Memphis Belle

The navigator of the real Memphis Belle was Charles Leighton. From Flint Michigan, he retired as a teacher and counselor. He saved the Belle and other B-17s after identifying false German radio beacons designed to lure unwary B-17s into harm's way.

In the film, the bomber force is ordered to circle back to the Initial Point when the primary target is obscured. In reality, this would not have occurred.

• First: Turning a formation of 300+ B-17s 180 degrees was extremely difficult and dangerous.
• Second: Such a maneuver would alert enemy flak batteries to the intended target.
• Third: It would keep the formation under fighter attack longer than necessary.

Actual procedure was to brief crews on a primary, secondary, tertiary, and targets of opportunity. If the primary was obscured, it became the IP for the secondary, and so on. If no targets could be hit, the force commander, not the lead pilot, would order an attack on targets of opportunity or abort the mission. Crews would then jettison ordnance over the North Sea or English Channel, and the mission would still count toward tour completion.

The UK cinema version was rated 12, and was uncut. The video release was rated PG, and removed the use of "all fucked up".