Customer Reviews

SISTERS IN ARMS: British & American Women Pilots During World War II

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Sisters in Arms documents just how much necessity is the mother of invention in wartime England as well as the challenges of proving women could fly as well as men in America. One would think women flying military aircraft in two different countries would have more to compare than contrast. However, contrasting the goals, leadership, and organizational structure brings to light completely different, but interesting environments. There are some lessons to be learned from this book. Helena Schrader writes in an entertaining style and includes quotations from pilots of the time. Therefore Sisters in Arms is very readable, not just a scholarly study.

This book is footnoted so it is easy to check the facts. I personally own most of the books referenced and haven't found any problems. If a reviewer, like the first one here, is going say there are problems with the facts; providing an example would make them more credible.

This book is meticulously researched. It takes a dry subject and makes it interesting via the actual interviews with WWII female pilots. Other reviews below seem upset by the fact that the US side does not come out as glowing as the UK where female pilots are concerned...the sad fact is that they weren't treated equally as well. In the UK they received full benefits, equal pay and respect, in the US this was not the case.

I agree with the previous review. The historical narrative jumps around distractedly and Ms. Schrader seems to have personal bad feelings towards Jacqueline Cochrane for some reason. Even the illustrations are not new and the people in them are left unidentified. The captioning is meagre. One can find the same pictures in other books complete with the identity of each person. My personal recommedation is Sally Keil's book, "Those Wonderful Women in Their Flying Machines". Though it is now thirty years old, her history seems more objective, the time line is presented in a generally linear way and the photographs, many that reappear in the Schrader book, are adequately captioned.

Revisionist history at its worst! Very superficial treatment of the subject. Full of minor but annoying historical innaccuracies. The book is basically a rehash of three or four secondary sources. Only thing new is constant formulation of biased conclusions,the support for which are things taken out of context from other authors. The author's predisposition seems to be that all things British were good,while all things American were bad. There are excellent books that have been written on the WAFS, WASP, and the ATA, but this certainly is not one of them.