Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum  

Go Back   Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum > Reviews > Books and Magazines

Books and Magazines Please use this forum to review or discuss books and magazines.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #11  
Old 10th February 2005, 20:14
Franek Grabowski Franek Grabowski is offline
Alter Hase
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Warsaw, Poland
Posts: 2,352
Franek Grabowski is on a distinguished road
No comments concerning Soviet fighters on this sub forum from me!!!
Reply With Quote
  #12  
Old 12th February 2005, 00:29
brewerjerry brewerjerry is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Vancouver BC Canada ( Tiz a long way from Devon)
Posts: 829
brewerjerry
books

Hi
my personal choice :-

the typhoon & tempest story chris thomas

This, ( as is the previous typhoon file ), is excellent, the sheer depth of the subject covered, serials / combats / tech is great.
Cheers
Jerry
Reply With Quote
  #13  
Old 12th February 2005, 00:38
Dick Powers Dick Powers is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: San Francisco, CA
Posts: 78
Dick Powers
Typhoon & Tempest

If you put this book together with Kev Darling's Crowood book on the Typhoon, Tempers and Sea Fury, it's almost perfect.
Whereas Chris Thomas' book is (mostly) devoted to WWII operations, Darling's book is predominately development.



Now, if this were the "other" forum, I'd propose tha that the Tempest V could outshine either the P-47, the P-51 in either role.
Reply With Quote
  #14  
Old 12th February 2005, 04:47
Jukka Juutinen Jukka Juutinen is offline
Alter Hase
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 1,173
Jukka Juutinen is an unknown quantity at this point
I guess I hate to get Darling´s book. I have Mason´s Typhoon/Tempest book and I have seen Thomas´s book on the same subject. The latter was a real disappointment. As the book´s name is "Typhoon/Tempest Story", I was expecting similar treatment that A. Price gave to the Spit in the "Spitfire Story", i.e. plenty of test/eval reports. It did have plenty of pics, but printed on very poor paper. No good at all.

In fact, one of the best monographs I have is the 48 page softcover on the Finnish VL Myrsky written by Jukka Raunio. It has info on design background, performance curves, structure data, handling info, extensive info on testing etc. The author is an aircraft designer by trade and it shows very positively. All this based on solid primary research. This book is so much better than most of the books written by PhDs on the similar subjects. PhDs that may excel in formalities, but for whom a performance curve is something they abhorr in their petty mindedness.
__________________
"No man, no problem." Josef Stalin possibly said...:-)
Reply With Quote
  #15  
Old 14th February 2005, 22:55
Jim P. Jim P. is offline
Alter Hase
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 1,967
Jim P. will become famous soon enough
190

Maybe not as technical as some would like, but I found Peter Rodeike's book on the Fw 190A series to be ground breaking just with the number of new photos alone.
Reply With Quote
  #16  
Old 14th February 2005, 23:27
Dick Powers Dick Powers is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: San Francisco, CA
Posts: 78
Dick Powers
Peter Rodeike's book

Peter Rodeike's book only covers the “fighter” versions, with no information on the F or G models. However, his title does indicate that it only considers fighters. I did find it odd that no performance figures are given; weights, dimensions, yes – performance data, no. I think that’s a curious omission. However, within its limitations, it is probably the best book on the FW 190. But, in my opinion, it is nowhere as compete as those listed on my favorites.
Reply With Quote
  #17  
Old 18th February 2005, 13:50
FalkeEins's Avatar
FalkeEins FalkeEins is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Hauts-de-France
Posts: 838
FalkeEins will become famous soon enough
Lorant's

..a more complete coverage of the Fw 190 is available in Jean-Yves Lorant's "Le Focke Wulf 190"..400+pages, plenty of scarce photos, chapters covering technical development, Jabos, wilde Sau etc etc..
Another stunning French language aircraft history volume, published just one month ago, is Jean-Louis Couston's "Le Brewster Buffalo"...at 320 high quality A-4 pages this must be the last word on this machine..detailed English language photo/artwork captions....more details at
http://www.avionsbateaux.com
Reply With Quote
  #18  
Old 18th February 2005, 14:32
Nick Beale's Avatar
Nick Beale Nick Beale is offline
Super Moderator
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Exeter, England
Posts: 5,778
Nick Beale has a spectacular aura aboutNick Beale has a spectacular aura aboutNick Beale has a spectacular aura about
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jukka Juutinen
How many Classic, Hikoki, Osprey authors have piston engine aircraft designer background?
Well this Classic author has a social science background (aviation design is Arthur Bentley's field) but since the topic heading here is HISTORY books, not engineering monographs, that may not be such a handicap as Jukka implies.

I write books centring on operations (i.e. the reason engineers built all those aircraft in the first place) and the people who flew them. In my view that is no less valid an activity than treatises on technical development or indeed grand strategy, neither of which happens to be my thing.
__________________
Nick Beale
http://www.ghostbombers.com
Reply With Quote
  #19  
Old 18th February 2005, 17:58
Dick Powers Dick Powers is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: San Francisco, CA
Posts: 78
Dick Powers
Human Aspects

Nick,
I certainly agree with you that operational aspects are (or should be) the focus of any aircraft history. Although my education and initial work experience is aeronautical engineering, my eyes glaze over when reading long, rambling technical descriptions of WWII (or any) aircraft.

Any time I see paragraph starting with…
“The Schultz SKD-4U/GA was a semi-monocoque stressed-skin monoplane….” I immediately go to the next section. When discussing the technical aspects of aircraft design I am more interested in why certain features were, or were not, incorporated. Since no military aircraft was designed to be mediocre, each design team was constantly making decisions that affect the ultimate usefulness of the resulting airplane. That, to, is a human story.

And, as you imply, it is how the airplane was used, that fascinates most of us. The Martin-Baker MB-5 might have been the best piston-engined aircraft ever, but who cares.

The Ju-87 was obsolescent soon after entering service, but the fact that it continued to give valuable service until the end of the war deserves more coverage than it has been given.

Even the “tank-busting” career, I believe, hasn’t been definitively treated. Most discussions seem to be a re-hash of Rudel’s “Stuka Pilot”. A thorough discussion of tactics, weapons, doctrine and operations would be most welcome.

You book on NSG-9 is one of the best “Operational” books in my library. As with all “good books” it uncovers new ground, rather than rehashing an often told story. While fighters get the headlines, these flyers went about their duties in dangerous and demanding ops while flying obsolescent aircraft. It is a human story. And as you point out, any aircraft history ultimately must be a human story, whether the subject is design or operations.
Reply With Quote
  #20  
Old 20th February 2005, 03:11
Jukka Juutinen Jukka Juutinen is offline
Alter Hase
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 1,173
Jukka Juutinen is an unknown quantity at this point
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nick Beale
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jukka Juutinen
How many Classic, Hikoki, Osprey authors have piston engine aircraft designer background?
Well this Classic author has a social science background (aviation design is Arthur Bentley's field) but since the topic heading here is HISTORY books, not engineering monographs, that may not be such a handicap as Jukka implies.

I write books centring on operations (i.e. the reason engineers built all those aircraft in the first place) and the people who flew them. In my view that is no less valid an activity than treatises on technical development or indeed grand strategy, neither of which happens to be my thing.
Well, your books do not claim to be aircraft tech books. But when title is like "The Hawker Hurricane", it certainly requires competent engineering description.

Let´s consider an example from naval books. Lacroix&Wells book "Japanese Cruisers of the Pacific War" describe the development background, operations and the design to the minutest detail down to boiler room fan diameter data. Yet we may have "German Aircraft of WW Two" (Putnam). Comparable title to the L&W, but completely different. That Putnam has very superficial info on design background, tech details etc. The hard truth is that aircraft book authors have a great deal to learn from their naval colleagues.
__________________
"No man, no problem." Josef Stalin possibly said...:-)
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Pearl Harbor's Missing Aircraft - 7 Dec 1941 David_Aiken Japanese and Allied Air Forces in the Far East 24 5th April 2006 11:50
Aircraft Maintenance/Servicing Record Books? Joe Potter Luftwaffe and Axis Air Forces 8 24th August 2005 12:54
Fighter pilots' guts Hawk-Eye Allied and Soviet Air Forces 44 8th April 2005 15:25
Luftwaffe fighter losses in Tunisia Christer Bergström Luftwaffe and Axis Air Forces 47 14th March 2005 05:03
Eastern vs Western Front (was: La-7 vs ???) Christer Bergström Allied and Soviet Air Forces 66 1st March 2005 20:44


All times are GMT +2. The time now is 04:19.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.2
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004 - 2018, 12oclockhigh.net