we have picture lock!

Buzz One Four is approaching completion. Picture lock has been reached, and sound-mixing and other post-production finishing tasks are under-way.  It is our hope that Buzz One Four will be screening in film festivals this coming winter and spring, so keep your eyes and ears open!

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-Work-In-Progress screening at Hollywood Theatre!!

Buzz One Four sneak-peek!

Please join us for a special work-in-progress benefit screening of Matt McCormick’s latest documentary film Buzz One Four. McCormick will be present to introduce the film, but instead of the traditional post-screening Q&A, McCormick will be asking the audience questions as he prepares to complete the film. Proceeds of the screening go towards completion of the film.

Buzz One Four is a documentary film that chronicles the ill fated flight of a Cold War B-52 bomber loaded with two thermonuclear bombs that crashed 90 miles from Washington DC. The crash has remained classified and details continue to be repressed by the Air Force, but it is a story the filmmaker grew up with because the pilot of the plane was his grandfather.  Buzz One Four investigates the aspects of this crash and other nuclear-weapons accidents and leaves us wondering if the United States was in greater danger of nuking itself than being attacked by the Russians.

Tickets available from the Hollywood Theatre HERE

Buzz One Four

-post-production update

Shooting is complete and we are editing away on Buzz One Four! We are very excited about how things are coming along.  With any luck, this film should be complete in mid to late 2016 and showing at a film festival, movie theater, or similar venue soon!

Buzz One Four crash site + debris.
Buzz One Four crash site + debris.

-Buzz One Four KickStarter SUCCESS and our AWESOME backers!!!

We did it!  The Buzz One Four Kick-Starter campaign raised over $25,000 and now it’s full speed ahead with production.  A giant thanks to the 305 AWESOME PEOPLE who chipped in to make it possible!!!

THANK YOU:

Jed Rosenzweig
Karl Lind
Peter Glavin
Johan Oskarsson
Elisabeth Subrin
Ian Kimmich
Michael McGregor
Bill Foster
David Cress
shay knorr
Mary Unkelesmegan scheminske
Karen Hopkins
Matthias Fliegner
Karol Scheminske
Erin Lange
John Hopkins
Steev Hise
Alfie
Jeannie L Paske
Stephanie Hough
Mumonkan
Jolie Griffin
Tieg Zaharia
David and Dawna North
John Massier
Jonathan Marlow
Jana Fay Ragsdale
Pam Minty
Courtney
Kathy Pearson
Emily Pumm
Scott Wayne Indiana
Kickstarter
Krystal South
John Bohlmann
Janet Hare
Gerry Beachy
Adrianne Finelli
Chris Eddy
Mike Merrill
Johnny Buell
Andrea Grover
Sam Green
Kathryn Ramey
Skizz Cyzyk
Daniel Mollenkamp
Bryan Konefsky
Alex Cox
Anders Lund
Jonny Fenix
david mcmurry
Jennifer Hardacker
Ginabean
cannupa hanska
Jason
Nathan C Bowser
Bryan Murphy
Annie and Cameron Turner
Karen Anzaldo
donna & pete kane
Steven Richter
Annie Wagner
Deborah Stratman
Doug Whyte
Angela Glabach
Bryan Stearns
Sean Fong
Michael McCormick
Jennifer Keats Curtis
Carl Lee
Bryan Murphy
Kurtis Hough
Bruce Baker
Emily Hunt
elizabeth skadden
MARK BERRETTINI
Michael Roberson
Kate Ewald
SikhLens
Michael McCaffrey
emeraldreels
Andy Mingo
Michael Gitlin
Emily
Kirby & Amy Allen
Alex Mahan
Gene Merrill
nicolas brynolfson
Nathan Kensinger
Willow McCormick
Brookie drevers
Samantha Bates
Rob Tyler
Phil Bolenbaugh
ryan warren smith
Julie Perini
Mike L
owen katz
Curt Merrill
Kristi Reed
Penny Lane
Grant Olsen
Steve Delepine
Andy Spletzer
Daniel Brothers
George Kroll
Jim Barber
Adam Charles Hart
Boaz
Alfonso Alvarez
blake
The Whiteman Brothers
Chris Freeman
Johnny DeKam
Alice Kahn
Anjali Sundaram
Steve Schroeder
Stephen Wehner
Dannon Dripps
Gary Hustwit
Enie Vaisburd
David Sherman
Ben Russell
minicine?
Tanya Andrea Stadelmann
Mattie Courtright
Hi-Dive Denver
Jon Raymond
Ron Skrasek
Christopher Wilcha
Kara Herold
noFADER!
Patricia Frahm
mike.hendrix
Torsten Ketelsen
liz haley
Holly Andres
Kevin Hamilton
judesays
Jennifer Hoyt
Ted Miller
Marcus Estes
Matthew Spencer
Eileen Kennedy
Billy Martin
Heather O. Petrocelli
james kramer
Jennifer June Strawn
Vince Di Meglio
Jeff Severs
JP Prichard
J K
Miguel Sicart
Alfonso Nogueroles
Mike Wechsler
Linda Freedman
OCAC Thesis
Katya Isichenko
laurent tenzer
Vera
Elaine Vue
Jem Cohen / Gravity Hill Films
Jennifer Seaman
Tommy Becker
peter burr
Sarah
Timothy J Jorgensen
Marc Mohan
Grand Detour
James Conn
Joseph Clancy
Martin
JeffTK1
Jim Field
Melanie Parker
Stefan Grabowski
Jennifer Maskell
Charles Magnuson
Chris Carroux
Way Up North (Doc)
Rob King
M.J. Keyser
Kristin Posehn
Euan Monaghan
Stephan DuVal
Andrew J. Dvorak
Ken Lim
Scott Early
AnjaO
Jon Ward
TONY CONRAD
Sergio Nieto
stephen waite
Mark Nevelow
Aaron Valdez
ben popp
Alain LeTourneau
Rebecca Addy
Tomonari Nishikawa
Kathrina Wang
Tyler Rivenbark
Sasha Burchuk
Maria Allred
Slow_ray_Becker
Greg Hamilton
McFadden Tom
drewish
casey
Tooba Khilji
Thomas McCormick
Music Millennium
Caitlin Hofmeister
Reg Brooks
Matthew T.
John
Kohel Haver
Zeke
Jamie Manley
jason roark
Andy Blubaugh
Matt Blair
Jacob Helwig
lidia yuknavitch
Mark Handel
David Plater
Toronto Playing Card Company
Doug Simpson
David Savage
Chris Higgins
Guy A Wadsworth
erin Rackelman
Matthew Buchholz
Cori
Eco-Baroque (Marne Lucas & Bruce Conkle)
John Cox
David Jahns
Calvin Johnson
Daniel Campion
John Perdoch
Sam McKenzie
Matteo Gilebbi
Margaret Winter
Ariana Jacob
Mack McFarland
PLAZM
Morgan Hobart
Glyn Jones
Margaret McFee
Heather Disco
Brian Richardson
Stephen Slappe
Stephen Bruce
Jesse England
Tim Scotten
dokuchan
Yancey Strickler
Nick Peterson
Roger Beebe
Northwest Filmmakers
Jonathan Crosby
Paul Horowitz
Elizabeth Leach
Rick Baxter
Ryan + Lucy
Samuel Coomes
Bonnie Serkin
isaac slusarenko
Bucky Schirver
Tyler Hooper
Roger Leigh
Per Johansson
heather
Liz Haley
jodi barasa
Jess Porquez
James Hoffman
Logan Cheshier
Carl N Oerke Jr
Jo Bell
Scott
tom bartos
Stuart Burns Eagon
Peter Herman
Renee Green
Michael McManus
Laura Whipple
pete coursey
Rebecca Carlisle-Healy
Lorenzo Dutto
Holly Lancaster
Niki Coppola
Jared Vincenti
James Palardy
Slater Dixon
Nigel J
Amanda Salazar
Sarah Christman
jeremy buller
Matt
Bob and Bev Langston
The Grantsville Community Museum
Gail Browning

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mattmccormick/buzz-one-four

– Buzz One Four “Remembrance Ceremony”

I am just back from a wonderful event hosted by the Grantsville Community Museum that honored the 50th anniversary of the crash.  Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of this story is the overwhelming energy that people living in the vicinity of the crash put into the rescue and recovery efforts.  While the Air Force couldn’t seem to get out of its own way, the civilians of the area braved the frigid temperatures and knee-high snow banks to search the woods for survivors and help in any way they could.  50 years after the crash, the ordeal is still an important part of the local history, so to honor both the crew members on the plane AND the hundreds of individuals who volunteered to help, several members of the community organized this wonderful event.

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People shared stories and memories of the fateful night that shook the community, and several family members of the other crew members journeyed to the event.

John Josseyln is an amateur historian who created a great website honoring the memory of flight Buzz One Four who also found and recovered what is most certainly the hatch from the B-52 which my grandfather ejected from.  It had been sitting in the forest near the crash-site for over 50 years until John and a group of his buddies pulled it out of the dense woods.  John brought the hatch the 50th anniversary event, which made for a great family photo:

Buzz One Four
from left to right: Tom McCormick Jr, Patricia McCormick, Ben McCormick, John Josselyn, Matt McCormick, Michael McCormick, Jeanne McCormick.

The Cumberland Times-News had a nice article about the event that can be read here.  I was also talked with Jim Vay for WFRB Radio, that interview can be heard here:

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– National Archives!!!

I’ll be hanging out at the National Archives for the next few days, digging through old records and viewing as many archived Air Force films as possible, and finding lots of great stuff, like this:

My Grandfather was one of the first pilots sent to Castle Air Force Base to be trained to fly the B-52, something he was very excited and proud of.

Many of the motion pictures archived here are still on 16mm or 35mm film and have yet to be transferred to video (let alone any HD digital formats).  I had thought that my flatbed editing skills were at least 20 years outdated, but I’m happy to have been proved wrong…

IMAG0847

A huge thanks to Carol Swain and the rest of the NARA staff, the Archives are truly an amazing place!

– David Wood!!!

absolutely thrilled to have had the opportunity to sit down and talk about the history of flight Buzz One Four with Pulitzer Prize winning journalist David Wood. His 1999 Washington Post Magazine story ‘Bomber Down’ is perhaps the most complete and comprehensive history on the crash to date. David is both a fascinating and compassionate individual who has been writing from the front-lines of international conflict since before the term ’embedded journalist’ had ever been coined.  I will be very lucky if I can cover the story of my grandfather’s harrowing crash as well as David did in very thorough article.

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