B-24 Liberator bomber pilots hold a special place in the ranks, if for no other reason than they had a real bear of a machine to fly. The control surfaces were all manually operated with no power assist of any kind, and it took extraordinary exertion of upper body strength to keep them even on level flight, let alone any emergency situations like this.
He was Hollywood when it made good movies, wasn’t dominated by weirdos, and when the bulk of the people involved in the film industry appreciated this country and were loyal Americans. How times have changed!