Fictional Aircraft from TV and Movies

[royabulgaf]

This is a suggestion to the administrator. How about a thread or threads of fictional TV and movie spacecraft and aircraft?

 

[Jemiba]

Well, could be a way to handle questions like "Is this a real design ? No, it's from the Movie XYZ".

So let's start this thread with the MiG "Firefox" from the 1982 movie with Clint Eastwood:
(screenshot via https://simotron.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/screen-shot-2013-05-03-at-6-53-35-pm.png )

 

[hesham]

Well, could be a way to handle questions like "Is this a real design ? No, it's from the Movie XYZ".

So let's start this thread with the MiG "Firefox" from the 1982 movie with Clint Eastwood:
(screenshot via https://simotron.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/screen-shot-2013-05-03-at-6-53-35-pm.png )

Who can forget this amazing fake aircraft.

 

[Graham1973]

And a couple more from Starflight: The Plane that couldn't land, or as I sometimes refer to it Airport'85

 

[Graham1973]

Well, could be a way to handle questions like "Is this a real design ? No, it's from the Movie XYZ".

So let's start this thread with the MiG "Firefox" from the 1982 movie with Clint Eastwood:
(screenshot via https://simotron.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/screen-shot-2013-05-03-at-6-53-35-pm.png )

Indeed, it influenced all but two of the covers for the novel version (The original cover and the Anniversary Cover) there is a gallery of the different iterations linked below:

http://craigthomascompanion.co.uk/2firefox.html

 

[uk 75]

Perhaps this could be widened to include fictional aircraft.
In 1969 Adam Hall sent Quiller to investigate theStriker Portfolio. This involved West German British built Striker SK6 swing wing fighters

 

[royabulgaf]

Perhaps this could be widened to include fictional aircraft.
In 1969 Adam Hall sent Quiller to investigate theStriker Portfolio. This involved West German British built Striker SK6 swing wing fighters

So, the Soviets stole the plans for the F-111B and sold them to the Brits, and laughed their butts off all the way back to Moscow?

 

[Orionblamblam]

Airwolf.
Blue Thunder.
Whispercraft.
Manta Fighter.
F/A-37 Talon.
EDI.
Willis JA-3
B-3.
Batwing.
The Bat.
BV-38 fling wing.
F-117X Remora.
Quinjet.
X-Jet.
X-Jet Prototype.
Skyfleet S570.
Helicarrier.

 

[uk 75]

Perhaps this could be widened to include fictional aircraft.
In 1969 Adam Hall sent Quiller to investigate theStriker Portfolio. This involved West German British built Striker SK6 swing wing fighters

So, the Soviets stole the plans for the F-111B and sold them to the Brits, and laughed their butts off all the way back to Moscow?

The Brit edition I have simply has a pilot in a helmet photo. I got this one off Amatheft because of the Luftwaffe markings. In the book its more like MRCA Tornado

 

[Caravellarella]

Dear Boys & Girls, the Rutland Reindeer from the 1951 movie "No Highway in the Sky" based on the 1948 novel "No Highway" by Neville Shute......



Terry (Caravellarella)

 

[zebedee]

The Reindeer was built as a full size mockup for the film from a Handley Page Halifax/Halton, either G-AHDM or G-AJNW. The film is well worth seeking out as it has some loverly period footage of Farnborough.

Source: Key Forum

Zeb

 

[Hood]

Oh that tail design never fails to make me laugh.

Another good fictional airliner of the period is the 'Atlas Aviation Phoenix' from the the 1960 film Cone of Silence based on the 1959 novel by David Beatty. Beaty was an ex-military BOAC pilot with who became an expert on human error in aviation incidents and accidents and wrote The Human Factor in Aircraft Accidents in 1969.

The 'Phoenix' was Avro Ashton WB493 with four Nenes and two Olympus so looking suitably futuristically over-engined.

 

[Archibald]

Gilbert XF-120 - actually Martin XB-51.

How about that F-117 look alike commando transport used by Steven Seagal in that shitty movie - Ultime decision, at least that was the French title. Must be in Orionblablam list somewhere.

Flight of the Phoenix aircraft that killed Paul Mantz, how ironic.

Rambo Mi-24s which actually were Puma choppers with prostetics.

Indiana Jones flying wing / w-wing with the propellers that chop the vilain into miced meat. Also Raiders of the lost ark aircraft - the Tiger moth with a turret and the fake 109s chasing the Jones, which actually are some kind of trainers, can't remember which type (Czech Avia things, or Zlins).

Shape of things to come and When world collides.

Bah bah sheep Boyington (RIP Robert Conrad) T-6s turned into fakes A6M.

 

[pathology_doc]

the 1959 novel by David Beatty.

I haven't seen the film, but when I read Macarthur Job's Air Disaster books it was hard not to see the similarities between the repeated accidents that occur to the Phoenix and the initial crashes that affected some of the Comets (aside from the metal fatigue disasters). In the book it's put down to a design flaw and a failure to fully inform the pilots of the correct take-off technique in marginal circumstances (which some of them had worked out for themselves, but the information was never promulgated to all the pilots).

IRL, some of the early Comets crashed on takeoff because captains who'd spent their lives in propeller aircraft weren't used to the fact that the lack of prop wash over the wings adversely affected the Comet if you rotated the nose too high, too soon.

 

[Rhinocrates]

A compilation of fictional MiGs here: https://hushkit.net/2020/02/06/fictional-mig-fighters-and-the-aircraft-that-inspired-them/

 

[Aubi]

"Tiger moth with a turret" was Stampe et Vertongen SV.4. The fake 109s were Pilatuses P-2.

 

[zebedee]

The Heathley M7 from The Net (1953), aka Project M7... Always reminds me of something that escaped from Saunders Roe... There was also tie-in Jetex model of this available...!

IMDB entry for The Net

Zeb

 

[zebedee]

"Tiger moth with a turret" was Stampe et Vertongen SV.4. The fake 109s were Pilatuses P-2.

Is it just me or, apart from a few DC3s, is almost every aircraft in the Indiana Jones films wrong...?

Zeb

 

[Aubi]

It was the eighties. Not that many flyable original aircraft they could choose from, no CGI, and anyway who (except ofr us) would notice?
By the way:

Raiders of the Lost Ark - The Internet Movie Plane Database

impdb.org

Waco - no problem, Solent - understandable, and you can't be wrong with DC-3.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - The Internet Movie Plane Database

impdb.org

Ford Trimotor - no problem.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - The Internet Movie Plane Database

impdb.org

Dakota - no problem, Stampe looks like Bücker enough.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - The Internet Movie Plane Database

impdb.org

DC-3 again, An-2 - big problem, as is An-12 (they couldn't CGI more appropriate machine?).

 

[zebedee]

Fair point... I forgot about the Waco and the Trimotor... but Crystal Skull has no excuse for those Antonovs...!

Zeb

 

[riggerrob]

The 2004 film "Sky Captain" portrays a whole bunch of fictional airplanes, zeppelins, flying aircraft carriers, etc.
Even the Curtiss P-40 has been modified to also operate underwater.

 

[riggerrob]

The Japanese anime "Porco Roso" contains a few historically realistic airplanes, but the biggest bad-guy airplane is definitely fictional.

 

[riggerrob]

"Jumanji 3" includes a flight aboard an Antonov-2 biplane and a fight aboard a steam-punk zeppelin.

 

[Aubi]

Ah, Porco Rosso... There are several Macchis, like M.5 and M.7, Savoia-Marchetti SM.55, Some Fiats, probably CR.20, and even Curtiss C3R. Also some Austrian Hansa-Brandenburgs CC.

 

[Graham1973]

A few fictional SST (and faster) Airliners culled from various novels I've read.

Thomas Block, Orbit, 1982

StarStreak
Airliner (Hypersonic)

James Follett, Saber, 1997.

Saber
Sub-orbital Airliner

Donald G. Payne (Pen name: Donald Gordon), Star-Raker, 1962

Star-Raker Mk. I
Supersonic Airliner

 

[Rhinocrates]

For fans of the Gerry and Sylvia Anderson series, modelmaker Martin Bower has a new book out on his career. A lot of work after working for them too of course. https://www.amazon.com/Martin-Bowers-World-Models-McClure/dp/1073487415

 

[skyboss]

The Flying Aces Club, for enthusiasts of rubber-powered model airplanes, actually has a class of models called Fiction Flyers. Many models were taken from pulp fiction stories, movie serials and comic books. Check www.flyingacesclub.com.

 

[RanulfC]

>snip<
F/A-37 Talon.
EDI.
>snip<

Ah yes, "Stealth" the movie which generated so many varied threads on how "awsome" the US Navy was going to be 'real-soon-now' because people saw the pictures and assumed it was real

Dear Boys & Girls, the Rutland Reindeer from the 1951 movie "No Highway in the Sky" based on the 1948 novel "No Highway" by Neville Shute......

The who, the why, the say-what? I always got this one confused with a similar movie where the airliner has double engine failure and crashes into a pier that was supposd to be demolished a week previously so the investgator takes up another one to fly the route and simulates a failure only to have the other engine 'fail' and narrowly avoid crashinging in the same exact spot. IIRC correctly the airliner was a rather mundane prop aircraft (with metal fairings over the engine mounts) with two jet engines mounted directly on the horizontal tail planes.

The Heathley M7 from The Net (1953), aka Project M7... Always reminds me of something that escaped from Saunders Roe... There was also tie-in Jetex model of this available...!

Thanks for that one as I was just trying to recall what movie that was. The end scene where the M7 model in the desk is framed pointing upward through the window at the stars has always stuck with me but it's about the only thing I remember. Watched part of it again a few months ago and realized how much of an era of change that time really was. Along with things like most movies still refering to the Air Force as the "Army" or "Army Air Corps" all the other 'little' things like how the pilot and co-pilot carefully look out each window at the "engine" they are starting, (proper procedure... for a prop plane ) even though the engines are buried in the wings and they can't possibly see the exhaust just highlights how fast technology and the everyday procedures that went with it were changing.

Randy

 

[The Artist]

The 'similar movie' you talked about is the movie Fate Is The Hunter, which is loosely (very loosely) based on Ernest K. Gann's book of the same name.

>snip<

Dear Boys & Girls, the Rutland Reindeer from the 1951 movie "No Highway in the Sky" based on the 1948 novel "No Highway" by Neville Shute......

The who, the why, the say-what? I always got this one confused with a similar movie where the airliner has double engine failure and crashes into a pier that was supposd to be demolished a week previously so the investgator takes up another one to fly the route and simulates a failure only to have the other engine 'fail' and narrowly avoid crashinging in the same exact spot. IIRC correctly the airliner was a rather mundane prop aircraft (with metal fairings over the engine mounts) with two jet engines mounted directly on the horizontal tail planes.



Randy

 

[RanulfC]

The 'similar movie' you talked about is the movie Fate Is The Hunter, which is loosely (very loosely) based on Ernest K. Gann's book of the same name.

>snip<

Dear Boys & Girls, the Rutland Reindeer from the 1951 movie "No Highway in the Sky" based on the 1948 novel "No Highway" by Neville Shute......

The who, the why, the say-what? I always got this one confused with a similar movie where the airliner has double engine failure and crashes into a pier that was supposd to be demolished a week previously so the investgator takes up another one to fly the route and simulates a failure only to have the other engine 'fail' and narrowly avoid crashinging in the same exact spot. IIRC correctly the airliner was a rather mundane prop aircraft (with metal fairings over the engine mounts) with two jet engines mounted directly on the horizontal tail planes.



Randy

Thanks

 

[taalismn]

The ‘X-RV’ lifting body shuttlecraft from Marooned(1969)


I figure it makes it as an aircraft because it’s based almost to the exact same scale as the real M2F2 lifting body test articles it resembles, rather than the manned X-24A.

 

[DanielStarseer]

The A-12 / SR-71 knock-off from that one X-Men movie, designed by the Beast (? Henry/Hank?)
yet somehow had not just VTOL capability, but also a central passenger compartment....

 

[Deltafan]

There is too the Willis JA-3, from the movie Chain Lightning :

https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/willis-ja-3-jet-rocket-chain-lightning.8837/

It was built from a P-39 frame

 

[Mark Nankivil]

The 'similar movie' you talked about is the movie Fate Is The Hunter, which is loosely (very loosely) based on Ernest K. Gann's book of the same name.

>snip<

Dear Boys & Girls, the Rutland Reindeer from the 1951 movie "No Highway in the Sky" based on the 1948 novel "No Highway" by Neville Shute......

The who, the why, the say-what? I always got this one confused with a similar movie where the airliner has double engine failure and crashes into a pier that was supposd to be demolished a week previously so the investgator takes up another one to fly the route and simulates a failure only to have the other engine 'fail' and narrowly avoid crashinging in the same exact spot. IIRC correctly the airliner was a rather mundane prop aircraft (with metal fairings over the engine mounts) with two jet engines mounted directly on the horizontal tail planes.



Randy

The airframe is a DC-6 suitably covered up to look like something else. I remember seeing this movie as a kid and thinking "what?!?!" Suzanne Pleshette was damn good looking too!

Enjoy the Day! Mark

 

[RavenOne]

Got a few here

Agency (1980 , Robert Mitchum, Lee Majors ) has a USAF BAe 125 (Decade later USAF used them for Airfield calibration).

Magnum P.I Season 3 ‘Did You See the Sun Rise’ : USMC H369 and Bell 206 which TC flies as reservist. But in reality USMC students and instructors fly the Bell TH-57C Sea Ranger and USN Test Pilot School at Pax River used to fly the 369 designated TH-6B anyhow.

the A-Team Season 4 ‘Wheel of Fortune’ Murdoch is kidnapped by rogue CIA agents need him to steal Russian gunship supposedly from Central America (Bell Huey in Russia. camouflage and markings But its actually on an us army base lcoally and said helo is to be used as tool in robbing Vegas casino. late 8ps US Army OPFOr units used Bell JUH-1B/H for OPFOR painted eith red stars, and camouflage as well as hard points to simulate weapons with MILES.

cheers and more to follow

 

[RavenOne]

Billion Dollar Brain: RAF Canberras depicted as Russian bomber at the end of this classic Michael Caine spy thriller

SKyjacked (1972): See Russian air force jets as F-100 Sabres escorting the hijacked airliner

Superman II: An AS350B Astar is dolled up in US Army markings as a gunship to take out General Zod: Funnily enough the Astar was looked as a trainer by the US Army in the early 90s. contract went to Bell with the TH-67 Creek.

Firefox: Think the societ Hinds were, drones , and also the close up cockpit shots of the Soviet crew are taken from the modified Gazelle used in Blue THunder

Raise The Titanic : KGB agent Prevlov is transported by a Russian Bell 204 , (changes to Bell 205) when he leaves the Titanic. Like I said in my above post US Army OPFOR used both the JUH-1B and JUH-1H with Red star and camou.

James Bond Octopussy : SA365C2 Dauphin in Soviet colors, (provided by one of my previous employers) laughingly now the Russian Helicopters KA-62 Orca has fenestron. Also few RAF assets such as 32 Squadron Whirlwind helicopter plus a Canberra bomber flying over head are depicted as Cuban air force assets in the opening.

James Bond A View To A Kill: Soviet gunship at beginning is MBB BO105

The Fourth Protocol: SA365C2 as a Soviet helo and the RAF Sikorsky S-76A (provided by Bristow Helicopters) carrying the SAS team. In late 90s, UK government albeit Her Majesty uses the Sikorsky -S76 as Royal Flight.


James Bond: The Living Daylights, thanks to the Royal Moroccan Air Force that provided an airbase to mimick a Soviet base in Afghanistan with C-130E , Fougar Magister, OV-10 Bronco painted with red stars and of course there was the Rockwell Aero Commander that came into land and 'collided' with fuel truck.

James Bond: Goldeneye : the Pilatus PC-6 at beginning with Soviet markings

more to follow

cheers

 

[galgot]

About the "Raiders of The Lost Ark" flying wing ("Gotha GO-216"), it was designed by Ron Cobb.
Here a page from his site with lot of cool concepts :

Ron Cobb - "RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK"

Ron Cobb, Cartoonist, Film Designer, 300 cartoons, 40 films, Artwork and Design!

roncobb.net

Note the original flying wing concept was to be bigger and have five or four engines, but the production asked S.Speilberg to cut cost a bit.

 

[Grey Havoc]

Note the original flying wing concept was to be bigger and have five or four engines, but the production asked S.Speilberg to cut cost a bit.

I remember hearing about that.

 

[Rhinocrates]

Whatever was used in Airplane! It looked like a 707, but it had piston engines.

 

[galgot]

Whatever was used in Airplane! It looked like a 707, but it had piston engines.

I think they used a 707 (a repainted TWA) for the exterior scenes. Can't remember of a prop plane...
Also either a Convair 990 or DC-8 was used for the cabin scenes :
"The seating arrangement in the film is incorrect for a Boeing 707 (the aircraft used for all the exterior shots). The coach section of the 707 has 3 seats on each side for each row, yet the seating arrangement shown has 3 seats on the right side and 2 seats on the left for each row, similar to the arrangement for either a Convair 990 or a Douglas DC-9."
from here:

Airplane! (1980) - Goofs - IMDb

Airplane! (1980) - Goofs on IMDb - bloopers, mistakes, errors in continuity, plot holes, anachronisms, spoilers and more.

m.imdb.com