(by Michael J. Partridge; ISBN 978-0-9554940-1-7; Eastbourne College Arnold Embellishers, Marlborough House, Old Wish Road, Eastbourne BN21 4JY; 6in x 8½in hardback; 172 pages, illustrated; £12)

Described as “the extraordinary life of Frederick Frank Reilly Minchin”, this book by the archivist of Eastbourne College tells the story of one of the lesser-known British aviation pioneers. It is therefore a refreshing change from the biographies of household names.

Minchin was certainly a maverick and learned to fly in 1912 while serving with the Connaught Rangers, but was required to resign his commission following a “misdemeanour”. He served in the RFC
and RAF, was awarded the CBE, DSO, MC and Bar and received three Mentions in Despatches. In 1919 he was an acting Lt Col. Post-war he was employed flying D.H.34s and Handley Page W.8s from Croydon to European destinations, later flying the Bristol Bloodhound three times daily between Croydon and  Bristol in reliability tests, before taking the aircraft to Cairo in 50hr.

(by Henry Matthews and Peter Davison; no ISBN; HPM Publications, PO Box 113/7196, Beirut, Lebanon; 6¾in x 9½in softback; 45 pages, illustrated; available from David Robinson, 39 Grove Road, Bingham, Notts NG13 8DY; £9.35 inc UK p&p)

Part of a series World X-Planes, past, present and future, this small book, first published in 2009, somehow slipped through our review net but since it covers an interesting subject we are happy to feature it now.

The 188 was designed to meet Spec. ER134D for a research aircraft capable of speeds up to M2.5 to provide data in the development of the Avro 730 long-range supersonic reconnaissance aircraft which was subsequently cancelled in the Sandys 1957 Defence White Paper. The Ministry of Aviation had ordered two 188s, XF923 and ’926 in February 1954, plus a static test airframe, while a further three, XK429, ’434 and ’436 were ordered for weapon research. These were never built but the cost for all airframes was £7.5m.

(by Bill Yenne; ISBN 978-0-859791-62-5; Crécy Publishing Ltd, 1a Ringway Trading Estate, Shadowmoss Road, Manchester M22 5LH; 8¾in x 11¼in hardback; 256 pages, illustrated; £22.95)

Missiles may not be everyone’s bag, but a reference book like this is a very useful addition to any aviation historian’s library. The United States has produced a plethora of weapon systems to be fired from land, sea or air, from intercontinental ballistic missiles weighing many tons to the 9ft span AeroVironment  FQM-151 Pointer surveillance drone used in Operation Desert Storm. They are all here, illustrated in colour, and a nice touch in many cases is that the name of the service photographer is given, from Aircraftman First Class to Master Sergeant – credit where it is due!

Some of the weapons are shown installed on aircraft, even an ASRAAM on an RAF Typhoon and if you are as confused as I am with acronyms this book will help you – see the listing of 148 of them in the appendices. The manufacturers, dimensions, weights, range, speed, guidance and propulsions systems, warhead, year of first test and deployment are given for each missile or UAV in an easy-to-read coloured box. No doubt older readers will recall some of the early systems such as the Martin MGM-1 Matador, first flown in 1949, the Ryan BQM-34 Firebee and the ill-fated Douglas AGM-48 Skybolt, cancellation of which was a factor in the abandonment of improvements for Avro’s Blue Steel.

(by Robin Gibb, Jim Dooley, Gordon Rayner, Steve Darlow and Sean Feast; ISBN 978-0-9571163-1-3; Fighting High Ltd, 23 Hitchin Road, Stotfold, Hitchin, Herts SG5 4HP; 8½in x 11¼in hardback; 128 pages, illustrated; £19.95)

I was delighted to learn that this book was to be published as I have been a keen supporter of the Bomber Command Memorial (BCM) fund-raising campaign since director of fund-raising Jim Dooley first told me about the ambitious plan to raise £2m to pay for the memorial’s construction – though the cost went on to become an ever changing figure which later topped £9.5m!