This is just as good as Volume 1 (reviewed in 34/1). I still think of this part of Britain as being rural and recreational, but this book encompasses Bristol, Supermarine, Hawker, Gloster, Westland, Saunders Roe and Brittain Norman, as well as the author’s own BAE SYSTEMS, operating out of Filton, Hucclecote, Hamble, Farnborough, Hurn and Yeovil, so perhaps I am underestimating the area.

Dr Smith starts with the same interesting essay (as in Vol 1) on the Evolution of the British Aircraft Industry from the Pioneers of 1908-1914 right up to modern times, suitably amended for the new area covered. The meat of the book is then an exhaustive list of all the manufacturers, from the ones mentioned above to the likes of Bath Aircraft Ltd, of Flight Works, Lower Bristol Road, Bath, who advertised their capabilities as ‘Manufacturers of planes, propellers, struts, fuselages, etc. to the highest possible quality’. A facsimile of the advertisement is included, together with the rather doleful statement ‘nothing further is known’! And I think that this is going to be one of the great strengths and pleasures of this series, that someone of you out there is going to reveal some of the missing pieces of the jigsaw. Wonderful pictures and a splendid Index and Bibliography complement an excellent source book. Volume 3 will be out next year.