The registration letters painted on an aircraft's tail are like its number plate: they can reveal the story of an individual aircraft and its different roles during its working life. Inspired by this novel way of looking at aviation history, Guy Halford-MacLeod follows the chequered and multi-faceted careers of forty different airliners to present a compelling insight into the wider story of British aviation: larger-than-life characters, politics, the aircraft manufacturers, the state-owned corporations, the independent airlines, some unwilling buyers, a lot of coercion, big financial losses, cheap holiday charters and, inevitably, going bust - the full story of Britain's airlines and the aircraft they used. This heavily illustrated book delves into the tales of a fascinating selection of aircraft, including many of Britain's finest airliners now preserved at museums around the country, to present the development of Britain's airline industry.

The third in Guy Halford-MacLeod's series on the history of independent airlines in Britain after the Second World War, battling against ever-changing government policies, this well-organised book takes us from Harold Wilson's first administration through the Thatcher years, to the surprising acceptance of Open Skies within the European Community. Britain's Airlines focuses on the airlines, their managers, the aircraft they flew, and the conditions they contended with for survival. Guy Halford-MacLeod explains how the airlines made and remade themselves, ducking and diving in a slippery and difficult ring; and records the exploits of some well-known heavy-weights, Freddie Laker, Lord King, and Richard Branson. There are unfamiliar slants on the stories of the time, and this readable book offers both structure and expert analysis of the complex issues which faced the airlines and their regulators.

This is the second book in Guy-Halford Macleod's three-volume series on Britain's airlines. The series hopes to redress the balance in considering particularly the independent airlines, the first truly low-cost airlines which have left an indelible mark on the industry, fashioning the template of low costs, targeted marketing, differential prices and cheap fares. Volume 1 covered the shortest time-scale in the series, 1946-51. It looks at plans for Nationalisation in WW2, post-war aviation policy, and the business opportunities of the era. This volume looks at early post-war developments under Labour (nationalisation and private airlines); restrictions under the subsequent Tory govt; charter airlines under the Tories (Dan Air, Freddie Laker), Suez Crisis; Macmillan era, focus on manufacturing; amalgamations from 1960 Civil Aviation Act and Air Transport Licensing Board, giving way to licensing battles, disappointments, setbacks and new beginning as by 1964 Tory rule again came to an end.