Re: Wilhelm Johnen's book - true or fake?
 

George, the action mentioned by me happened in the pre-radar times, when there were only two crewmembers onboard.

Re: Wilhelm Johnen's book - true or fake?
 

The excerpt not mentions binoculars but glasses. Am I wrong?
Anyway when Martin Drewes had his book published in Portuguese here in Brasil, instead of doing just a translation he did a new text. He told me some words, expressions and slangs were impossible to translate so he did all manuscript again in Portuguese.
I can just imagine how confuse a translation may be when done by someone wich do not know what the author is telling... or unable to capture the text´s "atmosphere".

Re: Wilhelm Johnen's book - true or fake?
 

The radio operator acted as both radio operator and rear gunner. So, in the pre-intruder era, the radio operator would be more use as a 2nd pair of eyes looking for enemy a/c. The ground controllers could get them close to their targets, but the aircrews still had a lot of sky to look at to spot those targets.

Re: Wilhelm Johnen's book - true or fake?
 

Glasses is just slang for binoculars.

Re: Wilhelm Johnen's book - true or fake?
 

Well, IMHO the best way to enjoy the German pilot remembrances is to read them in German (in this way the genuine Duell unter den Sternen)
I bought it in German as well, not in English in any way (altough my English is better, than my German)

Re: Wilhelm Johnen's book - true or fake?
 

Your point is well taken, Csaba. I have occasionally done the same myself in order to ensure that I am getting the meaning of the text as it was originally written.