The Birth of Independent Air Power

The Birth of Independent Air Power PDF Author: Malcolm Cooper
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000338975
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 214

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Book Description
In forming the Royal Air Force on 1 April 1918, Britain created the world’s first independent air service. Britain entered the First World War with less than 200 ill-assorted flying machines divided between the army and the navy, but by the end of the war the RAF mustered almost 300,000 personnel and 22, 000 aircraft. Originally published in 1986, more than 65 years after the event, the decision to form the RAF remained poorly understood and Malcolm Cooper presented the first detailed modern analysis of its creation, shedding new light on the process by which Britain entered the air age. Set against the background of the build-up of air power during the First World War, the book explains how deepening political concern at failures in home air defence, public demands for retaliatory air action against Germany, problems of mobilization and expansion in the aircraft industry, and disagreements between the existing army and navy air services combined to create the conditions for an independent air force. The author argues that the pressures of war were insufficient to give real substance to the RAF’s independence and that its failure to escape from its wartime role as an ancillary service was also of crucial significance in the evolution of British air strategy in later years. Based on an extensive study of official documents and private papers and amply illustrated with contemporary photographs, this title will prove invaluable in understanding both strategic thinking in the Great War and the early development of a form of warfare which dominated military and naval operations in the twentieth century.

The Birth of Independent Air Power

The Birth of Independent Air Power PDF Author: Malcolm Cooper
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000338975
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 214

Get Book

Book Description
In forming the Royal Air Force on 1 April 1918, Britain created the world’s first independent air service. Britain entered the First World War with less than 200 ill-assorted flying machines divided between the army and the navy, but by the end of the war the RAF mustered almost 300,000 personnel and 22, 000 aircraft. Originally published in 1986, more than 65 years after the event, the decision to form the RAF remained poorly understood and Malcolm Cooper presented the first detailed modern analysis of its creation, shedding new light on the process by which Britain entered the air age. Set against the background of the build-up of air power during the First World War, the book explains how deepening political concern at failures in home air defence, public demands for retaliatory air action against Germany, problems of mobilization and expansion in the aircraft industry, and disagreements between the existing army and navy air services combined to create the conditions for an independent air force. The author argues that the pressures of war were insufficient to give real substance to the RAF’s independence and that its failure to escape from its wartime role as an ancillary service was also of crucial significance in the evolution of British air strategy in later years. Based on an extensive study of official documents and private papers and amply illustrated with contemporary photographs, this title will prove invaluable in understanding both strategic thinking in the Great War and the early development of a form of warfare which dominated military and naval operations in the twentieth century.

The British Aircraft Industry during the First World War

The British Aircraft Industry during the First World War PDF Author: Tim Jenkins
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350297089
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description
In this book, Tim Jenkins examines the factory worker poisonings and suspect government procurement procedures that resulted in Allied success in the air during First World War. The early development of aircraft during World War I was an important yet dangerous part of the war effort seen in the First World War and although many descriptions of daring aerial combat have been written, the risk to those involved in the manufacture of such machines remains less well known. Tetrachlorethane, a poisonous solvent contained in aircraft dope, was responsible for a number of civilian deaths in aircraft factories and although the British knew the substance to be lethal, they were much slower than their American and German counterparts in sourcing alternatives. In this groundbreaking book, Tim Jenkins explores the use of Tetrachlorethan and brings to light the concerns and warnings voiced by the international medical profession. His examination considers the government's reasons for its use of the poisonous solvent to create a compelling yet scholarly account which takes in corruption, negligence and wartime manufacture. This book will be vital to scholars studying military production during the First World War.

The Birth of Independent Air Power

The Birth of Independent Air Power PDF Author: Malcolm Cooper
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000338851
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 206

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Book Description
In forming the Royal Air Force on 1 April 1918, Britain created the world’s first independent air service. Britain entered the First World War with less than 200 ill-assorted flying machines divided between the army and the navy, but by the end of the war the RAF mustered almost 300,000 personnel and 22, 000 aircraft. Originally published in 1986, more than 65 years after the event, the decision to form the RAF remained poorly understood and Malcolm Cooper presented the first detailed modern analysis of its creation, shedding new light on the process by which Britain entered the air age. Set against the background of the build-up of air power during the First World War, the book explains how deepening political concern at failures in home air defence, public demands for retaliatory air action against Germany, problems of mobilization and expansion in the aircraft industry, and disagreements between the existing army and navy air services combined to create the conditions for an independent air force. The author argues that the pressures of war were insufficient to give real substance to the RAF’s independence and that its failure to escape from its wartime role as an ancillary service was also of crucial significance in the evolution of British air strategy in later years. Based on an extensive study of official documents and private papers and amply illustrated with contemporary photographs, this title will prove invaluable in understanding both strategic thinking in the Great War and the early development of a form of warfare which dominated military and naval operations in the twentieth century.

The British Aircraft Industry during the First World War

The British Aircraft Industry during the First World War PDF Author: Tim Jenkins
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350297097
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description
In this book, Tim Jenkins examines the factory worker poisonings and suspect government procurement procedures that resulted in Allied success in the air during First World War. The early development of aircraft during World War I was an important yet dangerous part of the war effort seen in the First World War and although many descriptions of daring aerial combat have been written, the risk to those involved in the manufacture of such machines remains less well known. Tetrachlorethane, a poisonous solvent contained in aircraft dope, was responsible for a number of civilian deaths in aircraft factories and although the British knew the substance to be lethal, they were much slower than their American and German counterparts in sourcing alternatives. In this groundbreaking book, Tim Jenkins explores the use of Tetrachlorethan and brings to light the concerns and warnings voiced by the international medical profession. His examination considers the government's reasons for its use of the poisonous solvent to create a compelling yet scholarly account which takes in corruption, negligence and wartime manufacture. This book will be vital to scholars studying military production during the First World War.

The British Aircraft Industry and American-led Globalisation

The British Aircraft Industry and American-led Globalisation PDF Author: Takeshi Sakade
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000512185
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description
Sakade challenges the narrative that the focus of British manufacturing went "from Empire to Europe" and argues rather that, following the Second World War, the key relationship was in fact trans-Atlantic. There is a commonly accepted belief that, during the twentieth century, British manufacturing declined irreparably, that Britain lost its industrial hegemony. But this is too simplistic. In fact, in the decades after 1945, Britain staked out a new role for itself as a key participant in a US-led process of globalisation. Far from becoming merely a European player, the UK actually managed to preserve a key share in a global market, and the British defence industry was, to a large extent, successfully rehabilitated. Sakade returns to the original scholarly parameters of the decline controversy, and especially questions around post-war decline in the fields of high technology and the national defence industrial base. Using the case of the strategically critical military and civil aircraft industry, he argues that British industry remained relatively robust. A valuable read for historians of British aviation and more widely of 20th century British Industry.

Empire of the Clouds

Empire of the Clouds PDF Author: James Hamilton-Paterson
Publisher: Faber & Faber
ISBN: 0571271731
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
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. How did Britain so lose the plot that today there is not a single aircraft manufacturer of any significance in the country? What became of the great industry of de Havilland or Handley Page? And 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.

Anti-Submarine Warfare in World War I

Anti-Submarine Warfare in World War I PDF Author: John Abbatiello
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135989540
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Investigating the employment of British aircraft against German submarines during the final years of the First World War, this new book places anti-submarine campaigns from the air in the wider history of the First World War. The Royal Naval Air Service invested heavily in aircraft of all types—aeroplanes, seaplanes, airships, and kite balloons—in order to counter the German U-boats. Under the Royal Air Force, the air campaign against U-boats continued uninterrupted. Aircraft bombed German U-boat bases in Flanders, conducted area and ‘hunting’ patrols around the coasts of Britain, and escorted merchant convoys to safety. Despite the fact that aircraft acting alone destroyed only one U-boat during the war, the overall contribution of naval aviation to foiling U-boat attacks was significant. Only five merchant vessels succumbed to submarine attack when convoyed by a combined air and surface escort during World War I. This book examines aircraft and weapons technology, aircrew training, and the aircraft production issues that shaped this campaign. Then, a close examination of anti-submarine operations—bombing, patrols, and escort—yields a significantly different judgment from existing interpretations of these operations. This study is the first to take an objective look at the writing and publication of the naval and air official histories as they told the story of naval aviation during the Great War. The author also examines the German view of aircraft effectiveness, through German actions, prisoner interrogations, official histories, and memoirs, to provide a comparative judgment. The conclusion closes with a brief narrative of post-war air anti-submarine developments and a summary of findings. Overall, the author concludes that despite the challenges of organization, training, and production the employment of aircraft against U-boats was largely successful during the Great War. This book will be of interest to historians of naval and air power history, as well as students of World War I and military history in general.

Industry and Air Power

Industry and Air Power PDF Author: Noel Sebastian Ritchie
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135221138
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
The author begins with a general survey of British aircraft manufacturing in the inter-war period. Policy, production, finance and contracts are examined, and the final chapter is concerned with the mobilization of the aircraft industry in 1939, and the emergency measures of 1940.

Naval Aviation in the First World War

Naval Aviation in the First World War PDF Author: R. D. Layman
Publisher: US Naval Institute Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
All aspects of naval aviation in World War I are detailed in this superbly researched book.

Britain's Glorious Aircraft Industry

Britain's Glorious Aircraft Industry PDF Author: J Paul Hodgson
Publisher: Air World
ISBN: 1526774674
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 588

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Book Description
“The rich and diverse history of the British aircraft industry is captured in superb detail by the author in this weighty tome.” —Aviation News Great Britain’s aircraft industry started in 1908, with the first formally registered organization in the world to offer to design and build an aeroplane “for commercial gain.” This book tells the complete story of the 110 years since the start, all the companies formed and the aircraft they produced, highlighting the advances in aeronautical ambition and technology. It is the story of the creation, survival and decline of all one hundred and twenty-three of the aircraft design and construction companies formed between 1908 and 2018. The exhilaration of success and the magic of aviation technology are vividly illustrated by the technical and political birth stories of iconic projects, such as the Cirrus/Gypsy Moths, the Tiger Moth, the flying boats of Imperial Airways, Spitfire, Lancaster, Viscount, Vulcan, Harrier, Buccaneer and many more. The rotary wing industry is not forgotten. The birth of the jet turbine engine and the quest for supersonic speed is included. The stories of the disappointments of failure and disaster, such as the Brabazon, Comet, Princess, Rotodyne and TSR-2, and the growth of international collaboration in Concorde, Tornado, Airbus, Eurofighter Typhoon and other projects are included, in the context of the international scene and domestic politics. The conclusion highlights the prominent reminiscences and speculates on the future of the aircraft industry in Britain. “An outstanding reference book and a thoroughly enjoyable canter through the decades, from the days of wood and fabric to the modern composite structure of the wings of the A400 Atlas.” —RAF Historical Society