enginehistory.org

[gravery]

Slightly off topic but has anyone read this book ?

[wpearce]

Yes, I have. Anything specific you would like to know?

A review on Amazon.com sums up my experience and is copied below. I have an early copy, so maybe the mistakes have been fixed. But, I would buy the book again, it has a lot of great info.

Review by Otavio Maia Chelotti on Amazon.com; even with the issues, the reviewer gave the book 4/5 stars:
Excellent book on the development of US World War Two bomber aircraft development. It covers all US Army and Navy land-based two-engine-or-more bombers and patrol aircraft, as well as all Navy large flying boats from Catalinas up, according to category (medium, heavy, very heavy, seaplanes, etc, etc). Plenty of photos are included, with a not insignificant number being in color. The book's focus is on technical development, but it includes interesting details on contracts and production as well. From the point of view of content, as such, it is definitely a must for anyone interested in a technical history of US bombers.

It is let down, however, by an alarming number of typos and crass proof-reading mistakes, which are not acceptable in what apparently is a professionally-edited, not inexpensive book. For instance, the text at the end of page 97 (which is the last page of a chapter) does not seem to have closure (and lacks a full stop, too). Page 98 is an entirely new chapter, so it gives the impression that something is missing. Also on page 179, speaking of the XB-35, it says " they predicted a 700 mph (1,261km/h) advantage, or matching speed with just 75% engine power". Besides the fact that 700 mph is equivalent to 1,120 km/h (either the author or whoever made the conversion probably confused miles with knots, as 700 knots is roughly 1,260 km/h), the sentence makes no sense whatsoever, as I am quite sure Northrop did not expect the airplane to be supersonic.

In fact, there are other cases of wrong conversions, not to mention typos galore. This increases after one goes past the middle of the book, giving the impression that no one bothered to revise the final part. Examples like those on page 184 -"2,00,000lb (90,361kg)"- or page 177 -"the equipment was expected to add 20,005,000lb (9,071,0340kg) to the aircraft" unfortunately can be counted in dozens, detracting confidence on any specific numbers present in the book.
_________________
Bill Pearce

www.oldmachinepress.com

[gravery]

Bill,

Nothing specific. I'm interested with the aeronautic industry history during the war. The "small" history behind the "great"...
Thanks for the review.

Guillaume.