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John_Cillis

Strategic Air Command

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Really nice shots! I've always loved those big bombers. Thank you for sharing.

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Those are some very cool pictures of what was, albeit fairly briefly, a pretty important Cold War bomber.

Strategic Air Command is one of those kind of weird films which you end up liking if you're into aeroplanes (since they are the real stars of the film), even if it does stretch credibility in terms of its story; i.e. at the age of (I think) around 47 which he was at the time the film was made, we're supposed to accept that Jimmy Stewart an active baseball player with the St Louis Cardinals who is struggling with his Air Force reserve status being activated and this interfering with his sporting career. Then again, Stewart was aged 35 when he began flying bomber missions in WW2 and he flew on Arc Light bomber missions over Vietnam when serving with the USAF as late as 1966 (he was only two years off being aged 60 at that time!), which if you didn't know any better, seems to stretch credibility as well in spite of its truth, so anything's possible with Jimmy Stewart. Of course S.A.C. also stars June Allyson, and any bloke who doesn't like her, with that engaging 'girl next door' persona, needs a slap lol.

As everyone knows, Jimmy Stewart was a very accomplished and indeed courageous military pilot in real life, as noted, even flying B-52 missions over Vietnam, and generally speaking he's great in pretty much any movie too, where his likable personality leaps off the screen in spite of the down-to-earth, quiet persona he normally portrays. So I think we can forgive his being a bit old for the role in S.A.C. That's true for the Spirit of St Louis movie he made at more or less at the same time as S.A.C. too, but which was released a couple of years later, in which he plays Charles Lindbergh, who was 25 at the time he made his famous transatlantic flight (i.e. 22 years younger than Stewart was during filming).

Lots of actors these days make a big deal about having been through some two-week boot camp to prepare for a role, but that's nothing to what Stewart put himself through in preparation for his role as Lindbergh, since he was well aware of the good deal of criticism of his age as far as casting was concerned. Personally, I can forgive Stewart pretty much anything given that he made so many really great films including what is not only my favourite aviation-based film, but actually my favourite film of any genre since it has such great character development and portrayals from a whole host of stars, this of course being 1965's The Flight of the Phoenix.

So whenever anyone tells me they feel old and don't wanna do something, I just point them at Jimmy Stewart as an example of the 'can do' attitude which ignores the age barrier, and tell em to shut up and get on with it! Just like the B47 is to aeroplanes, they don't make actors like Jimmy Stewart any more unfortunately.

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I worked on those beautiful airplanes in the late 50's at Mt. Home AFB. When I first got to the base they were away and the first one I was able to see up close  was in a hanger. I walked through the door and it took my breath away.

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Ding-a-ling-aling goes the little red phone!... ah wrong movie.. :blush:

Edited by HighBypass

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Very cool shots, John!!  Caught the spirit of the movie (and the era) very well.

Thanks for sharing,

Greg

8 hours ago, RLJR said:

...it took my breath away.

I saw only one B-47, and I was in my late teens at the time.  Seeing it sitting on the ramp only solidified my desire to be involved in aviation.

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Very nice shots, John !!

On 6/27/2019 at 10:32 AM, Chock said:

That's true for the Spirit of St Louis movie he made at more or less at the same time as S.A.C.

+1 Another Jimmy Stewart movie, non-aviation, that I really love is his "Glenn Miller" movie

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9 hours ago, bernd1151 said:

Very nice shots, John !!

+1 Another Jimmy Stewart movie, non-aviation, that I really love is his "Glenn Miller" movie

I loved the Glenn Miller movie, a forgotten gem.  Also his performance in Airport 75 I liked as well, that was my favorite of the airport series, followed by Airport 77.

John

Edit: Your mention of the Glenn Miller movie has made me decide to download it for enjoyment later tonight or tomorrow....

Edited by John_Cillis
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