Review Chasing The Wind: A Story Of British And German Pilots In The Battle Of Britain Narrated By Helena P. Schrader Formatted As Kindle

is a long book, but needs to be, It spans the six months or so from May to October of, from the Fall of France to the Battle of Britain and the valiant defense by the Royal Air Force.


It records the thoughts and actions of characters on both sides of the battle some of the main characters include an RAF Squadron Leader and his fiancee, several of the members of his Hawker Hurricane squadron, which is on the front lines of the Battle, a pair of Luftwaffe fighter pilots, and a female Luftwaffe radio operator.
Characters have distinctive backgrounds, thoughts, feelings, and attitudes,

The focus is on the fighter pilots on both sides, One group are outnumbered, short of pilots, and fighting a defensive battle for the security of their homeland, The other group are confident from a string of victories, but are fighting at the extent of their fighter's range against a brave and skilled opponent, This book does a decent job of showing what life was like for fighter pilots of both sides in the summer ofconstant scrambles, dogfights against superior odds, never knowing if the man you sat across from at breakfast will come back from his flight or not, the stress of being on readiness every day, with little time off, the solace alcohol gives at the end of a hard day's flying.


There are also other messages in this book, such as the importance of good leadership in welding a diverse group of young men into a cohesive and effective fighting machine.


It is not a perfect book, of course, I would like to have seen some scenes from the point of view of a Luftwaffe bomber crew, for example, and the novel must of necessity end unresolved, as Britain faced almost five more years of war in October, but overall, I greatly enjoyed this book.
When the review copies of "Chasing the Wind" were sent out, I received an email from a reviewer in the UK apologizing that he could not review my book on time.
The reason: Wing Commander and RAF Battle of Britain ace Bob Doe had walked into his shop, seen the copy of my book on his desk and asked to read it.
Well, as the reviewer pointed out, you just don't say 'no' to Battle of Britain fighter pilots, certainly not when they have two DSOs, DFCs, and an AFC and are still alive in.


A week later the reviewer wrote me another email, Wing Commander Doe had returned the book with the comment it was "the best book he had ever read about the Battle of Britain, " Bob Doe subsequently sent me a handwritten letter with the same content, adding I had "got it smack on" the way "it was for us fighter pilots, "

For a historical novelist, having a survivor of the period and subject of your book say you got it right is the higest possible accolade, As a result, this is the book I of which I am most proud, Robert "Robin" Priestman, RAF aerobatics pilot and "Debs' Delight," has a fatal personality flaw: when under sufficient stress, he loses all sense of his own limitations, He has incurred the displeasure of the Air Ministry by a dangerous breach of the King's Regulations, Despite his credible service with a fighter squadron in France, the Battle of Britain finds him in Training Commandand falling in love with a girl from the Salvation Army,

No.Hurricane Squadron has not recovered from the losses over Dunkirk when it is thrown into the Battle of Britain, As the losses mount, morale plunges, New pilots joining the squadron find a cold reception from the clique of Auxiliaries, who resent them taking the place of their dead friends,

Klaudia von Richthofen, a nave recruit to the Luftwaffe Women's Auxiliary, allows herself to be seduced by a dashing StukaGroup commanderand then falls under the spell of the irreverent and carefree Baron von Feldburg.
But it is his wingman, Leutnant Ernst Geuke, who has fallen desperately in love with her, Ernst, however, is short and plump and the son of a plumber from Cottbus, so how can he hope to win Klaudia's affection It took a good whole for this book to get going.
but in the end I had genuine affection for the characters, Some nice research on the Battle also, There's not much to this book beyond your typical blackandwhite war movie, The characters are just human enough to act out the plot, but lack the humanity necessary to react to it, Action is the key to this book and if a few people die to make that action happen then that's just a happenstance of a war story,

The human truth about war is far deeper than anything portrayed in Where Eagles Never Flew, The book is lacking in the complexities of grief that the death of a fellow soldier or pilot can bring about, The book also downplays the fear and doubt associated with heroic actions, While the outcome of a fight may be seen as heroic, the basic desire to survive creates far more heroes than actions deliberately taken for the good of God and country.


Where Eagles Never Flew also falls short on a national level, The nations at war are stereotypically portrayed, The Germans are arrogant to the point of incompetence the British are stoic to the point of heroism and the Americans are so self absorbed that they the see the Blitz as a sort of reality television show.
But nations are not homogeneous solids that consistently act in lockstep with how they are perceived, especially within a historic context, Their unilateral actions are often times the result of choices made between the lesser of evils, To view or tell of a nation's actions without regard to the complexities that shaped those actions is disingenuous to reality,

One aspect of the book that shines, however, is the method that Schrader uses to depict the aerial dogfighting that dominates the story, She is concise to the action and keeps the repeated theme of bombing raids and fighter interceptions fresh throughout the book, No two dogfights read the same way and her descriptions of aerial maneuvers are simple enough to achieve realistic visualizations of aircraft in combat, Given that there are scores of dogfights throughout the book, I thought that this accomplishment was remarkable,

Overall, Where Eagles Never Flew is more about entertainment than it is history, Its written for those that want to read about battle scenes in the air and for those that take for granted British patriotic themes, For those that are looking for a better understanding of the nature of the Battle of Britain, I recommend that you look elsewhere,
"Where Eagels Never Flew" is the Kindle edition of "Chasing the Wind, "

When the review copies of "Chasing the Wind" were sent out, I received an email from a reviewer in the UK apologizing that he could not review my book on time.
The reason: Wing Commander and RAF Battle of Britain ace Bob Doe had walked into his shop, seen the copy of my book on his desk and asked to read it.
Well, as the reviewer pointed out, you just don't say 'no' to Battle of Britain fighter pilots, certainly not when they have two DSOs, DFCs, and an AFC and are still alive in.


A week later the reviewer wrote me another email, Wing Commander Doe had returned the book with the comment it was "the best book he had ever read about the Battle of Britain, " Bob Doe subsequently sent me a handwritten letter with the same content, adding I had "got it smack on" the way "it was for us fighter pilots, "

For a historical novelist, having a survivor of the period and subject of your book say you got it right is the higest possible accolade, As a result, this is the book I of which I am most proud, We are proud to announce that WHERE

EAGLES NEVER FLEW by Helena P, Schrader is a B. R. A. G. Medallion Honoree. This tells readers that this book is well worth their time and money! This book was entered in The Wishing Shelf Book Awards, This is what our readers thought:
Title: Where Eagles Never Flew
Author: Helena P, Schrader

Star Rating:Stars
Number of Readers:
Stats
Editing:/
Writing Style:/
Content:/
Cover:/

Of thereaders:
would read another book by this author.

thought the cover was good or excellent,
felt it was easy to follow,
would recommend this book to another reader to try,
Of all the readers,felt the authors strongest skill was plotting a story,
Of all the readers,felt the authors strongest skill was developing the characters,
Of all the readers,felt the authors strongest skill was writing style,
felt the pacing was good or excellent,
thought the author understood the readership and what they wanted,

Readers Comments
“Anybody looking for a fastpaced Battle of Britain novel will probably enjoy this, Oddly, when I first glanced at the cover, I thought it was a history of a particular squadron, not a novel, Anyway, its all go in this story with plenty of fighting and plenty of plot twists, The authors attempt to show the humanity of the Germans and British was also refreshing, I did feel the pacing was uneven but, other than that, a compelling read, ” Male reader, aged
“An enjoyable story, the author successfully showing what life was like for pilots during the Battle of Britain, The author also worked hard with her characters, British and German, They felt very human and personable, But I think the biggest strength of this novel was the authors knowledge of the time and place, In many ways, this book is as much a history as it is a novel, ” Male reader, aged
“I was totally absorbed by the dogfighting, It must have been horrifyingly frightening to fly such a flimsy plane with such a huge engine! War vets and readers who enjoy military novels will find this thoroughly compelling.
Theres even a little romance!” Female reader, aged

To Sum It Up:
The compelling story of the WWpilots fighting it out during the Battle of Britain.
The Wishing Shelf Book Awards

,