A prolific sub-contractor building airframes during the First World War, Boulton & Paul entered the
field of design and manufacture in 1917 with the formation of an Aeronautical and Research Division
under John Dudley North. Never destined to be one of the big players, they produced a relatively
modest output of prototype aircraft and then in 1937 a series of bombers and a small batch of
civilian two seaters. The relatively unsuccessful Defiant was their best known aircraft.
However, hidden from public view was a prolific output of proposals, trials and inventions. From
biplane fighters through the novel turret fighters and into the supersonic age with VTOL lift-fan jets,
Boulton Paul were always at the forefront of development.
Based upon over 60 years of research, this book recounts many of these radical and innovative
projects using development layouts, final schemes, drawings and photographs of mock-ups, models
and prototype airframes. Many projects are recreated in CAD and other drawings by the author
previously an apprentice and a technical engineer with the company and archivist of the Boulton
Paul Association.
This book sheds much new light on the activities of a hitherto often overlooked company which was
in many respects at the forefront of aeronautical innovation in Britain for several decades.