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Not many weeks back, according to newspaper reports, three members of the library staff of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies in London were dismissed. All had refused to carry out issue desk duty. All, according to the newspaper account, were members of ASTMS. None, according to the Library Association yearbook, was a member of the appropriate professional organisation for librarians in Great Britain.

To publicise the little known work of Eli Devons (1950) as a source of practical operations management “know how”, collated by an economist but of direct interest to wider academe.

Evaluation of World War II UK aircraft production procedures against published literature and available case studies in operations management.

Specific and substantial anecdotal evidence suggesting that both bullwhip and learning curve losses were common phenomena waiting to be discovered.

Much of the original evidence is circumstantial but still capable of triangulation because of multiple events pointing to the same causality.

Identifies generic problems and solutions but also pinpoints areas which are applications specific.

The re‐discovery that learning curve and bullwhip phenomena were rife 60 years ago supports the view that knowledge and its exploitation is episodic. Specifically, as soon as the environment returns to normal, so are the lessons learned under duress quickly forgotten.

The UK aerospace industry is the largest and most comprehensive in Western Europe and the second largest in the Western World. Employing 195,000 people in some 300 companies, of which the two largest are British Aerospace and Rolls‐Royce, the industry designs, constructs, sells and supports products ranging from civil and military aircraft, engines, guided weapons and space vehicles, to a wide variety of components, sub‐assemblies, electronic and avionic equipment, plastics and marine engineering products, and has many other diverse scientifically‐based programmes. The industry is responsible for some of the largest contracts ever awarded for overseas support and consultancy services and has, within its constituent companies, experience second to none in the organisation and management of major international collaborative projects. Operating predominantly in the intensely‐competitive and fast‐moving international arena, aerospace makes one of the more positive contributions to the UK balance of payments. Since 1971, exports have risen from £328 million a year to the 1978 record level of £1,200 million and already the forward order books of British Aerospace and Rolls‐Royce alone total over £5 billion, much of it for export. In the longer term, market forecasts predict a vast potential for aerospace products, particularly in the commercial aircraft sector, where continuing technological developments have resulted in lower real costs of air transport and led to a new era of mass travel. But the air transport industry needs fuel and the aerospace industry, with its history of technological innovation, its constant quest for more‐efficient and durable products and its stimulation of other industries through advanced design requirements and spin‐off activities, is well placed to make a positive contribution, directly and indirectly, to combating the UK energy challenge.

Tubesales (UK) Limited has been supplying the European aircraft industry with aluminium, titanium, stainless steel, high and nickel alloy products for over 30 years. The Tubesales organization in the USA, operating from over 20 locations throughout the USA and Canada, has a supply history in the USA and the Far East, of more than 50 years.

To examine the role of new aeronautical technologies in improving commercial aviation’s environmental performance.

Reviews the environmental improvements that may be conferred through the adoption of alternative aviation fuels and new airframe, engine and navigation technologies.

Although aeronautical technologies have evolved considerably since the earliest days of powered flight, the aviation industry is now reaching a point of diminishing returns as growing global consumer demand for air transport outstrips incremental improvements in environmental efficiency. The chapter describes some of the technological interventions that are being pursued to improve aviation’s environmental performance and discusses the extent to which these innovations will help to deliver a more sustainable aviation industry.

As part of the V.10 F programme financed by Service Technique de la Production Aeronautique (STPA), AEROSPATIALE and DASSAULT — BREGUET have joined forces to produce a single Falcon 10 wing entirely made of carbon fibre. This wing has just been sent from the AEROSPATIALE Company's Nantes factory to the Toulouse Aernautic Testing Centre. A second wing will also be built, but this time, by DASSAULT‐BREGUET Biarritz plant. The two wings will be used for static fatigue testing. The programme calls for another pair of wings, one to be made by each of the same firms. They will later be mounted to a Falcon 10 for flight testing.

It is used on more daily scheduled flights than any other propeller driven aircraft and is exceeded by only the Boeing 727, 737 and DC‐9. In continuous production since 1966, this aircraft has amassed more than seven million flying hours and its order book has now exceeded 800 units.