J. Richard Smith (1)

This work represents the "gold standard" of books on the "Greif," with the unfortunate reality that you'll now have to pay hundreds of dollars for a copy, as there is no sense that Crecy Publishing has any plans to reprint this work anytime in the near future. I picked up my copy cheap at the time when it was published. As for the overall flavor of the work, Smith & Creek are unrelentingly critical about the machine, and find no saving graces in it. One gets the impression that they have a lot of sympathy for the men who were sent up in these deathtraps; even if they were the enemy at the time.

As for the dual-coupled engines, and the attempt to make the 177 a dive bomber, one does get the clearest explanation of how these features became the foundation of the design. It turns out that Heinkel's designers had something of a fixation on duel-coupled engines from the perspective of drag reduction, whereas the initial main mission for this plane was going to be maritime patrol and attack, so dive bombing was desired as a feature. Though there is no denying Ernst Udet's obsession with that mode of attack.

It always amazes me that there was no more than a month between when the "Greif" and the Consolidated "Liberator" flew in late 1939, but that the American machine was entering operational service by the end of 1941, whereas it was almost the end of 1943 before the "Greif" was massaged to the point where flying it was not like playing Russian Roulette. Call this a great example of the military-industrial complex syndrome in action, where corporate reaping of income from "development" becomes more important than actual implementation.… (más)