Ron Smith is a British aeronautical engineer, pilot, author, photographer, and historian. He was Head of Future Projects at Westland Helicopters Ltd. and has recently retired from BAE Systems. He has owned a number of light aircraft.
This attractive book is described appropriately as a visual
celebration of the variety of the worlds light aircraft. This book
is, maybe, a starting point for potential builders or owners to
help broaden their horizon and identify what appeals, before
seeking more detailed sources for essential data. In parallel with
builders and owners, there exists a very large train of enthusiasts
who simply enjoy viewing and watching. Above all this is a book for
all who take pleasure in the lighter and gentler side of powered,
fixed-wing aviation.! - Chris Wright CEng MRAeS, AEROSPACE MAGAZINE
August 2016
What a magnificent book! I noticed that the bibliography includes
William Green's Aircraft of The World, a copy of which has been the
key foundation of my aircraft reference library since 1965. I am
proud to place my copy of Classic Light Aircraft on the shelf right
next to it. (It is) an authoritative, faithfully-accurate work that
is at the same time visually attractive! Jeff Jacobs, Cessna 172
Club
Ron Smith has been beavering away at this book for several years
and civil aircraft enthusiasts will find it a hugely valuable quick
reference guide to the myriad of light aircraft flying all over the
world. It is arranged alphabetically by manufacturer and every
entry consists of a photo, most being in colour and photographed by
the author, and a short extended caption. Aircraft types covered
include all the main production models together with a good
selection of the more common homebuilts, light sport types and a
selection of antiques. The largest types covered are the King Air
and Dove - no business jets here. The necessary brevity of the text
means some facts are left out - for instance, the only Cirrus
mentioned is the SR22 - and the index only refers to the
manufacturers and does not allow reference by aircraft name. Having
said that, this is a book which will prove very useful all who
attend civil fly-ins and events. - Rod Simpson, Aviation World,
Autumn 2015.
'Xtended', Europe's premier aerospace internet radio programme,
interviewed Ron Smith about general aviation, along with the
publication of his new book Classic Light Aircraft Xtended say: "We
really enjoyed the book and hope we have helped promote a positive
image of it!"
Light aircraft do not get much attention from today's mainstream
publishers, presumably because there is more demand for military
subjects, so it is refreshing to see this new, comprehensive
hardback which claims to be An illustrated look, 1920s to the
present'. Almost all the images are in colour with a handful of
monochrome illustrations, and since most are from the author's
collection few will have been seen before. His name may be familiar
to readers from the very useful five-volume history 'British-Built
Aircraft', and he is an aeronautical engineer, historian and
private pilot, so is well qualified to write on this subject. -
Mike Hooks
Another excellent book from the pen of VAC member Ron Smith on a
subject which he is indeed an expert. This book provides an
extensive photographic record in alphabetical order by manufacturer
of what are considered to be classic light or general aviation
aircraft from the 1920s to the present day. To underline the
selected time period the range of dates of the photographs
compliment diverse dates during the period. The standard both of
the photography and the reproduction throughout the book is first
rate. Where this book scores for the aviation enthusiast is in that
it provides a guide to recognition of types and subtypes of the
same marque. The captions to the photographs give, where
appropriate details of these differences. This alone will mean that
it will be in use as a constant work of reference. This book is a
must for the aviation enthusiast is extremely good value for money.
- Paul Loveday, Vintage & Classic magazine
Personally, I do not have an idea which percentage from the
nowadays still flying types are enlisted in this book, but I think
it is a high percentage. In some of them I have even co-piloted.
For me, this book contains an enormous amount of splendid unknown
but also known aircrafts. What do you think of a DH88 Comet or a
DH89A Dragon Rapide or a Gee Bee? Who wouldnt want to fly in
those?! The book has a pleasant size and lies well in the hand. The
book is almost overloaded with pictures and is printed on good
paper. Most of the pictures are in colour. When you see all those
pictures it becomes clear to you how large this business worldwide
is and was. All pictures are accompanied with a short informative
text about the aircraft, not too detailed. Ron Smith has produced a
beautiful book which is a must have for the General Aviation-freak
with focus on the light aircrafts. Good to read and to page
through, and blimey this book inspires so much to go flying!
Aviation Book Reviews .com
LAA member and pilot Ron Smiths latest book is a comprehensive
encyclopaedia of light aircraft that might be seen today or in the
past 30 years. Illustrated mostly by the authors own photos the
book covers 800 types with photos and a small write-up with a
little history and details of each. The book covers all of the
major production aircraft of the last 30 or so years, plus a lot of
the surviving vintage aircraft that might be seen in the UK, US or
Australia. Also covered are most of the popular homebuilts from the
UK and US together with a few from France and other countries. Some
of the more modern European Ultralights/Light Sport aircraft are
also included. A great reference guide for anyone wondering what
that aircraft they just saw at the local airfield, or fly in was
and also a handy guide to anyone to see what aircraft are out
there, that they might be interested to fly or buy. - LAA Magazine
book review
The author knows his stuff and, rather like Eddie Riding, seems to
have spent a lifetime wandering around airfields in this county and
abroad, photographing every machine of interest and building up a
terrific picture of the GA fleet as we know it in Britain, Europe
and the USA. It's good to see not just the standard series
production types, but typical mix of homebuilts, vintage aeroplanes
and pensioned-off military stuff that you will find at most
airfields in the UK. Ron has also done his research: as a dutiful
reviewer, I picked on types and manufacturers I knew about and
looked to see if he had included them: he'd not missed one! - RV
March 2016 edition of Pilot Magazine.
The author, Ron Smith, is a prolific writer of books on general
aviation, covering both historical aspects and specific aircraft
types. His previous books have demonstrated a useful knack of being
able to cover a lot of ground with the minimum of effort, providing
just enough information to keep the appetite whetted and no more.
This quite hefty volume continues in the same vein, and so allows
for over 800 aircraft types and manufacturers to be represented.
The number of photographs is extraordinary, considering most of
them were taken by the author. These are of excellent quality and,
apart from one or two, in colour, mainly two to a page. I suspect
most readers will check if any aircraft they have flown is
pictured; I could not resist myself, and sure enough, there was a
picture of a Piper Cub I spent many happy hours in, but, from the
colour scheme, taken long before I became part-owner. From this, it
was evident that Ron had started building his library of
photographs a very long time ago. This is a wonderful book for
anyone who enjoys and takes an interest in light aircraft, I
thoroughly recommend it. - George Done April 2016
LAA member and pilot Ron Smith's latest book is a comprehensive
encyclopaedia of all of the major production light aircraft of the
last 30 or so years, plus a lot of the surviving vintage aircraft
that might be seen in the UK, US or Australia. The book is a great
reference guide for anyone wondering just what was that aircraft
they saw at the local airfield. It amazes me sometimes how little
some pilots know about the variety of aircraft types they could fly
and this book covers nearly all of them. Reading the book you
really can discover what a wide range of light aircraft have been
produced over the years. The aircraft are presented and indexed in
alphabetic order by manufacturer so it is easy to look up your
favourite types, or find out what that wonderplane really looks
like. Overall then an excellent book and well worth the cover
price, so I can thoroughly recommend it to LAA members keen to know
more about the sheer variety of light aircraft that grace our
skies. - Nigel Hitchman, Light Aviation Magazine March 2016
I would have loved owning this book when I was a kid at the bottom
of the learning curve. - Kristen Alexander, AeroAustralia Magazine
July 2016
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