"12 O'Clock High" with Gregory Peck (1949)

When I was kid my parents were good friends with a couple named Ruth and Terry Vine. Terry had been a tail gunner aboard a B-17 bomber in the Second World War, which elevated him to a status usually reserved for the Gods. He was a real live combat veteran. He still had his leather flight jacket hanging in the garage, twenty years after his last bombing run. He didn’t speak much about the war, except to tell me how it was okay to be scared sometimes, as he was in the tail section of the B-17, where there was no room to wear a parachute.

This film, “12 O’clock High”, was released in 1949, and garnered an Academy Award Nomination for Gregory Peck as Best Actor. In addition, it is also one of the earliest movies to realistically deal with the issue of combat fatigue, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, as we now call it. Up until that point; with the exception of “All Quiet on the Western Front”; most war movies were blood and guts stories about the glory of war. In this film, writers Sy Bartlett and Beirne, who also did the screenplay, dispel that notion. In that sense, this is a very important film.

Gregory Peck plays the seemingly unfeeling General Frank Savage, who has been assigned to a bomber squadron flying out of England. The squadron has become a joke, with more men on the sick list than flying missions. General Savage has been sent to turn the squadron around. He finds them to be the victims of low morale, and sets upon a course to re-invigorate the squadron. His initial efforts are considered too tough and unfeeling by his assistant, Lt. Gately, played by Hugh Marlowe. Lt. Gately feels that the men have been pushed beyond their limit, and like most of the squadron, has become a hard drinker. This puts him at odds with the General, who insist that everyone fly if they are physically capable of doing so. He is not concerned with morale; only results.

As the story unfolds, and the losses in the squadron mount, two things become abundantly clear; as the men get stronger and more confident, the weight of command begins to take its toll on the General, who feels each loss deeply, while struggling to maintain his sense of command.

A brilliantly conceived and filmed story of the men who flew the bombing runs which enabled us to win the war in Europe, this film goes further than any other film of the time in assessing the damage done not only to the enemy, but to our side as well. This is a gripping film about the price of war, and the limitations of the ordinary men who are called upon to fight it.

"A Carrier Fights for Life" - US Navy Training Film

On July 29, 1967 the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal was steaming off the coast of Vietnam where she was carrying out her mission making bombing runs in support of the US Military. This day would go down in history as one of the most savage fires at sea. 134 crew members were killed fighting the inferno.

Some believe that the fire was set off when future Presidential candidate John McCain decided to "wet start" his jet to startle the pilot in the F-4 Phantom jet behind his Skyhawk. The "wet start" by McCain was verified during the investigation of the fire, although it is not stated in the training film. As a matter of fact, he was transferred off the Forrestal to the Oriskany while the dead were still being counted. He was the only crewman transferred as a a result of the fire, not counting some of the injured. As the son of Admiral McCain, his reputation had to be protected. His safety was undoubtedly a concern as well.

A wet start is done by manually engaging the motor switch which allows kerosene to pool in the engine. This produces a large flame from the tail of the jet. In this case the flame "cooked off" the M34 Zuni rocket from the F-4 which then launched and hit McCain's jet. It also sent one of McCain's M-65 1,000 pound bombs crashing to the deck from a mount that was rated for only 500 pounds, resulting in it's explosion.

There are other versions concerning the start of the fire, and indeed this diagram shows Senator McCain's jet was on the opposite side of the deck facing inward, with only the South China Sea at it's back. This considerably alters the story. My own belief has always been that the pace of 4 days non-stop bombing runs produced "short cuts" in standard procedures designed to avoid such mishaps. A prime example is the 1,000 pound bombs being loaded onto 500 pound limit brackets affixed to the wings. Coupled with a shortage of "bomb jacks" to load the bombs, this was a recipe ripe for disaster.

The fact that the crew were refueling while arming the jets was also a violation of procedure which only added to the deadly consequences. This is the link to the actual training film, which runs about 18 minutes. It was produced in 1973 and made part of the fire fighting training class.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6NnfRT_OZA

Mistake upon mistake added to the inferno. With the first fire fighting parties killed so quickly, the crew made up fire parties consisting of men untrained, or inexperienced, in using the equipment. For instance, after blanketing the fuel with foam another crew came in with hoses, washing the foam away and igniting a reflash.

There were heroes that day. One Chief Petty Officer can be seen running across the deck, armed with only a fire extinquisher, in a vain effort to beat the "cookoff time" of the bomb. He can be seen disappearing in the explosion. There were, undoubtedly, many more unsung heroes that day.

At sea there are no fire departments to call. If the ship is to survive the crew must put the blaze out. And it must be done quickly. My first experience with fire aboard ship came one afternoon on the USS Neosho, in the after steering compartment, which sits right above the rudder. The lube oil that cools the props had somehow leaked and a fire started. As I entered the space as the #2 man on the hose, I was very grateful for all of the training we had received in boot camp. Surrounded by flames can be a very disorienting experience. Training is the key to winning in any situation. This is even more so with a ship afire.