Warplanes of the 3rd Reich

[hedgehog6]

This is a pretty formidable book, and even today it would be hard to think of a better single volume treatment of the equipment of the Luftwaffe. It would be hard to think of a more influential work in terms of inspiring hobbyists and researchers. In more recent years, it has fallen out of favor, but it feels like there is still a lot of good information there. Has anyone ever done an errata sheet on the book? Or even on individual chapters?

[Nick Beale]

William Green’s many books (not just “Warplanes”) certainly laid the foundations. Smith, Kay & Creek’s “German Aircraft of the Second World War” was also very important and I still refer to it but 30–40 years have passed and things have moved on.

I don’t know of any source of errata for “Warplanes” at the moment but why don’t you start a webpage yourself? You’ve obviously got some corrections in mind and if you published them and invited contributions I’d guess that a lot of people would be glad to help out. No one could hope to do it all at once but provided you’re willing to start small and let it evolve, I’d think the idea would have a lot of potential.

It is a hell of a mountain to climb though. Just sorting out the late-series Bf 109s would be enough of a struggle …

[Dénes Bernád]

In the past twenty years or so, I studied closely two German aircraft types also included in Green's magnus opus (He 112 and Hs 129, respectively).

I am sorry to say that in both cases Mr. Green missed the target. Just check the details of the prototypes he gave.

It's not necessarily his fault, as it's most probably due to the lack of proper documentation available at the time of writing his tome.

[Graham Boak]

The Arado 240 is pretty garbled too - though that's still true in English-language accounts to this day.

He was revising the book on a piecemeal basis via articles in Air Enthusiast, so it might be worth your while chasing those up.

[hedgehog6]

I have at least some of the Air Enthusiast articles, but it had not previously occurred to me that they were intended as updates, so I have not compared them on that basis. Thanks for the suggestion.

[CJE]

Like many books of the 70s, it contains real gems and a lot of errors the author cannot blamed for, because he worked on what archives was available.
Green had the talent to make the reader "feel" each aircraft, its idiosyncrasy as he used to say (a word I didn't even know the meaning in French at that time...). He was kind of a psychologist of warplanes.
Warplanes of the Third Reich is and will remain a milestone in the history of military aviation.

By the way, do you know if William Green is still around?

[hedgehog6]

Originally Posted by Nick Beale

William Green’s many books (not just “Warplanes”) certainly laid the foundations. Smith, Kay & Creek’s “German Aircraft of the Second World War” was also very important and I still refer to it but 30–40 years have passed and things have moved on.

I don’t know of any source of errata for “Warplanes” at the moment but why don’t you start a webpage yourself? You’ve obviously got some corrections in mind and if you published them and invited contributions I’d guess that a lot of people would be glad to help out. No one could hope to do it all at once but provided you’re willing to start small and let it evolve, I’d think the idea would have a lot of potential.

It is a hell of a mountain to climb though. Just sorting out the late-series Bf 109s would be enough of a struggle …

The idea of a webpage for this is intriguing, but I'm not sure I have the technical expertise required. Give me some time to think & research if that is possible for me.

And yes, the late series Bf-109s are where I for one first noticed that Wot3R had some real problems. Nearly every word of the entry on the Bf-109K is incorrect and the drawings make it clear that he hadn't the least idea what an AS engine cowling looked like.

[hedgehog6]

Originally Posted by CJE

By the way, do you know if William Green is still around?

I have wondered that myself. If he is, he is keeping a very low profile.

[hedgehog6]

Originally Posted by Dénes Bernád

In the past twenty years or so, I studied closely two German aircraft types also included in Green's magnus opus (He 112 and Hs 129, respectively).

I have your Hs-129 in Action book, and along Martin Pegg's Classic book, it pretty much supercedes the equivalent section in Wot3R. If I followed the suggestion to start a webpage on errata for Wot3R, would you be willing to make some comments? If this is going to be done, it would be very important to respect the copyrights and authorship of people like yourself who have done the work to bring us from where we were when Mr. Green first published to where we are now.

[FalkeEins]

...not sure if Green is still us...the subject cropped up in conversation with John Weal a few years ago...Green sold up and got out of publishing in the late 80's and, like Price, he lost interest in Luftwaffe research ...again according to John Weal - who of course played a key role in the compiling of 'Warplanes....' - Green then sold his Luftwaffe photo & document archive to Aerospace Publishing in the early 90s....this was sometime after Air International went to Key Publishing ... however most of it was subsequently lost in an office flood or some such similar disaster...