Memphis Belle (film) - Historical Accuracy

Historical Accuracy

With the exception of the aircraft names, this film is fiction based only very loosely on fact. The characters are composites, the names are not those of the real crew of the Memphis Belle and the incidents shown are supposed to be representative of B-17 missions in general. Indeed, the characters and situations of the film bear little resemblance to the crew of the actual Memphis Belle, the nature of her final mission, the accuracy of strategic bombing, or Allied policy on the bombing of civilians. No optimistic official celebration on the evening before the Belle's 25th mission occurred, and there was no special welcome for the crew when the mission was over. The final, 25th mission of the real Belle was to Kiel, Germany, before being flown back to the United States.

Five real B-17s were rounded up for the filming of Memphis Belle, out of eight that were airworthy during the late 1980s. Two were located in America (N3703G and N17W), two were in France (F-BEEA and F-AZDX), and one (G-BEDF "Sally B") in England. Since the original Memphis Belle was a B-17F model, almost all of the B-17s used in the film were heavily modified to look like earlier F models, having chin turrets removed, new tail turrets installed and being painted olive drab green. During filming, two B-17s portrayed the Belle (one was the movie version of the "Memphis Belle" (N3703G) and the other was "Sally B" (G-BEDF) for scenes requiring pyrotechnics such as smoke and sparks indicating machine gun 'hits') whilst the rest had nose art and squadron markings changed numerous times to make it appear there were more aircraft.

For the fighters, seven P-51 Mustangs were used, although P-47 Thunderbolts were the escort at the time in 1943. Five of the P-51s were painted in the markings of the first USAAF Merlin-engined Mustang squadron to operate in Britain (a few months later in 1943 than the actual mission) and as there were no surviving flyable Messerschmitt Bf 109s, Luftwaffe fighter aircraft were represented by Ha-1112s, a Spanish version of the Bf 109 (which were also used to represent Bf 109s in the 1969 film Battle of Britain) in mid-war generic paint schemes.

Ground sequences for the movie (including take off and landing scenes) were filmed at the non-operational RAF Binbrook in Lincolnshire, England with a period control tower and vehicles being placed on site. Flying sequences were flown from the airfield site of the Imperial War Museum Duxford. All the extras for the film were obtained from auditions held in the area, and included current and former members of the Royal Air Force. The filmmakers also used Pinewood Studios to shoot interior scenes and to shoot various models of B-17s.

A B-25 Mitchell was used to film the majority of the aerial scenes with several fixed and trainable cameras also mounted on B-17s and fighter aircraft for action shots. A Grumman TBM Avenger (with its tail section painted the same olive drab tones used on the B-17s) was used as back-up for a short time when the B-25 became unservicable during filming.

The movie pilots were warbird display pilots coming from the UK, USA, France, New Zealand and Norway, the roster changing several times as pilots had to return to their full-time jobs during filming. The flying sequences were devised and planned under the co-ordination of Old Flying Machine Company (OFMC) pilots Ray Hanna and his son Mark, who also acted as chief pilots for the fighter aircraft used and flew the camera-equipped fighter and TBM Avenger aircraft during filming.