Favorite Aircraft History Books?

[Jukka Juutinen]

I don´t know about the 262 situation, but AFAIk e.g. on the Bf 109 there exist extremely detailed production drawings. And e.g. for the Ar 234 there is the very interesting detail drawing sheet in the 234 book by AJ Press.

There is another source so poorly used so far: production line photos. I have seen some old Luftfahrt journals which included many such photos (e.g. a very interesting shot showing many details of Ha 139 wing spar construction). And such photos on US aircraft seem reasonably common (see e.g. American Aircraft Production in WW two by Joshua Stoff).

The difference (naval/aircraft books) also applies to text. E.g. the Anatomy of the Ship series has extensive structural descriptions, in some cases the machinery description having several pages alone.

So, I don´t buy the lack of sources theory, at least in general. I think the main reason is the non-technical background of aviation authors. While many have e.g. pilot background, it isn´t enough.

[Jukka Juutinen]

Continued. I had an interesting conversation with a retired Finnish AF engine expert (he taught engine topics for aircraft mechanics) about the relative lack of technical knowledge among pilots. He mentioned one very experienced test pilot, a PhD in aircraft engineering, who was telling tall tales about engines until this engine fellow showed him some engine maintenance documents to cut the BS. On the other hand, guys handling ships have much greater understanding of what makes the ships tick.