You can pick up almost any history of aviation—from the early times to the present—and read of the exploits and adventures of pilots and their planes. Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith and his Fokker, Charles Lindbergh and his Ryan, Amelia Earhart and her Lockheed. We who have technical interests in aviation know that Kingsford- Smith and Lindbergh depended on their Whirlwinds, and Miss Earhart on a Wasp, but the popular stories often fail to make that point.

In more modern times, the engines are equally vital but sometimes get overlooked. Once, when a new jet aircraft was being announced at a press briefing, an airline officer breathlessly described the aircraft, showed artists’ concepts of the cabin and flight deck, and talked at length of the systems and subsystems. After an hour-long description, he called on his audience of reporters, and then he got his come-uppance from an engine man’s point of view. A reporter at the back of the room was recognised, and asked: ‘And what is this aircraft going to be? A glider?’ The by now red-faced official had neglected to mention the powerplants.