JG26 Siegfried Sy

[NickM]

Originally Posted by WEISNER

Indifferent or not! It is too bad the family could not see the importance of these type of "For Family only" Memoir's.... A perfect example of this would be the Invaluable work written for his family by.... Peter Spoden! Enemy in the Dark.
Oh well...Perhaps if Mr. Caldwell has a portion of this it may yet see the light of day?
I have always thought Mr. Caldwell could probably fill an entire book with all the pilot first hand accounts He has collected over the years! I will be in the very long line to buy such a book if ever put together.
A chronicle by JG, NJG etc and starting at wars beginning till end, With first hand accounts only, would be a top selling book in my opinion, What do you members think?
Kevin

Weisner:

Forgive me for the language but "HOLY C**P", that would be a GREAT idea! I've never considered such a project....

NM

[WEISNER]

So then Nick? We have two copies of this book sold already! LOL!!!!!
Kev

[NickM]

Originally Posted by WEISNER

So then Nick? We have two copies of this book sold already! LOL!!!!!
Kev

You got THAT right!

NM

[Griffon]

You gentlemen have a GREAAATTT idea!
I would be buyer #3!

it strikes me as odd that noone has ever thought about such a project..
there is a German series called "Echolot Project" which combines many different diary entries from many Germans covering certain important time periods of WW2;
such a thing, but done with pilot accounts and covering the air war would be just too great!
here is a link to the Echolot series:
http://amazon.de/s/ref=nb_ss_w?__mk_...ywords=echolot

cheers
phil

[Ruy Horta]

Originally Posted by Don Caldwell

Siegfried Sy never published his memoir. He wrote it for his family (who didn't care) and gave me a partial copy shortly before he died in the '80s. The original would be worth a fortune to the collector crowd today, but I'm sure it was destroyed by his family.

Horrido!

Don Caldwell

It may be worthwhile to check in with the family if indeed the notes have been destroyed. Apart from the potential market value (also an incentive if you are not personally interested) any well written memoir is worth the effort to preserve and if possible put in print.

If the familiy did destroy the memoir, than by all means they are not worth the dirt they walk on. Not from the point of respect for family history nor from a more broad historical perspective. They are also too dumb to realize that even when they cut any painful passage, it is still worth MONEY to them.

Sorry Don, but this really makes me angry.

[Don Caldwell]

A few points:

NickM -- I have no idea why Sy's family had no interest in his memoirs, but I can guess -- He wrote them very soon after the war. My impression, gained thru many conversations & much correspondence, is that most of the survivors and the first post-war generation wanted to forget the war, not perpetuate the memories thru books, etc. Some of the veterans, OTOH, felt that the best way to purge themselves was to write their memories down, and some were able to get them published. Some Luftwaffe veterans (e.g., Bloemertz, Heilmann, Dahl) perferred the technique of "historical fiction", whether or not that's what they called their books. People are complex.

WEISNER -- Despite what you seem to think, I don't have a garage full of pilot's accounts. I started late (mid-1980s) and concentrated on JG 26. By the time I broadened my interests to the entire Jagdwaffe, it was almost TOO late, but I did the best I could from the late 1990s to a few years ago. I always use my best material in my books -- those already published or the two I'm now working on. A book full of unpublished accounts would be interesting, but I don't know who would pull such a project together and where the material would come from. Interviewing veterans directly is no longer possible, and anything wothwhile that comes on the market is scarfed up by sudek13. And a book without illustrations, which you've mentioned before? I have no interest in that at all. No author I know wants to deliberately cut off a large part of his market.

Ruy -- My last contact with the Sys was ~25 years ago. Their attitude was very common at that time. I didn't fault them for it then, and I sure wouldn't judge them by the standards of today.

Horrido!

Don

[Franek Grabowski]

Don
There is always value in a first hand account itself. As to books without pictures, well, most of them are, which is logical considering they are for reading. Personally, I am lacking of any first hand accounts of air war over the Channel 1941-1943, and anything is of a value.
Where Sys are living, perhaps they have changed their mind, and the memoir will miraculously reappear?

[WEISNER]

I suppose we could Consider a first hand account as any Pilot, Or Luftwaffe member account, And it would also be of interest to me if it were only about day to day operations, Let alone a Combat account. I have seen many accounts that take from a paragraph to 3-6 pages. See the excellent and most valuable account by Roderich Cescotti on page 142 of Jerry Crandalls Fine book "The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Dora" by Eagle-Editions Ltd. This is one of the most important accounts released in years. It takes up a solid 6 pages of text, And I highly recommend it to anyone who has not read it!
I also consider alot of books recently released as photoless, As most... If not all photos have been released at one time, Or over and over again.
Oh well....perhaps sombody? Or even several writers together will pick up the ball and run with it?
If photos are a must? the Pilots and ground crew could be featured as there are many photos not released, even photos of mundane dy to day tasks would be of interest.
Kev

[NickM]

Originally Posted by WEISNER

I suppose we could Consider a first hand account as any Pilot, Or Luftwaffe member account, And it would also be of interest to me if it were only about day to day operations, Let alone a Combat account. I have seen many accounts that take from a paragraph to 3-6 pages. See the excellent and most valuable account by Roderich Cescotti on page 142 of Jerry Crandalls Fine book "The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Dora" by Eagle-Editions Ltd. This is one of the most important accounts released in years. It takes up a solid 6 pages of text, And I highly recommend it to anyone who has not read it!
I also consider alot of books recently released as photoless, As most... If not all photos have been released at one time, Or over and over again.
Oh well....perhaps sombody? Or even several writers together will pick up the ball and run with it?
If photos are a must? the Pilots and ground crew could be featured as there are many photos not released, even photos of mundane dy to day tasks would be of interest.
Kev

Guys:

Or if NOT just a bunch of first hand accounts maybe OTHER interesting stuff like 'victory reports' & other interesting stuff like that?

nm