Editing Twelve O'Clock High (section)

==Production==
[[File:Twelve O'Clock High crash landing.jpg|thumb|[[Paul Mantz]] deliberately crash-lands B-17G AAF Ser. No. ''44-83592'' at [[Cairns Army Airfield|Ozark AAF]], Alabama, in June 1949 for the filming of ''Twelve O'Clock High''.<ref>[http://www.aerovintage.com/12oclock.htm '12 O'Clock High.'] ''Aero Vintage'', January 6, 2008. Retrieved: October 21, 2009.</ref>]]

According to their files, 20th Century Fox paid $100,000 outright for the rights to the unfinished book, plus up to $100,000 more in escalator and book-club clauses. [[Darryl Zanuck]] was apparently convinced to pay this high price when he heard that [[William Wyler]] was interested in purchasing it for [[Paramount Pictures|Paramount]]. Even then, Zanuck only went through with the deal in October 1947 when he was certain that the United States Air Force would support the production.<ref name=tcmnotes/> The film made use of actual combat footage during the battle scenes, including some shot by the [[Luftwaffe]].<ref name=tcmnotes>[https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/94088/twelve-oclock-high#notes 'Notes: Twelve O'Clock High.'] ''Turner Classic Movies''. Retrieved: October 16, 2022.</ref> A good deal of the production was filmed on [[Eglin Air Force Base]] and its associated auxiliary fields near [[Fort Walton Beach, Florida|Fort Walton, Florida]].<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041996/locations 'Filming locations: Twelve O'Clock High.'] ''IMDb''. Retrieved: October 21, 2009.</ref>

===Source material===
Screenwriters Bartlett and Lay drew on their own wartime experiences with Eighth Air Force bomber units. At the Eighth Air Force headquarters, Bartlett had worked closely with Colonel Armstrong, who was the primary model for the character General Savage. The film's 918th Bomber Group was modeled primarily on the 306th because that group remained a significant part of the Eighth Air Force throughout the war in Europe.{{#tag:ref|Note that 918 is 3 times 306.|group=Note}}

===Casting===
[[Clark Gable]] was interested in the lead role of General Frank Savage. Gable, who had served in the [[USAAF]] during World War II, played a similar role in the 1948 film ''[[Command Decision (film)|Command Decision]]''. [[John Wayne]] was offered the leading role, as well, but turned it down. [[Burt Lancaster]], [[James Cagney]], [[Dana Andrews]], [[Van Heflin]], [[Edmond O'Brien]], [[Ralph Bellamy]], [[Robert Preston (actor)|Robert Preston]], [[Robert Young (actor)|Robert Young]], and [[Robert Montgomery (actor)|Robert Montgomery]] were also considered for the role. Eventually, the role went to [[Gregory Peck]], who initially turned it down because the script was similar to ''Command Decision''.  Peck changed his mind because he was impressed with director Henry King, finding his empathy with the material and the cast and crew appealing. The two made more films together: ''[[The Gunfighter]]'' (1950), ''[[David and Bathsheba (film)|David and Bathsheba]]'' (1952), ''[[The Bravados]]'' (1958), and ''[[Beloved Infidel]]'' (1959).<ref>{{cite book|first=Paul|last=Matheis|title=The 12 O'Clock High Logbook: The Unofficial History of the Novel, Motion Picture, and TV Series|publisher=McFarland|year=2005|isbn=978-1593930332}}</ref>

===Filming===
Veterans of the heavy bomber campaign frequently cite ''Twelve O'Clock High'' as the only Hollywood film that accurately captured their combat experiences.<ref>Duffin, Allan T. and Paul Matheis. The 12 O'Clock High Logbook. Albany, Georgia: Bearmanor Media, 2005. ISBN 1-59393-033-X., p. 87.</ref> Along with the 1948 film ''[[Command Decision (film)|Command Decision]]'', it marked a turning away from the optimistic, morale-boosting style of wartime films and toward a grittier realism that deals more directly with the human costs of war. Both films deal with the realities of daylight precision bombing without fighter escort, the basic USAAF [[doctrine]] at the start of World War II (prior to the arrival of long-range Allied fighter aircraft such as the [[P-51 Mustang]]). As producers, writers Lay and Bartlett reused major plot elements of ''Twelve O'Clock High'' in later films featuring the U.S. Air Force, the 1950s-era ''[[Toward the Unknown]]'' and the early 1960s [[Cold War]]-era ''[[A Gathering of Eagles]]''.

[[Paul Mantz]], Hollywood's leading stunt pilot, was paid the then-unprecedented sum of $4,500 in 1948 ($58,000 in 2024) to crash-land a B-17 bomber for one early scene in the film.<ref>[https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/94088/twelve-oclock-high#trivia "Trivia: Twelve O'Clock High."] ''Turner Classic Movies''. Retrieved: October 16, 2022.</ref> [[Frank Tallman]], Mantz' partner in Tallmantz Aviation, wrote in his autobiography that while many B-17s had been landed by one pilot, as far as he knew, this flight was the first time that a B-17 ever took off with only one pilot and no other crew; nobody was sure that it could be done. "{{#tag:ref|This allegation is at odds with both 20th Century-Fox press releases made during production and with research done by Duffin and Matheis for ''The 12 O'Clock High Logbook.'' [[Martin Caidin]] describes a 1961 solo flight by Gregory Board of a B-17 in his chapter, "The Amazing Mr. Board", in ''Everything But the Flak''.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1074742/ "Gregory Board."] ''IMDb.'' Retrieved: May 9, 2013.</ref> Art Lacey also flew a B-17 solo in 1947, although this was not well known due to its being written off officially as weather damage when he crashed it.<ref>Cheesman. Shannon. [http://www.kval.com/news/local/96338604.html "Boast + adult beverages = a B-17 on the roof."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100622001448/http://www.kval.com/news/local/96338604.html |date=2010-06-22 }} ''KVAL.com,'' June 16, 2010. Retrieved: February 5, 2012.</ref>|group=Note}} The footage was used again in the 1962 film ''[[The War Lover]]''.<ref>[http://www.aerovintage.com/warlover.htm "The War Lover (1962)."] ''aerovintage.com'', October 28, 2007.  Retrieved: December 15, 2012.</ref>

Locations for creating the bomber airfield at the fictional RAF Archbury were scouted by director Henry King, flying his own [[Beechcraft Bonanza|Beech Bonanza]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/twelve-oclock-high-180970369/|title=Some of Us Have Got To Die|author=John Fleischman|date=October 2018|via=Air & Space Magazine|access-date=23 September 2021}}</ref> some 16,000 miles in February and March 1949. King visited Eglin AFB on March 8, 1949, and found an ideal location for principal photography several miles north of the main base at its Eglin AFB Auxiliary Field No. 3, better known as [[Duke Field]], where the mock installation with 15 buildings (including a World War II control tower) were constructed to simulate RAF Archbury.<ref name=AFMag/><ref name="airfield">Orriss, Bruce. ''When Hollywood Ruled the Skies: The Aviation Film Classics of World War II''. Hawthorn, California: Aero Associates Inc., 1984. {{ISBN|0-9613088-0-X}}, p. 149.</ref> The film's technical advisor, Colonel John de Russy, was stationed at [[Maxwell Air Force Base]], [[Alabama]], at the time, and suggested [[Cairns Army Airfield|Ozark Army Air Field]] near [[Daleville, Alabama]] (now known as [[Cairns Army Airfield]], adjacent to [[Fort Rucker]]).<ref name="airfield"/> King chose Cairns as the location for filming B-17 takeoffs and landings, including the B-17 [[belly landing]] sequence, since the light-colored runways at Eglin did not match wartime runways in England, which had been black to make them less visible to enemy aircraft. When the crew arrived at Cairns, it was also considered as "ideal for shots of Harvey Stovall reminiscing about his World War II service", since the field was somewhat overgrown.<ref name=AFMag/><ref>Duffin and Matheis 2005, pp. 65–67.</ref> The opening and closing scenes of the derelict RAF Archbury, referencing themes in the film, have a very similar approach to the opening scenes of the derelict fictional RAF Halfpenny Field in the earlier 1945 film ''[[The Way to the Stars]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/477021/index.html|title=Way to the Stars, The (1945)|website=BFI Screenonline|access-date=2 July 2020}}</ref>

Additional background photography was shot at [[RAF Barford St John]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.movie-locations.com/movies/t/Twelve-O-Clock-High.php|title=Twelve O'Clock High|year=1949|publisher=Movie Locations| access-date=26 November 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=''CQ: The Radio Amateurs' Journal - Volume 22'', p. 42|date=1966}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.airfieldresearchgroup.org.uk/forum/airfield-discussion/160-archbury-12-o-clock-high|title=Archbury / 12 O'clock High|website=Airfield Research Group|date=8 May 2008 |access-date=18 May 2020}}</ref> a satellite station of [[RAF Croughton]] in [[Oxfordshire]], England. Officially, the airfield is still under [[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Defence]] ownership following its closure in the late 1990s as a communications station linked to the since-closed [[RAF Upper Heyford]]. Other locations around Eglin AFB and Fort Walton also served as secondary locations for filming.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041996/locations "Locations: Twelve O'Clock High (1949)."] ''IMDb''. Retrieved: October 21, 2009.</ref> The crew used 12 B-17s for filming, which were pulled from QB-17 drones used at Eglin and other B-17s from depot locations in Alabama and New Mexico. Since some of the aircraft had been used in the 1946 [[Bikini atomic experiments]] and absorbed high levels of radioactivity, they could only be used for shooting for limited periods.<ref name=AFMag/>

''Twelve O'Clock High'' was in production from late April to early July 1949.<ref>[https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/94088/twelve-oclock-high#overview "Overview: Twelve O'Clock High."] ''Turner Classic Movies''. Retrieved: October 16, 2022.</ref> Although originally planned to be shot in Technicolor, it was instead shot in black and white, allowing the inclusion of actual combat footage by Allied and Luftwaffe cameras.<ref name=tcmnotes/>