I like reading. The subjects in our chosen genre fascinate me. I find that development of a specific airframe’s characteristics proceed down paths that sometime take unexpected turns. The Siemens-Schuckert Werke development airframes and its subsidiary Siemens-Halske developed and license built motors for those airframes. This made for truly unusual cooperation of its day. The Siemens Company can be found to not only to have survived those days of WWI but also seems to thrive today in the manufacture of power and electronic devices. Today it is a German multinational engineering and electronics conglomerate company headquartered in Berlin and Munich. It is Europe’s largest engineering company and maker of medical diagnostics equipment and its medical health-care division, which generates about 12 percent of the company's total sales, is its second-most profitable unit behind the industrial automation division.
about the book
From the company's first design based on a Wright Flyer to “B”, “E”, “R”, “L”, “D”, “DD” & “Dr” types, this book takes one through the historical footsteps of its aviation growth. Even the rare “L” type is discussed. To say that it is a thorough work on their aircraft production hits the nail on the head and drives it home. Understandably, the single seat fighter production series takes up about 2/3 of the pages. There are images presented that I have not seen or are better resolution versions than have ever been previously published. High quality images matched with computer driven editing is the key here.
It contains 208 pages of text, 305 photos, 49 color profiles, production quantities and serial numbers of aircraft, shipping logs, and aircraft dimensions and performance specifications. In addition, eight SSW aircraft types and one guided missile are illustrated in either 1/72 (1 aircraft) or 1/48 (7 aircraft & the missile) scale drawings. The book is 8.5”x11” and is available at $32.44.
The color profiles are very accurate and I only found one that had some colors misplaced in the review sample. The star / comet on D.8349/17, has the positions of the blue & white colors reversed. I have been told that this will be corrected in the next update.
Conclusion
This topic will be an interest to aviation students, historians, enthusiasts, and modelers alike. It is a serious and comprehensive study on Siemens-Schuckert aircraft of WWI. I highly recommend it to all students of aviation history.
When contacting the publisher please let him know you saw this review at Aeroscale.
Highs: Well written, concise and detailed. Not just text and a few images. Thorough research is evident.Lows: One minor error in a color profile.Verdict: To see good research being published instead of rehash, whats not to like? Well worth the cost.
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About Stephen T. Lawson (JackFlash) FROM: COLORADO, UNITED STATES
I was building Off topic jet age kits at the age of 7. I remember building my first WWI kit way back in 1964-5 at the age of 8-9. Hundreds of 1/72 scale Revell and Airfix kits later my eyes started to change and I wanted to do more detail. With the advent of DML / Dragon and Eduard I sold off my ...
Just a bit of background. Recent studies by research fiends like Messers Dick Bennett and Jack Herris has given us a much clearer picture of the months during Jan - May 1918. From 16 March to 18 May 1918 there were a total of 41 SSW D.III andf 1 SSW D.IV delivered to the front. 6 went to JG.III and the rest went to JG. II. I have them listed by serial number and batch if your interested. Instead of the 30 you quote there were only 20 ordered Dec 26, 1917 and 4 were ready for the 1st Fighter Competition duer to the availability of the Sh.III motor. The order of 30 came on 1 March 1918 then the next order of 30 came on 22 April, 1918. And on 23 April 1918 there was another order for 20 airframes. From May 7, 1918 through Oct. 1918 a further 360 were ordered (All SSW D.IV types) and Most were delivered. Some of these without engines. The Book by Jack Herris tells where these airframes were sent according to Siemens records. 44 airframes completed after the war were seen in the Freikorps and some sent to storage and later destroyed.
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