"to protect... the narrower native country from the terror airmen. Could you fancy something nicer?"
(Second lieutenant Hans Nagel shot on the 7th of April, 1945 to the north of Hannover an American bomber and rammed a second one. On this occasion, he met the death.)
I remember first watching this on hbo or amc years back. this scene, the shock of it, the screams of the pilots and the sight of the plane falling then disappearing into oblivion through the clouds. makes a pit in my stomach every time.
@mybluebelly No, but the fate suffered by this fictional aircrew was a fairly common cause of loss during WW2, most of it in the latter part of the war where German fighters would intentionally ram allied aircraft.
@mybluebelly There are not very many airworthy 17's left so they were limited in what they could do. Also, creating your own fictional aircraft avoids upsetting veterans/relatives when the characters meet their eventual demise.
no micka35 the germans at that time they are ALL NAZIs and they make sirious crimes ,this will never be forgoten and my grand father fight yours up there in the skys at that time , sorry
no micka35 the germans at that time they are ALL NAZIs and they make sirious crimes ,this will never be forgoten and my grand father fight yours up there in the skys at that time , sorry
I would think that deep down, even though they were trying to kill each other, those bomber crews would admit that charging head on 2 or 3 at a time towards a formation of 30 or more heavily armed bombers packed together showed just how brave and determined those German pilots were. It's amazing what having your homeland bombed can do for motivation.
it really is a pretty terrifying scene...we can't even begin to imagine what it would've been like to here the screams, and know there was nothing you could do.
Lastly, I did not mean to say bomber crews were not concerned with hitting their targets - of course they were. If they didn't, they'd have to go back and do it again. All I'm saying, and I've heard this from MANY AAF veterans, is they didn't care if they hit everything around the target too. As far as they were concerned, everything down there was fair game.
@555paint - Also, this movie isn't a compilation of all of the Memphis Belle's missions - hardly. The Memphis Belle actually lived a rather charmed life and never suffered any major flak damage or damage from German fighters. This movie is a complete fabrication of absurdities and highly unlikely situations.
@555paint - Yes, the movie is silly - in fact, it's an insult to intelligence. At the very beginning of the film, a damaged returning B-17 makes a relatively clean crash landing on the field, skids to a stop on its belly, then abruptly explodes with a massive fireball - a bomber that's carrying no bombs, and it's going to have very little fuel left. It didn't start burning, which might've maybe happened, it exploded like it was hit by a bomb - that was stupid thing #1.
@Mr145187 I said ealier how much time has to pass before you can expect a balanced history even from professional historians and then I realized even a couple of years ago when Clint Eastwood made the movie Letters from Iwo Jima which looked at that battle from the Japanese perspective he got some push back for doing it which is absurd. I would like to see a movie which does look at the air war from the point of view of the German fighter pilots or at least is balanced with their perspective.
My grandfather was a farmer during japs invaded us in south east asia, he killed 3 japs with a shovel, a parang and a rat poison, and beheaded all them with kitchen knife, and hid their head under our huge rice container, grandpa's gone now, but we still have the japs skull. Imjk :P
No, no children are to blame. Did the USAAF TRY to do precision bombing? Yeah, they did. Didn't work. The technology was not yet ready. War is war. I hate the loss of life. On all sides. Most Americans are somewhat Jacksonian about war. Leave us alone, we leave you alone. To put it simply, Don't Start None, Won't Be None."
@LgndryThndr, I'm afraid you've been reading Stephen Ambrose too much. My grandfather was a flakhelfer, then a fighter pilot in the Luftwaffe. The 8th AF carpet bombed almost as much as the British. There was no such thing as "precision bombing" in WWII by anyone. And having been in the CAF and the Collings Foundation & worked with hundreds of USAAF vets, I've never met one who was this concerned with hitting a target - they just wanted to get home alive - can't blame them. Silly movie.
@nachtjager77 Don Miller in the excellent Masters of the Air, although very sympathetic to 8th Airforce, agrees that USAAF engaged in carpet bombing but would not admit it but the crews knew that a shift in strategy had taken place...some approved some did not. Put another way: the RAF had bomber Harris and we had Bombs Away Lemay.
@nachtjager77 nachtjager77 However, I can't see how your comment that no USAAF air crews were concerned with hitting a target but only wanted to unload and get home safe is valid. That would mean a very high degree of unprofessionalism by aircrews and I don't know any historian of the subject who would endorse so sweeping a generalization as you make. Sounds like you have been reading too much Joe Heller
@nachtjager77 You say the movie is 'silly'. I can't agree. It isn't the best ever made but not as bad as you claim. One has to realize the characters are composites and the mission is a compliation of all their missions but that is typical of nearly all historical movies...you can only do so much with 2 hours. And it never said it was documentary.
" They claimed that by using the B-17 and the Norden bombsight, the USAAF should be able to carry out "precision bombing" on locations vital to the German war machine "
The purpose of the area bombardment of cities was laid out in a British Air Staff paper, dated September 23, 1941: "The ultimate aim of an attack on a town area is to break the morale of the population which occupies it.
The british caused more bombing destruction than both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
This scene freaked me out the most. The co-pilot was so eager to be a gunner so he can get his "kill" but he got more than he bargained for when it crashed into the other bomber. This only shows that there is no glory in war. "Be careful of what you wish for because you just might get it."
f you like the B17 i have a story for u in 1943 UK east harling . An american airman took to war with him a coin SEAL it was his fathers .The coin was very soon to become the good luck Icon for the base and then all of the other bases.Unknown to them they were carrying the seal of god on their missions.The coin was one of four sewn into Jesus cloke it had been past hand to hand to this momentin time Hitler had to go .See The real christos coin u tube to see the mission
Come on, now. I know it was his first combat flight and all, but I find it hard to believe that the radio operator would have stayed on the radio screaming instead of getting the F out, or trying to get the F out. I doubt he would have been audible over the noise anyway, or that he could have stayed close enough to his post given that his plane had broken in half and was flipping around. Ridiculous.
I am still waiting for a good, realistic WWI or WW2 aviation movie to come out.
makes you feel bad for these poor buggers ya know they climb into to the skys never wonder why, like honestly most of these boys never made it home we should never ferget these brave bomber crews of both the allied and axis, who flew the bombers on a bombing mission, there were many a Canadian lads that never made it home either
@100imachristian It seems to be a common misconception by uneducated Europeans that America fougt exclusivley in France against the Germans. Lets not forget that we also fought in Africa in the early years of the war and killed and died along side the British. Also we fought in Italy and lets not forget fighting the Japanese since '42 and retaking every major island they captured with little to no help from our allies. Maybe we should have never got involved, eh? See where you'd be then.
@nynaiqmal I don't think that would work, due to the high level of stress. For example, I know in WWI, tail gunners would shoot the tails off their own planes, and they had to design a mount for the gun that wouldn't let them do that.
My guess is they just said "CAREFUL WHERE YOU POINT THAT GUN" and lived with (or died from) the stray shots.
I went to see this film the first day it opened in the UK back in September 1990. It got me them. So much so it became one of my favourite films of all times. The soundtrack and the outstanding cast performance. This was very close to Saving Private Ryan. Please watch it if you have not it is amazing!!! God Bless B17 Sally B and all you may fly in her xx
One of my older cousins flew 52 missions as B-17 over Germany during WW-II. during 1943 and 1944. None of his crew ever got shot up. Must be luck of the draw and fate that he and his crew made it through the war without injury.
Yeah i loved this film when i was younger i must have watched it 100 times and im not exagerating at all. 28 now but not watched it for a good 10 years now, only got it on VHS and not got a video player anymore lolz.
My dad was a FW-190 pilot. My father teached me not to hate the enemy pilots/crews. But when I hear the co-pilot saying "they are all nazis".................I don`t know. Yes, I know it was war but i hope that`s not the common opinion among the former bombercrews / soldiers. My dad fought for Germany, not for hitler. And it`s not the childrens fault for all that shit! Sorry for my poor english
@blackbobby you r pathetic. and what are american troops fighting for in irak and afganistan. is it not world domination? WW2 was fought for world domination... americans r so brainwashed its pathetic.
You Dad taught you well. Hate is handy when you pick up a rifle and take out those you think are 'bad guys'- it insulates your feelings. But later when its calm its quiet you start to think
Yes, probably you are right. But it`s amazing. After the war my dad met his former enemies for several warveterans meetings. They had beer together, they laughed together, they just had fun together. Guys who tried to kill theirselves, not a long time before. Even today it`s a strange imagination for me.
@Micha35 I'm an American, but i'm also French, Portugese, even GERMAN, so don't listen to any haters man, hitler was just an (no offense to you micha, some intended for hitler) insane nazi who just wanted absolute control over the entire world, and wanted everyone licking his butt, with all the jews off the planet. And to any german hater, don't hate Germans, just hate Hitler! Not all germans are mean, and here is your proof. Tell your father (if alive) he is a great man.
@Micha35 I agree that the children are not to blame for the war and I don't think many blame. I knew a man who fought for Germany because he was conscripted. There was a difference between German soldiers and Nazi's. That being said though you should understand that war forces people to do things that are against their nature and it's easier to do so if you can hate. Hate tends to come naturally when you see what war does to buddies though you forget that it's also happening to the other side
@Micha35 The real test of healing and the only way to gauge others is to see how the men who were in battle and fought have forgiven now...or not. It's not only Americans either. Here in the U.S I've had people who were Nazi's during WWII hate me because they found out I had some Jewish ancestry. Do I hate them? No, I pity them and I'm leery of them. I have friends in Germany and no problems, it's over. Let it rest but never forget the lessons learned or those who died did so for no reason.
@Micha35 Ich stimme mit Ihnen! Ich denke, dass Leute, die noch wie alle Deutschen waren Nazis verhalten sind unglaublich dumm! Verzeihen Sie meine schlechte Deutsch.
It`s me "Micha35". I have closed my former account as you noticed perhaps.
There are a lot of very good books and reports of German fighter pilots but all in german language. If you like, i can try to find out if any german book titles were translatet into english.
@Micha35 OK thanks and if you think of any English language accounts let me know, I realize there must be plenty in German but I can't read German. I find really frustrating the histories of the air war written in USA even really good ones almost always fail to include some insight from the perspective of the German pilots of anti air craft etc. How much time has to pass before we can get a balanced history?
In 1944after the Dambusters raid, Guy Gibson did a lecture tour of the US. In one lecture he was asked how many missions he had completed over Germany. US airmen where required to complete 25 missions! The crowd gasped and where stunned into silence when Gibson replied that he had completed 174 missions!!!
@jsjuno because the ball turret gunners were the men with the LOWEST chance of survival... History channel did a series called suicide missions and one episode was centered around the brave men who flew that position, one of who tired to talk a MP into taking his place, When the fella found out the guy was a Ball Turret he said "You sir can go to Hell!!!"
I would say the ball turret gunner would have the lowest chance of survival if the b17 was falling out of the sky since he needed help from another crew member to get out,however I have also read from casulty records it suffered the lowest casualties compared to the crew members at the front of the aircraft,enemy fighters would target this area in hopes of killing the pilots or knocking out the engines,although I must admit the ball turret would be last place I would want to be.
@MPT1983 now i dont know any actual facts but being cramped like that for hours at a time would already suck then you add the 10000 ft above the ground and the enemy fighters and did you notice how mutch it bounced up and down my god each time it bouces my heart would stop lol but it does seem like a hard spot for fighters to get too but i would rather be at the tale or waist gunner
The Ball Turret is the worst position on the bomber, right? It's at the wee bottom of the plane, and it's so cramped down there...
It must also have been the hardest place to get out of if the bomber was going down. Probably the easiest would have been something like the shoulder gunners, although it would have been hard for all of them...
@jsjuno While cramped, the ball turret is also the most protected one. From below is not a good approach angle for fighters. I'd say the absolutely worst position is the tailgunner's, because he's so exposed.
As a historian, I can tell you that the reason the USAAF did daylight bombing DESPITE the horrific losses inflicted by the Luftwaffe was because they really belived that accurate daylight bombing of critical strategic targets would help end the war faster. The technology just wasn't good enough yet to fullfill this idea.
This movie is takes an innacurate view of what went on during this period, this clip is a prime example, right in the pickle barrel? they were carpet bombing, if there was a school next door to the factory, they probably would have hit it, look at the bomber formation, bombs used to miss by literaly miles, they should have been more honest in this film, the allies carpet bombed cities, killing and wounding large amounts of the civilian population, it was 'total war', bomber crews knew that.
Well if you think about it... some of the men on the B 17 couldve jumped out and deployed their parachutes but its very hard to do especially when your plane is spiralling down, but if they did get out in time it deffinatly would've saved them
@miltonluvsno1 i know right its so sad i watched it last night and i literally burst in to shock my dad is a professional plot he flies model air planes and if you want to see my dad fly go to the search bar and type in steve pully b-25 flight
The real Memphis Belle wnet on a "milk run" for its last mission. The Army needed it and its crew for propaganda to return home and sell war bonds. My grandfather was a waist gunner on a B-17 and said the oxygen lines would freeze up all the time ang guys came back from missions with frost bite all the time.
I confess that I was not, having been born much later. However, I have spoken with men who were there, and they all concur that one cannot function at 25,000 feet without oxygen. The MB documentary released during WW2 (available on YT) also makes this clear.
May I also suggest Jon Krakauer's book "Into Thin Air" for more on oxygen deprivation's effects on the human body at high altitude. This book is mentioned in "Half a Wing, Three Engines, and a Prayer," and with good reason.
How hard it must've been for the families, wives, girlfriends, fiances and relatives to live with the knowledge that their brave men often had to go with their planes when they got hit.
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This movie is full of crap: what makes the Memphis Belle so legendary was the fact that she came back from the war WITHOUT one single scratch...the belly gun ball turrent NEVER fell!!!
Shame on you, Hollywood, for not giving those air men the proper dedication they really deserve...BUT, THEN, YOU ALL HAVE NO SHAME!!!
incorrect,part of the belles legendary status derived from its ability to return from missons after suffering severe damage,the body of the aircraft literally shot to pieces in some cases.
A very sad scene. I remember discussing that with my Granddaddy, who worked on the B-17s in WWII. I think he said he knew someone that that happened to (the mother'n'country part). I was 28 when I enlisted in the Army. I knew what I was getting into and knew that I'd lived and experienced most of what life has to offer. It makes me sad to watch WWII movies where so many young men died without ever knowing what it was like to love and sleep with a woman. :( So young. So BRAVE!
umm.. am i the only one who thinks it a bit strange that while flying at 26,000 feet they can take off oxygen maskes without passing out within a few seconds? And that's a 109 he shot down, 190's had big honking radial engines, 109's had inline engines.
The weapons were refilled from ammo stored on the plane. Because of the way the .50 cals fed you could reload ammo relativeles fast. Btw did anyone notice the plane he shot was a FW 190 an the one the hit Mother an Country was an Me 109? It was out of scale too
Yes they could. What would happen if there weapon was to jam? They would have to perform maintenence to fix it. What if the jam was caused by a misfed round? They wouldve had to open the upper reciever and fix the feed...where the ammo was being fed. In fact the movie depicts the bomber crews taking the ammo out of their weapons at the end of the movie and throwing it over board.
The USAAF commited war crimes and I have to puke if I watch this movie.
antikitzel 5 days ago
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"to protect... the narrower native country from the terror airmen. Could you fancy something nicer?"
(Second lieutenant Hans Nagel shot on the 7th of April, 1945 to the north of Hannover an American bomber and rammed a second one. On this occasion, he met the death.)
ColaWhiski 3 weeks ago
George Lucas and the maker of "Red Tails" should have taken notes.
JediGTI 3 weeks ago
In 1944 the p-51s could escort al the way to Germany
Dillian66 1 month ago
was 8 year old when i first watched this on the good old VHS. this was the time when u could watch a movie 20 times over and over:) i miss the 90s:(
TheTimpa92 2 months ago
subtitulos of the penis
conkernato 2 months ago
Honestly guys, can you imagine if that was you who was responsible for doing that? When we landed I would have just shot myself...
Oaklandsucksballs 3 months ago
I almost burst into tears watching this. It's horrifying :(
MichaelJacksonLove99 3 months ago
I remember first watching this on hbo or amc years back. this scene, the shock of it, the screams of the pilots and the sight of the plane falling then disappearing into oblivion through the clouds. makes a pit in my stomach every time.
Gphazor 4 months ago
Mother & Country never actually excisted right?
mybluebelly 4 months ago
@mybluebelly No according to wikipedia.
Fireburnin21 3 months ago
@mybluebelly No, but the fate suffered by this fictional aircrew was a fairly common cause of loss during WW2, most of it in the latter part of the war where German fighters would intentionally ram allied aircraft.
ColoursCapello 1 month ago
@ColoursCapello Why would they use fictional markings instead of real replica`s?
Anyway i love this movie!
mybluebelly 1 month ago
@mybluebelly There are not very many airworthy 17's left so they were limited in what they could do. Also, creating your own fictional aircraft avoids upsetting veterans/relatives when the characters meet their eventual demise.
ColoursCapello 1 month ago
sad but true
Godenzoon1987 4 months ago
Oi! Dats a lot off dakka, but not nuff. It was proppa funny when doze boyz got chopped in haff with dat odda fighta bomma! AHAAHA! Proppa laff!
chaosworshipper 4 months ago
no micka35 the germans at that time they are ALL NAZIs and they make sirious crimes ,this will never be forgoten and my grand father fight yours up there in the skys at that time , sorry
aeraaeraaaaaaaaaaaa 5 months ago
@aeraaeraaaaaaaaaaaa
I just say you are wrong! You are fanatic, when you say, all Germans were nazis!
Florian112RE 5 months ago
no micka35 the germans at that time they are ALL NAZIs and they make sirious crimes ,this will never be forgoten and my grand father fight yours up there in the skys at that time , sorry
aeraaeraaaaaaaaaaaa 5 months ago
I would think that deep down, even though they were trying to kill each other, those bomber crews would admit that charging head on 2 or 3 at a time towards a formation of 30 or more heavily armed bombers packed together showed just how brave and determined those German pilots were. It's amazing what having your homeland bombed can do for motivation.
educatedcockroach 6 months ago 2
it really is a pretty terrifying scene...we can't even begin to imagine what it would've been like to here the screams, and know there was nothing you could do.
naruhinaaddict1000 6 months ago
Lastly, I did not mean to say bomber crews were not concerned with hitting their targets - of course they were. If they didn't, they'd have to go back and do it again. All I'm saying, and I've heard this from MANY AAF veterans, is they didn't care if they hit everything around the target too. As far as they were concerned, everything down there was fair game.
nachtjager77 6 months ago
@555paint - Also, this movie isn't a compilation of all of the Memphis Belle's missions - hardly. The Memphis Belle actually lived a rather charmed life and never suffered any major flak damage or damage from German fighters. This movie is a complete fabrication of absurdities and highly unlikely situations.
nachtjager77 6 months ago
@555paint - Yes, the movie is silly - in fact, it's an insult to intelligence. At the very beginning of the film, a damaged returning B-17 makes a relatively clean crash landing on the field, skids to a stop on its belly, then abruptly explodes with a massive fireball - a bomber that's carrying no bombs, and it's going to have very little fuel left. It didn't start burning, which might've maybe happened, it exploded like it was hit by a bomb - that was stupid thing #1.
nachtjager77 6 months ago
@Mr145187 I said ealier how much time has to pass before you can expect a balanced history even from professional historians and then I realized even a couple of years ago when Clint Eastwood made the movie Letters from Iwo Jima which looked at that battle from the Japanese perspective he got some push back for doing it which is absurd. I would like to see a movie which does look at the air war from the point of view of the German fighter pilots or at least is balanced with their perspective.
555paint 6 months ago
My grandfather was a farmer during japs invaded us in south east asia, he killed 3 japs with a shovel, a parang and a rat poison, and beheaded all them with kitchen knife, and hid their head under our huge rice container, grandpa's gone now, but we still have the japs skull. Imjk :P
abunjahal 7 months ago
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abunjahal 7 months ago
The usual USA propaganda crap, Im no kid anymore. But I have to admit, i like the movie :)
abunjahal 7 months ago
No, no children are to blame. Did the USAAF TRY to do precision bombing? Yeah, they did. Didn't work. The technology was not yet ready. War is war. I hate the loss of life. On all sides. Most Americans are somewhat Jacksonian about war. Leave us alone, we leave you alone. To put it simply, Don't Start None, Won't Be None."
Corsair092 8 months ago
@LgndryThndr, I'm afraid you've been reading Stephen Ambrose too much. My grandfather was a flakhelfer, then a fighter pilot in the Luftwaffe. The 8th AF carpet bombed almost as much as the British. There was no such thing as "precision bombing" in WWII by anyone. And having been in the CAF and the Collings Foundation & worked with hundreds of USAAF vets, I've never met one who was this concerned with hitting a target - they just wanted to get home alive - can't blame them. Silly movie.
nachtjager77 8 months ago
@nachtjager77 Don Miller in the excellent Masters of the Air, although very sympathetic to 8th Airforce, agrees that USAAF engaged in carpet bombing but would not admit it but the crews knew that a shift in strategy had taken place...some approved some did not. Put another way: the RAF had bomber Harris and we had Bombs Away Lemay.
555paint 6 months ago
Comment removed
555paint 6 months ago
@nachtjager77 nachtjager77 However, I can't see how your comment that no USAAF air crews were concerned with hitting a target but only wanted to unload and get home safe is valid. That would mean a very high degree of unprofessionalism by aircrews and I don't know any historian of the subject who would endorse so sweeping a generalization as you make. Sounds like you have been reading too much Joe Heller
555paint 6 months ago
@nachtjager77 You say the movie is 'silly'. I can't agree. It isn't the best ever made but not as bad as you claim. One has to realize the characters are composites and the mission is a compliation of all their missions but that is typical of nearly all historical movies...you can only do so much with 2 hours. And it never said it was documentary.
555paint 6 months ago
" They claimed that by using the B-17 and the Norden bombsight, the USAAF should be able to carry out "precision bombing" on locations vital to the German war machine "
The purpose of the area bombardment of cities was laid out in a British Air Staff paper, dated September 23, 1941: "The ultimate aim of an attack on a town area is to break the morale of the population which occupies it.
The british caused more bombing destruction than both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
LgndryThndr 8 months ago
completely in 2 say fuck so bad it was just vegetables
gerom1994 8 months ago
This scene freaked me out the most. The co-pilot was so eager to be a gunner so he can get his "kill" but he got more than he bargained for when it crashed into the other bomber. This only shows that there is no glory in war. "Be careful of what you wish for because you just might get it."
gmccord1970 9 months ago 2
@gmccord1970 Shit Happens in war...
dkseaverns1 8 months ago
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f you like the B17 i have a story for u in 1943 UK east harling . An american airman took to war with him a coin SEAL it was his fathers .The coin was very soon to become the good luck Icon for the base and then all of the other bases.Unknown to them they were carrying the seal of god on their missions.The coin was one of four sewn into Jesus cloke it had been past hand to hand to this momentin time Hitler had to go .See The real christos coin u tube to see the mission
krayzie1234567
krayzie1234567 11 months ago
No one needs to say anything...the empty confused eerie noise of the radio screeching and squelching speaks volumes and it's horrifying.
ingwersengrady 11 months ago 2
I don't think they ever gave a flying fuck about bombing the shit out of civilians.
therealbamlee 1 year ago
@therealbamlee No, they didn't ... Look what they did to Japan. Or just read Flyboys by James Bradley...
dkseaverns1 8 months ago
if i ever come across to a ww2 veteran ..ether allied or axis i will stand up and salute him...i have the at most respect for them
PPiTTislakatamia 1 year ago 3
i remember watching this with my dad when i was young :( it was his favourite movie. awwe i miss those days :(
inchwormgreen 1 year ago
@inchwormgreen i have seen that movie at least 50 times and its still a awesome movie
dakingluther 1 year ago
That scene horrified me as a kid. The screech of the radio haunted me.
ColoursCapello 1 year ago 18
@ColoursCapello Same here, man. Same here.
ThInTrM 1 year ago
Come on, now. I know it was his first combat flight and all, but I find it hard to believe that the radio operator would have stayed on the radio screaming instead of getting the F out, or trying to get the F out. I doubt he would have been audible over the noise anyway, or that he could have stayed close enough to his post given that his plane had broken in half and was flipping around. Ridiculous.
I am still waiting for a good, realistic WWI or WW2 aviation movie to come out.
Paul19807 1 year ago
@Paul19807 Then don't bother watching anything that Hollywood puts out since it is all going to be embellished for effects at the risk of truth.
PaladinMC8 1 year ago
makes you feel bad for these poor buggers ya know they climb into to the skys never wonder why, like honestly most of these boys never made it home we should never ferget these brave bomber crews of both the allied and axis, who flew the bombers on a bombing mission, there were many a Canadian lads that never made it home either
davo1193 1 year ago 3
I saw this film in the theatre, and I remember this particular scene was horrifying.
olentangy74 1 year ago 8
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so full of shit n so fake lol..anyway was america in the war long.....lol nope.
100imachristian 1 year ago
@100imachristian Just long enough to save the UK's butt.
Oh, and your welcome.
Mackdog613 1 year ago
@Mackdog613
Why are you saying your welcome? You didn't contribute a damned thing to the war.
RepublicAgent 1 month ago
@100imachristian It seems to be a common misconception by uneducated Europeans that America fougt exclusivley in France against the Germans. Lets not forget that we also fought in Africa in the early years of the war and killed and died along side the British. Also we fought in Italy and lets not forget fighting the Japanese since '42 and retaking every major island they captured with little to no help from our allies. Maybe we should have never got involved, eh? See where you'd be then.
TheCptkrunch13 1 year ago 4
@TheCptkrunch13 Don't forget Austria, Luxembourgh, Belgium, The Netherlands etc.
Eleanorfan1992 1 year ago
those guys were courageous!
respect
ipi223 1 year ago
Teamkill :'(
DarkKnightBob1o1 1 year ago
I always wondered how the bombers in the formation could shoot at the fighters without shooting each other. Does anyone out there know?
davidrodgersNJ 1 year ago 4
@davidrodgersNJ Bullets drop really fast at that height, so by the time it reached another bomber its already missing.
miltonluvsno1 1 year ago
@davidrodgersNJ They just had to be careful. But sometimes they did hit each other.
Salguine 1 year ago
@davidrodgersNJ Simple straight forward...BE CAREFUL WHERE YOU POINT THAT GUN. i think...
nynaiqmal 11 months ago
@nynaiqmal I don't think that would work, due to the high level of stress. For example, I know in WWI, tail gunners would shoot the tails off their own planes, and they had to design a mount for the gun that wouldn't let them do that.
My guess is they just said "CAREFUL WHERE YOU POINT THAT GUN" and lived with (or died from) the stray shots.
davidrodgersNJ 11 months ago
poor mother and country that was a real plane r.i.p
dillman1999 1 year ago
*whats the difference there all Nazis* *luke shut up* hes wright shut up they diddent want war neither did us
dillman1999 1 year ago
I went to see this film the first day it opened in the UK back in September 1990. It got me them. So much so it became one of my favourite films of all times. The soundtrack and the outstanding cast performance. This was very close to Saving Private Ryan. Please watch it if you have not it is amazing!!! God Bless B17 Sally B and all you may fly in her xx
pepey05 1 year ago 3
did you hear they are restoring the belle at wright field?
bearhaulin120 1 year ago
What's another movie that has a sketch artist, sketching a animated wheel? I used to mix Memphis Belle and the other war movie.
boredguy100 1 year ago
@boredguy100 That was an episode of Steven Spielberg's "Amazing Stories".
kriegsammler 1 year ago
Just so Memphis Belle fans know, Stan the rookie (from 'Mother and Country') survived. I saw him in 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'.
englishguy2010 1 year ago
from the characters i like most the tail gunner he has his own way with things you know casual funny sometimes:)
xazoulini1 1 year ago 3
Gran película.
francoazul11 1 year ago
Oh, I left a word out.....aricraft commander.
DougDaCosta 1 year ago
One of my older cousins flew 52 missions as B-17 over Germany during WW-II. during 1943 and 1944. None of his crew ever got shot up. Must be luck of the draw and fate that he and his crew made it through the war without injury.
DougDaCosta 1 year ago
I have fucking loved this film since I was a kid. I still do love this film because it's so awesome.
a380person 1 year ago
@a380person
Yeah i loved this film when i was younger i must have watched it 100 times and im not exagerating at all. 28 now but not watched it for a good 10 years now, only got it on VHS and not got a video player anymore lolz.
ratty860997 1 year ago
My dad was a FW-190 pilot. My father teached me not to hate the enemy pilots/crews. But when I hear the co-pilot saying "they are all nazis".................I don`t know. Yes, I know it was war but i hope that`s not the common opinion among the former bombercrews / soldiers. My dad fought for Germany, not for hitler. And it`s not the childrens fault for all that shit! Sorry for my poor english
Micha35 1 year ago 68
@Micha35 shut up nazi. did your father not have a soul? your father fought for mass genocide and world domination. germany started ww2, remember?
blackbobby 1 year ago
@blackbobby
stupid, unqualified reply. Someone who starts his reply with an offence i don`t take very seriously.
Have a nice day yet ;-)
Micha35 1 year ago
@blackbobby ww2 born at versailles, 1920.
sztalkerak 1 year ago
@blackbobby you r pathetic. and what are american troops fighting for in irak and afganistan. is it not world domination? WW2 was fought for world domination... americans r so brainwashed its pathetic.
vonzuchter 1 year ago
@blackbobby Yeah unlike Joe Staln
555paint 6 months ago
@Micha35
You Dad taught you well. Hate is handy when you pick up a rifle and take out those you think are 'bad guys'- it insulates your feelings. But later when its calm its quiet you start to think
MrTrailltrader 1 year ago
Comment removed
Micha35 1 year ago
@MrTrailltrader
Yes, probably you are right. But it`s amazing. After the war my dad met his former enemies for several warveterans meetings. They had beer together, they laughed together, they just had fun together. Guys who tried to kill theirselves, not a long time before. Even today it`s a strange imagination for me.
Micha35 1 year ago
@Micha35 Right
I dont think any allied bomber pilot give a damn about hittin a child hospital......in dresden, hiroshima or nagasaki
carnage2681 1 year ago
@carnage2681 Really? Where did you hear that?
Mikevdog 1 year ago
@Micha35 It's an accurate portrayal of what some people's attitude would have been at the time.
Statalyzer 1 year ago
@Micha35 I'm an American, but i'm also French, Portugese, even GERMAN, so don't listen to any haters man, hitler was just an (no offense to you micha, some intended for hitler) insane nazi who just wanted absolute control over the entire world, and wanted everyone licking his butt, with all the jews off the planet. And to any german hater, don't hate Germans, just hate Hitler! Not all germans are mean, and here is your proof. Tell your father (if alive) he is a great man.
Zaroff4 1 year ago 3
@Micha35 I agree that the children are not to blame for the war and I don't think many blame. I knew a man who fought for Germany because he was conscripted. There was a difference between German soldiers and Nazi's. That being said though you should understand that war forces people to do things that are against their nature and it's easier to do so if you can hate. Hate tends to come naturally when you see what war does to buddies though you forget that it's also happening to the other side
PaladinMC8 1 year ago 3
@Micha35 The real test of healing and the only way to gauge others is to see how the men who were in battle and fought have forgiven now...or not. It's not only Americans either. Here in the U.S I've had people who were Nazi's during WWII hate me because they found out I had some Jewish ancestry. Do I hate them? No, I pity them and I'm leery of them. I have friends in Germany and no problems, it's over. Let it rest but never forget the lessons learned or those who died did so for no reason.
PaladinMC8 1 year ago
@Micha35 yoour english is good
alcapone796 1 year ago
@Micha35 Ich stimme mit Ihnen! Ich denke, dass Leute, die noch wie alle Deutschen waren Nazis verhalten sind unglaublich dumm! Verzeihen Sie meine schlechte Deutsch.
MrMoorkey 10 months ago
@Micha35
Agreed. Ya think you guys could at least cut us some slack when we get all this hate speech from Europe for taking on the Terrorists?
Please.
MEATYOKERRable 9 months ago
@Micha35 Em I would really like to read something from a German fighter pilots perspective...any suggestions in English?
555paint 6 months ago
@555paint
It`s me "Micha35". I have closed my former account as you noticed perhaps.
There are a lot of very good books and reports of German fighter pilots but all in german language. If you like, i can try to find out if any german book titles were translatet into english.
Beste Grüße Michael
Florian112RE 6 months ago
@Micha35 OK thanks and if you think of any English language accounts let me know, I realize there must be plenty in German but I can't read German. I find really frustrating the histories of the air war written in USA even really good ones almost always fail to include some insight from the perspective of the German pilots of anti air craft etc. How much time has to pass before we can get a balanced history?
555paint 6 months ago
@555paint well there is a movie called "Red Tails" coming out
Dogmeat1950 6 months ago
ik heb laas op history channel een documentaire gezien met echte beelden dat de duitser aan het eindvan de oorlog echte ramvluchten maakten op b17.
ze logen er bewust tegen aan met gevolg dat beiden vlegtuigen neerstorten .
ROBJOOSTEN1 1 year ago
@AreURaptureReady
what is with all these guys? there was another one on another memphis belle video....
bidefordrfc 1 year ago
In 1944after the Dambusters raid, Guy Gibson did a lecture tour of the US. In one lecture he was asked how many missions he had completed over Germany. US airmen where required to complete 25 missions! The crowd gasped and where stunned into silence when Gibson replied that he had completed 174 missions!!!
ManOnTheMoon2 1 year ago
when's Hollywood gonna make a film about the USAAF's heroic and brave terror bombing campaigns over Japan and Germany.
ivangrozny27 1 year ago
@ivangrozny27
Gotta love fascist revisionists. Reality, is only an option to be avoided.
russhillis 1 year ago
@AreURaptureReady Exactly, hitler went straight down.
Flyboy207 1 year ago
@Atzy But then why is the position so "infamous", despite it's protective location?
Long time ago my friends used to tell me it's called the ball turret cause if you get shot you're likely to get hit in the "soft spot" hehe
Although now I know that's not true...
jsjuno 1 year ago
@jsjuno because the ball turret gunners were the men with the LOWEST chance of survival... History channel did a series called suicide missions and one episode was centered around the brave men who flew that position, one of who tired to talk a MP into taking his place, When the fella found out the guy was a Ball Turret he said "You sir can go to Hell!!!"
doronpainter 1 year ago
@doronpainter why was the survival rate so low? i thought other commenters said it is the most protective position??
jsjuno 1 year ago
@doronpainter
I would say the ball turret gunner would have the lowest chance of survival if the b17 was falling out of the sky since he needed help from another crew member to get out,however I have also read from casulty records it suffered the lowest casualties compared to the crew members at the front of the aircraft,enemy fighters would target this area in hopes of killing the pilots or knocking out the engines,although I must admit the ball turret would be last place I would want to be.
MPT1983 1 year ago
@MPT1983 now i dont know any actual facts but being cramped like that for hours at a time would already suck then you add the 10000 ft above the ground and the enemy fighters and did you notice how mutch it bounced up and down my god each time it bouces my heart would stop lol but it does seem like a hard spot for fighters to get too but i would rather be at the tale or waist gunner
Rattacool 1 year ago
one of the best warmovies!
USAirborne82 1 year ago
What i am i suppose to do spit on him
Ameican87eagle 1 year ago
This and the letter scene is the two most gut vrenging scences in this movie.
Huganis 1 year ago
I heard the fighters used to take out the tail gunner and then sit behind blowing out the engines.
abdaloser 1 year ago
The Ball Turret is the worst position on the bomber, right? It's at the wee bottom of the plane, and it's so cramped down there...
It must also have been the hardest place to get out of if the bomber was going down. Probably the easiest would have been something like the shoulder gunners, although it would have been hard for all of them...
jsjuno 2 years ago
Yea I agree, but in my mind Id rather be the Bombardier, You get the front view and a nice big space
Julian24151 2 years ago
yeah but it think the tail gunner is even worse than that!! cuz he is like only one who can protect the plane from the back!
plavins1 1 year ago
Psspp talk about that burden,
10 men about your age and older depend on you.
One slight miscalculation of your shot and your plane can go tumbling into the ocean or sth.
jsjuno 1 year ago
@jsjuno While cramped, the ball turret is also the most protected one. From below is not a good approach angle for fighters. I'd say the absolutely worst position is the tailgunner's, because he's so exposed.
Atzy 1 year ago
As a historian, I can tell you that the reason the USAAF did daylight bombing DESPITE the horrific losses inflicted by the Luftwaffe was because they really belived that accurate daylight bombing of critical strategic targets would help end the war faster. The technology just wasn't good enough yet to fullfill this idea.
Corsair092 2 years ago 5
History is written by the winners, and the winners like to paint a perfect picture of themselves.
raypuremum 2 years ago 4
This movie is takes an innacurate view of what went on during this period, this clip is a prime example, right in the pickle barrel? they were carpet bombing, if there was a school next door to the factory, they probably would have hit it, look at the bomber formation, bombs used to miss by literaly miles, they should have been more honest in this film, the allies carpet bombed cities, killing and wounding large amounts of the civilian population, it was 'total war', bomber crews knew that.
raypuremum 2 years ago 18
thats called WAR
gizmoshadow1978 2 years ago
Mindless response.
foolloop 2 years ago
Yes you are right,there technolgy was such they could not accurately bomb.
gasman396 2 years ago
@raypuremum I can guarantee they were more accurate with their bombs than you are with commas...
Stevo70Chev 11 months ago
@raypuremum
Actually the united states used smaller, tactical daylight bombing of military targets.
The british did mass bombing of towns deliberately.
And " next door " may have been an exaggeration meaning it was a few miles off.
LgndryThndr 8 months ago 2
@raypuremum
Oh wait you're a britfag, that explains alot
P.S. A mum is a plant.
LgndryThndr 8 months ago
When will the Blu-ray of this movie come out ?
I saw it at the movies when it came out in my area in October 1990. I remember it raining that Saturday night so very hard.
That was 19 1/2 years ago....
Roadracer987654321 2 years ago
03:45 makes me cry thinking thats what happened to loads of men in WW2 :(
miltonluvsno1 2 years ago
Well if you think about it... some of the men on the B 17 couldve jumped out and deployed their parachutes but its very hard to do especially when your plane is spiralling down, but if they did get out in time it deffinatly would've saved them
Julian24151 2 years ago
@miltonluvsno1 i know right its so sad i watched it last night and i literally burst in to shock my dad is a professional plot he flies model air planes and if you want to see my dad fly go to the search bar and type in steve pully b-25 flight
fanboybff1 1 year ago
the b17 being sliced in half must have looked crap even in 1989!
TheMrDobbins 2 years ago
They prolly end up bombing the school too.
SnIkLeeT 2 years ago
@SnIkLeeT Nope, they don't! At least not in the film.
decayedove 2 years ago
in real life i dont think they had too go around 2 times and noone got injured or am i wrong?
gizmoshadow1978 2 years ago
@gizmoshadow1978 Yes they did, but that was for the RCAF, night bombers, and sometimes the RAF, but mainly RCAF, and with the Pathfinders of both
mirlin235 2 years ago
The real Memphis Belle wnet on a "milk run" for its last mission. The Army needed it and its crew for propaganda to return home and sell war bonds. My grandfather was a waist gunner on a B-17 and said the oxygen lines would freeze up all the time ang guys came back from missions with frost bite all the time.
cgpack1 2 years ago
No radar,
not enough better equipment these are the bravest men how could you fly like that ?
I salute them.
whitemanstand72 2 years ago
At 2:20: if you take off that oxygen mask at 25,000 feet, you won't need flak or fighters to kill you. Oxygen deprivation will do the job just fine.
mpgingdl 2 years ago
mp were you there?
Ascaidh 2 years ago
I confess that I was not, having been born much later. However, I have spoken with men who were there, and they all concur that one cannot function at 25,000 feet without oxygen. The MB documentary released during WW2 (available on YT) also makes this clear.
May I also suggest Jon Krakauer's book "Into Thin Air" for more on oxygen deprivation's effects on the human body at high altitude. This book is mentioned in "Half a Wing, Three Engines, and a Prayer," and with good reason.
mpgingdl 2 years ago
How hard it must've been for the families, wives, girlfriends, fiances and relatives to live with the knowledge that their brave men often had to go with their planes when they got hit.
MyDeerhunter123 2 years ago
Heartbreaking really.
Portis1Luv 2 years ago
Rest in peace, Capt. Mogan!
REVERENDPHAM 2 years ago 3
This comment has received too many negative votes show
This movie is full of crap: what makes the Memphis Belle so legendary was the fact that she came back from the war WITHOUT one single scratch...the belly gun ball turrent NEVER fell!!!
Shame on you, Hollywood, for not giving those air men the proper dedication they really deserve...BUT, THEN, YOU ALL HAVE NO SHAME!!!
REVERENDPHAM 2 years ago
incorrect,part of the belles legendary status derived from its ability to return from missons after suffering severe damage,the body of the aircraft literally shot to pieces in some cases.
MPT1983 2 years ago
Returning the final mission without a scratch...thatwould have been one boring-ass movie.
bananabourbonaenima 2 years ago
A very sad scene. I remember discussing that with my Granddaddy, who worked on the B-17s in WWII. I think he said he knew someone that that happened to (the mother'n'country part). I was 28 when I enlisted in the Army. I knew what I was getting into and knew that I'd lived and experienced most of what life has to offer. It makes me sad to watch WWII movies where so many young men died without ever knowing what it was like to love and sleep with a woman. :( So young. So BRAVE!
hrdknox2000 2 years ago 33
love and sleep with a woman? what the hell has that got to do with anything?
ectomy1235 2 years ago
@hrdknox2000 Or sleep with a man ;-)
hschan4 1 year ago
umm.. am i the only one who thinks it a bit strange that while flying at 26,000 feet they can take off oxygen maskes without passing out within a few seconds? And that's a 109 he shot down, 190's had big honking radial engines, 109's had inline engines.
doronpainter 2 years ago
Throwing bombs on innocent civilians is no respectable thing.
JuergenBraegen 2 years ago
I agree, good thing they were dropping bombs on nazi scum who bombed Britain with far less discrimination or ran concentration camps.
nosvaructu 2 years ago
The worst Part on a B17 must be the Belly Turret ur a easy Target for Aaa and enemy attackers and its hardest to get out of
Mattebubben 2 years ago 4
the Me 109 G6 looks alot like the FW 190
the Me 109 G6 was the type of fighter the germans used against the B17's
sergmichel 2 years ago
The weapons were refilled from ammo stored on the plane. Because of the way the .50 cals fed you could reload ammo relativeles fast. Btw did anyone notice the plane he shot was a FW 190 an the one the hit Mother an Country was an Me 109? It was out of scale too
fredqwan 2 years ago
yep good eye
notimeforcash 2 years ago
you cant refill the ammo from the inside of the plane this is nonsense
d0ubl3sh0t 2 years ago
They kept extra ammo on the aircraft. The co pilot was going to grab the ammo and take it back to the tail gunner.
Icarusdecending82 2 years ago
yeah but they cant refill the machine gun from inside the plane they have to do it from the outside.
d0ubl3sh0t 2 years ago
Yes they could. What would happen if there weapon was to jam? They would have to perform maintenence to fix it. What if the jam was caused by a misfed round? They wouldve had to open the upper reciever and fix the feed...where the ammo was being fed. In fact the movie depicts the bomber crews taking the ammo out of their weapons at the end of the movie and throwing it over board.
Icarusdecending82 2 years ago
Imagine trying to live with the thought of if that actually happened to you and you caused the deaths of a generation of a family.
I dont think I could of lived with it.
miltonluvsno1 2 years ago 3
This is BS. You don't give a long speech during the middle of a critical action.
dlmaniac 2 years ago
Were you there??
englishguy2005 2 years ago
The static after they fall out of radio range still stands as one of the eeriest sounds I've ever heard.
Hucklebubba 2 years ago 36
Hucklebubba, You were there Sir?
Ascaidh 2 years ago
actually it was most like the fact the radio either shaking up or blowing up
Trek001 2 years ago
It was the CP I felt for, he kinda blamed himself, but he can't help where the plane goes once it's dead.
jboweruk 2 years ago 2
Anyone else like Fritos? Just askin...