XF-92A - Did you know? ...

[Mark Allen M]

26 Mar 1951 at Edwards Air Force Base - Filming began on the lakebed for RKO’s film Jet Pilot, starring John Wayne and Janet Leigh. As shown in this photo, an XF-92A was painted to simulate a “MiG-23.” Most of aerial stunt scenes were anonymously flown by Chuck Yeager. (Edwards History Office file photo)

[Clifford Bossie]

He might have mentioned that in his autobiography, I had read it somewhere. Yeager also flew a good deal of the F-86 flying in the movie.

[Archer]

Yes, it is mentioned in 'Yeager' by Chuck & Leo Janos. He only discusses his F-86 flying for the movie though, as that included a pullout that cost him half a stabiliser and a later dead stick landing after a turbine disc departed from the airframe.

[Chris Brame]

In its next movie role, it played a crash-landed F-102 in the 1956 film Toward the Unknown:

[Hooligan2]

Think I've got "Toward the Unknown" on DVD and i can't recall watching it. I'll remedy that tonight!

[JohnB]

Think I've got "Toward the Unknown" on DVD and i can't recall watching it. I'll remedy that tonight!

I saw that as a teenager, back when local TV stations played movies late at night or weekends.

IIRC, there is some rare stuff there including a jet prototype built by Paul Mantz with some P-63 parts. CORECTION: Wrong film.

Last edited by JohnB on Wed Apr 05, 2023 5:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Randy Wilson]

I have the DVD of Towards the Unkown and it has some pretty interesting footage of early/mid-1950s jets. Amazon Prime has it for rent for $2.99 or sale for $9.99. Just FYI.

Randy

[Clifford Bossie]

Think I've got "Toward the Unknown" on DVD and i can't recall watching it. I'll remedy that tonight!

The movie has some great shots of the Edwards ramp and the background scenery is impressive. Plus the star of the movie is the "XF-120 Gilbert Fighter", actually the ill fated XB-51. It is a movie I believe most aviation nerds love.

[Ruberneck]

You can find it here. https://archive.org/details/toward-the-unknown-1956-

[JohnB]

Thanks for posting the link.
I watched the first few minutes, isn't that an early non-area ruled YF-102 in the opening credits?
Great flightline shot...B-36, F-100, 101, X-3.

[Clifford Bossie]

Thanks for posting the link.
I watched the first few minutes, isn't that an early non-area ruled YF-102 in the opening credits?
Great flightline shot...B-36, F-100, 101, X-3.

It is actually one of the XF-92As (possibly 46-682) mocked up to resemble an F-102. I need to watch the movie again.

[quemerford]

Thanks for posting the link.
I watched the first few minutes, isn't that an early non-area ruled YF-102 in the opening credits?
Great flightline shot...B-36, F-100, 101, X-3.

It's certainly one of the short-tail '102's and it has the after-bodies. A few YF-102s did receive these.

[Clifford Bossie]

Thanks for posting the link.
I watched the first few minutes, isn't that an early non-area ruled YF-102 in the opening credits?
Great flightline shot...B-36, F-100, 101, X-3.

It's certainly one of the short-tail '102's and it has the after-bodies. A few YF-102s did receive these.

You are correct, I mistakenly thought the movie began with William Holden arriving at the crash site of the XF-92. The opening scene is a short tail Deuce taking off*. Still a cool movie!

* Note to self: Be careful about trusting one's memory.

[quemerford]

Thanks for posting the link.
I watched the first few minutes, isn't that an early non-area ruled YF-102 in the opening credits?
Great flightline shot...B-36, F-100, 101, X-3.

It's certainly one of the short-tail '102's and it has the after-bodies. A few YF-102s did receive these.

You are correct, I mistakenly thought the movie began with William Holden arriving at the crash site of the XF-92. The opening scene is a short tail Deuce taking off*. Still a cool movie!

* Note to self: Be careful about trusting one's memory.

Ah gotcha. I know the scene you're referring to: it's nice to see they made some attempt to make the XF-92 look like a YF-102 in that one.