The Memphis Belle – A Story of a Flying Fortress(1944)
The Memphis Belle – A Story of a Flying Fortress (1944) The “Memphis Belle” was a B-17F, serial number 41-24485, attached to the 324 Bomb Squadron of the 91st Bomb Group (H) of the 8th US Army Air Force, “…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.” This is the bomber William Wyler would memorialize in his famous documentary film of the same name – the first B-17F and crew to complete 25 missions.
Actually, the first B-17F to complete 25 missions was the “Hell’s Angels” of the 358BS, 303rdBG – on May 14, 1943. But her crew had not yet completed 25 missions; and the film unit was firmly attached to the 91stBG and both USAAF and Wyler had decided on the catchier name of “Memphis Belle”
In the summer of 1942,Wyler was attached to the 8th Air Force in England to film the bombing raids on the continent of Europe. His film unit, consisting of Captain William Clothier and Captain Harold Tannenbaum, and other camera men of the Air Force, was assigned to the base at Bassingbourne, the home field of the 91st Bomb Group and its four squadrons. Wyler, Clothier and Tannenbaum were not credited in the film for their photography.
Using hand-held 16mm cameras (the shipment of 35mm equipment was lost at sea in late summer 1942), Wyler, Clothier, Tannenbaum acquired film of actual raids, with flak in the sky, German fighter planes coming in shooting, the bombs falling on target, B-17s being shot down, B-17s returning to base in England with all kinds of damage. All of the scenes in the film were actually shot on raids of the 91st Bomb Group. In the aerial shots, there is no recognizable shot of the “Memphis Belle” because the film was shot on several raids and then pieced together, and it was impossible to get close-up shots of any B-17 with a 16mm camera. There are a couple of short clips of Capt. Morgan as pilot, and shots of each crew member as they are introduced by name and occupation before they enlisted.
The final raid on 15 May 1943 was to bomb Wilhelmshaven, and Morgan and his crew flew the “Memphis Belle”. This was the crew’s 24th mission, and the “Belle’s” 23rd. It was on 17 May, in a raid to the French port of Lorient to bomb the submarine pens that the “Memphis Belle” crew completed their 25th mission. Their return from this mission was most likely the scene in the film where the plane landed with the crew waving wildly to everyone.
The “Memphis Belle” still had one more mission to complete: on 19 May 1943, piloted by Lt. C. L. Anderson she was part of a raid to Kiel. The original “Memphis Belle,” subject of this 41-minute documentary, is now being restored at the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.
Floyd D. Barrows Michigan State University barrowsf@msu.edu
