Lightstorm Entertainment and James Cameron exploring a tale about the Flying Fortresses of WWII'

Hey folks, Harry here… Seems that I’ve been hearing all sorts of whispers about what is going on over at LIGHTSTORM ENTERTAINMENT… We’ve heard the stories about MAZINGER, continued development of AVATAR, TRUE LIES 2 and on and on… But still, we’ve seen Cameron visibly moving forward on anything that will be reaching a theater near you and me soon.

Recently the whispers have become rather cryptic, like the one about a project codenamed or named COFFIN… that’s it. No details or writers… only… COFFIN. Mysterious.

However, the loudest whisper I’ve been hearing from a gaggle of genetically engineered super flys… well, they have informed me of a project that Lightstorm has and is contracting William Wisher Jr to commence writing a screenplay which centers in and around the Bomber Operations of the 8th Army Air Force during World War II.

Now, there are all types of stories… hell, hundreds of stories that have been written about the 8th Army Air Force during World War II.

There’s the story of ‘THE WRITING 69th" for example… A selection of 8 journalists trained to fly on bombing missions to record and report on the events as they occurred. Among the writers were Walter Cronkite, Andy Rooney, Paul Manning and Robert Post among others. Writers for Newspapers like the STARS & STRIPES, YANK, CBS Radio and The United Press… Some called them the ‘Flying Typewriters’ or the "Legion of the Doomed," but whatever you called them, 6 went up on the first bombing mission… 5 came back, and that was it. They were hit with flak and explosions… bad weather and the reports that came out of the mission became the stuff of legend. The sort of newsprint you don’t wash off… the sort that smears across your forehead as you wipe the frantic sweat from your brow as you read about the bone-shaking concussions… the terrible cold… lead zipping through the belly of the plane… the joy of seeing England again. This would truly be great material to bring to life on screen… Imagine casting a young Walter Cronkite or Andy Rooney!

Then there was THE WITCHCRAFT, often considered the greatest B-24 bomber to fly missions during World War II…. Over 130 Combat Missions under various crews… Not one fatality or INJURY in all those missions!

Then there were the tiny stories like the Normandy Mission That Never Existed… The Phantom Fortress which landed with no crew in a field in England… The stories are wide and varied… BOOKS AND BOOKS have been written and the canvas for a cinematic story is enormous.

But what is Bill Wisher’s mission… to write a factual dramatic tale based on history… or to write a fictional story that happens to be told within the setting of the bombing missions of the 8th Army Air Force…. Or still, is it to be a sweeping epic based on the entire bombing mission log of the Bomber wing… Normandy? What?

Only time will tell, or maybe a spy or two! Hehehehe…

For more information and pictures about the 8th Army Air Force check out these links:

The Stories of the 447th!!!

When Adolph Hitler began his conquest of Europe in 1939, he began to turn that continent into "Festung Europa"...Fortress Europe. The lone hold-out against the Third Reich was the island nation of Great Britain. In the summer of 1940, the Royal Air Force defeated the Luftwaffe in "The Battle of Britain" and Britain survived to become the launching point for the Allied war against the Nazis. Until sufficient forces could be built up to attack Fortress Europe's walls, the Allies took to the war on wings, for Hitler had built a fortress without a roof. This is the story of the 487th Bombardment Group

The Stories of the 91st Bomb Group

The tale of the 392nd Bomb Group

The Story of the Howling Banshee

The Story of the Writing 69th