Aircraft mistakes in films
In 'Blackadder goes Forth - Private Plane' - I always assumed the aerial sequence footage had simply just been lifted from 'Aces High'? This was re-inforced by a scene where Blackadder and Baldrick chatting in mid-flight yet, the SE5's Guns are firing! (I'm happy to be corrected though...)
dakkg651: I'd personally far rather see REAL aircraft in films as I find computer simulations are absolute RUBBISH; witness the 'new' Andrex bogroll commercials with their ridiculous simulations of lovable lab puppies.
Anyway what about dakkg661 arriving at Farnborough in the mid '80s and immediately a sharp eyed spotter pointing out the real '661 had been written off in 1945.
Anyway what about dakkg661 arriving at Farnborough in the mid '80s and immediately a sharp eyed spotter pointing out the real '661 had been written off in 1945.
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chevvron
I was actually being a tad sarcastic about CGI.
Nothing can replace a real aeroplane as was proved by that dire film 'Fly Boys'.
I will however, reserve final judgment until we see Mr Jackson's remake of The Dambusters.
Sorry to hear about KG661.
KG651, on the other hand, is alive and well and sitting about 30 yards from this keyboard.
I was actually being a tad sarcastic about CGI.
Nothing can replace a real aeroplane as was proved by that dire film 'Fly Boys'.
I will however, reserve final judgment until we see Mr Jackson's remake of The Dambusters.
Sorry to hear about KG661.
KG651, on the other hand, is alive and well and sitting about 30 yards from this keyboard.
I don't know how come '661 was incorrectly numbered or how long the RAF/MOD operated it as '661, but I know that shortly after arriving at Farnborough, it was pulled out of the hangar one day with ZA947 painted on it, and it survives in service today with BBMF.
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Deliberate mistake!
Watching old film on telly last year where the villain told the policeman (John Mills?) that he had flown Meteors in the RAF in 1943.
I immediately piped up "But they didn't enter service until 1944" to which my wife replied "Well you've got it wrong this time, they wouldn't make such a silly mistake in a film."
How satisfying at the end of the film when the policeman said "I knew he was a fraud, there were no meteors in 1943."
Just call me Mr Smug.
PS What was that film?
Watching old film on telly last year where the villain told the policeman (John Mills?) that he had flown Meteors in the RAF in 1943.
I immediately piped up "But they didn't enter service until 1944" to which my wife replied "Well you've got it wrong this time, they wouldn't make such a silly mistake in a film."
How satisfying at the end of the film when the policeman said "I knew he was a fraud, there were no meteors in 1943."
Just call me Mr Smug.
PS What was that film?
Cunning Artificer
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I probably had Pussy Galore on my mind...
My favourite howler was in Thunderball where Mr. Bond inspects the ditched Vulcan standing on its undercarriage on the seabed after the villainous Beagle has murdered his crew and alighted on water. Come to think of it, being able to lower the undercarriage after alighting on water was quite an achievement.
Bond somehow manages to swim into the cabin through the open canopy, and despite being clad in diving gear, down between the pilots' seats. From the cabin he then goes through a hatch into the empty bomb bay, completely avoiding the nosewheel bay and fuel tanks 1 and 2 on the way. I suppose it must have been the ultra top-secret submersible B.Mk3S prototype, cancelled by the Labour government.
How about people having quiet conversations in an unpressurised prop driven aircraft with a subdued hum going on in the background? Richard Burton unravelling the plot of Where Eagles Dare in a very quiet J52 springs to mind.
btw May we train buffs pinch this idea for a similar railway thread? Can't count the number of times the train leaves the station with one loco at the front, is seen en route with another, and arrives at the destination with a third. Use of stock footage?
btw May we train buffs pinch this idea for a similar railway thread? Can't count the number of times the train leaves the station with one loco at the front, is seen en route with another, and arrives at the destination with a third. Use of stock footage?
Leonardo de Caprio exiting a B707 through the toilet in 'Catch Me If You Can'.
But that's not to say it didn't happen in real life! In his autobiography, Frank Abignale mentioned he flew back to the US in a VC10. The VC10 has a door between the aft toilets which leads into the tail section and what we referred to as the 'boiler room' where the hydraullic resevoirs were. If you are thin enough, you can squeeze down into the rear cargo hold and open the door from the inside. It's quite a drop to the ground, but feasible.
But that's not to say it didn't happen in real life! In his autobiography, Frank Abignale mentioned he flew back to the US in a VC10. The VC10 has a door between the aft toilets which leads into the tail section and what we referred to as the 'boiler room' where the hydraullic resevoirs were. If you are thin enough, you can squeeze down into the rear cargo hold and open the door from the inside. It's quite a drop to the ground, but feasible.
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Viscount812 (Post #46). I haven't see "The King's Speech" so don't know what aircraft you were referring to.
I believe the first "Royal Flight" aircraft in 1934 was DH84 Dragon G-ACGG (Ser No 6025), which became VH-AAC, then RAAF A34-10 from 1941, became VH-AAC again and spent many years in Papua New Guinea.
I have a photo of G-ACGG with the Duke of Windsor (Edward VIII) at the controls. The polished wheel spats apprear to be embossed with Crowns!
I believe the first "Royal Flight" aircraft in 1934 was DH84 Dragon G-ACGG (Ser No 6025), which became VH-AAC, then RAAF A34-10 from 1941, became VH-AAC again and spent many years in Papua New Guinea.
I have a photo of G-ACGG with the Duke of Windsor (Edward VIII) at the controls. The polished wheel spats apprear to be embossed with Crowns!
I think that we need to perhaps differentiate between a true howler and a bit of artistic licence.
Using the right aircraft type, but a slightly later registration - frankly that is just artistic licence. Just like an actor not looking exactly like Winston Churchill or Guy Gibson - a film is not reality, it's a representation of reality.
Personally I get far more worked up over anything based on reality which a fillm plays loose with, without any really good reason. An F-14 does have a problem with engine failure induced spin, but some of th RT in that film really would not be used within a US military environment - and if anything the punchier and more accurate US Navy RT would have been more impressive, not less. You aren't going to hold inverted formation in a heavy weapons platform aeroplane either - but that was a plot device, and fair enough.
Where multiple characters get merged, an aeroplane does something it just couldn't - for no other reason than a little bit of production convenience. That I'll get upset about. Hercs don't have ejection seats, light aircraft do not immediately go into a spiral dive when the engine coughs, spacecraft don't need to bank to turn, CERN really really don't have a slush hydrogen powered hypersonic business jet.
G
Using the right aircraft type, but a slightly later registration - frankly that is just artistic licence. Just like an actor not looking exactly like Winston Churchill or Guy Gibson - a film is not reality, it's a representation of reality.
Personally I get far more worked up over anything based on reality which a fillm plays loose with, without any really good reason. An F-14 does have a problem with engine failure induced spin, but some of th RT in that film really would not be used within a US military environment - and if anything the punchier and more accurate US Navy RT would have been more impressive, not less. You aren't going to hold inverted formation in a heavy weapons platform aeroplane either - but that was a plot device, and fair enough.
Where multiple characters get merged, an aeroplane does something it just couldn't - for no other reason than a little bit of production convenience. That I'll get upset about. Hercs don't have ejection seats, light aircraft do not immediately go into a spiral dive when the engine coughs, spacecraft don't need to bank to turn, CERN really really don't have a slush hydrogen powered hypersonic business jet.
G
Thunderball where Mr. Bond inspects the ditched Vulcan
I know that because I held the aircraft's inventory.
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The owner of Vulcan B.2 nose XL388 when it was with the former Blyth Valley Aviation Collection at Walpole in Suffolk,told me that it had been used in the James Bond film 'Thunderball' when i visited there in the late nineties.
Graham,
Bentwaters Cold War Museum
Graham,
Bentwaters Cold War Museum
Vulcan XL388 was deliverd to the RAF in June 1962. To be used in 'Goldfinger' it's cockpit would have to have been filled with water when it was three years old. After all that it would have ben eventualkly flown to Honington in April 1982 so the RAF Regiment could set fire to it. It could well have done the flyimg bit in the film.
I got the year wrong. It was in late 1964 that I can remember XD 814 sitting there, minus a cockpit. That was on a civilian truck; destination Pinewood studios. Thunderball was made in 1965.
I got the year wrong. It was in late 1964 that I can remember XD 814 sitting there, minus a cockpit. That was on a civilian truck; destination Pinewood studios. Thunderball was made in 1965.
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The actual underwater sequence of the Vulcan in Thunderball was filmed at a place called South Ocean Beach in the Bahamas. They built a 1/2 or 1/3 size mock up, which was still there when I dived on it in 1982. The ocean depth goes from 60' to 6000' in a little over 800 yards and the diving is fantastic.
Got my PADI, or whatever it was in those days, whilst on holiday - great golf course attached to the hotel as well. All in all a superb holiday!
Got my PADI, or whatever it was in those days, whilst on holiday - great golf course attached to the hotel as well. All in all a superb holiday!
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Thunderball cockpit
I can confirm Fareastdrivers recollection of Valiant XD814 being used for the James Bond film. I was on 90 Squadron right to the bitter end and spent days removing the radar and radio kit and then dismantling all the Valiants. We took off the cockpit and the bomb doors for the film company and were originally invited to go with them to the Bahamas and rig up the instruments to simulate various readings.
Eventually The RAF decided that only commissioned officers could go but the film company then said it would get their own people to rig the instrument panel so in the end no RAF staff went.
So definitely some of the shots were from the Valiant even if a Tin Triangle was used for others.
Eventually The RAF decided that only commissioned officers could go but the film company then said it would get their own people to rig the instrument panel so in the end no RAF staff went.
So definitely some of the shots were from the Valiant even if a Tin Triangle was used for others.