This is the fourth and penultimate volume of Smith’s comprehensive overview exploring aircraft construction in Britain, and is just as good as the previous three. From the heavyweights – Armstrong Whitworth, Boulton & Paul and Hawker Siddeley – to the minnows, they are all here and copiously illustrated as well, with lots of contemporary advertisements in addition to the many excellent photographs. What comes out in this volume is that aircraft production was widely dispersed in both wars and all kinds of unlikely sounding manufacturers stood alongside the major companies in the Heart of England; I was particularly taken with the Leicester Corporation Bus and Tram Depot who manufactured Lancaster ailerons and fuselage components. On the facing page is a glorious picture of a Short 827 floatplane built by The Brush Electrical Engineering Company of Loughborough. I have enjoyed all these volumes, and they add up to an essential reference work (which will be cross indexed in the final volume) on the chosen subject. The amount of research done is mind blowing. The author works at BAE Systems, and I am sure that they will be glad to have him back when the final volume is completed!