Talk:Alexander de Seversky

Names

Of the various forms of his name, it was not at all clear which one was most common. The surname seems to have been most commonly given as "de Seversky" in the 1920s and 1930s and as "DeSeversky" in the 1960s through 1980s, but it's not very definite. I finally decided that since his company was the "Seversky Aircraft Corporation") I should not use a form with DeSeversky (joined) as his surname.

The book "Victory through Air Power" gives his name as "Major Alexander P. De Seversky".

I basically am shrugging my shoulders and putting in every redirect I can think of. But by all means, the more the merrier. I decided to include Seversky and De Seversky and DeSeversky since it—they—are not a common surname and we can always disambiguate them when and if it ever becomes necessary. The redirects I have created are:

• Alexander DeSeversky
• Alexander De Seversky
• Alexander de Seversky
• Alexander Procofieff de Seversky
• Alexander P. DeSeversky
• Alexander P. De Seversky
• De Seversky
• DeSeversky
• Seversky

I've never seen Alexander abbreviated to A, or spelled Aleksandr, or anything like that. Thank goodness. Dpbsmith (talk) 20:08, 31 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I've decided that if the title of the article is "Alexander P. de Seversky" then I should refer to him throughout the article as "Seversky" (rather than "de Seversky"). Dpbsmith (talk) 02:10, 1 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Removed link

External link removed via User:JzG edit

• P-47 Thunderbolt with historic background on Seversky Aircraft and Republic Aviation

J. D. Redding 22:42, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

Additional Historical Information

It might be noteworthy to mention why Seversky was removed from the board of directors. I haven't done much research yet, but I remember learning that Seversky used government contract funds to develop what was supposed to be solely a military aircraft (Seversky P-35) into a slightly modified civilian aircraft (Seversky S-2) as an air racer. Jackie Cochran flew an S-2 to win the 1938 Bendix, Fuller flew an S-2 to win the 1939 Bendix. To add to Seversky's military unpopularity, he supposedly sold 20 S-2 derived fighters to Japan in 1939.

Source

LostCause 19:54, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

Seversky figures in my next book, about the evolution of US airpower. I've not delved into the subject in detail, but Gen. Arnold (chief of the Army Air Corps) had a hand in removing Seversky from the company, at least in part because Arnold believed that AS was not paying attention to business, thus adversely affecting the AAC. Considering that the Seversky company became Republic, which produced the P-47 (the most-built US fighter in history), perhaps Arnold's intervention was warranted.

B. Tillman Nov. 13, 2007

The following discussion is an archived discussion of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the proposal was support for move.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 10:01, 19 May 2009 (UTC)

Name of the article

In reviewing the edit history, I noted that the article was redirected from Alexander P. de Seversky, which is the form that de Seversky himself used in identifying himself as an author. I have not found any authoritative sources that use the full name: Alexander Prokofiev de Seversky. I have listed the change in the article's name in WP:RM. I welcome comments on the use of the formal name in this article. FWiW Bzuk (talk) 02:26, 11 May 2009 (UTC).

I've never been one to worry too much about article titles, since any number of redirects can be used to bring the reader home. However, I feel that the biographer should reflect and respect the way that the person referred to themselves, so I support the return back to earlier naming. User:Dpbsmith, the editor who moved it last time, hasn't edited at all for two weeks but it would be a courtesy to leave a note about the intended move. Binksternet (talk) 03:37, 11 May 2009 (UTC) Thanx, done that. Bzuk (talk) 04:13, 11 May 2009 (UTC).

• Let me keep it simple and say OK, sure, I support the move.

In reality, I have no strong feelings on the matter. When I originated the article I was all but overwhelmed by the number of variations of his name.

I don't honestly remember moving it. If I did, I'd like to think it was for some vaguely sensible reason--perhaps some biographical reference source used it that way. My apologies if someone moved it for a good reason and I just moved it back out of orneriness.

I could be difficult and ask whether you have a source for his having used Alexander P. de Seversky consistently, but I won't--it doesn't matter.

I'm not sure I even knew about the "Nikolaievich" and I certainly didn't realize he was known under the hyphenated "Prokofiev-Seversky."

What I think is important is that there be redirect entries for every known variation of the name. Yes, by the time you include transliteration variations over the years that could easily be twenty or more... Dpbsmith (talk) 00:37, 19 May 2009 (UTC)

Hi DPB, thanks for the comments. Can you look over the article as it is now. I have tried to be accurate but so many sources did not always agree on details. For example, Alexander de Seversky claimed that he shot down 13 German aircraft while other references only list six victories. There was also some conjecture about whether de Seversky was a visionary or merely accumulated knowledge and synthesized the information for his theories on air power. His irascibility was also noted; some considered him a "prima donna" at least that's what Disney employees opined at the making of "Victory Through Air Power." BTW, every publication that he authored had the name Alexander P. de Seversky (most often prefaced by Major, a distinction he very much enjoyed throughout his lifetime). FWiW Bzuk (talk) 00:50, 19 May 2009 (UTC).

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

External links modified

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Early life

The only source on de Seversky's early life is his autobiography, which is obviously problematic. German WP says his parents were vaudeville artists and he later styled his name in a fashion suggesting nobility, but it doesn't give a good source, either. Seelefant (talk) 07:48, 15 May 2022 (UTC)