Combat America (1945) — Clark Gable & the 351st Bomb Group

Combat America (1945) — U.S. Army Air Forces. 62 min. Public domain. Narrated by Clark Gable. Filmed at RAF Polebrook, England. Via the Internet Archive.

About the Film

Title	Combat America
Year	1945 (filmed 1943–44)
Running time	62 minutes
Produced by	U.S. Army Air Forces / First Motion Picture Unit
Director & narrator	Captain Clark Gable
Filmed at	RAF Polebrook, England — home of the 351st Bomb Group (H)
Aircraft	B-17F and B-17G Flying Fortress
Copyright status	Public domain (U.S. government production)
Archive.org	Internet Archive, identifier: `combat-america`

Combat America is a first-hand record of strategic bombing operations over Europe in 1943. It follows the men of the Eighth Air Force from briefing rooms through to the bomb run, with live gunnery footage shot from the ball turret and waist positions during actual combat missions. Gable flew as an observer-gunner on multiple missions to gather this footage, exposing himself to the same flak and fighter attacks faced by every crewman.

The film is notable for its realism — it does not shy away from showing wounded and dead airmen, emergency landings, and the grinding attrition of the daylight bombing campaign. It was intended as a training and morale document, not a propaganda piece in the conventional sense.

Clark Gable at the 351st BG

Gable arrived in England in April 1943, the same month the 351st Bomb Group flew its first combat missions from Polebrook. His presence at the base overlapped directly with Bob Burns’ tenure as Group Air Executive — the period when Bob was flying the missions that would earn him the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with five Oak Leaf Clusters, and, on September 23, 1943, the Silver Star.

The two men knew each other. Bob mentioned Gable in his 2003 Morning Reports oral correspondence and in his 1979 USAF oral history interview, describing life at Polebrook and the culture of the Eighth Air Force. The newspaper record confirms their association: Mississippi and Texas press coverage in January 1944 placed Gable alongside Burns in accounts of the 351st BG’s operations.

Bob’s personal photographs from Polebrook include several images with Gable. The candid photograph taken September 23, 1943 — the same day as the Silver Star Nantes mission — shows the two of them together at Polebrook. That photograph is reproduced on the WWII overview page and examined in the Nantes mission profile.

Late 1942

Gable joins the 351st BG. By Bob's first-hand account, Gable came to the group while it was still forming up at Biggs Field, El Paso, where Bob himself was assigned. (Published histories differ on exactly when and where Gable joined the 351st — several place his posting to the group in early 1943; Bob, who was there, remembered Biggs.)

Apr 1943

Both arrive at RAF Polebrook. The 351st flies its first combat mission on May 14, 1943. Gable begins filming.

May–Sep 1943

Gable flies five combat missions as an aerial gunner, gathering live combat footage. Bob is flying missions nearly every week during this same period, accumulating the 25 combat missions documented in his flight records.

23 Sep 1943

Silver Star mission (Nantes). Bob leads the Group to Nantes, France on Mission #41. A surviving photograph from this date shows Gable and Burns together at Polebrook.

Oct 1943

Gable departs England with his footage and returns to the U.S. to complete post-production. Bob continues flying — he will go on to command the 351st BG from October 1944 through the end of the war in Europe.

1944–1945

Post-production and release. Gable edits and narrates the film. Combat America is released in 1945. Bob Burns returns to the United States in March 1945 after 25 combat missions.

Bob Burns on Gable and Polebrook

“Gable came to us when we were forming up at Biggs Field — he was already there when I arrived. He was serious about it. He didn’t want any special treatment. He flew the missions like everyone else, went to the briefings, ate in the mess. There was a lot of talk that Hitler had put a price on his head — some kind of bounty if the Luftwaffe brought him down — but he wasn’t bothered by it that I could see.”

Maj. Gen. Robert W. Burns, oral history K239.0512-1117, USAF Historical Research Agency, March 12–13, 1979. Panama City, FL. Section 6: Polebrook and the Eighth Air Force.

The 1979 oral history (USAF K239.0512-1117, 136 pages) was conducted at Bob’s home in Panama City, Florida, by an Air Force historian. Section 6 covers the Polebrook period in depth — missions, personnel, the relationship between the bomb group and the broader Eighth Air Force campaign. The full transcript is preserved in this archive.

Research Context

Combat America is one of the most detailed surviving records of daily life and combat operations in the 351st Bomb Group. Researchers studying the 351st BG, RAF Polebrook, or the 8th Air Force’s 1943 bombing campaign will find it an essential primary source. The ground-level footage of Polebrook — the hardstands, the control tower, the dispersal areas — is consistent with the locations visible in Bob Burns’ own personal 16mm film from the same base and same period.

For family context: the men in the background of this film are the men Bob Burns flew with, commanded, and remembered for the rest of his life. The B-17s visible in the film are the aircraft logged in his Individual Flight Record (AAF Form 5) — the same records this archive was built to document.

Bob’s Personal Film (16mm) → WWII Overview → Nantes — Silver Star Mission → All Mission Profiles →

Film source: Internet Archive — archive.org/details/combat-america. Public domain (U.S. government production). No copyright restrictions. Original 16mm print held by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).