My latest tome, The Big Book of Flight is on sale now! It’s been described as a kind of aviation version of The Dangerous Book for Boys and there’s certainly something in that. It was inspired by the fabulous books on aircraft that captured my imagination when I was growing up. I wanted to write a book that would inspire a similar sense of wonder – or at the very least illustrate my own enthusiasm for the subject.
The Big Book of Flight is lavishly illustrated with photographs, infographics, illustrations and paintings by well known aviation artists like Philip West and Ronald Wong. Inside you’ll find my take on the history of human flight from birdmen to drones. Included in that story are transatlantic pioneers like Alcock and Brown and Lindberg (and Albert C. Read), Zeppelins, aerial reconnaissance, flying boats, air racers, helicopters, WWII, the Cold War, air freight, jet airliners and Stealth. But alongside all that you’ll also find sections on the Red Baron, airline food, animals in space, the development of the ejection seat, air speed records, island airbases, hovercraft, fictional pilots, rocket planes, levitating mice, how to make a bottle rocket, polar aviation, the Caspian Sea Monster, aircraft nicknames, airline callsigns, aviation books, movies and music, flying superheroes and plenty more besides.
I absolutely loved writing and researching The Big Book of Flight and learnt a lot while doing so The only real problem, in the end, was finding space for it all. There were a few sections that, sadly, there just weren’t room for! I’ll post a few of them on the website over the next few months. So keep checking in – or follow me on twitter for news of when they’re going to appear.