Airfield in Memphis Belle documentary

Well, if you would be so kind, post it here whenever you get it!

woodster wrote:

[attachment=0:3rjfut0k]Alconbury-b17g.jpg[/attachment:3rjfut0k] just a great photo!!

That screenshot is very atmospheric - just typifies the English countryside in wartime; such an evocative and emotive subject. It's a good documentary too.

Chris

photo of hardstand 28,alconbury,little stuckley church in background,alas no b17 to be seen!!!

aren't these 'then and now' shots just great we should have a separate thread dedicated to them

Anyone spot the Horsa glider with the two army pilots stood next to it when the Royal Car goes past? That's Bassingborne.

The glider was on a cross-country from Brize when the tug developed problems and they had to cast off. Of the three airfields in the area the one they landed at happened to be Bassingborne. It was only just before the King turned up on inspection that they landed so the unit CO had the glider pushed to the end of the line of Forts' and had the men join the Royal inspection. Apparently the King was very interested and wanted to know the whole story. Was the 26th May 1943 if anyone's interested.

( I knew being a member of the GPRA would come in handy one day )

ww2nut wrote:

aren't these 'then and now' shots just great we should have a separate thread dedicated to them

Good idea, but I think we should include them in the relevant airfield threads for now. It would be great to see more of them

o yes keep them in the relevant threads but have a separate one just for these really good ones that stand out, especially where the photos are taken at exactly the same spot. anyway just a thought
the best i have seen on aix is raf deanthorpe, fantastic comparison shots.

Any chance we could re-post the Alconbury B-17 photo, then and now? I'm not sure where the photos have gone but it'd be great to see them.

Cheers

I have been watching this thread with interest, having written the book 'Memphis Belle - dispelling the Myths. One aspect of the research we did was to go through the William Wyler's movie scene by scene (there are 503), tie that in with the Director's papers, and identify where possible the locations he used. Some filming was done at Alconbury as previously stated, a lot was done at Chelveston, some at Bovingdon and the remainder at Bassingbourn.We have also been able to identify a lot of the aircraft filmed and most of the targets shown in the movie.

An ongoing task now is to identify the remaining 18 hours and 17 minutes of unused footage we have in our possession. Wyler effectively had three units filming - himself, William H 'Ace' Clothier and Harold Tannenbaum. Indeed, some of the B-24 footage was shot by Tannenbaum at Hardwick with the 93rd BG. A total of 19 hours of footage was shot, most of which survives in pristine condition - much better condition than the assorted copy-of-a-copy-of-a-copy of the War Department movie that continues to do the rounds.

Perhaps surprisingly to many, It is clear that Wyler only used the Memphis Belle to become the 'star' due to circumstances beyond his control. the first version of the film was to be about 41-24397 Phyllis of the 352ndBS/301st BG based at Chelveston. The second aircraft was to be 42-5070 Invasion II of the 401st BS/91st BG, but that aircraft was shot down. It also had three titles - the first Phyllis was a Fortress, the second was 25 Missions and the 3rd was Memphis Belle. Through all these changes it's working title was The Wyer Movie.

Despite 30 years of gathering primary research documentation, first hand records and accounts along with piles and piles of contemporary reports and 3 years putting the book together, myself and my co-author, Dr Harry Friedman MD have been vilified by certain aspects of the historic aviation press - one magazine said we wrote 'tosh' for example, and another refuses to review it - we have also received an amount of hate-mail. I guess people do not like having the 'security blanket' that they wrap themselves in by believing the myths ripped away! One person for example was extremely vitriolic because we DARED to suggest that it was filmed anywhere else other than Bassingbourn! Another accused us of defiling the memories of the crew by revealing what we did! I had prepared a PowerPoint presentation to use as a lecture item for anyone interested, but since the 'tosh' comment, that has been cancelled - ah well... perhaps I should write yet another book on how the Spitfire won the Battle of Britain single-handedly!