Market research - 'Most Wanted' Luftwaffe books

[Jukka Juutinen]

Ed's suggested Bf 109 books would be welcomed here too. As far as I know, despite Larry deZeng's reference to some 250 books on the topic, the hard truth is, I think, that vast majority of those in English are woefully outdated and are not based on deep archival research. For example, the handling and performance issues are treated in a very fragmented and unanalytical way in most English books. For, I have never come across expert discussion on the effect of tge slats opening asymmetrically. E.g. Eric Brown mentions that while not a single Finnish pilot account mentions that. And not in a single English reference I have seen analytical discussion of 109's spinning characteristics.

Another aspect completely lacking is the German mechanics' view of 109's technical characteristics. How did it compare to the Fw 190 as far as ease of field maintenance etc. go. Again, there very probably ample material on that in the archives, but they have ignored by authors more interested in heroic ace pilot personal combat stories. After all, the more technical aspects require understanding of the technicalities discussed. And the best qualified persons to have that knowledge are aircraft designers and engineers, not journalists or others coming from humanistic disciplines.