Stuck on the Drawing Board - 9780752431727

In 1945 the British aviation industry was poised for dominance in the global market. It had a dazzling array of design talent. It had a trained and enthusiastic labor force on the shop floor. It was all going to be like flying, long periods of progress punctuated by only moments of sheer terror. Aviation journalist Payne shows how everything went horribly wrong. Shifting governmental policies, based on perceptions that military aircraft had no market and that the industry did not need support, coupled with a nation air transport industry that was not required to use British-made aircraft combined with a myriad of other odd doings, keeping a wide variety of viable craft on paper. Payne thoroughly describes what was never to be, and provides a wealth of what are now rather wistful renderings and photographs of scale models. Distributed in the US by Trafalgar Square Publishing. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)