Flying Pianos

From string-and-canvas deathtraps to sleek metal machines – relive the dawn of British aviation

The invention of powered flight changed the world. In the first few decades of the twentieth century, British aviators went from gliding a handful of yards to crossing the Atlantic. Journeying from the first heavier-than-air planes – perilous contraptions, held together by cotton and hope – through the grim emergence of aerial warfare, on to the first transatlantic flight, Flying Pianos surveys the transformation of flight from a genteel gentleman’s hobby into a terrifying military force.

Joining the cast of colourful characters, Charles Spicer meets those who helped Britain take flight. There’s Hugh ‘Boom’ Trenchard, eccentric ‘father’ of the RAF; Frederick Henry Royce, genius engineer and co-founder of Rolls-Royce; and Grahame Christie, passionate aviator, spy and uneasy acquaintance of World War One flying ace Hermann Göring. Charting the soaring highs and catastrophic lows of this technological revolution, Flying Pianos tells the remarkable tale of how Britain first took to the skies as never before.