In February 1943, eight American civilian and military journalists participated in a training program with the United States Eighth Air Force.
In a week-long training course over the skies of Bovingdon, England the men learned how to adjust to high altitude, identify enemy planes, and parachute.
The men of The Writing 69th, originally known as the Flying Typewriters or the Legion of the Doomed, included: Walter Cronkite of United Press, Homer Bigart of the New York Herald Tribune Gladwin Hill of the Associated Press, Manning of CBS Radio, Robert Post of The New York Times, Andy Rooney of the military paper Stars and Stripes, Denton Scott of the military magazine Yank, and William Wade of the International News Service.
Overcast skies diverted the group to the submarine pens at Wilhelmshaven, a secondary target.
Post's death disbanded the Writing 69th, though others, including Manning, did fly missions afterward.