15 Minute Warbirds

[Shay]

In the 1987 episode of Magnum PI called Solo Flight.

Magnum goes hiking on a mountain and discovers the wreck of a WW2 fighter.

My question, anyone know what aircraft was used in the filming?


Also have there been instances of Wreck sites from Dec. 7th being discovered years later, similar to the situation depicted in Magnum?

Shay
____________
Semper Fortis

Last edited by Shay on Wed Sep 05, 2007 7:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[TAdan]

While I do not remember that episode of Magnum P.I. I do have an 80's TV show warbird question...

Anyone remember an episode of Knight Rider where KITT and Micheal had to stop a Dam from being destroyed? The bad guys were flying an all black B-25 and were going to blow the dam the same way the British did with their Lancasters...

Edit...after looking into it...it was an episode of Airwolf... Black crime fighting Helicopter, Black crime fighting TransAm...

As far as wrecks being found in Hawaii... It amazes me that every few years something from the attack is turned up. Like the Japanese mini sub a few years back. I believe the latest flying P-40C is largely based on pieces recovered from Hawaii.

Last edited by TAdan on Wed Sep 05, 2007 2:38 pm, edited 3 times in total.

[Warbirdnerd]

I've seen it and it is a very poor mock up of a P-40.
I can't remember if it had a shark's mouth....
Here is an episode summary it was titled "Solo Flight".

After a run of bad luck, including being fired from a case investigating embezzlement, owing Rick money, and letting T.C.'s junior baseball team down, Magnum decides to get away from it all by going on a solo mountain-climbing hike, without telling anyone where he is headed. But on the climb, already suffering from a centipede bite, he becomes trapped under the wreckage of an old World War II fighter plane he discovers. With his legs caught under the wreckage, and no one knowing he is even there in the first place, Magnum is forced to review his mortality, his values, and the case which he was fired from.

[Django]

One of those centipedes crawled over my lap while stopping for a bit on the hike up Diamond Head. I didn't find out until later that if it had bitten me, it would have been as painful as a gun shot! (so I was told)

Man, I watched that show religiously as a kid. Don't really remember that one, but hey, it has been 30 years!

[gregv]

I remember that episode, and I recall at the time that I thought that it was not a real aircraft, but rather a mock-up of a section of fuselage. That, or a chunk of BT-13 or something, as it was very cylindrical.

How about the P-51D that forced down a Lear Jet; any i.d. on that one?

gv

[cg51]

That was on Walker Texas Ranger, the Mustang is owned by the Cavanaugh Flight Museum

[Jesse C.]

That was on Walker Texas Ranger, the Mustang is owned by the Cavanaugh Flight Museum

No, I think it was Magnum P.I. and if I remeber correctly the mustang was red with a white stripe, like a Cavalier Mustang and the guy flying it was wearing a cowboy hat.

How about the episode where T.C. gets a Vietnam era chopper running to escape out of the jungle!

[rwdfresno]

Edit...after looking into it...it was an episode of Airwolf... Black crime fighting Helicopter, Black crime fighting TransAm...

Speaking of 80's TV shows with Warbirds my favorites were the Airwolf with "In The Mood" and "Heavenly Body" as well as the Simon & Simon with "Betty Grable." Of course, that is my B-25 prejudices coming out lol.

[bipe215]

How about the scene in 'Cloudancer' where David Carradine takes out an armed P-51 with a Piper Arrow.

[gregv]

That was on Walker Texas Ranger, the Mustang is owned by the Cavanaugh Flight Museum

No, I think it was Magnum P.I. and if I remeber correctly the mustang was red with a white stripe, like a Cavalier Mustang and the guy flying it was wearing a cowboy hat.

How about the episode where T.C. gets a Vietnam era chopper running to escape out of the jungle!

Here's what I found on-line regarding Magnum P.I. episode 60 "Two Birds of a Feather":

"The aircraft that Sam pilots at the end of the episode is "Miss Van Nuys", a P-51D Mustang Survivor. "

Not sure how accurate that is...

And there's an Airwolf tie-in to boot:

"This episode is the unsold pilot for a series about treasure hunter and ace combat pilot Sam Houston Hunter, and contains the strains of the series's theme song in the closing credits. After he failed to attract any interest in this series, Bellisario took the bare bones of the concept and eventually developed it into Airwolf. (edit)"

All very exciting...

cheers!

gv

[David_Aiken]

Also have there been instances of Wreck sites from Dec. 7th being discovered years later, similar to the situation depicted in Magnum?

Shay

Aloha Shay,
In the forty year search to locate, ID, and (hopefully) recover the MIA US and Japanese airmen from 7 Dec 1941...I can assure you that the only "Pearl Harbor" wrecks to be recovered are on the ocean floor. I am now prepared ...when one may be discovered... to ID the unit and crew.
Cheers,
David Aiken
PS: did you see the Magnum PI episode with the ocean-crashed Corsair wreckage?

[gregv]

tell us more!

[jaybird]

I also remember an Airwolf episode in which the 222 shot down the "bad guy" in a Corsair.

[Shay]

Aloha Shay,
In the forty year search to locate, ID, and (hopefully) recover the MIA US and Japanese airmen from 7 Dec 1941...I can assure you that the only "Pearl Harbor" wrecks to be recovered are on the ocean floor. I am now prepared ...when one may be discovered... to ID the unit and crew.
Cheers,
David Aiken
PS: did you see the Magnum PI episode with the ocean-crashed Corsair wreckage?

Very interseting David. Mind if I start as new thread dedicated to this topic?

Shay
____________
Semper Fortis

[snj-5]

That Magnum PI P-40 "mockup" was based on T-6 bits and pieces.

See:

http://www.questmasters.us/SNJ-5B.html

Bela P. Havasreti