At the end of the First World War, it was realised that aviation was no longer for the select few but that technology had advanced so much that passengers could be carried long distances relatively economically. As soon as civil aviation was allowed again in 1919, a few companies were set up to provide a passenger service to European destinations such as Paris and Rotterdam. In 1942 the fledgling British airlines were amalgamated into Imperial Airways.

The Imperial Airways Fleet describes in detail the main British airline fleets from 1919 to 1940, giving details of the aircraft history, layout, identity and fate. Much of this information has been published but to find it means going to numerous sources and this book is the first to collect it into one volume. John Stroud was fortunate enough to remember Imperial Airways, even working for them from 1933.

He flew in some of the aircraft of the fleet, saw almost all of the C-Class Empire flying boats being built and some of his earliest memories are of seeing the aircraft of Daimler Airway and Instone Air Line at Croydon in the early 1920s.