Chain Lightning is a 1950 American aviation film based on the story "These Many Years" by blacklisted writer Lester Cole (under the pseudonym "J. Redmond Prior"); the screenplay was written by Liam O'Brien and Vincent B. Evans. During World War II, Evans had been the bombardier on the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress Memphis Belle. The film stars Humphrey Bogart as a test pilot along with Eleanor Parker and Raymond Massey. Cole's credit on the film was officially restored by the Writers Guild of America in 1997. Created in the postwar era to reflect progress in aviation and aeronautics, the film is a fictional account of an American company that builds high-speed jet aircraft. Chain Lightning was one of Bogart's final Warner Bros. films, ending a 20-year association. The film was released in multiple versions for 11 different countries; in Germany, it was known as Des Teufels Pilot. Plot Lt. Colonel Matt Brennan, a B-17 bomber pilot in World War II, runs a civilian flying school in peacetime. He is reunited with an old US Army Air Force buddy, Major Hinkle. Brennan is offered a job at the Willis Aircraft Company as chief test pilot for an experimental high-speed jet fighter known as the JA-3, designed by Carl Troxell, who knows Brennan from the war (having accompanied him on a bombing mission over Germany to evaluate the B-17's real-life performance). In order to prove the new JA-3, capable of speeds up to , Brennan convinces Willis that a record-breaking, very high altitude, long distance flight from Nome, Alaska, to Washington, D.C., over the North Pole will both impress the government and be a press sensation. At the same time, Troxell tries to finish developing a safer version of the revolutionary aircraft, the JA-4. He is killed during a high altitude test flight while testing a pilot escape pod. The record-breaking flight is a big success. Brennan earns $30,000, enough to propose marriage to Jo Holloway, his former wartime flame who is now Willis's secretary. Despite his earlier reservations about the need for safety systems and with Troxell's death in mind, Brennan secretly flies the second JA-4 for the government demonstration. He ejects in the escape pod, proving that Troxell's design is safe for pilots. On safely landing, he falls into Jo's arms. Cast Production Principal filming took place from April 16, 1949 to July 1949, but final production was held back