"Combat America" Clark Gable war film

[UncleEd]

Some might be interested in seeing
"Combat America," a documentary
Clark Gable shot while with the 8th
Army Air Force 's 351st Bomb Group.

It's available on Amazon Prime and while
it is mostly a rah-rah morale booster, it
does contain footage of B-17s being blown
apart or looking like Swiss cheese. And
it doesn't cut away when the wounded
are helped out of the planes.

In his narration, he mentions that takeoffs
of the bombers was timed to be 15 seconds
apart. Perhaps you Air Force vets can
comment on this bit of information. Also in
high altitude flights the temps were often
20 below zero.

Officially Gable flew 5 combat missions but
in a story I read, those with him said he
was on many more missions. One
officeer said he seemed to have a death
wish to join his late wife, Carole Lombard.

 

[DWalt]

I remember reading that the brass cut off his ties to the sky. They thought that if his plane were shot down and he got captured by the Germans, he would provide a great propaganda bonanza for the Germans.

 

[Rudi]

Not many Hollywood types like that these days.

 

[Old 44 Guy]

Yes Gable served in the war alto he was over draft age. A real hero in my book. He was also a very good hunter. He and Ward Bond often hunted together in Oregon. Gable had a nice collection of firearms. They passed too soon.

 

[UncleEd]

Besides Gable, we all know about that
other famous movie star, James Stewart,
who piloted B-24s.

But another star of the 1940s was Sabu who
achieved U.S. citizenship in 1944. He became
a tail and ball turret gunner on B-24s in the
Pacific Theater. Being small, he aptly filled
those gun positions on missions.

 

[fordson]

There were others……
LT(JG) Eddy Albert, USNR, Bronze Star
LT Wayne Morris, USNR, DFC (w/three stars), 7 “Zeros” destroyed
CAPT Jackie Cooper, USNR, LoM
LT(JG) Henry Fonda, USNR, Bronze Star
CAPT Douglas Fairbanks,USNR, Silver Star
There are many more, these are just some of the “Navy ones”………

 

[WR Moore]

Lindberg was out in the Pacific teaching P38 pilots how to conserve fuel on long distance missions. Although a pre war pacifist and a civilian, he allegedly did some "gunnery demonstrations" too.

 

[UncleEd]

I'm guilty, no doubt, of going on too much
about Gable's service record when what I
intended was to steer some to see his
documentary on aerial warfare as
actually recorded in 1942/43.

Nothing new except to see film footage
in the then real time of how chewed up
those bombers were from 20mm fighter
fire and FLAK shrapnel.

Besides paying tribute to the fliers, it's
an excellent depiction of the ground
crews getting those planes back in service.
400 airmen backed by 3,600 on the ground.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Most folks went to War Two.
Like all four of the Roosevelts, actually five when you include Teddy Jr.
Over in West Africa, Elliot and my FIL were drinking Buddies.
Elliot called FDR ‘The Old Man.’
They welcomed Wendell Wilke who was on a ‘Fact Finding Trip’ and Jimmy Doolittle who was headed Stateside following the Tokyo Raid.
Clark’s Job was to recruit Gunners.
We were losing Aerial Gunners faster than we were recruiting and training them.

 

[fordson]

Lindberg was out in the Pacific teaching P38 pilots how to conserve fuel on long distance missions. Although a pre war pacifist and a civilian, he allegedly did some "gunnery demonstrations" too.

Depending on which information source one uses, he’s credited with either two or three “Zero’s”…….

 

[DWalt]

Depending on which information source one uses, he’s created with either two or three “Zero’s”…….

A little more detail to the story is to be found here: Charles Lindbergh - Aviation Pioneer, America First, Transatlantic Flight | Britannica

 

[SMSgt]

Most folks went to War Two.
Like all four of the Roosevelts, actually five when you include Teddy Jr.
Over in West Africa, Elliot and my FIL were drinking Buddies.
Elliot called FDR ‘The Old Man.’
They welcomed Wendell Wilke who was on a ‘Fact Finding Trip’ and Jimmy Doolittle who was headed Stateside following the Tokyo Raid.
Clark’s Job was to recruit Gunners.
We were losing Aerial Gunners faster than we were recruiting and training them.

The highest casualty rate on B-17s was the bombardier followed by the waist gunners. The lowest casualty rate was the ball gunner.

A fifteen-second interval takeoff would be the WWII version of today's MITO---Minimum Interval Take Off. A wing of KC-135s and B-52s conducting a MITO is an impressive thing to see.

Minimum Interval Take Off (MITO) launch of 9 B-52s and 5 K-135s in under 5 minutes. - YouTube

 

[Abbynormal]

Lindberg was out in the Pacific teaching P38 pilots how to conserve fuel on long distance missions. Although a pre war pacifist and a civilian, he allegedly did some "gunnery demonstrations" too.

It has been written that "Lindy" scored a number of Japanese combat kills in a P38 Lightning while acting as an "observer" in the Pacific theater.

He also did the planning, engineering calculations and fuel math for the P38's mission to shoot down Yamamoto!

 

[DWalt]

The highest casualty rate on B-17s was the bombardier followed by the waist gunners. The lowest casualty rate was the ball gunner.

A fifteen-second interval takeoff would be the WWII version of today's MITO---Minimum Interval Take Off. A wing of KC-135s and B-52s conducting a MITO is an impressive thing to see.

Minimum Interval Take Off (MITO) launch of 9 B-52s and 5 K-135s in under 5 minutes. - YouTube

I used to live near Carswell AFB and had a neighbor who was a BUFF pilot. He would tip me off when a MITO exercise was coming up. Would take the wife and kids to a convenient parking lot right off the end of the runway to watch. Very impressive to see all those B-52s taking off 500 feet over your head. That was back in the late 70s-early 80s.