TSR2 Precision Attack to Tornado

Included are details on the ground-breaking navigation and attack system, its Cold War context, its requirements and the development of ATF (advanced terrain following), and in-depth analysis of automatic flight control systems, analogue and digital simulations at Weybridge and the reconnaissance pack for mapping enemy territory. It finishes with a look at the final throes of TSR2's cancellation by the Labour government in 1965. ‘This fascinating personal account of the behind the scenes action at Vickers during the heyday of British aviation and weaponry invention in the 1950s and 1960s is both authoritative and very, very readable.’ Wg Cdr Al Monkman, D.F.C., M.A., B.A., R.A.F., 617 Sqn, RAF Lossiemouth, Moray.

John Forbat was an immigrant to London from Hungary, at the age of seven. After qualifying as an aeronautical engineer, his professional life started with big companies in the aircraft and avionics industries and in the electronics industry. Those years involved highly capital and development oriented businesses, giving him the experience of how large companies are managed - and mismanaged. It also enabled him to experience the extent to which entrepreneurship can be stifled, by excessively corporatist attitudes in business. He then moved into a number of highly entrepreneurial businesses encompassing products, product innovation and services worldwide, where it became necessary to achieve the impossible - at least according to the textbooks. His successes - and few failures - taught him where the essentials of entrepreneurship lie and what the defining characteristics of entrepreneurs are. During World War, II he was probably London's youngest Fireguard. At sixteen he learned to fly gliders entirely solo and later gained a Private Pilot's Licence. He learned and practiced leadership skills as a Scout and as a Scout Leader and was also a keen sailor, skippering an open whaler from London to Calais and back with a crew of teenagers. He recently returned after living in the USA for over 20 years - and does not like taking "It's impossible" for an answer.