THE AVRO CANADA C102 JETLINER. Floyd, Jim. Erin (Ont.), Boston Mills Press, 1986. 280pp, cloth, $29.95, ISBN 0-919783-66-X.CIP Grades 9 and up Reviewed by Alfred F. Greenwood Volume 15 Number 4 1987 July Toward the end of WWII, the conflict in which air power played such an important role, a major new power source for aircraft began to emerge. This was the jet engine, which for most purposes was proving vastly superior to the conventional piston engine. This power plant, produced under pressure of war, was first used for engines of war, powering aircraft to undreamed-of speeds and altitudes. The British first applied jet power to a civil transport and produced the beautiful four-jet Comet that first flew in mid-1949. The Comet went on to triumph and failure, fame and tragedy. In the same year, a Canadian company, A.V. Roe Canada, flew the four-jet Jetliner, designed and produced in Canada, and the first passenger jet to be seen in the skies of North America. A.V. Roe Canada had been producing warplanes, in particular the four engined Lancaster bomber. The jetliner broke records right, left, and centre and was praised to the heavens by the media. The American aircraft community, both civil and military, was strongly interested. Only one Jetliner was built, and despite the author's and many others' favourable reports, was cancelled as a project and reduced to scrap. Jetliner is the story of how this state of affairs came about. Jim Floyd, the author, displays impressive qualifications. An aeronautical engineer of renown, he worked on many famous aircraft in the U.K. He came to Canada in 1946 and was the designer in charge of the Avro Jetliner. His aeronautical expertise has been recognized world-wide and his affiliations include: Fellowships in the American Institute of Aeronautics and the American Institute of Astronautics, Fellowship in the Royal Aeronautical Society, and Fellowship in the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute. Jetliner is a complete history of the aircraft replete with diagrams and details of every aspect of designing, building, and flying the aircraft. According to the author, Canada cast aside a pre-eminent role in the manufacture and design of post WW II jet transport aircraft. His villains are C.D. Howe, minister of construction and supply and Trans Canada Airlines, birth name of Air Canada. Recommended. Alfred F. Greenwood, Victoria, B.C.