My dad flew the J model (sheetmetal nose, with 6 to 8 50 cals) 13 th AF,316 Bomb Grp Jan 45 to Aug 45 .His unit was one of the first to use Napalm. ( first mission out they weren't even told what it was, only to observe the and report damage at debriefing!) From Palawan, Philippines, Wouldn't talk much about the war but loved to talk about flying ,loved the B25 ,but his favorite was the P38 of which he graduated top on his class (Photo recon) Went to Japan again during Korean War ,but was sent to command an air base for crippled planes trying to make it back from Korea, Korea ,never flew combat again .Love you dad and miss you. RIP Capt Robert Keegan
You'd like our local B-25J, which is configured as an eight gun solid nose strafer. (She's in RAF ETO markings, and the solid nose strafers didn't operate there, but still, she's a beauty.)
I have a photo of my Dad standing in front of a B-25 equipped for photo reconnaissance on the Bougainville airstrip in 1944. It's nose art was named "Overdeveloped" with a sexy image of an overdeveloped woman. So cool. 😊
Brightly lit, brightly coloured, shiny, fake and only exciting to kids who have never seen a real airplane. 'Red Tails' unfortunately, is still the low bar to exceed, unhappily.
The contrast from the silence and beautiful sunrise to roaring engines and exhaust fumes was great. The cinematography in this film and editing was epic.
@@robertcieslak1861 One of the cameramen fell out of the plane and died. It was real for sure. This film has been credited for saving the remaining B25's.
My Dads friend, an old "Air Apache "from the South Pacific, leased his personal B25 to the film company and they hired him to fly it in the film,he's the one in the left side of the third row,crabbing into the wind hard,he said all the pilots did something to stand out from each other.
@@MotionMcAnixx I recall reading the bobbing and weaving of the B-25s during the opening takeoff scene was due to the planes being caught in the prop wash of the planes in front of them, not because of the pilots trying to do something different than the other planes.
@@701CPDWhat I read was that the planes were flying the way they were was because they were not carrying any bombs. A plane carrying a full bomb load with full fuel tanks would fly differently. I have no idea how true that statement was, but it did seem to make sense to me at the time.
My mother built B-25's at North American's Fairfax Plant in Kansas City Kansas. As a kid in the '60's, we were in the kitchen together when an airplane went over. She said, "That's a B-25!" we ran outside and sure enough, it was!
jhay753 - exactly same with me. In 1961 I went into NYC with my brother and Dad and he stopped us in our tracks - look up a B-25 is coming. Sure enough one roared above the tall buildings. The Marines were still flying them
I had never seen a lancaster before I heard one go over a few years ago. My dad was in the RCAF during WWII and worked on them. He said it's not a sound that can be mistaken for anything else, so when I hear it I knew!
The whole scene start to finish of these B 25s lining up,taking off and slowly disappearing into the distance is incredible,but the silence afterwards is unforgettable! Auckland New Zealand 2021
@@ronaldstokes4841 Heard from pilots they were the noisest damn thing in the skies, every conversation in a huey you've ever seen in any movie would have to be a shouted/screamed one. There was something promising when that rotor sound began to grow louder, help and an airbourne machine gun nest were on the way.
I hate CG ! But these days you will not find aircraft from this period of time in great enough number in flyable condition to do a period kind of movie. Good luck even finding aircraft to remake the fall of Saigon in May 1975. The cost of upkeep and insurance plus a lack of movie making money makes old aircraft white elephants.
They had trouble finding aircraft in those days too. Check out the Battle of Britain: loads of different mks of spitfires all from different periods of the war. IIRC there’s even a bubble canopy spit at one point
I'm not sure that there are enough flyable Mitchells nowadays to make it. Unless they used some hollywood tricks, there are just so many B-25s in that scene.
My Grandfather was a crew chief at McClellan AFB when Major Doolittle came in with his B-25's that he helped prep before being loaded onto barges and floated down the Sacramento River at night to the USS Hornet. I asked him about Doolittle and he said he was a real bastard, he yelled at my Grandfather when he found out they tuned the engines back to factory specs, they then had to re-tune them extra lean for the Tokyo mission.
The B-25J BuNo 44-30801 "Executive Sweet" (N30801) was "Vestal Virgin" in this film. I helped to maintain and restore that B-25 back in the late 90's. She's still in Camarillo California where a rotating crew of volunteers keep her flying to this day. Funny enough, this production helped to preserve almost all of these B-25s many of which were rotting in fields or headed to the scrapper. After the movie, they sat again until collectors snatched them up and started restoring them. These planes have gotten together again and again through the years for the Doolittle memorial flights around the San Fernando Valley. And another Doolittle Memorial flight at the Air Force museum a few years ago. One of these B-25s was being restored by the Commemorative Air Force, also in Camarillo. As they were dismantling the fuselage they found suspicious blue paint. It turned out to be the only remaining Marine Corps PBJ.
About 30 years ago or so I saw a B-25 named Executive Sweet at Allaire Airport in Central New Jersey. I had taken my kids to an amusement park across from the airport and I could see the aircraft in the distance. So I took a ride over there with them and went through an opened gate to look it over. It was awesome to be up close and personal. A gentleman came out of a hangar and said I shouldn't be there, but when I told him I wanted my kids to see real history, he grinned and took us on a little tour of the aircraft. My kids were 10 and 9 at the time and they both loved it, my daughter especially. She was always the adventurous one. I used to take them to the airshows at McGuire AFB and Armed Forces Weekend at Fort Monmouth and I have pictures of them in the pilot's seats of a C-47, C-130, a Huey and a C-5A. We had a lot of fun. Now I take my grandkids to Valiant Air Command in Titusville Fla. to show them real history. The last time I was there, they had just finished the restoration of the only XP-82 in existence and the TBM that was put down in the surf off Florida. A lot of fun over the decades.
Great post sir! I was stationed at Pt. Mugu NAS in the late 90’s and went to the Camarillo airport (former AFB) and nosed around the CAF hangar and apron, they have some nice birds there compared to other CAF groups. Then in 2007 while stationed at Ft. Sam Houston I saw the Doolittle group flying in loose for,action across the base at around 1,500 feet AGL and stood in the PX parking lot staring at them until I couldn’t hear them anymore. I also love the B-25 and it’s sound, just a beautiful bird both in the air and on the ground.
Read somewhere that after the movie the pilots were sad because they knew that this would be the last time they'd see this many (17, I think) B-25s at the same time.
Yes,he Garfunkel went to Mexico for filming before 'bridge over troubled Waters' was finished.Paul Simon was also to have a part but was subsequently written out.
@@oneparticularharbor144 Did the same ride. They give you hearing protectors which help a little. Sitting in the back we bounced along, taxi to take off. Turned on the active and the pilots pushed the throttles forward. The noise was so startling the guy sitting across from me ducked. I guess he thought there was an explosion or another plane hit us. Then we rocketed into the sky. Bounced all over the place, very rough ride. The guys who flew them and in them have my respect.
Freaking marvelous. Thundering rugged old radial engines, long round-tipped wings grabbing for air-bouyancy. This reminds me of when I was a 10-year old kid in the early 1960's, standing in a small pasture near a forest -- when suddenly a Coast Guard Sikorsky H-34 helicopter appeared very low, just over tree level. That radial engine was roaring and the big blades were whacking at the air so loud! A crew member in a flight suit and helmet was standing in the side-doorway. I spontaneously waved up at him. After a moment his arm raised and he waved down at me. Then they soared away back over the forest again and the noise faded. I'm 69 years today and I've never forgotten that moment.
The runway they are using was a little north of San Carlos, Mexico. For a long time after the movie the runway was usable and in some books on flying in Mexico it was labeled as Catch 22. Now it is just an impression in the dirt.
There's a B-25 and a B-17 based at Willow Run in Michigan. They fly over my house all the time. Both have really distinctive sounds. The B-25 is much louder.
When I was a kid there was a B-25 and couple of P-51's at the local airport and occasionally on a Sunday they would fly formation around the valley, the two P-51's escorting the B-25, what a sight.
probably one of the most beautiful aviation scenes ever shot! Props grabbing the air, planes responding so vividly to the rudders, warbird colors and art.. it's all there! Thank you so much for uploading this!!!
I know nothing about flying, however this scene makes it heart wrenchingly evident the art, as well as the technology, of flying; and the fragility, as well as the power of these magnificent machines, and the men who flew them.
Saw this movie right after it came out while in the Navy. A powerful antiwar statement at the time. Vietnam was an effen disaster at that time so this movie really stood out. The B-25 take off scene was spectacular even though I might be a little biased due to the Mitchell being one of my all time favorite aircraft. I flew a couple ride along training flights in P-3 Orions while stationed in Newfoundland Canada and it also is one of my favorite aircraft. Much under appreciated but great airplane. Flying over the North Atlantic with two engines shut down and props feathered was inspiring. Radioman 3rd class U.S. Navy 1967-71
I live a few miles from the airport housing VeRA, one of the last 2 flying lancasters in the world. I can always tell when she is powering up to take off...you can hear her for miles. Then this beautiful lady ends up going over my head usually once or twice as she circles to land, so she is pretty darned low. I wave to the pilots some times, lol. Seeing this live would have been just crazy wonderful.
My mother was a WASP ferry pilot. She told me that when they were training at Sweetwater, every week a B25 would take a "training" flight that strayed down into Mexico. When the plane returned, everyone from the base co to the new guy met it to pick up the alcohol that they ordered. She said the entire plane was loaded with booze.
I saw this film in 1970. I was about 10 minutes late for the start, so was lost through the whole movie. Sat through it a second time & it all made sense.
What an experience for a kid of your dad's age whos' never left home much less been in an airplane before all of a sudden finding himself being trained to fly and fight in these magnificent planes. It's like another world.
@@jgstargazer Pretty scary experience, really. After the war my Dad never set foot in an airplane again the rest of his life, not even to go on vacation.
This the finest takeoff scene in any WW II movie. You see all the dirt, grit and dust of what a real combat airstrip would have looked like, especially in The Med.
Fantastic!! What an incredibly visceral sight snd sound. A director and camera crews who understood the subject matter and the audience so well. Not seen so often these days! Now with the advent of so much OTT CGI and computerised synthetic effects, scenes like this become just a large version of a computer game simulation and are created by people who may very probably, have never stood next to the aircraft, tanks, ships, cars etc... that are fetured in the scene. The result is often, obviously sterile and unconvincing. Clearly, the shortage of large numbers of period vintage airworthy aircraft as shown here with these beautiful old Mitchells is a huge obstacle and requires modern solutions, but somehow, they never look or feel right. Thanks so much for sharing this epic and stunning scene.
And no CGI. in 1970 There probably aren't that many flyable B-25's around today. It would be impossible to re-do this. A buddy of mine, Roger Lopez was killed in a B-25 in 1970 at Orange, MA. To his memory and to all those who flew the Mitchells, Thank You
Gee, Max...ya think that maybe that's part of the reason those scenes were filmed in Mexico...? From my understanding, that Formation Take-Off very nearly did result in a Pile-up of B-25s... the Turbulence and Vortexes after the first few left the ground resulted in a Situation leaving the Pilots behind just barely in control of their Aircraft... (Concentrate on the Footage at about 1:50-2:05 and you can see what I am referring to...) Once the Clearance to Take-Off was Given, and they began to Roll...there was no Aborting... even if the Crews could stop on the Ground, there was WAY a beyond a Fair Chance the Crews in the Aircraft behind them would be eating Rudders and Fuselages for Lunch, Supper... and Breakfast for Days. I have to admit that I like to Listen to this Scene... ... but, watching it still causes an Involuntary Response in my Sphincter Muscles! Bruno ⚓
I just started reading Bridgebusters, a history of the 445th. People forget Catch 22 wasn't a history book, it's a fictional story placed within the real WW2 settings of the 445th. All the combat and damage depicted is accurate, but the story of Yossarian is a fictional rumination of Heller's viewpoints on the war and his own actions in it.
At 18 this cat was an extra in the film and was on location next to the airstrip when this scene was filmed in a mandatory one take. Being of draft age with the Vietnam War raging most of us were anything but patriotic but the effect of these 17 B-25's taking off was a spine-tingling experience. It was a once in a lifetime spectacle causing emotional reactions from all present viewing the event. Upon the return landing one Mitchell nearly took out the control tower and many scattered for their lives before the pilot proficiently landed safely. This is one of the most iconic scenes in American film-making and can never be replicated. The picture itself has been reevaluated since it's initial release and is now regarded by many as a masterpiece.
BTW - I read that most B-25 pilots who flew lots of missions, ended up with noticeable, hearing loss/damage from the incredible loudness and proximity of the engines.
Thanks for posting this. Mike Nichols had an ingenious, iconic way of filming that brings us into the intensity of war with planes taking off on another mission, too many of whom didn't return. The Italian campaign had a near 50% casualty rate. It's a perfect setting for the madness of war and the Catch-22. Sending young men off on too many missions, some of which were not strategic targets, caused unnecessary deaths in the air and on the ground. Captain Yosarian summed it up with a not-so subtle gesture. The blocking of the Sun from the dust caused by prop wash is subtle, but very symbolic of Man losing his Mind. Those who've lost the Sun know how serious it is, like Capt. Yosarian. Jung saw a lot of this as a combat psychiatrist in neutral Switzerland, caring for US, UK, French and German soldiers. We're losing many of our soldiers to suicide from our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. I know from having worked with many combat veterans in sport settings to get the trauma of war out instead of suppressing it with too much medication. It helps ease the sudden flashbacks, midnight memories and nightmares. Making peace with the enemy and cruel, commanding officers, played brilliantly by Orson Welles, is the ultimate task. For all our veterans who are suffering and may read this post, please don't go it alone. It usually takes someone to help us out of it. It did for me.
Oh man that was beautiful. Gotta find this movie. My first flight was in a DC3 passenger plane from Lewistown MT to North Dakota at 16 years old. What a memory.
I'm sorry, but I just watched this clip five times in a row! Does that make me crazy? I love the awsome sound of those big radial engines. For me, the only thing that could make this clip better is if they had intercut a brief cockpit shot of someone shoving the throttles forward at 1:35 and pulling back the yoke at 1:50. But awesome just the same! I think I'll just watch it again...
Nichols and May were a comedy team and Nichols became a famed outstanding director. As for Catch-22, most of it was shot in Guaymas, Mexico on the w. coast. Several yrs. ago the LA Times had a color photo of the designer of the B-25 bomber as he reached up to touch a prop blade. He was in his 90s. The father of director Steven Speilberg was a crew member in WWII on B-25s. A navigator, I think.
Don’t know what movie studio release this movie at the moment. But I difinitely would love to see it again re-Released UN-CUT to the theatres And listening to those big beautiful radials in DOBY STERO SOUND on takeoff! Yes sir re! One of the all time best movies 🎥!!!
amazing , the only time since ww2 that so many b25s take of together...listen to the fantastic noise....the producers and pilots were apparently shitting themselves during this fab scene.I bought this film a few years ago,as I knew it was a classic,but was ecstactic as a ww2 warbird fan too see this scene...it gets played real loud on my 5.1 system.Thanks for uploading.
They managed to hire over 20 B-25s for that movie, most of the pilots were WWII veterans, a few were Dolittle's Raiders. I saw this movie at the New Orleans Orpheus Theater in one of the first showings. Years later, my uncle would ask my dad to come visit and bring me. We got to meet the guys who had been requested by the Air Force to talk about the future of bomber design. Crew from Dolittle's Raiders, Enola Gay, Boch's Car... as a little curly red head, everyone of those old superstitious flyers just about rubbed that red hair off my head. Then they decided I needed to see the inside of the B-25 and B-29 just outside the door. Those old guys got in so much trouble for opening those birds up and getting inside of them! The old tail gunner had gained some weight and the B-29 nose gear rose up about 4 feet.... I never got to go inside before someone ran up screaming "GET OUT OF MY AIRCRAFT!" and the Base CO was laughing his ass off saying "Don't tell them that! You'll just encourage them!" If you go to Egland AFB, you'll still find those two aircraft there... but... I think they got them crew hatches locked now.
Impressive and awesome cinematography, but it's pure Hollywood. In real ops, it was one bomber taking off at a time; as one rolled, the next lined up. This movie, along with 'Tora Tora Tora' and 'Battle of Britain' kicked off the modern warbird restoration movement. The CAF was hanging in there, but these movies provided impetus to consider the old ships as treasures to be conserved.
I read in an old magazine that if this movie wasn't made, there'd be almost no B-25s today. The movie saved a lot from being scrapped. These planes were worth nothing back then.
@@crushingvanessa3277 True! Thankfully, the planes got enough recognition that others became interested enough to buy and preserve the old birds. Props as well to the Commemorative (formerly Confederate) Air Force for showing it could be done.
My fav all time opening. My Dad flew 70 B-25 missions in CBI/WW2. He wanted to be a filmmaker but there was a ‘catch’. He did both. RUclips search ‘BobofGloucester Fenny’. I edited the sound from this 1970 film - as a killer opening to my Dad’s 1945 film. My late Dad said okay. Based in Fenny India October 44 February 45 1Lt Robert McGlinchey NYC. He’d be a young 101!
Imagine being there in Mexico, taking part in the filming. Most of the crews were real WW2 vets, and they wore uniforms pretty much all the time, just in case they wandered into a shot. Must have been so odd for them, yet cool at the same time as they could have all the fun of flying but not the BS of the service or the shooting.
The lift off of B-25's in this movie and "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" still inspires the patriotism of those of who actually manufactured the parts of these weapons of war just as those who manufacturer the parts of the Huey helicopters that were employed in Vietnam felt pride for the movie "Apocalypse Now".
I like the accuracy of no one in the tail gun position during takeoff. My father was a B25 tail gunner in WW2. He sat in the waist with the waist gunner/radio operator during takeoff and landing. In long overwater missions he didn't crawl into the tail until they entered the combat zone.
There was a B-25 at our small city airport for a while, my father in-law who loved anything military took me to see it and I could not believe how small it was that was in the 90's in California.
Joseph Heller was a bombardier with the 57th Bomb Wing in Italy during WW2. I recommend reading "The Bridgebusters; The True Story of the 57th Bob Wing" (2016) by Thomas McKelvey Cleaver. My father was in the 57th Bomb Wing, 321st Bomb Group, 446th Squadron. This book is set in the time period my father was in the 446th and some of the missions he flew as an engineer-gunner (top turret) are detailed in this book. It is interesting reading. I was totally impressed when it details the German anti-aircraft guns shot down from their positions as the B-25's which flew low on bombing runs in the Italian Alps.
PS: I was fortunate to sit in the co-pilot seat of "Maid in the Shade" at the Olympia, Washington airport; all for a $5.00 donation. Unbelievable how cramped the pilot and co-pilot seats are.
Yes he did. I was always engrossed when he told them. I have his flight log, and all his WWII/Korea stuff. The most unassuming man you could ever meet.
Somebody said they looked at the timing, and the locations, and determined that it's NOT possible that Joseph Heller bombed the place where Kurt Vonnegut was a POW.
My dad flew the J model (sheetmetal nose, with 6 to 8 50 cals) 13 th AF,316 Bomb Grp Jan 45 to Aug 45 .His unit was one of the first to use Napalm. ( first mission out they weren't even told what it was, only to observe the and report damage at debriefing!) From Palawan, Philippines, Wouldn't talk much about the war but loved to talk about flying ,loved the B25 ,but his favorite was the P38 of which he graduated top on his class (Photo recon) Went to Japan again during Korean War ,but was sent to command an air base for crippled planes trying to make it back from Korea, Korea ,never flew combat again .Love you dad and miss you. RIP Capt Robert Keegan
You'd like our local B-25J, which is configured as an eight gun solid nose strafer. (She's in RAF ETO markings, and the solid nose strafers didn't operate there, but still, she's a beauty.)
I have a photo of my Dad standing in front of a B-25 equipped for photo reconnaissance on the Bougainville airstrip in 1944. It's nose art was named "Overdeveloped" with a sexy image of an overdeveloped woman. So cool. 😊
Thanks for recounting this. RIP to your father
@@BigRedRockeater1930clever! 🇺🇸🥳
Love that. True hero
love the sounds of those b25s staring up, inertia starter turning thos big radials over, coughing on start up, beautiful!
If this were done today, it would be CGI, and as such, instantly forgettable, but I'll always remember this.
Brightly lit, brightly coloured, shiny, fake and only exciting to kids who have never seen a real airplane. 'Red Tails' unfortunately, is still the low bar to exceed, unhappily.
The contrast from the silence and beautiful sunrise to roaring engines and exhaust fumes was great. The cinematography in this film and editing was epic.
No CGI on this film. This was the real thing.
@@robertcieslak1861 One of the cameramen fell out of the plane and died. It was real for sure. This film has been credited for saving the remaining B25's.
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Then ending with birds chirping.
@@rancosteel😊
Mike Nichols originally wanted 36 of these bombers to make up a full squadron but had to settle for 18 for budgetary reasons. This is aviation porn!
I wonder how many B-25's there are anywhere still airworthy.
@@jamescollinson2179 One plane could not fly and appears in the film as being crash landed.
I just read on IMDB that they credit this film with saving many of them. Most are in air museums.
36 planes would have been a full Group (comprised of several Squadrons).
Greatest take-off scene ever.
agreed. too bad the rest of the movie stunk.
@@michaelgeary4978 Nah.. classic.
RIP, Alan Arkin. RIP, Yossarian.
During the late 1960s there were still a lot of WW2 aircraft
available for use in movies.
Guess he finally got sent home, eh? 🫡
i flew in the plane at 1:44, plane 6C. its currently owned by the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum in the colors of "Briefing Time". :D
My Dads friend, an old "Air Apache "from the South Pacific, leased his personal B25 to the film company and they hired him to fly it in the film,he's the one in the left side of the third row,crabbing into the wind hard,he said all the pilots did something to stand out from each other.
I was always fascinated by the grabbing plane! I guess even the last plane to join formation had an individualist flying it?
@@MotionMcAnixx I recall reading the bobbing and weaving of the B-25s during the opening takeoff scene was due to the planes being caught in the prop wash of the planes in front of them, not because of the pilots trying to do something different than the other planes.
@@701CPD thats what it looked like to me
@@701CPDWhat I read was that the planes were flying the way they were was because they were not carrying any bombs. A plane carrying a full bomb load with full fuel tanks would fly differently. I have no idea how true that statement was, but it did seem to make sense to me at the time.
My mother built B-25's at North American's Fairfax Plant in Kansas City Kansas. As a kid in the '60's, we were in the kitchen together when an airplane went over. She said, "That's a B-25!" we ran outside and sure enough, it was!
jhay753 - exactly same with me. In 1961 I went into NYC with my brother and Dad and he stopped us in our tracks - look up a B-25 is coming. Sure enough one roared above the tall buildings. The Marines were still flying them
I had never seen a lancaster before I heard one go over a few years ago. My dad was in the RCAF during WWII and worked on them. He said it's not a sound that can be mistaken for anything else, so when I hear it I knew!
jhay753 You must be proud of her.
They are unmistakable! 2 engines, but WAY louder than a B17. Definitely will rattle the windows.
The whole scene start to finish of these B 25s lining up,taking off and slowly disappearing into the distance is incredible,but the silence afterwards is unforgettable! Auckland New Zealand 2021
And the silence in the beginning…
I miss the sound of the UH1's
@@SiliconBong Don't miss them... but DO still get the chillz when one comes over.
@@ronaldstokes4841 Heard from pilots they were the noisest damn thing in the skies, every conversation in a huey you've ever seen in any movie would have to be a shouted/screamed one.
There was something promising when that rotor sound began to grow louder, help and an airbourne machine gun nest were on the way.
@@SiliconBong Zactly! Nothin' like the sound o' them 2 rotors whippin' the wind as they get closer comin' to get us.
Superb old-school film-making. Nowadays, that would all be done in CGI and it wouldn't be half as good.
I hate CG ! But these days you will not find aircraft from this period of time in great enough number in flyable condition to do a period kind of movie. Good luck even finding aircraft to remake the fall of Saigon in May 1975. The cost of upkeep and insurance plus a lack of movie making money makes old aircraft white elephants.
Mario Cavalli There are several Mitchell's in flying condition.
They had trouble finding aircraft in those days too. Check out the Battle of Britain: loads of different mks of spitfires all from different periods of the war. IIRC there’s even a bubble canopy spit at one point
I'm not sure that there are enough flyable Mitchells nowadays to make it. Unless they used some hollywood tricks, there are just so many B-25s in that scene.
@@UserName-us1nm They might have used models in some shots. If anyone reading this happens to have any background about this, please let us know. .
My Grandfather was a crew chief at McClellan AFB when Major Doolittle came in with his B-25's that he helped prep before being loaded onto barges and floated down the Sacramento River at night to the USS Hornet. I asked him about Doolittle and he said he was a real bastard, he yelled at my Grandfather when he found out they tuned the engines back to factory specs, they then had to re-tune them extra lean for the Tokyo mission.
The B-25J BuNo 44-30801 "Executive Sweet" (N30801) was "Vestal Virgin" in this film. I helped to maintain and restore that B-25 back in the late 90's. She's still in Camarillo California where a rotating crew of volunteers keep her flying to this day.
Funny enough, this production helped to preserve almost all of these B-25s many of which were rotting in fields or headed to the scrapper. After the movie, they sat again until collectors snatched them up and started restoring them.
These planes have gotten together again and again through the years for the Doolittle memorial flights around the San Fernando Valley. And another Doolittle Memorial flight at the Air Force museum a few years ago.
One of these B-25s was being restored by the Commemorative Air Force, also in Camarillo. As they were dismantling the fuselage they found suspicious blue paint. It turned out to be the only remaining Marine Corps PBJ.
The one that became "Devil Dog" in Marine colors?
@@stevetournay6103 Yep. Used to be named Big 'ol Brew before they disassembled it down to the spar and stringers. It's basically a new airplane now.
About 30 years ago or so I saw a B-25 named Executive Sweet at Allaire Airport in Central New Jersey. I had taken my kids to an amusement park across from the airport and I could see the aircraft in the distance. So I took a ride over there with them and went through an opened gate to look it over. It was awesome to be up close and personal. A gentleman came out of a hangar and said I shouldn't be there, but when I told him I wanted my kids to see real history, he grinned and took us on a little tour of the aircraft. My kids were 10 and 9 at the time and they both loved it, my daughter especially. She was always the adventurous one. I used to take them to the airshows at McGuire AFB and Armed Forces Weekend at Fort Monmouth and I have pictures of them in the pilot's seats of a C-47, C-130, a Huey and a C-5A. We had a lot of fun. Now I take my grandkids to Valiant Air Command in Titusville Fla. to show them real history. The last time I was there, they had just finished the restoration of the only XP-82 in existence and the TBM that was put down in the surf off Florida. A lot of fun over the decades.
Years ago I went to EAA’s Oshkosh aircraft gathering and bought a shirt from the “Devil Dog” crew.
I still have the shirt!
Great post sir! I was stationed at Pt. Mugu NAS in the late 90’s and went to the Camarillo airport (former AFB) and nosed around the CAF hangar and apron, they have some nice birds there compared to other CAF groups. Then in 2007 while stationed at Ft. Sam Houston I saw the Doolittle group flying in loose for,action across the base at around 1,500 feet AGL and stood in the PX parking lot staring at them until I couldn’t hear them anymore. I also love the B-25 and it’s sound, just a beautiful bird both in the air and on the ground.
I gotta say, that is class film photography... absolutely top notch
To my mind, only 'Apocalypse Now' has similar photography, especially matching a number of shots of the same scene from different cameras.
Read somewhere that after the movie the pilots were sad because they knew that this would be the last time they'd see this many (17, I think) B-25s at the same time.
4 thumbs up and 1 middle finger. Pretty much summed up my military career too.
lmao, Alan Arkin. Don't remember the finger in the book.
Art Garfunkel is shown as co-pilot (thumbs up) in the Atkin plane.
Yes,he Garfunkel went to Mexico for filming before 'bridge over troubled Waters' was finished.Paul Simon was also to have a part but was subsequently written out.
Props to this guy who amassed so many followers for only one video posted on his channel in more than 10 years.
I remember one old WW2 pilot telling me the B-25 was the most beautiful plane to fly. Forgiving, responsive, fast, rugged.
Don’t forget loud! Caught a ride on Collings B-25 and they are not a quiet aircraft .....
@@oneparticularharbor144 Loud?... sit nex' to the wheels on a C-130 as they retract.
@@oneparticularharbor144 Well they don't have mufflers of any kind, that's basically an open header
Beautiful bird
@@oneparticularharbor144 Did the same ride. They give you hearing protectors which help a little. Sitting in the back we bounced along, taxi to take off. Turned on the active and the pilots pushed the throttles forward. The noise was so startling the guy sitting across from me ducked. I guess he thought there was an explosion or another plane hit us. Then we rocketed into the sky. Bounced all over the place, very rough ride. The guys who flew them and in them have my respect.
Freaking marvelous. Thundering rugged old radial engines, long round-tipped wings grabbing for air-bouyancy.
This reminds me of when I was a 10-year old kid in the early 1960's, standing in a small pasture near a forest -- when suddenly a Coast Guard Sikorsky H-34 helicopter appeared very low, just over tree level. That radial engine was roaring and the big blades were whacking at the air so loud! A crew member in a flight suit and helmet was standing in the side-doorway. I spontaneously waved up at him. After a moment his arm raised and he waved down at me. Then they soared away back over the forest again and the noise faded. I'm 69 years today and I've never forgotten that moment.
One of the best movies ever, in so many ways
The runway they are using was a little north of San Carlos, Mexico. For a long time after the movie the runway was usable and in some books on flying in Mexico it was labeled as Catch 22. Now it is just an impression in the dirt.
That off- camera engine startup, worked so well for "Twelve O'Clock High" too!
A more positive view of WWII bomber war, with a simpler message, straightforward characters.
Agreed. CGI just doesn’t cut it either.
There's a B-25 and a B-17 based at Willow Run in Michigan. They fly over my house all the time. Both have really distinctive sounds. The B-25 is much louder.
When I was a kid there was a B-25 and couple of P-51's at the local airport and occasionally on a Sunday they would fly formation around the valley, the two P-51's escorting the B-25, what a sight.
probably one of the most beautiful aviation scenes ever shot! Props grabbing the air, planes responding so vividly to the rudders, warbird colors and art.. it's all there! Thank you so much for uploading this!!!
I bet i've watched this take off several dozen times, and STILL get goose bumps!!!
Agreed, also "A Bridge too Far."
Flight scenes, beautiful. Most of the rest of the movie is crap.
Chris. I am with you on that. I love the wind up at the begining and those wright cyclones or Pratt and whitneys kick starting up. Sounds amazing.
I know nothing about flying, however this scene makes it heart wrenchingly evident the art, as well as the technology, of flying; and the fragility, as well as the power of these magnificent machines, and the men who flew them.
Saw this movie right after it came out while in the Navy. A powerful antiwar statement at the time. Vietnam was an effen disaster at that time so this movie really stood out. The B-25 take off scene was spectacular even though I might be a little biased due to the Mitchell being one of my all time favorite aircraft. I flew a couple ride along training flights in P-3 Orions while stationed in Newfoundland Canada and it also is one of my favorite aircraft. Much under appreciated but great airplane. Flying over the North Atlantic with two engines shut down and props feathered was inspiring.
Radioman 3rd class
U.S. Navy 1967-71
I live a few miles from the airport housing VeRA, one of the last 2 flying lancasters in the world. I can always tell when she is powering up to take off...you can hear her for miles. Then this beautiful lady ends up going over my head usually once or twice as she circles to land, so she is pretty darned low. I wave to the pilots some times, lol. Seeing this live would have been just crazy wonderful.
This came up in my feed. What an incredible piece of cinematography.
They would never be able to film a scene like this nowadays because it would cost too much. It would all be CGI.
Incredible sight, something we'll never see again. The sounds are so well done...love the whine of the inertial starter system.
My mother was a WASP ferry pilot. She told me that when they were training at Sweetwater, every week a B25 would take a "training" flight that strayed down into Mexico. When the plane returned, everyone from the base co to the new guy met it to pick up the alcohol that they ordered. She said the entire plane was loaded with booze.
I saw this film in 1970. I was about 10 minutes late for the start, so was lost through the whole movie. Sat through it a second time & it all made sense.
My Dad flew 33 combat missions in the B-25 out of North Africa, Sicily, and Italy. I well imagine that scene looks very much like my Dad's experience.
What an experience for a kid of your dad's age whos' never left home much less been in an airplane before all of a sudden finding himself being trained to fly and fight in these magnificent planes. It's like another world.
@@jgstargazer Pretty scary experience, really. After the war my Dad never set foot in an airplane again the rest of his life, not even to go on vacation.
@@jgstargazer Actually my Dad was 28 when he flew his missions - an "old man" by combat pilot standards of the day.
They lost a lot of them when Vesuvius erupted
This the finest takeoff scene in any WW II movie. You see all the dirt, grit and dust of what a real combat airstrip would have looked like, especially in The Med.
Fantastic!! What an incredibly visceral sight snd sound. A director and camera crews who understood the subject matter and the audience so well. Not seen so often these days! Now with the advent of so much OTT CGI and computerised synthetic effects, scenes like this become just a large version of a computer game simulation and are created by people who may very probably, have never stood next to the aircraft, tanks, ships, cars etc... that are fetured in the scene. The result is often, obviously sterile and unconvincing. Clearly, the shortage of large numbers of period vintage airworthy aircraft as shown here with these beautiful old Mitchells is a huge obstacle and requires modern solutions, but somehow, they never look or feel right. Thanks so much for sharing this epic and stunning scene.
I recall reading an article where Mike Nichols said that he was in command of the 17th largest air force in the world while making this movie.
And no CGI. in 1970 There probably aren't that many flyable B-25's around today. It would be impossible to re-do this. A buddy of mine, Roger Lopez was killed in a B-25 in 1970 at Orange, MA. To his memory and to all those who flew the Mitchells, Thank You
Check the videos of Thunder Over Michigan 2007. I was there. It was Catch 22 all over again.
There are about 100 B25's left in the world today, but only about 20-25 still are operational to fly. They are amazing planes!
This is still considered one of the most dangerous stunts in hollywood aviation. If one had aborted there would have been a pile up.
I’m trying not to imagine that😬
Gee, Max...ya think that maybe that's part of the reason those scenes were filmed in Mexico...?
From my understanding, that Formation Take-Off very nearly did result in a Pile-up of B-25s... the Turbulence and Vortexes after the first few left the ground resulted in a Situation leaving the Pilots behind just barely in control of their Aircraft...
(Concentrate on the Footage at about 1:50-2:05 and you can see what I am referring to...)
Once the Clearance to Take-Off was Given, and they began to Roll...there was no Aborting... even if the Crews could stop on the Ground, there was WAY a beyond a Fair Chance the Crews in the Aircraft behind them would be eating Rudders and Fuselages for Lunch, Supper... and Breakfast for Days.
I have to admit that I like to Listen to this Scene...
... but, watching it still causes an Involuntary Response in my Sphincter Muscles!
Bruno ⚓
One short scene with real aircraft beats hours of CGI.
This scene is badass in so many ways.
not surprising someone died falling out of a b-25 while making the film
ive been lucky enough to fly in a B-25 those old birds are magnificent
You're very welcome and thanks for your comments. It's the absolute highlight of the film for me!
We still get treetop flybys of National Guard Helicopters of about 8 aircraft, at less than 500 feet.. . .those big rotors make a terrific sound.
RIP, Mr. Arkin. You will always be my favorite character actor.
The gull wings of the B-25 give a bird like appearance as filmed from the front, towards the end. True "warbirds".
Back 50 years ago, Catch-22 was either required or elective reading in three of my college courses.
All these planes are REAL. No models and no CGI! 70s war movies were the BEST ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
One of the greatest scenes in cinema
I just started reading Bridgebusters, a history of the 445th. People forget Catch 22 wasn't a history book, it's a fictional story placed within the real WW2 settings of the 445th. All the combat and damage depicted is accurate, but the story of Yossarian is a fictional rumination of Heller's viewpoints on the war and his own actions in it.
At 18 this cat was an extra in the film and was on location next to the airstrip when this scene was filmed in a mandatory one take. Being of draft age with the Vietnam War raging most of us were anything but patriotic but the effect of these 17 B-25's taking off was a spine-tingling experience. It was a once in a lifetime spectacle causing emotional reactions from all present viewing the event. Upon the return landing one Mitchell nearly took out the control tower and many scattered for their lives before the pilot proficiently landed safely. This is one of the most iconic scenes in American film-making and can never be replicated. The picture itself has been reevaluated since it's initial release and is now regarded by many as a masterpiece.
Flawless film making. Saw the film the first time a few years after it came out. That scene was, and still is, etched in my mind.
Rest in peace, Mike Nichols brilliant director. Thanks for posting!
Thanks
Love B-25's! Grew up in Milwaukee and the airport, Mitchell Field has a B-25 at the entrance.
Love the B-25, especially the J. Good looking, tough, dependable.
BTW - I read that most B-25 pilots who flew lots of missions, ended up with noticeable, hearing loss/damage from the incredible loudness and proximity of the engines.
Thanks for posting this.
Mike Nichols had an ingenious, iconic way of filming that brings us into the intensity of war with planes taking off on another mission, too many of whom didn't return.
The Italian campaign had a near 50% casualty rate. It's a perfect setting for the madness of war and the Catch-22.
Sending young men off on too many missions, some of which were not strategic targets, caused unnecessary deaths in the air and on the ground.
Captain Yosarian summed it up with a not-so subtle gesture.
The blocking of the Sun from the dust caused by prop wash is subtle, but very symbolic of Man losing his Mind. Those who've lost the Sun know how serious it is, like Capt. Yosarian.
Jung saw a lot of this as a combat psychiatrist in neutral Switzerland, caring for US, UK, French and German soldiers.
We're losing many of our soldiers to suicide from our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. I know from having worked with many combat veterans in sport settings to get the trauma of war out instead of suppressing it with too much medication.
It helps ease the sudden flashbacks, midnight memories and nightmares.
Making peace with the enemy and cruel, commanding officers, played brilliantly by Orson Welles, is the ultimate task.
For all our veterans who are suffering and may read this post, please don't go it alone. It usually takes someone to help us out of it.
It did for me.
In return, I thank you for posting this. Well said.
The best WW2 war bird I have ever flown. Flew a P38, P-40, P-51, F4U Corsair. I Fell in love with this aircraft. Reminded me of my OV-10 Bronco.
Kudos. I saw my first Bronco in tech school at a little airplane patch in the middle of Texas. Loved its lines!
Oh man that was beautiful. Gotta find this movie. My first flight was in a DC3 passenger plane from Lewistown MT to North Dakota at 16 years old. What a memory.
I'm sorry, but I just watched this clip five times in a row! Does that make me crazy? I love the awsome sound of those big radial engines. For me, the only thing that could make this clip better is if they had intercut a brief cockpit shot of someone shoving the throttles forward at 1:35 and pulling back the yoke at 1:50. But awesome just the same! I think I'll just watch it again...
No it does not.
Nichols and May were a comedy team and Nichols became a famed outstanding director. As for Catch-22, most of it was shot in Guaymas, Mexico on the w. coast. Several yrs. ago the LA Times had a color photo of the designer of the B-25 bomber as he reached up to touch a prop blade. He was in his 90s. The father of director Steven Speilberg was a crew member in WWII on B-25s. A navigator, I think.
Don’t know what movie studio release this movie at the moment. But I difinitely would love to see it again re-Released UN-CUT to the theatres And listening to those big beautiful radials in DOBY STERO SOUND on takeoff! Yes sir re!
One of the all time best movies 🎥!!!
amazing , the only time since ww2 that so many b25s take of together...listen to the fantastic noise....the producers and pilots were apparently shitting themselves during this fab scene.I bought this film a few years ago,as I knew it was a classic,but was ecstactic as a ww2 warbird fan too see this scene...it gets played real loud on my 5.1 system.Thanks for uploading.
They managed to hire over 20 B-25s for that movie, most of the pilots were WWII veterans, a few were Dolittle's Raiders. I saw this movie at the New Orleans Orpheus Theater in one of the first showings. Years later, my uncle would ask my dad to come visit and bring me. We got to meet the guys who had been requested by the Air Force to talk about the future of bomber design. Crew from Dolittle's Raiders, Enola Gay, Boch's Car... as a little curly red head, everyone of those old superstitious flyers just about rubbed that red hair off my head. Then they decided I needed to see the inside of the B-25 and B-29 just outside the door. Those old guys got in so much trouble for opening those birds up and getting inside of them! The old tail gunner had gained some weight and the B-29 nose gear rose up about 4 feet.... I never got to go inside before someone ran up screaming "GET OUT OF MY AIRCRAFT!" and the Base CO was laughing his ass off saying "Don't tell them that! You'll just encourage them!" If you go to Egland AFB, you'll still find those two aircraft there... but... I think they got them crew hatches locked now.
This movie, along with 'The Battle of Britain' and 'Tora Tora Tora' helped provide the impetus for the modern warbird movement.
For me, this scene, and almost any scene from Lawrence of Arabia, are the height of film making.
Lawrence of Arabia is almost unfair to be used against other movies, its in a league of its own entirely.
Impressive and awesome cinematography, but it's pure Hollywood. In real ops, it was one bomber taking off at a time; as one rolled, the next lined up.
This movie, along with 'Tora Tora Tora' and 'Battle of Britain' kicked off the modern warbird restoration movement. The CAF was hanging in there, but these movies provided impetus to consider the old ships as treasures to be conserved.
The staggered takeoff was quite accurate.
@@coachhannah2403 It did work. They all got off!
This was the best scene in this movie, as a kid I was more interested in the B-25 Mitchell rather than conundrums...
I read in an old magazine that if this movie wasn't made, there'd be almost no B-25s today. The movie saved a lot from being scrapped. These planes were worth nothing back then.
Along with 'Tora Tora Tora' and 'The Battle of Britain' it helped launch the modern warbird movement.
@@petesheppard1709 Movie companies are the only ones with the money to do it. All good movies.
@@crushingvanessa3277 True! Thankfully, the planes got enough recognition that others became interested enough to buy and preserve the old birds. Props as well to the Commemorative (formerly Confederate) Air Force for showing it could be done.
@@petesheppard1709 Yep, back then they were just old beaters, be like restoring up a 2001 Grand Am today or K-car today, people would think your nuts.
@@crushingvanessa3277 Now those old birds run into the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars.
The sound is fantastic! Especially when the first motor starts
My fav all time opening. My Dad flew 70 B-25 missions in CBI/WW2. He wanted to be a filmmaker but there was a ‘catch’. He did both. RUclips search ‘BobofGloucester Fenny’. I edited the sound from this 1970 film - as a killer opening to my Dad’s 1945 film. My late Dad said okay. Based in Fenny India October 44 February 45 1Lt Robert McGlinchey NYC. He’d be a young 101!
wow amazing film work! I wonder - are all these planes still in existence? some of these old war movies had so much machines.
Saw a B25 flying around in Colorado Springs, had great tone!
Imagine being there in Mexico, taking part in the filming. Most of the crews were real WW2 vets, and they wore uniforms pretty much all the time, just in case they wandered into a shot. Must have been so odd for them, yet cool at the same time as they could have all the fun of flying but not the BS of the service or the shooting.
The lift off of B-25's in this movie and "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" still inspires the patriotism of those of who actually manufactured the parts of these weapons of war just as those who manufacturer the parts of the Huey helicopters that were employed in Vietnam felt pride for the movie "Apocalypse Now".
5 years late, but: 1:34
@@elixir4487 An extremely appropriate comment given the film's narrative
@@UserName-us1nm Thank you, Sir!
You don't get to see that everyday. Awesome.
Great Movie, Great Book!
I like the accuracy of no one in the tail gun position during takeoff. My father was a B25 tail gunner in WW2. He sat in the waist with the waist gunner/radio operator during takeoff and landing. In long overwater missions he didn't crawl into the tail until they entered the combat zone.
Three of my favourite books back in the 70s Catch 22, One Flew over the Cukoo Nest and Catcher on the Rye
And "Siddartha"and " the Ugly American" and "Fate is The Hunter". All great books of my youth.
This has to be the best WWII bomber strike mass take off scene ever, especially the last part which all the bombers still in shot while climbing away.
This is one of the best scenes in a war movie ever, the way the silence hits you as the bombers fly away into war some of them not returning.
CGI did not exist when this masterpiece was made.
Catch 22, Apocalypse Now, MASH all great anti war movies
Heart Poundin' Stuff!!! Just Bloody WONDERFUL!
Aaaah, those were the days of aviation.
What an F-in great opening scene!!
Love how the planes yaw just after take off. Aerial ballet.
Those are aircraft barely under control, on the verge of crashing.
THE most badass Aviation movie scene in history
There was a B-25 at our small city airport for a while, my father in-law who loved anything military took me to see it and I could not believe how small it was that was in the 90's in California.
Hard to believe this (sequence) actually happened.
YUP 💙💛
This scene is hard to beat... simply awesome
Beautiful cinematography
They were painted a light sand colour for Mediterranean service but the sun would bleach it to a sort of pink.
B25 is a fantastic Aircraft looks good sounds good and performed good winner winner
It doesn't get any better than this
they found these mitchells still in service in the Mexican air force same with Luftwaffe aircraft in the Spanish air force of francos era
Joseph Heller was a bombardier with the 57th Bomb Wing in Italy during WW2. I recommend reading "The Bridgebusters; The True Story of the 57th Bob Wing" (2016) by Thomas McKelvey Cleaver. My father was in the 57th Bomb Wing, 321st Bomb Group, 446th Squadron. This book is set in the time period my father was in the 446th and some of the missions he flew as an engineer-gunner (top turret) are detailed in this book. It is interesting reading. I was totally impressed when it details the German anti-aircraft guns shot down from their positions as the B-25's which flew low on bombing runs in the Italian Alps.
PS: I was fortunate to sit in the co-pilot seat of "Maid in the Shade" at the Olympia, Washington airport; all for a $5.00 donation. Unbelievable how cramped the pilot and co-pilot seats are.
Yes he did. I was always engrossed when he told them. I have his flight log, and all his WWII/Korea stuff. The most unassuming man you could ever meet.
Catch 23 . Doing what you love and hating it.
Somebody said they looked at the timing, and the locations, and determined that it's NOT possible that Joseph Heller bombed the place where Kurt Vonnegut was a POW.
Wow, CGI certainly looked very nice in 1970!
RIP Alan Arkin
Probably the best WWII movie ever made. Pure gold.
The footage is from the movie Catch 22, based on the novel by Joseph Heller.