"Supermarine Aircraft since 1914"
“Supermarine Aircraft since 1914” by C. F. Andrews & E. B. Morgan. 400 pp. 8 1/4,” x 5 1/2″ (Putnam & Co. Ltd., 9, Bow Street, London, WC2E 7AL. £15.00)
How nicer see Putnam’s “back in business” with their renowned One-Company aviation histories, which we have so frequently reviewed favourably in the past. This one is very appropriate, as it can be said to celebrate not only the Schneider Trophy machines made by Supermarine’s but also the Spitfire which is very much in the news at present, because this Company built not only our saviour fighter in the Battle of Britain which shared the outcome with the Hawker Hurricane) but the Sea Lion flying-boat and those subsequent S-series Schneider Trophy racing seaplanes, winning this race four times, from Baird’s 1922 victory in the Sea Lion II at 145.7 m.p.h. to Flt.Lt. Boothman’s 1931 fly. over at more than 340 m.p.h. in the S6.
Apart, however, from containing such topical material, the book is in the well-known Putnam tradition, of giving a complete history of the Company it is concerned with and all its products, from the Pemberton Billing days to the Types 316-318 B. 12/36 bomber. Design projects of the war years are dealt with, with many sc. drawings, there is a full type-list of Superrnarine machines with dates and serial numbers, Spitfire production dispersal occupies many pages, and apart from all this tabulated data, this is a book that ranges wide, from the tiny Supermarine Sparrow light-‘plane to the big Southampton flying-boats, etc. It is definitely an historian’s, and a model-maker’s, delight. It is another book that covers the Schneider Trophy races in some detail, but its aim is about Supermarine machines overall. The Foreword is by Sir Peter Masefield and the dedication is to “Reginald J. Mitchell and Joseph Smith — design engineers of distinction”. – W.B.
Eric Dymock has written a big-paged reference work on “Postwar Sports Cars — The Modern Classics”, from Mini and RM Riley to the grand marques as he calls the more exotic cars he covers, with lots of pictures. It is by the Ebury Press, 44, Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DU and costs £9.95.
MG-A buffs can get a 238-page magazine-format (103/4″ x 81/2″) History and Restoration Guide to these sports cars, including the twin-cam iobs, for £11.95, from Patrick Stephens Ltd., Bar Hill, Cambridge, CB3 8EL, the author being the N. American MG-A Registrar, Robert P. Vitrikas.
Largely a picture book, “Mercedes-Benz C111 Experimental Cars” by the knowledgeable Paul Freer with photographs by Julius Weitmann comes from the high-class book-producer, Edits of Lausanne. It has 168 colour and 9 b. St w. pictures in its 136 II x 8./2. pages and is available here from Patrick Stephens Ltd., address above, for 01.95, the title being self-explanatory.
W.B.