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

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: disappointing
Review: I really wanted to enjoy this book. I just didn't live up to my expectations. Ambrose noted in the introduction that the book began as a biography of George McGovern and later turned into a story of "the men and boys who flew the B-24s over Germany." I got the impression he never did decide which book he was writing. That said, the book still has its good points. For one, it presented a side of McGovern that is not widely known. The reason I read this book was that I wanted to learn more about the air war in WWII, and I did learn a few things, though not as much as I had hoped. In following McGovern's war career, Ambrose takes you through the pilot training program and gives a good picture describes the difficulty of flying the B24 and what life was like on board the plane during a mission. Unfortunately, it was all interspersed with biographical information about the other members of the flight crew, ground crew, etc. that did more to confuse things than it added to the story.