Still my favorite movie!! I could watch Memphis Belle over and over again and never ever get tired of it. I have always been very interested in history...and i have always been fascinated by the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress... And now i can say the movie word for word.... Just one of the best movies, in my opinion...❤
Thanks for your comment, and I completely agree. This movie has been a firm favourite of mine since my sister took me to the cinema in 1990 when it was showing. I fell in love with it, and go this day I still love it. It feels almost like a part of me.
I once had the privilege to work for a man who had been a nose gunner in a B 24. He told me how he saw a Liberator take a flak hit over Ploesti in Rumania and simply EXPLODE right next to them. He said he could see his tracers hitting Bf 109's but he never saw any go down. On his keychain was a piece of a flak round that penetrated his turret and missed his head by a couple of inches. It bounced around in the turret floor and he kept it as a piece of luck ever since the war.
Sturdy planes with some armor. They could suffer some holes in various places without going down. That's the difference between machineguns and autocannons, the last do more damage when hitting and star more fires. I can understand his lucky charm very well
Boys and girls this was a MOVIE. It reflects events that occurred in Europe during WWII. The film was never intended to factually recreate events as they accutually occurred. Movies are a form of entertainment. Just enjoy them.
Red Tails could've been a good film, but they spoiled it by overdoing the CGI, the gung-ho shit, and the pointless romantic sub plot (even if she was very hot).
People don’t really get reality. Even that exact manuever is referenced by p-51 pilots. Though it was famously used by a pilot who was not in red tails
What I liked most about this movie when I first watched it was the actors playing the fliers were all young, close to the age that most aircrew would really have been. Almost all other 'war movies' have a bunch of guys in their thirties playing flight crew when most of them were under 25 and a heck of a lot were 19 or 20. Yes, there's a lot of other things wrong with this Hollywood production, but at least they got the ages of the crew right.
Not all were that young, though. On a sidenote, I recall reading about a RN (or was it a German submarine? I can't remember that part) submarine crew in WW2, whose captain was 32 year-old at some point. And he was the oldest man of all the crew by 5 years or so.
Briseur De Lance Of of course; everyone of every age did their part. My comment was because as I said, until recently most war movies about aircrew have a bunch of middle-aged guys in them.
Wil Manric I see what you mean. In 2004, I even saw a documentary with reenacted parts, where there was a US LCI or LCA pilot who was 15 years old in 1944 ... that was portrayed by a guy who looked every little bit in his early thirties. I'm not good at guessing people's age, but even I wasn't fooled. *facepalm*
Penny L. TOTALLY. I always find myself crying during both the fictional and documentary versions. And do not even get me started on the "Danny Boy" scene! LOL And I think that we owe them all our gratitude--but the wartime women who worked in the factories and kept things going while the "boys" were away deserve it very much too. They all made so many sacrifices. Gotta run--family's soon to visit again! :)
+Penny L. Y'know something else? THIS is SO MUCH BETTER than all of the Star Wars movies put together that it amazes me how many people never heard of this good film before. REAL people's true life stories went into the composing of this script. It's not all of that fake stuff, even if it is dramatized.
I was born in 1985. This was the first movie I ever sat thru in theaters and didn’t leave for the arcade. I’ve probably watched it 20 plus times since.
My great-uncle was 26 yrs old and a 2nd Lt. B-17 pilot. Last 11 missions...less than 4 weeks. On his third bombing run over Berlin he was shot down. 3 crew members bailed out and we captured, the rest, including him were KIA. I visited the crash site and met a local German who had excavated it and gave us some pieces of the plane he had found.
I saw this movie when it came out in San Jose, California (at the prune yard cinema). I saw some old men coming out after the movie talking about it. They were obviously air veterans from WW2. They weren’t down talking the accuracy of the movie, they were glad to be recognized for their sacrifices. Glad to have survived and lived full lives with their wives and families. Glad to have served and protected their country!
The REAL Memphis Belle has completed its restoration at the Museum of the U. S. Air Force in Dayton and has been moved into the regular museum. There will be a ceremony on May 17, 18 and 19, 2018 to officially open the exhibit.
One German ace instructed his novice pilots to 'close their eyes' when they squeezed the trigger button on an Allied bomber to avoid the urge to break off against defensive fire. This footage captured an amazing job of showing how the fighters seem to skid in, in relation to the forward movement of the bombers. Gunners were taught this in school, and how to adjust aiming. One gunner said the 2 weeks of trap shooting at gunnery school taught them more about leading a target than anything else. Whoever thought of that idea was a genius.
My Dad was nose-gunner on a 15th AAF Liberator in 1944-45. He was glad to see these guys acknowledged and honored. And he said that on one mission the ship right in front of his blew up in midair: when they got back they found one charred chunk of rubber stuck to the nose of their plane.
Ball turret is arguably the scariest role on the plane, look at 2:49 the second engine catches fire and he keeps shooting, imagine just being trapped whereas at least the other men could perhaps bail out
I 've read from many sources that some b17s did emergency landing with no landing gear out, while the ball turret was still out of the fuselage (impossible to retract, because of damages) with the gunner still trapped inside. How could a gunner accept to going in that thing with such an imagine in his mind? Really brave men.
I saw this in a refurbished 50s theater in Dallas. I knew nothing of it except someone told me it was the modern _Blue Max._ New surround sound, and I sat half-way back, equivalent to one-third back in a modern theater. I was ducking like I was there with the actors. Viewed on a screen at home just does not do this film justice.
In the 1990s there were still thousands of bomber pilots living to ask - and the director didn't care to ask them. Today there are a handful witnesses left. It has to do with respect towards these witnesses to be as accurate as possible. If you don't care about the facts, make a science-fiction-movie (by the way: The construction of the "millenium falcon" was inspired by wwII-bomber-design...)
@@69BaSilisk ''If you don't care about the facts, make a science-fiction-movie'' and so, by following exactly real life, every fucking ww2 movie that came out was ignored by the public, deemed too boring and long for the casual viewer. Get some logic in your mind, not everyone is a armchair historian, they just want to see a war film.
@@johnanderson3853 Oh really? Then explain to me why modern games have women in armies they never served instead of putting them as Russian snipers or similar.
People, yes, this is a 'pretty' good movie telling a story. People, see the very impressive movie, 'The Battle of Britain. Every single flying scene, every single flying aeroplane was real, NO CGI, it was unique, never to be able to be ever done again as it was back then.
That is a shame. The Germans had some great looking aircraft. You just had to look at them and you knew they were built for warfare. Let's not forget the Stuka either. A magnificent aircraft and a wonderful psychological weapon. Just a shame that Luftwaffe aircraft were rather vulnerable due to low defensive armament.
Steven R The Collins foundation does have quite a few vintage aircraft, one of which is a running German recon plane. I can't remember the name but it was the same type that the paratroopers used to escort Mussolini and it only needs to be traveling at 25 mph to catch air, so if the wind is going 40 mph, it can actually fly backwards at 15 mph.
I think you're referring to the Junkers Ju 52. That's the one most commonly associated with German paratrooper transport durng WW2. Have a look and see if that's the one you mean :)
Agreed. I felt disappointed with the CGI, was kinda hoping they'd take a page out of Dunkirk and use real planes (and maybe augment it with CGI). The air battle scenes were too rushed and arcadey with the BF109s acting like they were fighter jets (not to mention the rockets they were using hitting the bombers like it was missiles when in reality it was unguided, same with the B-17 gunnery skills, showing 1 kill every second) VS Memphis Belle which is just heart pounding, intense short bouts of intense combat not to mention realistic pacing. I think there was just too much content they had to adapt from the book and the producers probably did not have enough time or money to film things, like the "Big Week" or expanding the Tuskgee Airmen segment instead of just shoe horning them into the episode without any development. Shame though, so much potential. In the end atleast we still have the book the show was based on, and this movie; along with BoB and the Pacific.
@@joshuaayala9181there aren’t many flyable ww2 planes unlike when this film was being done and after what happened a year back, I wouldn’t risk losing any more
I just wish Hollywood would quit the fucking Stuka noise every time an aircraft descends. Only one aeroplane ever made that noise and that was the Stuka because it had a siren on it to put the fear of god into the troops and ground personnel that it attacked.
This wasn’t made yesterday. It’s a movie from the early 90s that didn’t have the largest budget, yet managed to get a number of real WW2 aircraft for the movie. They even filmed parts of the movie while aboard these aircraft as they were airborne. Cut’em a little slack?
@@schaddenkorp6977 and even then it's called the Coconut Effect. Do real horses clapping along sound like coconut halves being repeatedly plopped on a wooden board? No. But people will think something is off if the sound isn't there. TV Tropes will ruin your life....
@@Tank50us It's cool seeing behind the scenes footage of the foley people watching the films so they can match up physical sounds in their workshop with what they are seeing on screen. I had footage to edit of an Iaido expert. Try as they might, no one could get a true "swish" sound from a katana cutting through the air. They made so many attempts, different speeds, angles, distances from the camera and from the microphone ... Nada! It was for a club demonstration not entertainment so it was left without any sound effects.
My grandfather was a B-17 tail gunner. I only heard him say one time he short down a few Germans. He was a pretty small guy. I wish he would have been alive when I served in the Army. I’m sure I would have heard some crazy stories.
A lot of German pilots after the war admired that they respected and admire both the B-17 and their crews at the point that some of them after the war became friends with their former enemies
The BBC made two films during WW2, one on a night raid and one on a daylight raid. The cameraman on the daylight raid was so keen to get good pictures of the German fighters, the waist gunners had to keep pushing him out of the way.
I had the privilege to go inside a B-17 - "Aluminum Overcast." It was a very sobering experience. The "skin" on the plane would not have stopped a .22 and certainly not rounds from a fighter. The bomber was cramped. "Bailing out" would be extremely difficult especially if the aircraft was diving, spinning, etc. If you ever have the chance to go inside a B-17, a B-24, etc., you will have a whole new level of appreciation and respect for what these young men did. Peace.
10 people inside, you are wearing heavy clothes that makes moving difficult, ammo cases on the floor making standing difficult then add in spinning, diving, etc., ...and it is a miracle anyone was able to bail out of one of those aircraft.
For the same reason you hear the coconut clop when horses are on screen. The audience expects it, and will complain when it's not there.... just listen to the MOTA haters and all the things they complain about.
i flew this week back from Holland in a twin propeller-ed aircraft without being shot at and cant imagine how scary this must have been, my Granddad was BRAAAAAAVE!
This scene absolutely shredds Masters of the Air's combat scenes - it's not even a contest. Aside from some very minor (and IMO passable) inaccuracies like the P-51D escorts (they didnt exist at that time) or the Hispano Buchon 109s (they still look damn incredible on film), 1990's Memphis Belle is going to be tough to beat. I'm still scratching my head wondering how a legend of a producer like Spielberg signed off on those ridiculous over-the-top CGI air combat scenes and ultra-unrealistic flight maneuvers...it's mind boggling. There are computer and video game simulators that look 10x better.
There's a good reason why they're using CG in MOTA: There's only 6 flying B-17s left. Just. Six. And during filming of Memphis Belle one B-17 was completely destroyed on take off (back when I think there were 12), so it's highly unlikely a flying B-17 is going to be used in a film or TV series these days. Not when the risk is considered too much. And having watched MOTA, I have to wonder how any of those maneuvers are even remotely unrealistic... the BF109 in particular was a very nimble aircraft, and pretty damn fast as well. The reason you're able to see the fighters and maneuvers at all is because in MB they are using real planes, which means they have to abide by certain safety regulations and limitations for filming. That one 109 you see flying through the formation IRL would've been completely shredded by the gunners taking a shot at an easy target. Anyone casually approaching a B-17 at anything less than full throttle from a direction where the guns had full coverage found themselves permanently living in the clouds afterwards.
@poiujnbvcxdswq Uhm... what? I'm talking about what would've actually happened to a Luftwaffe fighter going through a formation like some of the ones seen in this clip did... I made no comments as to how many were shot down. The Luftwaffe learned very quickly how to attack US Bombers (B17s included), and did so very well. As for the number of kills claimed, you are correct in that the numbers don't add up, but there is a legit reason for it. When you have ten forts all shooting at the same guy, and at some point the wing of that 109 pops off, all ten of those forts are going to claim that it was one of their gunners that got the guy. As a result, one actual kill becomes 10, and since moral is important thing in war, no one is going to tell a B17 crew "Nah, sorry, you didn't get the guy". Let them ride the high that maybe they got one, and they'll have their moral high enough to get back in the plane the next day. Going back to the exact moment (which is just before the first B17 goes down), you have about 8 Forts that have at least one gun able to shoot at that 109 (technically not a 109, but anyway). Depending on the angle, you'd have at least two sets of guns able to shoot at him per Fort. With that many guns shooting at the guy, _someone_ is bound to get lucky and score a hit that puts the plane down. Be it a 'free' gun (one that was moved manually) or a turret.
@poiujnbvcxdswq Want to know what's better than getting shot? Not getting shot. This goes for both sides. 109 pilots don't want to get shot, so the gunners did their job in forcing that plane to veer off from attacking their formation, cause they don't want to get shot. Every time one goes down, the entire formation claims it cuz only God is going to know for sure which exact bullet fired from which specific plane is the killing blow even with gun camera footage when there's ten or more angles of the same plane bursting into flames as they're all shooting at it?
Just saw a Photo yesterday of a Stirling Bomber for a story they recently found ,had lost all crew and crashed off Denmark . None were over 30 , the youngest 23
I still rate the Dam Busters movie from 1955... The aerial cinematography still holds up, very well acted and directed. Plus it stays quite faithful to the actual history. As a bit of trivia, the dams raid and the Memphis Belle's final raid on Lorient happened just a matter of hours apart. Robert Morgan and his crew were probably just about getting up at Bassingbourn just as the last 617 Squadron Lancaster was taxying in at Scampton.
Work for a man who was a gunner on a bomber , he was career military. Stationed at the base when The Right Stuff guys were doing their thing. His son once asked how many he shot down. Simply said you didn’t have time to see if one went down- there was another plane to shoot at
It's a long time since I saw this movie. I see, that at 0:14 there are P-51 Mustang shown as fighter escort. This planes should be capable of escorting the B17s to Bremen and back, but in the movie they return home after the first fight. So as the movie is set in spring 1943 I just guess they had no P47 planes.
user name I'm sure a lot of American airmen saw their friends planes go down during missions over Germany. You played craps with a guy the night before in your barracks, and now you're watching his plane spiral out of control over Bremen, and no parachutes coming out.
A truly great film in this field of endeavor would leave audiences speechless. Accurately depicting aerial combat is within our grasp but the right man has yet to step up to the plate. The global efforts of air warriors is a vast area yet to be addressed , for truth, can be far more dramatic than fiction.
When I was a kid I got to see and go on the Belle..I always thought they were protected inside..It wasn’t until then I realized it was just paper thin metal between them and the sky and bullets would just pass through them like paper.
When they saw planes landing with battle damage, they added armor to the parts that were shot up, but it didn't prevent losing planes. So instead, they added armor to the parts that weren't damaged on the returning planes, and that helped (because the damaged parts on returning planes obviously weren't vital enough to bring the planes down).
Met a little old guy in line at the bank 20 years ago, wearing his leather bomber jacket. Arm was all messed up. Said he was a navigator, never felt the steel go through and took much of his elbow off. Still game and had his marbles after all those decades. They were tougher then than we are now.
My now very elderly father lived near a bomber airfield in WW2, and recalls ‘planes limping home over the treetops, and the occasional one not quite making it. They had 2 ground crew billeted with the family. These men would sometimes return in tears, having had to remove the remains of crew members and hose out the battered bombers.
One of my great uncles was a bombardier on a B-17, and he told me a story where his B-17 was heavily damaged in the fuel tanks, and there were two massive holes in the plexiglass on the nose and so the pilot was forced to make an emergency landing on a field, and he couldn’t go anywhere farther back from the nose of the plane so he was stuck in there with the navigator, watching the ground come closer and closer to the nose of the plane and in the end, only the tail gunner died in the emergency crash landing other than that everyone was dragged out by a brave English farmer who braved the dangers of going into their burning and crippled b 17
Loving all the War Thunder aces in the comments. It's like when someone who plays CoD thinks they know all about firearms and feel the need to correct everything wrong in films and TV. How about you all understand this is a film from the 90s, they worked with what they had and didn't have all the knowledge we have access to these days. Just enjoy the film, nowhere will get it exactly how you want it because in real life we have very very very finite numbers of these birds still air worthy so sorry if they couldn't get a squadron of FW-190s or that "tHeY dIdN't UsE mUsTaNgS". This isn't War Thunder, you can't just crank out a squadron of perfectly accurate aircraft with the right markings and weaponry and sounds.
Same goes to Top Gun. It was 1986 film and at that time it was impossible to get real Mig in the film. I read that they did try to buy two from small country but Soviet Union prevent the purchase.
it great film but there is a little known fact about the film is that it is a British produce film with American money. British film maker David Puttnem wanted to make a film about an RAF bomber crew but he could not rise British money so he went to US, and they yes but you have to make it about the Memphis Bell and David said OK and the rest is History, but a great film and great cast they do story justices.
***** It was also the most dangerous from what I recall reading and hearing. I once saw a show called 'Suicide Missions', and they did an episode on the ball turret gunner. One of the gunners had a funny story in which he met a US Marine in a bar. The marine joked about switching jobs with the lucky flyboy, to which the BT gunner said 'sure lets switch'. The marine asked which position he was in the B-17. "Im in the ball turret." The marine then responded 'well then you can go to hell'. Of course I never was there nor known anyone who was a ball gunner. Personally I would prefer that over being a tail gunner, but I have heard nothing but bad bad things about being the ball turret gunner, so it must have been something really bad.
SpenzOT I recently read My War by Andy Rooney, who served as a reporter for The Stars and Stripes during the war. ***********************SPOILERS-THIS IS GRUESOME******************************* He witnessed one event in which a B-17 was badly shot up and had to land. The plane was losing fuel, and the ball turret was jammed. They could not retract it back into the body of the plane, and they could not get the gunner out. They had no choice but to land, and the poor guy got crushed to death.
Standard crash landing procedure said to drop the ball turret from the plane before landing, if there was time. For the very reason you were told, it would drag and break the plane in half. My Dad was a Ball Turret Gunner, 21 missions from Dec 43 to April 44. The gunners dropped his turret out once returning from Berlin on one engine. They threw everything out of the plane and unbolted the turret. Pilot had crew bail once over England and crash landed the plane, walked away And yes, Dad was 5 foot five inches, or thereabouts, so he was right size. Fewest casualties of the crew were ball turret, it was not a big target and had armor behind the gunners backside. But that's like being the tallest midget, B-17 was dangerous duty.
I'm sure that B-17/B-24 gunners were some of the worst over-claimers as far as aerial victories due to multiple gunners from multiple bombers cross-claiming and never really following their "kills" down into the ground visually.
0:36 that phrase is a reference to an actual film used for training American gunners. The character in the start of the film was a genie with magic aim
It always blows my mind that in the B17 bomber the mid 50 cal mid gunners were firing through open windows in the fuselage. They must have frozen their 'nads off especially if they went anywhere near the maximum service ceiling (i.e. 35,600 feet), poor guys. Brave men...
They had thick gloves. They practiced field stripping the 50 with the gloves on. The floor was thick with the spent brass after shooting. My dad was a radioman/gunner. I'm glad he made it home.
My mothers first cousin was Lt. Willy Fields Hunt who piloted the "Bugler" 413 Squadron -96th Bomb Group out of Snetterton. They were shot down by fighters on June 20th,1944 on a mission to Madgesburg with one waist gunner dead. On landing (after bailing out) he was almost beat to death by civilians. Sent to Stalag Luft III- survived the war and later started the Lincoln-Mercury dealership in Sanford, FL. with his brother James ( POW Battle of the Bulge). Men of their caliber are few. Any further info please post-it will be appreciated.
If there's one place in a B-17 I'd never want to go, it's the ball-turret.
TraustiGeir Make that one place in a war I'd never want to go.
+SCE2AUX2 That would have to be the German 6th Army.
+TraustiGeir Don`t take this wrong but you probably wouldn`t have fit...I know I couldn`t, lol. That was strictly for the 5'4" tall 28"waist crowd...
Brian Patronie No problem. I'm not surprised by that requirement, it's a tiny little compartment after all.
I would for the view
Even though this film may not be accurate to the actual Memphis Belle, it's still a kick ass movie and holds a lot of sentimental value for me.
Well said. I've loved this movie since I went to see it at the pictures in 1990. Seen it hundreds of times since. It's like an old friend.
yeah i mean those boys were damn brave the bomber crews, must of driven them all mad flying those missions
Andrew me to mate I loved it as a kid😊
Still my favorite movie!!
I could watch Memphis Belle over and over again and never ever get tired of it.
I have always been very interested in history...and i have always been fascinated by the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress...
And now i can say the movie word for word....
Just one of the best movies, in my opinion...❤
Thanks for your comment, and I completely agree. This movie has been a firm favourite of mine since my sister took me to the cinema in 1990 when it was showing. I fell in love with it, and go this day I still love it. It feels almost like a part of me.
The sound design in this movie is incredible, as well as the soundtrack - I get teary at the end to the landing. Superb film.
The fact that these are all real aircraft and all either war time examples or post war variants makes this amazing in so many ways.
The Trumpets of Jericho became the default airplane diving sound effect because it was very recognizable.
The 109 used was a much earlier variant
I once had the privilege to work for a man who had been a nose gunner in a B 24. He told me how he saw a Liberator take a flak hit over Ploesti in Rumania and simply EXPLODE right next to them. He said he could see his tracers hitting Bf 109's but he never saw any go down. On his keychain was a piece of a flak round that penetrated his turret and missed his head by a couple of inches. It bounced around in the turret floor and he kept it as a piece of luck ever since the war.
What an amazing story.. Wow!
Sturdy planes with some armor. They could suffer some holes in various places without going down. That's the difference between machineguns and autocannons, the last do more damage when hitting and star more fires. I can understand his lucky charm very well
Boys and girls this was a MOVIE. It reflects events that occurred in Europe during WWII. The film was never intended to factually recreate events as they accutually occurred. Movies are a form of entertainment. Just enjoy them.
Clyde Suckfinger WORDS OF WISDOM
The fact you have let people know this is either funny or terrifying.
They did a great job making this movie. I can understand why some might think it was a documentary.
It’s also a soft remake of Wyler’s wartime propaganda film about the Belle. So expecting it to be completely accurate is silly.
Thanks for your comments. I thought I was watching a documentary until I read them.
One of my instructors in college was an Eighth Air Force B-17 pilot in England. Thanks for your service. A gallant gentleman, indeed.
Man this is really good. It feels better no CGI I think.
1joshjosh
and for you
Still more realistic than red tails
yolo269 Absolutely.
Red Tails could've been a good film, but they spoiled it by overdoing the CGI, the gung-ho shit, and the pointless romantic sub plot (even if she was very hot).
People don’t really get reality. Even that exact manuever is referenced by p-51 pilots. Though it was famously used by a pilot who was not in red tails
Racist!
@@tonyweaver2353 ?
What I liked most about this movie when I first watched it was the actors playing the fliers were all young, close to the age that most aircrew would really have been. Almost all other 'war movies' have a bunch of guys in their thirties playing flight crew when most of them were under 25 and a heck of a lot were 19 or 20. Yes, there's a lot of other things wrong with this Hollywood production, but at least they got the ages of the crew right.
Not all were that young, though. On a sidenote, I recall reading about a RN (or was it a German submarine? I can't remember that part) submarine crew in WW2, whose captain was 32 year-old at some point. And he was the oldest man of all the crew by 5 years or so.
Briseur De Lance
Of of course; everyone of every age did their part. My comment was because as I said, until recently most war movies about aircrew have a bunch of middle-aged guys in them.
Wil Manric
I see what you mean. In 2004, I even saw a documentary with reenacted parts, where there was a US LCI or LCA pilot who was 15 years old in 1944 ... that was portrayed by a guy who looked every little bit in his early thirties. I'm not good at guessing people's age, but even I wasn't fooled. *facepalm*
One of the best movies I have ever watched !!
It always amazes me. I never get tired of this movie,and I am always on the edge of my seat.
+Rose McGuinn I know, right! What a tribute to the awesome men who underwent that ordeal.
Penny L. TOTALLY.
I always find myself crying during both the fictional and documentary versions.
And do not even get me started on the "Danny Boy" scene! LOL
And I think that we owe them all our gratitude--but the wartime women who worked in the factories and kept things going while the "boys" were away deserve it very much too.
They all made so many sacrifices.
Gotta run--family's soon to visit again!
:)
+Penny L. Y'know something else? THIS is SO MUCH BETTER than all of the Star Wars movies put together that it amazes me how many people never heard of this good film before. REAL people's true life stories went into the composing of this script. It's not all of that fake stuff, even if it is dramatized.
My grandpa was a navigator on these same planes and did the exact same thing. He said this was a very realistic movie
I was born in 1985. This was the first movie I ever sat thru in theaters and didn’t leave for the arcade. I’ve probably watched it 20 plus times since.
try, The Battle of Britain
man i loved this movie back in elementary school, i'd ask my parents to rent it for me like every other week for a while
I used to bunk off school and watch this and Battle of Britain. Must have seen them each 60 times or more.
Awesome movie!... much respect to these guys... salute and respect from down under👍🇳🇿
My great-uncle was 26 yrs old and a 2nd Lt. B-17 pilot. Last 11 missions...less than 4 weeks. On his third bombing run over Berlin he was shot down. 3 crew members bailed out and we captured, the rest, including him were KIA. I visited the crash site and met a local German who had excavated it and gave us some pieces of the plane he had found.
Respect to you uncle. RIP hero
Sniff Sniff... smells like bullshit
This film is so wonderfully colourful. So many war films seem to think they have to mute the colours for artistic effect.
For shit effect.
For everyone talking about the Stukas, it was 1990, the accuracy factor took a back seat to the entertainment factor.
I saw this movie when it came out in San Jose, California (at the prune yard cinema). I saw some old men coming out after the movie talking about it. They were obviously air veterans from WW2. They weren’t down talking the accuracy of the movie, they were glad to be recognized for their sacrifices. Glad to have survived and lived full lives with their wives and families. Glad to have served and protected their country!
Australian Bomber G-For-George. Flew 89 missions into Germany. On display in Canberra at the War Memorial.
The REAL Memphis Belle has completed its restoration at the Museum of the U. S. Air Force in Dayton and has been moved into the regular museum. There will be a ceremony on May 17, 18 and 19, 2018 to officially open the exhibit.
John Combs ya I live in Ohio and I am going to see it :)
Good for you. Always glad to inform people of important events.
Cool are you going to
John Combs I subbed to your chanal
Plan to. I live just a stones throw from the museum.
One German ace instructed his novice pilots to 'close their eyes' when they squeezed the trigger button on an Allied bomber to avoid the urge to break off against defensive fire. This footage captured an amazing job of showing how the fighters seem to skid in, in relation to the forward movement of the bombers. Gunners were taught this in school, and how to adjust aiming. One gunner said the 2 weeks of trap shooting at gunnery school taught them more about leading a target than anything else. Whoever thought of that idea was a genius.
This really did a great job of showing the claustrophobia of being in one of those planes
My Dad was nose-gunner on a 15th AAF Liberator in 1944-45. He was glad to see these guys acknowledged and honored. And he said that on one mission the ship right in front of his blew up in midair: when they got back they found one charred chunk of rubber stuck to the nose of their plane.
He flew in a b24 ??
@@pedroarthur919 Yep, 58 missions. ancientlights.org/fifteenth.html
Why does a stricken diving fighter plane always turn into a Stuka air horn sound?
yeah ikr, those werent even Stuka right? just Bf 109s, but I get what you mean
That's what I mean...the same noise is always used...even a diving helicopter in a Bond film!!!@@yasperuuu6844
Adds to the drama I guess
That blood on the window is absolutely nightmare material
I really wish the idea that prop aircraft make the Stuka siren sound when in an out of control dive didn't become popular.
Yeah me too.
just dont know sometimes it happens some times in dont .... always called it the last song
as a kid in 3rd grade i was fascinated by this movie...... green eyes
Ball turret is arguably the scariest role on the plane, look at 2:49 the second engine catches fire and he keeps shooting, imagine just being trapped whereas at least the other men could perhaps bail out
I 've read from many sources that some b17s did emergency landing with no landing gear out, while the ball turret was still out of the fuselage (impossible to retract, because of damages) with the gunner still trapped inside. How could a gunner accept to going in that thing with such an imagine in his mind? Really brave men.
@@emanemanrus5835 - Yeah, I'd be rather adamant in demanding a hatchet before I would get into a B-17 ball turret.
"hes coming back around jack,get the greedy basterd" love that scence so much
I saw this in a refurbished 50s theater in Dallas. I knew nothing of it except someone told me it was the modern _Blue Max._
New surround sound, and I sat half-way back, equivalent to one-third back in a modern theater.
I was ducking like I was there with the actors. Viewed on a screen at home just does not do this film justice.
Very good effects for the time. Loved the combination of real planes, miniatures, rear projection, and closeups.
Like it doesn't quite achieved perfect verisimilitude but it's much more satisfying to look at than full cgi render
Damn everyone here is either a historian or movie critic. Relax everyone it's from 1990 not 2020.
In the 1990s there were still thousands of bomber pilots living to ask - and the director didn't care to ask them. Today there are a handful witnesses left.
It has to do with respect towards these witnesses to be as accurate as possible.
If you don't care about the facts, make a science-fiction-movie (by the way: The construction of the "millenium falcon" was inspired by wwII-bomber-design...)
That's the best part, it's *not* from 2000-anything.
Idiotic. If 2 + 2 = 4, then that fact does not depend on the year, whether 2020, 2021, or any year.
@@69BaSilisk ''If you don't care about the facts, make a science-fiction-movie''
and so, by following exactly real life, every fucking ww2 movie that came out was ignored by the public, deemed too boring and long for the casual viewer.
Get some logic in your mind, not everyone is a armchair historian, they just want to see a war film.
@@johnanderson3853 Oh really? Then explain to me why modern games have women in armies they never served instead of putting them as Russian snipers or similar.
Despite the historical inaccuracies, the scene was impressive. Can't do this again due to so few airworthy B-17s available.
Especially since we sadly lost one a few years ago. RIP Nine O Nine and her crew
Edit: 2... RIP Texas Raiders
I remember them filming the air sequences above my home in East Anglia for this when I was a teenager.
Very interesting story.
That must have been super cool.👍
Where about please
Most underrated ww2 film ever
J Morris my grandpa was the navigator on these he flew 20 plus missions over Germany dropping bombs and said this movie was very realistic.
Andrew J that’s awesome
Kinda overrated actually especially compared to "tora tora tora"
People, yes, this is a 'pretty' good movie telling a story. People, see the very impressive movie, 'The Battle of Britain. Every single flying scene, every single flying aeroplane was real, NO CGI, it was unique, never to be able to be ever done again as it was back then.
B17 engine: *starts smoking*
Stuka sirens: ENGAGED
I know! One thing I really don't like about this movie. Hollywood uses the sound for any plane in a dive and in this case for a plane flying straight!
@@JamesB21a the best is the Bond movie For Your Eyes Only uses it for a helicoper when it dives
Effects still hold up well.......fair play!
This movie will always be in my heart
There's tomato juice on the window again, somebody grab some Windex
+BTL Y-Wing lol
I remember seeing this on Veteran's Day in 1990. What a great film! I took a ride aboard a B-17 G in 2009. I'll never forget it. I'm a veteran (USAF).
You're so lucky. I'd give anything to go up in a B17 (or a British Lancaster and a German Heinkel 111). My three favourite aircraft of WW2.
Steven R The unfortunate thing is that there are no more Heinkel 111's, or at least any that can run.
That is a shame. The Germans had some great looking aircraft. You just had to look at them and you knew they were built for warfare. Let's not forget the Stuka either. A magnificent aircraft and a wonderful psychological weapon. Just a shame that Luftwaffe aircraft were rather vulnerable due to low defensive armament.
Steven R The Collins foundation does have quite a few vintage aircraft, one of which is a running German recon plane. I can't remember the name but it was the same type that the paratroopers used to escort Mussolini and it only needs to be traveling at 25 mph to catch air, so if the wind is going 40 mph, it can actually fly backwards at 15 mph.
I think you're referring to the Junkers Ju 52. That's the one most commonly associated with German paratrooper transport durng WW2. Have a look and see if that's the one you mean :)
When I was a boy I thought this was scary. Then, I saw "Band of Brothers" D-day drop. . .horrifying. Memphis Belle is still a great movie.
See the glider scene in The Forgotten Battle: that's really scary!
A whole decade waiting on masters of the air and it doesn't even come close to this 🤦🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️. Still a good series I guess
Agreed. I felt disappointed with the CGI, was kinda hoping they'd take a page out of Dunkirk and use real planes (and maybe augment it with CGI). The air battle scenes were too rushed and arcadey with the BF109s acting like they were fighter jets (not to mention the rockets they were using hitting the bombers like it was missiles when in reality it was unguided, same with the B-17 gunnery skills, showing 1 kill every second) VS Memphis Belle which is just heart pounding, intense short bouts of intense combat not to mention realistic pacing.
I think there was just too much content they had to adapt from the book and the producers probably did not have enough time or money to film things, like the "Big Week" or expanding the Tuskgee Airmen segment instead of just shoe horning them into the episode without any development.
Shame though, so much potential. In the end atleast we still have the book the show was based on, and this movie; along with BoB and the Pacific.
@@joshuaayala9181there aren’t many flyable ww2 planes unlike when this film was being done and after what happened a year back, I wouldn’t risk losing any more
great footage.. It is somewhat funny that the Stuka siren became a classic cue for crashing aircraft in movies though.
I just wish Hollywood would quit the fucking Stuka noise every time an aircraft descends. Only one aeroplane ever made that noise and that was the Stuka because it had a siren on it to put the fear of god into the troops and ground personnel that it attacked.
This wasn’t made yesterday. It’s a movie from the early 90s that didn’t have the largest budget, yet managed to get a number of real WW2 aircraft for the movie. They even filmed parts of the movie while aboard these aircraft as they were airborne. Cut’em a little slack?
@@schaddenkorp6977 and even then it's called the Coconut Effect. Do real horses clapping along sound like coconut halves being repeatedly plopped on a wooden board? No. But people will think something is off if the sound isn't there. TV Tropes will ruin your life....
@@Tank50us It's cool seeing behind the scenes footage of the foley people watching the films so they can match up physical sounds in their workshop with what they are seeing on screen. I had footage to edit of an Iaido expert. Try as they might, no one could get a true "swish" sound from a katana cutting through the air. They made so many attempts, different speeds, angles, distances from the camera and from the microphone ... Nada! It was for a club demonstration not entertainment so it was left without any sound effects.
I love hollywood! Only they can make a Bf109 sound like a Stuka when diving
The B-17 made the stuka sound aswell in this movie. For me, the only thing that spoils the movie - inaccurate sound effects.
My grandfather was a B-17 tail gunner. I only heard him say one time he short down a few Germans. He was a pretty small guy. I wish he would have been alive when I served in the Army. I’m sure I would have heard some crazy stories.
The Luftwaffe fighter pilots were very impressed with the armor and firepower of American heavy bombers. The Japanese were astounded.
A lot of German pilots after the war admired that they respected and admire both the B-17 and their crews at the point that some of them after the war became friends with their former enemies
The BBC made two films during WW2, one on a night raid and one on a daylight raid. The cameraman on the daylight raid was so keen to get good pictures of the German fighters, the waist gunners had to keep pushing him out of the way.
Man! Those guys that flew on those missions have my ut most respect! I dont know how they walked with balls so big!
1:55 I remember watching this for the 1st time thinking outloud, hey that's the kid from Goonies...lmao
Glad to see him survive the Titanic and the Memphis Belle.
And then together with Private Joker, who switched from the Marines to the Air Force
I had the privilege to go inside a B-17 - "Aluminum Overcast." It was a very sobering experience. The "skin" on the plane would not have stopped a .22 and certainly not rounds from a fighter. The bomber was cramped. "Bailing out" would be extremely difficult especially if the aircraft was diving, spinning, etc. If you ever have the chance to go inside a B-17, a B-24, etc., you will have a whole new level of appreciation and respect for what these young men did.
Peace.
Trevor Haley Quite an experience isn't it?
10 people inside, you are wearing heavy clothes that makes moving difficult, ammo cases on the floor making standing difficult then add in spinning, diving, etc., ...and it is a miracle anyone was able to bail out of one of those aircraft.
It's a loud plane if you've seen it fly. I've also been in it but only on the ground
I flew in that beauty as well. Talk about a humbling experience!
One of the best films about WW2 ever made. --------EVER--------------WolfSky9, 71 y/o
Hands down my favourite movie!
Why in war movies, when any plane is hit and starts to fall, does it emit the siren sound of the German Stuka dive bombers???
Because, drama 😂
For the same reason you hear the coconut clop when horses are on screen. The audience expects it, and will complain when it's not there.... just listen to the MOTA haters and all the things they complain about.
oh man I gotta watch this movie again ! I love it so, discovered harry connick and sean astin and never looked back !! Love harrys acting in general
i flew this week back from Holland in a twin propeller-ed aircraft without being shot at and cant imagine how scary this must have been, my Granddad was BRAAAAAAVE!
Remember watching this when I was a kid, had no shit clue what's going on
This scene absolutely shredds Masters of the Air's combat scenes - it's not even a contest. Aside from some very minor (and IMO passable) inaccuracies like the P-51D escorts (they didnt exist at that time) or the Hispano Buchon 109s (they still look damn incredible on film), 1990's Memphis Belle is going to be tough to beat. I'm still scratching my head wondering how a legend of a producer like Spielberg signed off on those ridiculous over-the-top CGI air combat scenes and ultra-unrealistic flight maneuvers...it's mind boggling. There are computer and video game simulators that look 10x better.
There's a good reason why they're using CG in MOTA: There's only 6 flying B-17s left. Just. Six. And during filming of Memphis Belle one B-17 was completely destroyed on take off (back when I think there were 12), so it's highly unlikely a flying B-17 is going to be used in a film or TV series these days. Not when the risk is considered too much.
And having watched MOTA, I have to wonder how any of those maneuvers are even remotely unrealistic... the BF109 in particular was a very nimble aircraft, and pretty damn fast as well. The reason you're able to see the fighters and maneuvers at all is because in MB they are using real planes, which means they have to abide by certain safety regulations and limitations for filming. That one 109 you see flying through the formation IRL would've been completely shredded by the gunners taking a shot at an easy target.
Anyone casually approaching a B-17 at anything less than full throttle from a direction where the guns had full coverage found themselves permanently living in the clouds afterwards.
This movie is so ridiculously inaccurate.
@poiujnbvcxdswq Uhm... what? I'm talking about what would've actually happened to a Luftwaffe fighter going through a formation like some of the ones seen in this clip did... I made no comments as to how many were shot down.
The Luftwaffe learned very quickly how to attack US Bombers (B17s included), and did so very well.
As for the number of kills claimed, you are correct in that the numbers don't add up, but there is a legit reason for it. When you have ten forts all shooting at the same guy, and at some point the wing of that 109 pops off, all ten of those forts are going to claim that it was one of their gunners that got the guy. As a result, one actual kill becomes 10, and since moral is important thing in war, no one is going to tell a B17 crew "Nah, sorry, you didn't get the guy". Let them ride the high that maybe they got one, and they'll have their moral high enough to get back in the plane the next day.
Going back to the exact moment (which is just before the first B17 goes down), you have about 8 Forts that have at least one gun able to shoot at that 109 (technically not a 109, but anyway). Depending on the angle, you'd have at least two sets of guns able to shoot at him per Fort. With that many guns shooting at the guy, _someone_ is bound to get lucky and score a hit that puts the plane down. Be it a 'free' gun (one that was moved manually) or a turret.
@poiujnbvcxdswq Want to know what's better than getting shot? Not getting shot.
This goes for both sides. 109 pilots don't want to get shot, so the gunners did their job in forcing that plane to veer off from attacking their formation, cause they don't want to get shot. Every time one goes down, the entire formation claims it cuz only God is going to know for sure which exact bullet fired from which specific plane is the killing blow even with gun camera footage when there's ten or more angles of the same plane bursting into flames as they're all shooting at it?
Ha, I loved this movie as a kid. It was actually pretty good. If you're a prude about the effects, I'm sorry. But this was a classic to me.
spoiled ass kids these days lol
Haha yeah loved that one too back then....that scene where one bomber gets ripped apart and you hear the rookie crew screaming haunted me for long
always better with real aircraft rather than fake.
oh man all this time and I never noticed the guy being blown out of the plane at 3:10 you gotta pause it though.
Me: Why do they all sound like teenagers?
Me after realizing that most of them probably were teenagers: Oof.
Just saw a Photo yesterday of a Stirling Bomber for a story they recently found ,had lost all crew and crashed off Denmark . None were over 30 , the youngest 23
THEY USE 3 B17S AND ONE B25 FOR FILMIMNG, MASTER PEACE, LOVE THIS MOVIE.
They crashed a b17 behind the scenes was terribel
No WWII bomber/fighter movie has ever gotten close to memphis belle.... sad really.. especially when we have so much SFX available.
Battle of Britain did for mine
They did have the advantage of having many real fighters around for the movie
@@AvoidTheCadaver indeed, still a few spits and hurricanes about even now though
I still rate the Dam Busters movie from 1955... The aerial cinematography still holds up, very well acted and directed. Plus it stays quite faithful to the actual history.
As a bit of trivia, the dams raid and the Memphis Belle's final raid on Lorient happened just a matter of hours apart. Robert Morgan and his crew were probably just about getting up at Bassingbourn just as the last 617 Squadron Lancaster was taxying in at Scampton.
Work for a man who was a gunner on a bomber , he was career military. Stationed at the base when The Right Stuff guys were doing their thing. His son once asked how many he shot down.
Simply said you didn’t have time to see if one went down- there was another plane to shoot at
No cgi yet so perfect
It's a long time since I saw this movie. I see, that at 0:14 there are P-51 Mustang shown as fighter escort. This planes should be capable of escorting the B17s to Bremen and back, but in the movie they return home after the first fight. So as the movie is set in spring 1943 I just guess they had no P47 planes.
Actually, the time the Memphis belle took the final flight, there weren't mustangs at the time. Only thunderbolts
Clay: You know we done this a couple times before, Cap. LOVE IT!
how can peep dislike this clasics flim love it
We need more movies like this, fuck cgi
Grab a meme on the go
Amen.
The helicopter attack scene in Apocalypse Now is proof of that too
Grab a meme on the go The bombing scene from Unbroken is fucking awesome, if you're looking for one
I dunno, CGI is getting pretty good, CGI done right usually results in people believing it was practical effects the whole time.
I was like "oh he's crying because he probably had a friend on that plane"
*2 seconds later*
"Oh shit"
user name I'm sure a lot of American airmen saw their friends planes go down during missions over Germany. You played craps with a guy the night before in your barracks, and now you're watching his plane spiral out of control over Bremen, and no parachutes coming out.
A truly great film in this field of endeavor would leave audiences speechless.
Accurately depicting aerial combat is within our grasp but the right man has yet to step up to the plate.
The global efforts of air warriors is a vast area yet to be addressed , for truth, can be far more dramatic than fiction.
Rest assured your enemies are no fools and their life's are held dear as well.
When I was a kid I got to see and go on the Belle..I always thought they were protected inside..It wasn’t until then I realized it was just paper thin metal between them and the sky and bullets would just pass through them like paper.
When they saw planes landing with battle damage, they added armor to the parts that were shot up, but it didn't prevent losing planes. So instead, they added armor to the parts that weren't damaged on the returning planes, and that helped (because the damaged parts on returning planes obviously weren't vital enough to bring the planes down).
@@kilroy987 Yes, that's called Survivorship Bias.
Met a little old guy in line at the bank 20 years ago, wearing his leather bomber jacket. Arm was all messed up. Said he was a navigator, never felt the steel go through and took much of his elbow off. Still game and had his marbles after all those decades. They were tougher then than we are now.
My now very elderly father lived near a bomber airfield in WW2, and recalls ‘planes limping home over the treetops, and the occasional one not quite making it. They had 2 ground crew billeted with the family. These men would sometimes return in tears, having had to remove the remains of crew members and hose out the battered bombers.
One of my great uncles was a bombardier on a B-17, and he told me a story where his B-17 was heavily damaged in the fuel tanks, and there were two massive holes in the plexiglass on the nose and so the pilot was forced to make an emergency landing on a field, and he couldn’t go anywhere farther back from the nose of the plane so he was stuck in there with the navigator, watching the ground come closer and closer to the nose of the plane and in the end, only the tail gunner died in the emergency crash landing other than that everyone was dragged out by a brave English farmer who braved the dangers of going into their burning and crippled b 17
Still the most realistic air battle I have seen from the movies and this film is 32 years old!
Check out the series Piece of Cake
I've watched this movie so many times I just play it on full volume, go to another room, and then just watch it on the inside of my eyelids
As always, Stuka sirens without a Stuka in sight !
Are you sure? The Stuka siren has never been recorded and none of the original sirens exist today.
I loved this movie as a kid and I still love it.
In war movies all planes that are crashing to the ground suddenly have Stuka airhorns attached to them!!!
Hey! For some reason, those were really hard to get in the UK during the war.
It's a movie. Not a documentary. It's purpose is to entertain.
When planes go down, they suddenly have Stuka horns?!
That’s the whole point any time when a planes get shot down they make some sort of siren
Wtf gaijin fix this please
Loving all the War Thunder aces in the comments. It's like when someone who plays CoD thinks they know all about firearms and feel the need to correct everything wrong in films and TV. How about you all understand this is a film from the 90s, they worked with what they had and didn't have all the knowledge we have access to these days. Just enjoy the film, nowhere will get it exactly how you want it because in real life we have very very very finite numbers of these birds still air worthy so sorry if they couldn't get a squadron of FW-190s or that "tHeY dIdN't UsE mUsTaNgS". This isn't War Thunder, you can't just crank out a squadron of perfectly accurate aircraft with the right markings and weaponry and sounds.
Same goes to Top Gun. It was 1986 film and at that time it was impossible to get real Mig in the film. I read that they did try to buy two from small country but Soviet Union prevent the purchase.
Thank you for the clarity. I did not know that.
Oldschool movies are more realistic than CGI today..
Did you see the Stuka?
'Guys, we got a B-17. Let's make a movie.'
2:20
Jack: Come on. Come on. Come to papa, you son of a... *WHAT THE...?!?!?! ARRGH!!! I ALMOST HIT HIM!!! DAMMIT!!! HEY, WIENER!!!*
I remember first seeing this movie at the age of about six, and since my dad is a pilot I thought the plane scenes in this movie were awesome.
Still one of the best movies of the US airwar over Germany
it great film but there is a little known fact about the film is that it is a British produce film with American money. British film maker David Puttnem wanted to make a film about an RAF bomber crew but he could not rise British money so he went to US, and they yes but you have to make it about the Memphis Bell and David said OK and the rest is History, but a great film and great cast they do story justices.
hah interesting, didn't know that. :) But still a great movie,yes.
Henrik Brandt If it had been about an RAF aircrew, it would've bern called 'Cockney Bellend' instead.
@@daniellastuart3145 It would honestly be interesting to see a RAF B-17's history
You needed a lot of balls to go in that ball turret.
Hehe
Hilarious. Do you do stand-up?
***** It was also the most dangerous from what I recall reading and hearing. I once saw a show called 'Suicide Missions', and they did an episode on the ball turret gunner. One of the gunners had a funny story in which he met a US Marine in a bar. The marine joked about switching jobs with the lucky flyboy, to which the BT gunner said 'sure lets switch'. The marine asked which position he was in the B-17. "Im in the ball turret." The marine then responded 'well then you can go to hell'.
Of course I never was there nor known anyone who was a ball gunner. Personally I would prefer that over being a tail gunner, but I have heard nothing but bad bad things about being the ball turret gunner, so it must have been something really bad.
SpenzOT I recently read My War by Andy Rooney, who served as a reporter for The Stars and Stripes during the war.
***********************SPOILERS-THIS IS GRUESOME*******************************
He witnessed one event in which a B-17 was badly shot up and had to land. The plane was losing fuel, and the ball turret was jammed. They could not retract it back into the body of the plane, and they could not get the gunner out. They had no choice but to land, and the poor guy got crushed to death.
Standard crash landing procedure said to drop the ball turret from the plane before landing, if there was time. For the very reason you were told, it would drag and break the plane in half.
My Dad was a Ball Turret Gunner, 21 missions from Dec 43 to April 44. The gunners dropped his turret out once returning from Berlin on one engine. They threw everything out of the plane and unbolted the turret. Pilot had crew bail once over England and crash landed the plane, walked away
And yes, Dad was 5 foot five inches, or thereabouts, so he was right size.
Fewest casualties of the crew were ball turret, it was not a big target and had armor behind the gunners backside. But that's like being the tallest midget, B-17 was dangerous duty.
The real Memphis Belle shows eight fighter kills painted along her bomb missions. It was quite a feat to get one.
I'm sure that B-17/B-24 gunners were some of the worst over-claimers as far as aerial victories due to multiple gunners from multiple bombers cross-claiming and never really following their "kills" down into the ground visually.
Very brave men indeed, I would be shitting bricks.
Me too. To do this once would've had me a bag of nerves, but 25 times??
And it was EXTREMELY cold up there.
0:36 that phrase is a reference to an actual film used for training American gunners. The character in the start of the film was a genie with magic aim
I use to see this movie twice a week when i was a child.
It always blows my mind that in the B17 bomber the mid 50 cal mid gunners were firing through open windows in the fuselage. They must have frozen their 'nads off especially if they went anywhere near the maximum service ceiling (i.e. 35,600 feet), poor guys. Brave men...
Read - MASTERS OF THE AIR. What these men went through in 42/43 was almost unbelievable. The losses were staggering.
@@ggaggagga4 I'll look into that. Thank you.
They had the heavy jackets and a heated suit. Like an electric blanket. I think it was like -30 or -40 degrees up there
@@ggaggagga4 Second Schweinfurt raid probably the worst - 650 allied men lost out of nearly 3000, 590 KIA. That's almost 1/4 that flew the mission.
They had thick gloves. They practiced field stripping the 50 with the gloves on. The floor was thick with the spent brass after shooting. My dad was a radioman/gunner. I'm glad he made it home.
pretty fkin sweet how they shot these scenes man. i dont think they could od it better een nowadays
The tracrs look much more authentic than the nowadays CGI ones
true
My mothers first cousin was Lt. Willy Fields Hunt who piloted the "Bugler" 413 Squadron -96th Bomb Group out of Snetterton. They were shot down by fighters on June 20th,1944 on a mission to Madgesburg with one waist gunner dead. On landing (after bailing out) he was almost beat to death by civilians. Sent to Stalag Luft III- survived the war and later started the Lincoln-Mercury dealership in Sanford, FL. with his brother James ( POW Battle of the Bulge). Men of their caliber are few. Any further info please post-it will be appreciated.