Combat America with Clark Gable

Combat America is a 1943 Allied propaganda film of World War II: “1st Lieutenant Clark Gable is hereby directed to proceed to England … for making a combat film dealing particularly with the combat phases of aerial gunnery … “. Initial footage depicts aircraft flying over American mountains, with Gable narrating that this is what they are fighting for. Bob Hope also appears in the film,[1] and the film mostly depicts 351st Bombardment Group life at RAF Polebrook. Combat footage begins three-quarters of the way into the movie and includes take off and return of aircraft. The film depicts a wall poster with target names and, for confirmed kills, swastika stickers. Footage at the end of the film includes a B-17 in an uncontrolled dive with a portion of the horizontal stabilizer missing and shoot-down of Messerschmitt Bf 109s. Intercut with the combat footage is close-up footage of machine gun firing from a B-17 waist gun port. Gable flew five World War II combat missions from May 4-September 23, and during one of them, his shoe was struck by an anti-aircraft shell. Gable’s film crew included MGM cameraman Andrew J McIntyre; “1st Lt. Howard Voss, a sound engineer; Master Sgt. Robert Boles, a cameraman; Master Sgt. Merlin Toti, an other[sic] cameraman; and 1st Lt. John Lee Mahin, a scriptwriter.”

By drelbcom (YouTube: Combat America) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

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