WAR LOVER MOVIE QUESTION

[planenutti]

Watched the War Lover for the first time in years. Looked like they had three 17's for the film, is there a website where I can figure out which birds were in the film? Also, am I the only one that saw the C-97 sitting on the ramp during the scene when Buzz buzzed the field?
Thanks,
Bob

[TonyM]

Author Martin Caiden describes the flight of the three B-17s used in The War Lover in the forward of his great book FLYING FORTS, which is out of print. The three B-17s flew from Tucson, AZ, to England in three days. The book contains a photo of all three airplanes together. I'll see if I can run down the serial numbers for you. Also, there is a photo of the buzz job on page 6 of Roger Freeman's B-17 FORTRESS AT WAR.

TonyM.

[BCalmes]

According to the imdb.com website, there was a book written by Martin Caidin called "Everything But the Flak" about the restorations, flights across the Atlantic, and their use in the film. Amazon lists some dealers for used copies. It was published in 1964.

Also, Google '"The War Lover" aircraft' (with the movie name quoted) to find several references to wikipedia sites that have info. Another forum that lists serial numbers and a bit about what happened to the aircraft: http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/archive/index.php?t-39339.html

Never underestimate the power of the Google...

[Nathan]

I think Fuddy Duddy was one.

[Chris Brame]

Lots of good information right here:

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

[Second Air Force]

John Crewdson at work:

I never get tired of looking at that photo.

[Jerry O'Neill]

There was a fourth one that was used for the interior soundstage scenes.
I believe it was not a complete airframe. I also think two of the flyers were later scrapped and "Fuddy Duddy" returned to the US for the promotional tour and then back to firefighting. You can spot "Fuddy" in the film as the one with the missing waist window. It's where the cargo door was installed post war.
Jerry

[valdez25]

I have one of the leaflets passed out on the promotional tour. I'll try to scan it and post. It's pretty cool. The guy I got it from said he got it at MIdway in Chicago, and they did a leaflet drop like WWII.

[Steve Nelson]

I read once that when they were converting Fuddy Duddy for firefighting, they found dozens of those flyers under the floorboards. Apparently, they'd fly over cities where the film was playing and pitch them out.

SN

[JDK]

There was a fourth one that was used for the interior soundstage scenes.
I believe it was not a complete airframe. I also think two of the flyers were later scrapped and "Fuddy Duddy" returned to the US for the promotional tour and then back to firefighting.

I think most of that's covered in the Aerovintage link above. Nice to see it refers to my good friend Gary Brown's article in WW.

You can spot "Fuddy" in the film as the one with the missing waist window. It's where the cargo door was installed post war.

Din't know that, thanks!

[corsair166b]

Caidin also excerpts 'Everything but the Flak' in his other book 'Ragwings and Heavy Iron' if you just want a brief overview, but to get the whole story you gotta read 'Everything'...great story, stuff that just does'nt happen anymore, and a breed of men that is harder and harder to find anymore....granted, some of the stuff in the book might be a TAD embellished, but it sure adds to the flavor of the book....

Mark

[tom d. friedman]

i think paul mantz did most of the flying

[JDK]

i think paul mantz did most of the flying

You might, but he didn't.

See the above link.

[Simon Beck]

The fourth B-17 used as mentioned above was one
of the ones purchased by Israel after WW2.
It was found derelict in Israel and shipped back to
Bovington was it???? for filming and use at Pinewood
for interiors.

James Farmer wrote a fantastic article on these Forts
in Air Classics but I don't have the issue date at present.

One of the paratroopers was killed in the bail out sequence
at the end when his chute became tangled.
One of the crew members was Michael Crawford a.k.a. Frank Spencer.

S. Beck

[PeterA]

It was found derelict in Israel and shipped back to
Bovington was it???? for filming and use at Pinewood
for interiors.

S. Beck

RAF Bovingdon.

Bovington is the Tank warfare base.

PeterA