Filming the movie '12 O'Clock High'

[General Savage]

You guys remember that part of the movie when the B-17 crash lands through those tents?

This was especially carried out for this movie and was actually used in other movies as well.
This B-17 belly landing was done by Paul Mantz. (There is a whole legend behind Mantz's solo B-17 flight and crash landing.) Mantz also provided his B-25H, NX1203, for a cameraship for some of the aerial scenes. There are several published accounts of how the film was made.

Principal filming was conducted at Duke Field (Elgin Auxilliary Field #3), Florida, and Ozark AAF, Alabama (now within Fort Rucker) in May and June 1949. Duke Field held the 918th Bomb Group sets while the operational aircraft scenes were shot at Ozark.

Paul Mantz, flying solo, belly landed an ex-drone B-17G at Ozark AAF for a $2,500 fee.

Reportedly, Mantz had a steel rod welded across the throttles so he could quickly cut them on landing, a report that is probably some publicist's idea of a good story. The B-17 throttle arrangement made such a modification unnecessary, and would have made starting the four engines quite difficult. Mantz would have no trouble moving the four throttles in unison without any modification.


Much was made of Mantz flying the B-17 solo, but that was not so uncommon. Many combat aircraft had limped back to England with only one pilot at the controls; noted pilot Robert Scott had flown a B-17 solo as documented in his book God Is My Copilot; a competent B-17 pilot could fly the airplane solo without difficulty with a little bit of planning.