Modesty forbids me to recommend the book series British Built Aircraft, which is a regional survey of aircraft manufacturers in Britain from 1908 to ~2005.
Other good books: Slide Rule Neville Shute, Alone across the Tasman Sea - Francis Chichester, plus any of those listed below (with an unashamedly historical eye):
Adventure with Fate, Harald Penrose, Airlife (1984)
British Aircraft Before The Great War, Michael H. Goodall, Albert E. Tagg (Schiffer Publishing Ltd, 2001)
British Light Aeroplanes – Their Evolution, Development and Perfection 1920 – 1940, Arthur W.J.G. Ord-Hume (GMS Enterprises, 2000)
First Through the Clouds, F. Warren Merriam (B.T. Batsford Ltd, 1954)
The Flight of the Mew Gull, Alex Henshaw (John Murray, 1980)
The Forgotten Pilots, Lettice Curtis (Nelson Saunders, third edition, 1985)
Sigh for a Merlin, Alex Henshaw, Crécy Publishing, 1999 reprint
Spitfire - A Test Pilot’s Story, J.K. Quill (John Murray, 1983)
The Story of the British Light Aeroplane, Terence Boughton (John Murray, 1963)
Ultralights - The Early British Classics, Richard Riding (Patrick Stephens Ltd, 1987)
Jet Jockeys: Flying the RAF's First Jet Fighters by Peter Caygill