The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress

E279150

American film documentary film war film

The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress is a 1944 World War II documentary film that follows the crew of a B-17 bomber on their final combat mission over Europe.

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All labels observed (4)

Label	Occurrences
Memphis Belle	4
The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress canonical	2
The Memphis Belle	1
film "Memphis Belle"	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T2566563 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress
Context triple: [William Wyler, madeDocumentary, The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress]

A. The Mighty Eighth
The Mighty Eighth is the famed Eighth Air Force of the United States Army Air Forces, renowned for its pivotal strategic bombing campaigns over Europe during World War II.
B. Twelve O’Clock High
Twelve O’Clock High is a classic 1949 World War II drama film about the psychological strain on U.S. Army Air Force bomber crews, widely regarded as one of Gregory Peck’s most powerful performances.
C. Spirit of St. Louis
Spirit of St. Louis is the custom-built aircraft flown by Charles Lindbergh on the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight in 1927.
D. Hellcats of the Navy
Hellcats of the Navy is a 1957 World War II submarine film best known for featuring future U.S. President Ronald Reagan and his then-wife Nancy Reagan together on screen.
E. Defense of the Reich
Defense of the Reich was the German Luftwaffe’s World War II air defense campaign aimed at protecting Nazi Germany from Allied strategic bombing.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress
Target entity description: The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress is a 1944 World War II documentary film that follows the crew of a B-17 bomber on their final combat mission over Europe.

A. The Mighty Eighth
The Mighty Eighth is the famed Eighth Air Force of the United States Army Air Forces, renowned for its pivotal strategic bombing campaigns over Europe during World War II.
B. Twelve O’Clock High
Twelve O’Clock High is a classic 1949 World War II drama film about the psychological strain on U.S. Army Air Force bomber crews, widely regarded as one of Gregory Peck’s most powerful performances.
C. Spirit of St. Louis
Spirit of St. Louis is the custom-built aircraft flown by Charles Lindbergh on the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight in 1927.
D. Hellcats of the Navy
Hellcats of the Navy is a 1957 World War II submarine film best known for featuring future U.S. President Ronald Reagan and his then-wife Nancy Reagan together on screen.
E. Defense of the Reich
Defense of the Reich was the German Luftwaffe’s World War II air defense campaign aimed at protecting Nazi Germany from Allied strategic bombing.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (47)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	American film ⓘ documentary film ⓘ war film ⓘ
archiveStatus	preserved by the U.S. National Archives ⓘ
associatedWith	Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers ⓘ linked to: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress Eighth Air Force ⓘ
basedOn	real combat missions of the Memphis Belle ⓘ
colorProcess	Technicolor ⓘ
commissionedBy	United States Army Air Forces ⓘ
countryOfOrigin	United States ⓘ linked to: United States of America
depicts	Eighth Air Force bombing mission over Europe ⓘ crew of a B-17 bomber ⓘ daylight bombing raid over Germany ⓘ
director	William Wyler ⓘ
distributor	Paramount Pictures ⓘ
features	Captain Robert K. Morgan ⓘ crew of the Memphis Belle ⓘ
filmingLocation	Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire ⓘ linked to: Bassingbourn over occupied Europe ⓘ
filmingTechnique	on-location combat footage ⓘ
follows	final combat mission of the Memphis Belle ⓘ
genre	documentary ⓘ propaganda film ⓘ war ⓘ
hasSetting	airfields in England ⓘ skies over Germany ⓘ
language	English dialogue ⓘ
mainSubject	Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress ⓘ Memphis Belle (aircraft) ⓘ linked to: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
musicBy	Dimitri Tiomkin ⓘ
narrator	Art Gilmore ⓘ
notableFor	portrayal of a complete tour of duty by a bomber crew ⓘ use of actual combat footage ⓘ
originalLanguage	English ⓘ
partOf	United States World War II propaganda films ⓘ
producer	William Wyler ⓘ
productionCompany	First Motion Picture Unit ⓘ United States Army Air Forces ⓘ
publicationDate	1944 ⓘ
purpose	boost morale on the home front ⓘ document successful completion of 25 missions ⓘ
runtime	approximately 45 minutes ⓘ
setInPeriod	World War II ⓘ
shortTitle	The Memphis Belle ⓘ linked to: The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress
subjectOf	restoration by the U.S. National Archives ⓘ
targetAudience	American home-front audiences ⓘ
title	The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress ⓘ

How these facts were elicited