391ST BOMBARDMENT GROUP, 572nd, 3rd, 4th AND 575th SQUADRONS IN THE USA AND ETO [Main Title]

Log in to create clips, download free screeners and save clips/films in Collections. Click here to find out more.
Image displayed on video track at

0:00

/ 23:37

Live


  • Title: 391ST BOMBARDMENT GROUP, 572nd, 3rd, 4th AND 575th SQUADRONS IN THE USA AND ETO [Main Title]
  • Film Number: MGH 2391
  • Other titles: AMATEUR FILM BY DONALD J HUDSON [Alternative Title]
  • Summary: Amateur film by Lieutenant Donald J Hudson, US 9th Army Air Force pilot, records activities of the USAAF 391st Bombardment Group, based at RAF Matching, England, during the Second World War. The footage was shot between October 1943 and October 1944.
  • Description: Filmmaker's synopsis: SCENES FROM 16mm MOTION PICTURES OF THE 391st BOMBARDMENT GROUP, 575th SQUADRON AT MATCHING GREEN I. Opening scenes: air-to-air of B-26 Marauders flying from Godman Field, Lexington, Kentucky to Myrtle Beach, North Carolina - over the Piedmont plateau and southern mountains. Purpose: Training in formation flying and air-to-air gunnery over the Atlantic Ocean). (Lieut. Sam Jacobi is flying our aircraft). 2. Flights of B-26s over Matching Green, British Isles, ETO. Men: Lieut. Richard Brooks B/N with pipe UTICA - right. Lieut. William Shannon, pilot - on left (from Rochester NY). 3. Long view down walk in 575th Sq. area. 4. Trafalgar Square, Nelson's Column. Lieut. Don Hudson, then Lt. Harold Emminger B/N below statue. Emminger was bombardier/navigator on our crew (The "Fifinella"). 5. Taxi at Oxford Circus? or Piccadilly? Lts. Harold Emminger and Bill Shannon. 6. Flight crews leaving Operations building after mission briefing, dispersing to planes. 7. Crew of the Fifinella at the "hardstane" - S/Sgt. George Boston, engineer/gunner, Don Hudson co pilot sitting on no. 2000 bomb, joined by Sam Jacobi, first pilot, then by Boston. Tall blond chap is Robert F. S. Young, T/Sgt./bombardier. Guy Grazier, radio/gunner (dark curly hair) and John Surman (Buffalo NY), armour/gunner, fooling around. 8. Ships (B-26s) taxiing out for mission take-off. 9. Naval ships off coast of France, D-Day + 1. Fires on ground, flights (6) and boxes (18) of B-26 Marauders returning from mission. Shot into nose of Fifinella showing R.F.S. Young, relaxing after we "hit the English Channel" on the way home. 10. Long shot, from ground of fighter planes escorting a crippled B-17 Flying Fortress home. 11. Marauders of the 391st Bomb Group returning after a particularly rough mission. Some coming in "hot" or real fast (no flaps and/or other battle damage). Note red flares indicating wounded on board a particular plane(s). 12. Close up shots of battle damage. Fuel and hydraulic fluid dripping from underside of our plane. Flak holes in tail turret, top turret and nose on other planes. (Some close-ups are under exposed because of late (evening) or twilight conditions.) 13. Men of the 575th Squadron boarding 6 x 6 truck, bound for Chelmsford and the train station. The start of a 7-day "rest and rehabilitation" leave on 1st May, 1944. (Lieuts. Harold Emminger, R. Kirshke and Sam Jacobi). 14. Lieut. Emminger and Jacobi at Semley, on our way to Shaftesbury in southern England. (Jacobi is jerking his head about, pretending to be a bit "flak happy"). 15. Scenes in front of Coombe House Mansion, a "rest home" for officers on R & R. All men dressed, now, in "civvies". H. Emminger emerges ,with football in hand, passing to Don Hudson (in blue shirt) and Sam Jacobi (grey jacket) chewing gum. Harold Emminger lying on grass, exhausted from chasing the football. 16. Short scene of Lieut. Sam Jacobi on the main staircase inside Coombe House. Sam is dressed in full "Class A" uniform for dinner - the only formal meal each day. This meal was served by Michael Flynn, the butler, in tails and bow tie!! 17. Outdoor scenes, showing exterior of Coombe House and some men shooting sheet. (Really for the "birds") - a bit of Hudsonian humour. 18. Butler, Michael Flynn, in tails, showing off his finery. This was a "command performance", since Michael dressed at my request to obtain movie records of him. Mr. Flynn was also an excellent shot on the sheet range - and we would invite him to join us, just to observe his style and smooth swing to hit the clay pigeons! 19. Mid-week bicycle ride from Coombe House, into Shaftesbury. Visiting the gardens on the estate of a retired captain from HM Navy (sorry, I cannot recall the name). 20. A Thursday all-day jaunt into the countryside on a fishing trip. A pleasant end to the day (but don't anyone rock the boat!!). Don Hudson with 35mm camera, blue shirt. 21. Back in the 575th Squadron area, among the Nissen huts, with Lieut. Langford emerging, dressed in "kilts". Following by Lt. Hudson with a sad attempt at a Highland Fling. (You wouldn't know, from that performance, that I had Scotsmen in my ancestry??). And finale supreme -Lieut. Kirshke in "kilts" with an oversized walking stick - tossing it away (hindsight is sometimes better than foresight). 22. Bob and Don Hudson, brothers, in Hyde Park (?) on occasion of their first get-together in England; the end of May 1944, just a few days prior to D-Day and the invasion of Fortress Europa. Lieut. Robert Hudson was then serving as a liaison officer between Mount Farm and Benson airfields, where British and American aerial reconnaissance squadrons were located, near Oxford. (Bob received his commission as a photo intelligence officer at Yale University in October 1943). The British were flying Spitfires and Mosquitos from Mount Farm, while the USAF photo planes were P-51 Mustangs and Lockheed Lightnings (F-5s) fitted for aerial photo work. I had occasion to visit these two fields (and Bob) during a short leave in August 1944. Quite an interesting tour of each field! 23. Short scene of James Cagney, actor, after a USO show on our base at Matching Green. Unfortunately it was a rainy day and performances were given on a flat-bed trailer, inside the hangar. 24. Close-ups of "Whisky Jim" Clark (navigator) with a young collie puppy. 25. Occupants of "Section Eight" Nissen hut in order of appearance: Larry Schirman "muscleman" - pilot. Dick Ekstrom - co-pilot. Wilkie Wilkinson "short-as-me" - pilot. Howard Weschler - Navigator/bomb. Richard Cude "the face" (making one) - Co-pilot. Note: Section Eight does not refer to the hut number, but to Army Regulations insanity clause. (To live with these guys you had to be partly nuts). 26. The Oasis, our Nissen hut, with Harold Emminger walking towards it, and re-emerging. "Emmy" was bombardier/navigator on our B-26 Fifinella. Second out of Oasis, Don Hudson, co-pilot of Fifinella. 27. Grab-shot of Captain Williams, squadron executive officer, making a quick trip to the latrine in his skivvy shorts! 28. Lieut. Erickson, writing, inside "The Oasis".
  • Alternative Title: AMATEUR FILM BY DONALD J HUDSON [Alternative Title]
  • Colour: Colour
  • Digitised: Yes
  • Object_Number: MGH 2391
  • Sound: Silent
  • Access Conditions: IWM
  • Featured Period:
  • Production Date: 1943-10-1944-10
  • Production Country:GB
  • Production Details:Hudson, Donald J (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:
  • Keywords:
  • Physical Characteristics:Colour format: Colour Sound format: Silent
  • Technical Details:Footage: 567 ft; Running time: 16 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    MGH 2391

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:
Register