On Location: Korbel

(The following text is an excerpt from COMBAT! A Viewer's Companion by Jo Davidsmeyer)

A favorite location shoot for the cast was the Korbel winery in Guerneville, California. The sprawling winery on the Russian river provided a change of scene for the Combat! episodes. The actors loved the two times they went to Korbel. The crew would stay at Korbel for several weeks, filming a couple episodes at a time. The cast first went to Korbel in the third season and returned in the fifth.

The owners of the winery enjoyed hosting the cast. During the season, they invited hunter Rick Jason for deer hunting on their property. Jack Hogan fondly remembers filming at Korbel. "It was run by the Heck brothers. Every morning they would mix us Champagne and orange juice before we went to work. We were drunk for two weeks. They have a picture of us that's still in the winery and we're so bleary-eyed."

Korbel offered diverse scenery, including acres of vineyards, bridges, and steep hills along the Russian river. A range of hills and small canyons are to the north of the Korbel building complex that stretches back several miles.

See pictures of cast at Korbel

(The following is written by Dion "Dodger" Osika)

In the spring of 1998 I made a day trip up to the Russian River near Guerneville to find the Korbel Winery and Combat! filming locations. Guerneville is a popular summer boating and camping area and Korbel is located to the east of the small river town. The main highway follows the river and is separated by summer resorts or small patches of vineyards. Three hundred yards east of the Korbel tasting center is Odd Fellows Road. The map showed a bridge across the Russian River, but the 'bridge' roadway was lying in sections on the edge of the road. At the site of the river crossing there are concrete abutments sticking out of the river, the bridge had been dismantled.

In the Combat! episode "The Losers," the bridge appeared to be built on wooden pilings, not poured concrete abutments. The terrain around the bridge resembled the combat episode and I felt that it was the correct spot, only the different construction of the bridge injected doubt in my theory. I photographed the bridge for future reference.

At Recon '98 I had the opportunity to prove if Odd Fellows Road was the correct site. A.D. Flowers would have been responsible for the 'destruction' of the bridge at the end of "The Losers." I talked to A.D. and asked about the filming done in Guerneville. He remembered it well, his wife even recalling the restaurants where they enjoyed great dinners. I then popped the question and asked how the bridge explosion was done. Did he rig dummy beams to make it appear as if it was blown apart?

A.D. responded with a laugh and said that they really blew it apart, since the bridge was to be replaced by a new structure. That explained why I saw concrete abutments. Then A.D. made the final confirmation when, unsolicited by anyone, he named the bridge as the "Odd Fellows Bridge."

The photos show the Odd Fellows Road bridge site over the Russian River. In addition to "The Losers," the bridge is seen in the motorcycle chase scenes in "A Walk with an Eagle."

Thank you to Dion Osika for providing the photos. Images from the show are copyright ABC-TV.