[Peter Cornwell]

Brian,

Your final word ? I hope so to. My comments on this thread to date have been in relation to incorrect details posted in good faith by Alex Smart, but as you now seem to wish to broaden the debate I will take issue.

When I queried your sources for some of the RAF serials as published in Twelve Days in May you were unable to explain them other than to confirm they came from your co-author Heinrich WEISS. You suggested that he may have compiled them from German Intelligence reports on RAF crashes. As many of the serials concerned were lost in the Channel I knew full well this was disingenuous rubbish so I was satisfied that I could safely ignore them & rely on my own findings or, more to the point, the complete lack of them.

You subsequently sent me two packages of material compiled during your research. This was an entirely voluntary & generous gesture on your part as I did not request any such help, so how I could have 'prevented' it I am unsure. Amongst these papers were several extracts from Heinrich WEISS that did allow me to conclude (correctly as it later transpired) that the hitherto unrecorded RAF serials that troubled me were seemingly based upon simple gap-analysis of information culled from HALLEY's books on RAF Serials. There was, therefore, no contemporary source I had failed to consult which was my sole concern.

You will find the full extent of your co-operation fully acknowledged in my foreword to The Battle of France Then & Now. Magnanimity (if that is what is meant) is rarely free, its expression can sometime cost dear but I believe that I have, thus far, demonstrated it in Spades.

I've just realised your post was on April 1st - any significance ?