ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the evolution of the aircraft industry in light of the scope for expansion accorded it by technical developments on the one hand and the needs of its customers on the other. In reality, separation of technical change and market emergence is somewhat artificial and is only maintained initially to enable the salient steps in the industry's growth to be set down. The chapter explores the interaction between technical change and markets and addresses from the point-of-view of a conceptual stance denoted as the 'wave-cycle' model. It also outlines the sequence of technical developments experienced by the industry in the first place, and to elicit how the markets for aircraft evolved in the second. The resultant wave-cycle, quite bluntly, apportions its largesse to the aircraft industry precisely during the times of national insecurity - real or imagined.
