Forthcoming books from Chris Shores

[Jim Oxley]

Size of the TAF books was a problem - I too had shelves unable to take the larger format books. Frustarting. I also found them harder to read, the print size is quite a bit smaller than that in Bloody Shambles, Air War Yugoslavia, Fledgling Eagles et al.

But most of all I found them less readible in content. Chris' early books read easily, the story flowed somewhat like a novel. TAF I found more disjointed in presentation. A personal opinion I know.

[Frank Olynyk]

Jim,
I passed your comments on to Chris, and he should be able to get with John Davies at Grub Street to review them. I don't know how big the manuscript to Vol 1 is at present, which could impact the point size. And also the size of the paper to use in the book. Hopefully when I get back from a week at NARA II in Washington next weekend, there will be something to report.

Enjoy!

Frank.

[Jim Oxley]

Appreciate it Frank.

[Antoine]

I was able to get FOTD and FOT some years ago, used but fine, and at a very good price. I still use them as a reference, as they still are.

But anyway, this is a very good news.

[Frank Olynyk]

Chris met with John Davies of Grub Street on Thursday and Friday, and they were able to come to some conclusions on the first volume of Mediterranean Air War (MAW). The current manuscript is about 460 pages of A4 paper. There will be about 250 photographs, plus a number of maps. The book will be about the size of Above the Trenches (which was 400 pages), and Chris expects it to be about 450 pages in length, on good quality paper. I don't know if the photos will be mixed in with the text, or bound as signatures in the book (as in Above the Trenches, and Aces High). The format will be similar to the 2TAF volumes, with daily text followed by list(s) of claims and losses for all sides. It should be quite readable, as in this volume he has the space to describe events. Later volumes may be more terse, as the amount of aerial activity increases, although the time being covered is reduced. MAW1 covers almost 19 months, June 1940 to mid-January 1942. The next volume to be written will cover mid-May 1943 to the end of October 1943 (at least as currently planned). Then presumably back to Jan 1942, and so forth. He looks forward to the research and writing on the May-Oct 1943 period with enthusiasm.

Enjoy!

Frank.

[Frank Olynyk]

I received my copy of "Japanese Naval Air Force Fighter Units and Their Aces 1932-1945", by Ikuhiko Hata, Yasuho Izawa and Christopher Shores, today. The book is a translation of the two volume book recently published in Japan, in softcover. It is hardcover, 434 pages, in five sections. Section one is Japanese Naval Aviation Fighter Operations, about 125 pages long. Section two is Unit Histories, also about 125 pages long. Section three is Aces (in alphabetical order), about 100 pages long. Section four is A-Z of Fighter Aces Planes, about10 pages, with side views of the aircraft of various aces, 4-5 to a page. Section five is Maps, also about 10 pages long. This is followed by four appendices: List of Naval Fighter Aces; Key Fighter Pilots Killed in Action (by date); Naval Fighter Pilots (lists of the various training classes, with the fighter pilots who graduated in those classes); Claims and Losses (Where Available) During Major Air Battles.

Frank.

[Jim Oxley]

Frank, how does it vary from the original book "Japanese Naval Aces and Fighter Units in WWII", published back in 1989? Any new material? The original was 442 pages in length.

The only thing I can see that is additional to the original from what you mention above is "Section 1 - Japanese Naval Aviation Fighter Operations". But if that is 125 pages then something else must have been either left out or seriously reduced!

[Jim P.]

Definitely new material - I think I doubled or tripled my list of A6M5 aces and markings alone, but I have the Japanese version which is in 2 volumes. Not sure the markings are always correct, i.e command striping, since its obvious that much of this came from text rosters versus actual photos. I suspect some of the color drawings were derived from logbooks as well, since, for instance, supposedly the surviving records for the 3rd Ku I've heard only list pilots as assigned to formations (Buntai/Chutai/Shotai), but no codes, yet there are several new aircraft ids associated with pilots, for example, Hashiguchi in 'X-101' along with 'X-183'. Many of the color drawings in the Japanese versions are culled from previously published sources - 'X-183' or some of the PH stuff for example. A friend of mine got the English version from the UK, along with the Japanese volumes, and said that the aircraft drawings in the English publication didn't compare with the Japanese volumes - i.e. no color. Since I don't have the English version, I can't comment on that other than what my friend told me, but what he usually tells me is spot on. The Japanese versions have a lot lists, some which equate to the unit rosters from the original book, but many more of them. In the aces piece, which is Vol.2 in the edition from Japan, some appear to be claims lists, but many others I haven't figured out yet. My Japanese is pretty much limited to being able to pick out names and dates. There are additional bios of pilots not included in the original version, including some Rufe and Pete guys. Presumably the bios would be included in the English edition. One of the more interesting bits, beyond the new guys and markings, is the 'alphabetical' listing of pilots in the index - all the Yamas, Tas, Nakas, etc. are listed in order, which, if one is willing to do a little work, allows you to figure out names of most of these guys (the ace names are in English with the bios).

[Felix C]

Advance notice alert posted on Amazon for Mediterranean Air War

http://www.amazon.com/Mediterranean-...ecc_rvi_cart_1

[Frank Olynyk]

Mediterranean Air War is now listed on both Amazon.com (no price, and only email-signup notification), and Amazon.co.uk (with a price, and able to order). Both list the book with a release date of Sept 19. Thanks to Felix for noting that.

I talked with Chris last night, and he says he will comfortably meet the deadline of mid-July for delivery of the ms. The artwork for the dj is being prepared, as are the maps. He is in the middle of preparing the index, which frequently involves editing the references to Sgt Jones on page n to agree with the same individual as Sgt A Jones on page n+20. And the Introduction still needs to be written.

This is Volume 1 (which neither Amazon notes), covering June 1940 to mid-January 1942; about 80 pages in the original Fighters Over the Desert. This volume has a lot more information on the command structure on all sides, and the bomber units, as well as others not touched upon in FOTD.

With regard to Jim Oxley's question upstream on the Japanese Naval Units/Aces volume, and the size comparison between the two editions: while the new Grub Street edition uses a smaller paper size than the USNI edition, the type is a little smaller and tighter, it is a single column, with smaller margins all around, and no white space left at the bottom of pages/columns. Unfortunately it is economically impossible in England to reproduce the colo(u)r sideviews used in the two volume Japanese edition, so they appear only in grayscale.

Enjoy!

Frank.