God Gave Them Wings

'If God meant men to fly, He would have given them wings.'

Manned aviation started in Britain in 1784, when James Tytler took to the skies above Edinburgh in a balloon. Tragically, the first fatal accident took place only a couple of years later, when 22-year-old Ralph Heron fell from an ascending balloon as he helped to launch it.

By the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, balloons had largely become eclipsed by powered aeroplanes, more complex and capable of greater speeds and altitude. The machines were flown by brave and determined pilots who pushed the boundaries of the fledgling science of aeronautics, with an inevitable price exacted.

As the toll mounted, another science was developed, that of air accident investigation.

God Gave Them Wings is the first volume in a series detailing every recorded civil air accident in Britain, its investigation and the lessons learnt.

With the details of 137 serious or otherwise significant British air accidents, and over 200 contemporary images, this book is believed to be the most comprehensive work ever published covering this aspect of aviation history and shows how early investigations led to improvements in air safety we can recognise today.

This first volume in the series British Civil Aircraft Losses covers the early days of aviation in the UK, between 1786 and the outbreak of the Great War in 1914.