A Sound in the Sky – Reminiscences of Geoffrey Alington
Prix régulier 19,00 € TTC 6%
Characteristics
| Book cover finish | Perfect paperback |
| Condition | Used very good |
| Number of pages | 233 |
| Published date | 1994 |
| Language | English |
| Author | Geoffrey Alington |
| Editor | R.K. Hudson |
Description
This is a book about flying, from the first engine- powered flight in 1903 until the last years of World War II. It tells of the people who flew.
Geoffrey's uncle, Patrick Hamilton learned to fly in 1911. In May 1912 he was posted to the Royal Flying Corps when it was first formed, sadly losing his life when his machine crashed on military exercises that September.
Geoffrey writes of his growing interest in anything mechanical especially if it flew. He gained his 'A' pilot's licence in 1933 before leaving Blundell's School.
Having completed his apprenticeship at the de Haviland Technical School he became involved in an air taxi service and air archeological surveying in Europe. He flew to Kenya and back with his mother who had learned to fly in 1930.
In 1939, having failed the colour test for the RAF, Geoffrey became a ferry pilot. In 1940 he was appointed test pilot to the Austin Motors Aircraft Factory at Longbridge, testing their Battles, Hurricanes, Stirlings and Lancasters. He become Chief Test Pilot there in 1941.
Geoffrey died in 1987. His manuscript ends in 1943. It is excellent history with much technical information interspersed among anecdotes about his family, his associates in his work, his adventures both in the air and on the ground, held together by his exuberant style of writing and his love of just being in the air. It all thoroughly deserved to be published in the form he would have wished. That is what has now been attempted here.