The 'canonisation' of an author

I read with growing incredulity the apparent ‘canonisation’ of the late English Eighth Air Force historian Roger A Freeman on Facebook.

It seems that many there think that the man could do no wrong, his writings should be regarded as delightful pearls of wisdom handed down to the uninitiated and uneducated masses from on high and that in his spare time he would walk on water. 

As the Engineering Director of the East Anglian Aviation Society, one of the three organizations that founded the aviation museum at Duxford (once home of the 78th Fighter Group) near Cambridge, England I came in contact with the man, and sadly having known him, I can say for certain that was not the case.

In the early 1970s – some 40 years ago now – Freeman produced three major works on the Eighth Air Force –‘The Mighty Eighth’, ‘Mighty Eighth War Manual’ and the ‘Mighty Eighth War Diary’, a trilogy of books that many have come to regard as being the ‘bibles’ of the 8th Air Force.

At the time of production they appeared worthy of that accolade, but for those who care to look deeper, they have not stood the test of time well.

In order to explain what I mean, let us look at how Freeman deals with one aircraft - possibly the most famous and well-documented aircraft of the so-called ‘Mighty Eighth’, B-17F 41-24485 Memphis Belle. 

When Memphis newspaperman and journalist Menno Duerksen was researching his ‘Memphis Belle - Home at Last’, one of the people he contacted was Freeman. 

In a reply dated February 6th 1987 to a letter from Duerksen querying mission completion dates between the ‘Memphis Belle’ and the 303rd Bomb Group’s B-17 ‘Hells Angels’, Freeman revealed some interesting information and made some even more revealing points about his own work. ‘...my information as used in ‘The Mighty Eighth’ was based on squadron and group reports and PR handouts rather than an actual count of missions completed from the individual mission reports. In fact, that information was still restricted when I put ‘The Mighty Eighth’ together. Indeed, knowing the liberties that were taken by the PR people, nothing short of the examination of each individual mission record would satisfy me that the date was correct.’

So, it seems that the renowned The Mighty Eighth - first published in 1970 - was written using an undisclosed percentage of Eighth Air Force Public Relations material. This is clearly an admission IN THE AUTHORS OWN WORDS that he was well aware that some of the data contained therein was ‘suspect’ to say the least! In the same letter Freeman goes on to drop another bombshell and suggest what he thought was really needed. ‘... I have never had the opportunity to verify this, but it does show that to arrive at some hard facts on this subject it would be necessary to review the individual aircraft records of the three groups’ operations at this time’. 

Now it may well have been the case that much material was still restricted from public sight when the book was first published - but why had Freeman not made any attempt to get more accurate information in the ensuing seventeen years up to the time of writing that letter?

This is proof that in early 1987 Freeman had STILL not verified the mission dates. Yet less than a year earlier he had supposedly revised ‘The Mighty Eighth’, but the caption to a photograph on page 50 was still the same ‘...First B-17 in the 91st BG to complete 25 missions, she was also the first in the VIII BC to be returned to the USA with her crew’. Even at that time it was commonly known amongst aviation historians that both statements in that caption were incorrect.

As an author and historian who for many years has been involved with the historical aviation movement, I looked long and hard at what had previously appeared in both print and the visual media before deciding that leaving the material unchecked and/or not corrected simply did not do justice to the aircraft or the men involved. It was attempting to correct these ongoing ‘innaccuracies’ that drove me into writing.

A number of English aviation historians already knew that much of the information which had appeared was suspect - but the discovery of Freeman’s admission about his own work and the contradictions about what he had still not done regarding checking individual mission logs, despite making such a definite statement about the Memphis Belle, came as something of a shock to say the least!

If Freeman could allow such a caption containing apparently ‘unchecked’ information to appear - in not only the first edition which was understandable, but also the revised 1986 edition where he had a perfectly good chance and plenty of time to correct it, then what else was ‘in error’ in the trilogy of so-called ‘bibles’ of the American Eighth Air Force?

As it turned out, quite a lot was.

Even by 1994 when Roger Freeman co-wrote ‘Claims to Fame The B-17 Flying Fortress’ with Steve Birdsall which, according to the title’s own dustjacket in a paragraph relating to the Memphis Belle, was a method of ‘... correcting inaccuracies on the best known Fortress.’ Not only did they still manage to get the date of the King and Queens visit to Bassingbourn wrong but they also contradicted themselves. On page 78 they have the Memphis Belle crew starting the bond tour in Washington DC on 9 June. Further on, in one of the photo-sections they have a caption that states that the crew were presented to Generals Eaker and Devers at Bovingdon airfield in England on the same day!

Waiting for over 24 years and still not have found time to update the records goes beyond laziness!

Then, in 1999 I was in discussion with my then-publishers Cassels Ltd, who were overjoyed in gaining the rights to publish a paperback version of the ‘Mighty Eighth’ – I politely asked if they were going to revise it to knock out the many errors that it contained. ‘Oh no…’ I was told ‘…we want to get it out as soon as possible. We might paste over the occasional word, but that’s all’. 

That is exactly what they did and the evidence is still there to this day for all to see and spot for those capable of doing such a thing, for Cassels even used a slightly different typeface on the pasted text.

So, if so many errors appear in his work about possibly the most famous and well-documented of all Eighth Air Force machines what hope is there for lesser known and more poorly documented aircraft being correctly recorded?

Very little hope I think, especially given the man’s growing band of slavish followers. Today there are more primary source documentation records available on both sides of the Atlantic than there have ever been and yet Freeman’s vociferous ‘followers’ appear only interested in regurgitating 40 year old ‘facts’ as quoted by the great man and attacking anyone who dares to question what he recorded.

It concerns me that this blind acceptance is doing untold damage for future history!

Immediately after I posted it on the Eighth Air Force Historical Society (Official) Facebook page sure enough I got attacked - 'how DARE I say such things against the memory of such a man who cannot reply back?' 'It seems that I am jealous, bitter and twisted... etc etc etc. Funny thing though - not ONE person said I was wrong!

All things A380....

The contracts from Pen & Sword keep coming, for which I am eternally grateful! I've recently been told that my XB-70 Valkyrie book will be out as a softback in 2014, which is great news!

I've also got a contract for a title on Howard Hughes and his HK.1 Hercules,with some incredible pictures I've discovered, so things are looking good for next year!

Early this year however, I got a contract to do a book on the A380: one thing that has always fascincated me about this, is just HOW do they do a turn-around with so many passengers and freight in just 2 hours?

8 months of negotiation later, and I'm down at London Heathrow awaiting the arrival of an Emirates A380 from Dubai - god that think is HUGE, but so slow over the fence!

On three hours, I've photographed the inside and outside from Cargo bay to First Class Showers of two aircraft - with 436 pictures (thank goodness for digital, how DID we cope when it was conventional film?

Just as a taster....

And as a bonus..... BA kindly tugged this one past the stand!

I now know what hell is

 I think I’ve just discovered what hell is - it’s travelling on an airliner with a set of parents who have a new-born baby.

Parents of any new child are bad enough – they seem to think that the whole world sees their new-born as being cute and adorable instead of what is essentially a conversion device that you stuff food in one end and clean the crap out the other – put this into an aircraft and you discover a whole new dimension -  it’s a lung-powered screaming machine with no volume control attached!

There we were, sitting in the departure longue for a flight from London to one of the Greek islands. It was ‘typically British…’ everyone keeping themselves to themselves, talking in muted whispers waiting for the flight to be called, when in they walked – ‘Mummy’ with what appeared to be a twelve week old baby in one of those kangaroo pouches strapped to her front with a bag in each hand, and ‘Daddy’ pushing what looked to be a a two year old infant in one of those collapsible one-handled, three-wheeled chairs festooned in 'baby equipment'.

Now the airlines do not allow you to smoke while on board, or carry knitting needles, nail clippers or have sexual intercourse with other passengers. You are also not allowed to board if you have shoes with explosive soles or if you've had one too many sherbets in the departure lounge bar. And if you make any sort of joke, about anything at all, in earshot of the crew, you will be tied to your seat as if you're in a set of medieval stocks. But you are allowed, indeed welcomed even, on board the aircraft even if you are accompanied by a lung-powered screaming, crapping machine!

I want to make it absolutely plain that I would never take a child on a flight until they were old enough to grasp the concept of reason. It is simply not fair to impose your screaming child on other people in a close confined environment - it’s even worse if you are flying long-haul, for then you are imposing your offspring on people who have paid thousands of pounds for a flat bed and therefore the promise of some sleep.

There has been talk of Paddy Airways introducing aircraft with standing room for economy-class passengers. Imagine the sort of seat you get in a bus shelter nowadays and you'll get the idea. So why can we not have soundproofed overhead lockers into which babies can be stowed for the duration of the flight? Or how about some squeezyJet flights where under-threes are banned?... but i'm digressing somewhat.

The crying began before the Baby Boeing was even airborne, and built to a climax as we reached cruise altitude. And believe me, this was the longest climax in the history of sound.  It was louder than a pair of Avons with full reheat! It went on, at Iron Maiden concert volume until we began the descent over three hours later. At which point, thanks to a change in pressure on the lung's tiny ears, the noise reached new and even more terrifying heights. I honestly thought the aircraft’s windows might break.

And what do you suppose the mother did to calm her infant? Read it a nice soothing story? Feed it some warm milk? No such luck - she had claimed the window seat on boarding and spent the entire flight either looking out the window or pretending to be asleep.

Disastrously, they were sitting in the row in front of us – so I knew she could not be asleep -  firstly, it would have been impossible. Secondly, a mother is biologically programmed NOT to sleep through the cries other own child and thirdly she twice turned to her older child who was sitting in between them idly kicking the seat in from of him for the entire flight and  said ‘Tarquil, don’t do that or I will have to put on my unhappy face’!

I put up with it for nearly two hours – god knows what the people in front of them were suffering -  but not long after we passed Venice, I leaned forward and asked if Tarquil would like to go play outside for a while, for I was sure the Stewardess would be able to arrange it.

It was not appreciated.

So why was she pretending? I know exactly what she said to her husband as they left home that morning – indeed, the whole passenger load knew because of the discussion they had at full volume in the departure lounge before boarding... 'If you're going to play golf while we're on holiday, you can look after these two during the flight. I spend all day every day with those bloody kids. I'm doing nothing.'

This is almost certainly why the lung was so agitated. Because the person it knew and loved was apparently dead, while it was being bounced around on the knee of a strange man it had never seen before. Because he leaves for work before the lung was awake and, doesn't get back until after the lung was asleep and is usually away all weekend playing golf with his boss in order to keep his job.

And that's why he was put in charge of the children and that's why the flight was ruined for nearly two hundred people. – who then had to spend two weeks in Greece, terrified that the lung would be on their night flight back to Britain.

It wasn't. I do not know what happened to it - but if there really is a God, I like to think it and it's mother was eaten by a shark!

Enquiries for signatures

A number of people have asked me how can they get a copy of any of my books signed - well, we're living in a global village, and mailing books around the world does not make good economic sense. However, that said, one of my publishers have agreed to fund a different idea - if anyone would like my signature, plus a small dedication, please email me the the title of book you want it in, and your mailing address and I will send a card in an envelope out suitable inscribed at no charge.

Please send your emails to gmsimons@btconnect.com

I also promise NOT to pass anyones details on in any way!

The Northrop Flying Wings

Jack Northrop’s flying wings - or to give them their more corect title, all wing aircraft - were some of the most spectacular, graceful and elegant flying machines ever to grace the skies.
A design as aeronautically pure as a flying wing had huge advantages over conventional aircraft design. This advantage was that drag had been reduced to an absolute minimum. As a result of this minimum drag, the performance of the flying wing became unequaled in speed, range and operating economy.
For many years aeronautical designers realised that by reducing drag - that is the net aerodynamic force acting opposite to the direction of the movement of the solid object caused by the shape or form of an aircraft as it passes through the air - that machine’s performance could be greatly increased. Early steps taken in this direction brought about the changes from biplane to monoplane design; the elimination of external wing struts and flying wires; the incorporation of retractable undercarriages and the general overall ‘smoothing out’ of the shape. However, in spite of all these advancements, the average conventional aircraft of today still has two to four times the drag of a flying wing. So in order to reduce drag to its absolute minimum, a few aircraft designers took the drastic step of eliminating both the fuselage and tail all together and placed the pilot, the engines and the payload completely inside the wing envelope.
These aircraft from Northrop - in particular the incredible eight-engined all-jet YB-49 were the purest form of flying machines - no fuselage, no tail - in fact barely any vertical surfaces at all. They seemed almost a fantasy, something from the realms of science fiction - indeed,  the first time I recall ever seeing one of ‘the wings’ was, as I am sure many others had the same initiation, in  H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds - a 1953 science fiction movie starring Gene Barry and Ann Robinson. It was the first on-screen loose adaptation of the H. G. Wells classic novel of the same name. In a desperate bid to stop the Martian invaders, much emphasis was placed on the use of a United States Air Force YB-49 Flying Wing bomber that was to drop an atomic bomb on three war machines. Unfortunately, the A-Bomb has no effect, due to their protective force fields; the Martians continue their advance and the government orders an immediate evacuation. The movie showed a YB-49 taking off and then lingers on the aircraft cavorting around the sky prior to making it’s attack.
For around forty years the history books recorded all of Northrops all-wing aicraft as little more than an aberration, almost a failure, something that was an interesting dead-end that was investigated and found to be little more than a­­ byway to mainstream conventional aeronautics that suffered a highly publicised fatal crash and became embroiled in American politics.
Then another design surfaced that equally captured the public imagination. It was from Northrop-Grumman, the sucessor company to the original designs and it had exactly the same wingspan - this was the B-2 Spirit.
This then, is the story.


The book should be out late in 2012!

Puzzlement

Concorde Conspiracy - the Battle for American Skies 1962-1977 (yes, the title has changed at the last moment with the addition of the years for the American market)

Another day, and some more contracts signed!

Two more books placed with Pen and Sword – one on the Northrop Flying Wings, which I have been wanting to see in print for a long time, and another which will be part of Pen and Sword’s Images of War series that hopefully should turn into something of a series in itself, the first being British Fighter Aircraft Production. Maybe there will be Bombers and Trainers to follow – it all depends on sales I guess.

Updates on publication dates:

Bristol Brabazon – The History Press – March 2012

Concorde Conspiracy – The History Press – April 2012

B-24 Liberator – Pen and Sword -  May 2012

B-29 Superfortress – Pen and Sword August 2012