The Classics Club Spin delivered number ….
… thus giving me the chance to re-read a novel published in 1948.
No Highway by Nevil Shute is perhaps best avoided by anyone about to board a plane.
The plot centres on Theodore Honey, an aircraft engineer who is considered something of an oddball in aviation circles. So when he begins to make claims of inherent flaws in some parts of a new aircraft, his superiors don’t take him seriously.
Honey’s believes the metal in the tailplane of the recently commissioned Reindeer aircraft will suffer from metal fatigue much earlier than officially estimated. Lives will be lost unnecessarily if he cannot convince the manufacturers and the aircraft operators of his theory.
Shute himself was an aeronautical engineer as well as a pilot, working in the 1930s on prototypes for passenger-carrying airships He then formed his own aircraft construction company. So I think its fair to say the plot of No Highway will be based on sound science (not that my limited scientific knowledge would enable to spot any errors).
I read this when I was in my teens. Details of the plot have long ago faded from memory but I do recall being scared by the idea that the planes meant to be taking on on exotic holidays abroad (Spain was considered exotic in the 1970s) could just fall from the sky.
I wonder how it will stand up to a re-read.
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