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R. E. G. Davies

{{Short description|English aviation historian (1921–2011)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}

{{Infobox writer

| name = R. E. G. Davies

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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1921|07|21}}

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| death_date = {{Death date and age|2011|07|30|1921|07|21}}

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| occupation = Historian

| nationality = American

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| subject = Aviation history

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Ronald Edward George Davies (3 July 1921 – 30 July 2011) was an English writer who was a specialist in airline and air transport history, and commercial aviation economic research.

Biography

Educated at Shaftesbury Grammar School, he started work in London in 1938, and was in the British Army as a territorial volunteer from 1939 to 1946. He spent a year in Iceland, training for mountain and Arctic warfare, and drove his machine-gun carrier on to the beach in Normandy in 1944. According to the New York Times, Davies made his first airplane trip in 1948.{{cite news

|title= Book Notes

|work= The New York Times

|quote= R.E.G. Davies made his first airplane trip in 1948, ...

|date= 12 June 1991

|url= https://www.nytimes.com/1991/06/12/books/book-notes-202191.html?pagewanted=2

|accessdate= 2010-12-26

}} Subsequently, he worked for the Ministry of Civil Aviation, British European Airways, the Bristol Aeroplane Company and de Havilland before moving to the United States in 1968 to lead market research for Douglas Aircraft. A lifelong aviation 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 as the Charles A. Lindbergh Chair in Aerospace History in 1981–1982.

Davies was responsible, alongside artist Mike Machat, 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, 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 National Air and Space Museum,{{cite news

|author1=Robert Ahrens |author2=Anne R. Carey |author3=Jerry Mosemak |author4=Dan Vergano |title= 100 years in the air started with Zeppelin's passenger service

|work= USA Today

|quote= "Really, it was sort of a desperation measure," said historian Ron Davies of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. "He couldn't sell enough of his zeppelins to the military, so he decided to sell tickets."

|date= 2009-10-29

|url= https://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2009-10-28-zeppelin-air-travel_N.htm

|accessdate= 2010-12-26

}}{{cite news

|author= SCOTT MCCARTNEY

|title= Revisiting the Grand Canyon Crash 50 Years Later

|work= The Wall Street Journal

|quote= But in aviation and in many other endeavors, said R.E.G. Davies, curator at the Smithsonian Institution's Air & Space Museum, "it's only when something sensational happens that anything gets done."

|date= 20 June 2006

|url= https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB115076139828284649

|accessdate= 2010-12-26

}} 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.{{cite web |last1=Langer |first1=Wmily |title=Airline historian R.E.G. ‘Ron’ Davies dies at 90 |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/airline-historian-reg-ron-davies-dies-at-90/2011/08/04/gIQAWBMBvI_story.html |website=Washington Post |access-date=22 January 2023 |date=4 August 2011}} His collection is held by the National Air and Space Museum.{{cite web |last1=Borja |first1=Elizabeth |title=Archives Spotlight: R. E. G. (Ron) Davies Air Transport Collection |url=http://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/archives-spotlight-ron-davies-air-transport-collection |website=National Air and Space Museum |access-date=29 June 2023 |date=16 June 2023}}

Publications

=Reference works=

  • {{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=R. E. G. |title=A History of the World's Airlines |date=1964 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York}}
  • {{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=R. E. G. |title=Airlines of the United States Since 1914 |date=1972 |publisher=Putnam |location=London |isbn=9780370000329}}
  • {{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=R. E. G. |title=Airlines of Latin America Since 1919 |date=1983 |publisher=Putnam |location=London |isbn=9780370300498}}
  • {{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=R. E. G. |last2=Quastler |first2=I. E. |title=Commuter Airlines of the United States |date=1994 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press |location=Washington, D.C. |isbn=9781560984047}}
  • {{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=R. E. G. |title=Airlines of Asia Since 1920 |date=1997 |publisher=Putnam |location=London |isbn=9780851778556}}
  • {{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=R. E. G. |title=Airlines of the Jet Age: A History |date=2010 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press |location=Washington, D.C. |isbn=9780978846084}}

=Airline histories=

  • {{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=R. E. G. |last2=Malone |first2=Myrtle Davidson |title=Continental Airlines: The First Fifty Years, 1934-1984 |date=1984 |publisher=Pioneer Publications |location=The Woodlands, Texas}}
  • {{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=R. E. G. |title=PanAm: An Airline and Its Aircraft |date=1987 |publisher=Hamlyn |location=London |isbn=9780600556718}}
  • {{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=R. E. G. |title=Delta Air Lines: An Airline and Its Aircraft |date=1990 |publisher=Paladwr Press |location=Miami, Florida |isbn=9780962648304}}
  • {{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=R. E. G. |title=Lufthansa: An Airline and Its Aircraft |date=1989 |publisher=Orion Books |location=New York |isbn=9780517570227}}
  • {{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=R. E. G. |title=Aeroflot: An Airline and Its Aircraft |date=1992 |publisher=Paladwr Press |location=Rockville, Maryland |isbn=9780962648311}}
  • {{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=R. E. G. |title=Saudi Arabian Airlines: An Airline and Its Aircraft |date=1995 |publisher=Paladwr Press |location=McLean, Virginia |isbn=9780962648373}}
  • {{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=R. E. G. |title=Transbrasil: An Airline and Its Aircraft |date=1997 |publisher=Paladwr Press |location=McLean, Virginia |isbn=9781888962017}}
  • {{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=R. E. G. |title=TWA: An Airline and Its Aircraft |date=2000 |publisher=Paladwr Press |location=McLean, Virginia |isbn=9781888962161}}
  • {{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=R. E. G. |title=Eastern Airlines: An Airline and Its Aircraft |date=2003 |publisher=Paladwr Press |location=McLean, Virginia |isbn=9781888962192}}
  • {{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=R. E. G. |title=British Airways: The Imperial Years, 1919–1939 |date=2005 |publisher=Paladwr Press |location=McLean, Virginia |isbn=9781888962246}}
  • {{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=R. E. G. |title=TACA: An Airline and Its Aircraft |date=2008 |publisher=Paladwr Press |location=McLean, Virginia |isbn=9781888962284}}

=Further books=

  • {{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=R. E. G. |title=Rebels and Reformers of the Airways |date=1987 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press |location=Washington, D.C. |isbn=9780874743548}}
  • {{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=R. E. G. |title=Fallacies and Fantasies of Air Transport History |date=1994 |publisher=Paladwr Press |location=McLean, Virginia |isbn=9780962648359}}
  • {{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=R. E. G. |title=Charles Lindbergh: An Airman, His Aircraft, and His Great Flights |date=1997 |publisher=Paladwr Press |location=McLean, Virginia |isbn=9781888962048}}
  • {{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=R. E. G. |title=Supersonic (Airliner) Non-Sense: A Case Study in Applied Market Research |date=1998 |publisher=Paladwr Press |location=McLean, Virginia |isbn=9781888962093}}
  • {{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=R. E. G. |last2=Provan |first2=John |title=Berlin Airlift: The Effort and the Aircraft |date=1998 |publisher=Paladwr Press |location=McLean Virginia |isbn=9781888962055}}
  • {{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=R. E. G. |last2=Birtles |first2=Philip |title=De Havilland Comet: The World's First Jet Airliner |date=1999 |publisher=Paladwr Press |location=McLean, Virginia |isbn=9781888962147}}
  • {{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=R. E. G. |last2=Salnikov |first2=Yuri |title=The Chelyuskin Adventure: Exploration, Tragedy, Heroism |date=2005 |publisher=Paladwr Press |location=McLean, Virginia}}
  • {{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=R. E. G. |last2=Wildenberg |first2=Thomas |title=Howard Hughes: An Airman, His Aircraft, and His Great Flights |date=2006 |publisher=Paladwr Press |location=McLean, Virginia |isbn=9781888962277}}

References

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Category:1921 births

Category:2011 deaths

Category:British aviation historians

Category:British Army personnel of World War II

Category:British expatriates in Iceland

Category:People from Hertfordshire

Category:British Army soldiers

Category:Military personnel from Hertfordshire