B-17's and Strategic Bombing (Was:Was D VII a good plane)

I've seen some errors in Perret's book, although I enjoy his work.

Both Robert Caro and Geoffrey Perret cite Caidin's account of how
Lyndon Johnson got his Silver Star

Speaking of LBJ, I have one of the Squadron/SIgnal books called: "Flying
Fortress, the Boeing B-17".

On page 21, there's a photo caption that says it's LBJ standing next to the
Swoose, but it's a picture of Thomas E. Dewey!

Walt

I've seen some errors in Perret's book, although I enjoy his work.

I doubt there is an error-free history published, and some of them seem
inexplicable. I remember reading David Halberstam's "The Reckoning," and
coming upon his explanation of why Perry's armada was described as "black
ships." Halberstam said it was because his ships were ironclads. Halberstam
was obviously unaware that ironclads were largely a product of the ACW, some
years in the future at the time of Perry's mission. He was also obviously
unaware of Perry's role in introducing steam power into the US Navy and that
three (iirc) of his Japanese armada ships were steamships belching black
smoke---and thus the Japanese name for them (supposedly).
Even though this was a minor error in a book on a different topic (the auto
industry), I still thereafter viewed what Halberstam said with skepticism I
otherwise wouldn't have had.
Justified skepticism, as it turned out, since Ford was about to embark on a
huge comeback and Nissan was soon to take a header towards bankruptcy (H. wrote
about how Ford had messed up and Nissan had got everything right.)



Chris Mark

On 19 Apr 2004 17:35:16 GMT, ost (Chris Mark) wrote:

I doubt there is an error-free history published, and some of them seem
inexplicable. I remember reading David Halberstam's "The Reckoning,"

In "A Bright and Shining Lie," there's a photograph of a B-26 Marauder
of the type used in Vietnam

That of course probably wasn't the author's fault, though he ought to
have checked the photos as well as his text.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

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