aburt@isis.UUCP (Andrew Burt) (11/10/85)
Contrary to the suggestion by the net.aviation folks that Spielberg
scans the net for interesting Amazing Stories ideas, I suspect he uses methods
far more devious -- he reads Andy Rooney.
I'd like to draw your attention to an anecdote in Rooney's new book,
"Pieces of my mind", entitled "Reunion" (page 321 in the paperback edition).
It seems the story about the trapped ball-turret gunner is true...
Ol' Andy was a reporter for Stars and Stipes, and at some point recently
returned to England for a reunion of the 306th Bomb Group. In his description
of the reunion he writes:
Often the bombers came back badly damanged and with crew
members dead or dying. In April of 1943 I was here when
they came back from a raid deep in Germany and one of the
pilots radioed in that he was going to have to make an
emgergency landing. He had only two engines left and his
hydraulic system was gone. He couldn't let the wheels
down and there was something even worse. The ball-turret
gunner was trapped in the plastic bubble that hung
beneath the belly of the bomber.
Later I talked with the crewman who survived that
landing. Their friend in the ball-turret had been calm,
they said. They had talked to him. He knew what they
had to do. He understood. The B-17 slammed down on its
belly... and on the ball turret with their comrade
trapped inside it.
I suspect such a story was big news back then. Does anyone
remember anything of this sort (of those net-landers old enough to
have been around and alert)? It's easy to see how Spielberg got
wind of it, though.
I missed the first ten minutes or so; was there any sort of
dedication of the episode to that poor fellow and his family? (Now
THAT would have been a good rating grabber!) Did anyone catch what
military unit the B-17 was part of?
Ah, well, the most amazing stories in life are true. In light of this
I can see why he opted for the cartoon ending (which I thought was a
cop out) -- it wouldn't do to present a true story when the format of
the show is for the surreal. The real ending would have been good
drama, too. (Heaven forbid A.S. should be good drama in addition to
flat characters and thin plots.) But, of course, it violates the, "Thou
shalt not leave thy viewers depressed" commandment.
Overall, I thought the hour show was well done, but for the ending they
tacked on it would better have been a half-hour segment. The
other episodes to date have left me underwhelmed. On the other
hand, if there were more substance on TV I wouldn't have so much
time to read news...
Andrew
--
Andrew Burt
University of Denver
Department of Math and Computer Science
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CSNet: aburt@UDENVER