Memphis Belle: The Story Of A Flying Fortress (1944)

This film is a war documentary produced by one of the "Hollywood Colonels," William Wyler, who joined the Air Force Film unit and recorded the sights and sounds of the last mission of a B-17 bomber known as the Memphis Belle, named after the girlfriend of the pilot. A narrator told the story of the 10 crewmen as examples of simple average American boys doing a tough job.

The men and plane were filmed during the bombing raid on the submarine plens in Wilhelmshafen, Germany, "just one mission of just one plane and one crew in one squadron in one group of one wing of one Air Force out of fifteen United States Army Air Forces."

It used handheld 16mm and 35mm cameras inside the plane to give the perspective of the crew. Wyler in fact combined footage from several missions to represent this last 25th mission of the plane, a mission that was actually a milk run with no casualties and no difficult landing. He also used film shot by the 8th AAF Combat Camera Unit.

Wyler wanted to film a flak burst but never was able to get one:

"I could never get one explosion because how the hell do you know where one's going to explode? Once the cloud is there it's too late. All that flak so close to us, and I could never get the explosion."
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From October 1943 to March 1944, Wyler edited in the U.S. the 20,000 feet of film he shot in Europe, producing a 42-minute color film that was considered beautiful and dramatic.

 

Some of my personal greatest hero's were those Airmen who strapped on a BIg Bomber and launched an "Aluminum Overcast" over German held territory! It was almost suicide, yet thousands of brave young men did it every day the weather allowed! Some of the greatest achievements, and some of the most horrific of deaths happened in the skies over Nazi Germany, and it took the combined efforts of hundreds of thousands to achieve total victory! The Memphis Bell is more then a single example of that struggle, it is a monument to all those brave airmen who went to war, to take the fight to Germany when no other forces were able to, and through shear grit and determination, they bought victory with Gas, Bombs, Blood and B-17s! The Pride of Seattle, The Queen of the Skies, the Mighty Flying Fortress, No other air craft in history has fought harder or longer, or for higher stakes then the B-17, and it is a testament to the American can-do attitude that such a airplane came about and achieved such success! We owe the greatest generation so much, and we owe the B-17 our respect and admiration, when things were at their worst, a B-17 was more then likely to bring her crew home safe when all others would fail!

 

I was lucky enough to have known a crewman on one of these planes , and was able to hear just a few of his stories , flew 25 missions , twice over Japan. Our greatest generation,,,,without a doubt.

 

FYI the plane had been deteriorating out in the elements on Mud Island in Memphis until just recently, they moved it to Wright Patterson where it'll be cared for.

 

The mighty Memphis Bell is almost completely restored and ready to begin flying again! She was repossessed from the state for failing to maintain her to a proper standard, so the United States Air Force has restored her to all her glory, and added her back to the register of active duty airframes!

 

If they fly that bird around the country for touring dates , I'm going to go see her !!

 

Tucson AZ has a really nice air museum. It's dry there so planes are out on the field.

Pima Air Museum
MUSEUM AIRCRAFT

There's another there (forget the name) but you can fly in one of those twin prop with the glass turret up front. Costs more and you have to reserve ahead.

 

I was at Pima years ago and they had a B 17 parked UNDER the wing of a B 52 and yes it was a cool place to visit