ABSTRACT
The Wild Blue is a narrative eulogy on the pilots and crews of the B-24 bomber, perhaps better known as the "Liberator". Like many of Stephen E. Ambrose's books, it focuses on representatives of what Ambrose calls the "greatest generation" of young Americans, in particular the bomber crew of the "Dakota Queen", piloted by the later US senator and presidential candidate, George S. McGovern. Ambrose completely ignored German and Austrian research of the last decade on the Allied aerial bombardment of central Europe in World War II, based on a wide array of international archival and literary sources. As reflected in the substantiated accusations of Ambrose's plagiarism—drawing from another American study about World War II bomber pilots—this book has been put together and produced hastily and sloppily by author and publisher. The Wild Blue is written in the same vein as Ambrose's earlier blockbuster books on World War II, only that it provides even less historical research and original analysis.
