Savoia-Marchetti S.79 Sparviero 1934-1947. From Airliner and Record-Breaker to Bomber and Torpedo-Bomber 1934.

[edwest2]

Scheduled for the end of August.

https://www.christian-schmidt.com/pr...ducts_id=11144

Usual disclaimer,
Ed

[Jukka Juutinen]

The book has been available for some time already.

[AMC]

Very disappointing book, what I call “a Christmas cracker book”. (Which I avoid like the plague normally if possible)
Just glossy poster pictures within and a peripheral treatment of operations.
The author even admits it is not an adequate treatment of operations, stating it would need a book twice it’s size.
Then he should have waited, and written a book twice the size!!!!

[Jukka Juutinen]

That's a promising review since there is nothing more annoying that books portraying as aircraft monographs while being mostly operational chronicles.

[Stig Jarlevik]

Originally Posted by AMC

Very disappointing book, what I call “a Christmas cracker book”. (Which I avoid like the plague normally if possible)
Just glossy poster pictures within and a peripheral treatment of operations.
The author even admits it is not an adequate treatment of operations, stating it would need a book twice it’s size.
Then he should have waited, and written a book twice the size!!!!

When I read the blurb, due to the many photos/drawings etc (500+) it became a sort of pictorial to me.
Since I don't really know what you mean with "poster pictures" are you saying that even the photos
are "useless", ie published before - bad quality - very uninteresting?

Also the so called colour photos, are they all from preserved specimens or contemporary?

Cheers
Stig

[AMC]

Originally Posted by Stig Jarlevik

When I read the blurb, due to the many photos/drawings etc (500+) it became a sort of pictorial to me.
Since I don't really know what you mean with "poster pictures" are you saying that even the photos
are "useless", ie published before - bad quality - very uninteresting?

Also the so called colour photos, are they all from preserved specimens or contemporary?

Cheers
Stig

It is a pictorial book no doubt!, the Poster pictures I mentioned (numerous) are of the time, advertising the aircraft eg. girls on a beach looking up at one flying by, and other aspects, like a poster advertising torpedo factories!!! Very childish….
The author even blames the COVID for being unable to seek more data from archives…..
As this forum doesn’t facilitate photos, I am unable to show anything from the book.
For an iconic aircraft flown by gallant crews against overwhelming odds, we are still awaiting a book to do it justice.
If we were having a meal I’d call it a starter!!!

[Stig Jarlevik]

Originally Posted by AMC

It is a pictorial book no doubt!, the Poster pictures I mentioned (numerous) are of the time, advertising the aircraft eg. girls on a beach looking up at one flying by, and other aspects, like a poster advertising torpedo factories!!! Very childish….
The author even blames the COVID for being unable to seek more data from archives…..
As this forum doesn’t facilitate photos, I am unable to show anything from the book.
For an iconic aircraft flown by gallant crews against overwhelming odds, we are still awaiting a book to do it justice.
If we were having a meal I’d call it a starter!!!

Thanks AMC
I think I will bypass this one....
Pity since I confess I kind of looked forward to it.
Not too many Italians around writing about their own aviation history....in English....
Cheers
Stig

[Jukka Juutinen]

Stig: the Sparviero book has 288 pages. assuming 500 illustrations, that is about 1.74 photos per page. Very pictorial indeed. Or not. For comparison: Chris Goss's Do 17 book has 304 pages and over 700 photos (as per publisher's info) and the Do 217 by the same author has 184 pages and "300-400" photos. The masive "Battle of France Then and Now", a book known for thoroughness, has 592 pages and over 900 illustrations. To be frank, I seriously suspect that AMC has not read the book through and/or compared the amount of text to the amount of illustrations by actually doing any math.

[AMC]

Originally Posted by Jukka Juutinen

Stig: the Sparviero book has 288 pages. assuming 500 illustrations, that is about 1.74 photos per page. Very pictorial indeed. Or not. For comparison: Chris Goss's Do 17 book has 304 pages and over 700 photos (as per publisher's info) and the Do 217 by the same author has 184 pages and "300-400" photos. The masive "Battle of France Then and Now", a book known for thoroughness, has 592 pages and over 900 illustrations. To be frank, I seriously suspect that AMC has not read the book through and/or compared the amount of text to the amount of illustrations by actually doing any math.

I really don’t know where you are going with all this picture counting verses text logic!, let’s keep it simple!
Anyone opening the book will see it as pictorial in content.
I have the book, it is at best a pictorial “history” and I really don’t see what other books and their merits have to do with it?

“Be master of your petty annoyances
and conserve your energy for the big worthwhile things.
It isn’t the mountain ahead that wears you out-
it’s the grain of sand in your shoe”…..

[Jukka Juutinen]

In that case you should rate every Classic volume a pictorial since in them there are very few text-only pages. Therefore it is extremely important to compare the actual amount of text to the amount of illustrations. Otherwise the assesment is useless.