RAF: The Aircraft in Service Since 1918

The aircraft used by the RAF since its foundation in 1918 have been as varied in their popularity as in their design and function. Some planes have been regarded as deathtraps by their crews, and quickly withdrawn from service; others could sustain incredible damage and still return safely home. Each new design soon developed its own personality, and might be loved or hated; indeed, some of the best inspired such affection that societies have been formed to keep their memory alive. Many of these planes no longer exist, and many more were never photographed in colour; but through the paintings of Michael Turner the reader can see them as they appeared in their heyday. Royal Air Force: The Aircraft in Service since 1918 combines these paintings with a large number of comments and assessments by the men who actually flew the planes, to give the reader a highly personal impression of what they were actually like to fly.
Michael Turner's paintings have been universally praised for their combination of technical accuracy with unrivalled attention tc mood and detail. In this collection of more than one hundred of his works, he has covered the entire history of the Service from the early wood-boned wire-braced biplanes, through the metal monoplanes of-the Second World War such as the Supermarine Spitfire, the Avro Lancaster and the Hawker Tempest, to the supersonic jets of the present. As well as the famous, he has included the less successful designs, the training aircraft, and the transport planes; and complementing these illustrations are a series of drawings illustrating aspects of life on the airfields, and the operations of the RAF at peace and at war throughout its history.
Together the artistry of Michael Turner and the many accounts of RAF personnel of past and present make this a unique and fascinating record of the development of the Royal Air Force, of interest to air historians, members of the RAF and laymen alike.



by Chaz Bowyer and Michael Turner
Published by Hamlyn 1981 1st edition. 208pp illustrated with paintings and drawings, index, bibliography. 22x29 fine, d/j slightly rubbed on edges.



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Note:
"Long" descriptions, where shown, may have been taken from the book's dust jacket notes, and as such are relevant to the date of publication (e.g. any references to "new edition" "previously unpublished photographs" etc.) and not the present.