INVICTA AIRWAYS

      THE AIRLINE OF KENT

Designed by Gerry Abrahams

Take off to Touchdown

The Invicta Airline story

Told by

Malcolm Finnis

This book has contributions by Audrey Kennard and Michael Harridine, two Invicta directors and many by others  including, aircrew,cabin crew, engineers, operations staff and  members of other departments. There are excerpts from aircrew logs, ops logs with reminisces and anecdotes , many of which could not have been shared  30 or 40 years ago.

Starting with two chapters setting the general aviation scene  of the era , the story charts the origin of Invicta in 1964 and the four subsequent  chapters covering the inclusive years from Manston flying Vikings, DC4s and Viscounts.The ill-starred merger with British Midlands  and the formation of Invicta Air Cargo followed with re-entry into the passenger market with turboprop Vanguards and a Boeing B720B covered next. The re-possession of the fleet  and the subsequent introduction by Euro peon Air ferries preceded the introduction of Invicta’s first Bristol Britannia.The final chapter features their Vanguard crash at Basle and there are appendices featuring the 26 aircraft flown by the Company.  The Book has 21 chapters, 267 pages and includes 122 colour and black and white photographs and 6 line drawings.

Favourable reviews have been included in Flight International, Pilot, Fly Past, Airliner World, Aviation News, Aeroplane while Aircraft Illustrated  chose it as the book of the month in 2007.

There also has been coverage in Prop Liner ,Air Britain and Airfield Review.

Take off to Touchdown can be purchased from Air Britain sales.

mike@absales,demon.co.uk