Did 'Memphis Belle' Really Show the B-17 Bomber's Final Mission?
The B-17 bomber “Memphis Belle” was one of the first bombers to fly 25 missions.
The War Department made a stirring documentary about the bomber’s final mission over a German port city.
The documentary was known to have stitched together footage from several missions, but did it really show the bombing mission over Wilhelmshaven?
One of the most famous wartime documentaries of all time, Memphis Belle, purports to show the final mission of the B-17 heavy bomber. Historians have known for some time that the film was stitched together from footage of several missions, but they've always wondered: Did the documentary actually show footage from the B-17's final mission over Wilhelmshaven, Germany? A new investigation finally reveals the answer.
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During World War II, the Allied bombing campaign to cripple Germany’s war machine exerted terrible losses on both sides. The Eighth Air Force, which flew B-17 bombers into the heart of German-controlled Europe, suffered 47,483 casualties. Over 440,000 bomber sorties, the “Mighty Eight” dropped 697,000 tons of bombs and was awarded 17 Medals of Honor, 220 Distinguished Service Crosses, and 442,000 Air Medals.
B-17 bomber missions were exceptionally dangerous. While most soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen were considered in the war for the duration, bomber crews were allowed to retire from frontline missions after 25 missions. The Army Air Force, citing the “physical and mental strain on the crew,” considered bomber crewmen who racked up 25 missions as having fulfilled their tour of duty.
In 1944, the U.S. government released Memphis Belle, about the third bomber to reach the 25-mission mark. The video was purportedly made during the bomber’s final mission: flying over the German port of Wilhelmshaven on the Baltic coast. But for years, people believed the documentary was actually stitched together from several missions, and not Wilhelmshaven.
So the open source investigation group Bellingcat looked at footage from the documentary, creating composite image sets of footage of the ground. Bellingcat then compared the sets to satellite imagery readily available via Google Earth. The group's conclusion: While the film used footage of a number of other targets struck by Memphis Belle, including Saint Nazaire and Lorient, it does, in fact, show the mission over Wilhelmshaven.
View the image sets here, and watch the full-length documentary on YouTube below:
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