A DISCUSSION WITH National Authors on Tour Episode #40 - 1993 Author of A WING AND A PRAYER, an account of the "Bloody 100th" group's bombing missions in WWII; interviewed by Tom O'Neill of Hennepin County Library. (29:00)
Before Miller’s “Masters of the Air,” there was Col. Crosby’s “Wing and a Prayer.” ALL of the 100th stories in Masters came originally from Harry’s book, which is simply not getting the recognition it deserved. This was the OG humanized history and story of the 100th.
It would have been great IMO for Hanks and Spielberg to get the rights to some of these interviews and put them in the “Masters of The Air” series. The whole production lacked the historical tie to the real-life characters that made BOB so enthralling.
Because unfortunately by the time masters of the air was finally developed, most of these guys were dead. Damn shame the millions of heroes of that generation are now down to a few thousand.
holy heck he's just like I expected him to be from watching Masters of the Air. Anthony Boyle is so similar in his mannerisms, the way he talks an' all.
It would have also been great if Hanks and Spielberg would have at least mentioned the B-24 at some point in the series, like Mr. Crosby did in this interview. Admittedly I'm biased as my uncle was a radio operator on libs with the 404th Bomb Squadron in the Aleutians.
Yeah. I read _On a Wing and a Prayer_ 30 or 40 years ago. So - I was aware of Harry and the Bucky's. One thing he mentioned was that when the Bucky's got shot down the nature of the group changed and it became more by the book and less wild. (IIRC). .
I recently finished this book and highly recommend. There a few men today that could do what these men did? If we had a world war today, we would be in deep shit.
An accomplished and articulate man, thank God he was on our side. An absolute legend. Keep sleeping peacefully Mr Crosby and thank you to you and your colleagues for your outstanding military service. UBIQUE from the granddaughter and great granddaughter of passed WWl & WWll British Army and Navy veterans 🥀🥀
This must have been after his memoirs were just published. Part of his book is quite an eye opener especially since what he did during WWII which is brought up surprisingly in Masters of the Air.
The problem is even the Brits said that if you have to bomb during the daytime, you needed fighter escorts all the way to the target and back. Even the Germans learned that the hard way during the Battle of Britain. What made it worse in 1943 was the lack of strong protection on the front of the B-17s where the German fighters would attack which wasn't remedied till they added twin chin guns for the B-17G.@@JeffreyWilliams-dr7qe
I like how he says "It's not right to blow cities off the map" and then "I was surprised he said I was an outstanding officer because on three occasions I said some things that displeased him..." which makes sense considering the kind of general LeMay was lol.
The English invented the F word and bloody was never seen as equivalent, it’s always been a much milder swear word that even old ladies would use. “You bloody kids!” would be like saying “you damn kids” or even “darn” depending on how relaxed your parents were about such things. “Fred, the bloody cow got out again!” And it still always also referred to being bloody, as in covered in blood or a “bloody battle”. In fact, you could use it both ways in one sentence straight after each other. “That battle was bloody bloody!”
