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Re: Air War Publications update
JUKKA and MORTEN, good morning.
You are probably the two (or two amongst others) experts on biplanes in WW2.
I tend to agree with JUKKA in that it is very scarce to find on the literature books that covers the aspects (comparative with other models for instance) that Jukka pointed out. Mainly because, the operational aspect was rather focused on combat sorties rather than the characteristics of the model itself.
I guess that for that purpose, one (Historian, Researhcer, Enthusiast) should have had access (preferably a good focused or directed interview) with the TEST PILOTS and engineers of the project themselves. In our case, this is extremely rare. Only those who have testes or flew the machine could answer how it felt on a spinning to the right side or left side; how many feets it deeped per turn, how much pressure on the controls one would have to put to recover, etc.
The Air Ministry Flight Manuals are very short, straight and without much "colour" on them....on the other hand the US Army Air Corps WW2 Flight Manuals and Syllabus are extremely detailed, with "Cartoons" remembering the "student" some very important aspects and Safety issues. The Germans did have some very technical manuals as well, but I would say that they stay in the middle, on a scale range. I only saw "cartoons" on one or two German manuals up so far.
As you know much more than me, please do allow me to ask: HOW MANY MANUALS (technical, flight manuals, Syllabus, Engineering, etc.) of the Henschel Hs-123 survived or exist (either in PDF format or in paper) and are preserved?
I know for instance that the Ju 88 and He 111 did have several volumes and several kind of manuals, and in one of them (PDF), I found the Single Engine performance I was looking for and the dump fuel system (Junkers) that I wanted to know how it operated.
This is a good topic JUKKA and certainly, the new books focused on the airplanes could have a comparative study of performance against enemy similar types and with other LW machines (spinning characteristics, take-off and landing distances [ISA], range, etc.).
Most humbly yours
Adriano
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