Warbird Information Exchange

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)

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.

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Had God intended for man to fly behind inline engines, Pratt & Whitney would have made them.

CB

http://www.angelfire.com/dc/jinxx1/Desrt_Wings.html

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.

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A Little VC10derness - A Tribute to the Vickers VC10 - www.VC10.net

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

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All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

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.

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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.

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

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.

_________________
Had God intended for man to fly behind inline engines, Pratt & Whitney would have made them.

CB

http://www.angelfire.com/dc/jinxx1/Desrt_Wings.html

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

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.

_________________
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.

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.

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Had God intended for man to fly behind inline engines, Pratt & Whitney would have made them.

CB

http://www.angelfire.com/dc/jinxx1/Desrt_Wings.html

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.

_________________
Had God intended for man to fly behind inline engines, Pratt & Whitney would have made them.

CB

http://www.angelfire.com/dc/jinxx1/Desrt_Wings.html

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.