England’s Lost Transport Heritage from the Air

Winner of the Association for Industrial Archaeology’s Publications Prize 2026Britain was the first country in the world to industrialise and alongside new means of production, came novel forms of transport, including steam trains and steamships in the 19th century and jet aircraft and hovercrafts in the middle of the 20th century. Aerofilms, flying across the country from 1919 onwards, recorded the country’s complex infrastructure of road, rail and maritime transport that was in place between the wars and the company was evolving alongside, and was part of, the new aviation industry that was being created. While flying across the country, Aerofilms’ remarkable photographers also recorded how Britain communicated with its imperial territories. The collection includes images of the country’s vast merchant fleet of liners and cargo vessels as well as the flying boats that formed an international network before jets came to dominate the sky. Aerofilms were there to record the first flight of the ill-fated airship, R101. Much of this interesting transport history that the company’s photographers witnessed has now disappeared or has been relegated to being museum exhibits. This book uses Aerofilms’ photographs to tell the story of England’s lost transport heritage, from Roman roads to supersonic Concorde.