British Aircraft Specifications File 1920-1949 **

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Between 1920 and 1949, the Air Ministry Specification was the basis on which the British aircraft industry designed its military and commercial aircraft. The fighters that defended Britain, the heavy bombers that Bomber Command flew over Germany in World War Two, the maritime aircraft that helped to keep open the sea routes, the Royal Navy's carrier-borne aircraft, the airliners that linked the British Empire and, finally, the jet fighters and bombers that revolutionised air warfare all stemmed from Specifications that were formulated many years before the prototypes flew.

This book provides details of all the 850 Specifications for the period when the system was in use, derived from the original documents and is, we believe, the first complete listing to be published. It is illustrated with 250 photographs of the prototypes which were built to meet the Specifications as well as pages of drawings of unbuilt designs.

From 1920, Specifications were issued to find replacements for the World War One types that remained in service and in the early 1930s provided the basis for many of the types that saw service in World War Two. Specification E.28/39 was probably the most famous of all, calling for the first British jet-propelled aircraft, soon followed by another which resulted in the Meteor jet fighter. By the time the system was replaced in 1949, Specifications had set out the requirements for the V-bombers and a Mach 2 fighter that became the Lightning.

As well as military aircraft, the Air Ministry and its successors, the Ministry of Aircraft Production and the Ministry of Supply, set out the requirements for commercial aircraft to be used by civil airlines, culminating in the Brabazon.
During the thirty years covered, virtually every type of British aircraft was covered and these are detailed in the text.

408 pages, 250 photographs.