Warbird Information Exchange

Chatting about Slim Pickens got me thinking about Dr. Strangelove.Check out Slim riding the bomb.Its dubbed in german,but is the only shot of the complete bomb run I could find.one of the best movie scenes ever.oh,on Base theater page.last link

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Great flick! Peter Sellers was originally supposed to play the part of Col. Kong (along with the three other roles he played in the film) but he broke his ankle before he could film the B-52 scenes. Slim Pickens was brought in as a last minute replacement, and ended up being the movie's most memorable character.

I visit the Strategic Aerospace Museum last week. They have a B-52 cockpit, and while I was in there with some friends, I couldn't resist saying (in my best Texas drawl) "Well boys, this is it...nook-ler combat toe-to-toe with the Russkies!"

Yee Haw!!

SN

I love the checklist scene....


Survival kit contents check. In them you'll find: one forty-five caliber automatic; two boxes of ammunition; four days' concentrated emergency rations; one drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills; one miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible; one hundred dollars in rubles; one hundred dollars in gold; nine packs of chewing gum; one issue of prophylactics; three lipsticks; three pair of nylon stockings. Shoot, a fella' could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff.

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The set builders had their hands full on the B-52 since it was still top secret, just about zero photos of the flight deck of a real B-52 existed in 1963 when the movie was flimed, and the bomb bay area was absolutely off limits to photographs, that's why some things we are now used to seeing, like the fuel transfer control panel in front of the pilot is missing but not bad for educated guessing is it?

I'd still like to see the squadron patch for Burbelson AFB

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Loved the shadow of the B-52 being a B-17...

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Lance Jones

The UK guys on the other forum love to mention that to point out how clever the UK film's art director was and how silly it was for SAC to have been so security minded.

I always point out that the B-52 cockpit was not that unknown at the time...
It was seen in Bombers B-52 from 1957, the Steve Canyon TV series in 1958 and another film made about the same time was A Gathering of Eagles...where the film makers had access to a simulator/mock up. Not to mention several books that had general photos of the B-52 flight deck.
I don't deny that SAC wasn't thrilled with the concept of the film and didn't grant them red carpet access to real SAC aircraft (not to mention the film was made in the UK and there were no B-52 is the UK or on TDY rotation there).
And the film makers had access to 707s, so their design wasn't a complete shot in the dark.


I think the story is a bit of film makers "hype" combined with a bit of nationalistic pride.

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.
Note political free signature.
I figure if you wanted my opinion on items unrelated to this forum, you'd ask for it.

Didya reach into the safe and pull out and put on yer cowboy hat?

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"WHAT ME WORRY?"

was gonna mention the B-17 shadow too

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"WHAT ME WORRY?"

In the DVD commentary they mention that the "Authorities" had some questions for the filmakers after seeing their B-52 interior mockup. Apparently it was so good, they thought the set designers may have gotten ahold of some classified info.


If you look closely, Slim's lips don't quite match the audio in that sentence. Apparently, the line was originally "a fella could have a pretty good weekend in Dallas with all that stuff." But after the scene was filmed, JFK was assassinated in Dallas, so Slim was brought back in to "loop" the line in post-production.

Scott T's Aerovintage website has a bit of info on the B-17 used as the camera ship for the background shots in the B-52 flying scenes (the BUFF was of course a model.)

SN