Memphis Belle, for the four zillionth time, I'm slow....

[O.P.]

Is that what is keeping Swamp Ghost in the swamp, the movie thing?

I hope they do a better job showing the recovery them Ballard has done with the coverage of the USS Yorktown find and every other special he has made. They all have been a bit of a let down for me.

Hi Tim!

I didn't know they were going to make a movie or a documentary of a Swamp Ghost recovery. If they do though, I hope its better than the ones you mentioned, I have those dvd's also. I was just refering to the now normal dificulties in doing any kind of recovery in PNG.

I did see a documentary about a guy who went to PNG to find his famous uncles airplane there, awhile back. They found a lot of airplanes. They were everywhere. They also found crewmembers, and notified the families and Air Force. It was pretty facinating, but, it kinda pissed me of though. The guy had no conception of what he was looking at or doing. In one case he found a P-40 wreck, and just went tearing into it to see what was inside, or underneath. He and his buddies just picked up the wing, the groundsides paint looked almost brand new, and threw it down a hillside. I was tight to say the least.

[JimH]

Hey Mike, she is sitting in the old factory building at Boeing. The museum is going to build an enclosed area in front of the "Barn" to house her. Sad she won't be a flyer though.

Jim

Think about this...with the resources Don Brooks has..how hard must it be to get Swamp Ghost out verses going for a B-17 that is broke apart and under water.

[wls3]

Thought maybe a photo might be in order here on a dark winter day.
Memphis Belle over Geneseo last July.

Bill

[bdk]

Hey Mike, she is sitting in the old factory building at Boeing.

Paine, Everett, or Boeing Field? Lots of old Boeing factory buildings in that area!

By the way, the MoF has a new annex across the street with a Concorde and an Air Force 1 VC-137B (B707).

[Jeff Funk]

This picture of the original Memphis Belle was taken in July 2002, a few months before she was removed for restoration. Hopefully, her future home will be more protective and photogenic!

Last edited by Jeff Funk on Thu Dec 23, 2004 5:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Pat Carry]

Can M.o.F's B-17/B-29 been viewed by the public?

[Dan Johnson II]

Needless to say in true Hollywood fashion, they took what was a great story and overdramatized it to the point of overkill.

True... The only thing in common between the movie and reality was the title. However... if you set aside the name it is a fairly decent representation of what bomber crews faced on each mission, most just didn't have all of that stuff happen on just one mission. Mid-air collisions and near collisions in bomber streams were not unusual. The nose of a plane being blown off did happen. The stress and fear leading to people going off the deep end did happen. The movie is fairly good and true to reality of life for a bomber crew, just not the Mephis Belle crew.

Anyone agree? I am not a historian, just a hobbiest historian.

Mike

I think it depends on who you ask. A 301st BG, 15th AF B17 tail gunner that I know, thought it was great. He'd survived being shot down and pinned in the tail, riding it all the way down and surviving.

I talked to some 8th AF vets, including a 91st BG B17 pilot who also was shot down and made a POW. He hated it. One of the comments made was that no crew would act as childish as the Belle crew did in the movie. They were way too dependent on each other to being doing those kinds of things in flight.

That was his opinion of course but since he'd been there, done that, it kind of stuck with me.

Dan

[JimH]

Boeing Field in Seattle...didn't know they built them anywhere else in the Seattle area?

Jim

[L. Thompson]

I took my Dad to see the movie for his birthday or Father's Day, the year it came out. He also (I saw your mention Dan, from above) was a 15th AF, 301st BG tailgunner, and later top turret gunner/engineer, with 50 missions between July 1943 and March 1944.
He never liked the old 12 O' Clock High series much, or The War Lover, and other B-17 shows, but he really thought they captured things pretty well with the Memphis Belle movie and he really enjoyed it. He told me afterwards that he had seen a 109 rip a B-17 in half almost exactly like the one shown.
The clowning around and swearing on a mission he did say was absolutely wrong in his experience. The crews were quite somber and no swearing would have been tolerated. This probably depended on the crew but chances are his experience was more common than not. One thing though, about the 301st BG, was that they often flew with scambled up crews and not a consistent crew list or consistant same airplane. I can see where a crew together in one plane for a full 25 missions and knowing it was their last could have more fun.

[Nige GSX1400]

Although maybe not accurate in many respects, it does show a little of the hell that USAAF aircrew went through in WW2 in Europe. If they showed the full horror of the battles it might be too much for many people.

Personally I think the moment when the navigator stands on the tarmac at night screaming 'I dont want to die' is a good illustration of how many must have felt.
Having had 2 heart attacks I can understand the character's fears.

[snj-5]

Boeing Field in Seattle...didn't know they built them anywhere else in the Seattle area?

Jim

The Boeing Field plant (known internally as "Plant II") was where
B-17s were originally built. There is also the Renton and Everett
plants. I think Renton built B-29s during WW-II, but the Everett
plant didn't exist until the 747 program in the mid 1960s.

There is also a parts plant in Auburn and another one in Portland
(no airfields at either of these two). There are of course, other
sites/plants now all over the world, but those are "out of scope"
for this thread!

Bela P. Havasreti

[Cking]

I thought the original Memphis Belle was excelent. The bit were the guy is getting a blood transfusion in the back of a crashed b-17 still brings a lump to my throat even though I know it was a propaganda film.
The modern one was typical Hollywood. Why didn't they do another story? Was the Memphis B the only aircraft the Allies had? Just a quick scan back through the stories covered on this web site gives enough material for ten films!

Rgds Cking

[Jack Cook]

I thought the remake sucked has did the 3 B-17 vets I went with.
Can you imagine what you'd have if Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks teamed up to do a remake of the Belle and made it on the level of Saving Private Ryan!!??

[bdk]

Boeing Field in Seattle...didn't know they built them anywhere else in the Seattle area?

Jim

The Boeing Field plant (known internally as "Plant II") was where
B-17s were originally built. There is also the Renton and Everett
plants. I think Renton built B-29s during WW-II, but the Everett
plant didn't exist until the 747 program in the mid 1960s.

So in which building is the airplane now?

[snj-5]

Don't know if the information is accurate or not, but this
page says it's in a hangar @ Renton:

http://www.museumofflight.org/Collectio ... 26A424E390

Bela P. Havasreti