Bombardier (1943)

Directed by

Lambert Hillyer, Richard Wallace

Genre

drama film, war film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 19m

Rated

NR

Rating

5.7 of 10 from 21 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This World War II drama follows the training of six bombardier candidates for the U.S. Army Air Forces. Two pilots in charge disagree over the value of precision bombing. The film shows the candidates learning their skills at a base in New Mexico.

instructionalpatrioticearnestmilitaryfocuseddatedtraining-centric

What happens

Bombardier is a 1943 film war drama about the training program for bombardiers of the United States Army Air Forces. The film stars Pat O'Brien and Randolph Scott. Bombardier was nominated for an Oscar in 1944 for the special effects used in the film. It was largely filmed at Kirtland Army Air Field, New Mexico, site of the first bombardier training school. The film follows the training of six bombardier candidates, seen through the differences between the two USAAF pilots in charge of their training over the efficacy of precision bombing. Brigadier General Eugene L. Eubank, commander of the first heavy bombardment group of the U.S. Army Air Forces to see combat in World War II, introduces the film with the statement: I want you to know about a new kind of American soldier, the most important of all our fighting men today. He is most important because upon him, finally, depends the success of any mission in which he participates. The greatest bombing plane in the world, with its combat crew, takes him into battle, through weather, through enemy opposition, just so he may have 30 seconds over the target. In those 30 seconds, he must vindicate the greatest responsibility ever placed upon an individual soldier in line of duty. I want you to know about him, and about those who had the faith and vision and foresight to bring him into being, to fit him for his task, long months before our war began. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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