Review - On Atlas' Shoulders: RAF Transport Aircraft Projects Since 1945

[overscan (PaulMM)]

I got sent a review copy of Chris Gibson's latest book, On Atlas' Shoulders: RAF Transport Aircraft Projects Since 1945.

After the previous Crecy books Vulcan's Hammer, Battle Flight and Nimrod' Genesis, Chris, Adrian and the rest of the team at Crecy have a well-oiled machine going now. Layout is great, all the drawings are painstakingly redrawn by Chris for consistency, and quality of production and printing is first class.

On Atlas's Shoulders follows the same pattern as Chris's previous books in weaving a consistent story from a specific class of aircraft and the RAF's unsuccessful (and successful) attempts to acquire them through various operational requirements. Chris has a knack for taking specific technical aspects that are important to understanding a class of aircraft and explaining them with clear diagrams and explanations to the layman. Coming to this book I was not very familiar with transport aircraft, and I felt that reading this book gave me a new appreciation for the engineering challenges presented.

The book reads very well. In common with Tony Buttler's British Secret Projects books, the chapters are arranged by the various transport requirements the RAF issued over time and are anchored by the well-preserved operational requirements files kept at The National Archives. Painstaking research has uncovered details of the various submitted designs for each requirement, and Chris weaves them into a coherent story with panache.

As Chris would be able to tell you, I have an unfortunate bias towards fighter aircraft, and I might not have bought this book for myself. I would have missed out on a very interesting read.

Highly recommended to anyone interested in Transport aircraft, the RAF or unbuilt projects in general.

 

[lark]

I have this book since a few weeks and it's indeed a revelation.
One of the best books I've read in months.
I particular loved the complete history of the Beverly but there'so much more in
this very complete work.

A must have !

 

[Schneiderman]

As with Paul this would not have been an obvious book for me to buy; in my case I am very-much into 1920s and 1930s British design. But to understand that period means reading about what came before and what followed, and it is obvious from his posts on this forum that Chris is knowledgeable and does deep research, so I bought a copy.
The first thing to point out is that the book is as focussed on operational requirements, procurement policy and politics as it is on the aircraft projects, possibly more so than readers may expect. This is in no way a criticism as this aspect is key to understanding the background, but potential buyers need to be aware as it is not necessarily to everyone’s taste. Chris includes extensive quotes from meetings, memos and reports to track the evolution of service and ministry thinking and it helps to have knowledge of the structure of the departments involved and something of the personality and background of key players to get the most from this. The illustrations are numerous and very well drawn covering all of the projects mentioned, many in great detail.
Bottom-line? This is an essential book for anyone interested in the trials and tribulations of the British aircraft industry post war and I am certainly glad I added it to my library. The overall feel is rather like a well-written and copiously illustrated PhD thesis. If you have read and value “Stuck on the Drawing Board” by Richard Payne then you will want this, it is similar in theme but deeper in content.
Enjoy!

 

[CJGibson]

Aw thanks! My Desmond pales into insignificance!

Chris

 

[Hood]

Finally getting around to read my copy (too many good aviation books have come out lately). I would totally echo Schneiderman's review comments. I've similar research interests to Chris and have made my own extensive Kew rummages on several of the topics in On Atlas' Shoulders so I can vouch that Chris has done a sterling job. The think I like about this book, and the previous Nimrod's Genesis, is that he takes time to lay out the background information of what actually makes a transport aircraft and how that came about and what developments were required in various mundane items like anti-lock brakes. The history of the procurement process is in-depth and certainly reveals the workload the Air Ministry and Ministry of Supply were under, for example the events of OR.323 and OR.315 overlap and beside that are all the other procurement stories we know so well from fighters, V-bombers and multitude of other projects and technical developments.
Chris once described himself to me as an aviation archaeologist rather than an historian but I think here, he has written a very fine historical work. Academic historians would tend to sneer at aviation books as mere 'plane spotter fodder' but I think Chris' series for Hikoki has been a fuller and more balanced approach than the rather tired arguments in Derek Wood's Project Cancelled forty years ago.

As good as Richard Payne's Stuck on the Drawing Board is as a quick-dip reference of airliner projects (and some transports too), I do think that perhaps the time has come for an airliner companion to reveal actually what the civil market and the State airlines actually wanted and how that shaped events.

 

[CJGibson]

Thanks for the vote of confidence.

I'd prefer Aviation Palaeontologist please!

Thanks

Chris