Historical photos of Clark Gable at Fairchild recently discovered

Section:Gallery

Sun., Aug. 15, 2021

Movie actor Clark Gable sits in a turret gun simulator during gunnery training with gunnery sergeant Bill Willan in January 1943 at Camp Seven Mile near Spokane. The movie star was training as a turret gunner at Camp Seven Mile, which is now inside of Riverside State Park, and staying at Fort George Wright, though it wasn’t a part of his assignment, which was to make films for the war effort.

Fairchild Air Force Base Archive
Merrill W. “Bill” Willan, left, stands next to movie idol Clark Gable during gunnery training at Camp Seven Mile in January 1943. Gable flew five missions in Europe aboard bombers. This photo and others were recently donated to the historical archives at Fairchild Air Force Base, proving once and for all that Gable took training in Spokane for several weeks before shipping out for Europe.

Fairchild Air Force Base Archive
In this 1943 military group photo, movie star Clark Gable, center of the back row, poses with the instructors stationed at Camp Seven Mile, a gunnery camp in an area that is now Riverside State Park. The photo was donated to the Fairchild Air Force Base historical archives by the son of Merrill W. “Bill” Willan, who worked at Camp Seven Mile.

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Rebekah Horton, historian for the 92nd Air Refueling Wing based at Fairchild Air Force Base, talks Wednesday about what she’s learned about movie star Clark Gable’s training in Spokane during World War II at the FAFB headquarters building where she has assembled a display of new photos of Gable which were donated by the son of World War II gunnery instructor Merrill W. “Bill” Willan.

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Rebekah Horton, historian for the Air Force 92nd Air Refueling Wing based at Fairchild Air Force Base, talks about what she’s learned about what movie star Clark Gable did in Spokane during World War II Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2021 at the FAFB headquarters building where she has assembled a display of new photos of Gable in Spokane in 1943, which were donated by the son of World War II gunnery instructor Merrill W. “Bill” Willan.

Jesse Tinsley The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo
Rebekah Horton, historian for the Air Force 92nd Air Refueling Wing based at Fairchild Air Force Base, has assembled a display of newly discovered photos of Gable in Spokane in 1943, which were donated by the son of World War II gunnery instructor Merrill W. “Bill” Willan. The display is in the FAFB headquarters building.

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Movie star Clark Gable, right, is seen interviewing an injured B-17 pilot in 1943 in the film “Combat America”, a recruitment film he made in Europe during World War II. Gable flew five missions as a turret gunner in a B-17 that year. Gable learned air gunnery techniques while at Spokane’s Camp Seven Mile, a gunnery camp in an area that is now Riverside State Park. Gable was in Spokane for training in January of 1943, served in Europe through the year and the film, aimed at recruiting men for the Army Air Force, came out at the end of 1943.

Combat America
This photo, displayed on the website of the American Air Museum in Britain, shows actor Clark Gable, far right, standing with his B-17 crew after his first bombing mission in May of 1943. The caption at americanairmuseum.com reads: The crew of 41-24635 on return from the 4 May 1943 mission to the Ford and General Motors plants at Antwerp, Belgium. Left to Right: S/Sgt Willam C. Mulgrew, Ball Turret Gunner; S/Sgt Richard C. Fortunak, Left Waist Gunner; T/Sgt Roman R. Zaorski, Flight Engineer/Top Turret Gunner; S/Sgt Murel A. Murphy, Right Waist Gunner; Captain Robert J. Yonkman, Bombardier; Lt. Colonel William A. Hatcher, Co-Pilot (CO of the 351st Bomb Group); Captain William R. Calhoun, Pilot; 1st Lt Joseph M. Strickland, Navigator; T/Sgt Charles R. Terry, Radio Operator; S/Sg Willard W. Stephen, Tail Gunner; Captain Clark Gable, Top Gunner. (Official USAAF photo)

Official Usaaf Photo