This Day in Aviation History: Memphis Belle

On May 17, 1943, the crew of the Memphis Belle became one of the first B-17 aircraft and crew to complete 25 missions over Europe and return to the United States.

Completing twenty-five combat missions.  Most of us wouldn’t bet on those odds.  But we might bet on the odds at a casino.  According to Casinofreak.com, “The average payout percentage for slot machines in Las Vegas is around 85 cents per dollar earned.” 

In Nevada, according to Bing, “state gaming regulations mandate that the minimum theoretical payout for gaming devices must not be less than 75% for each wager available on the machine.  However, most slot machines pay above this minimum.”

Compare this to B-17 crew members who, again according to Bing, “faced extreme danger, with statistically low chances of survival.  On average, a crew member had only a 25% to 33% chance of surviving 25 missions.”

While it’s a bit like comparing apples and bowling balls, the odds of surviving 25 missions in a B-17 were low, statistically less than betting at a casino.  It was one of the most dangerous combat assignments during World War II.  According to the Air Force Association (AFA), “More than 50,000 airmen lost their lives in the four years of WWII and the majority of those losses were on bomber missions over Nazi Germany in B-17s and B-24s. The average age of the crew of a B-17 Flying Fortress was less than 25, with four officers and six enlisted airmen manning the aircraft. Their chance of survival was less than 50 percent.”

We’re blessed that our youth—those who do the fighting, the bleeding, the crying, and the dying—are impervious (or so they believe) to danger, invulnerable to risk (or so they think), positive about their chances, and offer toasts like, “Live fast, die young, and have a good-looking corpse.”  They offer such toasts because most don’t actually believe, thankfully, they will die young.

Again, according to the AFA, “In the Fall of 1943, on one daylight mission known as ‘Black Thursday,’ during operations against German industrial capability in Schweinfurt, more than 60 B-17s were lost to enemy fighter aircraft attacks.”  They died young.

Yet, one of the most famous of those iconic aircraft and crew to beat the nearly insurmountable odds was the Memphis Belle, which completed its 25^th combat mission on May 17, 1943.

From This Day in Aviation History, by Bryan R. Swopes.  “After completing 25 combat missions over Western Europe from its base at Air Force Station 121 (RAF Bassingbourne, Cambridgeshire, England), Memphis Belle, a U.S. Army Air Forces Boeing B-17F-10-BO Flying Fortress, serial number 41-24485, assigned to the 91st Bombardment Group (Heavy), 324th Bomb Squadron (Heavy), was flown home by Captains Robert K. Morgan and James A. Verinis.”

The crew of the Memphis Belle after their 25th mission: (left to right) Technical Sergeant Harold Loch, Top Turret Gunner/Engineer; Staff Sergeant Cecil Scott, Ball Turret Gunner; Technical Sergeant Robert Hanson, Radio Operator; Captain James Verinis, Co-pilot; Captain Robert Morgan, Aircraft Commander/Pilot; Captain Charles Leighton, Navigator; Staff Sergeant John Quinlan, Tail Gunner; Staff Sergeant Casimer Nastal, Waist Gunner; Captain Vincent Evans, Bombardier; Staff Sergeant Clarence Winchell Waist Gunner. (U.S. Air Force)

From History.com, “The Memphis Belle performed its 25th and last mission, in a bombing raid against Lorient, a German submarine base. But before returning back home to the United States, film footage was shot of Belle‘s crew receiving combat medals. This was but one part of a longer documentary on a day in the life of an American bomber, which included dramatic footage of a bomber being shot out of the sky, with most of its crew parachuting out, one by one.

“The Memphis Belle documentary would not be released for another 11 months, as more footage was compiled to demonstrate the risks these pilots ran as they bombed ‘the enemy again and again and again—until he has had enough.’ The film’s producer, Lieutenant Colonel William Wyler, was known for such non-military fare as The Letter, Wuthering Heights, and Jezebel.

“A fictional film about the B-17, called Memphis Belle, was released in 1990, starring John Lithgow, Matthew Modine and Eric Stoltz.”