Airbus: The Complete Story

Bill Gunston needs no introduction to readers of aviation books...not with some 300 titles to his credit. This one first appeared in 1988 and is here substantially updated and now illustrated in color throughout. There are also some wonderful two-page cutaway diagrams of all the key aircraft. Gunston's book is the best single source of Airbus history, taking the story right down to the huge A380 and the forthcoming A350 airliners as well as the troubled military transport project. But the author also discusses issues of management (always complex in this case), sharing of manufacture among the European nations involved (chiefly Germany and France, but including the UK and Spain), the logistics of a widespread manufacturing program, and labor issues. Given how Airbus has grown in the past quarter-century, the new edition is an important addition to the literature, one well worth buying even if you own the 1988 book.

My son is 8 years old and loves airplanes. He has read this entire book and looks at it almost every day.

Gunston writes with clarity and passion about all things within Aviation - here his respect and affection for the plucky little European conglomerate that could is obvious. He waxes lyrical about the Airbus products - but he states his rational clearly and succintly. The industrial History side of the book is very interesting as we see the birth of a complex organisation and many revolutionary ways of doing business - it is a interesting juxtaposition to the competion first appraoch across the ditch from Europe. It is a large format book but does not make great use of the format in terms of how the pictures are presented - but it is a great read

The adage of don't judge a book by its cover certainly applies to Airbus: The Complete Story. While the cover is quite good, it actually might be a disservice to the text of the book itself, which is exceptional. The cover is similar to some aviation books, which are nothing more than photographs and corporate press releases. But in this case, the author is Bill Gunston, one of the most respected names amongst aviation historians. Gunston comes with over 60 years of aviation knowledge, which is manifest in the book. And though the books come in at 285 pages, you get the feeling he could write 300 pages more without breaking a sweat. The book is a history of Airbus, from its early struggles to sell a single airplane, to its huge successes, and later struggles with the A380 and A400M. Gunston's inside view of Airbus is unique; and this inside story is what separates this from every other book about Airbus. While the cover again may indicate that this is a pictorial history, there is also significant text, in which Gunston supplies myriad details about Airbus. The early chapters provide historical details to the early days of Airbus and the endless toil to sell the first plane. As a Brit, Gunston writes with dismay as to how the British government didn't see the potential in Airbus Industrie, and in the end lost the opportunity to create countless jobs and significant revenue. While providing a historical overview to Airbus, the book also provides significant technical details into the design and build of each Airbus model. In addition to the two-page cutaway diagrams of all the aircraft described, Gunston details the various technologies and methods used to build each model. The book takes a fair and balanced look at the ageless Boeing vs. Airbus dispute. As far back as the early 1970's, the book notes that Boeing had been crying foul about perceived subsidies of Airbus from various Europeans governments. The book notes that Airbus was never given grants by the European consortium, rather the countries have lent funding to Airbus under commercial rules, under the same governance as a standard commercial loan. This Boeing/Airbus said battle continues as this is being written with each side sparring to get a piece of the $40 billion Air Force refueling tanker contract. In recent issues of Aviation Week & Space Technology, each side has sponsored glossy ads with contradictory claims and statements. While ad revenue may be declining in many periodicals, AW&ST certainly is not losing in the Airbus/Boeing tanker battle. The book progresses chronologically through each major Airbus model, from the A300, 310, 320, through the 380 and 350XWB, and provides a comprehensive overview and analysis of the unique aspects of each model. Each chapter also spends significant time detailing the various aerodynamic design issues around each variant, and the rationale for each. The books final chapter is on the A400M, and ends on somewhat of a sour note. The A400M project started as the Future International Military Airlifter (FIMA) in the early 1980's as a replacement to the C-130 and C-17. You can read the gory details in the book, but for an aircraft that should have been in production long ago, first delivery has been postponed until at least 2012. The book provides an unrivaled chronicle of the history of Airbus. Gunston writes as someone with extensive first-hand experience. The book covers every angle of Airbus; from its history, management issue, technical architecture, complex political battles, and more. Airbus: The Complete Story is a rare book that is able to combine both deep technical details, with a fascinating business and historical analysis. There is only one person who could have written such a book, and we are fortunate that Bill Gunston has.

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Deep inside this book the author admits he was a consultant for Airbus. The book can be summarized as "Airbus is Perfect" and "Airbus Can Do No Wrong". He also attacks the British government at every opportunity. That's okay if you want just technical information on the planes, but the technical descriptions are cryptic and poorly illustrated. For example, the author spends several pages explaining the wonderful cabin width of the Airbus A300, but there is not a single photograph or clear diagram of the cabin width and layout. The photography is poor, often low-resolution and mainly old Airbus stock photos. All Airbus problems are ignored or given the shortest shrift. The author spends only 1 paragraph on the A320 treetop crash and blames the entire incident on the pilot and then incorrectly states that all aboard the plane were killed -- in fact there were only 2 fatalities out of over 50 on board. How can you trust the author's conclusions when the basic facts are wrong? I recommend instead any aviation book by Guy Norris-- superb photography and illustrations and good mix of technical and economic/political information.

This book provides detailed info about each of the Airbus aircraft and also the behind the scenes commercial and political struggles. It is very well written though the repeated Boeing bashing is a bit irksome.