The Flying Lady (Rolls-Royce Owner"s Club Magazine) - March/April 2007

Review of Equations of Motion from The Flying Lady

"Handling" is a prized quality in Rolls-Royce cars and few people on the planet have advanced the body of knowledge in this area in as rigorous a manner as the author. Rolls-Royce, in fact,hired him to do contract research work on the Shadows I and II. Also, Milliken worked with Maurice Olley-one of the ueber-engineers of the last century-who had diredly worked with Boyce, been RRofA Chief Engineer, then joined GM where he introduced ifs in 1934. While these tidbits are of specific interest to us, they are barely a footnote to Milliken"s almost 90 years in the field. Even at 6S0 pages, this book seems insufficient to capture the full measure of Milliken"s industrious life, (And, certainly, this review cannot do it justice, which is why this magazine may devote a more detailed article to the subject in a future issue. See also FL02-4 and 03-5 for reviews of his other books.)

From an early age, Milliken was interested in things that moved-and what kept them upright, or aloft. He built a car and raced it, built a plane and tlew it, acquired in school and college the analytical tools to understand the processes, and made a name for himself in his chosen field of stability control. To this day he and his firm are among the top consultants. The book is subtitled "An Engineering Autohiography" hecause its emphasis is on the man"s professional interests; personal and anecdotal bits are interwoven wherever they are relevant.

The writing is very fluid and will captivate anyone who has even the remotest sense of wonder at the incomprehensibly quick advances in locomotion in the space of just one century. The academic side of this discipline can be dry indeed hut the empiric side, as portrayed here, is good for hair-raising tales of death-defying stunts. There is very little hardcore technical material (mostly confined to the chapter about camber) to frustrate the reader. Photos and illustrations-all b/w-are plentiful. The book is extensively appended and has a supremely well-layered, awardworthy index.

Aviators should note that there is a good deal about airplanes, especially about B-17 and 29 development.

Review of Equations of Motion from The Flying Lady (Rolls-Royce Owner"s Club Magazine) - March/April 2007