[Larry Hickey]

Chris,

Peter has generously provided me an advance copy of his files for the book for use in the EOE Project, and I assure you, after working with them for the past few weeks, that they are monumentally valuable. It is a MUST HAVE volume for anyone interested in the subject. I can't say enough good things about what he has accomplished. The NVMs were a hugely valuable resource for him. However, that does not mean that for the Luftwaffe, every possible plane code/W.Nr., and crash location has been identified. Everything he was able to document is there, but many losses for which photos do exist aren't matched with information that can be obtained from a careful study of photos and some other sources, including some FB. Peter didn't have all of the photos, and in other cases, the codes/W.Nr.s couldn't be attributed without question to a specific crash. Peter's approach was that if information couldn't be reasonably proven, he didn't include it. He isn't in the speculation business. As Peter says, this is the "state of his knowledge" as of 11/07, and all of us will be using his book to further advance the knowledge of Luftwaffe losses, codes, crews and W.Nr.s for many years to come. Peter knows and expects this. Matching photos with wreck information is an almost endless task. Peter has given us the most comprehensive list of wreck/crash info, crews and crash locations that was probably humanly possible (something like 1800+ Luftwaffe losses in the west from 1.9.39 through 24.6.40), but now it is up to all of us, including Peter, to carry the torch forward and get the rest of what is knowable documented. That is what the EOE Project is all about. In recent days, Peter and I have been burning up the internet adding more match ups to his data base. I'm sure that he can be more eloquent on this subject than me, but that is how I see it.

Regards,