"The Secret Horsepower Race" - Available to pre-order

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Too bad I ordered from Amazon. A signed edition would be nice. Oh well. 'dems's da' breaks.
 
jetcal1 said:
Too bad I ordered from Amazon. A signed edition would be nice. Oh well. 'dems's da' breaks.
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Several people have cancelled their Amazon orders, then re-ordered through Mortons for this reason. Please do check out the price difference for you before
you cancel your Amazon order though. However I believe that Amazon does not actually deduct the funds for pre-orders until they actually ship....
 
Notification from the print-house, books are going to hit the shore of the UK by boat on 16th October, and will be posted out within a week of that date.

There might be a slight delay of a few days on top for customers not ordering direct from the publisher as the physical books will have to work their way through one added layer of the distribution system. I would think that anyone who has a current order would get the physical book during the 1st week November at the latest. People who ordered direct and are in the UK, probably a week before that.

Please TOTALLY disregard ANY notices from Amazon about due-dates. They have NO idea at all whats going on and their system is almost entirely automated (dont ask me how to fix it, or WHY their system is so useless, I`m too busy writing the books to redesign the Amazon ordering infrastructure )
 
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Snowygrouch said:
Because its based on a real combat report from very late 1944 between a D-9 and a Tempest at tree-top height over France, so actually
the correct question is "why is there a P51 ?"
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1. To improve US sales?
2. To shootdown the Dora after the Tempest runs out if fuel?
 
jetcal1 said:
1. To improve US sales?
2. To shootdown the Dora after the Tempest runs out if fuel?
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The cover needs 3 planes to "balance" it visually, and I`d rather have a P-51 than another in the endless series of b*****y books with
Spitfires on the front, of which the world has quite enough. These days a Spitfire on the front is pretty much a sign that you`ve written
a generic and probably poorly researched book and need a "literature band-aid" to fix it... oh look Spitfire sticker ! *slap*

As Supermarine test pilot Jeffrey Quill wrote in his foreword to "Spitfire - The History" by Morgan and Shacklady thirty years ago:

"As definitive a history of the Spitfire as is ever likely to be written"

I wish people respected that statement and stopped churning out kindling with Spitfires on the front. (to be fair I`ve not
tried John Nicols book... maybe its an exception !)
 
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Snowygrouch said:
I wish people respected that statement and stopped churning out kindling with Spitfires on the front. (to be fair I`ve not
tried John Nicols book... maybe its an exception !)
Click to expand...
Don't waste you time and hard earned, I didn't get to half way before giving up, it says nothing new and seemed even to me just a collection of what has been said before, with his angle as a navigator of a jet in the RAF, which doesn't to me matter more than the opinion of the pilots who flew them in combat.
 
Well, actually? I never pass up a chance to give my betters a hard time. I am truly excited by this book.
 
Books now shipping, first UK dispatch is starting to arrive with customers today. Order to rest of the world will obviously take longer, and
orders through Amazon to USA will take a bit longer to arrive as they have to go to USA by surface vessel in bulk to be distributed by Amazon and their
wholesalers, but still predicted to arrive with customers before Christmas.

 
Having just finished reading my copy, I'm joining to say that I think this is a great book pulling back the veil on the technical aspects of WW2 aero engines.

I enjoyed it on two levels; on one level, the specific details are fascinating. What makes a good supercharger, the multiple advantages of fuel injection, how the P-47 was designed around its tail-mount turbocharger, the pros and cons of inverted engines, coolant temps, etc are all really interesting and much of it was new to me, despite having read quite a few books on this area & having a relevant degree.

And at the end, the individual vivid brushstrokes combine to paint an overall picture of how each nation and each company attacked the same fundamental problems, but with different constraints and adopting different technologies along the way.

While I could make the odd small criticism of this book, it seems beside the point really. This is an epic tome packed with a wealth of detail, much of it complemented by fascinating first-hand quotes, photos, drawings and charts. It would be cheap at twice the price - and I wouldn't be surprised to see copies changing hands for twice the price once it goes out of print.

Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in WW2 aero engines!
 
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