Shute Nevil. No Highway

London: W.Heinemann, 1951 (1948). - 314 p.A Raindeer airplane crashes in Labrador after a little less than 1440 flying hours. In the official report the accident is ascribed to pilot error but Denis Scott at the Royal Aircraft Establishment in Farnborough is not convinced that this explanation is true. Neither does Theodore Honey, a slightly eccentric member of Scott's staff, who has an as yet unproved theory that the tail plane of the Raindeer is bound to succumb to metal fatigue after 1440 hours in the air. What if Honey's experiments prove him to be right?
This is one of Shute's absolute classics; it created a stir at the time and has gone on selling ever since. It is a rare example of a really convincing novel based on science and engineering, with Shute making good use of his own background in this area (see his autobiography "Slide Rule") - but a science background is not necessary to understand the tale as it unfolds.