The Wild Blue: American Bombers

Out of the Blue

“ The pilots and crews of the B-24s came from every state and territory in America” (Ambrose 1). These men were the men fighting during World War II ,they were bombers that helped win the war for America. Most people do not know common airplane jargon but before reading The Wild Blue by Stephen Ambrose, airplane vocabulary is important. The Novel The Wild Blue is about American Bombers during World War two that helped America win the war. It tells the stories of crews that fought in combat and how they became war pilots. These men were willing to put everything on the line for our country, and because of this we most likely won. World War II, as we know was a time of struggle and bloodshed for all countries. As America

The first step of men gaining their flying wings and going on missions was flight school. Flight school was very long and the Air Force made sure the pilots were ready, “ During basic flight training, a cadet received approximately seventy hours in the air during a nine-week period” ( “American Air Corps…”). The cadets were to spend hours training so that they knew everything there was to know about the airplanes. During the nine weeks, the cadets ate slept and breathed airplane. The men spent many grueling hours but finally a select few moved to the second stage of flight training. Because the men spent so long training they knew their plane's front to back, even the good and bad things about flying the plane. The main character George McGovern states in training he learned, “ Moving around the B-24 was awkward when wearing full gear and jarring collisions were often encountered with aircraft structure and installed equipment” (Dwyer). This is why the B-24 was one of the most unpopular planes but the men still had to deal with learning how to fly their planes. Flight training was just as hard as actual combat and many men died in training, but the ones who made it through were some of the best pilots that the American Airforce

The main character in the book, George McGovern , is an extraordinary pilot and he has an amazing crew. They are so good because of all the unyielding missions they have been through which have taught them to be better than other crews. McGovern tells us “ The Dakota Queen had 110 holes in its fuselage and wings” (Ambrose 245). George McGovern later states that it was a wonder the plane stayed in the air. Because he was such a good pilot he was able to make it home in a plane that should not have been able to fly. Many of the other pilots looked up to McGovern because of this and some of his other incredible missions. With such a high-pressure job the pilots had to be good to survive, but with all the risk it was uncommon for a pilot to make it through all thirty-five missions they were required to fly. The B-24s had a high accident rate giving it the reputation of the widow maker (Dwyer). The men that flew the widow makers fought hard to not let the planes live up to their reputations but unfortunately they did. The B-24s killed many men that fought for our country. To fly planes with reputations such as widow makers, you had to be a commendable pilot. Thankfully to the American Airforce training, they produced crews such as McGovern's that