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''Thunderbolt!'' is a 1947 film directed by William Wyler and John Sturges which documented the American aerial operations of Operation Strangle in World War II, when flyers of the Twelfth Air Force based on Corsica successfully impeded Axis supply lines to the Gustav Line and Anzio beachhead. The film was originally shot in 16mm by members of the Army Air Forces. The 12th Combat Camera Unit recorded the combat footage using cameras mounted on some of the P-47s and a B-25 medium bomber equipped as a camera ship to accompany the fighters. Directors Wyler and Sturges, serving as officers in the AAF, were attached to the 12th CCU during the period it filmed the activities of the 57th Fighter Group. and Wyler used his association as a "passport" to visit many areas of liberated Europe after completion of the initial shooting. Although shown to the press late in 1945, the film was not generally released until 1947 by Monogram Pictures, and was re-released in 1950 during the Korean War. Half of the 1947 profits from the film's release went to the Army Air Force Relief Society and the United States Treasury.〔 ==Plot== The film begins with an introduction by James Stewart, who refers to 1944 as being "ancient history", and reads a message from postwar American Air Firces (AAF) commander Gen. Carl Spaatz that, even though the units in the picture happen to be American, the mission depicted could easily have been an RAF mission, and indeed belongs to all people who desire freedom. Some of the P-47 aircraft were modified with cameras: a pair mounted in the cockpit behind the pilot to film both ahead and behind the aircraft, under the wing, in the wheel well of the landing gear, on the instrument panel to film the pilot, or in the guns, synchronized to film when the guns fired.〔The gun cameras, known in AAF vernacular as GSAPs, or Gun Sighting Aiming Point cameras, were automatic and mounted on all fighters, not just those depicted in ''Thunderbolt''. Each GSAP was a heated, electrically-driven 16mm camera loaded with a 50-foot film magazine and its lens set at infinity. The GSAP was linked to the same solenoid that fired the guns and was activated within 1/8 of a second after trigger pull. Vibration from the firing guns often caused fuzzy images. (Maslowski, p. 167)〕 The storyline begins by showing desolate areas of Italy in March 1944, noting that this was the fulfillment of the promise of Fascism, an idea dedicated to the proposition that some men are meant to be the slaves of others. The film next brings the audience to Alto Air Base, Corsica,〔The 57th FG had moved here from the Italian mainland on March 28, 1944, specifically for Operation Stangle.〕 introducing us to members of the 65th Fighter Squadron and explains the objectives of Operation Strangle by way of an after-breakfast briefing that merges into an animated map of Italy showing the allies stuck at the Gustav line, and the mission to cut off the supply lines by destroying bridges and roads in northern Italy. Next the film follows the airmen led by their young squadron commander through the tense moments before the flight, identifies them by name as they take off in pairs, and observes their journey to the mainland while flying in formation. The pilots are shown finding their target, a bridge, and successfully taking it out; then they go on independent strafing of targets of opportunity, seekiing trains, lighthouses, anything that could be used by the enemy and destroying it. When the pilots return, the film shows how the airmen try to relax in the makeshift American community in Corsica; but it also takes a melancholy look into how some of them are getting along emotionally, thinking of what else they could be doing with "the best years of their lives". ''Thunderbolt!'' ends with the Allies liberating Rome on June 4, 1944. The narrators note that it is the "evening" of the mission in Corsica, but not the end of the war. At the end the words "THE END" appear, to be joined by a red question mark behind it. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Thunderbolt!」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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