Product Description

This title describes how the United States Air Force recruited, trained and then chose the few who would undertake the most demanding and dangerous jobs in WWII. These were the boys turned pilots, bombardiers, navigators and gunners of the B24s, who suffered 50 per cent casualties.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26534 in Books
• Published on: 2002-05-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Customer Reviews

America Wins the War in Europe.
No-one in their right mind can knock the contribution the Americans made to winning the Second World War in Europe, but occasionally I had the urge to scream "Where were you before Pearl Harbour, mate", at the author. I also found his contention that the Americans chose daylight bombing as a morally superior form of bombing to the "murderous" night-time approach of the British, to be verging on the obnoxious. Sometimes it seems it's not enough for the Americans to be (the) victors, they have to have God on their side too, and this book landed too firmly in that camp to be completely satisfying.
As an account of what it was like flying on daylight bombing missions over Europe in the latter stages of the war, the book is pretty good - when it finally gets there. You'll read over a hundred pages about the selection and training of the crews before the first mission is flown, chapters which are a bit dry and slow going at times.
Once the missions start in earnest though, you can't help but marvel with the author over the bravery of these men. The descriptions of flying into daylight flak storms are terrifying enough on paper, without having to actually be involved in doing it. As a testament to these men and to what the world owes them, this is a fine book - but let's not forget that bravery, patriotism and heroism are not exclusively American traits.

A good account of the 741st squadron in europe
I found Wild Blue to be a good account of the men that flew over europe. We start off by meeting these men as they join the AAF and follow them through to there final mission. The book for 98% talks about the men and not how America won the war. However i did find it a little annoying when Stephen E. Ambrose in the final chapter made the AAF to be the major strike force in the bombing campain and that the British with there night bombing killed many civilians. This may be true but i would like to remind him that it was America that dropped 2 atomic bombs on Japan.

But what do you expect from a American Historian? The book altogether is very good, but to sum it up the allies couldn't of done it without the help of each other, and i feel that is what all books like this miss.

Making the Right Decisions
Review Summary: The Wild Blue is a five-star book from each of several perspectives. First, you will learn about how the United States went from having few aviation resources to fielding a larger air force than that of all the other nations combined in World War II. The complexities and careful thinking through of what needed to be done are most impressive. Second, you will learn about the role that strategic bombing played in the European theater of operations during that war. Third, you will learn what it was like to become a B-24 pilot, from the day a man volunteered to the day he returned home to the United States. Fourth, you will experience combat conditions against German fighters and flak in a lumbering, sluggish bomber in extremely difficult conditions. Fifth, you will find out how such a war-time experience changes a person's view of themselves and others. Sixth, you will also learn about the formative influences of war on one of the most prominent American peace advocates, former senator George McGovern. If you are like me, you will never see the war in Europe in quite the same way again after you read The Wild Blue.

Review: My father served on the ground in England as part of the famous Eighth Air Force in World War II. My father-in-law was a navigation instructor for bomber pilots during World War II. Although both men are proud of their service, they only tell the positive side of the air war in Europe. During rare moments over the years, they have alluded to some of the more personal and challenging sides of those years. My mother shares hints of some recurring nightmares from what other wives have told her at Air Force reunions. Although Professor Ambrose's account is not as dark as the worst that I have heard, his lively and thorough narrative helped me to fill in many spaces where I lacked understanding of what these men had shared with me. For example, my dad had told me that the Fifteenth Air Force often had it worse than the Eighth late in the war. Since The Wild Blue focuses on the Fifteenth, I was able to understand what he was describing for me. I look forward to sharing this book with both my father and father-in-law and hearing what their reactions are to the material here. Very few books have ever helped me to understand these important men in my life as much as this one did.

I have always been impressed by former senator McGovern's commitment to peace and humanitarian concerns. I knew that he had been a bomber pilot in World War II, but little else about his war-time service. The book contains many interesting insights into his character that added to my admiration, and increased my understanding of the stands he has taken. As he characterized his experience of being a pilot, 'I literally exhausted every resource of mind and body and spirit that I had.' You will find these revelations more interesting if you read about them yourself, but I encourage you to pay close attention to stories about bombs dropped inadvertently.

Professor Ambrose has used accounts from many different people to capture the full dimension of the air war. I learned so much that I find it hard to believe that the book was so brief. Normally, I wouldn't learn this much from a book of 1000 pages. The mechanism of primarily following former senator McGovern's squadron was a good way to capture the grit of the small details while using them to illustrate the important, larger picture. Each perspective enhances the other.

The book also contains some excellent black-and-white photographs that usefully elaborate on the written materials.

I liked the way that Professor Ambrose took on the moral issues involved in the bombing. The civilian deaths were enormous from these raids, even though civilians were not the targets. Briefings described the important cultural sites in each area, and ordered the bombers to avoid them. Some bombing raids went near the death camps, but did not target them. At various times, the rate of lost crews approached suicidal levels. How much risk was it fair to ask these brave crews to take? Without imposing his own answers, he provides lots of room for your own thoughts on these and other important ethical issues.

I was powerfully moved by imagining myself in the various cramped positions in a B-24 over enemy territory, being exposed to danger and observing serious losses of my friends all around. Although I have seen many movies and television shows on this subject, The Wild Blue took my understanding of this experience to a much different and more personal level.

After you have finished learning from this outstanding book, I suggest that you think about ways that your most private experiences can be captured and shared with your children and grandchildren . . . so that the important lessons will be available to all those who need them in the future.

Learn from the challenges of the past to overcome the hurdles of the future.