12 O'clock high questions

[whistlingdeath77]

One of the greatest warbird movies of all time, we all know that! I have two questions which i'm sure have been answered a long time ago in another forum and i'm sorry if i missed it.

Question one is how many B-17's were actually used during the making of the movie?

Question two is how many of those B-17's survived to go into musuems and flying condition?

[Jerry O'Neill]

Frank;
All those B-17's were involved in the drone program. I think there were about 10 made available for the film along with the one Paul Mantz had to purchase in order for him to crash it near the opening of the film.
I don't think any of the surviving B-17's today were in the film, but it's possible since several were Drone director aircraft. I don't think there is a comprehensive list of serial numbers for those USAF B-17's that took part in the filming.
Jerry

[whistlingdeath77]

Frank;
All those B-17's were involved in the drone program. I think there were about 10 made available for the film along with the one Paul Mantz had to purchase in order for him to crash it near the opening of the film.
I don't think any of the surviving B-17's today were in the film, but it's possible since several were Drone director aircraft. I don't think there is a comprehensive list of serial numbers for those USAF B-17's that took part in the filming.
Jerry

thanks Jerry, that's sad that they may have been destroyed my missles or the scrapper

[Jerry O'Neill]

Most likely dispensed with like this...Nike Ajax.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBtSrn1mNmc

[whistlingdeath77]

[Pat Carry]

Check out the info Scott Thompson has on his site about the movie. www.aerovintage.com/12oclock.htm

[Speedy]

What a great movie...not just for the B-17's...but as a study in military flying in wartime.

If I recall, there were actually 12 aircraft made available to be used in the movie...including the one Mantz bellied in.

Also, I think "Archbury set" was actually filmed at an auxiliary field at Eglin AFB in Florida. And to be honest, yeah....there are no trees or terrain that look like that in England.

[mustangdriver]

Great movie. legendary. I always loved the scene where the Gen. calls that guy yellow. As a matter in fact, had we not found the story of Miss Liberty Belle, we had a list of paint schemes that we would consider. Leper Colony was one of them.

[Speedy]

Great movie. legendary. I always loved the scene where the Gen. calls that guy yellow. As a matter in fact, had we not found the story of Miss Liberty Belle, we had a list of paint schemes that we would consider. Leper Colony was one of them.

I would LOVE to see POF get Picadilly Lilly restored. Can you imagine Picadilly Lilly and Leper Colony in formation?

[valdez25]

....and "The Body".

[aerovin]

Frank;
All those B-17's were involved in the drone program. I think there were about 10 made available for the film along with the one Paul Mantz had to purchase in order for him to crash it near the opening of the film.
I don't think any of the surviving B-17's today were in the film, but it's possible since several were Drone director aircraft. I don't think there is a comprehensive list of serial numbers for those USAF B-17's that took part in the filming.
Jerry

Just as a note, Mantz used a USAF ex-drone, 44-83592, for the crash and it remained with the USAF...it was subsequently scrapped. Mantz did have his own B-17F at the time...one of his Stillwater airplanes, but it was not used in the film. I know that Bruce Orriss is trying to put together that elusive list of airplanes used in the film but it has proved just that. Those airplanes came from an Eglin-based guided missile group and also, reportedly, at Brookley Air Depot. Since there were all modified to resemble B-17Fs and were painted and marked specifically for the film, there is no way to tie things up. Bruce figured out the history of his airplane (44-83887) years ago...it was used in both the 1949 and 1960s TV show of the same name, but the existence of the fuselage was not generally known or identified (it came from the bar in Greeley). And, yes, it does have its own section in Final Cut. It never was a civil airplane.

I think the only active drone controller at the time that still exists is 44-85738...the Tulare airplane, but I have my doubts that it was used in the film. I think they were pretty much drones that were used, but that's just conjecture. How much effort was made to install turrets and remove post-war equipment, only to put the airplanes back into drone configuration at a time when there were still hundreds of new B-17s in storage awaiting use. My guess is all the airplanes were "reclaimed" after the filming was completed.

[Dan Johnson II]

I've always been bothered by the differences between the characters in the book and the characters on screen. Somehow they got changed just enough for me to not be able to enjoy the movie, where I really think the book is great.

[Pathfinder]

I know of this resource, but don't have a copy. Anyone? I met the author, Alan Duffin, when he was a producer at Digital Ranch in L.A. Digital Ranch did a ton of programming for the History Channel...back when the History Channel showed history! Dogfights, Mail Call among may other titles. At the time I was working with them on some titles within the Dangerous Missions format.

The "12 O'Clock High" Logbook - a book by Allan T. Duffin & Paul Matheis

[gary1954]

If memeory serves me correctly (warning- memory prone to infrequent failure), the famous crash scene was filmed at Carins Army Air Field, located near Daleville, Alabama. In the crash where the B-17 goes into the tent line, an extra used a tent pole made of rebar, and it penetrated the floor of the cockpit when it tore into the nose

[Pogmusic]

Most of the filming was done at Duke Field -- Eglin AFB. The briefing room, at least until the 1990s, was still there.