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.

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.

Through a collection of dramatic and informative photographs, supplemented by cutaway illustrations, this book highlights the agility and flexibility of this dedicated RAF aircraft. Throughout the course of its career, it has formed the backbone of the RAF across its many different theaters of operation. Utilized in a strike, anti-aircraft, air superiority, air defense, reconnaissance, electronic warfare and fighter-bomber capacity, this aircraft type has enjoyed an immensely varied career. Each aspect is illustrated in this photographic celebration. The book includes photographs by the author and a select number of other amateur photographers, with the vast majority of photographs _ never previously published _ taken low level around the hills and mountains of England, Scotland and Wales. This impressive new photographic publication will be presented in full colour and is sure to be prized as a collector's piece amongst fans of the genre.

Brothers John and Andrew Forbat had been happily living in England as patriotic British boys since 1936. When the Second World War broke out, however, the brothers found themselves evacuated to a disadvantaged part of Melksham in Wiltshire, cut off from home and family, and in straitened circumstances. Added to this, on Pearl Harbor Day 1941, Hungary, along with other countries, joined the Axis and the Forbat family became Enemy Aliens. Their many letters home throughout the war, with details of their schooling, bullying, friendships and constant pursuit of more pocket money, form a humorous and at times tragic testament to the hardships of war. Interspersed with diary entries made by the boys' father back home in Blitz-ravaged London, and letters from Andrew when he was interned on the Isle of Man, Evacuee Boys is as full a record of war-torn Britain as one family could provide.

Based on the author's own involvement as an engineer at the company through the 1950s and early 1960s and on more recent research of the archives at Brooklands Museum and the PRO, this book explains the successes and failures of leading-edge developments at Vickers, in the early days of guided weapons. John Forbat explains missile and avionics systems and trials, with diagrams and photographs, and tells the story of the company and its individuals. Projects covered in depth include Red Rapier, Blue Boar, Red Dean and Vigilant anti-tank missile, of which the author has first-hand experience as he started working for Vickers as a graduate apprentice assembling airplanes and soon graduated into Special Projects where he was responsible for many of the trials.

In 1945 confidence in British aviation was sky-high. Yet decades later, the industry had not lived up to its potential. What happened? The years that followed the war saw the Brabazon Committee issue flawed proposals for civil aviation planning. Enforced cancellations restricted the advancement of military aircraft, compounded later on by Defence Minister Duncan Sandys abandoning aircraft to fixate solely on missiles. Commercially, Britain's small and neglected domestic market hindered the development of civilian airliners. In the production of notorious aircraft, the inauspicious Comet came from de Havilland's attempts to gain an edge over its American competitors. The iconic Harrier jump jet and an indigenous crop of helicopters were squandered, while unrealistic performance requirements brought about the cancellation of TSR2. Peter Reese explores how repeated financial crises, a lack of rigour and fatal self-satisfaction led British aviation to miss vital opportunities across this turbulent period in Britain's skies.

This book sheds fresh light on developments in British nuclear weapons policy between October 1964, when the Labour Party came back into power under Harold Wilson following a thirteen year absence, and June 1970 when the Conservative government of Edward Heath was elected.