"BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES" Warbird Graveyard Scene

[DiggerWW2]

Here's the Classic Warbird Graveyard Scene from the Classic Film "THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES" showing endless rows & rows of WW2 Warbirds waiting to be chopped up & melted down:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tU0d3DVcKoY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNxkhKIF ... ed&search=

20 Years Later:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLFvFTRf ... ed&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hOFZz5oNB8&NR=1

Digger

[Former Member]

Cool video...thanks for sharing.

I've never seen the movie and it was sad to see all those beautiful aircraft waiting to be destroyed. Does anybody know where this was filmed?...Kingman?

John

[Dan Newcomb]

Military Aviation Movie List
Compiled by Marshall Cram mcram@rogerswave.ca
HTML Conversion by Michael Brunk (mbrunk@serv.net)


Best Years of our Lives
1946 *v
USAAF- Dana Andrews; Three men return from WWII and try to adjust to civilian life. One was a B-17 bombardier who suffers flash-backs. Incredible shots of the Searcy Field, Oklahoma boneyard, and Ontario AAF at Chino as acres of B-17's, P-39's, BT-13's, BT-15's, C-47's, C-54's etc. are cut-up for scrap.

I have been told that these huge fields of aircraft were all but gone within a couple of years, some within months. The scrapers were very efficient.

Dan

[Django]

The CAF musem at HQ has a really cool exhibit on the scrap yards. It was heartbreaking...

[Forgotten Field]

Turner Classic Movies is running that movie this month. You should see it. It is a great movie, and well captures the spirit of the time of the former servicemen and civilians circa 1946.

[Django]

Turner Classic Movies is running that movie this month. You should see it. It is a great movie, and well captures the spirit of the time of the former servicemen and civilians circa 1946.

Definitely. It got 7 Academy Awards and was the best picture of '46.

[aerovin]

You might want to check this link also for BYOOL info:

http://www.aerovintage.com/bestyrs.htm

[bdk]

And some of the parts left over from the smelting operation are still buried out there. It seems as though mostly the aluminum was recovered and much of the steel was buried.

[Matt Gunsch]

What I liked about that movie was Harold Russell, He played Homer, the double amputee, He had never acted before and won a oscar.

Harold John Russell was born in Nova Scotia in 1914. His family moved to Cambridge Massachusetts when his father died in 1919. He was training paratroopers at Camp MacKall NC on June 6, 1944 when some TNT he was using exploded in his hands. He lost both hands. After receiving hooks, and training on them, he was chosen to make an Army training film called "Diary Of A Sergeant". William Wyler saw the film and decided to change a character in his film The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) from a spastic to a double amputee. Harold Russell played Homer Parish. For this role he received 2 Oscars, a Best Supporting and one for being an inspiration to all returning veterans. He is the only actor to receive 2 Oscars for the same role. After the movie he attended Boston University. He later went on to help establish AMVETS as a viable alternative to the American Legion for veterans, though his dream of an international veterans organization was never realized. He later appeared in Inside Moves (1980) and Dogtown (1997). He lived with his wife on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. He wrote 2 biographies: "Victory In My Hands" (1947) & "The Best Years Of My Life" (1981).

[tom d. friedman]

a sad note.... in the last years of his life homer the real amputee / actor / vet had to hock his acadamy awards to pay bills & survive. that movie really makes you think, the future of today's returning vets are much more secure. as to captain derry's wife in the movie.......... i'd like to

[Matt Gunsch]

Tom,
He sold the oscar to pay for his wifes medical care, he got $60k for it. Now if you win a oscar, you have to sign a statment saying you will never sell it.

[Taylor Stevenson]

Seeing all those old birds makes me sick to my stomach... Who needs a pre-fabricated house when you've got a B-17!

Taylor

[Dan Newcomb]

Found on the web. Way back in the olden days I used to hang out at Chino. I remember seeing several photos in an old Cal Aero hangar showing stored aircraft.

[bdk]

I believe the revetment towards the bottom of the photo still exists at Chino Airport (if I have my bearings correct). The others were torn down about 10 years ago.

[Second Air Force]

The aerial shots looking out the front of the B-17 on final approach were actually taken at Walnut Ridge if memory serves. No matter, it still turns your stomach to see all that hardware waiting for the smelter.

Scott