Jagdfliegerverbände Vol. 9 / III
 

Gentlemen,

I almost don't dare to announce the publication of Vol. 9 / III of the JFV series after a number of technical and organizatorial problems that have so far prevented the book from becoming available. I sincerely apologize for the repeated delays.

As of today I have returned the proof read material to the printer who will start working next week aiming at a final release date of mid-August. The book will comprise 509 pages with 501 photos, about a dozen in colour. There will be fold out maps and the usual line drawings etc.

The production delay of Vol. 9/III has allowed me to build up a certain advance with respect to Vol. 10 which will cover the Reichsverteidigung 1943 as well as operations in the West in that year. The sheer amount of material makes it neccessary that this will be another triple set. I have so far completed the manuscripts for 10 / I and II and the Reichsverteidigung part of 10 / III with the chapter dealing with the West still to be tackled.

Compared to Volmes 1 - 9 there will be a change in the structure of Vol. 10 in so far as 10 / I will be a general part on the Reichsverteidigung alone giving a day to day account of aerial daylight operations over the Reich in 1943. The air battles will be described with the participating units being dealt with summarily, the details of their operations following in 10 / II and III in the usual fashion. The idea behind this is that with the growing number of units involved in the aerial battles it would lead to endless and tiring repetitions if we stuck to the format that we have worked on until now and which will be continued with on the other theatres of operations as before. As of now it looks like there will be well in excess of 1.000 adaequate photos for all three volumes so that the degree of photo coverage can be maintained as until now. This of course is not meant to deter anybody out there from making available any wothwhile photo to us in order to share it with the readers of the JFV series as it has happened in the past and would be gratefully appreciated.

We are plannuíng and hoping to publish 10 / I at the end of this year. The proof reading of the manuscript shall be completed by the end of September / mid-October latest and then go to the printer. Let's hope for the best.

Again - my apologies for the delay with Vol. 9 / III; I hope the result will make good for the long time of waiting.

Regards

Jochen Prien

P.S.: Before the question will come up again - as of today I cannot tell how many Volumes here will be in the end if we can ever complete the series. It looks as though with the basic structure of 16 Volumes left unchanged, the overall number of books including the subvolumes may end up between 26 and 28 depending on what material will be available at the time.

Re: Jagdfliegerverbände Vol. 9 / III
 

So am I correct in assuming that 10/I will not contain detailed claim and loss lists but that these lists will appear in 10/II and 10/III.

Sorry for the dumb question but my German is minimal and whereas I can make use of the lists I have great trouble with text.

Best Regards

Andy Fletcher

Re: Jagdfliegerverbände Vol. 9 / III
 

Dear Andy

yes, your assumption is correct. In 10/I there will be only the summary results of the respective days of combat, whereas in 10/ II and III there will be the detailed claims and loss lists as they have appeared in all volumes published so far.

Regards

Jochen Prien

Re: Jagdfliegerverbände Vol. 9 / III
 

Hallo Herr Prien,

Sie sind ja nicht der einzige Autor, dessen aktuelles Buch vespätet kommt. Ich freue mich.
"Eine" Frage: Gibt es das Ganze auch auf deutsch und wenn ja: Wo?

An der Stelle auch noch ein Lob, die Bücher über JG3 und 53 stehen bei mir im Schrank und ich finde sie klasse!

Re: Jagdfliegerverbände Vol. 9 / III
 

Hi Jochen,

Many thanks for the quick reply and clarifying the format of the books.

Best Regards

Andy Fletcher

Re: Jagdfliegerverbände Vol. 9 / III
 

Hello Jörg,

please have a look at http://www.jagdgeschwader.net/

You also can use google and look for "Jochen Prien"
or "Jagdfliegerverbände". You'll find some online shops
were you can buy this series. Or ask in your local
book shop. They can order these books too.

Ach ja, die Serie ist komplett auf Deutsch, nur ist die
Sprache dieses Forums Englisch!

Greetings to all,
Sven.

Re: Jagdfliegerverbände Vol. 9 / III
 

Dear Jochen,

Not a problem at all -- snags are inevitable in such a huge undertaking. It's the end product that matters, and your books certainly deliver. We can wait.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll plan my shelf space accordingly...

Keep up the excellent work!

Regards,
Leon Venter

Re: Jagdfliegerverbände Vol. 9 / III
 

Hello Mr. Prien,

do you fear, that you can't end the series? I thought you've also planed
a following series about destroyer and nightfighter series as you've
told us in Vol. 1.

Kind regards,
Günter.

Re: Jagdfliegerverbände Vol. 9 / III
 

Dear Günter,

it's not so much a matter of fear that I might not be able to finish the JFV series; but as you can imagine a lot of things can happen that could lead to a completely different situation. Running my own law office and having a family with three little boys - aged 7, 5 and 1 - and having a lot of other things that need to be looked after it is easily imaginable the there might arise a situation when I simply don't find the neccessary time to work on the series as until now. I therefore want to make it clear that as much as I enjoy writing the JFV series I have to make it clear that this is no obligation of mine but pure pastime and so nobody could ever blame me if I ever should call an end to this effort before actually reaching May the 8th, 1945.

As for the follow up on Zerstörer- and Nightfighter units - no promise was made, it was just to make clear that if at all they were to be dealt with in a different series. And as for me I can definitely say that I won't be in on either of them.

Regards

Jochen Prien

Re: Jagdfliegerverbände Vol. 9 / III
 

Gentlemen,

at long last struve druck have informed me, that delivery of Vol. 9/III has now commenced. Being only the author I have yet to get my complimentary copies and therefore cannot comment on the ultimate result of this venture but I trust that struve druck did their job as properly as the proofs promised they would.

I hope that after all the books will compensate for the delay and I also hope that it will be possible to meet the deadline with the publication of Vol. 10/I - Reichsverteidigung 1943 -, which is scheduled to be out by arly December this year.

Regards

Jochen Prien

Re: Jagdfliegerverbände Vol. 9 / III
 

Hi Jochen

thanks for the great news. Maybe a dumb question, but are there nay listings of JV 44 losses ( exept Galland ). Or maybe some evidence of Jv 44 Platzschutz losses?

Re: Jagdfliegerverbände Vol. 9 / III
 

Redwulf
JV-44 was not formed until 1945 . The series is currently dealing with 1942 and volume 10 will begin coverage of 1943. I am afraid you will have to wait with the rest of us for Herr Prien to get to 1945. And we all hope that he persists until he does reach those times. In the meantime you may wish to consult the Jv44 book written by Robert Forsyth

Re: Jagdfliegerverbände Vol. 9 / III
 

Got my copy from Struve today.

It's big, its heavy and on first glance it certainly does deliver.

This single volume is packed with JG 5, JG 54 & JG 77 photographs, it will be a joy for any paintscheme enthusiast! It will be difficult to find any single reference with such a concentration of the famous Eastern Front "greens".

Included are two high quality Planquadrat maps (size A2), showing all principle Jagfwaffe airfields and unit movements on the Eastern Front.

Liegeplätze der Jagdverbände an der Ostfront zwischen 5-12-1941 und 27-6-1942
&
Liegeplätze der Jagdverbände an der Ostfront zwischen 27-6-1942 und 3-2-1943

These are similar to the maps provided in 6/II and 8/I.

More to follow once I dig in, that's a promise!

Re: Jagdfliegerverbände Vol. 9 / III
 

My goodness, Jochen, you are a living dynamo! Congratulations on all the material you have supplied to date, and my very best wishes on your future efforts.

Re: Jagdfliegerverbände Vol. 9 / III
 

Dear George,

thank you for the flowers, but I still know about the limitations of our efforts. So much more could be done if we only had more time to pick up all the leads that still await to be discovered. It is an ongoing operation and a second edition would already see quite a lot of additions and also some more corrections. However, there may be hope - it looks as though a potent publisher is contemplating the possibility of an up-dated and augmented English version in the foreseeable future. Still, as of now nothing has been signed and sealed.

Talking about correctons - here is one I feel that must be made public right away as I feel it concerns a silly mistake I made in Vol 9 / III: The photo on top of page 318 - # 335 - does not show the tally on Anton Hackl's "black 5", but the victory tally of Oblt. Heinrich Setz, Kapitän of 4./JG 77, whose first two claims were made against British opponents, whereas Hackl claimed four victories in the West before coming to Russia as can be seen on photos 287 and 288 on page 272. Obviously on the occasion when these PK-photos were made, the Hungarian officers were shown around on the airfield with the aircraft of all the Gruppe's "Experten" being presented.

Work on Vol. 10 / I is progressing steadily; the publisher has voiced his opinion that it would be neccessary to limit the number of pages per volume to 500 at most which might lead to Vol 10 becoming a four-volume set. We'll see.

Regards

Jochen Prien

Re: Jagdfliegerverbände Vol. 9 / III
 

Whatever it takes, Herr Doktor !!!