Noel Macklin from Invicta and Railton to the Fairmile Boats

An early racing driver, car and boat manufacturer and a man who loved life and activity, Noel Macklin was involved in two of the most famous names of 1920s and 1930s motoring; Invicta and Railton, but even before then he had been involved with the Eric Campbell and Silver Hawk light cars. By the late 1930s, however, it was all over. Macklin had decided to go into motor boat manufacturing. He had reckoned, quite rightly, that Britain was heading for war and saw a need, well before the Admiralty, for fast motor launches and torpedo boats. These he called the Fairmile boats, after his Surrey estate and they were designed, from the start, to be capable of mass-production. The boats were successful and over 800 were manufactured in both the UK and Canada. They were used by the RAF as rescue launches, and by the Navy as motor torpedo boats, fast gun boats and for illicit trips to enemy-occupied Europe. Macklin was knighted by King George VI for his services and died just after the end of the war. He is now largely forgotten, but this book helps to recognise his achievements and records the post war life of the Invicta Car Development Company.