Combat America

A U.S. Army Air Forces documentary produced by the First Motion Picture Unit and narrated by Clark Gable, who interrupted his superstar career to enlist after the death of his wife Carole Lombard. The film follows a single B-17 Flying Fortress crew of the 351st Bombardment Group from training in the United States through combat missions over Nazi-occupied Europe — Gable himself flew five missions over Germany gathering footage. Built to sell war bonds and reassure audiences about what their sons were facing, it doubles as an unusually frank portrait of daylight bombing at its most dangerous. As a work of the United States government it is in the public domain.