Gordon Pirie

Gordon works as an academic in Cape Town, South Africa. His two books epitomise his fascination with the social aspects of mobility.

'Air Empire' is about ambitions in the twenty years 1919-1939 to build British imperial civil air routes and services, and the difficulties of doing so across Europe, Asia, India and Africa. (Geo)politics, economics and technology were key. So was Imperial bravado.

The sequel, 'Cultures & Caricatures of British Imperial Aviation', is about the people who flew along the British Empire air routes, and the imperial insights we get from their behaviour and observations.

The pair of research monographs represent the most comprehensive attempt yet to understand interwar British overseas flying as much more than a matter of airliner chronology. Fortunately, aeronautical enthusiasts have created an immense and invaluable technical record. These two books take the next step, searching out new evidence and peering behind the technology. What did all the flying add up to? What was it for? What did it symbolise? The books ask about what was achieved, how that matched the dreams, what impact imperial flying had at home and abroad, and how it has been remembered. Maps and about twenty evocative photos convey the courses and atmosphere of infant civil aviation in the twilight of the British Empire.