TBF/M Close encounters 3rd kind

[David_Aiken]

Aloha All,
In the beginning of the movie CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND four AVENGERS were filmed.

For a week in the summer of 1976, after work I assisted with the insignia, unit, and other stencil placement, as well as last minute work on the top turret of a TBM...the plane barely 'made it' in time for the filming.

Has anyone got photos of the four? I hope I might 'pick out' the one on which I worked.

Thanks for the hopes!
Cheers,
David Aiken

[Jerry O'Neill]

Hi David;
I've never seen any on set photos of the four Avengers and the F6F hellcat that they used to represent Flight 19. It would be great to see if anyone has some.
Must have been fun being on set back then!
Jerry

[Matt Gunsch]

This was one of them
http://www.warbirdregistry.org/avengerr ... html#thumb

[David_Aiken]

Ahhhh yes, Matt,
that is probably one of them as it was close to the filming area (IIRC: Houston) yet it has two items NOT on "MY' Avenger...the yellow cowl marking (a tell-tale marking added by the late Bruno Genarlsky, a good friend of mine) and a "straight" national insignia on the fuselage.
Thanks for any help!
David

[Matt Gunsch]

Ahhhh yes, Matt,
that is probably one of them as it was close to the filming area (IIRC: Houston) yet it has two items NOT on "MY' Avenger...the yellow cowl marking (a tell-tale marking added by the late Bruno Genarlsky, a good friend of mine) and a "straight" national insignia on the fuselage.
Thanks for any help!
David

When it was in the movie, it did not have the yellow cowl, it was painted as the last photo on the page, 82 on the cowl. It was also the plane that was started in the movie.

[Jerry O'Neill]

David;
The photo of the TBM with the yellow cowl is a more recent paint scheme. The photo to the far right on the link is what it would've been painted as back in the 70's. It's an early photo of it and they added a turret to it before CETK I believe.
In the film, you can clearly see the number "82" on the aircraft's cowling.
Jerry

[David_Aiken]

Aloha All,
The Avenger I aided had an angled national insignia star/bar on fuselage. I also have a poor memory of a two digit number...perhaps a "13"?

The plane was NOT a Confederate aircraft, but probably a CAF Colonel's plane?

HTH with a quick ID...
Thanks for your Mark I memory, mine is no longer as keen!

Not sure if this is of any use:

the discovery of flight 19

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tWJ9Ec2TC4

In the beginning of the film in the Sonora Desert, inside one of the WWII vintage aircraft they pull a calendar that looks vintage from 1945. Across the grid of the days of a full month on the calendar is plainly seen a light blue logo from the defunct Security National Bank (which did not exist in 1945). In the fall of 1972, Security National Bank issued a 1973 calendar that corresponded exactly month by month, day by day, to the 1945 calendar for fun. Thus this unique idea was the freebie promotional give away to the bank's customers. The prop crew for CE3K probably could not locate an authentic 1945 calendar so instead inserted the fake vintage calendar which was not hard to find.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075860/trivia

[Brad]

#33, the one that they are climbing up on and digging through the cockpit belongs to Connie Edwards. He or his late brother Bill would have flown it.

[David_Aiken]

Thanks Brad,
Connie Edwards...yep! That is the dude's name! Thanks!

Yep, the number 33 is the one.

Thought it was too late to give my gray-cell a battery charge...Thanks, guys!

Mahalo nui loa,
David Aiken

[Steve Nelson]

I'm gonna have to freeze-frame the DVD one of these days to be sure, but I think you can make out an EAA sticker on the crew access door of one of the TBMs.

From what I understand, the actual aircraft of Flight 19 were overall dark blue, rather than the three-tone camo.

Interestingly, I was looking at the CE3K Mother Ship at Udvar-Hazy last summer..seems the aliens didn't return all the TBMs....

SN