A Bit Of Background

The film Twelve O’Clock High was based on the 1948 novel of the same name by Bernie Lay, Jr. and Sy Bartlett. Both Lay and Bartlett were veteran Eighth Air Force officers, so they knew whereof they wrote. The pair penned the story around some true-to-life events of the 306th Bomb Group, which morphed by three times to become the 918th Bomb Group for the story. Col. Frank Armstrong formed the basis for fictional General Frank Savage with some significant changes made from the actual events. The novel was well-received by veterans and the public, and the filming of the story as a major motion picture moved forward.

Twentieth Century-Fox assigned veteran director Henry King to the project, and Bernie Lay, Jr. and Sy Bartlett wrote the screenplay. Production was scheduled for the spring of 1949, with King selecting auxiliary air fields in the vicinity of Eglin AFB in Florida for location filming. Principally, landing and takeoff scenes were to be filmed at Ozark Army Air Field (now Fort Rucker) just across the state line in Alabama, with ground sets created and scenes filmed at Duke Field, another little-used field closer to Eglin. The on-location filming was done between April 17 and May 30, 1949, after which the film actors and crews returned to Hollywood for studio work. Overall, the filming wrapped on July 1, and the film held its grand premier on December 21, 1949. (They made movies much faster in 1949.)

The USAF provided the B-17s and Flight Crews

The USAF was exceedingly cooperative in getting the film made. The production was provided unlimited access to Duke Field, which was turned into an Eighth Air Force bomber station. More importantly, the USAF provided twelve B-17Gs and flight crews to the filmmakers. Not to get too detailed here, but six of the B-17Gs reportedly came from the 1st Experimental Guided Missile Group based at Eglin AFB. Most of the other six were drawn from the depot at Brookley AFB at Mobile, Alabama. Some of the B-17s were veterans of the atomic bomb testing of the 1946 Operation Crossroads and other post-war testing, and were mildly radioactive. Crews were assured, though, that the radioactive levels were minimal and short exposure was not harmful. Sounds good to me.

All twelve B-17Gs were refitted and repainted to resemble B-17Fs as operated by the 91st Bomb Group earlier in the war. The 91st Bomb Group markings were to match with available actual air combat film that was being gathered for the film. All three turrets had been removed earlier for prior USAF use. Now, top turrets and ball turrets were reinstalled, as were guns added to the other defensive positions. A close look at the film reveals that not all the B-17s had turrets reinstalled. Chin turrets were obviously not used for the replicated B-17Fs.

Paul Mantz Hired for Air-to-Air Photography

Paul Mantz was at the pinnacle of his Hollywood flying career. Besides his involvement with most of the post-war aviation film productions, he had also won the three post-war Bendix air races (1946, 1947, 1948) with his brace of two P-51Cs. He also modified a surplus B-25H (N1203) as a custom camera platform for air-to-air photography, and Mantz was thus hired to do the camera work for the limited amount of aerial filming to be used in Twelve O’Clock High. Much of the resulting film shot from N1203 was used for the backdrop film for the in-studio work showing B-17 interior views using the cut-up fuselage from B-17G 44-83387 conveniently provided by the USAF for the production.

The B-17 Belly Landing is Planned

Key to a scene early in the film script was the belly landing of a supposed combat-damaged B-17F. The USAF was reluctant to provide a B-17 for such a purpose, but the filmmakers pulled some strings with the USAF top brass and eventually one of the “slightly radioactive” ex-drone B-17Gs, s/n 44-83592, was allocated. The USAF was adamant about not letting one of its B-17 crews perform the actual belly landing for the cameras. Paul Mantz, being on hand, offered his services to director Henry King to make the belly landing for the sum of $5,000 (that’s $61,700 in 2022 dollars). King was a pilot himself and thought the belly landing was a low-risk stunt and refused Mantz’s price. There were plenty of veteran B-17 combat pilots around who were eager to do the stunt themselves for much less money and, reportedly, King said he’d do the stunt himself for $2,500. Mantz relented and agreed to do the landing at the reduced price.

So, the scene was set at Ozark Field, where all the B-17 takeoff and landing sequences were filmed. A tent city was constructed between a taxiway and runway, and the plan was for Mantz to set the B-17 down at a carefully selected spot and careen through the tents. Four cameras were set up to capture the landing, with a best guess made as to how far the B-17 would slide.

For the selected B-17 itself, the ball turret was removed. Ball turrets complicated a belly landing in a B-17, usually causing structural damage to the aft fuselage. Without the ball turret, the airplane slid quite happily on the ground and usually was relatively lightly damaged.

Accounts state that Mantz’s chief mechanic, Bob King, also “rigged a welded rod across all four throttles and another across the master cut-off switches so the ‘old man (Mantz) could hank them all off at once while strapped securely in his seat.” To this guy, me, that account always sounded strange. The unique B-17 throttle quadrant lends itself to easily close the four throttles simultaneously, and the four engine magneto switches have a single master switch (sometimes two, one for each set of engines) that can simultaneously cut all four engines. Logic would suggest that an experienced pilot such as Mantz would not need such modifications, but there you go. Mechanic Bob King remembers it that way.

The bigger problem for Mantz was that he had to fly the B-17 solo. For whatever reason…financial, insurance, ego…Mantz would not have a copilot. The B-17 is a two pilot airplane with some vital controls (i.e. cowl flaps) on the right side of the cockpit. Mantz was an experienced B-17 pilot, though, and he worked it out somehow, with or without welded rods.

May 12, 1949: The Scene is Filmed

The filming was planned for Thursday, May 12, at Ozark Field. A minimal fuel load was added to B-17G 44-83592 and Mantz took his place in the cockpit. After takeoff, he reportedly made one low approach to the site to set himself up, and then came around for the filming sequence. Director Henry King had told Mantz to leave the props in flat pitch to make as much noise as possible. The resulting sequence shows Mantz made a low final approach with the flaps fully extended, and gently touched down before sliding through the tent city. King reported that Mantz touched down within ten feet of the planned spot, so the cameras caught all that was needed. The B-17 slid down the grass infield with a planned ambulance following the cloud of dust. Both King and Mantz were surprised at how far the B-17 slid…almost 1,200 feet, before coming to a stop. Mantz later reported that he found he had a bit of directional control using differential braking on the retracted main gear wheels. Even though they were retracted, the tires hung enough below the nacelles on the numbers 2 and 3 engines to make ground contact and afford some braking effects.

Aftermath

So, director King got exactly what he wanted in the belly landing. As seen in the completed film, it is an attention getter and sets up the theme of the film early on.

The film sequence was later used in several other films…1961’s The War Lover and 1969’s The 1000 Plane Raid…come to mind, as well as the 1964-1967 Twelve O’Clock High TV series. For The War Lover, the scene is shown from a different camera view than seen in the earlier film.

The B-17G used for the scene, 44-83592, was listed as “reclaimed” on the USAF record card. After all was said and done, though, it was reclaimed in a memorable fashion. Seventy-five years on, we are still talking about it.