While he was in England with the 8th Army Air Force, Colonel William Wyler (left, chatting with Lt. Terrence Rattigan, British playwright) heard he had won an Academy Award for expert direction of Mrs. Miniver.  He headed the film unit that made the breath-taking Technicolor feature picture of aerial operations, The Memphis Belle.

Director William Wyler in the Army Airforce

At an airfield in England, Clark Gable flashes his famous smile in conversation with Flying Fortress crew members.  In 1942, Gable enlisted as a private in the Air Forces, trained in Miami, won a commission, rose to the rank of major, handled both camera and machine gun on missions over Europe before being put on the inactive list in 1944.  Well thats how Clark's publicist put it back in 1945.  Actually, although Clark desperately wanted to see combat, the authorities felt he was too old for combat and utilized him in some very good training films and for morale visits with the troops.  For those interested check out some of Clark's films on a site called "The Prelinger Archives".  The films are now in public domain and are  very well done.

Clark Gable flashes his famous smile

In August 1943 he was finally assigned to the 445th Bombardment Group at Sioux City AAB, Iowa, first as Operations Officer of the 703rd Bombardment Squadron and then as its commander, at the rank of Captain. In December, the 445th Bombardment Group flew its B-24 Liberator bombers to RAF Tibenham, Norfolk, England and immediately began combat operations. While flying missions over Germany, Stewart was promoted to Major. In March 1944, he was transferred as group operations officer to the 453rd Bombardment Group, a new B-24 unit that had been experiencing difficulties. As a means to inspire his new group, Stewart flew as command pilot in the lead B-24 on numerous missions deep into Nazi-occupied Europe. These missions went uncounted at Stewart's orders. His &quot;official&quot; total is listed as 20 and is limited to those with the 445th. In 1944, he twice received the Distinguished Flying Cross for actions in combat and was awarded the Croix de Guerre. He also received the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters. In July 1944, after flying 20 combat missions, Stewart was made Chief of Staff of the 2nd Combat Bombardment Wing of the Eighth Air Force. Before the war ended, he was promoted to colonel, one of very few Americans to rise from private to colonel in four years.[6][29]