Details

USAF Boeing B-17G Memphis Belle, 324th Squadron, 91st Heavy Bombardment Group

This 40 minute Technicolor film was produced during World War II by the War Department of the United States Air Force and it tells the story, trials and tribulations of the ground and air personnel of the famous B-17 bomber.

Based at an undisclosed airfield in the English country side, we’re given and up close and personal tour of the operation. The filming was done on live bombing flights into hostile lands of Southern Germany. Everything started with a crew briefing of weather, flack, targets, and other operational considerations for the day’s mission. At the time of filming, the crew of Memphis Belle had already completed 24 missions over enemy lines, and the aircraft’s Captain reminded everyone that close team cooperation would allow the aircraft to bring everyone back safely.

Memphis Belle was joined with dozens of other B-17s in the raid presented in this film. Which are shown taking off one after another, and then flying over the picturesque English country side. A land that had known freedom for the past thousand years, but now at risk from the advances of Hitler and a continent at war for some five years. England had become an aircraft carrier of concrete country runways, staffed by men and women determined to stop the German aggression and return the world to a calm of piece. But many would sacrifice their lives, and the B-17 was by no measure immune to the tragic losses of live in the air wars of WWII.

The goal of the air front was the industrial heartland of the German aggressors. The very foundation on which the Nazi regime stands. The power on which the German nation’s lust for conquest. Steel mills, refineries, aircraft and armament factories, were all bombing targets for the US Air Force B-17s, including Memphis Belle. Rubber, guns, shells, ball bearings, engines, planes, trucks, tanks, were all targets to be destroyed. And the destroyers were the B-17s.

With a crew of 10, we’re introduced to pilot Robert Morgan was the Captain of the Memphis Belle, who flew the aircraft across the Atlantic from the US. In the right seat is Captain Jim Veriniess, a Business Administration student from the University of Connecticut, while Sgt. Bob Hanson was the radio operator and forward gunner, from Spokane, Washington. Navigator was Chuck Laten. One by one, we are introduced to all the Memphis Belle’s crew members with a brief synopsis of each person’s responsibility on the aircraft.

As the aircraft climbs through 10,000 feet, the Captain instructs all crew members to put on their oxygen masks. By flying in close formation, this is the best defence against enemy fighters. Steel helmets are donned by crew members as the aircraft approaches the combat zone, and the formation tightens even further. And tense gunners become even more alert in preparation for enemy attack.

As the B-17 crosses the enemy shoreline and enters enemy territory, the houses, green fields, roads, rivers and factories look like anywhere else. But these are the houses and fields of those who invade and oppress. “These are the people who twice in one generation have flooded the world with suffering. Suffering of such magnitude that the human race has never known.”

The B-17s enter a flack barrage as they get closer to their intended target. Enemy fighter aircraft then intercept the B-17s. And the film explains the stresses and risks and great losses of life encountered in these missions. Again, this film was not a staged movie but rather an actual live bombing film to show what life was like and how close to calamity many people came during these bombing missions. The film presents a very human element we do not often see in war reels from this era, and for this reason, we must always remember the sacrifices made by so many, so long ago, to preserve the freedom we often take for granted today.

Ultimately, this film’s purpose is to not only showcase the B-17 Memphis Belle, but to really serve as a perpetual reminder for future generations of the sacrifices made by those courageous servicemen and women during World War II. Without their efforts, it is inconceivable to imagine a world in which the Third Reich was not defeated.