Has anyone been able to buy this movie? My Uncle "Hutch" was a Real (not Reel) pilot who is seen tossing his wings in the air and then snatching them with his fist as he was awarded his pilot's wings. He's only on screen a few seconds but my family would love to have the movie. He was killed in a dogfight over Italy, he was only 24 at the time. Do we know the film studio that made it?Or has anyone seen it at a video store, like Blockbuster? I wish they would make entire catalogs of these old movies available as it is so cheap to make DVD's these days.Please email me at [email protected] if you know where I can buy a copy. Thank you.

I have fond memories of helping to 'make' Winged Victory. As an aviation cadet stationed at Santa Ana, several bus-loads of us were taken to Camp Pendleton to the campsite someone else mentioned above. We were seated around, watching a Christmas show produced by the soldiers stationed on the 'island'. Three performers with mop wigs did a lip-sync imitation of the Andrews Sisters. I think mail call was then going on when the sirens started. Everyone was instructed to 'scatter' and just get out of sight. Some went up the beach out of sight for a swim. I was in a group that crawled into a dummy tent (no tent flap) and we had a long session of poker. The film producers had quite a time trying to round up enough soldiers to do a re-take of the scene. Of course planes were dubbed in later to bomb the camp. They also did a PT session at the SAAC base with hundreds doing exercises and Lon and a taller actor participating. I joined in helping to push one of them up and down when retakes of chinning themselves became overwhelming. I never did see the movie but heard once that that scene was not used. There was a report that a preview used it, and that one of our hands was showing on the cropped scene (we were holding their legs to assist in the exercise). Thanks for the reminiscing. I would love to see it.

As has been noted, this is one wartime film that got it right. Apart from the accurate depiction of army flight training, WV probably remains the only movie featuring the Consolidated B-24. A flight instructor who helped with the film reports that most of the cast got along well with the supporting officers and men, the exception being Edmund O'Brien. While filming an engine-start sequence he noted the usual "fire guard" with the extinguisher and became exceedingly nervous. Finally he "abandoned ship" and refused to proceed with the shot. Considering that his performance was witnessed by genuine airmen, let alone some combat veterans, EO's stock plummeted on base.

This movie has always been a favorite of mine since first seeing it as a 12 year old kid in 1962 when it was shown on a Los Angeles television station's "late show". The characters are very engaging from the start of the picture, and it is too bad that the movie has never been released for video tape, nor is it ever shown on television (apparently due to a prohibition by the Estate of Moss Hart, the playwright/producer/director who wrote the story and first presented it on the New York stage during WWII -- the reason for denying its showing is hard to fathom more than 50 years after it was made). I did not see the movie again for over 30 years, when someone who had actually been a major cast member of the movie was able to get me a "bootlegged" copy on VHS (poor video quality, but good audio). My memory of it was correct: it was still an engaging and fascinating movie to watch. An amazing aspect of this film is just how many of its stars, just starting out in their careers at the time 1944), went on to became either major motion picture stars or at least well-known and fully-employed actors (e.g. Judy Holliday, Edmond O'Brien, Jeanne Crain, Barry Nelson, Don Taylor, Karl Malden, Peter Lind Hayes, George "Superman") Reeves, Red Buttons, Lee J. Cobb, Kevin McCarthy, and Gary Merrill). The scenes with the B-24 Liberators are terrific, especially the close-up shots where the details of the giant (for those times) 4-engine bomber (then 18,000+ manufactured, now nearly extinct) can be seen. Good insight into the different levels of training that a pilot-cadet went through on his way to being assigned to a bomber crew (of course, VERY gender-biased as was the trend of the day: only the MEN became pilots, the women just supported them in their roles -- hardly acceptable in today's world). I hope someday it will be released onto video for a new generation to enjoy.