Someone built a Blue Thunder replica
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Someone built a Blue Thunder replica
An Australian did it and it came up on eBay last year but I forgot to share it on here. It's fabricated from wood and metal and is just a static display, and has an interior fit out as well.
A photo:
A photo:
Sorry, passage says fabricated from wood and metal as if just made up by someone but it looks too much like a real one if you know what I mean.
Never heard of blue thunder until yesterday.
Never heard of blue thunder until yesterday.
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Perth, Western Australia
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Photos of Blue Thunder here: Blue Thunder - the ultimate helicopter movie review for Rotary Action at rotaryaction.com
From Wikipedia:
To film Blue Thunder, the producers employed two examples of the French-made Aérospatiale SA-341G Gazelle light utility helicopter, serial numbers 1066 and 1075, both built in 1973. After the film was made, both helicopters were sold to Michael E. Grube, an aviation salvage collector in Clovis, New Mexico. Grube then leased s/n 1066 (ex-N51BT) to a film company that was shooting Amerika, an ABC television mini-series about Soviet occupation of the USA; the helicopters were painted black, and the surveillance microphones were removed. After Grube got it back, it was dismantled and sold for parts.
The second, s/n 1075 (ex-N52BT), was scrapped during 1988.
There was a third static display model built for close-up shots with the actors.
For the movie SA-341G Gazelles were modified with bolt-on parts and a canopy patterned after the AH-64 Apache. Two helicopters were used in the filming of the movie, one for the actual stunts (a "stunt mule"), one as a backup in case the other was grounded for maintenance. Stunts were flown by Jim Gavin.
The helicopters were purchased by Columbia Pictures and flown to Cinema Air in Carlsbad, California, where they were heavily modified for the film. These alterations made the helicopters so heavy that various tricks had to be employed to make it look fast and agile in the film. For instance, the 360° loop maneuver at the end of the film was carried out by a 1/6-scale radio controlled model. (This aircraft was built and flown by modeller and RC helicopter manufacturer John Simone Jr.)[
From Wikipedia:
To film Blue Thunder, the producers employed two examples of the French-made Aérospatiale SA-341G Gazelle light utility helicopter, serial numbers 1066 and 1075, both built in 1973. After the film was made, both helicopters were sold to Michael E. Grube, an aviation salvage collector in Clovis, New Mexico. Grube then leased s/n 1066 (ex-N51BT) to a film company that was shooting Amerika, an ABC television mini-series about Soviet occupation of the USA; the helicopters were painted black, and the surveillance microphones were removed. After Grube got it back, it was dismantled and sold for parts.
The second, s/n 1075 (ex-N52BT), was scrapped during 1988.
There was a third static display model built for close-up shots with the actors.
For the movie SA-341G Gazelles were modified with bolt-on parts and a canopy patterned after the AH-64 Apache. Two helicopters were used in the filming of the movie, one for the actual stunts (a "stunt mule"), one as a backup in case the other was grounded for maintenance. Stunts were flown by Jim Gavin.
The helicopters were purchased by Columbia Pictures and flown to Cinema Air in Carlsbad, California, where they were heavily modified for the film. These alterations made the helicopters so heavy that various tricks had to be employed to make it look fast and agile in the film. For instance, the 360° loop maneuver at the end of the film was carried out by a 1/6-scale radio controlled model. (This aircraft was built and flown by modeller and RC helicopter manufacturer John Simone Jr.)[
