Adrian Smith is Emeritus Professor of Modern History at the University of Southampton, UK, and the author of Mountbatten Apprentice War Lord and Mountbatten, Cold War and Empire, 1945-79.

Foreword and acknowledgements
Chapter 1 Early life
Chapter 2 Aviation apprenticeship
Chapter 3 The First World War and the founding of Fairey Aviation
Chapter 4 Great War and great expectations
Chapter 5 Twenties bust and boom
Chapter 6 Into the Thirties, 'this age of crooners and Safety First'
Chapter 7 Through the Thirties, that 'low dishonest decade'
Chapter 8 Wartime in Washington - the British Air Commission
Chapter 9 Charging to an end, at supersonic speed, 1946-56
Chapter 10 Conclusion
Appendix: My father, Sir Richard Fairey by Jane Tennant, née Fairey