A Gentlemen's Club in the Clouds
Reassessing the Empire Air Mail Scheme, 1933–1939
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10248949 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Peter Ewer (0009-0005-0661-8682, independent scholar, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2007 |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 75-92 |
| Publication date | 2007-03-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of Transport History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-5266 • E-ISSN: 1759-3999 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.7227/tjth.28.1.6 |
| OpenAlex | W2002244946 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
This paper discusses the Empire Air Mail Scheme, arguably Britain's most significant civil aviation initiative of the 1930s. Prior accounts have explained the stunted development of British air transport in terms of political vacillation, diplomatic difficulties, and the sheer scale of the undertaking. Using British and Australian archives, this paper shows that the scheme was poorly conceived, and its flawed planning assumptions resulted in a troubled operational record. Alternative policy directions, principally from Australia, were rejected but were eventually validated by events. Had the war not intervened, it is likely that the service would have fallen further behind international standards, since reforms set in place during 1939 were unlikely to resolve its chronic weaknesses
Aviation · Civil aviation · Club · Diplomacy · Economics · Economy · Geography · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Scale (ratio · Service (business · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · Australian History and Society · Engineering · History · International Law and Aviation · Law · Public Administration · World Wars: History, Literature, and Impact
| Citations per year | 0.33 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2011 - 2024 (14) |
| Highly cited | No |