Ju-88, Volume One

[Jukka Juutinen]

Does anyone have Medcalf's e-mail? I'd like to contact him regarding Ju 88 wing skin buckling.

[Peter Achs]

For those who understand German:
I have written a detailed book review in this German board.
I'm sorry, but the book is terrible, full of errors and gaps. Moreover, it is a torture for a German reader.

Google Translator provides more or less acceptable results in the translation of the review.

Regards
Peter

[Richard T. Eger]

Dear Artie Bob and Peter,

I know Art that you researched the Ju 88 series for many years and we all were hoping that you would one day publish your findings. Whether or not your comments are accurate Peter, I am dismayed at your strong attacks on Art and his effort. This wasn't the work of a hack and such punishing commentary is unbecoming.

With such an attack, I tend to doubt there will be a volume II, which is a shame, considering the time and effort Art has devoted to this subject. Nor am I so sure that all of your criticisms are correct, as the spelling of the same word could vary from document to document. For instance, Stauffen has been officially spelled with 1 or 2 "f's".

I further know that Art had spent an enormous amount of time researching original documents.

I live on the Delmarva Peninsula, which consists of all of Delaware and the eastern shores of Maryland and Virginia. By locals, it is either referred to as "The Delmarva Peninsula" or "Delmarva", yet national news will repeatedly refer to it as "The Delmarva", which is incorrect. Is it a grievous error? Not really.

I have a friend in Germany who is fluent in both English and German. Yet, because I have a collection of dictionaries and on-line resources, he will come to me on occasion for the correct interpretation of a word or phrase.

As in English, German words can have multiple meanings and thus the correct interpretation is both context driven and having some background in local idioms.

Getting a 100% perfect translation of German words or phrases into English is an almost impossible task.

But, acting like a know-it-all without consideration for the impact of your words just grates like hell.

Regards,
Richard

[edwest]

Dear Richard,


I understand how you feel and know about your contributions to Luftwaffe history as well, but the book is not available in the US yet, so it's a bit early to sound the death knell. Here is a review from a reader at amazon.co.uk:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Junkers-Ju88...=ju+88+medcalf



Regards,
Ed

[Jukka Juutinen]

Perhaps messieurs Medcalf and Achs could have worked together in the first place? I do find it annoying that German authors criticize foreign authors for errors in books about German topics while nobody has forbidden these German authors from publishing their research in English instead of hiding behind a language barrier.

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Peter Achs

I have written a detailed book review in this German board.

Given that his parentage is neither English nor American, I think Eddie Creek might be highly amused at your mentioning him in the context of »die englisch-amerikanische Forschung« Still, we all make mistakes ...

[edwest]

Originally Posted by Peter Achs

For those who understand German:
I have written a detailed book review in this German board.
I'm sorry, but the book is terrible, full of errors and gaps. Moreover, it is a torture for a German reader.

Google Translator provides more or less acceptable results in the translation of the review.

Regards
Peter

Hello Peter,


Can you tell us about some of the errors? My German is poor and automatic translation is not that reliable I think.



Regards,
Ed

[Jukka Juutinen]

Some of the spelling errors caught my attention as well. E.g. by a quick look at the bibliography I found two mistakes. But these are errors that an editor should catch; an author becomes too blinded by his own text.

[Rasmussen]

Originally Posted by edwest

Can you tell us about some of the errors? My German is poor and automatic translation is not that reliable I think.

From the mentioned link in my poor English:

- informations from the early history of the a/c are very limited (Gassner and Evers only in an subordinate clause, the part of Zindel is missing complete)
- the extensive trial in Rechlin since mid of 1939 is missing complete
- many versions like the Ju 88B-3 are not explained or wrong explained
- missing explanations of cooperation between RLM, general staff and aircraft factory regarding development of versions (Why was an version developed?)
- missing informations regarding "Werkserprobung" by Junkers
- missing names: Who developed the Ju 88?, Who were the test pilots?

some of the specific errors:

p.7: the greatest German aircraft factory in 1933 was JFM, but: JFM existed only since 1936 after the fusion from Junkers Flugzeugwerke AG and Jumo Motorenbau GmbH

p.16: Junkers bought in 1936 an existing aircraft factory in Leipzig, but: Which? (For me an answer would be interesting too because I from Leipzig - ATG, Erla, Junkers? Junkers bought Junkers?)

p.26: first flight of the EF 61 V1 was roundabaout at the same time like the first flight of the Ju 88V1, but: it was 3 months later
(and his crash date of the EF 61 V1 is wrong too)

p.28/29: first flight date of Ju 88V 1 is wrong, an crash on 10.04.1937 didn't exist, confusion between V 2 and V4 on the picture, the V4 was an "Schnellbomber" and the V6 the first a/c comparable with the later serial a/c (Medcalfs story is an old Nowarra/ Green story)

p.123: Ju 88B, crashed on the Russian front, but: crashed in Birkenwerder (Germany)

p.174: Paul Kratz, "development director", but: he was director of "Ausbildungswesen" (education department ?)

and so on ...

I haven't the book from Mr. Medcalf but is the dissertation from Lutz Budrass "Flugzeugindustrie und Luftrüstung in Deutschland 1918 - 1945", 1995, about 800 pages (on the example Junkers) in the bibliography? It's the standard in Germany for understanding of processes in this industrial field and time.

And edwest ... what about learning German language? You are interested on German aircrafts, on German history and ... the German language? I am interested on Czech aircrafts and I learned read Czech language fluently, I was interested on Polish aircrafts and I learned read Polish language (not fluently but it's enough for reading texts with dictionary), the same with Dutch and Russian.

[Richard T. Eger]

Dear All,

Even with a good collection of dictionaries, one can run into the situation of specialty descriptions and abbreviations used at a specific aircraft company or research laboratory. Then one is left to the hoped for revelations in accidentally uncovered documents that provide glossaries so that all will be able to decipher the contents of the various related reports.

Knowing who had what position can be difficult to uncover and there are always the changes that occurred over time. A person might also be known by several job titles. A job title may seem to indicate that the person held an important position when he did not. Of course, personality clashes and attempts to get the upper hand can explain otherwise inexplicable decisions.

Organization charts can be very hard to come by with all their acronyms that provide the keys to who was doing what.

Decisions at major meetings had incredibly short half lives. Whether the new direction set forth actually was put into action requires finding the subsequent action documents.

And, of course, we just don't have everything. Someone like Peter may have privy to information that wasn't available to Art and vice versa. Collecting information is a hit or miss thing. A gem might be uncovered in the unlikeliest of places with, upon retrospect, no discernable path to discover its existence being available.

Further, not everything in archives is indexed and documents that are may be indexed very poorly, hiding the fact that key information lies there-in.

The analogy I've always used in describing my hobby pursuit is as follows: Imagine that you have a jigsaw puzzle. There are no edge pieces. A lot of the other pieces are missing and you've lost the boxtop art to help guide you.

That's what we are all faced with. If we had everything and understood everything, we'd lose the thrill of the hunt. We've all had that eureka moment when something falls into place. It makes our day.

Regards,
Richard