For many people, the 1950s was the golden era of military aircraft development, and a time when theworld''s air forces boasted probably the most varied and eclectic fleet of aircraft ever seen inpeacetime. Aircraft in active military service ranged from a few left-over World War Two designs,through first generation jets and 1940''s re-purposed aircraft, to new machines at the cutting edge ofaerospace technology, some of which would continue in service for decades to come.The UK armed forces alone were operating more than 100 types of aircraft, many of them producedby domestic aviation manufacturers. The US and Canada were also fielding a wide variety of militaryaircraft and starting to push the boundaries of speed and altitude capabilities. In continental Europe itseemed that almost every country had its own indigenous military aircraft; whilst rumours andspeculation were rife about the latest aerospace advances by the USSR.The 1950s also saw the rise of the ''abc'' range of books by I
