2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
It's an airplane read!, February 19, 2006
This review is from: Victory: Into the Fire (Mass Market Paperback)
Okay, okay - it's has a number of glaring technical, weapons elated problems. I'm a pilot and a Vietnam era US Air Force officer. I also had my first flight in my grandfather's 1930's vintage Stearman by getting strapped standing up in the front cockpit. Open cockpit WWII era fighters flying more than 300 knots had worst than just visibility problems for the pilot. And, planes that are on fire and have a mid air collision with a German bomber usually do not allow the pilot to simply glide to an emergency landing. Next to that, confusing the aerocoupe side door to a canopy on the Bell Airocobra P-39 was a minor faux pas.
Well endowed German stewardresses on a German WWII military transport? Come on Mr. Robbins. And, Mr. Coyle, from every Marine I've ever spoken to - my uncle landed on all the WWII Pacific campaigns as a Marine Quartermaster - no one ever left a BAR in a dead Marine's position. The fire power was too necessary.
But, other than all that, this is a good read for a long airline trip. It will take you mind off of the terribvle service, cramped seats and make you with you were on that German WWII transport!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Don't Waste Your Money, August 17, 2005
This review is from: Victory: Into the Fire (Mass Market Paperback)
Firstly, let me say that I admire Stephen Coonts as a man, a pilot and as an author. His novel "Flight of the Intruder" and his flight log "The Cannibal Queen" sit on my bookshelf beside master pilot-authors the likes of Richard Bach, Antoine de Saint-Exupery and Ernest K. Gann.
"Victory - Into the Fire" is a compilation of mediocre war novelettes "Edited and Introduced by Stephen Coonts".
Sadly, the book is a testimony to the growing trend of cross-marketing by excellent authors who lend their good names to lesser authors: all in the quest for increased profits and name exposure.
tsk... tsk... tsk...
Fiction requires the reader to suspend disbelief. Historical fiction is more difficult still, as inaccuracies shake the knowledgeable reader back to reality.
Want to write about specific aircraft? You had better do your homework.
Note to Editor Stephen Coonts and Author Rogelio J. Pineiro...
The Bell P-39 Airacobra was a SINGLE ENGINE aircraft. Thus, pilots cannot advance "the throttles" because there is ONLY ONE THROTTLE on the P-39.
Got that, Pineiro? One engine = One throttle.
Bailing out of the P-39 was a very big deal and well-feared by pilots. Instead of a jettisonable canopy like most contemporary WW-II aircraft, the P-39 had a door like that of an automobile. Even if the pilot was successful in dumping the door, many ended up being smashed by the horizontal tail that patiently waited for pilots exiting the cockpit at higher speeds.
Thus, when Pineiro's protagonist has the "canopy"..."blown off" (page 267) and "drops out" of the P-39, it shows that the author didn't even bother doing basic research.
Oh.... and another small point for Mr. Coonts and Pinerio.... No German Jets were in combat over Stalingrad in 1942 - or at any other time. AND...the Messerschmitt 109G was NOT a jet fighter.
I want my money back.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
