The
Thousand
Plane
Raid
The 1969 film The Thousand Plane Raid has a long-held reputation as a terrible war movie, one that is probably a bit overstated and maybe undeserved. Admittedly, it does have a simplistic and predictable plot, a marginal script, wooden performances by those not-quite-A List actors, and features more than a few bold-faced cliches. Not surprisingly, it has been long forgotten by film fans in general, but it is notable for vintage aircraft enthusiasts in that three flyable B-17s were gathered for the production. The trio of Flying Fortresses, and two cameraship B-25s, were based at the Santa Maria, California, airport during January 1968 for the on-location filming, spending two weeks flying from the airport and using a corner of the airfield redressed as an Eighth Air Force heavy bomber group headquarters.
The film starred actor Christopher George, perhaps better known for his role as Sam Troy in the 1960s television series Rat Patrol. He is joined in The Thousand Plane Raid by a slew of later 1970s TV actors including Ben Murphy, J.D. Cannon, and Gavin MacCleod. Also on the screen is Laraine Stephens as Lt. Gabrielle Ames, a fellow AAF officer and the love interest for George’s character, Col. Greg Brandon. All the acting is a bit stiff and uneven, giving the film the feel of a TV movie and not a major Hollywood effort.
The plot of The 1000 Plane Raid is straightforward but a blend of two much better films: 12 O’Clock High and Command Decision. In 1943, Col. Greg Brandon commands the fictional 103rd Bomb Group from England’s Steeple Bassington, and suffers the angst of sending young airmen to their deaths every day. He has put forward a plan for a maximum effort 1,000 plane raid to destroy a German target, knowing many airmen will die in their falling B-17s but also knowing that the raid will shorten the war and save many more soldiers in the end. The upper “brass,” in typical Hollywood fashion, is opposed to the raid because the cost will be too high, and even Col. Brandon begins to have his doubts. After much gnashing of teeth and verbal battles, the 1,000 plane raid is flown and Brandon is vindicated. There are expected sub-stories, one of which involves the cowardice of a young pilot and he, too, ends up vindicated in the end. Another subplot depicted a brash, snobbish RAF Spitfire pilot assigned to Brandon’s group to teach the bomber pilots enemy fighter pilot tactics. A third sub-plot runs between “Gabby” and “Sam”, er, “Greg”, the intent of which is to apparently broaden the film’s appeal with a bit, albeit small bit, of ‘edgy’ skin.
The airport at Santa Maria was selected as the place to reconstruct the bomber base for the 103rd Bomb Group. The town of Santa Maria is located on the central California coast between Vandenberg AFB and Morro Bay, about 100 miles northwest of Los Angeles. Its general topography doesn’t really resemble that of England, but it’s near the ocean and there is green foliage available, so it fit the requirements of the admittedly low budget production values for the film. Santa Maria was used as a wartime P-38 pilot training facility, so it already had the atmosphere of a wartime base with a triangular runway pattern, a perimeter taxiway, and remote hardstands around the periphery of the airfield. There are also rows of distinctive eucalyptus trees not generally found in England but common in California and used for wind breaks.
The on-location filming was accomplished in the last two weeks of January 1968 at the Santa Maria location. Afterwards, the actors and film crew headed for one of the Samuel Goldwyn studios in Hollywood to complete four weeks of shooting the interior scenes. Once the filming was completed in the spring of 1968, the editing process was begun. The film borrowed a significant amount of footage from the wartime documentary The Memphis Belle and it was cut into the scenes shot with the 1968 B-17s. The film was not released until June 18, 1969, a full year and half after the B-17s had been worked at Santa Maria. It was not an Oscar contender. The movie is available to buy or stream on Amazon, and probably elsewhere, and also can be caught once in a long while on the late movie.
Editorial Comment from the Film Reviewer (me) and while it is just an Opinion it is an Especially Enhanced Opinion:
This film, while not of a high caliber, has gotten a bad rap over the years. For those of us who have a particular affinity for B-17s, this movie has some interest with the three airplanes used, and also with the incorporation of the Memphis Belle color footage. Though it does lack in some areas (primarily plot, dialog, and acting), there was a fair amount of effort taken by some of those involved with the film to increase the accuracy of some of the technical details (markings of N17W to match the Mantz footage; use of actual bomb group names and bases; discussion of B-17 gunships (i.e. B-40 program); the paint scheme of N3713G; to name a few). There is some nice air-to-air formation work showing N83525 and N3713G, shot from the tail of the B-25. On the B-17-O-Meter film scale, this rates a six out of ten.
Anecdotal
- A clear highlight of the film is the low-level buzz job done by Don Lykins, Bob Grider, and Ed Maloney in 44-83684. The shots, filmed on Wednesday, January 17, consisted of six very low passes made across the movie set and shot from four different camera angles. The resulting footage was used in several sequences in the completed film but was featured in a scene where the RAF pilot teaches the cowardly AAF pilot how to do his job and, evidently, “makes him a man.” It rivals the similar scenes shot for The War Lover in 1961 when the B-17 was flown by John Crewdson.As noted above, Don Lykins and Bob Grider flew the Air Museum’s N3713G, with Ed Maloney also on board the B-17.
- Jim Appleby flew the Tallmantz B-17, N83525, as PIC for most of the filming, though Frank Pine made two flights. Frank Tallman, Skip Marsh, and Wayne Burtt shared copilot duties. No one, at least me, is quite sure which Aircraft Specialties tanker pilots flew N17W. Frank Pine primarily flew the B-25 cameraship, with Frank Tallman, Skip Marsh, and Bob Siemieniewicz acting as copilots.
- Actually, the filming started with Tallmantz B-25N N1042B on location, but it was replaced at some point by the other Tallmantz Mitchell, B-25H N1203, when N1042B developed an air leak on one of its tires.
- The footage of the belly landing B-17 was flown by Paul Mantz in 1948 for Twelve O’Clock High. The markings on B-17F N17W were duplicated for the 1968 filming down to the serial number on the tail.
- The Tallmantz B-17, 44-83525, carried the markings of 42-5053, an actual 305th BG B-17F that actually had the fuselage codes of “KY L” with the group. The B-17F was lost in action in July 1943. There is nothing to indicate the actual airplane was named Balls of Fire, so this is doubtful. Nonetheless, a bit weird that the film makers took such effort to get an actual airplane represented. Someone cared!
- Actress Laraine Stephens, as Lt. Gabrielle Ames, proved that there was more than one way to fill up an Air Corps uniform. Unfortunately, she was not destined for greater things, and her last reported role was in a 1983 episode of Fantasy Island.
- On the other hand, actor Ben Murphy, playing the cowardly lion, err…pilot, was Kid Curry in Alias Smith and Jones just a few years later, and enjoyed moderate success in the years following. Gavin MacCleod enjoyed the greatest notoriety on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and as the Love Boat captain. Oscar did not come calling to any of them. Bummer.
- Film guy Bruce Orriss tells that the B-17 cockpit mockup used in the film was 44-83387, then owned by the Fox Studios and was used for both the Twelve O’Clock High 1949 film and 1963-1967 TV series. The aft fuselage shots may have been done in a real airplane…hard to tell.
- Things to watch for #1: The scene with 44-83525 (as Balls of Fire) with the nose “glass” being broken out: the filmmakers used the nose piece of a Douglas A-26 mounted inverted and added the tinkle of glass being broken as the sound of Plexiglas being broken doesn’t sound impressive.
- Things to watch for #2: The first crash landing scene in the film is 44-83684 with the right main gear lowered into a trench (to tilt the airplane) and a DC-7 wing section ignited in the foreground of the camera view. During the same scene, look for a quick view of a B-29 or B-50 substituting for the burning B-17.
- Things to watch for #3: The second crash landing (using the Mantz footage) had 42-29782‘s main gear rolled down into parallel trenches to make the plane appear to be on its belly. Note that the airplane is several feet above the ground, particularly in the last scene of the film when the nose art name Can Do is changed with chalk to Did Do (clever).
- Things to watch for #4: the Spitfire cockpit shots showing the brash RAF pilot looks suspiciously like the cockpit of an F4U (or FG) Corsair.
- According to Tallmantz pilot Frank Pine (in a 1979 interview), Aircraft Specialties had protested to the USAF and anyone else who would listen that the use of two USAF B-17s (44-83684 and 44-83525 were both on loan from the USAF) in the film production was inappropriate because it was an unfair advantage and prevented a private company from competing at the same level. Actually not a bad argument, but part of the USAF loan agreement to Tallmantz specifically authorized the use of the B-17 in film roles to further the educational benefit of the aircraft loan.
Buy This Movie:
Links:
- Internet Movie Database
- See also this little personal story that relates to the film.
Acknowledgements
- Jim Farmer’s excellent account of the filming entitled Santa Maria Diary that appeared in the Fall 1969 edition of the Journal of the American Aviation Historical Society. The story centers on the Air Museum’s effort with N3713G but provides a day by day account of the two week shooting schedule at Santa Maria.
- Check out the material Bruce Orriss assembled in his book When Hollywood Ruled the Skies, Volume III, which includes numerous photos from the completed film and is a good source of details on how it was made.
- Pete “Digger” Johnston, who provided me (finally) with a copy of the film after waiting 28 years for a chance to see the film.
For more information about the various movies and TV productions that feature the B-17, check out Chapter Ten of Final Cut: The Post-War B-17 Flying Fortress and Survivors. This book covers in detail the many post-war uses of the famous B-17, and will complete any aviation enthusiast’s library.
One Response
At a high school reunion a last year, I met Ben Murphy. No, he wasn’t a classmate, however he is dating a former classmate. He was great to meet and talk to. Very modest, and well spoken.
My wife mentioned she watched the series as a teen in her native England and he replied there is still a large AS&J fan club there. Unfortunately, manners prevented me from asking all sorts of TV nerd questions based on my love of ’70s TV. (Well, early ’70s TV, as college and later jobs took
precedence during the later part of the decade).
Although he’s more than a dozen of years older than me, he looked a decade younger…due in part to a long tennis career. And checking various internet sources, he did have a respectable career in addition to Smith and Jones. If I had known he was in this film, I certainly would have asked him about it.
The 1000 Plane Raid is currently available free on the MGM+ channel. Based on the details you provided, it sounds.much better than I imagined. I’ll have to watch it.