[bearoutwest]

Perhaps it is important to differential between "what we would LIKE to see" and "what an author SHOULD write"?

If the author is experienced in one side of a conflict, he/she would add value in concentrating on showing that expertise. Better to spend one's efforts in what one knows, rather than add poorly in an area outside of that knowledge base. There is always someone else who can add value to the other side of that conflict.

Shores' books are joint ventures with many other authors adding great value in their areas of expert knowledge. You only have to look at the other authors listed in the by-lines of the Mediterranean Air War series.

With David Johnston's book, I find the value that it adds in clarifying (more than previously known, anyway) the situation regarding the existence of the Bf109A in Spain and the error in designation between Bf109B-1 and B-2 models. It's a good single volume on the early Bf109s in Spain - which is why I bought it. I suspect that it would require a length collaboration with a Russian-speaking author/researcher to adequately attempt to cross reference the story from the Republican/Soviet side of the story. I'd like to see that too, but I don't feel the lack of cross-reference detracts from Johnston's book.

I would draw an analogy with the criticism levelled at Anthony Cooper for his book "Darwin Spitfires" being a one-sided look at the RAAF/RAF Spitfire defence of Darwin in 1943. Yes, it was meant to be a look at the Spitfire operations. It described the Spitfire claims - as claims. It described the Spitfire losses in total but broke it down to combat losses, fuel-starvation losses, and most importantly, hydraulic propeller failure losses. It described the lack of co-ordinated interception tactics, and the poor marksmanship of many of the Spitfire pilots. What I found to be of greatest value in that book was the detail that the Spitfire Vc (even with the bulky Vokes filter) had sufficient power to outmanoeuver the A6M Zero in high-speed turning dogfights. Most of the Spitfire combat losses occurred due to being bounced by Zeros with altitude advantage. Cooper made no real attempt to draw into the Japanese side of the ledger but concentrated on the Spitfires. I believe David Johnston has done similar service to the early Bf109s in telling their story over Spain.

For what my opinion is worth (2c ?), I'd happily give it a thumbs up.
...geoff