Did the film Industry save the Warbirds.

[DADE]

Did the film industry save the Warbirds,

1. My personal early recollections of aircraft in a film was the Dambusters about 617 Squadron R.A.F., made in 1955. My mother took me to see this film and bought me ice cream, something she usually never did. Next day I was in hospital getting my tonsils out. The Avro Lancasters and the Rolls Royce Merlins made a big impression on me, my mother did not. I often wondered did the re runs on TV make an impression on others as most of these were starting to be saved in the sixties.
2. 633 Squadron about the De Havilland Mosquito in 1964 brought a concern about the fact they crashed one and burnt it out. Although there may have been a love for these aircraft among enthusiasts, it struggled as a warbird because of its wooden fuselage and wing being needing to be replaced at sometime costing a lot and expertise in short supply, plus two Merlins means big overhaul bills. I remember Kermit Weeks was surprised that the British allowed him to buy his one so easily. Now we have new fuselages and wings they have taken off in a big way. But the star of the film Cliff Robertson went on to buy a warbird of his own, Supermarine Spitfire IX.
3. The Blue Max of 1966 allowed us to see Fokker Dr1 triplanes & D.VII Biplanes as well as other replica aircraft in colour. Today they are cheaper to make and other WW1 planes are on the menu and with a new Australian and New Zealand engine, that are more reliable now.
4. The Battle of Britain of 1969 saved Spitfires, Hurricanes, Casa 2111 ( Licence built Heinkel 111 ), Casa 352 ( Licence built Junkers 52 ) and Hispano HA-1112 ( Licence built Messerschmitt ME 109 ) aircraft.
5. My favourite after the Battle of Britain is Catch 22 with North American Mitchell B-25s in 1970. I still use this title when I cannot resolve problems in life.
6. Tora,Tora,Tora in 1970, had Vultee Bt 13 Valiants as Aichi Val replicas and North American T6 Texans as Nakajima B5N Kate replicas, Curtiss P-40 stood out, although the Mitsubishi Zero replicas were not as good.
7. Black Sheep Squadron ( Marine Attack Squadron VMA 214 ) between 1976-1978 with Vought F4U-1As Corsairs was very good, except the take off sequence seemed to be very similar over both these years.
8. Memphis Belle with the Boeing B-17 in 1990 made this bomber stand out, especially the interior shots.
So did these and other films fuel the demand for Warbirds in the Sixties and Seventies around about the time that the kids of the fifties had grown up and some became rich enough to buy their dreams and produce an industry that rebuilt them. Your thoughts.

[Joe Scheil]

No. The film industry did not save the warbirds. Several aircraft recovered by Ed Maloney were studio props that were sold in the early 70’s. Sadly many planes were scrapped or destroyed by Hollywood too.


They are saved by dedicated people working in most cases selflessly over a long period of time. These people do these things for their own individual reasons and are donating their time, their money and their intellect to solving each of the many thousands of problems that arise during “private flying warbird ownership 101”. The inspiration that initiates a desire to save an aircraft is not the the engine that actually does the saving.

[JohnB]

It depends upon what one means by "saving".

Yes, films built awareness and reminded people they were out there.
And, that popularity helped encourage some preservation. You can also make the argument that commercial warbird operators and air show participants would have a lot less business without that exposure.

But, as noted above, with few exceptions...The Battle of Britain, Catch 22, 633 Squadron (provided excuses to restore or not to scrap a few airplanes which kept them around until the warbird movement gained momentum) and a couple others...the film industry didn't do the hard work of finding, preserving or encouraging the preservation, restoration and operation of types. That was left to visionaries like Maloney, Palen, the founders of the CAF and others.

Films led to the saving of some types...for example the Jennys and Ryans made airworthy for The Spirit of St.Louis, but didn't save many of the ships sacrificed for the pre-WWII WWI epics, or the 500 plane fleet bought by Paul Mantz after the war.

The survival of some types: the B-17, P-38, TBM, PV2, Stearmans and others has to do with the other uses found for the airframes post war.

The 1990 Memphis Belle didn't save any B-17s, they were already "saved", instead one was lost during filming, but it raised the profile of the type with the general public, but aircraft fans already venerated the type. The Dam Busters didn't save any of the Lancasters that appeared in it, most of the surviving Lancs owe their existence to the fact the French and Canadians flew them into the early '60s..and the dawn of the warbird (or at least preservation since most Lands don't fly) movement.

True, some people who pay money to see them fly today got turned into warbirds from various films but equally important are the airplane nerds like me that read books about the airplanes our fathers (or grandfathers) flew in the war. So you can also credit early airplane book authors...guys like William Green, Arch Whitehouse, Martin Cadin, Peter M. Bowers, Air Classics, The Aeroplane and others who covered the subject back when the topic wasn't covered like it is today.

Growing up on an airbase, I was really fortunate that the base library had a great selection of aircraft books...which I checked out all the time. Things would have very different for me if I had been in a small town in the days before all the specialty publications and the internet.

[Craig59]

It’s always been my opinion many of the warbirds operating today were “saved” by entrepreneurial individuals who found a utilitarian use for certain types beyond their military careers. Consider fire bombers, fish haulers, beef haulers, film camera platforms, humanitarian usage, agricultural application, sky writing, cargo (yes, including dope), corporate executive transport, etc., etc., etc.

[Snake45]

If I remember the story told in Marin Caidin's Everything But the Flak, three B-17s were "saved" specifically to be used in the movie The War Lover. Sadly, at least one of these was later scrapped.

I believe quite a few B-25s were "saved" that might well have otherwise not been to produce the movie Catch-22.

I've heard or read many, many people say that the TV series 12 O'Clock High in the '60s and Black Sheep Squadron in the '70s sparked their love of warbirds as children. Some of these people, of course, grew up to own, fly, work on, volunteer on, and otherwise support warbirds and the warbird community.

[Jerry O'Neill]

I think, to some arguable extent, some films did save some warbirds. Memphis Belle, no. That was 20 years out of the sixties. I do think that Tora, Tora, Tora, certainly "saved" some BT-13's, T-6's and Harvards, since they were so numerous at the time, some may have ended up being scrapped, but they also used up about 9 BT-13's to manufacture the Tora Kates. Perhaps those BT's were in worse shape, but I doubt we'll ever know for sure. Tora also torched a five PBY's.

Catch-22 could be said to have saved a few B-25's, since most are still around, but remember many languished on Tallman's ramp for years after the filming was over before they were sold. Remember, by that time, the US Forest Service had removed any B-25 for fire bombing in the U.S., so certainly there was fewer "jobs" for Mitchells. Most of the Catch-22 B-25 survived, except the Mexican one they burned for the film.

the Battle of Britain got as many flyable aircraft as they could, and certainly raised awareness for aircraft but there are more flyable Spitfires and Hurricanes now than they were able to put together back then. I think the survival of the Hispano Buchon's and the CASA 211's certainly can point to the film as "saving" them. Basically the one's that left Spain for the filming in the UK had a higher survival rate than the ones that remained in Spain, hence, a lot more Buchon's are around today, but relatively few of the 24-plus CASA 211's that remained in Spain survived.
Yes, Connie Edwards and others "saved" a lot of Buchon's, but that was after the film was in the can. The CAF did purchase a couple Buchon's before the filming and hence, they were part of the aerial crew on the film, but the others Connie got were in payment for his work in the film. That wouldn't have happened if the film didn't first buy them and bring them to the UK. Remember, they only brought two of the CASA 211's to the UK, but they brought 20-24 Buchon's.
Jerry

[old iron]

Not mentioned in DADE's list is the movie that might actually have started the warbird survival movement:

The Best Years of Our Lives

This movie came out in 1946 and includes the famous scene of European Veterans being SCRAPPED. The movie won NINE Academy awards at a time when so many awards to a single film was (almost?) unprecedented. This is also the only movie where one actor won two Oscars (the handless Harold Russell, won the best supporting actor award and, because this was not anticipated, an honorary Oscar as well).

One can actually present the hypothesis that this movie influenced those several people in the late 1940s who saved the early survivors that may have been the seed for the burgeoning warbird movement.

[old iron]

To elaborate: The Best Years of Our Lives officially won 7 Oscars, plus the Honorary Oscar and a Memorial Oscar (to Samual Goldwyn). Using that count, Best Years was among the three most Oscar-awarded films at the time (1947). Going My Way had previously won seven Oscars in 1944, and Gone with the Wind won eight Oscars in 1939.

[Snake45]

Catch-22 could be said to have saved a few B-25's, since most are still around, but remember many languished on Tallman's ramp for years after the filming was over before they were sold. Remember, by that time, the US Forest Service had removed any B-25 for fire bombing in the U.S., so certainly there was fewer "jobs" for Mitchells. Most of the Catch-22 B-25 survived, except the Mexican one they burned for the film.

One of the warbird magazines had an article on the C-22 B-25s a couple years ago. I was surprised at how many of them ended up as static displays at USAF bases.

The B-25 seems to be a thriving type today. Are there more flying today than there were in 1970?

[menards]

If I remember the story told in Marin Caidin's Everything But the Flak, three B-17s were "saved" specifically to be used in the movie The War Lover. Sadly, at least one of these was later scrapped.

I believe quite a few B-25s were "saved" that might well have otherwise not been to produce the movie Catch-22.

I've heard or read many, many people say that the TV series 12 O'Clock High in the '60s and Black Sheep Squadron in the '70s sparked their love of warbirds as children. Some of these people, of course, grew up to own, fly, work on, volunteer on, and otherwise support warbirds and the warbird community.

With regard to the “war lover”, One of the B-17s in that film was Fuddy Duddy. The other two were scrapped. The two that were scrapped were pulled from a lot of 17’s that were at Dallas Love field. Other planes from this lot found their way into museums. I think the best answer to OP,s question is yes and no.

[k5083]

If someone were to write a decent book about the warbird preservation movement - which, so far, no one has - it would have to have at least one chapter on Tallman and Mantz, the relationship between Hollywood and the early California warbird scene, and films like Battle of Britain, Catch-22, Tora, and 633 Squadron. The story could not be told without them.

August

[Stoney]

Catch 22 had 18 B-25s, one burn in Mexico, the rest were flown back to Orange County A/P, did 3 of them myself.

[RobC]

It is a certainty that there would be no Buchons flying without the Battle of Britain movie.

The largest saver of warbirds, by far, was the US government Military Assistance Program that populated Central and South America with a high percentage of today's flying Mustangs, Thunderbolts and Corsairs.

[RandolphB]

Interesting that nobody gives credit to the Air Racers. Many of the surviving examples of Mustangs (and other aircraft) survived only because the Racers picked up an unwanted wreck cheap, brought them back to airworthy and raced them. In addition, when the majority of people had forgotten how to even work on these aircraft, the knowledge that survived within their ranks proved invaluable....

[Matt Gunsch]

the movies saved some Warbirds, but the reason most survived was they had a use, B-17s as fire bombers, T-6s as personal planes and trainers, C-47s as passenger planes, C-119s as fire bombers. The planes that did not find a civilian use did not survive, There are no B-32s as no one saw a use for them after the war.