Aerial Board of Control
Encyclopedia
The Aerial Board of Control is a fictional supranational organization created to manage air traffic for the whole world. It was described in the early science fiction stories With The Night Mail (The Windsor Magazine, December 1905; McClure's Magazine, November 1905) and As Easy as ABC (1912) by Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...

. The organisation was able to limit the influence of national states and create a de-facto world government.

Kipling wrote only these two science fiction stories; both are set in his Aerial Board of Control universe and in the 21st century.

The concept that control of air traffic would lead to world government reappears in the works of H. G. Wells
H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...

, most notably his 1933 book The Shape of Things to Come
The Shape of Things to Come
The Shape of Things to Come is a work of science fiction by H. G. Wells, published in 1933, which speculates on future events from 1933 until the year 2106. The book is dominated by Wells's belief in a world state as the solution to mankind's problems....

and its 1936 film adaptation Things to Come
Things to Come
Things to Come is a British science fiction film produced by Alexander Korda and directed by William Cameron Menzies. The screenplay was written by H. G. Wells and is a loose adaptation of his own 1933 novel The Shape of Things to Come and his 1931 non-fiction work, The Work, Wealth and Happiness...

. The concept is also central to Michael Arlen
Michael Arlen
Michael Arlen , original name Dikran Kouyoumdjian, was an Armenian essayist, short story writer, novelist, playwright, and scriptwriter, who had his greatest successes in the 1920s while living and writing in England...

's novel Man's Mortality, also published in 1933.

The corrected typescript of "With the Night Mail" was acquired at auction by the University of Sussex
University of Sussex
The University of Sussex is an English public research university situated next to the East Sussex village of Falmer, within the city of Brighton and Hove. The University received its Royal Charter in August 1961....

library in 1997. http://www.sussex.ac.uk/library/gen_info/lcg/84pap-5.pdf

Texts

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