The Consolidated B-24 Liberator: Volume 1: Reuben Fleet, the Factories, and the Product

[edwest4]

Scheduled for 6 April.

https://www.amazon.com/Consolidated..._publication_date:1250228011&s=books&sr=1-100

 

[Mark Nankivil]

Not terribly impressed with the author's previous efforts, especially his A-20 Havoc/Boston book. Best book on the B-24 is Consolidated Mess Vol. I by Alan Griffith who is AC Researcher on SPF.

Now to get Alan to find the time for a Volume II and also take on the A-20!

Enjoy the Day! Mark

 

[Pasoleati]

Mark, could you list the reasons for not being impressed? Wolf has his deficiencies and his tolerance for critique has been quite low, but especially one Amazon reviewer went insane over some very minor details not mentioning every possible gun cooling jacket variant. That same "reviewer" trashed an air warfare book for having a mirror-image on the cover.

I have not seen the Consolidated Mess book yet, but sometimes I feel that a book that concentrates on issues like was the rudder marking 766 mm or 767 mm wide while having zero information on handling characteristics gets superlative reviews...

 

[Mark Nankivil]

Mark, could you list the reasons for not being impressed? Wolf has his deficiencies and his tolerance for critique has been quite low, but especially one Amazon reviewer went insane over some very minor details not mentioning every possible gun cooling jacket variant. That same "reviewer" trashed an air warfare book for having a mirror-image on the cover.

I have not seen the Consolidated Mess book yet, but sometimes I feel that a book that concentrates on issues like was the rudder marking 766 mm or 767 mm wide while having zero information on handling characteristics gets superlative reviews...

Way too much copying of manual pages and images and very little new material that has been researched and brought to light. My opinion only. The print quality of the A-20 book as an example left a lot to be desired though that is not his problem but that of the publisher.

Enjoy the Day! Mark

 

[Pasoleati]

Well, IMHO one of the best aircraft monographs is Jared Zichek's XF8B-1 book and one reason for being so is the inclusion of full pilot manual.

For me the greatest shortcomings of Wolf's books are:

1. No reference noting.
2. No original performance reports. For example, the B-25 book has take-off data from the pilot manual, and according to that data the Doolittle Raid would have been impossible, so long are take-off distances.

 

[Richard N]

Consolidated Mess is available from Amazon as a Kindle e-book for $19.00. The physical book price is horrifying. https://www.amazon.com/Consolidated...2001&sprefix=consolidated+mess,aps,662&sr=8-1

Alan mentions in the book that there was to be a volume 2. Has anyone heard about its status?

 

[BigD]

Finally got my copy after three years of waiting and it's certainly an absolute brick of a book. My great uncle was a nose gunner on a B-24L that disappeared over the Philippines in 1945 so I've always been on the lookout for a detailed technical reference on the type. A quick browse-through suggests that, like all of Wolf's books, the photo quality is wildly inconsistent (he seriously needs a young set of eyes to do a once-over before his books get published!) but I'll have to actually sit down and read it to see if it can overcome that problem.

Anyway, here's the table of contents.