Memphis Belle

Memphis Belle (1990)

Memphis Belle is a 1990 WWII film starring Matthew Modine, Tate Donovan, Billy Zane, Harry Connick Jr., D.B. Sweeney, Eric Stoltz, and Sean Astin as members of a B-17 bomber crew who must complete one more mission to become the first crew to survive their entire tour. Despite being a dramatized account of the actual story, the film is notable for the amount of authentic B-17 planes used for the production.

The following weapons were used in the film Memphis Belle:

Browning M2 Aircraft

The main defensive armament of the B-17 including the Memphis Belle is the .50 caliber Browning M2 Aircraft. This model of the B-17 (the F model) is seen in the film carrying two guns in the nose, twin guns in the top turret, two waist guns, twin guns in a ventral ball turret, a single mounting in the radio room, and twin guns in the tail. As the plane tries to make it home, the gunners are ordered to discard their Brownings in order to make the damaged bomber lighter to land. Also used in the wings of the USAAF P-51 Mustang fighters.

Browning M2 Aircraft .50 BMG

Sgt. Virgil Hoogesteger (Reed Diamond) checks the Browning M2's on the Belle's top turret.

Sgt. Clay Busby (Harry Connick Jr.) checks the Browning M2's on the Belle's tail gun.

The barrels of the Browning M2's are seen as the B-17s are taxiing out for takeoff.

"Ok Mona baby, we're gonna get us a nice 109 today! We did it before, we'll do it again!" Sgt. Jack Bocci (Neil Giuntoli) loads up his Browning M2, which he's affectionately nicknamed "Mona". The later B-17G would stagger the waist guns to give the gunners more room to maneuver.

Lt. Val Kozlowski (Billy Zane) and Lt. Phil Lowenthal (D.B. Sweeney) man their Browning M2's.

Sgt. Richard Moore (Sean Astin) fires his Browning M2 machine guns at the attacking German aircraft.

The ground crewman preps a waist gun.

A nice closeup of an M2 next to Lt. Lowenthal.

Sgt. Bocci with his waist M2.

Sgt. Danny Daly (Eric Stoltz) fires his radio room M2. The radio room M2 would be eventually eliminated from later B-17 models.

The bombers meet up with their escort fighters.

The "Little Friends" peel off to confront the oncoming German interceptors.

Hispano-Suiza HS.404 20mm cannon

Like almost all post-war movies featuring the Messerschmitt ME-109, the ME-109s in this film are "played" by Hispano Aviación HA-1112s, which are ME-109s which were license-built in Spain during and following the war. HA-1112s were armed with Hispano-Suiza HS.404 20mm cannons in the wings, which can trace a common ancestry to the Oerlikon FF 20mm cannon with the German MG FF 20mm cannon that it was meant to portray. These "ME-109s" attack the bombers on the way to Bremen.

Hispano-Suiza HS.404 20mm with ammo drum

The ME-109s fire their wing mounted cannons. (The biggest difference between the original ME-109 and the Spanish cousins are their engines, which changed the shape of their noses.)