Birds of Prey: Boeing vs. Airbus: A Battle for the Skies

by Matthew Lynn

Book Overview

Tells the story of the aviation industry, the struggle between American giant Boeing and Airbus of France, and the inner workings of these corporations that are almost nations in themselves. Describes... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 156858086X
• ISBN13: 9781568580869
• Release Date: February 1997
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Good, but with annoying flaws

This is a very good analysis of the ongoing battle between Airbus and Boeing, with a great deal of historical material on the birth and growth of the two antagonists. Especially intreesting for American readers is the story of Airbus and its birth from the ashes of Concorde, a subject generally ignored or glossed over in the US aviation press. Annoying is the lack of aviation expertise on the author's part ( a fine business writer, if this book is any example) such as swallowing the old canard about Britain building only fighters in World War II and leaving the postwar big airplane market to the Americans with their bomber experience. This ignores an awful lot of Avro and Handley Page bombers over Germany, and a swarm of US fighters over the entire world. British civil aviation failures are covered (incompetence of the Brabazon committee, BOAC not knowing what it wanted, the Concorde debacle, etc.) and I am surprised that the editor let a few howlers get by. All in all, this is a very good book about the state of civil aviation just before the Boeing/McDonnell Douglas merger.

Good, but with annoying flaws

This is a very good analysis of the ongoing battle between Airbus and Boeing, with a great deal of historical material on the birth and growth of the two antagonists. Especially interesting for American readers is the story of Airbus and its birth from the ashes of Concorde, a subject generally ignored or glossed over in the US aviation press. Annoying is the lack of aviation expertise on the author's part ( a fine business writer, if this book is any example) such as swallowing the old canard about Britain building only fighters in World War II and leaving the postwar big airplane market to the Americans with their bomber experience. This ignores an awful lot of Avro and Handley Page bombers over Germany, and a swarm of US fighters over the entire world. British civil aviation failures are covered (incompetence of the Brabazon committee, BOAC not knowing what it wanted, the Concorde debacle, etc.) and I am surprised that the editor let a few howlers get by. All in all, this is a very good book about the state of civil aviation just before the Boeing/McDonnell Douglas merger.

Very good book, more story oriented than analytical.

I found the book to be pretty interesting, extremely well laid out (except for the occasional grammatical errors). History is contained in the first half and also in the second half, but the second half is more modern. The writer really blended ideas and thoughts that i have never before envisioned in the battle of the skies. I always new politics played an enormous role in selling airplanes, but Lynn brings forth the true extent of the game that drove Lockheed out of the commercial aviation arena. It is really a terrific book and enjoyable read. Cheers, Victor

Worth the read

This book is written and paced well. Some interesting tales are contained within, and it provides a good general summary of the Boeing-Airbus battle. It was a bit light on real analysis, but still insightful.