The film follows the training of six bombardier candidates, seen through the differences between the two USAAF pilots in charge of their training over the efficacy of precision bombing.
Brigadier General Eugene L. Eubank, commander of the first heavy bombardment group of the U.S. Army Air Forces to see combat in World War II, introduces the film with the statement:
I want you to know about a new kind of American soldier, the most important of all our fighting men today. He is most important because upon him, finally, depends the success of any mission in which he participates. The greatest bombing plane in the world, with its combat crew, takes him into battle, through weather, through enemy opposition, just so he may have 30 seconds over the target. In those 30 seconds, he must vindicate the greatest responsibility ever placed upon an individual soldier in line of duty. I want you to know about him, and about those who had the faith and vision and foresight to bring him into being, to fit him for his task, long months before our war began.
Plot
In 1941, at a staff meeting in Washington, D.C., two officers of the U.S. Army Air Corps (and old friends) debate the importance of bombardiers. Major "Chick" Davis argues that a bombardier, using the top secretAmerican bombsight will be the "spearhead of our striking force." Capt. "Buck" Oliver argues that new pilots are the priority. Davis challenges Oliver to a "bombing duel" to test their respective points of view. Oliver, using a dive bomber, misses the stationary target, while Davis, bombing from 20,000 feet in a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, hits his target with his first bomb.
As the first class nears graduation at the new bombardier training school, Davis arrives with M/Sgt. Archie Dixon to take command. Davis is discomfited by the presence of so many civilian women clerks, including Burton "Burt" Hughes, the daughter of a respected Air Corps general and now a secretary. Davis is brusque with Burt and she observes he could use some training in manners.
Oliver arrives with the next cadet class, including Tom Hughes, Burt's brother. Davis is mildly disturbed to learn that Oliver and Burt have a romantic history. Davis attempts to make up with Burt. Preflight ground school reveals many shortcomings: Tom Hughes has trouble with fear-induced air sickness, Joe Connors with commitment issues, and "Chito" Rafferty with the lack of women on the base.
Connors tells Davis that a spy wants to buy information from him about the secret bombsight, and helps Davis lure the spy into a trap where he is arrested. When a bomber develops mechanical problems and the crew is ordered to bail out, Tom Hughes panics and refuses to jump. His friend (and another suitor of Burt Hughes), Cadet Jim Carter, crash-lands the aircraft, claiming that he is the one who panicked, but Hughes confesses afterward. Facing an elimination board, he successfully persuades Davis and receives a second chance.
On a subsequent flight, Oliver passes out from anoxia, nearly tossing Carter out of the opened bomb bay without a parachute. Tom Hughes falls to his death saving Carter's life. Guilt-stricken and unable to face Burt, Oliver transfers out of the school. Shortly after, America is drawn into the war by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Davis, promoted to colonel, becomes a B-17 group commander, and awkwardly proposes marriage to Burt who turns him down. New bombardiers Carter, Connors, Rafferty, and Harris leave for a secret island base in the Pacific, and Burt passionately kisses Jim Carter goodbye, revealing her choice.
At the base, Oliver, now a major, joins the group just as it is about to fly a night mission to bomb an aircraft factory in Nagoya. Oliver's assignment is bomb with incendiaries to set the target on fire a half hour before the arrival of the group, which Davis will lead at high altitude. Joe Connors is Oliver's bombardier and Sgt. Dixon his tailgunner. Flying low, Oliver's bomber is shot down before he can drop his bombs, and Connors remains at his post, sacrificing his life to destroy the bombsight.
Oliver and the remainder of his crew, including Dixon, are captured. Their Japanese captors execute the other crew members to coerce Oliver and Dixon into revealing the location of their base, but Dixon overwhelms his guard and attempts to escape. He is machine gunned in the attempt, but the shots also set fire to a truck carrying barrels of gasoline. Oliver drives the burning truck throughout the factory, setting fire to its camouflage netting and fulfills his mission, knowing he will be killed by his own men. The B-17 group fights off Japanese fighters and successfully destroys the target.
The central conflict between competing points of view over the importance of specialized bombardier training in Bombardier reflected an actual doctrinal struggle within the U.S. Army Air Corps between 1939 and December 1941, when, as in the film, the proponents of specialized training won out. Three attempts at developing a school had been tried since July 1940 at Lowry Field, Colorado; Barksdale Field, Louisiana; and Ellington Field, Texas, before the permanent school was established at Kirtland by Col. John D. Ryan as the first step in meeting a wartime goal of training 30,000 bombardiers.[9]
Sets
Albuquerque Army Air Base (renamed Kirtland in February 1942) was constructed from January to August 1941 on the site of the former Oxnard Field (a private airport) in Albuquerque, at which time the 19th Bomb Group (commanded in combat by Col. Eugene Eubank, who introduces the film) completed training for deployment to the Philippines. A permanent Bombardier Training School, the first of 10 in the southwest United States, opened in December 1941 at Albuquerque AAB and eventually graduated more than 5,000 bombardiers.[9]
Bombardier featured a supporting character, the Mexican-American Chito played by Richard Martin. Chito was created by screenwriter Jack Wagner, who had been brought in to work on the screenplay. Chito proved so popular RKO used the character as a sidekick in a series of Westerns, notably with Tim Holt.[16]
The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of African American military pilots and airmen who fought in World War II. They formed the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group (Medium) of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). The name also applies to the navigators, bombardiers, mechanics, instructors, crew chiefs, nurses, cooks, and other support personnel. The Tuskegee airmen received praise for their excellent combat record earned while protecting white American bombers from enemy fighters. The group was awarded three Distinguished Unit Citations.
The Norden Mk. XV, known as the Norden M series in U.S. Army service, is a bombsight that was used by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) and the United States Navy during World War II, and the United States Air Force in the Korean and the Vietnam Wars. It was an early tachometric design that directly measured the aircraft's ground speed and direction, which older bombsights could only estimate with lengthy manual procedures. The Norden further improved on older designs by using an analog computer that continuously recalculated the bomb's impact point based on changing flight conditions, and an autopilot that reacted quickly and accurately to changes in the wind or other effects.
Kirtland Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base. It is located in the southeast quadrant of the Albuquerque, New Mexico, urban area, adjacent to the Albuquerque International Sunport. The base was named for the early Army aviator Col. Roy C. Kirtland. The military and the international airport share the same runways, making ABQ a joint civil-military airport.
A bombardier or bomb aimer is the crew member of a bomber aircraft responsible for the targeting of aerial bombs. "Bomb aimer" was the preferred term in the military forces of the Commonwealth, while "bombardier" was the equivalent position in the United States Armed Forces.
Laggin' Dragon was the name of a Boeing B-29 Superfortress configured to carry the atomic bomb in World War II.
Joseph Raymond Sarnoski was an officer of the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, and received the Medal of Honor posthumously.
Jack Warren Mathis was a United States Army Air Forces officer and a recipient of the Medal of Honor, the United States military's highest decoration, for his actions in World War II.
Richard Martin was an American actor. He was best known for his role as Chito Rafferty, the Irish-Mexican western comedy relief sidekick of Tim Holt and Robert Mitchum, among others. Before their pairing, Martin originated the role in the 1943 film Bombardier.
The Flying/Aviation Cadet Pilot Training Program was originally created by the U.S. Army to train its pilots. Originally created in 1907 by the U.S. Army Signal Corps, it expanded as the Army's air assets increased.
Midland Army Airfield is a former World War II military airfield, located 8.4 miles west-southwest of Midland, Texas. It operated as a Bombardier training school for the United States Army Air Forces from 1942 until 1945.
San Angelo Army Airfield is an inactive United States Air Force base, about 8 miles south-southwest of San Angelo, Texas. It was active during World War II as a training airfield. It was closed on 30 November 1945.
Childress Army Airfield is a former World War II military airfield, located 4.8 miles west of Childress, Texas. It operated as a Bombardier training school for the United States Army Air Forces from 1942 until 1945.
Army Air Forces Eastern Flying Training Command (EFTC) was a unit of the United States Army Air Forces. It was assigned to the Army Air Forces Training Command, stationed at Maxwell Field, Alabama. It was inactivated on 15 December 1945.
Flying Division, Air Training Command, was a training formation of the United States Air Force. The unit was established in 1926 as the Air Corps Training Center to be the primary pilot training center for the Air Corps. It was reorganized into one of three training commands created by the Office of the Chief of the Air Corps in 1940 to accommodate the large number of air cadets being recruited as a result of the expansion of the corps after the fall of France. During World War II, thousands of cadets attended various flight schools throughout the Central United States being trained as pilots for fighters, bombers and transports. It also trained the navigators, bombardiers and gunners necessary for the bombers to attack enemy targets in the combat areas overseas. After World War II, it became the primary pilot and aircrew training unit of the United States Air Force Air Training Command.
The gyroscopic autopilot was a type of autopilot system developed primarily for aviation uses in the early 20th century. Since then, the principles of this autopilot has been the basis of many different aircraft control systems, both military and civilian.
A Bombardier School was a United States Army Air Forces facility that used bombing ranges for training aircrew. After ground simulator training with the Norden bombsight, the 12- to 18-week course recorded each student's scores for approximately 160 practice bomb drops of "Bomb Dummy Units" (BDU), both in daytime and at night. The elimination rate was 12%, and graduates transferred to a Second or Third Air Force training unit to join a crew being trained for overseas duty. The bombardier trainer used was the Beech AT-11 Kansan. With the Bradley Plan increase in Eighth Air Force aircrews needed for the Combined Bomber Offensive, the 17 Army Air Forces Bombardier Schools graduated 47,236.
Pistol Harvest is a 1951 Western film starring Tim Holt.
Law of the Badlands is a 1951 American western film starring Tim Holt. Although the cheapest Holt vehicle since the war years, it still recorded a loss of $20,000.
Riders of the Range is a 1949 American Western film directed by Lesley Selander.
Hot Lead is a 1951 Western film. It stars Tim Holt and Joan Dixon and is directed by Stuart Gilmore.
References
Notes
↑ Richard Martin made his first appearance as the Mexican Irish character "Chito" Rafferty that he would later play in many RKO Westerns opposite Tim Holt.
Carlson, Mark. Flying on Film: A Century of Aviation in the Movies, 1912–2012. Duncan, Oklahoma: BearManor Media, 2012. ISBN978-1-59393-219-0.
Hardwick, Jack and Ed Schnepf. "A Viewer's Guide to Aviation Movies". The Making of the Great Aviation Films, General Aviation Series, Volume 2, 1989.
Jewell, Richard and Vernon Harbin. The RKO Story. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House, 1982. ISBN978-0-70641-285-7.
Orriss, Bruce. When Hollywood Ruled the Skies: The Aviation Film Classics of World War II. Hawthorne, California: Aero Associates Inc., 1984. ISBN0-9613088-0-X.
Zimmerman, David. Top Secret Exchange: The Tizard Mission and the Scientific War. Montreal, Quebec, Canada: McGill-Queen's Press, 1996. ISBN978-0-77351-401-0.
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