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Originally Posted by uckwash
Apart from BoB T&N, Fighter Command Losses (N Franks) & local reportage, where else would one turn in order to assemble details pertaining to losses during the period 1939-40? I ask.
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I accept that you will only be as good as your sources but the trick is to identify those you can rely upon and those that are best ignored. In order to make that choice you may well need to access surviving contemporary primary sources to satisfy yourself of the actual facts. It has been my experience that these sterile reports are often infinitely preferable to previously published accounts or even eye-witness accounts. I have already suggested Kent County Archive in Maidstone to you. This holds useful documents that would assist in your local research and your RDC may also hold similar material; ARP Incident Reports, Police Reports, Burial Registers, Coroner's Records etc. The NA(PRO) at Kew also has a wealth of documentation relating to enemy casualties in AIR2/8736-6, AIR22/266, etc etc
Quote:
Originally Posted by uckwash
I think the information was taken in this book from at least 20 sources, and the enormity of the task is such that further embelishment might have meant 3 men from Kent Aviation Historical Research Society never would have completed this truly huge project ?
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My comments above as to sources refers. And as someone who appreciates all too well the challenges of tackling the occasional 'huge project', I may be forgiven for appearing unimpressed by certain content of 'Aircraft Casualties in Kent' as queried elsewhere in this forum. Granted, no reference book ever produced by mere mortals will be without its share of errors, but it seems clear that little real care can have been given to substantiating the 'facts' presented in this book before its publication in 1990 when much of the information necessary was freely accessible. But it clearly provides ample scope for further in-depth research in resolving many apparent discrepancies in the historical record and I wish you every future success in doing so.
As for my popularity or otherwise, I have no idea and even less interest.