‘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.
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
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.