Watched the Top Gun the other day and it made me think who is the best movie pilot? I can’t think of anybody.
Well obviously it is Han Solo, since he did the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs! [:P]
Chewie getusouttahere!
^^^ Ha. In that spirit…
Ben Afleck - Rafe McCawley
RAF fighter pilot
One of 2 P40s to get into the fight at Pearl
B25 pilot on the Doolittle raid
Wedge Antilles. Helped to kill two Death Stars, survived an Imperial assault on Hoth and still came back for more some 42 years later… [:)]
Special mention to actor James Stewart. As far as I can recall, the only movie he appeared in as a pilot (apart from the Air Force promo film for the B58) was Strategic Air Command, but in real life, he was a qualified pilot on the B17, B24, B36, B47 and B52.
He does lose points for missing the runway and landing on a taxiway though.
In Midway,didnt Charlton Heston take off in one plane and land in another,thats a cool trick.
John Wayne. Leader of the Flying Tigers, and two tours with the Marine Corps as a squadron leader developing, what was revolutionary at the time, ground air support tactics in the crucible of combat.
Well, that is legendary [:)]. But I didn’t notice it. What is the difference?
Gordo Cooper in The Right Stuff. “Who’s the best pilot you’ve ever seen?”
Seriously though, I’ll go with Stuart.
Clint Eastwood in ‘Firefox’ because he’s Clint Friggin’ Eastwood…
To be serious I’d go with Stewart too.
Though I have to mention Jack Palance. He was a medium bomber pilot during the Second World War and ended up with the horrible burns on his face after his aircraft skidded off the runway and caught fire. Not sure if he ever played a pilot in a movie though.
Tommy Webber, from Galaxy Quest. How many of us could pilot a starship with no training, no script, and no clue? Okay, he did scratch the ship out of space dock, and he did run into every single mine first time out. But “Never give up, never surrender.” That‘s fighting spirit.
Harrison Ford is a pilot… crashed a plane, crashed a helo, landed on a taxiway flying over a commercial airliner… so maybe a favorite but not the best lol
I have to go with James Stewart too. Twenty missions over the Reich in a B-24.
John Ridgley, pilot of the B-17 “Mary Ann” in the movie “Air Force.”
Robert Taylor. Portrayed Paul Tibbets in “Wild Blue Yonder.”
Dennis Morgan. Portrayed Robert Lee Scott in “God is my Copilot.”
Dennis Morgan, James Cagney and Alan Hale in “Captains of the Clouds.”
Can’t think of anybody?!
How can you not think of Captain Wild Bill Kelso?
From “Top Ten Ways ‘Star Wars’ Characters Would Kick Butt in the ‘Star Trek’ Universe”:
Picard pilots the Enterprise through an asteroid belt at one-quarter impulse power. Han Solo floors it.
None of the above! It was actually Fred the bartender at The Happy Bottom Riding Club in “The Right Stuff”.
“Ya’ll want a drink of whiskey?”. [:D]
Gary
CAG Lee, The Bridges at Tokyo Ri…
leads by example, even the riskiest jobs… gets his butt chewed by the TF commander twice, stands his ground and barks back…
where do we get such men?
Hi;
I have to go with CAG Lee, yup! Bridges at Toko Ri. My second Choice would be the Captain in The High and the Mighty ! Yeah, I loved the Duke in that one
My award for worst pilot goes to the guy who flies his fighter right into Guilala’s head in ‘The X From Outer Space’.
Maybe he was doing a kamikaze run which does get him a badass award from me.
