England and the Aeroplane

Fully revised and updated edition of this account of the strange mixture of romanticism, militarism and technology that has made the aeroplane so important to England. It is re-published in the light of the success of Edgerton's successful }Britain's War Machine{. The history of England and the aeroplane is one tangled with myths - of 'the Few' and the Blitz, of boffins, flying machines, amateur inventors and muddling through. In 'England and the Aeroplane' David Edgerton reverses received wisdom, showing that the aeroplane is a central and revealing aspect of an unfamiliar English nation: a warfare state dedicated to technology, industry, empire and military power. In a revelatory recounting of the story of aeronautical England, from its politics to its industry and culture, David Edgerton reconfigures some of the most important chapters of England's history