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, 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. 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 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 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, 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