Por Céus Inimigos

Having met most of the men who flew this B-17 as well as the men commanding and the ground crew; it was confirmed to me that ordinary men do what was necessary to do during the War. They faced the enemy and did the job; in spite of a gnawing fear, they flew and became heroes. Men of courage mixed with pure guts most times. I know -----I married one who flew another plane of the same group and gave a part of himself so we could all live in freedom. We were also friends with the Crew Chief of the Memphis Belle.My husband was the Eastern Division Secretary for twelve years while Paul Chryst, Joe Camelleri, Joe Giambrone were Co Chairmen and Treasurer. The 91st Bombardment Group (H) Memorial Association was a wonderful outfit and we had many Rallies and Reunions all over the United States and Europe.

William Wyler's Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress featuring rare color film of WW 2 is another outstanding Why We Fight Documentary showcasing a B-17 and it's crew on its final bombing run over Germany. In this brief doc Wyler not only captures some of the most harrowing air combat footage in history but also gives us an outstanding overview of what it takes to mount a bombing raid, recognizing the importance of all involved, the shared bond of a diverse group.

Some of the outstanding camerawork in the tight confines of the fortress puts you in the waist gunner position with a Messerschmitt, guns blazing roars at you while ominous flak explodes around "Belle" the chaos verbalized over headsets.

Well edited in displaying the might of the Allies and the stoic resolve and everyday courage of its military "Memphis Belle" is more than just propaganda and an outstanding document of WW2 but a gripping suspense with a lot more on the line than a fiction.

Ever see paramedics resuscitate a dead man? If you have, it's impossible to take a medical drama seriously again. There is absolutely no drama in their actions. "The Memphis Belle" left me with same impression about soldiers. Although they worked in an inherently tense situation, a situation in which their lives could end on a whim, or an instant shift in kharma, it was their calmness that colored them the most. For two magnificent segments, director William Wyler plays taped intercom conversations over the already breathtaking photography. What we get are scenes that put those of ANY fictionalized war movie to shame. In the first, the camera is in the right place at the right time as he captures the waistgunner engaging a charging Messerschmidt. He lets his gun loose, and a stream of tracers goes sailing off into oblivion, wreathing the enemy plane. Then a few hit, then a few more and then the enemy fighter is engulfed in a cloud of black smoke. As he watches the plane drop with a sickening whistle, he hollers over the intercom in joy: "ha, ha, I got him, I got him." The Captain, annoyed, barks back: "don't yell on the damn intercom!" No joy, no bravado, just the grim realities of war. In the second, the camera captures a foundering B-17 turning on its side and slowly nosing down in a beautiful arc. Their response: {calmly} "a B-17 is goin' down at four o'clock" The crew chants in irritation "come on you guys, get out of there. What are you fellows asleep in there, get out!" Finally, two or three parachutes unfurl, closely resembling a Daffodil blooming. War turns out to be beautiful. Kurosawa's "Ran" and Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" argued this same point. But they were just movies. This film with its countless shots of the clear blue skies and the appealing flak patterns, proves it to anyone who dares to believe. In the film, there was not one patriotic utterance, or a single pean to heroic sacrifice, at least not from the men who flew the planes. These men were not heroes, nor were they warriors, or even soldiers in the sense that we portray those things. They were EMPLOYEES of the U.S. Army Air Corps. They did a job, and did it only because the "Boss" told them to. Even if they hated it (and you get the sense that they did), they did it. That impression never leaves me. The human species and its ability to accept any situation and get used to it. From now on, the passions of the soldiers in all the "blockbuster" war flicks will make me sick. Why dramatize that which is inherently full of tension. but we know most people that write war flicks have never been in jeopardy, so what do you expect. "The Memphis Belle" requires no histrionics or flowery dialogue to be the greatest war movie ever made.

This Memphis Belle is the real thing, and will be remembered long after the 1990 movie version has been forgotten. It is a documentary filmed during the height of World War II on a USAAF air base in Britain, and also on board the Memphis Belle, a typical B-17 Flying Fortress of the U.S. Army's 8th Air Force.

No blue screens were used in the production of this movie, no Hollywood special effects or computer-generated imaging. William Wyler and his cameramen accompanied the bomber crew on a actual combat missions over Germany. No actors or stunt men were used, either. The men shown flying in the Memphis Belle were the actual crew of the Memphis Belle. In addition, the wounded airmen seen being removed from returning planes were not extras, they really were wounded.

Another aspect of this film that was not faked was the severe battle damage seen on some of the returning B-17s. The fact that some of those planes even managed to get back at all is almost incredible, and the images in this movie stand as a testament both to the skill of the pilots and to the structural integrity of the legendary "Flying Fortress".

The combat footage used in this movie was so good that, for decades, it was used in any movie or television program concerning the air war over Europe, in preference to anything that the Hollywood special effects departments could manufacture. You will see clips from The Memphis Belle in such well-known Hollywood films as "12 O'Clock High" and "Command Decision".

The Memphis Belle is a must-see, both as a tribute to the courageous airmen memorialized in it, and to the intrepid cameramen who literally risked their lives to film it.

The pilot was 24-year-old Captain Robert K. Morgan from Asheville, North Carolina who was an industrial engineer before joining the Army in 1941; the co-pilot, whom Captain Morgan insisted was "the other pilot', was 25-year-old Captain James A. Verinis from New Haven, Connecticut, who was a business administration student at the University of Connecticut before entering the service in July of 1941; Captain Vincent B. Evans, the 23-year-old bombadier was one of the two married members of the crew, and was a fleet-truck operator in his home town of Fort Worth, Texas before enlisting in January of 1942; Captain Charles B. Leighton, from East Lansing,Michigan and a chemistry student at Ohio Wesleyan before entering the service, was the navigator. The engineer and top turret gunner was Technical Sergeant Harold P.Loch, a 23-year-old stevedore from Green Bay, Wisconsin who joined the service in November of 1941; Technical Sergeant Robert J.Hanson, a construction worker from Washington state and the other married crew member, was the radio operator. The 19-year-old "baby" of the Memphis Belle crew was waist-gunner Staff Sergeant Casimer A. Nastal who was a washing machine repairman from Detroit, Michigan with two confirmed fighter kills to his credit who thought he had more "but never had time to watch whether they went down"; Staff Sergeant Cecil H. Scott, a pressman for a rubber company in Rahway, New Jersey was the ball turret gunner and, at 27, the oldest member of the crew. One of the three cameraman was First Lieutenant Harold J. Tannenbaum, from Binghamton,New York, a World War I veteran who remained in the Navy until 1927. He re-entered the service in July,1942 when he received his commission in the Army Air Force. He was killed in action,age 46,in April of 1944 and received a posthumous Purple Heart.