Ronald Edward George Davies (3 July 1921 – 30 July 2011) was an
English specialist in
airline and
air transport history, and
commercial aviation economic research.
Biography
Educated at
Shaftesbury Grammar School, he started work in
London in 1938, and was in the
British Army as a territorial volunteer from 1939 to 1946. He spent a year in
Iceland, training for mountain and
Arctic warfare
Cold-weather warfare, also known as arctic warfare or winter warfare, encompasses military operations affected by snow, ice, thawing conditions or cold, both on land and at sea. Cold-weather conditions occur year-round at high elevation or at ...
, and drove his machine-gun carrier on to the beach in
Normandy in 1944. According to the ''
New York Times'', Davies made his first airplane trip in 1948.
Subsequently, he worked for the
Ministry of Civil Aviation,
British European Airways, the Bristol Aeroplane Company and
de Havilland
The de Havilland Aircraft Company Limited () was a British aviation manufacturer established in late 1920 by Geoffrey de Havilland at Stag Lane Aerodrome Edgware on the outskirts of north London. Operations were later moved to Hatfield in H ...
before moving to the
United States in 1968 to lead market research for
Douglas Aircraft. A lifelong
aviation enthusiast, Davies dedicated his work to different aspects of the airline industry, including traffic forecasting, and specializing in its history. He researched airlines at the
National Air and Space Museum
The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, also called the Air and Space Museum, is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States.
Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, it opened its main building on the Nat ...
as the
Charles A. Lindbergh Chair in Aerospace History The Charles A. Lindbergh Chair in Aerospace History, also known as the Lindbergh Chair, is a one-year senior fellowship hosted by the U.S. National Air and Space Museum (NASM), to assist a scholar in the research and composition of a book about aer ...
in 1981–1982.
Davies was responsible, alongside artist
Mike Machat, for the book series ''An Airline and its Aircraft'', about selected airlines' histories, including the types flown. His writing led him to found Paladwr Press, which published 38 books of classic airline histories and biographies.
Well travelled to more than a hundred countries, Davies was a member of three
British Royal Societies
This is a list of Royal Societies listed alphabetically with the date of founding:
UK and Ireland
*Royal Academy, founded 1768
*Royal Aeronautical Society 1866
*Royal African Society 1968
*Royal Anthropological Institute 1871
*Royal Asiatic Soc ...
, the
Explorers Club, and others in France and Brazil. He enjoyed a 30-year career as the Curator of Air Transport at the
Smithsonian Institution's
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded o ...
National Air and Space Museum,
and continued to write and publish airline history throughout that time. A member of the Washington Airline Society, he gave lectures, and provided assistance to airline researchers. His 25th book ''Airlines of the Jet Age: A History'' was published in July 2011, just before he died aged 90.
Davies retired in 2011 and returned to England, where he died in July of that year.
Publications
Reference Works
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Airline histories
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Further Books
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, R.E.G.
1921 births
2011 deaths
Aviation writers
British Army personnel of World War II
British writers
Historians of aviation
British expatriates in Iceland
People from Hertfordshire
British Army soldiers
Military personnel from Hertfordshire