Shooting War Page #3

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training combat cameramen.

Standard army issue

was the 35mm Eyemo for movies

and the 4 x 5 Speed Graphic for stills.

Many cameramen had been

photographers in civilian life.

Hal Roach's Culver City studio was

a major production and training centre.

Naturally, the students took pictures

of themselves taking pictures.

Eventually, about 1500 men,

not a lot for a war this huge,

would become motion-picture

combat cameramen.

Many served in the air force.

On bombing raids over Europe,

they worked as bomb spotters,

recording damage

for intelligence analysts.

The oil fields at Ploieti in Romania

were vital to the Germans

and among the most

bombed targets of the war.

On August 1 st 1943,

these B-24s, based in Libya,

mounted the first major attack on them

at a daring 500 feet.

Then, as later, results were poor.

Ploieti was never knocked out.

Doug Morrell flew

higher-altitude missions over Ploieti.

This mission can be ten hours long,

but the combat part's only ten minutes.

Ten minutes is a long time.

Try holding your breath.

The Eyemo had a hand-crank wind on it.

When the most important

thing happened,

you're winding that thing,

trying to get it going.

I had to reload up at 20,000 feet.

Your fingers get a little cold.

When you come into the target,

they put up so much flak

that the enemy fighters

won't come in, they'll get hit.

Bomb spotting

is when the bombs release,

then you follow 'em

and pick up their hits.

When you get those hits,

intelligence can use those.

We were bombing Ploieti

and flak hit us.

We had to drop out of formation.

Then six ME-109s jumped us

when we got out of formation.

We were all by ourselves.

They set us on fire.

I opened up the bomb-bay door

to jump out, instead of out the back end.

There's this fire coming.

I raced over, grabbed

one of those little fire extinguishers.

I said, "I'd better leave!"

I went out the back end

and just as I left, it blew.

We average about five out.

When I baled out, I was the last one out.

The other five got killed in there.

Another cameraman who survived

the air war was Dan McGovern.

You were so busy,

you weren't thinking about the battle.

You were thinking about

helping others and shooting.

You couldn't become a spectator.

You had to shoot.

There's ten crew members

on a bomber.

You're the 11th man.

We had to prove ourselves.

As a matter of fact

- this is a true story, so help me God -

I photographed my own crash-landing.

The two engines on the right side: Out.

The third engine on the left side: Out.

One engine.

So I cut to the right, cut to the left,

look over the top.

The aeroplane's coming in

for a crash-landing.

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