Market research - 'Most Wanted' Luftwaffe books

[Larry deZeng]

edwest2 wrote in part:

A person can publish whatever they want without doing market research but run the very real risk of printing/publishing something few will buy.

You mean like a couple of hundred more books on the Bf 109?

I began my interest in the Luftwaffe and buying books and magazines about it in 1964 as a result of a bad accident in Freiburg that put my Oldsmobile F-85 out of commission for nearly a year. No more nightly runs to the Gasthäuser. Since then (58 years ago), I would conservatively guess some 250 books and major articles have appeared on the beloved Bf 109. How many more will have to be published before the few buyers that are left finally say, "Okay, I've got everything I need now, you can stop the presses!"

L.

[edwest2]

Originally Posted by Larry deZeng

edwest2 wrote in part:

You mean like a couple of hundred more books on the Bf 109?

I began my interest in the Luftwaffe and buying books and magazines about it in 1964 as a result of a bad accident in Freiburg that put my Oldsmobile F-85 out of commission for nearly a year. No more nightly runs to the Gasthäuser. Since then (58 years ago), I would conservatively guess some 250 books and major articles have appeared on the beloved Bf 109. How many more will have to be published before the few buyers that are left finally say, "Okay, I've got everything I need now, you can stop the presses!"

L.

Well, Larry. Let's take care of that.

Volume One: Photo and technical identification guide. I'm talking about as many good, clean photos of all the production versions and variations, all the field conversion kits and other add-on equipment, with arrows if need be and copious references to original documents like service manuals.

Volume Two: Engines and internal cockpit equipment, with details about gun-sights and radios.

Volume Three: Airframe internal details, test document references and performance data against any Allied fighters.

[Steve Coates]

Eddie's donation went to the Deutsches Technikmuseum in Berlin rather than the Deutsches Museum in Munich.

As far as I am aware, none of the German aviation holdings at the Deutsches Museum have been digitised but I'd be happy to be proven wrong as they do have some wonderful material. Pleasingly, they do at least now allow the use of digital cameras as long as they are not too high spec.

The archive at the Deutsches Technikmuseum is searchable: https://www.technikmuseum.findbuch.n...php?ar_id=3750

[richdlc]

Originally Posted by Steve Coates

Eddie's donation went to the Deutsches Technikmuseum in Berlin rather than the Deutsches Museum in Munich.

As far as I am aware, none of the German aviation holdings at the Deutsches Museum have been digitised but I'd be happy to be proven wrong as they do have some wonderful material. Pleasingly, they do at least now allow the use of digital cameras as long as they are not too high spec.

The archive at the Deutsches Technikmuseum is searchable: https://www.technikmuseum.findbuch.n...php?ar_id=3750

ah my mistake, thank you

[richdlc]

On the contrary AMC, this thread has been most illuminating. It's vital I try and publish books people want, not least for the sake of my bank balance

[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.

[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

[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]

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.