About: The Wild Blue

The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys who Flew the B-24s over Germany, by historian and best selling author Stephen Ambrose, was a New York Times best selling non-fiction book published in 2001. It details the lives and World War II experiences of pilots, bombardiers, navigators, radio operators and gunners flying B-24 bombers of the U.S. Army Air Force against Nazi Germany. The book entails a recounting of George McGovern's exceptional career as a chief pilot of a B-24 with the 455th Bomb Group in Italy, encompassing 35 bombing missions. With the odds of surviving all 35 missions as low as 50 %, the bomber crews flew during dangerous daylight hours, in risky tight flying formations, and despite bad weather and assaults of heavy, deadly, flak from ground-based German anti-aircraft guns.