A ?? RE: Edward H. Sims' books...
 

Guys:

Many years ago I read a book, that I think was called 'The Greatest Aces', but I remember for sure it was written by a guy named Edward H Sims; I recall he had a VERY unique writing style when describing a dogfight---in fact it almost was almost like his narrative was recounting a piece of gun camera footage, with tracers threading towards a target or TOWARDS the attacking pilot & the view through & the shape of, the sight rings of the gunsight. The other thing I recall was my first exposure to English/British style spelling & slang: Tyre rather than Tire; vapour trails & the fact that trigger buttons were 'depressed' to fire; Is Sims still around? How many books did he write about Aerial Combat, both WW2 & otherwise?

NickM

Re: A ?? RE: Edward H. Sims' books...
 

The one I have is 'American Aces' published in 1958, very good. The profile of Sims says he flew 33 missions over Germany as a fighter pilot,

Regards
Brian Bines

Re: A ?? RE: Edward H. Sims' books...
 

Sims wrote a number of books, not at home so I can't give you more exact titles. Pretty good ones too IMHO, at least the one(s) I have read.

Re: A ?? RE: Edward H. Sims' books...
 

Sims was from Orangeburg, SC, a small town some miles west of Charleston. His family was deeply involved in publishing the Orangeburg Times and Democrat, a weekly newspaper. He wrote a number of books.

At one point in the late 1980s he was publisher of Editor's Copy Syndicate. He attended Emory University. Mr. Sims served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He was born May 29, 1923, in Orangeburg, SC. Mr. Sims resided in Sarasota, FL. I am not sure he is still alive. I met him in the late 1970s when he was researching Maj. George E. Preddy.

Re: A ?? RE: Edward H. Sims' books...
 

I have "The Greatest Aces" in paperback, Ballantine books SBN 345-02524-5-125. the book was printed in 1967, it drops the I from ISBN and says SBN. I hope you are able to find a copy on Abe books site with the SBN#.
Kevin

Re: A ?? RE: Edward H. Sims' books...
 

Fighter Tactics and Strategy 1914-1970
Edward H. Sims
Harper & Row, 1972
Hard Cover, 266p

The Fighter Pilots
Edward H. Sims
Cassell & Co, 1967
Hard Cover, 294p

Nice mix of subjects, good style, pretty objective (certainly considering the relatively early date of writing and the writer's history).

Re: A ?? RE: Edward H. Sims' books...
 

"Fighter Tactics & Strategy" was also published in paperback as "Fighter Exploits" by Corgi in 1973 (the edition I have).

Re: A ?? RE: Edward H. Sims' books...
 

Let's not forget:

"Greatest Fighter Missions"-"Dazzling air combat in the Pacific with top US Navy and Marine aces."

It was the Navy counterpart to "American Aces" which dealt with the USAAF.

It was his style of writing that make his books so good. They would always describe one particular mission from the pilot waking up (in a tent in the South Pacific, aboard an A/C,barracks in England,etc.) progressing through the events of the day until the end of the mission, They always had a small sketch that laid out the events of the mission. These books were printed by the thousand in Papaerback in the 50-60s and are worth aquiring. My paperback copy is like brand new (pub. 1963) with a cover art of a flaming F4U Corsair landing on an Aircraft carrier.

Re: A ?? RE: Edward H. Sims' books...
 

A very versital author, Mr Sims also wrote a book about the submarine USS Flasher. IIRC this was the late 50s and I think he was reporter for one of the Memphis papers. I could be wrong about that. It may have been the skipper of the Flasher was from Memphis. At the time the book came out it was written up in the Memphis papers.

Walt