Air Enthusiast is kaput

The one thing I noticed a few years ago the key publishing altered the Air Enthusiast layout and may be then started to lose some readers that bought the mag for some its info. That at the moment it just does not provide.

e.g.
The twenty-five issue has 3 cutaways
Vickers Viscount 810/840
Armstrong Whitworh (gloster) Meteor NF Mk 12
Junkers DI

In those days I would not miss an issue, lately I would page through the mag and only buy it if some thing jumped out and grabbed me.

Some times you have to give some thing to make the defence in the so called crowded market (locally in Portugal I don’t get that idea may be we don’t get all the publications).

Best regards
F111_mac

JoeB, I must reluctantly agree, although there is a stupendous amount of misinformation on the web, which is why I am constanly seeking to increase my library, with more trust in the printed word – although mistakes do tend to be perpetuated in printed literature too!
One advantage of magazines is that when a mistake is made and is picked up by a reader, a reputable magazine usually prints the correction in a subsequent issue.
One of my favourite features of the soon-to-be-late AE is that some extremely arcane information that would never make it into a book is/was published there. However I have now switched, to subscribe to Air Britain, which I believe will satisfy my thirst for detailed knowledge and be a good source of bedtime reading.

The relatively low level of activity on this thread, on a forum sponsored by the publisher of the magazine, tells you something about the diminished level of interest in this sort of publication, I think.

Free original research on the web; free, properly credited ‘fair use’ info from published works on the web; and illegitimate file sharing via the web: that’s a lot of free info on aviation topics that didn’t used to exist. And attention spans are shorter also probably in part due to the web. But then the big air-air wars are all pretty long ago. There are still new things to learn about them, even WWI, but it tends to be more arcane. Likewise the smaller recent air wars appeal to a niche audience, and though we all love peace, historical articles about peacetime military aviation again appeal to a limited audience.

Joe

The end is nigh!

Having just bought the penultimate ‘Air Enthusiast’ I was amazed to see on the cover the words ‘LAST OF THE LINE’. Surely they should have kept this article for the ultimate issue!

This came this afternoon from Key Publishing…..

The publication will end with issue 131 Sept/Oct as it was no longer cost effective to produce. Regretfully readers like yourself are in short supply.

That is the issue with print these days, too much competing on the interweb for one’s attention and usually for free

Though it goes against natural intuition (“we’re giving away the family silver”) sometimes you have to out a web version of your print out there for free in order to stay competitive. There can be an added bonus, some studies have suggested paper version go up by 10% or more.

I’m afraid I’m (just) old enough to recall when it was a monthy filled with current and historical aviation subjects, the latest military and commercial news, even a model columnn. It was edited by the great William Green and Gordon Swanborough.

At some point it was renamed Air International…then AI dropped the historical elements. Anyone know why?

IIRC, it briefly became Air Enthusiast International, then (as current) just Air International. So the old Air Enthusiast that J Boyle and myself recall with such fondness, and which was a kind of successor to the old RAF Flying Review, still lives on even if it’s a mere shadow of its former self. The quarterly (?) Air Enthusiast we’re talking about here was introduced later (obviously after the monthly changed its name) as more of a digest type read. Haven’t bought one in a while, but last time I looked at one in the shops it seemed a bit pricey, especially when there’s so much to read for free on the dear old Interweb.

A great pity. I used to buy it on the odd occasion as it used to publish articles and photos you would not normally find in other mags, particularly with regards to the historical point of view. I do tend to tire of reading the umpteenth article about the 787 etc etc in every magazine you open.

Arthur, yes, I did write some letters for AE.

A good source for information are old books. I have all books written by William Green, but in these days, a book of good quality is hard to find (more pictures than information).

And yes, IAPR is publishing to really on time anymore. Somebody know what is going on? If they stop too…….

The articles on the Dornier 24,Heinkel 111,T-33 and C-47 in Spanish Air Force history were superb. The magazine will be sadly missed and i have Vol One number One in my collection. I hope they will still publish the Spanish histories in “Flypast” ??

Definately a great loss. Like Ruud before me: where else can you nowadays find lengthy articles of historical interest? With the loss of AE, the only one that seems commonly available is IAPR, which seems to have problems of it’s own.

Apart from that, it will be tough to find in-depth and/or lengthy articles on sometimes obscure bits of aviatry. Back to digging into really obscure in-topic modelling leaflets, or newsletters from such hard-to-find Societies Dealing With Nothing More Than The D-Variant Of The Starfighter (although Zipper is/was a good read, if you’re in to F-104s)…

Ruud, i believe you did some writing (at least letters) for AE yourself, if i’m not mistaken?

It is a very sad loss. AE was one of the best journals around, with a lot of very good information. I have the complete set of Ae and AI from the 1970, with electronic index, and it is a very good resource.

Does anybody know a good replacement, besides International Air Power review.

Thanks

Ruud?

Propstrike, I have sent you a PM
Papa Lima

It is (was) very dense in content and quite a hefty academic read at times.
I would not be surprised if the quantity of readers with the required concentration levels is slowly diminishing beyond critical mass. Added to which is maybe the difficulty in finding fresh editorial content, especially given the wealth of resourses online.

I have a huge stack (1970’s -1984) if anyone interested- much cheapness.

I’m afraid I’m (just) old enough to recall when it was a monthy filled with current and historical aviation subjects, the latest military and commercial news, even a model columnn. It was edited by the great William Green and Gordon Swanborough.

It was a very good “one stop” magazine and though expensive (at least in the U.S.) it was good value inasmuch as you didn’t have to buy 2-3 different magazines to get what you wanted. It was hard to find during my university years, but I did namage to amass a good size collection.

I’ve kept my old copies and they’re still useful from a historical standpoint or nostalgic (with stories on the new F-14,15 and 16, the MRCA…soon to be named the Tornado, or whether the A-10 would be a useful aircraft since the Vietnam war had recently ended…not to mention the dozens of new commercial planes that were announced with a nice three-view and were never seen again).

At some point it was renamed Air International…then AI dropped the historical elements. Anyone know why?

This will be a very sad loss for me, I hope this type of information will continue to appear in other Key Publishing periodicals! Perhaps KP could give us subscribers a clue as to where else to turn!

Market place too crowded?

It was looking increasingly outdated in its format – although the articles were generally high quality.

I am going to miss AE. It was very good on detailed articles on often quite obscure subjects that generally get very little coverage in the more generalist monthlies. A great pity, IMHO.

RIP

T J

Market place too crowded?

It was looking increasingly outdated in its format – although the articles were generally high quality.

Issue 131 is the end.
Not Surprising.