sculptor

John, I'm glad you had a real flight in a real B-17. When I was a kid in WWII, I saw lots of B-17's flying over Dallas, probably showing off for girlfriends. The skies were also full of B-24's (made in Fort Worth), B-26's, B-25's, Hudsons for the RAF, AT-6's (called the Texan because it was made near Arlington), P-38's, P-47's, and occasionally Navy aircraft such as the gull-winged Corsair. The age of flight turned 40 only in 1944; the speed of development in those years was all but unbelievable.

An older boy up the street, who had taught me to make model airplanes from kits, joined the Army Air Corps at 18, made it through pilot training, and was trained in B-17's and sent to the Eighth Air Force in England. He was promoted to captain on his 20th birthday because the casualty rate was so high on those daylight raids. He survived and came home, and we went to SMU together.

The B-17 was beloved by its pilots. Several of the WWII vets that I flew with in B-29's had flown B-17's, and they spoke of the airplane with affection, mainly because it flew well, but also because it could take a lot of damage and still get back to base. It was slow, of course, though on a par with other aircraft of its era, and it put a large crew at risk to deliver a bomb load smaller than most fighter-bombers can carry now and with far less accuracy than a cruise missile. The movie "Memphis Belle" gives an apparently accurate portrayal of the B-17 in combat. The postwar TV series (NBC, I think) on the air war -- there were companion series on land war and sea war -- uses combat footage to show B-17's being shot out of the sky by flak and fighters. As I recall, the series' name was something like "Victory in the Air". I recommend it.

Fascinating review of what must be a fascinating film. Reading the review, especially the comment on differing views of what reality is, the thought struck me that this film should be required viewing for the Bush foreign policy team, since they seem to have some problems with seeing the same reality as the rest of us.

It must be extremely hard, these days, to stay above the political battle while reviewing so political a film, but your reviewer has done it. Congratulations.