‘We all owe a great deal to George Edwards, though few people will know how much until they read this biography’ - Sir John Major

He was the designer of Britain’s first V-bomber, the leader of the British Concorde team, and the man who made the bouncing bomb bounce. Yet George Edwards’s name is all but forgotten today.

The son of a widowed tobacconist from the East End of London, Edwards started his career in aviation in 1935, when he became a junior draughtsman in Vickers Aviation’s Surrey factory for the princely sum of 5 guineas a week. Within ten years he was their chief designer; within thirty-five he was the managing director of British Aircraft Corporation.

Written using thirty hours of exclusive interviews with Edwards himself, From Bouncing Bombs to Concorde is an illuminating look at a man who helped shape post-war Britain’s aviation industry.

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The story of George Edwards, whose name is synonymous with the Vickers Viscount, the controversial TSR2 project and the legendary Concorde

  • Title
  • Copyright
  • Contents
  • Foreword
  • Acknowledgements
  • Author’s Note
  • 1 In the Beginning
  • 2 A Job at Vickers
  • 3 Preparing for War
  • 4 ‘Down with ’Itler’
  • 5 Working for Beaverbrook
  • 6 Bouncing Bombs
  • 7 Mission to Germany
  • 8 Chief Designer
  • 9 ‘The Heat and Burden of the Viscount’
  • 10 ‘Falling in Love with the Viscount’
  • 11 Britain’s First V-bomber
  • 12 Managing Director
  • 13 Ethel Merman, Bob Six, but Mostly Howard Hughes
  • 14 ‘The Biggest Blunder of All’
  • 15 Accolades, Worries and the Vanguard
  • 16 The VC10 – ‘A Sorry Story’
  • 17 Rationalisation
  • 18 TSR.2 and a New Partner
  • 19 British Aircraft Corporation
  • 20 TSR.2 – the Beginning of the End
  • 21 TSR.2 – the End
  • 22 Life After Death, but Only Just
  • 23 Concorde – the Beginnings
  • 24 ‘She Flies’
  • 25 Trouble with the French
  • 26 Guided Weapons and Defence Contracts
  • 27 His Last Aircraft
  • 28 Enter the Wide-Bodies
  • 29 Changes at the Top
  • 30 ‘Merger-itis’ and Nationalisation
  • 31 Into Retirement
  • 32 Pastimes, Painting and ‘Cricket, Lovely Cricket’
  • 33 The University of Surrey and a Personal Crusade
  • 34 ‘A Man of Absolute Rectitude’
  • 35 Last Overs
  • Envoi
  • Appendix One: Abbreviations
  • Appendix Two: Chronology
  • Bibliography
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George Edwards' name is synonymous with the Vickers Viscount, the world's first turboprop airliner; the controversial TSR2 project and the legendary Anglo-French Concorde.

Product details

ISBN
9781837050888
Published
2025-12-18
Publisher
The History Press Ltd
Height
198 mm
Width
129 mm
Age
00, G, 01
Language
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet

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