Airliner Models: Marketing Air Travel and Tracing Airliner Evolution Through Vintage Miniatures by Anthony Lawler

Anthony J Lawler, a successful airliner salesman, spent almost eight years of his "retirement" researching and bringing together the photographs of some
spectacular models from his and other collections, and writing the
accompanying detailed captions and explanatory text.
To hold this beautifully produced book in one's hands and leaf, slowly
through its pages is a wonderful and exceptional experience. Not only does
it recount the history of airliner models and their makers, from the 1920s
until recently, accompanied by over 800 photographs, most of them in color,
but the text also relates the accompanying development of the corresponding
"real life" airliners, large and small, over the same period. Add to that
the delightful accounts of how the author managed to acquire some unloved
models at quite an early age, together with his much
later adventures tracking down models of various rare or missing types, and
here's a very readable account of a fascinating subject, almost certainly
the best of its kind ever written. It's a part of air travel marketing history that is fast disappearing with online booking, and the vanishing of the many airline offices that used to display these wonderfully detailed models.

I have know Anthony Lawler in the 3 - 4 decade range and he has been a terrific inspiration for me and my collection of professional aircraft display models since the beginning. This is an unbelievable coffee table photo book on a subject which is near and dear to my heart and the book is loaded with what I consider to be the vast majority of professional aircraft display models ever produced for industry. With lovely photos on every page of this hard cover book, the story of the development of the commercial aviation industry is told with simultaneous development of the professional aircraft models and their history and makers over the decades from the 1920s to the 1980s. The "Treasure Hunt" sections tell the personal stories of how the author came to own some of the most prized models in his collection. Weighing in at a very impressive 336 pages this book will provide years of reading entertainment for anyone interested in professional aircraft display models.

This is a brilliant retelling of the history of airlines, viewed through the lens of vintage models. The author, Anthony Lawler, had a dream job: travel the world and sell Airbus jets. When not spending Airbus money dining potential clients at the world's best restaurants, he would scour travel agencies and haunt flea markets in search of desktop airliner models; upon returning to the U.S. he researched both the airplane and the airline. Successive chapters trace the way aircraft development and airline growth fed off each other; companies like Douglas and Boeing were inextricably intertwined with United, American, and Trans World Airlines. The book is big, heavy, packed with 800 photos, and beautifully printed. The text is interspersed with a few stories describing how Lawler found particular models; to my jaded surprise, I found them charming.