|
Re: Eagle Days: Life and Death for the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain
Another excellent post, ed, particularly the legal side.
Not sure if I've mentioned this before, but there was one 'thorny' issue regarding the content of the book I did with Peter Cornwell, 'Zerstörer The Messerschmitt Bf 110 and its units in 1940', which I published under my own imprint in 1995, JAC Publications.
It concerned the combat on 16th August 1940, when Nicholson of 249 Squadron was shot down badly burned. His citation for the Victoria Cross mentioned his shooting down of a Bf 110 after climbing back into the burning cockpit of his Hurricane. And there was the problem. Peter Cornwell and I KNEW that no Bf 110 was shot down in that combat by cross-referencing the Lw Quartermaster Returns and the Namentliche Verlustmeldungen for Bf 110 units on that date. Peter and I spent several weeks (I would say running into months) discussing this, and working on a form of words (amended many times) before we agreed on the final text that would not leave us open to litigation from relatives.
I make this point to back up what you say about the legal side side of things, ed. Too many people probably do not realise that this kind of thing goes on behind the scenes...
|