Wings Clipped

Selected as part the official dedication ceremonies for Minnesota's WWII Memorial, Wings Clipped was screened on the State Capitol grounds, June 9th, 2007. It will also be screened at the Wisconsin Film Festival in April 2008.

In early March of 1944, the Army Air Corps was making its first attempts at 1,000 plane bombing raids on Berlin
during World War II. Rudy Gabrys, a B-24 bombardier, was part of this effort and shot down along with the rest of his crew in Occupied France. Falling into the unknown, these airmen discovered that Military Intelligence had gotten it mostly wrong. These ten airmen were now in a foreign land and in the middle of a ground war for which they had little training. At the mercy of every person they encountered: perhaps a collaborator with the Germans, possibly not, or hopefully they met someone with the French Resistance. Follow along in their journey - as everyone's lives were at stake.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• WWII
• B-24
• bomber
• France
• French
• Resistance
• Occupied
• Allied
• Airmen
• 8th
• Air
• Force
• 448th
• Seething
• Station
• 146
• History

[OlSoldier]

LOVE that bugle salute at the end! really moves the heart!

[puppetbuilder]

Hello Ol Soldier,

Yes, it's a great piece of music. A WW I variation of taps, titled "Last Post".

Best to you,

Rob

[puppetbuilder]

Hello Rob,

I am very happy to find you on the Net! I prepare a book on the mission of December 31, 1943 in the south-west of France. I have made research on the crews of 8th AF for 25 years.

In this book I will evoke the B 24 your grandfather on March 5, 1944.

I saw Wings Clipped, it is an extraordinary document.

Regards.

Bernard Ballanger - Pessac near Bordeaux - France

[rdemeyere]

Bravo! Really well done. The use of the log book at the end to scroll the credits was a nice touch.

My father was a B-24 crewman in the 448th BG and many of the incidents related in this video are similar to his.

[puppetbuilder]

Thanks. Do you know when your father was stationed overseas. Did he go over when the group formed in Dec. '43, or did he arrive later?

Rob

[puppetbuilder]

Sorry, I just noticed your message.

My grandfather Rudy went over in Dec. '43 (Crew# 53, Yuengert as Pilot). 12/28/43 he got flak in his left leg, and his crew took a replacement on 12/30. They were lost on the way to Kiel Canal.

After a month in the base hospital, he met up with members of Crew# 51, who needed a permanent replacement.

They flew together until being shot down on 3/5/44. The rest of the story is recounted in the film.

What is your connection to the 448th?

Thanks,

Rob

[farseer93]

I found his story very interesting, thanks! :)

[1236bigcat]

I must look at the people who rate this video anything less than awesome and just shake my head in sad disappointment of wonder.

They obviously care little for freedom or compassion. My Dad and also my Great Uncle volunteered to fly as gunners in B-24 Liberators in WW2, both dropping tons of fight upon those who occupied France and disregarded Liberty. Odds were 1 in 3 they would not make it through alive in 25. My Great-Uncle Charles Spencer Hawkins was shot down, then MIA-POW. Critics=cowards

[Fridomfry]

Thanks for this excellent, moving, human document!

It makes me thinks of an anecdote, told by my grandmother. In 1942, she was called by the village's grocer: "Madame L., as you speak foreign [!], could you help us?' The grocer had found a US pilot downed after a raid on le Creusot. She belonged to a group who helped pilots escape and, the next day, they headed through the vineyards toward the demarcation line. A German car drove by, on the road some 200 meters from there.

[Fridomfry]

Thanks for this excellent, moving, human document!

It makes me thinks of an anecdote, told by my grandmother. In 1942, she was called by the village's grocer: "Madame L., as you speak foreign [!], could you help us?' The grocer had found a US pilot downed after a raid on le Creusot. She belonged to a group who helped pilots escape and, the next day, they headed through the vineyards toward the demarcation line. A German car drove by, on the road some 200 meters from there.

[Fridomfry]

Thrill, dive for cover, resume walk. At night, the escaping pilots were in the 'free zone'. Yet my grandma was much annoyed, since she had recognized in the car the German lieutenant who was stationed in our house. The next day, she was ironing, absorbed in somber thoughts about her imprudence. Someone knocked at the door. It was the lieutenant: "Matame L., next time you... take a valk in de fineyart, please stay farther from de road!!!"

We were very lucky, as this guy was an anti-nazi Austrian.

[currawongee]

if anybody ever wanted to think about american fortitude

this video should say something i'd think

[okcmikeict]

For those interested in the 448th, "The 1,000 Day Battle" by James Hoseason follows the group from the time they trained at Herrington, KS through the end of the war. The group lost 3 airplanes just flying from the US to Seething! I was given my copy by BGen Hubert S. Judy (retired and now deceased). He was the groups S-3 (Operations Officer). I don't know if it is still in print, but I just Googled it and there are some available.

[heat000]

My dad lived very near Seething in Norfolk, he was about 12 and he always tells me about the americans and how very charming they were to the english people, he used to see the planes take off, so low sometimes, he could almost see the pilots, deepest thanks to allthose that didn't come home and also to those that did.