Edgar Brooks Spitfire Notes

Edgar Brooks loved Spitfires. Though I never met him in person, we did exchange emails on occasion regarding Spitfires, Hurricanes and other RAF fighters. Well, to be more correct, I asked questions, and Edgar kindly obliged, often in great detail with diagrams.

At some point in our exchanges, I urged Edgar to write a book, but he declined, saying he was perfectly happy to “poke about” as he put it.

I began to collect responses from Edgar’s emails and forum posts, mostly as my own personal reference. After getting a few pages together, I realized that I might be able to curate a set of his own emails and notes, and then simply ask him to edit and comment as he saw fit.

I began to draft an email to Edgar, asking him if he was open to the plan. Sadly, before I completed that, he passed away.

Realizing that a bright light of Spitfire knowledge had faded away, the thought occurred that perhaps the document I had started could still be of use. Others might find it useful, and additional contributions could perhaps grow it, increasing its value to Spitfire enthusiasts.

Edgar could often be very direct, and more than a few people disagreed with his conclusions. I do not present his notes as an absolute authority. While I tend to consider his notes as a high authority, I do not argue with others who don’t. They are what they are- notes. It is up to the reader to decide what to do with them.

In some small way I hope this is a tribute to Edgar, his love of Spitfires, and our friendship. And I hope he would be quite happy knowing that people continued to benefit from his research.

Contributing to the Notes

I am no longer accepting updates to the notes. Thank you.

Curating of the Notes

I will not edit Edgar’s words in any way- even spelling or grammar. I want his words to stand as he wrote them, so there is no potential of any edits changing the intent of what he wrote.

I will post them “as is” to the appropriate section of the Notes document. If some context is needed, such as questions by other people, what it was in response to, etc., I will add these in italics.

For emails, I will be a bit more discerning, for obvious reasons. While I could not imagine why anyone would want to submit something false, I will check those with a greater degree of thoroughness. My primary criteria will be agreement with previously published notes from Edgar. For completely new material, I may make italicized notations if I have any concerns. Also, I would ask that any email submitters allow me to publish their first and last name, or at least to keep it on record privately in case questions arise.

Versioning

Each time I make an update to the notes, I will adjust the version using a date time group (DTG), such as:
Version: 201601050919

The format is yy/mm/dd/hh/mm, with the time being in 24 hour time. I’ll use my own time (Eastern US time) simply because the DTG is meant to distinguish one iteration of the document from another, and to allow the user to see if there is a newer update available.

I plan for the permanent URL of this document to be a link from this page you are reading now. The document will be made available as a PDF. I invite readers to share it freely.

As new additions are made, I will announce those here on this blog, and link to this page. I will also try to occasionally post to other forums when major updates are made, and also encourage others to do so if you are interested.

This will not be a commercial venture in any way. I simply hope it is a fitting tribute to my friend who loved Spitfires, and I hope to be able to share that love with other modelers.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Jon Bius