Customer Reviews

Hunting Warbirds: The Obsessive Quest for the Lost Aircraft of World War II

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Author Hoffman did well in bringing the Kee Bird (B-29) renovate-to-fly story to the reader. His vivid character descriptions made one feel he was in a smoke filled, "expat" barroom alive with dreams and deals. However much like the Kee Bird herself, Mr. Hoffman's book failed to clear the runway and fly the reader to a satisfying landing. After the Kee Bird tale the author lapsed into a meandering style as he wrote of hohum tell-me-about-yourself visits with vintage aircraft collectors and relatively mundane (cf. the Kee Bird) aircraft recovery ops. Additionally, as noted by another reviewer, if you are a student of vintage aircraft you already know of the Hoffman tales via PBS, Discovey, and aeronautical periodicals.

"Hunting Warbirds" primarily relates the story of the location and extraction of an RB-29 lost in Greenland in 1947. As a story about modern archaeology it's fairly interesting, as a story about warbirds and collectors, it's superficial. Other reviewers have clearly outlined the rambling nature of the prose: we go from Greenland, to the States for an interview with a "unique" collector (that doesn't really shed insight into Warbird Enthusiasts, except to say that some are obsessed. Anyone's who's been to a gaming or Star Trek convention can observe the same behaviors in the minority of attendees), back to Greenland. But as I said above, "Who's the audience here?" One of the concepts I was taught in my undergrad days was to write to the knowledge base of the target audience. Mr Hoffman, seems to have ignored this advice in this work. His NUMEROUS inaccuracies regarding WW2 aircraft, and aviation are enough to put off aviation enthusiasts, (the logical target audience) while the narrow scope of the book would discourage general readers. The inaccuracies themselves always leave that "what else is missing, misquoted or just plain wrong here?" notion in the back of your mind. This is frankly surprising since his resume includes "Air & Space" and "Smithsonian" magazines. Finally, a better book would have at least summarized the efforts in Finland, Germany, and Russia to recover some of their warbirds from WW2. Operations that in ethnocentric America, don't get their deserved attention. If you are an aviation or WW2 aircraft enthusiast, you already know this story-the book offers no addtional insight-certainly none into WW2 salvage as a whole. If you have a slight interest in the subject matter, the documentaries about the salvage operation are a better medium.

As an aviation buff, I loved Hunting Warbirds; as a lover of narrative nonfiction and adventure, I loved it too. I followed the story of the Kee Bird on PBS and Hoffman's account brings it into focus and context, plus adds tons of detail about the story that I've never seen anywhere before. A bit of history, adventure, Greenland as a place, the story of two riveting characters, all interwoven in a narrative I couldn't put down. I did notice a few typos and technical errors, but I've noticed them in Ambrose's Wild Blue Younder, too, and none that mitigate the essence of the book and story, told simply. I guess, to me, the book transcends aviation - it's just an exciting story.

Piston-engined aircraft of WWII are among the most fascinating and important artifacts of the 20th century, part of some of the most intriguing history of war and humanity that affected millions directly and indirectly. It is not surprising that they evoke passion and obsession.
This book attempts to describe the passion and obsession, but its disjointed, episodic and disintegrated form works against it and the technical errors are annoying. Reviewer Collins (see his review) correctly identifies the core problem: the author does not seem to have considered his audience(s). If he's writing for knowledgeable aviation enthusiasts, his lack of depth, poor research and many errors are a turnoff. If he's writing for non-flyers, he doesn't provide enough background information on the many wonderful flight museums and collectors around the world to frame the subject adequately (his superficiality about, say, Kermit Weeks, is a huge disappointment, as just one glaring example). If he's writing for readers who enjoy literature, his lack of polish is a disappointment--much of the book reads like a first draft. It seems that Hoffman's approach to flying is skewed to the gee-whiz and away from the magnificent, mysterious realities of aviation.
Offering credentials like AIR & SPACE and SMITHSONIAN doesn't induce confidence in the reader. Both these publications often use materials from staff or stringers that are deeply disappointing and too often read like the work of somewhat talented amateurs, matched by editorial positions that seem to be issued--without justification--ex cathedra. If Hoffman had written for AVIATION WEEK or FLIGHT JOURNAL one could be sure of its quality.
If some genuinely competent pilot-writer could approach this subject--someone like, say, Walter Boyne or Richard Bach--it would result in an important historical document with breadth, depth and authenticity. Such a work is urgently needed. Sadly, HUNTING WARBIRDSA is not that book.

It appears from the reviews posted on this site that, the less you know about World War II aviation and the warbird movement, the more you liked Hunting Warbirds. The more you know, the less you liked it. Despite his childhood interest in WWII aircraft, Mr. Hoffman is no expert in the field. If he were the numerous mistakes that slipped into the narrative wouldn't be there. (A small army of editors is cited in the acknowledgements, don't they know anything about this either?) What mistakes, you ask? Warbird collector David Tallichet is repeatedly refered to as "Davis Tallichet." B-17's were powered by nine cylinder engines, not 18 cylinder engines as Mr. Hoffman repeatedly states. The CAF reenactment of Pearl Harbor does not feature "Betty" bombers, they were twin-engine, land based aircraft. The CAF B-17, "Sentimental Journey" is based in Mesa, Arizona, not Tuscon. I may be picking nits here but errors of fact, no matter how insignificant, detract from the overall veracity of a text. Those of us fortunate enough to be involved in the warbird movement will spot them a mile away. Despite the numerous mistakes, I enjoyed Hunting Warbirds. If the mistakes were corrected in a new addition, I'd up my rating to four stars.

Any book that purports to be about obsession automatically attracts those that share the particular obsession. Unfortunately for the author of this book about collecting and preserving warbirds, a lot of the readers already know a lot about the subject and are quick to note his errors. Mr. Hoffman is a capable enough writer, but his knowledge of World War II aircraft is limited at best. He has been extraordinarily lucky in that he has been allowed to enter the world of the warbird collector and was paid to do so. Sadly, his enthusiasm is that of the professional magazine writer: get some facts, cobble them together with some character sketches, get it published and then move on to something else. The book has the feel of an extended magazine article as the chapters bounce back and forth between the efforts to recover a B-29 from Greenland and other warbird collecting stories. It's one long article on the B-29 and a series of short articles, none of which are particularly satisfying. I won't belabor the errors in nomenclature or descriptions of the warbirds other than to say that they are annoying to anyone who really does know the subject. This was a nice try, but the topic of collecting and preserving historic aircraft deserves better. Someone like the late Ernie Gann could have really done a great job with this subject.

"Hunting Warbirds" paints the picture of a world in which few of us have traveled. I'm not talking about the deserted, frozen shores of Greenland, but the inner sanctum of the realm of warbird salvage. Living here are wealthy collectors, skilled restorers and daring pilots, each with a unique perspective and inner driving force. It's a small world that those of who attend airshows and read "Air Classics" don't often get to see in detail. Hoffman walked in their ranks and absorbed enough of their passion to coherently relate it. He lived though the same privations and fed off the same energy that keeps those die-hard warbird salvors working 18 hours a day, seven days a week at a remote recovery site. For me, it was a rare view of a world I will never be privileged to experience. Some reviewers have criticized Hoffman for technical errors. I suppose they are valid critiques, but I really think they miss the point. The book is more about the people than the planes. Though you certainly can't separate the planes from the warbird fanatics, Hoffman gives us a sense of what makes those guys tick. I for one enjoyed the hell out of it. Given the look we get, only the most techno-pedantic could fail to forgive the author for a few errors. That said, I hold back one star because so much more could have been included. Instead of a wall mural, we got a small canvas. After ingesting "Hunting Warbirds" I hunger for more.

My immediate enthusiasm for this story waned pretty quickly, under the influence of Hoffman's many errors of fact, so disappointing from one with his aviation credentials. Such obvious and simple errors, which should have yielded to even the most superficial research (You're standing there in front of the engineJust count the cylinders, fer Chrissakes!), cast a nagging doubt over everything else he has to say. And why the hokey cloak-&-dagger act concerning the obsessive collector "somewhere in the midwest"? The Walter A. Soplata Collection in Newbury, Ohio was written up in Jon Allen's "Aviation and Space Museums of America",
and has been known among warbird buffs throughout the world for more than a quarter-century!

I think this book was terriffic. Of course there are going to be some mistakes in the technical areas of the planes...the author never claimes to be an expert of every part of every plane that is covered...get over it. The book lets everyone have a small taste of a hobby (or addiction) that isn't available to eveyr person. I'd love to own a ME109, but can't. I like to read about the salvage and saving of these wonderful machines, and I think this book does a marvelous job of doing that. If you are reading to get a 110% account of airplane facts, buy a manual. If you want a story of a dying part of American history and culture, read this book.

I was pleased with this book. It was an enjoyable introduction to a world I had no knowledge of. The author is clearly as fascinated with the people he met as with the airplanes themselves. The result is a story I could read as well as a history I could appreciate. I may not become an expert on vintage aircraft because of this book, but I know I'll appreciate my next visit to the Air and Space Museum all the more because of it.