Empire of the Clouds: When Britain's Aircraft Ruled the World

Author:   James Hamilton-Paterson
Publisher:   Faber & Faber
Edition:   Main
ISBN:  

9780571247950


Pages:   416
Publication Date:   05 May 2011
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   In stock   Availability explained
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Empire of the Clouds: When Britain's Aircraft Ruled the World


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Overview

In 1945 Britain was the world's leading designer and builder of aircraft - a world-class achievement that was not mere rhetoric. And what aircraft they were. 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. Just what was it like to be alive in that marvellous post-war moment when innovative new British aircraft made their debut, and pilots were the rock stars of the age? James Hamilton-Paterson captures that season of glory in a compelling book that fuses his own memories of being a schoolboy plane spotter with a ruefully realistic history of British decline - its loss of self confidence and power. It is the story of great and charismatic machines and the men who flew them: heroes such as Bill Waterton, Neville Duke, John Derry and Bill Beaumont who took inconceivable risks, so that we could fly without a second thought.

Full Product Details

Author:   James Hamilton-Paterson
Publisher:   Faber & Faber
Imprint:   Faber & Faber
Edition:   Main
Dimensions:   Width: 13.00cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 20.00cm
Weight:   0.327kg
ISBN:  

9780571247950


ISBN 10:   0571247954
Pages:   416
Publication Date:   05 May 2011
Audience:   General/trade ,  College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  General ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In stock   Availability explained
We have confirmation that this item is in stock with the supplier. It will be ordered in for you and dispatched immediately.

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Author Website:   http://www.jdhp.net/

James Hamilton-Paterson is the author of Gerontius, winner of a Whitbread Prize; Seven-Tenths: The Sea and its Thresholds; Playing With Water; and most recently, of the wild comic trilogy Cooking With Fernet Branca, Amazing Disgrace and Rancid Pansies.

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Author Website:   http://www.jdhp.net/

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