Biggest Aviation-related Technical Blunders in a Movie etc?

[Ken]

Or anybody remember the episode of Six Million Dollar Man where Steve Austin was blinded while flying and broke the glass on some of the instruments so he could feel the needles to fly?

[Ethan]

Is there any aviation movie that doesnt have something wrong with it ?

[Elwyn]

Not really attempting to be anything close to reality, but there's the classic scene of Slim Pickens riding an atomic bomb out of a B-52 traveling hundreds of miles and hour and managing not to be blown off.

[Tailspin Turtle]

Is there any aviation movie that doesn't have something wrong with it ?

Bridges at Toko-Ri is pretty close to perfect. The Panthers would have been doing the flak suppression with the Skyraiders dropping the bridges and an F9F-5 was used for an F9F-5P by painting on camera windows, but the latter is more than offset by an accurate depiction of a Davis barrier engagement. See:

http://thanlont.blogspot.com/2008/11/mo ... -ever.html

[ripcord]

A couple of movies I thought were done well were Waldo Pepper, and TORA TORA TORA. In The Great Waldo Pepper except for the fake damage to the airplanes at the end, I thought they did a good job making it look like Redford and Svenson were doing the flying, and the wing walking and crawling in and out of the cockpits in flight looked totally real to me. And TORA TORA TORA, the B-17 belly landing, the re-worked T-6's and I believe Vindicators made pretty persuasive Zero's, Kates and Vals. And the part where the dummy P-40 gets shot up while taxiing and the prop comes off and chases the guy who is really running for his life. Now that was authentic!

[bipe215]

A couple of movies I thought were done well were Waldo Pepper, and TORA TORA TORA. In The Great Waldo Pepper except for the fake damage to the airplanes at the end, I thought they did a good job making it look like Redford and Svenson were doing the flying, and the wing walking and crawling in and out of the cockpits in flight looked totally real to me. And TORA TORA TORA, the B-17 belly landing, the re-worked T-6's and I believe Vindicators made pretty persuasive Zero's, Kates and Vals. And the part where the dummy P-40 gets shot up while taxiing and the prop comes off and chases the guy who is really running for his life. Now that was authentic!

Svenson and Redford actually did do some of the wingwalking. Obviously not the ''foot through the fabric' and other trickier parts. I always thought one of the best lines ever was Axle Olson's line: " I didn't like it much", after his first time outside of the cockpit.
I have always thought that Waldo Pepper was the best aviation movie from start to finish as far as being 'real'.
I think the Triplane chewing into the Sopwith rudder was probably the least realistic shot in the movie. By the way, all the scenarios in the movie atually happened, though not all to the same guy.

Steve G

[airnutz]

the re-worked T-6's and I believe Vindicators made pretty persuasive Zero's..

Yup Waldo P is up there with the greats! No Vought Vindicators were injured in the making of Tora..your thinking of BT-13's.
Only one Vindicator remains, residing at P-Cola she is a Lake Michigan recovery.
Click on parts of the profile to reveal the walkaround photos of that section..
http://members.tripod.com/sb2u_vindicator/


Not necessarily a favorite but notable..How bout the reptilian(you are what you eat!) Gyro Man in Road Warrior or
the same actor's return in Beyond Thunderdome, Jebediah the Airtruck driver?

Who was the pinup plastered on the rudders of the gyro? Homina..Homina..

Last edited by airnutz on Sat Mar 06, 2010 11:51 am, edited 2 times in total.

[Randy Haskin]

RE: Iron Eagle (dubbed "Tin Chicken" by those of us who were at ERAU in Daytona in 1986 when it came out), again can you be more specific about a technical detail that bothered you? Like maybe how the avionics was directly compatible with Doug's Sony Walkman? Heck, my dad's new Honda sedan is the first car he's had that interfaces with his iPod....

The list of things incorrect with Iron Eagle could fill a book in and of itself.

[CAPFlyer]

Aviator was a decent movie about a very interesting man, but definitely had some issues with the flying scene executions. Also I think of a couple of problems with some of the execution of the flying in "We Were Soldiers", but to me they're minor annoyances and not major issues. For everything they got right in "Behind Enemy Lines" (the Owen Wilson movie), they had some very big blunders as well there too. They got the avionics right, they got a lot of the flying right, but they got a lot of the performance and maneuvering capabilities of the aircraft wrong, not to mention that most of the time, a drop tank won't explode when you drop it much less actually work to decoy an advanced Heat Seeking missile.

There are tons of other technical blunders I can think of from just recent memory, but how about a quick divert to a couple who either tried to get it right or did get it right where they really shouldn't have.

1) Tropic Thunder - expected to see everything aviation related to be totally wrong, yet the (very real) UH-1's in the movie do an excellent job, mainly because the director told them "I need you here at this time" and let the pilots do their thing. As a result, they look good and believable even with all of the purposely inaccurate stuff going on around them. Also, the CGI A-4's making the "run" on the treeline looks pretty good too, even if the after effect isn't at all realistic (but perfectly Hollywood)

2) Walk The Line - Single "aviation" scene in it where Cash is in the Air Force and on the phone. They could have used ANY airplane to sit out the back, but they used a Convair 580 - while not identical, very close to the C-131's that were present when Cash served overseas. Yes, it had the wrong insignia for an Air Force C-131 and the civil registration was clear as day, but at least they thought to get a Convair and not a DC-3 or worse - a King Air.

Maybe we need another thread for "which ones got it right" too?

[Larry Wielgosz]

You can pick on any movie. Aviation movies are very easy to pick on due to the numerous difficulties of depicting reality (aircraft availability, location, script, etc.) plus the numerous people eventually evaluating the flick. In some case Hollywood gets it very close to being right and sometimes they don't. Everyone has an opinion. In a lot of movies the small blunders don't matter. It's what was created that does matter. Someone took the time and $$$ to tell a story. I appreciate that. The aviation stories need to be told. For example: The original Memphis Belle is a great documentary movie. It could have been made even better had they used real time audio for the aircrew during the filming. Whatever was decided I'm still grateful that the combat missions were documented.

Also movies are great not for the story but for the filming or capturing a period of time or just airplane watching. Sometimes it's the only way to view retired aircraft.

People are typing about good movies. Well I'll start off a few. Some of my favorites done well or worth your time to watch.

Strategic Air Command - beautiful filming, excellent aircrew dialog (realistic). Love that B-36. One of the best.

Air Force - good story. Depicts the aircrew well (dedication to the effort) and the movement of early B-17s to the Pacific. You can pick on: how the pilots and flight engineer (crew chief) knew people everywhere they went. It makes me laugh but I had it happen to me several times. Stateside & overseas. Phony maybe but sometimes true.

Battle of Britain - excellent: filming, historic story telling (story telling - stating how it was or is. Not the Hollywood version), dog fight scenes, aircrew personalities. Picking on it - the way the aircraft blew up.

12 O' Clock High - excellent.

Tora-Tora-Tora

Above & Beyond/Enola Gay - good aircrew depiction. Good story telling.

Dive Bomber - excellent filming of pre-WWII aircraft in color.

The Magnificent Men In their Flying Machines - the ability to get those early crates into the air & fly them. Who cares about the story.

God Is My Co-pilot
Bridges at Toko-Ri (love the H-5 rescue helo and Skyraiders scene)
Waldo Pepper
30 Seconds Over Tokyo
The Right Stuff
Apollo 13
A Guy Named Joe/Always
Command Decision
Towards The Unknown
Several WWII aircraft carrier movies (lots of stock film footage)
Flight of the Intruder - the difficulty of fighting a war with restrictions
Fighter Squadron
I can add a whole lot more but I'll stop here and let others add.

Movies or scenes I'd like to see:

1. A good WWII story based on an actual unit using flyable warbirds painted like they were during wartime. No computer generated images or if used kept it to a minimum. For example: Zemke's Wolfpack or a P-51 unit (pick one), Marianas Turkey Shoot. Just tell it how it was. GI style, keep out the Hollywood glamour.

2. A good Vietnam movie of a US Army helicopter unit. "A Day In The Life Of Army Aviation". Start reading what those guys went through on a day to day basis and you'll know what I mean. Getting shot down and going back to base for another helo only to get shot up again. Talk about devotion for your fellow troop.

[Larry Wielgosz]

The sound of Huey rotor blades used on helicopters with more than 2 blades.

The sound of a radial engine used instead of the turboshaft engine during the start up of the engine installed on the Sikorsky S-58T helicopter "Screaming Mimi" (painted pink) on the 1980s TV detective show Riptide. The show's beginning credits started with this scene. The sound included a radial engine backfiring. It was probably the sound of a radial engine powered S-58/H-34.

[Jerry O'Neill]

Even Ken Burn's documentary "The War" suffered from using light plane engine noise for the sound of a B-17 flying by. Pretty lame if you ask me.
Jerry

[Randy Haskin]

They got the avionics right, they got a lot of the flying right, but they got a lot of the performance and maneuvering capabilities of the aircraft wrong, not to mention that most of the time, a drop tank won't explode when you drop it much less actually work to decoy an advanced Heat Seeking missile.

Which of "the avionics" did they get right? It all seemed cheese to me. I've never done photo recce with a pod before, but I've been involved with plenty of ISR in a McDonnell Douglas aircraft that shares a lot of avionics with the Hornet, and nothing I've used looks anything like that.

The person who dreamed up that sequence with the SA-13 has absolutely no clue as to how a short-range SAM performs, how long it flies, how it guides, what it looks like, what defensive threat reactions look like, etc.

[Jarink1]

"Pearl Harbor" was a new low for technical in accuracies. Too many to list, and I'm getting sick just thinking about that movie again.

"Saving Private Ryan" when they say "P-51s...tank busters."

As for planes making water landings without breaking up, don't forget the Vulcan that performed that feat in "Thunderball".

The prop engine sounds for the jet airliner in "Airplane". Oh wait, that may have been on purpose.

[Nathan]

You can pick on any movie. Aviation movies are very easy to pick on due to the numerous difficulties of depicting reality (aircraft availability, location, script, etc.) plus the numerous people eventually evaluating the flick. In some case Hollywood gets it very close to being right and sometimes they don't. Everyone has an opinion. In a lot of movies the small blunders don't matter. It's what was created that does matter. Someone took the time and $$$ to tell a story. I appreciate that. The aviation stories need to be told. For example: The original Memphis Belle is a great documentary movie. It could have been made even better had they used real time audio for the aircrew during the filming. Whatever was decided I'm still grateful that the combat missions were documented.

Also movies are great not for the story but for the filming or capturing a period of time or just airplane watching. Sometimes it's the only way to view retired aircraft.

People are typing about good movies. Well I'll start off a few. Some of my favorites done well or worth your time to watch.

Strategic Air Command - beautiful filming, excellent aircrew dialog (realistic). Love that B-36. One of the best.

Air Force - good story. Depicts the aircrew well (dedication to the effort) and the movement of early B-17s to the Pacific. You can pick on: how the pilots and flight engineer (crew chief) knew people everywhere they went. It makes me laugh but I had it happen to me several times. Stateside & overseas. Phony maybe but sometimes true.

Battle of Britain - excellent: filming, historic story telling (story telling - stating how it was or is. Not the Hollywood version), dog fight scenes, aircrew personalities. Picking on it - the way the aircraft blew up.

12 O' Clock High - excellent.

Tora-Tora-Tora

Above & Beyond/Enola Gay - good aircrew depiction. Good story telling.

Dive Bomber - excellent filming of pre-WWII aircraft in color.

The Magnificent Men In their Flying Machines - the ability to get those early crates into the air & fly them. Who cares about the story.

God Is My Co-pilot
Bridges at Toko-Ri (love the H-5 rescue helo and Skyraiders scene)
Waldo Pepper
30 Seconds Over Tokyo
The Right Stuff
Apollo 13
A Guy Named Joe/Always
Command Decision
Towards The Unknown
Several WWII aircraft carrier movies (lots of stock film footage)
Flight of the Intruder - the difficulty of fighting a war with restrictions
Fighter Squadron
I can add a whole lot more but I'll stop here and let others add.

Movies or scenes I'd like to see:

1. A good WWII story based on an actual unit using flyable warbirds painted like they were during wartime. No computer generated images or if used kept it to a minimum. For example: Zemke's Wolfpack or a P-51 unit (pick one), Marianas Turkey Shoot. Just tell it how it was. GI style, keep out the Hollywood glamour.

2. A good Vietnam movie of a US Army helicopter unit. "A Day In The Life Of Army Aviation". Start reading what those guys went through on a day to day basis and you'll know what I mean. Getting shot down and going back to base for another helo only to get shot up again. Talk about devotion for your fellow troop.

Off Topic: Gettysburg!!

Also Airforce is a great movie. One of my favs. Wish it came out on DVD.

Bataan is good too. Ok maybe a little PR there but think they got the conditions right for those on Bataan. Also with the mixing of services to fight. Sailors, pilots, Infantry, cooks fighting together.