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British Secret Projects: Jet Fighters Since 1950
 
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British Secret Projects: Jet Fighters Since 1950 [Illustrated] (Hardcover)

by Tony Buttler (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
RRP: £24.95
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 176 pages
  • Publisher: Midland Publishing; illustrated edition edition (5 Sep 2000)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1857800958
  • ISBN-13: 978-1857800951
  • Product Dimensions: 28.4 x 21.6 x 1.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 220,118 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Product Description
Makes extensive use of previously unpublished primary source material, recently declassified. They give an insight into a secret world where the public had little idea of what was going on, while at the same time presenting a coherent nationwide picture of fighter development and evolution.

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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The glory of what might have been, 12 Jan 2001
By Mr. R. Szweda "royzee" (mk uk) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This is a highly informative book replete with many photos - mostly mono as befits the period - and 3-view figures and other illustrations.

Unlike today when a few companies are focussed on a few projects, this book covers a heyday when over a dozen British companies and research institutes were involved in leading edge aeronautical research. Enriched by their own WW2 R&D coupled with 'borrowings' from the Luftwaffe and motivated by the red menace, miraculous aircraft were being conceived. Some of these even made it into the air!

So reading this book is a revelatory experience, an illuminating one and also a melancholy one. There's plenty of technical info but there's also a story running through it. While there are other books on the subject there can be few other places where you can find so much info in between two covers.

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Tony Buttler pulls back the curtain on an era of British aviation history, 8 Jul 2006
By A. G. Corwin (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
X-planes have always held a special place in the aviation enthusiasts' heart. The fascination with what could have been and an enthusiasm for unheralded aircraft designs are showcased in this solid Midlands Publishing book by Tony Buttler entitled British Secret Projects: Jet Fighters Since 1950. The book, chock full of photographs, diagrams, and models of projects that never made the prototype stage, brings new life to many hidden aspects of the post-World War II British aviation industry. Buttler has worked with renowned Soviet aircraft expert Yefim Gordon, and has learned much from him in regards to delivering a book equally fascinating to both aviation buffs and modelers.

Thanks to this book, we get the chance to learn more about what was once a sketch on a designer's notepad. Buttler examines the development of British fighter aircraft by breaking down the book into 15 chapters, each focusing on a different type of aircraft requirement by the British government. For example instead of lumping interceptors into just one chapter, Buttler breaks it into naval all-weather, naval day interceptors, and high altitude fighters. This allows a more detailed examination of the development of each type over a decade's time and how designs evolve in response to manufacturer and government input and to changes in the initial requirement.

Other chapters include variable geometry designs, the first British supersonic designs, and fighters designed to reach speeds of Mach 2 or higher. The designs from manufactures like Hawker, Gloster, Fairey, Bristol, Short, Supermarine, and Vickers range from the unique to the truly bizarre. Some designs have an elegance and beauty unknown to American and Soviets designs, most notably the De Havilland DH.116 naval fighter with its graceful wing sweep and T-tail, the Fairey F.155T delta winged, twin engine interceptor, and the twin-boomed supersonic STOVL Hawker Siddley P.1216.

At 176 pages and with well over 200 color, black and white photographs, and design sketches, this book is full of everything an aviation enthusiast desires. The only negative is that the British aviation industry had neither the industrial base nor the technological capacity to build and research aircraft like the Americans and Soviets did, thereby leaving many of the designs to a mere sketch or model instead of developing into actual prototypes. Interestingly enough, however, if one compares the progression of fighter design in Britain after the introduction of the jet engine to that of American and Soviet designs, many similarities emerge. This demonstrates that the science of aeronautics and the physics involved in flight heavily determines the progression of design and development.

After the 1960's the British began using American or joint-design aircraft like the Phantom, the Tornado, and the Eurofighter. Only the Harrier and the BAE Hawk, pure products of British design, have survived to this day in service. For the future, with the loss of so many British design bureaus and the internationalization of fighter design, it is unlikely we shall ever see a pure British design again. The Eurofighter and Joint Strike Fighter seem poised to serve for the next 30-40 years wearing the colors that once graced the wings of a Spitfire or Meteor.

The Secret Projects series from Midland Publishing gives a glimpse into the fascinating world of aircraft design that might have been forever lost if not for the passion and diligence of the author and publisher. This is a great addition to the series and a must for the collector's shelf. This and other Midland Publishing books can be ordered here on Amazon, directly from the US distributor, Specialty Press, or on their website specialtypress.com. Highly recommended for enthusiasts and modelers.

A.G. Corwin
St.Louis, MO
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars The Book of Lost opportunities, 12 Oct 2002
By Emmanuel Gustin (Mechelen, Belgium) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
For the aviation enthusiast who likes to wonder about what might have been, this book is a must-have. The author has done a great job documenting the design work in the last great age of the British military aviation industry, an era that remains in memory chiefly as one of horrible mismanagement. This book does a lot to set the record straight.

Detailed development stories show how manufacturers and the government worked, together and against in each other, in designing aircraft for future needs. It is in the nature of the subject that a lot of illustrations are sketches, drawing board outlines or artist's representations; as most of the projects discussed here never left the drawing board.

Perhaps an opportunity was lost to weave all threads of the story together: Technical developments are but a part of an overall strategy. The reader may feel overloaded with the technical detail, and wonder in what context it belongs. But there are other books to cover that.

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