1943 color footage documentary of MEMPHIS BELL last combat mission

[Bad Water Bill]

A bit of history. Scenes of the Bell and her crew at the end of her last mission where the King and Queen meet the ENTIRE crew responsible for 25 successful missions.

Every member of the GROUND CREW were thanked for their part as well.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML_uUT05QT4&feature=endscreen

[wch]

Alex, a friend of mine, ex-Captain in the USAAF during WWII and a B-17 pilot, just celebrated his 91st birthday.
When I think of him and my father and their friends I'm here to tell you that they don't make them like that anymore.
We owe/owed all of them so much and if you try to tell them that they just smile and say "Hell, boy, I didn't do anything special".
Anyway, thanks Alex, thanks a lot!

[Bad Water Bill]

Being "AN OLD REPROBATE" I have had the pleasure to know MANY of that generation. I even was part of a flight crew out of N A S Glenview where we had pilot and co pilot from WW2,Korea and Berlin crisis. The plain captain was a tail gunner off a carrier in the S Pacific.

What impressed me was that the Queen wanted to meet the flight crew.

I do not remember ever seeing any mention before about the crews that spent 18-20 hour days keeping those birds in the sky. If you made a OOPS or it even looked that way you just MIGHT see an armed MARINE at the end of your bunk saying "come with me".

Yes I wished I could have heard some of their stories. But then again they may have tried hard to forget just how much garbage they went thru.

May ALL of that generation be remembered FOREVER.

[Moonie]

An uncle of mine was a nose gunner/radio man on a B-17 in the south pacific during WWII. Dad was born 9 months after my grandparents went to visit him in CA, in 1945 it was a LONG train ride from NC to CA.

[WILCO]

Thanks for the link BWB!

[uscra112]

In 1987 I happened to be in Seattle on the weekend of the 50th anniversary of the B-17 rollout. So of course I spent the day at the airshow. Saw a lot of guys who had flown the bird in the war, and remember thinking, "Heck, they don't look much older than I am". That really brought it home. Many of those guys were 19 and 20 years old.

[flydoc]

Thanks BWB,
That video is awesome. I had a visit to the Memphis bell when she was on Mud Island in Memphis . She was under a big enclosure and was slowly being restored by local volunteers. I was the only visitor at the time and a few restoration crew members were there working and waved at me to get off the viewing deck and come over to the ship. I got to spend an hour with them and toured the cockpit, even got some time in the pilots seat. Still had a picture of the pilots girl tucked in a cranny above the instrument panel. Took some real courage for those men to climb into that thin-skinned thing, offering no real protection from the shells thrown at them. Heroes all.

[merlin101]

Watching that really made me think. I really have nothing to say other than WOW

[fecmech]

Terrific video and thanks for posting it. Below is some info a friend sent me who was a C119 pilot in the 50's. I thought this may be of some interest.



Below is an excellent summary of the effort required in WWII. It focuses on the American side of things, but the British, Germans and Japanese expended comparable energy and experienced similar costs. Just one example for the Luftwaffe; about 1/3 of the Bf109s built were lost in non-combat crashes. After Midway, the Japanese experience level declined markedly, with the loss of so many higher-time naval pilots. This piece is worth saving in hard copy.


Most Americans who were not adults during WWII have no understanding of the magnitude of it.
This listing of some of the aircraft facts gives a bit of insight to it.
276,000 aircraft manufactured in the US .
43,000 planes lost overseas, including 23,000 in combat.
14,000 lost in the continental U.S.

The US civilian population maintained a dedicated effort for four years, many working long hours seven days per week and often also volunteering for other work.

WWII was the largest human effort in history.
Statistics from Flight Journal magazine.

THE PRICE OF VICTORY (cost of an aircraft in WWII dollars)
B-17 $204,370. P-40 $44,892.
B-24 $215,516. P-47 $85,578.
B-25 $142,194. P-51 $51,572.
B-26 $192,426. C-47 $88,574.
B-29 $605,360. PT-17 $15,052.
P-38 $97,147. AT-6 $22,952.

PLANES A DAY WORLDWIDE
From Germany's invasion of Poland Sept. 1, 1939 and ending with Japan 's surrender Sept. 2, 1945 --- 2,433 days
From 1942 onward, America averaged 170 planes lost a day.

How many is a 1,000 planes? B-17 production (12,731) wingtip to wingtip would extend 250 miles. 1,000 B-17s carried
2.5 million gallons of high octane fuel and required 10,000 airmen to fly and fight them.

THE NUMBERS GAME
9.7 billion gallons of gasoline consumed, 1942-1945.
107.8 million hours flown, 1943-1945.
459.7 billion rounds of aircraft ammo fired overseas, 1942-1945.
7.9 million bombs dropped overseas, 1943-1945.
2.3 million combat sorties, 1941-1945 (one sortie = one takeoff).
299,230 aircraft accepted, 1940-1945.
808,471 aircraft engines accepted, 1940-1945.
799,972 propellers accepted, 1940-1945.

[smokemjoe]

Thanks for showing, That should be showen to ever kid in school.