Ken Merrick's "Luftwaffe Camouflage & Markings" book

[Richard T. Eger]

Dear Von Alles,

Thank you for your comments. I haven't seen the book myself, so can only respond to your comments:

1) True

2) Hmmm, that's odd. It was my understanding that Ken's book was to be printed on Ian Allan's new state-of-the-art press. Sounds like it wasn't, which is a shame.

3) I have mixed feelings about the situation of "most pictures already published". True, it would be nice to have new photos and there are authors that seem to be able to come up with them to entice us to buy their offerings. On the other hand, they aren't all that easy to come by. About a year ago I paid a very handsome sum of money through eBay to purchase Me 262 photos from Ken Bokelman's estate. In the end, much to my surprise (and chagrin), I found that probably 95% or more of the photos had been published before in Smith and Creek's monumental 4-part opus. Clearly, S&C had scrounged until there was "essentially no more to be found". Oh, more will surface, but the dilligence of their search became quite apparent.

4) I assume you mean color profiles. It's an author's choice. I am sure that Ken wanted his work to be as authoritative as possible and utilizing color profiles enters in an area of subjectivity, something he may have wished to avoid. What you do have in their place are accurately rendered reproductions of actual paint colors, albeit there was a mix-up in one of the chips.

5) What is presented is the lifetime culmination of one man's extensive research, perhaps the current last word on the subject. Even then, there may remain unknowns.

6) I concur. I'd like to hear more on this aspect.

5) a) I've seen the color photos of the Dubendorf Me 262 and have been left with the impression that they are rather faded with age. I wouldn't hang my hat on the brown color in those photos.

5) b) The darkness of a color on a b&w photo has been the subject of enormous previous discussion on TOCH!. Many attribute anomalies to the type of film used. In essence, I tend to doubt that you can get a clearcut answer to your question. Clearly, you recognize this from your last comment.

Thank you for taking the time to give your assessment. I'd like to hear from others on the subject.

Regards,
Richard