Whats everyones fav movie to do with airplanes

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AerynPk

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hiya guys considering my dad did a film quiz i wanted to know about what you thought and what your fav film was which is to do with planes

Mine is Memphis Belle and my worst is pearl Harbour
 

wonwinglo

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Barry
'The Great Waldo Pepper',just love it
 

wonwinglo

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*** Just out of interest Duncan how do you rate the second version ? I have yet to watch it myself,but there was some superb acting in the original,on top of that it will always be a tribute to the late Paul Mantz.

Flight of the Pheonix (original version)
 
A

AerynPk

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Well i have seen battle of midway but the others i have never heard fo it lol im so young
 
D

duncan

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Barry , I havent seen the second version yet. Agree about Waldo Pepper, some good flying sequences and funny bits. I think it did capture the trials and tribulations of the American barnstormers.
 

wonwinglo

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*** Did you get to fly in a B-17 Guy ? and can we see you in the background,which scene ?

probably memphis belle as i was an extra on it !
 
N

new to trains

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sadly did not get to go in a B17......- it was a mad day,

there were a load of final year students on the site , we were building & painting sets, props and scenery as part of our last year of the degree course.... we had been on the location for aobut 10 days and on the last day as they were filming a group of people came over from the production team asking us if we wanted to be in the film as extras... ...... we all had smiles on our faces- thinking we would see our name in lights, the fame the fortune, the stardom......the equity card !

but in reality i am in the film for about 8 seconds along with 6 other blokes walking between two vehicles as the plane in the foreground is being readied for another flight !- it looks like a goroup of ants walking across the screen !

so dont get eye strain looking out for me !- needless to say we killed several days during the filming just being on hand if anything got damaged and or needed touching up or rebuilt...... but it was a great experience..... but i will never be a movie star !

however it was a great pre cursor to the prop and effects work i did later for londons burning !
 

wonwinglo

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My favourite TV series,that must have been quite an experience for you Guy,these film props people certainly get some amazing effects just with flat pieces of board painted up,one B-17 quickly becomes four with the back drops,I bet that it was big brooms and buckets of paint eh ! great stuff.

sadly did not get to go in a B17......- it was a mad day, there were a load of final year students on the site , we were building & painting sets, props and scenery as part of our last year of the degree course.... we had been on the location for aobut 10 days and on the last day as they were filming a group of people came over from the production team asking us if we wanted to be in the film as extras... ...... we all had smiles on our faces- thinking we would see our name in lights, the fame the fortune, the stardom......the equity card !

but in reality i am in the film for about 8 seconds along with 6 other blokes walking between two vehicles as the plane in the foreground is being readied for another flight !- it looks like a goroup of ants walking across the screen !

so dont get eye strain looking out for me !- needless to say we killed several days during the filming just being on hand if anything got damaged and or needed touching up or rebuilt...... but it was a great experience..... but i will never be a movie star !

however it was a great pre cursor to the prop and effects work i did later for londons burning !
 
C

crashgate4

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Hey Barry, glad someone else liked "Waldo Pepper". As you say it captured the spirit of the times.

For flying scenes how about "The Blue Max" ? Naf story in parts though. and as usual didn't stick to the book.

No.3 has to be the "Dam Busters"

And talking of "Memphis Belle" ? Living in Binbrook as I do, it was at what was RAF Binbrook that alot of the flying sequences were shot, and the sight of five B-17s in the air together was heaven. If you remember one of the French Fotresses crashed on take off and burned out, without casualties, I still have all the press cuttings from the Grimsby Telegraph. I also remember that Ray and Mark Hanna flew 2 Mustangs and they used to beat up the airfield on returning from Duxford on Sundays. Great days.

A recent film which I found on DVD is "Dark Blue World", about a couple of Czech pilots in the RAF. As usual a naf love story, but excellant flying.
 
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Nigel.D

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1 Battle Of Britain (it just has to be)

2 633 Squadron

4 strategic air command (James Stewart b36 and b47's awsome)

5 The Hunters (robert Mitchum)

6 No Highway (James Stewart)

7 Bridges at Toko Ri (William Holden)

8 Airport

9 Tora Tora Tora

10 Fail Safe (hustlers and Henry Fonda)
 

wonwinglo

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*** 'Blue Max' was full of flying action,remember the scenes where they flew through that bridge ? they actually did this by flying along poles positioned on the ground,most of the flying was done in Ireland and the WW1 airfield scenes looked very realistic,as you say some of the story is a bit naf but the flying and aeroplanes make up for that,the end is both tragic and dramatic where the French Morane 230 posing as a German experimental parasol monoplane breaks up in a dive.

Look out for 'Fly Boys' a WW1 flying drama filmed at R.A.F Halton earlier this year,4 Nieuport 17 Scouts were made in 52 days by Robert Baslee,due for UK release in 2006.

Hey Barry, glad someone else liked "Waldo Pepper". As you say it captured the spirit of the times. For flying scenes how about "The Blue Max" ? Naf story in parts though. and as usual didn't stick to the book.

No.3 has to be the "Dam Busters"

And talking of "Memphis Belle" ? Living in Binbrook as I do, it was at what was RAF Binbrook that alot of the flying sequences were shot, and the sight of five B-17s in the air together was heaven. If you remember one of the French Fotresses crashed on take off and burned out, without casualties, I still have all the press cuttings from the Grimsby Telegraph. I also remember that Ray and Mark Hanna flew 2 Mustangs and they used to beat up the airfield on returning from Duxford on Sundays. Great days.

A recent film which I found on DVD is "Dark Blue World", about a couple of Czech pilots in the RAF. As usual a naf love story, but excellant flying.
 
K

Kiwi

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Whats with the re-invention of the wheel? There is already a thread on this and it has been around for about a year or more.

I hope that those who are voting for "Memphis Belle" are referring to the original and not the pathetic re-make which is atrocious (despite the best efforts of "new to trains")
 

wonwinglo

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*** Older threads are of no consequence and if it has been around for a year then that speaks for itself,this newer one basically asked what our favourite aviation movies are and some elaboration has been placed on their origin and history in the interesting posts,please try and keep to constructive comments rather than find fault with those that are posted.

Many of the younger members here will only know of the re-make, and sometimes not be aware of any original films under the same name.

Personally I found it interesting that we have a member here,who was connected in some small way with the making of an aviation movie.

Whats with the re-invention of the wheel? There is already a thread on this and it has been around for about a year or more. I hope that those who are voting for "Memphis Belle" are referring to the original and not the pathetic re-make which is atrocious (despite the best efforts of "new to trains")
 
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Kiwi

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I'm sorry Barry but I don't understand your comment that older posts are of no consequence. Is not this the same as saying that history is bunk (to quote Henry Ford).? Some people put a lot of effort into compyling the lists and adding foot notes as to dates, aircraft, actors,locations etc. It isy reading such posts that younger readers can learn of these films. The fact that the thread has been around for a year or so may perhaps mean that aircraft related films have been released in tha last year. I was going to tell you about the Curtiss F8C Helldivers used in Peter Jacksons "King Kong" but I guess that it would quickly become of "no consequence"
 
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Nigel.D

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Kiwi I can understand your reasoning and to a degree i agree with you ! but you must admit that a forum such as this encourages new members who want to post and are curious and we should encourage that i used to belong to a forum that a moderator would close a thread with " been done before do a search" !!! this put off so many people. If the post was of no interest then people would not have replied in that vein have you yourself not watched the same film more than once its the same principal you could of said " been on before no point" Personally i think that we should do everything to encourage new members especially the younger ones as they are the future of our hobby. And i for one would not like to see anyone put off by a thoughtless rebuke!! even if unintentional and you are right the original Memphis Belle was in every way better (though my daughter would disagree)
 

wonwinglo

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***No threads are sacred and new vibrant ones are always to be encouraged,not everyone knows of past discussions here or has the time to trawl through the extensive archives,in this case a discussion on aviation films and most especially those that are our own personal favourites was the initial subject matter,it has nothing to do with changing history or dragging up older threads.

You do not classify all books in one section in a library,to break down a thread at some stage and have fresh discussion anyway is good,on the other hand if someone stumbled across the earlier thread via a search engine then it would be continued as a matter of course,but as this is an entirely 'new' thread about a 'different' aspect of aviation films then as long as it creates fresh interest then that is fine.

Another point that I would like to make and this is important,is that in this case the subject was started by an intelligent young lady,whilst I also saw older films such as 'Twelve O Clock high' and 'Appointment in London' and indeed the earlier 'Memphis Belle' as a young lad,I would not expect people who do not remember them,or to even get the opportunity to view them to pass comment or comparison,everyone must get a chance no matter what age group or memory bank.

We have here a brand new thread created to discuss our favourite aviation films,anything else that has been posted beforehand does not apertain to this one,that becomes part of the history if people care to back track,so as I pointed out before is therefore of no consequence to the present discussion.

Lets continue talking about aviation films without wasting time and energy on discussing which distant thread they should be on,and above all offer encouragement and inspiration to others.Subject closed.

I'm sorry Barry but I don't understand your comment that older posts are of no consequence. Is not this the same as saying that history is bunk (to quote Henry Ford).? Some people put a lot of effort into compyling the lists and adding foot notes as to dates' date=' aircraft, actors,locations etc. It isy reading such posts that younger readers can learn of these films. The fact that the thread has been around for a year or so may perhaps mean that aircraft related films have been released in tha last year. I was going to tell you about the Curtiss F8C Helldivers used in Peter Jacksons "King Kong" but I guess that it would quickly become of "no consequence"[/quote']
 

wonwinglo

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Quite a few aviation films in recent years,were the result of surplus material that got shot but remained on the cutting room floor,a good example of this was '633 Squadron' which had enough material of Mosquitoe's in film action that it was used to make 'Mosquito Squadron' thankfully there were enough Mossies around back then to make into a squadron but there was a sinister twist to this,one scene required a Mosquito to be crashed into a fuel bowser,after much discussion with the aircrafts owner it was decided to drag one via steel rope across the airfield into the bowser,this way the final film could be speeded up and with a bit of skill made to look realistic,what actually happened was the aircraft was taxied into the tanker and effectively written off in the process.The moral behind this one is never trust a film company to look after your aeroplane.There is another case of a Gipsy Moth that was hired out to make a film on a long distance flight on the understanding that 'x' amount of hours were to be flown on this aircraft,the aircraft was flown silly and came back to the owner in a bit of a mess !

Other offshoot films were 'Aces High' which used aircraft and scenes from the 'Blue Max' and the infamous 'Darlin Lille' which was a box office flop.

Despite this it actually showed some lovely scenes of World war one aeroplanes,out of these I think 'Blue Max' came over with the best dog fight scenes,has anyone done a DVD yet of this I wonder ?
 
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