Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Not a historical novel. More a tawdry romance with historical backdrop. Little research done to make it convincing. The 'Night Witches' were a heroic group, flying a 1928 design biplane, made primarily of wood and canvas. The tactic was to fly at night, idle the engine and drop bombs on the Germans, using surprise as an advantage. The planes flew so low and slow that the pilots did not carry parachutes. And their speed was below the stall speed of German aircraft so they were difficult to shoot down. They dropped 23,000 tons of bombs over 24,000 missions. Twenty three of them were awarded 'Hero of the Soviet Union', not a trivial medal. These women deserve better. The author states that the German planes engines would stall if they went as slow as the Night Witches to shoot them down. No. Stall on an airfoil (which is what a wing is) means that there isn't enough air traveling over the airfoil to develop lift. It really has little to do with the engine, but everything to do with air speed and angle of attack. Look that one up for an explanation. Then, the pilot of the main character gets killed on a mission and our heroine flies the plane back to base leaning from the second seat to the front, holding the pilot upright. Not a good idea since her feet would have to be on the rudder controls on the floor of the cockpit which would have been available in her second seat. And honestly, I would think that the pilot's shoulder harness would hold her upright. I'll slug my way thru this literary fluff simply because I bought it and it is on my Kindle, but if you want a well researched, adequately written, historical novel that will educate you about a nearly forgotten group of very gutsy women, look elsewhere. As an aside, I haven't written a review before but I do rely on reviews to pick what I'm going to read. How would a book with so many inaccuracies and such shallow research garner so many reviews, the preponderance of which rate it five stars? It makes me wonder.