"Empire Of The Clouds" British 50's aviation industry book

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Re: "Empire Of The Clouds" British 50's aviation industry b

Post by MerlinJones »

I recently acquired the hardback Special Illustrated Edition from Amazon and was glad I did.
Whilst obviously full of wistful nostalgia, the author does not pull any punches when it comes down to an honest critique as to why our aviatiion industry went paps skyward.
I found this book a useful counterpoint to those others I've read on the subject.

I also appreciated the many pilot anecdotes about the aircraft themselves and Bill Waterton's experiences offer another counter to those of Roland Beamont.

Regards,
Bruce
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Re: "Empire Of The Clouds" British 50's aviation industry b

Post by JamesPerrin »

I finished reading this just before Telford (as those who I socialised with in the evening will testify ;-) ). I found it an exceedingly thought provoking, informative and well written book. I've passed it on to my dad who living in Kent during the 50 probably remembers in the trumpet blowing newreels of the SBAC shows as well as anyone - I also lent him my Farnborough '52-'62 DVD just in case.
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Eric Mc
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Re: "Empire Of The Clouds" British 50's aviation industry b

Post by Eric Mc »

Yes, it chimed with the conclusions I've been coming to for years - that politicians were blamed for the demise of the industry when a lot of its problems were generated by the behaviour of the manufacturers themselves.

Politicians do deserve some blame but they weren't the only ones who made the bad decisions.
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Re: "Empire Of The Clouds" British 50's aviation industry b

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What strikes me is how the manufacturers didn't seem to care very much about the end user- my earlier post about the government not learning lessons is not to blame them for everything, but I think that they need to ensure that mistakes of past governments are not repeated
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Eric Mc
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Re: "Empire Of The Clouds" British 50's aviation industry b

Post by Eric Mc »

bobblelink wrote:What strikes me is how the manufacturers didn't seem to care very much about the end user- my earlier post about the government not learning lessons is not to blame them for everything, but I think that they need to ensure that mistakes of past governments are not repeated
Sadly, politicians are human and are just as likely to NOT learn from the mistakes of others as you or I.
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Re: "Empire Of The Clouds" British 50's aviation industry b

Post by bobblelink »

Couldn't agree more Eric :sad:
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Re: "Empire Of The Clouds" British 50's aviation industry b

Post by JohnRatzenberger »

I just got the hardbound "Special Illustrated Edition" (as did Bruce). However I note that some 25% of the text was cut to make room for all the pictures and while I'm grateful for the pix, I wonder just how much real content I have lost ??
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Re: "Empire Of The Clouds" British 50's aviation industry b

Post by JohnRatzenberger »

I've just finished thia and well worthwhile it was.

I was growing up during this time, but not in the UK so I have none of the sights and sounds to flavor the text with. However from the late 50's I was avidly reading RAF FR, Air Pictorial, Aero Modeller and so I read about many of these events, and certainly of the aircraft. Been a long time but this book helped explain some things. I'm tempted to get my RAF FR out of boxes and do some re-reading just to see what I saw then in the light of future analysis.
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Re: "Empire Of The Clouds" British 50's aviation industry b

Post by BillyJ »

Is this title anything like 'Project Cancelled' by Derek Wood, author of Janes World Aircraft?

Project Cancelled, for those who haven't seen it, highlights all those excellent British aircraft projects which apart from the TSR2, never flew.
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Re: "Empire Of The Clouds" British 50's aviation industry b

Post by MerlinJones »

Nope, though it makes a good companion volume. Whilst Project cancelled focusses on the projects cancelled, Empire looks at what was actually made and used and why we lost the lead in aviation. There is some references to cancelled projects, but this is backed by more objective reasons as to the why.

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Bruce
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Re: "Empire Of The Clouds" British 50's aviation industry b

Post by JohnRatzenberger »

I am, at this moment, watching "Breaking the Sound Barrier".
I'm not sure why the publisher didn't release the book with it as an enclosed DVD.
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Re: "Empire Of The Clouds" British 50's aviation industry b

Post by Garry »

Just noted empire of the clouds still cheap on amazon and sound barrier film under £4 if anyone's interested
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