In April 1938, Bernarr A. Macfadden, publisher of Liberty magazine stepped in, offering a prize of $1,000 to the winning composer, stipulating that the song must be of simple "harmonic structure", "within the limits of [an] untrained voice", and its beat in "march tempo of military pattern".

[4] Over 700 compositions were received and evaluated by a volunteer committee of senior Air Corps wives with musical backgrounds chaired by Mildred Yount, the wife of Brig.

Arnold, who became Chief of the Air Corps in 1938 after Westover was killed in a plane crash, solicited direct inquiries from professional composers and commercial publishers, including Meredith Willson and Irving Berlin, but not even Berlin's creation proved satisfactory, although it was used as the title music to the 1943 play Winged Victory by Moss Hart.

Two days before the deadline, music instructor Robert Crawford, a rejected World War One Air Service pilot and professional musician billed as "the Flying Baritone," personally delivered a sound recording of his entry, which proved to be a unanimous winner.

Mrs. Yount recalled that Rudolph Ganz, guest conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra and a consultant to the committee, was immediately and enthusiastically in favor of the winner.

[4] The contest rules required the winner to submit his entry in written form, and Crawford immediately complied.

Arnold did not share Lindbergh's opinion: he sought to fund publication of band and ensemble arrangements of the song for nationwide distribution.

Following the song began to catch a more broad following with performances by Eve Lawson on local and nationwide radio and even an appearance on Liz Dribben's Dialing for Dollars television program.

The third verse ("Here's a toast...") has a different melody, and a more reverent mood than the rest of the song to commemorate those who have fallen in the service of the Air Force and the United States.

The third verse is sung by itself after most Academy sporting events, with the entire Cadet Wing participating after a football game.

It is sung in conjunction with Army's Alma Mater and Navy's Blue and Gold, when the teams combine to participate in the singing of both Academies' songs.

Goldfein alluded to future changes in this announcement with the statement "we’ll also take a hard look at whether further updates may be warranted for the other verses of the song.

Second verse on first line: "Minds of men fashioned a crate of thunder," to "Brilliant minds fashioned a crate of thunder," Second verse on third line: "Hands of men blasted the world asunder;" to "Valiant hands blasted the world asunder;" Second verse on fifth line: "Souls of men dreaming of skies to conquer" to "Boundless souls dreaming of skies to conquer" Fourth verse on fifth line: "Flying men, guarding the nation's border," to "Fly to fight, guarding the nation's border," Following the initial change on June 20, 1941 of the American air force's name from "Army Air Corps" to "Army Air Force(s)", to the post-World War II 1947 establishment of the separate "U.S. Air Force", an attempt was made to change the sixth line of each verse so that the last word rhymed with "force" instead of "corps".

It was sung by the Basic Airmens Choir of Parks Air Force Base, California, at SAC's 25th anniversary on the Dave Garroway Show in 1956, and released as a feature in the Air Force News newsreel as sung by Mitch Miller's chorus and orchestra.

We have the drive and the dream in America's team We're a rugged and ready crew And you can bet your boots the world looks up To U.S. Air Force Blue.