Customer Reviews

Airliners of the World

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4 star:		(1)
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As a collector of books on civilian airplanes, I can state that this is one of the best edited and by far the most reader-friendly book I've ever seen in the category! Besides, it covers a very comprehensive range of airliners and gives plenty of information, surprising even the experienced reader (doesn't matter if only one single prototype was ever produced - e.g. Bristol Brabazon - the book will not miss to cover it as well).

When you open the book, you find 4 airplanes "abreast" (to be stylish), as each airplane is explained in one full column, occupying half page, with a photo on the top.Technical features are shown as grouped by chapters (such as POWERPLANTS, PERFORMANCE, WEIGHTS, DIMENSIONS, etc.) and the same chapters appear under each entry, making search for a particular data or comparison of different airplanes extremely easy and convenient. Precise production data is given for all airplanes, which is an other plus. In spite of its compact size, the entries are very rich in model-history. There is an accurate description for each photo appearing in the book. The only hardship, however, is to find the dates, which are buried in the text under model HISTORY: if ever re-issued, it would be nice to see some additional chapters about important dates, such as FIRST IN AIR, FIRST IN SERVICE, LAST KNOWN DATE IN SERVICE, for easier reference.

All in all, no matter whether you are a beginner or an experienced hobbiest, you will find this book interesting, informative and very easy to use. Keep it around and open randomly anywhere: you will find some interesting things to read and to see. A real you-must-have-it piece!

This book is perfect. It has all the airliners from 1914 to the present day. It has several different versions of some specific planes. If you like to look at planes and read about planes this book is for you!

Books like AIRLINERS OF THE WORLD tend to take two forms. First, there is the coffee table book that's heavy on the visuals but best eyeballed in your living room. Then there is the 'field guide' motif. This version is meant to leave home with you and to frequent air shows, airports, and the spectator area alongside some runways.

AIRLINERS OF THE WORLD comes halfway between these two conventional types. It's a paperback and not a particularly sturdy one, so not the stuff of most coffee tables. On the other hand, it carries the kind of dense information and smallish visuals on its two-aircraft-per-page format that are common to the field guide genre.

What sets Stewart Wilson's book apart from most others is its attention to the long haul of commercial air history. It begins with 1914 and claims to survey all commercial aircraft that have lifted people and set them back down - usually safely - since that time.

If you want to see how Antonov or Boeing or Fokker has waltzed through the decades, this is a fine volume to do it with, since Wilson organizes his aircraft by manufacturer as his first sort criterion and date of production after that.

Most of the aircraft are photographed, the quality of the shots varying with the photographic technology available when the plane in question was flying. Occasionally an airplane is drawn.

The livery varies widely, so you get lots of exposure to off-the-beaten-track airlines as a bonus. An introductory section called 'Milestones of Commercial Aviation' is a planespotter's dream.