History YMMV / MemphisBelle

* TheWoobie: Stan and the rest of the rookie crew of Mother and Country.

* SoOkayItsAverage: One of the primary complaints about the film is that while it's competently made, it doesn't really hit any notable dramatic heights, and could have easily be mistaken for a typical drama filmed during the actual war, nearly to the point of being a ClicheStorm.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Tate Donovan, Billy Zane, Sean Astin, Reed Diamond, Jane Horrocks, Mac [=McDonald=], Ben Browder...

* SpecialEffectsFailure: In some scenes, especially the takeoff sequence, both sets of nose art are visible on camera at the same time.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Tate Donovan, Billy Zane, Sean Astin, [[{{Series/Dollhouse}} Reed Diamond]], Jane Horrocks, [[Series/RedDwarf Mac McDonald]], [[{{Series/Farscape}} Ben Browder]]...

** In Ben Browders case, [[StargateSG1 'Grandfather Mitchel' must've had a brother, or left the Merchant Marine, became a B-17 Pilot, flew with the Belle on its last mission, got shot down, became a POW, and got married after the war was over...]]

* NightmareFuel:
** A crippled bomber crash lands and explodes on the tarmac in the opening sequence. The crew can be seen trying to escape the bomber just before the explosion.
** The lead bomber, ''Windy City'', catches fire and explodes directly in front of the ''Memphis Belle''. After they fly through the debris, entrails are found greased on the windows of the front of the bomber.
** The deputy-lead bomber, ''C-Cup'', falls out of formation when its nose is blasted off. Its bombardier is seen falling out of the front of the bomber - his parachute not yet attached.
** A crew on their first mission, ''Mother & Country'', is ripped in half by a crashing fighter. Danny, who had befriended his counterpart on the rookie crew, channels his radio to be sure his friend is alive. Instead, he listens as the rookie crewmen scream while falling to their deaths.

* JustPlaneWrong:
** While it is shown that at the time, the USAAC lacked a fighter that could fly with the B-17s all the way to their targets and back, in 1943, when the film is set, it was P-47 Thunderbolts providing escort for the B-17s, not P-51s that are seen. While the film crew may have been gambling that no one would notice since the P-51 is one of the most iconic aircraft of WW2, there were P47s in flying condition at the time of filming, so there wasn't much of an excuse.
*** Partly Justified on the P47s as there were very few Thunderbolts that were still in flying condition, and at the time, parts for the P47 were hard to come by. P51s were not only abundant (being popular with air racing), but parts for the engines are easier to get a hold of. If a P47s engine has an issue, it could be weeks, if not months to get replacement parts machined and shipped to the P47 owner. Conversely, the Rolls Royce Merlin engine that powers the P51 is still in limited production, and parts are still being manufactured[[note]]Mostly for small puddle-jumper type aircraft that haven't switched to a turbo-prop engine yet[[/note]]. All a P51 owner would have to do in the event of a mechanical problem is just call up the Rolls Royce Customer Service (at the time; Rolls Royce has since ceased production and sold the license to an American company, Rausch Racing, that now makes spare parts and complete Merlin engines to order), and place an order for the new part. Good luck doing that for a Pratt and Whitney R2800.
** A justified version comes into play with the Bf-109s seen in the film, which are in reality Ha-1112s, a Spanish version of the Bf-109. At the time of the filming, no Bf-109s in flying condition even ''existed'', let alone being available for a film crew to use.
** Also played with with the bombers themselves. The B-17s in the film are all B-17Gs, mocked up to look like B-17Fs (which the Memphis Belle really was). The film crew did a convincing job of it too, but they still forgot to get rid of the bubble on the nose (in front of the windscreen, which was used for night navigation so the navigator could see the stars), which marks all the bombers as very late model B-17Fs.

** In Ben Browders case, [[StargateSG1 'Grandfather Mitchel' must've had a brother, or left the Merchant Marine, became a B-17 Pilot, flew with the Belle on its last mission, got shot down, became a POW, and got married after the war was over...]]

*** Partly Justified on the P47s as there were very few Thunderbolts that were still in flying condition, and at the time, parts for the P47 were hard to come by. P51s were not only abundant (being popular with air racing), but parts for the engines are easier to get a hold of. If a P47s engine has an issue, it could be weeks, if not months to get replacement parts machined and shipped to the P47 owner. Conversely, the Rolls Royce Merlin engine that powers the P51 is still in limited production, and parts are still being manufactured[[note]]Mostly for small puddle-jumper type aircraft that haven't switched to a turbo-prop engine yet[[/note]]. All a P51 owner would have to do in the event of a mechanical problem is just call up the Rolls Royce Customer Service, and place an order for the new part. Good luck doing that for a Pratt and Whitney R2800.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Tate Donovan, Billy Zane, Sean Astin, [[{{Series/Dollhouse}} Reed Diamond]], Jane Horrocks, [[Series/RedDwarf Mac McDonald]], [[{{Series/Farscape}} Ben Browder]]...

* RetroactiveRecognition: Tate Donovan, Billy Zane, Sean Astin, [[{{Series/Dollhouse}} Reed Diamond]], Jane Horrocks, [[Series/RedDwarf Mac McDonald]], [[Series/Farscape Ben Browder]]...

* RetroactiveRecognition: Tate Donovan, Billy Zane, Sean Astin, [[{{Series/Dollhouse}} Reed Diamond]], Jane Horrocks, [[Series/RedDwarf Mac McDonald]]...

** While it is shown that at the time, the USAAC lacked a fighter that could fly with the B-17s all the way to their targets and back, in 1943, when the film is set, it was P-47 Thunderbolts providing escort for the B-17s, not P-51s that are seen. While the film crew may have been gambling that [[ViewersAreMorons no one would notice]] since the P-51 is one of the most iconic aircraft of WW2, there were P47s in flying condition at the time of filming, so there wasn't much of an excuse.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Tate Donovan, Billy Zane, Sean Astin, [[{{Dollhouse}} Reed Diamond]], Jane Horrocks, [[Series/RedDwarf Mac McDonald]]...

** Also played with with the bombers themselves. The B-17s in the film are all B-17Gs, mocked up to look like B-17Es (which the Memphis Belle really was). The film crew did a convincing job of it too, but they still forgot to get rid of the bubble on the nose (in front of the windscreen), which marks all the bombers as B-17Fs.

** A crew on their first mission, ''Mother & Country'', is ripped in half by a crashing fighter. Daly, who had befriended his counterpart on the rookie crew, channels his radio to be sure his friend is alive. Instead, Daly listens as the rookie crewmen screams falling to his death.

** Also played with with the bombers themselves. The B-17s in the film are all B-17Gs, mocked up to look like B-17Es (which the Memphis Belle really was). The film crew did a convincing job of it too, but they still forgot to get rid of the bubble on the nose, which marks all the bombers as B-17Fs.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Tate Donovan, Billy Zane, Sean Astin, [[{{Dollhouse}} Reed Diamond]], Jane Horrocks, [[RedDwarf Mac McDonald]]...

* RetroactiveRecognition: Tate Donovan, Billy Zane, Sean Astin [[{{Dollhouse}} Reed Diamond]], Jane Horrocks, [[RedDwarf Mac McDonald]]...

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel: Danny listening on the radio as the rookies scream for their mothers all the way down until they fade out of range.