Why This B-17 Gunner Had a Huge Bounty On His Head

When America’s biggest movie star volunteered for war, even Adolf Hitler took notice. Clark Gable, the “King of Hollywood,” went from red carpets to the skies over Germany, trading studio lights for tracer fire…

From Hollywood to the Frontlines

After losing his wife, actress Carole Lombard, in a plane crash in 1942, Gable was devastated. Despite pleas from MGM and even President Roosevelt, he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps. The brass offered him a safe role — filming a documentary about bomber crews in England — but Gable wanted real combat.

After gunnery training, he joined the 351st Bomb Group in 1943 and flew aboard B-17 Flying Fortresses. His early missions to Belgium and France were relatively uneventful, though he quickly earned the respect of his crewmates for refusing special treatment.

Hitler’s Favorite Movie Star

Hitler had long admired Gable’s films, including Gone with the Wind, and reportedly wanted him captured alive to star in German propaganda. Hermann Göring placed a $5,000 bounty (over $100,000 today) on Gable’s head, a grim sign of just how famous he was, even to the enemy.

The Mission That Nearly Killed Him

On August 12, 1943, Gable flew aboard the B-17 Ain’t It Gruesome during a bombing raid over Germany’s Ruhr Valley. The mission turned deadly as German fighters tore through the formation. A 20mm flak round ripped through Gable’s boot heel and the fuselage above him. Had it detonated, he would have been killed instantly.

Despite losing an engine, the crew limped back to England. Of the 183 B-17s that flew that day, 23 were shot down.

Home Again

After word of his close call reached MGM, the studio demanded his removal from combat. Gable returned home with 50,000 feet of color footage — the basis for the 1945 documentary Combat America. Though he resumed acting after the war, his wartime courage left a mark deeper than any role could.