Wings Up (1943)

Anecdotes

Wings Up is a short propaganda film produced during World War II, highlighting the role of the United States Army Air Forces Officer Candidate School. The film emphasized that while usually these courses would take up to a year in college, the country was at war now and needed all the qualified officers it could get and fast. The curriculum is briefly outlined in Wings Up as well as the kind of life a student would lead at this training center.

Production

Narrated by Captain Clark Gable, Wings Up informed the youth of America about the Officer Candidate School, which was the primary setting for the production. In 1942, following the death of his wife, Carole Lombard, Gable joined the U.S. Army Air Forces after the Commanding General of the U.S. Army Air Forces Henry H. "Hap" Arnold offered Gable a "special assignment" in aerial gunnery.

Gable entered USAAF OCS Class 42-E on 17 August 1942, completing training on 28 October 1942. Commissioned as second lieutenants, Gable's special assignment was to make a recruiting film in combat with the Eighth Air Force to recruit aerial gunners. Gable had completed his training as an aerial gunner at the end of January 1943 and was promoted to Captain.

Stock footage of a Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress is featured in the opening and closing sequences of Wings Up.

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