# Nice little book I found...



## Marcel (Apr 23, 2008)

Last week I was at a second-hand Book market and I found this little book. It's a book about the technique used in a/c. Not at a level of an experienced engineer, but for the interested technical reader.
It's in Dutch and I could date it as being printed in 1943 or 1944. The text mentions "the recently introduced Short Stirling" and talks in present about "the countries in war" 
What I think is amazing is that this book, printed during the war in occupied Holland, and describes allied war material in detail. It is talking about the structure of the geodetic structure of the Wellington and even describes the Napier Sabre engine in some detail. It also gives the cockpit layout of the "Boeing Stratosphere plane" whatever that may be. I'm wondering how the writer got this information, being in German occupied territory. I just thought I should share some pictures for the ones that like these sort of things...


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## Njaco (Apr 23, 2008)

Wow! Great find, Marcel!


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## pbfoot (Apr 23, 2008)

I like the old books as well I recently read the 1933 Aviation Yearbook


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## Catch22 (Apr 23, 2008)

Very cool! Those old book stores are great, you never know what you'll find.


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## Graeme (Apr 23, 2008)

Marcel said:


> What I think is amazing is that this book, printed during the war in occupied



Hi Marcel. Nice find!

My brother gave me a Dutch book titled "DE ONTWIKKELING VAN HET VLIEGTUIG" about twenty years ago and I'm guessing that it was printed in the early 1940's, but of course I can't speak Dutch...

I think it's a general history of aviation heavily illustrated with Dutch examples.

I would greatly appreciate if you could decipher the title and translate some of the foreword(?) for me. The previous owner was a "Wolfgang Wieuw", dated "Febr.'44".

Many thanks,

Graeme.


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## HoHun (Apr 23, 2008)

Hi Graeme,

"Already many pens have been set in motion to describe the history of aviation, and this is hardly surprising since if it is an interesting enterprise, then that is due to this technology making itself so well known, especially in those times we're living in."

>of course I can't speak Dutch...

Me neither  Don't trust my translation! It's actually quite confusing to me.

The foreword notes that the typcial aviation history books usually contain stories of adventures and aviation pioneers, and that this book won't offer that, but consider at the evolution of aviation from a more technical perspective. The reader won't have to deal with formula, but the book is will describe its topic using lots of photographs. The "why" of modern configuration will be emphasized. Aerostats won't be covered since they won't be improtant in the future 

The last paragraph seems to be thanks to the publishers of the book and the editors and publishers of the magazine "Vliegwereld" ("Aviation World") who have provided photographs and illustrations.

It could all mean something completely different, though 

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)


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## Marcel (Apr 24, 2008)

Good job Henning,

I'll correct some minor mistakes.



HoHun said:


> making itself so well known


Means: which is so impotant today



HoHun said:


> Aerostats won't be covered since they won't be improtant in the future


Im not sure about the aerostats, "statische luchtvaart" means static aviation, whatever that may be.



HoHun said:


> It could all mean something completely different, though



No, you did it quite well, my compliments

Graeme: "DE ONTWIKKELING VAN HET VLIEGTUIG" means the developement of aviation. I saw the book being sold on the internet. that was one from 1946 though.


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## Graeme (Apr 24, 2008)

Marcel and Henning, many thanks, much appreciated. Always wondered what the title and true purpose of the book was. Also surprising Marcel, is that this book contains cutaways of German military aircraft that were at the time of publication devastating Europe? 

(Henning, you don't speak Dutch?...how did you translate it?)


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## A4K (Apr 24, 2008)

great find Marcel!


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## HoHun (Apr 24, 2008)

Hi Marcel,

>Good job Henning,

Thanks 

>Im not sure about the aerostats, "statische luchtvaart" means static aviation, whatever that may be.

I simply assumed "static" could refer to the type of lift, opposed to the "dynamic" lift employed heavier-than-air vehicles.

Thus my guess on "aerostats" - which might be an old-fashioned term as well, I don't actually know where I picked it up - maybe from one of the old documents Micdrow posts for us 

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)


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## HoHun (Apr 24, 2008)

Hi Graeme,

>(Henning, you don't speak Dutch?...how did you translate it?)

I understand a bit of Low German, which is a language in its own right that has some similarities to Dutch. Give me some time and a written text in Dutch, and I can work out the gist of it as long as it doesn't contain too much ideomatics - it's a fun challenge 

English has some similarities to Low German too, but so much Romanic vocabulary (courtesy of the Normans) that you really have to learn it properly to understand anything at all.

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)


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## Krabat42 (Apr 28, 2008)

The problem with "Niederdeutsch" (low german) and Dutch is that there are many false friends, words that sound close but have a different meaning, sometimes contradicting, in modern german. This is because the languages split some time ago, I think it is the same in other language families. But Henning is right, it's a fun challenge.  Especially since dutch often sounds funny for a german ear.

But isn't there a Babel Fish for Dutch somewhere?

Krabat


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## Marcel (Apr 28, 2008)

Krabat42 said:


> Especially since dutch often sounds funny for a german ear.



Ah, but German is funny for us to. We sometimes use German words as a joke. When I was a kid, I used to watch "The A-team" on the German TV, only for the synchronisation. The "German" B.A. was so much more fun than the American one  
Most people here will understand German quite well. I come from Groningen and I noticed that the Ost-Frisian people speak exactly the same language. Only difference is, where we use Dutch words, the Ost-Frisian have replaced it by German words.


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## Krabat42 (Apr 29, 2008)

> Ah, but German is funny for us to.



What goes around, comes around. I like that. 



> We sometimes use German words as a joke.



Do you have an example? Just for my information. I studied several semester german language and literature at the university, so it's always interesting to me. And a few years ago my girlfriend learned dutch just for fun. Couldn't understand why.  

Krabat


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## parsifal (Apr 29, 2008)

The english think we aussies dont speak english actually, so it sounds kinda similar


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## Njaco (Apr 29, 2008)

And us Yanks just stand there dumbfounded by it all.


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## kool kitty89 (Apr 30, 2008)

We Yanks are dumbfounded by other yanks! 

Darn vernacular.


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## Njaco (Apr 30, 2008)

Hey, no cussin'!!


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## Heinz (Apr 30, 2008)

Njaco said:


> And us Yanks just stand there dumbfounded by it all.



We are printing our own Dictionary soon Njaco............


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## A4K (Apr 30, 2008)

It'll be the world's first English dictionary with English translations...


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## Marcel (May 5, 2008)

Krabat42 said:


> What goes around, comes around. I like that.
> 
> *Exactly *
> 
> ...


We rather like to call someone names in German. Somehow it sounds better in German  
At school in The Netherlands, people have to learn English, French and German as foreign languages, so most Dutch can at least understand German, but most can more or less speak it.


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