Brother Dave: The point that Michael, Phil, Pete, Rick and I are making is that...

You don't actually have to have seen the particular volume in question to know that Schiffer books (and a few others as well) are suspect and vary widely in quality depending, almost completely, on the literary ability, linguistic skills, patience, intelligence, knowledge, honesty, sanity, etc., etc., etc., of the writer. I own only two Schiffer volumes, both on the Tiger Tank, and they were purchased for photographic reference only (don't get me started on the texts...). I have perused a number of other Schiffer volumes and refused to buy them because information contained on the 86th Fighter Group (for example) was just plain wrong. A circumstance which could have been avoided had the authors done due diligence. Laughable are the numerous books, by a variety of publishers, on the P-51 and variants which continuously mis-identify 86th FBG A-36s as belonging to the 27th FBG, alongside whom they flew. Or books on the Bolt which can't even get the squadron numbers correct for the 86th FG (and other units), nor the aircraft buzz numbers assigned to those squadrons. All of that info is easily available if the author is willing to do a bit of digging or hands-on, real-time research by consulting the folks who were actually involved at the time of the action, or by consulting military and manufacturer records. By definition, one who presumes to authorship also presumes to subject-matter expertise as well as expertise with the English language. When the lack thereof is glaringly obvious a considerate person feels embarrassed for the hack. Reputable authors feel that in spades for the offender; we cringe. One of the subsequent problems being that, once errors are discovered in any given volume, the factual accuracy of everything else in the volume becomes suspect as well. As do other volumes by the same author. And, while Christian seems to possess a fair amount of knowledge on the P-51, his self-evident lack of knowledge on the publishing business is glaringly apparent when he falsely claims that all publishers are "equal offenders" and that "everyone does it" leading him to the erroneous conclusion that there are no good publishers. The arrogance of his thrown gauntlet, "Show me a good publisher and then we'll talk (prove to me that you are worthy and I will deign to speak with you)" left me floored man; laughing so hard I fell off my chair. Every time I tried to get up off of the floor last night I was convulsed by gales of laughter and collapsed again. Finally just gave up and pulled the pillow and blanket down off the bed and slept in situ... Ciao fer now, Steve