Making the movie "Memphis Belle" ~ 1989

bomberflight · **Posted:** Mon Mar 23, 2009 3:41 pm

Twenty years ago this summer, it was possible to make a visit to the Imperial War Musueum at Duxford Airfield and for the price of the entrance fee, watch the coming and going of the warbird fleet being used to make the motion picture "Memphis Belle".

After many hours of image scanning original Kodachrome 35 mm slides and the cleaning them up in Photoshop ......

I've assembled a set of images I think are worth sharing

After an aerial filming session and with little warning ..... "an arrival" over the airfield could be quite dramatic !

The is the only Ektachrome slide worth viewing. The others have faded past the point where they're worth sharing.

G-BEDF and N3703G taxi in after another mission .....

N17W ~ painted as C-cup

F-BEEA ~ painted as Baby Ruth .....

N3703G painted as Mary Lou

Left to right ~ N17W / F-BEEA / F-AZDX

N3703G ( Memphis Belle ) on the left and G-BEDF ( My Zita ) on the right

G-BEDF or Sally B as she is better known played many different roles during filming. It was the only B-17 of the five that was fitted with an engine smoke system

Five "Little Friends" .....

Hispano Buchons playing the role of bad guys .....
Left to right ~ G-BOML ~ D-FEHD ~ G-HUNN

In working on these images, I became convinced the time had come to create a proper home for them.

If you want to see larger and higher resolution versions of these and all the rest of the collection ~ take a few moments to step across to .....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bomberflig ... 767280910/

tulsaboy · **Posted:** Mon Mar 23, 2009 3:46 pm

Way cool, Peter! Thanks for sharing. What a time that must have been. And will we ever see it again??? Pretty neat all of those Forts and Mustangs being painted as the same group. Would be fun for a group of owners to do, just for one season, with movie paint. But as always, the expense...
(Isn't this where I'm supposed to say something about winning the lottery some day?)

kevin

Mike · **Joined:** Tue May 04, 2004 8:54 am **Posts:** 3329

Interesting stuff Peter. I have some very similar sunset shots to yours - perhaps they were taken at the same time? I remember several of us drove around the peri track to the far side of the runway, at the Royston end of the airfield, one evening to await the return of the B-17s.

Holedigger · **Posted:** Mon Mar 23, 2009 3:52 pm

Very Cool! Thanks for sharing!!

Mike · **Joined:** Tue May 04, 2004 8:54 am **Posts:** 3329

bomberflight wrote:

The is the only Ektachrome slide worth viewing. The others have faded past the point where they're worth sharing.

That bloody teddy bear emblem got everywhere! I remember the director going absolutely apesh1t after one shoot when the darn thing was very visible in the nose of 'Sally B"!

bomberflight · **Posted:** Mon Mar 23, 2009 4:14 pm

Hi Mike,

I still have my diary for that time and the sunset shots were taken on Saturday July 15th. The musuem was shut by then .... so yes ~ I too was down that footpath at the Royston end of the runway !

The memory of seeing the B-17s return in the last ember glow of the day has always stayed with me. It was a very special moment in time.

spookythecat · **Posted:** Mon Mar 23, 2009 4:49 pm

Now they need to rerelease it in a 20th anniversary edition with a ton of "making of" footage.

Django · **Posted:** Mon Mar 23, 2009 4:54 pm

Very cool!

I don't remember the OD mustangs...

Jerry O'Neill · **Posted:** Mon Mar 23, 2009 4:58 pm

Thanks for all the photos and the link!
Great stuff!
I wish I was there!
jerry

jet1 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 23, 2009 7:45 pm

what an experience!

Lynn Allen · **Posted:** Mon Mar 23, 2009 9:01 pm

Django wrote:

Very cool!

I don't remember the OD mustangs...

They made a brief flyby when in the movie they were referred as the little friends will get them after an attack by the bad guys....

Lynn

ZRX61 · **Joined:** Tue Jun 14, 2005 10:16 am **Posts:** 2304

I've got a metric buttload of on board photos somewhere at home. One day when all 5 were up the cloud top was almost perfectly flat & all 5 B17's were flying a loose formation with the wings in the cloud tops so it looked like just 5 fuselages. I know I have some pics of that someplace

mazdaP5 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 23, 2009 9:22 pm

Huge thank you for sharing, very cool stuff.

Ztex · **Posted:** Mon Mar 23, 2009 9:35 pm

Very Cool!

I was amazed at the lack of coverage here in the states when they were filming. Of course Air Classics was just about the only outlet for warbird news at the time.

Great stuff!

Thanks.

Warbird Kid · **Posted:** Mon Mar 23, 2009 10:06 pm

I was 2 when these pictures were being taken. :shock:

Oh how the years have passed. I only hope that we get a chance to replicate this scene again. Either by movie or mass cooperation with multiple Warbird owners and operators.

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Making the movie "Memphis Belle" ~ 1989

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