Many years ago I had a Maiden Aunt who had been a member of the WAF (Women’s
Air Force), who gave me a wonderful book on aviation, and she inscribed it
with the words, “Hoping you enjoy planes as much as I have done.”
I did find planes interesting, but they never caught my
imagination as much as some other boyhood interests. However, when I saw
The Complete Encyclopedia of Flight (1848-1939) (ISBN 13:
978-90-366-1600-3, Rebo International, 2006) on the Bookazine shelves it
rekindled my interest.
The Complete Encyclopedia of Flight (1848-1939) was
illustrated by John Batchelor and the text from Malcolm V Lowe. When the
Wright brothers were the first to make a powered flight with a pilot, I was
somewhat taken aback that this encyclopedia should start in 1848. Only by
reading the introduction you are introduced to people such as John
Stringfellow, who made steam engine powered gliders (but no pilot) and Sir
George Cayley who made some very advanced gliders in the mid-1800’s, which
carried a boy, and later another one which carried his terrified coachman,
the first recorded flight of a man in 1853. So, the book reveals many people
who pre-dated the Wright brothers, but did not manage powered flight, under
the control of a pilot, as did the Wrights in 1903.
After the introduction, the individual planes are
examined and there are notes covering the builder, any war experience with
the plane and other items of interest including specifications. This covers
details such as Charles Lindbergh’s flight from New York to Paris in 1927,
4,210 nautical miles covered in thirty three and a half hours, solo.
Many of the planes and their manufacturers I had never
heard of, which made the encyclopedia even more interesting. For example,
Breguet, Cierva Autogyros, Caudron, Santos-Dumont, Friedrichshafen, Hansa
Brandenburg and even an Albatross. Of course there are makes which most of
us have heard of, including the German Junkers, Caproni, Dornier, Fokker, De
Havilland, Hawker, and of course the Spitfire gets its rightful place, as
does Von Richthofen, the Red Baron, with his famous ‘dreidecker’ Fokker
triplane.
Fascinating history such as Boeing, which began making
planes in 1916, and how when the rudimentary planes went to war in 1914, the
machine gunner could saw off his own propeller until natty machines were
invented to time the bullets to go between the blades. There was even one
idea which deflected the bullets at 45 degrees, to miss the prop, and
probably missed all the enemy planes as well.
The book looks at sea planes as well as the more usual
undercarriage, and I did not know that Amundsen tried to reach the North
Pole in a Dornier Wal seaplane.
At B. 630 this is an excellent reference source. Gloss
pages, beautifully printed, hard cover - everything an aviation enthusiast
would want. It is as promised on the front cover, a comprehensive guide to
aviation between 1848 and 1939. My Maiden Aunt, long since departed to the
airfields in the sky would have been most impressed, by both the book, and
my enjoyment of it.
