Harry George Hawker MBE, AFC was an Australian aviation pioneer. He was the chief test pilot for Sopwith and was also involved in designing many of their aircraft. After the First World War, he co-founded Hawker Aircraft, the firm that would later be responsible for a long series of successful military aircraft. He died on 12 July 1921 when the aircraft he was to fly in the Aerial Derby crashed in a park at Burnt Oak, Edgware, not far from Hendon Aerodrome.

Biografi over den kendte engelske flyver, racerkører, motoringeniør og motorfabrikant Harry George Hawker.

Walter Hinton was a pilot on the first plane to cross the Atlantic (eight years before Lindbergh)--a four-engine, Navy-Curtiss flying boat with a crew of six, in May 1919. Based on more than 40 hours of personal interviews with Hinton, this volume chronicles that first flight and Hinton's other remarkable adventures in aviation--which include being lost in a downed balloon in the Canadian Arctic and believed dead, making the first flight to Rio de Janeiro from New York, pursuing the first aerial exploration of the Amazon, and undertaking a nationwide promotion of aviation and airports for the Exchange Clubs in the United States. With the dramatic and adventurous story of Hinton, a lost chapter in the history of flight in America is uncovered.

In depth descriptions and photographs of the aircraft of 21 nations presented with a unique human dimension that goes behind the machines to the people involved. Invaluable for specialists, accessible to enthusiasts, International Warbirds: An Illustrated Guide to World Military Aircraft, 1914–2000 puts the most legendary fighter aircraft of the 20th century developed outside the United States on vivid display. It offers 336 illustrated "biographies" of the most significant warplanes used in squadron service from World War I to the Balkan conflict, including numerous models from Great Britain, France, Russia, and Japan, as well as notable machines from Israel, Canada, China, India, Brazil, and other nations. Entries span the history and scope of military aircraft from bombers and fighters to transports, trainers, reconnaissance craft, sea planes, and helicopters, with each capsule history combining nuts-and-bolts technical data with the story of that model's evolution and use. Together, these portraits offer an exciting, well-researched tribute to visionary designers and builders as well as courageous pilots and crews across the globe, and tell a vivid tale of how air power became such a decisive factor in modern warfare.

A survey of the development of British military aviation from 1903 to 1914, revealing the consequences of its annexation by the state as a branch of armaments as an underlying cause of aircraft inadequacies on the outbreak of war. A mine of information, drawing on an impressive range of archives. It will become an important point of reference. ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW This book aims to demonstrate how the crisis evident in British military aviation in the early years of the First World War was inherent in the entire development of aviation in the years preceding the conflict. After outlining the work of the early pioneers and the growth of an aviation industry as a branch of armaments, Dr Driver considers the objectives of the War Office in increasingly seeking to divert design development to their research establishment at Farnborough. He shows how the resultant virtual state monopoly in designand procurement had disastrous consequences for aircraft innovation and development, suffocating both competition and initiative, and leading to the maintenance of inadequate aircraft by the Royal Flying Corps following the outbreak of war. The continuing dispute and its culmination in the "Fokker Scourge" controversy of 1915-1916 graphically characterise the strained development of military-industrial relations in this area. Dr HUGH DRIVER gained an MA in War Studies from King's College London, and a D.Phil in modern history at Oriel College, Oxford.

“Annette Carson has done a wonderful job of chronicling Armstrong’s life, flight training and ultimate recognition as the undisputed master of aerobatics.” —Over the Front Initially forbidden as foolhardy, stunt flying soon became a paramount method of survival in the life and death mêlées of dogfighting. But pilots still delighted in the joy and exuberance of aerobatting for its own sake, and they recognized a master of that very special skill in young D’Urban Victor Armstrong, whose displays were nothing short of electrifying. Fluid and dramatic, performed with flair at ultra-low level, his exhibitions left spectators shaking their heads in disbelief. Until this book, little was known about Armstrong’s wartime experiences, and even less about his South African background. His great value to the authorities lay in his superb handling of the Sopwith Camel, which upon its introduction had taken a heavy toll in fatal trainee accidents. While still on active service, Armstrong was sent around the units providing vivid proof that, properly handled, the stubby little fighter delivered the key to combat success: unrivaled maneuverability. His resultant fame eclipsed his other distinguished role in pioneering night flying and night fighting, an equally vital skill he was also detailed to demonstrate around the squadrons. In this “superb biography,” you will find yourself in the cockpit of the F.1 Camel and become acquainted with its rotary engine (Stand To!). You will meet many leading names including Billy Bishop, Cecil Lewis, Norman Macmillan, Robert Smith Barry, and the harum-scarum Three Musketeers from War Birds. Armstrong takes his place alongside them as one of the legendary figures of the first great aerial war.