Vietnam Bombing Mission

What movie was that?

- J. David Truby

Guam, February 1966:

A B-52 back from a highly classified Arc Light bombing run over Vietnam was headed in for what was supposed to be a routine landing. The crew had done so dozens of times without incident. So this time should be no different, right? However, when Capt. Bob Amos heard his copilot, Capt. Lee Meyers, exclaim nervously, “The flaps are splitting!” Amos’s heart dropped. With the flaps coming down more on one side than the other, a potentially out-of-control situation was in the making. There’s nothing worse than being responsible for the wreck of your bomber back on home base, the damage to your crew, and—oh, yeah—the death of their highly classified passenger, an internationally famous decorated American war hero and Hollywood legend. Jimmy Stewart was their secret passenger on that flight. Yup, that Jimmy Stewart.

Immediately, Amos ordered the flaps pulled out and up, declaring a major emergency. He was going to need every foot of runway available.

Why was 58-year-old Stewart even in Vietnam much less on that flight?

More Than Just an Actor

James Maitland Stewart didn’t always aspire to be a successful actor. Growing up in Indiana, Pennsylvania, a small rural town with its own small rural grass-strip airport, young Stewart took a keen interest in aviation. But it wasn’t until he graduated from Princeton University and became a contract player at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) that the actor began to pursue his love of aeronautics. In 1935, Stewart obtained his private pilot license, upgrading it to a commercial license in 1938. A movie star by then, he owned a Stinson 105, which he used quite often to fly home, from California to Pennsylvania, to visit his parents.