Flying Boats of the Empire: The Rise and Fall of the Ships of the Sky

Knott, Richard

ISBN 10: 0709087594 / ISBN 13: 9780709087595

Published by Robert Hale, 2011

About this Item

Hardcover with DJ. Bound with black cloth over boards, silver lettering on spine. Binding is tight and secure. Corners are square. Pictorial DJ is clean with minimal wear, wrapped in protective mylar cover. Pages are crisp, clean, and bright. Images are printed in B&W. No date on title page. Copyright page dated 2011. 272 pages. A very nice copy. This volume comes from the Aviation collection of Prof. Chris Sterling. Sterling spent his lifetime teaching, writing, and collecting books on civil and military aviation. We are proud to house his Aviation collection, part of the extensive library which is his legacy. We ship everyday from a real neighborhood bookstore. This description is written by an actual person, who is holding the book in front of them to make sure it?s properly described. Please contact us with questions or if you would like to see photographs.

Seller Inventory # Aviation-354

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Flying Boats of the Empire: The Rise and Fall of the Ships of the Sky
• Publisher: Robert Hale
• Publication Date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0709087594
• ISBN 13: 9780709087595
• Binding: hardcover
• Edition: 2nd Printing.
• Condition: Very Good
• Weight: 28 ounces

About this title

Synopsis

This is a fascinating account of the age of Empire flying boats, whose story began in July 1936 with a reassuringly trouble-free test flight on Kent’s River Medway. Within ten years, however, this last word in luxury was to become redundant, spurned by the post-war age. The story is a dramatic and human one. It tells of slow, meandering flights across the Empire, swooping down on sun-warmed stretches of water for luncheon and tea. But it also describes misadventure and disaster, with flying boats crashing with unnerving regularity. The characters involved in the Empire’s story demonstrate its breadth, they include: Winston Churchill; Terence Rattigan (the playwright); Sir John Reith (who chaired both the BBC and Imperial Airways); Don Bennett (the wartime Pathfinder); and the doomed Duke of Kent. The Empire’s magnificent military sibling, the Sunderland, is also featured and the book illuminates some less well known areas of the war, for example, the Norwegian campaign of 1940 and Australia’s "Pearl Harbor." Extensively researched—drawing on personal letters and diaries, government papers, contemporary newspapers, and archive material from Imperial Airways and its successors—this book reveals all about the Empire flying boat and the people who designed, flew, and traveled in them.

About the Author

Richard Knott is a former actor and educationalist who now researches and writes on twentieth-century history. He has previously written on subjects as varied as cricket, poetry, and the teaching of English.