Making the movie "Memphis Belle" ~ 1989

[Randy Haskin]

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"!

Isn't that 'Pudsey', the emblem of the BBC's "Children in Need" charity?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_in_Need

[Mike]

Randy,

It's the 'Sally B' Teddy Bear emblem, in memory of the late Ted White. He recovered the B-17 from France and brought it to the UK in 1975, and was later killed in a T-6 in Malta in around 1980.

[gunnyperdue]

Peter-

Any chance you have some better photo's of the camera ship.... N1042B? In one of them taken from a B-17 you can see it in he distance.

gunny

[RMAllnutt]

Terrific photos... incidentally, if you have a slide scanner with Digital GEM it will remove the fading from the Kodachrome images. I've tried it myself on my scanner, and it works a treat.

Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Richard

[the330thbg]

Which ship did they lose during the filming?

Was it a total loss?

[Jerry O'Neill]

The French Fortress that was still earning it's keep with the Geographical Institute. Total loss except tail which I believe, most of is the property of actor Billy Zane.
Jerry

[B-17 Buff]

Which ship did they lose during the filming?

Was it a total loss?

Great photos Peter, many thanks for sharing, I've seen alot before but these are new to me.

As I understand (please feel free to correct me if any of this is incorrect):

F-BEEA was the 17 lost, very sad, the brakes locked and it swung on landing ending up off the side of the runway in the grass/hay catching fire and being totally destroyed. No one was hurt thankfully. Ironically the wreckage looked almost identical to that of a mock up constructed for the film for the scene at the beginning when the fort explodes.

Rumor is indeed that Billy Zane had the tail (pretty much the only recognisable part left) and that he had it hung on his wall...

The rear entry door was also supposed to have survived but cannot recall what became of that (someone else may be able to correct/ advise on this).

So a heavy price was paid for making the movie - the loss of one B-17 that would be here today otherwise!

[bdk]

So a heavy price was paid for making the movie - the loss of one B-17 that would be here today otherwise!

Assuming it wouldn't have just happened anyhow somewhere else, right? Or was there something about the filming itself that caused this accident?

[B-17 Buff]

So a heavy price was paid for making the movie - the loss of one B-17 that would be here today otherwise!

Assuming it wouldn't have just happened anyhow somewhere else, right? Or was there something about the filming itself that caused this accident?

Indeed. The filming was not related as far as I am aware, it happened during the landing role after a shoot... just an unlucky turn of events.

[PeterA]

Warner Bros still.

PeterA

[PeterA]

A shot of the B-17's at Duxford, gathering prior to filming. (Now known to be incorrect and actually June 1987c)

PeterA

Last edited by PeterA on Wed Mar 25, 2009 4:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Pat Carry]

I have the original movie poster signed by Robert Morgan. A prized possesion for sure!

Last edited by Pat Carry on Tue Mar 24, 2009 3:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[bomberflight]

PeterA ~ that is a wonderfully composed shot !

Do you have some more to share like this ?

[Vessbot]

Ooh, those shots of the Mustangs all lined up and in the same scheme... just had the warm fuzzies run through my stomach.

[Matt Gunsch]

The B-17 was lost in the take off accident, not a landing accident. I was looking for the report, but did not have any luck. I believe they lost a turbo on takeoff and swung off the runway