What happened here?

[John Beaman]

There has not been a post in weeks. Is there no interest in the Pacific War? Cannot beleive someone doesn't want to start a flame war about claims or something!

For starters, does anyone have any comments about the new books on Buffalos Over Singapore and Hurricanes Over Singapore compared to Bloody Shambles? I.e., I would assume the focus is on units flying those machines, but do they add to our overall knowledge or are they mostly antedotal?

[Jim Oxley]

In many ways Buffaloes Over Singapore is already covering territory dealt with in Bloody Shambles. Haven't read Hurricanes Over Singapore so I can't comment.

Still, although Brian Cull is (IMHO) a rather dull author compared to Chris Shores, his book does contain more detailed info on the pilots who flew the Buffalo, and the trials and tribulations of same. Especially interesting are the views on the Buffalo's as a fighter expressed by both the successful pilots (eg Fisken, Vanderfield) and the not so successful. Mind you the majority of pilots viewed themselves as no more than meat for butchering by the Japanese.

It is definitely worth the read.

[Håkan]

Hello,

In my opinion, Brian Cull’s “aircraft type books” (Hurricanes over Tobruk, Spitfires over Sicily, Hurricanes over Malta, Buffalos Over Singapore and Hurricanes Over Singapore) are in some ways disappointing and in some ways interesting.

The disappointing is that they doesn’t covers much “new” info – the Singapore books are mostly covered in Bloody Shambles pt. 1-2 (with C. Shores et al) and the Malta book is mostly covered in the Malta books written together with C. Shores et al. They also doesn’t uses much info from the opposing forces (i.e Japanese, Italian and German).

The interesting points are the rich amount of RAF and Commonwealth pilot interviews (unfortunately almost none with opposing pilots), which are used to give more “flesh” to the books and in this view, they are definitely worth the read and a nice complement to Shores books.

Best wishes/Håkan Gustavsson

[Jukka Juutinen]

I definitely like these two "over Singapore" books due to the extensive use of pilot accounts. I haven´t seen the Bloody Shambles books, but I have the Malta:Spitfire Year and I find that not too absorbing. But, these two are excellent!

[Graham Boak]

There is very little discussion on this board because of the excellent j-aircraft.com which covers the Pacific War. Obviously there is something of a bias to one side, but the capability is there already.

[Ruy Horta]

The reason this forum was added was an extra service to the community, not to compete with the excellent J-aircraft (how could it?!). Interesting subjects however can always pop up, although it has been silent for a while.