Memphis Belle

Memphis Belle (1990)

24 mistakes

(2 votes)

Factual error: When Lt. Col Derringer (John Lithgow) is introducing the crew of the Belle at the beginning of the film, he describes Rascal as being 18 years old. Yet he holds the rank of Staff Sergeant (E-6), a rank usually achieved after at least 5-6 years of military service. Same can be said for Eugene, who is described as being 19 years old, who also is a Staff Sergeant.

Matdan97

Factual error: In the last minutes of the film, as Memphis Belle is coming in to land, you just catch a glimpse of a very big hangar. This is Hangar 1 at Duxford, the Imperial War Museum where a lot of the flight filming was based at, and was built in the 1980's. This hangar was rebuilt and enlarged and is now called Airspace.

Farmersboy

Visible crew/equipment: During the take-off sequence, in a close-up showing a ground crewman pulling the chock away from the front of a tire, production crew and a van can be glimpsed in the far distance out of focus before being obscured by more period accurate vehicles and extras.

Video

Continuity mistake: During the crash landing propeller blades are flying off. Later on when then plane comes to a stand still the blades are back but bent backwards.

Klaus Egvang

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: I've seen this exactly. I always thought it was the turf being kicked up by the blades. Now, whether propeller blades could have taken that impact, I don't know.

Sgt. Virgil Hoogesteger: I know exactly what I'm gonna do.
Richard Rascal Moore: Oh God, Virg, if I have to hear one more word about that stupid restaurant.
Sgt. Virgil Hoogesteger: It's not stupid! At least I've got a plan! What are you gonna do after the war, huh?
Richard Rascal Moore: Come to your restaurant and rob it.

More quotes from Memphis Belle

Trivia: Very few flyable examples of the B-17 existed at the time of the shooting of the movie. One airplane "stood in" for several by having its decals changed. The B-17G featured in the film has since undergone a meticulous restoration and now lives in Renton, Washington, USA. Though it is fully flyable, certain certification issues with the Federal Aviation Administration have kept it grounded.

More trivia for Memphis Belle

Question: At the briefing it's pointed out that there's a hospital, school, etc. around the factory they're bombing, and Dennis is very adamant about getting the bombs "right in the pickle barrel" so a lot of innocent people don't get hurt. But the planes are spread out over a large area in the sky, and are also moving when the bombs are dropped, so wouldn't the bombs land over a large area and not just in the limited vicinity of the factory?

Krista

Chosen answer: It would seem that every plane's Norden bombsight would drop from different angles, etc., each designated for a common target. So, 2 planes could be higher, lower, ahead or behind the target and each hit the target, if the bombadiers had an accurate fix on the target.

Answer: Even with the Norden bomb sight, during WW2 bombing was generally very inaccurate.

More questions & answers from Memphis Belle

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