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 ide ...
specialist in
airline
An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...
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 ae ...
economic research.
Biography
Educated at
Shaftesbury Grammar School
Shaftesbury School is a coeducational secondary day and boarding school located in Shaftesbury in the English county of Dorset.
Previously a voluntary controlled Church of England school administered by the Diocese of Salisbury and Dorset ...
, he started work in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
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 Gurk ...
as a territorial volunteer from 1939 to 1946. He spent a year in
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
, 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
Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
in 1944. According to the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', 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 a ...
, 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
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
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
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 in 1981–1982.
Davies was responsible, alongside artist
Mike Machat
Michael J. Machat is an American artist, author, and pilot. He specializes in aviation art and was a frequent collaborator of R.E.G. Davies on the book series ''An Airline and its Aircraft''. Several aviation museums have permanent collections of ...
, 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 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