Ju-88, Volume One

[FalkeEins]

Originally Posted by Peter Achs

I would have written almost the same thing if the book had been written by a German or Indian author.

perhaps drop all references to "non-German" incompetence in future reviews then eh? Maybe we'll take your message with more equanimity then. An audience that doesn't know German is NOT overly concerned by typos and mangled transliteration in the handful of German expressions that might feature therein and the audience that is can spot them for themselves...

Agree with Chris re Kagero - and their artwork is first class. Steve, perhaps contact Kagero and offer to proof, correct and edit their texts as I did for a number of years..(work that I've also taken on at various times for Classic, Eagle Editions, Erik Mombeek & Lela Presse, so not just 'lower end' of the market stuff..)

[Peter Achs]

Originally Posted by FalkeEins

perhaps drop all references to "non-German" incompetence in future reviews then eh?

Ahm… No.
There is a connection between the home country of the author and the quality. The books from UK/US or Eastern Europe that I know and deal with my field of interest (Junkers, air defense etc) are simply bad. I can prove it.

I do not know who you are. But why are you defending this obviously bad book? You know that it is full of errors and lacks so many things. The typos and howlers are just a small aspect.

Kagero:
I have three booklets about the Ju 88 (issues 13-15). I'm sorry, but the quality of the text and captions of this series is below any discussion. The line drawings are fine. Color drawings are beautiful to look at, but the “scientific” value tends to zero. These (all?) color profiles from this period are 90 percent speculation.

Regards
Peter

[ChrisS]

Thank you Peter I think we all look forward to your work and here is one that would greatly welcome an English translation.

Yes, Kagero may not be the best publisher in the world but to many it is the 'entry level' into the Luftwaffe interest, unlikely that a newcomer will purchase the Prien JVB set as a starter! Perhaps better to encourage Kagero to higher ideals of accuracy then to 'trash' them?

Best Regards

Chris

[Steve Coates]

Peter - Good luck with your project. I think your two year timeframe might prove optimistic whilst you still have to work even with the research you've completed to date.

Chris - I'm not really clear how encouraging Kagero would get them to be better and exactly how one could really go about this in a meaningful manner. They've been in the market for a long time and work by being at the lower end.

[Steve Coates]

Fair enough if that works for you but from my perspective, I have limited hobby time available and I'd rather devote that to uncovering new material and gaining fresh perspectives which I can then feed into the subjects which particularly interest me or can be of use to fellow researchers.

[FalkeEins]

of course, but then you did pose the question how to 'encourage' Kagero to do better...I note that just recently they appear to have stopped using Thomaz Szlagor as well so that Murawski's latest 'Air Battles' title is as poor as most Luftwaffe literary luminaries imagine all their stuff must be..

[Steve Coates]

That's a fair enough riposte. On a personal level I have never been convinced that volume publishers will sacrifice quantity for quality as the latter will always inevitably delay production schedules.

[Simon Schatz]

Hello folks!
I followed the discussion here and on different German forums. Not just about this book, but also about other books. Mr Achs, I have no idea why you always use such harsh words? Why not simply “ins Fäustchen lachen” (show gloating joy) and announce that you are working on something that will blow away all the errors that were written since end of the war? In the past you gave the German reading aviation enthusiasts an impression what you have in your archive. There were some articles published in Jet&Prop that were simply stunning and made me nosy for more. I’m sure most here don’t know them, and have no idea about the content.
But I have to agree with Richard T. Eger. In your way to announce errors of others you will not find many friends outside of Germany. I’m happy to have some connections around the globe, and just with them it was possible to publish my work around the globe. In “Good-old-Germany” my profiles just got published in small numbers. Maybe my work is too “bad” for the German market, so I have to publish elsewhere.
You can like profiles or not! That’s everybody’s right! If you don’t like them, you don’t have to look at them, but there are others (mostly model builders) that see them as good addition to reference photographs. Painting aircraft profiles is simple the same as building model planes, but just in 2D.
I have to agree with Mr. Achs that some profiles published by different publishing houses and artists are simply fantasy and you will never find reference photographs for them. So these drawings are just “waste” of space and have no historical value. But you also find this stuff in Germany in German aviation magazines, drawn by a German artist. I’m sure Mr. Achs you know the German publishing house, author and artist I mean. ;-)
For me as artist of some of the Ju88 profiles in the book I can tell you that I tried my best to do them as accurate as possible. I got many reference material and if not I tried to find as much material as possible and did many hours of research.
I have to say that I was really wondering seeing some of my profiles without the additional reference photographs. So nobody can check how many hours (and it were a lot) I spent painting all these crazy meanders at my Ju88A-4/LT, Ju88G-1 and Ju88S-1 profiles. But this wasn’t in my hands. I just can say that I tried to draw them as accurate as possible.
And for sure there is another aspect: “nobody is perfect”
If you have any comments and critique regarding my profiles please let me know.
Cheers, Simon
PS: As I’m more artist as historian and no Junkers expert I can’t write anything that is written in Arties book. Also I have no idea if I find time to read it in near future. Some other book projects are waiting!
PPS: ChrisS: What is the name of the German artist working for Kagero?
PPPS: I also know an Austrian artist!!! ;-)

[ChrisS]

Simon, did I say German I meant Austrian....sorry! So I guess you don't count either... I was trying to find a German for Peter....

[Peter Achs]

@Simon
Can you tell me why you attack me? I'm only the bearer of bad news. You'd better attack the publisher or the author who sell such a botch for 70 €.

Grüße in die Ostmark