Mike Phipp – författare

Dorset has always been an important railway county, catering for holidaymakers heading to the resorts of Bournemouth, Swanage and Weymouth. As part of the mid-nineteenth-century desire for railways to reach many parts of the country, a line from Southampton reached the county town of Dorchester in 1847. This was to become part of the London & South Western Railway. The Great Western Railway arrived in the county in 1857 with a line from Yeovil to Weymouth built to Brunel’s broad-gauge standard. Another name associated with the county was the Somerset & Dorset Railway, which opened between Bath and Poole in 1870. Development of the various lines are covered – their heyday was the 1950s when they were used by holidaymakers heading for the sunny south coast. Then came the Beeching closures, but also the electrification of the main line to Weymouth. The various routes within the county are covered by a wide selection of photographs, many of which have not been published before.

The BAE Hawk jet trainer was first delivered to the RAF in November 1976 – fifty years ago. Since then, the aircraft has been extensively used by the RAF (and Royal Navy), still seeing service with the Red Arrows Aerobatic Team and in the advance flying training role. The Hawk has been an export success for the UK aviation industry, with worldwide sales ranging from Finland to Australia and Canada to the Middle and Far East. A major success was selling the design to the US Navy. The final Hawks produced were delivered to Qatar in 2022. This was proof of the aircraft’s original excellent design in the 1970s by a team from Hawker Siddeley. One of their aims was to produce an aircraft that could be assembled by the purchasing country’s aviation industry. Over the years the Hawk evolved to meet customer needs resulting in the development of a number of versions. As well as the original two-seat trainer, a single-seat ground-attack version was also produced.Covering the Hawk’s design, evolution and worldwide use, this book contains a selection of previously unseen illustrations and highly informative text.

Wessex - for our purposes Dorset and Wiltshire, along with the western parts of Hampshire and Berkshire - has been part of Britain's aviation industry for over a hundred years. In his comprehensive new book, historian Mike Phipp recalls the area's proud heritage and details the many companies that have been involved in aviation over the years. Many well-known names are included, along with those that have faded into obscurity. The book tracks the mergers, takeovers, government specifications, wartime demand, economic pressures and brilliant entrepreneurship that made the rates of production and innovation in the area the subject of international reverence. Peacetime, and changes in the world market, led to the industry's steady decline in the second half of the twentieth century, but as Mike Phipp reminds us, the story of aviation in Wessex continues to this day. From flimsy biplanes and flying boats to Second World War fighters, jet airliners and rocket fighters - not to mention hovercrafts and UAVs - Wessex Aviation Industry is the definitive guide to its subject, and will remain a valuable reference work in the history of aviation for years to come.

Bournemouth Airport was first opened as RAF Hurn on 1 August 1941, one of the bases established by the RAF to counter the Luftwaffe presence across the Channel in northern France. RAF Hurn would go on to serve as a base for the development of radar in aircraft and as a base for bombers and fighter-bombers supporting the D-Day invasion of France. BOAC operated civilian services from Hurn as early as January 1942, flying at first just to Cairo but later to Madrid, Lisbon and Ireland, and between the end the war and 1 June 1946 Hurn was Britain’s main international airport.After the departure of BOAC, Hurn was used as an industrial centre by companies such as Airwork, de Havilland and Vickers-Armstrongs, as well as playing host from 1948 until 2011 to the College of Air Traffic Control. Bournemouth Airport today serves airlines such as Ryanair and various charter services. In this book, Mike Phipp takes a look at the history of Bournemouth Airport from its early years to the present day.

George Errington was a well-known and popular test pilot from 1935 to 1955. His name appeared frequently in aviation magazines of the time and he ranks with the likes of Cunningham, Duke, Falk and Lithgow. He joined the Airspeed company at Portsmouth in 1934 and became their Chief Test Pilot in 1939, when test flying was vastly different from today. During the Second World War he was responsible for much of the testing of the Horsa assault glider, which included a number of incidents. After the war he was responsible for testing the elegant Ambassador airliner prior to its service with BEA. When de Havilland took over Airspeed, George moved to Hatfield in 1953, where he was involved in the flight testing and delivery of Comets, Herons and Vampire trainers.In this book, written in cooperation with George’s son, Mike Phipp tells George’s story.

Often regarded as a quiet holiday county, in fact Dorset has many aviation connections. As early as 1908 Bleriots were being built by Bournemouth businessmen, the Royal Navy undertook first landing on a warship at Weymouth in 1910, the Schneider Race was held at Bournemouth in 1913, Dorset was at the front line of the early days of the Battle of Britain with attacks on Portland Naval Base, the Dam Busters bouncing bomb was tested on Dorset ranges in 1943, and aircraft production factories at Christchurch and Bournemouth existed in the 1940 and 1950s. With a wealth of previously unpublished images, Mike Phipp tells this remarkable story.