Into the Wild Blue Yonder: My Life in the Air Force.

Into the Wild Blue Yonder: My Life in the Air Force by Allan T. Stein. Texas A&M University Press Consortium (http://www.tamu.edu/upress), John H. Lindsey Building, Lewis Street, 4 354 TAMU, College Station, Texas 77843-4354, 2005, 200 pages, $29.95 (hardcover).

Allan Stein's Into the Wild Blue Yonder is an excellent book about Airmen in World War II. It offers everything from moments when enlisted personnel play tricks on the officers to more sober instances when comrades never return from their missions.

Stein recounts his life using short stories in chronological order, starting with memories of his uncle--a pilot in the American Expeditionary Forces. The author was inspired to share his stories by his wife's great-grandfather, who kept a diary during the Civil War. Stein believed that future generations would benefit from what he had learned during his life.

Called to active duty when he was a junior at Texas A&M University in 1943, Stein was recruited as an aviation cadet, but because of the large number of candidates, some were sent back to college to await an opening at the San Antonio Aviation Cadet Classification Center. The author does not speak much of his commissioning, but we do know that he joined the Coast Artillery Enlisted Reserve under the assumption that he would stay in college. This marked the beginning of a fascinating Air Force career.

After training, Stein reported to Lubbock Army Air Field to receive his assignment He eventually logged over 347 combat hours and served in eight major battles in World War II as a B-24 copilot. Later in his career, he flew BT-1 3s, B-52s, and C-47s. Stein shares memories of daring missions, some comical incidents, moral dilemmas, and the fellowship and friendship he experienced in the Air Force.

At the end of the war, Stein elected to stay in the Army Air Forces since he had dreamed of becoming a military pilot He later spent a year in Vietnam as an operations officer for the 360th Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron, which used refitted C-47s to monitor and locate Vietcong units. Although the corruption he encountered in that organization disgusted him, he ended his career as inspector general of the Civil Air Patrol.

One of my favorite scenes in Into the Wild Blue Yonder occurred during a routine training mission when Stein accidentally cutoff a four-star general in the traffic pattern. Specifically, another B-17 flew in front of him so that he could not land. Thinking that the pilot was just another instructor, he turned inside of him on the base leg so that he could not land either. Just as Stein committed to his turn, he discovered that the pilot of the other B-17 was Gen John Cannon, who was yelling at the tower, "Get his number! Get his number!" (p. 83). Stein put his plane on high cruise power and headed south as fast as he could. General Cannon chased him for a while, but Stein's plane was lighter and faster. After landing, the general made a big deal about the incident, but no one admitted to it Cannon retired soon after, and Stein was never disciplined. He jokingly says, "In the Air Force you have never really lived until you have cut a four-star general out of the traffic pattern" (p. 83).

Not all occasions were fun and games though. During Stein's time as an airdrome officer, he received a call from a tower operator one night about a B-17 that had crashed south of Barksdale and was burning. Stein asked around to see if any of his pilots had taken off that night, and he was told no. He was puzzled about where the B-17 had come from. By this time, all the maintenance crews were reporting for duty, so Stein asked the line chief in charge if any B-17s were missing from the hangar. The line chief could account for all but one. An investigation revealed that two crew chiefs had drunk heavily and decided that if a cadet could fly a B-17, they could too. They went to their planes and were going to fly formation. One of them sobered up and realized that if he took off, he would either end up in jail or the cemetery. The other B-17 crew chief died.

Stein also spent six weeks on grave-registration duty, a program whereby the United States brought men who had been killed and buried in foreign countries during World War II back to their families. Stein escorted the bodies of the fallen Air Force men home. He explains that this duty was one of the most difficult but rewarding he ever had.

Overall, Into the Wild Blue Yonder was intriguing and enjoyable. All of the author's vivid, exciting narratives brought back memories of times when I used to sit with my mom and listen to her stories about my grandfather's Air Force career. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in flying or simply wants to know more about the Air Force. Allan Stein's life story makes for an insightful and enjoyable read, especially for anyone who wants to become a military pilot

Cadet Philip T. McCombs

Air Force ROTC, University of Houston