Strategic Air Command was the second film released in Paramount's new widescreen format, VistaVision, in color by Technicolor and Perspecta pseudo-stereo sound. It would also be Stewart and Mann's eighth and final collaboration and the last of three films that paired Jimmy Stewart and June Allyson, the others being The Stratton Story and The Glenn Miller Story.
Plot
In 1951, Robert "Dutch" Holland[Note 1] is a professional baseball player with the St. Louis Cardinals. A B-29 bomber pilot during World War II, he retains a commission as a lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force Reserve, but is on inactive, non-drilling status. During spring training at Al Lang Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, he is recalled to active duty for 21 months. He reports to his posting at Carswell Air Force Base, a bomber base in Fort Worth, Texas, to qualify in the Convair B-36. He arrives in a civilian business suit, for which he is rebuked by General Hawkes, the commander of SAC, and replies that his uniforms are "the wrong color" (implying he has been inactive at least since the Air Force replaced the brown United States Army Air Forces uniform with a distinctive blue service dress uniform, which had occurred three years earlier in 1949). The General's character is clearly patterned after the real SAC commander of the time, General Curtis LeMay.
Dutch is given a staff job with the bombardment wing at Carswell that involves a lot of flying. He soon has a B-36 crew of his own, selecting a former World War II colleague as his flight engineer, and becomes enamored with both flying and the role of SAC in deterring war. He is joined by his wife, Sally, who had not bargained on being an Air Force wife, and who struggles with his repeated absences and the dangers of flying. On any given night, Dutch might find his aircraft on airborne alert far from the continental United States, in secret, only telling his wife when he returns days later. Even so, Sally tells Dutch that she is happy as long as they can be together, no matter what he decides to do with his life.
The B-36 is a complex aircraft when introduced, but improvements are being worked on all the time. One challenge was leakage from the fuel tanks, but a new fix is introduced to address this once and for all. On their next flight, Dutch's crew has to fly their B-36 from Carswell AFB to Thule Air Base, Greenland. The fix does not work and one of the engines bursts into flame, causing the entire left wing to catch fire. The crew is forced to abandon the aircraft and bail out over the ice and snow of Greenland before arriving at Thule. Dutch and his radar navigator stay on board for a forced landing, which causes Dutch to injure his right shoulder.
Dutch becomes a favorite of General Hawkes, and he is rewarded with a revised assignment flying the new Boeing B-47 Stratojet at MacDill Air Force Base, Tampa, Florida, across the bay from St. Petersburg where his old baseball team continues to conduct its spring training. Promoted to "full bird" colonel and made deputy wing commander of his B-47 wing at MacDill AFB, Dutch decides, to Sally's displeasure, to remain in the Air Force, rather than return to baseball at the end of his active duty obligation.
On a full B-47 wing deployment exercise that involves flying nonstop from MacDill to Yokota Air Base, Japan, they encounter severe wind and storms. Low on fuel, they divert to Kadena Air Base, Okinawa. As they prepare to land, Dutch realizes that his shoulder injury from the B-36 crash was worse than he thought, and his arm is almost immobile. He is unable to operate the engine power levers (throttles) during final landing phase, and he has to rely on his co-pilot to do so, while Dutch works the flight controls with his left arm and two feet.
This injury not only bars him from further flying and causes the Air Force to medically discharge him, but it also appears to threaten his baseball career. General Hawkes suggests that he would make an excellent team manager.
Cast
James Stewart as Lieutenant Colonel (later Colonel) Robert R. "Dutch" Holland
Harry Morgan as Master Sergeant Bible, a B-36 flight engineer.
Production
Stewart seen later in his Air Force career with a B-52.
In real life, during World War II, Stewart had been a B-17 instructor pilot, a B-24 squadron commander, and a bomb group operations officer, completing 20 combat missions. At the time of filming, Stewart, much like the character he portrays, was also a colonel in the Air Force Reserve, serving with the Strategic Air Command when on duty and at the time was qualified as a pilot on the B-47,[2] although much of the B-47 flying was performed by his friend and fellow Air Force pilot, Maj. (later Col.) A.W. Blizzard, Jr. Stewart's military service and lifelong interest in aviation greatly influenced the making of the film. He pushed for an authentic but sympathetic portrayal of the Strategic Air Command, which led Paramount to put together a strong cast of Hollywood veterans and production people including June Allyson, Frank Lovejoy, director Anthony Mann, and the top stunt pilot of the day, Paul Mantz. The film accurately portrays (from the perspective of the 1951 starting point of the script) the duties and responsibilities of an Air Force strategic bomber pilot, and the demands such service places on family life.[3]
Mann later said the film "was to promote the Air Force and the idea of SAC which in itself had its own restrictions, just being a military subject. Therefore, the co-operation of the Air Force was vital, and we were held within the bounds of what they wanted. The story itself was restricted and the whole concept of its shooting was confined to what they would let me show, which is perfectly all right. I went into it purely as a service to the Air Force, and as Jimmy Stewart was of the Force, we accepted this handicap and just tried to make an exciting film, not out of the characters which were paper-mache, but out of the B3 6 and B47 - we tried to dramatic them as our two great characters."[4]
The film includes dramatic aerial photography, credited to Thomas Tutwiler, for which it was awarded a special citation by the American National Board of Review. It is also the only motion picture to highlight the Convair B-36 (depicted in the theatrical release poster), the largest mass-produced piston-powered aircraft ever built, and the first bomber for the hydrogen bomb. The propeller-driven B-36 was then near the end of its service life and was about to be replaced by the jet-powered B-47 Stratojet, followed by the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress. The aerial footage was accompanied by a dramatic and soaring musical score composed by Victor Young.
Stewart's character is based on the real-life military career and an actual mission flown by Brigadier General Clifford Schoeffler, who crashed during an Arctic B-36 mission and survived. Brigadier General Schoeffler was on site at Carswell Air Force Base during the filming of Strategic Air Command as a consultant.[6]
Some commentators have speculated that the plot was inspired by Boston Red Sox legend Ted Williams, a World War II veteran, who was recalled for Korean War service as a U.S. Marine Corps aviator, at the height of his baseball career.[7]
Reception
The Storz Mansion in Omaha, Nebraska, was the scene of opulent parties celebrating the film. Its premiere was held in Omaha, the home of Offutt AFB and of SAC Headquarters. The premiere party was held at the Mansion, with guests that included Stewart and Allyson, as well as the Strategic Air Command commander, GeneralCurtis LeMay.[8]
Shot in the new VistaVision process, the film was the sixth highest-grossing film of 1955.[9] Critics were lukewarm about the performances of all except for Stewart, who was called "capable", "charming", and "competent".[10] Public reaction centered on the spectacular aerial footage, so much so that the B-36 and B-47 aircraft were arguably the real stars of the film. Its release led to a 25 percent increase in Air Force enlistments.[11]
Strategic Air Command was followed by two additional military aviation films that were also supportive of SAC's mission, Bombers B-52 (1957), and A Gathering of Eagles (1963).
Strategic Air Command (SAC) was a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile components of the United States military's strategic nuclear forces from 1946 to 1992. SAC was also responsible for strategic reconnaissance aircraft; airborne command posts; and most of the USAF's aerial refueling aircraft.
McCoy AFB is a former U.S. Air Force installation located 10 miles (16 km) southeast of Orlando, Florida. It was a training base during World War II. From 1951 to 1975, it was a frontline Strategic Air Command (SAC) base during the Cold War and Vietnam War. It was Orlando's biggest employer and economic backbone prior to the opening of Walt Disney World in 1971.
Hunter Army Airfield, located in Savannah, Georgia, United States, is a military airfield and subordinate installation to Fort Stewart located in Hinesville, Georgia.
Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth includes Carswell Field, a military airbase located 5 nautical miles west of the central business district of Fort Worth, in Tarrant County, Texas, United States. This military airfield is operated by the United States Navy Reserve. It is located in the cities of Fort Worth, Westworth Village, and White Settlement in the western part of the Fort Worth urban area.
Castle Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force Strategic Air Command base in California, located northeast of Atwater, northwest of Merced, and about 115 miles (185 km) south of Sacramento.
Carswell Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force (USAF) base, located northwest of Fort Worth, Texas. For most of its operational lifetime, the base's mission was to train and support heavy strategic bombing groups and wings.
The 305th Air Mobility Wing is a United States Air Force strategic airlift and air refueling wing under the operational control of the Air Mobility Command. It generates, mobilizes and deploys C-17 Globemaster III and KC-46A Pegasus aircraft. The 305th AMW is a tenant unit at mostly the McGuire AFB component of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in central New Jersey. It also controls one of the Air Force's busiest aerial ports, and the air operations at both McGuire Air Force Base and Naval Support Activity Lakehurst.
A Gathering of Eagles is a 1963 SuperScope Eastmancolor film about the U.S. Air Force during the Cold War and the pressures of command. The plot is patterned after the World War II film Twelve O'Clock High, which producer-screenwriter Sy Bartlett also wrote, with elements also mirroring Above and Beyond and Toward the Unknown, films written by his collaborator, Beirne Lay Jr. The film was directed by Delbert Mann.
The 306th Flying Training Group is a unit of the United States Air Force, assigned to Air Education and Training Command (AETC). The group is stationed at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) near Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Walker Air Force Base is a closed United States Air Force base located three miles (5 km) south of the central business district of Roswell, New Mexico. It was opened in 1941 as an Army Air Corps flying school and was active during World War II and the postwar era as Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF). During the early years of the Cold War, it became the largest base of the Strategic Air Command. It is also known for the Roswell UFO incident, an event that occurred on 4 July 1947. It is alleged that a "flying disc" crashed during a severe thunderstorm near the base at Corona, New Mexico.
Brigadier General Clifford Schoeffler was director of operations and training in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations, Headquarters Strategic Air Command, Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska. He was a command pilot with more than 10,000 flying hours accumulated during his career.
The 7th Bomb Wing is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the Global Strike Command Eighth Air Force. It is stationed at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, where it is also the host unit.
The 506th Air Expeditionary Group is a provisional United States Air Force unit. The group is assigned to the United States Air Forces Central 332d Air Expeditionary Wing, stationed at Joint Base Balad, Iraq.
Larson Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force base located five miles (8 km) northwest of the central business district (CBD) of Moses Lake, in Grant County, Washington. After its closure in 1966, the airport facility became Grant County International Airport.
Gregory A. Biscone is a retired lieutenant general of the U.S. Air Force. He last served as the Inspector General of the Air Force assigned within the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, Washington, D.C., and retired on 1 July 2016.
The 340th Flying Training Group is a reserve component of the United States Air Force. It is assigned to the Twenty-Second Air Force of Air Force Reserve Command, at Randolph Air Force Base, Joint Base San Antonio, Texas. The group is the headquarters for reserve flying training squadrons that are associate squadrons of Air Education and Training Command flying training squadrons.
The 306th Strategic Wing, previously the 306th Bombardment Wing, is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the Strategic Air Command at RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk and was inactivated on 1 February 1992. The wing's mission was to coordinate all SAC air refueling and reconnaissance resources in the European Theater with the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE). It assumed the mission of the 98th Strategic Wing when that unit was inactivated in 1976.
John R. Allen Jr. is a retired United States Air Force (USAF) brigadier general. Allen served on active duty for 31 years, until his retirement in 1990. He is a highly decorated command pilot with over 6,000 flying hours on B-47 Stratojet, FB-111, B-52 Stratofortress, KC-135 Stratotanker and T-39 Sabreliner aircraft.
Lieutenant General George H. McKee was an American Air Force lieutenant general and command pilot who was commander of Air Training Command with headquarters at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas.
References
Notes
↑ "Dutch" Holland is referred to by his given name once, by Sally's father, a Protestant minister, in the opening scenes; the name appears on his nametag, although he is referred to by his nickname thereafter. His desk nameplate shows 'Robert'.
Coe, Jonathan. James Stewart: Leading Man. London: Bloomsbury, 1994. ISBN0-7475-1574-3.
Dewey, Donald. James Stewart: A Biography. Atlanta: Turner Publishing Inc., 1996. ISBN1-57036-227-0.
Jacobsen, Meyers K. Convair B-36: A Comprehensive History of America's "Big Stick". Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Military History, 1997. ISBN0-7643-0974-9.
Jones, Ken D., Arthur F. McClure and Alfred E. Twomey. The Films of James Stewart. New York: Castle Books, 1970.
Thomas, Tony. A Wonderful Life: The Films and Career of James Stewart. Secaucus, New Jersey: Citadel Press, 1988. ISBN0-8065-1081-1.
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