The history of civil aviation is still in many respects a somewhat »terra incognita« for historical research. While historians extensively researched military aviation due to its significant importance for mobile warfare during the twentieth and twenty‑first centuries, its civil counterpart still represents a notable gap in research. This gap is all the more surprising, given that the global aviation industry is one of the largest and fastest-growing industries in the world, offering a wealth of exciting starting points for various historical research questions. These points apply to the history of technology and environment as well as to political and economic history. Studies, such as those by the two Toulouse historians Clair Juilliet and Jean-Marc Olivier, are helping to close this research gap.

The authors structured the book into three main chapters comprising ten subchapters. The conclusion is followed by appendices, which mainly contain sales figures from aircraft manufacturers Airbus and Boeing. A bibliography completes the publication. According to its title, this ambitious project covers the period from 1910 to 2024. However, the content starts as early as 1890, thus extending even beyond the period mentioned in the subtitle. The book covers the entire history of the Western European aviation industry but attests aircraft manufacturer Airbus a prominent role.

Within the large aviation industry, which according to the authors encompasses »une activité industrielle, celle qui consiste en la conception, la fabrication, la vente et l’entretien d’aéronefs civils et militaires« (3), this book focuses on the civil aviation sector (ibid.). Nevertheless, the authors do not ignore the »dual character« (caractère dual) of the aviation industry, which consists of the strong connection between the military and civil sectors on the one hand, and of the peaceful transport of people and goods between different locations and the massive destruction that can result (3-4), on the other. The aim of the study is to examine the dynamics and logics of the European aviation industry chronologically over a century (5–6), which the authors rightly attribute an economic key role in Western Europe to (5). Methodologically, they choose a transnational approach (ibid.), which makes sense, given that Airbus, as the global player in the European aviation industry, represents an international consortium of European aerospace companies. Therefore, Juilliet and Olivier analyse the consolidation of the Western European aviation industries as part of the European integration after World War II (ibid.). Scientific and technological transfers between the European aviation industry with its main hubs in France, the United States, and the Soviet Union are addressed, but only marginally discussed, as they were, according to the authors, subject to different logics (6).

The introduction gives a brief overview of the current state of research, primarily referencing studies of the Centre d’étude des techniques, des connaissances et des pratiques (CETCOPRA) (6‑7). The corpus of sources is also briefly discussed (7). The thematic part of the book starts with a significant chapter on the early beginnings of the aviation industry. This overview covers pioneers such as Otto Lilienthal, Louis Blériot, and the Wright brothers, as well as technological progress in Europe between the World Wars. The second major chapter offers an overview of the European aviation industry’s reconstruction in the context of the so-called Jet Age. The third major chapter focuses on Airbus. In all chapters, the authors endeavour to link the European development with French specifics. For example, the rise of the Southern French city of Toulouse, through the work of the Latécoère family, as the centre of French aviation and the headquarters of Airbus is analysed in great detail to highlight a singularity in the history of the French aviation industry (44 et seq.). However, the book also offers interesting insights into the historical development of other aviation industries in Western Europe. Even Soviet aviation is mentioned. The focus, however, is mostly on »les trois grands dans la maîtrise du ciel« (42) France, Germany, and Great Britain.

Starting with the Latécoère family’s factories in Toulouse, where the family initially produced aircraft for World War I and later for flights to the French colonies, the authors trace the path through the airline Aéropostale’s history to today’s French flag carrier, Air France. Until the eve of World War II, the aviation industry in Europe was still heavily influenced by the military and therefore extremely fragmented (76–78). However, the beginning of the Cold War era saw a gradual consolidation of Western European aviation industries (102). This consolidation ultimately led to the creation of the Concorde and Airbus. According to Juilliet and Olivier, the growth of the civil aviation sector broke the military’s absolute dominance in the industry (ibid.). Nevertheless, it is also clear that, in the course of the so-called Jet Age, a large number of technologies were implemented in civil aviation from the military, and thus a strict separation between the two sectors of the industry was not possible even after 1945.

The authors describe technological inventions in detail, but do not limit these inventions to their functionality; they also analyse consequences for people and the environment (127–130; 238–241). In this way, the history of aviation is repeatedly linked to broader questions of historical science. The examination of Airbus as a company, on the other hand, is more akin to a corporate history, focusing on the design and success of various aircraft within its political and economic context. Here, even more clearly than in the other chapters, the authors focus on economic development.

Overall, Juilliet and Olivier have succeeded in creating a pioneering work, a comprehensive history of the aviation industry in Europe, and an exciting reference book that offers scientists and interested non-professionals alike a fascinating overview of Western European aviation. The connections between the European and French developments are as convincing as the transnational approach. The few points of criticism mainly concern the state of research and the explanation of the historical sources used. The book relies almost exclusively on French and English-language literature, while the authors have not taken into account the now somewhat outdated but still readable German dissertations by Christopher Andres and Ulrich Kirchner about the beginnings of Airbus Industrie. This neglect is probably due to language barriers. The use of primary sources is mentioned explicitly (5; 295), but the reviewer would have liked to see a list of sources or further explanation regarding the consulted (archive) holdings. It is also somewhat regrettable that the study hardly discussed legal and political branches and structures in Europe (e.g., airspaces, EUROCONTROL, or the founding of the European Civil Aviation Conference or Conférence européenne de l’aviation civile). However, this would probably have exceeded the scope of this study which is definitely worth reading.