The Wild Blue : The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s Over Germany 1944-45

Rating:
Summary: Nothing spectacular, but interesting
Review: I'm not the biggest fan of Stephen Ambrose. He was only a mediocre writer, in my opinion, and though his historian skills were reasonably well-developed, he had a sort of go-with-the-trends attitude towards things that didn't work very well, in my opinion. He was also occasionally caught basically skimming writing from other writers, a big no-no, especially when the skimmer hits the best-seller lists and those they copied from aren't that popular.

The Wild Blue is apparently Ambrose's attempt to write something about someone who's politically akin to him. Though he was Eisenhower's official biographer, and also wrote a 3-volume bio of Nixon, Ambrose personally was a Democrat, and in this book he balances things by giving us a war-time bio of George McGovern, of all people. It turns out that mild-mannered George, back in the day, flew a B-24 Liberator in the last months of the war, and was something of a hero.

The book, then, is a history of the B-24s in the war in Europe, and of the 15th Air Force, in Italy, and its participation in the war. While the book at times concentrates on McGovern, it also spends considerable time talking about other pilots and crewmen on other B-24s in the war in the Med. It's not quite a bio, but more than just an oral history. You get the idea that Ambrose would have liked to make the whole book about McGovern, but that there just wasn't enough material, so he sort of stretched what he had and added to it to get it to the length it is now.

Ambrose isn't my favorite author, as I said, and this isn't his best book, but it wasn't bad.

Rating:
Summary: Heroes Flying High
Review: Stephen Ambrose takes us inside the cramped, cold and courageous flights of B-24 'Liberator' bombers over Europe during WWII. A few highly selected men, but mostly boys, battled fighters and flack in order to destroy Nazi oil reserves and other strategic targets. Due to their staggering losses, bomber crews became one of the most dangerous assignments during the war.

Ambrose takes us close to these heroes by chronicling the 35 missions of former Senator and Presidential candidate, George McGovern and his crew. Put the politics aside and learn about the intense training and miserable flight conditions. Discover the very personal battles each crew member fought with fear. See how 10 strangers bonded as one team at 25,000 feet.

As a youth, my brother and I built models of B-24's and B-17's, inspired by war stories and movies, like "12 O'Clock High". We mistook the leather flight jackets and cool shades as glamour. "The Wild Blue" demonstrates war has little glamour. Ordinary people accepted dangerous positions and performed extraordinary tasks. Ambrose is informative and passionate in bringing us their story.

Rating:
Summary: informational, but slow read
Review: This was an extremely informational and educational book. It follows a B-24 crew from their joining the US Army Air Corps. I did get a bit bored here and there, but if you like aviation history, this is a must read.

Rating:
Summary: More memoir than history
Review: WILD BLUE vividly recreates the life of B-24 bomber crews in World War II. Historian Stephen Ambrose (1936-2002) focuses on pilot and future Presidential candidate George McGovern and his comrades from the 15th Army Air Force stationed in Italy from 1944-45. These men trained, worked, and sometimes died while performing hazardous duty under incredible stress. We sense the utter fear they felt from anti-aircraft fire (flak), German fighters, and accidents. We read of their reaction to homesickness, lost comrades, bombs that fell lethally off target, and tent life in the Italian countryside. McGovern's crewmembers salute him as highly skilled, courageous, and steadfast under fire - ironic given later attacks on his patriotism for his anti-Vietnam political views. My father was a B-24 navigator in the marginally less dangerous Pacific theatre, and his tales mirror many that appear in this book. Readers may note that this book is more memoir than general history, and it barely mentions the larger 8th Army Air Force stationed in England.

Some say this volume lacks the polish found in Ambrose' best efforts. Also, the author was accused of plagiarizing certain sections of this book - a charge some believe, but others attribute to jealous colleagues tired of seeing the readable Ambrose on the best-seller list while their academic treatises collect dust. Whichever is the case, WILD BLUE makes pretty good reading.