10th July 1940 British tanker Chancellor hit

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

What we're trying to do with the Weiss manuscript is use it as a skeleton around which to build the story of the events of the airwar 1939-40, through the eyes and experiences of those who were there, including observers or participants on the ground. Otherwise the volumes will be an invaluable historical reference source for researchers, but will end up largely being a dry endless recitation of units, times, bomb loads, targets and results--something that only the most dedicated historian would ever want to read. So the info that Andy Bird, Alex Smart and Chris Goss have added to the German outline of what happened at Falmouth that day are extremely important for our EOE research project. Any help from anyone in fleshing out the human side of the story is greatly appreciated. Further to the German side, few of the German pilots/crewmen are mentioned by name of these kinds of reports, but we're scouring the contemporary German literature of the time, eBay collections, and doing Flugbuch transcriptions, as well as translating the few surviving unit KTB (Kriegtagbuch) to help put real people in these stories. Many source accounts, such as Chris Goss has published from his correspondence and interviews, and Peter Taghon has made available, both published and unpublished, from his work in Belgium during the Western Campaign, are also invaluable reference sources for this dimension of the project. Similar work by John Vasco and Peter Cornwell for their work on the Bf110 during 1940 is also being fully exploited, including material not in their previously published work. Local newspapers, despite wartime censorship, will also undoubtedly prove very useful "local color" to the events.

The participation of anyone who wants to help, and has something to contribute, is much appreciated.

Regards,