When she entered service in July 1908, the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company’s steamer Ben-my-Chree ('Woman of My Heart' in Manx) was arguably the fastest passenger vessel afloat. Requisitioned by the Admiralty in 1915, she was converted to a Seaplane Carrier, mainly by the installation of a hangar on her aft deck, plus cranes, and started a service life which led from the North Sea to Gallipoli, to Aden and the Eastern Mediterranean, where she met her end in 1917. The Seaplane Carrier was a ‘half-way house’ to the Aircraft Carrier and the story of Ben-my-Chree and the small number of similar conversions is really the story of the formation of the Fleet Air Arm. Whilst her short civilian career is covered, this superb book is really the story of Ben-my-Chree’s wartime role, of the men who served and flew from her, the aircraft used, and how they evolved and improvised tactics as they went along. 234 pages, heavily illustrated with archive photos, maps etc. Card covers with 4 colour aircraft drawings on the flaps. Colin Huston

Highly Recommended!