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Post by Deleted on Nov 18, 2007 8:27:26 GMT 12
I am in the final stages of publishing a comprehensive NZ aviation bibliography. It been a considerable undertaking but I am now on the home run.
The bibliography lists over 700 NZ or NZ related aviation books and includes a thumbnail picture of every cover along with information on the book and a scarcity rating. Some very rare books have been identified.
The bibliography includes details of about 100 privately published manuscripts and I would like to know if anyone is aware of any similar manuscripts that have been written by former servicemen.
Some of these manuscripts have been very good and two in particular that I uncovered have been excellent. I have been successful in encouraging the authors to consider publication. Jack Rae's book Kiwi Spitfire Ace which was published in 2000 was the first of these and Alan Peart's book called From "North Africa to the Arakan" will be published shortly. Alan is a great man with an amazing memory. He was an ace who flew with 81 Squadron (for a while commanded by Colin Gray). I think readers interested in NZ WW2 pilot autobiographies will like this book.
If anyone with a good collection of NZ aviation books feels that they have informtion on any rare book and that they could make a contribution to the information in the NZ aviation bibliography I would love to hear from them. Especially if they are aware of any privately published material.
Also if anyone would like to receive email notification when the bibliography comes out please let me know.
Lhill@clear.net.nz
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Post by agalbraith on Nov 25, 2007 10:23:19 GMT 12
Hiya larry. Great job mate. Now I know why we have been bidding against each other on Trade Me from time to time on rare NZ Aviation books.
Just finished reading "Kiwi Strike" by Phillip Wilson I brought on ebay. What a good read, quite a different perspective and way of writing. Nice to read an account of an RNZAF PV-1 nav on ops.
Will look forward to seeing your work. I am sure I cant offer any more titles.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 25, 2007 10:53:15 GMT 12
TradeMe is where I first encountered Larry too. :-)
Anthony, have you read Errol Brathwaite's first book, 'Fear In The Night'? It is utterly superb, and involves an RNZAF PV-1 crew forced down onto an enemy airstrip at night to make repairs before the advancing Japs get them. As Errol was a PV-1 airgunner he put lots of detail into the book about the Venturas.
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Post by agalbraith on Nov 25, 2007 10:57:48 GMT 12
Thanks Dave, will try and track that one down. Thanks for the heads up!
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Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 25, 2007 11:05:23 GMT 12
No worries. OIt was Errol's first book in 1959. It won an award. He followed it up with another that was rather similar but this time from the Japanese point of view when an Allied aircraft was shot down and they had to get to the airmen. It is called 'An Affair of Men', and is also worth tracking down. He was one of my favourite authors actually.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 25, 2008 16:30:26 GMT 12
Just a comment about Phillip Wilson's book Kiwi Strike -
I believe that Phillip died some years back now (2000?)
The book was originally called Pacific Star and published in 1976.
I would be interested to hear about any rare books that you think I may not have - I live in fear of publishing the bibliography and then being told that I have missed something obvious.
I have located some very rare titles over the years many of which are very hard to find - like
drop Zone by Mervyn Roberts, Monkey's Birthday by Alott Gabaties who flew Mosquitoes with 488 Squadron. Verses for An Airman by Margaret Collyns who was married to NZ BoB pilot Basil Collins.
I guess the bibliography will give books collectors some new titles to look out for.
It should be ready soon.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 30, 2008 15:35:27 GMT 12
Here's one I discovered this past week but I'm certain you'll know all about it. It's called 'Jungle Dive Bombers in the Pacific War" by Peter C. Smith.
This covers lots of different countries doing dive bombing in the Pacific from Japan to the USA to the RAF and the RAAF. But to my great surprise and pleasure it has a whole chapter dedicated to No. 25 (Dive Bomber) Squadron RNZAF giving a day to day operational account of the squadron. It's not exactly indepth but it's certainly the most I've ever found about this important squadron that has been sadly overlooked in most accounts of the RNZAF. Do you know of other books detailing this squadron Larry, any personal accounts?
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 30, 2008 15:36:04 GMT 12
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Post by Peter Lewis on Jan 30, 2008 20:25:01 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 31, 2008 17:49:32 GMT 12
Having seen Larry's draft for his book, anything you can find on the net is tiny by comparison. Larry's book will be the definitive comprehensive book to date.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2008 7:55:41 GMT 12
I based my bibliography on the infomation on Phil Treweek's web site. I discovered that Phil had missed a number of the more rare publications and he had included a lot technical publications from airlines etc. Phil's list is fantastic and it mist have taken a lot of time to produce. My book is more focused and I have been very fortunate to have Phil help with the editing.
Bibliographies can be a bit boring so to liven it up I have included colour thumbnail pictures of every cover. I have uncovered over 100 privately published manuscripts in libraries etc and these are real treasures. I am in the final editing round - if I knew what was involved when I started I may never have started.
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Post by phas3e on Feb 3, 2008 8:55:50 GMT 12
I recently scored a copy of 'Mustangs of the RAAF & RNZAF' having never seen it before.
Does anyone know if its a rare..ish book or have just not looked hard enough?
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 3, 2008 11:28:23 GMT 12
That book is very rare and sought after, as far as I know. Our library here in Cambridge had it when I was a kid but like all their good books they threw it out when they shifted! They also dumped the rarer 'Pacific Wrecks' by Charles Darby!
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Post by corsair67 on Feb 3, 2008 12:30:13 GMT 12
"Mustangs of the RAAF and RNZAF" is an excellent book, and my copy has my High School Library stamp all through it........... ;D
As a little bit of trivia for you, the author of this book, Peter Anderson, is a frequent MC at the Temora flying days.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2008 22:27:19 GMT 12
"Mustangs of the RAAF and RNZAF" is not in the rare category but it can some time be hard to find a good copy of it. Ariel books in Auckland have a good copy for $75 and that's a reasonably fair price. I have to say that it focuses on the RAAf aircraft but there is a chapter on the RNZF aircraft. Its a good book.
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Post by phas3e on Feb 6, 2008 6:38:26 GMT 12
Cheers guys, I got my copy for $20 along with 'RNZAF the first decade' for another 20.
Interestingly though the Mustang book had a large loose photo print of a line up of RNZAF Mustangs in side the book, I was quite stoked about finding that wee gem.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 8, 2008 12:04:54 GMT 12
I have seen 'RNZAF - The First Decade' at extortionate prices. For some reason second hand bookshops know it's rare and all want to charge a lot for them. I got mine for a mere $25 but the other week saw a copy in The Crow's Nest bookshop in Hamilton for $95. I have never seen a copy of Darby's other book, 'Pacific Wrecks' come up but hear it can go for hundreds! Our stupid library ditched there copy, probably sold it on their unwanted books stall for 50c.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 10, 2008 9:05:04 GMT 12
Just finished reading "Kiwi Strike" by Phillip Wilson I brought on ebay. What a good read, quite a different perspective and way of writing. Nice to read an account of an RNZAF PV-1 nav on ops. I have this book "Kiwi Strike", thanks to Hairy Marcus who kindly gave it to me, and this past weekend have finally gotten around to start reading it. I am about a third of the way in when Dick Dallow's squadron has just been posted to Funafuti. I find it curious, as it is written as if it was an autobioography, and having spent the past few years researching Bomber Reconnaissance squadrons and talking with lots of men who were on those squadrons, the author Phillip Wilson seems to really know what he was on about. Almost everything is accurate and I could almost believe it was a genuine memoir rather than fiction. My particular copy is a 1977 reprint, but the book was originally published in 1976. Back then there was no RNZAF Museum to draw info from, and I wondered does anyone know the history of this book? Did the author draw his story from the experiences of a real airman or several airmen to base his story around? If so, who? Or was Wilson himself in the RNZAF during the war? Does anyone know if Wilson is still alive? I'd like to talk with him if he is. He may be able to contribute to my research. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the book. Anthony, did you track down 'Fear In The Night'? |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 10, 2008 9:07:13 GMT 12
I just looked Kiwi Stike up on the National Library catalogue and it says he was born in 1922, making him actually the perfect age to have been an airman himself in WWII. Was this book semi-autobiographical perhaps?
Furthermore they hold 11 titles he wrote and some others sound as if they may be along the same theme - has anyone read his other works? Here they are
Wilson, Phillip, 1922- Beneath the Thunder / by Phillip Wilson. London : Hale ; [Christchurch] New Zealand : Whitcombe & Tombs, 1963.
Title has multiple holdings
2 Wilson, Phillip, 1922- Kiwi strike / Phillip Wilson. London : New English Library, 1977.
Title has multiple holdings
3 Wilson, Phillip, 1922- Maorilander : a study of William Satchell / Phillip Wilson. Christchurch [N.Z.] : Whitcombe and Tombs, 1961.
Title has multiple holdings
4 Wilson, Phillip, 1922- New literature of the South Pacific. [1954]
Held: Alexander Turnbull Library, New Zealand Pacific Collection Call Number: P 820.9 WIL 1954 Status: In
5 Wilson, Phillip, 1922- New Zealand Jack / Phillip Wilson. London : Hale, 1973.
Title has multiple holdings
6 Wilson, Phillip, 1922- Outcasts / Phillip Wilson. London : Hale ; [Christchurch] N.Z. : Whitcombe & Tombs, 1965.
Title has multiple holdings
7 Wilson, Phillip, 1922- Pacific flight / Phillip Wilson. London : Hale ; [Christchurch] N.Z. : Whitcombe & Tombs, 1964.
Held: Alexander Turnbull Library, New Zealand Pacific Collection Call Number: P 823NZ WIL 1964 Status: In
8 Wilson, Phillip, 1922- Pacific star / Phillip Wilson. Wellington : A. Taylor ; London : Robert Hale, 1976.
Title has multiple holdings
9 Wilson, Phillip, 1922- Some are lucky / Phillip Wilson. Wellington [N.Z.] : D. Glover, 1960.
Title has multiple holdings
10 Wilson, Phillip, 1922- South Pacific Street / Phillip Wilson. Dunedin, N.Z. : Pilgrims South Press, 1984 [i.e. 1985]
Title has multiple holdings
11 Wilson, Phillip, 1922- William Satchell / by Phillip Wilson. New York : Twayne Publishers, c1968.
Title has multiple holdings
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Post by phas3e on Mar 15, 2008 8:18:26 GMT 12
Just brought Pacific Wrecks from Trademe for $18  |
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