Supposedly the plot of the 1990 film Memphis Belle was written around an amalgamation of multiple missions the belle experienced combined into a single mission for the film. as with all things hollywood there must be embellishment or else audiences wont show as much interest. the final mission of the belle was not into Germany as the film portrays, but was in fact a raid on Lorient

the actual "final mission" of the Belle was documented by the US Army Signal Corps via several cameramen on different bombers, primarily the filming was done aboard the Memphis Belle and released in a morale building film called The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress the filming was actually of the aircraft's second to last mission. Sadly, some of the Signal Corps cameramen found their fate aboard B-17s on this very mission having been shot down not only with the loss of life, but the historic footage they were shooting aboard the bombers having also been lost forever

the 1990 film is very similar to the 1943 documentary and borrows much from it, in fact many of the air to air battle scenes in the 1990 film are scripted almost entirely from the air to air battle scenes in the '43 film, and the takeoff scene from the 1990 film is almost verbatim a copy of the 43 film

for those interested, the original, full version of the 1943 documentary can be seen here, it is 41:30 in length and in my opinion worth a viewing if you havnt seen it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn8tqacRXK4

Weeelll... you young'uns.... I actually SAW the B-17s used in the Memphis Belle movie (NOT the first one) fly North across the end of my street, on their way to filming, as I carried some picnic chairs round my neighbours house for a bar-b-q. Seems like just yesterday :)

And it was while looking on Youtube for a clip of Spielberg's short film The Mission, from the 'Amazing Stories' TV series, that I first came across the stuff about The Mighty Eighth. But have any of you got this movie?

"Fortress" trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRjhgTqOuU4

I couldn't stay with that one :-?

it felt too... artificial? like i was watching live action and then a command and conquer cutscene and then sometimes both spliced into one

You're right. I haven't watched it again since the first time, so it didn't really impress. I seem to remember the script was cliched too, so it all just looked like they were trying too hard to make another classic war movie.

Seek and ye shall find...

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...postcount=1889

For all its faults, I do like the Memphis Belle movie. My favorite part is still the takeoff scene when the the plane cranks around in a cross-wind the second the wheels come off the ground.

Mike

Fiction right? Most references for the Lucky Lady II refer to the B-50 Stratofortress that circled the globe non stop in 1949 but there is a small blurb about a B-17 also with that name which crashed in Belgium in 1943. Cold that be the AC you are referring to?

Looks very promising.

I enjoyed the Memphis Belle. I have the DVD in the library.

There's some interesting discourse here:

http://forum.keypublishing.com/showt...itled-Due-2017

Eichhörnchen, do you mean this Memphis Belle? :03:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...phisBelle2.jpg

I was at an airshow at the New Garden airport in Kennett Square, PA back in 2010 and the movie Memphis Belle was there. I had a nice photo op too. :D

I met Robert Morgan back in 2005 at the WWII Weekend in Reading, PA, I volunteer at every year. Very nice man to talk to. He was one of the main stars for the show. As were 11 Tuskegee airmen that I got autographs from.

On another note I also met and talked to Gen. Paul Tibbets and Captain Theodore "Dutch" Van Kirk at the same show in 2005. That was an honor I'll never forget.

On another note...... Morgan's Memphis Belle was not the first to complete 25 missions over Germany. Another crew and B-17 did that. For what reason Morgan's B-17 was given credit I do not remember. But it is true.

Just a guess. Could be the name Hell's Angels and the graphics on the plane weren't considered to be all that family friendly. :)

"Memphis Belle" is a fine movie.

One of my favorite movies about the Eighth AF is "Twelve O'Clock High".

I have it on Bluray DVD and Fox did a superb job on the image/sound.

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Twelve.../21475/#Review

It is older (1949), but it used 12 real B-17s for the filming, many of the extras were actual WW2 USAAF veterans. The screenplay was written by two veterans who served in the 8th during the war. The film also uses actual WW2 combat footage for many of its combat scenes (one of the reason why it was filmed in B&W).

An excellent film, a real classic.

I've been on board this 'imposter'.

http://i.imgur.com/uwGWdhg.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/2w1Y6lb.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/A96lnjO.jpg

http://www.sallyb.org.uk/

I saw "Sally-B" so many times in the past and long before filming of The Memphis Belle, when I went regularly to air shows at West-Malling and Biggin Hill in Kent. And yes, this is one of those B-17s I saw on their way to RAF Binbrook that day. Seeing five of them flying together (if I remember correctly) was quite something.

It's possible. ;)

Eichhörnchen, riding in one is something special. I've been up in 9O9 several times and it sure is a special ride. The same with B-24 Witchcraft too. The Collings Foundation's 2 bombers that go on tour here in the US every year. I'm a tour coordinator for them here in Delaware. I've even ridden in and flown (from the backseat) their TP-51C Betty Jane.