aircraft in sci fi movies
 

Does anyone know any movies with modified existing aircraft in them (or parts of)? I'm lecturing my university games students on aircraft design, and could do with some examples. I've already got the Lightning nose in 'Wing Commander' and the 747 in 'Casino Royal'.

Not sure how a Bond film qualifies as sci-fi but then I am a geek and only count proper sci-fi like Dune, Blade Runner or 2001.

More fantasy than sci-fi but there was a film in 1982 called The Final Countdown in which a US super carrier (Nimitz?) went back in time to 1941 and had Tomcats fighting Zeros (well, modified Harvards!).

I've not seen it, but I gather that the movie Slipstream has some interesting use of the CFM Shadow and Edgley Optica.

Not SF, but the heavily modified Bell 222 in Airwolf.

Modified Transavia PL-12 in Mad Max beyond the thunderdome.

Unmodified YB-49 in "The War of the Worlds" from the 1950s.

I'm sure I'll think of some more later.

G

Heavily modified blue police box in Dr Who.

Millennium (1989) includes several airliner types....

J

Not so much a movie, but the Japanese cartoon 'Stratos 4' has the BAC TSR-2 as its' interceptor aircraft.

http://moeformoe.files.wordpress.com..._500.jpg?w=500

Tony Starks 737-200 in Iron Man
 

Makes the 737 looks positively futuristic!

http://www.aaplpack.com/images/starkplane.jpg
http://netbattles.com/iron_man/ironman_stark_jet.jpg

The modified Gazelle in Blue Thunder..

http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/r...FrontAngle.jpg

Haha, you remember that! I worked on that movie!

Waterworld - modified Helio Courier (modified by the same company that modified the Blue Thunder helicopters -the two of which were actually modified back, after the movie!)

Contact, with Jodi Foster

Yak-52 in Resident Evil: Afterlife.

http://www.banditairshows.com/images/plane3.jpg

No apparent external modification, but since it apparently managed a one-stop from Alaska to LA, there must have been some pretty radical internal replumbing to the fuel system.

Not that Yak-52 operators have to deal with slavering hordes of brain-dead horrors caused by a bio-weapons accident around here, of course.

<Looks out of the office window at the Slough Trading Estate>

On second thoughts, disregard all of the above after "Fuel System".

Again not Sci fi, but who can forget the original "Flight of the Phoenix" film - the aircraft that they made in the film was actually built and flown, in fact, there were two different ones used as the first one crashed, killing the pilot.
The remake had bits of aircraft in it, but the flying shots were actually models and CGI.

What about Independence Day? There's a Stearman in that, although I don't know how much it was modified.

Not sci-fi, but the Me-109 in the opening scenes of the first series of Land Girls was an Me-108 with stick-on "holes" where the guns were supposed to be.

Edit to add D.A.R.Y.L. - SR71 and A.I. Artificial Intelligence, various types.

Back to the Future - A heavily modified (sic!) De Lorean, crappy Euro-V6 engine substituted by the one-and-only Flux Generator, later on this thing became a multi dimensional airplane...just kidding ;-)

Blade Runner - Loads of great gravitation defying future flying machines

Donnie Darko - Airplane with one-engine-jettisoning-mechanism, although one only gets a view of the fallen-off donkey ;-)

Avatar - Nothing to comment on that, I guess...

Jurassic Park - They let some kind of creature trash an invincible King Air, how realistic... ;-)

X-Men: Great beefed up SR71

Not a movie but a series: FRINGE - Zeppelins and other machines

What else? Schwarzenegger's 6th Sense with the strange Comanche-look-alike-Helicopter

And last but not least the Master: FIREFOX with Clint Eastwood - hint: the book is by far less annoying in the first half and even more stunning in the second half... and the sequel is worth a read, either...

The Great Waldo Pepper has a heavily modded D.H. Chipmunk in it, de-canopied, and false rigging post and wires added, for the outside loop segment of the film.

Captain Pugwash - jings that brings back the memories. What a classic game that was!

Purely fictional, but I always rather admired the Marines' dropship in Aliens. Apparently it was designed by BAe engineers for the film and was made to sort of look like a cross between an F-4 and an AH1 Cobra. Definately a pilot's dream machine. VTOL, single stage to orbit, hypersonic, definately has the "don't pheck with me" look, all whilst carrying an APC full of grunts and a ****load of weaponry. Tres cool. :cool:

Smithy

The seats in Red Dwarf were Martin Baket Mk3s - as fitted to the Valiant, Victor and Vulcan.

Or how about the other way round. When I used to fly the Victor, I was convinced the design was stolen from the 1930s Flash Gordon films!


Handly Page Victor.
http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...LSoxZL5h6wAdWw


Flash Gordon's spaceship.
http://www.lighthorneonline.com/images/PHheath4.jpg

Firefox! I cannot believe no-one has mentioned it.
I know the upcoming Batman movie was due to have a modified actual flying Batwing in it but the UK CAA refused to give it a PtoF without an extensive test schedule. It may be in the movie but would have been flown exclusively in the US - no idea what it looks like.

@Dan: I did ;-)

Thanks chaps, this has been really helpful, I'll certainly use the photo from Iron Man kharmael, and I'll look for some images from the other refs.