Nachtjagd Geschichte at last!

Visited London's Aviation Bookshop today and added another not-so-easy-to-find title to my Bomber Command collection - Gebhard Aders' 'History Of The German Night Fighter Force'.

This title appears in many Bomber war bibliographies and I have been looking forward to reading it....

 

Martin,

Congrats! Is this the English or the German version? I have the German one. Rather tattered, but it came with a bunch of interesting notes from the previous owner on radar....Amongst which notes on a radio/radar tower on which remains I used to play as a kid every summer, in teh dunes...

Stevin

 

Er, ah.. the English translation, Stevin ! ( I'm sorry to say that my German runs out after 'Zwei bier, bitte !' )

But I did recently buy a first edition of Wilhelm Johnen's 'Duell Unter Den Sternen' because a) it was cheap b) it has a really kuhl dustjacket and c) also has more photos than the English edition...

 

Martin :

You are now the proud owner of one of the classics on German night fighting. although I have found some mistakes such as ownership of the photos in the book and the last names of a few pilots, it is still the best for overall ops and general information on the Nachtjagd arm. Any questions send them my way. Gebhard beat to the punch on this one back in the 70's when I was seriously contemplating writing a book on the subject. His references are vast and of course it is a big help to be able to live in Germany for first hand interviews.
Oh by the way guys it appears our night fighter book is pushed back another year. Just got over 150 pages more of documentation to go through, but it does appear we have over 150 pics almost all unseen to make it's appearance in amongst the many pages....

E

 

Thanks for the input, Erich, as always...

I have been surprised at how hard to find this particular book is - rather like Constable/Toliver's 'Horrido'.

Your book back another year !?
Oh, well - roll on Christmas 2003 then !

 

Yes, I personally want it done as I have two others on the way, one will cover the late 44 through May 45 missions of many German crews flying their Ju 88G-6's, with some intereting tidbits about the Mossie night fighter.

Also Eagle editions just announced the date of their Wolfgang Falck book which will be 15 January 2003. $ 45.00 US or a signed bookplate included for $95.00. I can tell you for a fact that Wolf is a pure joy to interview, a kind an very gracious man.

E

 

That's interesting indeed - Wolfgang Falck contributed a most thoughtful Foreword to Peter Hinchliffe's 1996 book, 'The Other Battle - Luftwaffe Night Aces Versus Bomber Command'.

 

Well, those are three words that will take you places!

 

Erich! What a bummer! Although it will be worth the wait for sure, I am looking forward to your books, dude!

 

Yes, I am planning on purchasing the Falck book when available. I thin anyone interested in the night war, whether from the German side or English should have this. Included will be colour profiles of his noted mounts.
As to our Moskito-jagd book, it seems with all the info we now have in our possession it would be most foolish not to attempt at least two volumes. One reason to keep the costs down. Just can't see us trying to put together a monster 1200 page book at over 200.00 US, it just won't sell at that rate.
The Ju 88G-6 project is much fun and I am working on a Bf 110G-4 night fighter thing with co web-master Neil Page for the UK based SAM magazine next year. It will be multiple parts with many profiles and pics plus private interviews with crews. Also still plugging away on my Unternehmen Gisela book, with a pilot I am writing today but most probably will send after the new year. Found many times sending items to Germany / will get there but lost in the shuffle on the return during the Holidays.......


E

 

Even tho' I don't get into much modelling, 'Scale Aviation Modeller' is a really good mag, and their 'SAM' series of Modellers Datafile books are excellent introductions to various aircraft types ( especially the Lanc' and Mossie ! )

 

Back at the Aviation Bookshop again and two more titles join the bookshelf !

Held/Nauroth's ' Die Deutsche Nachtjagd ' ( original German Motorbuch Verlag copy ) for under £10. ( OK , my German is terrible but even I can usually work out picture captions - and it has a lot of photos ).

And then one called 'Hunters Of The Reich - Night Fighters' by David P Williams ( Tempus publishing - a small but good quality publisher ). I hadn't heard of this one but it has personal recollections from Falck, Greiner, Hoffmann, Zorner and - Peter Spoden. Also a lovely cover reproduction of Robert Taylor's 'Lancaster Under Attack' which we've already criticised on this Forum !

Erich will now tell me this is a terrible book but I'm quite looking forward to reading it....

 

Martin you have acquired some fine editions....

I've chatted with David several times by e-mail and he is one lucky guy in my opinion to be part of the Gemeinschaft der Jagdflieger and have close contacts with several nf personalities. In fact he is working on another book covering a few NJG 1 chaps as well as adding quite a few photos in that edition. His second released book is on the day fighters along the same lines covering 4/5 day aces including my friend Willi Unger.

Martin concerning SAM mag does the Issue covering the Mossies include Mossie Night fighter variants ?

E

 

Apparently Theo Boiten is working on another NF volume too....

 

Erich, the SAM 'Modellers Datafile' about the Mosquito is a separate book covering all types.

It is so highly-regarded that it went 'out of print' very quickly - the Mosquito Museum have asked the publishers to reprint as we get so many requests for it.

 

Martin, my Mossie sources/references are so lame that I would love to know when they do a reprint......please inform if this ever comes about. If it is that sought after I am surprised they did not do a reprint or two.

Also SAM just did a small modeling blurb on IV.Sturm/JG 3 black 13 Fw 190 A-8
in which they claim in the modell article that this was kommandeur Walter Dahl's machine.......ah NO ! He was the Kommodore of JG 300 for a short time. My friend Neil is writing an immediate rebuttal to this.......yee haw !

E
E

 

A copy of Theo Boiten's 'Nachtjagd' just showed up on Bookfinder for a reasonable price; so it's now on order ( couldn't wait for the airshow season to start ! )

It's terrible to have one's credit card anywhere near the computer....

 

Good show Martin !

I'll be curious in your assessment of the book in the coming days.....

Erich

 

Well, those are three words that will take you places! </font>[/QUOTE]Did a lot of time in Germany...Its no problem..

Zwie bier bitte....and if there are four of you, you wait for the beers then say...und zwie bier bitte...gets confusing and a bit slow if your on a stag night though...

 

here's another important one.....

Wo ist die toilet bitte ? !

nicht vergessen !

E