Paul St. John Turner

This compact book is the work of an enthusiast who published it when he was 19, and it was his third book! Paul St. John Turner clearly had talent, because this is a well-written, well-constructed book. It is dated mostly by its old-fashioned nationalism.

The first two chapters contain a brief history of the Vickers Vimy bomber, the Vimy Commercial that was derived from it, and the Vickers Vernon, which was a military derivative of the Vimy Commercial. The next three chapters describe three famous long-distance flights that were undertaken with he Vimy: The non-stop crossing of the Atlantic by Alcock and Brown, the flight to Australia by the crew of Ross and Keith Smith, and the partially successful flight to South Africa by Brand and van Ryneveld. The final chapter describes the construction in 1969 of a replica Vimy, which is currently in damaged condition in storage at the RAF Museum. (Another replica, which is on display at Brooklands, was built in 1994 with modern engines.)

It's a short book, competently written and richly illustrated with period photographs, worth having.… (more)