], [PU: Faber & Faber, London], In 1945 Britain inherited the title of the World's Pioneer and Leading Builder of jet aircraft. - And how extraordinary these aircraft were over the next ten years. The sleek Comet, the first jet airliner. The awesome delta-winged Vulcan, an intercontinental bomber that could be thrown about the sky like a fighter. The Hawker Hunter, the most beautiful fighter-jet ever built, and the Lightning, which could zoom ten miles above the clouds in a couple of minutes and whose pilots rated flying it as better than sex. - By the early 1960s, the designers, the extremely brave test pilots, and the legendary companies they worked for - Avro, Hawker, Vickers, de Havilland - were gone or facing a bleak future. A heroic and distinguished industry was coming to an end, and now these magnificent planes are much-loved museum pieces. - What was it like to be alive in that marvellous post-war decade when innovative new British aircraft made their debut several times a year, and pilots were the rock stars of the age? And how did Britain lose the plot so completely? - James Hamilton-Paterson captures that season of glory in a compelling story that fuses his own memories of being a schoolboy plane-spotter with a rueful history of Britain's loss of self-confidence and power. It is a glimpse of a vanished world: the exhilarating story of atomic-age aviation pioneers, their great and charismatic machines, and the men who flew them. 288 p. photos<

2010, ISBN: 83963cc9d05f6835debe69da1b082be2

[PU: Faber & Faber, London], In 1945 Britain inherited the title of the World's Pioneer and Leading Builder of jet aircraft. - And how extraordinary these aircraft were over the next ten … Mehr…

[PU: Faber & Faber, London], In 1945 Britain inherited the title of the World's Pioneer and Leading Builder of jet aircraft. - And how extraordinary these aircraft were over the next ten years. The sleek Comet, the first jet airliner. The awesome delta-winged Vulcan, an intercontinental bomber that could be thrown about the sky like a fighter. The Hawker Hunter, the most beautiful fighter-jet ever built, and the Lightning, which could zoom ten miles above the clouds in a couple of minutes and whose pilots rated flying it as better than sex. - By the early 1960s, the designers, the extremely brave test pilots, and the legendary companies they worked for - Avro, Hawker, Vickers, de Havilland - were gone or facing a bleak future. A heroic and distinguished industry was coming to an end, and now these magnificent planes are much-loved museum pieces. - What was it like to be alive in that marvellous post-war decade when innovative new British aircraft made their debut several times a year, and pilots were the rock stars of the age? And how did Britain lose the plot so completely? - James Hamilton-Paterson captures that season of glory in a compelling story that fuses his own memories of being a schoolboy plane-spotter with a rueful history of Britain's loss of self-confidence and power. It is a glimpse of a vanished world: the exhilarating story of atomic-age aviation pioneers, their great and charismatic machines, and the men who flew them. 288 p. photos<