Bombardier (film)
Encyclopedia
Bombardier is a 1943 film war drama
about the training program for bombardier
s of the United States Army Air Forces
. The film stars Pat O'Brien
and Randolph Scott
. Bombardier was nominated for an Academy Award in 1944 for the special effect
s used in the film. It was largely filmed at Kirtland Army Air Field
, New Mexico
.
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:
) argues that the day is coming when the bombardier, using the top secret
"American bombsight"
, (which is never depicted in the film) will be seen as the "spearhead of our striking force." Capt. "Buck" Oliver (Randolph Scott
) belittles the argument and states that his experience from a year of observing the RAF fight the German
Luftwaffe
proves that getting a plane "so close that a bomb can't miss" is the only way to succeed, so that all else must be discarded in a quest for new pilots. Davis challenges Oliver to a "bombing duel" to test their respective points of view. Oliver, using a dive bomber
, misses the stationary target with all his bombs, while Davis, bombing from 20,000 feet in a B-17 Flying Fortress, succeeds in hitting his target with his first bomb.
Some time later, Oliver recommends that the civilian flying school of a friend, the fictional "Hughes Field" in "Almansor", New Mexico, be leased for the location of the new Bombardier Training School. As the school's first class nears graduation, Major Davis arrives, along with his right hand man, M/Sgt. Archie Dixon (Barton MacLane
), to take command. Davis is discomfited by the presence of so many civilian women clerks, including the field's former owner, Burton "Burt" Hughes (Anne Shirley
), the daughter of a respected Air Corps
general and now a secretary
under terms of the lease. Davis is brusque with Burt and she observes he could use some training in manners.
Buck Oliver arrives with the next cadet class, which includes Tom Hughes (Eddie Albert
), Burt's brother. Davis is mildly disturbed to learn that Oliver and Burt have a romantic history, and the two friendly rivals continue to butt heads over the importance of bombardiers. Oliver, who heads the group of pilots flying bombers for cadet training, refuses to take them seriously because they will become sergeants upon graduation, not commissioned officers. Davis attempts to make up with Burt, and solicits the War Department
to commission the bombardiers. Preflight ground school is intensive and with practice bombing, reveals the shortcomings of many of the cadets. Tom Hughes has trouble with fear-induced air sickness
, Joe Connors (Robert Ryan
) with committing to being a bombardier, and "Chito" Rafferty (Richard Martin
with the lack of women with whom to socialize. Cadet Pete Jordan is not up to the complexity of the training and soon washes out.
Connors reveals to Davis that his problem is the result of an attempt by a spy
to buy information from him about the bombsight, and helps Davis lure the spy into a trap where he is arrested. Cadet Paul Harris, brilliant in ground school and a hero for saving his bomber from destruction when a flare
goes awry, is conscience stricken that his mother thinks he will be a murderer of innocent civilians. When a bomber develops mechanical problems and the crew is ordered to bail out, Tom Hughes panics in fear and refuses to jump. His friend (and another suitor of Burt Hughes), Cadet Jim Carter (Walter Reed
), crash lands the plane, claiming that he is the one who panicked, but Hughes confesses afterward. Facing an elimination board, he successfully persuades Davis to recommend he be given a second chance.
On a subsequent flight, Buck 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. Oliver is subjected to a board of investigation but exonerated because his actions resulted from the failure of his oxygen
equipment. 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. She stifles the proposal by telling Davis that he reminds her of her father. The group (and new bombardiers Carter, Connors, Rafferty, and Harris) leaves for a secret island base in the Pacific
, and Burt passionately kisses Jim Carter goodbye, revealing her choice.
At the base, Buck Oliver, now a major
, joins the group just as it is about to fly a secret night mission to bomb an aircraft factory in Nagoya, Japan
. 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 plane is shot down before he can drop his bombs, and Connors remains at his post, sacrificing his life, to destroy the bombsight, thus fulfilling an oath he took upon entry into Bombardier School.
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. The stretchers used to carry the dead Americans are stamped USA Earthquake Relief 1923. He is machine gun
ned 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 planes. The B-17 group fights off Japanese fighters, is riddled by flak, but overcomes the reluctance of the bombardiers to bomb their compatriots and successfully destroys the target.
began Bombardier as a project in 1940, with several rewrites to incorporate changes in world events. The film itself was in production from October 12 to December 18, 1942, with six weeks of the filming done on location at Kirtland Army Air Base
. Aviation cadets were used as extras, and veteran aircrews assigned to the school as instructors flew the B-17s used in formation shots at the end of the film. At Kirtland, filming featured live action photography of B-17E Flying Fortresses, B-18 Bolo
s, and AT-11 Kansan
trainers.
Notable members of the film crew included Robert Wise
as film editor, and Robert Aldrich
as second assistant director. Lambert Hillyer
directed filming (uncredited) of an aerial sequence, while Joseph F. Biroc
completed the cinematography
work begun and credited to Nicholas Musuraca.
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 ten in the southwest United States, opened in December 1941 at Albuquerque AAB and eventually graduated more than 5,000 bombardiers.
Bombardiers central conflict between competing points of view over the importance of specialized bombardier training 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.
Richard Martin
made his first appearance as the Mexican Irish character "Chito" Rafferty that he would later play in many RKO Western
s opposite Tim Holt
.
, the film was well-received by the public.
War film
War films are a film genre concerned with warfare, usually about naval, air or land battles, sometimes focusing instead on prisoners of war, covert operations, military training or other related subjects. At times war films focus on daily military or civilian life in wartime without depicting battles...
about the training program for bombardier
Bombardier (air force)
A bombardier , in the United States Army Air Forces and United States Air Force, or a bomb aimer, in the Royal Air Force and other Commonwealth air forces, was the crewman of a bomber responsible for assisting the navigator in guiding the plane to a bombing target and releasing the aircraft's bomb...
s of the United States Army Air Forces
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....
. The film stars Pat O'Brien
Pat O'Brien (actor)
Pat O’Brien was an American film actor with more than one hundred screen credits.-Early life:O’Brien was born William Joseph Patrick O’Brien to an Irish-American Catholic family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He served as an altar boy at Gesu Church while growing up near 13th and Clybourn streets...
and Randolph Scott
Randolph Scott
Randolph Scott was an American film actor whose career spanned from 1928 to 1962. As a leading man for all but the first three years of his cinematic career, Scott appeared in a variety of genres, including social dramas, crime dramas, comedies, musicals , adventure tales, war films, and even a few...
. Bombardier was nominated for an Academy Award in 1944 for the special effect
Special effect
The illusions used in the film, television, theatre, or entertainment industries to simulate the imagined events in a story are traditionally called special effects ....
s used in the film. It was largely filmed at Kirtland Army Air Field
Kirtland Air Force Base
Kirtland Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base 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...
, New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
.
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
USAAF bombardment group
A bombardment group or bomb group was a group of bomber aircraft the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. It was the equivalent of an infantry regiment in the Army Ground Forces, or a bomber wing in the British Commonwealth air forces...
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 thirty seconds over the target. In those thirty 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
At a staff meeting in Washington, D.C. in 1941, two officers of the U.S. Army Air Forces (and old friends) debate the importance of bombardiers to the mission of the Air Force. Major "Chick" Davis (Pat O'BrienPat O'Brien (actor)
Pat O’Brien was an American film actor with more than one hundred screen credits.-Early life:O’Brien was born William Joseph Patrick O’Brien to an Irish-American Catholic family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He served as an altar boy at Gesu Church while growing up near 13th and Clybourn streets...
) argues that the day is coming when the bombardier, using the top secret
Top Secret
Top Secret generally refers to the highest acknowledged level of classified information.Top Secret may also refer to:- Film and television :* Top Secret , a British comedy directed by Mario Zampi...
"American bombsight"
Norden bombsight
The Norden bombsight was a tachometric bombsight used by the United States Army Air Forces and the United States Navy during World War II, and the United States Air Force in the Korean and the Vietnam Wars to aid the crew of bomber aircraft in dropping bombs accurately...
, (which is never depicted in the film) will be seen as the "spearhead of our striking force." Capt. "Buck" Oliver (Randolph Scott
Randolph Scott
Randolph Scott was an American film actor whose career spanned from 1928 to 1962. As a leading man for all but the first three years of his cinematic career, Scott appeared in a variety of genres, including social dramas, crime dramas, comedies, musicals , adventure tales, war films, and even a few...
) belittles the argument and states that his experience from a year of observing the RAF fight the German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
proves that getting a plane "so close that a bomb can't miss" is the only way to succeed, so that all else must be discarded in a quest for new pilots. Davis challenges Oliver to a "bombing duel" to test their respective points of view. Oliver, using a dive bomber
Dive bomber
A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target reduces the distance the bomb has to fall, which is the primary factor in determining the accuracy of the drop...
, misses the stationary target with all his bombs, while Davis, bombing from 20,000 feet in a B-17 Flying Fortress, succeeds in hitting his target with his first bomb.
Some time later, Oliver recommends that the civilian flying school of a friend, the fictional "Hughes Field" in "Almansor", New Mexico, be leased for the location of the new Bombardier Training School. As the school's first class nears graduation, Major Davis arrives, along with his right hand man, M/Sgt. Archie Dixon (Barton MacLane
Barton MacLane
Barton MacLane was an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter. Although he has appeared in many classic films from the 1930s through the 1960s, he was known for his role as Gen...
), to take command. Davis is discomfited by the presence of so many civilian women clerks, including the field's former owner, Burton "Burt" Hughes (Anne Shirley
Anne Shirley
Anne Shirley is a fictional character introduced in the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Montgomery wrote in her journal that the idea for Anne's story came from relatives who, planning to adopt an orphaned boy, received a girl instead...
), the daughter of a respected Air Corps
United States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. Renamed from the Air Service on 2 July 1926, it was part of the United States Army and the predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces , established in 1941...
general and now a secretary
Secretary
A secretary, or administrative assistant, is a person whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, communication & organizational skills. These functions may be entirely carried out to assist one other employee or may be for the benefit...
under terms of the lease. Davis is brusque with Burt and she observes he could use some training in manners.
Buck Oliver arrives with the next cadet class, which includes Tom Hughes (Eddie Albert
Eddie Albert
Edward Albert Heimberger , known professionally as Eddie Albert, was an American actor and activist. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1954 for his performance in Roman Holiday, and in 1973 for The Heartbreak Kid.Other well-known screen roles of his include Bing...
), Burt's brother. Davis is mildly disturbed to learn that Oliver and Burt have a romantic history, and the two friendly rivals continue to butt heads over the importance of bombardiers. Oliver, who heads the group of pilots flying bombers for cadet training, refuses to take them seriously because they will become sergeants upon graduation, not commissioned officers. Davis attempts to make up with Burt, and solicits the War Department
United States Department of War
The United States Department of War, also called the War Department , was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army...
to commission the bombardiers. Preflight ground school is intensive and with practice bombing, reveals the shortcomings of many of the cadets. Tom Hughes has trouble with fear-induced air sickness
Motion sickness
Motion sickness or kinetosis, also known as travel sickness, is a condition in which a disagreement exists between visually perceived movement and the vestibular system's sense of movement...
, Joe Connors (Robert Ryan
Robert Ryan
Robert Bushnell Ryan was an American actor who often played hardened cops and ruthless villains.-Early life and career:...
) with committing to being a bombardier, and "Chito" Rafferty (Richard Martin
Richard Martin (RKO actor)
Richard Martin was a prolific RKO contract actor. He was most known for his role as Chito Rafferty, the Irish-Mexican Western comedy relief sidekick of Tim Holt...
with the lack of women with whom to socialize. Cadet Pete Jordan is not up to the complexity of the training and soon washes out.
Connors reveals to Davis that his problem is the result of an attempt by a spy
SPY
SPY is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:* SPY , ticker symbol for Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts* SPY , a satirical monthly, trademarked all-caps* SPY , airport code for San Pédro, Côte d'Ivoire...
to buy information from him about the bombsight, and helps Davis lure the spy into a trap where he is arrested. Cadet Paul Harris, brilliant in ground school and a hero for saving his bomber from destruction when a flare
Flare (pyrotechnic)
A flare, also sometimes called a fusee, is a type of pyrotechnic that produces a brilliant light or intense heat without an explosion. Flares are used for signalling, illumination, or defensive countermeasures in civilian and military applications...
goes awry, is conscience stricken that his mother thinks he will be a murderer of innocent civilians. When a bomber develops mechanical problems and the crew is ordered to bail out, Tom Hughes panics in fear and refuses to jump. His friend (and another suitor of Burt Hughes), Cadet Jim Carter (Walter Reed
Walter Reed (actor)
Walter Reed was an American stage, film and television actor. He was born in Fort Ward, Washington. Following a stint as a Broadway actor, Reed broke into films in 1941...
), crash lands the plane, claiming that he is the one who panicked, but Hughes confesses afterward. Facing an elimination board, he successfully persuades Davis to recommend he be given a second chance.
On a subsequent flight, Buck Oliver passes out from anoxia
Hypoxia (medical)
Hypoxia, or hypoxiation, is a pathological condition in which the body as a whole or a region of the body is deprived of adequate oxygen supply. Variations in arterial oxygen concentrations can be part of the normal physiology, for example, during strenuous physical exercise...
, nearly tossing Carter out of the opened bomb bay without a parachute
Parachute
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag, or in the case of ram-air parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are usually made out of light, strong cloth, originally silk, now most commonly nylon...
. Tom Hughes falls to his death saving Carter's life. Oliver is subjected to a board of investigation but exonerated because his actions resulted from the failure of his oxygen
Oxygen
Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...
equipment. 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
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
, becomes a B-17 group commander, and awkwardly proposes marriage to Burt. She stifles the proposal by telling Davis that he reminds her of her father. The group (and new bombardiers Carter, Connors, Rafferty, and Harris) leaves for a secret island base in the Pacific
Pacific Theater of Operations
The Pacific Theater of Operations was the World War II area of military activity in the Pacific Ocean and the countries bordering it, a geographic scope that reflected the operational and administrative command structures of the American forces during that period...
, and Burt passionately kisses Jim Carter goodbye, revealing her choice.
At the base, Buck Oliver, now a major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
, joins the group just as it is about to fly a secret night mission to bomb an aircraft factory in Nagoya, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. 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 plane is shot down before he can drop his bombs, and Connors remains at his post, sacrificing his life, to destroy the bombsight, thus fulfilling an oath he took upon entry into Bombardier School.
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. The stretchers used to carry the dead Americans are stamped USA Earthquake Relief 1923. He is machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
ned in the attempt, but the shots also set fire to a truck carrying barrels of gasoline
Gasoline
Gasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...
. Oliver drives the burning truck throughout the factory, setting fire to its camouflage netting
Camouflage
Camouflage is a method of concealment that allows an otherwise visible animal, military vehicle, or other object to remain unnoticed, by blending with its environment. Examples include a leopard's spotted coat, the battledress of a modern soldier and a leaf-mimic butterfly...
and fulfills his mission, knowing he will be killed by his own planes. The B-17 group fights off Japanese fighters, is riddled by flak, but overcomes the reluctance of the bombardiers to bomb their compatriots and successfully destroys the target.
Cast
- Brig. Gen. Eugene L. Eubank ... Himself
- Pat O'BrienPat O'Brien (actor)Pat O’Brien was an American film actor with more than one hundred screen credits.-Early life:O’Brien was born William Joseph Patrick O’Brien to an Irish-American Catholic family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He served as an altar boy at Gesu Church while growing up near 13th and Clybourn streets...
... Major "Chick" Davis - Randolph ScottRandolph ScottRandolph Scott was an American film actor whose career spanned from 1928 to 1962. As a leading man for all but the first three years of his cinematic career, Scott appeared in a variety of genres, including social dramas, crime dramas, comedies, musicals , adventure tales, war films, and even a few...
... Captain "Buck" Oliver - Anne Shirley ... Burton "Burt" Hughes
- Eddie AlbertEddie AlbertEdward Albert Heimberger , known professionally as Eddie Albert, was an American actor and activist. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1954 for his performance in Roman Holiday, and in 1973 for The Heartbreak Kid.Other well-known screen roles of his include Bing...
... Cadet Tom Hughes - Walter ReedWalter Reed (actor)Walter Reed was an American stage, film and television actor. He was born in Fort Ward, Washington. Following a stint as a Broadway actor, Reed broke into films in 1941...
... Cadet Jim Carter - Robert RyanRobert RyanRobert Bushnell Ryan was an American actor who often played hardened cops and ruthless villains.-Early life and career:...
... Cadet Joe Connors - Barton MacLaneBarton MacLaneBarton MacLane was an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter. Although he has appeared in many classic films from the 1930s through the 1960s, he was known for his role as Gen...
... Master Sergeant Archie Dixon - Leonard StrongLeonard Strong (actor)Leonard Clarence Strong Leonard Clarence Strong Leonard Clarence Strong (b. 12 August 1908, Utah - d. 23 January 1980, Glendale, California was a prolific American character actor specialising in playing Asian roles....
... Japanese Officer - Richard MartinRichard Martin (RKO actor)Richard Martin was a prolific RKO contract actor. He was most known for his role as Chito Rafferty, the Irish-Mexican Western comedy relief sidekick of Tim Holt...
... Cadet Ignacius "Chito" Rafferty - Russell Wade ... Cadet Paul Harris
- John Miljan ... Chaplain Charlie Craig
- Charles Russell ... Instructor
Production and background notes
RKO PicturesRKO Pictures
RKO Pictures is an American film production and distribution company. As RKO Radio Pictures Inc., it was one of the Big Five studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheum theater chains and Joseph P...
began Bombardier as a project in 1940, with several rewrites to incorporate changes in world events. The film itself was in production from October 12 to December 18, 1942, with six weeks of the filming done on location at Kirtland Army Air Base
Kirtland Air Force Base
Kirtland Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base 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...
. Aviation cadets were used as extras, and veteran aircrews assigned to the school as instructors flew the B-17s used in formation shots at the end of the film. At Kirtland, filming featured live action photography of B-17E Flying Fortresses, B-18 Bolo
B-18 Bolo
The Douglas B-18 Bolo was a United States Army Air Corps and Royal Canadian Air Force bomber of the late 1930s and early 1940s. The Bolo was built by Douglas Aircraft Company and based on its DC-2 and was developed to replace the Martin B-10....
s, and AT-11 Kansan
Beechcraft Model 18
The Beechcraft Model 18, or "Twin Beech", as it is better known, is a 6-11 seat, twin-engine, low-wing, conventional-gear aircraft that was manufactured by the Beech Aircraft Corporation of Wichita, Kansas...
trainers.
Notable members of the film crew included Robert Wise
Robert Wise
Robert Earl Wise was an American sound effects editor, film editor, film producer and director...
as film editor, and Robert Aldrich
Robert Aldrich
Robert Aldrich was an American film director, writer and producer, notable for such films as Kiss Me Deadly , The Big Knife , What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? , Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte , The Flight of the Phoenix , The Dirty Dozen , and The Longest Yard .-Biography:Robert...
as second assistant director. Lambert Hillyer
Lambert Hillyer
Lambert Hillyer was an American film director and screenwriter. He directed over 160 films between 1917 and 1949. He also wrote for 54 films between 1917 and 1948....
directed filming (uncredited) of an aerial sequence, while Joseph F. Biroc
Joseph F. Biroc
Joseph Francis Biroc, A.S.C. was a highly successful movie and TV cinematographer. Mr. Biroc was born in New York City, and he began working in movies at the Paragon Studios in Fort Lee, New Jersey. After working for about six years with that company, he moved to Los Angeles, after also working...
completed the cinematography
Cinematography
Cinematography is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for cinema. It is closely related to the art of still photography...
work begun and credited to Nicholas Musuraca.
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
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. A permanent Bombardier Training School, the first of ten in the southwest United States, opened in December 1941 at Albuquerque AAB and eventually graduated more than 5,000 bombardiers.
Bombardiers central conflict between competing points of view over the importance of specialized bombardier training reflected an actual doctrinal struggle within the U.S. Army Air Corps
United States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. Renamed from the Air Service on 2 July 1926, it was part of the United States Army and the predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces , established in 1941...
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
Lowry Air Force Base
Lowry Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force base located in the cities of Aurora and Denver, Colorado. Its primary mission throughout its existence was Air Force technical training and was heavily involved with the training of United States Army Air Forces bomber crews during World...
, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
; Barksdale Field
Barksdale Air Force Base
Barksdale Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located approximately east-southeast of Bossier City, Louisiana.The host unit at Barksdale is the 2d Bomb Wing , the oldest Bomb Wing in the Air Force. It is assigned to the Air Force Global Strike Command's Eighth Air Force...
, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
; and Ellington Field, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, before the permanent school was established at Kirtland by Col. John D. Ryan
John Dale Ryan
General John Dale Ryan was the seventh Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force. As chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force, General Ryan served in a dual capacity...
as the first step in meeting a wartime goal of training 30,000 bombardiers.
Richard Martin
Richard Martin (RKO actor)
Richard Martin was a prolific RKO contract actor. He was most known for his role as Chito Rafferty, the Irish-Mexican Western comedy relief sidekick of Tim Holt...
made his first appearance as the Mexican Irish character "Chito" Rafferty that he would later play in many RKO Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
s opposite Tim Holt
Tim Holt
Tim Holt was an American film actor perhaps best known for co-starring in the 1948 film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.-Early life:...
.
Reviews and reception
Bombardier premiered on May 14, 1943, at Kirtland AAB, (now Kirtland AFB). Despite a blistering review from Bosley CrowtherBosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther was a journalist and author who was film critic for The New York Times for 27 years. His reviews and articles helped shape the careers of actors, directors and screenwriters, though his reviews, at times, were unnecessarily mean...
, the film was well-received by the public.
Awards
- Bombardier received an Academy AwardsAcademy AwardsAn Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
nomination in 1944 for Best Special Effects: Vernon L. Walker (photographic), James G. StewartJames G. StewartJames Graham Stewart was an American pioneer in the field of sound recording and re-recording. His career spanned more than five decades , during which he made substantial contributions to the evolution of the art and science of film and television sound.- Career :In 1928, James G...
and Roy Granville (sound).