Ronald Edward George Davies (3 July 1921 – 30 July 2011) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

specialist in

airline An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in whic ...

and air transport history, and

commercial aviation Commercial aviation is the part of civil aviation that involves operating aircraft for remuneration or hire, as opposed to private aviation. Definition Commercial aviation is not a rigorously defined category. All commercial air transport and ...

economic research.

Biography

Educated at Shaftesbury Grammar School, he started work in London in 1938, and was in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

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 British European Airways (BEA), formally British European Airways Corporation, was a British airline which existed from 1946 until 1974. BEA operated to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East from airports around the United Kingdom. The ...

, the Bristol Aeroplane Company and de Havilland before moving to the United States in 1968 to lead market research for

Douglas Aircraft The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aerospace manufacturer based in Southern California. It was founded in 1921 by Donald Wills Douglas Sr. and later merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to form McDonnell Douglas; it then operated as ...

. A lifelong

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...

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 as the Charles A. Lindbergh Chair in Aerospace History 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 The Explorers Club is an American-based international multidisciplinary professional society with the goal of promoting scientific exploration and field study. The club was founded in New York City in 1904, and has served as a meeting point fo ...

, 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