weight, 157, 221
Nixon, President Richard, 135
and Space Shuttle program, 194, 195, 196
Normandie, SS, 68
North Atlantic
convoys, 210
dangers, 55–7, 59–61
North Sea, naval battles, 208
North Vietnam, B-52s in, 133–6
Nuffield, Lord, 227–8
Olympus engines, 5
Oshkosh Air Show (1976), 41
Pacific, SS, 60
Paddington Station, London, 58, 70
paddle steamers, 58–9, 69, 70
Pan-Am air crash, Los Rodeos (1977), 87–91
Paris
Concorde crash (2003), ix
Vietnam War peace talks, 135
Patton, General George, 222
Pearl Harbor (film), 45, 218
Pegler, Alan, 122
Pemberton-Billing, Noel, 224
Perfect Storm, The (film), 56
Phoenix, Arizona, development, 149
pilots
salaries, 47
wartime shortage, 230
planespotting, 118
Poland, German invasion, 49
Porsche Cayenne car, 20
Portofino harbour, 32
Powers, Gary, 175
Pratt and Whitney jet engines, 129
President, SS, 59
Prince of Wales, HMS, 210, 211, 212
Queen Mary, SS, 68
radar, invention, 222
RAF. See Royal Air Force
Ragtown, 144, 146, 147
railway tracks, width, 75
Rainier, Prince of Monaco, 32
Ramillies, HMS, 212
Range Rovers, desert driving, 37, 39
Renown, HMS, 212
Repulse, HMS, 212
Rigg, Diana, 119
Riva, Carlo, 28–34
Riva company, 28–34
Aquarama speedboat, 26–7, 31–4
beauty, 26–7, 34
customers, 31–2
interior design, 27
prices, 32, 33
stability, 33
rocketry
early, 78–9
in satellite transport, 78–80, 81
Rockwell engines, 188
Rockwood, Charles, 141–2, 143
Roddenbury, Gene, 35
Rolls, Charles, 21
Rolls-Royce cars, 20–5
Phantom model, 21–5
Rolls-Royce engines, 224, 226
Royal Air Force (RAF)
fighter planes, 224
Spitfires, 232
and Tirpitz, 213
Royal Navy
battleships, 206–10
Dreadnought, 206
and rate of fire, 209
and submarines, 178–9, 185–6
and U-Boats, 180
Royce, Sir Henry, 20, 21
Russia, space programme, 78, 196
Salton Sink, 142
San Francisco, Boeing 747 accident (1971), 92
satellites
geo-stationary, 80
numbers, 77
speed, 80
tracking, 82–5
transport, 78–80, 81
uses, 76–7
Saunders Roe company, 52–3
Princess flying boat, 52–4
Schneider, Jacques, 223
Schneider Trophy, 223–4
Schreuder, Willem, 90
seaplanes
jet-powered, 52
racing, 223, 225
Second World War (1939–45), 49, 99–100
aerial dogfights, 9, 228, 229–30
kamikaze raids, 219
naval battles, 210–20
planes, 222–3, 228–31, 232, 233
submarines, 179–82
Zeppelins, 113
Sellers, Peter, 31
Shaw, George Bernard, 109
Sheffield, HMS, 212
shipwrecks, 57, 59–65
Shorts company
Empire Flying Boat, 48
Sunderland Flying Boat, 49–51
Sikorsky Flying Boats, 48
Skylab crash, 78
sound barrier, breaking, 3, 7, 191
Soviet Union. See also Russia
Cuba missiles, 125
satellites, 78, 80
supersonic aircraft development, 9
and Tirpitz, 215
space debris, dangers of, 77–8
spaceships, cinematic, 35–7, 40–2
Space Shuttle
accidents, 190, 195–6, 197
engines, 188–91
flights, 194–5
grounding, 196, 197
landing, 191–2, 194–5
launching, 189–91
power, 189–91, 197
problems, 77, 193–4
Space 1999 (TV series), 40
Spain
B-52 crash (1966), 132–3
NASA emergency runway, 191
Sparrow Cove, Falkland Islands, 55, 73
‘Spitfire Knuckle’, 227
Spitfires
ailerons, jamming, 9–10
and altitude, 227, 228
armour, 227
design problems, 224–8
engines, 225, 227
and London Blitz, 230–31
Mark IX, 231
production, 227–8
and Second World War, x, 222–3, 228–31, 232, 233
speed, 225–6, 231
updating, 231
Sputnik satellite, 80
633 Squadron (film), 40
SR-71 (‘Blackbird’) spy planes, 26, 173–4, 176
crashes, 171–3
engines, 170–71, 173
flying height, 168
freedom, 176
heat generation, 174
power, 170
speed, 167, 168–9
Stalingrad, German advance to (1942), 99–100
Star Trek (film/TV series), 35
Star Wars (films), 35, 40, 42
steamships
design, 58–75
iron, 69–70, 74
propellers, 69, 70–71
wooden, 69, 70
stock market crash (1929), 144
Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), 128
Subaru cars, 18
submarines, 177–86
accommodation, 178
collisions, 185
hunter-killers, 184–5
nuclear power, 182–5
secrecy, 178
size, 183–4
speed, 184–5
wartime, 179–82
Sunderland Flying Boats, 49–51
Supermarine company, 228
and Schneider Trophy, 223–4
supersonic flight, 2, 3, 8, 9, 168–9
atmosphere and, 7–8
heat generation, 7–8
problems of, 9–10
shockwaves, 9–10
speed, 3, 7, 8, 9, 169
television, satellite transmission, 81
Telstar satellite, 81, 82, 83
Temple Meads station, Bristol, 58
Ten Go, operation, 219
Teutonic, SS, 66
Thames tunnel, 57
Tierney, Patrick, 148
Tirpitz, KMS, 213–16
Titanic, SS, 56, 64–5, 66, 67
Titanic (film), 61
Tokyo, Graf Zeppelin flight, 116
Top Gear (TV series), 198
Tora! Tora! Tora! (film), 218
Torrick, Ray, 173
Toyoto Mark One Land Cruiser truck, 37, 39
Trafalgar, battle of (1805), 209
trains, cornering, 75
trainspotting, 118–19
transatlantic travel, early, 58–72
transportation, mass, 94
Trippe, Juan, 47, 94, 95
TWA Jumbo explosion (1996), 92–3
2001: A Space Odyssey (film), 35
Tyson, Geoffrey, 53
U-Boats, 50, 179–82
United States
battleships, 20
6, 221
Concorde flights, 11–12, 74
European emigration to, 63
flying boats, 46–7, 48
friendly fire, 93, 134
satellites, 80–81
supersonic aircraft development, 8–9
Vietnam War, 133–6
and the Yamato, 219–20
United States, liner, 68
United States Air Force, plane storage, 127
U-2 spy planes, 175
Utah, Blackbird crash (1963), 171–2
Vadim, Roger, 32
Van Damme, Jean Claude, 45
Vanguard, HMS, 221
V6 engines, 162
V8 engines, 29, 200, 201, 202
Vesta, SS, 60–61
Vickers company, 33, 228
Victorious, HMS, 212
Vietcong, arms, 101
Vietnam War (1955-75), 101, 133–6
Virgin airline, and Concorde, 14
Volkswagen Golf GTi, 202
V2 rockets, 79
Vulcan bombers, 10
weather forecast, accuracy, 76–7
White Star Line, 67
Wilhelm II, Kaiser, 107
Wilman, Andy, 39
Winner, Michael, 4
Wreford-Brown, Chris, 186
Wright brothers, 111
Yamamoto, Admiral Isoroku, 218–19
Yamato (battleship), x, 216–20, 221
Yom Kippur War (1973), 11
Zanten, Captain Jacob Veldhuyzen van, 86–91
Zeppelin, Count Ferdinand von, x, 110, 111, 112
Zeppelin airships
bombing raids, 107–9, 112
crashes, 111–12
design defects, 107, 110
development, 110–12
first flight, 110–11
LZ1, 110–11
LZ 127, Graf Zeppelin, 114–15, 116–17
majesty, 109
used in advertising, 113, 116
Table of Contents
Book Jacket
Introduction
Concorde
Rolls-Royce
Riva
Millennium Falcon
Flying Boat
SS Great Britain
Arthur
747
AK47
Zeppelin
Flying Scotsman
B-52
Aircraft Carrier
Alfa Romeo 166
Blackbird
Submarine
Space Shuttle
GT40
Yamato
Spitfire
Picture Credits
Index
John M Dibbs/The Plane Picture Company
Buzz Pictures/Corbis Sygma
Courtesy of Rolls- Royce Motor Cars
Alamy
Kobal Collection/Lucas Film/Twentieth Century Fox
Caught on the Surface by Richard Oliver, courtesy of the Military Gallery
aviation-images.com
Topfoto
National Maritime Museum
Getty Image/Hulton archive
Martin Bond/Science Photo Library
© Daniel Werner
© Ian Woodrow
Novosti (London)
Courtsey of California Newsreel
Bettman/Corbis
Milepost 92
NMM/Science and Society Picture Library
US Air Force
US Navy
Reuters/Corbis
US Navy Photo via Navsource
Kindly supplied by Alfa Romeo
NASA Dryden flight research centre
© Crown Copyright/MOD. Reproduced with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery
TRH Pictures
Mirrorpix
NASA
NASA Kennedy Space Center
Bettman Corbis
© Graham Endeacott
United Artists/The Kobal Collection
45
84
33
118
97
151
220
154
161
156
153
155
157
158
160
46
52
11
113
114
116
88
89
16
8
53
94
115
110
111
93
101
102
104
103
105
69
43
166
162
163
165
164
193
60
64
185
212
82
26
123
187
62
59
55
58
7
74
78
12
13
14
5
32
31
229
230
233
204
205
209
206
219
208
210
216
214
128
130
134
133
129
126
131
132
127
6
29
35
20
22
47
48
3
9
96
87
95
92
91
98
137
144
147
70
73
141
49
57
119
122
71
75
72
27
68
19
197
17
24
190
195
222
231
211
179
181
66
79
80
152
65
138
148
140
142
56
77
175
1
15
4
10
168
2
180
44
146
67
125
106
81
37
120
213
207
38
173
194
25
41
42
159
34
186
199
200
107
54
121
223
202
198
40
18
217
228
232
191
63
139
108
136
225
117
143
149
x
83
183
30
51
100
86
135
109
184
ix
227
76
169
36
196
221
224
226
218
188
201
189
39
28
21
178
90
99
215
176
171
170
174
167
177
182
61
50
112