B-17s in the Memphis Belle movie .....

[mustangdriver]

I know that Kathleen was carried on the nose of Bob's F model after the movie. Not sure about the Tallichet plane.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bb-kristinsson/4899969540/

[bomberflight]

philatthepub ~

First of all ~ welcome to WIX !

Second ~ thanks for sharing your research into this subject

Wouldn't it be neat if this material could be put together and put into print ?
It's been done for the Battle of Britain movie ~ but so far no one has grasped the nettle for the Memphis Belle movie.

I've been chatting with some of the guys in the Conservation Hangar at Duxford this week ~ some of them were involved
as "extras" in the movie.

If we don't start documenting their recollections soon this chapter in B-17 history may never be fully told

[Jerry O'Neill]

I know that Kathleen was carried on the nose of Bob's F model after the movie. Not sure about the Tallichet plane.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bb-kristinsson/4899969540/

You are right Chris!
Thanks for the correction.
It was Tallichet's that had no nose art on it in the summer of 1989.
I was relying on my bad memory instead of my photos when I wrote that.
And i have a photo of me standing right in front of Kathleen with our whole crew from the WWII 918th Re-enactment Group!!!!
Jerry

[JDK]

yah, I can not imagine they had to have the 'crew' sign-off on the movie or the script in order to make it. It was a publicity stunt.

The legal issues were not 'a publicity stunt' as I attempted to explain in my post above, but a real concern. If my post's not clear enough in some way, please ask.

Wouldn't it be neat if this material could be put together and put into print ?
It's been done for the Battle of Britain movie ~ but so far no one has grasped the nettle for the Memphis Belle movie.

The (relatively) recent Battle of Britain film books were written by a good friend of mine, the late Robert Rudhall. A Memphis Belle book would be a great idea, I agree, but a bucket of work (the BoB books didn't help Robert's health any, with the extra workload). Also I'd be interested in what size market could be found for it. At this stage, I think the data capturing work underway by various people (philatthepub's notes look great to me) is a great start.

Regards,

[the330thbg]

:shock:

Mate, you are just really trying to up your posts, are you not?

[philatthepub]

Thanks Jerry 0'Neill and Mustangdriver, thats some great detective work finding those pictures of N17W and N3703G passing back through Iceland after the filming of Memphis Belle was completed.

The "Kathleen" on N17W’s nose was applied at the end of filming at Binbrook, and at this point she was flying with the code DP-Y and tail number 124848 on her left (pilot's) side and DP-K 124249 on her right (co pilot's side). It is possible that the right side markings were used when she carried the vinyl nose art for “Black Eyed Pea” and the left side markings were used for “Buckaroo” vinyl, as both nose arts are featured in the DVD “The other Stars of Memphis Belle”, but until conclusive photographic evidence appears of N17W carrying the “Buckaroo” and “Black Eyed Pea” identities, all this has to remain as an educated guess.

The 124249 tail number tallies up with Patrick Bunce’s picture in Flypast’s “Flying Memphis Belle B-17s” article which shows N17W flying with the “Black Eyed Pea” nose art on the right (co-pilots) side, but the aircraft letter looks like J, not K. Then if you look closely in the film, when N17W is carrying the "Black Eyed Pea" nose art on the left (pilot's) side of her nose, it's painted directly over the "Clooney Baby" nose art which is still partially visible underneath, and so the Squadron codes and tail numbers probably hadn't been changed from her "Clooney Baby" MJ-K 22656 identity. Finally, one of N17Ws last tasks at Binbrook was to appear as “Buckaroo” for the hangar dance, and Alan Tomkins suggests that the DP-Y 124848 markings were applied at the same time. There is another thread concerning N17W when she was flyable, and so I’ll put an appeal for information on that one as well for more conclusive evidence.

The other photo that accompanied the picture of N17W transiting through Iceland on flickr.com was of N3703G, which by this point was unnamed and carrying DP-L on her left (pilots) side and DP-V on her right (co-pilots) side with heavily blanked out tail numbers. As I mentioned in an earlier post, it was quite an easy short cut for Enigma Film's art department to change an F into a P to create another fictitious squadron of aircraft. I concentrated on the more substancial nose arts featured during the film during my research and stayed away from aircraft that carried just titling only as they made more interesting subjects for Nigel Franklyn of http://www.kitsworld.co.uk , but largely according to Stuart Craig and Alan Tomkins, N3703G also flew as "Mary Lou" DP-H 121485, "Sweet Maureen", ZQ-T 22980, "Sweet Dreams" ZQ-Z 22330, unnamed DF-H 124435 (a quick reworking of the Memphis Belle markings) and unnamed DF-T 22981. G-BEDF also flew as "Lady Jane" DP-O 124888, "My Zita" DP-B and "Hot Lips" ZQ-G 22343 while F-BEEA was unnamed and carried DP-N 228651 at the time of her crash.

I read about Liberty Belle's engine fire yesterday. Absolutely heart breaking. I walked through her when she was over in the UK for Legends at Duxford in 2008 and the restoration work was superb. Let's hope some parts can still be salvaged and incorporated into another B-17 restoration project.

Phil,
Surrey, UK

[Bomberboy]

philatthepub wrote "Wouldn't it be neat if this material could be put together and put into print ?"
It's been done for the Battle of Britain movie ~ but so far no one has grasped the nettle for the Memphis Belle movie.
If we don't start documenting their recollections soon this chapter in B-17 history may never be fully told

Totally agree!!!!
Following some discussion I have had, I believe that there is one who is at the very very begining of looking into the realistic feasibility along with some material gathering.
However I am informed it is very early days and is more than likely that it could take quite some time.
I am told that there are a number of 'on the scene' photos that are in existance, but that other contributions would likely be useful and sought.
Having looked at some of the good photos from people on the various foums I feel could help no doubt, but I am not in the position to make comments on what exactly is being considered.

Bomberboy

[Bomberboy]

Let's hope some parts can still be salvaged and incorporated into another B-17 restoration project.

Ditto!!!

Bomberboy

[johnwaldon1]

Having just seen the Wyler film, and according to my memories of the 1990 movie, my impression is that what actually happened to "Old Bill" and her crew in the Wyler film, was combined with the story of the Memphis Belle and her crew for the 1990 movie.
I imagine that one reason for doing this might be the fact that the title "Memphis Belle" would probably appeal more to potential viewers, than a title of "Old Bill".

[leo]

I remember explaining to my wife and friends at the time, that all of the action that was portrayed I had heard about (read) from various sources over the years, it just didn't happen to Belle, and not on a single mission!