Testing Time
A Study of Man and Machine in the Test Flying Era
Smith, Constance Babbington
An authoritative writer on aviation provides in this book an important, carefully documented examination and re-interpretation of the role of British test pilots over the last fifty odd years, and looks forward into the future. Existing books have tended to concentrate on the specialist fliers (and, to their horror, glamorize them) or on the technicalities of their work; Testing Time is a study of the subject as a whole, in longer perspective, tracing the development of test-flying from Dunne's early experiments with a 'stable flying machine' to the flight testing of the supersonic Lightning by Roland Beamont - 'the sort of pilot who Catches the 8.15 to work' - largely by means of devices such as auto-observers which foreshadow the fully automatic testing of the future.
In the years between stand some of the greatest names in the story of man's conquest of theair. De Havilland, the most outstanding of the designer-test pilots, Roe, Sopwith, the Short brothers, creating an industry from spruce frames and the nostalgic lang of burnt castor oil; S. F. Cody, an exuberant, courageous experimenter of the wood and wire days; Wilfred Parke, Howard Pixton, Harry Hawker, the mainsprings of the breed of today's specialist pilots; Teddy Busk and Dr. F. A. Lindemann, the scientist-pilots, learning two trades so that others could know one trade better; Henry Tizard and Roderic Hill, the two men who put British test flying on its feet; the pilots of the 'middle years', such as 'George' Bulman and John Lankcstcr Parker, setting new Standards for their work, a new standing for their profession; Jeffrey Quill, of Spitfire fame, one of the last of the great 'self-taught' test pilots; and among the pilots of the jet-age, Jerry Sayer, Michael Daunt, Geoffrey de Havilland and John Derry, feeling their way into the unknown, towards the barriers of sound and heat.
The history of British aviation is brilliantly studded with great names, however much their owners may deplore the glamour and publicity which surrounds them, for in essence the good test pilot, the good aircraft designer, the good aeronautical scientist, is strongly individual, standing apart from his fellows: the best are those who can weld their individuality into a team of individuals. Miss Babington Smith's book, with its rich store of previously unpublished material, is more than a fascinating factual study of man's relation to machine in the air; it is a history of progress, a story of fine courage and rare dedication.
Hardcover with dust jacket
224 Seiten / pages
many photos
good condition
London - 1961 - Cassell & Company
Art.Nr. 22498
