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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT,
This review is from: Battle Colors: Insignia and Aircraft Markings of the Eighth Air Force in World War II, Vol. 2: VIII Fighter Command (Hardcover)
Once again, it is unfortunate to find 5-star ratings and high praise for a book--in this case, an entire series of books--that just don't warrant it when you bother to take a hard look. I purchased both VOL 4, then VOL 2, but I tried to cancel VOL 2 after being stunned by what I saw in VOL 4. When you have aircraft depicted wearing Operation TORCH yellow surrounds even before the orders for the yellow band were issued, you know you have problems. The fact that the author did not give a detailed explanation for these temporary markings, or why the red-bordered "star-and-bar" of Jun 1943 was abandoned just a few months later, shows a lack of in-depth research. Although it is true that both the TORCH yellow and AN-1-9B red surround often survived on aircraft beyond the dates that they were supposed to have been removed, most of them were short-lived and certainly not present for as long as some examples in the book suggest. The author also goofed on some dates and squadron designations. You cannot afford to do that when documenting something this detailed. It makes one question every entry, even when no obvious problems stand out. It undermines credibility in the research. In one example, a unit is said to have flown an aircraft from Dec 44 to May 44, which is impossible. If you don't know that the red-lined AN-1-9B markings lasted, officially, from Jun 1943 to Aug 1943, you would have no idea how to figure out that the author meant for the dates to read from Dec 1943 to May 1944. If I have to use my own research and knowledge, in order to make up for mistakes of an author, I have to question why I am bothering to buy his book!If that same author can't spell, apply the proper word usage, punctuate a sentence, or use correct grammar, he should not expect me--or you--to stumble over his failures. Get somebody to proof and correct it for you, or don't expect sympathy--much less money--for the failures. It is more than annoying. The gaffes reflect a lack of attention to detail and a disregard for accuracy...and yet we are expected to trust complex sets of data by an author who can't use "poring over data" rather than "pouring," use "dominant" rather than "dominate," spell "Churchell" as "Churchill," and so on?? On top of that, the author consistently places apostrophes where they have no valid purpose, yet fails to use them where they actually do belong. I am not saying you have to be a perfect English major, but consistent and widespread errors like these undermine confidence in accuracy throughout the book. The necessary attention to detail is just NOT there! When it comes to technical errors, it literally only takes one mistake to make you wonder what else is wrong, and there are several obvious ones here. Following are comments posted in response to one of the 5-star ratings. Please, don't be lulled into buying books like this just because they look pretty. If looking for information on units, the problem with this book is the lack of credibility due to the NUMEROUS errors. The format of the book lists the periods that various aircraft served with the respective units, but it is SUPPOSED to be a book on MARKINGS and there are almost page-by-page errors where illustrations feature markings that either did not exist at the beginning of such periods, or had long since been changed by the end of same. The history of some markings is also flawed. These are NOT just Army Air Force markings but NATIONAL markings. In a critique sent to the bookseller I received my copy from, I noted a major problem on virtually every page examined. A common thread with positive reviews for these books, like most from Schiffer, is that they have pretty illustrations and glossy paper. Fine, but the data is the most important element and the publisher does not proof, edit or fact-check any of their products, and it definitely shows in the results. The numerous typos, misspellings, and grammatical and punctuation errors are more than just annoying. When they intrude into the data pages, it undermines confidence that the product has the right dates, numbers and units listed. I completely lost confidence after just a few pages. I found the same problems in VOL 4 and had actually tried to cancel VOL 2 because of it. Unfortunately, VOL 2 turned out to be just as bad as I expected--if not worse, in many ways--than VOL 4. I am asking for a refund on both VOLs 2 and 4, and I will not even bother with VOLs 1 & 3. The author and publisher both need to understand that even seemingly "minor" errors undermine confidence in your product. When they are all over the place, it shows that nobody cares. That ruins the credibility of the entire product line.
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
As was expected,
By
This review is from: Battle Colors: Insignia and Aircraft Markings of the Eighth Air Force in World War II, Vol. 2: VIII Fighter Command (Hardcover)
Volume 2 of a mini-series "Battle Colors" from Schiffer Military History and R.A. Watkins is a companion book to "Battle Colors: Insignia and Aircraft Markings of the Eighth Air Force in World War II: Vol.1/(VIII) Bomber Command" and focuses on Fighter Command of the 8th USAAF Air Force in the World War II. As well as in the previous work, Robert in detail describes all possible variants of a camouflage and markings, their evolution throughout the war and distinctive symbols of groups and squadrons. The author begins a narration with the short description of camouflage & markings and USAAF aircraft markings. As for me, the one of the most interesting things was explanation of the fighter nose markings. Superb! The included - P-51 Lightning and P-47 Thunderbolt. I think, that it would be better also to include in this list a P-61 Black Widow. But this is only my subjective opinion. Then follows the most comprehensive part of a book, where various units which were armed with fighters are described: fighter groups, scouting force, reconnaissance groups and finally the SpecOps units. As usually, the author gives not enough attention of history of this or that division. But it wasn't the book purpose, therefore it is possible to tell safely, that Robert has coped with the problem. The tables containing the information concerning organizational structure of the Eighth Air Force, in this case - the Fighter Command - finalize the book. Also there is a list of the literature which will help the future researchers on this topic.
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