MEN with WINGS

Inscribed, signed & dated 1957 on the title page by

Wing Commander H P ‘Sandy’ Powell

Allan Wingate First Edition, first printing 1957. 197 pages and well illustrated with photos. Foreword by Peter Twiss.

Very Good condition hardback book in blue covers boards. There is a touch of light spotting on a few of the pages and edges. The dustjacket is in Very Good condition, unclipped but with some grubbiness to the rear panel.  It is now protected in an archival cover.

Following the enormous popularity of Geoffrey Dorman’s book ‘British Test Pilots’ and Supermarine Chief Test Pilot Mike Lithgow’s ‘Vapour Trails‘, this book was written by Sandy Powell, Deputy Commandant of the Empire Test Pilot School (ETPS), to tell the triumphs and disasters of eight of his test pilot friends.

The chapters on Jo Lancaster who was the first pilot to use an ejection seat in an emergency when the experimental AW.52 developed uncontrollable flutter and Charles Turner Hughes who managed a successful forced landing in an Ensign with all four engines failed, set the tone for a fascinating read.

Wing Commander Harry ‘Sandy’ Powell (1911-1986) joined the RAF in 1936 and on gaining his wings in 1937, was posted to a light bomber Squadron flying Harts. He flew Blenheims in France at the beginning of the war before being posted to the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment at Boscombe Down where he served from 1941 to 1943 as a test pilot, flying over 30 types. He was then appointed as Deputy Commandant of the newly formed ETPS.  Here he had such famous pupils as Duke, Lithgow and Twiss who all became chief test pilots and world record holders. 

A scarce signed copy of an often overlooked book on British test pilots of the 1950s.