Jimmy Stewart - Bombardier Trainer

[agent86]

...even my friends dad didnt know this..

Know what? That Jimmy Stewart was B-24 pilot?

he didnt know that the guy he moved next door to was a ball turret gunner ,while my friends dad was in the 306th bomb group in England.they kinda had some things in common and things to discuss.doncha think? everybody knows Mr.Stewart was a Pilot of B-24's,or should know. didnt his stepson get killed over Vietnam?

[Steve Nelson]

Not to wander too far off topic, but I wonder if the book I have was a companion to the RKO film (which I've never seen.) It has several photos of B-18s and AT-11s with the "Q" buzz code.

SN

[Chris Brame]

The B-18A in the movie is coded Q-111, s/n 38-596. (B-23 s/n 39-24 is also briefly seen.)

[JohnB]

didnt his stepson get killed over Vietnam?

He was a Marine Lieutenant...not an aircrew member to the best of my knowledge.

[The Inspector]

'Bombardier' is a typical, fairly low dollar, WW2 quickie tub thumper. You know the movie is in trouble when the 'stars' are Pat OBrien, Eddie Albert, and Randolph Scott. The 'bomb sight' was an unimaginative metal box that looked like an electrical box pulled off the wall of the sound stage. The best way to recreate this movie would involve setting a smoldering fire in an old sneaker and leaving it in your front room for 90 minutes.

[AviationArtist]

By all accounts it should be worth a tub of popcorn then! I'm a sucker for bad cinema, besides, it's not the plot or acting I'll be looking for...

Am beginning to draw out the composition now onto a good-sized canvas.

[Chris Brame]

Bombardier is a guilty pleasure for me - fitting squarely in the "so bad it's good" category. So many howlers - including the captured pilot being brought in for interrogation on a stretcher that just happened to be clearly labeled as donated by the Red Cross for Tokyo earthquake relief from 1923...

[The Inspector]

Oh yes! By all means, it is in the same category for me as all those awful 58 minute 'B' Westerns (which I'm a sucker for by the way) starring Buster Crabbe or Bob Steele or Johnny Mack Brown, that were done by REPULSIVE..er REPUBLIC STUDIOS where the heros from this movie ride past the same trees that were in the last movie back when Simi Valley was wilderness. My favorite 'B' Western hero was Tim Holt, I never realized that horses were so tall in the mid 40's. (yes, I know Tim was a B-29 bombardier in WW2, how's that for coincidence?)
It's on a par with all the John Wayne WW2 'RAH-RAH' pix, just that JW had better directors and they had bigger budgets. I used to drive my first wife nuts pointing out in 'B's things like cars and multi line phone poles or or tire tracks from the film car or where the scene ended abruptly because you could just begin hear big engines coming out of Santa Monica on takeoff.

[res6kgcr]

Hi Dominic,

Found this on Footnote for you information:



Best regards,

Tom

[Steve Nelson]

'Bombardier' is a typical, fairly low dollar, WW2 quickie tub thumper. The 'bomb sight' was an unimaginative metal box that looked like an electrical box pulled off the wall of the sound stage.

Here's a scan from the book of the same name. Those bags certainly don't look big enough (nor the right shape) to hold a Norden. Of course, since it was such a highly classified piece of gear at the time, I'm sure they did everything they could to avoid any realistic depiction of it.



And as long as I have the book handy, here's a pic that might give WIXers a chuckle...



SN

[The Inspector]

SHACK!

[Taigh Ramey]

Those bags certainly don't look big enough (nor the right shape) to hold a Norden. Of course, since it was such a highly classified piece of gear at the time, I'm sure they did everything they could to avoid any realistic depiction of it.

The bag that the two of them are carrying is the one for the Norden sight head. It is big enough for the sight head on the shipping cradle. We have a Navy one in the collection and it is very close. The other bag is the E-1 bombardier's case that was used to carry all of their tools, charts etc.

[AviationArtist]

Tom, thanks for the picture, I've seen that one as well, just a shame the angle isn't a little wider...

[AviationArtist]

Ok, found some interesting shots specifically from Kirtland, see what you think:





In the first shot it appears that the engine cowls ARE painted? I know they'd have anti-glare on the inside, but these definately have something all the way around? I've seen another shot where two aircraft are together and one has paitnied cowls, the other not.

[The Inspector]

Lead formation aircraft? Lead Instructors aircraft? Painted cowls had to have some pretty important reason for being other than 'as part of your giging punishment, you get to paint the cowls on J-221'