Book Review: Robert Forsyth: Heinkel Units of World War 2 (published Osprey, July 2018)
 

I put together this review earlier this year and emailed it on 5th January 2019 to the MD of Osprey Publications along with a covering note. Beyond a brief acknowledgement of receipt there has been no response from Osprey.
The review mainly comprises corrections, many of which also apply to the earlier Smith+Creek Classic title on the Greif. The full review is posted here (including a few subsequent additions) together with the covering email to Osprey in case there is something here of interest for others. Maybe also, one day someone with the interest and relevant skills will actually choose the development and production of the He 177 as the subject for their PhD thesis, and perhaps even take me up on the arrangement that I offered in the initial instance to Osprey.
The core challenges in producing a title such as this are that, as yet, there is no settled and accurate ‘backstory’ for the He 177 series production versions, whilst on the other side, it is very simple to demonstrate the shortcomings in the story that has been presented and then parroted endlessly.
This review document is posted in both Open Office and Word 2013 versions, and for those with an interest in how the document was developed, there is also a separate Word 2013 Tracked Changes version.
My covering email to Osprey is below.


“Dear Sir/Madam,
Please find attached my review of Robert Forsyth’s recent title for Osprey: ‘Heinkel He 177 Units of World War 2’ (Combat Aircraft Series No 123).
It’s pretty extensive because it aims to highlight and to correct the most egregious mistakes in this book, and there were an awful lot of these. There are separate sections covering the text, colour profiles and photo captions. I’m afraid it does not make for pleasant reading, but then for a job done this badly, neither should it.
The review was too long to post on amazon in its entirety. So I ended up splitting it into three, posting most of the section on the colour profiles on the US amazon site, most the photo captions section on the UK site and the text section on the German site.
I attach here a copy of the complete review for your awareness and in case you decide to reprint a revised and corrected edition – as I think you should. This comes to you as a tracked-changes file in MS Word. That allows you to distinguish the few small adjustments I’ve made subsequently and also highlights the web site source references I’ve now added. (Any embedded URLs linking to non-amazon sites cannot be included in reviews on amazon.)
Should you ever find an author interested in preparing a serious and accurate study of the He 177, I would be happy to offer to share with them the material I have put together and talk them through it. That will give them a far better factual base to start from than anything that has been published on this aircraft so far. It will also save them a great deal of time. However, to take the story beyond this will require a genuine research effort
In return for my sharing, I would ask that they share with me readable digital copies of whatever materials they collect during the course of their own research. For this there are some very obvious places to start looking. Dr Volker Koos clearly found reliable statistics for the numbers of He 177s delivered by Arado. No-one else ever seems to have used this source. (See the section on this type in his Arado Flugzeugwerke: 1925-1945, published 2007, now due to be printed in English in March this year.) In addition, there is some invaluable material on the He 177 posted and freely available for download from:
http://www.deutscheluftwaffe.com/archiv/Dokumente/web/new%20site/frames2/Dokumente.htm
(See especially the He 177 Technische Anweisungen des Generalluftzeugmeister, 72 Seiten.) It would be worth following up with the site owner on where he found this material, and whether there might just be other stuff of less obvious interest that was also turned up. There will also be a mass of material on the 177 in the Heinkel Werke Firmenarchiv held by the Deutsches Museum in Munich. This occupies 42 meters (Laufmeter) of shelf space, but that includes a lot of post-1945 stuff. See:
https://www.deutsches-museum.de/archiv/bestaende/firmenarchive/verzeichnis/heinkel/

I would undertake to use these ‘infoshares’ entirely for my own private study until expiry of the shorter of one year after the date of publication of their own their title, or five years after our initial contact. [Family circumstances have permanently postponed any ambitions I had as an author, besides my German in nothing like good enough for this task.]”

Sent with title ‘For the attention of the Managing Director of Osprey Publishing’ to each of:
info@ospreypublishing.com
editorial@ospreypublishing.com

Re: Book Review: Robert Forsyth: Heinkel Units of World War 2 (published Osprey, July 2018)
 

I say this to everyone … have you ever considered writing your own book? If you see problems in doing that, it is quite possible that others have the same reasons, but sometimes the only way to make progress is to jump in despite your reservations.

Then there was what you said about a PhD thesis. Coincidentally, I have just read a book based on such a thesis and was not impressed. The way in which a thesis must be presented needs (in my opinion) major adaptation to make a readable book. Also, the work in question was full of factual errors that would have been obvious to anyone with much of an interest in air warfare. I inferred that the author is a historian who had to find a thesis topic but lacked background knowledge of his chosen subject. He had the thesis format (acres of explanation about what he was about to tell you, multiple sources for every last statement) and no doubt he satisfied his supervisors whose specialist knowledge was apparently no greater than his own (did no one know the Me 410 was not jet-propelled?). Also the published sources he cited were almost exclusively academic works, with hardly any of the books that members of this forum are familiar with and which would have spared him a great many problems and errors. Involving someone with the slightest knowledge of German would have helped too.

Re: Book Review: Robert Forsyth: Heinkel Units of World War 2 (published Osprey, July 2018)
 

For what it is worth, I stopped buying books written by Robert Forsyth after reading his introduction to his He 111 book for Classic.

Also writing a book in 2014 without consulting one of the leading experts on Heinkel in Germany, Dr Volker Koos, is terrible and not even reading through his published works is even worse.

So thank you for the effort INM@RLM but the He 177 unit book is not something I will waste money at. From your review I can only conclude he has still never heard of Dr Koos.

Cheers
Stig

Re: Book Review: Robert Forsyth: Heinkel Units of World War 2 (published Osprey, July 2018)
 

Richtig, Stig.

Robert has still apparently not heard of Dr Koos. Perhaps the publication of 'Arado Flugzeugwerke: Aircraft and Development History' in English will help.

Re: Book Review: Robert Forsyth: Heinkel Units of World War 2 (published Osprey, July 2018)
 

What about the Classic on the He 177 by Smith & Creek?

I've paid 93€ for a copy so you have worried me :o .

Re: Book Review: Robert Forsyth: Heinkel Units of World War 2 (published Osprey, July 2018)
 

Alfred, if you read the review you will see that many of the corrections also apply to the He 177 title by Smith and Creek.

The Smith and Creek title also contains many other - for me - fundamental errors. Take the Werk-Nummer block reconstruction as an example area.

But this is the reality of history. Historians have to grade conflicting sources, select the best data and reject some of what they find as either unreliable or downright wrong. They also need to start by going and looking in all the obvious places first to put together some sort of outline as a foundation. Giving detailed sources is also an essential feature.

The basis of the historical method is to allow others to check the published conclusions by going to review the same sources that the historian has used. It's the same principle of repeatability as scientists use to document their experiments in detail so others can either reproduce the same results from scratch - or disprove what has been published.

Here we have lots that has been published that can be disproved by looking at good quality sources.

The reality is that the He 177 title by Smith and Creek is still an ESSENTIAL book for study of the He 177, and it did help move us forward, but it also contains its own copious share of errors and it is NOT a biblical authority.

Having to start from where you are, rather than where you'd like to be, is all just part of life. Welcome to the adventure!

Re: Book Review: Robert Forsyth: Heinkel Units of World War 2 (published Osprey, July 2018)
 

Well said. The other side of that is that a book is only as good as the next piece of information that emerges. Something may appear tomorrow that totally changes the picture.

Re: Book Review: Robert Forsyth: Heinkel Units of World War 2 (published Osprey, July 2018)
 

Yes, that is all part of the satisfaction and fun, Nick. (See the first chapter case of Stresemann in Carr's 'What is History?' What if Stresemann's papers had never seen the light of day?) It just so happens that in the case of the 177 some major changes to the picture are overdue. But my own experience is that radical changes to a story are usually fairly infrequent phenomena.

Re: Book Review: Robert Forsyth: Heinkel Units of World War 2 (published Osprey, July 2018)
 

Ivon, very interesting critique as usual with your reviews - but I have to say that an 'Osprey' is hardly the forum that a 'historian' would use for a 'reappraisal' of accumulated knowledge. The time constraints alone make that proposition simply impractical - the author writing for Osprey has just a few months to come up with four or five 6,000 word chapters. The best to hope for is a decent synthesis of what has gone before. Telling us you can't find the time to write your own book is a bit of a smokescreen -getting it all into under 30,000 words in just a couple of months would be quite simply beyond most people.

Re: Book Review: Robert Forsyth: Heinkel Units of World War 2 (published Osprey, July 2018)
 

I'll stick to Me262's.

Re: Book Review: Robert Forsyth: Heinkel Units of World War 2 (published Osprey, July 2018)
 

My suspicion is that almost no one who waited until they had "enough time" ever managed to write a book. Like I said, sometimes you just have you jump in and learn to swim once you're there.

Re: Book Review: Robert Forsyth: Heinkel Units of World War 2 (published Osprey, July 2018)
 

Thank you, FalkeEins, but I’m not absolutely sure what you are saying here. It sounds uncomfortably close to: If it’s short, it’s OK for it to be ….? But I don’t think you actually mean that.
One can as easily make the opposite argument. If what is on the Luftfahrt-Archiv Hafner He 177 Kompendium CD and in the RLM Monatsmeldungen for 1944 is radically at odds with the conventional story, why not use a short work as an ice-breaker to begin introducing a corrected picture?
To the start of your final sentence, a fair point, but one that I fear only confirms my inadequacy as an author. I clearly cannot write down what I mean clearly enough to get over what is actually in my head.
For me, to make the difference, it'll be the research and the spread of sources that will take the time not the writing. I believe a PhD in the UK, even pursued full-time, still typically takes three or four years. That should be about enough time to get close to bottoming the actual travails of the He 177.

Re: Book Review: Robert Forsyth: Heinkel Units of World War 2 (published Osprey, July 2018)
 

Nigel

I think Neil expressed himself very clearly as regards what one would usually expect to find in an Osprey book. Personally, I've never expected Osprey books to break significant new ground but to be exactly what Neil said, a synthesis of what has gone before. Views as to the merits of this approach might differ but that is the reality.

I don't disagree that there is far more to be unearthed to give a more complete history of the type and if anything I think combing the available sources could easily take upwards of 5 years depending upon the approach adopted.

Steve

Re: Book Review: Robert Forsyth: Heinkel Units of World War 2 (published Osprey, July 2018)
 

I think you'd find amongst aviation authors that spending 6, 7 or 8 years researching and writing a book isn't entirely unusual. Some people take a lot longer than that and some people just keep researching and never get as far as writing.

Re: Book Review: Robert Forsyth: Heinkel Units of World War 2 (published Osprey, July 2018)
 

'Perhaps the publication of 'Arado Flugzeugwerke: Aircraft and Development History' in English will help.'

Here's the front cover panel for the English language edition by Fonthill Media.

Jay

Re: Book Review: Robert Forsyth: Heinkel Units of World War 2 (published Osprey, July 2018)
 

After working as an editor for over 30 years (fiction), I understand the constraints involved in writing non-fiction. Even fiction requires quality sources to provide a believable background. In any case, why wait? As I used to joke (a mistake, I now realize), no one is waiting for your book. If it takes a few years then so be it. I know of few authors who just sit down and produce a book in a few months. Research happens first, followed by presenting the information in an interesting way. I have read some non-fiction books where the writing was very poor, but I have kept them for the value of their technical information. Good reviews are helpful. I also want to stress the value of getting the word out once a book is ready to go to print. If this enterprise is going to continue, the outside world will need to know what is going on. And a bit more than title, page count, photos and maps. Long before the internet, everyone I know had to decide on 'why should I spend my money'? Why is this book better than others like it? Or what does this book have that is new or unique? The words 'unpublished photos' usually gets my attention. That and the promise of new, well-documented information.

Re: Book Review: Robert Forsyth: Heinkel Units of World War 2 (published Osprey, July 2018)
 

Jay Slater wrote:

Jay - Apologies for possibly derailing the thread but can you confirm when the book will appear as Volker Koos was still unaware of a publication date as of an e-mail exchange last week.

Re: Book Review: Robert Forsyth: Heinkel Units of World War 2 (published Osprey, July 2018)
 

It took me over 20 years to gather the necessary material (including all the photos), then an additional four years (I am now in the fifth) to write the 250,000-word manuscript of the two-volume 'Bulgarian Fighter Colours'. Every week-end, every holiday, even Christmas time.

I am now putting the final touches on the layout of volume two. I am glad it's finally over, as the project turned out to be a monster in the past years.
I call it my "mental marathon".

Re: Book Review: Robert Forsyth: Heinkel Units of World War 2 (published Osprey, July 2018)
 

Good morning Steve,

We are awaiting a publication date and I have only recently informed Volker.

With very best wishes,

Jay

Re: Book Review: Robert Forsyth: Heinkel Units of World War 2 (published Osprey, July 2018)
 

Jay

Thanks for your update.

Steve

Re: Book Review: Robert Forsyth: Heinkel Units of World War 2 (published Osprey, July 2018)
 

Latest update on the Volker Koos "Arado Flugzeugwerke: Aircraft and Development History" book, received today from amazon.co.uk


order-update@amazon.co.uk <order-update@amazon.co.uk>

18 May at 11:24
Hello,

We regret to report that the release of the following item has been cancelled:
Koos, Volker "Arado Flugzeugwerke: Aircraft and Development History"

Our supplier has informed us that this item is no longer available. This item has now been cancelled from your order #026-2286537-2944362 and we can confirm that you have not been charged for it.

Please accept our apologies for any disappointment or inconvenience caused.

You may visit the product detail page(s) above to see if these item(s) are available from other sellers.

To view the current status and the costs associated with your order, please visit Your Account (http://www.amazon.co.uk/your-account).


Strange world, this publishing! LOL

Re: Book Review: Robert Forsyth: Heinkel Units of World War 2 (published Osprey, July 2018)
 

Before I take this as gospel, I think I'll wait for Jay Slater to post.