Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(36)
3 star:		(35)
2 star:		(36)
1 star:		(34)

 

 

This book has two central characters and is mostly a story about their shared experiences. The first subject is 2nd Lt. George McGovern, who in 1944 was just a typical US Army Air Force pilot; nothing here hints at the man, who, nearly 30 years later, would run for US president. The second is a machine, the B-24 Liberator, and one plane in particular - McGovern's "Dakota Queen", which he piloted on 35 bombing missions over Germany from his base in Cerignola, Italy, as part of the 741st Squadron, 455th Bomb Group. THE WILD BLUE then has a narrow focus and is less about the broad role of the bomber in the air war over Europe - that story about the more famous and glamorous B-17 and the 8th Air Force - has been told already in books like THE MIGHTY EIGHTH, a book which Ambrose himself read and rated highly.

The Liberator comes by it's neglected treatment in history, and it's earned reputation as an ugly duckling quite fairly, as the following description of conditions in the plane attests. "Steering the four-engined airplane was difficult and exhausting, as there was no power except the pilot's muscles. It had no windshield wipers, so the pilot had to stick his head out the side window to see during a rain...there was no heat, despite temperatures that at 20,000 feet and higher got as low as 40 or 50 degrees below zero...the seats were not padded, could not be reclined, and were cramped into so small a space that a man had almost no chance to stretch and none whatsoever to relax. Absolutely nothing was done to make it comfortable for the pilot, co-pilot, or the other eight men in the crew..." Yet, as with all ugly ducklings, it had it's day and earned it's admirers. There were more B-24's built than any other US airplane and Ambrose says "it would be an exaggeration to say that the B-24 won the war for the Allies. But don't ask how they could have won the war without it."

The greater emphasis of the book is on McGovern and his crew's experiences and it's in the telling of these stories where Ambrose's skills always shine; allowing the personal recollections of the participants to make the events come alive for us the readers. We follow the crew from induction through training to their arrival in Italy in 1944. There was danger from the outset. The book reveals that in basic and advanced flight training over 3,500 men lost their lives, 824 in 1943 alone; survival was an issue even before entering combat.

McGovern and his crew experienced their fair share of adventures on missions. On one flight an engine quit, then another was hit by flak; on two engines he was losing altitude rapidly but McGovern managed to nurse the bomber down for an emergency landing on an airstrip less than half the length the B-24 normally required. For this feat McGovern earned the Distinguished Flying Cross. By highlighting McGovern's experiences are we to believe that the book is portraying him as exceptional? Not at all. The reality is that when he arrived in Italy in 1944, McGovern was a 21 year old pilot. His co-pilot and navigator were the same age and half his crew were teenagers. What Ambrose sees as extraordinary is that these stories of survival, skill, courage, fortitude, bravery, and duty, are all, each and every single one, the exploits of very young men - even boys. Indeed he says "in the twenty-first century, adults would hardly give such youngsters the key to the family car, but in the first half of the 1940's the adults sent them out to play a critical role in saving the world."

They are now our aging parents and grandparents and all we can do is honor them and thank them for being men while they were still boys. We can only hope that written tributes such as THE WILD BLUE or the verse below are sufficient to show our appreciation to them.

"They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not grow faint." (Isaiah 40:31)

Stephan Ambrose has written something that verges upon legend. His accounting of the B-24, and George McGovern's time while assigned to the 455th is really a study in history. It also shows the tenacity with which he strives to include every detail.

The B-24 is the "lost sheep" of airpower in WWII. Everyone seems to be fascinated with the B-17, primarily because of the press it received. Also at the top of the list is the B-29, primarily because of the atomic bombs. However, the role that was played by the B-24 was, in fact, much larger, and amassed more scope. It just had the poor luck not to be identified as an icon.

One of the most important air raids in WWII was the raids on the Ploesti oilfields. B-24's handled this raid brilliantly. However, as history would have it, this one small fact has often been overlooked. Ask a handful of people today which bomber was used in this raid, and a large majority will not be able to tell you.

In his telling of the B-24, Stephan Ambrose has gone all-out. His descriptive tone of narration is exquisite, making you feel that you are actually in every inch of the aircraft. His in-depth look at the more famous raids puts you right there with the crew . . . so much that you can almost feel the shock wave from the flak, and hear the sounds of the cannon rounds as they whiz by.

All-in-all, this book is one for the ages. Finally, as the Tuskeegee Airmen book (and movie) did for those brave flyers, this book has finally given credit where it has been long overdue. The B-24 was aptly named "The Liberator", and it truly lived up to its name - liberating Europe and the world.

While I enjoyed this one, it certainly was not the author's best work. It did draw attention to a group of very brave men, the B-24 crew members in the European Theater, which was good as this group and this plane is often overlooked. It did seem to me though that the author, on one side was trying to write a biography of George McGovern, or if he was trying to cover the air war during the last part of WWII. I did enjoy his trade mark technique of telling the stories of different men who participated, but he would always go back to McGovern. Perhaps if he had stuck to one or the other the book would have had more of an impact. Parts of this work did drag and were rather repetative. On the other hand, the author did not try to over dramatize McGovern's part in the war. The work was well crafted and you certainy would not waste your time in reading it. I suppose it is not quite fare to compare this work with other works by this author. After all, no one bats a thousand all the time. Overall, recommend this one with reservations. It is about very brave young men and we do need to know as much about them as possible.

I will leave the literary criticism to others, but THE WILD BLUE faithfully tells the story of my experience. I was a member of the 301st Bomb Group, 5th Wing (B-17s),15th Air Force. I flew my "50th mission," 30th sortie, on December 26, 1944. I feel that I can speak with some authority when I say that this book gets it right-our naivete, our training, the food, the plight of the Italians, the fact that we were often scared, and the fact that we did what we were trained to do. All of my combat experience was in B-17s. I have considerable experience in B-24s also, a frightening Air craft. Major Onan A. Hill, Navigator, USAFRes Ret

Unlike other Ambrose WWII books which focus primarily on the European ground war, Wild Blue focuses on the bombing runs ran from Italy.

In attempts to crush the supply and manufacturing capabilities of German petroleum, Allied leadership called upon the young men of America to fly B-24s and bomb the German industries. It was the shortage of fuel that crippled the German Army and the Luftwaffe. Another advantage of the German fuel crisis was their inability to use their new jet technology which could have devastated the Allied offensive.

While the book was very interesting to read, some aspects of the book have left me slightly dissatisfied. From accounts of a B-24 pilot I know there were gross exaggerations of the difficulty of flying the B-24. I also noticed that this book is essentially a wartime biography of George McGovern, and as a result does not mention the air fought from England.

Another criticism of this book is the way it was written. This book does not seem to even be written by the same author of "Citizen Soldiers" and "Band of Brothers". This book seems to be less thoroughly researched and written more hastily than this other works.

Whereas this is not a great book about WWII itself, I reccommend this book for anyone who is intensely interested in WWII bombing missions, or the B-24 craft itself.

If this is the first Ambrose book one would read. He or she may not want to read any of his others. It does not have the style and substance of his previous books. Too much fluff in the begining and too concentrated on one bomber crew. Poor sentence structure and jumbled story line confuse the reader. Some early chapters read like his rough notes were copied verbatim. It is still an intriguing story of the extreme dangers, fears and hardships the young men of our bomber crews had to endure.
If the facts of the story are true, and I believe they are, I gained a new respect for George McGovern and all the other men of the Bomber Command. Stephen Ambrose is a great chronicler of World War II. I have read them all and look forward to his next book.

I do not in any way want to diminish the actual bravery or skill of the personnel depicted in this book. But, as a book, this was disappointing. Ambrose's other WWII books are generally better, as books about WWII. If you want a serious look at the bomber war, go elsewhere. Finally, if you want a "popular" work on the "feel" of the bomber war, the video/DVD "Memphis Belle" (despite some Hollywoodization) is more moving. And, if you just want to read something good by Ambrose, try "Undaunted Courage" or his book on D-Day.

Summary: This is OK, but reads like a series of longish magazine articles stitched together. So -- the 3-star rating is "average" for an average book. For young teens interested in WWII, I would rate this higher; it is a good, quick read; my 11-year-old loved it.

I was disappointed with this work, given Stephen Ambrose's previous works. I thought it would be more like "Band of Brothers", but it was more of a biography of George McGovern. It is short on the B-24, the AAF, and long on McGovern's romantic life. It also had a shocking number of typos and inaccuracies. Ambroses works are generally good historical works. I do, however, read Stephen Ambrose's books (which are relatively light reads), between more substantial authors like Martin Gilbert, John Keegan, and Lawrence James. If you really want to read this work, wait for it in the used bookstore shelves in the next year or so. There will be plenty.

Who would have thought that the guy who gave us "D-DAY" and "Citizen Soldier" could have cranked out a disappointment such as this? This is an autobiography of McGovern, and nothing more. Little research or effort went into this book and I actually suspect someone other than Ambrose wrote it. I've read everything else by Ambrose and this "ain't" him.

For those who are looking for a good read about the Lib and the crews who flew her just check out "Log of the Liberators". There are many other good books out there on the B-24 that do the crews justice. Don't go "here" just because it's Ambrose. To be quite frank: If "he" did indeed write this book he should stop while he's ahead. Ambrose, INC. dropped the ball here.

Having read all of Ambrose's previous books, I began to read this one with certain expectations: That the nature and extent of his coverage of the subject, for example, would be comparable with his coverage of the Lewis and Clark expeditions and the construction of the Intercontinental Railroad. In fact it is not. What we seem to have is more of a briefing on rather than a definitive analysis of "the men and boys who flew the B-24s over Germany." It is a great read, combining a lucid and lively writing style with exceptionally interesting information. I had no idea how dangerous the B-24 was to fly. (Ambrose characterizes it as "sternly unforgiving.") Nor how unpleasant it was to fly in it. (According to Ambrose, the temperature in its unheated cabin was frequently sub-zero). It was called the Liberator or "Lib" for short but also had several other nicknames which included "Flying Box Car", "New York Harbor Garbage Scows with Wings", "Spam Can in the Sky", and "The Old Agony Wagon." I had forgotten that almost all of those who flew it as well as the B-17 (the "Flying Fortress") were in their early twenties. I was reminded of that fact, portrayed so vividly in the film Memphis Belle and ignored in an otherwise flawless film, Twelve O'Clock High.

Ambrose devotes much of his attention to pilot Lt. George McGovern (age 22) and his crew as they struggle to stay alive long enough to fulfill their strategic obligations while completing the required 35 missions. (McGovern later served as a U.S. Senator and was the Democratic Party's candidate for President in 1972.) This is a brilliant narrative device, first because McGovern and those who flew with him in the Dakota Queen are obviously representative of thousands of B-24 bomber crews but also because the historical and technical information provided by Ambrose is anchored within a human context, one which is often poignant and at times tragic. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has read one or more of Ambrose's previous books; also to those who have a special interest in World War Two; and finally, to those who share my amazement and admiration when introduced to unexceptional people whose accomplishments are anything but.