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BURNEY, Commander Sir Dennis.
The World, The Air and The Future.
First edition. Sir Charles Dennistoun [Dennis] Burney, 2nd Baronet was the son of a former Admiral of the Fleet Sir Cecil Burney, and an English aeronautical engineer, private inventor and Conservative MP for Uxbridge. He invented the highly successful 'paravane' during the First World War - a device used for cutting cables from mines. A subsidiary of Vickers Limited called the Airship Guarantee Company Limited was formed under Burney in 1923 specifically to participate in the building of a massive six-engined experimental airship, the R100, in competition with the government-built R101 as part of the Imperial Airship Scheme. Barnes Wallis and Nevil Shute Norway (later to become a famous author) were on the design team. The R100 flew initially on 16 December 1929 and achieved some trans-Atlantic flights before the airship scheme was stopped following the disastrous crash of the R101 in France. The R100 was scrapped in November 1931. Nevil Shute, under the name Nevil. S Norway. contributes an extensive chapter on Heavier-than-Air Craft.
Octavo. Original blue buckram, with gilt lettering to spine. Publisher's blind stamp to tail of lower board, blue top-stain. With a supplied dust jacket. Photographic frontispiece and 30 photographic plates on 23 leaves, 2 full page maps to text. Spine a touch sunned, endpapers very slightly toned, dust jacket very good, short closed tear to upper edge, otherwise an excellent copy.
