Any USAF vets out there how acurate apart from the last mission target was the film by David Puttnam visuals as well as locations.
2007-03-11 09:11:22 · 3 answers · asked by Francis7 4 in Politics & Government ➔ Military
According to documentaries of that particular B-17, The movie depicted two important facts. One takeoff, one landing. The rest is basically a story tribute to all bomber crews whose story can never be told.
2007-03-11 11:12:42 · answer #1 · answered by RANDLE W 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I actually got the oppurtunity to meet Robert Morgan, the commander of "Memphis Belle" at an air show a couple of years before he passed away. I also got an autographed copy of his book. According to him, the actual combat sequences in the movie were fairly accurate, the way the characters behaved and moved, and there was a great deal of stock US and German gun camera footage used in the movie.
If I remember correctly, the "guts all over the wind screen" scene actually happened, but not to the 'Belle'. The Memphis Belle actually did hit that city (not necessarily that specific target).
On a side note, in honor of Robert Morgan and the crew of the Memphis Bell, the air force keeps a bomber designated as the Memphis Belle, the current one being a B-1B Lancer, dubbed "Memphis Belle VI", and Robert Morgan actually got the oppurtunity to fly it.
After rotating back to the states, three of his crewmen became instructors or left the service, several rotated back to England to crew other B-17s, but morgan and his bombardier shipped off to the Pacific, and Morgan was actually the mission commander for the first B-29 Superfortress raid on the home islands of Japan. The Memphis Belle was named in honor of Miss Margaret Polk, a young lady he dated during flight training in Memphis. As a surprise for the crew, when the 'Belle' returned to the US to begin a war bond tour, Miss Polk was on hand to meet them.
His 25 missions in japan were flown in a B-29 named Dauntless Dotty, in honor of the woman he married before shipping out to the Pacific
2007-03-11 18:48:29 · answer #2 · answered by The_moondog 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I saw the film in a cinema here in the UK when it was released (all those years ago), anyway, sitting near me were two elderly gents.
As the film ended & the lights went up I heard one turn to the other and say "very good, very realistic."
2007-03-12 15:40:43 · answer #3 · answered by David 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋