I chose Strategic Air Command (1955) for a movie recognizing work as it is A) not a war film and B) my service branch was the USAF. That being said, this film stars Jimmy Stewart as a baseball player recalled to service Dutch Holland, a WW2 bomber pilot who is now flying the Convair B-36 Peacemaker, which, if memory serves, was the first bomber capable of intercontinental flight. Something my cousin Kenn (aviation historian, Kenn C. Rust – Aero Album, Journal of the American Aviation Historical Society, 9th Air force in World War 2) once told me back in my youth is that development for the B-36 started in 1941 with the thought that England might fall before the U.S. entry into the war. It was later developed into our first line nuclear deterrent, eventually replaced by more capable and modern aircraft such as the B-52.
Strategic Air Command poster - IMDB
The story revolves around the B-36 in its role as nuclear deterrent, the strain of long missions, both on the air crews and their families, constantly flying thousands of miles over many hours, and the hazards of aircraft accidents, with one such crash being depicted in the film. But, “at least the coffee is free” as one of Dutch Holland’s crew quipped.
The film also made a point of discussing the impact of how being recalled to active duty impacted the private/civilian lives of many aviators, their families, and their careers. The hardships of military life, and the poor quality housing.
But, again, at least the coffee was free.
Come to think of it, the coffee was free when I was in the Air Force (too bad I didn’t learn to drink coffee until a couple of years ago!). The housing, well, I was able to live off base the whole time, which was great back when I was stationed in Spain (I lived in Alcalá de Henares while stationed in Spain). Yeah, I’ll probably make mention of that from time to time.
One of the important points about work that Strategic Air Command makes is teamwork. A team that works well together can accomplish quite a lot together. A second point made through one of the supporting characters, Ike Knowland (Alex Nicol), is that having a good attitude is important to both morale and good, solid teamwork. These are things I took with me into my post-military career.
During the film, we also get a glimpse at leadership, as the B-36 Dutch is flying has a failure in one wing, resulting in a fire. As the B-36 had a magnesium-alloy airframe, so these birds tended to burn easily once on fire. Dutch orders the crew to bail out, while he bellylands the plane in the snow, Ike having stayed behind on the plane as well. Both suffer some non-life threatening injuries. Forced to stay in the plane, it having lost the wong that was on fire, until rescue, Dutch misses out on events at home. Again, teamwork plays in here as they wait for rescue, as well as survival skills in the harsh Greenland environment, until help arrives.
There is a lot more to this film than just the Air Force side; there is also baseball, another passion of Dutch Holland, as he was a professional baseball player before being recalled to service. Team sports is another field that demands solid teamwork in order to be successful, both on and off the field.
One final note on something this film teaches about work – making choices that impact yourself, but your family and the people you work with. They are frequently hard choices, and making the right choice is frequently hard to do.
B-36 screenshot from the movie
The aerial photography in this film is brilliant, and I have to share a couple of screenshots taken from the film. According to IMDB, it did receive an award for the aerial photography, and watching those scenes, one can understand why. Those shots are darned beautiful. The two screenshots came from the film being streamed on my computer from Amazon Prime.
B-36 screenshot from the movie
There is a lot of takeaway about work from Strategic Air command that fits both military and civilian life, and, by the way, I have always said that serving in the military is not the right choice for everyone (although it was for me).
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