Cultures and caricatures of British imperial aviation : passengers, pilots, publicity / Gordon Pirie.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pirie, Gordon, Author.

Series:

Studies in imperialism (Manchester, England)

Studies in imperialism

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Air travel--Social aspects--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Air travel.

Aeronautics, Commercial--Social aspects--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Aeronautics, Commercial.

Transcontinental flights--Social aspects--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Transcontinental flights.

Imperialism--Social aspects--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Imperialism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (264 pages) : illustrations; digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

MSI edition.

Place of Publication:

Manchester, UK : Manchester University Press, 2017.

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Imperial flying was not just about machines, timetables and routes; it was also about ideas, values and practices. This book focuses on the way airborne mobility itself expressed imperialism. Imperial Airways projected an idealised Britain to the Empire, and interpreted and refracted the Empire to Britons. Passengers in commercial aircraft had adventures in the early days of Empire flying, in a mild way, fleeting, organised overnight stops at foreign places. Writing about and publicising imperial flying in the 1920s and 1930s created the first caricatures of Empire aviation. Words and images about long-distance air journeys, aircraft, landing grounds, passengers, crew and landscapes were necessarily selective and partial. Amy Johnson, in a BBC broadcast, said Great Britain was ready to make a decisive bid for world supremacy in the air. Wealthy people were the passengers (acronym 'PAX' in current airline parlance) on scheduled civil aircraft services in the 1930s on routes between England, Africa, India and Australia. The flying crew and ground staff personified the values of their employer and the Empire. Making the public 'airminded' was certainly part of deliberate acculturation in late imperial Britain; Imperial Airways tapped the Empire for publicity. The virtual mobility, presented by the 1930s texts and images, were enjoyed by earthbound readers and viewers. However, the first life of Empire aviation ended in 1939. In the past six decades, Empire aviation has been actively re-imagined and reincarnated as historical subject, hobby, and period artefact and icon.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Acknowledgements

List of illustrations

General editor's introduction

1 Introduction

PART I: Private flying

2 Aerial adventure

3 Seeking supremacy

4 Imperial encounters

PART II: Commercial flying

5 'PAX' Britannica

6 Imperial journeys

7 Personifying Empire

8 Imperial plumage

9 Imperial passages

10 Re-flying Empire

11 Conclusion

Index

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 30 Mar 2026).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Restricted: Printing from this resource is governed by The Legal Deposit Libraries (Non-Print Works) Regulations (UK) and UK copyright law currently in force.

Description based on print record.

ISBN:

1-5261-1848-3

OCLC:

1232846246