“The King of Hollywood” Became a B-17 Waist Gunner
Clark Gable, once known as “The King of Hollywood”, quit school at age sixteen to work in a tire factory. He tired of that, and decided to become an actor after seeing a play. Gable starred in over 60 movies, and is perhaps best known for his role as Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind. He also won an Oscar for his lead in It Happened One Night. When America entered WWII, Gable was Hollywood’s biggest star, as well as it biggest box office draw. He took a break from acting to fight the Axis. After his wife’s death in an air crash while returning from a war bonds tour, a devastated Gable decided to enlist. Despite MGM’s reluctance to let go its most profitable star, he joined the Army Air Forces in 1942, hoping to become an aerial gunner. He was sent instead to Officer Candidate School, and was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant. On personal orders from the Air Forces’ chief, Gable was sent to the Eighth Air Force in England and directed to make a combat recruitment film for aerial gunners.
To obtain footage, Gable flew five combat missions as a B-17 gunner in 1943, including a bombing raid into Germany. His presence in the missions was for propaganda and PR purposes, but the dangers were real. During one mission, Gable’s B-17 lost an engine and had its stabilizer damaged after it was hit by antiaircraft fire and was attacked by fighters. Over Germany, two of his B-17’s crew were wounded, another was killed after being struck by flak, and shrapnel went through Gable’s boot and almost took off his head. Gable’s brushes with death alarmed the folk at MGM, who had no wish to lose their most valuable actor. So the studio worked its connections and got Gable reassigned to noncombat duty. The star actor was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross and an Air Medal, and in late 1943, he was ordered back to the US to edit the film. Gable hoped for another combat assignment, but none came. By the summer of 1944, he finally gave up and requested to be relieved from active duty. He stayed in the Air Forces reserves until 1947, when he finally resigned his commission.
