A history of the domestic air services operated by three of Britain's mainline railway companies in the 1930s. The book starts with a short history of domestic air services before the formation of Railway Air Services (RAS) in 1934. (Apparently, in 1931 the only domestic air route in operation in Britain was between Skegness and Hunstanton, a distance of 19 miles across the Wash.)

With the advent of a new generation of small commercial airliners - the De Havilland DH.84 Dragon and its successors - the way was open for a new era of domestic air travel. Having been caught out by the arrival of bus and long-distance road coach services after World War I, the railways were determined not to be late to the party with air services, and set up a series of routes for long-distance and over-water journeys. These continued to develop until the outbreak of World War II, when most commercial air travel was shut down (only services to Northern Ireland and to the Scottish islands continued, at reduced frequencies and subject to availability).

Post-war services were resumed from 1946, but RAS itself was absorbed into the newly-nationalised British European Airways on 1st February 1947.

This book, written by a former employee of the airway, gives a comprehensive account of the development of routes and services, and describes the aircraft and airports involved. There are some personal recollections of flights, and the whole is illustrated with very high-quality photographs. The one regret is that various illustrations of publicity material are only reproduced in black-and-white - pretty standard for a book published in 1987, but a sad omission nonetheless. Otherwise, well worth acquiring if you see a copy. ( )