This book is a continuation of Tim Mason's excellent titles on flight testing in the UK. In this case, it is the Marine Armament & Experimental Station (later the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment). This unit was based initially on the island of Grain before moving to Felixstowe and its purpose was to evaluate various flying boats and floatplanes. This was generally after the prototypes had been test flown and in many cases, it was to help determine whether a type would be fit for service. Often service types were sent to the station to see if modifications had made any improvement in the operation of the aircraft. It was also used to help set standards for the aircraft so that quirks in operation would be duly noted for pilots just coming onto the type.

The book starts in with a history of the various bases chosen for the unit. It covers the early years and the growing expanse of the bases as more and more testing was done there. Some were never really utilized to their fullest as they were not deemed fit and it wasn't until the flying boat station at Felixstowe was settled upon that the unit had a permanent home.

When the base history is done, the book then goes into two major sections. One is on flying boats and this is by far the larger of the two. It is truly surprising the number of different aircraft that were developed or tested during the years before WWII. There are a truly large number of flying boats of which I'd never heard or seen photos and some are truly incredible. The second section is on float planes. For the most part, these were developments of standard land planes that were tested on floats, though some were used for this purpose from the beginning. Again, an impressive number of entries. A final section, and one that is much smaller is on captured German types that were tested. German naval aviation did not have the large selection enjoyed by the British and some had disappeared before examples could be gathered.

As in all of these books, there is a quality selection of appendices that cover things like flight hours, commanding officers and those who lost their lives during the testing. I appreciate that for just about every one of the hundreds of aircraft entries, there is at least one photo. This is further enhanced by some excellent color profiles of various types.

In all, a book that I found very interesting and while it is not a quick read, is an excellent reference on the performance of a huge variety of aircraft. A book that I can quite easily recommend to you.

July 2011

Review book courtesy of Specialty Press, where you can order your copy of this and many other superb aviation and modeling books. Visit their website at the link above or call them at 1-800-895-4585

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