More than forty years after its cancellation, the BAC TSR2 is still a controversial aircraft. Years ahead of its time, it was abruptly cancelled by a new government when flight testing had ony just begun. Built to a demanding RAF requirement , the BAC TSR2 was a revolutionary low-level strike aircraft able to deliver a tactical nuclear weapon at supersonic speed and low altitude to evade enemy radar. This fascinating new book describes in detail the aircraft, its history and the events of its cancellation. Many hitherto unseen photographs and diagrams support the detailed text, which benefits from extensive research in the BAC archives and access to newly rediscovered material.

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.

Originally published in 1980. More so than any other energy resource, nuclear power has the capacity to provide much of our energy needs but is highly controversial. This book discusses the major British decisions in the civil nuclear field, and the way they were made, between 1953 and 1978. It spans the period between the decision to construct Calder Hall – claimed as the world’s first nuclear power station – and the Windscale Inquiry – claimed as the world's most thorough study of a nuclear project. For the period up to 1974 this involves a study of the internal processes of British central government. The private issues include the technical selection of nuclear reactors, the economic arguments about nuclear power and the political clashes between institutions and individuals. The public issues concern nuclear safety and the environment and the rights and opportunities for individuals and groups to protest about nuclear development. The book demonstrates that British civil nuclear power decision making had many shortcomings and concludes that it was hampered by outdated political and administrative attitudes and machinery and that some of the central issues in the nuclear power debate were misunderstood by the decision makers themselves.

This is a welcome revised and enhanced second editionof this comprehensive, accurate and honest account of the TSR2 strike aircraft's fascinating story, tracing the project's development from its Cold War origins in the 1950's to its final cancellation in 1965. Aimed at aviation historians and those interested in the history of military technology, the book examines the RAF's TSR2 project in detail, eliminating the many myths and misconceptions that have surrounded this aircraft for decades. Although much has been written about the TSR2's history, a great deal of misinformation has been published on this subject which this book dismisses presenting the reader with a complete and realistic overview of the entire project. This book deals with the facts and not the emotion, speculation and fantasy which has plagued the subject for so long. It presents a detailed, factual and very readable account of the development and subsequent demise of TSR2 project. For this new edition an additional chapter concerning the F-111K, extracts from the TSR2 Crew Manual and other declassified technical TSR2 documentation, has been provided by Tony Buttler, the author of our respected British Secret Projects series who has researched this era of British military aviation for many years.

At the dawn of the twentieth century mankind had not yet achieved powered flight. The main motive power then was provided by steam engines – heavy, dirty and inefficient. If one wanted to travel ‘over seas’ one had to travel on them. A journey from London to New York, by steam-driven train and ship, took more than 6 days. By the time the same century drew to a close in December 1999, air travel was the normal choice for long journeys. Millions of people every day flew comfortably and safely in pressurised aluminium airliners propelled by simple, clean and efficient gas turbine engines. The same journey from London to New York could be achieved at supersonic speed in less than 6 hours. For much of that century, many of the extraordinary developments that moved aviation from fragile wood and fabric biplanes to supersonic transports were achieved on 330 acres of low-lying former estate farmland in Surrey, England. The estate was called Brooklands. Those marshy acres were transformed from 1907 into the world’s first custom-built motor-racing circuit, then a rapidly developing aerodrome, and finally one of the country’s largest aircraft factories, employing tens of thousands of people. Nearly 19,000 aircraft of many different types were built at Brooklands during nine decades of peace and war. By the 1980s however it was being eclipsed by larger manufacturing sites elsewhere, with longer runways and better communications links; its owner, by then called British Aerospace, finally closed the factory in 1989. This book tells the history of those amazing developments through 100 of the key aircraft, engines, places and other objects that can still be seen, either in or near Brooklands Museum or in other locations around the country. It also highlights the stories of six designers whose inspiring creativity produced aircraft, engines and weapons ranging from Camel to Concorde, Fury to Harrier, Wellington to Viscount, Merlin to Olympus. Between them, Thomas Sopwith, Barnes Wallis, Rex Pierson, Sydney Camm, Stanley Hooker and George Edwards were responsible for much of what was designed, built and flown, not only at Brooklands but elsewhere too. The book is arranged in successive historical episodes but the many links between the objects and the designers should allow readers to follow different paths if they so wish. It is not intended as a technical reference but rather to inspire the reader to seek out the objects and discover more about them.