Airlines & Airliners 1970 - 2006

Airlines & Airliners - First Series 1970-1975

In 1970, 'VHF Supplies' - an Aviation Hobby Retailer specialising in Airliner Models and Airband Radios situated in Harlington, Middlesex, England, produced the first volume of a series of booklets for Airliner Enthusiasts and Spotters called 'Airlines & Airliners.'

No. 1 was very much a prototype for what was to follow, produced in a larger size and with colour front cover artwork, as opposed to the black and white photo-pictorial covers of the smaller volumes that comprised the remainder of the first series. 

The experimental nature of Volume 1 made it unique as it included four airline histories with complete historical fleet lists of National Airlines, Olympic Airways, Laker Airways and Cathay Pacific.

There was also a full Production List of the Boeing Stratocruiser with a double-page spread of artworks showing the aircraft in the liveries of ten different operators. 

The bulk of this edition was, however, taken up with complete Jet Airliner Fleet Lists arranged by Type and then Airline. This was possibly the first fully updated attempt at producing a listing of this type since the release of 'All The World's Jet Airliner Markings' by World Traffic Editions Vevey in 1963 (see JP Airline Fleets section of this website). In addition some great colour and black and white airliner photographs were included in this volume.

From number 2 onwards of the first series, the format settled down into an examination of different makes of Airliners (one per edition) and the release of volume 2 coincided with the formation of 'Airline Publications & Sales Ltd' as an offshoot of VHF Supplies to concentrate on the publication of books for the spotter and enthusiast, the most well known of these being Gunter Endres' 'World Airline Fleets' and Nigel Tomkins' 'Airliner Production List' which were published regularly throughout the late 1970s and during the 1980s.     

Numbers 2 to 14 in the first series of 'Airlines & Airliners' are still an interesting series to collect even today, particularly for those of us with an interest in Airline/Airliner history as, (in addition to covering some of the better known airliner types), they take a look at the more obscure or less-common airliners of the'60s and '70s such as the Nord 262, Handley Page Herald, Short Skyvan, Hawker Siddeley 748 and the Commercial version of Lockheed's Hercules. 

Each edition includes a minimum of one double page spread of colour artworks showing the aircraft in the schemes of different operators. Photos of flight decks and passenger cabins also frequently appear.

Each volume also features a full production list of the airliner concerned up to the date of publication, full details of Airlines operating the aircraft and in many cases diagrammatic representations showing (for example) the freight capacity and cabin layout - notably in the Skyvan.

The first series can be summarised as follows:

1. Jet Airliner Fleets / Stratocruiser / 4 x Airline Histories (1970)

2. Skyvan (1971)

3. Herald (1971)

4. Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet Part 1 (1971)

5. Nord 262 and Fregate (1972)

6. Lockheed 382 L100 Hercules (1972)

7. Vickers Viscount 700 (1973)

8. Trident (1972)

9. Super Constellation (1973)

10. DC-10 (1973)

11. L.1011 Tristar (1974)

12. Hawker Siddeley 748 (1974)

13. Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet Part 2 (1974)

14. Vickers Viscount 800 (1975)

Airlines & Airliners - Second Series 1992-2006

The Second series of 'Airlines & Airliners' began in 1992 and ran until 2006. It was produced in large portrait softback format on high quality glossy paper in the 'Bookazine' style that has since become standard in the 2020s, being used by such publishers as Key Publishing today.

In fact, Series Two was produced in exactly the same format as the later and final editions of the monthly 'World Airline Fleets News' published by The Aviation Data Centre, a company that evolved from the earlier 'Airline Publications and Sales' mentioned above.

From No. 6 Stratocruiser in 2002 until the final edition No. 9 Vickers Viking in 2006, series two was published as a joint effort between the Aviation Data Centre and The Aviation Hobby Shop.

As with Series One, Series Two features the Vickers Viscount series 700 and the Hawker Siddeley Trident, but they are covered in much greater depth than in the previous examples, the same thoroughness of content being applied to the airline histories of each operator in relation to the aircraft types featured in all nine editions that comprise Series Two. 

The later series also includes a generous selection of colour photos, which increase in number as the series progresses (there are only a few in numbers 1 to 3). 

A full production list with changes of ownership and ultimate fates of each airframe is included.

The second series can be summarised as follows:

1. Trident (1992)

2. VC-10 (1993)

3. Vanguard (1994)

4. Bristol Britannia (1996)

5. de Havilland Comet (1998)

6. Boeing 377 Stratocruiser & related variants (2002)

7. Vickers Viscount 700 series (2002)

8. BAC One Eleven (2003)

9. Vickers Viking (2006)

The first two sections below present the front covers of each edition in the two series, together with publishing details.

The third and final section below feature samples of typical pages from volumes of both series, with a brief description of the information shown on each example. This will hopefully give the visitor to the webpage a clear understanding and a broad and useful overview of the type of areas covered and the depth of information provided in these classic airliner productions,

For the connoisseur of Airline and Airliner history, these are two series which are definitely worth adding to your aviation library, although the earlier ones are now very hard to come by and volumes from the later series often command higher than average prices secondhand due to there having been only a limited print run, particularly of the final volumes.