Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe (and so much more)
Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe, German Army Press, 1998, ISBN 9781535184113, 309 pp.
The book’s title is only the beginning…this book encompasses Germany’s military aviation efforts from its beginning through the Cold War. There is a well worth reading chapter on the Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe, as expected from the title alone. However, there is so much more than the parsimonious title indicates, beginning with a chapter essay on Nazi Germany’s Luftwaffe evolution. Other chapters appear to be firsthand accounts written by interceptor pilots as well as night fighter pilots. These are intriguing for their description of the mind set of various Luftwaffe pilots of the day. This writing puts a face and personality onto former adversaries. Additional chapters detail various air-to-air weapons employed by the Luftwaffe during World War II, as well as being tested or on the drawing board. These chapters, too, appear to be first person accounts from staff either on these projects or the actual use the weapons.
Arado’s Ar 234 Blitz is gone into in some detail as well as the British night fighter counter measure, H2S. Theory as well as application are both page turning to read as is the entire book. Many pertinent photos are reproduced in half-tones through they are quite well presented and captioned.
The bibliography is thorough as are the footnotes. The glossary and index are more than helpful, as well. Although the material seems to be spot-on there is the matter of authorship. Gustavo Urueña A may be the sole author or he may be the chief editor. I could not find contact information or a bio of him to answer these questions. Contacting the email address printed in the book for the publisher and the distributor also proved to be a dry hole. Gustavo Urueña A does have several Word War II related books for sale, however.
Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe belongs on the bookshelves of historians as well as history fans for its insights, hard to find technical information and the human dimension which threads throughout this book.
Zeppelin Inferno: the Forgotten Blitz 1916
Zeppelin Inferno: the Forgotten Blitz 1916, Ian Castle, 2022, ISBN 978 1 39909 392 7, 382 pp.
Zeppelin Inferno: the Forgotten Blitz 1916 by Ian Castle
Ian Castle’s Zeppelin Inferno: the Forgotten Blitz 1916 is the second in his planned trilogy of Imperial Germany’s airship raids over Great Britain during World War I—The Great War is is was known until the advent of World War II.
Naturally it is a sequel to Zeppelin Onslaught: the Forgotten Blitz 1914-1915 with more mission histories, progressive technological developments, increased measures, resultant counter measures as well as poignant individual human stories.
Castle addresses the development of the Super Zeppelins, not as a matter of course but from the the aspect of the crew, as well. He notes the subtle but significant details such as Zeppelin aircars—employed to lower an observer hundreds of feet, or more, using a cable on a winch—were different designs for each Zeppelin used. Castle also describes why the Imperial German Navy quickly ceased their use of aircars but the Imperial German Army did not.
These airship details provide a welcome contrast to the death and destruction harvested by these airship raids every noted by the author. Castle documents the missions, the times, the ordnance, the locations and effects (destruction, casualties and misses) in terms of the human dimension. This is no rote repetition of statistical data points. His writing is an easy conversational vibe yet the reader has the sense that these locations could easily be found today.
Of course the history of these airship raids is replete with route finding problems, aiming ineffectiveness as well as offensive and defensive actions taken. Airships were highly dynamic vehicles which could often out climb intercepting aircraft of the time, both in climb rate as well as in absolute altitude. Their flight and range capabilities were also ahead of their time as compared to other required technologies. The author objectively describes perspectives from both sides.
Infamously airships during World War I are recalled as ending up as blazing masses, but it was not always so. Initial weapons available to Great Britain, aside from lead bullets which were largely useless, were designed to be dropped from above airship target. That is until the development of the incendiary bullet. And Castle does not disappoint here since he writes of the history of no less than three incendiary bullet designs of the time—as well as why this research was delayed by a year due to a false assumption (an assumption developed without evidence). I’ve not read of this before which shows the author’s diligence in delivering the entire story to the reader. A story full of context and all the intricacy that comes with human endeavors.
Super Zeppelins came about as a counter the incendiary bullet which could rupture the hydrogen filled gas bags but provided no reliable ignition source to the resulting highly inflammable hydrogen-oxygen gas mixture. Super Zeppelins could fly at extreme altitudes for the time which were all but impossible for fixed wing aircraft to achieve since supercharging and turbocharging was not yet used in aviation engines. These airships were purpose built and accepted specific limitations as the structure was not overbuilt and, so, dynamic stresses had to be carefully kept in check. These airships, it has to be recalled, were also not pressurized or heated so the crews were oxygen deficient and terribly cold while in Great Britain’s airspace.
Castle proves that Imperial Germany’s airships were at the height of technology in their day and their aircrews had a great sense of duty as well as elevated esprit de corps. He also details the dead serious thinking of Great Britain’s airship raid defense strategy. He further underscores the waste of skilled aircrews—as once an airship caught fire its crew was lost either to immolation or jumping without a parachute—as well as fiscal waste in airships, crew time and ordinance since, by far, the most damage was to insignificant civilian buildings and casualties were innocent civilians—almost exclusively. Airship aircrews continued to suffer in this waste due to Imperial Germany’s propaganda with the Zeppelin as a super weapon–as the ability to attack far behind the front lines was unheard of—in concert with Great Britain’s ban on airship raid damage reports in the media. The German military could, then, only judge effectivess of the raids they ordered from the airship captain reports—reports which were overly optimistic in their assessments as events came to pass. Not unusual in human nature as evidenced in fighter pilot and bomber crew action reports on all side of all wars subsequent to the Great War.
Ian Castle’s final book in his trilogy promises to bring readers to the end of the Great War and also to bring readers something different, as well.
Ian Castle does not disappoint.
Experience and advice from an expert
Beatrice Shilling
Author Calum E. Douglas is an expert racing engine engineer as well as gifted history writer. He wrote the revalatory The Secret Horsepower Race: Western Front Fighter Engine Development which not only colorfully detailed the drive by Italy, Germany, the United States and Great Britain to develop and employ ever higher horsepower fighter engines. It is now published in English, German and Italian. Douglas’s insight as an engineer and analyst—in combination with being fluent in German— has him possess a rare set of skills for researching World War II piston engine technology. His gift as an extraordinary writer is icing on the cake for readers as what could have been a dry subject was livened up, quite considerably, with his encapsulating thinking. For only two of many examples, he brought to the English speaking world why Adolf Galland was so outraged regarding the cause of one of his most brilliant pilot’s death (Hans Joachim Marseille) which has not mentioned in English origin biographies; as well as one of the strategic aims of Operation Torch which was for the Allies to deny Nazi Germany a strategic mineral that is vital to manufacturing a critical engine part—as well as gaining experience in preparation to invade and retake Europe.
This revelation about Beatrice Shilling is the text of a recent post on Linkdin by Calum Douglas (note that he is a Scotsman and so uses UK English spelling, naturally).
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Calum E. Douglas—Powertrain Design Specialist & Siemens Software Partner
In 2017 the BBC produced this article about the British engineer Beatrice Shilling, praising her for her work which at the very last minute helped significantly reduced the worst problems the RAF pilots found themselves in during the Battle of Britain — where, they were unable to follow German direct injected fighters, as our own float carburettors flooded and cut out if they entered negative-g dives to follow them.
Beatrice developed a small fuel restrictor which helped solve the worst of this, but there is a lot more to her, and this story which remains almost totally unknown.
The point which is very surprising to some — and the BBC didn`t mention — is that this “restrictor” for which she was made famous, was in fact ALMOST not needed at all — because Beatrice had in the 30`s already developed a specialised pressure carburettor (really a single point fuel injector) which was completely immune to this entire problem.
This very enterprising development which she made major contributions to, and eventually led whilst at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, was utterly ignored.
Now she is famous for fixing a problem she had in fact, already fixed years before. Her work on the R.A.E. pressure carburettor (which is almost unknown) was in fact far more complex and impressive, but has sat unstudied in archives until now.
Its time this interesting and clever engineer was known for her real achievements, which are actually the ones hidden from us.
- What was her pressure carburettor ?
- When did work begin ?
- Why was it ignored ?
- What are the lessons today for organizing science and engineering in the — Defence community ?
Find out all at my next free Institution of Mechanical Engineers lecture, this time for the Switzerland branch.
More at:
Bombers versus Battleships
Bombers versus Battleships: the Struggle Between Ships and Aircraft for the Control of the Surface of the Sea, David Hamer, 1998, ISBN 1-55750-043-6, 399 pp.
Bombers versus Battleships is about the historic paradigm shift where aircraft carriers came into their own as the primary capital ships of the fleet—or guns versus attack aircraft. For centuries naval actions were gun fights relying on line-of-sight as well as the sciences of ballistics and range finding. That all very much changed, as we know, but how? Hamer pleasingly details this aspect of aviation’s history.
This was an era when aircraft carriers and battleships were vying for funding as well preeminence. It is was also a highly saltative history. Aircraft carriers, in the beginning were assigned roles to lead the battle fleet and disable the opposing capital ships—bringing them to bay or slowed enough to allow the main battle fleet to overtake and engage. For this tactical employment carriers were often armed, aside from aircraft, with canon batteries. Armed with the same potential as heavy cruisers with eight 8-inch guns. The thinking being that aircraft carriers needed self-protection in case they found themselves in a duel with cruisers or battleships—being absent of armor like cruisers and battleships notwithstanding!
As is known, aircraft rapidly became more capable of speed, range and ordinance load after World War I, when aircraft carriers first came on scene. Torpedoes and bombs greatly increased in their destructive potential, as well. Torpedo attack aircraft delivered destroyer like raids with little advanced warning. Bombers delivered bombs. Horizontal bombers delivered the equivalent of plunging fire with gravity falls from 10,000 feet or more giving bombs the capability of penetrating the thickest of deck armor. Dive bombers could drop bombs accurately which was akin to cannon fire from over-the-horizon. Ships were no longer required to be seen by one another directly. The paradigm had forever shifted.
Bombers versus Battleships, details the history of bomb design as well as their end effects both physically and literally. Hamer provides many detective-like descriptions of exactly how a particular bomb hit, where it penetrated and what exactly it destroyed in many strategic battles. Knowledge about naval guns, and their employment, are also welcome such as an 8″ round weighing twice as much as a 6″ round. Another awareness is that naval captains generally consider themselves low on fuel at half capacity. How many times has it been written ships broke away when low on fuel without mentioning an actual fuel state though capital ships have ranges in the thousands of miles? Finally, an answer!
Hamer also dives deeply into anti-aircraft defense concerns up through the end of World War II. His knowledge and ability to easily explain complex matters of radar evolution as well as gun aiming is revelatory. Incredibly, his experience includes acting as fighter-director during three significant aerial attacks by the Imperial Japanese forces during World War II.
David Hamer has a unique dual perspective for the subject matter of Bombers versus Battleships. He was both gunnery officer trained and fighter-director qualified as well as a fighter pilot. Readers will learn much from his research, training and experience in this well written book.
The NNAM (National Naval Aviation Museum) is adding to their Tuesday mornings a feature film presentation which is also hosted by Chick-fil-A. Check this website for the film and the details. The details include a hosted breakfast, curatorial presentation and the film of that day.
Camp Blanding’s Museum Chinook gets bladed
The newest aviation asset at the Camp Landing Museum is this CH-47D Chinook. For the longest time it was sans rotor blades though a recent visit saw a pleasant surprise in seeing the helicopter’s rotor blades were affixed.
This Chinook is in great shape and viewing through the cockpit windows is easily done.
The most recent review of this museum, located in the area near Starke FL, can be found here. Typing “Blanding” within the search window will lead to other images and observations about the museum and its outdoor air park..
Cz$ and the Zeppelin
Don Grossman, aviation historian as well as the driving force behind airships.net, kindly sent this artful stamp. As it turns out there is a quite a backstory behind the serene scene depicted.
The scene reminisces a time, 50 years before 1986, when Luftschiffbau Zeppelin operated the airships Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg on routes connecting Brazil and Europe beginning in 1931 and ending in 1937. The airport referenced in the stamp, Aeroporto Bartolomeu de Gusmão, serves Rio de Janeiro and retains the hanger built for these majestic airships.
Bartolomeu Lourenço de Gusmão (1685-1724) was a priest who was born, and served, in Brazil. He was also an early pioneer of lighter-than-air-flight.
Quiet a lot of knowledge covered in a postage stamp worth Cz$ 1.00!
The People’s Mosquito project sees a royal visitor
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From the LinkedIn post, above:
“Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal visited the Retrotec factory complex on Wednesday (22nd November) to meet directors and staff from the restoration company, together with representatives of The People’s Mosquito charity where the aircraft is being built, near Rye in East Sussex.
The project was highlighted to HRH The Princess Royal, following an article on BBC Breakfast in February and a visit was requested. It was only right that regular reporter, Tim Muffett was asked if they would like to cover this event and indeed, as you will see in the video below, the project was once again highlighted on BBC Breakfast and most major News bulletins yesterday, Thursday 23rd. HRH The Princess Royal is a keen supporter of British engineering and technology, so it was wonderful to explain how we are building the first De Havilland Mosquito in the UK for over 72 years.”
Dornier Do X: the Story of Claude Dornier’s Legendary Flying Boat, Volker A. Behr, 2013, ISBN 978-0-7643-4476-3, 232 pp.
Dornier’s Do X presaged jumbo heavier-than-air airline travel in 1929, much further back in time than anyone else. Weighing commonly over 110,000 pounds when laden for flight its characteristic dozen engines, immense shoulder mounted wing, and sponsons could produce cruising speeds in the vicinity of 105 mph at an altitude of 1400 feet for 1100 miles while carrying 66 passengers. The first Do X carried 151 passengers for a record flight in October 1929—illustrating the differences between luxury seating and economy seating, which the Do X also presaged.
By comparison, the Douglas DC-3, which arrived on scene nearly a decade later, could carry about 30 passengers 1500 miles while cruising at a bit over 200 mph at 10,000 feet. The DC-3 could fly much higher but was unpressurized so passenger flights were kept below 10,000 feet.
Three Do X flying boats were built with one flying for the German based airline Luft Hansa—destroyed after retirement in a World War II bombing raid—and two flying for the Italy based airlines of Reggia Aeronautica as well as SANA (Societá Anonima Navigazione Aerea)—both lost due to landing approaches which were too steep, with each landing destroying the tail section.
Dornier attempted to exploit the trans-Atlantic revenue passenger market and designed a throughly modern aircraft for its time. Behr presents explicit detail and specifications clearly with the use of tables, drawings, photos and explanations. His understanding of the design concept of the Do X as well as a variety of design decisions made is comprehensive. Behr also well illustrates, often in color, the luxury of the Do X’s passenger appointments. Presently, in a time when airline travel luxury is defined by metal flatware or plastic (if any), the sight of custom bespoke china service is simply eye opening. As is the spacious seating as well as dining arrangements.
Behr systematically goes through the Do X design cogently showing the Do X was a product of the times with advanced construction technique, refined pulley and cable control inputs made less physical by utilizing ball bearings, and a manual power management system harking back to steamship days. A steamship captain would have been at home on the Do X control deck as engine commands were made to the flight engineer standing at his station controlling the dozen throttles, engine mixtures and sundry engine instruments. The navigator also stood over the chart table, as done on any conventional ship.
The book is finely produced in a coffee table format using glossy white pages and high resolution imagery. There is no index though one would be superfluous as the table of contents headings and subheadings more than suffice for indexing. Further reading is included though it is hard to fathom why it would be necessary to go beyond Dornier Do X: the Story of Claude Dornier’s Legendary Flying Boat.
Travel for Aircraft 