A little bit of “what if?” from Hollywood…
Final Countdown?
Yes, I was looking for something else related to the movie and stumbled across this photo. Which in turn led to a thread in AR 15.com by a former air wing sailor who worked support as they filmed that movie. Great humor and photos. Seeing two rising sun kill flags on a Tomcat made me do a double take and wonder if it was photo shop. It’s not.
Could be possible albeit improbable that a former WW2 pilot with two Japanese kills was still flying when the Tomcat was fielded.
All this time, I though the two Tomcats in that sequence took one each…
That’s right, they did.
Your post piqued my interest and I was waiting for somebody to ask which movie.
Pleasantly surprised to read it is Final Countdown, one of my favorite movies of all time. Exactly why, I’m not quite sure. I guess I like time travel, aircraft carriers, and jet aircraft. [8-|]
Neat post!
Katharine Ross in a bathrobe…
And i still want to know what would have happened if the strike had not returned to the ship in time.
Well, yes, there is that…
[:)]
And funny, I’ve wondered about the aircraft not returning in time too…
I wonder how far advanced the world would be now if they had stayed?
There is one scene in one of the F-14/Zero encounters that the F-14 flies under the Zero. They were both very close to the water during the shot. The Zero pilot was instructed to waggle his wings when the F-14 flew under him. Well the turbulence was so great after the F-14 pass the Zero pilot almost lost the airplane!
Back then, Air Classics magazine did a couple of articles about the production of the movie and the flying sequences, which I think were filmed in the Florida Straits.
This is the scene. Watch the Zeros as the F-14s fly by: https://youtu.be/DCtFKxgbTUw
It appears that one of the F-14s stalls and heads for the water near the end.
Here is a link th the thread on AR-15.com where the photo came from.
Funny that you guys mention Katherine Ross…
Not to derail your thread too much, Stik. But I didn’t think there were any other Arfcommers in here. Small internet world…
[8-|]
Haven’t seen Final Countdown in about 30 years. But I wonder if it might be up on Netflix or Hulu. Still jam to the Europe song once in awhile, though. Right next to Space Oddity by Bowie on the playlist.
FC is available on DVD. I bought one. I believe the aerial photography in making that movie is the best ever in a flying film. The shot of the F-14 on approach is fantastic. I don’t know if it was taken by having the F-14 fly in formation with a camera plane with long lens, or whether they built some camera boom on the nose of the F-14. I suspect the former. Watching the yaw string was fascinating!
The BluRay print is gorgeous. No extras to speak of though, except for chapter selection.
Not long after final Countdown was released our F-15 squadron hosted the VF-84 guys for a series of exercises. The pilot who was the contact point and co-ordinator dug into his saves stash of gun film, had a large print made, and p;aced it under teh plexiglass cover on his desk. It was a great shot of a F-14 taken from above and behind with some light shinning off its back, the afterburners had just lit and the wings were moving back. It also sowed all the H.U.D.s information along with the light that said fire.
Our guests said that when filing the fight scene they almost put the F-14 into the water ecause he started the manuver too low when comming up under the zero. They said that when watched carefully in the movies they could see the water being affected. I could never tell on the T.V. but I’ll take there word.
Really, REALLY enjoyed that linked thread. The pics of FC in production are very cool to look at.
Also, the skull and bones tail on the F-14 has always been my favorite paint scheme on that aircraft. I had no idea it was the 84th, out of my beloved Key West, no less.
How I used to love to sit on the beach and watch those beautiful warbirds roar by.
I didn’t realize the WWII Japanese Navy flew SNJs…[:D] [proplr]