Speedbird

Robin Higham is Emeritus Professor of History at Kansas State University. He is a renowned expert on military and aviation history. His publications include 'A Military History of China' (with David Graff), 'Why Air Forces Fail: The Anatomy of Defeat' (with Stephen J. Harris), 'Two Roads to War: The French and British Air Arms from Versailles to Dunkirk', 'The Writing of Official Military History', 'Russian Aviation and Air Power in the Twentieth Century', 'The Military History of Tsarist Russia', 'The Military History of the Soviet Union' (with Fredrick W. Kagan), and 'Britain's Imperial Air Routes, 1918-39: The Story of Britain's Overseas Airlines'.

• List of Boxes, Charts, and IllustrationsAuthor's Note (1976)Author's Note (2012)PrefacePart 1: Airline in Wartime, 1939-1945Chapter 1. The Corporation at War Chapter 2. Wartime Routes and ServicesChapter 3. Planning the Return to Commercial OperationPart 2: Highs and Lows, 1946-1964Chapter 4. Re-Establishing a Commercial AirlineChapter 5. Postwar Operations, 1945-1949Chapter 6. Apex and Aftermath: The Miles Thomas Era, 1949-1956Chapter 7. Organization and Operations, 1949-1956 Chapter 8. The d’Erlanger Regime, 1956-1960Chapter 9. Aircraft Procurement?Turbo-Prop and Big JetChapter 10. The Slattery Regime and the CrisisPart 3: 'Magna Carta' to Dissolution, 1964-1974Chapter 11. Beginning the Last DecadeChapter 12. Edwards and the Second ForceChapter 13. Challenges and Responses in the Final Decade, 1964-1974Chapter 14. Further Challenges and Responses, 1964-1974Chapter 15. Concluding the BOAC StoryAppendicesBritish Governments by Prime MinisterMinisters Responsible for Air and Aviation, 1939-1974Chairmen of BOACMembers of the Board of BOACSalaries According to Whitaker’s AlmanacBOAC CompaniesComprehensive BOAC Fleet ListAbbreviationsNotesBibliographyIndexAbout the Author

The story of BOAC is an important one - in many ways it epitomizes the postwar ritish struggle to find a viable economic strategy and secure a place in the new postcolonial world.' Air Vice-Marshal Peter Dye, Director of the RAF Museum