Opinion about books

[HFC_Dolphin]

Hi there!

Has anyone read Leo McKinstry's "Hurricane", "Spitfire" and "Lancaster" books?
What's your opinion?
Worthy getting them?

Many thanks,

[CallMeSarge]

S!

just finished Hurricane, also picked up Fighter Boys and one other (Most Dangerous Enemy) about the BoB.

I found Hurricane to be good, not great. It's not going to set the world on fire but its an intresting enough read, the Author does not try to cram an opions down your throat and it covers some campaigns that I was unaware of.

If you see it cheap, grab it. 7/10

Cheers

CMS

[trashcanman]

I have read Spitfire: Portrait of a Legend and am half way through the Hurricane one.
Personally I really enjoy the authors style. He obviously does a lot of good research and offers an indepth factual history rather than repeating the myths and half-truths that you get on, for example, the history channel, YT and IL-2 forums.

His use of pilot accounts to illustrate certain points is excellent.

Personally I would recommend the Spitfire and Hurricane ones and will be reading the Lancaster one next and expect it to be of similar high quality.

[Novotny]

Eric Brown's Wings of the Luftwaffe is entertaining me during visits to the office at the moment.

[lane]

I thought McKinstry’s Hurricane was a good read. Here are a couple of excerpts (from attached pages) directly bearing on aircraft performance during the Battle of Britain.

"…the real advance in airscrews came with the creation of the hydraulically operated, constant-speed propeller developed by Rotol… But the Rotol invention did not become available in sufficient numbers until the eve of the Battle of Britain.

Another technical breakthrough that assisted the Hurricane’s take-off and performance was the introduction of 100-octane fuel in 1939, to replace the 87-octane used previously. […] The 100 octane fuel significantly increased the Merlin engine’s power, improving the Hurricane’s rate of climb and top speed. […] Enough was stockpiled to sustain Fighter Command right through the Battle of Britain, giving the Hurricanes and Spitfires a crucial advantage over the Me 109…

One feature of the throttle that was beneficial to the pilot was its ability to provide an emergency boost of 12 pounds per square inch from the Merlin, an asset that was particularly useful against the faster Me 109. "

I haven’t read his Spitfire book, hmmm, maybe time to order that one :)

[kimosabi]

I can strongly recommend Geoffrey Wellum's "First Light". It is based on his memoirs as a Spitfire pilot during BoB, all the way from signing up as a young recruit to his participation in the Operation Pedestal.

[notafinger!]

I am currently reading through Bungay's "Most Dangerous Enemy" and a paragraph of text on p. 164 has caught my attention.

The pressure to score also produced some transparent cases of dishonesty. One story has it that a famous German ace returned from a combat to claim three spitfires. His ground crew discovered that his guns had not been fired. His score went up, but his standing fell and the tale soon did the rounds.

Bungay cites the source as Caidin's "Me 109" p.141. Does anybody own this book or have further information on who this "dishonest German ace" may have been?