Market research - 'Most Wanted' Luftwaffe books

[Chris Goss]

I would say mechanic's views of all nations. So many more than aircrew, they have sadly slipped into insignificance since the war and the chances of getting their view now are almost zero

[edwest2]

Originally Posted by Jukka Juutinen

Ed's suggested Bf 109 books would be welcomed here too. As far as I know, despite John Vasco'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to some 250 books on the topic, the hard truth is, I think, that vast majority of those in English are woefully outdated and are not based on deep archival research.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.

Jukka,

I have been doing research for a long time. Most books are for general audiences or modellers. Publishers need books that sell. More technical and highly specialized books can be published if anyone is willing to put in the time. I have no college degrees but have learned how to do things and where to look after decades of learning on my own and being taught informally. It can be done but it is not like a regular job. Most people want and need that paycheck.

There is no "one size fits all" way to describe the people producing aviation history books.

Best,
Ed

[Jukka Juutinen]

Ed, I wonder that are aircraft and ship enthusiasts so different. On average, ship monographs are far more technical than aircraft monographs and the discussion on ship enthusiasts' boards often gets much more technical. A good example is the massive Japanese Cruisers of the Pacific War which provides such technical details that not a single English book on Japanese aircraft even remotely achieves. And the same seems to apply to spaceflight enthusiasts. E.g. Dennis Jenkins's books on the American space shuttle again go so much deeper into the engineering details.

I wonder why aircraft enthusiasts are often so content with so superficial books.

[MW Giles]

Regarding the difference between aircraft and ships, I think it comes down to numbers

An example, there were 27 Tribal Class Destroyers built. You can know the spec of every one, their captains and crew and what engagements they took part in. Fleet engagements are relatively rare and there are often enough survivors from both sides to compare notes with. Crews were large enough for someone to prepare logs and reports that were highly contemporaneous.

There were 6000 odd Bf110s produced in 30 odd main marks and a number of subvariants. They were used sometimes multiple times a day and their engagements are only sparsely recorded, a fact made worse by later document destruction. Their crews were often completely lost.

The difference in mindset between naval history and aviation history readers is an interesting one, that would probably be worth a PhD if you did it right. Is it that there is a much longer history of naval writing, I have on my shelf a copy of James' Naval History of the Napoleonic Wars at sea which gives a lot of detail about some very small engagements. It was written in the 19th century, not long after the events it describes Perhaps books like that set the precedent.

Avaition comes along and we get lots of pictures of pretty planes and a few whizz bang stories of daring do and everyone aged 5-16 is happy. They then grow up knowing no better and the book trade continues to churn out what they know will sell, rather than take a chance on the more esoteric

Martin

[edwest2]

Martin,

Taking chances in publishing involves money and/or highly skilled businessmen. I work for one such person. He has taken the time to learn what needed to be done and put in the hard work to make it happen. As you may know, some here have self-published after 20, 30 or more years of research. This type of dogged determination is required. My employer has read hundreds of books to help add some level of plausibility to the fiction we produce. For non-fiction, finding out who has the required documents and then setting up a plan as to how to proceed is necessary. Patience is also required.

Best,
Ed

[John Vasco]

Originally Posted by Jukka Juutinen

Ed's suggested Bf 109 books would be welcomed here too. As far as I know, despite John Vasco'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.

I've trawled though this thread from first post to last, and I can find no reference in any of my posts to '250 books on the topic' with regard to any aircraft. If you are going to quote me, please quote me correctly...

[Jukka Juutinen]

Sorry John! It was Larry De Zeng's post...

[John Vasco]

Originally Posted by Jukka Juutinen

Sorry John! It was Larry De Zeng's post...

I realise in this thread there is a hell of a lot of opinions and interests covered. I was scratching my head over mentioning 250 books, though.

[Larry deZeng]

My comment was an estimate of 250 books and researched articles. There was an avalanche of these back in the 1960's and 1970's, then it tapered off a bit and eventually returned with a vengeance. Strictly my opinion. I didn't count them.

L. deZ.

[Jukka Juutinen]

Martin Giles mentioned low numbers as an explanation to the difference between aircraft and ship books. Not necessarily, but the difference applies to tanks too, and tanks definitely were produced in mass. For German tanks one can check e.g. Alexander Volgin's book on Tiger II or Walter Spielberger's series. They are highly detailed and very technical.

What is also interesting is that books (in English) on German aircraft of the 1933-1945 era, the most detailed ones are on types that were very insignificant for the total Luftwaffe effort. The most detailed such books I have come across cover the Ta 154, He 162, Me 163 and Do 335. All this while really meticulous books are lacking on the Ju 87, He 111, Hs 123, Hs 126, Fi 156 aspect very poorly covered is Luftwaffe aircraft armament , especially "ordinary" weapons like the MG 151 and German gun turrets and defensive installations.

There is also a very strange gap in aircraft monographs, namely that the post-WW1 to 1945 period is very susceptible to that superficial technical treatment of aircraft. there are excellent books with significant technical details on WW1 aircraft (for example the old Putnam "German Giants") and again with particle suction devices (=jets) the same technical emphasis resurfaces.