MEMPHIS BELLE. DISPELLING THE MYTHS B17 FLYING FORTRESS

MEMPHIS BELLE- DISPELLING THE MYTHS 1904514405

BY Graham Simons and Harry Friedman

The Memphis Belle - one plane and one crew - in one Squadron, in one Group of one Wing of one Air Force....’ So goes a quotation from the documentary film made by Hollywood director William Wyler in 1943 and released in 1944 to a public that was both stunned and amazed by the graphic, accurate images of war it contained. True as the quote may be, and as accurate as the images pictured in color are, from this movie and from a small booklet produced by the US War Department have sprung a myriad of myths and legends. Over the years the few journalists who bothered to look at the War Department booklet have mis-quoted it. Other journalists and authors who attempted to tell the story later have picked up, re-used and re-mis-quoted the mis-quotes - or wrote a completely different story to suit their own needs. The story of the Memphis Belle however was not just about the twenty-five missions - there was the entire War-Bond Tour that has never been fully documented; nor has the days of mundane but vitally important times of aircrew training. What then happened after that? The aircraft barely escaped the breakers’ torch and was sold to the city of Memphis - there were the long, lethargic days on the plinth outside the Armory. The many abortive attempts to find a home. The restorations, the time on Mud Island and the story behind the move to the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. In recent years Margaret Polk - who the aircraft was named after - seems to be fading into the background of the legends, which is odd, for without Margaret there would be no Memphis Belle! The story is endless, and continues to this day. Without doubt the Memphis Belle and her crew generate an image that is an all-American icon - and very rightly so too! We feel that such an icon deserves to have its history recorded for future generations in as accurate manner as possible - and in a manner that is free from contamination of the quadruple evils of self-glorification, glamour-by-association, sloppy journalistic practices and poor research. So the authors stripped away all that had been said before; they went back to contemporary primary research documentation and set about re-telling the story from the ground up using facts not lies, evidence not myths and truth not legends. What has been revealed is truly startling, for it is clear that 41-24485 Memphis Belle was THE most important aircraft of World War Two!

Published 2008, 535 pages, black and white photos throughout.