Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress is a 1944 documentary film which provides an account of the final mission of the crew of the "Memphis Belle", a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. In May 1943 it became the first U.S. Army Air Forces heavy bomber to complete 25 missions over Europe and return to the United States. The dramatic 16 mm color film of actual battles was made by three cinematographers, including First Lieutenant Harold J. Tannenbaum. Tannenbaum, a veteran of World War I, was killed in action during the
RAF Bomber Command aircrew of World War II although 9,838 became prisoners of war. During World War II 156 aircrew taken prisoner of war successfully escaped from German prisoner of war camps in Western Europe and 1,975 airmen evaded capture being hidden by local resistance groups after being shot down in Western Europe. It is reported that more than half of the escapers and evaders were RAF Bomber Command airmen. A recent specialized study of airmen "evaders" shot down over Western Europe states that a post-war summary prepared by British Military Intelligence (MI9) recorded that 695 officers and 1,270 enlisted men had evaded capture; however, the study identified