Customer Reviews

The Airline Encyclopedia 1909-2000 (3 vol. set)

5 star:		(3)
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While expensive, this huge (3,300 page) reference includes just about any airline past or present you can think of. Entries provide a chronology---sometimes extending over many pages---of each airline's development including aircraft purchases, changes in the executive suite, policy issues, route structure changes, and the like. It takes a bit to get used to the author's convention of present tense even for things that happened decades ago. Smith, who has authored some 70 refered works (chiefly bibliographies) has done us a huge service by pulling all this information together in one place. Don't be put off by the few pages of poorly-reproduced photos at the beginning of each volume---they clearly must have been an afterthought, and should not deter you from the wealth of information to be found here. Coverage includes airlines from all parts of the world, even those with brief lives. Major and currently-flying companies often spread over 10 or more pages. While nits can be picked with any work this large (and done by one person!), overall, this is an impressive labor that should see widespread library purchase and thus use even by those unable to afford the price tag. On the other hand, if airlines are your business or passion, this is well worth having on a shelf nearby.

I agree with the other reviewers: this is a superb reference on the airlines.
However, since it is so expensive, I'd like to add a caveat: This is an economic history with few, if any, anecdotes. Even the most swashbuckling, fly anything anywhere (and the hell with the flak) airlines are dealt with in a dry manner. The concentration is on capitalization, top management, relations with regulatory bodies, etc.
The illustrations are small black-and-white photos of well-known airliners in normal livery.

Myron J. "Jack" Smith Jr, Professor of Library Science at Tusculum College in Tennessee, has taken advantage of his Masters in History and his ability to squirrel away information to compile this 3-volume airline encyclopedia set of 3,000 pages. This project took 15 years to complete.

Well known for his bibliographies on college football, professional football, cloak and dagger fiction, Civil War naval history, World War II, and aviation, Professor Smith's encyclopedia of airlines is the most complete, and a most impressive, contribution to the literature on the history of non-military aviation. There is simply nothing comparable to this - it remains the definitive source.

A must for every library's reference section.