All language subtitles for PBS.Memphis.Belle.Her.Final.Mission.1080p.WEB.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org.[eng]

(gentle music)

(uplifting music)

- [Narrator] Time passes.

Memories fade.

What's left is the story.

Words on paper.

Images on film.

But when you're
lucky, really lucky,

something more remains,

something like a
four-engine time machine.

- [Soldier] Flak will be
heavy, probably accurate.

We've been through worse before.

Particularly for you gunners,

you've got to be on the ball

from the Danish coast
on to the target.

- [Narrator] Suddenly it's 1943.

The world is on fire,

and young men are flying
into dangerous skies.

Many won't return.

But 10 men, who are good,
brave, and very lucky,

survive 25 combat missions,

and that earns them a trip home,

(plane rumbling)

and a journey into history,

on the plane they call
the Memphis Belle.

(plane rumbling)

(solemn music)

There's no way they
could have known.

When they signed up,

they probably never
heard the word flak.

They didn't know what it was,

what it could do.

The boys wanted to fly,

and they were eager
to prove themselves.

They never saw a
20-millimeter cannon shell,

the kind that veteran
German fighter pilots

would soon be pouring
into their aircraft.

They wanted to be pilots,
navigators, bombardiers,

but they had no idea.

The British knew.

They tried bombing German
targets in daylight, unescorted.

They learned the hard way.

(alarm blaring)

So hard they stopped doing it.

Because if they didn't stop,

they wouldn't have
any planes left,

or pilots or navigators
or bombardiers.

So the Royal Air
Force began bombing

under the cover of darkness.

(explosions banging)

The US Army Air Forces
stepped into the breach.

They had a theory about
precision daylight bombing.

With the right training,

the right equipment,
the right tactics,

it could be, would
be successful.

The theory would soon be tested,

tested by young men like the
crew of the Memphis Belle,

a B-17 bomber, Eighth Air
Force, 91st Bomb Group.

They were among the first of
the American heavy bomber crews

to see combat over Europe.

And so the campaign began.

It only took a few missions,

and the realization hit
like an 88 flak shell.

They had signed on for one of
the most dangerous assignments

of World War II.

In those cold skies,

theory collided with reality.

The odds of a heavy bomber crew

surviving six months of
combat were just 28%.

(plane buzzing)

In the air war over Europe,

over 30,000 American
bomber crewmen would die,

but their story would not.

An important part of that
story was coming back to life

in a hangar in Dayton, Ohio.

(mellow music)

It was the last Friday
in October 2005.

Two semis were en route
from Memphis to Dayton.

Their cargo was priceless,

but unrecognizable
to most people.

(solemn music)

Old and weather-beaten,

aluminum and plexiglass,

a national icon in 1,000 pieces.

Final destination,

the National Museum of the
United States Air Force.

- Everybody looked at it,

and we started taking
it apart and cleaning it

and immediately started
assessing what we needed.

- That's when it
became very real.

The Memphis Belle was here
and we had a huge job to do.

- A lot of corrosion,
it's very dirty.

Each little nut, screw,
everything has to be taken apart

- So literally thousands
and thousands of pieces

that our restoration
staff had to go through,

identify, catalog,
keep track of,

and the process of identifying
the parts, evaluating them,

and deciding if they could
be kept or not took years.

- [Narrator] For the
team, it was day one,

the first step of
a long journey.

63 years earlier,

the plane that was sitting
before them in pieces

was on an airbase in England,

a place called Bassingbourn.

The date was November 7th 1942.

Lieutenant Jim Verinis,
co-pilot, had been out late,

getting to know his
new British allies.

- [Announcer] The
museum is now closed.

We hope you've
enjoyed your visit.

(solemn music)

- [Narrator] Lieutenant Verinis.

- [Verinis] Hardly got to
bed when they got us up.

We're finally off on our
first combat mission.

We bomb Brest in France,
a submarine base.

Started with 14 ships,

but six dropped out
halfway across the channel

because of gun trouble.

- [Narrator] Waist gunner,
Sergeant Bill Winchell,

also kept a combat diary.

- [Winchell] 91st Bomb
Group starts her trip

along the glory road,
her first combat mission.

Took off in the morning on
ship 124485, the Memphis Belle.

Everybody was tense and
very anxious to get going.

During the run over the
target, everyone was keyed up,

nervous and excited naturally,

our first taste of combat.

The ship, squadron, and group

came through with no
casualties to personnel,

not a scratch on the Belle.

- [Narrator] But
that first mission

was just a quiet prelude.

Two days later, all
hell broke loose.

Lieutenant Verinis.

- [Verinis] November 9, 1942.

Off at 10:00 am to the
submarine base at St. Nazaire.

An eight-hour round trip.

- [Winchell] Can combat
get much rougher?

Came in over target from
the ocean at 10,000 feet.

- [Verinis] Ran into
terrific fire on bombing run.

- [Winchell] It seemed as
though every flak gun in Germany

was there to meet us.

- [Verinis] Shells
burst all around us.

It felt like they
were inside the plane.

Holes appearing all around,
one directly beneath us.

- [Winchell] Fighters
were more plentiful too.

Our ship came out of
it with 40-odd holes.

(gunfire rattling)

- [Verinis] Lost three planes.

Target destroyed by
terrific bombing,

but well near suicide for us.

- [Winchell] When it was
over, we were all convinced

that war can be hell.

- [Narrator] Missions like that

had the ground crews scrambling,

patching holes and replacing
battle-damaged parts.

In Dayton, the restoration team

was busy doing the same thing,

but the enemy was different.

The Memphis Belle was in a
battle against corrosion.

Time and the elements
had taken a toll.

- Things are only original once,

and once you replace
it, it's gone forever.

- [Narrator] So the team
saved everything they could.

But some things
were beyond saving.

They had to fabricate
several 100 replacement parts

over the course of
the restoration.

- Love that part of the process.

Taking something
from a blueprint

and then winding up
with a usable part,

it's very satisfying.

- There's probably not
anything we couldn't make.

- When I'm fabricating a part,

the way that I personally bend
the metal or shape something,

it's kind of like
your little signature.

It's not like you're
doing that on purpose,

but that's just
how it comes out.

So if I see a part, I can
usually pretty quickly tell

that I made it because of
the way it's fabricated.

So it's neat to have your little
signature on the airplane.

- [Roger] We kept
maybe 90 some percent

of the original air frame.

But so many of the parts that
we had to make, you can't see,

but we know they're in there.

They have to be in there.

- A thing that I really enjoyed

on working on the Memphis Belle

was the fabrication
of a glycol heater.

It goes on the inboard section

right between the
number two engine

and the fuselage
of the left wing.

It provides heat to the
cabin of the airplane.

The Memphis Belle's was missing,

so we had to make a new one.

What was so gratifying about it

is we fabricated this part
and it's fully functioning.

It works like a radiator.

It pulls heat off the number
two engine through liquid

and generates heat
for the cabin.

It's mounted in the wing but
no one's ever gonna see it,

but we know it's there.

- [Narrator] The glycol
heater was important.

At altitude, air
temperatures could plunge

to 60 degrees below zero.

Frostbite was not uncommon,

especially for the waist
gunners like Bill Winchell.

His workspace
featured open windows,

limited heat, and very
little protection from flak,

but it did offer
a wonderful view,

when people weren't
trying to kill you.

(plane buzzing)

(gunfire rattling)

(solemn music)

After three missions,

the Memphis Belle's crew was
becoming battle-hardened.

Winchell's glory road had
turned into a long walk

down a dark alley in
the worst part of town,

a place no mother
wants her son to be,

and the worst was yet to come.

- [Verinis] Sure enough,
late getting to bed,

so we're up early for a mission.

Back to St. Nazaire.

- [Winchell] Started our fourth
trip but had to turn back,

number two engine.

- [Narrator] The
mission continued on.

(planes buzzing)

Several hours later,

when the remnants of the
group returned to base,

word spread quickly.

Lieutenant Verinis.

- [Verinis] Disaster has struck.

Four ships only
got over the target

and were jumped on by fighters.

Two ships definitely
down at sea.

The one that cracked
up in England,

piloted by Lieutenant Corman,

hit a high tension wire
while trying to land,

killing most of the occupants.

- [Winchell] Maybe
it was destiny

that the Belle turned back.

I'll never know.

First time any of our buddies
have been killed in action.

- [Verinis] Sorry to
see old P.K. Baxter go.

A big, happy boy, and his wife
about to become a mother too.

Some of the boys fighting mad.

Anxious to get back
at the Jerries.

The mission proved one thing.

You've got to have
a large formation,

or else they'll jump you and
shoot the hell out of you.

- [Crewman] I got
my sights on them.

- [Crewman] Check out
B-17, Chuck, three o'clock.

- [Narrator] The theory of
successful daylight bombing

called for large
numbers of planes

flying in tight formations.

- [Commentator]
Experience has shown

that this arrangement
of the group

brings to bear on
attacking fighters

the greatest possible
amount of firepower

by utilizing to fullest
advantage the field of fire

of each gun in the formation.

- [Narrator]
Strength in numbers,

like a vast migrating herd.

But in late 1942, the
numbers just weren't there.

American industry
was still gearing up,

so these early missions
were extremely small.

And because of that, a
price was being paid.

There were other issues.

- [Jeff] The B-17s came over

with 30-caliber machine
guns in the nose,

and they were
essentially useless.

In fact, a lot of times,
they weren't even carried.

And the Germans
figured this out,

and they started
attacking from the front.

We're losing airplanes
left and right.

- [Narrator] Here's
how it happened.

Americans called this
variant the triple threat.

Luftwaffe fighters
would fly parallel to

and 500 yards above
the bomber formation,

out of range of
the American guns.

Three German fighters would
fly ahead of the group

and turn back
toward the bombers.

At this point,

the adversaries are hurtling
toward each other head on.

Closing speed, over
500 miles per hour.

The German pilots each had
about three seconds to fire

before peeling off
at the last instant.

Well-executed frontal
attacks were devastating.

- We need to do
something right now.

We can't wait for the
states to fix this problem.

So they decided to put
reinforcements in the nose

to carry 50-caliber
machine guns.

We went through 50,000
pages of documents

from the Eighth Air
Force Service Command.

We found out that there
were 200 of those kits made.

They were made at a place
called Langford Lodge,

and we even know when
they were shipped.

We have no idea what they looked
like in terms of drawings.

There are no drawings
of these reinforcements.

- [Narrator] Between the Belle's
last combat mission in 1943

and its arrival at the
restoration hangar in 2005,

these gun braces
had disappeared.

The team needed visuals
to guide their fabrication

of accurate replacements.

With no official
visual documentation,

the team turned
to William Wyler.

His 1943 documentary,
"The Memphis Belle,

A Story of a Flying Fortress,"
provided the answers.

- There is coverage of these
reinforcements from all angles

in that 11 1/2 hours
of color footage.

So by taking stills
of that footage,

our restoration staff
were able to recreate

those reinforcements
known as nose spiders.

They're on the airplane
today, and they are identical

to what was on the Memphis
Belle back in 1943.

- [Narrator] Lieutenant
Morgan and his men

were far from home
and far from safe.

But they were decently paid.

They had some time
between missions,

and Bassingbourn,
their home base,

was just 50 miles from London.

It was a road well-traveled.

Lieutenant Morgan.

(jaunty music)

- [Morgan] We fought as hard

and lived as
intensely as we could,

seeking laughter and
swing music and liquor

and the comfort of women.

It wasn't long before
my officers and I

had worked out a
deal with the base,

a deal that let us maximize
those London romps.

We'd call our operations
officer on the phone

from the hotel at night and ask,

"Are we gonna play
baseball tomorrow?"

If he said yes,

we'd grab the next train
back to Bassingbourn.

Those London nights helped.

In London, we could
live make believe lives

for a little while.

(pensive music)

- [Narrator] Years
passed and the Belle sat,

seemingly frozen in time.

The restoration team
was mired in minutiae.

The Belle was being restored
as a plane of record.

That meant every detail of
the plane, seen or unseen,

had to be exactly as it
was on May 17th 1943.

The level of detail
was excruciating.

For the team, this was
not a time of attaboys

or admiring crowds
of museumgoers.

Casual observers might
have even questioned

why they chose this intricate
and arcane type of work.

- I was just a kid
who loved airplanes

and grew up building models,

and I knew from a very early age

I wanted to do
something in aviation.

- I can remember my
parents when I was a kid

dropping me off at the
museum in the summer,

and I'd spend the whole
day walking around

looking at airplanes.

I was probably 12
years old at the time.

- Went to school to get my
FAA certificates and licenses,

and one of my instructors

restored antique
airplanes on the side

and let me work with
him for several years,

so I learned a lot from him.

- I was in the military.

I was a crew chief
in the military.

I really, really loved that job,

and in my spare time, I started
volunteering at the museum.

- [Narrator] In the early 1990s,

Casey's mom took him to
a World War II Fly In

at Wright-Patterson
Air Force Base.

An older man who
Casey didn't recognize

was signing photographs.

They got in line.

- He signs it, "To
Casey, Robert Morgan."

And he's like, "Now what's
your favorite airplane?"

I, of course, said a B-17,

and he thought that was great.

He didn't have to
take the time out

to be nice to a 12-year-old kid

and talk to them
about the airplane.

But he did and he
made me feel special,

and it really boosted my
enthusiasm about aviation

which has obviously
lasted my life.

I knew this airplane
growing up as a child

just from model kits and things,

but why would I ever think

that I'm gonna have anything
to do with the actual airplane?

I still have that
photograph today.

- [Narrator] The men
of the 91st Bomb Group

were approaching their
first Christmas at war.

America seemed
like a world away.

And their next target, 180
miles deep into France,

didn't seem much closer.

- [Morgan] The reception
committee showed up early.

- [Winchell] Met at the French
coast by German fighters.

One long,
nerve-wracking dog fight

all the way in and
all the way out.

- [Verinis] The sky
was full of them,

more than I had
ever seen before,

all making head-on attacks.

- [Winchell] Saw two
B-17s go down in flames,

a sickening sight.

- [Verinis] The crew
bailed out of one of them.

- [Morgan] Everybody
was blazing away.

As for me, I just flew
the airplane as usual,

keeping her steady.

You're in tight formation,

tight, tight, tight.

That was my war mostly,

the instrument panel
right in front of my eyes.

Steady, steady, steady.

- [Winchell] Bombs away.

We turned and started to
fight our way back home.

- [Verinis] This was really
the toughest mission yet.

I wouldn't care for
many more like it.

- [Narrator] For museum
curator Jeff Duford,

telling the story of the Memphis
Belle is a sacred mission.

His home base for that mission
is located inside the gates

of the Wright-Patterson
Air Force Base.

- The building that I work in
is about 200,000 square feet.

It was made out of poured
concrete during World War II.

It has a steel reinforced roof,

and then there are
thousands of artifacts.

There are engines, bombs,
parts of airplanes.

It really is, in many ways,

an amazing museum
in and of itself.

Every day is different.

It's this huge investigation,

and it's a chasing
of information,

and the information is located
in so many different places.

There are documents, there
are photos, there's film,

there's objects, there
are oral histories,

there are interviews.

Who was on the airplane?

When did they fly?

What kind of bombs
did they carry?

What's the history?

But then there's the
technological history
of the aircraft.

How was it configured?

How was it changed
during the combat tour?

- [Casey] It was a
lot of information

that he had to come up with

because he ultimately
has to be the one

that gets it exactly right

because he's gonna be the one

answering questions from people.

(mellow music)

- [Narrator] In late 1942,

the bomber crews at Bassingbourn
could see into the future.

Everyone knew what was next.

Soon they would be in
the belly of the beast,

striking targets inside Germany.

(gentle music)

- [Morgan] We'll be getting
to Germany in January.

With that frame of mind,

the Mighty Eighth got set
to celebrate Christmas 1942.

Maybe celebrate
isn't the right word.

There were a lot of
empty chairs at mess

in these opening months,

a lot of empty chairs.

- [Narrator] On the
Christian calendar,

December 28th is Innocents Day,

a day to remember the
male infants of Bethlehem

slaughtered by King Herod.

At Bassingbourn, snow fell for
the first time that winter.

Two days later,
the war came back.

- [Verinis] Up at 5:30.

A mission to Lorient sub pens.

Took off with snow falling.

Peace and quiet till
we got on bombing run.

- [Narrator] Sergeant Winchell.

- [Winchell] Too quiet.

Something going to happen soon.

(artillery humming)

Here it comes.

Heavy, accurate, black
flak and moving in.

Only expert evasive
action and a prayer

will get us through this.

- [Verinis] Hit by fighters,

ME 109s and FW 190s.

Nobody shot down over target,

but we went out to sea
and came back over France.

Had a 100-mile an hour headwind.

Everyone thought we were over
England and got careless.

- [Winchell] One fort was
lost over the coast due to it,

shot down by fighters.

- [Verinis] Many wounded.

Major Myers died.

Third squadron commander
lost out of four.

Mighty tired.

Ready for New Year's
Eve party tomorrow.

- [Narrator] That's
just how it was.

Catastrophes happen.

They were acknowledged and
then they were locked away,

rarely mentioned.

Because the air crews had
to get up the next morning

and do it all over again.

1942 was nearly gone.

But in war, there's always
time for one more calamity.

(gentle music)

Lieutenant Verinis.

- [Verinis] Went up
on practice mission

and had Spitfires make passes
at us for gunner practice.

Two of them collided in midair.

Only one bailed out safely
and he fell in the water.

Rescue boats got there too late.

New Year's party here tonight.

January 1, 1943.

Golly, what a headache.

- [Narrator] Captain Morgan.

- [Morgan] The attrition
rate got so high so fast

and the horror of
it grew so haunting

for each crew that
survived a run,

that before long
the generals decided

to build in a little incentive,

sort of like the Fuller Brush
Company did for its salesmen.

25 missions and
your war is over.

(soldiers chattering)

What a master stroke
of psychology that
announcement was.

Yes, we were hardened
veterans in a lethal air war,

and our prospects for
survival weren't any better

than they had been before
the general's challenge.

But we were young men too,
boys still, many of us,

and like young men,

we fastened eagerly
on this new incentive.

25 missions?

We can do that.

- [Narrator] The 25
mission incentive

was announced on December 31st.

The new year would
bring new hope,

but on January 3rd, it
was the same old reality.

- [Verinis] Mission today.

Off to our old
friend St. Nazaire.

- [Winchell] The group
went down through France

to Flak City with the Memphis
Belle leading the pack.

As we approached the
target, hell broke loose.

Heavy flak and fighters
at the same time.

First time fighters have come in

right through the flak at us.

They bored in close too.

(gunfire rattling)

- [Verinis] Biggest
losses for us to date.

We lost nine bombers.

We can't stand trips
like that too often.

- [Narrator] The heavy
losses made everyone anxious.

It was just another
battle to be fought.

Captain Morgan.

- [Morgan] Half an
hour before taxi time,

all the members of the crews

made that sobering little
ride to the waiting airplanes.

If it's going to hit you,
it's going to hit you then,

fear, anxiety, or
urge to turn back.

Once you're underway, your
mind can finally attach itself

to the routine tasks at hand

and push the terror deep
into the background.

It's the damn ride to the
planes that nearly kills you.

- [Narrator] Lieutenant Verinis.

- [Verinis] Boys are
all getting uneasy.

Combat is steadily
taking its toll.

Everyone thinking in terms
of going home for a rest.

We have lost about 1/3
of our group to date

with less than half of the
necessary missions completed.

What a dangerous life we live.

- [Narrator] Prophetic words.

Just 12 days later,

the Belle faced almost
certain annihilation.

Restoring the Memphis Belle
required some heavy lifting.

- You don't move forward

with any type of a
project like that

without meeting
together as a group,

discussing what you're gonna
do and how you're doing it,

so everybody's on the same page.

And then it's just
one step at a time,

take it nice and slow,

and nothing gets damaged
and nobody gets hurt.

- [Narrator] The restoration
team lived with the Belle

for well over a decade.

The knowledge they acquired
put them in good company,

and it gave them a
great appreciation

of the original ground crew

led by Master Sergeant
Joseph Giambrone.

In the Memphis Belle's
six-month combat career,

10 engines, sections of both
wings, both main landing gear,

and the vertical stabilizer
were all replaced.

The ground crew was fighting
the war their own way.

According to the manual,

changing an engine on
a B-17 takes 25 hours.

Giambrone and his crew
changed one in four hours.

It wasn't just about
setting records.

There was an enormous
amount of pride

in seeing your plane
roar down the runway,

when 12 hours earlier,

it was battle-damaged and
far from combat ready.

- There was absolutely
kinship between us and Joe

because he's doing the
maintenance on the airplane.

That's what we're
doing right now.

So you would see him like
painting a little bomb

on the side of the airplane,

and it's like, wow,
I get to do that too.

I'm doing exactly what he does.

And you're trying
to look in his hand,

like what screwdriver
does he have

or what wrench does he have?

It's just a neat thought

to be kind of walking
in his footsteps.

- [Narrator] On January 23rd,

the group flew to Lorient
to bomb the submarine pens.

The Belle was flying
into extreme danger.

(solemn music)

- [Winchell] Ninth mission today
for the Belle and her crew.

Third time in a
row as lead ship.

As it has been the last few
times, there was not much doing

until we passed over
the Hun airdrome

just north of Lorient,

but after that, wow, the usual
hell in large quantities.

(planes rumbling)

- [Verinis] We had
only six ships,

so they picked on us, coming
in on head-on attacks.

So close, we had to
get out of their way

and avoid collision.

- [Morgan] Vince down below
yelled, "Airplane, 12 o'clock!"

And at that instant,
a Focke-Wulf

came streaking in
right for our nose.

I shoved the throttle forward

and sent the Belle
into a steep climb.

At the same instant, I
heard J.P. Quinlan's voice

screaming through the intercom
from his tail gunner slot,

"Chief, the tail is hit, the
whole back end is shot off!"

The burst of enemy fire
intended for our nose

had ripped into
our tail instead.

I'd prevented an
annihilating front-end hit,

but maybe we'd lost
the plane anyway.

- [Narrator] Drawing
on all his experience,

strength, and skill,

Morgan wrestled the
plane back home.

Sergeant Winchell.

- [Winchell] Several
ships damaged badly.

Lieutenant Fischer's crew,
poor devils, in bad shape.

- [Verinis] Many
wounded, one gone.

Phil got glass in both eyes

from a burst of
20-millimeter cannon fire

which shattered cockpit glass.

He may lose sight in one eye.

- [Winchell] Technical
Sergeant McInerney, radio,

lost a leg.

Staff Sergeant Richardson,

waist gunner on Lieutenant
Cliburn's ship, The Bad Penny,

hurt for the second time.

And so it goes, on and on.

- [Narrator] Years of
taking things apart,

cleaning them, and putting
them back together,

grinding, riveting, fabricating,

and finally the wings and the
fuselage were partners again.

The Belle was
standing on its own.

After years of
making things right,

the team gave the Belle
a little time in the sun.

(uplifting music)

And the transformation
continued.

It began to look like a B-17.

(gentle music)

And then 12 years after
arriving in Dayton,

it began to like look
the Memphis Belle.

- [Chad] When we started
putting paint on it,

it really started
to come to life.

- [Casey] Once the
paint started going on,

that's a big moment for me.

- [Narrator] But the
paint started going on

only after a fundamental
decision was made.

- Picking a point in time
was absolutely essential

because that gave
us the guidepost.

That gave us the end state.

And combat aircraft change a
lot through their lifetime.

They're modified, the
markings get changed.

So deciding at what point

we're going to pick
for the Memphis Belle

for its restoration
was truly significant.

Really important that we get
the right moment in time.

And we felt very strongly

that that moment in time
was the 25th mission

because finishing the
25th combat mission

is an essential part of
the Memphis Belle story.

(jaunty music)

- [Narrator] Captain Morgan.

- [Morgan] It was
hardly surprising that
when the war came,

thousands of lonely servicemen
adorned their weaponry

with an assortment of Suzie
Qs and Miss Liberties.

To the German fighter pilots

homing in on our
American bombers,

it must have looked like
they were being attacked

by a wave of flying
underwear catalogs.

- It was definitely a
big honor to paint it.

It was also a huge nightmare

because the whole
time you're thinking,

I cannot screw this up.

- That part was
really nerve-wracking.

'Cause you want it to
be a good representation

of what was there originally.

- [Narrator] Part
of the challenge

was avoiding the temptation

to make the nose art look
better than the original.

- The image of the
Memphis Belle nose art

that I had in my mind

is not actually what
was on the airplane.

It was a much, much
more simplified version.

- [Narrator] To stay faithful,

they worked closely from photos
of the original nose art.

- We were both excited.

For years, as we'd been
working on the project,

both wanted to have a hand
in painting the nose art.

- [Casey] So I just told him,

I'm gonna paint the left
side of the airplane

and you're gonna
paint the right.

So I got the blue girl
and he got the red one.

- Chad and Casey started
putting the nose art on it,

and that's when it
really stood out.

And it kind of came
home at that point.

- It's like, oh man, here
it is, the Memphis Belle.

- [Roger] Those
guys just nailed it.

- [Narrator] A new man,

a trim, confident officer
wearing a major's uniform,

showed up at Bassingbourn
in January 1943.

- [Morgan] He was a
Hollywood film director.

He'd arrived to
make a documentary

for the Army Air Force Film Unit

about the effectiveness

of daylight strategic
bombing over Europe,

still a matter of controversy

between America and
a skeptical Britain

in the early weeks of 1943.

His name, somebody
said, was Wyler,

William Wyler.

- [Narrator] Wyler was an
A-list Hollywood director.

He won the 1943 Academy
Award for Best Director.

His wife picked it up for him.

Instead of being
on the red carpet,

Wyler was flying combat
missions over Europe.

The risks were real.

One of his cameramen,
Lieutenant Harold Tannenbaum,

was killed in action.

Wyler wanted one plane, one crew

to represent the American
heavy bomber experience.

Originally that plane was
a B-17 named Invasion II,

but nobody let the Germans know.

On April 17th 1943, it was
shot down on a raid to Bremen.

Instead of becoming
stateside celebrities,

the crew of Invasion II
became prisoners of war.

Meanwhile, the Memphis Belle
kept flying into harm's way,

and it kept coming back.

- [Morgan] 16 missions
down, nine to go.

We didn't talk about it.

We never talked about it.

We spent a lot of time
not talking about it.

- [Narrator] They didn't
want to jinx their luck.

Prayer, a lucky horseshoe,

a lucky mascot, a
lucky rabbit's foot,

the crew was covering
all their bases.

Because every mission now was
a walk down that dark alley.

March 28th 1943,
Sergeant Winchell.

- [Winchell] Rouen again today.

We were jumped by Jerry fighters

as we paralleled
the French coast.

(gunfire rattling)

Two B-17s shot down.

A rough and tumble
fight all the way.

Six FWs bore down on us.

The second one shot down
Lieutenant Coen's ship

flying on our right wing.

My roommate, Jimmy
Bechtel, Grant, Nebraska,

was waist gunner aboard her.

Jimmie Bechtel was
a comparatively new
man to the outfit.

Came to us in January

as a member of our
first replacement crew.

Roomed with me from the start

and was or is a hell
of a swell fellow.

I said is because I'm sure
he's alive, a prisoner of war.

Jim was on his first flight
since returning to duty

after being shot down in the
North Sea and fished out.

He only made four
raids altogether.

Went down at sea his third

and now shot down
again on his fourth.

Good luck, Bech.

See you back in the
States when it's all over.

(gentle music)

- [Narrator] Back in the States,

loved ones were fighting
a different kind of war.

- [Announcer] We went
into this war fighting.

We know what we're fighting for.

- [Narrator] They wrote letters,

planted gardens,

recycled rubber,

and tried their best
to stay hopeful.

But every day of
the war, on average,

297 telegrams were sent
from the War Department.

They carried the
worst possible news

to the big cities
and to small towns,

including the one that
reached Grant, Nebraska.

In the spring of 1943,
America needed some good news.

America needed
the Memphis Belle.

William Wyler clearly recognized
the strength of this story.

- It was perfect.

There was a girl
back home story.

Heck, the pilot flew with
a picture of his girl

in the cockpit on every mission.

The nose art was based
on a George Petty pin-up,

which everyone read
Esquire Magazine.

So the Memphis Belle was a
natural pick to be the one,

plus they were getting close
to finishing their tour.

- [Narrator] But
nothing was easy.

Nothing was guaranteed.

The crew of Invasion II would
tell you the same thing.

May 1st 1943, Mission 22.

The Belle visited the
German submarine pens

at St. Nazaire for
the fifth time.

Job done, they headed
back for England.

Sometimes a plane makes it
home because it's lucky.

Sometimes it's
because a team of men

never quit looking
out for each other.

- [Morgan] We noticed that
the group on our right

had started heading off
back east more and more.

Chuck Leighton, who never
stopped concentrating,

was on to it right away.

He got on the phones from
down in the greenhouse.

"Don't follow that group.

They're headed right
back for France."

Sure enough, as we watched,

they headed right back
toward the viper's nest

we just escaped.

We wanted to radio them and
alert them to their mistake,

but we could not.

Military orders strictly
forbade breaking radio silence

over or near enemy territory.

We watched helplessly as our
comrades drifted and drifted

and finally got the
hell shot out of them

with anti-aircraft guns.

- Every time you're
in there working,

it's hard not to
imagine yourself

25,000 feet in the air
flying along with those guys.

It's very humbling

to just imagine what it
was like to be there.

- My biggest fear of
what could have happened

is a burst of flak because
no one can control that.

You don't know where
it's gonna happen.

So a lot of times when
I was sitting there,

I would think about that,

how terrifying that must be

and how that would have to
consume most of your thoughts.

So I don't know how they
ever became numb to that

or put it out of their mind,

but obviously they did

because they completed
their missions.

(pensive music)

- [Morgan] First thing
you do is you sit there.

You sit there.

You don't move.

You let it wash over you.

You've come through it again.

(plane buzzing)

(gunfire rattling)

You've got at least one more
night of poker ahead of you,

one more morning when
you won't wake up dead,

maybe one more red-hot
date in London.

It doesn't matter if it's
the first time or the 24th,

which this one was.

What matters is you're
down out of the sky.

Your wheels are on the tarmac.

You brought your
crew back, safe.

(solemn music)

- [Narrator] James Verinis,
the Belle's co-pilot,

had been promoted and given
his own plane to command.

Being a native of New Haven,

he called it the
Connecticut Yankee.

He was among the first to
finish 25 combat missions.

That meant he was
also among the first

to experience an uneasy reality.

His war was over.

He was safe.

But his friends were not.

Over eight days in May,

his diary entries told
a conflicted story.

- [Verinis] May 14, 1943.

Boys went to Kiel
Submarine Works in Germany.

I took a sun bath.

11 bombers lost.

May 15, boys went
to Wilhelmshaven.

I played tennis.

Six bombers lost.

May 17, boys went to Lorient.

I played tennis and sunbathed.

Three bombers lost.

May 21, the boys
went to Wilhelmshaven

and took a horrible beating.

Our group lost four planes,
three from my squadron.

My buddy Phil Fischer went
down on his last raid.

The poor devil.

God rest his soul.

(gunfire rattling)

(plane buzzing)

- [Narrator] On May 17th 1943,

the crew of the Memphis Belle

completed their
final combat mission.

(gentle music)

- [Morgan] It was
a wild ride home

from the English Channel on.

The Belle's gun muzzles
spent most of it

waving around in the high winds

'cause the crew was
all over the airplane,

hugging, slapping one
another on the back,

grinning, crying a little.

All of us were trying
to process the fact

that the horror
and risk were over,

that we'd done our
duty and survived,

and now we could
return to America.

(jaunty music)

- [Narrator] After
missions to St. Nazaire,

Lorient and Wilhelmshaven,

the Memphis Belle would
be visiting cities

with more familiar names.

The Belle's 26th mission
would be to tour America,

raising money and
raising morale.

It was the War Bond Tour.

- The War Bond Tour
had multiple purposes.

Number one, of course, was
to raise money for the war

and selling bonds.

Another reason was to go around
the country to various bases

and tell crewmen in training,

hey, these are
the things we did.

Learn your formation flying.

Be focused on your gunnery.

These are the things that
are gonna save your life.

These are the things that
are gonna bring you home.

- [Narrator] While the crew
was in Southern California,

they were invited to
William Wyler's studio.

He had a film to finish
and he needed their help.

Thanks to a German submarine,

Wyler's sound
recording equipment

was on the bottom
of the Atlantic,

so he had to shoot his Memphis
Belle film without sound.

Wyler needed to
record their voices

to add to his documentary.

(keys clacking)

- [Morgan] All of us were
laughing, joking, cutting up,

just enjoying the hell out of

going to Hollywood
for a little while.

Seated in soundproof booths,

in front of microphones
connected to
recording equipment,

the Belle crew and I
recreated some of the dialogue

that we'd typically
use during a mission.

(reel rattling)

(solemn music)

We watched the scenes

of our actual aerial
combat up on the screen

and improvised dialogue
into our microphones.

- [Crewman] I see
two at two o'clock.

Watch 'em, Scotty.

- [Crewman] I got
my sights on them.

- [Crewman] Check out
B-17, Chuck, three o'clock.

Motor's smoking.

- [Crewman] Fighter
10:30 coming around.

(gunfire rattling)

- [Morgan] At the
onset, it was a lark.

But as the hours mounted up

and as Wyler's raw footage
kept scrolling before us,

our moods began to change.

The reality of it all
came flooding back to us

for the first time
since we'd left England.

We watched footage
of B-17s going down,

airplanes that had
friends of ours in them,

and felt our stomachs tighten.

It brought a solemn
mood over us.

We tried to tell a few
stories and kid one another

to get back to that holiday
mood we'd come in with.

I suspect that for
some of the boys,

as for a lot of the
World War II veterans,

that solemn mood never
did go completely away.

(reel rattling)

- Surprisingly, the
Memphis Belle in many ways

just kind of faded away
after the War Bond Tour.

There were 15 million
Americans in uniform,

and when that war, that awful,
awful war, finally ended,

service members just wanted
to get back to their lives,

build their houses, work,
create their families,

and so a lot of things
just kind of went away.

- [Narrator] One of those
things was a fairy tale romance.

The love story between Robert
Morgan and Margaret Polk,

his real life Memphis
Belle, came to an end.

Today, in a park in Memphis,
a young woman waits.

Margaret Polk, forever
19, searches the skies

for the plane
named in her honor.

In 1945, the Memphis
Belle was discovered

in an airplane boneyard
in Altus, Oklahoma.

Like the other Flying
Fortresses and Liberators,

the Belle was in
line to be cut up,

melted down, and recycled.

But the city of Memphis
came to the rescue.

The plane was purchased,
flown to Memphis,

and put on display.

- So there has been
criticism of Memphis

about the condition
of the Memphis Belle,

but that criticism is not
only unfair, it's inaccurate.

They really did a great job

considering the resources
they had at hand.

And then even after the
Memphis Belle came up

to the Air Force's
National Museum,

they continued to
support the restoration.

So we were all pulling
in the same direction.

It was like a relay race,

a long race, and
it was many laps.

We crossed the finish
line very publicly,

but the folks down in Memphis
also ran several of those laps

before they passed
the baton on to us.

- [Narrator] After 13 years
in the restoration hangar,

the Memphis Belle was ready
for her final mission.

She would tell a story
of valor and sacrifice

for those whose
voices are now silent.

- [Jeff] When the sunlight
hit the Memphis Belle

as it came out of the hangar,

that was literally breathtaking.

I don't know that it's possible

to describe what that felt like

after years and years of
work by so many of us.

- [Chad] It was kind of
a bittersweet moment.

Excited that it was done

and it's heading to
the museum on one hand.

The other hand, sad to
see it leave the hangar

'cause you know when you
come into work the next day,

she's not gonna
be sitting there.

Very bittersweet.

(audience applauding)

When the curtain dropped,
it was pretty overwhelming.

- There's no crew
left unfortunately,

but their kids were there.

And I was sitting
across from them,

and I could tell it
was pretty tough.

It's the first time a lot
of them had seen the Belle.

But when they saw
it like it sits now,

it was quite emotional
for a lot of people.

- There were lots of hugs
and a lot of misty eyes.

We all have some
love in that story.

(audience applauding)

- [Roger] We all stood back
a little bit, took a breath,

and realized how
important this thing is.

- [Chad] My hope was that
if they were here today,

they would be extremely
proud of the job we did.

- [Casey] It was
that feeling of joy

because it's all that
work we had put into it.

It's time for everyone
to see it now.

- [Roger] Someday we're
all gonna be gone.

But she'll be here.

She'll always be here,
telling that story.

We were the lucky ones who got
to spend some time with her.

♪ Lord, guard and
guide the men who fly ♪

♪ Through the great
spaces in the sky ♪

♪ Be with them
always in the air ♪

♪ In darkening storms
or sunlight fair ♪

♪ O, hear us when
we lift our prayer ♪

♪ For those in
peril in the air ♪

(gentle music)