INVICTA AIRWAYS

      THE AIRLINE OF KENT

Designed by Gerry Abrahams

Twilight of the Pistons was originally published as a hardback in 1997.

A sister volume Take off to Touchdown was published in November 2006. With a dearth of books on civil Aviation, the colourful stories of independent airlines during the 1960s,1970s and 1980s have been very popular.

The Invicta book generated enough interest for Michael’s

Bookshop in Ramsgate to publish a second softback A4 version of Twilight of the Pistons in June 2007. Twilight of the Pistons is the story of one airline from its conception to its closure.

Air Ferry was started by Wing Commander Hugh Kennard , ex Battle of Britain pilot and pioneer of inclusive tours. It was later taken over by Freddie Laker managing Director of BUA. The company operated throughout its life from the old established airfield at Manston.

It has a chapter for each operating year, each of which contains details of crew and staff and a month by month operating description including anecdotes and impressions and brief sections for statistics., the year at Manston, the current civil and military aviation scene and significant events. Other chapters give an overall view of RAF Manston , explain the build up of the airline and list ,’Where are they now?’ Details in the postscript.The final sections includes a wealth of detail about the aircraft, the staff, aircraft checks, long range flights and airfields visited.

 

Twilight of the Pistons was reviewed in the famous Straight and Level column of Flight International , In FlyPast and Air Pictorial and covered in the Isle of Thanet Gazette and the Eastbourne Herald. With over a 180 photographs and illustrations of memorabilia, this book presents a unique piece of aviation history that, was enacted during a period that has been described by other publications as a ,’ Golden Age,’ and a time of Vintage Glory.The cover, in full colour included as representative selection of eleven photographs of the aircraft used.