THE QUEENʼS FLIGHT: FIFTY YEARS OF ROYAL FLYING

Carrying the Royal Family by air is a unique job and to do it, there is a unique flying unit. Now fifty years old, The Queen's Flight of the Royal Air Force operates to probably the highest standards of any organisation in the world of aviation. Their bright red helicopters, Andovers and now BAe 146s are a familiar sight on Royal occasions, their punctuality and reliability taken for granted. The effort which goes into maintaining those standards, and into assuring the Royal Family's safety and comfort in the air, is the fascinating subject of this fully authorised book.

Behind the aircrew is the back-up team in Operations, the engineers, the administrative staff, the ground support for the helicopters, the stewards and the security staff - they all play their part, and they all find a place in this book. The history of the Flight (and indeed of Royal flying, which goes back to July 1917) is also recounted both in narrative form and in cameo reminiscences from ex-members of the Flight; these include Brian Trubshaw, later Concorde's test pilot. With 150 photographs to illustrate the text, the result is a rare glimpse behind the Royal scene, which will intrigue anyone with an interest in aviation.