| Title | The Best Years of Our Lives |
| Studio | Goldwyn Pictures Corporation |
| Date Released | 1946 |
| Director | William Wyler |
| Actors | Dana Andrews, Frederick March, Harold Russell, Myrna Loy |
| Airplane Guys | Paul Mantz |
| B-17 Filming Locations | Air to ground at Stillwater, OK; Scrapyard scenes shot at Cal Aero Field, Chino, CA |
B-17s Identified
Scrapyard scenes: YB-40 42-5736; 42-5742 B-17F 41-24636; 42-29929; 42-5332; 42-30890; 42-3463; 42-5322; 42-3236; 42-3463
The Movie...
An Academy Award winning story of three World War II veterans, an AAF bombardier, an Army infantry seargent, and a Navy sailor, as they return to civilian life at the end of the war. They face challenges from failed marriages, inconsequential business life, family life, and adjusting to handicaps and the stories no doubt struck a chord with the millions of servicemen experiencing similar difficulties as they tried to reenter a much changed civilian world. For the B-17 guys, the movie opens with a cross-country ride in a B-17E with the three soldiers discussing their future and their past. There are air-to-ground scenes of a massive airplane storeyard, supposedly at the fiction Boone City but actually at Stillwater, Oklahoma. Scenes near the end depict the AAF bombardier reliving some terrible hours as he climbs into the nose of a derelict B-17F about to be scrapped at, supposedly, the same scrapyard. However, the extensive shots of the airplane scrapping operation were filmed at what was then the RFC field on the Chino, California, airport. There are long shots of almost unrecognizable P-39s and a large field of B-17s (with a few YB-40 conversions thrown in), including the close up of the one the veteran climbs up into. All in all, this film has much to offer both in entertainment and historical value.
Anecdotal
- The B-17E the passengers walk up to for their flight is not the same one used in the subsequent takeoff shot. They are both heavily used war wearies and probably typical of the B-17s then used for such transportation 'hacks'. Nether serial number can be pulled off the film so they remain unidentified, as is the location where those shots were done.
- Reportedly, Paul Mantz shot the air-to-air and air-to-ground film used in the process shots early in the film from the nose of his new B-25H camera ship, NX1203. That airplane was taken from the field of surplus airplanes Mantz bought at Stillwater, Oklahoma, the field also featured in the air-to-ground shots.
- There was some thought that the B-17 that appears early in the film is Mantz's own B-17F (s/n 42-3360), also taken from the Stillwater yard. However, the airplane used in the film is a B-17E and its tail number is not discernable in the scene.
- Most of the B-17s seen at Chino come from stateside training units, based upon the aircraft nose numbers and tail markings. Recognizable tail codes would suggest many had been assigned to Ardmore AAF, Oklahoma ("AR"), and Rapid City, South Dakota ("RC").
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Links
Acknowledgements
"When Hollywood Ruled the Skies" by Bruce W. Orriss
Scrapyard frames from movie by Chris Brame
Line up of B-17s and YB-40s at Cal Aero Field, Chino, CA, taken from the film. 42-29929 never saw combat and its last assignment was with a Base Unit at Ardmore AAF, Oklhaoma, no doubt resulting in the "AR" tail code seen here and on the airplane behind it.
42-30890 was another purely stateside trainer whose last assignment was to a Base Unit at Ardmore AAF, Oklahoma. It was transferred to the RFC at Ontario AAF (Chino) in June 1945.
B-17F 42-3463 was assigned to training units through the war, the last unit being at Rapid City, South Dakota. It came to Chino in June 1945. The nose art and bomb symbols may have been added for the film. B-17F 42-3236 also came from Rapid City.