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- #documentary
- #war
- #history
Director William Wyler follows the crew of The Memphis Belle as they prepare for a mission. The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is the first United States heavy bomber to complete 25 missions over Europe.
#documentary #war #history
#documentary #war #history
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Short filmTranscript
00:06The End
00:42Oh, my God.
01:21This is a battlefront, a battlefront like no other in the long history of mankind's wars.
01:28This is an airfront.
02:14The working day begins as it will end with the ground crews, as much a part of the fortress
02:20as her wings.
02:22If you're a mechanic, you've got your own bomber.
02:24You get attached to it.
02:26But you know when your ship goes out on a mission, you may never see it again.
02:31So you do your work as well as it can be done, perfectly, because you wouldn't want anything
02:37to go wrong that would be your fault.
02:54Today, the bombs will be taken from these bomb dumps somewhere in England and delivered
02:59to specific points in Wilhelmshaven, Germany.
03:10To deliver them is the job of the Eighth Bomber Command, just a hauling job, yet one of the
03:15most difficult and complicated of military operations.
03:43general-purpose demolition bombs.
03:45impact velocity as high as 750 miles an hour.
03:49Pierce five inches of armor plate.
03:52Destroy a factory.
03:57Briefing at 0800.
03:59Pilots, bombardiers, and navigators take their places.
04:02The group commander, Colonel Stanley Ray, steps up to the target map, and for the first time,
04:08you learn where you're going.
04:10Sometimes your face turns white when you find out.
04:13Sometimes the feeling you won't come back tightens your insides.
04:17Not so long ago, you were sitting like this in a college or high school classroom.
04:21Not listening too hard, perhaps even a little sleepy.
04:25But you listen here.
04:28And as you listen, you don't have time to think of yourself.
04:31Fear fades.
04:32You concentrate on the mission.
04:34Type of formation.
04:36Assembly point.
04:37Zero hour.
04:38Route to target.
04:40Weather.
04:40Enemy fighters.
04:42Enemy flack.
04:43Route back home.
04:44If forced down in enemy territory, destroy equipment.
04:47If taken prisoner, give no information.
04:49Name, rank, and serial number.
04:50now. That's all.
05:21these are the passengers with one-way tickets and this is the crew of the
05:27Memphis Belle 324th squadron 91st heavy bombardment group just one plane and one
05:35crew in one squadron in one group of one wing of one Air Force out of 15 United
05:44States Army Air Forces
05:48well fellas we've never had an easy ride over there yet and today won't be any
05:52different no escort except unfriendly so keep your eyes peeled don't get excited
05:58and yell when you're talking on the intercom save your ammunition and make
06:02your shots count let me know what goes on back there Quinlan yes stay on the ball
06:08gang and she'll bring us back like she's always done okay let's go
06:17they have completed 24 missions in this the toughest theater of air war the big
06:23league of sky fighting their experience is priceless and so if the Memphis Belle
06:29comes back this afternoon they will be sent to bring the vital lessons they
06:33have learned to thousands of air crew men in training at home home is America
07:00this is a battlefront like no other in this or any war no monster armies no booming cannon
07:09only the roaring engine sound of the bombers pounding through the quiet English
07:14countryside this is an air front
07:45so
07:49I'm
07:51I'm
07:54I'm
07:57I'm
08:05I'm
08:10I'm
08:11I'm
08:23I'm
08:25I'm
08:26I'm
08:26I'm
08:27I'm
08:27I'm
08:27I'm
08:27I'm
08:28I'm
08:30I'm
08:46Oh, my God.
09:25The wheels of the Memphis Belle leave the soil of England for the 25th time.
09:30The friendly soil of England, with its ordered farms and rural hamlets, its country estates
09:36surrounded by formal gardens and well-kept parks, the England these Americans knew only
09:42from the classics they had to read in school, the England of the towns and cities whose
09:48people have defended their island's freedom for over a thousand years.
09:52But today, their countryside has changed.
09:56Today, their island has been converted into a gigantic bomber field, a super aircraft carrier
10:02anchored off the shores of fortress Europe, with hangers and machine shops, with hundreds
10:08of dispersal points, perimeter tracks and concrete runways.
10:12This is England in its fifth year of war.
10:18And this is the new battlefront, the airfront, from which we seek out the enemy.
10:24Not his infantry or his artillery, not his panzer divisions, but the greater menace.
10:29The industrial heart of his nation, the foundation on which the Nazi empire and its army stand,
10:36the power behind the German lust for conquest.
10:40The steel mills and refineries, shipyards and submarine pens, factories and munitions plants,
10:47pinpoints on the map of Europe which mean rubber, guns, ball bearing, shells, engines, planes, tanks, targets.
10:56Targets to be destroyed.
10:59And these are the destroyers, each with a belly full of bombs and ten men like the crew of the
11:06Memphis Bell.
11:08Pilot Captain Robert Morgan, industrial engineer from Asheville, North Carolina.
11:12He's flown this ship across the Atlantic.
11:15The other pilot, Captain Jim Varinas, business administration student at the University of Connecticut.
11:21Radio operator and gunner, Sergeant Bob Hanson, construction worker from Spokane, Washington.
11:26Navigator, Captain Chuck Layton, chemistry student at Ohio Wesleyan.
11:31Engineer and top turret gunner, Sergeant Harold Locke, from Green Bay, Wisconsin.
11:36Used to be a stevedore.
11:38Besides keeping the bill in order, he covers the sky above.
11:42Tail gunner, Sergeant John Quinlan of Yonkers, New York.
11:45Clerked for a carpet company, but he quit, December 8th, 1941.
11:51Bull turret gunner, Sergeant Cecil Scott.
11:54First man for a rubber company in Rahway, New Jersey.
12:00Pilot to crew, 10,000, put on oxygen.
12:05They're climbing higher now, 300 feet a minute.
12:08The strain on the planes and on the men is mounting.
12:14The rest of the crew.
12:15Bombardier, Captain Vincent Evans, operated a fleet of trucks in Fort Worth, Texas.
12:21Waist gunners.
12:21On the right, Sergeant Bill Winchell, chemist for a paint company in Chicago.
12:25And on the left, Sergeant Tony Nostal, used to repair washing machines in Detroit when he was a kid.
12:31Now he's 19 and has two Nazi fighters, confirmed.
12:41It takes all of a pilot's strength to keep a 30-ton fortress in tight formation.
12:46But the formation is the bomber's best defense against enemy fighters.
12:51The planes are deployed to uncover every gun.
12:54Stepped up and down.
12:57Echelon to the right and left.
13:00Arranged to overcome the danger of gunners firing into friendly ships.
13:04Arranged so concentrated cones of fire from the caliber 50 machine guns cover the sky.
13:10For a thousand yards in every direction.
13:20The friendly coast of England slips by below.
13:24It doesn't look like much now.
13:26But in a few hours when you come back, if you come back,
13:29this will be the most beautiful view in the world.
13:36Higher and higher.
13:38Climbing to reach your best operational altitude.
13:4025,000 feet.
13:42Five miles straight up.
13:44So high you can't be seen from the ground with the naked eye.
13:48So high that after one minute without oxygen, you lose consciousness.
13:52After 20 minutes, you're dead.
14:00From now to the target, you go about your routine duties.
14:03Plot your course.
14:04Check your equipment.
14:06And wait.
14:07And think.
14:10Higher and colder.
14:12Temperature, 40 degrees.
14:14Below zero.
14:15Take off your glove and you lose some fingers.
14:18You look out at the strange world beyond.
14:21Reflections in plexiglass.
14:23Like nothing you ever saw before.
14:25Outside of the dream.
14:35Higher and higher.
14:37Into the lightless stratosphere.
14:39Until the exhaust of the engines mixing with the cold thin air condenses.
14:43And streams the heavens with paper trails.
14:53To the men in the ships, they're far from beautiful.
14:56For they point like beckoning fingers to the formation.
14:59Signposts in the sky for the enemy to spot us.
15:10For these bombers to accomplish their mission, a plan is needed.
15:15Carefully worked out, time to the minute.
15:18The job is to bomb Wilhelmshaven effectively and economically.
15:22The enemy is strong.
15:24Skillful.
15:25Determined to stop us.
15:27Here are his defenses.
15:29Airdrones.
15:30Well dispersed.
15:32Each plane indicates a stopo or squadron of fighters.
15:36Heavy anti-aircraft.
15:38Highly trained and accurate.
15:40All along the coast.
15:41And defending his vital installations.
15:45Radar to warn him of our coming.
15:48Here is our plan to divide his defenses and weaken his opposition.
15:53At 1330 hours, shortly after takeoff.
15:56Six groups of planes will be heading toward the enemy coast from six directions.
16:00The blue force.
16:02100 B-24 Liberator four engine bombers.
16:06The white force.
16:07300 B-17 flying fortresses.
16:11The green force.
16:12300 B-17s.
16:14With an escort of six squadrons of P-47 Thunderbolts.
16:18A force of B-26 marauders.
16:21Twin engine medium bombers.
16:23With six squadrons of RAF Spitfires escorting.
16:26Almost a thousand planes.
16:28And over 8,000 men in the air.
16:30The enemy alerts all his air drones.
16:33But which is our main force?
16:34What are our targets?
16:36Where should the Nazi controllers send their fighters?
16:40It's our job to make them get.
16:42And get wrong.
16:44A half hour later at 1400 hours.
16:47The blue force will be heading east across the North Sea.
16:50With the white force following.
16:52These enemy fighters are tied down.
16:55Waiting to meet them.
16:56And will not be able to attack the green force.
16:58These fighters must come up to attack the green force.
17:01And thus will be no threat to the blue and white forces.
17:05The B-26s and Spitfires will bomb and strafe a key rail junction.
17:10Diverting these six stopeln.
17:12And preventing the enemy from concentrating too many fighters on the green force.
17:17Which is scheduled to bomb an aircraft factory at Hanover.
17:24At 1430 hours the blue force will threaten this entire coastal area of northwestern Germany.
17:33Which target will it be?
17:35Flensburg?
17:37The Kiel Canal?
17:39Or will it turn suddenly and bomb Hamburg?
17:42Vegersack?
17:43Or Emden?
17:44Actually it carries no bombs at all.
17:47It's a decoy.
17:48And keeps the fighters from the northern area busy.
17:51While the white force.
17:52The main effort.
17:53Heads for the submarine pens of Wilhelmshaven.
17:57At 1500 hours.
18:00While the white force is over its target.
18:02Only a fraction of the available German fighter strength of the area can intercept it.
18:07Because of the blue force diversion.
18:10And the simultaneous bombing of Hanover by the green force.
18:15This is the plan of battle for today.
18:19Drawn up by the combined operations planning committee.
18:22And approved by the commanding general.
18:28The white force.
18:30Lead group.
18:31Low squadron.
18:33We've crossed the invisible line of enemy radar.
18:35The Hun is expecting us.
18:46Steel helmets go on.
18:48Watchful eyes strain.
18:51Tight formations are held tighter still.
18:55Tense gunners more alert because here it comes.
19:01The enemy coast.
19:06From up here it looks the same as any other.
19:09Houses.
19:10Roads.
19:10Greenfields.
19:11Factories.
19:11Waterways.
19:13But they are the houses and fields of those who invade and oppress.
19:17They are the factories and roads of the people who twice in one generation have flooded the world with suffering.
19:24Suffering in such quantity as the history of the human race has never known.
19:29Brought torment and anguish into countless American homes.
19:32Gold stars.
19:34And telegrams from the war department.
19:42The first black.
19:43Just harmless looking silent puffs of smoke.
19:47Only each puff is a shell exploding.
19:49Throwing shrapnel around the sky.
19:52Exactly the range.
19:53Accurate black by radio prediction.
19:56Five miles down Nazi anti-aircraft batteries have calculated the altitude speed and course.
20:01Where will the next one hit?
20:03You try not to be there.
20:11The docks and submarine pens of Wilhelmshaven.
20:15Approach to the target starts.
20:17No smoke screen can protect it.
20:25Now the enemy knows the path of your approach.
20:27And walls that path with a flak barrage.
20:30But you fly right through it.
20:31Flax so thick you can get out and walk on it.
20:44Morgan changes course every 15 seconds.
20:47Evasive action to confuse the flak batteries.
20:52Bombsides set for correct altitude and speed.
20:54Bomb bay doors open.
20:56The bombing run begins.
21:02You've got it.
21:05Now Evans flies the Memphis Bell.
21:07Controlling it through the bomb site.
21:09And now we are most vulnerable.
21:12Committed to our bombing run.
21:13We can't dodge flak or fighters.
21:16Here's the first.
21:18Top top.
21:19Top.
21:20Top.
21:20Top.
21:20Top.
21:27Top.
21:38Top.
21:39Top.
21:40Top.
21:42Top.
21:44Top.
21:50Top.
21:57As lead bombardier, Evans' aim must be good.
22:00Every other ship in the group will drop its bombs when he drops his.
22:05Now one pointer on the bombsite moves toward another stationary pointer.
22:09The instant they touch, bombs will release.
22:25They touch, bombs away.
23:03The wind will be close.
23:05The tide has the air and the air.
23:06The air is more slippery than the air.
23:09Mashing around the room with 2 hours.
23:10It is quite clear.
23:13The air is hot.
23:35the first half of the mission is over the easy half now to get home
23:47the black stops that means fighters out there somewhere a staff are lurking behind that cloud
23:54or hiding up in the sun where the glare blinds you and you can't see them waiting to dive down
23:59on you
24:00fighters at six o'clock this is what a gunner sees a speck in the sky that's a fighter and
24:06then a blink
24:06that means he's firing at you 2300 rounds a minute
24:16in a running battle one of the most important instruments is the interphone
24:24there's four of them one o'clock high they're coming around watch
24:32too fat a six o'clock up coming in diving out chief
24:47there's two more diving through the 94 three planes nine o'clock coming around keep your
24:51all aboard
24:54around the tent watch them so keep your eyes open
24:57they're breaking 11 breaking 11
24:59i got them
25:01and he's coming around here at 10 o'clock
25:03and he's coming around here at 10 o'clock
25:04watch him scotty i got my sights on him
25:06check at me 17 chuck three o'clock motor smoking fire at 10 30 coming around
25:11those 10 30 up or lower
25:18B-17 out of control three o'clock
25:26come on
25:27come on you guys get out of that plane bail out
25:29there's one he come out of the bomb bay
25:31yeah i see him
25:31there's a tail gunner coming out
25:33watch out for fighters
25:37keep your eye on them bill
25:38see any parachutes quinlan
25:39two parachutes so blocking
25:41at nine o'clock
25:45eight men still in that B-17
25:47come on the rest of you guys
25:48get out of there
25:49come on bail out
25:50so far there's three more shoots
25:52black level o'clock
25:53fighters six o'clock
25:55CME 109 at three o'clock
25:56keep after him with you
25:58i see him
25:59i'm on him
26:00come on you son of a bitch
26:02i got him
26:09let's confirm that fighter
26:11he got him chief
26:11look he's bailing out
26:12dammit don't yell on that intercom
26:14fighters 10 o'clock
26:16watch those two or twelve ends they're coming in
26:18they're coming in scotty
26:19get that ball turret on them
26:25save the ammunition as much as possible
26:33watch that fighter coming in at three o'clock
26:35he's coming in at a half roll
26:37pull her up chief
26:38pull her up hurry
26:49this fortress is hurt
26:50engine on fire
26:52losing air speed and altitude
26:53drifting into the flak
26:55alone and helpless
26:56a straggler
26:57in a minute Nazi fighters will swarm in like buzzards for the kill
27:02you can watch
27:03but you can't go down to help
27:05you keep your formation
27:13here too the mission is being flown
27:16nonetheless real for being in the minds and hearts of these men behind
27:20ask anybody who's been to a field in England
27:22or anywhere else our bombers are based
27:25and he'll tell you that there's drama here too
27:28waiting
27:29to see who's coming back
27:32to watch them
27:33you might not realize how tense these ground crews are
27:37but they are tense
27:38and plenty worried
27:41in air force talk this waiting is known as sweating out the mission
27:46these men know the flight plan
27:48their watches told them when the bombers were running into enemy flak
27:52when they were over the target
27:54when they left the enemy coast
27:56and now their watches tell them
27:58the bombers should be nearing the field
28:01every ear strains for the first sound of the engines
28:05and then somebody hears them
28:07and somebody sees the first faint specks in the distant sky
28:16every face turns to sea
28:19and count
28:22the watchers try to read the numbers on the ships
28:27these planes have priority to land first
28:29the colored flares mean wounded aboard
28:33in the hospital window
28:35these watching men know what that means
28:38they know what it feels like to lie on a bouncing fortress floor
28:41for hundreds of miles
28:43through the frozen stratosphere
28:45in great pain
28:47with the other men in your crew
28:48fighting to keep you alive
28:50until they hit the field
28:52the field
28:54home
28:56it'll be okay then
28:58because there'll be medical care
29:00the best
29:01as soon as the wheels of your plane stop rolling
29:15head wound
29:17concussion
29:2020 millimeter cannon shell exploded in his radio compartment
29:25shock
29:26internal injuries
29:29he'll be alright
29:32flak burst scattered flying shrapnel
29:35he's full of steel splinters
29:39this pilot's leg is not a pretty sight
29:42neither are the docks at Willemshaven
29:46these men will all get the purple heart
29:50and this man too
29:53posthumously
30:00a transfusion right in the plane
30:04this gunner's too weak to be moved
30:07the new life-giving blood flowing into his veins
30:11might be the blood of our high school girl in Des Moines
30:13a minor in Alabama
30:15a movie star in Hollywood
30:17or it might be your blood
30:20whosever it is
30:21thanks
30:2736 planes left this field this morning
30:29now 6 more arrive
30:31that makes 20 home
30:32and this one's 21
30:35more wounded aboard
30:4522
30:47coming in with his left inboard engine dead
30:5423
30:56with a feathered prop on his left outboard engine
31:0124
31:02southern comfort
31:03with a chunk of tail gone
31:0625
31:07they flew home on their luck
31:1126
31:13not a scratch
31:17the control tower learns that two more landed
31:20at a British field to the south
31:22one a crash landing
31:24crew safe
31:24that makes 28
31:2729
31:29a rough landing but her pilots badly hurt
31:32it's a wonder he brought her back at all
31:3829 planes back
31:40so far
31:4229 out of 36
31:45our losses were heavy
31:47but the enemies were far heavier
31:50we destroyed a German aircraft factory
31:52a rail junction
31:54submarine pens
31:55docks and harbor installations
31:56that's specific known damage
31:59but who can tell the number of German torpedoes
32:02that will not be fired
32:03the number of our convoys that will get through now
32:06the soldiers and seamen's lives that will be saved
32:09or the battles that will be won instead of lost
32:11because of what these bombers and airmen did today
32:25they will not be
32:26pilot and tail gunner
32:28they can laugh now
32:31fire on the inboard engine did this
32:33flame streaked back and burned the stabilizer too
32:38another crew luck brought back
32:55here's old bill
32:57a pretty good airplane when it took off
33:00lost its nose
33:02lost its navigator
33:04bombardier wounded
33:06top turret gunner
33:07pilot hit
33:09hydraulic system shot out
33:11no brakes
33:12no flaps
33:14but old bill came back
33:24now among the returned crew members
33:26talk flows like a river
33:28talking out every detail of the mission
33:32these are the faces of combat
33:35faces of americans who have watched their comrades die
33:39faces that can never forget the enemy
33:42and there are no mood to have their picture taken
33:49in the control tower colonel ray
33:52the group ceo is still watching and waiting
33:55and then he spots the last flight
33:58three more planes
34:00and one of them is the ship everyone has been pulling for
34:06the memphis bell
34:10the last few miles of this trip have been a joy ride
34:13the strain is over
34:14they can leave their guns now
34:16now they know they're going to go home
34:18to spokane green bay
34:20ashville
34:21detroit
34:22chicago
34:22fort worth
34:23and yonkers
34:31the bell comes in for her landing
34:33but first morgan buzzes the field
34:36cuts the grass with the giant fortress
34:39it's against the rules
34:41but this is a special occasion
34:46the
34:53the
34:54the
34:55the
34:55the
35:16the
35:18the
35:18the
35:20the
35:20the
35:20and the
35:20and the
35:21the
35:21and the
35:43the
35:46the
35:55THE END
36:20This is a day they will never forget
36:28Another great day, soon after, Brigadier General Hansel visited the field
36:34And presented the distinguished flying cross to every member of the crew
36:47And then there was another day
37:12Their Majesties, the King and Queen of England
37:42Johnny Quinlan never thought anything like this would happen
37:45To him when he left Yankos
37:54The ground crew were a little self-conscious about being dressed in fatigues
37:58But the Queen thought they were very nice
38:09Finally, two more visitors came
38:11General Aker, commanding the 8th Air Force
38:13And General Devers, U.S. Commander of the European Theater
38:17The Bell crew received them in flying clothes
38:21As General Aker read the order for what he called their 26th and most important mission
38:26Return to America to train new crews
38:29And to tell the people what we're doing here
38:31To thank them for their help and support
38:33And tell them to keep it up
38:35So we can keep it up
38:37So we can bomb the enemy again and again
38:39And again until he has had enough
38:43And then we can all come home
38:45All the time
38:55All the time
39:14And now I'm out
39:23To the men of the Eighth Air Force, who are now flying deep into Germany, bringing destruction
39:29to targets almost a thousand miles from their bases, destruction like this, and who have
39:38never once been turned back by the enemy, to those men, this film is gratefully dedicated.
39:48For more information, visit www.fema.org.
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