A cabin window used on one of the B-17 models in the production of the Second World War movie Memphis Belle. The film tells the story of the 25th flight of a B-17 bomber and her war-weary crew. She is the first plane to have survived long enough over war torn Europe to potentially achieve this feat and, as such, she garners much interest from the American Air force hierarchy.
The remarkable and acclaimed movie, loosely based on actual events, starred Matthew Modine, Sean Astin, Harry Connick JR, Billy Zane, Eric Stoltz, D.B. Sweeney and John Lithgow. A number of real B-17's were located for filming with some of them being airworthy. With so few real planes available and with such dramatic action required, a number of model miniatures, of differing scales, were required for filming.
This panel was used as part of one of the beautifully constructed large scale versions of the B-17 aircraft used in the film, installed as part of one of the B-17s nose compartments. These particular aircraft were used for the close-ups and during the intense aerial combat sequences, where use of real aircraft was not advisable. Made of vacuum-formed plastic, this panel is the lower half of a one-piece assembly that was broken through use on the production. The panel has had sections scored to look as though they are reinforced, while the viewing pane has been painted in a thin green wash to remain translucent.
The panel has suffered production damage but remains in an otherwise good production-used condition.