[David E. Brown]

Hi Stig,

As noted in my post, the material therein comes from my files (of varying vintages) that in many cases are abbreviated. As such, complete details on each machine were not included for brevity's sake. That said, I am well aware of Dan's seminal work having assisting him from the beginning. Since its publication Dan has continued to collect new and update existing information in his compilation. Many of us would love to see an updated version of your book Dan!

Regarding White 34, well, since there is no photo of its complete werknummer, it has to remain unconfirmed (hence the '?'). The interpretation that it was 500004 is likewise a reflection of the state of knowledge when Dan's book was published. Hopefully one day we'll see a photo of it where the werknummer is not in shadow.

I agree that one would think that the Allies would have been more careful in recording the identities of all the machines they captured. I suppose that in the end it didn't really matter as they eventually had lots of examples of aircraft types specified in their Cat-1 lists and traded amongst themselves to ensure everyone got what they desired. In some cases, yes, werknummern were recorded but not in many others. We are just lucky that photos were taken that eventually would permit later identification. But as you know, the identity of some kites - and a number of them still preserved - remains elusive.

I suppose that ultimately, with the war over, everyone just wanted to wrap things up and get home...

Cheers,

David