SUMMARY
This is the story of one man’s journey from rebellious youth to eager fighter pilot sent off to war with a wife and newborn at home, surviving as a prisoner of war for nearly a year, and the ultimate return to his family and himself.
This is the story of one man’s journey from rebellious youth to eager fighter pilot sent off to war with a wife and newborn at home, surviving as a prisoner of war for nearly a year, and the ultimate return to his family and himself.
MUSTANGS goes on to tell the story of the simultaneous evolution of a man and a machine, brought together by fate during the largest clashing of air forces in history, and the aftermath of a high altitude bail-out following an epic air battle just ten days before D-Day.
MUSTANGS goes on to tell the story of the simultaneous evolution of a man and a machine, brought together by fate during the largest clashing of air forces in history, and the aftermath of a high altitude bail-out following an epic air battle just ten days before D-Day.
MUSTANGS is inspired by a true story and is intended to honor the sacrifices made by those who served in the Mighty Eighth Air Force during World War II, and the universal struggle veterans of war face after witnessing and experiencing intense human tragedies.
MUSTANGS is inspired by a true story and is intended to honor the sacrifices made by those who served in the Mighty Eighth Air Force during World War II, and the universal struggle veterans of war face after witnessing and experiencing intense human tragedies.
"ON A MISSION THAT MUST NOT FAIL...
"ON A MISSION THAT MUST NOT FAIL...
IF D-DAY IS TO SUCCEED."
IF D-DAY IS TO SUCCEED."
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
· The Human Story
· The Human Story
Imagine, you're just in your twenties, a war is raging throughout the world and you feel compelled to serve your country and enlist in the Army Air Forces, assuming your best chance of survival is being a fighter pilot. After you’ve enlisted, but before you're called up to serve, you fall in love with the girl visiting next door to you for the summer. Within three weeks you marry and not long after have your first child.
Imagine, you're just in your twenties, a war is raging throughout the world and you feel compelled to serve your country and enlist in the Army Air Forces, assuming your best chance of survival is being a fighter pilot. After you’ve enlisted, but before you're called up to serve, you fall in love with the girl visiting next door to you for the summer. Within three weeks you marry and not long after have your first child.
Six months later Pearl Harbor is attacked, and you're called up to fight. You go in as private, but your natural intelligence gets you far and you find yourself in flight school preparing to fly the latest and most advanced fighter aircraft designed to date, and eventually you are assigned to the most prolific fighter group already fighting over in Europe. You're shipped out to England and arrive at your base in Debden, England where you'll launch for attacks in Germany. You've heard the amazing stories of the ace pilots that have engaged insurmountable odds and came out alive with multiple victories to their name. But you've also heard the stories of the reality of massive dog-fighting, bombers dropping from the skies from both ground and air enemy attack, and hundreds of guys not coming back from some missions, killed or taken prisoner of war.
Six months later Pearl Harbor is attacked, and you're called up to fight. You go in as private, but your natural intelligence gets you far and you find yourself in flight school preparing to fly the latest and most advanced fighter aircraft designed to date, and eventually you are assigned to the most prolific fighter group already fighting over in Europe. You're shipped out to England and arrive at your base in Debden, England where you'll launch for attacks in Germany. You've heard the amazing stories of the ace pilots that have engaged insurmountable odds and came out alive with multiple victories to their name. But you've also heard the stories of the reality of massive dog-fighting, bombers dropping from the skies from both ground and air enemy attack, and hundreds of guys not coming back from some missions, killed or taken prisoner of war.
Now you have a wife on the other side of the ocean with your newborn daughter. You're also now at war, and you've just been assigned your third mission after arriving at your newly assigned fighter squadron twelve days before. You are told the mission is to provide fighter protection to the bombers as you fly deep into enemy territory, where you are certain to be engaged in a fight with enemy aircraft and ground attack that is fiercely protecting the vital targets. You are assigned to fly as the wingman of a highly experienced ace fighter, and your job is to keep up and protect him from any attacking enemy fighters. You spot hundreds of enemy fighters and off your squadron goes to attack and defend the bombers.
Now you have a wife on the other side of the ocean with your newborn daughter. You're also now at war, and you've just been assigned your third mission after arriving at your newly assigned fighter squadron twelve days before. You are told the mission is to provide fighter protection to the bombers as you fly deep into enemy territory, where you are certain to be engaged in a fight with enemy aircraft and ground attack that is fiercely protecting the vital targets. You are assigned to fly as the wingman of a highly experienced ace fighter, and your job is to keep up and protect him from any attacking enemy fighters. You spot hundreds of enemy fighters and off your squadron goes to attack and defend the bombers.
It's absolute chaos within seconds, you can't tell up from down and left from right. You get so disoriented you are unable to keep up with the aces maneuvers and cannot cover his wing, and end up separated and lost from your squadron. By the time you find other American fighters you've spent most of your fuel in the "hell upstairs", just trying to survive and don't have enough fuel to get back to base safely. You could risk crossing the English Channel, but you know few survive after ditching in the frigid waters long enough to be rescued. So you bail out, and without ever getting a chance to evade and escape, you land right on top of German troops in occupied France.
It's absolute chaos within seconds, you can't tell up from down and left from right. You get so disoriented you are unable to keep up with the aces maneuvers and cannot cover his wing, and end up separated and lost from your squadron. By the time you find other American fighters you've spent most of your fuel in the "hell upstairs", just trying to survive and don't have enough fuel to get back to base safely. You could risk crossing the English Channel, but you know few survive after ditching in the frigid waters long enough to be rescued. So you bail out, and without ever getting a chance to evade and escape, you land right on top of German troops in occupied France.
You are now a Prisoner of War. This is the human story that is so intriguing and I've only described the surface of the impact of all that happened on that day in May of 1944. So much more unravels as this story is told.
You are now a Prisoner of War. This is the human story that is so intriguing and I've only described the surface of the impact of all that happened on that day in May of 1944. So much more unravels as this story is told.
· The Scale
· The Scale
On the day this story takes place, Sunday, May 28, 1944 (Whit Sunday), just ten days before D-Day, 1,282 bombers and over 400 fighters took off from American bases in England headed for German targets. 32 American bombers and 14 fighters did not return to base that day. The sights and sounds of hundreds of powerful aircraft, German fighters attacking Allied bombers, Allied fighters engaging the enemy fighters, all happening at speeds exceeding 400mph and at elevations ranging from 30,000 feet in the air down to as low as 100 feet off the ground. This will make for the most spectacular flight sequences of World War II air battle ever to be replicated.
On the day this story takes place, Sunday, May 28, 1944 (Whit Sunday), just ten days before D-Day, 1,282 bombers and over 400 fighters took off from American bases in England headed for German targets. 32 American bombers and 14 fighters did not return to base that day. The sights and sounds of hundreds of powerful aircraft, German fighters attacking Allied bombers, Allied fighters engaging the enemy fighters, all happening at speeds exceeding 400mph and at elevations ranging from 30,000 feet in the air down to as low as 100 feet off the ground. This will make for the most spectacular flight sequences of World War II air battle ever to be replicated.
· The Aircraft
· The Aircraft
All of the warbirds being flown at the time were stunning. The unique design of both U.S. bombers and fighters as well as German fighters are visually intriguing and will make for a strong array of secondary characters in the film. The American strategy changed from defensive to offensive as they were gaining supremacy of the air around this time, so all new planes were kept in their natural metal finishes as opposed to dark olive drab for camouflage. The natural metal finish has a similar look to chrome and looked stunning when new as they were then just coming off assembly lines. Glossy colored noses signified the different fighter groups such as red, blue, yellow, and so on. The bombers had huge colored tails and wingtips that were stunning as well. Not to mention all of the colorful and varied nose art on both fighters and bombers with names and images unique to each "ship". All of this makes for great visual impact on screen.
All of the warbirds being flown at the time were stunning. The unique design of both U.S. bombers and fighters as well as German fighters are visually intriguing and will make for a strong array of secondary characters in the film. The American strategy changed from defensive to offensive as they were gaining supremacy of the air around this time, so all new planes were kept in their natural metal finishes as opposed to dark olive drab for camouflage. The natural metal finish has a similar look to chrome and looked stunning when new as they were then just coming off assembly lines. Glossy colored noses signified the different fighter groups such as red, blue, yellow, and so on. The bombers had huge colored tails and wingtips that were stunning as well. Not to mention all of the colorful and varied nose art on both fighters and bombers with names and images unique to each "ship". All of this makes for great visual impact on screen.
· The Famous P-51 Mustang
· The Famous P-51 Mustang
Before the evolution of the American single-engine fighter, the European skies were dominated by the technical advancements of the German Luftwaffe, and the Asian skies were ruled by Mitsubishi Zero's designed in Japan. As the Mustang evolved at North American Aviation's factory in Inglewood, California, it became the pinnacle of the aircraft lineage and asserted it's dominance over both Europe and Asia and is credited as being the most pivotal aircraft introduced in the war. The Allied Strategic Bombing Campaign Survey report written after the war, determined that the most successful bombing campaign was the Pointblank Directive (of which this film is about), aimed at destroying the German war machine through it's production of oil and aircraft, along with rubber for tires, ball-bearings and vehicle production. The Mustang was a major contributor to those missions as these "little friends" (as the bombers called them) were the only aircraft in existence at the time that was capable of escorting the "big friends" to and from targets in Germany on the massive bombing runs to protect the bombers from fighter attack. The Mustang did so with total dominance and thus has a well earned place in the history of freedom fighting machines.
Before the evolution of the American single-engine fighter, the European skies were dominated by the technical advancements of the German Luftwaffe, and the Asian skies were ruled by Mitsubishi Zero's designed in Japan. As the Mustang evolved at North American Aviation's factory in Inglewood, California, it became the pinnacle of the aircraft lineage and asserted it's dominance over both Europe and Asia and is credited as being the most pivotal aircraft introduced in the war. The Allied Strategic Bombing Campaign Survey report written after the war, determined that the most successful bombing campaign was the Pointblank Directive (of which this film is about), aimed at destroying the German war machine through it's production of oil and aircraft, along with rubber for tires, ball-bearings and vehicle production. The Mustang was a major contributor to those missions as these "little friends" (as the bombers called them) were the only aircraft in existence at the time that was capable of escorting the "big friends" to and from targets in Germany on the massive bombing runs to protect the bombers from fighter attack. The Mustang did so with total dominance and thus has a well earned place in the history of freedom fighting machines.
· The History
· The History
8th Air Force – 300,000 Americans lost their lives in the skies over Europe, all members of the largest Air Force ever assembled, the 8th Air Force, dubbed “the Mighty Eighth”. This film is about the most prolific fighter group of the 8th Air Force.
8th Air Force – 300,000 Americans lost their lives in the skies over Europe, all members of the largest Air Force ever assembled, the 8th Air Force, dubbed “the Mighty Eighth”. This film is about the most prolific fighter group of the 8th Air Force.
4th Fighter Group: This story is about the most prolific fighter group of World War II, the 4th Fighter Group, dubbed the “Fighting Eagles”. American pilots began flying with the Royal Air Force of England before America’s involvement in the war. The British formed the Eagle Squadrons for these American pilots, and after the U.S. joined the war effort the Eagle Squadrons became the 4th Fighter Group. The 4th Fighter Group has a victory record that is unmatched by any American fighter group to this day.
4th Fighter Group: This story is about the most prolific fighter group of World War II, the 4th Fighter Group, dubbed the “Fighting Eagles”. American pilots began flying with the Royal Air Force of England before America’s involvement in the war. The British formed the Eagle Squadrons for these American pilots, and after the U.S. joined the war effort the Eagle Squadrons became the 4th Fighter Group. The 4th Fighter Group has a victory record that is unmatched by any American fighter group to this day.
THANK YOU
THANK YOU
WORLD WAR II AS YOU'VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE.
WORLD WAR II AS YOU'VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE.
JOIN US IN TELLING HIS STORY.
JOIN US IN TELLING HIS STORY.
THE CREATOR AND PRODUCERS OF THIS PRODUCTION ARE A COLLECTIVE OF INDUSTRY VETERANS OF BLOCKBUSTER FILMS THAT COVER THE GAMUT FROM PRE THROUGH POST PRODUCTION INCLUDING PRODUCING, WRITING, DIRECTING, CINEMATOGRAPHY, PREVISUALIZATION, VISUAL EFFECTS AND FINAL EDITING.
THE CREATOR AND PRODUCERS OF THIS PRODUCTION ARE A COLLECTIVE OF INDUSTRY VETERANS OF BLOCKBUSTER FILMS THAT COVER THE GAMUT FROM PRE THROUGH POST PRODUCTION INCLUDING PRODUCING, WRITING, DIRECTING, CINEMATOGRAPHY, PREVISUALIZATION, VISUAL EFFECTS AND FINAL EDITING.
WE ARE PRIMARILY LOOKING FOR ESTABLISHED AGENTS, SCREENWRITERS AND DISTRIBUTORS THAT WOULD LIKE TO JOIN US IN THE MAKING AND DISTRIBUTION OF THIS PRODUCTION.
WE ARE PRIMARILY LOOKING FOR ESTABLISHED AGENTS, SCREENWRITERS AND DISTRIBUTORS THAT WOULD LIKE TO JOIN US IN THE MAKING AND DISTRIBUTION OF THIS PRODUCTION.
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This production is expressly approved and supported by the living relatives of Richard Louis Bopp and is designed to respectfully honor the legacy of all who have endured as Prisoners of War.
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