In real life General Curtis LeMay, who had been both a European and Pacific Army Air Corps commander during World War II and later became commander-in-chief of the US Air Force, was so impressed with the realism of Twelve O'clock High that he had the air force use the film in its training programs, and it was used for many years. LeMay said: "I didn't see one technical error in this thing." Like Savage, Lemay personally led many missions; ultimately, LeMay oversaw the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It is likely Joe Cobb was modeled after Col. Paul Tibbets, who flew the plane that dropped the nuclear bomb in the Pacific.

I once met one of the staff who flew on the plane, which Col. (later Gen.) Tibbets dubbed the Enola Gray, that dropped the Little Boy bomb on Hiroshima. My friend's father spoke emotionally about it 35 years later, in 1980. I also met another friend's father who was one of the bomber pilots in the European theater, and although he was an accomplished cardiologist at NYU Hospital, my urologist, one his colleagues, spoke of his piloting one of the bombers as his most remarkable achievement.

Savage's character is a composite of several real-world officers, including Lemay, but the most important was a commander in the European theater, General Frank A. Armstrong. Wikipedia writes this about General Armstrong:

As a "trouble-shooter" for [General] Eaker on July 31, 1942, Armstrong relieved Colonel Cornelius W. "Connie" Cousland of command of the inadequately trained 97th Bomb Group, the first group of B-17 Flying Fortress bombers sent to England and put it through an intensive training period at RAF Polebrook. He then led it in combat on six of its first 10 missions from August 17 to September 2, 1942. Armstrong led the first daylight heavy bomber raid made by the USAAF over Occupied Europe, receiving the Silver Star and an oak leaf cluster to the Distinguished Flying Cross. He was also awarded the British Distinguished Flying Cross for the initial mission, the first U.S. officer to be so honored. Because he had not yet been checked out as a combat pilot in the B-17, Armstrong flew the first mission as the co-pilot of a Fortress piloted by Major (later Colonel and then General) Paul W. Tibbets, one of his squadron commanders.

This 2011 article in Air and Space Forces Magazinegives a detailed account of the real individuals behind the various characters and details the connection between Armstrong and Savage: https://www.airandspaceforces.com/article/0111high/

1. Analyze General Savage's approach to motivating the unit, especially Col. Ben Gately, in terms of cognitive dissonance, self-efficacy theory, and reinforcement theory.

2. How did the culture of the 918th change from the Davenport period to the post-Savage period?

3. Compare Davenport and Savage in terms of initiating structure and consideration.

4. Compare Davenport and Savage with the full-range leadership model. How do the two compare with respect to transformational and charismatic leadership?

5. Analyze Davenport and Savage in terms of Fiedler's contingency theory.

6. Analyze Savage's approach to change management using Kotter's eight-step model.